La ^mwvâhjô
piesuLntlol eanÀJûjte/*s
Wj&w
ew
IMI
Paige Richardson and
her wife, Michele Wren,
get ready to watch the
first presidential debate
with other Kerry
supporters Sept. 30 at
Billy Reed’s
JLt
has been a big year for Paige Richard
son. O n May 16 she married Michele Wren,
her partner of more than six years. The next
day she took on the job of a lifetime.
Richardson, a Democrat, has worked on
political campaigns since 1988. So when
she received a call from Mary Beth Cahill,
national campaign director for John Kerry,
she says she “suspected that [Cahill] was
not calling for shopping tips.”
In fact, Cahill called to offer her the
position o f Oregon state director for the
Kerry campaign.
“ I asked Michele first because I expected
she might say no,” Richardson recalls. "But
she said: ‘N ot only do I think its OK, but I
think you have to. This election is too
important.’ ”
It turned out that the job had its perks
right from the beginning. Kerry made a stop
in Oregon on May 17 and 18, and he was
aware o f Richardson’s recent nuptials.
ft
^¡jf "Unfortunately.
in politics we've
gotten into tne Habit
of driving wedges as
opposed to bringing r
people together.
-P a ig e Richardson
by Stephen Blair
“Nice to meet you. I understand con
gratulations are in order,” she remembers
him saying.
Then he gave her a big hug. “That
meant a lot,” Richardson says.
The 41-year-old has lived in Portland
since 1991. She grew up in Charleston,
W.Va., the daughter of liberal parents who
raised her to believe in “equality and fairness
and all the basic Democratic principles.”
R ichardson’s own political activism
took flight when she was just 5 years old.
When a friend of the family ran for gover
nor, she took part in a kiddy car parade,
pedaling around in a metal c^r to show her
support.
When her father ran for office a few
years later, Richardson adopted a guerrilla
approach to campaigning. “I would grab my
friends and my red wagon and fill it up with
stuff from the headquarters,” she says.
A s a teen-ager Richardson decided she
didn’t want to follow in her parents’ foot
steps, so she tried to focus on nonpo
litical pursuits. This was far easier
said than done.
"Politics was my framework for
everything,” she explains. “Every time
there was something that wasn’t working
or there was an injustice, this was the way
I knew to fix it.”
A s a student at University of
Denver, Richardson felt compelled
to run for student government
because it refused to recognize the
eduardo mulero dds pc 6rti0W.twthwl'i,,Mdflst
g e n eral a n d e s th e tic d e n t is t r y
scientifically
The loom ! In-Office Whitening System
U
will nuke your tr a il dramatically
i I
whiter in a little over an hour.
ji
queer student organization. But her decisive
plunge into political activism came in
1988. She was fed up with the Reagan
administration and eager to see a Democrat
take the White House.
Michael Dukakis’ loss in the 1988 election
did not quell her enthusiasm. She has worked
on numerous campaigns during the past 16
years and helped secure A1 Gore’s narrow vic
tory in New Mexico four years ago.
For all of her boisterous enthusiasm,
Richardson is not the type to get in your
face with her political ideologies.
“Typically when I meet people, I don’t
tell them what I do," she says. “People make
assumptions. Now, unfortunately, in poli
tics we’ve gotten into the habit of driving
wedges as opposed to bringing people
together.”
Could Richardson take off her campaign
manager’s cap and become, say, an accoun
tant? N ot likely.
“ I couldn’t get excited about doing any
thing else for a living,” she explains.
“There are unfortunately always more
wrongs to right.”
When she’s not working umpteen-hour
shifts at the Kerry cam paign office,
Richardson enjoys the outdoors with her
wife and two dogs. (They have two cats at
home, too.) The couple met in a martial
arts program, and both continue to train.
They’d like to travel more, but Richardson’s
'round-the-clock schedule puts a damper on
their wanderlust.
jj
,
l
The world is a different place than when your parents
bought a home. The 30-year fixed loan they got might
not be the best loan for you today
whiter smile!
Take your first step to
We offer the latest in interest only, deferred interest
and $0 down loan programs We will help you find the
one that will benefit your whole financial picture.
feeling good, looking
great and making a
memorable
impression every time
you smile!
S tephen B lair is a Portland free'lance writer.
Not your parents
mortgage company
««I look qfMt With
Vv A . U
W h y should queers vote for Kerry?
For Richardson it’s a no-brainer that
Kerry is the best choice for the queer pop
ulation. She concedes that his and running
m ate Jo h n Edwards’ “one m an, one
woman” stance on marriage has been frus
trating for queers but insists that "they are
aligned with us on every other issue."
“ I know there’s controversy and some
frustration in our community about his
position on marriage,” she says. “Kerry and
Edwards may not be saying the ‘marriage’
word, but... we shouldn’t judge them on
just that one thing because they are fully
for equality. Both o f them believe civil
unions would be a great thing. Kerry and
Edwards are probably two of the most tol
erant individuals we could ever hope to
find.”
And then there’s President Bush and
Vice President Dick Cheney.
“T h e Bush folks d o n ’t accept us,”
Richardson says. “They don’t want to help
us, and they’re totally beholden to C h rist
ian fundam entalists. Bush and Cheney
can’t even say ‘transgender.’ They don’t
even know what that is.”
Richardson’s philosophy boils down to
one peppy little campaign battle cry: "If
you’re homos, vote for Kerry!” J H
¿
Let us show you how choosing one of these programs
can save you thousands of dollars in interest
00 M
Rose Cit
Offer good after ru m and x rays fo n *w patients
Offer expires December 31st, 2004.
www.RoseCity Mtg.com
503.768.4248
Mortgage Specialists