Candidate for
Member, Republican Party County Central Committee; County of San Diego; Assembly District 78

Biography MICHAEL McSWEENEY

Michael McSweeney, a 48 year-old general contractor residing in Del Cerro, has been building San Diego for over a dozen years. His company, McSweeney & Associates, established in 1985, specializes in residential renovation. His work has been featured on television, as well as in the San Diego Business Journal and San Diego Home & Garden Magazine. He was also nominated for a national 1995 renovation award.

A native of Cleveland, Ohio, McSweeney has an active history in San Diego business, political and volunteer arenas. His business affiliations include membership in the Building Industry Association, and the BIA Remodelers Council, and past membership in the Lincoln Club and San Diego Taxpayers Association. McSweeney has held posts at the BIA Toastmasters as past Vice President, and is the past Chairman of the Navajo Community Planners Inc., and a founding Board Member/past President of the Del Cerro Action Council. He is also a graduate of LEAD San Diego.

Currently serving as 1st Vice Chairman of the San Diego County Republican Party, McSweeney has been an elected member since 1998, and served as Treasurer from 2002-2004. In the decades leading up to his current position, his political efforts include two terms as President of the San Diego County Young Republicans. During his tenure, McSweeney determinably steered the organization away from purely ideological political theories, implementing a broader course that emphasized inclusion and participation. His efforts put the organization on new course that resulted in dramatic membership growth, increased participation of its members through community volunteer efforts, increased political activity (endorsements, grassroots, and fundraising), as well as a broadened financial base. In January 1997, he was elected Administrative Vice-President of the California Young Republicans, the first San Diegan in almost 15 years to rise to the highest level in the state YR leadership team. In July '97, he was elected Regional Vice-Chairman of the YRNF (national organization) without opposition, and the first San Diegan to sit on the National Board since the `70's.

McSweeney was elected to the 1996 and 2000 California Republican Party Platform Committee, responsible for revising the political positions of the Party for the next election cycle. He also served as the Founding PAC Director of the SDCYR and is the past Vice President of the San Diego Chapter of the California Republican League. He is an Associate Member of the Republican Women's Federated, past Board Member Republican Businesswomen of San Diego. (His fellow board Members tease him that he was the token male board member.)

As a community volunteer, McSweeney served for seven years (1990-97) as member of the board of Developmental Services Continuum (DSC), and as the non-profit's President of the Board from 1993-`95. DSC is a nonprofit corporation that provides residential care for developmentally disabled adults with behavioral problems. It operated on a budget of $1.7 million dollars per year and had 64 employees who served 46 clients. McSweeney joined the board at a time when the organization had outstanding debts of over $180,000 and was nearly bankrupt. DSC receives nearly all (over 98%) of its funding from the state and federal governments to provide services to its clients. Given the economic conditions of the 1990's, DSC had not seen its funding increase, except for one 3% increase in 1996, during McSweeney's tenure on the Board. From the onset of his tenure, McSweeney and his fellow board members reorganized management and reduced expenses. After thirty months, the organization was debt free and on the road to building a solid financial base for the future. Today, DSC owns seven of the ten homes it manages, has a budget in excess of 3.2 million dollars with over 75 employees. With his work in the field of developmental disabilities well known in San Diego, Governor Wilson re-appointed McSweeney to the Area Board (XIII) for Developmental Disabilities and also appointed him to the Audiology and Speech Pathology Board, as a public member in December 1998.

In addition to his 25-plus years of experience in construction and business leadership, McSweeney is a graduate of LEAD San Diego, an educational nonprofit organization that provides community leadership training for an annually selected class of 60 involved citizens. Selected candidates for the program must have demonstrated a commitment to ongoing volunteerism, quality leadership in our communities, and the success of the San Diego region.

Michael and his wife, Judy, are the proud parents of Jack, and Grace.

Current Community Organizations: San Diego City Schools-Partnership for Education--guest speaker/presenter San Diego City Schools-Facilities Review Committee, BIA observer Building Industry Association (BIA) Selective Service Board-member Navajo Community Planners-Current member, Chairman 2000-2001 Del Cerro Action Council-President (1999-2001) Del Cerro Action Council-Treasurer (1998, year organization founded) Del Cerro Action Council-Member-at-Large (currently)

Former Community Organizations: Friends of the San Carlos Library LEAD San Diego-Alumni, Class of `93 San Diego Downtown Breakfast Rotary San Diego Taxpayers Association Family Literacy Foundation BIA Toastmasters BIA Remodelers Council People for Trees Citizens Against Homicide Doris Tate Crime Victims Association International Visitors Council Area Board XIII for the Developmentally Disabled (Governor's Appointee) 1997-2000 Audiology and Speech Pathology Board (Governor's Appointee) 1998-1999