Broad, Casted: Gender, Media, Politics, and Taking on the Establishment

by Rachel Barnhart

Rachel Barnhart spent 17 years as an investigative and public interest journalist in Rochester, New York. She left her job to run for New York State Assembly. Reporting on politics for so many years didn’t prepare her for what would happen on the campaign gender-based attacks, smear websites and relentless criticism because she dared to take on the establishment. Broad, Casted is the story of a how an accomplished Ivy League graduate was reduced to a “prom queen.”

In Broad, Casted, Barnhart raises important questions about the television news industry and party politics. Barnhart calls for end to racial and economic divisions in the Monroe County Democratic Party and offers a third way. The local party acted like an exclusive club, even sending out a mailer to voters accusing Barnhart of not being a "real Democrat." Yet the election results show Barnhart did better among less affluent and minority voters than did her opponent. What does it mean to be a "real Democrat?"

268 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 3, 2016

Reviews

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

Broad, Casted is the memoir of local Rochester journalist Rachel Barnhart, covering her career and unsuccessful run against Harry Bronson in the Democrat primary for State Assembly. I received an autographed copy at her book signing at the Little Café. We sort of "know" each other through my comments on her blog and Facebook page. I've always enjoyed her posts about urban design, walkability, and Monroe County's goddamn parking addiction.

I read Broad, Casted cover to cover in two days and found it both illuminating and frustrating. Our local Democrat party is so corrupt and hypocritical it's enough to make you run screaming to the Greens (and indeed, Alex White is quoted quite a bit as someone sympathetic to Barnhart's cause). Unless Assemblyman Bronson comes up with some very good rebuttals to Barnhart's claims, I'm going to agree that his campaign's "nasty woman" attacks on her (ironically reminiscent of Trump and his people during the Presidential race) have lost him the right to ever involve himself in women's issues. He also needs to be investigated pronto and possibly sued for libel (the "Rachel is a Republican plant" mailing was beyond the pale). The fact that city Districts 23 and 24, both white and affluent, all know and love him while the poor, mostly black and Latino districts to the north have barely heard of the man is also very troubling. (And also, can we talk about what a gerrymandered hot mess this is?)

There is actually a huge split between "The Establishment" and the black Democrats, which is worthy of its own volume and I wish Barnhart had spent more time on it. That was a drawback I found with this book: you can tell that it was written very quickly and the result can feel choppy, episodic, and more like an outline than the finished product. On the other hand, that means it was also very, very current when first published in November 2016 and recounts events, both local and national, still fresh on everyone's minds.

Now much as I like and admire her, I did find Barnhart self-aggrandizing at times. She portrays herself as a idealist whose foray into politics was motivated solely by a desire to help people and uplift the community, which is certainly true to an extent but is anyone ever that pure? Just because "ambition" is often used to attack women who seek office as power-hungry bitches doesn't mean women should pretend it's never an incentive. Of course, some have pointed out that the rhetoric Barnhart claims was uniquely sexist - that she was an attention-seeking celebrity whose campaign was all ego and no substance ("prom queen") - was practically identical to the Democrats' characterization of Donald Trump, but I would argue that in his case, it was actually, blatantly true and not a simply a hand-waving dismissal of genuine leadership. As far as politicians go, I still think Rachel Barnhart is nevertheless exceptionally principled and progressive and I really hope she runs again. Maybe as a Green or Independent?

In short: Everyone in Monroe County needs to read this book. I've already lent my copy out.

You can listen to an interview with Rachel Barnhart here on Connections with Evan Dawson.

Update: I also recommend The Circles God Draws: Ruth Holland Scott a Memoir .

[Matt Graupman · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Broad, Casted" by local-television-reporter-turned-politician Rachel Barnhart is a memoir that has a lot to say but, unfortunately, it's to what I suspect is a pretty limited audience, which is a real shame. In recounting her serpentine tale of butting her head against the corrupt and arcane inner circle of Rochester, NY's political movers and shakers, she has a lot of worthwhile things to say about idealism, sexism, equality, democracy, and the like but, unless you know who David Gantt is or where Henrietta is located, it comes off as a lot of inside baseball. That's sad because her story is probably an all too common one and it should serve as a rallying cry for better representation in government and fairer treatment among candidates.

After a brief run through her childhood as a teenage smartypants rabble rouser (which I found to be the most fascinating and energetic part of the book), the bulk of "Broad, Casted" focuses on Barnhart's unsuccessful attempt to challenge Harry Bronson, an entrenched and unproductive politician with ties to the LGBT community, for his seat in the New York State Assembly. Having seen her on the local news for years, it's interesting to hear Barnhart use her own voice and she comes off as both idealistically holier-than-thou and fallibly human, like when she owns up to the mistakes her campaign made; throughout the book, however, I never got the sense that she was motivated by anything other than love and concern for her hometown and its citizens. Though she can be strikingly naive at times about the political process - as broken as it may be lately - she's never less than honest and open with the reader. Her run was torpedoed by a number of factors, some of her own making and many over which she had no control, the most aggravating one being the rampant and insidious sexism that crept into the primary. To this day, some people see her as a ego-driven know-it-all secretly-Republican "prom queen" while others view her as an ethically-untouchable up-from-her-bootstraps progressive white knight; the truth, as with most things, probably lies somewhere in the middle.

At the time I'm writing this review, Barnhart has leveraged her failed campaign into a bid for mayor of Rochester. Having known many strong and independent women in my life, I have no doubt that she is capable of doing the job; in fact, I'd argue that mayor is probably a more natural fit for her passions and talents than a state assembly position would have been. Divisive, opinionated, and accepting of both her strengths and flaws, Barnhart IS Rochester and "Broad, Casted" is her manifesto for crafting the rejuvenated city that we deserve.

And one last note about the book: if Barnhart is going to use "Broad, Casted" as her manifesto, she really needs to get a better editor and/or proofreader. I'm not sure I've ever read a book so filled with typos and omitted words and awkward changes in tense; the typesetting was also very sloppy. I know it's a local publication but a story this important deserves a better presentation.

[Howard Bussey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book. As a matter of fact, I really liked this book. That is because of my [secular] epiphany while reading it. That epiphany was how broken the New York assembly (and by association, senate) structure is. I knew the history of Rachel's run for an assembly seat, and I knew the outcome when I started reading this book. But I read to learn more about the process. While reading, I found myself agreeing with some of the people who advised her not to run - that the "system" would not accept her, and she would be ineffective. In spite of her written explanation that that was exactly what was wrong, and was part of the reason why she was running, I was still [at least part way through the book] unconvinced that running was the right thing to do.

But as I read the rest of the book, somewhere, during the exposés of the efforts by the MCDC, et al. to derail her campaign, it finally hit me that I should have paid more attention to what Rachel thought, and less attention to the justifications of her naysayers. A state legislature where a candidate like Rachel cannot succeed is broken, by definition.

A book that teaches me gets a good rating. A book that shows me the errors in my thinking gets a high rating.

And my brief negatives: first, the book is written as a series of vignettes. I think it would have been stronger with some structure so that I could more easily place all the events, influences, and good and bad politics. Second, it shows signs of being rushed (!) - such as a sentence broken by vertical white space and indentation (p. 7 in print copy).

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Broad, Casted is the clever-titled book about Rachel Barnhart's run as candidate for New York State Assembly. Rachel is revealing and honest throughout the book, reflecting on her high school days, college, and career. Rachel's firsthand experiences with wage gaps, from her early media days, highlight a problem that really stuck with me after reading this book.

Readers with a distrust in government won't be comforted or surprised by what Rachel uncovers. I enjoyed reading about the strategy and decisions that had to be made during her campaign. She doesn't mince words when it comes to Harry Bronson, her primary opponent, calling him a "yes-man", "under the thumb" of party leaders, and "invisible." I wonder if their paths will cross again and if that bridge has been completely burned.

Here is a person who ran a "clean" campaign, stuck to the issues, has name recognition, and still came up short. Hopefully Rachel and like-minded people are still out there to serve the public.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good look into one woman's journey through her broadcasting career and experience with running for a political office.

[Rich Mulvey · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Broad, Casted" is probably going to be most interesting to people who live in the Rochester, NY region. At the most basic level, the first half of the book is an autobiography of Rachel Barnhart, a long-time resident of the area and a popular local figure who spent almost two decades in the broadcasting industry before vying for a seat as a Democrat in the New York State Assembly, running against an entrenched Democrat incumbent who enjoyed the support of the local Democrat machine.

The second half focuses on Barnhart's decision to run for office and the difficulties she encountered from people and organizations who at first glance would seem to be natural supporters. During the primary process she was under constant gender-based attacks on her qualifications, motivations, and demeanor.

The structure and editing of the book, unfortunately, are somewhat off-putting. It's primarily composed of many extremely short chapters that are vignettes of meetings with local residents, descriptions of events, etc. that are generally chronological but frequently have jarring or non-obvious transitions to the next chapter. In regards to editing, Barnhart has a tendency to over-use the past tense in a way that sticks out, like "LD 29 was home to Seneca Towers..." ( It still is, and will probably remain so for the life of the book. ) The sentence structure is almost entirely declarative and suffers from an excess of sentences that repeatedly start with "I... ", "My...", etc. that eventually becomes tiresome.

That aside, as a lifelong resident of one of Rochester's suburbs, I found the background details of the local political machine to be fascinating, educational, and more than a little dismaying. Those details were secondary to the book's primary message though--how Barnhart was forced to defend herself against behavior that a male candidate with the same qualifications and in the same position would never even have encountered.

One of the most eye-opening aspects of the book is how, as Barnhart notes, the ostensibly progressive Democratic party failed to support a viable candidate who exemplified the party platform in ways that the incumbent didn't, and apparently expended no effort in reigning in the gender based attacks against Barnhart by his supporters.

All in all, while I wish some of the literary complaints I mention above had been dealt with before the book was published, they're forgivable in consideration of the value of the book's message and information.

[Robin Reynolds Wilt · Rating 2 out of 5]

I Expected Better Research from an Investigative Journalist

While a mildly intriguing read because I knew many of the cast of characters personally, I was disappointed at Ms. Barnhart’s sometimes dismissively reductionist characterizations of people and their motivations. She, in turn, derides people as being “empty suits”, “sexist” and/or “corrupt”, with little factual basis to do so. As a result, this book comes off as a smear job against Ms. Barnhart’s political enemies, rather than the well-researched expose it might have been.

Ms. Barnhart uses the familiar trope of raising the specter of malfeasance on the part of the individuals she singles out for criticism and scrutiny, while never actually producing any evidence to support her allegations. As in the case of President Trump and his base, for Barnhart’s supporters, this shtick will likely be sufficient to appease, but for those looking for substantive analysis, the book is decidedly thin gruel.

[Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rachel Speaks

I am a big fan of Rachel and loved to read her blog and views on Rochester i would have voted for her if she had gotten to the general election for congressional district 25 This is an interesting discussion of her career and motivations. Good to see her persisting in running.

[Jennifer Jo · Rating 1 out of 5]

The number of times that she uses "I" is infuriating.

[peter haggerty · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading Ms. Barnhart's book and getting to know her in print. I found the style and structure made the content easily accessible, leaving lots of room for a reader's contemplation. In particular, as an independent voter in her district and a neutral follower of her primary contest with Mr. Bronson, I found much food for thought in her analyses of and her perspectives on that contest.

[Kate Wheeler · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good not great

As a suburban resident I was only mildly interested in the actual outcome of the race. I am interested in the dysfunction of the Democratic party. As others have pointed out the writing is a bit disjointed and I agree it's probably a function of rushing to get it out quickly. It does succeed in raising additional questions about Rachel and the MCDC.

[Craig Mcgowan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh

Written like a series of 3-4 minute news pieces. Choppy for the reader. Content is moderately interesting, but nothing goes too deep. If she it's trying to prove she's not shallow, this book doesn't do the job.