Gloria Steinem Weighs in on Potential Chicago Mayor and Governor Candidates

CHICAGO-September 24, 2010-Due to Lieutenant Governor Pat Quinn's political campaign commercials, I already knew some of the worst about governor political candidate Bill Brady. I also found out some disturbing decisions Brady made in regard to women's rights, like voting against coverage for mammograms, pap smear tests and opposing contraceptive drugs. When activist and journalist Gloria Steinem spoke about Senator Bill Brady's views on women's issues, none of that surprised me. But what did catch my attention was she seemed to be equally opinionated about potential Chicago mayoral candidate Rahm Emanuel on women's issues.

Steinem was in Chicago this week for a luncheon reception to honor the democratic Illinois senatorial candidate Alexi Giannoulias. In her interview with WGN's host Micah Materre, she made some snippy remarks about how she disagrees with Rahm Emanuel views on women's rights and bluntly states that she wouldn't vote for him. The comments caught me off-guard considering Emanuel adopted "A New Agenda for the New Decade" in favor of reducing sexual discrimination, supported the postage stamp for Civil Rights activist Rosa Parks, supported the Equal Rights Amendment, in addition to supporting other nondiscriminatory stances on gay rights and scores a 94 percent by the NAACP.

President Barack H. Obama has gone on record saying the White House Chief of Staff would be a "terrific" candidate for Chicago mayor. So far, Pres. Obama has been very consistent about women's issues so I'd like to believe that I can trust my president's views, but I will be paying more attention to what Steinem said. There are three sides to every story, and although Emanuel has not responded to Steinem's comments, Senator Brady didn't waste any time with a response.

Both Brady and Emanuel are fathers of three children. Brady is the father of Katie (a pediatric nurse), a DePaul University law student (Will) and a high school junior (Duncan). Emanuel is married and the father of Zach, Ilana and Leah. The two men, however, are running for two different Chicago political positions. Nothing about Brady's campaign makes me want to support him even if Governor Pat Quinn would stop letting the political commercials run.

While Jesse Jackson Jr. believes that Emanuel might not be the man for the job and may come from a national perspective as opposed to a local perspective, Jackson Jr.'s own local issues don't make him any better of a candidate. Steinem is certainly entitled to her opinion, too, but I'd need her to talk more about what Emanuel doesn't do for women's issues to make me change my mind. There are plenty of Chicagoans who I flat out have no desire to vote for, but until Emanuel says something that blatantly offends me, I'm almost certain I'll vote for him if he chooses to run.

Additional potential Chicago mayoral candidates include clergyman and state senator James Meeks, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, Chicago Alderman Bob Fioretti, former Illinois Senator Carol Moseley Braun and Congressman Luis Gutierrez. Gutierrez is the first to start his campaign for Chicago mayor.

Sources:
Brady for Illinois website
On the Issues: Rahm Emanuel (Civil Rights)
Who is Bill Brady? (Women)