'You can't fool all the people'

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It was quite a surprise to see the former mayor of San Francisco, Dianne Feinstein, on the speakers' platform at the Nov. 12 rally for women's choice in Washington, D.C.

Feinstein is running for governor of California and there she was, big as life, masquerading as a genuine feminist. About the only thing I could agree with her on was when she said we should "outlaw politicians who do not support women's rights." So as far as I'm concerned she's outlawed.

We in San Francisco have had quite a bit of experience with Feinstein as far as women's needs go. In 1973, a grassroots effort was made to place an initiative on the local ballot calling for an increase in quality childcare for all children who need it, regardless of income. It included infant care, after-school care, and full-day childcare centers.

Our organization, Child and Parent Action, was made up of teachers and working parents, and was indeed a true grassroots organization. Our office was in the attic of a church and we had no salaried Lech SKAN The day the Christmas lights were put up in my neighborhood, Lech Walesa came to town. In my mind, the two events seemed closely related. I could almost visualize the Polish leader in a Santa cap or beating a Salvation Army drum in hopes that a well-heeled shopper might toss him a coin.

On his first day in America, Walesa beat his drum in the Oval Office of the White House. George Bush draped a Medal of Freedom around his neck. "One of the greatest dreams of my life has been fulfilled," the former electrician told the president.

On his second day in America, Walesa and Bush went together to speak before the convention of the AFL-CIO. They received an ovation from the delegates. (Union head Lane Kirkland also received a medal from the president.)

On his third day in America, Walesa carried his drum over to the Capitol for a joint session of Congress. There, too, a chorus of "bravo, bravo" resounded through the chambers.

On his fourth day in America, Walesa attended his most important meeting of all-breakfast with a dozen representatives of big U.S. corporations. Exchanging his Santa cap for a white Stetson, Walesa called on the businessmen to "make us your partner" by investing in Poland.

"We are not asking for charity or expecting philanthropy," Walesa assured the corporate heads. Instead, people. In fact, we ran bake sales to pay for the election expenses. We also got contributions from the teachers' unions and others who saw the desperate need for an expansion of childcare facilities.

Our initiative won

Our ballot initiative (Proposition M) won in the election with 97,000 votes, and no one was more happy or surprised than we who had worked so hard on it.

Our organization met and decided to begin the push for implementation of Proposition M. In order to By do that, we agreed that we would not become a fake "non-profit" organization of the type that focuses on getting grants for "studies." Nor would we ask for city funds for our organization.

A few days after the election we received a call from City Hall (Dianne Feinstein was a member of the Board of Supervisors) to come and meet with her and other supervisors on "implementing" Proposition M.

After congratulations were received from the supervisors, they began to tell us how they planned to carry out the wishes of the voters. They suggested that we, (Child and Parent Action) do a "study" on childcare needs. They said that there was about $86,000 in a special fund and some of it could go towards that study. We answered that we had already done such a study before the election.

We knew at that very moment over 3000 children were without adequate supervision in our city, and those were just the children already on a waiting list. They countered that even if that were true, they still needed a really thorough study-and we could use the funds for a paid staff and an office and even have some left over to pay our election bills.

We replied that we already had an office for free and that none of our volunteers wanted any pay. Also, we had no left-over election bills to pay. We requested that, if they really had $86,000 in special funds, they use it to hire childcare teachers and to otherwise expand childcare. That was what the voters voted for—not to give money to Child and Parent Action.

Things began to get rather chilly in the room. Smiles froze on the faces of the supervisors, incluc ing Dianne Feinstein's.

"Didn't lift a hand"

The Board of Supervisors did not lift a hand to give children the needed childcare; instead they decided to place our initiative back on the ballot and work for a "No" vote. Thanks to a heavy campaign by Dianne Feinstein and several other supervisors, our childcare initiative was rescinded.

Childcare was only the first of many feminist issues that Feinstein would work against. So you can see how surprised I was to see Dianne Feinstein trying to pass herself off as a feminist and urging women to work for her election in 1990.

What politicians hope to do is to sidetrack the growing militancy of the women's movement by getting them out of the streets and into wine-and-cheese parties for fake feminists—male and female. The Democrats are especially adept at this trick.

As Mark Twain once said, "You can't fool all of the people all of the time. That's why we have a two-party system."

AHEM-A OVING

RIGHTI ANOT

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