In 1988, a coalition of children and family service providers and supporters in the state of Washington banded together to push the Children's Initiative aimed at persuading citizens to dedicate state funds to children's services. 

The coalition hired a full-time campaign director and two state coordinators. One coordinator was solely in charge of gathering signatures in King County. As the other coordinator, I was in charge of all the remaining counties in the state. 

We successfully gathered enough signatures to put the initiative to a vote, but the electorate failed to pass the measure. The coalition did kick off the careers of several current legislators and department heads and created the backbone for collaborative work on behalf of kids for the decades to come.

Advance Media/Public Relations, Minnesota Campaign to Re-Elect Justice Supreme Court Justice Rosalie E. Wahl

In the mid-1970s, Governor Rudy Perpich appointed public defender Rosalie Wahl to fill a suddenly-vacated seat on the Minnesota Supreme Court. She became the first woman to sit on the state's high court. Because there were less than two years left in the term, she was almost immediately thrown into a re-election campaign. 

Five men filed against her. Wahl then embarked upon a campaign in which she could discuss neither her political affiliations nor her opinions. 

Because of my background and experience in journalism, I was asked to spearhead media coverage and advance for Justice Wahl. Central to her campaign was a one-day media blitz of television, radio, and newspapers that garnered more public attention than any state Supreme Court judge had previously enjoyed. 

Backed by a coalition of women's organizations and endorsed by the Minnesota bar, Wahl breezed through the primary, and then won re-election.

References and work samples available upon request.