What is your political philosophy?

Government does not know better than you do. I believe in the rights and responsibilities of you as an individual to make the best choices for your life. The job of the government is to serve citizens on issues that we perform better as group – building infrastructure – roads, parks and cemeteries, keeping the highest quality police and fire department, maintaining a zoning code, and encouraging quality jobs to stay and come to our community. The job of the government is not to tell you how to live, it’s to help you live better.

Fiscal responsibility is essential. When our government decides to spend money, we treat it like we are spending it out of our own pocket. It’s not just tax money – it’s my neighbor’s tax money, it’s my mom’s tax money, it’s hard-earned money that we treat with great care.

If a business or nonprofit can do it better, government shouldn’t do it. Asking our government to do a task or build something is a huge expense – not only for the taxpayers but also for the task itself. The government does not have the same motivation as a business or organization. There is no competition for government to improve or keep up with innovation – once government gets involved an idea becomes stagnant. That is why I always encourage ideas that citizens to first look to the free market, a business, or a nonprofit to solve a problem.