Miers Lines Pockets of Feminist Elite
Harriet Miers might seem like W's ultradeferential "work wife," but she makes free with the speaking fees for some bigtime feminists, reports the Chronicle of Higher Education's Peter Schmidt. When she was on the board of trustees for the Southern Methodist University Law School, Miers backed an endowed lecture series for women's studies, named in honor of pioneering Texas woman lawyer Louise B. Raggio. Miers "not only advocated for the series, but gave money and solicited donations to get it off the ground," Schmidt writes. But what's really striking is who the money went to:
A feminist icon, Gloria Steinem, delivered the series's first lecture, in 1998. In the following two years, the speakers were Patricia S. Schroeder, the former Democratic congresswoman widely associated with women's causes, and Susan Faludi, the author of Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women (1991). Ann W. Richards, the Democrat whom George W. Bush unseated as governor of Texas in 1994, delivered the lecture in 2003.
Curiouser and curiouser. We still doubt Miers's qualifications, but if the High Court has any petty cash kicking around, by all means let her disburse it.--HOLLY MARTINS
Supreme Court Nominee Helped Set Up Lecture Series that Brought Leading Feminists to Southern Methodist U. [world's longest headline, courtesy of the Chronicle of Higher Education]