Girl Power (2 page)

better chance of winning than a woman. Even a black man has a better chance

than a woman—a white woman, that is."

"Excuse my French, but this is really shitty. I thought you were my friend."

The coward wouldn't meet her gaze. "I am."

Sally slapped his desk, and he jerked. "No, you're not."

"Yes, I am. Just calm down, Sally. Your turn will come."

"Let me tell you, Brad. My best chance, in this right wing, misogynist

climate, is now. I don't care what the party thinks, I'm running."

Brad leaned forward and rose. "No, you're not."

Sally narrowed her eyes. "Why, what're they going to do, revoke my party

membership?"

"Worse. If you run against the party's wishes, we'll see that you lose to

Winston in the primary."

She straightened and placed a fist on her hip. "Oh, yeah? How're you going

to do that?"

"The party will super-PAC you."

"You would actually use a Political Action Committee to railroad me?"

"Don't try us."

"If that's the case, I'll run as an independent."

"Go ahead, but if we think you have a chance to beat Winston, we'll super-

PAC you, anyway."

"We'll see about that."

"Sally, you're a smart, strong, talented woman, but don't fight us on this. It isn't fair, but this is a man's world."

"Thanks for the compliment, but…you're no better than the Republicans.

When it comes to progress for women in government, you're a monkey's uncle."

Preparing to leave Sally swung her handbag up to place the strap over her

shoulder, accidently knocked Brad's coffee cup over. "Oops, so sorry." Hiding a smile, she hastily spun on her heels and strutted toward the door. "Have a nice day." Scrambling, he retrieved several napkins from his back desk and yelled,

"Wait Sally, what…where're you going?"

"You said one thing that's true."

Blotting spilled coffee up and wiping the desk dry, Brad asked, "What?"

"Whether someone is born rich or poor, black, white or brown, straight or

gay, male or female, how they are born should not determine their position in

society. You said we live in a man's world. I'm going to see what I can do to

change that."

~ * * ~

Two weeks later, five women sat at a long table in the Mexican motif

banquet room of Gringo's Cantina, awaiting one more member.

Congresswoman Sally Cummings sipped her frozen margarita through a

short straw while her assistant, Brenda, picked through the tortilla chips. "It's just not fair."

Carla took a bite of a freshly delivered nacho, then simultaneously sucked

air and fanned her mouth. "Ooh, hot!" She swallowed. "Yeah, men have been sticking it to women since they wore short coats with frilly shirts, pedal pushers with knee socks, and gray powdered wigs."

Kelly rested her elbows on the table and lowered her chin to her entwined

hands. "How would you know? You weren't exactly around two hundred and

thirty years ago."

"Don't need to be." Carla picked up another nacho chip. "The Declaration of Independence says, "All men are created equal. Notice how they conveniently leave off women? Women didn't get to vote for another hundred and forty-four

years. Even now, twelve generations later, we're still not equal."

Jennifer set her menu down. "Not all men are like that."

"Yeah, I know. My husband, Howard, is one of the good guys." Carla stirred her margarita with a straw. "Thank God there are decent, well-meaning men. All I meant was that a lot of men seem to have a higher opinion of men than

women."

"My husband doesn't have a woman problem, either. I think it's mostly

republican men. They're the ones who are trying to drag women back into the

dark ages."

Jennifer raised an eyebrow. "How would you know, Kelly? You told me

there are times when you barely see him."

"So, he's a busy man, he lets me do and buy whatever I want and he doesn't

smother me, like yours does."

Placing her elbows on the table, Sally leaned forward. "Ladies, please. We're not teenagers. We're grown women." Glancing around, Sally mumbled, "Now, where is Lindy?"

Brenda nudged her boss and whispered. "I forgot. She texted me. She'll be a few minutes late."

Jennifer picked up a nacho and blew on it. "Sally's right." Nibbling on a corner, she asked, "Sally, how long have you been a democrat?"

She shrugged. "As long as I can remember. I registered twenty years ago in

my first year of college."

Jennifer sipped her margarita. "So, the party you belonged to for twenty

years threw you under the bus. They said you couldn't run for the Senate as a

Democrat and if you ran as an independent they would actively work for your

defeat."

Sally nodded. "Pretty much. The state chairman said they'd even super-PAC

me if they had to. He wanted me to stick with the House for now, which I'd do if we could get anything done there. The Tea Party effectively runs the House and

they block everything but silly Tea Party bills. The Senate is the last bastion of sanity, but 'the barbarians are at the gates'."

"Super-PAC." Carla picked through the chips. "I've heard that term on TV

and stuff, but I'm not sure what a super-PAC is."

Kelly edged forward. "It's kind of involved so I'll just give you the simple version. PACs are political action committees, collecting donations to support

various candidates or causes. PACs are regulated, disclosing who gives the

money and how much is given. Recently the Supreme Court saw fit to reverse a

hundred year old law and now wealthy people and corporations can contribute

unlimited funds anonymously for an election. In other words, buy an election."

Sally nodded and smiled. "Very well said, Kelly. The decision, Citizens

United, is unwelcome. Most ordinary people are against unlimited funding of

candidates since ninety-four percent of elections are won by candidates with the biggest war chest."

Kelly sighed. "So what're you going to do, Sally?"

"She could always run as an independent." Carla said.

Sally stood. "Ah, here she is. Have a seat, Lindy. We started grazing on

appetizers, but I haven't discussed our plan yet."

Lindy smiled at the gathering and handed a sheet of paper to Sally before

taking the seat beside her. "Sorry, I'm late. I was waiting for the first polling data."

"Thank you." Sally glanced at the paper, and raised her eyebrows. "Ladies some of you never met my friend and my last campaign manager, Lindy

Rollins."

Sally introduced them individually. "Lindy, to your right is Carla Mehlman, a talented freelance journalist. And the red-headed lady to her right is Kelly

Cahill."

Giving Kelly an apprising look, Lindy smiled and nodded.

"And the blonde lady across from Kelly," Sally continued, "is Jennifer Schmidt, the best damn lawyer in Mayland."

Sally rested a hand on Brenda's shoulder. "And of course you already know

Brenda Morris, my community relations expert, girl Friday, and the reason I'm

popular with minorities in our great state."

Carla looked to Sally. "So, does this mean you're running for the U.S. Senate as an independent?"

Sally smiled, "No, I'm shooting for something bigger."

Gaping, everyone, but Lindy leaned forward.

"President?" they asked in unison.

Sally laughed. "God no, not that big. As you probably know, the party we

were discussing has reached new lows with regards to women—women's health,

women's reproductive rights and women's rights in general."

All except Lindy nodded.

"For the last year, I stood by open-mouthed, as men in the House, who

hadn't a clue, passed law after archaic law about women, as if some omnipotent

wizard behind a curtain directed their actions. We know there's a Big Brother out there somewhere. It's as plain as the noses on our faces.

"This Big Brother is not only directing, but writing bills for republican state legislators across the spectrum, local, state and federal. Different versions of almost the same bills are being presented and passed in various Republican

controlled state legislators."

Sally took a drink of water

Kelly said, "I know. I'm boiling mad, but what can we do? It's a man's

world."

Sally snickered. "That's exactly what the party chairman had the nerve to

say to me. Well, that's about to change. Kelly, you said you're mad. Polls show

that millions of women across the country are mad, too.

"Let's face it. The fact that some shadowy group has declared war on us,

and that a certain party is going along lock stock and barrel, means there are men and even some women who don't like us. And we, as a gender, are never going

to reach our full potential unless we take matters into our own hands."

Jennifer raised her hand. "What're you getting at, Sally?"

Before Sally could answer, Lindy touched Sally's wrist. "I'd like to respond to that, if I may."

Sally sat. "Please do."

Lindy smiled. "Thank you." She glanced at Jennifer. "Jennifer, right?"

"Yes."

"Jennifer, women outnumber men in America by ten million. In two

thousand and eight, women cast nine million more votes than men did. Women

have political muscle. With numerical superiority, theoretically, women have the power to take over the country, literally.

Men know this, but in their smug superiority, don't worry about women.

They have the balls and we don't. Well, they misjudged us. Women don't need

balls. Our strength comes from within, not from our sex organs. Up until now,

this generation has never had a reason to assert ourselves, but things are

changing. With the advent of the Tea Party, right wing legislators are getting

more and more radical. Which brings me to the point of this meeting."

Lindy paused and glanced at each of the other women. "Ladies, Sally and I

are proposing that we form a political party for women. Men can join. We know

not all men are pigs. There are many empathetic, caring men, who can sign up as

SAFE members. Ladies, women have the numbers and with that, we have the

power to, as some politicians are so fond of saying, 'Take back our country'."

Carla snickered and mumbled, "Except we never had it."

Lindy laughed. "Picky, picky." Which caused everyone to laugh.

"Now, if I may continue." Lindy held up the paper she'd shown to Sally.

"We just got preliminary polling back from Molly Markum at the Women's

League that tells us that sixteen percent of the women polled would be

somewhat or very interested in joining a political party whose candidates are

exclusively women or proponents of women's issues."

"Sixteen percent isn't very much," said Jennifer.

"You're right, but the poll was based on a hypothetical. Think about it, if the poll is accurate, roughly twenty million women are mad enough to join a party

that doesn't yet exist. I was told, if we received five percent we had a window.

Give women an actual women's party and that might easily double and that's

without going out and actually recruiting women."

Kelly raised her hand.

"Yes, Kelly?"

"You mentioned the Women's League. Are they aware of your plan, and if

so, what is their opinion?"

Sally answered, "I can't speak for the entire membership of the Women's

League. To say their president, Molly Markum, is in favor of a women's party is

like saying a golfer is pleased when she gets a hole-in-one."

Lindy grinned. "Molly and the leadership of other women's groups we've

spoken to are all ecstatic and behind us one hundred percent."

Sally nodded. "Yes, and they've committed to giving us any support they

can."

A buzz of activity and a flurry of questions followed Lindy's revelation.

"What will the Democrats and Republicans do?"

"I'm in, but won't we need more women?"

"Isn't this an overreach for six women?"

"How do we get the word out?"

"What about abortion?"

"And contraception? That was settled eons ago."

"How about equal pay?"

"How about the economy?"

"Yeah, and won't we need money? Lots of money?"

"What's this new party called?"

Sally waved her hands for a time out. "Ladies, please. Lindy or I will answer all of your questions. Unless you have a better idea, we are naming our party

Stand Aligned For Equality. Or SAFE, for short."

"Ooh, I like that. I feel SAFE and more equal already." Brenda clapped her hands, excitedly.

Everyone laughed.

Sally continued. "As for what the other parties will do, I don't know, but I hope they cringe in their wingtips."

More laughter.

Lindy chipped in. "If we're successful, we'll need plenty more women and

men—hundreds, perhaps thousands of staff members and volunteers."

Sally added. "As for getting the word out, each of you has a sphere of

expertise, which if you join us, will help to get the word out. Who wants in?"

Brenda snickered. "Try and keep me out!"

"Me too," Kelly agreed, "I'm definitely in."

Carla raised her hand. "Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Count me in."

Jennifer pursed her lips. "I'm in as long as hubby doesn't have a fit."

"Fantastic. Brenda will pass out information sheets for you to fill out."

Brenda quickly passed sheets to the members.

"Thank you Brenda. Now, Kelly asked if we weren't going to need money.

Yes, we will need money—tons of it. Lindy and I have opened a checking

account for $40,000, which is everything we can spare. We would like each of