14 September 2007

Maryland Delegate Urges Women To Be “Part of the Process”

Native of Dominican Republic is trying her hand at U.S. politics

 

Joseline Peña-Melnyk poses with her family at their home in College Park, Maryland. (VoteJoseline)

By Jane Morse
USINFO Staff Writer

It takes courage and hard work to break into politics and seek elected office. USINFO looks at three very different women who made the effort and won. This is the first article in a three-part series about women serving their first terms in the Maryland General Assembly.

Washington -- It was a rocky road to the Maryland State House, but Joseline Peña-Melnyk loves challenges.

She was just 8 years old when she left the Dominican Republic and came to the United States in 1974. Peña-Melnyk, her younger sister and her mother could not speak much English, and her father had abandoned them. Her mother struggled to support the little family. Peña-Melnyk’s sister succumbed to the lure of the streets, becoming a teenage mother and losing the father of her first two of four children to drug-related violence.

Those tribulations inspired Peña-Melnyk to work harder. She became the first member of her family to achieve a college degree, and went on to finish law school.  She later moved to the Washington metropolitan area where she married Markian Melnyk, her law-school sweetheart.

Peña-Melnyk had a full life as a wife, mother of three young children and community activist, but she wanted greater opportunities to make a real difference in society. In 2003, she jumped into politics and was elected to the City Council of College Park, Maryland, where she lives.

By her second term on the Council, she had established relations with politicians on the state level and realized she already was doing the same sort of work. When the incumbent state delegate for Peña-Melnyk’s district retired, Peña-Melnyk decided to run for that seat in the Maryland General Assembly, which meets each year for 90 days to act on more than 2,300 bills, including the state’s annual budget. The Maryland General Assembly has 47 senators and 141 delegates.

Peña-Melnyk had hoped the senator and the two other incumbent delegates for her district would put her on their slate. Her qualifications were excellent: In addition to being an attorney and an experienced City Council member, she spoke Spanish in a district that has a growing number of Hispanic immigrants and she had close ties with the community, having served on the board of directors for Casa de Maryland, a nonprofit social services organization.

“Instead, they put on [the slate] some young kid who worked at one time for the president of the Maryland Senate, and he was a well-connected Caucasian,” Peña-Melnyk recalled during an interview with USINFO. “So I had to run on my own.”

That, she quickly discovered, was an expensive endeavor. “I had to put in close to $30,000 of my own money, and I’m not wealthy,” she said. “I spent over $7,000 just on signs.” Friends, family and other supporters rallied to raise another $40,000.

“It was a challenge because no one would write a check for me from the [Democratic] party or other elected officials because they didn’t think I was going to win,” Peña-Melnyk said. “It is very tough when you are not part of the establishment, not part of the ‘good old boy’ network.”

But grassroots efforts can accomplish great things. Peña-Melnyk knocked on the doors of more than 10,000 homes in her district. Senior citizen volunteers made phone calls; a printer helped out by mailing solicitations; a group of six core supporters gathered at her home every Sunday to map campaign strategy.

“My three kids -- my twins who are girls, 7 years old, and my boy who is 8 -- at 6 a.m. we were at street corners, sign waving,” Peña-Melnyk told USINFO. “This was a family affair; they believed in me. … My husband believed in me.”

Eventually, some important local papers recognized her efforts and endorsed her.

Peña-Melnyk won the November 2006 election and began serving her four-year term in January. She has been examining the feasibility of anti-cervical cancer vaccines for Maryland school girls, making health insurance accessible to the approximately 800,000 people in the state who currently lack insurance, and seeking funding for boys and girls clubs in her district, which encompasses some 110,000 people. “I think in my first session I did well for someone who is a freshman,” she said.

What advice does Peña-Melnyk have for women around the world who might not enjoy the freedoms of their American sisters?

“I say ‘give them hell.’ Go try to make a difference. … It’s worth it,’” she told USINFO. Women in politics set important examples to both girls and boys, she said.

“I think a lot of people don’t take their civic duties seriously,” said Peña-Melnyk, who became a U.S. citizen in 1983. “It is so important to stay informed, to vote, to be a part of the process, to have a voice. You don’t just complain; you try to be part of change.”

(USINFO is produced by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)