Candidate for
County Clerk and Recorder; County of Ventura

I have been an active and informed voter my entire adult life, and regularly attend meetings and public forums, especially on the subjects of housing and transportation. (I don't generally speak but sometimes write speeches for others.)

I have never worked in government or been elected to public office before (outside student government). None of my family members have ever been elected to public office, but one daughter works in a middle school and my grandfather was a civil engineer.

I was born in Massachusetts (Father from Maine, Mother from Japan), raised in Chatsworth and have lived in Oxnard since 2009.

I am 54 years old. I have two grown daughters who are both college educated and employed, one middle schooler still at home, and two grown step kids, one local, one in Sweden.

My oldest is getting her BA in Biology from CSUN this summer, graduating Cum laude (GPA above 3.5), and Departmental Honors (meaning she completes the requirements for biology honors including certain classes, certain GPA, doing original research and writing an undergrad thesis). Meanwhile she works at a middle school and on the side as a biological illustrator. She's been accepted to begin a master's program this summer that include stem cell research at UCLA.

Middle daughter got her BS in Psychology in 2008 and has been working as a behavior therapist since that time, and will also begin a master's program this summer to take the next step in her field.

My youngest daughter has an inherited metabolic disorder that has resulted in the need for a great deal of extra care. If I am elected to office I will need to hire people to help care for her, so a vote for me will add at least one job to the economy.

I am a technical writer by trade. I write installation manuals, operating instructions, operating procedures, software specifications, packaging text, ad copy, marketing materials and other things. I also write reports for management that require research and analysis of things like current technology and the way certain laws impact business operations.

I started out working for my father in his small business, writing installation guides, and taking customer support calls for his project planning software company, and later helping conduct training classes, and even performing programming tasks for the engineering department.

Over the years I've done all kinds of writing work, and a good deal of analysis work, analyzing things like customs law, transit law, electronics pricing, electronic technology, software anomalies, and the mortgage business.

I often work on a contract basis, which has given me the opportunity to see the inner workings of many companies, large and small, corporate and private, and in many industries. That's given me a wide perspective on how various issues effect various industries, and how things are done in private industry.

In recent years much of my writing has centered on social and political issues such as the foreclosure crisis and transportation. I'm also very interested in political reform and providing better access to government.

I believe that the genius of democracy is that it is designed to prevent the establishment of a "ruling class" by encouraging participation of ordinary citizens.

I'm not just an ordinary citizen, I am very articulate, informed and involved in civic issues, and I have the right perspective to help make the recorder's office a resource that truly serves the community.

If you're sick and tired of elected officials who only worry about themselves and are happy to do nothing while collecting a fat paycheck, then vote for me - I'll WORK for YOU.