ABOUT DEBORAH

Deborah chose a career in public affairs after graduating from UC Berkeley. That career began at the federal level in Washington DC and transitioned to state politics in Sacramento, California. Since moving to Arizona in 2017 Deborah has been an advocate and activist supporting quality public education, voting rights, and promoting human rights (freedom from discrimination and harm).

“I pledge to be a leader who listens. I will leverage my knowledge, insights and skills gleaned from my professional and personal experiences to seek common ground, foster collaboration, and identify viable solutions that benefit us all. I will advocate for fair and equitable opportunities for all Arizonans including quality public education, good paying jobs, and affordable housing and healthcare.”

Deborah’s Career Begins in Washington, D.C.  

Deborah chose a career in public affairs and moved to Washington, D.C. after graduating from U.C. Berkeley.

President Ronald Reagan appointed Deborah (she was a Republican back then) as a political appointee to the US Department of Labor. She worked at a trade organization that represented both labor and management in the maritime industry. She worked for the national non-profit AARP in their national office and the California State Office.  

Her professional journey crossed many issue areas… 

Aging, Community Service, Defense, Education, Healthcare, Insurance, Political Campaigns including ballot initiatives and referendums, Real Estate, Trade, and Volunteerism - to name a few… 

… and Organizations 

AARP, Blue Shield of California, Joint Maritime Congress (a trade association representing both labor and management in the maritime industry), Goddard Claussen (a political consulting firm), and the US Department of Labor. 

What unites these diverse issue areas and employers was Deborah’s role in communicating core mission and values to the public, employees, decision makers, and other stakeholders. A facilitator by nature, she leads by helping groups focus, come to consensus, commit to common goals, and then manage successful execution through tracking, project management and communications.

And She Met Dave Howard…

In the midst of my career, I met and married Dave Howard in 1992. We met while working for AARP in Washington DC. It wasn’t exactly love at first sight - but we met in February, had our first date in May and were married in November. He was wicked smart, made me laugh almost every day, shared my values, and made me a better, and braver, person.  When he died suddenly in 2012 I was stunned. I had lost my best friend and what felt like my center of gravity. He was also a brilliant politico and obsessed with practical politics and real-world application, not theory. Colleagues gave tribute to his own political contributions by establishing the David M. Howard Memorial Prize in American Politics at the Institute of Government Studies at U.C. Berkeley. Every year since, a graduate student has been awarded a stipend to continue their graduate studies of American Politics.  I know my own journey as a candidate is shaped by much of what I learned from him. Ask me sometime about some of his "rules". Some of them are pretty funny.

FAMILY NOTES

Deborah was born and raised in Southern California. Her parents, both Veterans of WWII, instilled her with the midwestern values they grew up with, including a commitment to public service, the importance and value of public education, and unshakable values of honesty and fairness.  

Mom and dad met in Okinawa. Dad put his college education on hold to join the Army/AirForce and served as a fighter pilot. He was studying business at the University of South Dakota. Mom enlisted as soon as she finished her nursing education in St Louis. Their paths crossed on Okinawa. Mom was called home before the end of the war because her brother Keith had died in the war. He was also serving in the Pacific. Once both mom and dad were stateside they married and moved to California. Dad finished his college at Long Beach State University.  They died in 1999 within months of each other. I am certain they’d be proud of my current advocacy work and commitment to serving the families and communities here in Arizona.