Prediction: Joe Bruscato will never lose an election. Not as long as Rockford women have memories.
    OK, that’s fraught with hyperbole, but the Winnebago County State’s Attorney was, to the best of my counting, the only elected public official to attend Monday’s 30th annual YWCA Leader Luncheon at Giovanni’s. Seated at the guest speaker’s table, Bruscato stood and waved to the crowd when the obligatory “now let’s applaud our elected officials” part of the program came around.
    Everyone did as everyone does during that cattle call: We looked around to see which politicos cared enough to snatch a ticket. We looked and looked and, well, Joe was it. Pretty much, there are no women elected officials, so, yes, I am talking about no men.
    I actually hope I’m wrong, so if you are a guy and an elected official and you were there, but say, in the men’s room at the time, have at it. I’ll be happy to be wrong on this one.  And, all the rest of you can say “well, I wanted to be there, but my schedule just didn’t allow.”
    To which I might respond with a very unladylike “bogus.”
    Staff writer Melissa Westphal reported there were “625 people” attending. More likely, there were 600 women and, maybe, if one counts loosely, 25 men. A couple bankers, my publisher and general manager, a handful of business leaders and developers with connections to the YW. A boss or two of award recipients. That’s about it. If I had to, I could probably name most of them.
    I know I shouldn’t care one whit that there were so few men. I mean, it’s true every year. The men in town blow off the YWCA Leader Luncheon. They do not blow off the RAEDC annual dinner, nor that of the chamber of commerce. They don’t blow off the Register Star’s Excalibur and Excelsior awards reception. They don’t get a chance to blow off the annual Rockford Woman of the Year reception because we don’t invite them.
    But, these elected officials and assorted wielders of power and cash do blow off the leader luncheon. For the most part, the men who do attend are connected to the YW or they are the bosses and an occasional co-worker of women being honored. They are not there to network or connect with the proud and powerful; they are not there for business. They are not there because they figure it doesn’t matter.
    Just a bunch of women patting each other on the back.
    Let’s clear up a couple things before I forget. Yes, they get invitations; there’s a 3,000 person mailing list that includes the movers-and-shakers crowd and the public officials. If they don’t get an invitation, and assuming they are not completely clueless, the newspaper and television stations promote the event heavily. And, it pretty much always takes place on the first Monday in March. Mark your calendars now for March 7, 2011.
    Nope, they know. They simply choose to do something they consider more important to their own importance.
    Yes, I understand that some of them might be travelling, wiping the brow of an aged mother, or caring for an ailing wife. Yeah, I get that. But, I’m not buying that hundreds of them were in those pickles.
    No, I don’t expect them to go to every one of these things; nor do I. But, attending these things is a choice, and one attends those events one believes will return the most bounce for the ounce, so to speak. That the male business and political establishment has chosen not to attend the leader luncheon is undeniable.
    Why do I care? I care because the women in that room are powerful, smart, educated and taking care of business. They mentor the young ones among them. They make the world a better place. I care because when men blow them off, the message is “women don’t count” and I am sad that after decades of trying to change that, it’s still the way it is.
    I care because many of the women in that room Monday either have no voice or choose to remain silent about the affront to their power and leadership. Some perhaps would never consider it the way I do. Some likely prefer men not be around anyway.
    To be ignored is to be made invisible and rendered powerless. That’s why I care.

Linda Grist Cunningham is executive editor of the Rockford Register Star and Rockford Woman.