For this first in a series of interviews of District Captains, we meet Deborah Peterson, a new DC in District 22 (Lacey and Olympia). Convention of States Washington is fortunate to have her in such a key position.
Deborah’s notable mentor, W. Cleon Skousen (1913-2006) authored The Making of America-the Substance and Meaning of the Constitution, which at the time of this writing is ranked #8 on the Amazon Best Sellers in the category of “Teen and Young Adult United States Colonial & Revolutionary Periods History,” #44 in “Constitutions,” and #44 in “U.S. Colonial Period History” with an overall 88% five-star review rating.
Deborah also has a deep background in the medical field, as she spent 35 years in the field of Interventional Cardiology as a physician’s assistant. In addition to her activities on behalf of COS, Deborah volunteers on behalf of GFCW Women’s Club and has considerable experience in neighborhood activism.
In these interviews, we will explore the rewards and challenges of being a District Captain, as well as their dreams and plans for their districts.
KG: Hi, Deborah! We are so glad to have you as a District Captain. I see that, like me, you just joined in the first quarter of this year. Can you tell me a little bit about you? And how did you find out about Convention of States?
DP: (Laughs) From the time when it was first said to me, “So, would you be interested in being a District Captain?" I have seen COS on and off for probably the last two years.
I also am the vice-president of GFWC (General Federation of Women's Club). I'm also a chapter leader for So Powerful, an organization that makes purses for girls in Africa.
KG: I see that your background is in medicine--35 years in interventional cardiology. That’s impressive! What made you take the leap into being a District Captain?
DP: Yeah, I was a PA. I worked predominantly at university medical centers with the last two in Pittsburgh, PA, and San Diego, CA. After seven years in Cardiac Catheterization, I was introduced to Cardiac Electrophysiology (which is the study and treatment of arrhythmias) by a physician friend who was the director of the Electrophysiology Department at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla.
During the mid-to-late 90s, I ran the Electrophysiology Program at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. We had discovered a possible genetic issue with some of our younger patients, who were presenting with dangerous ventricular arrhythmias.
To address this, we–that is, myself, the research staff, and our EP attendings (ed. note: these are the main physicians in the department)--started a research program. And this program introduced me to microbiology and molecular biology.
When all the COVID-19 stuff came up last year, I started seeing a couple of my medical colleagues being vilified because they were saying things that differed from what the mainstream media and the government were saying.
They were getting threatened and/or getting fired from their practices, they were getting their licenses and credentials pulled. I really became concerned. We need to start making the public properly aware of all information about this disease and all treatments.
Unfortunately, everything that we've been told about this past year has not been the full truth, and the information is being suppressed. I’ll give you one example.
I had a good friend up at University of California - San Francisco who's an infectious disease specialist. She put together a Facebook page for her and her colleagues across the United States just to discuss amongst themselves how they're gonna handle the most current information.
Mind you, this was a private group, not a public one. They would post on what to do when new data came out from the CDC, and when the CDC came out with a change in their statistics, they would discuss how this would affect what they needed to do. But Facebook knocked them right off, just kicked them off Facebook.
KG: Really!
DP: Facebook was telling them that they were spreading false information! And these are infectious disease specialists, doctors and experts. Yeah, I never would have thought that I would have seen this.
KG: Yes, that’s actually shocking! Unfortunately, though, it’s not even uncommon these days. Are you familiar with Frontline Physicians, by any chance?
DP: I got to know some of the physicians involved with Frontline Physicians when I provided clinical and go-live training to the Cath Labs at their hospital in Los Angeles. Two I stayed in contact with are at UC San Francisco. They’re all specialists in infectious diseases who’ve have treated patients for many, many years and have written many peer-reviewed papers.
They’ve also produced many studies and research over the last 30 years which were highly praised. And our doctors--who also were highly regarded and world-class experts getting these COVID-19 cases--had the news media come to the medical campus.
They expressed everything, all their reservations about what was being put out and stated that the public needed to know the truth. And then right afterwards, everybody came after them and start threatening them.
KG: Wow.
DP: Then, yeah, putting all my career aside, when I saw Convention of States, I'm thinking, yeah, something needs to be done.
KG: Could you tell me about your activities that you've been doing since you got on board?
DP: After I signed the petition, I sought out legislators. I got very, very lucky and started up communications with Senator Hunt. Sam Hunt. Senator Hunt was the first one to respond.
The one thing that Senator Hunt did say with respect to federal money, federal spending, was he was more focused on the term "balanced budget." He felt that the federal assets can be used to offset the spending. I brought up to him that responsible spending was more important than relying on assets.
The second thing I did was to write letters to the editor in three of our local papers: Thurston Talks, The JOLT, and The Olympian. But if we continue to get people to sign more and more petitions. . . help people get the proper information about the purpose of Convention of States, I see that as the goal.
KG: So one of the things I understand that District Captains do besides talk to our lawmakers is that they try to get people informed, try to get them to sign the petition for a Convention of States, and at the same time let our legislators become aware that the people are activating.
Would you say that these activities are an effective way to link up the state representatives with the grassroots and at the same time to grow the grassroots, to both get some synergy going between the grassroots and our local lawmakers?
I’m always struck that Convention of States proposes a way to fix national problems, like this crazy spending that’s going on, that is lawful under our Constitution and circumvents the Washington, D.C., swamp.
DP: Yeah. It’s complicated. The federal government leverages on the states, you know, with all the strings they put on federal money. When I wrote back to Senator Hunt, I said, “I'll tell you what was taught to me at an early age, from not only my parents but my grandparents, as well. It is dangerous to spend money that you don’t have.”
“My parents had always told me that you do not just spend and spend money.” I said, “The federal government needs to have the same attitude.” That responsible, proper, and appropriate spending is what is needed. It’s wasteful and irresponsible to buy something if you don't have money for it.
KG: You know, there's so much dissatisfaction with government right now . . . . People are so unhappy at the lack of responsiveness and I can hear it.
DP: I think everyone’s feeling it. With me coming in from San Diego, not knowing the history of the district and kind of starting out from scratch...it’s been an eye-opener.
Convention of States is super-organized, and they have solid tracking on everyone who expresses interest. I went into all the information that they gave me.
KG: What are your ideas for what to do next? To raise enthusiasm. Because right now I am hearing a lot of frustration, and that is a lot of energy that could be reversed in a positive direction!
DP: How it is right now, and I think a lot of it is because there hasn't been a District Captain for, however long--it's tough. But it’s just probably because they haven't heard anything back, and so it's like yeah, restarting. But I know we’ll be able to get people involved and engaged.
Eventually I won't mind having events and gatherings and in-person gatherings at my house. I would like to do it for my neighborhood. We have great neighborhoods. There's some great, great people here.
KG: Exactly, and do you have some ideas for public events? What about local and state fairs?
DP: Yep, we’re going to check out any public venues to spread the word. We should be present for every single one of those. And I know we still need District Captains, there’s still a need for that here in Washington. I also am hoping to find volunteers to help bring Convention of States to community groups.
Before last year I had put together a major fundraising event on behalf of Seattle Children Hospital Uncompensated Funds program. They needed help to pay the costs for kids that are brought in from all around, and we had the VFW involved in the venue. The venue was downtown at the Washington Center for Performing Arts. It was very elegant, very wonderful, and that was the first time that the GFWC Capital Woman’s Club had ever done a large-scale fundraiser.
When I joined them, I thought they had been doing this, but I found out that they had no experience with it. Well, I had experience because I’d been in the medical field. We were always doing fundraisers. We had celebrities, and everything. . . . We had local artists involved. . . . You know, that's just what we did. We were able to pull off a powerful fundraiser with community help.
KG: It's very exciting to hear what can be done with Convention of States to help our country, and it's exciting to talk to you because you are, as a District Captain, really on the front lines of this fight.
DP: Yes. The big takeaway should be that this is for everybody, no matter what political party. The crazy stuff in Washington, D.C., and in all the big cities affects everybody, and everybody needs to be aware of this. You know, COS is not political. Do not make it political. That's what I tell people.
KG: If you could put out one call to action for all the people in your district who have said they wanted to help with Convention of States, what would it be? What thing would you ask them to do? Are you asking them to write letters to their legislators?
DP: While hand-writing letters to the legislators is a great idea, and I strongly encourage it, I think the biggest impact would be to increase the number of people signing the COS petition. There is power in numbers, and it would be very difficult to ignore the large number of petitions coming in.
You can contact Deborah at: Deborah.peterson@cosaction.com.
