Meet Marge Doyle-- Can She Help Save California's Pristine Wilderness From Trump And The Developers?

California's 8th congressional district is the state's newest and most remote district-- and it's largest. It begins down in the suburbs east of San Bernardino and Redlands-- Yucaipa and Highland, heads east into the desert and mountains to the Nevada border through the Yucca Valley and Twentynine Palms and north through Hisperia, Apple Valley, Victorville, Adelanto and Barstow, through Death Valley to Bishop and Mammoth Lakes, almost as far north as Sacramento. It's humongous and filled with national parks, national monuments and national preserves. Obama lost the district twice with 42% and Hillary did slightly worse. The PVI is R+8. Republican Paul Cook has been the congressman for the district since 2012, right after it was created. He's a little known backbencher who the DCCC has ignored entirely. This cycle he has a serious candidate, Marge Doyle, who has already shocked everyone by out-raising him with a grassroots campaign.

Marge is a registered nurse, a long-time desert resident and community leader, She is an elected official on the Board of the Morongo Basin Health Care District who her neighbors describe as having dedicated her life and career to public service in her community. "As the current Director of Operations and Clinical Services for Pamorris Healthcare Solutions, I’m responsible for opening HIV clinics across the United States. For the past 12 years, I have lived in the beautiful community of Joshua Tree and understand the importance and diversity of our desert ecosystem." One thing she's not is a career politician.

I was moved to run for office when our local hospital was under threat of closing in 2013 and I knew the closure of our hospital would be catastrophic, resulting in deaths, severe job losses to our community, and economic disaster. As a problem solver, I ran and was elected to the Board of the Morongo Basin Healthcare District in 2014. Working together with a very diverse team, we were able to save our hospital, along with 600 jobs, and we brought the MBHD back from near-bankruptcy to financial stability, with a reserve of $15 million, while expanding outpatient healthcare in our two federally qualified health clinics-- all of this in just 3 years!

After the November 2016 election I was shocked, horrified, and fearful of what would become of our country. This, along with my long career in healthcare, led me to author a plan to fix the problems with the ACA as well as a prudent way to pay for those fixes. After 3 months of attempting to meet with my congressional representative, I finally was able to sit down with him and discuss the plan. He listened yet took no action. I was disappointed but not surprised.

On the night before the most recent healthcare bill was to be voted on in Congress, Mr. Cook’s staff asked me to analyze the House healthcare bill. I provided a point-by-point analysis and clearly stressed that the bill covered fewer people and did not save money. I advised him to vote against the bill, but he caved to partisan politics and voted for the bill. When I confronted him a few weeks later to ask why, he replied, “It doesn't matter!”

Since when does the health insurance of 115,000 people not matter? Or when does a congressional vote not matter? And now we have witnessed how the Senate bill was even more damaging to healthcare coverage for our constituents.

It was at this point that I realized that the people in our district had to be protected from harmful policies that would certainly hurt the people of our district and that we needed a voice in Congress. Clearly, Cook has no interest in the needs of his district or arriving at a solution for the good of his constituents. He has no interest in even listening to his people’s concerns. It was then that I realized that Paul Cook’s only interest was with his rich donors and making their bank accounts fatter! And that is when I decided to run.

I am committed to finding solutions for universal healthcare, living wage jobs, social justice, and, as one pillar of our economy is dependent on tourism, maintaining and protecting our environment for future generations will ensure that our local small business are protected as well. We also must take active steps to address institutionalized racism in all its forms.

We asked Marge to give us an inside perspective on the environmental issues that impact a community so dependent on tourism and a pristine environment. She's been raising campaign funds from individual donors, completely eschewing corporate PAC money and developers eager to dig up the lands that make the 8th district one of the most beautiful areas of America. Please consider clicking on the thermometer on the right and donating to Marge's campaign if you back her ideas and would like to see her be able to keep fighting to replace Paul Cook. Much of her campaign is based on the awareness "of the natural wonders that bring people from around the world to experience and enjoy our desert. We have five remarkable national park units (Joshua Tree, Mojave, Death Valley, Castle Mountains, and Manzanar), three National Monuments managed by the Bureau of Land Management-- Mojave Trails, Sand to Snow, and the San Jacinto/Santa Rosa, and we have millions of acres of wilderness and state park lands. This landscape is a gift, a renewable resource that will produce benefit for our communities and our quality of life for as long as we don’t despoil it. As such, and consistent with my core values and my promises to communities, I want to share my perspective on a few environmental issues."

The environment, our public lands and our economy: California’s 8th district has vast, ancient, pristine lands that draw people to our area for recreation and tourism from across the globe. This is one of the four major pillars of the economy in this district. To destroy, deteriorate or otherwise harm the lands we love is to destroy, deteriorate and harm our basic economy. The survival of our district is inextricably tied to the destiny of our environment.

National Park Funding and fee increases: Our national parks bring hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue into our desert each year and create nearly two thousand jobs. I strongly support adequate funding for our national parks and for the management of all of our public lands. Funding ensures that visitors have safe and meaningful experiences, enjoy ranger programs, enjoy education, and that precious resources are protected. I strongly oppose the significant fee increases proposed by the Trump Administration for Joshua Tree National Park as they would price many out of the opportunity to enjoy this treasure that belongs to all of us, and it could harm the tourism economy that has flourished in the Morongo Basin and Coachella Valley. I stand in solidarity with our park rangers and our land managers. Our beautiful desert and its communities are our strength and our greatest resource.

Cadiz Water Mining Project: I vigorously oppose the Cadiz water mining project due to the impact that it would cause to Mojave Trails National Monument and particularly to desert springs and wildlife in the region. I stand with desert communities and Tribes against this harmful project. Scientists from the National Park Service and the United States Geological Survey have expressed significant concerns about the veracity of the Cadiz company’s “science” and about the impacts this project would cause to our beautiful desert. Desert communities worked for decades to finally protect Mojave Trails National Monument, and to drain the sacred water beneath it would irrevocably harm that place. I stand with Governor Brown, Senator Feinstein, Assemblywoman Friedman, and the hundreds of thousands of others who have opposed this project for decades. Water is life, and we mustn’t sell our livelihood to the highest bidder. I am particularly disappointed in Paul Cook for shifting his position on this project for political gain. Cook was a fierce opponent of Cadiz in his first term and cowardly shifted during his re-election bid. As a Morongo Basin resident, he had long been an opponent of Cadiz, and he knows better.

Protect National Monuments: I oppose all efforts to reduce or rescind our National Monuments. This is a local issue in the California desert, as Mojave Trails and Castle Mountains are still being considered for reductions or management changes. In addition to my strong position in support of our monuments, I oppose changes to any of our nation’s monuments through Trump’s administrative review process. This process is illegal, and seeks to open up our natural and cultural treasures to extractive industries. In the California desert, we witnessed and participated in the process to create our national monuments, and we know that the process represented the voice of our communities. An attack on one monument is an attack on them all, and we stand in solidarity with tribes and communities fighting to protect their spectacular national monuments.