A Good Woman in the State House: A Powerful Investment

Susan Fargo MPA 1993

“Investing in a good woman candidate is as useful as investing in a pair of expensive shoes — even more useful,” quips Susan Fargo MPA 1993. She shares this fundraising advice with up-and-coming female politicians because women running for office get money from women but in small amounts. “Women can have a powerful effect on how politics works,” says Fargo, “mostly because women’s experiences are very different from those of their male colleagues. We’ve learned a lot along the way. A lot of negotiation, a lot of scheduling, a lot of balancing of jobs and home.”

Fargo, a two-term state senator in Massachusetts, has championed issues as varied as renewable energy, economic development, and gender-free insurance coverage. A former public school teacher, Fargo cares passionately about education, yet she also feels it’s her duty to fight for economic issues — what one prominent Republican woman once called the “raw meat issues for the guys.”

A longtime opponent of charter schools, especially those run by for-profit companies, Fargo doesn’t like to see children being used as “cash cows,” plus she believes charter schools are a drain on the public school system.

“When you’re spending taxpayers’ money — which charter schools are — there has to be direct accountability to the voters,” says Fargo. She concedes that a case could be made for urban charter schools. “This may be a way to provide kids with another choice. I think the jury’s still out on that one.”

Once she decides to take up the gauntlet on an issue, Fargo doesn’t give up easily, though she is patient. She remembers seeing crowds of protesters outside abortion clinics when she first came to office in 1997. “The pro-life people were harassing people going into the clinics. Really in-your-face kinds of things. It created a climate for violence,” says Fargo. She knew she had to change this volatile situation, so she sponsored “buffer zone” legislation, which creates a 25-foot buffer zone around abortion clinics.

This bill winded its way from her office, through various committees, survived two votes in the Massachusetts State Senate, only to die in the House speaker’s office.

“Finally, a couple of years ago, he [the speaker] was getting bad press about the bills that he was holding up,” says Fargo, “and the buffer zone bill became the poster child of these pieces of legislation.” The legislation is now in effect, having survived a Massachusetts Supreme Court challenge.

This legislative battle veteran laments that 20 years on, she and other legislators still haven’t been able to secure passage of gender-free insurance coverage legislation. “As soon as Viagra came out, a lot of insurance companies — not just here but elsewhere — jumped to provide coverage for it,” says Fargo. In comparison, contraceptives and hormone replacement therapies for women are not covered.

Sounding a hopeful note, she says, “The more women we get in [to elected office], the better the chances of equaling the odds for everyone.”

But Fargo has also been a trailblazer on issues that aren’t normally considered “women’s issues,” namely economic development and energy. As state senate chair of the energy committee, Fargo believes Massachusetts should capitalize on promising companies that can deliver on renewable energy. She recently introduced a bill that gives tax credits to companies that build “green buildings.” This would piggyback on the Renewable Energy Trust Fund, created in 1998 to raise about $200 million until 2003 — and $20 million a year after that — for investments in renewable energy technologies.

“As progressive as people think Massachusetts is,” says Fargo, “there’s still an old boy’s network in Boston.” Yet she’s undaunted in her belief that women change politics. “We bring people to the table, we’re inclusive, we don’t tend to do backroom politics. We also change the agenda.”

— Aine Cryts