Pat Waak
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Patricia A. "Pat" Waak is the chair of the Colorado Democratic Party. A population and environmental policy analyst and consultant, Waak was elected to chair the Colorado Democratic Party in 2005. She led the party as it saw statewide gains in 2006 and won the right to host the Democratic National Convention. A superdelegate to the national convention, Waak publicly endorsed Sen. Barack Obama on May 28, 2008, citing the 60 percent majority Obama received in the Colorado caucus.
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[edit] Biography
Born in Muskogee, Oklahoma and raised in Texas, Waak, a registered nurse, was a Peace Corps volunteer in Brazil where she taught maternal and child health[1] between 1966 and 1968.[2]
During the Carter administration, she worked for the U.S. Agency for International Development and then joined at Columbia University as Assistant Director for the Center for Population and Family Health. She then spent 17 years at the National Audubon Society,[3] from 1985 to 1999.[2]
Waak was a delegate to the 1994 U.N. International Conference on Population and Development, and chaired the population and environment technical committee for the Commission on Environmental Strategies and Planning of the World Conservation Union.[3] She was named a Population Reference Bureau Honorary Fellow in 1992, and received the Audubon Society's Charles Callison Award in 1998.[1] She is was the executive director of an environmental center in Loveland, Colorado.[3]
Waak is also the author of My Bones Are Red, a genealogical memoir published in 2005.[4] She is married; Waak and her husband, Ken Strom, have two daughters, Cinira Baldi and Rachel Carter.[1]
[edit] Political career
Waak's political resume includes stints as deputy campaign manager for presidential candidate Sargent Shriver in 1976 and a run for U.S. Congress in Colorado's 4th congressional district in 2002. A resident of Erie, Colorado, she has also served as a Democratic Party precinct chair and a member of the Weld County Democratic Party Executive Committee.
She was elected to chair the Colorado Democratic Party in March 2005,[3] defeating incumbent party chair Chris Gates in a narrow 187-184 vote by Colorado's Democratic Party central committee.[5] Supporters of Gates contended that the close vote reflected a rift between moderates and liberals within the state party, while other Waak supporters contended that the election reflected problems with Gates' leadership style.[6] Waak was re-elected unanimously to a second two year term in March 2007.[7] During her term as state party chair, Colorado Democrats won control of the governorship and Congressional seat in 2006[8] and successfully bid to host the 2008 Democratic National Convention.[9]
As Colorado Democratic Party chair, she is a superdelegate to the 2008 Democratic National Convention, but has not publicly announced her intention to vote for a particular candidate. She has stated that, as state party chair, she intends to remain neutral in the presidential contest until a clear winner emerges.[10][11][12][13]
[edit] References
- ^ a b c About Pat. Pat Waak for Congress. Retrieved on 2008-02-17.
- ^ a b 1966: Patricia Waak served in Brazil in Maceio beginning in 1966. Peace Corps Online. Retrieved on 2008-02-17.
- ^ a b c d Patricia Waak Biography. Colorado Democratic Party. Retrieved on 2008-02-17.
- ^ My Bones Are Red (Paperback). Amazon.com. Retrieved on 2008-02-17.
- ^ Florio, Gwen. "Pat Waak elected Colorado Democratic Party chairman", Rocky Mountain News, 9 March 2005. Retrieved on 2008-02-17.
- ^ Singer, Matt. "Colorado Dems, Fresh Off Successes, Switch Things Up", New West Politics, 7 March 2005. Retrieved on 2008-02-17.
- ^ A Message from Patricia Waak. Pat Waak. Retrieved on 2008-02-17.
- ^ Staff Reports. "Waak To Continue Leading Colorado Democrats", Associated Press, 5 March 2007. Retrieved on 2008-02-17.
- ^ Merritt, George; Chris Olsher. "Denver wins Democratic National Convention, beating out NYC", Denver Post, 11 January 2007. Retrieved on 2008-02-17.
- ^ Paulson, Steven K.. "Some Colorado superdelegates lining up behind candidates", Denver Post, 30 October 2007. Retrieved on 2008-02-16.
- ^ Colorado Democratic Party (19 February 2008). "Comment on Unpledged (Super) Delegate". Press release. Retrieved on 2008-02-23.
- ^ Balz, Dan. "Influential Democrats Waiting to Choose Sides", Washington Post, 9 March 2008. Retrieved on 2008-03-14.
- ^ Brady, Jeff. "Colorado Democrat Stays Mum on Presidential Pick", National Public Radio, 6 April 2008. Retrieved on 2008-04-10.
[edit] External links
- PatWaak.com - personal site
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