Issues I care about:
Locally grown
The theme of my campaign is “locally grown.” I’m a product of Highline High School and teach part-time at Highline Community College. I own my own business here in the 33rd district. My business regularly takes me overseas to places like Denmark as well as Eastern Europe. And each time I come home I’m more determined than ever to help people take advantage of all the opportunities we have here in South King County –- the natural beauty, our diverse population and our can-do work ethic. People here have shown how to be on the leading edge of innovation –- in aerospace, retailing, software, and charitable giving. Yet, our state government lags behind: bureaucratic, slow, over-promising and under-delivering.
Education
I went to Highline High School and now teach part-time at Highline Community College. What’s more, my kids attend public schools here, so the quality of local education is very important to me. Our system has too much paperwork and not enough schoolwork. Parents know the schools have been overwhelmed with vacation days, in service days, half-days, conference days and testing days. We need to focus on ways to deliver quality education and push the bureaucratic work to the side.
We should find a way to reward those teachers who do the best job and measure how well students are improving as they move through the system. The WASL test is not a bad idea in theory, but in practice it has consumed too much time from students, teachers, administrators and parents. America is a nation of immigrants. Our schools have a special responsibility to help new Americans. In our local district, students from 80 countries speak more than 70 languages. Our schools must help these students transition to full participation in our civil society and workforce.
Wasteful government spending
State government often hurts small businesses and homeowners more than it helps them. Our taxes are too high and spending is out of control. Statewide, spending has increased more than thirty percent in the last four years. Homeowners can’t afford it. Now, on top of all that waste, the state government faces a $5 billion deficit. It’s time to rein in spending.
Health care
Health care costs hurt both small businesses and employees who need health care. The state has limited health care options which means too many young people are uninsured. On top of that, people who are self-employed or in small businesses have a very hard time finding insurance packages they can afford. We need to give more flexibility to employers and employees to keep health care costs down.
Transportation
Clearly, our population growth and economic success has overwhelmed our transportation system. We need to increase the capacity of our highways and transit as quickly as possible. I support completing 509 and replacing the viaduct in Seattle. The last transportation proposal that was put before voters was such a huge waste that even King County Executive Ron Sims could not support it. Instead, we need focused investments on high priority projects that will reduce congestion. We have a lot of work to do and it’s time to stop studying the issues and begin building roads.