Senate women’s civility pact

February 4, 2011

by Erika Lovely, Politico – It’s something you almost never see in Senate politics: one female senator attacking another, even when they’re on opposite sides of an issue.

Among the 17 female senators, it amounts to an informal nonaggression pact. In the male-dominated, tradition-bound Senate chamber, their desire to recapture a long lost sense of civility trumps the constant pressure to score partisan points. It’s a bond forged by their common experience as women in the highest level of American politics, reinforced during a regular dinner meeting led by the longest-serving female senator, Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.).

Mikulski set the rules for the dinner group when she launched it years ago: no staff, no memos, no leaks and no men.

“We committed to maintaining a zone of civility here within the institution long before it became the chic thing to do,” said Mikulski, who, along with Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), helped organize the group.

It’s a concoction of regular social interactions and warm relationships that political experts say could hold the solution to Congress’s penchant for nasty, rhetorical mudslinging. And in a year when incendiary political rhetoric has come under great scrutiny, the spirit of the women’s get-togethers has continued to transcend party lines, influencing even daily life in the chamber.

Whether the rest of the Senate takes cues from the chamber’s female members remains to be seen, but the cross-partisan bonds can be seen on an almost daily basis in small gestures and in larger policy debates.

“Hi there!” said Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), grinning widely and waving at Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) as the two passed one another in the hallway during votes earlier this year.

“We just went to a play that Claire put together called ‘A Girl’s Guide to Washington Politics,’” Klobuchar said as she ran to catch the Senate subway. Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) serves as Klobuchar’s mentor. “It’s a time when we can get together and talk. Say whatever.”

“Of course,” she said in a hushed voice with a wink, “we never talk about the male senators.”

The dinners are often held in various dining rooms around the Capitol, in nearby restaurants or in the home of one of the women. The dinners have occasionally been held at Louisiana Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu’s Capitol Hill house, where she has served Southern food and pecan pie.

Out of 100 senators, there are just 17 women, of whom five are Republicans and 12 are Democrats. Many of the regular diners are at polar opposite ends of the political spectrum, yet it’s unheard of for the female senators to publicly criticize one another.

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