2020 Emily Farley Award Recipient
From the relaunch of the LWVPA in 2014 to 2018, Valerie was an active Board member and a contributor to several League Consensus Studies.
Most of us would not have gotten to know Valerie if those working to rejuvenate the LWVPA in 2011 had not sponsored an event with the newly elected Portland mayor, Mike Brennan. It was at this event that Valerie was first introduced to the League. She decided it might be a good way to get involved in domestic policy issues after years of living overseas and focusing on African development. She admits, however, that even more influential in her decision to get involved were numerous phone calls and much encouragement from former Emily Farley Awardees Karla Wight and Anne Schink.
Because our Awardee lives on Peaks Island and spends summers on Moosehead Lake, attending meetings in Portland can be challenging. We are fortunate that she is also an engaged citizen and didn’t let her preferences for remote living keep her from becoming a founding member of the leadership team that steered our local League’s re-creation.
Her most lasting contributions have been through participation in the conduct of League studies. Even before the LWVPA Board officially existed, Valerie’s 30-year background as an agricultural economist, specializing in agricultural policy, earned her a coveted position on the LWVUS 2014 agricultural update study committee. This happened because of strong encouragement to apply from Anne Schink and a positive recommendation offered by Karla Wight—these two LWVPA members were already active even if the re-juvenated LWVPA itself was not yet official.
Not having been intimidated by her initial foray into League studies at the national level, Valerie joined two LWVME study committees: One designed to help the League develop policy positions on citizens’ initiatives and the other addressing different options for candidate primaries. Barbara Kaufman, who participated in both those studies states:
I can unabashedly vouch for her work upholding League values for leadership, nonpartisanship, and efforts to include as many diverse people and points of view as possible. Valerie’s commitment to research and data, her technical writing and organization skills are not surprising given her professional background. But her dogged persistence, humor and encouragement helped both the Maine Primary Study Committee and the Citizens’ Initiative Committee (which she chaired) through our long slogs leading to Study Reports, Consensus Question Packets, response analyses, and Draft Policy Statements.
Thank-you, Valerie, for your steadfast support to the LWVPA and to League research efforts.