By Marc Korman.
Way back in December I wrote my first guest blog entry for MPW about all of the new young Democrats Montgomery County had sent to the state legislature. At the time, I received some criticism for “kissing up” to legislators, though I still contend the topic was worth discussing. At the risk of drawing criticism once again, I want to take a few brief paragraphs to acknowledge some of the amazing women involved in Montgomery County politics. I am compelled to post the following blog entry for two reasons.
First, there was some criticism in recent months about the decline in female legislators from Montgomery County. As a member of the Central Committee who voted to fill those vacancies, I have partial responsibility for that trend. Second, many active Democratic women I have spoken to feel that Senator Obama’s victory in the presidential primary is a defeat for all women and that they are not appreciated or respected by their male Democratic peers.
Setting aside the validity of both of these points, as each could be the subject of multiple blog entries, I want to take a few moments to acknowledge some of the women I have gotten to know in Montgomery County Democratic politics and tell you about them. By naming names, I run the risk of offending those who are not on the list, so let me assure you that the list is not exhaustive and is just a sample of the many talented women supporting the Democratic Party in Montgomery County. I also will not pretend that the blog entry below is the result of objective analysis. I have met everyone discussed below and consider many of them friends, mentors, or both.
The list begins with our newest Member of Congress, Donna Edwards. Regardless of whether you supported her in any of her Congressional campaigns, Congresswoman Edwards’ defeat of an incumbent Congressman is a remarkable feat. I believe it is the result of both her organizational talents, and her ability to inspire people to work for better leadership in Washington. At the same time, one of the leaders of the campaign Congresswoman Edwards beat also deserves special recognition. Lori Sherwood, who joined Congressman Wynn’s campaign shortly after he won the 2006 Democratic primary, led his campaign effort in Montgomery County. For the time she worked for him, Lori made Congressman Wynn a better representative of his portion of the county by making him a more present and responsive Congressman. She is representative of the many outstanding women who worked for candidates in the 4th Congressional district.
Congressman Chris Van Hollen is, as you know, not a woman. But whenever the Congressman cannot attend an event, he is almost always represented by one of five women: Joan Kleinman, Karen McManus, Char Rosnick, Ann Humphrey, and from his campaign, Michelle Widman. Each of them has the difficult job of filling the void when Congressman Van Hollen cannot be present to give a speech or participate in an event. Each is also active in local politics in their own right. I know there are other capable women who work for Congressman Chris Van Hollen I have not had the chance to meet.
In Annapolis, Montgomery County has two capable women legislators named Anne Kaiser and Heather Mizeur. Delegate Kaiser showed great personal courage and leadership several years ago when outing herself during a hearing on gay marriage. Delegate Mizeur has only been in Annapolis since the 2006 election, but has already established herself as a national leader on healthcare issues with the passage of legislation allowing parents’ insurance to cover children up to age 25 and a new law improving uninsured children’s access to assistance they already qualify for. Heather Mizeur also serves on the Democratic National Committee for Maryland. And speaking of the DNC, Montgomery County is also home to DNC Vice Chair Susie Turnbull who travels the country tirelessly in her efforts to support Democratic candidates, but always finds time to attend and host events for local Democrats as well. Other hardworking women legislators from Montgomery County are Karen Montgomery, Rona Kramer, Kathleen Dumais, Susan Lee, Jennie Forehand, Ana Sol Gutierrez, Sheila Hixson, and Nancy King. At the County Council level, we have Duchy Trachtenberg, Nancy Floreen, and Valerie Ervin. Each of these women deserves their own blog entry.
Montgomery County is also lucky to have many former female legislators still actively working for the Democratic Party. One example is Esther Gelman, who served on the Montgomery County Council from 1974 to 1987 and was the first female Council President. Her service continues today with her regular attendance at Democratic events, her mentorship of many young activists, and most recently her service on the Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee’s Ballot Questions Committee.
Our state and county Young Democrats are also led by two capable young women. Jennifer Kramer is the president of the Young Democrats of Maryland (YDM). She is in her second term as president and is leading YDM’s effort to support Frank Kravotil in Maryland’s 1st Congressional district. She has also greatly improved Maryland’s reputation with the national Young Democrats of America organization. In Montgomery County, the Young Democrats (MCYD), an organization to which I belong, are led by Sarah Holstine. Just this past weekend, Sarah and MCYD provided volunteers for the Democratic Unity Picnic in Gaithersburg. MCYD also registered approximately 650 voters before the February primary, focusing on 17 year olds who would be 18 before the general election. That effort was headed by Young Democrat Lisa Kaneff.
At the weekend’s unity picnic, Peter Franchot joked that the person who got the most applause was Karen Britto, the Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee Chairwoman. While the applause Karen received on Saturday was loud, she does not always receive such a great reception, as readers of MPW know. But during her years leading the Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee, we have turned the County almost entirely blue and had many other great political successes, as I recently discussed in another post. The Democrats have also stayed largely united, which does not always happen when political parties find success. Karen Britto deserves a lot of credit for these achievements. Karen is joined on the Central Committee by eleven other hard working women who do not get nearly the recognition they deserve for their continuing work in staffing polls, raising money, and otherwise supporting Democrats. They are Marie Wallace, Tracy Terrell, Venattia Vann, Elly Shaw-Belblidia, Karen Czapansky, Sandy Raymond, Vivian Malloy, Aruna Miller, Beth Siniawsky, Vilma White, and Lindsey Brewer. Again, I am a member of MCDCC and admit I may have a little bias when it comes to my colleagues.
The list above is in no way exhaustive. But it does give some indication of the depth and breadth of female Democratic talent our County has. I would encourage readers to add more names in the comments to help me publicly acknowledge some of our great Montgomery County women Democrats, and thank them for all they do and will do as we work to elect a new president and keep Maryland blue.