stu3@mhuxh.UUCP (Mark Modig) (11/02/84)
Deepak S. Sabnis : > >As a matter of fact, in my opinion, being woman has been a >handicap to Ferraro so far. How many male candidates had to >have their spouses income tax returns and investment records >brought under so much of public scrutiny? > Well, I have seen articles in the New York Times, among other publications, a while back quoting women as saying they would vote for Ferraro because she was a woman. Does this mean they would vote for Phyllis Schafly, too? (:-)) But, to the question. How many male candidates had to have their spouses finances scrutinized so closely? Admittedly, not many. Of course, not many people running for offices have spouses with careers like Mr. Zaccaro. Actually, I believe that some examination of spouses records is required except under special circumstances, and it was determined that Mr. Zaccaro and Congresswoman Ferraro did not qualify for such an exception. I do not think that the income tax return and financial records scrutiny was any more intense because Congresswoman Ferraro is a woman, but rather because of the irregularities uncovered. Also, it was difficult to tell fact from fiction. At one point, Ferraro insisted that she was only the secretary of Zaccaro's company, P. Zaccaro. It turned out that some documents named her treasurer, and others, I believe, vice-president and a director. During the string of political scandals that started with Watergate, financial dealings have come under an increasing amount of scrutiny. Besides, this is a run for the two highest offices in the Executive branch for our government. Opponents will use every trick in the book (and also ones that aren't) to try and bring you down, and digging up dirt on your opponent's finances is a favorite tactic; I don't see why we should expect Congresswoman Ferraro to be treated any differently. Note that this implies that I feel that a close scrutiny of financial records IS in order in such a race as this. We have seen what appears to be a lot of financial juggling, and a lot of it appears to involve Congresswoman Ferraro. However, I will concede that the fact that Congresswoman Ferraro is a woman has hurt her: it means that she has Mr. Zaccaro for a husband, and I don't think any of the hullabaloo surrounding the finances and certain statements attributed to Mr. Zaccaro about wanting a cabinet post or expecting, essentially, to be "connected" to the government through his wife have helped. Seriously, though, I agree that the fact that Ferraro is a woman has hurt her. Just as there are those who will vote for her because she is a woman, there are others (probably more) whose minds are already made up-- they will NOT vote for her because she is a woman. And you can say "that's the way the cookie crumbles" all you want, but I think that is really sad. Ferraro should be judged on her qualifications, not her sex. Mark Modig ..ihnp4!btlunix!mom