Janet Oleszek

Infobox_Politician


name=Janet Oleszek


width=
office = Candidate for Virginia State Senator
preceded=
succeeded=
date of birth=Birth date and age|1947|3|26|
place of birth=Sacramento, California
date of death=
place of death=
spouse=Walter
profession=educator
religion=
party=Democratic

Janet Oleszek was the Democratic candidate for the 37th District of the Virginia Senate, who ran against Republican Ken Cuccinelli in 2007. She was unsuccessful.

Career

After earning a master's degree in Special Education from American University, Oleszek began working as a teacher in Fairfax County public schools.
Oleszek was elected an at-large member of the Fairfax County school board in 2003, with more votes than any other Democratic school board candidate has received in Fairfax (88,000 votes). While serving on the school board, Oleszek advocated full-day kindergarten, and considers its implementation one of her major successes as a school board member.

Oleszek was unable to translate her county wide popularity to the Senate race. She came out of the race down 92 votes, and Cuccinelli was officially declared the winner on 9 November 2007. After Oleszek's requested recount on 9 December 2007, it was evident that Cuccinelli had won by 101 votes, so Oleszek conceded.

Endorsements

Janet Oleszek's 2007 State Senate campaign has earned the endorsements of:
[http://veaweteach.org/ Virginia Education Association]
[http://www.fairfaxea.org/ Fairfax Education Association]
[http://valcv.org/ Virginia League of Conservation Voters]
[http://virginia.sierraclub.org/ Virginia Sierra Club]
[http://afl-cio.org/aboutus/unioncities/clcfind.cfm?state=VA/ Virginia AFL-CIO]
[http://www.fairfaxfirefighers.org/ International Association of Firefighters, Fairfax County] State Senator Dick SaslawRep. Jim Moran (D-VA)Former Congresswoman Leslie Byrne (D-VA)

External links

* [http://www.janetforfairfax.com/ Janet Oleszek] official campaign website
* [http://www.vote-smart.org/bio.php?can_id=56671 Project Vote Smart - Janet S. Oleszek (VA)] profile
* [http://projects.washingtonpost.com/votersguide/2007/va/races/va-senate-district-37/ Washington Post - Senate District 37 Race]