Cohen Watch

Scott Lee Cohen's tune seems to be changing. The media is digging more into his story and painting an uglier picture. Early on Friday he was sticking to his stance that the people of Illinois had voted for him and he was staying. On Twitter a bunch of people were saying the same thing. Warning that if we let the party nudge someone off the ticket for being unsavory or unlikeable, well then democracy would start down that slippery slope of ethics into a place where party bosses would hand pick candidates.

What the hell do people think already happens?

Cohen represents not a victory for independent candidates winning out against the machine or party, but rather another prime example that if you blanket the airwaves and stuff enough propaganda into our mailboxes, your name sticks out on election day.

While many a people are in a huff over Mark Brown being an accomplice to Cohen's shenanigans by not reminding us that he had domestic violence in his past, it should be more clear to people that the Democratic party also failed us. Steve Rhodes at The Beachwood Reporter points out that the party started to worry as it looked more likely that Cohen might actually pull this baby out. Did they stand up and ask him to drop out at that point? Privately, who knows. Publicly? Hell no. Did they get together and pick a candidate to throw their weight behind? Again, privately who knows...Publicly, another failure of leadership.

But now, now that the people know who Cohen really is, what he has done in the past and perhaps is still doing by not paying alimony and child support on time, the party leaders are coming out and asking Cohen to step down. Sadly my own alderman is STANDING by his endorsement, while Ald. Waguespack and Personal PAC have revoked their endorsement of Cohen. And while he didn't endorse him, Da Mayor won't ask Cohen to step down. Cohen's website removed the list of endorsements, but I took a screen shot and WBEZ copied it down. Take a look, if someone on that list represents you, give them a call.

While Cohen may be spending the weekend trying to walk away from this embarrassment with a shred of dignity, this isn't about his dignity or the dignity of the Democratic party for me. It's about how the media, politicians and others view domestic violence.

The Chicago Foundation for Women held a press conference with Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation, Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault, Voices and Faces Project, Chicago Metropolitan Battered Women’s Network, YWCA Metropolitan Chicago and Rape Victim Advocates to denounce HOW domestic violence was being treated in the Cohen situation. Kelly White, Executive Director of Chicago Foundation for Women: "Domestic violence is not about having a bad day, or going through a rough patch in your life. Domestic violence is not about falling in with the wrong crowd or taking a bad drug. Those are excuses and platitudes that we’ve heard too many times and we shouldn’t accept in our families, from our neighbors or certainly not from public officials.”

Cohen's story does not just involve hitting his ex-wife or threatening his ex-girlfriend, but that ex-girlfriend works at a massage parlor known for prostitution. Massage parlors, in general, are often sites for not just prostitution, but human trafficking. According to a 2007 Cook County report [PDF], 90% of the "$14 billion dollar industry...occurs through supposedly ‘legal’ establishments such as escort services, strip clubs and massage parlors." The CFW press release frames the issue: "Large numbers of women residing in Illinois thus experience domestic and sexual violence. Every day 16,000 women and girls are involved in prostitution and sex trafficking in Chicago, the vast majority of whom experience high levels of violence and exploitation."

The ability for so many people before and after the election to wave off Cohen's actions speaks volumes to how we view domestic violence. Other candidates knew of Cohen's issues, others in the media must have known as well. Brown couldn't had been the only columnist to know as well. But clearly, clearly the party knew what was up and did nothing.

Yes, as voters we need to know who we are voting for, but we also rely on the so-called Fourth Estate to keep citizens informed. I am trying to figure out how must of this is a failure of the press versus failure of how far the media has fallen in terms of lack of staff, researchers and plain old space in the newspaper.

In the end, my objection to Cohen being on the ticket is that he is an abuser. He has admitted that he abused his ex-wife and I don't accept the excuse that he was full of roid rage. Yes, people change, but his actions and words from the past few days tell me that he's still got a lot of growing, learning and changing to do. And I don't want to pay his salary as he's doing it.

Just what Illinois politics needed: Scott Lee Cohen

Blago. Burris. Stroger. We thought we had finally turned a corner Tuesday night. Even with the weight of Alexi's family's bank saga, we at least were moving away from embarrassing politicians. We cheered the defeat of Todd Stroger and wished Toni Preckwinkle all the luck of a field of four-leaf clovers, cause she's gonna need it to clean up the mess of Cook County. Then we woke up on Thursday to news that 212,902, er, 212, 901 voters didn't do a good Google search of their candidate.

Scott Lee Cohen admits to choking his ex-wife and violence against his ex-girlfriend. He didn't fess up after someone dug it up either. He TOLD us...a year ago. Mark Brown of the Chicago Sun-Times, details how he and the rest of the media brushed aside Cohen's admission of domestic violence:

Let the record reflect that on the very day last March that Scott Lee Cohen announced his campaign for lieutenant governor of Illinois, he voluntarily disclosed he had once been arrested in what he described as a domestic battery case involving a live-in girlfriend.

Please, take a minute to click over the read the entire column. It outlines a failure of the media to remind us of important information about a candidate (compare to Chicago's media all buy telling us to NOT vote for Blago in 2006), failure of voters to do adequate research on the person they were going to vote for (don't just go by endorsements) and his candidates for not making this an issue.

Now that he is the Democratic candidate for Lt. Governor, the press is running with the story and the Democratic party is asking him to step down. Nope, says Cohen, "The people voted for me."

And sadly he's right.

He made the rounds on Chicago media to tell his story and why he's not stepping down. I missed the WTTW interview, but the comments are on fire! I can't wait to see the actual interview. But it was his interview with ABC7 that sealed the deal for me. Here's how he responds to charges of being abusive to his ex-wife:

"You don't stay with somebody for 26 years when they're hittin' and beatin' you. You don't," 

BULLSHIT.

He could be the greatest man in the world, but no one, no one who truly believes what Cohen said on TV (go watch the clip) can truly represent Illinois and be, as Eric Zorn said, "one heartbeat or one federal indictment away from becoming governor of Illinois."

Illinois' women's health page on domestic violence states that leaving a violent relationship is dangerous. "In 2000, intimate partner homicides accounted for 33.5 percent of the murders of women and less than four percent of the murders of men." And women know that. We might not know the exact stat, but we know that there is a sliver of reality when a man says he'll kill us or we'll never see our kids again if we leave him. I won't go on as I'm sure one of our fab domestic violence organizations will cover this soon.

Even if the allegations were false, someone with this mentality about domestic violence should not be this close to being the Governor of Illinois.

I'll be awaiting the press releases of everyone on the endorsement list disavowing Cohen and demanding that he step down.

I urge anyone who did vote for Cohen to demand that he step aside.

I agree with Progress Illinois, this is just the latest in a long series of embarrassments. Who would have thought that Alan Keyes wouldn't even be in the top 10?

More on Jackson and Hoffman

Sorry, it's hard to write a coherent post when I'm not exactly sure where it's going.

I did mean to address a few more points:

* As I said in the last post, I admire Jackson's ability to put herself thru college. This compares to Hoffman whose grandfather once chaired Geico insurance.
* I admit that the fact that if Cheryle fails to win this primary that means there won't be one African-American in the U.S. Senate...again...and that depresses me.
* Word from the Jackson camp (after they read my post) is that Jackson and Blago weren't on speaking terms as she left his administration and that changed only when she got to the Urban League position.

But one thing that I have been brewing and stewing on the last few weeks is that at the beginning of the race, the press set out three front runners: Jackson, Hoffman & Giannoulias. The two men swiftly went after Jackson for her Blago connections. Yes, it was an obvious angle to take. But honestly, I'm quite tired of seeing men candidates band together, planned or not, to take out the lone woman candidate. I also noticed that even after a Chicago Tribune poll showed that Jackson was in second place, that the media seems to simply ignore her. Well other than to talk about how she's not raising any money.

And I think that's what gets my goat the most.

It's not that I think women can't play the game, it's that I feel that women have a different set of rules and that they change on the fly. And that is why I essentially go into races like this, where I don't have an overwhelming favorite, trying to find a reason NOT to vote for the woman candidate.

Compare this to the Cook County race where we have two women running, two African American women running and the race is about the issues, qualifications and all the stuff you would think should be on the table. I know sometimes there is more than one woman to split the women's vote, but I think women as a voting bloc has evolved from that point. Especially when the two candidates are clearly so different.

As a woman and a woman of color, I must pay attention to these factors. "Taxation without representation" isn't just a slogan, it's a reality for far too many communities in this country.

I'm trying to decide who to vote for between Hoffman & Jackson for US Senate

One reason why I like to bring my political decisions to this blog is that frankly a lot of people ask me my opinion in real life, so I figure some of you might be curious as well. I also like to solicit thoughts from my readers as well. Today is Friday, only four more days until election day. According to Tom Skilling, Tuesday looks to be sunny and not too cold. This is GREAT for turn out. But even if I can skip my way to my polling station, I still don't know who to vote for in the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate. According to a Chicago Tribune poll, it looks like I'm not the only undecided! So let's dive in:

CANDIDATES:

Robert Marshall: Opposes gun control and is frankly not a known entity. While I do root for the lil guy, I think Marshall is too little in this big race.

Jacob Meister: I think he was the first candidate to follow me on Twitter, so he gets points for that. Really, if a candidate is smart enough to use social media in the campaign, hopefully that means she/he will be smart enough to continue to use it to communicate to their constituents. I also like what he has to say on issues, especially prison reform. It's a start. I also like how feisty he was in the ABC 7 debate. Alas, he also lacks in name recognition and is woefully down in the polls.Again, I like my underdogs, but only so far.

Alexi Giannoulias: Obama's basketball buddy. I didn't support his Treasurer run and I won't vote for him in this race either. Not only do I get a bad feeling about him, but recent new issues with his family's bank are going to be a huge issue in a general election, especially up against Rep. Mark Kirk. I know the polls say one thing right now, but November is a long way off. The downside to an early primary is that leaves a LONG time for the candidates to beat each other up.

And here is where this feminist is up the river and on a fence. As I said in my Cook County post last week, it's hard to find the perfect feminist candidate. Mostly because there is no such thing as a perfect feminist. I've moved beyond supporting a woman candidate just because we may share some plumbing, but I also still prefer to vote for women because our representation is just so lacking in most venues. So I start with the woman candidate and tally up her pluses and minuses.

Cheryle Jackson: Good on most of the issues except marriage equality. As a NOW member and former NOW board member, I know how important it is to elect someone who wants full marriage for same sex couples and not civil unions.

She also put herself thru college. Since I did that myself, I always give candidates props for that fact. Hopefully that means they remember that struggle when crafting policy that impacts higher education and young workers.

Her big bad seems to be that she worked for Blagojevich, in fact she was his spokesperson. The question is how much did she know? I don't know if we can know that answer. The next question is can we trust her? 

David Hoffman: He's good on the issues and supports marriage equality. He made some mistakes early on in the campaign that soured me, but as the Chicago Tribune says in reaction to a Giannoulias ad, Hoffman apologized.

**
On Afghanistan, Jackson would call for troops to come home immediately, but Hoffman says it's not realistic. And honestly I struggle with that issue every day. I feel like Jackson, but think like Hoffman. I want to support bringing the troops home now.

So I think you can see why I'm struggling with my decision. I think that both candidates would make excellent senators.

I am thinking about who would be able to stand up to Mark Kirk. He's going to be formidable. While the Tea Baggers won't like him, they will love handing President Obama a loss in his home state. What will be a bigger liability? Having your family bank bailed out? Working for Blagojevich? 

GAH!! 

Sorry, I hit publish too soon. Came back to add:

Endorsements
I take them with a grain of salt. Except that Hoffman has a ton of endorsements and most of the newspapers. This tells me that he can handle the questioning that, gawd, I hope, happens when up against a newspaper board. Jackson has some key names on her list, but it's not a lengthy list. 

Thoughts on the Cook County Board President Forum

Despite all the candidates (R, D, G) confirming their attendance, only four showed up for a forum to discuss how their administration would address violence against women, girls and the LGBTQ community. The forum was cosponsored by Chicago Foundation for Women, Center on Halsted, Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation, Chicago Metropolitan Battered Women's Network, Loyola University Chicago and Rape Victim Advocates.

Toni Preckwinkle, Dorothy Brown (arrived late), Tom Tresser, and Todd Stroger answered questions by the fabulous moderator Kimbriell Kelly (Editor, The Chicago Reporter). I have to start out my post with major props to Kimbriell. As a journalist, she exhibited what one should expect from the fourth estate - she knew her topic and pressed the candidates for real answers. And believe me, that was tough to do.

Due to life, I ended up taking the kid with me to the forum. About half way thru she left with her dad to grab some food and focus on her homework. When I caught up with them she asked, "So who won?"

SUMMARY
I would have to give this one to Preckwinkle. Given her opponents, she could have taken a nap in the middle and still won. She was organized, knew her audience and gave thoughtful answers to most questions. Second place would have to go to Brown as she did have some answers althou she could never get "LGBTQ" to roll off her tongue correctly. I know even I get tongue tied with the acronym at times, but being a candidate, you should practice this one over and over. Third place goes to Stroger because he attempted to answer the questions. Last place obviously goes to Tresser and that fact really hurts, which I'll explain later.

Q&A
This first question asked the candidates to state what they would do in their first 90 days. Stroger said he's done a lot to reach out to the community in the last three years. He also called for a community meeting. Preckwinkle said she'd address issue that women don't report rapes & other violent crimes, work on incarcerating only violent offenders, remove non-violent offenders & focus on drug treatment, education/training and home monitoring. Tresser responded by talking about corruption and that he wasn't taking money from PACs, unions or had the support of Madigan (he held up the front page of the Chicago Tribune for effect). The moderator followed up with him about the issue - violence against women, girls & the LGBTQ community. Tresser continued with his anti-corruption talking points, but also interjected that the people in the room should be the ones in charge at the County. Preckwinkle added in that she would begin by addressing rape as a member of her family was raped and the justice system failed her, thus she went to civil court for justice. She followed up that neither her or Stroger had Madigan money or support.

OPENING STATEMENTS
Since Brown came in late, the opening statements were actually after the first question. Brown mentioned that she had been a victim of teen dating violence and that her office has a violence liaison.. Tresser stated that this was his first run at elected office and reminded us that he fought against the Olympics for a year. Preckwinkle talked about how she has worked to rebuild her ward, wants to repeal the Stroger tax, look at new revenue streams and make the independent health panel permanent. I missed Stroger's statement.

BACK TO Q&A

The next issue was violence and sexual assault against LGBTQ youth at our youth detention centers. Stroger said his hands were tied due to federal jurisdiction/oversight.Preckwinkle said that better training is needed.

Asked who should be prosecuted in the youth prostitute - pimp - john relationship, Tresser returned to his message that advocates in the room should be in charge and when pressed said that we need to address the issues that result in youth living on the streets and finding themselves in the sex trade. Brown talked about a need for alternatives. Preckwinkle called current laws that focus on prosecuting prostitutes as sexist.

Now here was an unbelievable moment in the forum. The candidates were asked about four pending federal lawsuits from women shackled during labor while incarcerated. Stroger, our current Cook County President, claimed that he had no knowledge of the issue or lawsuits. He said that he will talk with the Sheriff right away! Preckwinkle said she would settled the lawsuits and then cited a a program from Washington state that allows incarcerated new moms to keep their newborns with them for a time being. Does the Alderman read Ms. magazine? Brown said she can't believe it is happening and said that even if it was legal, it's a bad practice period. Tresser said he'd zero out the Sheriff's budget until the practice was stopped. Brown & Stroger then jumped in to explain why that just can't happen and thus why his tax increase was and still is needed. Brown disagreed on that last point.

When asked to address the historical lack of support for domestic violence and rape survivors in the county, Preckwinkle discussed her idea of setting up a way to support community organizations and a model that the city uses which honestly I got a bit confused about. I would love feedback from providers on this one! Stroger said he has six people looking for grants right now and would make sure there was a focus on DV issues. Tresser said no need to wait for grants, just cut out corruption which wastes up to 10% of our budget!


The last question from the moderator asked how each candidate would address the obstacles survivors and agencies face when attempting to gather information from the Cook County State Attorney’s office. Stroger stated that the state attorney can’t without information and with a new law that was passed in the state assembly, almost everything is available. The moderator jumped in to make the point that while the Freedom of Information Act is a tool, FOIA requests are often challenged and not as simple as Stroger made it sound. Preckwinkle made a point to state that the President is just one person on the board and that there are about 9 other elected officials in the county. She called for more training. Brown said she would work with advocates to change the laws. She would also work with the Commission on the Status of Women (If she meant the state commission, it was disbanded by Blagovich) and the Cook County women’s relations office. Brown also mentioned that we needed to have high ethics . Tresser sang his anti-corruption song and said he would put everything he could on the internet.

AUDIENCE QUESTIONS
How would you address the role of men in fighting violence against women and girls? 

Preckwinkle returned to goal of reducing the non-violent offender population in the jail system so there was room to incarcerate violent offenders. Brown mentioned rehabilitation of offenders, especially juveniles, while they are incarcerated.

President Stroger, please address what progress your administration has made in addressing violence against women, girls & the LGBT community.

Stroger replied that he gave Sheriff Dart the ability to hold johns more accountable by towing cars and fining the men. Said that we need a holistic approach to women in the sex trade, they need services.

How will you provide violence against women service providers when the state fails to hold up their end of the funding equation?

Tresser said simply, “VOTE GREEN!” He then said that the County President should be in DC to get money. Also said we need to get the churches involved and tell men to just stop. There were some other responses, but no one really answered it.

The next question asked if the candidates felt that one way to combat bad media images of women and LGBT persons was to incorporate gender sensitivity education to elementary schools. 

Brown said YES! She thinks that we should be teaching character education in schools as well as tolerance for everyone. Stroger put the blame on parents who listen to terrible music which fuels the difference fire. He called it “hateful noise labeled as entertainment” that targets gender, color and LGBT persons.

How will you address women with disabilities and the abuse they face in nursing homes and battling the nursing home lobby?

Preckwinkle: We need to segregate the populations: mentally ill, LGBTQ and those with disabilities. We need state legislation to help screening of employees and remain vigilant on hiring employees.

A senior from Dunbar asked about school-based health centers and how will each candidate support them as President. 

Preckwinkle said she thought they were wonderful ideas and would support expanding them. She sees them as part of strengthening a community since schools are the heart of communities. She especially liked the idea of high school based ones since it allows for ease of access to health facilities for teens who may have a hard time talking to their parents about obtaining birth control or treatment for STDs.

CLOSING STATEMENTS
Brown said that she couldn’t stay for the reception afterward because she was hosting an online townhall meeting and would continue to connect with voters thru online townhalls. She wants to reform the justice system, create more jobs and help small businesses.

Preckwinkle thanked everyone for attending and restated her independence. She quoted one of the newspaper endorsements she received where it was stated that she had the best chance to fight corruption.

Stroger pointed out that while the state and city have turned to furloughs and blackout dates, the county is economically sound. He has helped many people with their mortgages. He said he was a good fiscal manager.

Tresser said to go Green…again.

THOUGHTS
Being a feminist is hard when it comes to electoral politics. It’s hard when we have a two party system that caters to a huge moderate population. This often means that we can only go so far with feminist action. Abortion? Sure, but only if you can pay for it yourself missy. Child care? Sure, but only if you can afford a safe placement. Family leave? Darn tooting! But again, it’s on your dime. The President of the United States calls himself a feminist and yet he allowed the religious forces in this country to throw women under the bus during recent healthcare reform negotiations. In the recent Massachusetts Senatorial race, I heard from feminists who felt that Coakley just wasn’t good enough, that she had a track record that showed she said feminist things, but did otherwise. Some feminists feel that having a known enemy is better than being swept off our feet by a feminist candidate only to be left heartbroken by their actions (ahem, Mr. President!). We are very good at maintaining the status quo as we saw in the second Bush administration. Yes, we lost ground, but we also held back the bigger flood we feared would drown us to Gilead. The first year of the Obama administration was a disappointment, to say the least, when we felt that we could push our issues in a progressive direction.

That leaves many feminists to ponder what the hell to do when it comes to elections. Should we start our own party? Do we back third parties? For me, unless a candidate jumps out at me as awesome, I always investigate if the Green Party has a candidate. As someone who was against the Olympics, I saw what Tom Tresser was doing and had to tip my hat at his work. In 2006, I voted for the Green candidate Rich Whitney for Governor. I did it because I thought some of his ideas were good, but also to help the Green party become established in Illinois. When I vote Green it is not just as simple as a protest vote. I want to vote for ideas. Tom Tresser had a perfect venue to reach a community eager for change and he provided no ideas. Some people might vote for an anti-corruption candidate, but when I chatted with a few people afterwards, they were very disappointed he didn’t provide ideas on how to address the very real issues we live with corruption or not.

I’ve been keeping an eye and ear on Toni Preckwinkle for a few years. She’s voted with the Mayor a bit more often than not (55%), but she’s also shown the most independence in the rubber stamp City Council. She was also the most prepared candidate at the forum. She offered some good ideas and knowledge of the issues discussed.

For me the biggest issues that the county deals with is our public health care system and the jail. These are two areas that impact so many of us, even if we don’t realize it. I want the leader of the county to at the very least respect these issues if not agree with how I think we can address them.

For the record, I haven’t volunteered for any candidate nor given any of them any money.

The election is February 2, 2010, so get out there and vote!


NOTES
While I took notes by hand, @DeliaChristina tweeted as well and I referred to her tweets to help fill in things I may have missed while mothering the kid. If you were there and have a different recollection of what happened, please leave a comment. I know I didn't come close to capturing everything said.

Take Action Day!

Instead of any real posting, I'm pushing you over to two other sites today: 

Over at AWEARNESS you can find my contribution to today's Not Under the Bus Day of Action.

This month's contribution to Chicagonista is a post about the upcoming primary. Yes, I'm a political junkie. Don't act like you're surprised!

OK, on with our busy lives.

Peace.

Get your sample ballot, Illinois

Thanks to Lynn Sweet for alerting us of eVote and a nifty place for all of Illinois to get a sample ballot. Simply put your address, city & zip in to grab a list of all the names that you will get to choose from on election day.

And the really kewl this is that once you get to your sample ballot you can ask it to note which candidates are endorsed by Sierra Club, Planned Parenthood, Personal PAC, Illinois Federal of Teachers, Illinois Right to Life, Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Federation of Labor.

AND...double check your polling place address. After 5 years of voting in the same place, I gotta figure out where my poll moved. Nice move politicos...nice move.

You can also go to Chicagoelections.com to get all the info you need, but not endorsements.

Preckwinkle is the peppermint mocha of election season

Following up on my post about election season kicking off in Chicago, I want to talk about the County Board President election. Long time readers know that I'm not a fan of current President Stroger. Not only do I think he doesn't have the chops for the job, but the lying that the party/machine and his family did to get Todd into that office will never be forgotten. That's a sentiment I hear from others in Cook County.

So this election to select a replacement has almost been counted down like New Year's Eve or the release of the latest tech gadget. Cook County is eager to replace him. But will we?

The primary is a crowded field, but it seems that Chicago Alderman Toni Preckwinkle is the front runner to rid us of Todd. It seems that Da Mayor is backdoor endorsing her too. I try not to listen to polls, but rather who is getting press, endorsements and buzz. I'm not calling her President yet, Todd still has a machine, even a weak one behind him. Last month polls had Dorothy Brown in the lead causing Rep. Davis to endorse her, but I haven't heard much from or about Brown since. But with the election just weeks away I'm sure that Cook County will be hit with a blizzard of ads, fliers, robocalls (which I hate!!!!) and of course email upon email.

Good luck deciding! And remember, get out and vote, no matter who you are voting for.

On January 21st, the Chicago Foundation for Women is sponsoring a forum with ALL the candidates - Dems, GOP and the lone Green:

Cook County Board President
CANDIDATE FORUM

Focusing on Violence Against Women and Girls

Cosponsored by Chicago Foundation for Women, Center on Halsted, Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation, Chicago Metropolitan Battered Women's Network, Loyola University of Chicago and Rape Victim Advocates

Thursday, Jan. 21, 2010
6 p.m. (Doors open at 5:30)
Loyola University of Chicago, Water Tower Campus
111 E. Pearson St.
Beane Hall, 13th floor of Lewis Towers
Chicago

No RSVP necessary. Open to the public.

For full details click here!

In Illinois it's political season!

Just as we are taking down our holiday decorations, recycling our trees and preparing to send our kids back to school, a new season is breaking - Election season!

Thanks to state politico leaders taking advantage of Obama-mania, the primary falls on February 2nd. It's apparently a date chosen not so much to put Obama over the top two years ago, but to reduce voter turn out by asking people to come out on one of the coldest and winteriest day of the year. ""It is the bitterest, coldest, iciest day of the year to discourage people from voting," [Cook County Commissioner Forrest Claypool] said, calling Illinois' voting system "rigged." The election that matters most, he said, happens in the primary season, not November."

Normally not a lot is at stake during the primaries since there has been little competition for seats in the Chicago area. But there are a few races that are worth noting:

* Jesus "Chuy" Garcia trying to "evict Commissioner Joseph Mario Moreno, 57, from the seat he has held since 1995 on the Cook County Board."

*Rudy Lozano Jr. trying to "end the 19-year tenure of state Rep. Dan Burke, 58, in the Illinois House."

* The race for President Obama's Senate seat between IL Treasurer Alexi Giannolias (Obama's basketball buddy who needed Obama's endorsement to win his Treasurer seat), Cheryl Jackson (lone woman), David Hoffman (former City of Chicago Inspector General who blew the whistle on the rotten parking meter sale) and a few other Dems. Smart money is on Alexi because well, he has all the money. Then we have the GOP where U.S. Rep Mark Kirk is the smart bet. I have to be honest that I have no idea who I will support in the primary and if it's Alexi versus Mark in the general, oy...tough call. I'm not a party gal so I'm not always voting for the Dem. I'll hash it out once we get to that point. But...

* The Illinois Green Party has slated LeAlan M. Jones for the U.S. Senate. I love the idea of a black man from Englewood being my Senator.

The first two races I don't get to vote on, which is a shame. I definitely believe that we need new voices in our political system. Rudy's passion, at least on Facebook, is endearing.

But this is Chicago and in February who knows what will or can happen. Other than the machine winning yet again.

Obama and hope

I haven't written or done much in terms of the health care debate. I've been partially paralyzed by seeing allies paralyzed themselves. Paralyzed by what they felt was the failure of President Obama to successfully smash thru a health care bill that would reflect his progressive views that we voted him into office for.

And sadly what I have to keep reminding my friends in the fight is that Obama never said he'd govern by those progressive views. I can't pull them up, but my memory tells me that Obama spent a lot of time talking about his views, but would talk about governing in the middle to respect people on both sides. I watched him in 2002 at an anti-Iraq War rally talk about how Afghanistan was a just war. He never said he was a peace candidate or would be a peace President, no matter what the Nobel Prize people project.

That's not to say that I don't also project my hopes and wishes onto Obama. But Starhawk sent out a timely note for the Solstice that reminded me that we can hope all we want, but without a lot of action and movement, that's all it will be - hope.

But the message of Solstice is this:  hope does not come once into the world and fulfill itself.  Hope and light must constantly be reborn, over and over again.  They wax and wane, and must be renewed.

That renewal, that birthing, requires labor.  Labor means work, commitment, perseverance through that time when it seems you just can’t push any more.  The cervix dilates slowly, pang by pang.  The child begins to emerge, is drawn back, pushed forward another increment.

We are the laboring Mother, we are the spark of light.  New possibilities kick and squirm within us.  No, it’s not easy to bring them forth, but we are strong, and we are made for this work.  Bear down…breathe…push.  This morning the sun rises;  each day a new world is born.

2009 was our honeymoon - not that romantic honeymoon where we gaze adoring into each other's eyes, but rather that honeymoon when we realize that Mr. LoveOfOurLife likes to leave his underwear on the bathroom floor. Every day. We don't get a divorce, we adjust. We take our rose-colored glasses off and get to work. It's not that we don't love Obama anymore, but our Prince Charming has a few flaws.

Thankfully Jill Zimon isn't paralyzed and wrote a fabu piece summarizing the whole situation thus far. 

There will never be closure in the Nicarico case

Originally posted at the AWEARNESS blog

There will never be closure in the Nicarico case as long as Jim Ryan continues to run for public office.

The Nicarico family never missed a court date. For years they sat in courtroom after courtroom listening to the lies from Attorney Jim Ryan's team as they refused to admit their mistakes and consider Brian Dugan as a suspect. Instead, Ryan kept the case rolling along to wrongfully convict two innocent men and send them to death row.

Jim Ryan is now running for Illinois Governor and "spent a decade as DuPage state's attorney, previously had said he based his case against Cruz and Hernandez on the best information available at the time, though Dugan had long been a suspect in the crime." As I have said before in this space, the Nicarico case made a significant impact on my life. As a child it taught me to make sure the doors are locked. As a teen it taught me the harsh realities of racism in our judicial system.

Now that Brian Dugan has confessed and been sentenced to death, Ryan is apologizing. Not to Rolando Cruz, not to the Nicaricos, but to the voting public. Will we accept it? I can't. I simply can't accept his apology, especially since he has never given one to Cruz.

The fact that Ryan continues to run for public office only reminds us of the miscarriage of justice that occurred. The pain that he put not just the Nicaricos through, but an entire generation of Chicagoans. And it's not over. This case will be an issue throughout the primary election. Dugan still has one automatic appeal owed to him: Illinois has a moratorium on the death penalty. Amazingly, the huge flaws seen in this case alone are still not enough to convince people that we need to abolish the death penalty.

According to Amnesty International "ninety three percent of all known executions took place in five countries: China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and the USA." I think that says a lot about the United States as a country. As our moms have said, we are judged by the company we keep.

I am opposed to the death penalty because it drags out court proceedings (thus wasting money), it is racist, but most importantly because we are flawed as human beings. The Nicarico case screams with our flaws. I don't believe any set of checks and balances can ensure that we won't make a mistake, especially in a country where we are still debating whether people have a right to NOT be framed or a right to DNA testing to prove innocence.

And sorry Jim Ryan, but no apology can make up for all of that.

Latina Leaders and New Media

I attended the NCLR session, "Serving, Leading and Inspiring: Latinas in Elected and Appointed Office" which was great. So many amazing stories! I'll write them up later on. But afterwards I was able to grab my former State Sentor Iris Martinez (disclosure: I have donated to her campaign), State Representative Susana Mendoza and Elmy Bermejo, Chair of the board of HOPE, for a few minutes on social media.

It was a case study in how different we see social media and who is using it.

For Senator Martinez, she does not have a dedicated press person to help manage any social media outreach. Senators share press people, so one press person could be handling 4-5 or even 10 state senators. This doesn't seem to lead to having the time or energy to handle any substantive social media presence. I've talked with friends over the last few years and most of us are frustrated that elected officials aren't using the Internet to it's fullest extent. Martinez is committed to updating her website soon and looking for ways to increase her presence online.

Representative Mendoza is on Facebook and Twitter. It's really her on the other end of the iPhone, which was peeking out of her suit jacket, sending in updates. She says that she resisted joining for a long time, but quickly came to realize the power of social media/networking. While she was on the impeachment panel for former Gov. Blagojevich, she got a TON of feedback from people around the state about the impeachment as well as about her. "I got messages from Republicans in Lake County saying "I've never voted for a Democrat, but I'd vote for you if you ran for higher office." You don't let all of that go to your head, but it's great to hear from so many people. Facebook is the best door knocker!" We discussed how someone at her level of politics or even more local could definitely use Facebook and other social media tools to expand ones base in order to run for a higher office. She does say that she tries not to update too much and any updates are fairly relevant. Too many elected officials update too much and border on annoying.

Mendoza knows that her community still has issues with the digital divide and sees more non-constituents giving her feedback through social media tools. But is committed to bringing resources to the community. As she sees it, getting more people connected to computers will only increase their voices and education.

HOPE is working in California to increase the number of Latinas in leadership. They are also working on launching a poll to see how Latinas in California are using social media. Who is using it, why, how as well as seeing who isn't using it or even has access to social media. The digital divide is also a huge issue for HOPE and they want to see the divide decrease. As for their leadership training, they are targeting Latinas with potential. After a Latina goes through the training, they have access to the entire state wide network. One Latina who was campaigning had a goal of raising $5,000 in a week. With HOPE's network if every Latina on the list gave $20, she would have reached one week's goal.

And that's what HOPE is trying to do. Get more Latinas engaged in politics through running for office, working on campaigns and GIVING to campaigns. Bermejo says that it's working. Latinas are voting more, organizing receptions for other candidates and are giving more to campaigns.

The networks are forming one Latina at a time and by connecting online through Facebook, Twitter or whatever we create, I think that we'll be quite a force to be reckoned with.

National NOW Election

I'm endorsing Latifa Lyles and her slate in this weekend's NOW election and here is why:

1. I have worked with Latifa in the past and she is always great to work with. I haven't worked on huge projects with her, but even small stuff matters. She was also a very welcoming face when I spent one year on the National Board back in 2003-2004.
2. Every membership organization I know of has seen a drop in membership numbers, so that we have as many as we do have is testiment to Latifa's hard work, especially with online membership.
   
3. The fact that she is young (33) and a woman of color does not mean that's why I'm supporting her. But it does put the exclamation mark on my endorsement! Not to mention that Sonia is also a woman of color.
   
4. She chose Sonia Ossario as her Executive Vice-president. Does her name sound familiar? It should, especially if you are in NYC. "She has appeared on MSNBC, Hannity & Colmes, the Glenn Beck Show, Impacto Nacional and other national and local news networks. She was profiled in El Diario/La Prensa and NY 1News."
5. Salon.com likes Latifa too! As for Patricia Ireland's comment that Latifa is partially to blame for the lack of an online precense, I'd like to piont out that the website has come a long way since 2001 and didn't look that different from when Terry was a vice-president. Olga Vives, current NOW Executive Vice-President, is supporting Terry and should also shoulder blame for the state of NOW's website.
6. Liz Gilchrist and Janice Rocco bring years of fundraising to the table - as do Latifa and Sonia.
   

Now this is a hard post to write because I have some dear friends in support of Terry's slate. But I feel like I must take a side and voice my opinion. When I turn on CNN and see the NOW President or a Vice-President, I want to see Latifa, Sonia, Liz or Janice. From the rumbles I've heard and I thank the Great Lakes listerv moderator for keeping the mud from flinging there, this is a down & out ugly campaign.

And here's another tidbit to consider if you are leaning towards Terry's slate - I have heard that PUMAs will be traveling to Indianapolis to punish Kim Gandy thru Latifa for supporting Barack Obama after Hillary Clinton lost the primary. This is DESPITE Kim & NOW's super early endorsement of Hillary, which I didn't support - I thought it was too early.

So on Saturday I'll be casting my vote for a slate whom I think can move NOW into a new century, connect with a new generation and will hold POTUS' feet to the fire on feminist issues. It shouldn't be cast as a minimal thing either that one of Terry's slate members is from Illinois and I will not be voting for her. That is all I will say about that, but I wanted to make it clear.

If you are traveling to the NOW Conference and want to meet up, please drop me a line!

One last post before I go...

Why is it that we have to rely on the fucking sports section to read an all-out-rip on Da Mayor?

The City of Chicago, led by Mayor Daley and a vast and tumorous army of aldermen and bagmen and yesmen and opportunists and spineless, parasitic political-machine halfwits of forms never seen outside the roiling cesspool of governmental slop-trough greed, has proven itself unworthy of something as potentially delicious and fulfilling as the 2016 Olympic Games.

Bravo Telander!

Netroots Nation – The morning after

Saturday night I sat on a panel with Greg Palast, Rick Perlstein and Ed Yohnka. Matt Filipowicz organized and moderated the panel. It was one hell of a time.

First let me address the issue of me being the only woman and only person of color on the panel. I'm not bringing it up here nor did I bring it up at the panel because I want to beat this horse to death. I do it because I got emails and tweets from friends who still can't believe that panels are produced like this. When I was asked to be on the panel, I did ask who else would be on. I also suggested rather firmly that Matt look for another woman or at least a person of color, man or woman. He told me that he had a few other women and people of color in mind, but those he asked couldn't attend. I racked my own brain to think of others, but I was the fourth person and well, at that point the panel was pretty full. And after Saturday night I can say that the stage was full!

Matt did talk about organizing more panels and we would work hard to make future panels more diverse and with that hopefully the audience would also be more diverse. I noticed around 7:15 that there were three (obvious) people of color in the house – my husband, an Asian American woman and me. I did notice a few more Asian-American men and an African-American woman come in after I was up on the stage. Still the audience was far too white for a full conversation about how to push a progressive agenda not to mention far too white for the neighborhood the panel was being held in.

Now for the content…Ah, the content. Greg Palast (Correction) Rick requested that Matt introduce us WWE style and Matt did a hell of a job at it. It was the best intro I've ever had and honestly can't imagine that anyone can really top it. My husband did record it, so it'll be up soon. I was introduced first so I ended up at the far left of the stage (appropriate, eh?) but this also ended up meaning that I was the last person to speak. I found that this played in my favor because I was able to adjust my remarks to what the three dudes had just said. And they did hang a few pitches for me.

Palast talked about how we have a Jekell & Hyde president in Obama and that progressives were trying to figure out which one we elected and which one shows up each day. In the end we shouldn't care which one shows up, we need to pressure both to work on progressive issues and ideas. Ed & I spoke well on the fact that we shouldn't have been surprised about Obama. He was pretty truthful in how he stood on issues and how he worked. Ed thinks Obama is much more conservative than I do, but hey Ed knows him. I relayed my story of interviewing Obama at the IL NOW PAC meeting in fall of 2003. I'll never forget that it was fall 2003 because I was breastfeeding my newborn and had to make sure I had pumped at the right time so I wouldn't miss Obama's interview. Despite being a lactivist and breastfeeding in public, I had decided that this meeting was too important for me to be distracted by a squirmy newborn. Hey, they do squirm. I could tell that Obama was a great politician by the way he didn't answer many questions, but gave great responses.

Palast essentially blamed Ashley Dupree for NY Governor Spitzer's failure to hold Wall Street accountable because the news of Dupree & Spitzer came out the day before he was going to file a lawsuit or bill. I didn't catch exactly what Spitzer was going to do because my mind had a bit of a WTF moment. Did Palast really blame Dupree and let Spitzer and his wandering penis off the hook? So when it was my turn, I mentioned this. I framed it in a wider discussion that feminists have been having about how Palin and Hillary were portrayed. That the sexist remarks turn off women, feminist or not. I could see the women in the audience nod along. I'm seriously surprised I didn't a few "Amens" from the crowd.

There was also a good amount of discussion about how we need to think and organize locally. Ed made a brilliant point that while we are engaging on a national debate over torture, Chicago is at the start of the John Birge trial and that Mayor Daley has never been held accountable for his role as states attorney. I reinforced that thought by pointing out that Chicagoans keep voting Daley in despite the corruption and that the wide outrage over the parking meters is a not just a dollar short and a day late, but millions short and a decade late.

It was a great discussion and I hope that my point about pushing ourselves to see the interconnectiveness of all our issues is essential was received well. While Palast is correct that we must focus on the economic recovery of this country, we can't push women or gay rights aside. They are connected. Our entitlement to pensions promised is just as important to our entitlement to paid sick days. Not just to us as individuals, but to us as workers and to our economy. Paid sick days, parental leave and health care must be administered by the government, federal or state, as to not burden companies and provide equal access. Health care is weighing down companies including the auto companies. If we removed that burden, perhaps they would be in a better place to recover. And we'd be a healthier country.

Unfortunately my husband had a migraine hit him with a vengeance just as we were wrapping up. So just as I got my post-panel-recovery beer, he told me he needed to go home. I had just enough time to say hi to a few of the women including someone who came all the way from Wisconsin. Please comment my northern reader! I wish I could have stayed to chat, but I needed to take care of my sweetie. Thanks to all who spent their Saturday night with us. Hope we can get together again soon.

EVENT: Netroots Nation Chicago

Come see me!! Afterward you can buy me a drink too.

Netroots Nation Chicago
Pushing a Progressive Agenda in the Obama Administration
Saturday, May 16, 8 p.m. (doors at 6 p.m.)
No Exit Cafe, 6970 North Glenwood, Chicago
With a Democratic president, House and Senate, we have a historic opportunity for progressive change. But how do liberals and progressives make sure their voice is heard? This panel will discuss constructive ways of pushing a progressive agenda and holding our elected officials' feet to the fire. Panelists include:

Veronica Arreola, Viva La Feminista

Greg Palast, BBC, author of Armed Madhouse
Rick Perlstein, author of Nixonland, Before The Storm
Matthew Filipowicz, Huffington Post, Headzup.tv
Ed Yohnka, ACLU-IL, Director of Communications And Public Policy

Admission is free. Dinner and drinks available for purchase. A Drinking Liberally cocktail hour to follow the event. Click here to RSVP for the event.

What Should Sarah Palin Do?

Clearly Sarah Palin wants more out of her fifteen minutes of fame. Recently she even appointed a woman who use to volunteer for Planned Parenthood to the Alaska Supreme Court. Is this a sign that Palin isn't as right-wing as she showed during the campaign? If so should we take comfort in that or take that as a sign she's just another pandering politician?

But news broke a few days ago that Palin's daughter, Bristol, broke up with her finance and the father of her child. Rumors have been flying, tabloids chock full of half-truths and who comes out to set the record straight? SARAHPAC.

What the fuck?

I echo Jill & Gloria's opinion that Bristol is a big girl, she can talk to the press herself. She was fine in her interview with Greta and I'm sure she can handle a gaggle of media hounds. All she has to do is make a short statement and then walk away. I'd love to see her come out and give the finger to the media. She's just a kid who is trying to figure out this life of hers.

Many of us half-joked that Obama's win was also Bristol's win. That if McCain & Palin had won, there would had been a wedding. Now Bristol is free to make her own decision. Hopefully she has always been free to make those decisions.

But what of Sarah? Is her attempt to stay in the public eye hurting Bristol? Should she take Bristol into account before calling for a press conference? Is there a way for a mother to hold a public job like Palin does AND respect your daughter's privacy in a tough time? Where does Mother Sarah end and Governor Palin start?

Maybe this is the time for a family vacation to somewhere warm and sandy for some R&R, family bonding, hell whip out the board games.

I wish Bristol much luck in finding her footing.

Is the machine stronger than Netroots?

Yesterday's special election for Illinois' 5th Congressional district proved one thing - You better have a machine in place before even considering running for office in Chicago.

The top three vote getters on the Dem side (it's a Dem district, no GOP candidate got 1,000 votes) are well established politicians who obviously have a machine behind them. Whether it is a Daley machine, a Stroger machine or whatever you want to call it, they have a solid base. Feigenholtz spent the most money, including $100,000 of her own, to come in 3rd.

But what has me really thinking this morning is that Netroots darling Tom Geoghegan came in a woeful 7th with only 6% of the vote. He had some superstar endorsements, but apparently no army to get the vote out. OK, no one really got the vote out, but Quigley won with more than 20% of those voting, which is larger than most pundits thought was needed back in Decemeber. There was talk that even 10% might win this baby because of the sheer number of candidates.

Thus I want to ask: If the Netroots helped propel Obama to the White House, how do we take that and relocate it locally? Is the Netroots just that? Only on the net? Is it a method for national progressives to rally together in a virtual room to affect change? What do we need to do at the local level to make change happen?

That shouldn't be seen as a slam on Quigley. I know he's going to be a fine Congressman. But in his victory speech last night he said:

"After all the recent embarrassments, this was the first chance that the voters had to voice their desire for change and they spoke loud and clear," Quigley told the Tribune. "They came through for me, and now I have to come through for them."

What we should really look at is the dismal turn out...that's the real message voters in the 5th sent. That they are so sick of politics, even this race couldn't get them to stand in line for 5 minutes. The polls were that empty my friends, 5 minutes is all it would have taken to vote. The fact that the plurality of voters went with Quigley does say something, that he has crafted his reformer message well. I hope he delivers on that message in DC, but the truth is that Congressmen & women need to bring home a lot of bacon to keep getting elected, it's hard to reform that.

Carol Marin is bit more optomistic about what Quigley's win means to local politics.

In a district the Machine has controlled since 1958 -- except for two aberrant years -- with congressmen named Rostenkowski, Blagojevich and Emanuel, the 5th was the ultimate insider's seat.

What exactly did an outsider like Quigley have that would change that?

Voter rebellion.

**snip**

Though his opponents -- some of them -- tried to paint Quigley as an un-reformer, the small number of voters who turned out Tuesday were highly educated on the issues. And they knew that in a large -- and largely talented -- crew of candidates, Quigley, as a commissioner on the Cook County Board, had been one of the lone voices raised in opposition to the patronage-clogged, outrageously inefficient government run by Board President Todd Stroger. And that Stroger had been the candidate handed to us by party bosses.

Yes, this was just the primary . . . and now Quigley must face Republican Rosanna Pulido and the Green Party's Matthew Reichel on April 7.

And yes, if Quigley wins again next month, the same ward bosses he humiliated in this election will still get to pick his County Board replacement.

But they would be wise to tremble just a little.

Because the earth beneath their feet just moved.

She knows far more than I so I'll take her word that this is a very good thing. It still bothers me that five years after Howard Dean sparked the Netroots and all the money poured into certain Netroot websites, that they can't do better than 7th in a wide-open race. Is it them? Is it Chicago?

There's a lot of cleaning up to do in Chicago, the question is who is going to do it and how.

The Ms. Obama cover

And of course I mean the Ms. magazine cover with President Obama on it.

I had the privilege of interviewing Ms. Executive Editor Katherine Spillar this morning about the controversy and thought behind the Obama cover. You can read Eleanor Smeal's rationale for the cover online and in the issue, but I wanted to dig a bit deeper.

Of course the morning had already started on a bit of Obama news that leaked out late the night before about the President asking that family planning money come out of the economic stimulus package. Long time readers may recall that my stance on reproductive justice keeps evolving more and more to be centered on economic justice. A woman can't afford her birth control method without economic justice and thus can't plan her pregnancies to allow for economic justice. Essentially, many college women can't get thru college in 4 years without a little help from the birth control pill. I know it helped me! Thus I couldn't understand why a man who claims to be a feminist would actively throw women under the bus like this.

I asked Spillar if she thought, with and without the recent news, if Obama had gotten off to a good start or had cemented his feminist credentials with the amazing first week of his administration. Spillar commented that it was a good start, but reminded me that in Smeal's letter, Ms. warns that we must remain vigilant as we have a strong and large opposition. This time it is not the White House but rather organizations like the Chamber of Commerce who is opposed to paid sick days and paid family leave. We must remember we have a friend in the White House who went up to Smeal in 2007 in DC and offered up, "You know, I'm a feminist too." I find it curious that he will offer this up, but Michelle wavers...but that's another post.

Spillar and I discussed how we, feminists, can keep from feeling betrayed again. Of course, that conversation happened about 24 hours too late, because many of us felt betrayed by the family planning deal. BUT...Spillar says Ms. and Feminist Majority is not happy about what happened with the family planning deal either. They worked hard to keep it in, but we will be disappointed many times during this administration.

But why the cover? Spillar said that they wanted to try to capture the emotions and mood of the country. That while we, as feminists, may not want to believe in the superhero rescue storyline, many others in this country are in fact hoping that he saves us from two wars, the economic crisis and our horrible image abroad. It was played up on a comment Obama made at a luncheon about not being born in a manger, but rather on Krypton. She admits that the cover was also intended to grab people's attention. Spillar points out that the issue holds many important stories on how we can and must regain ground after 8 years of the Bush administration. I'm going refrain from content review in this post to focus on the controversy.

I asked Spillar if by putting Obama on the cover of Ms. that Ms. was saying that he met their feminist litmus test. She responded with a resounding YES.

I then asked her if they considered Michelle for the cover instead, given that she's a woman and that many women are not satisfied with how the big feminist orgs have come (or not) to her defense since Hillary's candidacy ended. Spillar replied that Feminist Majority had come to her defense, especially after the Baby Mama incident. While they may still put the First Lady on the cover, Ms. wanted to mark the historic moment and the hopes we have of the President.

Now for the illustrator himself...I wanted to know why the leading feminist magazine would turn to a man for their cover. Spillar was unapologetic with her support of the man who did the artwork. She felt his work best represented how they wanted to portray the President. I joked that we could call this issue the Men issue of Ms. As Spillar said, Ms. is an all-woman run magazine and decided to give a man an opportunity.

We discussed the high standard feminists have for Ms. That they are often looked to as a standard bearer and if they welcomed that burden. Spillar said that they proudly carry that burden.

She also mentioned that one-third of men in the USA self-identify as feminists and Obama is one of them. Yes, we will have disappointments, but we are at a point where we, as feminists especially, have an opportunity to move the country forward. We must seize this moment.

This reminds me that sometime over the summer my family & I hit the Maxwell Street Market for something my husband was looking for. It's usually a trip where we buy small things for cheap, grab some freshly made Mexican food and just have a nice time. That time I was floored at how many Obama things were out. Obama shirts, hats, caps, if you could put his name or face on it, it was there. I turned to my husband and said, "Obama is MONEY!" And he is. He's on almost every magazine out there. I'm still waiting for him to be in the hidden pictures section of Highlights.

The placement of Obama on the cover of Ms. was both calculated to grab our attention and to mark this moment in history. Ms. still does not take corporate advertising, thus needs readers to pick up and buy an issue or subscribe to continue to cover many of the issues we care about. Do I blame them for jumping on the Obama money wagon? No. It's pretty darn smart and I'm happy they are open about it.

Now do I personally like the cover?

Hell yes.

Two summers ago I was standing in a buffet line at a conference with my boss who LOVES Obama. She lives in Hyde Park and has hosted fund raisers for him in the past. We were standing next to Eleanor Smeal. I said hi to Ellie, as she is often called, and introduced my boss. When Ellie found out that we were from Chicago, she asked us which Chicagoan we were backing - The native Chicagoan who now lives in NY or the adopted Chicagoan. I got to listen in on a die-hard Hillary supporter (Ellie) debate a die-hard Obama supporter. It was FREAKING BRILLIANT. It was like watching a Navratilova-Evert tennis match. Ellie lives and dies feminism...I may not always agree with everything she says or does, but I know for a fact that Ellie isn't a sell-out. So...to see Obama on the cover of Ms. was kinda like a peace offering from one of Hillary's most ardent supporters and a nudge to all of us to recognize that yes we do have a feminist First Family.

We do have a lot of work to do and this is politics. Deals are made and far too often women, especially poor women & women of color are left out in those deals. We have to stay strong, vigilant and united. He's going to screw up. Hillary would have screwed us a few times too. Remember her stance on welfare peeps.

And honestly, I do hope that Obama saves us...By inspiring & showing us that we can work together, as a community, to clean out the shit that's been piling up for the past eight years. We need to move forward, but we can't get there without each other.

Happy Inauguration Day!

Want to know how I celebrated? Check out my latest post at Chicago Parent:

How does one top the thrill of watching our new President be sworn in over CNN.com on a LCD projector surrounded by the awesome women one works with? Why you head to your daughter's kindergarten class!

Oh, yes I did!

The morning was wonderful. My boss cried. We all laughed at President Obama stumble over the oath, which helped ease the tension in our conference room. We ate, laughed, ooh'ed, booed and cheered when we officially had a new President. Afterwards I headed out to talk with my daughter's kindergarten class.