Candidate for
County Supervisor; Sonoma County; Supervisorial District 5

Maddy Hirshfield has lived and been active in public life in Sonoma County for more than twenty years.

As Senior Field Representative for First District Assemblywoman Patty Berg since 2002 (and as the Assemblywoman's Campaign Manager prior to that) Maddy serves as chief liaison with individuals, organizations, and local government officials across Sonoma County for the 1st Assembly District.

Maddy has a long record of involvement in progressive politics at the local level, having served as manager or consultant to dozens of Sonoma County candidate and ballot measure campaigns to protect the environment, health care services, worker rights, transportation and equal rights for all.

In 2004, Maddy was an advisor to the victorious campaign to pass the Measure W parcel tax, which raises $3.5 million per year to preserve access to local emergency, acute care, medical and physician services at Palm Drive Hospital. She also actively worked on Measure G, Palm Drive Hospital's first parcel tax initiative, in 2000.

She is proud of her success as Chairwoman of the West County Committee to Pass Measure F (2006), which reauthorized the sales tax funding the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation & Open Space District. This victory empowers the district for the next twenty years to permanently protect tens of thousands more acres.

A former appointee to the Sonoma County's Commission on Human Rights, Maddy has been involved in numerous efforts to guarantee equal rights for women, and minorities. In 2000, she managed the county effort to defeat state Proposition 22, which effectively outlawed marriage for lesbians and gays. Although Prop 22 passed statewide, voters locally rejected the measure by one of the widest margins of any county, sending a clear signal that Sonoma County does not tolerate discrimination.

Maddy has held numerous posts within the Democratic Party, having served as chairwoman of the Sonoma County Democratic Party, field organizer, vice chair of the 6th District Caucus, delegate to the California State Democratic Party where she served on the California Democratic Party's Resolutions Committee.

For almost two decades prior to her full-time commitment to activism, Maddy had a career in health care, working as a Registered Occupational Therapist in hospitals, rehab centers, clinics and home care.