Beverly Perdue's new chief of staff is a bit of a feminist.

Long before he managed the campaign of North Carolina's first female governor, Zach Ambrose was defending women in the pages of the News & Observer.

In an Aug. 24, 1996, letter to the editor, Ambrose took issue with a column by R. Whitney Christian, a business department employee who was subbing for regular columnist Barry Saunders.

In the column, Christian complained of "political correctness" on his grandson's T-ball team, which was required to have at least two girls on it. In response, Ambrose said Christian should stick to his day job, arguing that an all-boy team would not necessarily be better.

"I try to instill in my young daughter that she is a talented and capable person, not a talented and capable girl," he wrote.

At the time, Ambrose was not yet involved in politics. After serving in the U.S. Navy, he was an at-home father while his wife finished a graduate degree.

The full letter after the jump.

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