Jeanine Pirro

Wahoo!!! Jeanine Pirro in 2006

I am no longer in NY but I hope to return some day relatively soon. I wish I could work for her campaign.

Pirro is amazing. Not only is she a tough DA and brilliant, she is also a great role model.

When I was teaching in Westchester, New York, I was the adviser for a middle school newspaper. I was trying to get the kids to move beyond movie reviews and crossword puzzles, perhaps scheduling an interview with their mayor or some such. One said, "What does it matter, we're just kids. No one will listen to us anyway."

"How do you know," I asked, "Have you ever tried?" I realized that at college, we had a whole bunch of exciting speakers who spoke to us and answered our questions. The key was really to get to kids in middle school, though, before they lost interest in school, politics, and the world in general.

From that we began to brainstorm a press conference for middle school journalists across the county. We invited every politician who represented the people of Westchester County. Who responded?

Sue Kelly and Jeanine Pirro.

Both were amazing but I'm focusing on Pirro because this post is about her. Throughout the conference, she responded to these pre-teens as if they were actual reporters. She was direct, respectful, and tough.

I did NOT only invite Republican women. I swear. Those were just the ones who cared enough about our children to come. To be fair to Ms. Clinton, she did respond that she already had another engagement that day... but her office was not particularly helpful even though I was willing to schedule around her. Schumer's office called AFTER we had an article in the New York Times about his interest in speaking if we held the conference again next year.

On a different note, I read this article: Pirro Begins Campaign by Assailing Clinton. Let's start with the headline. She did criticize Clinton, as well she should, but that was not the entirety of her speech. Reading the article, the adjectives paint a picture of Pirro as just bluff and bluster. I can assure you there is plenty of substance. Even my Democrat parents, both of whom are longtime Westchester residents (both moved from the boroughs in their teens), admire what she has done fore the people of New York.

Pirro doesn't need to make empty promises about what she will do for New York. She doesn't need to prove that she will not abandon New York to bolster her political career. Pirro has an actual record on which to run... and it is a darn good one.

Perhaps that is why Hilary's campaign operatives are criticizing Pirro as a lightweight campaigner rather than addressing the issues.

The fact that they are already attacking Pirro's campaigning ability after her first speech and BEFORE the Republicans have actually chosen a candidate show that they take the threat of Pirro seriously... revealing the opposite of what they had planned.