Government Accountability – Congress needs term limits and my promise to you is that I will not overstay my welcome.  Many well-intentioned individuals have been elected into Congress only to become career politicians. This is part of the problem in Washington. We need representation with fresh ideas, accountability, and transparency in order to build public trust. We need representation who emphasize with you and your concerns; someone who lives like you do and understands the value of your tax dollars they are spending. We need a representative who understands that they answer to you. We don’t need comfortable multi-millionaires getting richer while in office.

Elected officials need to have greater transparency, their job is to work for you and not be taking advantage of their position. The STOCK act was created to stop insider trading but it requires reporting within 45 days of a trade or risk a violation of $200.  The American people should have the same knowledge and real-time opportunity to mimic the trades as those that represent them.  I’d propose trade reporting closer to 24 hours with a more severe penalty.

Tax reform – When was the last time you completed your taxes without using a tax service, software, or accountant?  We complain that the middle class pays the bulk of taxes while the rich and big business get more breaks but our complex tax code of deductions, subsidies and exemptions make it so that only people who can pay tax professionals can find the tax breaks. Reform of the tax code is needed, taxes should be simple enough that an average taxpayer does not need to acquire additional help and pays a fair share.

Economy and Rising Costs – It has become considerably more difficult to feed our family, fill our car, and heat our home. Build Back Better promised to help Americans out of the Covid 19 recession, however, exorbitant government spending has only made things worse by increasing our national debt. This debt burdens us and will continue to burden our children and our grandchildren.  Your household can’t spend beyond your means and neither should your government. I’m committed to a balanced budget and challenging programs with tax increases.

Business and Trade - During Covid 19 we saw how fragile our supply chain has become, during the 80’s and 90’s a lot of manufacturing was moved to foreign countries and losing good jobs.  With Covid 19 we experienced first hand how reliant we have become on other countries and again lost jobs because of it.  Trade is important, but we need fair, level trading policies that also promote manufacturing here in the USA.  Manufacturing at home creates jobs, builds wealth, reduces reliance on other countries, and creates stability in the economy. We need to simplify regulations on manufacturing so that it is easier and more profitable to start, maintain, and compete with products made in America.

Public Safety – Decaying cities that are riddled with crime surround us.  There are a lot of reasons why this is occurring; however, acceptance of this is simply not okay and looking the other way is not only wrong, but erroneous.  We need to address the increasing spread of the drug epidemic and mental health issues. These are at the core of the deterioration of our cities.  We also need to support our police, enforce laws, and prosecute crime.  Reform is needed and we cannot stop until we’ve helped our neighbors in need and have once again created safe cities.

Health Care – Every American is entitled to the access of healthcare and it should not be a financial burden.   We have amazing medical professionals whose hard work is proven time and time again.  Unfortunately, healthcare has also become burdened with corporatization, insurance, as well as complications with your employer where provider networks seem to change annually.  The Affordable Care Act was an attempt at solving the healthcare crisis, for some it did help but for many others it did not.  Affordable prescription drugs and continued medical reform is needed that simplifies access, reduces cost, and does not tie our medical needs to a revolving door of employer providers.

Immigration – Our county was built on immigrants coming here as they knew that with some hard work they can have a better life.  The diversity of cultures and ideas has made America a better place and it continues to be core to who we are as a nation.  We need secure borders ensure safe and controlled immigration without overwhelming communities. We need reform of our immigration system to provide a clear path to citizenship or guest worker status.  We need systems that support and train new immigrants so they are not a burden but a resource that makes America stronger together.

Environment – Stewardship; resource management; clean energy; renewable resources: all are important when concerned about the environment, however much of what is being done to protect the environment is misdirected.  Closely linked to the environment is our nations energy policy and mandates requiring switching over to electric.  A primary example are electric cars which pose many challenges.  First is that we don’t have an electric grid that can sustain the increased demand, second the batteries require rare earth minerals that damage the environment, and third to cars and other products have become disposable with much shorter lifespans than their predecessors. 

A shift in perspective is needed, we need to focus on developing clean energy sources and make sure that aligns with mandates shifting us to electric alternatives.  Disposable is not good for the environment we need with manufacturers to promote durability and longevity. 

Housing – With homelessness there are calls for the government to provide more affordable housing options .I agree additional options are needed, but statistics show much of the homeless epidemic is a symptom of other problems, such as mental health.  These first need to be addressed, and giving low cost, and free housing will not dissipate the problems.

However, I can recognize we do have a housing problem here in Western Washington.  We live in a desirable area that not only drives up housing costs, but increases our already high property taxes, making owning a home difficult.  This in turn increases and escalates rental housing costs.  Owning a home has long been the “American Dream” that is seemingly unreachable for younger generations.  To combat the continued cost increase, I'd like to see promotion of Lifestyle Centers with planned communities designed around parks, along with a city center.  I believe these would be beneficial to our community which in turn would also offer a variety of sized homes at a range of costs.  When done correctly, people are able to live and work in small communities which offer economic diversity and can minimize the carbon footprint.