General Election: April 2, 2024
Hey there friend,
I sent you a note a few weeks ago to tell you a little bit about me, but I also would love to tell you where I come from and the experiences that have shaped me into the person I am today.
At 19 years old my mom worked at the front desk of a Kentucky hotel while she was pregnant with me, on her feet for 60+ hours/week. She had to return to work just five weeks after giving birth because there were no workplace protections for new moms and she couldn’t afford to lose her job.
After my brother Trevor was born, we moved in with my grandparents, and my mom worked three jobs at times, saved up, and after about a year, we moved into an apartment for just the three of us. Trevor and I slept on a bright red bunkbed in a shared room. As a single parent in her early twenties, my mom made sure we had a happy life, even if she wasn’t always confident she could make ends meet for herself and her two boys.
My mom always taught me and my brother that if we care about people and work hard, success will find us.
In 2012, after studying hard in the classroom and working multiple jobs at night and on the weekends, I became the first in my family to graduate from college, and in 2015 the first to graduate from law school.
I love that I get to say I was “first” because my little brother Trevor became the second to go to college and then law school. I don’t deserve any credit for his hard work and drive, but the way he tells the story, he always felt like it was a competition and he couldn’t let me win.
My dad was always absent from my life, and I think that is a driving factor as to why family is so important to me. As a kid I had no idea what struggles my mom was going through, but as an adult, I realize that was only because she shielded me and Trevor from her reality. Regardless of how bleak things may have seemed, she always had a smile on her face, told us to do our homework, and reminded us that we could be anything we want to be as long as we care about people and work hard.
Now, fast forward a few years, the son of a hotel front desk employee is a vice president, lawyer, and on the senior leadership team for a hospitality brand that brought in over $1 billion of revenue last year, operates in 22 cities, and employs over 11,000 hard-working people.
I’m proud to say, based on the experience of my own family, I have been part of establishing a policy that ensures all pregnant women working at the front desks of our hotels have access to a place to sit and up to 12 weeks of paid maternity leave to rest and bond with their child.
I am part of a team that manages a ten-figure budget. I ensure the company remains compliant with local, state, and federal laws, and that we treat our employees the right way. I’m the person that our teams across the country call when they find themselves in a crisis.
I promise to care about people and work hard if elected to represent you on Oshkosh City Council. I want to use the lessons I’ve learned from my mom and the experiences I have from working for a large company to focus on three values that will make Oshkosh an even better place to live: Government Transparency, Responsible Spending, and Opportunity for Everyone.
Just like my mom did for me and Trevor, families in Oshkosh are doing the best they can, trying to live their lives despite the pressures of rising costs, a limited inventory of housing, ever-increasing taxes, and a pile of bills. From my viewpoint, the role of government is to keep us safe, plan for the future, ensure equitable allocation of resources, and coordinate competing interests. In no uncertain terms, government should make life easier and less complicated, and I want to be a part of a change to shift our City of Oshkosh in that direction.
Together we can make Oshkosh even better, for ourselves and for our families. I hope to earn your vote.
All my best,
DJ
We can do great things together when I am elected to the Oshkosh City Council.
But I need your support to get there.
Can you help today with a contribution of $24, $50, or $100 so I can fight for you and your families on the Oshkosh City Council?
