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November 1-14, 2012 | www.sfbaytimes.com
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PHOTO CREDI TS : NIC OLE AB ALDE, ESPN, GARY VIR GINI A
Now, Let’s Sweep the Election!
The Truth about “Binders Full of Women” Bay Times Endorsements
Prior to the 2002 MA gubernatorial election, women comprised approximately 30 percent of appointed senior-level positions in Massachusetts’s government. By 2004, 42 percent of the new appointments made by the Romney administration were women. Subsequently, from 2004-2006 the percentage of newly appointed women in these senior appointed positions dropped to just 25 percent.
As for the “binders,” they refer to an effort by the Massachusetts Government Appointments Project (MassGAP), which was founded to address the issue of the under-representation of women in appointed positions in MA government. The organization brought together a nonpartisan coalition of over 25 women’s groups to recruit women to apply for government positions within the administration, and recommend qualif ied women for those positions. MassGA P approached Romney and his then opponent in the race, Shannon O’Brien, and asked them to commit to: (1)”Make best efforts” to ensure that the number of women in appointed state positions is proportionate to the population of women in Massachusetts; (2) Select a transition team whose composition is proportionate to the women in the Commonwealth; and (3) Meet with MassGAP representatives regularly during the appointments process. Both campaigns made a commitment to do these things. It appears that once Romney settled into his role as governor, however, his commitment waned. The “binders” at that point must have been shelved. In other news concerning Romney’s tenure as governor, the Boston Globe recently reported that he prevented a state agency (continued on page 18)
The Bay Times asked its contributors to weigh in on key election issues and races. We have compiled the results below. As the first LGBT newspaper in the Bay Area to be published by both lesbians and gays, the Bay Times has always covered diverse interests and viewpoints. Our team includes people from the farthest left of the political spectrum to close-to-the-farright. We all respect each other’s views, however, and are dedicated to furthering the core basic rights of our community. While at least one of our contributors has voted for Romney, the majority of our team is hoping for another four years of the Obama administration- with economic recovery, marriage equality, environmental concerns and other pressing matters high on our list of political priorities.
San Francisco District 1: Eric Mar District 3: David Chiu District 5: Christina Olague (first pick), John Rizzo (second), London Breed (third) Comment from one of the many who chose Olague: “I like her, her background (community organizing/central valley) and her engagement in our community giving prominence to the B in LGBT.” District 7: Joel Engardio District 9: David Campos District 11: John Avalos (continued on page 12)
Here are the questions our contributors were asked: Who are you supporting in your home area for supervisor or city council? (While some of our contributors live outside of SF and the East Bay, we decided to focus on those regions due to the multiple responses pertaining to those areas. If a district/race isn’t listed, it’s because we received few or no responses for it.)
PH OTO SO UR C E: W H IT E H O US E
During the presidential debates, Mitt Romney sparked a social media frenzy with his “binders full of women” remark. According to the former Massachusetts governor, he looked at such binders during his search for senior-level staff. The Bay Times did some fact checking on this point, and here’s what we have learned.