Barbara Alby

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title: "Barbara Alby" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1946-births", "2012-deaths", "politicians-from-sacramento,-california", "people-from-fair-oaks,-california", "republican-party-members-of-the-california-state-assembly", "women-state-legislators-in-california", "20th-century-american-women-politicians", "21st-century-california-politicians", "21st-century-american-women-politicians", "candidates-in-the-1998-united-states-elections", "20th-century-members-of-the-california-state-legislature"] description: "American politician (1946–2012)" topic_path: "politics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Alby" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American politician (1946–2012) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]

Field	Value
image	Barbaraalby.jpg
name	Barbara Alby
caption	A portrait of Barbara Alby
office	California State Board of Equalization
Board Member, 2nd District
term_start	March 10, 2010
term_end	December 31, 2010
governor	Arnold Schwarzenegger
predecessor	Bill Leonard
successor	Sean Wallentine
state_assembly1	California
district1	5th
term_start1	July 30, 1993
term_end1	November 30, 1998
preceded1	B. T. Collins
succeeded1	Dave Cox
birth_date
birth_place	Sacramento, California, U.S.
death_date
death_place	Folsom, California, U.S.
party	Republican
spouse	Dennis Alby
children	5
profession	Politician
::

| image = Barbaraalby.jpg | name = Barbara Alby | caption = A portrait of Barbara Alby | office = California State Board of Equalization Board Member, 2nd District | term_start = March 10, 2010 | term_end = December 31, 2010 | governor = Arnold Schwarzenegger | deputy = | predecessor = Bill Leonard | successor = Sean Wallentine | state_assembly1 = California | district1 = 5th | term_start1 = July 30, 1993 | term_end1 = November 30, 1998 | preceded1 = B. T. Collins | succeeded1 = Dave Cox | birth_name = | birth_date = | birth_place = Sacramento, California, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = Folsom, California, U.S. | party = Republican | spouse = Dennis Alby | children = 5 | profession = Politician | alma_mater =

Barbara Alby (August 9, 1946 – December 9, 2012) was an American politician who lived in Fair Oaks, California and was a member of the Republican Party.

Early life

Barbara Alby was born on August 9, 1946 in the Town and Country area of Sacramento, California. She was the oldest of four siblings. Her father was a butcher in local grocery stores. Her parents divorced when she was 16 years old. She attended St. Philomene's grade school and Loretto High School. She then transferred to Encina High School. She was a member of the class of 1964, but did not graduate.

Alby moved to Wisconsin with her second husband and she lived there for eight years. She received her high school diploma from a night school in Wisconsin. Alby dropped out of the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She went on welfare at the age of 19 until her benefits were cut.

Personal life

Alby married twice. She eloped with her first husband at the age of 17 in 1964. She had two daughters with her first husband. She married her second husband, Dennis Alby and had three children.

Career

She first sought elective office in 1991, running in a special election for the Sacramento-based 5th district in the California State Assembly. She lost that race to fellow Republican B. T. Collins, onetime Chief of Staff to Democratic former Gov. Jerry Brown, and narrowly lost to him again in the 1992 Republican primary. After Collins died, Alby won a 1993 special election to succeed him and occupied the Assembly seat until 1998 when term limits forced her from office. In 1996, she wrote legislation for Megan's Law in California. In 1998 she ran for the U.S. House of Representatives, attempting to succeed veteran Democrat Vic Fazio in the Sacramento-based 3rd district after Fazio retired after redistricting made the district more politically competitive. Alby lost the Republican primary to moderate businessman Doug Ose by 20 points.

Later, Alby assumed the position of chief deputy to Board of Equalization Member Bill Leonard. She occupied that post until Leonard resigned in March 2010, at which point she became the Acting Board Member for the seat—during the middle of the period for candidates to file paperwork to appear on the ballot to fill the Board seat in the June primary election, so with just days for candidates to qualify to appear on the ballot, Leonard enabled Alby to run as "Acting Board Member" on the ballot.

During the June 2010 primary election, Alby became embroiled in controversy when the Capitol Weekly newspaper revealed that Indian casinos had spent nearly $200,000 on Alby's behalf in the election. Beside Indian casinos, the largest contributors to Alby's campaign were Alby herself, Senator Roy Ashburn, and Bill Leonard, her former boss.

Alby resigned as acting Board of Equalization member on December 31, 2010, and was succeeded by acting Board Member Sean Wallentine.

Death

Barbara Alby died of a heart attack the morning of December 9, 2012.

References

References

1. Bazar, Emily. (1998-07-19). "Women's rights--the fight goes on". [[The Sacramento Bee]].
2. "Alby, Barbara". [[The Sacramento Bee]].
3. Vellinga, Mary Lynne. (1996-06-23). "Alby: As teen, she became 'very serious truant'". [[The Sacramento Bee]].
4. "Encina High School Class of 1964 directory".
5. (May 25, 2010). "Board of Equalization: Republican candidates". [[Lodi News-Sentinel]].
6. Ross Farrow. (May 20, 2010}} {{subscription required). "Candidates for California Board of Equalization address Lodi Republican Women". [[Lodi News-Sentinel]].
7. Vellinga, Mary Lynne. (1996-06-23). "Alby's path to success began as rocky road". [[The Sacramento Bee]].
8. "Statement of Vote - Primary Election - June 2, 1992". [[California Secretary of State]].
9. "Statement of Vote - Primary Election - June 2, 1998". [[California Secretary of State]].
10. (1996-06-12). "Megan". [[Los Angeles Times]].
11. Torey Van Oot. (March 9, 2010). "Leonard tapped as Consumer Services Agency head". [[The Sacramento Bee]].
12. Jon Fleischman. (March 9, 2010). "Leonard To Enter Schwarzenegger Administration, Alby Will Become Acting BOE Member (Just In Time For Filing For Office)". FlashReport.
13. Malcolm McLachlan. (June 2, 2010). "San Manuel Band-backed IE spends $185,000 for Alby". Capitol Weekly.
14. Chris Emami. (June 3, 2010). "Barbara Alby: The Republican Cruz Bustamante". Red County.
15. "CalAccess - Campaign Finance - Alby for Board of Equalization 2010 - Contributors Sorted by Amount". [[California Secretary of State]].
16. "An acting capacity to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Acting Board of Equalization Member Barbara Alby (SBOE-2) following her resignation.". JoinCalifornia Political Archive.

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