County Central Committee, District 5 — Monterey County Democratic Party

My whole working life has been as a public servant and advocate. I have lived and worked in Monterey County since moving here in 1970.

My political philosophy is that facts matter, people are put before profits and community comes first. Politics is rerlational and is building relations and partnerships that should last throughtout our lifetimes, if done well. This requires great humility but great strength of conviction to do the right thing as an elected or appointed official. We are all in this together. 

I am a lifelong Democrat and educator. I worked as a teacher and librarian for 30 years. I have been part of the Monterey County Central Committee since 2013. I helped manage our center and volunteers since 2015. I am married and have two children and two grandchilren who are the loves of my life. 

I believe in a woman's right to choose, in social and criminal justice for all, in healthcare for all, in combating climate change now, ending poverty and providing affordable house and shelter for the homeless. I beleive in equal access to a quality education foir all our children including universal pre-k. As a member of the Central Committee, I will work to support candidates that support our Democratic values.

During 36 years as a Monterey Peninsula resident, Timothy has been a husband, a family breadwinner, a small business owner, a single parent, an educator, a primary caregiver and Vice-Mayor and City Councilmember for the City of Monterey.

While based in Monterey, Timothy traveled to and lived in for extended periods of time countries such as Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, Mexico, Spain and Portugal.  Timothy has taught survival English skills to refugees, functional English to farmworkers, created and coordinated international cultural immersion programs as well as a professional development program for Defense Language Institute instructors.

In the Mid-2000s, Timothy produced several local television shows featuring both musical entertainment and discussion of national issues from local perspectives. On the vanguard of citizen journalism, in 2010 Timothy won national recognition for production of a multimedia citizen news website and television show. In 2013, Timothy directed the Hungry and Homeless in Paradise Symposium which helped coalesce a local community of compassion around housing challenges and which led toward the founding of Monterey County’s One Starfish Safe Parking Program and the Gathering Place for Women, and Timothy was one of the original artists participating in the Becoming Visible Homeless Women’s Project. Timothy produced a number of multimedia exposés highlighting the personal stories of people living in unhoused conditions, and he participated with Bob Sadler and Cassidy Hausmann Mason to produce a book and multimedia project titled Inherent Worth and Dignity…Living Portraits to raise funds for the I-Help program providing food and shelter to unhoused people.

In 2015, Timothy was elected to the Monterey City Council where he served as Councilmember and Vice Mayor and in which role he helped to direct funding toward low income census tracts, to enact policy reducing local greenhouse gas emissions, to promote economic equity and to encourage construction of low income housing.

Notable achievements attributable to Timothy as Councilmember include:

The City of Monterey’s responsible banking ordinance to encourage reinvestment of public dollars in the community and disallow contracting with banks that have been convicted of crimes in Monterey County.

Convening community groups to problem-solve issues of housing and founding the Neighborhood Housing Fund for Monterey which continues to advance on issues of access to housing.

Protecting beaches by bringing a resolution through the Council supporting the closure of the Cemex Sand Mining Plant whose operations have been impacting sandy beach environments

Advancing the Citizen’s Climate Lobby resolution to strengthen Monterey’s resolve to reduce ozone depleting carbon gas emissions

Bringing the ComCap 2018 economic conference to Monterey focusing on community based economic empowerment, equity of economic participation and local business investment strategies

Co-founding Slow Money Monterey Bay to bring local entrepreneurs who have environmentally sustainable business plans together with local investors

Passing the Healthy Eating - Active Living Campaign (HEAL) through the Council.  Thereby raising standards for city parks and community access to exercise equipment, and offering the potential for grant funding to help achieve those standards.

Convening and co-directing the Community Responses to Elder Care Symposium to stimulate increased community of care networking and support of care givers and those in need of care.

Timothy has been a longtime supporter of public water initiatives and community renewable power generation as well as policies that reduced greenhouse gas fuel emissions.

Since leaving office, Timothy has been active with the Monterey County Democrat Central Committee where he directed the successful Green New Deal: Politics in Bloom fundraising event.

Timothy believes, a community is comprised of the people who live and work within it, and therefore no matter how wealthy a city’s budget, the City is only as healthy as are the people who live within it. There is a great deal of work that remains to be done.

This I believe. It is critical for electeds to show integrity of values and actions, and it’s absolutely necessary to take the right and principled actions, whatever capacity one holds, each in the place where he or she is, each and every time, not in some future time but now, today and always. The principles take the form of equality, diversity, kindness and safety in our community. These principles take meaning in the actions electeds take and the policies electeds support and vote on. They take the form of affordable housing, of economic opportunity, and of ensuring that all of our residents are represented through consistent integrity of principles with action. These are not just words. They require focused attention, and they require Central Committee action, not only to elect people who say they stand for these ideals, but most importantly to hold itself and those the committee elects accountable to the ideals for which the Democratic Party stands.