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2004 NFPW Conference
Women exchange private lives for public fame
Polly Judd and Tanya Pullin’s private lives became an open book when they ran for public office.
The two women found the experience disconcerting. They shared their frustrations at the recent NFPW conference in Lexington, Ky.
When Judd, of nearby Ashland, Ky., first ran for a City Council seat in the community of about 20,000 residents, People magazine profiled her and her campaign. She suspects that attention was more a result of who she is than why she ran for the council. She’s the mother of county singer, author and actress Naomi Judd and grandmother of Wynonna and Ashley Judd.
She decided to seek a council seat when the city’s hospital wanted to move her home so it could expand. She said wasn’t opposed to the hospital’s expansion. However, she and her neighbors wanted to make sure the hospital was required to follow city ordinances as would any other business planning to expand. She served on the council for two years, then recently went off the board. Now she’s running for another term.
Judd has found that some of the stories about her and her family haven’t been very objective or accurate. She said that bothers her because the public turns to the news media for information every day.
“We should not be casual about the truth,” she said.
Pullin, a member of the Kentucky House of Representatives, said that “Teddy Roosevelt had more privacy as president than I do.”
Presidents are surrounded by staff and security personnel to deal with the public’s questions and demands, while state legislators are on their own, according to Pullin. She told of lying on a gurney, waiting to go into the operating room for surgery, when a constituent came by and said, “Aren’t you Tanya Pullin? I’ve been meaning to talk to you.”
She urged the news media to give local politicians a break. She said intelligent, well-informed, normal people don’t like to be bombarded or criticized by the news media daily, so they won’t run for office if that’s what they have to face.
- Ellen Crawford
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