Fresh Ideas for Our State
Job Creation. We need to help our friends and family members get back to work. The key is helping small business that generates about 80 percent of all new jobs in our state. But since my opponent incumbent Troy Kelley took office and his party took control of Olympia, private sector jobs have plummeted in Washington State. From February 2008 to October 2009 alone, 170,400 private-sector jobs were lost. More than 334,000 of us are out of work.
Business owners already take enormous personal risk. High taxes and regulation can make that risk intolerable, and jobs are lost. Last year, fed-up with an anti-business climate, Boeing took 3,800 jobs to South Carolina. Washington has the second highest unemployment insurance tax on average for full-time employees and taxes will increase by $352 million in 2010. Our state also has the second highest workers compensation benefits package in the country and so taxes on employers will increase by $117 million in 2010. Olympia’s response to the unemployment crisis has been to raise taxes and reject calls for regulatory relief for struggling businesses. The Seattle Times recently editorialized: "THE priority of the majority Democrats in Olympia has not been economic recovery. ... The priority of legislators has been protecting state employees." (March 11, 2010.)
We need to and can help small business. I will do everything in my power to cut taxes and needless regulation to help struggling businesses get back on their feet and create new jobs—the historically successful way.
Out-of-Control State Spending. Since Troy Kelley's party took control of the Legislature and Christine Gregoire became governor in 2004, state spending ski-rocketed by 33% in just four years. We were ill-prepared for the recession. Making matters worse, Rep. Kelley and his caucus voted for the largest spending increases in state history in 2007 and again in 2009. In each of 2008, 2009 and 2010, the state has faced billions of dollars in budget shortfalls. Rather than reform state budgeting, Troy Kelley's party raised taxes on businesses in 2010. In 2010, Rep. Kelley voted for nearly $1 billion in new debt, committing taxpayers for 25 years to pay it off and jeopardizing our state credit rating. Going further into debt, while facing serious budget shortfalls, is the wrong thing to do in a recession.
I will absolutely insist the state live within its means, as we have all had to do, and never raise taxes. We have a spending problem, not a revenue problem.
Public Safety. Something is terribly wrong with a criminal justice system that cannot even protect the men and women who protect us. Efforts now underway to reform bail for violent offenders and end the early release of career criminals are too little too late. Most violent crime is the work of a small percentage of career criminals. Our police and law enforcement agencies must be given the tools and resources to focus on this dangerous minority. I will help refocus state criminal justice resources on keeping career criminals behind bars, period.
Education. Over half of the state’s budget is devoted to enriching the minds of our children and preparing them for the demands of a competitive work environment. The state spends $12,000 per year to educate each student. Fortunately, our 28th District community schools are some of the best in the state, but we can do better. We can get more bang for our education buck. The best teachers should be rewarded and teacher-certification requirements should be eased to let talented professionals and businesspersons from the private sector participate in educating our children.