Why serve as a County Commissioner
I’ve long been a person to whom people seek help navigating challenging political conversations and decisions. With the divides we face in our politics and the immediate needs I see in my community, I’ve decided that now is the time I want to pursue elected office. My values-based approach, career experience, and skills would bring stability to this seat and build upon the Clackamas’ way of collaborative problem-solving.
With a lifelong drive for service in diverse communities—which matches that of Clackamas County—five years as an educator from kindergarten through college and 15 years in public policy development, I am prepared to serve as a County Commissioner.
As a child of grandparents who immigrated from Ireland and moved from Appalachia into steel and rubber factories, I had a diverse childhood in a Black, Jewish, and immigrant neighborhood of east Cleveland. I’d spend my weekdays in hip-hop early 90s culture and weekends with cousins in the countryside. These experiences taught me how to move between spaces and places, whether as a part of the minority or majority. I was taught to value everyone, everywhere, as everyone has a story to tell and a lesson to teach.
Unique attributes, expertise, experience, and community service
My values-based approach has developed the following areas of expertise and experience (and how that would benefit the County):
Public-private partnerships (courthouse contract management)
Rural, urban, and small-town planning, investment, and development (aligning housing, transportation, utilities, and parks to foster thriving industrial, agricultural, and downtown places)
Workforce diversity and labor (relationships and contracting approach)
Housing and homeless services (relationships and DLCD requirements, Metro/OHCS/HUD/private financing and funding, and community organization services)
Budget, capital planning, and investment (budget process and asset management strategy)
Communications and community engagement (informed decisions, clarity, and transparency)
Elected officials and administrative staff at the federal, state, regional, county, and city levels; Oregon’s federally recognized Tribes (relationships and understanding roles)
Top 3 issues facing Clackamas County and policy interventions
Youth health and safety crisis
The combination of COVID's ramifications on student achievement, a foster care system in shambles, and unchecked social media calls for us to raise youth health and safety as an issue of utmost public health importance. Policy actions include:
Advocate to establish regulations to put guardrails on social media companies
Team with our schools to enhance mental health support
Enhance resources for positive engagement, like the arts, sports, and workforce training
Increase accountability in our foster care and adoption system at the county and state
Invest in the Sheriff’s Office to investigate and enforce youth protective laws
Families are facing rising costs and not receiving the support needed
Rising costs of groceries and goods have been a crushing pinch point for residents living with transportation, housing, and healthcare systems that cost much and deliver less. Policy actions include:
Remove barriers between government and community to connect people to resources
Prioritize mortgage and rental assistance to keep people in their homes
Address daycare costs by cutting regulatory barriers and investing in training and wages
Expand apprenticeship programs that connect people to life-changing wage jobs
Broker better deals to have competitive transportation options from city-to-city and first-and-last mile trips to support housing development where it is needed and planned
Rural stewardship and job growth/access
Agricultural land, our most unique resource, is facing pressure from all sides. However, adopting an anti-development stance alone will not save it. Our county has experienced tremendous growth in the past 20 years, but we can’t reliably get people to the new jobs. Policy actions include:
Invest in research and support that help farmers with multi-cropping and biodiversity
Ensure local control over land use decisions, pushing back against state preemption
Advocate for lower state taxes on agricultural transportation
Work with the state and providers to enhance internet access
Reorient our transportation planning and investment system to better connect Clackamas industrial areas to workers and shipping/export locations
Underdog mentality and rural, small-town connection
Although I live in Wilsonville, my passion, experience, and knowledge of small towns and rural areas would benefit areas like Molalla, Estacada, Sandy, and East County on equal footing with my current neighborhood.
I know what it is like to be an underdog like Clackamas County, and I am confident that I will help broker deals that bring back and enhance resources to serve our community.
Click here to download my resume.