Franklin Ewesiobi
Ashby For Mayor and Positivity For Sacramento
Professor Nalder
Government 1
May 5th, 2016

Angelique Ashby is a council member, a business owner and a mother running for Mayor in the June 7th primary elections. I chose to volunteer for this particular campaign because it was something that was focused on our local community. Ashby is a family orientated woman who believes Sacramento’s most precious resource is its people. She is pushing for a safer and more vibrant city, while protecting families and developing local neighborhoods. Overall positivity for Sacramento.
Section I: Volunteer Report Phone banking is one of the most efficient ways to get in contact with the community and inform them about issues and decisions that would be effecting them directly. So it would only make sense for a lesser known candidate running for mayor to pick up this strategy. Unlike the presidential elections, there isn’t really an accurate depiction of who has a certain number of voters supporting them. The purpose for Angelique’s phone banking operation was to get in touch with the community and notify them that she is a mayoral candidate. Also she wanted us to tally up how many citizens were confirming that they were going to vote for her, in an attempt to get an estimated number of supporters backing her during the election. The phone banking operation took place in a meeting room with a capacity of about a dozen people that was located in a living complex in Natomas, California. The campaign provided three to four prepaid phones, a voter registration list providing names and numbers of registered voters in our area, a script that also had information about Ashby’s key achievements and goals, a tally sheet, writing utensils and snacks. The room was filled with student volunteers from our government class as well as a supervisor. There were two different supervisors that I met and talked to, who were also members of the campaign when I arrived for both visits. The whole process seemed to be organized for the most part, Although there were times where our supervisor had to leave the room to fetch more supplies, food or to run errands and we were left unattended. However, there wasn't a time where we weren't being kept busy. On my second visit the supervisor had issues with finding someone to care for her children so they spent some time in the room with us. They we’re well behaved for the most part but I could tell that productivity was lowered during that time period. Besides that, I was able to gain a lot of information about Angelique Ashby, her stance and goals. I truthfully felt like I helped in the effort to get her name more noticed to the public and give her a better understanding of where she stands, going into the elections. Although it is hard to tell whether or not she will win but I do know that her main competition Darrell Sternberg is more known because of his past in entertainment and he does have more funds to put into his campaign.
Section II: Research Angelique Ashby was born in Ashland, Oregon in 1975. Her family moved to Salem to allow father to continue his profession. Then they moved again to Roseville, California when she was ten years old. She was involved in dance and theatre while she was in junior high and enjoyed it incredibly. Which is why she decided to attend Sacramento High School because they had a great Visual and Performing Arts Program. Then she took a couple classes at American River Junior College with her best friend and became pregnant by her at the time boyfriend. They eventually ended up parting ways which caused her to embark on a path of single motherhood. (Ashby 2016) Ashby later attended the University of California, Davis and graduated in 1999 with a Bachelor’s in Law & Society while working full time. She still decided to continue her education after graduation. Angelique enrolled into the University of Pacific’s McGeorge School of Law. During her first year there she was was working while raising her son. He begged her to enter him into a soccer league which she eventually did. Less than one month into the program the coach quit, which put the team in jeopardy if no one stepped up to fill the spot. Angelique and two other moms agreed to coach the team to allow their kids to play. She managed to do all that while taking and passing Contracts, Torts, Legal Writing and Criminal Law classes. She met a guy named Zac in 2000 who quickly won her heart. In 2002 they got married and set themselves out to plan their lives together in north Natomas. She finally graduated from McGeorge in 2003 and was blessed with another boy in 2004, Tyus. (Ashby 2016). Angelique noticed that there weren't a lot of families moving into her neighborhood. They were mainly surrounded by rented out houses. She saw families moving in then relocating to a more “family friendly” community like Elk Grove, Roseville, Rocklin, Davis or Lincoln. They never got the opportunity to make long term friends with other families. She then joined the Creekside Neighborhood Association and in no time they started new efforts to better their immediate community. They partnered with Safeway to get locks on shopping carts. The association established annual creek clean ups and a neighborhood watch. Traffic safety measures, and leadership on public safety quickly followed. (Ashby 2016) Ashby’s father began to retire from his main line of work and she took the opportunity to opened up a consulting firm with him and they called it the Ashby Consulting Group, llc. Here she builds best practice model programs to serve populations with barrier to succeed. This allows her to utilize her organization skill and time management skills as well as her legal training and educational foundation in law and society. After many requests from fellow community leaders and deep consideration she decided to run for city council in 2009. She did such a great job she ran unopposed for a second time in 2014. All of her efforts didn't go unnoticed, she was then chosen by her peers to serve as Vice Mayor or Mayor Pro Tempore of the city of Sacramento. Angelique remains the only Council member to give birth while in office in Sacramento (Ashby 2016). Angelique Ashby’s track record speaks for itself. Although her term doesn't end till 2018 she has decided to take this opportunity to run for Mayor of Sacramento. She is a candidate that will be seriously considered for this position. This is a bipartisan race but she is a registered democrat. Her two main goals is to transform Sacramento into a safe and vibrant city for everyone (Ashby 2016). Ashby believes that public safety is the cornerstone that protects our city and that there is no service more central to the city’s mission than the protection of everyones family. This is one of the reasons why she is endorsed by public safety leaders and organizations like the Sacramento Police Officers Association, the Sacramento Firefighters Local 522, the Sacramento County Deputy Sheriffs Association, the Sacramento County Probation Association and a retired District Attorney, Jan Scully. Making neighborhoods safer in our city is one of her top priorities. If she becomes Mayor she wants to get Sacramento off the States Most Violent Crime List (Ashby 2016). By altering the community’s policing approach and encouraging them to recruit locally. She expresses how she will urge enforcement to becoming tougher on school gangs and DUI’s. Her second goal is to make Sacramento a vibrant economy. She believes the next mayor should be fully committed to applying the same energy we put into developing our central city towards developing local neighborhoods that families live in. Also Angelique will support high wage job creation in South Sacramento and start a Permit Simplicity Program. This will help to make it easier for young entrepreneurs to chase their dreams and make Sacramento one of the easier places to do business in California. As well as focusing on reducing green house gas emissions, improve air quality and protect our regions water supply and energy supply through audits (Ashby 2016). Angelique Ashby’s campaign is catering to voters with families and in turn appealing to female voters. If Ashby could secure majority of the female vote in this election that could be her competitive edge against her opponents. There are approximately up to fifty-five percent of females that vote in the Sacramento County. ( Female General Population Registered Voter Turnout by California County 2008). According to the scholarly journal “The Impact of Gender Stereotyped Evaluations on Support for Women Candidates” they came to the conclusion that “People who see women as competent to deal with things like the economy and terrorism are dramatically more likely to voice a willingness to support them for office and a desire for greater gender balance in government. While the same pattern is evident for evaluations of women’s competence on female issues…” (Dolan 2010). With the female voters on her side, male voters who are heads of families and those who agree with her ideas and stances supporting her, she has a reasonable chance of winning.
Section III: Analysis and Summary Council member Ashby isn’t perfect. She made claims that crime in her district was cut in half since she had taken office but she has been called out for using outdated data to support her claim. Ashby used old district lines that weren't updated and didn't account for high crime neighborhoods that were removed as a result to the new redistricting. (Lillis 2016). However this is nothing compared to the scandal accompanied by Kevin Johnson’s term in office. Ashby has no intent on running for higher office above the Mayor position. She has made it clear that she wants to help people out locally, in her immediate community. She has the potential to impact our lives directly by touching us where it really matters. The home. Angelique is a family woman, that is a trait majority of the population could relate to. She will work towards the betterment of our local schools and neighborhoods and help build a better city from inside out. If the people chose not to vote or choose to support her opponent Darrell Stienberg, they could miss out on this opportunity to actually feel the benefits of an election first hand. They could allow another candidate focused mainly on commercial development and profit take the position and leave social issues as a second priority.

Works Cited

Angelique Ashby - Ballotpedia. (n.d.). Retrieved May 04, 2016, from https://ballotpedia.org/ Angelique_Ashby

Dolan, K. (2010). The Impact of Gender Stereotyped Evaluations on Support for Women Candidates. Political Behavior, 32(1), 69-88. Retrieved May 4, 2016, from http:// eds.a.ebscohost.com.proxy.lib.csus.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=be98d7e2- b94d-41dc-b3a1-dd9f3db5a2bb@sessionmgr4002&vid=1&hid=4102

Female General Population Registered Voter Turnout by California County - 2008 General Election. (n.d.). Retrieved May 04, 2016, from http://explore.regionalchange.ucdavis.edu/ ourwork/projects/ccep/general-election-data-and-gis-maps/female-general-population- registered-voter-turnout-by-california-county-2008-general-election/view

Lillis, R. (2016, March 7). Mayoral candidate Angelique Ashby relied on bad data for crime claim. The Sacramento Bee. Retrieved May 4, 2016, from http://www.sacbee.com/news/ investigations/the-public-eye/article64678127.html

My Plan. (n.d.). Retrieved May 04, 2016, from http://ashbyformayor.com/onesacramento/

Planting Roots. (n.d.). Retrieved May 04, 2016, from http://www.angeliqueashby.com/mystory/ thriving/planting-roots