Q: What is your professional background?
A: I spent 25 years serving in the military. Of those 25 years, 20 were active duty, with 12 in the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC) and the rest in the Army on active duty orders. I have also served in the National Guard and as a reserve.
I retired with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and among many other personal military decorations, was awarded the Bronze Star for my efforts in Operation Iraqi Freedom in Iraq.
Q: Why are you running for Clackamas County Commissioner. Like many residents, I’m increasingly concerned about the direction of Clackamas County and feel that our quality of life is becoming compromised. I think that my years of military leadership experience, longtime understanding of local issues, educational and professional background make me uniquely qualified to get Clackamas County back on the right track towards a more prosperous future.
Q: How do you plan to make housing more affordable?
A: Clackamas county has grown considerably. As the population has increased, the supply of available housing has not. Aside from that, property taxes are used to fund local government. Here in Clackamas County, we pay an additional layer of property taxes to fund Metro and all of its programs.
I believe that housing is becoming more expensive due to increasing property taxes and excessive regulation. I will strongly oppose both. A shortage of land for residential units is also driving up housing cost through high land costs. We need zoning changes to increase land inventory in order to reduce the cost of building sites, that will help make new housing more affordable.
Q: What approach should be taken to address transportation issues in Clackamas County?
A: For far too long, politicians and bureaucrats in the Portland area have spent billions of dollars on boondoggle projects that most residents don’t use and never will. At the same time, they’ve refused to build more roads, or even maintain the ones that are already in place.
We need to prioritize projects that will shorten peoples’ commutes and fix the critical infrastructure that we already have. Clackamas County needs to take care of these needs, instead of doing what Metro and the City of Portland think we should do.
Q: Do you support tolling existing roads?
A: No. Our working families shouldn’t be tolled to drive on roads that were already paid for decades ago. I strongly oppose adding tolls without adding any new vehicular lane capacity.