By Any Measure, There’s Room for More Women in Politics

Thomas Fuentes’ letter, in which he attempts to demonstrate that the Republican Party of Orange County is the “party of opportunity for women,” fails, ironically, because of the three women he utilizes as his main examples.

Sally Anne Sheridan, a “fine Republican woman,” claimed to have a nonexistent M.A. from Harvard and rabidly approves any building development put in front of her while remaining in the real estate business. Jo Ellen Allen is the California President of the Eagle Forum, Phyllis Schlafly’s servile little group whose main goal is to convince women that their ultimate purpose is to serve as breeding vessels. Marian Bergeson persists in her anti-choice stance because of the highly analytical reason that she is “a grandmother.” These women do not offer any opportunity to other women; they merely champion the standard anti-environmental and anti-choice drivel that we’ve come to expect from most Republican males.

Curiously, Fuentes neglects to mention Judith Ryan and Mary Hornbuckle, two Republican women who had the temerity to challenge those longstanding Orange County embarrassments, Robert K. Dornan and Gil Ferguson. The fact that they believe women deserve more than just a subservient role in some mythical “family value” ethos is apparently something Mr. Fuentes and his ilk would rather ignore.

JAN RAINBIRD, Irvine