Is it really a good idea to subsidize candidates childcare expenses so Mom can run for office?

[politicaljunkie41910]

I wrote the following in response to another thread in the LBN Forum and thought it deserved it's own thread since it doesn't qualify as Latest Breaking News. The question arose regarding whether a candidate could use campaign funds to pay for childcare if she were running for office, and Hillary Clinton wrote an opinion that she thought that the candidates childcare expenses would be covered under the laws determining qualified campaign expenses.

I had some thoughts about the issue for another reason and thought I'd respond, but then decided it deserved its own discussion thread and started this one. I'm including a link to the original thread below:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/10142047804

The following is my response to that thread, for the purpose of a discussion of whether it is good public policy to reimburse candidates childcare expenses so their Mom can run for public office?

I am a big fan of Hillary, and regardless of the legality or illegality of this particular issue, I would like to believe that there are lots of qualified Democratic women out there interested in running for public office, so we wouldn't have to depend on Mothers with very young children a 3yr old and a 1 year old, who need help with their childcare expenses, so she can run for public office.

It's not my intention at all to be criticizing anyone but to have a discussion on whether or not it is good public policy to subsidize mothers childcare expenses so they can run for public office, since children grow up so fast. I know I'm going to get a lot of backlash from this. It's not my intention to attack anyone personally, but to have a discussion on the issue. As the Mother of 3 grown children, and someone who worked when they were children, I understand the problems, issues, and struggles of being a working Mom. As an African American, with no safety net at the time, it was important that I work once I finished college to be able to provide a safety net for my children and to be able to help save for a house of our own, and to save for their future education. Good paying part-time jobs weren't easy to come by back then, and my husband and I both worked.

All three of my children were planned although my plan didn't always work out. i planned to have my first child just prior to leaving the military. Well that didn't work out as planned, but I thought that I might be pregnant in my last month of active duty. Since my husband and I were both scheduled to leave the service the same month, and neither of us had a job yet, I extended my tour of duty by 8 mos. Thankfully, my husband got a job before the month was up, but I had already committed and I wanted to be sure it worked out. After I left the military I enrolled in college. My husband worked evening shifts and that allowed me to attend early classes and study at the library so I could finish my homework prior to coming home, because there was no way I could do homework, (lots of reading) with an infant. My goal was to finish 4 years of college in 3 years and I did. I planned to try and have my 2nd child before I finished college so I could start work after graduation, and start contributing to the household income, and saving to buy a house. (Houses in California were expensive even back then.) My plan worked out and my 2nd child was born in March and I graduated in June giving me time to bond with him before I started working full time.

I did an internship with a CPA firm the summer before I graduated and that convinced me that I couldn't commute to LA or Orange County where most of the large firms had offices. The commute took up too much of my time, and I was exhausted from the drive and the traffic. Therefore, I accepted a job with the federal government at a government contractor close to home. It was the end of my dream of someday being a partner in a Big 8 CPA firm which I'd had since I started high school in the 9th grade, but some things just aren't meant to be. My kids needed their mother. My third child was born 5 years later.

Being a parent and working full time is hard work, as many here no doubtingly are aware of, but I wanted the financial security my parents never had when my siblings and I were young, figuring which bills they could pay, and which ones had to wait. But I never wanted to shortchange my children with the time spent with them, and I knew that I wanted them to go to college and I had to make a way for the money to be there for them when that day came. I was blessed to have a good job with the federal government, but it didn't pay a lot in the early days, and my husband had a good job as well but we needed both of those jobs to buy a house, and to have a safety nest egg.

So I say all of this to make my point, and I respect the fact that my opinion may be counter to someone else's opinion. But I couldn't imagine having young toddlers and running for public office. I think public service, and running for public office is a nobel cause, but it's not something I could sacrifice time spent with my children for. Children are young only once and they need their parents being there and spending time with them, and they need a relaxed parent, and a patient parent, not an exhausted parent. It is my hope that the Democratic Party will be able to find lots of well qualified, and enthusiastic candidates for public office without those candidates having to choose between time spent running for, and being in office, fund raising and campaigning, and all that public office entails, and time spent with their young children. Your children will only be young children for a very short time. Opportunities for public service will always be there.

[fleabiscuit]

1. You're not her. nt

[meadowlander]

2. And yet never in history has this choice been required of

A male candidate...

[Adrahil]

20. This NT

[OhioBlue]

3. my opinion - make it available and let the candidates decide what is best for their families

We wouldn't criticize an employer for covering childcare expenses, or say that they shouldn't make it available to salaried employees that are expected to work long hours, take work home and sometimes travel for work. We wouldn't advocate that those positions not be available to mothers or fathers of young children.

I do get what you're saying. I have changed jobs twice in efforts to more align work schedule and family responsibilities, but that was my choice. I wouldn't have been appreciative of a boss or any other person that told me I shouldn't have had the job because it required working evenings which took me away from helping my son with homework.

We all have to do what we think it right for ourselves and our families and I would rather increase the options than leave them limited.

[Demit]

4. So, you couldn't/wouldn't do it, therefore no one else should? n/t

[unblock]

5. Wrong question.

You're asking it's a good idea for a mother to choose public service when she has kids in need of child care, and your answer is no.

That's for you to decide. If that works for you, then that's great.

But that has nothing to do with whether campaign funds can be used to pay for child care.

The question is *if* a mother has chosen public service when she has kids in need of child care, should she be prevented from doing so because she can't afford child care even when there her campaign can afford to pay for it?

Seems to me that not allowing campaign funds to cover child care is simply a way to try to keep poor mothers out of politics.

[politicaljunkie41910]

15. Actually it does have to do with whether campaign funds can or cannot be use, because that was

what was being debated in the thread that I linked to. The question was raised whether candidates could claim childcare expenses as a legal campaign expense, since normally such personal expenses are not permitted as allowable campaign expenses. Hillary Clinton wrote an opinion which was discussed in the thread that in her opinion, they ARE reimbursable. Someone else, a guy, responded in the thread that he had concluded a differing opinion. Now Hillary is a lawyer and maybe she's correct in her interpretation of the campaign laws in question, but I thought the topic was ripe for a discussion, as it was not something that has been permissible before.

[lunasun]

6. Re: childcare expenses would be covered under the laws determining qualified campaign expenses

Is subsidize the correct word to use ?
You worked full time as a parent but say later in the post children are only young once and need parents being there for them and spending time with them

I support my senator and her newborn baby and see no reason to question her life choices , or the ability or quality of her parenting

[Thekaspervote]

7. Really?? It's an expense. Go raise your kids and let the brave women who chose to run for

Office do their job. Frankly I’m glad you’re not running, that’s an untenable position

[Javaman]

8. and what if a single father ran?

I completely and respectfully disagree with you.

[dsc]

9. like Biden did

after his wife died on the night of his first election (or shortly there after). He was a single father Senator after that. I have no clue what he did in terms of child care.

[Javaman]

10. I can tell you this...

there weren't any editorials about it.

however, someone here on DU needed to write one.

that's a double standard, if I ever saw one.

[dsc]

11. that is quite true

[flotsam]

13. I was just checking that on wiki:

To be at home every day for his young sons,[57] Biden began the practice of commuting every day by Amtrak train for 1½ hours each way from his home in the Wilmington suburbs to Washington, D.C., which he continued to do throughout his Senate career.[16] In the aftermath of the accident, he had trouble focusing on work, and appeared to just go through the motions of being a senator. In his memoirs, Biden notes that staffers were taking bets on how long he would last.[25][58] A single father for five years, he left standing orders that he be interrupted in the Senate at any time if his sons called.[49] In remembrance of his wife and daughter, Biden does not work on December 18, the anniversary of the accident.[59]


He has flaws but what a good man...

[politicaljunkie41910]

14. As i recall Biden has said on several occasions his sister helped him with his children after his

wife passed, and he met and married Jill (who became his second wife) several years later. Biden was a widower with 2 sons to raise and not a wealthy man, who had just been elected to Congress prior to his wife's death, so he would have needed to make a living to support his family. I'm saying this only because you said you didn't know what he did after his wife died, not to pass judgement on him in any way. When death comes people do what they have to do to be able to more forward as a family.

[Autumn]

12. Why not? We subsidize Congress and the Senates sexual harassment pay offs.

As for spending time with the kids when they are young do you have any idea how many mothers work a full time job and still can't make ends meet? Do you think parents working full time and still struggling to make ends meet and keep a roof over their heads are relaxed, patient and not exhausted?

[Insightus]

16. Right answer!

[politicaljunkie41910]

18. FTR, I don't think we should have ever been reimbursing members of Congress for sexual harassment

payoffs, and I'm glad that's been stopped and they are making them pay those costs back. Also, I said in my OP, if you read it, that I worked full-time and I have 5 sisters and a mother who also worked. It is based on my experience and that of my family, friends, co-workers, neighbors and people that I meet in my everyday life that I know what the struggle is for working women trying to balance working and family life. I will be 60 in two months, so I've lived and experienced a lot in my life. I have finished my career, and am now retired though I won't began drawing my retirement benefits until I turn 60 and social security until 62, but we worked and saved regularly so I'm prepared, and my husband whose 4 years older than me is officially retired with a nice pension.

I stopped working a few years ago, because I gave up the best job I could ask for in Northern VA to return home to California to help out my aging parents who both were in the early stages of dementia. My dad passed away a year and a half ago and my mother while physically healthy, her short-term memory is gone. I took a job that I hated to be close to my parents but I needed it to maximize my retirement benefits. I finally had to leave it for good because I hated being there, and my parents situation reminded me every day, how precious life is and having a sound mind is. Tomorrow isn't guaranteed. As Barbara Bush has been quoted before when speaking at a young women college commencement, "when you approach the end of your life, you won't regret having written one more paper, or arguing one last court case, but you will regret time not spent with children, husbands, family and friends" and I agree with her wholeheartedly.

I am not trying to force my opinions on everyone, just trying to have a discussion. My kids are raised ages 30-36 and all three are very responsible, well adjusted adults and they and their spouses are dealing with the same issues we women have been dealing with since time began, How to balance work and family life. I know the pressures of how much we as women push ourselves to "do it all". I also know that we can't always "do it all".

[Fresh_Start]

17. I wonder if the lack of young mothers in politics is one of the reason that politics

is so blind to the needs of young families?

[alarimer]

22. I don't think politics is blind to the needs of families

It's all politicians ever seem to talk about. Maybe most of that is pandering, but it certainly gets the lion's share of attention in politics at least.

But it seems to me that those of us without families, single people, are various other socially unacceptable demographics are usually told to basically fuck off, politically at least.

[rusty fender]

19. Just because

you didn’t have a child care fund to tap into doesn’t mean another person shouldn’t? Most campaign funds consist of private money.

[alarimer]

21. Do you want more women in office or not?

Because your way is exclusionary and just too goddamn old-fashioned.

People here and elsewhere keep calling for fresher (read:younger) candidates. Well, you can't have that without providing some viable option for childcare. Or only accept men as candidates because they don't really have to take care of the kids, do they? That's why they have wives, right???