Conservative Women Overlooked - As Usual - On International Women's Day

Today is International Women's Day, "a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women."  Yet as we learn all too often, these neutral-sounding words really mean: a day to celebrate liberal women advancing progressive policy goals.  

As 2016 RNLA National Policy Conference speaker, Network of enlightened Women President, and conservative female attorney Karin Agness Lips reminds us, Republican, conservative, and libertarian women are stereotyped, attacked, and not welcomed by modern feminists:

“If you would gather a group of leaders in the women’s empowerment movement, their definitions would vary dramatically,” Lips says. “The problem with modern-day feminism is that it lacks a universally agreed upon definition, and that it’s been co-opted by political liberals and progressives as a vehicle to pass their political agenda.” 

Lips, who is also a senior fellow at the Independent Women’s Forum, believes in what she calls “opportunity feminism, which seeks to maximize women’s opportunities to build fulfilling and meaningful lives they want to build.” . . . 

“Too often, in my experience, and for a lot of women on campus, once you speak out as a conservative, you turn in your ‘woman card‘ and you don’t count anymore,” Lips says. “[Liberals] attack conservative women, often with a vitriol expressed more for conservative women than men.” Indeed, there are those left-of-center talking heads who guard their political beliefs as viciously as some on the right.

Ms. Lips' "opportunity feminism" fits within the broader framework of conservative and libertarian values of greater individual freedom and less government regulation and is therefore better for women and everyone else as well:

She says this version of feminism prioritizes maximizing opportunities and choices for women, rather than seeing them as victims "that need every interaction regulated." 

Opportunity feminism prioritizes equality of opportunity over equality of outcome, meaning that so long as women have the same opportunities as men in education, the workplace and politics, it doesn’t matter if they are represented in equal numbers.  

"I'm hoping that that's going to be a way for conservative women to reclaim the feminist title," said Agness Lips. "The left claims they are the women's empowerment movement and they're not. And our policies are actually better for women."

In a world where law students disrupted Christina Hoff Sommers' Federalist Society speech at the Lewis and Clark Law School in the name of anti-fascism on Monday (the sheer ignorance of relatively recent history displayed by these supposedly educated law students--our future colleagues in the practice of law--is frightening), we are immensely grateful to have conservative and libertarian female attorneys who can provide a good example on International Women's Day.  Women who can think independently, fight for good policies, and be strong leaders, supporting the rule of law, without attacking our country.  RNLA women leaders like:

• Co-Chair Joanne Young
• Vice President for Communications Harmeet Kaur Dhillon
• Former Chair Kimberly Reed
• Vice President for Membership Audrey Perry Martin
• Vice President for Washington, D.C. Operations Claudia Hrvatin
• Board of Governors member Kathleen Jones Goldman
• Board of Governors member Heather Heidelbaugh
• Board of Governors member Anne Lewis
• Board of Governors member Beverly Weiss Manne
• Board of Governors member Nancy Taylor
• Arkansas Chapter Chair Bilenda Harris-Ritter
• Hawaii Chapter Chair Adrienne King
• Pennsylvania Southeastern Chapter Chair Linda Kerns
• Tennessee Chapter Chair Linda Knight

As Republican female attorneys are bombarded with messages about "equality" and progressive policy goals that women must embrace to be welcomed in the modern women's movement, remember that we conservative and libertarian women are not alone.  We may not be as (obnoxiously) vocal as many highly educated liberal women, but we are capable, we are many, our ideas are better, and we are having an enormous impact on the policies and future of our country.

Latest Voting Problem in Pennsylvania: 100,000 Noncitizens Registered to Vote

RNLA Southeastern Pennsylvania Chapter Leader Linda Kerns continues to uncover problems with elections in Pennsylvania.  Yesterday the Washington Times wrote an article entitled Lawsuit: 100,000 noncitizens registered to vote in Pennsylvania, which stated:

The 100,000 number cited in the lawsuit comes from testimony given by Philadelphia [Election] Commissioner Al Schmidt, who revealed the glitch in the state motor vehicle bureau’s systems that prompted noncitizens to register to vote.

In recent months Pennsylvania’s Secretary of State has resigned; Democrat election officials have been charged with voter intimidation; Philadelphia Congressman and  Democrat Ranking Member of the Committee on House Administration (a.k.a. the elections committee) Bob Brady announced he is retiring in light of an election scandal; and now this.  The article also cites examples of noncitizens voting including this one:

Yet another woman voted in 2008 and 2012, had her registration canceled in 2014 because she wasn’t a citizen, then reregistered and voted in 2016, according to documents filed in court. She was registered as a Democrat.

Pennsylvania voters deserve better.  Every non-citizen's vote cancels out the legal vote of a registered citizen voter.

[FYI, Linda Kerns and RNLA’s Southeastern Pennsylvania Chapter will be hosting a reception this Thursday night. Check out details here.]

RNLA Elects New Officers and Board of Governors Members

Today, the RNLA recognized the new officers and members of the Board of Governors elected at its recent annual board meeting:

RNLA President Elliot Berke stated: “I welcome our new and returning board members, as well as our new and returning officers to what I expect to be an historic year for the RNLA. It’s an honor to serve as your President during this important time in our history.” 

RNLA Executive Director Michael Thielen agreed: “I am honored to work for and with these distinguished Republican attorneys. I am especially pleased that, after having our first female chair last year in Kimberly Reed, there are now four women officers leading the RNLA. We look forward to a strong year.” 

Five new officers were elected for 2018. John Ryder of Memphis, Tennessee, was elected Chair. . . . Joanne W. Young of Washington, DC, was elected Co-Chair. . . . Harmeet K. Dhillon of San Francisco, California, was elected Vice President for Communications. . . . Thomas Wheeler of Indianapolis, Indiana was elected Vice President for Programming. . . . Audrey Perry Martin of Sacramento, California was elected Vice President for Membership. . . .   

Three new members of the Board of Governors were elected for 2018, joining the 43 incumbent members of the Board of Governors. 

Marc Ellinger of Jefferson City, Missouri, . . . Linda A. Kerns of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, . . . [and] Chris Marston of Alexandria, Virginia . . . .

For more information about the new officers and members of the Board of Governors, please read the full press release here.  The RNLA looks forward to an excellent year under these new leaders and the existing leadership they joined.

Philly Ballot Error: Female GOP Attorney Candidate's Name Misprinted

As voters headed to the polls to cast their ballots in state and local elections around the country today, it was a fairly quiet news day.  That is a good thing for election integrity and election administration; it generally means there were no major mistakes or attempts at fraud.

But there was at least one important mistake.  Christine Fizzano Cannon's name was misprinted on about half of the 4000 voting machines in Philadelphia.  Two different printers were used, each printing half the ballots with a different form of Ms. Fizzano Cannon's name.

Ms. Fizzano Cannon is a Republican female attorney running statewide for the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court, an intermediate state appellate court.  Two Republicans and two Democrats were running for the two open seats on the court.

RNLA Pennsylvania Southeastern Chapter Chair Linda Kerns and her team was in court litigating this issue for hours today, but unfortunately this is not the type of error that can be fixed on Election Day.  This shows the importance of election officials' preparation work in checking and re-checking the ballot, voting machines, and other implements of the election to ensure that errors do not confuse the voters or affect any voters' opportunity to vote for the candidate of their choice.

Lawsuit Filed to Allow Inspection of Philadelphia Voter Rolls; Possible Ineligible Voters

The American Civil Rights Union, represented by the Public Interest Legal Foundation and RNLA Advisory Council Member Linda Kerns, has filed a lawsuit against the city of Philadelphia for failure to allow public inspecting of its voter registration rolls as required by the NVRA.  For years, the number of registered voters in Philadelphia has far exceeded the percentage of eligible voters that could reasonably be expected to be registered:

For years in Philadelphia, the numbers of registered voters has nearly exceeded the number of citizen residents eligible to vote, among the highest in Pennsylvania. In response to these unusual circumstances, the plaintiff utilized protections in the National Voter Registration Act that require Philadelphia to allow physical inspection of election records related to voter registration and list maintenance programs. The plaintiff requested information from Philadelphia about tools used to ensure that non-citizens are not registering to vote, as well as other records.  

Philadelphia failed even to respond to the request, and thus the lawsuit followed.

The plaintiff in the case is the American Civil Rights Union. The plaintiff originally sent the defendant a notice letter in January 2016 describing potential violations of federal election law, asking to review election records, and seeking to discuss a cure. Philadelphia never replied.  

“Corrupted voter rolls provide the perfect environment for voter fraud. Failure to clean the rolls aggravates longstanding problems of voter fraud in Philadelphia,” said J. Christian Adams, President and General Counsel of the Public Interest Legal Foundation. “Philadelphia may not be using all the available tools to prevent non-citizens from registering and voting. Concealing list maintenance records from the public isn’t good government, and it violates Federal election law.”

Local election officials have an important duty to ensure that federal and state election laws are followed, including the laws regarding voter eligibility.  If a locality is refusing to follow federal law regarding inspection of its voter records, it may be failing to follow other important laws.  Ensuring that only eligible voters are registered to vote is key to the integrity of elections and public confidence in the electoral process.