Previously, Peggy was a U.S. Air Force fighter jets electrician, a development laboratory researcher in the Department of Defense division of a major equipment and electronics company, and a stay-at-home mom of two.

Now, Peggy recruits and organizes conservatives in the state of Washington as the state coordinator for the Tea Party Patriots and co-founder/coordinator of the Tacoma Narrows Tea Party. 

On Tuesday, Peggy and the Tacoma Narrows Tea Party (TNTP) hosted their annual Tax Day Rally in their community with around 150 people present. Peggy dressed as a peasant and greeted people saying, “Taxed enough already, me lord!”

TNTP’s mission is to serve the community by first, bringing candidates and elected officials together with the people; second, motivating citizens to elect their choice candidate; third, educating citizens on the process—caucuses and primaries—to get involved; and fourth, building coalitions with the community.

“Leadership Institute training is a must if you want to be successful in any political endeavor, and they make it fun! One thing I learned is that a canvass is not something to paint on,” Peggy said. 

She continued, “Heck, I took Leadership Institute training and one week later I was asked to be a state coordinator for Tea Party Patriots!  So if you hear about LI coming to your town, jump at the opportunity!”

Peggy has taken two LI trainings, Fundraising Workshop in Charleston, South Carolina in January 2012 and Campaign Management Workshop in Tacoma, Washington in January 2012.  She also watched training videos at LI-hosted LibertyCentralTraining.org in 2011.

“The first thing I learned was that LI has wonderful instructors that make learning fun!  I came away with numerous concepts to put into play such as the value of networking to grow our groups and build coalitions,” she said.

In just the few, short months since TNTP’s inception, the group has doubled membership each month.

“Another thing we learned from LI training was how to conduct rallies.  Rallies provide networking and allow us to build coalitions and work with other groups and businesses,” Peggy said. “We are now making contacts everywhere!  Everything is growing and maybe even a bit faster than I thought possible.”

TNTP recently hosted its first candidate forum with another group and on Tuesday organized its annual Tax Day Rally through the contacts the group has made.

You too can take your life experiences like Peggy and apply them to public policy in your community.

Go here for information on the dates for LI’s upcoming trainings and locations.

Please welcome Peggy as the Leadership Institute Graduate of the Week!

To nominate a Leadership Institute graduate to be featured as LI's graduate of the week, please contact LI's External Affairs Officer Lauren Hart at LaurenHart@LeadershipInstitute.org.