Primary Election Date: 06/05/2012
General Election Date: 11/06/2012

Who Am I?

Vice Mayor Tiffany Renée, the first Latina elected to Petaluma City Council, was born in 1971 and grew up in Fair Oaks and Sacramento. The oldest of five, Tiffany's first job was working hard to help raise her siblings. By 14, she was working summers cleaning houses in the neighborhood and for her father's rental units. With the tragic and very public murder of her father — a three-time Honorary Mayor of Fair Oaks — Tiffany had to learn to make it on her own at 16.

With two daughters to care for as a single mom by the time she turned 19, Tiffany went back to school to earn her GED and the first of three degrees. She graduated from Santa Rosa Junior College with an AA in Journalism in 1994. The first in her family to graduate from college, she continued to Mills College to earn a BA in Women’s Studies in 1997. She received a Masters degree from the California Institute of Integral Studies in 2002, with an emphasis in Integral Ecology. Her passion for space and climate science, technology, engineering, and math drew her to computers and the Internet in the early 90s, driving her to learn web design and, eventually, to found her own web development firm.

Her early family life centered around politics and celebrating Latin cultural heritage. Her family has always been involved in public service, and that upbringing inspired her to enter public life. Renée has been a tireless advocate for women’s rights, drawing attention to the broken justice system for victims of domestic violence, promoting affordable access to healthcare through a new county hospital, and electing Democratic women to office for more than 20 years.

A descendant of cotton and walnut farmers, Tiffany’s other passions are local food systems and the environment. In her service as a public official, she has worked for policies that promote healthy and sustainable communities. This has led to co-founding the Petaluma Grange Local No. 851, to provide the small farms community with political and social network and place to gather to celebrate their bounty.

Renée has served on the Sonoma County Commission on the Status of Women. As a Transit-Oriented Design advocate, she currently serves on Association of Bay Area Governments, the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District, Sonoma County Transportation Authority and Regional Climate Protection Authority, where she is seeing her work to create Sonoma Clean Power become a reality.

Tiffany has two grown daughters and lives in Petaluma with her husband, Jaimey Walking Bear.

Why Am I Running?

Hacer Historia - Make History

I am running an historic campaign to become the 9th Latina elected to U.S. Congress in our nation’s history. I am writing about this incredible journey in an Ebook that will be published in May. My Struggle for Justice explores my early political roots, my experience in public life, and the realities of running for office within a corrupt system. The 2012 elections present our country with a choice to embrace our heritage of a liberal democracy utilizing our constitutional republic or move ever faster towards a corporatocracy. This is our struggle.

I come from a family with a long history of public and community service. From an early age, my parents and grandparents instilled the values of hard work and civic engagement. The struggles I’ve faced in my own life drive me to create better opportunities for others to have healthier, happier, and more just lives.

A Winner Never Quits and a Quitter Never Wins

I grew up in a very diverse family, where I learned to work with people despite our differences. As the first Latina elected to Petaluma City Council, I’ve been able to put that experience to work in challenging situations. Accomplishing goals amidst adversity begins with respect and meeting people where they are, and not giving up on anyone.
Haz bien y no mires a quién -Spanish Proverb (Do good and don't look at whom)

Having worked within my community, I see people coming together to help one another even when they are facing the greatest challenges of their lives. Americans are innovative, creative and resilient. With the American Dream becoming harder to achieve, we need leadership that connects people to that spirit. I have overcome some extraordinary challenges in my life, and I believe that this experience, along with being in government during the toughest economy since the Great Depression, has given me the resilience, wherewithal, and smarts to get America working again.

Hold Me Accountable!

Reinvest in America:

We have the opportunity to put thousands of Americans to work right away, by closing tax loopholes for the richest 1% and subsidies for corporations and reinvesting that money in America through the Green Economy and fixing our aging infrastructure. As your next Congresswoman, I will make it a priority to bring the dollars home and get the people of the 2nd District back to work, including: Passing the American Jobs Act and reauthorizing the Transportation Bill. Spurring the Green Economy with energy retrofits to our schools, public and municipal buildings, and investing in emerging clean technology R&D, education, and workforce training, beginning at the high school level. Providing a clear and easy pathway for homeowners and business owners to go green. Sonoma Clean Power will be a model for America to end fossil fuel dependency. As your Representative, I will work to scale the work we’re doing in Sonoma County to a national level.

Fighting for the 99%: Fix the Foreclosure Crisis:

I know what it is like to lose a home. My stepmom and mother both lost their homes after my father was killed. Many times the point of foreclosure is the consequence of difficult events that have led to someone losing their home — an illness, a death in the family, a loss of a job — so losing one’s home can be especially difficult during the holiday season. It’s estimated that 7.4 million families and individuals face foreclosure or eviction between now and 2016. Larger estimates place the number of homes at risk as high as 20 million. Conservatively, this equals more than 5,000 homes seized by big banks per day. Losing your home due to the mortgage crisis is nothing to be ashamed of when you did not create the economic or the deregulation climate that created this crisis. Millions of people have been defrauded out of their homes due to this crisis. We will not see real recovery until this stops. And we must elect people to Congress that will hold Wall Street accountable by reinstating Glass-Steagall, passing the RESTORE the American Dream Act for the 99%, reducing the income inequity between the CEOs and the average American worker by increasing taxes on the top 1%, bring transparency and accountability to the Federal Reserve, restrict Congress from purchasing stocks, commodities and bonds while elected, create public financing of Federal elections, Amend the U.S. Constitution to end corporate personhood and tax corporations.

My DFA values:

Growing up in a diverse family, both culturally and politically, I understand what it means to bring people together with shared values. As a community organizer for over 20 years I've put that experience to work ensuring that people have a voice for a better quality of life and the time to enjoy it. My struggle for justice is like so many of the amazing people that I have met throughout this district. I have fought for my community on the issues that matter most to them, protecting air and water quality by defending Petaluma from an asphalt plant, ensuring women have access to quality, affordable health care through a new county hospital, and making sure that there is diversity at the political table by electing and appointing women and people of color to local and regional offices.

My Campaign is People-Powered!

I am committed to restoring fairness and leveling the playing field in our electoral process. We have an all-volunteer campaign staff that is collecting signatures to get on the ballot instead of paying the ballot fee. I've committed to not taking corporate PAC money. I'm keeping my campaign expenses to a minimum to provide a real experience of how to run a publicly-funded campaign. I've sought out free media and will be relying on the minimal cost to have my ballot statement printed in every county voter guide in the district. I want to prove that public financing is an honest and viable option for candidates that want to end the corruption and gridlock in Washington D.C..