GREENFIELD — Former state Rep. Ellen Story began her keynote speech at the 11th annual Power of Women event by saying, “I’m more optimistic this year than I have been in a while.”
The longtime Amherst legislator explained: In 1992, the Year of the Women, she and many others broke into the male-dominated state political scene, chipping away at the imbalance on Beacon Hill. Now, half of the candidates for the 1st Franklin House seat being vacated by a man are women, cuing Story, who retired from the Legislature in 2017, to say, “Now four strong women are running.”
Story spoke to the change in the tide she’s seeing, while delivering the keynote at New England Learning Center for Women in Transition Power of Women event, an annual dinner and fundraising night for the organization that supports survivors of sexual and domestic violence, held at Greenfield Community College Thursday.
She called for the hundred-plus women present, many who are leaders across Franklin County, to support these women running for the seat that has been held by Stephen Kulik for a quarter century.
“Women running for the office for the first time are in transition and they need your tender support very much,” Story said. “It’s risky to run for office.”
The four women candidates, Democrats competing in the September primary, are: Natalie Blais, Christine Doktor, Kate Albright-Hanna and Francia Wisnewski. Whoever wins the primary has a good chance to win in the November general election as there so far are no strong Republican candidates in a traditionally left-leaning Democratic region.
Story likened the rush of women candidates for Kulik’s seat like a “flower blossoming.”
“He did a wonderful job and he’s hoping to be replaced by a woman,” Story said. “He would love that.”
The evening at the college also featured a pledge by men in the room to “be part of the solution in ending gender based violence and to never commit, condone or remain silent about violence against women and girls.”
Northwestern District Attorney David Sullivan, as he has done previously, led the pledge, alongside Greenfield Community College President Bob Pura, Greenfield Police Chief Robert Haigh and Greenfield Saving Bank President John Howland.
Howland, in his speech to support NELCWIT’s work, called for education to help the community to “turn on a light in the darkness.”
Giving the dedication to survivors was Diane Coffey, director of Massachusetts Office for Victim Assistance’s victim services.
She spoke about the importance of having support in the community, on the ground level and not just in the form of assistance from agencies based in Boston.
Coffey though focused on the news from earlier in the day: celebrity Bill Cosby was convicted of aggravated indecent assault of a woman 14 years ago. When she mentioned the verdict, the crowd loudly applauded. The Cosby family has a home in Shelburne.
“They’ve (the news) talked all day since the verdict about the power of women, and we will no longer be silenced,” Coffey said, mentioning the words of the prosecutor about the “quiet courage” of the women who came forward to testify.
At the end of her speech, Coffey read an anonymous poem titled “Unbroken Views,” a part of the evening’s program, along with a reading of Maya Angelou’s “Phenomenal Woman.”
“But you don’t know that with each blow and hurt you have to give, The more you build my silent nerve, and my will to live,” reads the poem. “You think that you have won, I’m broken on the ground, But you don’t know the plans in place and strength that I have found.”
“Just know there will come a day, not far within my reach, The only things to grip my soul are happiness and peace.”
And after that final line of the poem, Coffey added a dedication: “To the quiet courage.”
You can reach Joshua Solomon at:
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