It is always interesting to see how candidates act when they are out among the great unwashed. I was on my way to work one morning recently when a candidate and two volunteers were handing out campaign flyers. It is early in the season for train station stops. One other thing that sparked my interest was the low-key and earnest demeanor of the volunteers. Some people can get a little pushy when distributing brochures but these folks were not. I approached one to see what the race du jour was and walked away reading the flyer. I passed a woman holding another stack of flyers, and realized she was the candidate.
Beverly Muldrow is running for judge of the court of common pleas in Philadelphia. We talked for a minute or two. You can’t get a good sense of a person from such a short conversation but you can develop a first impression, which hopefully can be confirmed with further observation or greater acquaintance. My first impression of Ms. Muldrow was a positive one. She answered my questions without hesitation or noticeable artifice. I asked them as neutrally as possible to see what she would say and was pleased with her responses. Just on a purely personal note, she was wearing a very elegant coat. That coat would have swallowed me up. She carried it off with aplomb.
In the intervening days I have looked into Ms. Muldrow and did some spot checking of the resume items listed on the campaign flyer. So far everything checks out and everything I have read about her is positive. Some of the court cases she worked on as an ADA were heartbreaking and the newspaper articles I read led me to believe she had worked hard on them. Many of these cases were heard in the court of common pleas so she is familiar with how it works and would, I think, be a good judge there. Two years ago she ran for Municipal Court Judge and had a weighty list of endorsements including the FOP and my fellow blogger at A Smoke-Filled Room, both of whose good opinion are not easily earned.
Ms. Muldrow’s credentials as listed on her flyer are as follows:
Legal Experience
Former Philadelphia Assistant District Attorney for 10 years – convicted child molesters
Former Regional Counsel – U.S. Environmental Protection – instructed agency lawyers on trial and negotiating skills
Former Corporate Counsel for major corporations – 7 years
Adjunct Professor, Philadelphia Community College
Serves are Arbitrator and Hearing Officer
Attorney on dependent, delinquent and adult criminal matters
Community Involvement
Mentor, Philadelphia Futures – assist inner city youth to attend college
Speaker – Rhodes Leadership High School
Member – Community College of Philadelphia Minority Fellow Council
Past President of Women Lawyers Division of National Bar Association
Presenter on Environmental justice issues for NAACP and City of Philadelphia
I hope to have other opportunities to see and talk with Ms. Muldrow and encourage you to take an interest in the judicial races.
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6 comments:
Beverly Muldrow will be an excellent judge. She has been endorsed by the Philadelphia chapter of the National Organization for Women.
Karen Bojar
Philadelphia NOW
Karen,
Thanks for letting us know!
Beverly seems to act like a nice person but she puts on a big front.The people that was handing out the palm cards she treats them like servents,thats y you wont see the same people all the time,and she is a lyer.She does not live with her husban and she talks about people and smiles in their faces ,so if u want to no the real muldrow just stick around and ifso ask y dont we never ever see your husban helping out with any thing or is it because of the young guy u are always with?
Okay, as I see it you have 3 accusations, as follows:
1) You think she treats volunteers poorly
2) You think she is a two-faced liar
3) Her husband doesn’t campaign with her and you suggest she has a guy on the side.
Let’s take these one by one:
For your first point – you offer no support for your argument. Have you or anyone you know volunteered for her? Are there any people willing to step forward and speak out against her with specifics (and hopefully under their own name and not anonymous)? The people I saw with her that day seemed liked intelligent well-mannered people and there was no appearance of forced coercion. Also, just as a point, they could speak standard English.
For your second point, again with the unsupported arguments. Can you provide any specific examples? She talks about people and smiles in their face? Oh, the horror!! Good thing no one else ever does that.
For your third point, that her husband does not campaign with her. Are you saying he has never appeared at a political event with her? Ever? Some political spouses prefer to stay in the background. This is perfectly acceptable to me. They aren’t running for office, their spouse is. There are some jobs that would prevent a spouse from appearing at political events. Pennsylvania’s first lady, Judge Midge Rendell does not appear at political fundraisers with her husband because it would be unseemly for a judge to do so. I did look into Mrs. Muldrow’s husband before writing about her and found nothing improper. I wondered at the time if his job might keep him from the campaign trail. As for your insinuations of infidelity, many political volunteers are young men, as are many people who work in politics. It is not at all unusual to find candidates or officials who are constantly in the company of young male aids or staffers; with rare exception there is nothing improper going on. I can tell you that I get sick and tired of people assuming that every work encounter is also a sexual one. More than once in my career when I have won the respect or support of a senior male colleague or of an influential male whose support was necessary or important to a project, someone would make a crack that it was because of my gender. Hard work and strategic thinking couldn’t possibly have played a role. As for a candidate’s potential infidelity generally, when men start losing elections because of it I’ll be much more willing to pay attention when women indulge.
As parting comment, if you spent less time finger pointing and more time working on your spelling, grammar and logic you might be able to come up with more cogent arguments.
I've met Beverly Muldrow and what you've said is correct about first impressions. I am currently campaigning for her also.
I think she would be awesome!
Well, the election is over now, but did you see Beverly Muldrow's signs? Many of them had a glaring typo. The signs said she was running for "court of COMEN pleas." Mistakes happen, but it was just so hard for me to take her candidacy seriously after I saw those signs.
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