From: Julie Wright <julie@cucbs.chem.columbia.edu>
Newsgroups: soc.feminism
Subject: NY Senate Race: Liz Holtzman
Date: 29 Jul 1992 19:09:01 GMT
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: remarque.berkeley.edu
Originator: muffy@remarque.berkeley.edu

	Senator Al D'Amato (Rep.), known to some as "New York's Jesse 
Helms", is running for reelection this year.  I believe he's served 2
terms so far (i.e. since 1980).  Four Democrats are running in the 
primary to oppose him: Geraldine Ferraro (former VP candidate and US
Rep.), Liz Holtzman (former US Rep., former Brooklyn DA, currently NYC
Comptroller), Robert Abrams (NY Attorney General? I forget the exact
position title), and the Rev. Al Sharpton (African-American leader or
rabble rouser, depending on who's describing him).  The Democratic primary
will be on Sept. 15; right now Ferraro is ahead in the polls, Abrams
second (both in the twenties or thirties in percentage points), Holtzman
third in the teens and rising, and Sharpton somewhere under 10%.
	Democratic leaders and feminist leaders seem to be splitting their
support somewhat.  The three leading candidates are all described as 
feminists, at least by some people.  Abrams has slapped a bunch of 
injunctions on Operation Rescue as they tried to take over Buffalo and 
New York City clinics and is popular with some feminists, but the two
women will probably get a lot, perhaps most, of the feminist vote.   I
think I heard NY NOW is supporting Ferraro, but I could be wrong about
that.  Mayor Dinkins of NYC supports Abrams.
	D'Amato is wildly unpopular with liberals, feminists, and many
other people, and has been involved in some apparent corruption scandals.
However, it can sometimes be hard for Democrats to win the upstate NY vote.
The other NY Senator (Moynihan) is a Democrat, though, and it is certainly
possible that a Democrat could win in November.
	I saw Liz Holtzman campaigning in Central Park on Saturday (she's
shorter than I thought :) ) and picked up a pamphlet of hers.  Also, I
got some mail a few weeks ago from Faye Wattleton (ex Planned Parenthood
head) stressing Holtzman's strong and longtime (since the 1970s) support 
for abortion rights.  Among other things, she joined the clinic defenders
in Buffalo during Operation Rescue's recent attack on clinics.
	Here's a summary of the information on her pamphlet which has 
anything to do with feminism or "gender issues".  If anyone wants info.
on her other positions (which are pretty much straight Democratic liberal),
and her history as a politician (lots of anti-power-structure type of
stuff, e.g. Watergate hearing activities), send me e-mail and I'll 
summarize the rest of the stuff in her pamphlet for you.

As Congresswoman, Holtzman:
--- wrote the first federal statute to protect the privacy of rape
    victims {does anyone know what this means?}

As Brooklyn's DA, she
--- led the successful effort to reform NY State rape laws {does anyone
    know details?  I think this may have made it illegal for a husband
    to rape a wife, among other things}
--- successfully lobbied for changes in the state's child sex-abuse 
    laws -- for more compassionate treatment for sex-abuse victims

As NYC Comptroller (since 1990), she
--- established the first program for women- and minority-owned manage-
    ment firms to receive city business
--- forced municipal hospitals to screen women for breast cancer, after
    discovering that patients were dying from breast cancer at three
    times the national average

Holtzman vs. Ferraro info:

Ferraro voted to recriminalize homosexuality in Washington, DC; Holtzman
was an original co-sponsor of gay and lesbian civil rights legislation.
Ferraro wanted the ERA out of the 1984 Democratic Platform; Holtzman
wrote and passed the extension of the ratification deadline for the ERA.

Holtzman campaign address/phone #: 
Liz Holtzman for Senate
99 Hudson St., 4th floor
New York, NY  10013
(212) 941-7340


------------------------------------------------------------------------

	I realize all that info is pretty vague, but at least it gives
an idea of some of her work and priorities.  Although I like both Ferraro
and Abrams, I will probably vote for Holtzman, because she's a progressive
woman and because she doesn't seem to be plagued by the same kind of 
ethics questions that haunt Ferraro as well as D'Amato.  However, if any
of these 3 beats D'Amato in November, I think most feminists would be
quite happy.

	A brief aside on Illinois... the New York Times today (Wed. 7/29) 
has a (rather vapid) article on Carol Moseley Braun, who is the 
Democratic candidate for the Illinois Senate.  At the moment, she's
ahead in the polls (54% to 21%).  From April 1 to June 30, she raised
more money than ANY other Senate candidate, $1.7 million, half of it
>from out-of-state.  Ironically, the next biggest Senate moneymaker is
Sen. Arlen Specter, the Pennsylvanian Republican best known nationally
for grilling Anita Hill in the Clarence Thomas hearings...  If the Times
had had much information to report on her political stands, I'd put it
in here, but all they said was that she's pro-choice and liberal.

Julie


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