Opinion: What It's Like For Women To Run For Office In Greenwich

The following op-ed was written by Laura Kostin, Greenwich RTM candidate for District 8, in response to the story about blogger Christopher Fountain's recent post:

This is what it’s like to be a woman running for an unpaid position in Greenwich…

I’m a mom of four kids who thought it would be a good idea to volunteer to serve on my town’s local governing board, the RTM. There weren’t enough people stepping up at the time, only 165 people for 230 spots, so I thought maybe I should do my part and help out.

According to the rules, you need nothing more than the signatures of your neighbors, so my 4-year old daughter and I knocked on doors, introduced ourselves and we brought my signed papers to town hall.

This weekend, a mom from my son’s school sent me an email. She wanted to let me know that there was a blogger in town with a considerable readership calling on his followers to not vote for any female petition candidates (that’s what new candidates are called).

Whoa. Whah? I was stunned, I clicked the link and read on:

“GREENWICH INDIVISIBLE PUSSY HATS ARE COMING FOR YOUR RTM”

"So we can expect to see up to 50 angry women, all suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome, invading our local town meeting, demanding, what? A sanctuary city? Resolutions demanding the impeachment of Trump? Gun control? Rent control? The possibilities are endless."

"Don't vote for any female petition candidate."

This is so not cool. First of all, I’m unaffiliated with any group or political party, I’m not suffering from anything, I don’t own one of those hats, I don’t use the P word… and this guy is a total misogynist.

I decided to google this blogger. He’s apparently a disbarred attorney and now a realtor. Holy hell, what woman in their right mind would buy a house from THIS guy?

I am on a neighborhood social media site, so I decided to reach out to my neighborhood, to let them know what was going on… and remind them to support the people they thought would be best suited to serve, regardless of gender:

November 7 Election

I am running for the RTM here in District 8. Up until now, I haven't posted anything here about it, but I now I feel I must. There is a Greenwich conservative blogger calling on his readers to NOT vote for any women running for the RTM. Misogyny is alive and well, folks. Deplorable. Please urge your friends and neighbors to vote for the candidates they believe will do the best job, even if they have lady parts.

The link is below so you can read it yourself, as well as 2 very precious portions of his blog post. https://www.christopherfountain.com/blog/2017/10/27/how-we-recruited-50-left-wing-pussycats-candidates-to-run-for-office-in-greenwich-ct

"So we can expect to see up to 50 angry women, all suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome, invading our local town meeting, demanding, what? A sanctuary city? Resolutions demanding the impeachment of Trump? Gun control? Rent control? The possibilities are endless."

"I repeat my original suggestion: don't vote for any female petition candidate"

Oh, how naïve I was. You know where it got me? Targeted. By this guy. And his followers, who spew hate online anonymously.

The blog post title: “INDIVISIBLE PUSSY HAT RTM CANDIDATES, BY DISTRICT” District 8

Lura Kotin …

He didn’t spell my name right, but he meant me. A little further down was a screen grab of my neighborhood social media posting. This man’s blog is littered with people posting photos of women in various stages of undress and comments, some of which are so obscene, they verge on pornographic. Some of them ARE pornographic. All of them posting (again) anonymously. Even the blogger himself posts under the name “Blogmaster Snoop Dog” sometimes. I don’t know why. The first to comment on the screen grab of my neighborhood posting was someone who calls himself “Walt.”

I can’t quote what he wrote online because it is too obscene. Suffice it to say he talks a lot about female genitalia… repeatedly. Sometimes in capital letters.

My hair stood on end.

It was time to call him out and call a spade a spade. I told him exactly what I thought of him in his comments section. I told him that he was wrong, I’m unaffiliated with any of the groups he seems to hate so much… and that I’d prefer he spelled my name correctly.

I’ll freely admit, it got me nowhere. He doesn't care what I think of him or that what he wrote was completely misogynistic. Logic and truth have no place in this bizarre section of the internet. You call him out and his trolls just spew more misogynistic (sometimes pornographic) hate.

They’ve posted about where I work and they wonder amongst themselves what my true motivations for serving on the RTM might really be… and then they spew more vitriol. And then it really it home, these people are my neighbors.

These are the people who see me with my kids at the bus stop. They share our space. They’re so close.

This is what it’s like.

— Laura Kostin, Greenwich RTM candidate for District 8