As part of its mission to make a lasting impact on the lives of women and girls in Northeast Florida, the Women’s Giving Alliance hosted its Florida Legislature Qualified Candidates Forum Monday, Sept. 24 at the University of North Florida.
Moderated by Susan Towler, the vice president of the Florida Blue Foundation and executive director of corporate social responsibility for Florida Blue, the forum offered qualified candidates for the Florida Senate and Florida House of Representatives from Baker, Clay, Duval, Nassau and St. Johns counties the opportunity to share their positions on issues relating to female poverty. Participating candidates included: Senate District 4 candidate Billee Bussard, House District 11 candidate Nathcelly Rohrbaugh, House District 15 candidate Tracye Polson, House District 16 candidate Ken Organes, House District 10 candidate Ronald Williams, House District 17 candidate Jaime Perkins and House District 24 candidate Adam Morely.
Towler began the forum by laying the ground rules and making a key distinction.
“This is not a debate,” she advised, and she was right, for while the participating candidates hailed from fairly diverse backgrounds, there was a significant lack of diversity among their positions. All seven were registered Democrats, so the event ran more like a friendly discussion than a heated debate.
Even so, when asked how they would help to alleviate female poverty, candidates had varying responses.
Bussard, for instance, described the issue as a “multi-pronged problem” and suggested that one of those prongs was men. She added, however, that she believes women share some of the responsibility for the shortcomings of their male counterparts, stating: “Women need to do a better job educating boys.”
Perkins, on the other hand, as the first in her family to graduate from college, said she had the experiential knowledge necessary to combat the issue of poverty, contending, “We need to elect more people who have lived through the crisis of poverty.”
Still others were less specific, like Morley, who admitted that he did not have any concrete ideas on ways to address female poverty, but said he was open to suggestions.
Women’s healthcare was another major topic of discussion, and for Polson – both a breast cancer survivor and a mental health professional – expanding women’s access to affordable healthcare is not only vital, but personal.
Bussard said she shared the same vision, stating, “It is shameful that we don’t have universal healthcare.”
Organes agreed, stating he would use Medicaid funds to institute such a program — an idea that received nods of approval from several others on the panel.
After all questions had been answered, Women’s Giving Alliance President Ellen Wiss closed the forum by thanking the candidates and attendees and urging them all to get out and vote.
