Issue Position: Olympia

Issue Position

Besides hyper-partisanship? I think that our priorities, as reflected in the budget process, are screwed up. These "all-cuts" budgets passed by the legislature have a far-reaching effect and put us on a path that is perilous in terms of what it leaves for future generations. Below is an excerpt from a speech I recently gave in Monroe that sums it up.

"By taking this course, … we've undermined the very values that have made this state strong --those of community, as well as individual, responsibility, the values that allow us to create a society that provides a solid base so that all of us have the opportunity to prosper and excel, not just a privileged few. That the benefits of democracy well up not trickle down…

By continuing this course:

We will have squandered our reputation for high educational standards and excellence in our colleges and universities, continuing our fall to the bottom of the heap and weakening our economic base.

We will have betrayed the long tradition of standing up for working men and women in this state-- having relatively secure jobs, a safe and dignified workplace and earning a decent and fair wage so that we can take care of ourselves and our families.

We will have endangered the health and safety of future generations, leaving a legacy of underfunded police and fire protection, higher medical costs, polluted water and unclean air, less emphasis on local healthy food grown on family farms and more on unhealthy food from mega corporations."

That is where Olympia has failed the people of the 39th district -- by forgetting our values and priorities of who we are as a people.

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