Pamela Goodman
By Tim Pallesen
Pamela Goodman fought hard for redistricting as a League of Women Voters leader.
So the Gulf Stream resident says it makes sense for her to become a candidate now that the boundary for a coastal South County state House district has been redrawn with equal numbers of Democrats and Republicans.
Goodman, a Democrat, has filed to oppose Bill Hager, an incumbent Republican, in the District 89 race this fall.
“If we allowed the incumbent not to have an opponent, what we aimed at achieving would not happen,” Goodman said. “How could I allow that to happen?”
Goodman served as president of the Palm Beach County League of Women Voters from 2005 to 2009 before she advocated redistricting as vice president of the Florida League of Voters for three years.
The Florida Legislature was forced to redraw district boundaries for this year’s elections after Florida voters approved a constitutional amendment to eliminate districts that favor incumbents and political parties.
The representative for District 89 will serve coastal residents who live between the ocean and Federal Highway, from Boca Raton to Palm Beach.
Registered voters are 37 percent Republican and 36 percent Democratic in the new district. The others have no party affiliation.
Goodman, 56, has volunteered for community causes such as literacy and public broadcasting since she and her husband, Barry, moved to Gulf Stream in 2000.
She is president of the county’s Homeless Coalition, which opened the first government-supported homeless shelter on June 25.
Goodman was raised in Iowa, where she attended the University of Iowa for three years. She worked 14 years for Limited Express, a women’s apparel company, where she rose to be president and CEO.
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