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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Girls are capable people
The News & Observer
Aug. 24, 1996
I am writing in response to R. Whitney Christian's column that appeared on Aug. 15. Christian bemoans the fact that his grandson's T-ball team and all of the teams which they play against have at least two girls on them. As he puts it, a team with even two girl team members is at distinct disadvantage to an all-boy team. Surely, our children do not play T-ball just so they learn how to win. Even more important, all boys are not better than girls at T-ball or any other sport.
I try to instill in my young daughter that she is a talented and capable person, not a talented and capable girl. I think things would be better for her and the rest of us, if Christian would stick to his regular job in the business department and leave the column-writing to someone else.
Zach Ambrose
Durham
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