University of Colorado Denver

I worked as a staffer in the Colorado Legislature for more than five years covering five legislative sessions. I left in 2006 as the communications director for the Senate Minority Office. My campaign experience includes work as the communications director and spokesman for a statewide ballot initiative in 2008, and as the communications director for a U.S. Senate candidate in 2004.  I have also been a newspaper reporter and magazine columnist, and lived and worked in Japan for a year and a half. I hold a B.S. in journalism from CU-Boulder and an M.A. in political science from CU-Denver.

In the Summer 2012 semester, I am scheduled to teach the Media and Public Policy course for the School of Public Affairs.

Dissertation research is focused on the citizen initiative's impact on policy innovation in the American states through the lens of political competition theory. Past research has focused on sustainable development, mail ballot elections in Colorado, the municipal bond market, and tax-and-expenditure limitations (TELs).

Paper presentation: ""Leviathan and Tax and Expenditure Limitations: Does Government Competition Reduce the Stringency of Municipal TELs?"" was presented at the Western Social Science Association conference in April 2011.