“Seems like candidates hardly ever put what they believe on a brochure anymore.  I’m different.  I think voters deserve to know where I stand.”

Small Business

For 30+ years I’ve been a small business owner.  I know what it is like to have a payroll and employees. I know what it is like to not have enough at the end of the month to pay yourself.  I also know what it is like to pay taxes, buy health coverage and deal with all the paperwork required by bureaucracy. Over the years, I’ve authored and helped pass numerous laws that reduce paper work and taxes on small businesses. Small businesses are the backbone of our economy and they create local jobs.  I won’t forget that.  I’ll fight for jobs and a healthy economy. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Agriculture

Farming in the 40th District is a major part of our economy.  As former chairman of the House Trade and Economic Development Committee for seven years, I will put my experience to work to protect our family farms and our agriculture jobs.  I’ll work to expand trade opportunities for our farmers.  I’ve long been a big supporter in Olympia for homestead exemptions for our agriculture communities.  I know the value of our farmers and agricultural land. As a young man, I worked on a dairy farm. I know how hard our farmers work. We literally feed the world with some of our seed production. The state, nor the world, cannot afford to lose Skagit or Whatcom farm land.   I’m proud of my Washington Farm Bureau endorsement in this race.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Disabled Community

I care about people with disabilities.  As your Senator, I will not forget to look out for friends, family and neighbors who live, work or go to school with a disability.  I’ll work to open doors to opportunities that will enable people with disabilities to lead fulfilling lives.  A few years ago, I held a town hall meeting solely for members of the disabled community to discuss their issues.  I invited two Seattle Seahawks to join us and talk about their personal experiences with family and friends who are disabled.  Though there are more vocal interest groups out there in Olympia, my door is open to listening and finding ways to tackle issues facing the disabled and their families.

 

 

Property Taxes & Property Rights

I’m a friend to taxpayers and property owners. I’ve long advocated lower property taxes and defended property rights. I support allowing seniors to reduce their tax burdens, so they don’t lose their homes or farms. Taxes should not be a burden on small business owners, farmers, hard-working citizens or seniors on  limited incomes. We need to make sure every tax dollar is spent wisely and that government takes not one penny more than it needs to provide essential services for our citizens.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Health Care

I’m concerned with the lack of affordable health insurance.  The soaring cost of coverage is crushing.  More people every year are going without insurance to make ends meet.  Small business owners are straining to provide benefits with double digit annual increases. The political stalemate must end.  We have to start somewhere to get people covered and to lower costs. (1) The Legislature can expand the Basic Health Plan to cover people or small businesses who want it.  (2) We must make sure private insurers can compete on costs and quality.  (3) We must make public disclosure on hospital quality, meaningful and free ... and its availability easy to obtain (even if you don’t have a computer.)  (4)The Legislature must urge Congress to allow the self-employed to write off 100% of their insurance premium on their annual tax return.  I will work  hard to drive costs down and protect patient choices and access to quality medical care as your Senator. 

School Funding and the WASL

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A good K-12 education for our children is a priority. 

 

Our state constitution says it is our paramount duty

to fund basic education.  But, when the state budget

is written, education is just thrown into the pot to fight

for every dollar it gets, along with other programs.

That is wrong.   When writing the state budget for

education there should be two main questions.

#1 Should we fund education more, same or less

than last year?   #2 How much?  Then that amount

should be set aside and the legislature can proceed

writing the rest of the budget. Only education is a

paramount duty, nothing else. Let’s handle it that way. 

We need to redefine “basic education”. The current definition was written in the 1970’s before computers, immigration and language issues impacted our classrooms, along with a number of unfunded state mandates which have contributed to higher levies throughout the state.

 

One area that concerns me is how teachers have to personally bear the cost of paying for state mandated professional certification. This costs new teachers several thousands of dollars, which they must pay if they want to keep their jobs, essentially forcing them to personally foot the bill for a state mandate.  Most businesses cover the cost for required job-related training. If the state mandates it, then the state should cover the cost. Otherwise it diverts the cost of a state mandate directly onto an individual.  That needs addressing. Continuing education for teachers is also mandated and we should consider paying that cost, too.

 

The WASL (Washington Assessment of Student Learning) test is in need of serious adjustment.  In Iraq we are told to listen to front line troops and generals for answers.  Why then aren’t we listening to our front line teachers?  They do not like the WASL.  It is excessively time-consuming for teachers to administer.  Many teachers feel that a portion of the monies going towards the WASL could be better spent in the classroom.  Teachers often don’t get WASL results back in time to make adjustments before the school year ends.  I favor giving districts greater flexibility to implement strategies based on local WASL results.  I favor de-linking the WASL from graduation requirements.  One imperfect test should not determine graduation readiness.  I’ll work to make the WASL a less cumbersome and a more practical assessment tool.  I’ll look for ways to streamline this test and find ways to lower its true costs. 

 

I’ll work hard to make a top notch schools and education a priority.  With your vote we can give our children the education they deserve for a brighter future

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Transportation Funding

King county wants us out of our cars.  But what works for King County is not what works in a district with farmland, distinct communities and islands.  In the 40th District people must drive to work or to get groceries.  In our district we will need road maintenance and improvements for a long time.  We are now seeing progress by local contractors on two major roads — Guide Meridian between Bellingham and the border and SR 20 between Burlington and Anacortes.  One thing we should do right away is END the double-taxing practice where the state charges itself sales tax on transportation projects. This would immediately make more dollars available for road improvements and traffic relief projects. I support performance audits of transportation projects and tying funding increases to measurable performance improvements.  Finally, we have good (but limited) local bus service.  Transit everywhere is subsidized  because it never pays for itself.   If public leaders who want us out of our cars really want to succeed with mass transit, they should make transit FREE for all riders, then people will use it more.  A method to pay for it would have to be figured out that would not rob money from building new roads.  

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for State Senate

READY TO LISTEN!

READY TO WORK!

READY TO LEAD!