Northfield League of Women Voters jumps the gender gap for its first executive director

lwv-logo At their monthly board meeting this week, the Board of the League of Women Voters of Northfield voted to hire Dewayne Gedde, retired local broadcast media executive, as their first executive director. The League has struggled in recent years to gain household name recognition among area citizens. Board members evidently believed it was time for dramatic change.

“It’s taken us a while to come to grips with our shortcomings,” said Board President Katie Teazer. “Most things we’re perfectly equipped to handle but we just don’t have the cojones for pandering to the public to increase our visibility.”

Longtime League member Janet O’Williams agreed. “We could have used a shot of T a long time ago.”

For his part, Dewayne Gedde, was relieved to finally be brought on board. “They’ve been pussyfooting around for over six months on hiring me. The multiple interviews during which everyone was always getting all emotional, nobody with a head for numbers to hammer out a contract. It drove me nucking futs.”

Gedde starts the new position after the first of the year and promises swift action. “I’ll form an ad hoc task force of Northfield’s movers and shakers that I’ve worked with over the years. A little manpower will go a long way in this non-profit arena, I’m betting. A few Dallas Haas types is all it’ll take.”

The WINGS (Women In Northfield Giving Support) Board of Directors is watching this development closely. “I don’t think we’re anywhere close to taking as drastic a step as the League,” said board member Margo Jensen. “Men in our bedrooms? The more the merrier, but they don’t belong in our boardroom.”

13 Comments

  1. Fie, fie, fie, faux, faux, faux. Soon googling “Northfield League of Women Voters” will bring this item up, along with WINGS (“men in our bedroom, the more the merrier”). Is this a good idea?

    December 12, 2007
  2. John Thomas said:

    Tracy… Ross… Griff got loose again. 😎

    December 13, 2007
  3. Griff Wigley said:

    Dang. I’ve been outed. Yeah, my #2 son, Tyson, alerted me to that Onion piece, Erin. I couldn’t help myself. I would’ve copped to it, honest! As for funny, I can’t promise that.

    December 13, 2007
  4. Patrick Enders said:

    Thanks Griff. I wish the first sentence was real. The rest… no comment.

    The LWV has been “welcoming men since 1974 as full voting members.” However, I don’t see any male names on Northfield’s Board of Directors (possibly excepting Pat or Tripp).

    December 13, 2007
  5. kiffi summa said:

    OH, OH! Sniff Bigley is back, and this time he’s preaching from the perilous perch of plagiarism!

    Is it a churlish coincidence that the LWV president left today for a holiday vacation in Hungary? Maybe she can skip next door to Transylvania and put out a “contract”…

    Here’s a few of the illustrious male members (and I don’t mean in the Elizabethan sense of the word) of the Northfield/Cannon Falls League of Women Voters : Keith Covey, former Mayor of NF; Peter Dahlen, member of the Charter Commission; Bob Ciernia, local business owner and social activist; David Bly, MN Legislator; and last, but not least of this warmly regarded group, Victor Summa (well, Ross calls him a Community Advisor!).

    And I wish some/one of them WOULD take a Board position, so I could retire!

    We would welcome your membership Patrick, and of course Felicity’s , also.

    December 13, 2007
  6. Thanks Griff for your oh-so-subtle praise of the League’s activism.

    I would like to direct everyone’s attention to our as-yet-unpublished Letter to the Editor concerning State Senate District 25’s special election:
    http://lwvnorthfieldmn.org/ – The Home page.

    Catherine Christian
    administrator of our local League’s website

    December 13, 2007
  7. Patrick Enders said:

    Kiffi,

    I would be happy to join a League of Informed/Attentive/Motivated Voters with a program identical to that of the LWV. I feel inherently excluded by the name of the organization.

    December 13, 2007
  8. kiffi summa said:

    Patrick : you are of course philosophically correct, and there are many women who belong that think it is just too, too stupid that the name has not been changed … but maybe that change is coming, albeit much too slowly.

    I think the LWV’s angst re: how long they fought to get the vote for women in this dear ole USA is the reason they’re loath to give up the title. Remember the suffragettes in prison, on hunger strike, being forcefed with
    funnels of gruel… takes a while to get over that kind of thing…
    Our website is newly constructed and not yey complete or perfected, but you can go there and find out how to join, should you care to “imbibe”!
    Ciao!

    December 13, 2007
  9. The Funnel of Gruel was my favorite ride at the ol’ St. Louis County Fair when I was a tot. My older friends all liked the prospect of affection promised by the neighboring Tunnel of Love, but I eschewed such a notion. Why go for that emotional mush, when you could cover yourself in actual mush?

    “Just one more time, Mom!”, we’d yell while wiping the gruel from our bright, bright eyes…

    Memories, memories…

    December 13, 2007
  10. Curt Benson said:

    Brendon, when I was a youth, I looked enviously at kids like you, flaunting your funnels of gruel when all we had was “wiener water soup”. You know, boil one wiener all week. Soup three times a day. Sunday, after church we’d split the wiener 8 ways, between mom, pop and six kids.

    Memories, memories.

    December 13, 2007
  11. Skip Zimmerman said:

    Griff,

    Care to comment on the fact that you were outed by so many Onion devotees? Connect the dots here for us…4 out of 5 dentists who chew gum and pat their heads at the same time also maintain simultaneous subscriptions to the Onion and Low-Cow-Ly Groan? I too saw the “other white meat” version of this tidbit before I read yours and came to the only logical conclusion – that you must be writing for the Onion under a pseudonym! You go, Griff!

    December 13, 2007
  12. Griff Wigley said:

    Alas, Skip, I only *WISH* I was writing for the Onion. Maybe someday they’ll have regional/city-based news items and then I’ll be raking in the big bucks.

    As for the propensity of LG devotees to follow the Onion, I’m proud!

    December 15, 2007

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