Message to Potential Candidates: Run, Woman, Run!

• Pages: 67-67

APRIL 2018 ABA JOURNAL || 67

MIDYEAR MEET ING REPORT || Your ABA

Message to Potential

Candidates: Run, Woman, Run!

opposing the death penalty.”

“Do you think it would make

any di erence if the ABA were to

change its neutral position and

come out for abolishing the death

penalty?” Weinberg asked. “Do you

think that would have any e ect

on the Supreme Court?”

“Yes, I think that’s an important

part of the ‘evolving standards of

decency’ that the Supreme Court

explicitly said,” Stubbs said.

Weinberg brought up the issue

again during debate on Resolution

111, which was proposed by the

Death Penalty Due Process Review

Project and the Section of Civil

Rights and Social Justice, and

proposed removing that language.

“We stand almost alone among the

progressive democracies in adhering

to capital punishment,” he said.

Michael Byowitz, the Board of

Governors’ liaison to the Death

Penalty Due Process Review Project,

spoke in opposition to Weinberg’s

amendment.

“I do so with some trepidation and

sadness because Bob Weinberg is a

personal hero of mine,” Byowitz said.

“My heart pulls me in the direction

he would have us go, but my head

pulls me in a di erent direction.”

Byowitz said marginal e orts chip-

ping away at the use of the death

penalty are the most e ective ways

of addressing the problem.

“We will be ignored if we are

perceived in many of the councils

that matter as against the death

penalty,” he said. “Let’s not let the

perfect be the enemy of the good.”

The amendment was defeated in

a divided vote, but Resolution 111

was passed overwhelmingly.

—L.R.

Ellen Rosenblum, the fi rst woman to

serve as attorney general for Oregon,

has a message for all wom en considering a

run for offi ce: Don’ t overthink it.

“When the though t hits you, go for it,”

Rosenblum said. “ Please run. We need you.”

Rosenblum spoke Feb. 2 durin g

“Challenges and Reward s for Women in

Politics: Both Personal and Professional,”

a luncheon hosted by the Canadian Bar

Association of British Columbia’s Women

Lawyers Forum dur ing the ABA Midyear

Meeting. She was j oined by Suzanne Anton ,

the former attorney general and minister

of justice for British Columbia.

“There’s sort of a cliche tha t there’s

too many lawyers in pol itics,” Anton

told the sold-out crowd . “I don’t know

where that cliche ca me from because

it’s actually not tru e. There are not enough

lawyers in politics.”

‘HOW ABOUT PRESIDENT? ’

The focus of the panel di scussion was

on the need for better representation for

women in politics and the practicalities

of running for offi ce. The luncheon was

co-sponsored by the National Conference

of Women’s Bar Associations and t he ABA

Commission on Women in the Profession.

Anton had been a math tea cher and a

prosecutor but took time of f to raise her

children. Then she b ecame involved in

community sports in Vancouver. That led

her to a run for the Vancouver Board o f

Parks and Recreation an d, ultimately,

to being elected as a me mber in the

Legislative Assembly of British Columbia.

From there, she was appoin ted attorney

general and minister of justice until 2017.

“Lawyers have a nu mber of attributes—

good training, g ood understanding o f the

law, good ability to comm unicate with

people, a fairly thi ck skin, used to a bit of

the rough-and- tumble of life—and of a ll

of those things, a ver y good understand ing

of how people work,” Anton s aid. “Lawyers

like people, and they li ke issues. And if you

like those two things, you m ake a good

politician.”

For Rosenblum, a passion for consumer

protection dating ba ck to law school

was the force that drove her into po litics.

After working as a prosecu tor, she ran in

Oregon’s nonpartisan judicial elections,

serving on the Multnomah County Circuit

Court and then th e Oregon Court of

Appeals. In 2012 , she was appointed atto r-

ney general of Oregon a nd has won two

subsequent elections to retain that position.

Rosenblum and Anton agre ed that for

women considering whether to run for

offi ce, participating in someone else’s

campaign could b e extremely helpful.

“When you don’t k now much about

politics but you’re kind of interested, join a

campaign,” Anton said. “There are always

elections under way. So fi gure out who

you want to support an d go work in their

offi ce. Make phone c alls, knock on doors ,

do what you can to help the m. That gets you

immersed in politics.”

Rosenblum said, “ What we need to keep in

mind is not only do we nee d women running

for political offi ce, women judges, women

AGs, but we need women in othe r positions

of power, like editorial boards. S o just think

about that.”

“How about preside nt?” interjected the

moderator, Jeanne Marie Clavere, a board

member of the National Conference of

Women’s Bar Associations.

“That would be great,” Rosen blum said

to laughter from the crowd . —L.R.

Jeanne Marie Clavere, Ellen Rosenblum and Suzanne Anton