Анджела Паккионе: от баскетбола к политике и образованию Колорадо.

American politician

Angela Veronica "Angie" Paccione (born February 21, 1960) is an American politician and former Colorado legislator who was a 2006 Congressional candidate. A college basketball player at Stanford and professional basketball player in the 1980s, Paccione became a high school coach, teacher and administrator before earning a Ph. D. in education and joining the faculty of Colorado State University. Entering politics in 2002, Paccione, a Democrat, spent two terms representing west Fort Collins in the Colorado House of Representatives, rising to become House Majority Caucus Chair. In the legislature, she focused on issues relating to youth and higher education. In 2006, she was the Democratic nominee for U. S. Congress in Colorado's 4th Congressional district, narrowly losing to two term incumbent Republican Marilyn Musgrave. After briefly launching a second Congressional campaign in 2007, Paccione stepped out of the race to join a business consulting firm. In 2019 Colorado Governor Jared Polis appointed Paccione to be the executive director of the Colorado Department of Higher Education. On January 17, 2019, she was unanimously voted into the position by the Senate Education Committee.

After forming an exploratory committee in June 2005, Paccione announced, in September 2005, her intention to challenge two term incumbent Republican Marilyn Musgrave for Colorado's Fourth Congressional District, in what evolved into a highly competitive battle the Cook Report rated a "toss up" race for the historically Republican seat. In September, the race was designated as a third tier pickup opportunity for Democrats by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which provided $70,000 to the Paccione campaign for direct mail advertising. The Paccione campaign denied any knowledge of the action and the activist who left the flier was charged but acquitted of criminal use of a noxious substance. In July, Paccione was endorsed by Michael Schiavo, husband of Terri Schiavo, who criticized Rep. Musgrave for what he considered to be her support of government interference in end of life decisions. Paccione joined him during a highly publicized photo opportunity in which Schiavo hand delivered a letter critical of Musgrave to her Congressional office in Loveland. During the race, Paccione's campaign criticized Musgrave for her emphasis on divisive social issues such as gay marriage, her close relationship with President George W. Bush,
and her reputation as ethically corrupt, regularly referring to Musgrave as "Special Interest Marilyn" in press releases. The heated multimillion dollar race was targeted nationally by both major parties and 527 committees, and became a priority for the National Republican Congressional Committee, which sent hundreds of thousands of dollars into the district. An October poll showing Musgrave with a 10 percentage point advantage led the DCCC to withdraw plans to spend $630,000 on television and radio advertising. In response, Fort Collins philanthropist Pat Stryker donated $720,000 to local 527 groups to advertise in favor of Paccione. All told, Paccione's campaign raised and spent nearly $2 million. Paccione received support from a number of prominent Democrats who came to Colorado to support her campaign — including Rep. Xavier Becerra, Rep. Hilda Solis, Rep. Diane Watson, Rep. Barbara Lee, Rep. Rahm Emanuel, and General Wesley Clark. Although polls in the final weeks of the race showed the contest tightening, spurring a visit by President George W. Bush to support Musgrave, Paccione ultimately lost to Musgrave by just under 2.5% of votes cast—or under 6,000 votes out of roughly 240,000 — finishing closer than the previous Democratic challenger Stan Matsunaka who received 44.8% of the votes cast in a three way race with Green Party Candidate Kinsey and Musgrave. In a three way race that included Reform Party candidate Eric Eidsness, Musgrave garnered 45.61% to Paccione's 43.12%, and Eidsness 11.28% of the vote.

In May 2007, Paccione filed a statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission and began raising money for a second congressional run. In an email to supporters, she admitted some of the weaknesses of her first campaign, including an inexperienced campaign staff, and she hired a Denver campaign consulting firm to manage her 2008 campaign. Paccione faced Eric Eidsness, who had joined the Democratic Party, and Betsy Markey, a former aide to U. S. Senator Ken Salazar. Both Paccione and Markey, with prominent connections in the Colorado Democratic Party, vied for endorsements and in fundraising during 2007. In the second quarter of 2007, Paccione raised approximately $100,000 to Markey's $60,000. Although Markey was endorsed by a number of Colorado Democrats, including Senator Ken Salazar, former Congressional candidate Stan Matsunaka, and State Senator Bob Bacon,<! In September 2007, however, despite her fundraising lead, Paccione announced her withdrawal from the Congressional race in order to accept a position with Pathways to Leadership (renamed Verus Global), a business consulting firm, and announced that she would return money raised for her Congressional campaign back to contributors. Paccione had worked with Pathways to Leadership since January 2007, and cited the expanded international travel and the opportunity to impact lives associated with her leadership consulting work as a factor in decision to withdraw from the Congressional race. Together with the withdrawal of Reform Party turned Democrat Eric Eidsness shortly after Paccione, her withdrawal cleared the Democratic nomination field for Betsy Markey, who went on to win both the Democratic nomination and the general election in 2008. In 2012, Paccione worked as a Director with Verus Global, Inc.