It the Northwest Herald gets its way, Maria Rodriguez will face off against 8th District Congresswoman

At least that’s what a press release (complete with link to the editorial) from Rodriguez tells me.

I don’t make a practice of reading its editorials, but I guess it’s news whom its editorial board endorses.

Rodriguez recently caught some flak on the comment board of the Daily Herald for pointing out that one of her advantages was being the same gender as Bean.

Since 1966 I can show you contests in the Northwest suburbs where women had about a five percentage point advantage when running against a man.

I first noticed it when I ran against Carla Fortier for McHenry County Treasurer in 1966. I think she was a secretary at the First National Bank of Chicago. I had finished the coursework for my master’s degree in public administration and had an economics degree from Oberlin College and had worked for the United States Bureau of the Budget (now, the Office of Management and Budget).

I ran about five percentage points behind the Republican county ticket.

There are many other examples, e.g., Betty Lou Reed regularly polled more votes that her fall running mate Don Deuster when they were both state representatives from the same district.

In any event, Rodriguez spoke the truth about there being a gender gap in electoral politics in our neck of the woods.

Bean has run against a man three times and three times has won.

I figure each male candidate spotted her five percentage points in their match-up.

Why?

Here’s my hypothesis of why women running against men have an electoral advantage.

It comes from watching crooked politicians in Illinois since 1966.

They are mainly men.

It is male faces that are showing up on the front pages of newspapers and on TV.

Sure, there have been a couple of women. Cicero’s Betty Loren-Maltese is probably the most recent. There has been at least one female Chicago Alderwoman.

But most of the crooks have been men.

So, besides those women who think women are underrepresented in the halls of government, add those men and women who think, other things being equal, a woman in government is more likely to be honest than a man.

The odds are certainly there for all to see.