Debbie Cook For Congress

Background:

In the years after graduating from Long Beach State, Debbie Cook became a PTA mother, a community volunteer, a youth sports coach, all while running her own business.

In 1989, after years serving her community, she could not stand by while developers threatened to destroy her city’s parks. Without any political experience, Debbie led a group that collected 18,000 signatures for a successful ballot measure that requires voter approval to build in public parks or on beaches.

At 37 she went back to school to obtain her Law degree. Then she joined the Bolsa Chica Land Trust legal team, winning a case that protects sensitive coastal habitat throughout California to this day.

Elected to the Huntington Beach City Council, she uncovered public corruption, led the fight for balanced city budgets, and worked to save tax dollars by auditing the city’s energy use.

As mayor she led the fight to stop the Orange County Sanitation District from dumping partially treated into the ocean, resulting in cleaner water for our beach’s recreational users.

She is a nationally recognized leader on energy issues and speaks across the country on bringing people together to build a new economy based on renewable energy.

Goals:

Debbie Cook is fighting to replace an out-of-touch career politician who votes against the best interests of our coastal community. He is a prime example of the partisan grandstanding that prevents politicians in Washington from moving forward on the critical issues facing our country: a struggling economy, a growing energy crisis, the escalating costs of health care and the war in Iraq.

As your representative in Congress, Debbie Cook will work hard to get results in order to move our country and our community forward in a new direction.

Issues:

Creating American Jobs

As a small business woman and Mayor, Debbie has seen that tackling our economic problems requires us to create quality jobs and supporting entrepreneurship. She believes our economy is better when Americans keep their homes and work hard. Debbie wants to do what she can to stop sending our oil dollars overseas and create a new economy based on renewable energy. creating new jobs and technology.

Taking Care of Our Veterans

Debbie’s two brothers and her father served their country in the armed forces, and she knows firsthand the sacrifices military families make. She believes we should care for our veterans by guaranteeing they are paid well for their service. She wants to ensure that their medical needs are taken care of, and she supports the New GI Bill allowing veterans opportunities to make a living and adequately care for their families when they return from duty.

Protecting Social Security & Medicare

Debbie believes Social Security must be preserved. Older Americans, through a lifetime of hard work and service, deserve the protections that Social Security provides. Debbie Cook opposes efforts to privatize Social Security and believes Medicare, like HMOs and insurance companies, should be able to negotiate for the best possible prices for prescription drugs.

Building a Stronger Energy Future

The United States must take the lead in developing the next generation of energy technologies giving America the edge globally while creating highly skilled, well paying green-collar jobs. Working together, we can raise fuel efficiency standards, fund alternative energy and build a new energy future. She also wants to end the war in Iraq and start investing in our transportation infrastructure.

Putting The Future of Our Children First

A better future and a better economy depend on quality education. As a former PTA president and school volunteer, Debbie knows that the best education solutions are created locally by teachers and parents. In Congress, she will work to improve education by giving control back to our local schools and end mandates from the federal government in No Child Left Behind. Our children need to learn critical thinking skills instead of just learning how to take standardized tests.

Grassroots Support:

From the Palos Verdes Peninsula to Costa Mesa, we are building a grassroots strategy of getting people into their neighborhoods talking to their neighbors.

Debbie Cook knows the power of the grassroots:

In 1989, after years serving her community, she could not stand by while developers threatened to destroy her city’s parks. Without any political experience, Debbie led a group that collected 18,000 signatures for a successful ballot measure that requires voter approval to build in public parks or on beaches.

DFA Values:

A good legislator, city councilmember or congressman should always be open to learning. We should not be locked into ideological, rhetorical or political positions, because in our pursuit of knowledge, our understanding of the problems we face will change and better solutions may emerge. This ability to adapt is the essence of being progressive: to be open-minded, creative and visionary in finding solutions to our problems.

In her seven years on the Huntington Beach city council, she have championed fiscal responsibility and fought fiscal imprudence. In an editorial, the Huntington Beach Independent said of Debbie Cook: “She’s a fierce critic of wasteful spending, of rubber-stamped development and government abuse.”