Candidate Up Close: Louise Slaughter
LOUISE SLAUGHTER
Incumbent, Democrat, Fairport
All of Monroe County except the towns of Hamlin, Wheatland, Rush and Mendon, and a small part of western Clarkson
1. What is the last issue on which you changed your views or position and why?
I don’t think my views change, but my perceptions sometimes do. When we wrote the Violence Against Women Act in 1994, there was an epidemic of domestic violence, and my colleagues and I thought about the solution in terms of statistics – how many lives were saved or abusers put in jail. But since we passed that law, I have met so many people who have been impacted by it. People who no longer suffer because of the things that law does. Now I see it not as some abstract legislative achievement based in numbers but as something that directly impacts people’s lives, and that’s why I’m outraged that it’s being held up right now in the Congress for political gain.
2. What website of cable television channel do you go to most often for political information and why?
I’m not much of a TV person, and I still like a newspaper on paper, not on a screen. I usually read the Democrat and Chronicle, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal almost every morning, and I’m constantly keeping up to date on the stories of the day with both of my BlackBerry Bolds.
3. Name someone you’ve known who you seek to emulate and tell us why.
My father, hands down. He was an extraordinary man, and I was so proud to be his daughter. The things I learned from him stay with me until this day, and they’ve helped to guide the work that I’ve done in my life and how I’ve raised my family. He taught me that it’s much easier to keep your integrity than to try to get it back – that’s something that I remind myself of each and every day.
4. What is the biggest lesson you have learned since launching your current campaign?
I don’t see this campaign as much different than others. I always say you’re not running against someone, you’re running for the office, and you have to make your case why you’re the best person to hold that office. But I have learned two things in my years of public service – that in politics, telling the truth doesn’t win you many friends, and you aren’t defeated until you give up. I wasn’t winning any popularity contests among my colleagues when I introduced the STOCK Act, which criminalizes insider trading by members of Congress. But I didn’t give up when people told me it was pie in the sky. We kept fighting for it, and this year, with widespread bipartisan support, we finally got it done.
5. What charitable organization(s) do you most avidly support and why?
I give a lot of money to Planned Parenthood, and not just because I believe strongly in a woman’s right to make her own healthcare choices, but because they provide cancer screenings and STD testing and family counseling and so many other services to people who don’t know where else to turn or might not have the proper medical coverage. Bob and I also give heavily to the arts.