Washington State NOW/PAC and the NOW PAC announce endorsements for the 2010 Elections!

Judie Fortier, chair of the Washington State National Organization for Women Political Action Committee (NOW/PAC), and Terry O’Neill, chair for the national NOW PAC announced endorsements for the 2010 Washington State Election.  In order to be endorsed, candidates must be feminist leaders and strong supporters of women’s rights issues including, but not limited to:

• Support for reproductive rights without restrictions,
• Economic equality,
• Civil rights for all, with special emphasis on equal rights for people of color and lesbian and gays,
• Constitutional equality for women,
• Affirmative action,
• Elimination of violence against women

Endorsements go to the strongest feminist candidate. Experience has taught us that, between two candidates with equal records on our issues, over time women candidates will generally perform better than their records would indicate, and that we must have large numbers of feminist women, a sort of critical mass, to win when women’s rights are at stake. However, while NOW PACs seek to bring more women into public office, it will not support a woman against a “good” man when he is the better candidate on our issues. Our goal is to elect the strongest supporters of women’s rights, and NOW PACs are the only women’s rights PACs that endorse strong feminist male candidates. When all other criteria are equal, the NOW PACs will support a woman candidate over a man.

Fortier and O’Neill stated that the following WA State candidates met the NOW/PACs’ criteria and were endorsed for the 2010 elections:

For additional information, please check the www.nowpacs.org and www.nowseattle.org web sites.