She’s first lady of Nahant politics

NAHANT – Liberated as she seems with an independent mind and a political will of her own, Jayne Solimine admitted she never thought much about a woman in the White House.”I think it was taken for granted that it would always be a man,” said the longtime political activist.That is not to say that Solimine opposes a woman in the White House, it is only to say that “she has to be the right woman.”When it comes to local politics you could say Solimine was the right woman.Named as the first female Chairman of the town’s Republican Committee, Solimine is still at the helm at age 82.She toys with the idea of giving it up, but concedes that she does not want to until the committee becomes stronger.”We’ll have an organizational meeting in the next week or two,” she said. “We have no young gung-ho members and we need some.”It was the late 1960s or early 1970s that Solimine was one of those young guns when she took over the Republican Committee. A few short years later she found herself headed to the National Republican Convention in Miami. Solimine’s laugh reaches her eyes when she tells the story of how she got there.”We were young upstarts,” she said. “It was a place for the wealthy and well-to do. We were from the wrong side of the tracks.”At the time, delegates to the national convention were elected, but Solimine said those chosen were done so largely at the will of the governor, senators or congressmen. Being young upstarts however, Solimine and three other potential delegates visited every community in their congressional district and attended every local delegate meeting.”I ran against the mayor of Newburyport and you know what – we shellacked them,” she said.It was just past the Age of Aquarius when she headed south to the convention and found herself amidst hippies and tear gas.”Secret Service had to walk us from the hotel to the convention,” she said. “It was something.”That was Solimine’s only venture into the National Convention but she would remain steadfast in her attendance to the state convention. She also served nine years on the School Committee but eventually tried to make the leap to the Board of Selectmen.”I ran in 1980 and was defeated,” she said.But in 1983, Solimine won a hard-fought seat on the board and became the first woman to serve since 1929.”I think they were scared to death of me,” she said of her new colleagues, Richard Lombard, who still sits on the board, and Charlie Kelly. “They thought I would be a bomb thrower. I tried to make it clear in my campaign that I thought they were doing a good job. I just wanted to help.”When asked what drew her to politics, Solimine said she believed it was more government that interested her than politics and she simply thought she could do a good job.”I know politicians like to say this, but honest to God I wore out a pair of shoes going door-to-door when I ran,” she said.Five days a week Solimine said she walked the streets of town knocking on doors and listening to people’s concerns and she is convinced those are the actions that got her onto the board.”The big problems have to be dealt with, but the little problems are just as important,” she said. “I think women know that.”Which brings her back to Hillary Clinton. Any woman that might make it as President of the United States is going to have to be strong, have stature and dignity and be whip-smart, Solimine said.”She’s smart, but I don’t see the stature. I don’t see the strength and I don’t see the dignity.”Solimine admits she is solidly behind John McCain’s candidacy, but she has reservations there as well.”Society in general isn’t well behaved anymore – we’ve lowered the bar,” she said. “John McCain, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama those are the three most capable people in the country to run for president, but think about it. What other people come to mind? They just don’t want the job.”Over the years, Solimine said she’s met all types of politicians and worked for a lot of good people who have not been elected