Saturday, May 12, 2012

2012 Republican Women's Summit #2

Rep. Pam Tucker, Deputy Speaker of the NH House, on women in the legislature: interesting that until 1998, GOP women outnumbered Democratic women in the NH House. Thanks to the 2010 GOP landslide, there are now 58 GOP women in the House and three in the Senate. "Can you imagine if we had a Republican majority of women in the House?" Says "there is a massive support system in the House & Senate" for women.

As for "women's issues", "we are making a difference to the future of the state." She goes on to list those issues: education; strong economy; strong families; public safety; environment; embracing new technology; health care.

(My comment: I give Rep. Tucker full marks for staying on message. Abortion and the life issues are being supported but not stressed by House leadership. Of course, we all know that Republican does not necessarily mean pro-life or conservative. One must vet one's candidates. I could add this to every post today, but I won't.)

"You will be a role model, whether you like it or not" if you're elected. True enough. In my opinion, that's why it's so heartbreaking when an elected Republican woman votes against things like parental notification and informed consent. On the other hand, it's good to see so many pro-life GOP reps here today. May their tribe increase.

Next speaker: Susie Hudson, Vermont's GOP National Committeewoman, on the Republican National Committee: she rightly starts with thanks & recognition to Phyllis Woods, who has just stepped down as NH's committeewoman. She notes that RNC has a rule that chair and co-chair must be of opposite genders. (Affirmative action? You decide.)  She gets applause when she says she'd like to get rid of that gender rule completely (Good!), but an attempt to change that rule has thus far not gained sufficient support. Hudson goes on to encourage involvement in party leadership on the state level, and RNC is developing training programs to make that easier.


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