Source: Sac Bee Capitol Alert
The oft-repeated joke on the Senate floor whenever a Democrat-sponsored a “women’s bill” comes up is that Republicans would be voting for the measure if only they had a woman in their caucus. Well, joke no more.With her primary win, Republican Assemblywoman Mimi Walters is likely headed for the state Senate, where she will find herself part of a growing caucus in the Legislature’s upper house.

After tallying up the results of the June 3 primary, there could be as many as 14 women in the state Senate in the 2009-10 session - a 40 percent jump from the 10 current members.In contrast, the number of seats held by female lawmakers in the Assembly is likely to decline by between two and five lawmakers. The speakership, however, remains in the hands of Karen Bass, only the second female leader in the lower house’s history.“The women were really good in some of those contested primaries,” said Sen. Gloria Negrete-McLeod, chair of the current 34-member Women’s Caucus. “Some, they didn’t do so well.”

For some women’s groups, that was not good enough.

“The pendulum is swinging away from the great strides we made in the early 90’s to even the playing field in the California legislature,” reports California List, a statewide group dedicated to electing women. “Our dreams of equal representation for women are slowly declining. The trend seems to be that we lose two to three elected women legislators every election cycle.”

Negrete-McLeod said improved communications could help the current women electeds reach out better to future ones. “Women don’t know other women that are running, especially when they are far away,” she said. “The man may get endorsed by individual members, and not the woman, because we don’t know who they are.”

In the Senate - where candidates tend to be better known to the Sacramento establishment - eight of the incumbent women members are on track to return.

Meanwhile, former Assemblywomen Fran Pavley, Carol Liu, Loni Hancock and Mimi Walters are the prohibitive favorites to replace termed-out Sens. Sheila Kuehl, Jack Scott, Don Perata and Dick Ackerman.

That represents a net gain of three female senators.

Assemblywoman Lois Wolk, D-Davis, is a candidate to replace termed-out Sen. Mike Machado, D-Linden, but she will have to face off against Assemblyman Greg Aghazarian, R-Stockton, in a race Republicans are targeting in November.

And in what’s expected to be the most competitive fall Senate campaign, former Assemblywoman Hannah-Beth Jackson, a Democrat, is running against former Assemblyman Tony Strickland, a Republican.

The only “lost” seat for women in the Senate is held by Sen. Carole Migden, who was unseated after a single term by Assemblyman Mark Leno.

In the Assembly, women candidates didn’t fare nearly as well. Gina Papan (AD 19) and Maxine Sherard (AD 78) lost in two of the closest primaries in the sate. Other women lost by far wider margins.

Five current assemblywomen (Sharon Runner, Sally Lieber, Shirley Horton, Bonnie Garcia and Patty Berg) are all on track to be replaced by male lawmakers.

The seat of termed-out Assemblywoman Nicole Parra, D-Hanford, will pit Fran Florez, the mayor of Shafter and mother of Sen. Dean Florez, against former CHP officer Danny Gilmore, another potential loss for the caucus.

The only gain that’s expected is Tulare County Supervisor Connie Conway replacing Assemblyman Bill Maze, R-Visalia.

All told, that represents a loss of four to five female members. Two more women - Joan Buchannan in AD 15 and Alyson Huber in AD 10 - are Democrats running in seats currently held by Republicans Guy Houston and Alan Nakanishi, respectively. Those districts’ registration numbers offer hope for them in November (both switched to a Democratic-plurality earlier this year).

Negrete-McLeod said a sizable women’s caucus is important because, “as you know, women tend to look at issues a little bit differently than men, and when women coalesce together we become a very formidable wall to get over.”

She cited the so-called “Burkle bill” - a reference to the 2006 legislation to bill to seal financial records in divorce cases that was supposedly backed by billionaire businessman Ron Burkle.

“The men didn’t even realize there a problem until it was explained to them,” Negrete-McLeod said. “And then it didn’t go anywhere.”

Posted by Shane Goldmacher on June 13, 2008 11:30 AM
Sac Bee Capitol Alert