You are a businesswoman. What makes you qualified to run for political office?

Jean has been a partner in a Madison Avenue public relations firm, Director of Public Relations for Fortune 500 companies and successfully started her own business. In all of these situations, Jean has had to have a clear focus and yet be able to negotiate with other parties to get the job done. There were deadlines to be met, diverse personalities to be dealt with and rules to live by, just as there are in running the country. Jean has shown an outstanding ability to relate to people and to understand underlying issues. These qualities plus a good sense of humor make Jean well-suited to both business and politics.

You sound like a moderate on the issues, what makes you different from, say, Mark Foley?

The difference is that Foley sounds like a moderate but votes with the very right wing. In an effort to better his personal position (first as protégé of Newt Gingrich, and now as protégé of Tom Delay, House Whip), he has voted as his party, not his district, dictates. Remember, Mark was made Deputy Whip soon after his arrival in Congress. After 5 years in Congress, the people in the district know that Mark says one thing to their faces, but votes the opposite way when he gets inside the Beltway. It appears his constituents are getting hip to his hypocrisy.

How did MoveOn influence you to get into politics?

Censure & Move On was an internet initiative that amassed hundreds of thousands of names of people who wanted Congress to stop the impeachment hearings, censure the President and get on with the nation's business. Jean volunteered to deliver petitions from District 16 to Mark Foley's office. The Palm Beach Post did an article about the movement in Jan. '99 and interviewed Jean about her experience. From the resulting article, Jean received calls from people all over the district wanting to know how they could become active to "get rid of Mark Foley," and suggesting that Jean run for his seat.

Why are you seeking donations from outside your own district, you won't be representing them, will you?

It is in everyone's interest to change the leadership in the US House in 2000. Whether it's women's rights, the separation of church and state, public education, health care - all of these issues are at risk if current leaders retain control of the House.

Remember, 95% of the votes a Representative makes are not strictly for the district. He or she is voting on issues that affect not only all Americans, but people around the world. In giving Jean your support, you will be allowing her to be a strong advocate for those values and principles which reflect your point of view. How can you expect to win if you don't have special interests funding your campaign?

If 10,000 people contributed $40.00 to Jean's campaign, she'd have $400,000. She needs $1 million to win. There are 250,000 Democrats just in District 16! Just think if they all contributed 5 bucks!

It's a shame that our system runs on money, but until we enact campaign finance reform I have to raise enormous sums of money to be competitive. Where does this money go? To TELEVISION. We figure that almost $700,000 of that million will go to TV commercials to raise my awareness and counter the advantages of Mark's incumbency.

In order to have good candidates who are free from dependency on a few wealthy donors, we must support them. If everyone just gave a little, a candidate would truly represent all of the people, not just the ones with big money.