California State AssemblyCandidate for District 23

I grew up in Oregon and moved to the San Francisco Bay Area after getting a degree in electrical engineering at Oregon State.  I’ve lived in the Bay Area all of my working life and in Mountain View since 2002 and I absolutely love what California and our special region in the bay have to offer.    After a successful 30 year career in technology, most recently with Apple, I realized that my passion was not in technology, but in helping my coworkers fix problems and teaching them how to do it themselves.  With that insight, I decided to take the risky and unusual leap to step away from my job and find a better way to pursue my passion.  Apple retail had the most successful model for my passion and I spent the next year fixing customers' problems and training them on the many amazing hardware and software products Apple had to offer.  During that time it became clear that this new generation of phones, tablets, and computers had become key to staying connected to others and engaged in the world.  That led me to start a technology coaching business where I focused on empowering seniors with their personal digital devices.  Outside of my business, I volunteer as a technology tutor at Little House Senior Center in Menlo Park.  

My love of the outdoors and concern for preserving our environment led me to volunteer for the non-partisan Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL), advocating for market-based solutions to address climate risk.  I am currently part of CCL’s Conservative Caucus executive team and the Idaho state coordinator.  My years of working on climate solutions demonstrated that we need a truly bipartisan approach for the many issues we face here in California. 

Getting more involved politically in my community, I joined the South Peninsula Area Republican Coalition (SPARC GOP), became a board member, and am currently their Treasurer.  After becoming a delegate to the California GOP, I felt that the party needed more moderate conservative voices in the state capitol.  My passion for finding common ground, regardless of politics, is the vision that launched my 2022 Assembly District 23 campaign.

As we work to resolve critical issues, we must reject the toxic political tone that has become increasingly harsh in this state and the nation. Californians are fed-up with the constant finger-pointing and labeling that has become the norm.  We need to focus on problem-solving, not posturing.

In politics today, each party stakes out its issues and frames them as either/or, all or none.  For example, progressives talk DEI (diversity equity and inclusion), voting rights, and immigration reform.  Conservatives talk CRT (critical race theory), voting integrity, and secure borders.   But both parties need to acknowledge that these issues aren’t binary.  They live on a spectrum.  Conservatives should support more authentic instruction around our racial history in the US while trying to assure no group is demonized.  Progressives should discuss the need for secure borders while looking for sensible ways to address our large undocumented immigrant population.  Both parties talk past each other on their ‘winning’ issues without acknowledging the valid points (slivers of truth) of the opposing arguments. We must work together with mutual respect towards sensible solutions.