Primary Election Date: 08/14/2012
General Election Date: 11/06/2012

Who Am I?

In 1976 I choose to move to Minnesota to go to college because I thought this was the best place in the country to live—and I was right. I went to Macalester College on a McKnight scholarship, along with work study, and a modest loan. I double majored in Chemistry and Biology and later received a Master’s in Technical Communications from the University of MN. I worked for the MN Department of Natural Resources on developing the state watershed map. My first job out of college was to develop a prototype battery for storing wind energy. Following that, I worked as a scientist for 9-years in the disk drive industry, including several years as a research and development team manager. I’ve done technical communications consulting for several major corporations and medical device companies including Target, SuperValu, St. Jude, and Medtronics. Currently, I run a small business in Plymouth.

I have always been active in our community. Last year, I was an alternate delegate for the DFL. I have served as the parent representative for the West Suburban Early Intervention program; as a science teacher in the Upward Bound program; as a lay Minister at my church where I taught and preached once a month. Recently, I volunteered as the Minnesota Regional Coordinator for MoveOn.org. I have also been an active volunteer at my children’s schools.

I learned the power of the American dream from my grandfather who was a sharecropper that had to run away in the dead of night from an unscrupulous landowner. My father, dreaming of a better future for himself and his family, gave 20 years of military service to our country, including serving in Vietnam, after leaving the military he became a union member. I have always taken the values my grandparents and parents instilled in me to heart; hard work, perseverance, and self-reliance. For the last 36 years I have lived in MN. Currently, I live in Plymouth with my husband Julius and our 2 children, Jonathan 12 and Jade 10.

Why Am I Running?

I was inspired to run for Congress after several visits to our current Representative’s office. It became painfully evident that he was only interested in continuing failed policies. He was determined to continue to vote the same way even if it destroyed what we value in our country.

I’m Running for Congress to Protect the Things That Make This Country Great
What I will work to do:
Protect and improve Medicare and Social Security
Ensure that public education provides our children with world class learning environments to develop the leaders and innovators of tomorrow
Promote small businesses that create jobs locally
Stop the tax breaks and giveaways for companies moving jobs overseas and for those that are not investing in this country
Have everyone pay their fair share
Invest in our infrastructure, creating jobs and preparing for our future
Preserve our environment, keeping our air and water clean
Streamline government and make it more efficient without destroying it
We can reduce our deficit, balance our budget, and prepare for our nation’s future without harming the people we were sent to Washington to represent.

Minnesota’s 3rd District Deserves A Congressperson Who Puts Them First.
Your congressperson should work for you not for corporations, not for themselves, and not for partisan ideals. This is what I want to do for the 3rd district. Together we can protect this great nation.

Hold Me Accountable!

Medicare:
Medicare has come under attack, and we can not let it be cut back. Medicare is a very successful and popular program that many people rely on. There are ways to make medicare stronger and more efficient which will help deliver better benefits at a lower cost to medicare recipients. We can start by allowing medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices.

Jobs:
We need to create jobs locally, and the best way to do that is by supporting small businesses. We need to give incentives for people to start businesses, and for existing ones to expand and hire more people. Investing in green energy and green technology is an opportunity to create jobs locally in many different sectors of the jobs market. It will help rebuild our manufacturing base, create new construction and maintenance jobs and will encourage innovation.

Reducing the Deficit:
Reducing our national debt is important for our future. What's more important is doing it in a responsible way that doesn't continue to balance the budget on the backs of the middle class. There are simple things we can do right away to get on the track to balancing the budget. We can start by ending subsidies for oil companies, and other profitable mature industries that no longer need to the subsidies. We need to end loop holes and tax breaks for companies shipping jobs overseas and not investing in our country, and we need to bring our troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan. This is some of the low hanging fruit that should be done fist before tackling so of the bigger, more contentious issues surrounding out national debt.

My DFA values:

Coming Soon

My Campaign is People-Powered!

From day one my campaign has been about bringing diverse opinions together to forge a consensus. We meet weekly in a different part of the congressional district and invite anybody who is interested in the campaign to come and share their thoughts on what's going on and what they want to see in a candidate and representative.

The most effective way to connect with people and bring people together is with a face to face conversation. My campaign will emphasize the personal connection through one on one interactions to bring people together.