Education
Our children, and their future, are my highest priority. Our state is failing at is most important function - education.
Although spending on schools continues to increase, enough funding still doesn't make it to the classroom where it is needed to help teachers do their jobs. Instead it is siphoned off to fund a massive bureaucracy which continues to grow nearly three times faster than the rate of student enrollment. Poor performance is constantly cited as a reason to increase spending. The bureaucracy gets bigger and bigger, performance gets worse and worse.
No one benefits from this cycle of failure except the ever-expanding union and their cronies in the legislature. These two complicit groups spend our tax dollars to keep each other in power at the expense of teachers, our children, and the taxpayers.
Tragically and ironically, our teachers are forced by law to finance this debacle through mandatory union dues or 'agency fees' which are automatically deducted from their paychecks, whether they agree to it or not. Much of their hard earned money goes straight back to fund the campaigns of legislators who continue to do exactly what the union tells them to do.
Only the voting public has the power to change this. If elected, I will fight to repeal the laws which enable this system of legalized corruption.
Traffic Congestion
Reducing traffic congestion is my top transportation priority. Time wasted in congested traffic pollutes the air and keeps us away from our families, jobs, and community involvement. Much of this problem can be addressed with existing resources. Our State Auditor has reported the following:
Four audits identified $110 million in existing resources that could be applied to effecting greater efficiency in the Department and to improving citizens’ No. 1 priority, congestion. That audit identified several short-term actions that could be achieved using existing resources and existing infrastructure. Those improvements would immediately reduce hours spent in traffic by 15 to 20 percent, 12 million to 16 million hours per year.
Economy
Washington has the highest rate of business
failure in the country.
One of the reasons for this is that the business and occupation
(B&O) tax does not allow deductions for business expenses.
This is especially unfair to small companies, startups, and
business with lower margins. Fixing the B&O tax will make Washington
a more attractive place to start a company and bring more jobs and
revenue to our state.
Other measures which would strengthen our economy are:
- Improve schools.
- Reduce government waste.
- Reduce traffic congestion.
- Strengthen families: Strong families are more financially stable and more productive. People from strong families require fewer costly services from the state, they commit fewer crimes, and they pay more taxes.
- Encourage the development of clean energy resources. Solar power is a growing industry in our state. We should enact policies to encourage its growth.
Budget
The state is facing a projected $2.7 billion budget shortfall in the next two-year budget cycle. We can address this shortfall without raising taxes. Our state can recover billions in revenue by reducing the enormous waste identified recently by our State Auditor. The amount of waste discovered by the audits is greater than the projected shortfall. Our government should not seek new revenue until it exhibits accountability for the revenue it already collects. If elected, I will work to reduce waste and ensure accountability.
Health
Care
We can make health care and insurance more affordable in Washington by doing two things:
1. Eliminate mandates that force people to buy coverage for services they do not want or need, such as acupuncture or treatment for drug abuse. Washington has 53 such mandates, which have increased the cost of insurance so much that growing numbers of Washingtonians can no longer afford it. People should be allowed to purchase basic policies and add only the additional coverage they choose.
2. Eliminate the 'Certificate of Need' laws which make it difficult to build new clinics and care facilities. These obsolete laws were originally intended to help control health care costs, but the effect has been the exact opposite--they limit the supply of health care services and increase the cost of building new capacity.
Changing these laws will make health care and insurance more affordable.