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A Fresh Face in Politics Three years ago, Jennifer Tierney worked for the San Diego county Department of Agriculture, Weights and Measures. Her focus was Africanized honey bees. Today, she's her own boss. Her focus is getting political candidates elected. "Killer bees and politics are not so terribly different," she joked during a recent interview. Tierney is a relative newcomer to the arena of San Diego political consulting, and she stands out. For one, she's a woman in a field traditionally dominated by men. And at 36, she's younger than most other local political consultants. She founded her business, the Gemini Group, in 1999. That same year, she moved to Virginia. She usually flies in to San Diego for about one week a month, more often around election time. In 2000, she designed the campaign Web site for successful mayoral candidate Dick Murphy. In the March primary, she ran the campaigns of San Diego 2nd District City Council hopeful Michael Zucchet and Bonnie Dumanis, a candidate for district attorney. Both advanced to November runoffs. Dan Goldstein and Jeff Bostwick, two of her clients running for judgeships, were elected outright. After the primary, she added Dwayne Crenshaw, a candidate for the San Diego City Council's 4th District, and Escondido Mayor Lori Holt Pfeiler, running for re-election, to her list of clients. How did Tierney make the transition from environmental-services program manager to sought-after political consultant in three years? She gives part of the credit to her friend and mentor John Kern, a former political consultant who is now Murphy's chief of staff. The two met in 1996 when Kern was doing some work for the San Diego County Farm Bureau, which overlapped with Tierney's work for the agriculture department. Tierney is a Democrat. Kern is a Republican. From the beginning, the two often fell into what Tierney described as "spirited discussions." Tierney's husband, a political science professor, often joins in. Big chance Tierney was soon taking side jobs, designing Web sites and campaign mailers for candidates and political action committees referred by Kern. She quit her county job in 1999 to focus on consulting. Among her first clients were San Diego's police and fire unions; she produced mailers on behalf of candidates they had endorsed. At the time, both unions were clients of Kern's. The real turning point, according to Kern, came in 2000. He was running Murphy's campaign, as well as several others, and was feeling overwhelmed. She offered to do some of the campaign literature. "In 48 hours, she and her sister produced these fantastic pieces of mail," Kern said. "These were new concepts; new ways of putting things on paper." Standard political mailers often use a pitch letter from, or on behalf of, a candidate, Kern said. One of Tierney's first efforts, a postcard on behalf of council candidate Scott Peters, paid for by the San Diego City Firefighters political action committee, featured a home safety checklist. Some of San Diego's veteran political consultants say Tierney is off to a fast start in a business that's typically tough to crack. Others say it's easy to reel off a couple of wins, but the trick is to do so consistently over the years. "Her rise in this community has been remarkably rapid," said Tom Shepard, who's done political consulting in San Diego for 20 years. "It took us three full election cycles -- six years -- of having a winning record before large numbers of candidates sought out us out." Larry Remer, another longtime consultant, said it takes time to build a reputation. "It's very hard," Remer said. "You're basically asking candidates to put their future in your hands." `Fresh air' Dumanis, on unpaid leave from her seat on the Superior Court bench, said she declined to hire any of the long-standing consultants in San Diego and called Tierney "a breath of fresh air." "I think we've been doing business with the good ol' boys for a long time and I don't particularly care for the way people active in politics right now operate." Many of Tierney's current clients were referred by Kern, who closed his consulting business when he became Murphy's chief of staff. But Tierney bristled when asked how much assistance she receives from him. "The decisions in every campaign I run are mine and my candidates'," she said. "I'm not saying I don't call John some nights and say, `I'm thinking about this, what do you think?' He's a resource and sounding board, the same way my husband is." Kern said: "If you look up the word independent in the dictionary, you'll see a picture of Jennifer." As a full-time consultant, Tierney is in charge of crafting a candidate's message, setting strategy and steering her clients around political potholes. Her relative lack of experience compared with other consultants was not an issue for Zucchet, who said consultants can sometimes get stuck in their ways and lose perspective. "Generally speaking, political consultants are not the most likable bunch on the planet," Zucchet said. "But Jennifer is different. She takes care of business without attitude or ego or a bunch of screaming and yelling." Doing the Balancing Act: Campaign Consultant Jennifer Tierney’s Trail Blazes a Life on Both Coasts Commuters gripe about the 30-some-mile drive out of North County to San Diego. Jennifer Tierney, a local political consultant, commutes from Williamsburg, Va. OK. OK. So she doesn’t do it every day. But from June to August, she’s commuted back and forth enough to stay a total of six weeks in San Diego. She’ll return every other week until near election time, when Jennifer will spend at least a couple of weeks here without going home. “You remain flexible and roll with whatever’s happening,” says Jennifer, who juggles four San Diego County campaigns. She’s a mother of two--Davis, 9, and Anne Catherine, 7--and wife to Mike, an international politics professor at The College of William and Mary. Besides the Gemini Group, the local consulting firm she started here in 1999, Jennifer owns a Virginia construction firm along with her three sisters. “She’s really striking out on a new path that I don’t think many women have embarked upon before,” says Rebecca Cristol, one of Tierney’s Williamsburg neighbors. “There aren’t many examples for her to follow. She’s kind of figuring it out. It’s exciting to see her success.” Besides owning businesses on both coasts, Jennifer serves as a room mother, a PTA board member, mentor to a fourth-grader who needs some extra help, and also a member of the League of Women Voters. Her Williamsburg yard sprouts hundreds of varieties of plants. “My friends call me Martha Stewart,” Jennifer says, chuckling at the comparison. Virginia gives her time to relax, smile at her husband over a cup of early-morning coffee, dig in the dirt, watch rosebuds unfurl, revel in her children’s stories and the sound of their still-small voices. But when the plane lands at Lindbergh Field, Jennifer sheds that skin o become a political shark. She resembles a typecast workaholic, hitting the pavement at breakneck speed all day and often meeting with clients over breakfast and supper. The phone and e-mail keep her connected to t he east Coast. Before turning in for the night, she may call Davis and read aloud a chapter from a Harry Potter book or listen to Anne Catherine explain the finer points of life alone with big brother and Dad. “It’s all about balance,” says Ray Drew. Drew, who owns the San Diego-based political and non-profit fund-raising firm Drew Consulting, once was the executive director of a nonprofit organization. Like Jennifer, he left behind a family to travel a lot. He and Jennifer became friends after working together on two local campaigns. Drew is amazed at her ability to finesse so many duties. “I know it’s not easy, but she certainly makes it work,” Drew says. “She’s been able to find a balance. That’s the difficult thing. Ten years ago it would have proven impossible to live on one coast and work on the other, Jennifer says. “Clients weren’t ready. They didn’t think it could be done.” After interviewing other consultants, Dan Goldstein, one of Jennifer’s clients who in March earned a San Diego County judge’s seat, had no problem offering her the job of heading up his campaign. “Our society is very mobile,” he says. And technology makes it easy. Jennifer keeps a cell phone with a 619 area code, Goldstein says, and she has an e-mail address. “I probably saw her and talked to her more than a campaign consultant who was living here,” Goldstein says. He was impressed with Jennifer’s honesty, enthusiasm, energy and motivation. “She has a new way of going about things. I like spontaneity and creative abilities,” he says. In the March primary, her campaigns were 4-0. A dozen or so campaign mailers for groups such as the city’s fire and police unions enjoyed similar results. “It’s going to be a hard fall when I lose one,” she says. “I’m not looking forward to it. I’m a terrible loser. I’m very competitive. My friends refused to play Pictionary with me in college.” New faces The People Behind the Would Be Officials Jennifer Tierney, Jack Orr and Tom Shepard were three consultants who were influential in many races in Carlsbad, Escondido, Oceanside, San Marcos, San Diego and Vista this year. None of them won all of their contests in the county. Tierney was three and one; Orr, four and three; Shepard, two and four. It was the candidates -- people such as Escondido Mayor Lori Holt Pfeiler, San Marcos Councilman Mark Rozmus and Vista Mayor Ed Estes - - whom North County voters saw giving speeches, attending forums and shaking hands before the recent election. Few voters, however, knew anything about the people behind the scenes who were making many of the important decisions about strategy, message and spin. They are the campaign consultants -- motivators, financial planners, tacticians, confidants and time managers, rolled into one -- and possibly the most vital cog in any would-be elected official's efforts for office. It's not unusual for consultants to wear these hats in several races in a given election year. Now, in the weeks after the votes have been counted, consultants' score cards are tallied, and their reputations are inflated or diminished, based on which candidates won and which lost. Jennifer Tierney, Jack Orr and Tom Shepard were three consultants who were influential in many races in Carlsbad, Escondido, Oceanside, San Marcos, San Diego and Vista this year. None of them won all of their contests in the county. Tierney was three and one; Orr, four and three; Shepard, two and four. Though a winner for her handling of the Pfeiler campaign, Tierney will no doubt get far more attention for being the brains behind Bonnie Dumanis' improbable upset over District Attorney Paul Pfingst. That victory is more impressive considering that Tierney has been doing campaign consulting for only three years.
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