LETTERS:FIRST GOVERNOR TO GIVE BIRTH SETS AN EXAMPLE

To the editor:

One has to wonder what infant twins Lauren Alma Hunt and Sarah Jane Hunt will think when they are old enough to learn about the outrageous scrutiny surrounding their arrival.

I hope by the time they are grown that the idea that their mother, Acting Gov. Jane Swift of Massachusetts, was expected by some to relinquish her responsibilities while bringing them to term will be an antiquated notion.

While Swift has made history as the nation's first governor to give birth while in office, she has helped prove that many politicians are living in the past, rejecting family-friendly policies that could help all women struggling to find the balance between work and children.

As a friend of Swift's, I send her family my warmest wishes and congratulations. As a female colleague and fellow working mother, I say Swift has proven that women executives have to work harder, smarter and longer to prove we can compete.

CORINNE WOOD

Lieutenant Governor of Illinois

Springfield, Ill.