Bill Bruch knows all about changing tides, having resided nearly half his 16 years in La Conner aboard a converted U.S. Army Corps of Engineers cargo ship and fireboat on Swinomish Channel.

Now he hopes to change the political tides in Olympia.

Bruch, a former La Conner Town Council member who has served on various panels here, is seeking the District 10 State House of Representatives seat held by Dave Paul, D-Oak Harbor.

Bruch has more than 30 years of business experience. He chairs the Skagit County Republican Party. He told the Weekly News his overriding philosophy “is to do the right thing every day.”

“Elected officials,” Bruch said, “need to answer to the people and represent their wishes. In our current political climate, we often have leaders who impose their own will on the public.”

Bruch will champion the cause of small businesses, which have struggled as a result of state mandates designed to curb spread of COVID-19.

“Big box stores, which are seen as essential, are setting sales records and small businesses, including the hospitality industry, are seen as non-essential, and have been destroyed,” he said.

“There’s no greater evidence of this,” Bruch stressed, “as in the Town of La Conner, as many businesses have been forced to close. I want to help fix the disparity.”

Bruch said he would go to Olympia seeking to reduce taxes and regulations wherever possible.

“This,” he said, “includes property taxes, sales taxes, business and operation taxes and gas taxes.”

He prefers offering tax exemptions, incentives and credits as means of bolstering the economy.

Bruch favors legislation and policies addressing the region’s housing shortage and related problems of homelessness and drug addiction.

“The role of any welfare, homeless or addiction program is to be compassionate and innovative,” he said, “with the goal of self-empowerment by helping people to help themselves. I support personal responsibility in securing a job and helping those in need with effective treatment programs.”

In terms of solving the housing crunch, Bruch said he would “advocate helping to expedite the permit process at all governmental levels, mitigate permit and impact fees and help to facilitate zoning and density flexibility.”

Bruch said his prior experience developing budgets for the Town of La Conner would serve him well as a state legislator.

“I’m a fiscal conservative, “Bruch said, “who believes strongly in upholding the state and federal constitutions.”

Other key priorities for Bruch range from “ending the governor’s declared state of emergency and getting the schools and small businesses up and running again” to overturning “the new comprehensive sex-ed law that begins in kindergarten.”

The recent deaths of his parents, his mom from cancer and dad from Alzheimer’s, has greatly impacted Bruch.

“This has taught me profound lessons in compassion,” Bruch said, “and to value every person and every day as special and sacred.”

Though Olympia is Bruch’s desired destination, La Conner remains his home base.

“I love the small-town atmosphere and rural lifestyle that La Conner offers and enjoy the unique specialty shops and various local artists,” he said. “I have several merchant friends and had a lot of fun as a merchant in La Conner where I owned and operated The Salish Sea Gallery.”

Paul, who will be the subject of a future Weekly News profile, upset Republican incumbent Dave Hayes in 2018, running on a platform that promoted securing family-wage jobs, lowering the burden of student debt, enhancing transportation infrastructure geared to support the district’s economy and environment, and protecting quality of life and traditional industries here.

Bruch is hoping to flip the seat back to the GOP, though he vows to shun partisan politics. “I have good friends and allies on both sides of the political aisle,” he said. “I always put people above party and consistently work for what is best for our community and our state.”