Rossi fiercely dedicated to California politics, warts and all

CONCORD, CA (July 26, 2024) — In the intricate, noisy, drama-filled world of California politics, there is a political strategist known for her unwavering work ethic, unyielding principles and compassionate nature – plugging away behind the scenes making sense of it all.

Peers, clients and friends universally describe Mary Jo Rossi as going “all in,” whether she’s running a campaign, raising her daughter or keeping you company in the hospital.

She has “integrity with an amazing work ethic,” says Jeremy Carlson, who was her executive assistant for six years.

“She’s the best person I’ve ever worked for,” he says. “She was schooled by the Old School Dems in Sacramento. She’s hardnosed with a heart of gold.”

Changing the rhetoric

Raised in San Diego, Rossi got her start in Sacramento politics in 1982. A recent college grad with a bachelor’s in political science, she went to work as chief of staff in Assembly Speaker Willie Brown’s office. While with Brown, she spearheaded campaigns for Assembly candidates all over the state without computers, Internet or cellphones.

“We had no fax machines or email. We sent everything by Greyhound.”

Since 1988, she has been the driving force behind Concord-based Rossi Communications, where she works with such familiar names as Assemblymember Tim Grayson, county Supervisors Federal Glover and Candace Anderson as well as police officer associations, businesses and developers.

Rossi misses the politics of the ’80s. “Sacramento was really trying to get s**t done. People didn’t hate each other. They talked to each other,” she laments.

She lays much of the blame for ineffective government at the feet of term limits and district elections.

“Term limits really screwed the system up,” she groans. “It’s transferred too much power to the unelected lobbyists who have been around the longest. This has made the elected officials “more reactive to special interests.”

The result: “Sacramento is missing the context and historical perspective provided by experience.”

Misplaced priorities

District elections have further mucked up local politics, she says. Designed to be inclusive, they had the opposite effect by limiting the field. “Some districts can’t find anyone to run – or it’s always only the incumbent.”

She is highly critical of politicians who don’t know what their constituents want. In the last Concord City Council election, she recalls seeing several voter surveys citing public safety and homelessness as top concerns. Yet no one running for council named either as a priority.

“Mental health was their priority. But you can’t focus on mental health when you have someone living in a tent behind the Hilton,” she says.

“Houston should be our model. Houston has focused on permanent housing, not hotel rooms. Their first choice was not to pour more money into (the problem). It was to find permanent housing,” she explains.

“This county has spent $123 million in four years, and what do we have to show for it? Nothing.”

Meanwhile, the Concord candidates all supported the Concord Naval Weapons Station development. But Rossi calls them too small-minded for a project of that size.

“This is a huge opportunity, and it’s time to think outside the box,” she says. “They want to be everything to everyone. But you can’t have everything you want. I don’t get everything I want.”

She calls it’s unrealistic to expect “25% affordable housing, a wall-to-wall project labor agreement and 100- to 200-foot open space buffers.”

A winning attitude

Her disdain for district elections and term limits comes from a fundamental belief that decisions should always stem from principle, not special interests or emotional impulses. This attitude garners her unwavering respect and loyalty from clients like Grayson and Glover. Both say she is every inch the professional but is “in it to win.”

Always straightforward and sometimes blunt, Rossi claims: “I can get anyone elected to local office.”

That posture has brought her a fair amount of criticism, with detractors noting she will do anything to win.

“They’re right,” says Rossi, who clarifies that she aims her spear only at what is in public record or the opponents’ claims – not at the person. “If it is issue related and out there, then it’s fair game. You have to show the contrast with your candidate.”

Politics is often described as a blood sport. In a field largely dominated by men and where ruthless is the rule of engagement, some liken Rossi to a barracuda.“But ruthless is how powerful, tenacious women get things done. I see that as a compliment,” says Anderson, who’s both a client and a friend.

Focus on the home front

Over her 44-year career, Rossi was used to handling 25 to 30 campaigns at once. But at 66, she wants more time for the things that make her uniquely Mary Jo.

This election cycle, she is working only with a handful of political action committees on their independent expenditure campaigns. She’s also finding time to launch a new political column for the Pioneer that will debut next month.

At her core is her relationship with her daughter, Bella Colarusso – a testament to her resilience, love and unwavering support as a single mother.

Raising Bella while working and running a household was her biggest life challenge. “Sometimes I would get home late and sit in the driveway for 15 minutes just to have that time to myself. Often, I’d go three months without a day off.”

Bella’s growth into a successful physician assistant working with critically ill children and the legacy of love and values Rossi instilled speak volumes about the depth of their bond and Rossi’s dedication to family.

For many years, she and Bella shared the family home with Lulu and Theo, two rescue mini pigs who had their own room painted turquoise with a farm motif and frequently slept with their humans.

With Bella now working at St. Jude Children’s Hospital in Memphis, Theo and Lulu are at Goatlandia Farm Animal Sanctuary in Sebastopol waiting for a time when Bella can move them to Memphis. Rossi visits them in Sebastopol about every other month. Her only roommate now is a tiny Yorkipoo named Olive.

A ‘quirky’ sense of style

When it comes to food and fashion, “there is nothing subtle about Mary Jo,” says close friend Karen Mitchoff, a former county supervisor.

Her tastes are “quirky.” Petite and blond hair with her signature black and white checkerboard glasses. She favors designer Betsy Johnson – known for whimsical designs that reflect Rossi’s supreme self-confidence and overarching sense of fun.

When Rossi isn’t working or visiting Bella in Memphis or Theo and Lulu in Sebastopol, she’s likely in the garden tending her herbs or in the kitchen chopping them for her famous tomato sauce. She developed her culinary skills in Italy, where she attended seven different cooking schools.

While many were bored senseless during the pandemic, Rossi’s friends were watching her cooking videos. Against a black and white checkerboard backsplash in her Concord kitchen, she made tomato sauce, breakfast casseroles and pesto with humor and aplomb.

“She kept us entertained and laughing,” Mitchoff says. And well fed.

Rossi may be cutting back on her workload, but she is a long way from retiring. She still has things to do and more to learn. She’s making good use of AI and streaming. “I can find you and send you ads … it’s the way,” she notes.

For Rossi, there are still frontiers to conquer. And more pesto to make.