Tuolumne CountyCandidate for Supervisor, District 1

I was born and raised in Tuolumne County. As a youth, I spent my summers in the Emigrant Wilderness at the family business Kennedy Meadows Resort and Pack Station. I attended Curtis Creek Elementary School, and then Sonora High School, graduating in 1999.   My education continued at DeVry University in Phoenix, and then CSU Stanislaus.

I started my career in IT doing technical support for Calaveras Internet, and worked my way up to System Administrator/Network Engineer, and then IT Director. I have been providing broadband to rural communities for 20 years.

My wife and I married in 2009 after she returned from CSU Chico. April was also raised in Tuolumne County attending Columbia Elementary School and then graduating from Sonora High School in 2001. We have two children who attend Sonora Elementary School.

When my daughter started Kindergarten, I ran for a seat on the Sonora Elementary School Board. I do not believe a person should stand on the sidelines complaining about other people's decisions. I would rather lead my children by example. If they want to live in a great community, they need to take the time to be a part of it.

I believe in a small and streamlined local government that will facilitate an environment where people and businesses can prosper.  A local government should be a good steward of the revenue collected from its citizens, and spend that money wisely with a long-term goal in mind.

I generally dislike political rhetoric, because I think it leads to echo chambers and more division. I have been fortunate enough to have friends from both political parties and I have learned that we agree on more things that we disagree on. I think at the local level, we should attempt to focus on issues we commonly face and create solutions upon which we all agree. We can build trust and relationships, which will allow us to work together better on contentious issues in the future. I would rather have a healthy conversation with someone who has a different point of view from my own, because I will almost every time leave that conversation a better person for having considered another’s view.