41 Facts About Rosario Marin

Rosario Marin was born on August 4,1958 and is a Mexican-American politician who served as the 41st Treasurer of the United States from August 16,2001, to June 30,2003, serving under President George W Bush.

Rosario Marin is the first person since William Clark to assume the post without having been born a United States citizen.

Rosario Marin is the only foreign-born Treasurer of the United States.

Rosario Marin's family settled in Huntington Park, California where her father obtained work as a janitor and her mother as a seamstress.

Rosario Marin compromised by working during the day and attending East Los Angeles College at night.

Rosario Marin graduated from CSULA in 1983 with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration.

Rosario Marin withdrew from an MBA program in which she was enrolled.

Rosario Marin's efforts came to the notice of state officials and, in 1992, she was appointed the chief of Legislative Affairs for the Department of Developmental Services by Governor Pete Wilson.

At DDS, Rosario Marin worked for legislation to benefit the mentally challenged.

Two years later, Rosario Marin was named chair of the Council on Developmental Disabilities where she continued to advocate for the mentally disabled and their families.

Finally, in 1996, Rosario Marin was appointed the assistant deputy director for the Department of Social Services.

Rosario Marin had been influenced to join the Republican Party by her boss at City National after she naturalized in 1984.

In 1994, while still working in the Wilson Administration, Rosario Marin ran for a city council seat in Huntington Park and won.

Rosario Marin instituted a task force to combat air pollution in response to a government study that listed Huntington Park as one of several communities particularly at risk and launched a crackdown on a black market for illegal documentation.

Rosario Marin was known for being a tough and, sometimes, divisive participant of council meetings.

Rosario Marin continued to work for Governor Wilson for the first few years of her time on the council.

Rosario Marin was a member of various boards such as the California Film Commission, the Special Olympics, and the National Association of Latino Elected Officials and in 1998 completed the John F Kennedy School of Government's program for senior executives in state and local government.

Rosario Marin was a vice-president of the California Republican National Hispanic Assembly.

Shortly after his election, Rosario Marin was featured prominently among the president-elect's circle.

Rosario Marin became the highest ranking Latina to serve in President Bush's Administration and, as such, was often called upon to represent it before the Hispanic community.

Rosario Marin served as a member of the new Partnership for Prosperity efforts between the United States and Mexico.

Rosario Marin was particularly concerned with educating young people on the importance of building and maintaining financial stability.

Rosario Marin served as a designee to the President's Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans on behalf of Treasury Secretary John W Snow.

Later in the year, Rosario Marin co-founded the National Association of Latina Leaders and served as its first chairwoman.

At the Richard Nixon Library in Yorba Linda in February 2004, Rosario Marin called for tougher US pressure on Mexico in her first major policy speech of the campaign, including adjusting existing treaties in order to deport criminal aliens.

Rosario Marin was passed over by key Republicans when Governors Schwarzenegger, her old boss Wilson, and George Deukmejian all endorsed Jones.

In 2007 Rosario Marin published her memoirs, Leading Between Two Worlds: Lessons from the First Mexican-Born Treasurer of the United States.

On May 10,2008, Rosario Marin received an honorary doctorate for her achievements from Woodbury University.

Rosario Marin continued to work on behalf of the Republican Party and was a featured speaker at the 2008 Republican National Convention, addressing the crowd on September 4.

Rosario Marin particularly noted her connection to Palin by virtue of their both having children with Downs.

In February 2009 Rosario Marin was the keynote speaker at the California Sustainability Alliance's 2008 Sustainability Showcase Awards where she discussed transforming the market through the implementation of California's Green Building Initiative.

Later that same year, Rosario Marin was linked to a secret "stealth lobbying campaign" waged by Freddie Mac to influence federal regulation legislation in 2006.

In January, 2006, Rosario Marin had given an address in Helena, Montana, speaking out against Hagel's Senate Bill 190 claiming that it was too far-reaching and would make it more difficult for people with low-incomes to become homeowners.

Rosario Marin's office confirmed that her visits to Montana and Missouri at that time were in association with her work for DCI.

On March 5,2009, Rosario Marin resigned her position as head of the CSCSA after inquiries by the Los Angeles Times into speaker's fees she had received and as the paper was preparing to publish a story concerning an ongoing investigation into her activities by the California Fair Political Practices Commission.

The Times story and CFPPC investigation revealed that between April 2004 and the end of 2007, Rosario Marin had received in excess of $50,000 for various speaking engagements through the American Program Bureau lecture agency.

The CFPPC was particularly concerned with $15,000 Rosario Marin received from the drug company Pfizer in 2007 which was simultaneously lobbying the Board of Pharmacy, a regulatory panel under her jurisdiction, and $13,500 from Bristol-Myers Squibb in 2008 when it was likewise lobbying agencies she oversaw.

Rosario Marin countered that most of the speeches were "inspirational" in nature and that she had kept the governor's office and state senate informed since her appointment to the IWMB.

The CFPPC initially launched its investigation after a routine review found that Rosario Marin had listed her speaking engagement fees as income.

Rosario Marin married Alvaro "Alex" Rosario Marin, an immigrant from Nicaragua, in the early 1980s.

Rosario Marin's husband graduated from CSULA, obtaining a Sociology degree in 1979.