Bio

kat swift

Writing about myself is one of the hardest things I do. Why? Because it isn’t about me, it is about the work – shifting consciousness and policy to reflect the public good instead of corporate greed.  

Once I became politically aware in the late 1990s, I realized that I could no longer be apathetic and live like elected officials had no impact on my life or the lives of my family and friends.  The more I learn about how the corrupt system actually operates, the more the core problem becomes clear and the reality that we must act.

Politics aside, people are people and we all have the same needs for food, health, & security.  I’m no different.  I work for a living to keep a roof over my head and food in my stomach while struggling to stay ahead of bill due dates.  This has proven to be difficult after I was laid-off a few years before the 2nd Great Depression began, followed by another job that jeopardized my health through workplace contamination that I had to leave mere months before the economy collapsed.
kat swift

While it will take time to shift government policies to help us all recover, it is possible if we shift our resources to the public good instead of feeding the greedheads.  Below I’ve outlined my Education and Work Experience, which you can find more detail about on LinkedIn, and why I am running for this position.  

My hope is that others will take the plunge into public service and run for office in 2012 for partisan offices and in 2013 for City and School Boards.  The Green Party has a ballot line and we want you to step up for your community to take the power from the ruling class, the top 1%.

Education Background: Graduate of Southside High School, San Antonio; attended SAC, UTSA, and Mount Holyoke College for computer and general sciences; currently working on Bachelors of Communications at Grand Canyon University; additional training in nonviolent communication and peer counseling.

Experience: 20-year career in business administration with a focus on reducing costs while increasing benefits and services for small businesses, public school districts, co-ops, and non-profit organizations, both as a self-employed contract worker and as an employee; providing services in accounting, technology, regulatory compliance, transparency, implementation of workflow restructuring, and human resources.

“Independico” – by Alicia Spence Alvarez

Why are you running for this office? (100 words max.)[asked by Scene in SA magazine]:

For too long, our county government has focused on regressive taxation, privatization of public services, unbalanced and unsustainable growth, tax-payer subsidies (i.e., corporate welfare), and a shift to low-wage, service-sector jobs. These practices have increased economic disparity and not addressed the needs of the whole community.

County projects are routinely awarded on the good-old-boy system instead of being merit-based. We need to shift our economy to a zero-waste, green jobs paradigm, wherein people perform meaningful work for a living wage, jails are not overcrowded, and residents are well-educated and healthy.  With will and openness, all this could be possible.