Her father Mariano, a worker in a label-making factory in California, brought his family to the United States in 1972 on visas provided by his employer.

This low score inspired Marin to work hard to learn the language which she accomplished in part by listening to songs on the radio and repeating the words.

[5] Marin's efforts came to the notice of state officials and, in 1992, she was appointed the chief of Legislative Affairs for the Department of Developmental Services by Governor Pete Wilson.

[13] During her tenure, Marin was known as a law-and-order politician and was credited with various public safety initiatives that reformed the police department, increased its funding, and reduced crime by 50%.

She also instituted a task force to combat air pollution in response to a government study that listed Huntington Park as one of several communities particularly at risk and launched a crackdown on a black market for illegal documentation.

[5][9][17] During this time, Marin served as an officer on several commissions such as president of the Mayors and Councils Department of the League of California Cities, vice-chair of the Latino Caucus, and chair of the Southeast Community Development Corporation.

In her last two years in office, Marin concurrently worked for AT&T Corporation as Public Relations Manager for the Hispanic Market in the Southern California Region.

While mayor, she had met the Texas governor and volunteered in his campaign effort in California working on Hispanic outreach and acting as its Spanish-speaking surrogate.

In addition to the Treasurer's traditional duties of overseeing the U.S. Mint and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, Marin's tenure included organizing the Department’s first financial education outreach efforts.

[21][26] She also served as a designee to the President's Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans on behalf of Treasury Secretary John W.

On June 15, 2002, she served as the keynote speaker at the commencement ceremony of her alma mater, CSULA, where she received an honorary Doctorate of Law degree and continued to garner praise for her achievements.

[28] By April, 2003, speculation began circulating that Marin would soon return to California and become a GOP candidate to challenge US Senator Barbara Boxer in the upcoming 2004 electoral cycle.

In a half-hour speech before a hometown crowd in Huntington Park, Marin painted herself as a moderate while at the same time embracing certain key conservative Republican issues such as national security and low taxes.

[15] Highlighting her Republican credentials, Marin evoked rhetoric of Ronald Reagan, proclaimed her support for President Bush's $726 billion tax cut, and gave tough[according to whom?]

At the Richard Nixon Library in Yorba Linda in February 2004, Marin called for tougher US pressure on Mexico in her first major policy speech of the campaign, including adjusting existing treaties in order to deport criminal aliens.

Davis, to send out a mailer addressing the Republicans' "white male problem" and offering her candidacy as the best chance to defeat Sen.

Democratic California congresswoman Hilda Solis, among others, questioned Marin's claim that she had personally opposed Proposition 187 in 1994 – a problem particularly vexing to the state GOP – saying that she did not do enough to voice that opposition publicly.

Marin's attempts at distancing herself from more controversial GOP measures and tacking to the center were dismissed as posturing, and she was labelled by one high-ranking Hispanic Democrat as "a good house Mexican for the Republicans".

Despite picking up a substantial number[clarification needed] of undecided voters on election day, Marin was unable to overcome GOP frontrunner Jones in name recognition, funding, or popularity among the party.

The previous day, she joined several other prominent Republican women in denouncing what they considered unfair attacks on vice presidential candidate, Gov.

[44][45] Later that same year, Marin was linked to a secret "stealth lobbying campaign" waged by Freddie Mac to influence federal regulation legislation in 2006.

According to documents obtained by the Associated Press, the firm had utilized an influential lobbying agency for which she worked, the DCI Group, to target key Republican Senators.

The goal of the campaign was to defeat a bill by Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE) that would have overhauled the mortgage industry, including Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.

[46] In January, 2006, Marin had given an address in Helena, Montana, speaking out against Hagel's Senate Bill 190 claiming that it was too far-reaching and would make it more difficult for people with low-incomes to become homeowners.

[46] On March 5, 2009, Marin resigned her position as head of the CSCSA after inquiries by the Los Angeles Times into speaker's fees she had received and as the paper was preparing to publish a story concerning an ongoing investigation into her activities by the California Fair Political Practices Commission (CFPPC).

A spokesman for Governor Schwarzenegger released a statement that Marin had violated administration policy that prohibits public officials from receiving speaker's fees.

"[49] The Times story and CFPPC investigation revealed that between April 2004 and the end of 2007, Marin had received in excess of $50,000 for various speaking engagements through the American Program Bureau lecture agency.

Although she was subject to a $15,000 penalty, Marin's fine was reduced to $5,400 after the Commission accepted her position that she had received "bad legal advice" from state attorneys and had kept the administration informed.