Faith and Families
Defend faithand family values -My core priority will always be to protect our faith, our families, and our freedoms from subtle or egregious erosions that undermine these institutions.
Housing affordability for new families - This challenge has to be addressed as we face a potential and significant market correction in housing and finance. Local municipalities should maintain most decision-making authority based on the local wishes, desires, and demands of their citizens. State legislatures should be judicious when looking for ways to assist without overstepping these bounds and increasing tax burdens.
Parental choice in education -Having options for children’s education is a great “free market” approach to improving quality and lowering costs to tax payers. With changes to moral beliefs and codes, parents are seeking other options that align with their standards. They want these options to be fair and equally funded.
Safety, fairness, and morality in schools -Safety is a teacher’s greatest responsibility - even above education. School shootings have dramatically increased. I am very concerned with the increase of violence we are seeing. Teachers and administrators who are trained should be allowed a biometric accessible safe in their classroom with a firearm or at minimum, a tear-gas launcher as a deterrent. Every shooting incident is ultimately ended by a firearm. Safety extends to the social and emotional wellbeing for all students, and for teachers and administrators as well. Abuses on each end of the spectrum should be addressed.
One growing threat parents have expressed to me is the immorality and moral decay they feel their children are being exposed to. School choice helps, but parents should be given more power to voice concerns with an educator they disagree with. The majority of primary and secondary educators are amazing, a small few frankly should not continue to teach. Higher education, if funded by tax payers, should have similar scrutiny. From the words of a parent, “universities have become havens of moral corruption for young adults.” Universities should educate, not indoctrinate. They need to be held accountable.
Parent-approved, evidence-based education curricula -Davis School District is launching a new strategic plan in 2026. While I appreciate their efforts to improve the education for all, I am concerned about the intent and results after having been burned by the common core standard changes 15 years ago which ultimately needed many revisions to improve it. Because the school district is the largest expense and putting the greatest pressure on our property taxes, citizens are demanding greater accountability and transparency for what is being proposed. How will it be measured and adopted and what are the costs?
Utah has done well in taking care of teachers recently with pay increases, but I hear concerns about the top-heavy bureaucracy and salaries, which are some of the highest in the nation. At the recent public hearing with the Davis County tax commissioners proposing a property tax increase for the general fund, many showed up to express their frustrations with property taxes. I was first to stand and address the commissioners on the tax challenges. I sat next to an older man who showed me his taxes and income statements. They were not congruent and he faces the reality of being forced to sell his home and land. He pleaded in desperation with the commissioners. When I compare him to the huge salaries at the school district, my heart sinks. This is quite unfortunate and should be addressed. For this and other reasons, public school funding is under significant scrutiny and citizens are demanding more review and a restoration of balance.
Measured, high-quality, value-driven education -Parents still want and demand what is best for their children in terms of education, and throwing more money at creating improvements doesn’t always lead to more measured, high-quality improvements. Instead, we need to look at the bureaucracy and structure and align it more with a true business model which is accountable for measurable return on investment.
Strong retention of quality teachers and administrators -Having raised six children through the public education system, I can attest to the absolute amazing teachers and administrators we have. To be honest, there have been a few exceptions and I didn’t appreciate feeling powerless as a parent about fixing it. Government funded jobs are notorious for the sentiment that you can never be fired. My mother worked for the Utah Department of Education as well as for the Davis School District. She had an employee significantly cheating on their time card and not working. She says it was nearly an act of congress to remove them. In my careers in the private sector, this has never been the case as dishonest and underperforming employees would be dismissed. It was not always fun, but it was necessary. People in these institutions should be accountable to their work. Good performance and merit based reward should be the standard. A DEI approach to hiring should be dissolved. Abuse, cheating, and derelict performance should be resolved.
Utahns United for Public Education
Primary and General Election Education Questionnaire
Funding & Budget Priorities
1. What role do you believe public education plays in a healthy democracy and economy?
Education is critical for a successful and health republic to work. History must be accurately taught. Patriotism and gratitude for American liberties and values should be fostered. Parent choice in education options should be considered and allowed. Public and private education is critical for a country to survive and thrive. Education has to remain one of our highest priorities.
Education is critical for a successful and healthy republic to work. History must be accurately taught. Patriotism and a gratitude for American Liberty and values should be fostered. Parent choice in education options should be considered and allowed. Public and private education is critical for a country to survive and thrive. Education has to remain one of our highest priorities. Education is critical for a successful and healthy republic to work. History must be accurately taught. Patriotism and a gratitude for American Liberty and values should be fostered. Parent choice in education options should be considered and allowed. Public and private education is critical for a country to survive and thrive. Education has to remain one of our highest priorities.
2. Do you believe Utah’s public schools are currently adequately funded? Why or why not?
The legislature has done well in getting our teacher better paid. It should always be reviewed to ensure we are attracting the best teachers and retaining them. Investing in education will always be top priority however, inefficiencies should be addressed. Education programs that don’t show adequate cost/benefit analysis should be revisited. We need to have meaningful and efficient models that foster and promote learning and growth with our children and not swing money into politics and other non-essential spending that doesn’t drive student success.
3. If state revenues became constrained, what would your funding priorities be?
Priorities will always be with teachers and the local administration at the school facility level. Bigger district salaries and bureaucratic programs would take lower priority. We have seen too much funding get stuck up at the top administrative levels and not trickle down to the end-user levels. I would rather see district level funding used to hire more teachers and reduce some of these class sizes from 35 kids down to 25. That would be a much more efficient use of money and student scores would be much better. There frankly isn’t a better use of money resulting in better outcomes than to have smaller class sizes.
4. Should public dollars for education primarily remain within publicly accountable institutions?
No. Many parents have demanded options. They want their taxes to give them options. Public school is important but a Utah fits all approach brings competition and options and competition drives improvement in the product. Free market approach in education will always driver better outcomes across the board.
Governance & Accountability
5. What does “local control” mean to you in education policy?
Let the elected school boards have influence and say and not the federal bureaucrats. However, many have expressed frustration with school boards but that is representative governance via elections. Some have suggested political leanings be given when determining school board elections and in a polarized political society, we may need to revisit that. Anything that comes top down applies more of a cookie cutter approach to all but that isn’t reality so decisions are better handled at the local levels.
6. What level of transparency and accountability should be required for schools receiving taxpayer money? Total accountability and transparency. We have seen ridiculous amounts of fraud, waste, and abuse at the national level and even some in our state. Anyone using taxpayer money will always be required to disclose fully and openly for accountability to the people. There are no other options. However, sometimes the state legislature has created redundancies in their unfunded asks and this should always be reviewed and refined.
7. What role should educators themselves play in shaping education policy? A huge role. We should listen and understand feedback from our teachers. These are smart, intelligent people who see first line the needs of their students. Their challenges, complaints, and ideas for improvements should be highly considered. Successful businesses operate this way and so should public education.
Teachers & School Workforce
8. What do you believe are the biggest causes of teacher burnout and attrition?
Class sizes are just too big. We have also seen a little bit of parent bullying. Teachers can’t just be whipping pillows for every irate parent. Parents can be held accountable to proper decorum. We know there are frustrations but we have swung the pendulum so far that teachers are being abused and their hands are being tied. I would like to see teachers given better recourse for some of these abusive interactions. Bullying should not be tolerated in any degree in school and that includes with the administrators and parent/teacher relationships.
9. What policies would you support to improve teacher retention? Give them more voice. Give them more incentive for education results. Give them more recourse from bullying. Allow the 360 anonymous feedback system to be enhanced where they grade the bosses. Bosses would then be accountable to fix or change their approach. Let’s take care of our teachers, they are such a critical part of societal success.
10. Do you believe teachers should be treated primarily as public employees implementing directives, or as professionals exercising expertise? They should be professionals. Let them teach based on their talents. Don’t provide such a highly directive approach to education because it diminishes and strengths and talents of teachers.
Curriculum, Culture, & Politics
11. How should schools balance parental input, professional expertise, and state standards?
All sides need better communication and collaboration. We must meet the parents needs and desires within reason. We have to understand parents' concerns and feedback. However, abusive parents can lose some credibility if they are overbearing and mean toward teachers and there has to be mutual recourse and respect.
12. What concerns you most about the current political climate surrounding public education? The fight over money and control. The free market approach creates the best outcomes. I’m also very concerned that education dollars are being used for political activism. That is grossly inappropriate and must be addressed. Public tax dollars should have the single priority of helping children learn, grow, and thrive in life. Anything else is frivolous and meaningless.
School Choice
13. What do you see as the strengths and weaknesses of the Utah Fits All Scholarship? I think it provides a much needed choice and alternative that parents are demanding. However, I see some abuses with the funds being received in these other options. This will be a much more indepth discussion in how it should look and be administered and how accountability is addressed. I lean away from overburden and control but if there is abuse, there should be some guardrails.
14. Should private schools receiving public money be held to the same accountability standards as public schools? In some areas, yes. It depends on how much money is being given and what it’s used for. Again, if there are abuses to the private funding, the legislature may need to consider some guardrails.
15. How should policymakers ensure that choice programs do not unintentionally weaken neighborhood public schools? I don’t believe in propping one up over another, if a private school shows tremendous success, I want it to thrive. If a public education system shows tremendous success, I want it to thrive. Free market is a beautiful thing for driving competition and improvement in all outcomes. I don’t think we pick and choose a failing school more over a thriving school. I want the best product to win and I want the inferior product to diminish and I don’t think we should try and prop a more failing system over a more successful one. Free market approacht just creates better outcomes for kids all around.
Students & Educational Outcomes
16. Beyond test scores, how do you define a successful school? Denmark model.
17. What role should the arts, music, CTE, and extracurriculars play in public education? Huge role based on the wants, needs, and desires of students and parents. My kids went to Syracuse Arts Academy and loved this curriculum. They have also attended public schools in Jr. High and High school and had great experiences. A whole approach to foster many talents and needs is important.
Civic Leadership & Tone
18. How do you build trust with educators and families who disagree with you? Outline rules for decorum for both sides. Have a conflict resolution protocol in place for all parents and teachers. We can learn to be civil and communicate respectfully. We are all people doing the best we can. Contention is the deal-breaker and we need to address it. All sides need a win win scenario
19. What education policy position have you changed your mind about over time? The utilization and effectiveness of some of the teen centers. My son goes to one but seems to abuse it. I’m glad that many of these are funded by private donations and I can see a benefit and need but it needs to be measured for its success and audited to see how to make it better meet needs.
Taxes and Government
Limit government - rebalance spending - triage priorities - When our tax dollars get appropriated for a specific purpose, they become stagnant and immovable despite the success or failure of the initiative. We have seen this in Davis County with building animal shelters, libraries, and sports facilities, but then when it comes to services like police and fire personnel, we run out and have to raise taxes because the other pots are untouchable. A business would never run this way. A business allows to reallocate and reprioritize toward other needs. This is why businesses stay efficient and government bureaucracies bloat to oblivion. I will look for ways to work with commissioners and other tax stewards to allow for portability and reappropriation of budgets.
Business solutions applied to government bureaucracies - The standard of success is the business model approach. This is why Trump became so popular. He is a business man who works to create efficiencies, lower costs, negotiate better deals, and hire and fire for poor performance. Some people see this as horrible and wrong, but it has been effective. My style of expression is significantly different from President Trump, but I do relate with his approach to effective governance.
Free market ideals – capitalists’ approach to government - In free markets, the efficient survive and the inefficient die. It’s different for government because it has an endless piggy bank of our tax dollars that prop it up. Tax stewards/politicians can make risky ventures such as the “Affordable Care Act” which ended up being costly failures. They act like experts despite little experience as was the case with President Obama. He took the risk and failed. The promises were broken. The disaster was left for future leaders to clean up and the tax payers were left holding the empty bag with the empty promises. I’m not a career politician who thinks it’s my turn to be in charge. I’m a humble and willing outsider who has real-life experience like the majority of us, that will make the necessary changes to achieve this objective.
Government accountability and transparency - If our tax dollars are being spent, then it must be visible. There has been a lot of news about prescription drug costs. I’m intimately familiar with this having been in the industry for decades. Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) have vertically integrated and scaled with insurers and pharmacy chains giving them a lot of power. Independent pharmacies are forced out of business. In the name of lowering drug costs, PBMs have become very profitable through spread pricing and drug manufacturer rebates which tend to drive them toward higher price medications and away from cheaper alternatives. They are on the radar at the national level, but a lot can also be done at the state level starting with transparency with profits from Medicare and Medicaid programs as well as insisting for pass-through rebates and eliminating spread pricing profits. To understand the cause for high medication costs like insulin, which I personally worked with, it’s due partly to these PBM intermediaries. It starts with making all profit earnings from government funded programs transparent and reported.
Decentralized controls and citizen led solutions - Ronald Reagan said the scariest words you will ever hear are, “I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” His sentiments are correct. We saw this with the FEMA response to some of the recent eastern hurricane responses. It’s no secret that centralization like Obamacare is a bad idea. Recently, Governor Cox discussed possibly forcing rezoning areas for housing upon the local municipalities. This is not the answer. Local municipalities deserve the control. They are the ones most closely linked to the citizens of their communities and citizens deserve the voice in these decisions. Centralization is not the direction we should go.
Sunset property taxes for seniors on fixed incomes - When attending the Davis County tax commissioner hearing, I was the first to stand and express these points. I saw that one commissioner understood this, but the other two did not. I sat next to a senior citizen who may have to sell his house and land because his property taxes are so high that he can’t afford his home anymore. This is heartbreaking. Seniors, at a certain age or with a specific tax-to-income ratio that is unsustainable, need our help. Their taxes need to be locked in place and even “sunset” after a certain age. Why, despite owning their property, can’t they keep it? If elected, I will be addressing this issue.
Lower and simplified taxes - The only way out of tremendous government debt is to tax. However, we are so far in debt that taxes aren’t sustainable anymore. The government will print money during this QE period and ultimately will devalue away the debt and leave Americans and the world holding the devalued and worthless bags of money. This is the reality for 2026. If you know me, you know I have been sounding this alarm for years. Being one who follows and understands the markets gives me insight as to what will be required to negotiate through this mess.
Dollar Devaluation and reset - With 36 Trillion in U.S. debt at an interest of 5%, it requires nearly 1.8 trillion just to pay interest, which is the largest line item to pay. We collect 4.5 to 5 trillion in taxes. Do the math and the U.S. can’t continue to pay for social nets, social security, military, roads, etc., and continue to borrow money. The austerity approach to fix it requires cutting ALL government funded programs by half. I’m not sure that will happen. The hard default approach in declaring no more payments will destroy all global banking and throw us into world chaos with other nations. The reality and only viable option is going to be the Fed’s approach to massive devaluation of the dollar through printing and inflation. 2026 will see a massive change to our money and we face real challenges. As one who follows markets and monetary policies, I see significant changes and we need to negotiate through this storm without causing further harm and control from the solutions and fixes that will be proposed.
Constitution & Public Safety
Uphold principals of the Constitution – restore balance of powers - The recent debate for Proposition 4 here in Utah has triggered the Federalist 51 papers debate again, discussing the separation of powers and checks and balances between the legislature and the judiciary. This seems to be a never-ending struggle. I am surprised at how many people haven’t read to understand this. The point is that branches of government do sometimes overstep their bounds and it should always be debated to keep proper checks in place. I have already submitted a legislative proposal to address the Ballot Initiatives and Proposition 4 issues. My legislative proposal has been forwarded to committee and is being considered in this upcoming legislative session.
Protect individual rights – freedom of speech, religion, firearms - Every time there is a shooting crime committed, there is a knee-jerk reaction to call for gun control. I can’t think of any argument more ridiculous and ignorant than this. When I was deployed to Bosnia, I saw first hand the effects of “gun control.” Once all the law-abiding citizens gave up their weapons, the thugs, terrorists, and murderers had their way. Peace through strength relates to our right to bear arms. The Founding Fathers clearly discerned this need, but people are ignorant of history and ignore the reality that evil and wicked people will find a way to commit violent acts with or without gun control laws. If gun control really works, then Ukraine should have declared their country a “gun-free” zone, and, I guess, Russia would have backed down and not invaded. Does that make sense? Even the Biden Administration - whose party supports gun control - determined to send more guns to Ukraine to help balance the threat from Russia. For proponents of gun control, it’s really more about gaining power and control over people, which in my mind is the most evil and wicked action any man or government body can take. I invite gun control proponents to read The Federalist Papers #28 and #29 by Alexander Hamilton as well as #46 by James Madison and then the Second Amendment to understand why civilians must maintain a right to bear arms. The society that gives up their right to bear arms is the society that welcomes tyranny. I will work to block any government action that infringes to any degree on our right to bear arms.
Strong public safety and law enforcement - In other states, there have been protests and even attacks on officers of the law during a police arrest or action. This is dangerous and inappropriate and even against the law when there is interference. There is a process to redress grievances and it is not by creating a mob surrounding police during an enforcement action. We have put checks on our enforcement officers with body cameras, etc., but now we need checks on the mob mentality interferences we are seeing. Citizens have to abide by the law and cannot ever interfere or hinder police action. I intend to address this growing concern so we can maintain order of law in our communities. The point it becomes okay to harass an officer of law is the moment our civilization will turn to chaos and anarchy as we are seeing in blue-run states. I will work to protect both citizens for enforcement oversteps as well as protect officers of law from harassment for doing their job.
Identify and deport immigrants who commit crime - Laws must be obeyed. If laws are bad, we change them. We have immigration laws, but we also want to be compassionate toward people, so I can understand why people object to the immigration enforcement going on. We, however, should have no sympathy for those who overtly commit crime and are here illegally. These folks have no protection of rights for breaking our laws and I applaud efforts to remove drug traffickers, sex offenders, and felons. There are people who are going through the correct immigration process and they should be given the opportunity as is already established.
Combat drugs and pornography - accountability from tech platforms targeting children - The absolute most destructive force to families and individuals is pornography. It must be constantly fought against and children must be protected. We must hold social media/tech platforms accountable for it. This is extremely complex to detect, enforce, and legislate, but it is a necessary battle. Utah has done some things well in this regard, but more can be done. I will work to protect our children & families from this stealthy destroyer.
Business, infrastructure, quality of Life
Energy independence - promote efficient forms of energy - Let the free markets dictate the type and demand of energy we consume. I’m opposed to government overreach trying to force inefficient and costly forms of alternative energy. Let’s not forget the failure of Obama with solar energy company Solyndra, who received 535 million in federal loan guarantees, once again proving the incompetence of government ran by Democrats. Energy demands are skyrocketing, especially with the tech advancements, and we will need the most efficient and cheapest forms of energy by all avenues available. This means opening up drilling permits, allowing nuclear, etc. I will work to keep open and available all free market demands for energy by reducing or minimizing unnecessary and cumbersome regulation.
Common sense water, land, and air solutions - Too often, politicians throw your tax money towards an environmental initiative. Too often it has amounted to nothing. Hence, the “Green Scam” term. Nobody trusts government officials spending your money towards this. Currently there is an initiative to save the Great Salt Lake. If private grants and donors want to contribute, I think that’s great. If your federal tax dollars come into play, I have a high degree of skepticism - not because I don’t want to help fix this challenge, but more because I don’t trust the competence of government. There must be increased accountability and understanding as to how money will be used and if it will measurably improve things. Water usage is a rising problem with our population growth. I do intend to work with Weber and Davis Water Conservancy to create a common sense, effective approach to water management.
Dramatic infrastructure improvements keeping pace with growth - Our population growth has put tremendous strain on our roads and infrastructure. UDOT doesn’t keep pace and it seems like newly completed projects end up being redone shortly after completion. We will need to invest in ways that are smart and cost efficient to improve our road systems. I will also work with municipalities to ensure they are approving housing projects with home driveways facing inward to neighborhoods and not fronting busy roads which creates hazards, lowers speed limits, and contributes to congestion. I will also work with Clearfield, Syracuse, and Layton cities to promote the roundabout model vs traffic lights at smaller intersections which has proven to reduce fatalities by 90%, injuries by 80%, overall crashes by 35 to 62% depending on source, and increase traffic capacity by 30 to 50% depending on source. Our state and cities are becoming traffic jams and we need to reconsider traffic flow patterns and neighborhood designs.
Privacy with digital IDs, tokenization, central bank digital currencies - The reality is tech advancements with artificial intelligence and quantum computing have thrust us into a new age that pose significant challenges to our privacy. I will work to promote a HIPAA-type privacy law when it comes to our personal financial and spending data. This is already a significant challenge, but if and when we move to CBDC and tokenization after the pending market correction, we will have to deal with these challenges. I feel we are not adequately prepared for it. I intend to be forward-thinking and work to maintain our freedoms through these technological advancements.
Guard against burdensome regulations toward small businesses - Having worked with hundreds of business owners, I have seen ridiculous and egregious abuses of government regulation and overreach. Small business is the backbone of our economy and too often I heard their frustrations with government regulation burdens and control. I will work to reverse and deregulate unnecessary, costly, and frivolous regulation that hinders business prosperity and growth.
Attract legacy businesses to Utah - I love what Mayor Godfrey did for Ogden when he wanted to revitalize downtown. He reached out to the Larry H. Miller Automotive Group and convinced them to invest in downtown Ogden and it didn’t burden the taxpayers in Ogden. This, however, isn’t what happened for the downtown SLC projects. I cringe when tax dollars are spent for these types of projects. I will work to protect from legislative proposals that are not in the best interest of the citizens. Good, frugal, responsible, government is essential. Additionally, I will work to continue to attract new business to Utah that can revitalize our economy for years to come.
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