Jim Pierson - Why I'm considering running:

---

“It’s the economy!” is not just a saying. Financial security is deep down what enables us to do just about anything. Today the American dream is at risk by high prices, from Health Insurance, Food prices, the cost of a roof over our head, whether renting or buying. Property taxes impact everyone, but especially the retired and the working-poor. Our Representatives need to do more with our budget funding while keeping property taxes low. New homes need to be built with city and county infrastructure properly planned and efficiently delivered so that prices are kept low. Large corporations and super wealthy need to pay their share of taxes and loopholes reduced. Schools and teachers, including those that have retired, need to be properly funded. Large corporations must not be allowed to consolidate single family homes and turn them into apartments. Renters must be protected. Healthcare needs a single payer system that reduces the for profit theme of the current system. 

Each of us reacts to the nightly news with levels of feeling personally threatened when we see people being chased and rounded up by masked men, children separated from parents, just as we do when we learn about the high number of over-dose deaths and lack of rehab beds, sexual predators, and head-on collisions on unsafe roads. Our Representatives need to lower the threat level, reduce the level of rhetoric and blame while making our streets safe for all of our community members. Transportation growth and congestion needs thoughtful solutions. The environment, including our wildlife (e.g., Salmon) and water ecosystems, needs to be preserved. Polluters must be held accountable. Tribes and low income communities must be protected. Green and renewable energy must be encouraged and built out.

Everyone should be free to look the way they want to look, spend their time with those they want to. Woman should never feel trapped by a man or a relationship. Reproductive rights must be protected. We must continue to ban discrimination. Our Representative need to ensure that government and religion stay separate, allowing people to worship their own way without taking control of how others live their own lives. Extremist groups and racist ideologies must be challenged. Immigrants must be given a path to citizenship and the number of new citizens granted to be expanded.

Each of us needs to be able to contribute something to society, to go beyond our parents’ limitations and do better.  Whether college or technical school, military or OJT, young people need to be incentivized to learn new skills. Our Representatives need to imagine and develop new labor markets at state, county, and city levels that invigorate growth.

We need an ‘adult in the room’. Whereas some Representatives lead with rhetoric and little fact, I would do the hard work to find new creative solutions and work with all members of the legislature to build coalitions that solve the hard problems that I mentioned above.

I cannot just walk away, then watch and grumble from afar. I feel strongly that I need to step up, to get involved and do a better job. With my strong technology background, I am unafraid of digging into details, sifting through data, and coming up with imaginative solutions to complex problems. 

With my strong people skills learned over decades in the Army and corporations, working across thousands of teams of developers, I know how to put together winning strategies that bring everyone on board, getting the most out of all contributors, and staying on target, seeing each project through to successful completion, on time and under budget.

Like many of the stronger Representatives, I would be involved in more committees and sponsor more winning bills than I am personally assigned to. I would always do more than is asked for, more than the minimum requirement. I would not complain and gripe, but I would get toe-to-toe when needed and build a reputation as a representative who gets things done.

Specifics:

Healthcare affordability

I will work to reduce the cost of Health Care through Single Payer Bill HB 1445 or one like it that does not sacrifice rural local clinics, losing choice, or rural hospitals closing. As an alternative to Single Payer, I will support a State Backed Insurance program that reduces risks and lowers costs for existing Insurance programs.

I will work to cut administrative waste and fraud in our Healthcare industry (~30% of the cost)

I will support stronger behavioral health funding and overdose prevention.

Home affordability

I will work to reduce property-tax pressure by increasing housing supply and easing the rapid rise in home values driven by scarcity. 

I will support strong tenant protections and rent stabilization, including HB1217, while ensuring policies work for both renters and small property owners.

Personal Safety and Freedom to be ourselves

I will defend a woman’s right to choose, including access to abortion and birth-control.

I will respect responsible gun ownership for hunters and homeowners.

I will work to reduce crime by supporting law enforcement, and strengthen efforts to prevent fraud, including online scams and abuse of public programs.

I will work to keep public spaces safe and usable for everyone.

Making our communities better than we found them

I will work to improve our roads and local economies (e.g., SR3/16) See Belfair

I will defend the California emissions standards and the Climate Commitment Act, while focusing climate funding on good-paying jobs and lower utility costs for Washingtonians.

I will support Apprenticeships and technical training.

I will support expanding Broadband to rural areas.

I will work to keep our public schools funded and not cut teacher pay.

I will work to make out systems work for small producers (e.g., organic farmers)