Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins and State Sen. Shelley Mayer were among 20 elected female officials who shared their journeys to elected office with 52 select junior and senior girls from 27 Westchester high schools for the eighth annual “Running and Winning” workshop April 11 at the YWCA of White Plains and Central Westchester.
The daylong workshop was sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Westchester, the American Association of University Women of Westchester, and the YWCA. It was funded by the Westchester Community Foundation.
“Act like you are confident until you are confident,” Hochul told the group. “When I was 16, I was shy, and no one would have picked me out as a future lieutenant governor.” But Hochul said she found opportunities to intern with her local politicians. “I did all the grunt work, and there were not even fax machines then,” she said.
The female officials – including mayors, town supervisors, and eight of the 12 women who represented a female majority on the 17-member Westchester Board of Legislators – each briefly told of similar yet different paths to winning election. Then they rotated among the 10 tables of junior and senior female high school students, speaking with the students and answering their questions.
The women described the satisfaction of being involved in their community, seeing problems they could help solve, and bringing diverse people together.
Mayer, a lawyer who had worked for others in government before being elected, said she felt a need to express her “own voice rather than work for someone else.” She said her top issue is education and that she faces “an ongoing struggle to fund schools.”
Mamaroneck Town Supervisor Nancy Seligson said she entered public service because she cares deeply about the environment. Formerly the head of Save the Sound, she became founding chairwoman of the town’s environmental committee, eventually running for an opening on the Town Board and then for supervisor. Now she is involved in state and federal environmental issues.
There was also the awareness that women do things differently than men. Catherine Parker, Democratic majority leader of the Westchester Board of Legislators, characterized some of the men on the previous board as “heartless,” and said: “What we have done is restore empathy. Empathy. I can’t stress that enough.”
Alfreda Williams, vice-chairwoman of the County Board, pointed out that people “don’t realize how important local government is, filling basic needs like road, bridges, water quality and sewage treatment.”
Mary Jane Shimsky, an art history major in college and a lawyer, said “anything that one studies can be useful in local decision making.”
At the end of the morning, after the political leaders left, each group of five or six students planned a mock political campaign, selecting among themselves a candidate, campaign manager, speech writer, publicity director, and fund raising/events coordinator. They also designed a poster. Then each group made a presentation, which included a campaign speech by the “candidate.”
Given a choice of three campaign themes, and armed with their smart phones to do research, six of the 10 groups tackled the gender pay gap, and four groups campaigned for an immigration services center in their community, highlighting the facts that many in their group were the children of immigrants and that diverse groups need to work together. Recycling, the third possible choice – and popular in previous years – was not chosen by any group, possibly because it has become a routine local service
Each student filled out an evaluation form before leaving, and they were overwhelmingly positive. The students particularly appreciated the conversations with the elected officials and planning and presenting their own mock campaigns.
Comments on the officials included: “Meeting actual women who were running and the things they had to face was fascinating and intriguing;” “These women were so inspiring;” and “They had so much great advice…”
Deb Morel, chairwoman of the event, said the day had “a profound and inspiring impact on this talented group of young women. They networked with female elected officials from national, state, county and local levels of government; enhanced their team-building and leadership skills by working with students from all over the county on an engaging mock campaign exercise; and gained a realistic idea of the rewards and challenges of public service and elected office.”
