I started life on the East Coast as an only child in a Judeo Christian household. My father was Jewish, father’s family came to this country from the Shtetls of Eastern Europe, in 1902, to escape genocide. My father instilled in me the true value of freedom and a love for America at an early age. My mother was Catholic. She taught me to resist authority and to speak my mind.
I was an entrepreneur from the age of 12, when I started a paper recycling business. At 16 I went to college. By 18 I went into the computer software profession. Eventually I became fed up with life in one of the country’s most crowded, crime ridden and filthy cities so I left Los Angeles to explore the country.
I discovered Olympia in 1993, and was attracted to the area. I realize that I enjoyed the beauty here, with this little eclectic city of Olympia and it’s dedication to the arts, the vast and beautiful Puget Sound that offers fishing, boating, bountiful shellfish harvests, salmon and great sunsets. With an abundance of forests and their seemingly endless hiking trails and recreational opportunities, the suburbs and farmland. And a population comprised of professionals, active duty military, veterans, artists, blue color workers, fisherman and farmers.
My professional life has been a diverse mix of 23 years in corporate work, the arts and small business. As an Information Technology professional I have developed, implemented and managed large-scale computer projects in, Credit authorization, Insurance, Mortgage Lending, engineering, Sales/Sales audit, Banking and Manufacturing, among others.
I have worked as a semi-professional musician for over 37 years, performing with small groups up to regional orchestras, with my main focus being New Orleans jazz. I have mentored young musicians. I am also a record collector. As a jazzman I have the ability to think on my feet and to improvise when needed.
I have owned two antiques stores and I am fully aware of the hardships that many small business experience, including excessive government regulation, taxation and retail crime.
Over the past 27 years I have watched our crime rate skyrocket, both violent and property crime fueled by drug abuse and enabled by weak state and local leaders. I have seen taxes and fees rise to an unsustainable level such that senior citizens, the disabled and the struggling young can no longer afford to pay their property taxes.
How many people must lose their homes or be blocked from the American dream of home ownership before we realize that unrestricted taxation and oppressive regulation is not the answer. Throwing money at a problem is seldom the best solution.
I have watched this area gradually change from a beautiful, clean and safe place to live to an environment of drugs, crime and government of insiders and special interests. It’s well past time to turn back the clock. I want to do my part to return Thurston County to the way it used to be, and that is why I am running for County Commissioner.