New Jersey State House, Trenton, New Jersey
Governor Hotckiss wasn't an entirely cynical woman, but she was, at this point, largely a practical one. The negotiations over the RLSA were a fifty-hour work week, plus a few calls on developments, rarely good, on the weekends. Even if she had wanted to try to campaign against some of what was being thrown at her, she didn't have the time-and she hated doing that sort of thing anyway. It wouldn't have even been a good idea even if she was enthused-the general was a ways out, the Democrats still had themselves to fight amongst, and shooting back would only draw more attention to the attacks, and keep her on the constant defensive for months to come.
Being an incumbent made one an easy and visible target for anyone with mud to sling, set you up on a dunk tank with plenty of water. It did, however, also provide some opportunities to preen a bit before the state's media, yet without having to appear to be taking political shots at all. She had one of those opportunities now, and was taking advantage of it.
It was a simple, small, press conference. The room wasn't all that big, and it was almost cozy at this point. Of the two dozen or so reporters there, she probably knew most of them by name by now, for good, and for bad. When it was the same people you stood before every day, you'd start to get to know them, or at least their tendencies, if you weren't blind or shut off, and she'd gotten to the point where she could figure who'd be spinning this which way.
A lot more spinning it against the way she'd wanted than it used to be. Good old days, she supposed.
In any case, she had a fairly brief statement to make, no plans to take questions, best to get on with it.
"Good morning to all of you."
"It is with regret, but also with best wishes that I announce the news that three members of my cabinet will be departing in the coming weeks. Mr. Telles, the State Treasurer, Mr. Baker, the Health Commissioner, and Mr. Gutenberger, the Banking and Insurance Commissioner, have announced their plans to resign and move on to other things. They have all worked hard and well at their positions, and New Jersey is a better state because of them. Each of them has their own plans, and we wish them nothing but the best where they go."
"These positions will need to be replaced, and my staff and I have been working diligently to find suitable candidates for the heavy responsibilities of the offices. We have gone through the process and have three women selected to go through final interviews that we believe will fit each position very well, and work well for the people of the state of New Jersey. These selections are part of a long-running goal of this administration to select the best public officials for the people while narrowing the gender gap in politics. As only the second female Governor of over fifty Governors in this state's history, I know we have a long way to go but we will keep on traveling down that path of progress."
She gave a curt nod, concluding the conference, and exiting.
She made her way down a short hall before taking a corner, and then taking a seat on the nearby bench, taking as deep of breaths as she was able to get air back in her lungs and moving again, return respiration to normal after holding the tone for those few minutes there.
"Long-running goal", well, that was a lie on its face, or at least mostly one. It wasn't that she wasn't sympathetic to the lack of women around her. Her own core staff was mostly female, after everything with her husband, she preferred working with XX company, didn't want to deal with another man on the day-to-day or the personal stuff. The military had done its own job on the topic, more than enough to lock in her understanding of how hostile certain environments could be to the fairer sex. Still, in all of that, she had never embraced the whole "equal representation" concept, because it was a stupid one. Like it or not, most of the people getting into these jobs were men, most of the people with the qualifications were men, and picking the best man for the job meant mostly picking the best man for the job.
But stupid or not, it was a political football now, and since she had it on a tee, she'd given it a kick.
Sandra appeared around the corner, handing off a diet Dr. Pepper to the Governor, who took it without comment, drinking in just a few sips before setting aside the luxury.
Well, back to work.
