Every first and third Tuesday of the month, she sits on the far right hand side of the Council Chambers, the only woman on the Coronado City Council.
Her voice rings quiet but commanding, a distinctive coarse quality lingering in her throat.
She is Councilwoman Carrie Anne Downey, and her spot on the city council is just a fraction of who she is and how she fills her time.
The list of everything she’s done and continues to do grows longer and longer including being a member of the all-volunteer Coronado Fourth of July, which runs the city’s biggest events of the year on Independence Day.
From hosting a symposium in 1990 on women’s rights to working on her doctorate in Political Science and Public Policy at Claremont Graduate University, Downey has fulfilled her years with working towards the next thing.
You can’t do what you don’t try.”
-Carrie Anne Downey.
“You can’t do what you don’t try,” Downey said, letting out a small chuckle.
JAG Corps endeavors
Ever since she was 8, Downey knew she wanted to be a lawyer.
She accomplished that dream when she learned about the Judge Advocate General Corps (JAG) and got accepted after her first year of law school at The Catholic University of America in Washington D.C.
The JAG Corps provides legal counsel in the areas of international law, civil litigation and military justice, according to the U.S. Navy’s website.
Downey stayed as a JAG officer for 10 years.
In addition to getting to serve my country, which I thought everybody should do, I could get in the courtroom very quickly. So that’s why I joined the Navy.”
-Carrie Anne Downey.
“In addition to getting to serve my country, which I thought everybody should do, I could get in the courtroom very quickly. So that’s why I joined the Navy,” Downey said.
However, at that time in 1990, women were not allowed to serve in any combat roles. They couldn’t go out to sea or become fighter pilots or go on submarines, said Downey.
“I thought it was unconstitutional. And so, I hosted a symposium on that,” she said. “I had a bunch of writers who were writing on this topic from the Navy Justice School and then the Air Force Academy, and we hosted it.”
Risk Rule
What Downey didn’t know, she said, was that Navy Captain Kathy Bruyere had been fighting for women’s rights in the military and won a class-action lawsuit in 1978 where the law was determined unconstitutional.
Despite winning the lawsuit, there was still the “Risk Rule” of 1988.
The “Risk Rule” was rescinded in 1994, allowing women to be in combat roles unless it was in direct ground combat.
Downey was a Navy JAG officer throughout the entirety of this.
And she remained long enough to see women win their rights within the military.
One of her jobs was as the senior defense counsel for all of the Los Angeles area for anybody in the Navy.
I went out to sea on every platform we had, whether it was combat or not…there was no limitation. So that was a cool thing to see.”
-Carrie Anne Downey.
“I used to have to go out to sea. So, I went out to sea on every platform we had, whether it was combat or not…there was no limitation. So that was a cool thing to see,” Downey said.
Landing in Coronado
One of the locations Downey was sent to was San Diego, and she ended up receiving two commands in Coronado.
“I retired out here and never left,” Downey said.
After medically retiring in 1999, Downey continued to work alongside the Navy on environmental issues, getting her Master of Laws in Environmental Studies at the University of San Diego.
She had three children under the age of 5 at this time, and was pregnant with her fourth child when she took the bar.
Since 2000, she has been working in energy law with an emphasis on environmental issues.
But that was still not enough work for Downey.
Serving on the City Council
In 2004, Downey ran for Coronado City Council for the first time.
However, Downey says she’s managed to stay away from the politics of the left and the right.
“Coronado City Council races are non-partisan, and I’ve never ran for another office that was partisan,” she says.
There’s no need for a party to define her, she says, and to divide people in a town of less than 25,000 people.
I have worked well with and been endorsed by Coronado mayors of both parties.”
-Carrie Anne Downey.
“I have worked well with and been endorsed by Coronado mayors of both parties,” Downey says.
She won in 2004 and served a maximum of two consecutive terms until 2012 because of term limits and then took two years off before returning in 2014 (and winning another council seat).
Two years later, she ran for mayor but lost to Richard Bailey. Yet, she finished her term as councilwoman in 2018.
In true Downey fashion, she didn’t sit still.
Downey took another short break from city council and returned to school for the next four years, completing her classes for her doctorate at Claremont Graduate University.
Why a PhD?
She is completing her dissertation as she serves her fourth term as councilwoman.
“If I can ever slow down, I’ll finish this stupid dissertation,” Downey jokes, a nod at her constantly flowing schedule.
So, after serving her country and city, why does she still want a PhD?
“I haven’t thought a lot about it…I get a lot of satisfaction out of my job, all of my jobs,” Downey said. “I like feeling like I’m part of the solution.”
