2008 Woodie Awards
Carnahans highlight women's progress in politics
By: James Chilton
Issue date: 5/3/07 Section: News
Two members of Missouri's own answer to the Kennedy family came to Webster April 30 as the latest speakers in former Gov. Bob Holden's "Pizza and Politics" series.
Secretary of State Robin Carnahan and her mother, former Sen. Jean Carnahan, spoke before a crowd of nearly 60 in the University Center Sunnen Lounge. The two described their respective introductions to politics then, at Holden's behest, launched into the issues while the audience feasted on pizza provided by Holden's Public Policy Forum.
As women in politics, both Carnahans acknowledged women had taken great political strides in recent years, with their own state host to a female senator, secretary of state, state auditor and state treasurer. Robin Carnahan said getting women to donate money to campaigns also is easier than the days when she canvassed for her father, deceased Gov. Mel Carnahan.
"If you got the woman on the telephone to ask for money, they'd say 'Uh, I've got to go ask my husband," Robin Carnahan said.
Despite an increasing number of women in politics, both Carnahans agreed the American political environment has become more acrimonious than in the days of one of their role models, Mo. Sen. Thomas Eagleton, who once ran alongside South Dakotan Sen. George McGovern for the White House in 1972.
"There's a lot more hostility there," Jean Carnahan said of her arrival in the Senate in 2001. "I tried to be as open as I could be, but for some reason there just wasn't the congeniality there."
The Carnahans blamed term limits in part for the breakdown in political discourse in the Missouri General Assembly. Missouri allows lawmakers to serve a maximum eight years in either house of the legislature. As a result, they said lawmakers spend much of their time trying to raise money rather than serving their constituents.
"Term limits have had a devastating effect on the way people act toward each other," Jean Carnahan said. "(Legislators have) got to spend much more of their time just raising money."
Secretary of State Robin Carnahan and her mother, former Sen. Jean Carnahan, spoke before a crowd of nearly 60 in the University Center Sunnen Lounge. The two described their respective introductions to politics then, at Holden's behest, launched into the issues while the audience feasted on pizza provided by Holden's Public Policy Forum.
As women in politics, both Carnahans acknowledged women had taken great political strides in recent years, with their own state host to a female senator, secretary of state, state auditor and state treasurer. Robin Carnahan said getting women to donate money to campaigns also is easier than the days when she canvassed for her father, deceased Gov. Mel Carnahan.
"If you got the woman on the telephone to ask for money, they'd say 'Uh, I've got to go ask my husband," Robin Carnahan said.
Despite an increasing number of women in politics, both Carnahans agreed the American political environment has become more acrimonious than in the days of one of their role models, Mo. Sen. Thomas Eagleton, who once ran alongside South Dakotan Sen. George McGovern for the White House in 1972.
"There's a lot more hostility there," Jean Carnahan said of her arrival in the Senate in 2001. "I tried to be as open as I could be, but for some reason there just wasn't the congeniality there."
The Carnahans blamed term limits in part for the breakdown in political discourse in the Missouri General Assembly. Missouri allows lawmakers to serve a maximum eight years in either house of the legislature. As a result, they said lawmakers spend much of their time trying to raise money rather than serving their constituents.
"Term limits have had a devastating effect on the way people act toward each other," Jean Carnahan said. "(Legislators have) got to spend much more of their time just raising money."
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