By Joan Vennochi, Globe Staff, 10/30/2001
FUNNY, AS IN strange, isn't it? With backing from Republican men - and some Democratic men - Republican women in Massachusetts are flexing real political muscle. Democratic men, meanwhile, are treating Massachusetts Democratic women the way they always do: with disdain.
Women cannot fail to notice this subplot in the Jane Swift-Virginia Buckingham showdown: Two bright, ambitious, thirty-something women did the unthinkable in this state. They achieved power positions in Massachusetts politics.
To underscore the point, this didn't happen in the party known for its passionate rhetoric about choice and women's rights. It happened in the state GOP. At the same time, top Democrats like House Speaker Finneran and Mayor Menino are working to undercut women in their own party.
The Massachusetts model mirrors a trend evident in the Bush administration, where at least a few high-ranking women appear to have the ear and respect of at least one high-ranking man - the president of the United States.
Locally, the Republican men who promoted Swift and Buckingham viewed their gender as an advantage, not a burden. That political calculation led to political opportunity for both - in Buckingham's case, to run important campaigns and hold high profile positions in state government; in Swift's case, to be part of a statewide ticket, leading to a stint as acting governor and a shot at reelection in her own right.
During the recent face-off between Swift and Buckingham, another extraordinary thing happened. Two former governors - Bill Weld and Paul Cellucci - stuck by Buckingham, displaying the kind of political loyalty and professional courtesy Democratic men extend only to one another. Under pressure from Swift after the Sept. 11 Logan hijackings, Buckingham resigned last week as executive director of the Massachusetts Port Authority. But thanks to Weld, Cellucci, and Democrats like state Senator Robert A. Havern, she retains some professional and political credibility.
When it comes to state Democratic politics, men dominate and always have, as far back as memory takes me, which is to the Dukakis years.
Of course, some women's voices were heard in those days. Patricia McGovern held sway as chair of Senate Ways and Means; as governor, Dukakis drafted women for some Cabinet-level policy positions. But everyone knew who really ran the State House circus - Senate President William M. Bulger, House Speaker George Keverian, and the whip-cracking, poker-playing, cigar-chomping men behind the Duke. The idea of sharing power with Lieutenant Governor Evelyn Murphy never crossed anyone's mind; indeed, for the Dukakis men, a good night's sleep included detailed dreams of how to keep Murphy as far away from the governor's office as possible.
On Beacon Hill today, Finneran continues to stoke the boys' club tradition. He lashes out at dissenters, male and female, but his political philosophy cuts especially hard against women. For example, more than one prochoice lawmaker believes Finneran makes leadership picks on the basis of his own prolife beliefs.
State Representatives Kay Khan and Ruth Balser of Newton recently prevailed in their fight to retain their districts, after Finneran unveiled a redistricting plan designed to pit the two women against each other. Who saved them? Not the men of their party, but the media and Swift, who let Finneran know she would veto any plan forcing Khan and Balser to face off.
Meanwhile, Boston's elite female professionals support Mayor Menino, overlooking the guy-driven impetus in his administration to gun for women who are viewed as threats or just nags. That political instinct worked to marginalize Peggy Davis-Mullen as a city councilor and mayoral candidate. Robert Consalvo, a Menino-backed candidate is also trying to unseat longtime City Councilor Maura Hennigan, following the same Menino-backed playbook that led to the unseating of another district city councilor, Diane Modica.
This local picture mirrors another national trend: Historically, women identify more with Democratic Party positions and stick with the men who supposedly represent them. Women remained loyal to Bill Clinton despite the serial womanizing that exploded into a humiliating White House scandal and supported Al Gore over George W. Bush.
As long as Democratic men talk the feminist talk, it doesn't seem to matter what they do to or for Democratic women. That is also funny, as in strange - isn't it?
Joan Vennochi's e-mail address is vennochi@globe.com.
This story ran on page A19 of the Boston Globe on 10/30/2001. Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company.
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