Between thoughtless funding cuts, pork barrel giveaways to his donors and friends, and straight-up bullying, Donald Trump has debased and dishonored our political traditions. But he is as much a symptom as he is a cause of our toxic politics. Our government will only work when ordinary citizens have the same opportunities to weigh in on policymaking as wealthy special interests. As a County Commissioner, I look forward to bringing my expertise as both a communications professional and social scientist toward making government more transparent and responsive to your needs. Here are a few of my ideas:

• Improving the county government website and better leveraging social media and other new technologies to improve public communication.

• Prioritizing staffing and human workers over unproven technological fixes like A.I. and automation systems.

• Improvements to the budget visualization programs on the county website that make them more user-friendly and readable.

• Unequivocal support for our immigrant communities, whether it be better access to open space and law enforcement, better multilingual resources, or a robust defense of cultural events funding.

• Supporting statewide ballot initiatives that make the wealthy pay their fair share, limit the power of special interests in politics, and make public officials more accountable to their voters instead of their donors.

• Hold more regular townhalls throughout the county.

• Update social services interfaces to better include non-traditional and LGBTQ+ families, as well as serve disabled residents.