Angela Speir | Commissioner

steffdav — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 11:01:44 -0400

She should be nicknamed Honest Ange. “People say I’m Pollyanna,” she says. “Oh well!” As the first woman elected to the Georgia Public Service Commission, and the first woman to serve as Chairman, Angela has brought honor back to her office. “People have become disappointed and disgusted with politics,” says the Gwinnett Republican. During her six-year term, she never used the state car or cell phone provided to her once. “I didn’t want to use even one dollar of our tax payers money on myself.” An Agnes Scott grad, she encourages women to run for office, including her seat, which she will vacate this year. The telecom, energy and cable cases Angela hears each day can affect Georgians up into the millions of dollars. It took her two years to get the Ex Parte Communications rule passed, which stops back room deals and off-the-record conversations between lobbyists and commissioners. Her integrity makes her one of our Women to Watch.

More on Commissioner Speir:

“I was a toddler working my first campaign. My parents took me from house to house for Hal Suit who ran for Governor, so I always knew people running for office.”

Margaret Kaiser | The New Old School Politician

steffdav — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 10:58:09 -0400

Georgia House District 59 Representative Margaret decided to return to open door politics when she took office two years ago. “The first thing I did was go out and introduce myself,” she says. “Then I gave out my home number and now constituents have my cell phone too.” The candidate-constituency connection works; in her first election, she unseated the incumbent candidate. Two years later, won the re-election with 71% vote. Shortly after the 2006 election, Margaret turned 40 and her father passed away unexpectedly. “If my dad hadn’t died, I don’t think I would have introduced legislation my first year,” she says. “I may not have had that motivation or anger or whatever needed just to go for it.” And she went for it—with bipartisan support, her education bill was the only democratic bill to be included in the Governor’s veto override and she has three local bills on the ballot in November, which makes her one of our Women to Watch.

Web Extra:

Kaiser lives in historic Grant Park in a beautifully renovated home with her husband, two sons and two dogs.

Kaiser is a member of Democratic Presidential nominee Barack Obama’s platform committee and attended the convention at the end of August.

Mijha Butcher Godfrey | President and Advocate

steffdav — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 10:53:34 -0400

Originally from California, Mijha attended Wellesley undergrad and then went on to Yale Law. “I became very political in college,” says the President of the Young Democrats of Atlanta. After years of finding corporate law in Manhattan “not to [her] liking,” she moved to Atlanta with her fiancé and took a position with a non prof that advocates for mixed income housing and programs. Her main goal at the Young Dems is to get out the vote. “I know we’re building the next generation of progressive Democrats in Georgia,” says the 31-year old. “The misconception about Democrats is that we’re spend-happy. I’m fiscally conservative. The negative budget we have now is unprecedented.” Any plans to run for office? “Politicians meet early in the morning, mostly 6 a.m.” she says. “If they’d meet at 11, I’d consider it.” This year, Mijha was successful in fighting the Personhood Amendment and pushing through The Homestead Exemption, which makes her one of our Women to Watch.