Herald: Rare leader pushes the human cause

by Beth Reinhard, Miami Herald

What can you expect from a Legislature that, year after year, can't muster the votes for a constitutional amendment enshrining equal rights for women and men?

Still, I was shocked to see a press release from the Senate Democratic Caucus this week that said Nan Rich of Weston would ''make history'' as leader for the 2010-2102 term. The first Jewish woman, perhaps?

Nope, the first woman to lead the Democratic caucus in the Florida Senate.

Only two women -- Gwen Margolis of Sunny Isles Beach and Toni Jennings of Orlando -- have held the even more powerful title of Senate President. Lawmakers have never picked a woman to serve as House Speaker.

As we celebrate Women's History Month, consider that when lawmakers took their seats Tuesday for the 2009 session, only 38 of the 160 members were women. That's about 24 percent, slightly under the national average for state legislatures calculated by the Center for Women and Politics at Rutgers University.

A few legislators suggested that there haven't been enough women with seniority to reach leadership posts. In politics and business, a young man who rises quickly to the top is an up-and-comer. A young woman is inexperienced.

Rich, 67, has paid her dues. She was elected to the Senate in 2004 after serving four years in the House. She is best known for her indefatigable efforts to protect the most vulnerable, most neglected people in Florida.

Her colleague, Sen. Frederica Wilson of Miami, put it best when she nominated Rich on Wednesday: ``On behalf of the children who need to be adopted, the senior citizens who need to stay in their homes as long as possible, the medically needy, the hospice care patient at life's end, the pregnant woman, the homeless, those whose homes are in foreclosure, those who receive Medicaid and food stamps, and also the charitable, prestigious constituents that you represent, I proudly nominate you, Nan Rich, the voice of the voiceless, for Florida minority leader for 2010.''

In another testament to Rich, whom Wilson called ''a real donkey . . . a true blue Democratic warrior,'' Republican senators Mike Haridopolos and Don Gaetz attended the Democratic Senate caucus meeting where Rich was honored.

''There are so many issues that are not Democratic issues or Republican issues,'' Gaetz said. ``They're issues of right and wrong . . . and Nan Rich is a hard worker who digs deep into those issues.''

If not for Rich, poor children in Florida could apply for state-subsidized health insurance only 30 days out of the year, instead of year-round. Foster kids who had bonded with new families could be yanked away without a court order, and they would lose their health insurance at age 18 instead of at 21. Agencies around the state that provide seniors with healthcare and direct them to social services would be short $3 million. Holocaust survivors living in poverty would never have received $350,000 in state aid.

Is it a coincidence that one of the Legislature's biggest champions on behalf of women, children and the elderly is female? Certainly there are men who take up these lobbyist-free causes, but not enough. An uptick in smart, compassionate, nervy women in Tallahassee would have real-life consequences.

Perhaps in 2010, when Rich becomes Senate Democratic leader, she will look across the chambers and see a few more of the fire-red jackets traditionally donned by women on the legislative session's opening day.

Beth Reinhard is the political writer for The Miami Herald.

http://www.miamiherald.com/418/story/937157.html

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	Senator Rich Addressing Seniors at the Daniel Canter Senior Center
	Nan Rich with Gradutes of Weston University
	Senator Rich with the Final Graduting Class of Weston University 2010

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