The Glens Falls Post Star
Published: Thursday, December 20th, 2007

Editor:

Regarding a story that appeared in The Post-Star on Dec. 6: "Rep. Gillibrand announces she is pregnant."

First of all, I must admit that I am a male chauvinist and that there are, thankfully, differences between men and women. There are many occupations suitable for women and their physical attributes. Carrying a weapon while serving in the Armed Forces and firefighting are not suitable lines of work for women to prove that they are physically equal to men. How many male police officers feel comfortable with a 100 pound female backup?

And now, I have to add serving in the U.S. House and Senate as an occupation that may not be suitable for women.

Ms. Gillibrand's current pregnancy makes a strong case for my opinion. Ms. Gillibrand was elected to serve her constituency, and while she is away from her elected office she cannot perform those duties. The taxpayers who were duped into voting for her will have to pay for her medical benefits. Yes, Mr. and Mrs. Taxpayer, Ms. Gillibrand receives excellent health benefits, courtesy of her constituents. We will be without representation in Congress for a time leading up to and following the child's birth. There will be times when she and the new baby will visit doctors. You can add those days to the total that she will not be serving her constituents.

The current base salary (2006) for members of the House and Senate is $165,200 per year. I wonder if Ms. Gillibrand will do the right thing and reimburse the U.S. Treasury in the amount of $452.60, her daily salary, for each day that she is unable to perform her elected duties. For some reason, I doubt it.

RON BLACHUT
Queensbury

Sometimes my mind is blown by the things people come up with. When it comes to female backup, Mr. Blachut assumes that police officers will be uneasy. I think this is an assumption based on obvious data. But since he doesn't indicate a basis for the assumption, I am inclined to think that Mr. Blachut can't know for sure exactly what police officers think and what the situations are in which a woman's possible smaller size would not be a disadvantage.

The same thing is true of Mr. Blachut's assumptions about Representative Gillibrand's ability to fulfill the duties of her office. Pregnant women work all the time. New mothers work all the time. I am certain that Representative Gillibrand has both the integrity and the ingenuity to balance home and work responsibilities without neglecting her office. Further, a well baby check-up doesn't take all day. Representative Gillibrand may be able to have her appointments either before or after work hours, on lunch hours, or on weekends. And a refund? Please. Mr. Blachut is applying a double standard if he doesn't expect the same of any other politician who is away from work for personal reasons.

Having said all that, it is entirely offensive that Mr. Blachut combines his personal philosophy of male chauvinism with matters in the public arena. Beginning with the theory that women are "less than" men, Mr. Blachut arrives at a faulty world view. His world is one in which anything that is different is obviously substandard. In fact, Representative Gillibrand  has credentials from Dartmouth and UCLA that help her apply knowledge to the practice of politics. It shows that even though women may accomplish amazing things, they must always  be prepared for detractors who base everything about performance on details of biology.