Mary Parker Lewis is a political consultant who most famously served as Chief of Staff to Dr. Alan Keyes

Alan Keyes

Alan Lee Keyes is an American conservative political activist, author, former diplomat, and perennial candidate for public office. A doctoral graduate of Harvard University, Keyes began his diplomatic career in the U.S...

, candidate for President of the United States

President of the United States

The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

 in 1996 and 2000. In addition to running both Keyes presidential campaigns, Lewis also ran the statesman's historic campaign for the U.S. Senate

United States Senate

The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...

 from Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

 against Barack Obama

Barack Obama

Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...

 in 2004.

Her political works have come under scrutiny due to reports that in 2010, while these Political Action Committees (PACs) took in millions of dollars in donations, they paid out only a very small percentage to the causes they claim they are working to defend. Mary also took considerable compensation packages as well from these PACs.

Lewis was born and raised in southern California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 where she attended Scripps College

Scripps College

Scripps College is a progressive liberal arts women's college in Claremont, California, United States. It is a member of the Claremont Colleges. Scripps ranks 3rd for the nation's best women's college, ahead of Barnard College, Mount Holyoke College, and Bryn Mawr College at 23rd on the list for...

 in Claremont

Claremont, California

Claremont is a small affluent college town in eastern Los Angeles County, California, United States, about east of downtown Los Angeles at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains. The population as of the 2010 census is 34,926. Claremont is known for its seven higher-education institutions, its...

. She then completed graduate studies at Claremont Graduate School (now Claremont Graduate University

Claremont Graduate University

Claremont Graduate University is a private, all-graduate research university located in Claremont, California, a city east of downtown Los Angeles...

) in her home state and at Notre Dame Institute in Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

. Early in her career, Lewis served as a staffer with the Free Congress Foundation and the Hoover Institution

Hoover Institution

The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace is a public policy think tank and library founded in 1919 by then future U.S. president, Herbert Hoover, an early alumnus of Stanford....

. She became special assistant to the U.S. Secretary of Transportation and confidential assistant to William Kristol

William Kristol

William Kristol is an American neoconservative political analyst and commentator. He is the founder and editor of the political magazine The Weekly Standard and a regular commentator on the Fox News Channel....

, Chief of Staff to U.S. Secretary of Education William Bennett

William Bennett

William John "Bill" Bennett is an American conservative pundit, politician, and political theorist. He served as United States Secretary of Education from 1985 to 1988. He also held the post of Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy under George H. W...

.

Lewis is also known in conservative activist circles as Executive Director of the Declaration Foundation, grassroots organizations founded by Dr. Alan Keyes to advocate the basic principles and core values of the conservative movement in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

.