My Priorities

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Clean water and clean air are both critical to a healthy environment, our wellbeing, and our economy. Access to clean, safe drinking water is a right, and ensuring this should be a priority in any decisions made by the county. This means preventing runoff of harmful pollutants like phosphorus, fecal coliform, and heavy metals. 

 

I fully support the Nooksack adjudication. If there's enough water, we can restore healthy populations of salmon in our streams and rivers. Right now we are facing a time when there is not enough water. Honoring tribal treaty rights and protecting water resources is one of the most important steps we can take to conserve water and combat climate change.

 

Making meaningful investments now will help restore our water quality and quantity. Between a potential federal infrastructure bill, a state transportation package, and our own local transportation plan, there are opportunities to leverage local spending. By investing in stormwater infrastructure, protecting and preserving lands, reducing impermeable surfaces, we can begin to heal our watershed, all while investing in jobs that will build our community.

 

We can do more together. I am committed to working with the tribes, federal, state, and local partners to address the issues on Lake Whatcom. Making these investments now will benefit the health of our community for generations to come, and reduce water treatment costs for the future.

Law enforcement needs to evolve to meet the changing needs of our community today. This means a more holistic approach that addresses our behavioral health crisis and focuses less on punishment and more on restorative justice, diversion and support services. This is why I support programs such as Ground-Level Response And Coordinated Engagement (GRACE), Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD), Teen Court, Drug Court, Mental Health Court, Crisis Stabilization Center, embedding additional social workers into law enforcement and first responder agencies, and ensuring that those who are arrested are housed in humane and safe conditions.

 

Whatcom County continues to be a leader across our state when it comes to criminal justice reform. I look forward to continuing to support this good work, including standing up the Racial Equity Commission and completing the criminal justice needs assessment.

I am committed to fighting for a more progressive and representative democracy with policies that better serve all people, especially those who have been historically underserved. I will seek input from people with different identities from mine in order to more fully represent our community because we all belong in all places where decisions are being made. Racism and discrimination is embedded into our policies and systems at every level of government. I have directly engaged with the state process of including equity and diversity in all decisions so that we can combat racism together. 

 

At the local level, we moved towards restorative justice and equity, but there is still a lot of work we have to do. I plan on working with my colleagues and the Whatcom Racial Equity Commission to intentionally incorporate equity in all budget and policy decisions. In this time of healing, we must acknowledge the disproportionate impact to underrepresented communities and work diligently to correct historical injustices that continue to impact our community members. Our government needs to better serve and represent all communities, especially those who have been historically marginalized, disenfranchised, underrepresented, and underserved and acknowledge and honor the treaty rights of sovereign Tribal nations. I am committed to this on day one.