NEWS ARCHIVE 2007-2008

Delegate Jennifer McClellan
Remarks
Virginia Legislative Black Caucus Press Conference
January 16, 2007

As a part of its goal to offer economic opportunity to all Virginians, the Caucus supports repeal of the PayDay Lending Act of 2002, which in effect would force these lenders to limit their interest rates to 35% instead of the over 300% rates they charge today.

Since the General Assembly unleashed these predatory lenders on Virginia families just over four years ago, they have proliferated to the point that there are over 2 payday loan stores for every McDonald’s in Virginia and 3 for every Starbucks.

Payday loans lure Virginians in financial need onto inescapable debt traps. Their business model hinges on the repeat borrower, and the industry costs Virginians $169 million in fees each year.

Our neighboring states have capped small lenders at 36% interest. The federal government has taken action to protect military families from this kind of economic exploitation by capping interest at 36%. Now we have an obligation to take action to protect Virginia families from these predatory lenders.

The Legislative Black Caucus joins the Interfaith Center for Public Policy, the NAACP, the Family Foundation, the Virginia Organizing Project, the Virginia Poverty Law Center, and the AARP in saying it is time for to Repeal the Payday Lending Act.

A video clip of the press conference is available here.

Women mixing politics, family
BY PAMELA STALLSMITH
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Sunday, January 7, 2007
 

Her baby resting nearby as she writes an e-mail at work, Victoria Cobb enjoys the best of both worlds.

The new mother can care for her 5-month-old daughter while she tends to her duties as president of the Family Foundation of Virginia.

"For me it's perfect," Cobb said from her downtown office not far from the state Capitol, where she lobbies lawmakers and promotes the socially conservative group's agenda. "I don't think I could do this if I had to keep her in day care all day."

Cobb, 28, is one of several young women who hold important political positions in Virginia.

She usually takes her daughter, Elizabeth, to a neighbor's in the morning and then picks her up at lunchtime. The baby spends the afternoon with her mother, whose office doubles as a romper room, complete with a folding crib, an activity gym, a swing and a bouncy chair.

Though nap times can pose a challenge and Cobb often presses the mute button during conference calls, overall it works well. It helps that her husband's office is nearby.

"People are really family-friendly here," she said. "I can be engaged in the political sphere in a very significant way while being able to balance my family by having my daughter at work."

Cobb is among several high-profile women who either hold elected office, head organizations or work in top administrative jobs. While their numbers aren't great, they represent a new generation of women in politics who are gradually breaking down the door of the largely men's-only political club.

Women account for just over half of the population, yet their numbers in elected office fall far below that share.

Nationally, women hold 23 percent of seats in statehouses, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. In Virginia, women occupy 17 percent of the seats in the 140-member General Assembly -- 16 in the House and eight in the state Senate.

In the 2007 Congress, 16 percent of all representatives will be women -- a record, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Virginia elected its first woman to Congress in 1992, when Democrat Leslie L. Byrne of Fairfax County won the 11th District, a seat she held for one term.

Now there's a record two women in Virginia's 13-member congressional delegation, U.S. Rep. Thelma Drake, R-2nd, and U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Davis, R-1st.

Women -- society's traditional primary-care givers -- tend to enter politics later in life than men, deciding to pursue public office after children are grown or their home responsibilities have changed.

"Women really do end up on a different life course than men," said Deirdre Condit, an associate professor of political science at Virginia Commonwealth University who specializes in women in politics. "We may end up on the same island, but we get there by vastly different routes historically."

Del. Jennifer L. McClellan, D-Richmond, is the youngest woman in the General Assembly. McClellan, a lawyer with Verizon, turned 34 on Dec. 28.

She became intrigued with politics in sixth grade, the 20th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's assassination. "I was probably the only kid in my high school who watched C-SPAN," she laughingly recalled.

At the University of Richmond, she served as president of Young Democrats during the 1992 presidential debate, where she was able to meet national and state party leaders. McClellan stayed busy in politics, working on a variety of campaigns and becoming active in the state party.

Then the 71st House District seat became open in 2005, and she decided to make a bid. She faced a well-known and much older civic leader in the primary.

"If you look at my resume, I've done more than people twice my age," she said. "So you have to fight that initial stereotype that if you're a young woman you're inexperienced and you don't know what you're doing."

Finding balance is difficult for any professional woman, she said. So is struggling to find your image as a woman.

"You have to worry about what you wear, which a lot of men don't," she said. "What are you supposed to wear to a pig roast or a football game? Men have three basic uniforms. Women have a lot more. . . . The fact that you have to worry about it or waste any energy on it is all kind of silly, but that's where we are."

Mentors in politics are important, she said.

"A generation of women are starting to say, 'I can do this,'" she said. "But I think for any young person to get involved, for a woman or man, you do need some encouragement along the way."

Janet Polarek has never missed an election day.

She was 9 months old when she visited her first poll, carried in her mother's arms as they stumped for votes on behalf of her grandfather, who was running for county court clerk in eastern North Carolina. He lost, but the family's interest in politics never waned.

"That's a good message for parents. If you want your daughters to be involved in politics, take them to the polls with you. Get involved in a campaign. Let them meet politicians," said Polarek, 30, the director of administration for Republican Attorney General Bob McDonnell.

Polarek also ran McDonnell's statewide campaign last year. But she worked from her home, which enabled her to also care for her daughter, Reagan -- named for the president -- who's now 3.

"You just wouldn't find too many people who would allow his campaign manager to run a campaign from her home in Lynchburg, especially when he's in Virginia Beach and the state Capitol's in Richmond," she said.

Polarek first met her boss in 1999 when she was a graduate student at Regent University and he was teaching one of her classes. She initially interned in his House of Delegates office and then volunteered on his legislative campaign.

"The primary reason that I'm sitting here at this desk right now is because I have a boss who understands and appreciates the input of women in his inner circle," she said from her office. "And who gives me the flexibility as a mom. I'm not just a woman. I'm also a mom."

Delacey Skinner rebelled in high school and became a staunch Republican for a year.

"I angered everyone in my family," said Skinner, 33, the director of communications for Democratic Gov. Timothy M. Kaine. "But it was an important part of my political education. You're raised with a certain set of values. Spending a year opposing all those values and then coming back to them really made them my own."

A college course in women in politics lead her to chose a political science major. After working for the Howard Dean campaign in South Carolina and America Coming Together in New Hampshire during the 2004 presidential race, she came to Virginia to work as Kaine's campaign press secretary.

When she entered politics, she didn't know whether she would like it.

"I heard all these things about . . . it's really a man's world, it's very hard-edged, it's very unforgiving, there are long hours, you have to work very hard," she said.

What she found was it is about hard work, "and in that sense it doesn't matter that you're a woman or a man or what your background is. The system rewards intelligence, innovation and hard work."

Skinner said she's noticed a trend in politics where young women aren't married but their male peers tend to be.

"I think it is a very challenging thing still to have a very intense career and find a way to balance that with a family life of some sort. Not that there aren't women who do it, but I do think that's a challenge," she said.

"A lot of my female friends talk about it as a real choice between choosing a political career or choosing a career that might be a little more family friendly."

Contact staff writer Pamela Stallsmith at pstallsmith@timesdispatch.com or (804) 649-6746.

This story can be found at: http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD%2FMGArticle%2FRTD_BasicArticle&%09s=1045855935264&c=MGArticle&cid=1149192529501&path=%21news%21politics

Virginia Super Lawyers magazine names Delegate McClellan a “Rising Star”
January 2007

Jennifer McClellan has been named one of The Top Young Lawyers in Virginia for 2007 by Virginia Super Lawyers magazine.  The Delegate was among several Virginia attorneys chosen by a ballot process conducted by Law & Politics magazine (publisher of Virginia Super Lawyers). The top 5 percent of attorneys in Virginia were asked to cast a ballot for the best attorneys who are either 40 or under or who have been practicing 10 or fewer years that they have personally observed in action, whether as opposing counsel or co-counsel, or through other first-hand courtroom observation.

A quote from the article in Virginia Super Lawyers 2007 – Rising Stars Edition 5:

Her goal, she says, is an old-fashioned one: helping people. “I know this is going to sound really hokey, but there is nothing better than the feeling you get when somebody has brought a problem to you and you figure out a way to help them – or at least help them to get heard. Because lots of times you can’t do anything, or you do as much as you can, but in the end the problem is still there. But they appreciate the fact that you tried.”

She pauses. “I like to say that I’m a realistic idealist. I keep in mind what the ideal is and I strive for it, but I don’t delude myself in thinking that’s the way it is.”

The Rising Stars editions are published in California, Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Southern California, Texas, Virginia and Washington.  Copies are mailed to all Virginia lawyers, and are on newsstands with the January edition of Richmond Magazine.

  Click here to see a pdf file of the full article.

  Click here see the Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership
  blog about the award.