After Tuesday's hearings in Trenton on Katie Brennan's rape charges, the four senior legislators running the investigation took questions from the press, which is routine.
But one thing was different, perhaps unprecedented for such an important inquiry: All four were women.
"Things have changed," says Deborah Walsh of the Center for American Women and Politics at the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University. "New Jersey used to be ranked near the bottom with Alabama and Mississippi. This is a nice moment."
New Jersey's legislature is now 31 percent women, the 13th highest portion in the nation. It's still lopsided, granted, and the Senate President and Assembly Speaker are both men, as is the governor. No one has dethroned the old boy network.
But the leadership teams of both parties include women now, and their overall numbers are great enough to stack a committee charged with this task with plenty of experienced and respected women. In all 12 of the 15 members of this select committee are women.
And here's an observation sure to ignite arguments around dinner tables across the state: The female leadership seemed to make a difference. The hearing was efficient, thorough, and unusually free of acrimony. In five hours of testimony and questions, it was impossible to distinguish Democrats from Republicans without checking the nameplates. Interruptions were rare. Brennan was offered time to take two breaks and invited to eat her lunch in a private area normally reserved for legislators.
So, is there a difference in the political style of men and women?
"It's not a debate, it's a fact," says Sen. Loretta Weinberg, D-Bergen, the committee co-chair. "There are exceptions, of course, but I think generally women are more respectful of one another, and much better listeners. That's been my experience."
Walsh conducted national surveys on this question for Eagleton and found that women tend to invite a broader range of voices - not just other women, but people of color and those with low incomes. That's the perception of those in the game, both women and men.
When asked why they got into politics, men tended to talk about their personal goals, while women talk about issues that moved them, she said. "Women run to do something, and men run to be somebody," she says. "That's a big motivator for women to figure out ways to work together, to cross the aisles, to get things done."
Assemblywoman Nancy Munoz, R-Union, is the senior Republican on the Assembly side of this joint committee, a nurse by profession and a mother of five. She suspects that the experience of playing the lead role in raising children may help explain some of the differences. "We're looking to get things done because that's what we do," she says. "And two, we work cooperatively. It's not about ego, it's about getting the job done. I can't speak for all women, but that's how I feel."
A touching detail: Weinberg, who is perhaps the shortest member of the Legislature, noted that her co-chair on the committee, Assemblywoman Eliana Pintor Marin, D-Essex, wore flats so the height difference would be muted. When she was matched with former Assemblyman John Wisniewski, she said, she had to stand on a box so that TV crews could capture them both in one frame. So the gesture on Tuesday was appreciated.
"She did it in my honor," Weinberg said.
This Trenton moment came as Gov. Phil Murphy and Senate President Steve Sweeney, D-Gloucester, are locked in a bitter rivalry that has spilled from the professional into the personal, sidetracking state business. The boys might want to take notes.
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Tom Moran may be reached at tmoran@starledger.com or call (973) 836-4909. Follow him on Twitter @tomamoran. Find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.