Politics is a Mother: Raising Hell is Part of the Job

At almost 80 years old, when most women feel invisible, Loretta Weinberg was at her most powerful. From Town Council to Senate Majority leader (battling bullies along the way), she faced off against then-Governor Chris Christie and flipped New Jersey on its head when she helped unearth the Bridgegate scandal. Francine Weinberg Graff’s POLITICS IS A MOTHER, RAISING HELL IS PART OF THE JOB reveals how the political is always personal and that an adorable grandmother just might be one of the most important politicians of our time.

Former Senator Loretta Weinberg was elected to the New Jersey State Senate (District 37) in November 2005 and served until 2022. She served as the Senate Majority Leader from 2012 to 2022 and was a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. As Vice Chair of the Legislative Oversight Committee and Co-Chair of the select legislative committee, she oversaw the investigation of “Bridgegate,” and the investigation of sexual harassment and misogny within the State. Senator Weinberg also served on the New Jersey Israel Commission, the State Historical Commission and the State Legislative Services Commission. She was appointed by the Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court to an ad hoc committee to look at domestic violence and the court system.

      
Prior to joining the State Senate, she also served in the New Jersey General Assembly for 14 years where she was the prime sponsor of legislation that lowered the legal alcohol level to .08 in New Jersey, and the New Jersey Smoke-Free Air Act, which prohibited smoking in indoor public places and workplaces. She co-sponsored landmark legislation requiring health insurance companies to pay for at least 48 hours of hospital care for new mothers and their babies; and created the Governor's Advisory Council on Adolescent Pregnancy.

       
As a Senator, Weinberg has sponsored numerous gun violence prevention measures. She was the prime sponsor of the 2002 Childproof Handgun Law designed to help spur the development of personalized handgun technology. Senator Weinberg was the prime sponsor of legislation to enhance protections for domestic violence victims by restricting access to firearms by offenders. She has also sponsored legislation to reduce the legal maximum capacity of ammunition magazines in New Jersey to 10 rounds.

        
The Senator, who wants to see “a whole bunch of trouble makers following in my (her) footsteps” is still active in NJ politics. 

"It becomes clear almost immediately in “Politics is a Mother” that Weinberg wouldn’t have wanted a touchy-feely profile that might be expected upon learning her daughter is behind the camera, and Graff honors her wishes with a film that celebrates her toughness and demonstrates some of its own when it doesn’t pull punches about how Weinberg’s work for the greater good could occasionally make life hard for her family." - Moveable Feast

"This is a very slick pitch with more good points than a well-sharpened porcupine. Graff makes us care enough about her mother the way her mother made people care enough to vote for her through a vigorous and well-spoken fight for what is right. Politics Is A Mother, Raising Hell Is Part Of The Job is a blast from the recent past that has more than enough rocket power to get you there and back. It also has a heartbeat that could level a Fort Lee city block. Well worthwhile." - Film Threat

As a writer, producer and director at e!, francine created many behind the scenes entertainment shows, worked on several high-end design shows for hgtv, gained ten pounds profiling exotic restaurants for the food network and learned that john f. Kennedy was a “slacker” while producing shows for the history channel. Her interview subjects have included a diverse cast of characters ranging from ’80s mistress of the dark, elvira to brooke shields to spacex/tesla founder elon musk. Deeply passionate about story, francine has created content for, the center for american women in politics as well as a ground breaking on-line course for women experiencing infertility. Her writing has found it’s way into shonda rhimes' shondaland, lena dunham’s lenny letter and the king center’s inaugural social justice in america magazine. Politics is a mother, raising hell is part of the job, is her first feature length documentary.