We've already raised over $16,000 for Marilyn Musgrave's challenger Angie Paccione in just the past 24 hours. I want to see that little Angie Paccione meter tipping towards $20,000 by midnight. You know you can :-) Then tomorrow we start with another candidate.
Angie Paccione, Ph.D, the respected and effective Chair of the Democratic Majority Caucus in the Colorado House of Representatives, came to politics from a busy life in which she excelled as a professional basketball player, a professional educator, and a community leader.
Basketball Star
Angie was born in 1960 in the South Bronx area of New York City. With an Italian father and an African-American mother, Angie is a proud example of the melting pot that is America. Growing up on the streets of New York City, Angie used basketball as her ticket to a better life. As a senior in high school, Angie was a consensus All-American and a member of the National Select Team that represented the USA.
With her extraordinary basketball and academic skills, Angie was one of the first women ever to receive a full scholarship to Stanford University in California. While at Stanford and for years afterwards, Angie traveled on humanitarian missions as a member of Christian basketball teams. A true scholar-athlete, Angie graduated from Stanford with an honors degree in political science, and then joined the Women’s American Basketball Association.
Professional Educator
Angie moved to Colorado in 1985 after retiring from professional sports. As a Coloradan, Angie first focused her energy on working with troubled youth at a residential childcare facility, and then trained to be a high school teacher. During her teacher training, Angie was awarded the Future Teacher Award by the Colorado Commission on Higher Education. Angie taught at Smoky Hill High School in the Cherry Creek School District.
After teaching for four years, Angie became a Dean of Students at Smoky Hill, and was able to combine her two passions—teaching and basketball—by becoming the coach of the boy’s varsity basketball team. In this position, Angie was the first and only woman in Colorado history to coach boy’s varsity basketball in the large high school classification.
In 1995, Angie was recruited to become the Teacher-Scholar for Project Promise, an award-winning graduate program for teacher preparation at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. During an eight-year career with Project Promise, Angie trained classroom and student teachers, and earned her own PhD in education. Angie accepted a position at CSU as Assistant Professor of Teacher Education and Diversity.
Public Service
While pursing her career in education, Angie applied her leadership skills to the local and surrounding communities by serving on boards of directors for non-profit organizations, and by working and volunteering with various charities. It was this dedication to diversity and public service that led her to run for State Representative from House District 53 in 2002.
Angie was elected to the Colorado legislature as a Democrat in a district in which her party was a minority. Angie was re-elected by a wide margin in 2004 by a coalition of Democrat, Republican, and Independent voters. Having demonstrated the ability to work effectively to build bipartisan support for issues important to Colorado, her colleagues chose her for the position of Chair of the Democratic Majority Caucus. Angie’s legislative work is focused on increasing opportunities for young people, businesses, seniors, and the most vulnerable in our communities. Angie continues to be an effective champion for education issues while also pushing for improvements in healthcare, job growth and training, consumer protections, and for a cost-conscious government that is more responsible and less invasive.
Vision. Courage. Leadership… Angie Paccione is the choice of the 4th Congressional District.
