Character Education Health Care Human Life Illegal Immigration Property Rights Same Sex Marriage Scope of Government Taxes and Spending
Character
The Air Force Academy’s honor code is, “We will not lie, steal or cheat, nor tolerate among us anyone who does.” Thirty years after my graduation, this code is still ingrained in me.
Just as I have remained faithful in my promise of fidelity to my wife for 30 years, I will be faithful in my commitments to you, my friends and neighbors in Auburn, Black Diamond, Covington, Kent, Ravensdale and Renton.
I am a Christian. While I’m not perfect, I try to obey God’s laws and believe there are consequences for violating them.
In today’s information age, it is easy to find information about anything anybody has ever done. I encourage everyone to Google both Mark Hargrove and Geoff Simpson and come to your own conclusions. My life is an open book. But here are a couple of links I came across about our current representative.
http://blogs.thenewstribune.com/politics/2009/03/03/p38265
http://soundpolitics.com/archives/011910.html
In March, 2008, I accepted a campaign contribution from Andrew Franz, an Iraq War veteran and respected ROTC instructor at Seattle University. Several months later Mr. Franz was arrested for allegedly flying to Colorado to meet an underage girl. Mr. Simpson used this opportunity to imply that I was soft on sex offenders. While I feel no compulsion to find Mr. Franz to return his contribution, Mr. Simpson has inspired me to give this contribution to the Covington Domestic Violence Task Force.
As in each of his previous campaigns, Mr. Simpson will find some new way to “slime” me in this campaign. Don’t be surprised when you see it. He will also use the odd but fairly common strategy of “accusing your opponent of what you do.” For example, since he is known for being for every tax increase that comes across his desk, he will accuse me of wanting to raise taxes. Look for it.
Education
We spend almost $11,500 per child per year on education. That’s over a quarter of a million dollars for a classroom of 25. And yet most of the high schools in our district have had trouble finding enough qualified math teachers to start the school year. Meanwhile, in an international student assessment of 29 nations, America ranked 24th. Isn’t that embarrassing? I am for both making it a priority to find out where that huge sum of money is being spent and to use more of it to attract, motivate, train and equip teachers who achieve results.
In 2008, when multimillion dollar grants were offered to seven states to fund Advanced Placement programs in math and science, Washington was the only state to decline the $13.2 million, because Washington law so rigidly insists that teachers’ pay must only be negotiated by the WEA. Teachers can not be rewarded for extra work, and students won’t have the extra opportunities that the grant would allow. How can we expect to improve our education system when we can’t even accept free money to make improvements?
The Washington State Constitution states, “It is the paramount duty of the state to make ample provision for the education of all children residing within its borders. . . . ” And yet, because the 2009 legislature found itself facing a $9 billion deficit they created, teachers did not receive a voter approved Cost of Living (COLA) raise, and $710 million was cut from the education budget, resulting in teachers across the state being laid off and class size increasing.
The free market, capitalistic system that made this country the greatest on earth has proven that human beings will work harder and achieve more when they see that they are able to earn rewards for their efforts. When the teachers at Pateros Elementary School near Wenatchee showed that a school with low income families and large populations of minority students can achieve great results, their only reward was the satisfaction in a job well done. I am for rewarding their efforts, encouraging other schools to try creative ways to improve their students’ performance.
I am for following the recommendations of performance audits by our State Auditor which have identified millions of dollars that could be saved by improving processes and eliminating waste in our educational system.
Because the Kent School District, the fourth largest district in the state, receives $800 less per student each year than the Seattle and Bellevue School Districts, I am for the legislature re-examining whether state funds are being equitably distributed among the school districts.
I am for sending the money that we waste in unneeded bureaucracy, far removed from the classrooms, directly to the schools, where they can make the decisions at the local level on how best to spend it. Instead of micromanaging their curricula, I am for showing faith that, like at Pateros Elementary, the teachers got into their profession because they are intelligent enough and are willing to work hard enough for their students to succeed.
I agree with General George S. Patton, who was an immensely successful leader in WWII, who said, “Never tell people how to do things. Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity.”
The rigid, top-heavy and expensive control of our education system prevents the money making it’s way down to the actual classroom level, where decisions can be made by the our competent educators, rather that dictated from the upper, far-removed levels of our education system administration. We need to trust our educators to use the money wisely at their local level and reward them for improved results.
Health Care
Our state government’s burdensome health insurance regulations have had two disastrous effects:
- Some health insurance companies have left the state, leaving employers and employees less options from which to choose.
- As less choice has led to less competition and higher prices, businesses have suffered and some have closed their doors, reducing the jobs available in our state.
I am for eliminating many of the 50+ mandates that are currently required for all insurance policies in our state, driving up costs. For example, why not give the employer and employee the option of a less expensive policy that doesn’t include Port-wine Stain Elimination or Acupuncturists.
States that have put limits on non-economic damage court settlements enjoy a greater choice of physicians, because the lower medical overhead costs encourage doctors to practice in those states. I am for this type of tort reform.
Just as we don’t expect our car insurance to pay for our tires and gas, I am for allowing employers the latitude to offer health savings accounts and much less expensive health insurance policies that don’t cover every sniffle and cough. As people see financial incentive in using their health dollars wisely, we would see significantly lower health costs.
Human Life
Because of my belief that human life should be protected from its very beginning to its natural end, I am the only candidate in this race to be endorsed by the Human Life PAC and the Washington Values Alliance.
Illegal Immigration
The Center for Immigration Studies estimates that 277,000 illegal aliens reside in Washington State, requiring an annual taxpayer subsidy of $800 million.
While I-1043, the Respect for Law initiative, failed to gather enough signatures to be on our ballot, I support the requirement that employers electronically verify that each employee’s social security matches his/her name. If the name and number do not match, the employee should be given a reasonable time to resolve the discrepancy before his/her employment is terminated or the employer is fined. Laws of this nature have proven effective in 12 states and the city of Lakewood, Washington, and should be state law.
Property Rights
In the Constitutional Convention of 1787, James Madison and others listed the protection of property rights as the primary reason for instituting government. Daniel Webster said, “No other rights are safe where property is not safe.” And John Jay, the first Chief of Justice of the Supreme Court, said, “The supreme purpose of government is to protect private property rights.”
Of course the government might protect me and my property by keeping my next door neighbor from running a landfill in his back yard. But the founding fathers would roll over in their graves if they saw how our private property rights are being taken away. I am for the return of property rights over government rights.
Same Sex Marriage
Mr. Simpson was a co-sponsor of HB 1727 to grant equal status to homosexual partners as legitimately married couples. The senate version of this bill, SB 5688, was signed into law, but I am for the reversal of this legislation.
Mr. Simpson was particularly caustic in his responses to citizens who wrote him to express their desire that this bill not go forward:
http://www.calvarypo.org/HANDS/0653.pdf
http://www.kc47gop.org/docs/simpson20090330.html
Scope of Government
In a one party government, i.e. our current state government with a large Democrat majority in both houses and the governor’s office, some bills are hardly even debated. Imprudent laws are passed simply because opposition to the bill is dismissed out of hand. If the sponsor has a D behind his name, his fellow party members vote for it without debate. I am for both parties being well represented, just to keep each other in check.
A University of Washington study found that government regulations drive up Seattle home prices by an average of $200,000 per home, which of course also results in higher property taxes. Sometimes I think Ronald Reagan may have been right when he said, “Government is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem.”
When Mr. Simpson sponsored legislation allowing felons the right to vote before they have paid their required restitution, or another bill banning the sale of novelty lighters, he was well beyond the scope of government our founders intended.
Government’s purpose is to protect our lives and liberty, so we can be free to run our own lives; its purpose is not to run our lives for us. Government is notoriously not good at business and, for the most part, should stay out of it. The government needs to focus on the real priorities of government.
Taxes and Spending
I have pledged that I will never vote for any increase in the tax burden on the people of the State of Washington. And I will not play games with the budget by, instead of raising taxes, raising “fees” from one source and then transferring the money raised to pay for an unrelated expenditure. I believe that we are overtaxed by a government that has overreached its constitutional scope. So even in the most catastrophic of circumstances, if we need to increase funding for a truly essential purpose of government, there is already enough money that can be freed up from non-essential items.
Our current representative proposed legislation in the 2008 session that would have cost us an additional $35 billion over the next ten years. Our current administration increased spending by $2.2 billion during Governor Gregoire’s first four years, a 33% increase. (Governors Locke and Lowry only increased spending 20%.) The legislature turned the largest reserve in history into a projected $9 billion deficit.
Mr. Simpson’s newsletter said, “I know many of you feel squeezed by the insane prices in King County today and higher property taxes that go with those home values.” And yet, of the 98 state representatives, he was one of only two in the entire state to join with 6 Seattle Democrats in voting against limiting our property tax rate increase to 1% a year. The actions don’t match the words.
Our government’s priorities are out of whack. Politicians play games with the budget to get us to pay more. They fund artists from the regular budget and then leave it to taxpayers to pass levies to pay for essential services. I am for fully funding those functions of government that definitely protect our lives and liberty (police, fire protection, 911, etc.) first! Then we can discuss what else government should be doing.
I am for eliminating the B & O tax which unfairly taxes businesses on their gross receipts, whether or not they have actually made a profit, and replacing it with a more fair tax on profits.
Responsible families must make choices to live within their means, putting money away for retirement, and resisting the urge to buy everything they want. The legislature has been irresponsible in not funding pension accounts and putting off budget decisions until a later day. I will remember that every penny the legislature has to budget belongs to the families who make realistic budget decisions everyday.
I will treat the money you give the government should be treated as your money, not the government’s.
