Woman says senator’s comments offensive

WASHINGTON – Sen. Conrad Burns’ mouth has gotten him in trouble in the past.

He once called Arabs “rag heads,” then had to apologize for the comment. Another time, the Montana Republican startled lobbyists when he invited them to a “slave auction” after voting for a civil rights bill.

Now, two Northwest flight attendants say Burns offended them recently when he told one of the women she could stay at home and be a mother if she lost her job to outsourcing.

“He’s still living in the ‘50s,” said Karen McElvaney, who is raising two young children in Atlanta while working for Northwest Airlines. “If I could stay home, I certainly would love to stay with my kids.”

Burns, who is up for re-election next year, said Tuesday he did not recall the conversation. He later said through a spokesman that he remembered speaking to the flight attendants but never told one she could stay home with her children.

McElvaney said she approached the lawmaker with her concerns about outsourcing during a Sept. 25 flight from Great Falls to Minneapolis. When McElvaney asked what she would do if she lost her job, Burns replied she could stay home and be a mother, she said.

McElvaney did not reply.

But Kari Johnke-Henzler, a flight attendant from Minneapolis, who listened to the exchange, said she told Burns what both she and McElvaney were thinking: “I am a mother. However, I need to support my family.”

The two women, both longtime Northwest employees, said many families can no longer rely solely on a husband’s income.

McElvaney repeated the story to another Northwest flight attendant, Jaime Drain, who has a penchant for writing letters to public officials.

“Before you sit in judgment and make such ignorant statements, you really should stop and remember that we don’t all live in a ‘Leave it to Beaver’ world,” Drain wrote in a Sept. 28 letter addressed to Burns. “Perhaps it’s time for you, Senator Burns, to retire and stay home since it’s obvious to me that you have absolutely no concept of what it’s like to be a middle-class average working American living in the modern world.”

Burns said he has not seen the letter.

A Chicago-area union member, Drain had been writing to several congressmen about the perils of outsourcing American labor. Northwest Airlines, which recently filed for bankruptcy, has said it needs to come up with $1.4 billion in annual savings from labor costs and has begun outsourcing some jobs.

Burns’ spokesman, James Pendleton, said the senator is also very concerned about outsourcing and plans to address the issue during a committee hearing next month.

Roslyn Ridgeway, president of Business and Professional Women USA, a Washington-based group that promotes equity for women in the workplace, said Burns’ comments were “a disservice to working women all over America.”

“His remarks underscore the challenges working women continue to face in our society,” she said.