Women rally for 'real man' Engler

At a Capitol rally focused mostly on Engler's record of support for women's issues hiring - his staff is 62 percent female - Johnson, a Royal Oak Republican, jabbed at Fieger.

First, she asked Lt. Gov. Connie Binsfeld to send a copy of domestic violence laws strengthened by Engler to Fieger, whose wife alleged abuse during a 1995 divorce filing.

The remark received gasps of shock from the women and then, after a nervous silence, they applauded it.

Johnson went on to criticize Fieger for describing Democratic Attorney General candidate Jennifer Granholm as "hysterical" because she disagreed with his crime-fighting ideas.

Johnson said that women who work for Engler are never labeled "a hysterical female" when they disagree with him.

"Somebody ought to tell Jennifer what she should have told Mr. Fieger is 'men don't talk that way anymore. They don't accuse us of being ding-a-lings or airheads or hysterical in our behavior. Real men really respect us.'

"That's what our governor is. He's a real man," Johnson said.

A key difference between Engler and Fieger is their positions on abortion, Fieger said during a Detroit appearance yesterday. Engler is anti-abortion and Fieger says he sees abortion, like assisted suicide, as a personal choice.

"This is a man who is anti-choice, who is one of the biggest enemies of the women's movement," Fieger said. "The fact of the matter is I'm the biggest supporter of women's choice issues, of equal pay for equal work, and an avowed feminist."

Binsfeld said Engler has increased job opportunities for women, increased child support collections and day care for working women, and expanded breast-cancer screenings for women and health care for poor children.

"Governor Engler has maximized his opportunities as our leader to bring positive changes in Michigan laws and policies for women and families," Binsfeld said.

The governor doesn't have to reach out for the women's vote, said Lansing pollster Ed Sarpolus, vice president of EPIC/MRA. He said the event and others like it are meant to draw more Republicans to the ballot box.

"This is to give John Engler his swan song to give him coattails for once in his life," he said.

"The governor is finding it harder and harder to get people to focus on the race because they think it's over with already," Sarpolus said. "Every new little gimmick they come up with is to keep the public interested enough to vote in November."

Sarpolus said Engler has done well among women voters, attracting 61 percent of their vote in 1994.

Nevertheless, about 100 women, including elected officials, Engler staff, candidates and party activists, attended the news conference to cheer his record on women's issues.

Among those cited were:

- He has appointed 1,400 women to state policy-making boards and commissions.

- He has appointed 25 women to judgeships.

- Many of the top positions in his administration are held by women, including his chief of staff, chief legal counsel, state budget director and the director of the Department of Consumer and Industry Services.

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