Candidate for
County Supervisor; County of Marin; Supervisorial District 5

Hard Work is Toni Shroyer

Shroyer knows what hard work is. She knows how to champion important causes. And she won't duck a controversy if it needs to be resolved. In other words, she's a perfect candidate for the Marin Board of Supervisors.

Born in 1967 at Marin General, she came home to a church manse, a stone's throw from the church where her father was minister. As she puts it, "The cupboards were bare but we had a lot of love and chaos."

She and her three older siblings grew up in church, making announcements for potlucks in "Hang Ten" shorts, roller skating down the center aisle and bringing their own pets into the sanctuary for living nativity scenes. She also spent many hours trailing her father to hospitals to comfort the dying or tend to the elderly. And she learned early to roll with the frequent intrusions by transients or half-way house occupants who lived down the block. Nothing throws her today.

Caring for Others Came Early for

Her childhood summer visits to Oregon to visit "Grandma Sam" were all about social justice. Her grandmother, a staunch supporter of the Caesar Chavez movement would send Toni and her siblings into the strawberry fields to work along side the farm worker children. Her mother took up the cause as well, and so Toni and her sister would leaflet downtown San Rafael, and boycott companies and products harmful to the Third World. While other kids went to the circus, Toni protested in front of Lawrence Livermore Labs and attended Helen Caldicott lectures.

Being Poor Gave Her Work Ethic

By the 7th grade, she was tired of wearing her brothers' cast off Pop Warner jerseys. Her father told her to get a job to pay for the new clothes. So she did and has worked ever since.

First she babysat and earned enough money to buy an old pony which enabled her to branch out into riding lessons. She and her sister raised chickens and sold the eggs. Then at 16 she went to work at Jack in the Box, coming home every night smelling like grease. The next year she worked at Perry's Deli and came home smelling like pickles.

None of this slowed her down. In fact, when she was teased as a freshman in high school for only having two pairs of pants, she took on another job cleaning houses and bought the clothes. She also ran on the track team, played soccer, was a cheerleader, was elected Jr. Class Vice-President, crowned Homecoming Queen and finally elected Student Body President. At the same time, she earned her own college tuition.

She started at Davis, and then transferred to UCLA where she carried more than a full load of classes in order to graduate in four years. Her "Grandma Sam" lessons still resonated with her, and so she shoehorned political activism and gay rights into her already frantic life as well.

Success Only Made Her Work Harder

Being a self-starter, Toni chose the home loan industry after she graduated from UCLA because she knew that hard work would pay off and it did. Within a few years, she was one of the top agents in the country. Even the economic decline of the last 6 years didn't stop her. She just re-invented herself as she had so many times before and went into real estate. She now works for Bradley Real Estate.

Marriage and Family Life Heightened her Strong Sense of Responsibility

In 2001, Toni married Jim Shroyer. They have two children, Luke who is 11 and plays baseball and Nicole who is nine and rides horses. As a mother, has embraced more activities. She founded the Indian Valley 4-H club. She initiated and ran the "Pennies for Police Dog" campaign which enabled the Novato PD to purchase their third K-9 and train all three in narcotics detection. She is active with Novato's Junior Horseman's effort as well as "School Fuel", Novato's public school foundation. In addition, she volunteers with the Gang Graffiti Abatement Program in Novato and spends time weekly in her children's schools.

For relaxation, she rides her ponies, Beau and Cracker Jack, and runs with her 151-lb. Newfoundland dog, Grizzly Bear.

Shroyer... the right person... at the right time... with right skills for Marin County.

Like the young girl who leafleted San Rafael on behalf of abusive labor practices, Toni will stand up for the residents of Marin. She has helped fight blight and drugs in Novato. She started the successful graffiti abatement program.

She has no allegiance to special interest groups. She knows the importance of watching every penny and pledges to start with an evaluation of the supervisor's financial package. She will look for more effective ways to deal with the pension crisis.

When elected, Toni will harness her energy and incredible work ethic to work for the citizens of Marin County. Shroyer... we could not ask for a better advocate.