One Utah

Jenny Wilson is the gift that keeps on giving. 

In this morning’s D-News she’s quoted as saying her loss a result of sexism and will hurt the cause of women politicians in Utah:

Just nine women serve as mayor of 174 municipalities statewide. And the possibility of a 10th female mayor ended abruptly Tuesday when Jenny Wilson was defeated in the primary mayoral election for Salt Lake City.

The loss — plus current Mayor Rocky Anderson’s last minute op-ed Salt Lake Tribune piece on the ability to serve as mayor and a mother of small children — could spell trouble in recruiting more women to run for public office, Wilson said.

“Rocky’s charges and all of the discussions out there, I think, if anything, are going to suppress women from having an interest in running for office,” Wilson said. “Now I feel like there will be some sense of, ‘Oh great, I’ve got kids. Look what happened to Jenny.’ And that’s too bad.”

Are you kidding me?  I’m rapidly losing my empathy and my sympathy for Jenny Wilson.  Her public comments are rapidly approaching WATB* territory. 

Read Rocky’s editorial - he’s very clear that he believes anyone with young children should think seriously about waiting before undertaking a job as demanding as Salt Lake City mayor.  It’s also clear from his editorial that he thought he was speaking off the record and the Wilson family didn’t.  (It sure looks to me like Jenny and her family were the people who drove the “controversy” about parents with young kids in an attempt to garner publicity.  Jenny is smart enough that she could have finessed it and it would have gone away and instead she blew it out of proportion and it made her look like someone who can’t tell the mosquitos from the condors.)

Jenny ran a merely good campaign, and seems to have taken some things from granted.

Over at 3rd Ave, we get a very interesting tidbit from Pete Ashdown:

Dave Everitt and Ralph were persistent but not obnoxious in seeking my endorsement. I gave money to Jenny early on and what came back is that the campaign expected my endorsement even before she returned my questionnaire.

Jenny Wilson didn’t lose because she was a woman or because Rocky was mean to her or because bloggers are rude bunch.  She lost because

• Ralph Becker ran a great campaign
• Ralph didn’t take a single vote or endorsement for granted
• Ralph connected with voters and did a focused GOTV effort
• She ran a “good” consultant driven campaign with lots of ad buys and careful language

Ralph Becker ran a progressive campaign in a city hungry for a progressive leader: voter oriented, driven by an army of dedicated, motivated volunteers, focused on wonky issues that make the media crazy.  He reached out to bloggers and kept us deeply involved with regular updates.  He didn’t go in for neat techie tricks like robocalls.  He didn’t waste time on non-issues.

Jenny needs to stop looking for excuses and realize that she was out-organized, out-worked and out-campaigned by Ralph.  Her gender didn’t stop her from doing the things Ralph Becker did.  Her gender didn’t produce a laundry list of issues.  Her gender didn’t make her waste time at a press conference when she should have been shaking hands at the Greek Festival.

There is very real, very potent sexism alive and well in Utah, I would say some of the worst sexism in the US.  The Mormon Church is one of the most patriarchal, sexist institutions around - its exclusion of women from leadership roles is shameful.  It’s arguments about “separate spheres” for men and women is nothing more than sexism dressed up in pretty language.  That sexism does make it more difficult for women in Utah. 

None of which, however, changes the fact that Ralph Becker ran a superior campaign and Jenny ran a merely good campaign.

*Whiny Ass Titty Baby

This entry was posted Friday, September 14th, 2007 at 9:50 am and is filed under 4th Estate (Media), Ralph Becker, SLC Politics, Salt Lake City, This Blog. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.