Candidate for
Member of the State Assembly; District 5; Republican Party

I am lifelong Californian. Born in 1979, I grew up in the small Southern California town of Yucaipa, midway between San Bernardino and Palm Springs. I had the sort of childhood I think today's kids desperately lack the freedom to explore, to play, to get filthy dirty. I needed only to be home by sundown. Much of my political outlook today is based on the experiences I had as a child. My parents were not rich then and I am not rich now, but I learned the value of individual responsibility.

I also learned that within families and communities are where the most important decisions are made. This is a lesson our state has long forgotten, preferring instead to leave the future of California up to career politicians who have little connection to their constituents. Education, business, lifestyle - these issues should never have become the domain of state government.

In 2001, I graduated from the University of Redlands with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Government. Through a series of character-building careers choices, I was able to move to Folsom in 2002 to be nearer my future-wife, who I'd met at school and who called Northern California home. Eventually, we scraped together enough money to buy a small house in which we still live with our 1-year-old son Eoin.

For the last five years I have had the privilege to follow my passion - writing. I am an Associate Editor for a trade magazine called Government Technology. The company is based in Folsom and the magazine we create is designed to help state and local government officials across the country find technology solutions to cut costs and create efficiency.

My goal in running for State Assembly is to do much the same - to fight through the crippling bureaucracy with fresh ideas and perspectives. I don't have the experience or the expertise many will claim is necessary to win this election. But take a look at the Legislature we have now. It's filled with experienced, expert politicians who have brought the state to the edge of destruction. It's time for change in California. Fixing our state is not difficult, we must simply stop spending more than we have, stop spending to satisfy unions and special interests, and give control of people's lives back to the local communities. Let's get the state out of your business and back into its own.

I may not be the most experienced candidate. Those candidates have already won and look at what they've given us.