"Town Hall Tuesday"

iVillage presents

January 18, 2000

First lady and New York Senate Candidate, Hillary Rodham Clinton discusses in an online interview, issues and concerns dealing with our country, the U.S. Senate, the government, and politics.

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IVillage: Welcome to the IVillage.com Town Hall Tuesday with First Lady and New York Senate Candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton. Not only are we here to talk about a U.S. Senate race that is shaping up to be one of the most exciting in the country but it is now your opportunity to ask about the issues that matter to you. Moderator Nancy Evans, IVillage Editor-in-Chief, will be fielding your questions live throughout the night. If you want to listen to the chat, in addition to reading it, be sure you have first downloaded an audio player and then click on the audio symbol in the top right corner of the chat screen. Thanks for joining us. Begin sending in your questions!

Nancy Evans: Good evening, and welcome to your third Town Hall Tuesday. I'm Nancy Evans, editor of IVillage. Tonight, we are interviewing First Lady Hillary Clinton from snowy Buffalo. She is the first, but hopefully one of many, woman candidates to join us online. c White House, TV was the media that brought her into our homes. Now, we are thrilled that the Internet does so. Welcome, Mrs. Clinton. Why are you running for office?

Hillary Clinton: Well, Nancy, let me first thank you for opening up this line of communication among women and between women and candidates for public office. As a candidate myself for Senate in NY I am happy to join IVillage's live chat. I am happy to talk to women about issues on our mind, around the world, about how we raise children, how we work, how we live, and I am delighted that we are here in IVillage's effort to bring us together. I'd like to say that I have always been committed to making a difference, and working on issues, ever since my school years in college and law school, that I cared about principally issues affecting women and children, including being a woman and a lawyer, and I come to this decision to run for public office out of a strong belief about issues that matter in the lives of people. I have also always been involved in politics, as a citizen, as a supporter, I have supported many people who have run for office, and have been very willing to give my time and effort for those who I think will be best. I was honored and a little flattered, but I had to think hard about whether it was the right decision for me, and after many months of soul searching, and listening, I concluded the issues I've worked on for my lifetime, certainly more than thirty years - education, health care, justice, trying to get people to live responsible lives - would be important, and finally having concluded, having watched in Washington these seven years what happens in the Senate, that it really matters who's there, what their experiences are, and values they will champion and speak out for and vote for. I have seen where one vote or a handful of votes really affect how people live, so I decided to put myself out for public office, and try to bring my experiences of my lifetime, to lend my voice and vote to the kind of country we want.

Nancy Evans: Thank you. Let me turn to a question from Wendy from Whitehall NY - With the media focusing primarily on your new house and whether Mayor Guiliani can be nice to people, your real message isn't being heard. What are you going to bring to this campaign?

Hillary Clinton: Well, Wendy, I hope that you will have a Senator who is listening still, and working with all the people of New York who are committed to improving education, expanding health care, making sure all people throughout New York State have a chance to have a good job with a rising income. That you'll have an advocate and a champion for the kind of concerns that are kitchen table concerns. This morning I got up early and went shopping. I had to stock my refrigerator. And I was walking up and down the aisles of the Grand Union and visited with a lot of people in Chappaqua, and even in those short informal visits I had a woman raise her concerns about coverage for mental health problems, someone else asked me my plans to make schools better, and better equipped for the future. And it's those concerns I think are on the minds of New Yorkers, and I would be a Senator who wouldn't stop listening and would bring a lifetime of advocacy to creating results and trying to build a coalition that would actually make a difference in the daily lives of your community and throughout New York State.

Nancy Evans: Listening to you describing being in a supermarket - you sounded happy!

Hillary Clinton: I have to say I was! I had a great time, partly because it's been a long time since I was free to just walk around, and there are a lot of new things out on the marketplace, and I enjoyed myself, and everyone was so happy and nice. I had a chance to meet some of my new neighbors. I felt at home.

Nancy Evans: What was the cost of a quart of milk?

Hillary Clinton: I found some new kind of milk, maybe you listening have heard of Skim Plus, but it was new to me, I'm trying new things as I'm settling in.

Nancy Evans: How does that compare - I mean, here you are, the First Lady, as a Senate candidate. Most women would think neither role is a piece of cake. Which do you enjoy more?

Hillary Clinton: I have really enjoyed being First Lady, it is such an honor to live in the White House, and to represent our country and try to help people, which I have felt honored to do since 1993 when I moved in with my husband and my daughter. I don't know that there is any experience that prepares you for living in the White House. It's a privilege and a pressure cooker at the same time, and it has a natural end to it. We know we will move out this time next year, so I'm trying to enjoy every bit of my experience there, but I'm also looking forward, and that's what this Senate campaign means to me. I care about my work on education, health care, women's rights and all kinds of other matters. I have concentrated on some of which didn't make headlines, like working on adoption and foster care, and others there are more than enough headlines about, like health care. But in trying to plan my future, I knew I wanted to live in New York, and I assumed two years ago I would be moving to New York and working on behalf of women's and children's issues, doing writing and teaching. So when the opportunity to run for Senate, and translate the concerns I have worked on for a lifetime into tangible results for people came into my awareness I took it very seriously. We have made progress, but have a lot of work to do. Two reports came out today, the prosperity hasn't affected the lives of all Americans, some of whom are still living in poverty, and to my great concern, New York has the greatest disparity between rich and poor in the country.

Nancy Evans: Can I interject here? About the economy - We have a question from Kathy in Penfield NY - As a western New Yorker, I am worried about the loss of manufacturing jobs here. How would you use your office to help us?

Hillary Clinton: I'm really glad that you asked, and it's so timely, because I'm sitting here in a suburb of Buffalo, in the home of one of my classmates, and have been spending time in Western NY and Erie county talking about these issues. Some things Senators can do officially and some things that can be done to get people to work together to keep and bring jobs to Western NY. As a Senator, I would work very hard to make sure the high cost of utilities in Western NY is addressed. We are going through a period of deregulation in the electric industry, and I would work so that it would advantage Western NY, that has some of the highest utility costs, and this doesn't help us keep and attract manufacturing jobs. I would work with Chuck Shumer and Louise Slaughter about airfares, because you have to have competitively priced air, and trucking and rail prices for manufacturers to stay in a location. And I would address the high taxes that are an impediment, by continuing Senator Moynihan's work by making sure NY got its fair share of federal dollars. New York sends about 15 billion dollars more to Washington than it gets back, and many parts of New York need that money, so the funding formula should be changed. I would also work to provide more incentives so that businesses would be attracted to Western NY and other parts of the state and would be willing to expand and stay there. I was in Rochester last week at a supermarket that was in part funded by federal dollars which served as an incentive to bring a supermarket into an area that hadn't had one in a number of years it was built in a brown field, it employs many people, and that same company has now expanded to five supermarkets. We need to provide targeted incentives to keep businesses where they are. I also think it's imperative that Upstate NY, particularly the more rural areas, as well as the inner cities of the state, be connected as we are connected tonight. It is so important that for the new economy and the kind of manufacturing that is competitive globally in the new economy that everyone be as connected as possible, and that people have the technical assistance and tools. I was at a house party here in Buffalo area and a man told me about his business which is a traditional kind of construction business that has been able to keep it's market share and grow because he has provided computer training to his workers, most of whom are skilled workers but not college educated. So we need to educate the existing workforce and working out good partnerships between the public and the private sector to really make sure that everyone is working smart, as well as working hard, to deal with challenges to make sure that Western NY shares the economic benefits the rest of the country has enjoyed.

Nancy Evans: Thank you. We'd now like to turn to health care, which is consistently on our polls of IVillage women when we ask what they care

About. Krisha From Tennessee Asks: Your first attempt at health care failed. What would you do differently as Senator to address this?

Hillary Clinton: Well, I would not give up, because I think that the problems that we addressed in 1993 and 1994 are still with us, and in some ways have gotten worse. For example, we have more uninsured people, and we have a lot of health care consumers who are concerned about losing control over their own health care. And we have many doctors and nurses who feel they are losing authority over providing health care to their patients. I have learned a lot of lessons about what is possible and how to get things done in Washington. Health care will require us to adopt incremental strategies like the Patient's Bill of Rights, like reforming Medicare so it's available to all of us, to fully implement the Children's Health Insurance Program, which I worked very hard on and was passed a few years ago. But there are many challenges posed in the health care system. It is not a static system. If we continue to have more uninsured people then that will put cost pressures on our hospitals and physicians and other health care institutions, and will create a vicious cycle where more and more people - even with insurance - will have trouble getting the health care they need. I would like to work in the Senate with anyone who would like to work on this problem, and I hope we will see progress this session of Congress. I hope we will have prescription drugs for Medicare, and I am optimistic that if we all work together we will see progress in the next couple of years.

Nancy Evans: This may interest you. In a recent health care poll we conducted, we found that women have health concerns with elder care. What are your views of long-term health care facilities? And what can the government do to offset the rising costs?

Hillary Clinton: Well, I am not surprised that that would rank at the top of a survey, because we are all living longer, our parents and our grandparents are living longer, and we have greater need for support for our families to help take care of our elders. I met a woman who is 75 and is responsible for her 96 year old mother, and trying to help out her recently disabled 50 year old daughter. That's an extreme example, but there are many similar examples. So we know we have an existing problem as we all live longer we will have to deal with. I think that we should provide more tax credits for elder care. I would propose a long-term care tax credit. I think we have to be more willing to look at the whole continuum of care that older people need, and by that I would mean that we have to be sure that our nursing homes are properly monitored, and that all appropriate regulations are enforced, so that anyone in a nursing home, and that person's family, can be comfortable knowing that person will be well taken care of. We have to do more for respite care, so that families who are taking care of an older relative or other person with disabilities will have some respite from being a caregiver. We need to find adult care so that people will have a place for their loved ones to be cared for while they are at work. Another issue related to this, which I've heard about quite often, is affordable housing for the elderly, so that parents and grandparents can stay close to their families in places they can afford. Many people are being priced out of the housing markets. We need support, vouchers, subsidies, so elderly people who can't afford to stay in the home they raised a family in will have a place to stay in the community, and as their health perhaps deteriorates, they will have a progression of places to go, including skilled nursing care. I think the federal government, through monitoring and regulation, will be able to address the increasing challenge of elder care in our country.

Nancy Evans: Right now, along with the health questions that are coming in we're getting a number of them about education. Joan from Staten Island - I am sure you are aware that over the next few years New York will lose a great number of teachers. How will you get funding to attract more teachers, and how would you attract young people nationwide to the teaching profession?

Hillary Clinton: Well, Joan has asked such an important question, because she's absolutely right, we are going to lose hundreds of thousands of existing teachers to retirement in the next few years, and over the next 5 to 10 years it could be 2 million. That is a huge problem across our country, but it is particularly a problem in our inner city and rural schools, so it is those districts that I am particularly concerned about, trying to think of ways that we can recruit and keep qualified teachers in our classrooms. There are several ideas I'd like to propose and work on in the Senate. We need to recognize we will have a teacher shortage, which I think will deserve a national response. In the 1960s we were worried about health care professional shortages, and we provided incentives for people to go and get educated, and forgave any loans that they had to take out for this endeavor. I think we have to look at something similar for teachers. We have to make teaching as attractive as possible. Providing additional scholarships and loan forgiving is one way to consider doing that. We should also make teaching as attractive as possible to people already in the workforce, by providing financial incentives for people to leave their current career and support while they get the training they need to go into the classroom. We have to focus on recruitment by those who are attracted to and are already in college by making teaching an attractive choice, and I would also suggest we look at the retired teachers and try to make teaching attractive again so people who retired at 55 or 58 could come back to teaching. Not just financial incentives should be considered. Teaching needs to have the respect it deserves, teachers need the authority to discipline students, we need to, as adults, respect and model respect, that we value teachers, and believe that teaching is one of the most important professions in our country. So we need both financial incentives and attitude incentives where all of us make it clear that we respect and value teaching and want to do everything we can to get people to go into teaching.

Nancy Evans: While you were talking, a number of women had the same question. Are you for or against school vouchers?

Hillary Clinton: I do not favor school vouchers. I do not believe we should use public funds to fund private education. I do think that many of our schools, and I am particularly concerned about the schools in New York City and other urban centers in New York, as well as the rural centers, are not adequately resourced right now. Many schools need a lot of modernization, suburban districts need more schools, many of the schools aren't up to date with the technology, and we should be focusing on making our public schools as good as they can be in every single district. There are too many disparities, and it makes it hard to teach in schools that are in need of repair or modernization, and there are classrooms that are overcrowded making it hard for teachers to teach or students to learn. So I would like to use our public funding for public schools and making sure that every school is well equipped to meet the new educational opportunities that every student deserves to have, so we don't have an opportunity divide. I'd like to see our money used to reform public education.

Nancy Evans: A January 11 poll of New York voters had you neck to neck with Guiliani with black women voters, and ahead 52% with white women voters. What will you do for these women as Senator?

Hillary Clinton: Well, I will work very hard to talk about the issues that women talk to me about, and to express my views as to what I would do as Senator, and to be available to work with anyone who wants to be involved in helping my campaign communicate clearly what these issues are. I have been meeting with groups of women all over the state, and I think that what I've worked on for so many years are the issues that concern most women voters. I would add that many of these issues, like education and health care and good jobs for people and how to balance family and work, are not just women's issues, they are issues of great importance to all people, because they really strike at the quality of our lives together.

Nancy Evans: We have heard time and time again from women that the issues they care about are not just women's issues. Yet, we hear on the message boards ambivalence about Hillary Clinton the woman. In your opinion, what do you make of the polarizing effect that you (maybe not you personally, but as a figurehead) have on women?

Hillary Clinton: Well, I think it's understandable, and it's something I take very seriously, because many people don't have a good deal of information about what I did before the White House, what I've done in the White House, the kinds of concerns that I have, so it's understandable that people want more information. Women voters want to be sure that I'm committed to this campaign, and New York, and to doing the very best job I can do for the people in New York. It's a legitimate concern. I have found, sitting down and having face to face conversations, that those are the issues they want me to address. The first question is why are you doing this, what do you hope to achieve, why are you doing this in New York, I'm very impressed and pleased that people are interested in what I really care about and what motivates me and I want a chance to talk about where I grew up, and what I'm about, and why I want to talk about the issues of children and families, and why those are the issues that will keep this country strong. My First Lady role was a subsidiary role, I had my own life and volunteer interests before the White House. I have said on many occasions I have a lot of sympathy and respect for the Vice President, he had to present himself to the voters of America, and I have the same challenge, I have to become Hillary, so people know me, the Hillary like my friends know, and I have to say what I believe, and not what people say I believe. I told someone I supported welfare reform and this woman said she didn't believe I said that, because she got some idea about me from some second or third-hand source, and I told her I supported welfare reform. This is the process of the campaign, the opportunity to get to know me as a person, and then the people of New York have to decide who would do the best job for them, because that's what this is about, this election is essentially a job interview, and I have to do the best job I can to present myself.

Nancy Evans: Here's a question every mother is concerned about. A

Listener From Washburn IL Says: Do you have any plans to aid women to stay at home and raise children themselves?

Hillary Clinton: I do have some plans, and I have a long-standing concern about how difficult we make it for women to make the choices that are best for them. I have long advocated, and said in my book "It Takes A Village", that we should try to create conditions where mothers who have responsibilities for raising children can make the best choices for them. One woman's choice may not be another woman's choice. But we have to make it that every woman has the idea that they are doing the best job they can. More women can opt to stay home if the want to stay home and can afford it. How do we create conditions for that? I would like to see more support through the tax code for women who make that choice. I would like to see more support for women who work at home, whether it's telecommuting, or job sharing, or flexible hours. We have to realize we are penalizing many families by making it that women can't be the best possible parents they know they can be. Some things can be done through legislation, and some through businesses, but to achieve any of those changes, we have to do more to respect the values of parenting, and especially mothering in today's society. It is a concern that I think all of us recognize, that we are stretched very thin, whether you are a stay at home mom, or a working in the outside world mother, there are so many pressures today. So we have to do a better job of supporting women, and that includes doing a better job of supporting women who choose to stay at home.

Nancy Evans: How many hours of sleep a night do YOU get?

Hillary Clinton: It depends on the night, but I try to catch up if I can after I've gone with less sleep than I need. I'm fortunate that I have good health, so I'm able to keep going, but I have to take time out every so often to catch up on my sleep.

Nancy Evans: The word IVillage click on most is the word 'tired'. Amy J says - I am running for state representative. I am a mother of six and a wife. Is it worth getting involved in politics? I want to help women and minorities.

Hillary Clinton: Well, Amy, I think it is, although I'm daunted by your responsibilities with six children. I have known a number of women who have been involved with politics when their children were small, but they were supported by their husband or other family members, and I really respect your motivation for being involved, because there are a lot of people in our society who don't know how to speak up for themselves, and are vulnerable, and can't take care of themselves and their children. I am always encountering people I marvel at, because they face difficult obstacles with little support. I met many people who are working as hard as they can to keep bread on the table, and don't have enough support, not enough income to afford good quality child care. They are constantly struggling, and they need voices, and I want to be a voice, and I'm pleased that you want to be a voice too. It's very true, the concerns that people talk to me about are not firmly on the national agenda. Take childcare. Particularly for people who aren't making a lot of income, they can't quit their job because they are the sole earner, but why do we make it so hard for women who have to work? Anything we can do - providing some transportation assistance, helping with childcare - is better for all of us, because the better that any parent can be to take care of their children and earn a living, the better for all of us, and I commend you, and we need your voice.

Nancy Evans: Susan from Hudson, FL asks - Mrs. Clinton, what are your views on the Gonzales turmoil here in Florida? Should he stay or be returned to Cuba?

Hillary Clinton: Well, I have said that we ought to be guided by this little boy's best interests. I know his mother made the ultimate sacrifice by trying to bring him to freedom in our country, and I honor and respect that incredible sacrificial act of love that she made for him. I also, however, worry that this little boy has a father, who by all accounts was a very devoted and attentive father, has both sets of grandparents back in Cuba, and shouldn't be deprived of his family. We are struck by the desire we all have for him to be free, and I would like to have this case, with good testimony being presented in court, so whatever decision is made it can be made as soon as possible so this little 6 year old will have a sense of permanence about who he will live with. It's hard for me to believe that it's in a child's best interest to be deprived of his father and all of his grandparents. Everything I know says it isn't, but I did enough of those cases as a lawyer, to know we need unbiased professionals to interview this boy, and make a recommendation that a court will consider and follow and make a decision as soon as possible.

Nancy Evans: We've received hundreds of questions tonight. Muriel from Pueblo West CO says - Have you ever considered running for President? Would you someday if you won the Senate position?

Hillary Clinton: No, I'm interested in running for and winning a Senate seat where I can be a voice and a vote for the people of New York and the issues I worked for a lifetime. I would serve out my Senate term and do the best job I could.

Nancy Evans: Do you think there WILL be a women President in your lifetime?

Hillary Clinton: Well, I don't want to ask you in the chat how old you are Nancy, but I hope there will be! I think it's time for us to field a woman candidate. I was very pleased that Elizabeth Dole got out there and made her campaign, and I hope that more women will. I think it's something that our country will benefit from, and I hope I will see it in the not too distant future.

Nancy Evans: Because women have commented on it - we don't talk about hair. Nancy from NJ wants to know who does your hair! Some say wear it shorter! You're always had brains.and you're beautiful.when did you say you'd look good? When did you say it was 'OK'?

Hillary Clinton: Well, I tell you what, it's a delight to hear that I have a hairstyle that finally works! I don't know that there was ever a conscious decision, it was more a matter of competence! Well, thank you!

Nancy Evans: Lastly, from Ohio: I just want to tell you I admire you, and you are one of the inspirational women of the 21st century.

Hillary Clinton: Thank you!

Nancy Evans: Thank you so much for coming on tonight.we had more than 5000 questions sent in for you, and more than 4000 women were signed on for you.

Hillary Clinton: Oh my! Thank you so much, Nancy, and I'd be happy to do it again sometime, and we'll have a chance to get to more questions.

Nancy Evans: Thank you! Good night!

IVillage: For more conversation on Hillary Clinton, election 2000 and women in politics please join us on our IVillage message boards at www.IVillage.com/election/boards/. To learn more about Hillary Clinton check out her website at www.hillary2000.org.

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