Women's voting league not pleased with Commissioner Smith's remarks

Photo by Dan Andrews

Yeah, I kind of figured that there would be some push back after County Commission Vice Chairman R. Larry Smith made that remark about women. Heh.

I blogged earlier today about it, right smack here.

Now, Kim Lauth, president of the League of Women Voters of Knoxville and Knox County today has issued the following statement: 

A recent comment by Commissioner Larry Smith challenging Commissioner Amy Broyles’ attendance at the Tennessee Economic Summit for Women, hosted by the Governor’s Economic Council for Women, was more than surprising.

According to the Knoxville News Sentinel, Commissioner Smith characterized the meeting as a “women’s conference,” and questioned how women’s issues will improve government decision-making.

The Economic Council includes state senators and representatives and members of the Governor’s cabinet, presented research at the Summit demonstrating that Tennessee spends more than $885M annually as a result of violence against women -- a significant impact on taxpayers.

The Council released the report following public hearings held around the state, which Commissioner Broyles attended along with District Attorney Randy Nichols, the TBI, local law enforcement, and others.

The League strongly disagrees with Commissioner Smith’s implication that having the lone woman on Commission attend a State-sponsored Summit on women’s economic issues would have no bearing on county government decision making.

With women representing 51.3% of the County’s population, we believe that the information Commissioner Broyles was able to obtain to be highly relevant to decision making in Knox county government.

The League stands on the principle of good government. We believe that we only have good government if we have well informed officials who continue to educate themselves on important issues throughout their terms of office.