Issues

Our challenges require practical and informed solutions that consider the best investment of every tax dollar. I will prioritize prevention and nuanced approaches that work.

Investing in the mental health of our children creates the biggest impact and is the right thing to do. When we meet the needs of young people and support their mental health, stability, and basic needs, we choose a thriving future instead of cascading problems. I also do not accept that it’s too late for those who currently struggle with mental health issues, addiction and homelessness. At the same time, too many of our systems are governed by well-meaning but often impractical and unfunded mandates, ideology that ignores implementation in the real world, and lawsuit settlements that conflict with one another. As front line workers struggle to serve a ballooning population of Oregonians with acute mental health needs, we need common sense solutions. I support:

• Fully funded mental health services for children and adults. When youth have access to mental health services and behavioral support services they can succeed in school and be successful in life.

• We must offer compassionate and practical services for family members and neighbors struggling with mental illness. We can balance the rights of mentally ill Oregonians with treatment that interrupts mental health crises and preserves the safety of our communities. 

• I will support a balanced response to addiction. I support our laws that keep us safe and help connect people to the treatment services they need.

Public schools are the foundation of success for our young people in Oregon. My own three children have attended public schools, and two of them have Autism and need the correct supports to reach their full potential. I have had to fight to get their needs met and I know Oregon can do better. With a chronically underfunded school system in Oregon, sometimes our public discourse assumes we have to choose which children fall through the cracks and which ones we fully support. This is a false choice. Investment in the State School Fund has not kept pace with inflation or even grown proportionately with other state spending. When Federal education dollars dried up after the pandemic, some thought we could go back to a business as usual, underfunded school system that leaves our students ill-prepared to compete in the global economy. Instead, I will work to invest in our diverse and promising young people so that all the doors are open for them. 

This will include:

• Promoting systems that support and honor teachers.

• Implement smaller class sizes so teachers have the ability to focus on each student’s needs and growth. 

• Identify and invest in ways to improve attendance

• Expand services such as high dose tutoring, after school programs and summer school to support students who need it. This will close gaps and allow classrooms to function at a higher level by bringing students to high standards together. 

• There is no reason students should go without basic needs, safety or support. That’s why I would focus on ensuring students have the mental health services they need, dedicated school nurses and counselors and healthy meals.

• Schools should be safe, with high expectations for behavior and a culture where young people show each other kindness and respect.

Every worker deserves a safe working environment. We will continue to relentlessly advocate to ensure our voices are heard and our rights are upheld. This includes:

• Robust training for businesses trying to maintain safe and healthy workplaces. 

• Meaningful fines to hold businesses accountable for repeat or extremely hazardous working conditions. This will also support honest businesses who do care about their workers. 

Transparency and better reporting about work-related health conditions so that lawmakers have the information they need to make informed decisions to protect workers.

Our community deserves to feel safe. Last winter, my husband and I were carjacked, and I know others have experienced their own close calls and tragedies. Feeling fear while in the community where I raise my children is unacceptable, and I know my neighbors have the same concerns.  These are my priorities for keeping us safe:

• Oregon’s legislature took appropriate action to roll back drug legalization. However, we still have work to do in order to make sure that our police have our support to enforce the law. 

• Community policing should focus on priority violent and property crimes. There is a role for qualified healthcare professionals to support police, such as when responding to a person with a mental health crisis or facing addiction. I will support funding for police and other emergency services. 

Labor Rights. Having worked as a union leader for over 17 years, Andrea has seen how labor unions can empower workers and lift the floor for everyone. She knows that all of Oregon does better when workers can make their voices heard and have their needs met. That’s why she’s advocating for:

• Fair livable wages and safe working conditions, because no one should be made to feel unsafe in their workplace.

• A strong voice for Oregon workers to ensure a level playing field between management and employees.

A workforce that promotes a just economy and invests in our future, including opportunities for workforce training.

Government Accountability.  As a public servant and union leader, I’ve advocated at our Capitol for meaningful action to resolve issues found by auditors, and I have even sued the state for not doing its job for people like us. I will continue to demand agency accountability. I listen to front line workers everyday, which allows me to write informed policies based on a deep understanding of what we need to do to have an accountable and effective state government. I will focus on:

• I will make sure we have a formal process for robust follow up on audit findings. 

• Directing resources to get the job done, not public relations or feel good projects that don’t deliver. 

• Prioritizing prevention and investing in young people, including a high quality educational system, services for vulnerable children, and mental health services for children. Programs that fail to track outcomes or show progress I will not prioritize.

• I will work to reduce red tape that makes it difficult to hire union employees for state agencies and instead directs your taxpayer dollars into fly-by-night overpaid non-union consultants who don’t stick around long enough to deliver what taxpayers need. 

• I will support careful review of how technical services are procured and maintained in order to eliminate a pattern of failed state agency databases and projects with high ongoing maintenance fees. 

• Finally, I will listen to constituents and dedicated public servants who understand how to make improvements to our state government if only we would listen. 

Having worked as a union leader for over 17 years, Andrea has seen how labor unions can empower workers and lift the floor for everyone. She knows that all of Oregon does better when workers can make their voices heard and have their needs met. That’s why she’s advocating for:

• Fair livable wages and safe working conditions, because no one should be made to feel unsafe in their workplace.

• A strong voice for Oregon workers to ensure a level playing field between management and employees.

A workforce that promotes a just economy and invests in our future, including opportunities for workforce training.

As a public servant and union leader, I’ve advocated at our Capitol for meaningful action to resolve issues found by auditors, and I have even sued the state for not doing its job for people like us. I will continue to demand agency accountability. I listen to front line workers everyday, which allows me to write informed policies based on a deep understanding of what we need to do to have an accountable and effective state government. I will focus on:

• I will make sure we have a formal process for robust follow up on audit findings. 

• Directing resources to get the job done, not public relations or feel good projects that don’t deliver. 

• Prioritizing prevention and investing in young people, including a high quality educational system, services for vulnerable children, and mental health services for children. Programs that fail to track outcomes or show progress I will not prioritize.

• I will work to reduce red tape that makes it difficult to hire union employees for state agencies and instead directs your taxpayer dollars into fly-by-night overpaid non-union consultants who don’t stick around long enough to deliver what taxpayers need. 

• I will support careful review of how technical services are procured and maintained in order to eliminate a pattern of failed state agency databases and projects with high ongoing maintenance fees. 

• Finally, I will listen to constituents and dedicated public servants who understand how to make improvements to our state government if only we would listen.

I take the responsibility of owning a gun seriously. Like many other law abiding Oregonians, I have a concealed handgun license, and my husband has been concealed-carrying for over 40 years. At the same time, we safely secure all firearms and I support reasonable laws that prevent convicted violent criminals from accessing guns. I respect personal freedoms and responsibility when it comes to the Second Amendment. 

Considering women’s healthcare rights, I feel that women and their doctors are best suited to make decisions that impact their own health and future. Nuanced and difficult choices can be entrusted to women– and not politicians trying to anticipate every complex situation.

My family works hard to provide for our children and that includes navigating healthcare costs. It seems like no matter how hard you work, a sudden illness or a chronic condition can easily lead to hardship. When people try to retire after a lifetime of working, the healthcare costs often use up more than what fixed incomes can sustain. No one should have to choose between medicine or paying for new tires or keeping the lights on. We have to do better. 

My priorities on our healthcare:

• Too much of our hard earned dollars go to insurance companies trying to sidestep actual use of the medical coverage we pay for. Copays, deductibles, and premiums intentionally confuse consumers and the wrong coverage and a single illness can ruin a household’s finances. 

• I support research and development, but pharmaceutical companies should have reasonable limits on what they can charge for drugs.

• We need to prioritize our tax dollars for prevention and to give young people the tools they need for a lifetime of mental and physical health, which will reduce costs over time.

I’ve worked hard my whole life to keep a roof over my families’ heads. I know neighbors, friends, and coworkers with secure jobs who worry about making their mortgage or rent payments. We need more workforce housing, especially in our rural communities. Here are my priorities for addressing our housing crisis:

• I will focus on improving the supply of workforce housing by reducing onerous land use requirements and giving people more control of their own property. I support partnering with the private sector and being careful and strategic about use of taxpayer dollars for housing.

• I support investment in infrastructure so that rural communities can build more homes. We can cautiously adjust land use planning policies to allow clusters of homes in rural communities so that rural areas outside urban growth boundaries have more opportunity to house community members. At the same time, preserving our world-class farmland is a high priority for me, and I will listen to the needs of our community as a priority. 

• I support modest government funding for housing people with disabilities, veterans and elders.

• We need to take a close look at corporate investors buying up starter homes and artificially driving up rents for hardworking Oregonians trying to buy their first home. 

• Working people should be able to get living wage jobs that pay for basic needs, including housing, food, medicine and utilities. They should have enough to occasionally take a modest vacation and get a newer car. We need to balance investments in an education that lets our young people compete in the job market, policies that let people build homes, and making sure businesses succeed and are able to produce reasonably priced food and goods.

As someone who benefited from strong public schools and on the job training and who was able to sacrifice to continue my education and get a union job, I know hard work can deliver success but I want things to be easier for those coming up behind me. I will consider policies that support existing businesses, grow new opportunities, and balance the needs of small business owners with workers and consumers. I’ll make sure we have a growing economy that focuses on a strong and growing middle class.

Here are my priorities for supporting our economy:

• We need to invest in quality child care so families can work, child care providers earn a living wage that respects the importance of their work, and children have a safe, healthy and educational place to be after school, during the summer and during early childhood. Such investments will close achievement gaps and promote success for future generations. 

• I’ll focus on a transportation system that doesn’t distort traffic patterns but that bolsters economic prosperity in Yamhill County with targeted investment.

• We need to invest in job training and education, whether that’s four year college degrees, on the job training, or apprenticeship programs. Oregon’s young people should graduate from High School with all the doors open so they can pursue their dreams. For those impacted by a changing economy, I support job training.

• I will consider the best use of scarce tax dollars in Oregon so that we invest in things that work and honor the value of every dollar going into state government by spending it wisely. 

• I’m an Independent voice - I’ll make sure we have a tax system that makes corporations and the wealthy pay their fair share while protecting the middle class, and take on the corporate greed that’s ripping off Oregon families by driving up prices.