Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.ibd From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Headline Article Date: Tue, 3 Nov 92 12:44:32 EST Message-ID: <4.1992Nov3.124433@AmeriCast.com> 11/3/92 What 'Year Of Woman' Means For Business In Senate, Most Of Candidates Are Democrats - And Liberals Karen M. Lundegaard WASHINGTON - This may indeed be the "Year of the Woman" in politics, but that might not be the best news for business. A record 119 women are running for congressional office. Eleven are vying for Senate seats, and 10 of them are Democrats. Women are expected to at least double their representation in the Sen- ate, now just three, one of whom was appointed to her late husband's seat. Not surprisingly, the female Democratic Senate campaigns revolve around issues affecting both women and busi- ness: health care, unemployment, child care, equal opportunity in the workplace and family leave. And when voting a "women's agen- da" competes against a "pro-business agenda" for these candi- dates, the scale usually tips in favor of women. Most of the fe- male candidates favor family leave and health-care reform, both of which mean more government intervention in the private sector. But the candidates also recognize that women are the fastest- growing segment of small business owners. These women executives have been heavy contributors to many of the women candidates. Most of the Senate candidates have education and small- business backgrounds, and proposed Democratic economic reforms combine concerns from both fields. On the most basic level, many propose tax incentives for companies offering employee continuing educa- tion and retraining programs. For example, Geri Rothman-Serot, the Missouri senatorial candidate, proposes a program for cor- porations to "adopt" local schools. Her plan would have execu- tives serve as occasional guest speakers and counselors for area high school and college students. Many also support tax incen- tives for investing in inner-city enterprise zones. They also tend to favor targeted investment incentives, ranging from reduc- tions in taxes on longer-term capital gains to the reinstatement of investment tax credits. Female candidates are especially in- terested in guiding investment incentives to urban areas and tak- ing steps to keep jobs from leaving cities. They also support, in one way or another, incentives to boost job-creating research and development. Most talk of reforming the income tax system to make it "fairer" - a mainstream Democratic position. In contrast to a Democratic leaning toward re-regulating business, the sole female Republican Senate contender, Charlene Haar of South Dako- ta, calls for across-the-board deregulation. "The government is micro-managing business in the country, and that's too bad," Haar said in a telephone interview. "I am a pro-business candidate. I aim to keep government out of business." Most business group en- dorsements and political action committee contributions still run along partisan lines, with Republicans garnering most of the mo- ney. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce endorsed none of the women, though the group stayed neutral in two races. Incumbent Senators Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., and Tom Daschle, D-S.D., are too far ahead in the polls to risk alienating chamber members who support them, said Ted Maness, Senate liaison for the chamber. In five races, the chamber endorsed Republican incumbents without even looking at their challenger's platform. Incumbent Republi- cans Bob Dole of Kansas, John McCain of Arizona, John Seymour of California, Charles Grassley of Iowa and Chris "Kit" Bond of Mis- souri all got automatic endorsements against female opponents be- cause of their 70% or better ratings from the Chamber of Com- merce. Ratings are based on congressional voting records on busi- ness issues. Mikulski had a 20% chamber rating in 1991, indicat- ing she voted with chamber positions only 20% of the time. That was slightly worse than her cumulative average of 25%. The only other female Senate candidate to receive a rating was Rep. Bar- bara Boxer, D-Calif., whose 1991 rating was 25%. The National Federation of Business Professional Women endorsed Boxer and Di- anne Feinstein, another California Democrat, Carol Moseley Braun in Illinois, Mikulski, Rothman- Serot, Lynn Yeakel in Pennsyl- vania and Patty Murray in Washington. They also support the con- servative Haar's opponent, Daschle. But most of the mainstream business groups are supporting pro-business GOP candidates. The National Federation of Independent Business' PAC contributed to none of the women. It gave to some of their opponents: Bond, Seymour, Rod Chandler, R-Wash., Rich Williamson, R-Ill., and Bruce Herschensohn, the Republican battling Boxer. The PAC of the American Business Association gave to Boxer's campaign. But they supported Arizona's McCain in his quest against Claire Sar- gent. Organized labor is providing substantial support to the women candidates. The AFL-CIO contributed $10,000 each to Boxer and Braun, and $5,000 to Feinstein, Murray and Rothman-Serot. PACs are limited to $5,000 donations per candidate, per election. For Boxer and Braun, the AFL-CIO helped in the primaries also. Two of Charlene Haar's biggest supporters have been the Business Industry PAC and the National Rifle Association. Women Candi- dates Survey of 116 Women Congressional Candidates PARTY Democrats: 69% Republicans: 31% BACKGROUNDS Education- teachers: 28% Business: 22% Gov't-politics/public affairs: 12% Media-public relations: 10% Attorney: 9.5% Community activist/volunteer/homemaker: 8% Accounting/finance: 6% Social services: 5% Health: 2.5% Clerical: 1.5% Other: 68% have previ- ously run for office. 56% have held office. 83% have children 28% have grandchildren. Note: One candidate did not respond and two women running for the non-voting delegate from Washington,D.C. are not included. Source: National Women's Political Caucus This article is copy- right 1992 Investors Business Daily. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cyber- casting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM