About Me
I am a Constitutionalist!
CHOOSE OUR WORDS WISELY
I do not call myself a "Conservative". Why? Because that word can have very different meanings, depending on the people having the conversation. I want to be precise when talking about government and politics.
I have followed Donald Trump since 1979 when I first moved to New York City. I lived there for 34 years. I spent 10 years as an actress, mostly performing a one-woman show I wrote about Susan B. Anthony, spending six months doing research at the Library of Congress. I toured schools, colleges, and universities, performed at the United Nations, and was a repeat guest performer for the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.
I went back to college when I was 30 and finished a degree I had started 12 years earlier. I majored in Political Science and graduated with the highest distinction, summa cum laude. I was an intern for Democrat Senator Patrick Moynihan.
I started my book publishing career as a temporary employee at Simon & Schuster. My first desk was in the hallway! I spent over 20 years in that industry, eventually becoming a vice president at Macmillan Publishers, a half-billion-dollar company in the United States. I specialized in operations.
My first visit to Ventura County was in September 2009 when I accompanied my family and friends to Catalina. I returned the following year and fell in love! I fell in love with the Channel Islands (America’s Galapagos), Port Hueneme (the Navy Base reminds me of my growing up years as a military dependent), "Old Town" Oxnard (the historic district and the western, agricultural ambience reminds me of summers spent on my aunt's family farm in Alabama), and with the city of Ventura (a perfect vision of what I thought a 1950's California surf town would be). I also fell in love with a man!
Mark Savalla and I met in 2009. Our courtship began a year later. I commuted between coasts for three years before moving to live full time in California in 2014. We married in 2012. My husband is, like my father Ralph Baber was, a decorated Vietnam Veteran. Mark is also an avid sailor, a former Coast Guard reservist, and a retired 33-year LAPD Lieutenant.
My father was a career Air Force pilot. I grew up in an unorthodox military family. My parents divorced in the 1960s and, unusually, my father gained custody of the four of us children, ages 7-10. Two years later, my father arranged for an overseas assignment to the Panama Canal Zone.
We lived in El Cangrejo in the Republic of Panamá our first year there before moving into the Canal Zone. Typical of Dad, he announced that: 1. while in the Republic, my sister and I had to wear a dress or skirt out of respect for that country's culture, and 2. if we wanted to go somewhere, he was not our chauffeur so we would need to learn enough Spanish to navigate our neighborhood and to use the local bus. This worldly perspective and confident upbringing joined with an experience I had at 15 that ignited in me a passion for politics.
(I am on the right. My sister is on the left.)
We had returned to the States for a visit when I was 15. I was reading the Miami Herald newspaper while waiting for a connecting flight. There was an article about the recent Carnaval in Panamá. This is a huge festival lasting several days before the Catholic Lenten season begins. The journalist wrote about how angry the Panamanians were at the gringos (Americans) and that many campesinos (farmers) were there, wielding machetes. I was shocked at what I read!
I turned to my dad and said, “I was just there! That was dangerous. Did you read what happened?” My father replied,
“Sweetheart, do you really believe I would let you go somewhere that wasn’t safe? Let this be a lesson to you that the journalist had a biased point of view. He wrote only what he wanted others to believe. That’s not journalism.”
And that, my friends, along with President Trump's America First, Agenda 47, is why I am running. In my 67 years, I have never gotten news from television or other mass media broadcasts. In fact, the television I had while living in New York City was kept in a closet and used only if there was an emergency, like in the aftermath of massive blackouts and the 9/11 attacks.
Instead I read, I think, and I evaluate the source. I carefully consider contrary views and sometimes research history or other aspects of a topic before I draw a conclusion. I can also be persuaded to change my mind if a convincing argument is made and supporting evidence is offered.
I am running for the State Assembly in District 38. Simply put, I believe governments are too big, politicians take too much money out of our pockets, and for far too long elected officials and unelected bureaucrats have acted beyond their Constitutional authority.
I believe in personal responsibility in a moral society, balanced budgets, and an accountable, strategic social safety net with measurable results.
​
I also believe in...
-
Putting America first.
-
Placing California first in America.
-
Legislating for District 38 as my number one priority.
-
Agenda 47, principled policies that lay out a prosperous path forward.
I will make decisions for the District's benefit, not for special interest groups, lobbyists, or Sacramento's governing elite and unelected bureaucrats. There are solutions!
​
The principles of republicanism, putting faith, family, and freedom at the forefront, and staying in one's legislative lane can turn dreams into destiny.
