Ed Tibbetts of the Quad-City Times has a report on how the PURSE PAC, a women's political fundraising organization founded in the fall of 2008, hopes to draw more women to the Republican Party of Iowa.
PURSE stands for "People United for Republican Sisters' Elections" and, as stated in the quoted text above, this PAC has presented itself as being more inclusive of pro-choice Republican women who wish to run for office. All-in-all, it sounds like a noble calling.
I will, however, have to agree with my writing cohort Renee when she takes offense to pink invitations decorated with lipsticks and high heeled shoes. (This is how The Des Moines Register described the invitations sent out prior to the first PURSE PAC meeting. I cannot link to that story because (unsurprisingly) The Reg no longer has it publicly available on their site. Tibbetts' report doesn't provide details of the latest event invitations.)
While I'm the type of person who loves a new shade of lipstick and will probably host a ceremonial burial when my favorite designer sweater finally sheds its last thread, there is a time and a place for everything. If political women -- Republican or Democrat -- want to be taken seriously by the women of Iowa, then they would be behooved to take the overall plight of women seriously. Want more women to join your political group? Then form a group that identifies with and acts upon the issues that concern and impact women. Once you do that, gimmicks won't be required.
Some of the group's leaders met with Quad-City-area Republicans Monday at a reception hosted at former state Sen. Maggie Tinsman's home.
"We are of the belief it's going to take a lot of people doing a lot of different things to change the results for Republicans in Iowa," said Diane Crookham-Johnson, chairwoman of the new group called PURSE PAC.
The group plans to seek out Republican women to work on and donate to political campaigns and to run for office themselves.
The idea is to focus on common interests, such as limited government and lower taxes and not on social issues such as abortion and gay marriage. There are other groups that do that, leaders say.
"I view this as an add-on," said state Rep. Linda Miller, R-Bettendorf, a backer of the group who was a co-host of Monday's reception.
PURSE stands for "People United for Republican Sisters' Elections" and, as stated in the quoted text above, this PAC has presented itself as being more inclusive of pro-choice Republican women who wish to run for office. All-in-all, it sounds like a noble calling.
I will, however, have to agree with my writing cohort Renee when she takes offense to pink invitations decorated with lipsticks and high heeled shoes. (This is how The Des Moines Register described the invitations sent out prior to the first PURSE PAC meeting. I cannot link to that story because (unsurprisingly) The Reg no longer has it publicly available on their site. Tibbetts' report doesn't provide details of the latest event invitations.)
While I'm the type of person who loves a new shade of lipstick and will probably host a ceremonial burial when my favorite designer sweater finally sheds its last thread, there is a time and a place for everything. If political women -- Republican or Democrat -- want to be taken seriously by the women of Iowa, then they would be behooved to take the overall plight of women seriously. Want more women to join your political group? Then form a group that identifies with and acts upon the issues that concern and impact women. Once you do that, gimmicks won't be required.
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