Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!snorkelwacker!bloom-beacon!ora!ora!daemon From: beckwith@sierra.STANFORD.EDU (beckwith) Newsgroups: soc.feminism Subject: TFFTFM/EMILY's List Message-ID: <141@sierra.STANFORD.EDU> Date: 19 Jul 90 19:30:22 GMT Sender: ambar@ora.com (Jean Marie Diaz) Organization: Stanford University Lines: 118 Approved: ambar@ora.com In response to the postings regarding The Fund For The Feminist Majority (here after called "The Fund"): I have not worked for The Fund, but I have, up until about a year ago, been active with NOW, so I know how The Fund was started. The Fund was founded in 1987 or 1988 by Eleanor Smeal, shortly after she served her final term as National NOW President. In the NOW bylaws there is a limit to two consecutive terms of office for the office of Co-ordinator/ President. Smeal is the current President of the Fund, and is extremely active in NOW at the national level, hence the common goals of NOW and the (probable) sharing of the mailing lists. The Fund supports the Feminist Agenda: equality, reproductive freedom, peace & disarmanent, civil rights, lesbian and gay rights, economic justice, homemaker's rights, elimination of poverty, rights of the disabled, human services, elimination of violence, preservation of the environment, and equality/affirmative action, etc. in the arts, humanities, & media. The Fund believes that these ideas can be brought about best by electing feminist women to public office. They ask their contributors to take a pledge: "I pledge not to work for, nor support with my vote, money, or time, any candidate who does not support and work for women's rights and feminist principles." This is NOT a membership organization nor is it a PAC. I believe they maintain their tax exempt status under the heading "educational organization". Smeal has taken the Fund "show" on the road, holding rallys in major cities in the USA, raising "support" for feminist candidates and encouraging feminist women to consider running for office. The Fund was not a NOW splinter group. I think Larry E. Carroll was most correct when he stated: "It [The Fund] was [/is] a vehicle [for Smeal] to retain national power in the feminist movement that would have been denied her because of NOW's two-term limit on the presidency...". While I support everything The Fund supports, I do not contribute time or money to The Fund either, and here is why: 1. This group is trying to collect money from the same people being hit up by NOW, NARAL, the ACLU, EMILY's List and the Democratic Party. Smeal should have merged The Fund with the NOW Educational Fund. Why start yet another organization competing for the same money? Money that is not abundant. 2. As far as I know, ALL the money collected by The Fund is used to keep The Fund going. PLEASE check this out if you intend to send money. Write them a letter and ask them what they do with their contributions. 3. I wonder what good it does to have unqualified women running for office. Encouraging women to run for national office when they have never been active in politics seems a bit far fetched, and off the mark. If you want to help feminist women get elected I would suggest the following actions: 1. Volunteer your time to help out during the campaign (make phone calls, walk precincts, help at fundraisers, stuff and lick envelopes for mailings, do whatever needs to be done), there are never too many volunteers! Just voting on election day isn't enough. Besides, it's fun! AND you learn a lot. 2. Give your money DIRECTLY to the candidate, bypass PACs! 3. Join EMILY's List. Expensive, but if you are serious about electing feminist women to office, this is the way to do it. EMILY's List is not a PAC, it is orders of magnitude better! A PAC can legally only give $5,000. to a candidate in each election (this would mean a total of $10,000; $5,000 in the primary and $5,000 in the general election). EMILY's List can raise an unlimited amount of money for a candidate. Plus, with EMILY's List YOU choose who gets your money. EMILY stands for "Early Money Is Like Yeast". In politics there is much smoke and many mirrors. Candidates are judged by the media (like it or not this aspect is very important) on their "viablity" (how likely is it this candidate can win) by primarily two factors: how much early money the candidate can raise and how much "support" (who is backing this candidate) the candidate has. The first Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) report (telling how much money has been raised) submitted can make or break a candidate. Here is how EMILY's List works: 1. You give EMILY's List a $100. contribution, this keeps the organization going. For this, you get an extremely well researched list (and "resume" for each candidate) of VIABLE feminist candidates running for national office. These candidates must be Democrats, pro-choice and pro-ERA. You then choose which candidate you want to support and write a check directly to that candidate using the candidates FPPC campaign name. You mail the checks to EMILY's List and each week the people at EMILY's List mail a packet of checks to the candidate. It is a very powerful way to raise money. I know this from working on an extremely exciting Congressional campaign in 1988 (Anna Eshoo, 12th CD). When you join EMILY's List you sign a pledge to "consider making gifts of at least $100. to two or more Democratic women candidates selected by EMILY's List". So, if you figure there is an election every two years, you will end up spending $150. each year ($100. to EMILY's List, $200 to candidates = $300/2 years) on political campaigns. Write to them for more information: EMILY's List Suite 412 2000 P Street, NW Washington, DC 20077-6039 Your contribution to EMILY's List is not tax deductible. Well, I have gone on far too long. I hope this clarifies The Fund questions and gets people thinking about supporting Feminist women candidates in a meaningful way. Sharleen