1. John St. Croix
To Whom It May Concern:
I am submitting this generic cover letter as part of my search for employment. As a career public
servant with a variety of current and past responsibilities, I will bring broad experience along with
excellent management and leadership skills. My teaching experience gives me some unique
perspectives that produce results in mentoring staff, communicating with others and creating
interesting and notable work-products.
During my years working on Capitol Hill, I became comfortable interacting with a broad range of
stakeholders including legislators, ambassadors, senior government officials, departmental liaisons,
members of the military, educators, farmers, business people and even celebrities. I am comfortable
speaking in public to groups of any size and communicate well orally and in writing. I enjoy
challenges, particularly those that allow me to be creative, and I thrive when working with interesting
and talented people. I ask for sincere consideration for any suitable position.
Appropriate highlights include:
• Working with a board of directors – I currently report to a board of five Commissioners,
each of whom is appointed by a different elected official and serves one six-year term. I can
work with board members who have different and competing priorities, various levels of
dedication and distinct personalities. I have provided orientations for new members and
worked closely with more veteran members to enhance our mission and productivity. My
commission sets broad policy priorities; it is my job to carry them out via day to day staff
work. I work successfully – and have worked in the past – with a variety of elected and
appointed officials with competing agendas and personalities.
• Budget development – When I began in my current position over ten years ago, there were
eight staff members and an annual budget of less than one million dollars. Today, we have
19 full-time permanent staff and a handful of temporary staff and interns. Our overall
budget is over $4 million with an operating budget of $2.4 million and I also manage a
revolving public finance fund with a balance of about $7 million dollars.
• Program development – Campaign finance law and conflict of interested law are always
works-in-progress. Every year, my Commission sets priorities and we conduct in-depth
reviews of the laws we enforce and the regulations that allow us to function. We work
closely with elected and budget officials as well as state and national counterparts to ensure
that our laws and policies are up to date, efficient and effective. Our training and outreach
efforts are significant.
• Public and media relations – I am the primary spokesperson for our agency and am used
to all manner of relations with the general public, with the regulated community, with
established leadership in the community, and with all aspects of the media. I provide
speeches, testimony, on-camera interviews, written media materials and a variety of reports.
As previously stated, I have long experience dealing with elected officials at all levels of
government.
San Francisco, California 94132

2. John St. Croix
• Familiarity with the Classroom – I love teaching. With experience teaching at a four-year
university and in a high school classroom, I can easily aver that I am passionate about
education. This talent is not necessarily a direct qualification for work that I am pursuing.
But it is worth noting that it helps me to reach out to people in ways that they understand
and accept and enhances my skills in selling ideas and creative solutions. It also has
improved my ability to share my ideas with others and inspiring those who work with me.
As a supervisor, I have high expectations; in return, I strive to create an atmosphere of support and
engagement. I also believe I have an eye for talent and the capability to motivate creative and
intelligent people. Conversely, I also deal quite well with difficult and demanding people, though I
readily confess a preference for the former over the latter. Still, it is a simple irony that the more
thorny personalities and challenging problems hone our senses of humor the most. It is my sense of
humor that is often my most valued possession.
While there has been some variety in the roles of my career, they all had the element of challenge in
common. I believe I have risen consistently to those challenges beyond expectations.
At any time, I would be pleased to be more specific. Please let me know if I can provide any
additional information or answer any questions you may have for me. Thank you for this
opportunity to present my qualifications.
Sincerely,
John St. Croix
Executive Director
San Francisco Ethics Commission
San Francisco, California 94132