Political party: Democratic

Birth date: July 17, 1978 (age: 38)

Length of time living in Federal Way: For more than a decade, I have been a prosecutor working to combat crime in our community. I moved to Federal Way over a year ago.

Profession, or profession before state lawmaker: I have served as a King County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney and as a state prosecutor, combating violent crime, corporate health care fraud and the abuse of vulnerable adults throughout South King County and our state.

If elected, which committees would you like to work on? I will seek committees that best advocate for the needs of our community. With my past leadership on public safety issues, I assume the House Public Safety Committee would be at least one likely fit.

Are there areas of the budget that should see cuts? As someone who has managed state efforts to protect taxpayers from government fraud, waste and abuse, and who managed the return of over $30 million to taxpayers, I would use this experience to focus on cuts to those areas that are making an inefficient use of taxpayer dollars.

Are there areas of the budget that should see increased funding? Our state Supreme Court has held current legislators in contempt of court for failing to fund basic education. Taxpayers are getting $100,000-a-day bill as a penalty. Federal Way teachers are getting pink slips because of this legislative inaction. I will finally meet our constitutional obligation to fund basic education.

For what types of issues, programs, departments, or budget items do you support increased taxation? I believe that any taxation to meet our education-funding duty should be a last resort after looking for government fraud, waste and abuse, and any taxation should focus on corporate-based profits. I strongly oppose a personal income tax in our state. I also support capping an increase to county property taxes.

When it comes to easing local and statewide traffic burdens, what types of solutions would you support? Olympia recently passed the largest gas tax in state history. My focus will be to ensure that our region gets a fair share of resources from the significant expense that we are paying through this taxation.

Generally speaking, would you rather see traffic issues dealt with via mass transit or via more (or expanded) freeways? Any effective effort to decrease traffic frustration – and to bring more young professionals to our region – will require improvements to mass transit, as well as freeway congestion.

What role would you like to see the state play in combating homelessness? Over the last year, through my work with the Federal Way Human Services Commission, I have seen homelessness increase 125 percent in Federal Way. I believe that, to address this local and statewide issue, we need to preserve local social services and also try new, creative, housing-first proposals, especially in the urban centers like Seattle.

What role would you like to see the state play in reducing community violence? As a criminal prosecutor, I believe the state can be smarter on public safety. For example, the Legislature has failed to re-institute probation for most felony offenses over the last four years, which could decrease economic crimes and recidivism. This is despite the fact that a government report has indicated this can be done for little to no cost to tax payers.

We also need to ensure that the state Homicide Investigative Tracking System is fully operational to identify violent crime suspects in our community. The Legislature significantly cut this program four years ago and hasn’t fully re-instituted it. The savings from legislative sessions not going overtime could be used to cover the costs of this program.

What role would you like to see the state play in attracting quality jobs to District 30? I would like to see the state creating loan repayment incentives for doctors, nurses and other health care professionals to come to our region. We need to make the beauty, and central location, of our region a selling point for a new generation. Other state apprenticeship programs could create living-wage jobs to help young people remain in the region.

What should the statewide minimum wage be? I support the current minimum wage initiative that will increase the statewide minimum wage to $13.50 by 2020.