What is your professional experience?

IT Technician

What is your public office experience?

have run before but not held office

If applicable, please list offices you have run for or held.

District 33 State House

What are the specific skills that you bring to the position for which you are running?

Knowledge gathering, research, problem solving

What are your top 3 priorities if you are elected?

Rural economic development through building better education, health care, and infrastructure.

How do your values motivate your run for office?

I am a person who is grounded in my heritage. I live on my grandparents' farm. My family pioneered the area almost 200 years ago. I want my young grandson to have the opportunity to live and work here if he desires when he grows up. The economic situation over the last generation in rural Indiana will not allow him that opportunity unless we do something positive now.

Key Issues

Please share with us your position on a number of issues that are key for Muncie Resists and describe what actions you would take with regard to them. We recognize that some elected positions may not have a direct role in addressing some of these issues, but if you had an opportunity to have an impact, what would you want that to be?

What have you done and/or what do you commit to doing to support the rights of

a. LGBTQ+ individuals?

I have a transgender child and another who does not identify as binary. I attend and support many LGBTQ+ groups and activities . I will oppose any efforts, bills, or initiatives which attempt to diminish their rights to live as their true selves.

b. people with disabilities?

I have two autistic children, and my wife is epileptic. I know and understand well what it is to live with disabilities, and I will fight to strengthen their ability to participate in our world equally as abled people.

c. people experiencing poverty?

People living in poverty in our communities are a direct result of bad policy over the past 20 years which has kept our economy from growing. We have stagnated with jobs leaving our rural areas. We need to increase the education level of our communities to attract major employers with well paying jobs so that poverty doesn't have to be as normal as it is. In the meantime, we should not be keeping those living in poverty from necessary food, water, shelter, and health care.

d. immigrants?

The population data is not debatable. We have a workforce issue as the Baby Boom generation retires and 8 million fewer people will be in the workforce. We need immigrants just to maintain the level of workers we have. The federal government needs to work on the inefficient aspects of immigration policy instead of targeting people who have come here illegally to work jobs that most Americans won't take. At our legislature, we need to be ensuring that immigrants are able to live and work while the federal government fixes the immigration process.

e. people who are racial or ethnic minorities/minoritized individuals?

Racial minorities, and recognition of them and their historical marginalization, are important parts of the American experience. I once heard it said that America is not a melting pot, but more like beef stew, where each part can be recognized and celebrated. We should not be continuing to marginalize them nor codifying those who feel the need to push minorities down to feel like they pull themselves up. I have never and will never support any initiatives which degrade minorities rights and culture.

What have you done and/or what do you commit to doing to support voter access? (This might include your position on vote centers, polling hours, voter IDs, signature matching, the SAVE act, etc.)

Previous to my running for office, I served as poll worker in many elections. I ensured that the letter of the law regarding voters' rights was being followed. We need to make sure it is as easy as possible for voters to perform their right to vote. Draconian measures against people voting such as the SAVE act should never be considered in a legislative body. I will oppose any measure which makes voting more difficult.

In recent months, federal agencies have overstepped the power of local and state governments. In what contexts would you support resistance by local officials?

At this critical time in our history, we must recognize that local and state officials in their duty to uphold the Constitution of the US and of the state of Indiana, must now bow to the current federal officials who ignore its existence or the vow they took to uphold it. The Constitution contains more than just the Second Amendment. No matter how inconvenient to the federal officials' ultimate goals the Constitution is, every elected official should have the courage and backing to respect their oath.

In recent months, federal agencies have overstepped the constitutional rights of the people. How would you protect and defend our constitutional rights?

The Constitution is the foundation of our entire way of life. Respecting ALL of it is what has made our country work for 250 years. I will always speak out and follow the Constitution and its purpose which was laid out so well in the Preamble.

What have you done and/or what do you commit to doing to support healthcare access for all?

Healthcare is a major concern of mine. With the cuts to Medicaid and the seeming "I don't care" attitude our legislators have taken with availability of affordable healthcare to rural Hoosiers, I have been very vocal and participated in events such as the "Motorcade for Medicaid" which highlighted the danger of the loss of hospitals in rural Indiana. Living in a county whose hospital closed just over 2 years ago, I know first hand the devastating effects of not having health care close. I will definitely fight to keep healthcare in rural Indiana and fight the corporations which are supposed to be non-profit which have made healthcare in Indiana cost 30% higher than the national average.

What have you done and/or what do you commit to doing to address the affordability of

housing costs?

First of all, affordability for all these topics comes when people have better jobs. We have allowed our economy in Indiana to stagnate for over 20 years. High paying jobs have moved away and are not coming back. We need to stimulate growth with making our workforce better educated, providing more affordable health care, and building a better infrastructure in roads and broadband internet. These things are missing from the equation of attracting businesses to locate in rural Indiana.

Part of attracting people living here in rural Indiana is lack of adequate and modern housing. We need to help modernize the housing in rural areas.

food costs?

Cutting SNAP benefits at a time when people need them is a disgrace. We need to build our local rural economies while ensuring that SNAP benefits are in place. In the meantime, we also need to get control (at a federal level) of the monopolies that our farmers work with. When everything that the farmer needs to produce crops comes from monopolies (therefore paying top dollar) and the market where crops are sold is controlled by monopolies (therefore selling at bottom dollar), the endgame is that we pay top dollar for the food we buy. This needs to be controlled.

healthcare costs?

We should be fighting the healthcare corporations which have monopolized the healthcare in our local communities. They operate as for profit organizations while officially being non profits. They use their power as monopolies to drive up their prices. We need to force them to operate as non profits again.

What have you done and/or what do you commit to doing to support discussion about science, history, and gender as necessary parts of educating children in our schools?

I continually talk about how learning properly learning scientific method and applying it is what companies really pay top dollar for. As an historian (it was my major in college) history is a very major part of understanding who we are and why we experience what we do. Understanding history, all of it and not just the parts that extoll the great white men, is key to where we are going. Gender, as well as race, religion, ethnicities, are all major components of who we are, and should never be ignored.

What have you done and/or what do you commit to doing to support public education?

I have been a major supporter of public education, including the forced closing and consolidation of Union School Corp in Modoc. I helped the school corporation get the word out and get support from around the state by getting their officials in front of lawmakers and getting them statewide news coverage on Indianapolis television. I continue to point out what vouchers are doing to our public schools, and make sure that the conversation about how proper curriculum centers on life skills.

What do you think should be Indiana’s priority in terms of the electrical grid and energy generation sources? What have you done and/or what do you commit to do regarding a clean energy economy?

We need more energy. These data centers which are being planned are expected to increase our energy usage by 10 times in the next decade. Already, half the power in Indiana is consumed by data centers. We need to consider many sources, but we need to do it with our heads and not just throw up anything everywhere. I am greatly disturbed that the expansion of the grid will be charged to consumers on their electric bills. I understand the issues people have with putting solar panels on farm ground. I would like to say that I would love to see solar panels covering our commercial rooftops, parking lots, and ecologically condemned ground (landfills and factory sites). The debate has come up about small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs). I am cautious about these because 100% of the cost of the technology development will be placed on consumer electric bills and with the advancement of nuclear fusion technology, this technology will be obsolete when it becomes available. Plus there is the question of where coolant water for the reactors will come from when they are built in corn fields. I make the public aware of these issues whenever I am speaking.

What have you done and/or what do you commit to doing to make your specific area of government more transparent to your constituents?

I am sick and tired of the current legislators who only get in front of their constituents in closed door, invite only meetings such as the Chamber of Commerce and Farm Bureau. If elected, I will regularly hold open town halls with ample advertisement so that everyone knows they are happening.

Do you have any questions? Is there anything else you would like to share?