Jorgensen For Congress 2010

Background:

Blue Collar Upbringing

“I grew up in a cabinet shop. I guess you could say I’m pretty blue-collar. Blue-collar and proud of it. Many years later my father stills builds furniture at age 83. Today I help him run the business.”

Marta was born in November 1953 in Denville, New Jersey, a country town famous for its Revolutionary War sites. Her hard working parents were furniture builders. Her father was the Commander of the local VFW and a staunch Republican. Her mother ran the VFW Auxillary. The familiy participated in all local Denville parades, hosting July Forth events and Memorial Day celebrations. Marta sang in the church choir and longed to be an opera singer.

In 1968 they moved to California to escape the harsh weather. Marta grew up around the events of the sixties in Orange County.

Passion For Healthcare

In the late 1970’s Marta went to nursing school and got a degree in 1981. Then worked as a nurse for several years in Orange County, then Los Angeles and Santa Barbara counties up until 2004. More than 27 years working with patients and their families in hospitals, private homes, and on ambulance runs.

As a nurse Marta was involved with direct patient care, dedicated to providing support care to sick individuals, easing their pain, and teaching them to get the best service. She was frustrated with the terrible medical and insurance bureaucracy that has developed in the country. Patients with debilitating major illnesses were being denied the best care available from insurance companies. She knew firsthand about the giving of rewards and incentives to practitioners to limit or deny treatments.

Environmental Activist

In the late 1980's she became involved in environmental issues and worked with the Los Angeles Sierra Club. Marta studied Recycling and City Planning at UCLA and participated in demonstrations against urban over development in Los Angeles.

Writer and Entreprenaur

While at the University of California Los Angeles Extension Program in Film and TV, Marta wrote several screenplays about these issues. One of these was optioned.

Marta moved to Santa Barbara County in 1997. She started and ran a private computer school in Solvang from 2001 to 2006. Later, she taught in a private school and started their first computer lab and school newspaper as well. Being in a technically oriented field, she became aware of the large gap in skill levels. She taught people how to use the Internet to help them educate themselves, to become more involved in world affairs.

Marta also works today helping manage a transportation business with her business partner in the Santa Ynez Valley.

Democratic Party Work

Marta ran for Congress in the 24th CD, won the Primary and did well against a Republican incumbent in the 2008 General Election.

Memberships - Santa Barbara County Central Committee, Ventura County Central Committee, Santa Maria Democratic Club, Lompoc Democratic Club, Santa Ynez Valley Democratic Club, Democratic Women of Santa Barbara County, Progressive Democrats of America.

Family Life

Marta is happily single and lives in Solvang near her 83 year old father who still works everyday. Her mother passed away in 2005. She has a brother who runs an international furniture manufacturing company in the East Coast.

Goals:

I want to bring compassion back to government. We are all Americans, not just the usual labels - Democrats, Republicans, Greens or others. We need to be more respectful when we speak to each other, when we discuss the important issues in our times and be always mindful that everyone 's voice is important.
Compassion must be the basis for the decisions we make, the bills we create. When we make decisions based on sound compassionate reasoning and not solely by the lure of financial and political gain, that is politics not as usual.

Issues:

With more than 27 years as a vocational nurse, I know first hand how the healthcare delivery system became a bureaucracy out of control.

I have been promoting environmental issues for nearly 20 years, I know how our dependence on fossil fuels has put our planet into climate crisis, which threatens growing cycles worldwide.
Healthcare reform, developing renewable alternative energy sources, and a solid commitment to improve our public educational institutions are key elements in restoring our economy.

As a dedicated community activist, I can be a key player in Congress to help get the economy back on track.

Grassroots Support:

A very large part

DFA Values:

I work hard to follow my own council.