La Conner Weekly News - Your independent hometown award-winning newspaper

Background / qualifying experiences

Attorney at the Law Office of Cole & Gilday (2005-present); Managing Broker at Windermere (2013-present); Board Director at Land Title & Escrow (2013-present, President and Chairman of the Board,2018-present). Juris Doctor, Seattle University School of Law, 2005; MBA, Seattle University, 2005; B.A., Western Washington, 2000. I have served on the board for the Stanwood Camano Rotary Club (member since 2006), the Stanwood Camano Food Bank, and the Safe Harbor Free Clinic.

State economic recovery

First, we need to let small businesses re-open and get back to business. This does not mean throwing the doors wide open and allowing a free for all. Rather, the government should set minimum safety guidelines and if a company can meet those guidelines it should be allowed to resume operation. The government should not be choosing winners and losers. Second, we need to lower, or at least not raise, taxes.

State budget deficit

In the last seven years, the state budget has grown 70% – unsustainable even before COVID-19. For too long the one-party control in Olympia has relied too heavily on the tax side of the budget equation. We do not have a revenue problem; we have a spending problem. We need to prioritize our spending, hold the line on tax increases and get small businesses (the driving force of our economy) back up and running.

State regressive tax structure

I do not support a state income tax or a capital gains income tax. To be constitutional, any income tax would necessarily be applied to all people, adding another tax burden onto all residents. Further, we need businesses to locate and invest in our state and workers, and not having an income tax is a big advantage. These taxes are highly volatile, and we do not want to build a budget on such erratic tax sources.

Fully fund state’s public education

Education is the paramount duty of the state and we need to get this right. While the state has technically met its obligations under the McCleary decision, it still has not addressed special ed funding. The education budget has doubled in the past eight years, but more money does not necessarily lead to better outcomes. We need to look at systematic changes to our system such as increased support of public charter schools and workplace accountability.

Climate change in Washington

We should adopt performance standards to measure the effectiveness of climate related policies and regulations, as well as evaluate existing programs to determine if they are providing efficient results. Once we adopt performance standards, we should prioritize projects and utilize those that give us the most environmental benefit for our buck. This is not only fiscally responsible, but also environmentally responsible.