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Los Angeles County, CA June 3, 2008 Election
Smart Voter Full Biography for Diane A. Lenning

Candidate for
United States Representative; District 39; Republican Party

[photo]
This information is provided by the candidate

A fifth generation Californian, I was born in Long Beach, CA and raised in Huntington Beach, CA. Attending public schools during the era of excellence, California was third in the nation in quality of education. My children and grand children have attended public schools as well.

I learned the importance of running a business early. My mother owned and operated a country grocery store in Huntington Beach during the 1950s and early 1960s. I worked in the grocery store as a cashier and stocking the shelves. We earned our own spending money and learned how to manage a profit.

My father worked for Richfield Oil Refinery for 35 years as a Refinery Supervisor, which later became ARCO, then BP. Dad was born in Hamilton, Ohio in 1921, and graduated from Poly High School in Long Beach, 1939.

I knew the experience of picking crops in the local fields and orchards. Often times the local farmers would allow the public to pick their own fruit and vegetables. The memory of the local fruit and vegetable stands all throughout Orange County is a vivid happy memory including the enjoyment of the delicious taste of fresh fruit and vegetables.

Fourth of five children, I paid my own way through college with the help of a couple of scholarships from local women's clubs. I worked at Waite's Drug Store to help pay for tuition, books, and transportation costs through college.

Later, another job in civil service in Procurement at Vandenberg AFB served to pay the final years of my college expenses where I graduated from Cal-Poly State University, San Luis Obispo. Nearly completing a masters degree in History, my husband got a job back home in southern California after completing his term as an officer at VAFB during the Viet Nam War. I later earned a masters degree in Secondary Education at CSULB, along with various other degrees.

Jerry and I were married in 1967 in Long Beach, CA at a local church where we had met three years previously. In the middle of the Viet Nam War, we moved to a small corn farming area in Thomasville, Illinois the day after we were married. Jerry was stationed at Rantoul AFB just north of Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. We lived there six months before we were transferred to Vandenberg AFB in CA.

We have been blessed with three children and five grand children. We raised our children in La Palma, CA, a city adjacent to Cerritos, CA. For over twenty years, I served as a teacher, counselor, and soccer coach in the 39th District.

My paternal grandfather was a minister of a church on Crenshaw Boulevard in Los Angeles during the 1950s. During that same decade, my maternal grandmother was a minister of a church in Orange County, CA.

I was blessed with a wonderful extended family on my mother's side. Mom was one of nine children. Over time, her siblings married, and I have over twenty cousins. There have been times over the years that we had up to 100 family members meet for holiday occasions.

Growing up in Orange County was a wonderful and special experience. The food was great, the education was exceptional, and the communities were safe.

Teaching over thirty years has been a rewarding experience, dedicating my service to the academic and skills development of our youth and our future. Having taught in an Eli Broad Award winning district, I know how to improve education in California, whether it be from the national level as a Congress member or at a state level.

I am running for office because I want to assure a safe and free future for my children and grand children, and yours as well. As a 16th generation American and descendant of an attorney of the London Company and founding member of Jamestown, VA, I want to preserve our form of government and way of life that my ancestors fought so hard to preserve. I have had an ancestor or relative in every war since the founding of America. A descendant of founding families, I am aware of the seriousness of the over-arching threat to our future as a free society. I have completed two years of law school in order to strengthen my ability to perform as a Congress member. I believe strongly in our rights in the Constitution, guaranteeing freedom, liberty, and a Republican form of government.

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Created from information supplied by the candidate: May 16, 2008 07:20
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