Release Date: May 11, 2009

Joining John Burton at the CDP will be Shawnda Westly as the new Executive Director.  Westly has worked in Democratic and union politics for 15 years. A veteran campaign organizer, Westly served as the California Professional Firefighters Political Director for six years and then ran an independent consulting firm since 2005 - which included John Burton’s race for Chair, the Consumer Attorneys of California, Treasurer Bill Lockyer, No on the Arena Tax, No on 75, and many union funded independent expenditure campaigns.  Raised in Orange County and now a resident of San Francisco, Westly will split her time between the two CDP northern offices.  (shawnda@cadem.org)

Continuing her work with John Burton as the CDP Political Director is Mollie Culver.  In addition to running the Burton for Chair successful ADEMS campaign, Culver worked on both of Jack O'Connell's statewide campaigns, and has a 15 year history of successfully campaigning for local, state and federal candidates and issues.  A graduate of Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, she earned a BA in political science.  (mollie@cadem.org)

Also joining the Burton team in late May will be Kate Folmar in a newly created position at the CDP - Communications Coordinator.   Kate will work on overall messaging for the party and updating our communications technology – using new media to engage activists and keep an overall eye on consistency in our messaging statewide.  Kate has served as Press Secretary to California Secretary of State Debra Bowen, the state's chief elections officer, for four election cycles. Before that, she was a journalist for 12 years at the Los Angeles Times and San Jose Mercury News. In her four years with the Mercury News' Capitol Bureau, Kate covered the first days of the Schwarzenegger governorship, the 2005 special election and the 2006 governor's race. (After May 25th, Kate can be reached at kate@cadem.org.)

In the San Francisco office, Ken Wun will join the CDP as the Chair’s Special Assistant.  Wun was a Portfolio Manager at a multi-million real estate investment fund.  He also previously worked in the investment management and real estate advisory industries.  Wun earned his BA in political science at UC Berkeley and his MS from Columbia University and was also a recipient of the Coro Fellowship in Public Affairs. (ken@cadem.org)