Day 171: Getting Our Message Out

I hosted the NWPC LA Westside Communications Committee meeting this evening. We gathered to strategize on how to better communicate our mission, our activities and our goals.

I've been involved with the National Women's Political Caucus for years, both with the local LA Westside Chapter and on the state Board. We are an organization committed to recruiting, training and electing more pro choice women to public office.

With so many groups and organizations to be involved with you need to be selective with your time. My passion is gender parity in politics. Who we elect to office can have a profound impact on our lives; from the legislative polices they propose; to the appointments they make at the Judicial level and on Boards and Commissions; all of these decisions make an impact on your life. So it really does matter who we cast our vote for.

With the November 2 Election less than a month away, I hope you have been reading up on the candidates and issues on the ballot. I have written about my support for Kamala Harris for California State Attorney General and my support for Holly J. Mitchell, candidate for the 47th Assembly, my legislative district. And my opposition to Proposition 23, an initiative that would roll back environmental polices set forth by voters a few years ago.

So tonight some fabulous women I work with on the NWPC LA Westside Board of Directors gathered to figure out how best to insert our mission into the lives of women in our community. Lots of energy and buzz.

One Board member shared how she believed NWPC was a very inclusive group, I shared why I devote my time toward NWPC. It's a group focused on grassroots activism, it's multi partisan, and it is the only organization where the core issue is electing pro choice women.

To learn more about our local Chapter, please visit http://www.nwpcla.org/ or to learn more about our State activities, please visit http://www.nwpc.org/

Thanks to my NWPC sisters, Betsy Johnson, Lindsay Bubar, Karriann Farrell Hinds, Kristi Blicharski, and Rebecca Simon for taking your valuable time and contributing it toward such a worthy cause!

Day 71: Electing More Women

Tonight I hosted the National Women's Political Caucus - LA Westside Chapter Membership Meeting & Board Elections. It was a smashing success! We elected a new energized Board of Directors including many new members. We welcomed several new members to our group and we heard from two NWPC endorsed candidates who both won their primaries in June!

Holly J. Mitchell, (pictured above on the right) won in the 47th Assembly District and Betsy Butler was the Democratic winner in the 53rd Assembly District. Both women will have to win their General Elections in November, so the fight is not over! Pictured here with Holly is Kate Anderson, also a candidate in the 53rd Assembly District. While she was not victorious NWPC has great hopes that Kate will run again and win!

Long time NWPC leader both with the LA Westside Chapter and the State Board, Jane Hasler Henick, led our Board elections. Jane is pictured here to the right leading the elections. The slate of candidates was elected unanimously and I'm happy to be back on the Board in an official capacity. I will always be grateful to my NWPC sisters who supported me in both of my campaigns and who have remained loyal and committed supporters of our mission to elect more women to office. And I'm thrilled to have new Board members to work with!

Pictured here are some of our seasoned and new Board members. Pictured left to right are Jane Hasler Henick, Stephanie Molen, Barbara Greene Ruskin, Me, Betsy Johnson, our Chapter's co-president and Lindsay Bubar, Chapter co-president.


Pictured below is our new VP of Communications Karriann Farrell Hinds speaking to the group about why she wants to serve on the NWPC Board and her commitment to electing more women to office.


The energy was really terrific! I mean when you put 40 plus high energy, committed, passionate and active women in a room together with a little wine you know the volume is going to be pumping , and it was. The conversations were interesting and the roll out of plans for the coming year are exciting. The work is never done. There is always a woman candidate to groom, to fundraise for, to walk precincts for and to help elect. We all need to be committed to keeping the pipeline full of viable women candidates and doing whatever we can to help them be victorious.

I'd like to give a special shout out to my NWPC colleague Jill Prestup Eltrich for getting our chapter's website up and live! Thank you Jill for your tireless commitment to seeing this project through to completion! Please visit us at www.nwpclawestside.org to learn more about our events and activities. And please consider joining with me to continue our great work in politics! In Sisterhood!