OCCUPATIONAL BACKGROUND: Salem Hospital, Director of Marketing and Community Relations

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND: Attended McKinley Grade School, graduated from North Salem High School and earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Southern Oregon University.

PRIOR GOVERNMENTAL EXPERIENCE: Appointed to the Marion County Health Advisory Board and the Policy Board of the Child Health Initiative.

Our city is at a crossroads.

There are many opportunities for Salem. But we have serious problems that can no longer be ignored or glossed over with new taxes:

• Increased loss of jobs

• Shrinking city revenues

• Millions needed for neighborhood repairs

• Revival of our historic downtown

• Retirement funds at risk

• Rising home break-in rate

• Increased number of homeless families

• Mismanaged city budgets

To address these problems requires the combined efforts of all parties. City Council meetings contine to be an ideological battlefield. Any citizen who dares to disagree runs the risk of verbal assault. And we the taxpayers lose the opportunity to make our city work.

I’ve watched one faction or another take control of the city and muscle through its own agenda. Any success came at the cost of a divided community and loss of any chance for voter approval. Promoting special interest agendas is not the purpose of city government.

We have a great pool of talent in Salem, but the current City Council fails to use that talent. We need individuals willing to explore a range of opportunities for our neighborhoods and downtown. We need to get everyone involved ...from risk-takers to neighbors ...to craft solutions that all parties can support.

The next four years are critical to Salem’s future. To make Salem work, we need leaders willing to work with all sides to secure community-wide support.

With your vote, that’s the agenda I will bring to the City Council