Primary Election Date: 08/31/2010
General Election Date: 11/02/2010

Who Am I?

I'm a long time librarian who cares deeply about our nation, our rights and our people. I have a long history of working within and with government entities to achieve success for the organizations and communities by which I have been employed.

I ran for Congress in 2008 and achieved almost 35% of the vote with no campaign manager, no webmaster and less than $5,000 in money because of starting late. I believe the seat is vulnerable with better funding and an earlier start. I'm a DFA member and firmly believe in the core of the DFA platform.

Why Am I Running?

Despite the fact that Obama won the presidency, there is still an uphill battle to restore our rights and to implement a progressive agenda. The bigger majority we can give him, the more we can accomplish.

Also, Jeff Flake, the current Representative, does absolutely nothing for this district and people are ready for a change from that. We need someone in office with the interests of the people and the area at heart. He is not that and I am.

Hold Me Accountable!

I would like to restore the Constitutional rights that were stripped from us by the Bush regime. I would like to see single payer health care put into place as quickly as possible. I would also like to reduce or remove corporate and lobbyist influence from Washington. One of the greatest tragedies of modern times was giving corporations "personhood".

My DFA values:

I believe strongly in single payer health care. As someone who has a chronic illness, I know the importance of having access to medical care. I had a housemate die in August 2008 due solely to a lack of health care. She was only 52 and had pneumonia...an easily treatable illness. That should never, ever happen.

Additionally, I am the "everyday" average American. I've worked hard all my life and understand the problems facing the typical citizen because I have experienced most of them myself. I know that not everything can be resolved by "bootstraps" alone and that we sometimes need a helping hand.

I firmly believe that war is not the answer and that Iraq, in particular, has been a huge mistake. We must get out and attempt to remedy the destruction wrought. But, in that, I don't believe in giving billions of dollars in no-bid contracts to corporations such as Halliburton that have proven themselves to be unable and/or unwilling to a) get the job done, and b) to account for the monies spent in a responsible manner.

I also am firmly against the installation of a mercenary army that is unaccountable to the American government and whose operatives make 10 times as much money as our troops whose lives are on the line. That is insulting to our troops, hurts our reputation in the world and is completely fiscally wrong. We'd be better off improving pay and benefits for our own military personnel.

I believe that even cap and trade measures will not truly mitigate the effects of global climate change. All that does is allow the corporations with the deepest pockets to continue to pollute. We MUST actively and quickly move towards alternative fuels that don't utilize arable land or food crops. We must introduce legislation that taxes and caps pollutants, but we must also assist where we can to help our companies reach these goals.

I firmly believe that we must change how our government manages our tax monies. We should not have 65% of foreign and domestic companies paying zero taxes while families and small businesses pay 15% and more. My opponent and I agree on one thing...that we should not have anonymous earmarks for garbage projects stuck onto any and every unrelated bill. I think we can legitimately request monies for our districts via a transparent route that includes seeking bids on said contracts. I think we can reduce and restructure the budgets for many departments while maintaining good service.

My Campaign is People-Powered!

I ran a solely grassroots campaign in 2008 and did much better than anyone expected. Democrats, Republicans and Independents alike all voted for me and even volunteered for me once they had the opportunity to hear me speak. If I can get my voice out there more frequently and to more people, this will be a winning campaign. My volunteers work tirelessly because they believe in my message. I was completely supported by small donors in the last election. With help, a campaign manager and my core group of volunteers, this time will be even better.