AP: Whitman: Nurses' suffrage rally is `a distraction'

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.omaha.com/article/20100827/AP05/308279986

Published Friday August 27, 2010

By JULIET WILLIAMS

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - Hundreds of union members celebrating the 90th anniversary of women's suffrage rallied Thursday at the state Capitol, holding signs that said "Women vote for women who vote" - an attack on the state's first female Republican nominee for governor.

The signs were criticizing the abysmal voting record of former eBay chief executive Meg Whitman, who has acknowledged that she failed to vote for most of her adult life. The rally was organized by the California Nurses Association, a vocal Whitman critic.

Many marchers wore wide-brimmed hats adorned with flowers, long skirts and high necklines, in reference to the attire of the era of suffragettes. While some speeches focused on the struggles women went through to secure the passage of the 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, other speakers touched on a modern political issue: the upcoming November election.

A group of California Teachers Association members chanted "Teachers vote without fail, California's not for sale."

Whitman, a billionaire businesswoman, has contributed $104 million to her campaign to date, breaking all previous state spending records.

FULL story at link.

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