Dr. Gonsalves is a board certified anesthesiologist who actively practices medicine at a number of institutions in San Diego County. He has personally cared for thousands of members of the San Diego Community. He has won several community service awards and actively participates in improving the trauma care system in Southern California.
Dr. Gonsalves is an expert in Medicare financing and is well versed in the economic challenges that medicine is facing. He is a fiscal conservative and registered Independent voter. He thoroughly believes that our local, state, and federal representatives do not have an income problem, but rather a spending problem.
Dr. Gonsalves has helped save Californians over one billion dollars in taxes. He has been politically active for more than ten years. In medical school he encouraged people to get involved in state politics as related to medicine.
Dr. Gonsalves is a regular contributor to the North County Times newspaper in San Diego County. He has been featured on KUSI's San Diego People, and he has been a recurring guest on the Fox Business Channel
Dr. Gonsalves resides in Carlsbad, with his wife and son.
Rhonda Deniston, Oceanside/Events Director
Rhonda Deniston is an integral member of the Stop Taxing Us organization. An Events Technical Director for the past 21 years, Rhonda is well versed in what it takes to organize and manage large teams--so much so that she successfully attracted over 5,000 protesters to Stop Taxing Us's very first Tax Day Tea Party in Oceanside, 2009.
Rhonda’s priorities are God, family, and country. As a Army Veteran, a business owner, a wife of a retired Navy Chief, and most importantly a mom, Rhonda is very active in her community. She serves as a trainer for the Oceanside Community Emergency Response Team, a youth baseball coach, and a community organizer for Stop Taxing Us.
Currently working on a Bachelors in Legal Studies, Rhonda still finds time to help educate and inform the public on tax issues as a frequent guest on The Roger Hedgecock Show, The Rick Robert’s Show and other media outlets. Rhonda's many contributions to Stop Taxing Us continue to help spread the message of fiscal responsibility and accountability.
Susie Songe, Volunteer Coordinator
Susie Songe is the volunteer coordinator for Stop Taxing Us. A businesswoman and a resident of
Susie is married, a mother of two, and has done volunteer work for humanitarian causes, both domestically and internationally. Along with many others, Susie participated in the effort to preserve the
Brian Brady, Solana Beach Director
Brian is often called a "radical capitalist" which he describes as an opponent to any and all government intervention in the economy. He is a published columnist about mortgage financing and has 23 years of experience in capital markets. He brings a fresh approach to the Stop Taxing Us Blog and Facebook fan page, offering laissez-faire economics as a solution to our nation's problems. Brian hosts our podcast and interviews of local and national political leaders.
Brian holds a Bachelor's degree from the Villanova School of Business, has held leadership positions in the Knights of Columbus, the National Association of Mortgage Brokers, and the Villanova University Alumni Association. He resides in Solana Beach with his wife and daughter.
Darcy Brandon, Carlsbad Director
Darcy Brandon is an award-winning landscape architect who has been practicing in Southern California for over 20 years. She has developed landscape plans for homeowners, developers and builders and has seen the impact of government regulations, policies and fees affect the building industry at large and the individual homeowner who just wants to build their dream oasis. The building industry has created hundreds, if not thousands, of jobs in our communities and has spurred economic prosperity across the country. Unfortunately, this has changed.
Prior to 2008, Darcy was blissfully living life - working, volunteering at school, raising a family and being a wife - and not involved in politics...at all. Like many other Americans, she thought that by voting she was doing her civic duty and thought the politicians would handle all that political “stuff.” (They sure did handle things...it’s amazing what you can get away with when no one is looking!) That changed after the 2008 elections. Today, Darcy is one of the most active political activists in San Diego County.
Darcy believes that private property rights are the foundation to life, liberty and freedom. She is a constitutional conservative who believes in the US Constitution. Her philosophy is that of a Constructionist.
Richard Rider, Chairman San Diego Tax Fighters
In addition to his military service, Mr Rider is a retired stockbroker and financial planner. A champion amongst taxpayer advocates he is the current Chairman of San Diego Tax Fighters and is also affiliated with the National Taxpayers Union, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, and the San Diego County Taxpayers Association. Mr Rider successfully sued the county of San Diego (Rider vs. County of San Diego) to force a rollback of an illegal 1/2-cent jails sales tax, a precedent that saved California taxpayers over fourteen billion dollars, including $3.5 billion for San Diego taxpayers. Mr Rider has actively supported a variety of tax-cutting ballot initiatives including Proposition 13. He has written ballot arguments against numerous county and state tax increase initiatives. A veteran of the ballot initiative process, Mr Rider served as the County co-chair of both California term limit initiatives (Prop 140 and Prop 164). As a politician he was the California Libertarian Party candidate for governor in 1994.
And if all of this in not enough, Mr Rider has been involved in legal actions against City of San Diego to force a public vote on issuing bonds for Qualcomm stadium expansion, convention center, baseball ballpark and other projects. In 2005 he ran for Mayor of San Diego, and many of his ideas have since taken hold. As a Columnist for NORTH COUNTY TIMES and SAN DIEGO DAILY TRANSCRIPT he has written numerous editorials and has conducted countless radio and television interviews. In 2009 The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association named him "California Tax Fighter of the Year"........and this is just the cliff note version.
Joe Brown, Co-Founder
Joe Brown helped to co-found Stop Taxing Us. He was involved with the group for the first three months of its formation and helped contribute to its early success. While Joe no longer participates as an active member of Stop Taxing Us, the organization appreciates his past efforts.
See what the Stop Taxing Us Leadership has to say about local, state, and nationwide initiatives. Read our blog
