Less than a year old, a new nonprofit organization seeking to encourage women candidates in South Carolina to figuratively throw their hats into the political arena will first provide local women an opportunity to show them off during a celebration with Margaret Williams, widow of the late state Sen. Marshall Williams, a Norway native.

The Ultimate Hat & Garden Party, sponsored by the Southeastern Institute for Women in Politics, will take place at Willcreek Plantation at 2503 Five Chop Road from 3-5 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 12. One of several successful party-style events that the non-profit organization has held during its brief existence, the Hat & Garden Party serves as both fund-raiser and community awareness, says Donna Dewitt, Institute board chair and president.

“We’re suggesting a minimum donation of $20 or the cost of each woman’s favorite hat,” said Dewitt, an Orangeburg County native who has been the president of the South Carolina AFL-CIO labor union since 1996.

“The proceeds will go to the Southeastern Institute for Women in Politics, which will help the organization mentor, recruit and train women to run their own campaign for political office,” Dewitt added. “The funds allow us to lay the foundation to help these women run their own campaign, regardless of party affiliation.”

According to the Institute’s Web site (www.scelectswomen.com), the primary purpose is to “train women to become active and powerful participants in the political and governmental process.”

The Institute provides potential women candidates with the demographic, electoral and attitudinal research that provides realistic information about where, and at what level, there is potential for running and winning legislative, county and local elections.

Dewitt says she immediately thought of Williams when she was considering a way to raise money.

“Margaret is the perfect person for a social event,” Dewitt said. “She was always supportive of her husband during his many years in politics – he was the longest serving state senator in the nation at the time of his death in 1995 – and many people still remember her for sitting in the Judiciary Committee chambers in the state Senate, wearing her hat and jewelry.”

She added, “I want to have a fun event for women where they can meet and greet. Light refreshments will be served, and we are encouraging women to bring their daughters and granddaughters so they can meet Margaret.”

Barbara Rackes, a successful Columbia businesswoman in ladies’ apparel for 20 years who now runs The Rackes Group, a strategic planning, marketing and consulting group, will reminisce about Williams’ modeling her hats for her former retail operation, Dewitt said. Former state senator Sherry Martschink, who also collects hats, will emcee the event, and Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter of Orangeburg will introduce Williams, she said.

Deb Scofield, former Greenville City councilwoman and Institute board member, says the keys to success for the organization are honesty and inclusion for all women.

“The key is that we are bipartisan,” said Scofield, an executive campaign and speech coach. “We literally sit at the table and focus on the 99 percent of the issues on which we agree. It worked because we come together.”

The Institute has already held two campaign schools for potential women candidates, including the most recent on Sept. 10 in Columbia. Scofield said the Institute has thrived because it pulls no punches when advising women on the realities of politics.

“We let women know in our campaign schools that a woman is looked at differently than a man in the political arena,” Scofield said. “She has to be strong enough without being a witch. We don’t sugarcoat the truth; if your run as a woman, you have to be prepared to lose some or all of your friends. You will have to understand they will come back when you win or lose. If you’re a Republican, we advise strongly they don’t consider running in a heavily Democratic district.”

“From the polls we’ve run, we know that the public trusts women in office,” she said. “The voters perceive women to be just as good but if their name is not on the ballot, they won’t get elected. We do still have some perception problems to overcome, such as some women who won’t vote for a woman. However, I find that no one is trying to exclude women from the table but they want you to earn your stripes.”

The most recent edition of SC Biz magazine reported there are only 10 women in the 124 positions in the South Carolina House of Representatives and none in the Senate. Only 12 percent of mayors in the Palmetto State are women, and 13 percent sit on county councils. The greatest representation is on city councils, where women represent 29 percent of the total number.

Rackes says South Carolina ranks last in the country in terms of the number of women in elected office. She says the Institute’s goal of getting good women to run for office would make the state more politically viable on the national stage.

“This is important because I don’t think that elected officials really represent the whole population,” Rackes said, noting that “8.5 percent of the elected offices are held by women, and they make up 66 percent of the electorate. But women need to recognize that this is a down-and-dirty business and they have to have a thick skin.”

“It isn’t that women aren’t interested in the economy and jobs and universal issues; we are,” she said. “But women play more of a role in kids’ education and health care decisions in most households. Getting women elected means that they will approach the decisions made by public bodies from a different viewpoint. When that occurs, that may change the priorities for how we spend taxpayers’ money.”

State Rep. Walton McLeod of District 40 also sits on the Institute’s board. He says that, speaking just from his experience in the South Carolina House, the institution would be better served by having more women legislators.

“Our nation, our state and our local communities would be better off if we had more women elected,” McLeod said. “Their personalities allow them to befriend many different kinds of people, giving them the ability to work across party lines to achieve passage of progressive legislation affecting many different issues, particularly in education, public and mental health.”

“Women can manage children and a career and have a political presence,” he said. “We must recognize that most women do a stellar job of juggling these items. That makes them good candidates for political office.”

“I support the mission of the Southeastern Institute for Women in Politics to encourage women civic leaders to run for office,” McLeod said. “That can change the low census of elected legislators and change the cultural mind-set that is possessed by voters in South Carolina.”

T&D Staff Writer Phil Sarata can be reached by e-mail at psarata@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5540.

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