Jill Jankoski

Recent submission:
TOP 10 GOVERNORS OF 2011
as of January 18, 2012

Although she was born in Kentucky and raised in Wisconsin and Maine, she considers Boston home. Following her parent’s divorce, she was raised primarily by her mom and grandparents, spending summers with her dad. Today, they are two peas in a pod. Hers was not a political family at all. She knew who the president was and was subjected to the nightly news as it was her mom's 'can't miss program' but that was as 'political' as it went.

A long time student of political science, she became politically active at the age of 16. Wanting to do something to affect positive change and inspired by her social studies teacher, in 1991 she worked on a grassroots campaign for a local newscaster running for U.S. Congress. This being Madison, WI, “43 miles of liberalism surrounded by reality”, she was told not to expect much. The night Clinton won the White House, Scott Klug won his Congressional seat in a landslide! Though she was delighted he'd won, especially in a very liberal district, the disappointment that Clinton was elected president was palpable. That was her first up-close taste of politics but she fell in love.

Having moved to Boston at the age of 20 to be closer to her dad in Maine and live in the city she loved, she worked for Mitt Romney's unsuccessful campaign to unseat “the Liberal Lion” Ted Kennedy However, she discovered the political environment of Massachusetts made Wisconsin look conservative. She also went to a rally at Faneuil Hall in downtown Boston when Hillary toured for healthcare reform and learned still more about politics.

She 'found herself' politically somewhere between Boston, Massachusetts and Florida, where she relocated to in 1999 in order to be closer to her mom, as she recovered from a chronic health problem that nearly cost her her life. While in Florida, she got her degree in Political Science from FSU in 2003. She bore witness to what happens when your university is within two miles of the Governor's Mansion when the governor is the sitting president's brother during a national emergency such as 9/11, which changed her life in many a way as she dealt with several issues stemming from her time working in Boston. During the summer of 2008, she discovered that she is the only conservative on her mom's side of the family.

After getting laid off twice in 18 months between 2006 and 2008 when the new construction and real estate markets suffered economic downturns. She started her own tiny virtual assistance business and is currently working on building her business as well as doing more freelance writing and other work. Never one to hide her feelings or opinions, she also comments on various blogs, including her own, and other social networking sites on a regular basis.

She currently lives in North Carolina with two cats. Her hobbies include cheering for my sports teams (Go Red Sox!), opining on political issues, gardening, hunting garage sales, going to the beach and working out.