Candidate for
Member of the State Assembly; District 70

Compassionate Libertarianism

Debbie Tharp is no stranger to the ups and downs of the American dream. For six years, she worked as a driver for a national postal contractor where she eventually became a dispatcher and office assistant. She and her husband Donald Tharp, a lab manager at a national optometry chain, had a beautiful home in the suburbs of Dallas, Texas and 3 beautiful children. However, after her husband's prolonged illness, the family was forced to move from Texas to California to rebuild their lives. That was in 2004, and now the family would never dream of calling any other place but their beloved California, home.

After earning her Associate's Degree at College of the Sequoias in the San Joaquin Valley, Debbie is now a senior at UCI's School of Psychology and Social Behavior. Over the past 6 years in her new home state, Debbie has seen the budget crisis swell to overwhelm local businesses, the water dry up in the central valley, where most of her family still resides, and the funding dry up for the state's essential public education system. Despite efforts to the contrary, California has fallen behind in business, environmental and educational standards. As the crisis has come to a boiling point in California's public colleges and universities, she has seen much in the way of misdirected anger and blame, and little true progress toward an effective solution to our state's woes.

Through her husband's kidney transplant, Debbie has experienced the state's public health care system first hand. Through her education, Debbie has experienced the state's educational system first hand. Her family members are both business owners and blue collar workers. She knows how hard it is to keep a business going, or to hold onto a job in our current perilous times. Debbie is not a career politician. She is an everyday citizen, chasing the American dream, just like every other constituent of the 70th Assembly District of California. Says Debbie, "I am not running a campaign to win a public office. I am asking my fellow citizens to give the the opportunity to serve them. I will not waste this campaign making speeches that no one wants to hear. I want to hear you. I am here to listen, and I am here to serve, and when I am chosen, I will take your voices with me to Sacramento."