Greitens balances the governor’s cabinet

Carol Comer makes four out of five for new Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens.

Her January appointment as director of the state Department of Natural Resources follows selections of female cabinet members Anne Precythe, over the Department of Corrections, Chris Chinn in Agriculture and Sarah Steelman to lead the Office of Administration. The announcement for Steelman, a Rolla resident, was reserved for Springfield during the Republican governor’s Jan. 6 visit to The eFactory downtown.

“We need more women in government, there’s no question about that,” Steelman told Springfield Business Journal at the event. “It’s extremely important and helpful to women to get them to participate in different kinds of boards, commissions – running for office.”

Greitens chose the event in Springfield, in part, because of the newly formed Rosie women’s initiative based out of The eFactory.

“We are putting together a really great team,” Greitens said at the event with over 200 people in support. “I think it’s incredibly important to support female leaders in business and throughout Missouri.”

The new appointees join four females already in state leadership: Sara Parker Pauley of the Conservation Department, Zora Mulligan in Higher Education, Margie Vandeven in Elementary and Secondary Education and Jennifer Tidball over Social Services. If Tidball retains her position, that would mean half of Greitens’ cabinet members are women. With his fifth pick, Greitens tabbed Drew Erdmann in a newly created position of chief operating officer.

By comparison, former Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon’s cabinet comprised three women.

Vivian Eveloff, who founded the Institute for Women in Public Life about 20 years ago, said Greitens’ stance as a political outsider may be a benefit to women.

“That’s may be an upside of not being a creature of Jefferson City where there are not a lot of women in senior positions,” she said.

Eveloff, a longtime Democrat, said the selection process for cabinet positions has been pretty simple in the past: the good-old-boys mentality or the college roommate, for example.

“There are few specialized skills that you need to even hold a cabinet position. I’m hopeful it will be a diverse group in a variety of ways: gender, race and experience,” she said.

The long view
It can be argued the seed for creating Rosie was planted back in 1972 by Eveloff and a group of “wild women” – when only eight of the 163 members of the Missouri House of Representatives were women.  

Earlier that year, some women in St. Louis County hopped up on the modern women’s movement and selected their candidate to run against the son of a senator who was well heeled, well coifed and well connected. They chose Sue Shear, an average housewife and mother who never wanted to be a politician, said Eveloff, whose foundation was later renamed the Sue Shear Institute for Women in Public Life.

“We were all on fire and we needed a candidate. We harassed her enough that she filed,” Eveloff said.

Shear won the primary and then the general election, and the shocked little woman visited the House floor for the first time.

“The doorkeeper stopped her and said, ‘Lady, secretaries aren’t allowed on the House floor,’ and she looked at him like she didn’t quite understand what he was saying and she pulled herself to 5-foot, 3-inches maybe and said, ‘I’m Rep. Sue Shear from St. Louis County.’”

There was a new pair of heels in state government, which echoed throughout the House for the next 26 years. Shear mentored many, including Sen. Claire McCaskill who interned in Shear’s office before the two women sat down and planned out McCaskill’s career, according to Eveloff. Shear is the longest-serving woman in the Missouri Legislature’s history, she said.

What’s next?
While Greitens’ administration is shaping up to be female friendly, statewide data paints a different picture.

According to the Women’s Foundation, females account for 51 percent of Missouri’s population but only 22 percent of Missouri’s 2017 General Assembly, down from 25 percent two years prior. Also, only 24 percent of state court judges are women.

“It will be interesting to see how Greitens handles women in the judiciary and in the nonpartisan court areas,” Eveloff said. “When Greene County joined the nonpartisan court plan, there were no women judges – they were in lower ranking positions, but not sitting on the bench. There are now two women on the Court of Appeals in the southern district and two women on the trial court in Greene County. That’s an area where there was no diversity, not being subject to popular election.”

Greitens is doing things differently. He is encouraging applicants for positions on his team both with a news release as well as an open invitation on his website.

Eveloff said such moves are refreshing, especially to see within his party.

“One of the things that is clear that nobody has quite named is that we need more Republican women candidates. If the state or the country is going to trend in that direction, there is a challenge to find women beyond the two to three women candidates in Congress who come from predominantly Republican states,” she said.

[[In-content Ad]]