Pamela Gorman: 2011 Winner — The 45 Most Admired Republican Women Under 45

Pamela Gorman

 

Former State Senator Pamela Gorman of Arizona was first elected to the Arizona House in 2004. She advanced to the Senate in 2006 where she became the Majority Whip. She was best known for her efforts to pass one of the largest tax cuts in state history. She was an original co-sponsor of Arizona’s famous anti-illegal immigration bill. Gorman, 42, also insisted on greater transparency and regular audits of state agencies.
She led the fight to overturn former Governor Janet Napolitano’s payback to SEIU union bosses. With an executive order, Napolitano sought to force Arizona workers to accept Big Labor “representation.” In response, Senator Gorman helped to mobilize opposition to the initiative.
The president of the National Taxpayers Union said: “Pamela is a great fiscal conservative, hard worker, and not afraid to stand up for what she believes in. She is a champion of limited government, free enterprise, and individual liberty. ”
She was narrowly defeated in the 2010 Congressional primary by Rep. Ben Quayle, the son of former Vice President Dan Quayle.
Gorman did not win the primary but NBC named her TV spots as among the top ten political ads of the year.
She says “Being an elected official is not my heart’s desire, affecting public policy is.  And, there are a myriad of good ways to do that besides being elected.  My plan is to go forward in one of those ‘other’ ways now. I want to make a difference and have my life on this earth be one of purpose.  In the realm of politics, that goal is to see the conservative ideals of limited government and personal freedoms win out over the collectivist and socialist movement that is tearing away at our nation’s foundation.  But, the mode of elected office was always just a tool for accomplishing my goal of making a difference.  It gave me a vote on public policy as an Arizona legislator and a voice to inform citizens and to hopefully be a thought leader for the conservative cause. . .
“Voters didn’t say “no” to me because of my solid voting record or my remarks at debates.  All of that was well received.  Rather, the voters chose a well-funded candidate who they heard from frequently throughout the race because that candidate had a war chest of campaign cash with which to communicate regularly with voters.  Pure and simple.  Voters wanted what I represented, but they just didn’t know I existed because the money wasn’t there to reach out and tell them. . .
“It was a great experience being elected to my state legislature.  I like to believe I made a difference and set the standard a little higher . . . But unlike many candidates out there who recently lost their elections, I am not gearing up for another run.”
You can read more about the contest rules and background at: The 45 Most Admired Republican Women Under 45

 

Jill Holtzman Vogel: 2011 Winner — The 45 Most Admired Republican Women Under 45

Jill Holtzman Vogel

State Senator Jill Holtzman Vogel of Virginia was first elected in 2007 and is now the Deputy Whip. She previously served as Deputy General Counsel at the Department of Energy. Vogel, 41, is the mother of five children, and was named a ‘top lawyer in her field’ by “Washingtonian” magazine when it profiled “Best Lawyers.”
She will not have a difficult re-election contest this year, but the Senator says the stakes are still vital. According to Vogel, “The stakes are very high because state politics drive policies at the national level. Given what’s happening in Washington, D.C., and in the Obama administration, we are the front lines.
“In Congress, the Democratic Senate can unfortunately trump anything done in the GOP House. Reforms are stalled on Capitol Hill, but states are going forward with reforms and meaningful change. The battle in the states is what will save this country.” Her major goal this year is obtaining a GOP majority in the Virginia Senate.
You can read more about the contest rules and background at: The 45 Most Admired Republican Women Under 45

Dana Loesch: 2011 Winner — The 45 Most Admired Republican Women Under 45

Dana Loesch

Dana Loesch, 33, of St. Louis is a CNN commentator, editor of Breitbart’s Big Journalism, and host of the radio program, “The Dana Show: The Conservative Alternative,” which runs six nights a week.
Loesch has also been a guest host for many prominent national conservative commentators. Lloyd Smith, the Executive Director of the Missouri Republican Party, explained why Dana is so popular with major networks.
“She’s extremely smart, a natural leader and tech savvy. She’s reaching a younger demographic than O’Reilly, Hannity or Rush Limbaugh. That makes her unique in being able to get a message across to groups the GOP and conservative movement has not been reaching,” Smith said.
Her program is especially popular with political candidates, and Loesch is committed to supporting the GOP nominee. One candidate who has declined all invitations is Ron Paul.
For those who have not had the Loesch experience, this is what she wrote today:
“99% of the Ron Paulers writing have either threatened me or called me a ‘c*nt.’ Not kidding. Way to rep for your candidate, idol-worshippers. Keep driving people off. Great r3volution evangelism you got there!”
Loesch “has limited patience with fanatics” and refuses “to worship the cult-of-personality candidate.” She is a conservative Republican and not a radical libertarian.
You can read more about the contest rules and background at: The 45 Most Admired Republican Women Under 45

Lizbeth Benacquisto: 2011 Winner – The 45 Most Admired Republican Women Under 45

Lizbeth Benacquisto

State Senator Lizbeth Benacquisto (R-FL), 44, is the mother of three children and previously served on the Wellington town council for 8 years. She is a solid fiscal conservative who opposes new taxes. She was elected to the Senate in 2010 and  is the Chairman of the Budget Committee on Transportation, Tourism and Economic Development. She is also Vice Chair of General Government Appropriations.
In addition, she serves as the Deputy Majority Leader, a notable leadership position for a freshman legislator. Senator Benacquisto is also Vice Chairman of Florida’s Government Efficiency Taskforce, a joint legislative and executive taskforce that focuses on reducing governmental waste and overregulation. In this position, she is focused on finding efficient ways to save taxpayer dollars.

Jennifer Beck: 2011 Winner – The 45 Most Admired Republican Women Under 45

Jennifer Beck

State Senator Jennifer Beck (R-NJ) was elected in 2007 and re-elected in 2011. She previously served one term in the General Assembly. Beck, 44, has been a firm ally of Gov. Chris Christie (R) in reducing taxes and regulations. Many observers expected her to be Christie’s running mate in 2009.
She attended Boston College where the future Senator was co-captain of the track team. She received her Masters in Government Administration from the Fels School of Government at the University of Pennsylvania. She started her career as Chief of Staff for Assemblyman Joe Azzolina, before leaving for the private sector, where she ran the Trenton office of MWW, New Jersey’s largest public affairs firm.
Before serving in the Senate, Jennifer served one term as an Assemblywoman. She also served two terms on the Red Bank Borough council, getting elected and re-elected in a town in which registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by a significant margin. She was the only elected Republican on the council during her tenure.

Lauren Maddox: 2011 Winner – The 45 Most Admired Republican Women Under 45

Lauren Maddox

 

Lauren Maddox, 44, served as Assistant Secretary of Education from 2006 through 2008, and is one of the GOP’s leading authorities on education issues. She has an MA from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern and is fluent in Latin.
Maddox was previously senior communications advisor and Deputy Press Secretary to House Speaker Newt Gingrich. She was one of the first staffers he hired after assuming the GOP leadership, and Gingrich was impressed with her efforts on behalf of the Contract With America.
Maddox began her career on Capitol Hill as press secretary for Rep. Joel Hefley (R-CO), and served in the same post for GOP Conference Chairman J.C. Watts (OK). She arrived at her new job on November 9, 1989, the day the Berlin Wall came down.
She thought it was a good omen in her quest over the next six years, which was returning House Republicans to majority status for the first time in four decades. When that dream was achieved she had a front row seat in the Speaker’s office.
Maddox learned key outreach skills from Gingrich and used them to help draft the strategic communications plan for the 2000 campaign which resulted in the election of President George W. Bush.
She serves on the Board of the conservative group American Action Forum, and competes in the annual Marine Corps Marathon. Maddox is expected to help draft the education section of the 2012 GOP Platform. Our guess is that it will be similar to what she is saying now:
“The United States spends far more than other countries on education, but it wastes nearly one out of two education dollars. In the past 22 years, per-pupil
spending has increased 40 percent, but achievement remains flat.
“Pouring more money into the existing system and increasing the government’s role has not been – and will not be – a successful solution. Unions are continuing to oppose key reforms such as merit pay, teacher evaluations and salaries based on student achievement.”

Jaime Herrera Beutler: 2011 Winner – The 45 Most Admired Republican Women Under 45

Jaime Herrera Beutler

 

Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler (R-WA) was part of the 2010 GOP wave and now represents the district previously held by liberal Rep. Brian Baird (D). Herrera, 32, previously served in the state legislature for three years where she was the Assistant Floor Leader.
She was the youngest member of her party’s leadership in the State House. She says “I am a Member of Congress more concerned with saving your money than spending your money.”

Rebecca Kleefisch: 2011 Winner – The 45 Most Admired Republican Women Under 45

Rebecca Kleefisch

 

Lt. Governor Rebecca Kleefisch (R-WI) is a former TV journalist who was Scott Walker’s 2010 running mate and along with him she survived the 2012 recall. On September 2, 2010, the 35-year-old Kleefisch had laproscopic surgery to remove a tumor the size of a grapefruit, and on September 14, she won the crowded GOP primary.
Her doctors found the tumor at a stage where the likelihood of a cure is high and the possibility of recurrence is fairly low. She has taken her doctor’s advice to undergo precautionary chemotherapy.

Gretchen Carlson: 2011 Winner – The 45 Most Admired Republican Women Under 45

Gretchen Carlson

 

Gretchen Carlson, 44, of Anoka, Minnesota was Miss America 1989, and is now co-anchor of “FOX & Friends,” the No. 1 cable morning program. She is also a regular contributor on “The O’Reilly Factor” with Bill O’Reilly.
Prior to joining Fox, she was a correspondent and co-anchor of the “CBS Saturday Early Show,” and won two National Emmy awards.
Carlson graduated with honors from Stanford University and also studied at Oxford University in England.
She is the mother of two children and her childhood nanny was future Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN). Carlson received national media attention in 2007 when she referred to Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) as a “hostile enemy of the United States.” Her frequent attacks on liberals resulted in being named “The Worst Person in the World” by MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann.
Carlson is also frequently attacked by the liberal group Media Matters for America. All the activities they mention are reasons why we admire Carlson so much. Some of the excerpts from Media Matters are:
“Carlson Regularly Acts As An Unofficial GOP Campaign Strategist
“Fox & Friends host Gretchen Carlson regularly advises the GOP and Republican candidates on news and messaging they should use in order to defeat Democrats in upcoming elections.
Carlson’s advice for Republican candidates falls in line with a history of promoting GOP campaigns, and conducting softball interviews with conservatives.
“On April 6, 2011, she advised the GOP to use an oil price chart in the campaign against Obama. She said ‘I found a graph of the first 26 months of Bush compared to the first 26 months of Obama. Under Bush the price only went up 6%, while under Obama, it went up 26%!’
“The same month she urged Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus to attack Obama. At no point did Carlson challenge Priebus’ attacks on Obama. Instead, she asked Priebus: ‘How are you going to get the messaging out? Because, remember, last time, they [the Obama campaign] were supreme at the grassroots level.’
“In February she told Rep. Michele Bachmann ‘one of the things you might challenge President Obama on is the fact that he seems to not be as urgent-minded thinking about our debt as you might be. Would you agree with that?’
“On the August 11, 2010, edition of Fox & Friends, Carlson asked Linda McMahon, who was the Republican candidate for Senate in Connecticut at the time, ‘Don’t you have to remind voters, starting today, that [opponent Richard Blumenthal] lied about Vietnam?’”

Mary Katharine Ham: 2011 Winner — The 45 Most Admired Republican Women Under 45

Mary Katharine Ham, 31, is a busy young woman. She is a columnist for The Weekly Standard and the Daily Caller, a frequent cable news guest, and host of “Morning Majority” from 5 am to 9 am every weekday on WMAL.
She previously was managing editor of Townhall.com. Many people know her best from Twitter (mkhammer) where she constantly sends out fascinating messages from inside committee hearings or A list social gatherings. She is one of the few conservatives who could enter the White House Correspondent’s Dinner with Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) and rockstar Ludicrous.
She was married in May and said it was difficult to be away from Twitter for seven hours. (She did check messages at the wedding reception).
Liberal activist Keith Olbermann calls her “The worst person in the world.” He also added the then 19 year old Bristol Palin to that category. The leftwing website Media Matters has published 15 articles attacking Ham and her observations on the nation’s number one cable program, the O’Reilly Factor.
Why do they hate her? Because she is so effective. Ham was the first to say that after three months in office, President Obama had clearly done nothing to deserve the Nobel Peace Prize.
She was also one of the first journalists to question the effectiveness of the stimulus. She listed 15 glaring errors in Al Gore’s global warming documentary, and she scooped the liberal press on Rahm Emanuel’s departure from the White House.
Olbermann went completely ballistic when Ham noted the fish served at the wedding of Gore’s daughter was an endangered species. She also broke the story about exorbitant energy use at the Gore mansions.
The liberals especially hate Ham because she is a consistent defender of enhanced interrogation techniques including waterboarding. The evidence is clearly on her side, and one of her loyal listeners is former Vice President Dick Cheney.
Conservative blogger Sissy Willis describes Ham as a “shining fresh face . . . smart-as-a-whip and totally adorable. She has the looks of a fancy-free school girl, and the relentless, unflagging optimism of a Jack Kemp.
“Ham has the ability to articulate the notion of a nation of laws, not of men, in debate with the best of what the other side has to offer. . When she’s on, we always have to mute O’Reilly or her sparring partner of the day, but she is always a joy. You ask why we twitter? Mkhammer’s news reports and insights alone make it worthwhile.”
You can read more about the contest rules and background at: The 45 Most Admired Republican Women Under 45