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Top Priorities

Our campaign for a better Washington starts with focusing on five core principles: safer communities, better schools, saving you money, affordable housing, and putting our district first. 

Safer Communities

Families in the 24th District deserve a representative who will fight to restore law and order, keep violent offenders off the streets, and take the fentanyl epidemic seriously. With your help, I will work to:

  • Advocate for sentencing laws that increase public safety, restore accountability, and protect victims.  

  • Use more state funds to help hire, train, and retain law enforcement in rural counties and develop resources like Rapid DNA. 

  • Sponsor legislation that creates tougher penalties for high volume meth and fentanyl dealers, protects vulnerable children from exposure from fentanyl and other dangerous drugs, and directs additional funding for treatment for those caught in addiction

  • Ensure crime victims' rights are protected to the fullest extent under our state Constitution

  • Update domestic violence laws to reflect modern reality and family dynamics

  • Address homeless by focusing on substance use and mental health, not just the lack of housing

Jefferson_County_Courthouse_in_Port_Townsend,_WA.jpg
Primary School Desks

Better Schools

Under our state Constitution, providing for education is the first responsibility of state government. Education spending has more than doubled over the past decade to over $17,000 per student. Yet half of our students cannot read or write at grade level and about two-thirds cannot do math. This is unacceptable. We can work together to turn things around and ensure the right to a high quality education is not dependent on a family's zip code. With your support, we can:

  • Ensure locally elected school boards continue to have the power to develop curriculum, select textbooks, and hire staff

  • Direct more funds straight into the classroom by reforming state agencies, reducing bureaucracy, and letting teachers teach

  • Fund special education and other targeted programs more effectively

  • Increase access to tutors and other assistance to make up for learning loss during the pandemic

  • Develop a school choice scholarship program that gives students in failing schools more options while adequately funding public schools

  • Increase access to apprenticeship programs and the trades and ensure students graduate with basic life skills, like personal finance

Saving You Money

Too many families are one missed paycheck or emergency away from disaster. While our economy has been working well for some, we are seeing too many people left behind. Groceries, fuel, and other necessities are more expensive than before. Yet Olympia isn't pumping the brakes on new taxes and fees - in fact they want to hit the accelerator. I understand making tough decisions for the family budget and I believe Olympia shouldn't be adding to working families' burdens. To that end, I will endeavor to:

  • Oppose any attempt to increase property taxes

  • Repeal the Carbon Tax which has added nearly 50 cents to the price of every gallon of gasoline and increased the cost of utilities

  • Repeal the long-term care payroll tax

  • Expand the Working Families Tax Credit to help with childcare and other expenses

  • Prevent imposition of a pay-per-mile tax on Peninsula families

Calculating Budget
Buying a House

Affordable Housing

Housing shortages not only drive up the cost of purchasing a home, they make it difficult for employers to find workers willing to move to the Olympic Peninsula and prevent families from enjoying the security of a home of their own. We need to increase housing supply. With regulation accounting for around one-fifth of the cost for new home construction, we also need to streamline regulations and expedite the process for family homes. With your help, I will:

  • Support legislation that will expedite the permitting process for certain types of homes for low to moderate income households

  • Work to pass legislation that will eliminate unnecessary regulations while keeping those that are necessary

  • Help local governments encourage housing development by responsibly expanding growth boundaries

  • Introduce a down payment assistance program for first responders, medical providers, and other needed professionals in areas, like the Peninsula, that are struggling to recruit new workers in these fields

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Putting our District First

We live in a beautiful and diverse district. We need a representative who understands the different interests on the Peninsula and the importance of maintaining our way of life. We can change the way Olympia does business and send someone who will put the district first. Together we can:

  • Support policies that promote agriculture and aquaculture, especially small to mid-size producers

  • Provide incentives to attract needed professionals and services to the district so families don't have to pay unreasonable prices or drive to Silverdale, Olympia, or Seattle for an appointment

  • Encourage sustainable and well-managed forestry that provides good jobs and combats the risk of wildfires

  • Invest in needed infrastructure and encourage development in the district, like affordable high speed broadband and better roads

  • Protect hunting and fishing through reasonable conservation, education, partnerships with tribal governments, and oversight over state agencies

  • Keep our region beautiful for future generations with commonsense policies based on science

Forks_WA_Hoh_National_Forest_Trail.jpg

Kgrr, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons 

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