Defining Moment Becomes Life
in Local Politics
It was at
the tender age of five that Alice Wolf
MPA 1978, IOP 1994 and her family fled the Nazi regime in their native
Austria. She started her new life in a boarding house, and she couldn’t
speak a word of English on her first day of kindergarten. But she didn’t
let the language barrier — or the fact that her family had never
been involved in politics — hold her back. Eventually, she became
the first in her family to go to college — earning a BS from Simmons
College, and later an MPA from the Kennedy School. Then following the
same path as so many other women who have entered public office in state
legislatures across this country, Wolf, a wife and mother, became interested
in politics as a result of her involvement in local schools.
What Wolf
calls her defining moment — the moment she decided that she would
enter elected office — was the night her local school committee in
Cambridge, Massachusetts, took the decision to elect the superintendent
of schools out of the hands of the citizens and instead elected the position
themselves. What spurred Wolf to action was her strong conviction that
the people of Cambridge should have a say in how their schools were run,
and she felt that the best way to serve her community was by running for
a seat on the Cambridge School Committee.
Thrust into
the political world without any training, Wolf realized she had little
knowledge of government or the law. So, after serving a few years on the
school committee, she applied to the Kennedy School.
“I was
already in elected office, and I wanted some public policy framework,”
says Wolf. This training, coupled with her commitment to public service,
has given her a greater understanding of how to improve the lives of her
constituents on a daily basis. “Through the years, I’ve had
numbers of public policy students work in my office. They’ve been
terrific, and I hope they all go into public service. In fact, my last
public policy intern was offered a position on the education committee.”
Wolf has
devoted more than 20 years of her life to local and state politics, first
on the Cambridge School Committee, then as a Cambridge city councilor
and mayor of Cambridge, and now, her current role as state representative.
Considered
a “classic liberal,” Wolf has generated a substantial following
in Cambridge — a following she has managed to maintain throughout
tight races, due in part to her support and sponsorship of progressive
issues such as domestic partnership legislation, pay equity for women,
and recently, a 25-foot buffer zone around reproductive health clinics.
Working for a city known for its diversity and tolerance, Wolf has become
an icon of sorts who is, as one campaign manager told the Boston Globe,
“a vision of what a community should be about.”
Running for
re-election every two years is certainly a challenge, she says, since
she only has a year to accomplish most of her legislative goals. “I’m
a real grassroots politician. I’d have a very hard time waging a
campaign ‘on the tube.’”
Knocking
on doors, attending neighborhood events, and meeting with civic leaders
are all a part of the landscape come election time — grassroots campaigning
that she feels creates the ideal forum for two-way communication between
candidates and voters.
Education,
affordable housing, civil rights, the environment, and quality of life
issues like traffic control and community policing are some of the issues
Wolf has championed while in public office. While mayor of Cambridge,
she created a “Kid’s Council” to target city services to
the needs of children and families, from health care to parks and education.
In addition, she was instrumental in the expansion of affirmative action
throughout city government and guaranteed equal health benefits for all
city employees, including one of the nation’s first “domestic
partners” laws.
Another issue
important to Wolf is helping women bring equity to government.
“Fifty
percent of constituents are women, therefore, to be a proper representative
democracy, we need more women in office,” she says. “Motivation
is key,” she says. “Getting young women involved is particularly
important because we know that women have only recently become active.
The numbers of women in politics now are still very poor, but things have
definitely improved in my lifetime,” she says, adding that she advises
women who want to run for office to get involved in their community or
become active on an issue they’re passionate about.
For Wolf,
her passion for her community is what she ultimately likes most about
holding elected office. The position allows her, she says, to make an
impact — from helping constituents find housing to working on the
passage of health care legislation. Which is why it’s difficult for
her to understand people running for office who really don’t believe
in government, since she views government’s role as focusing on real
community and family values. While she admires the focus on individual
responsibility here in the United States, she cites the model of many
Western European countries — where there’s more of a structure
for community support of people, especially in the areas of child care,
health care, and maternity leave — as ideal.
So what does
a woman who has devoted herself to local politics see in her future? Wolf
considered a run for Joe Kennedy’s congressional seat in 1993, when
he was toying with the idea of running for governor of Massachusetts,
but when Kennedy decided not to enter the gubernatorial race, Wolf opted
not to run for his seat.
“Since
then, activities in Congress have become very, very different,” she
says. “Republican leadership in both chambers — combined with
the downsizing of government — has made it very hard to get things
done.”
For now,
Wolf is dealing with getting her own work done.
“I have
two e-mail addresses, three
phone numbers, and two
addresses. Have I called my answering service? Have I responded?”
she says, talking about the stress level of being a state representative.
Despite the seemingly endless demands on her life, she still finds time
to spend with her three grandchildren. “They’re the apple of
my eye,” she says. Of course, there are some things she doesn’t
do as much as she’d like — going to the theater or concerts
or traveling, for instance.
“I’ve
had to give up cooking as much as I’d like, but I love making a big
holiday dinner for the whole family,” she says, adding that from
time to time, she escapes with her husband to their Vermont getaway. And
what’s one of her favorite ways to unwind after a week on the go?
“I’m just too tired to go to the theater or concerts or really anything involving too much planning,” she says. “I’d much rather go see a funny movie.”
