To help voters learn more about local candidates for Washington State Legislature, MLTnews sent a questionnaire to each candidate for state representative appearing on the Nov. 3 general election ballot. We are posting these are we receive them. 

Jeb Brewer, a Republican, is campaigning for the 1st Legislative District Position 2 seat now held by incumbent Rep. Shelley Kloba. He has lived in Washington state for 16 years and has been employed in the construction and restaurant industries. Brewer said his experience involves working with people to reduce waste, complexity, and business costs and improve efficiency. Brewer is also a licensed Washington State Home Inspector.

Q: Tell voters a little bit about yourself. How long you’ve lived in the district you’re hoping to represent, a general idea of what platforms/issues you’re running on and other general information about yourself to let voters get to know you better.

I’ve lived in the district for the past seven years, it’s a great area that I am proud to be part of. However, I decided to run for office because things are getting worse, traffic along Highway 9 and 522 was worsened by partially funded projects, homelessness is getting worse and not being solved as it expands out of Seattle, and lastly small business are struggling when they need to be supported as they create tax base and jobs.

Q: What experience would you bring to the position you’re running for? Are there any issues in particular you are passionate about or plan to prioritize if elected?

I’m a project manager and I’ve worked in small and large business, I’ve managed IT (information technology) teams, construction projects and operations for a restaurant chain. I get things done and know how to prioritize and solve problems that matter. I also look at problems with a perspective and expectation that things need to be done as efficiently as possible. Our government needs to be a lot more concerned about how we spend money.

Q: The state budget is facing a budget deficit of nearly $9 billion including a $4.5 billion shortfall from the 2019-21 budget and another $4.3 billion shortfall from 2021-23 is anticipated as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Legislators have proposed several options like implementing a state income tax, a capital gains tax, new taxes on business or making cuts in the budget. What are your ideas for addressing the budget shortfall?

The easy way out is to say we need to raise taxes but I believe that we need to look internally at all departments and programs first and have a expectation of reducing waste and improving efficiency. This is what businesses do through Lean and Six Sigma practices and we need to expect this of our government. In addition, people and businesses are hurting now more than ever, this is not a time to be raising taxes.

Q: If you favor budget cuts, what areas would you prioritize funding for and areas would you propose cutting?

Education and transportation are the two things that we need to make sure are properly funded (with an emphasis on becoming more efficient).

Q: Washington state, specifically Snohomish County, was the first place in the country to have a confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis. Some have said the federal government was not prepared for the pandemic, forcing state and local officials to come up with their own plans. Do you have ideas for ensuring the state is prepared to resolve this (and future) pandemic crisis, regardless of federal government action?

It is sure easy to place blame on this administration or that administration with who did or did not do what. However, it has become apparent that things could have been done better. We need to learn from this and build a better system that connects local through to national government crisis response and management. I believe that while the governor or president needs to have short term authority over a situation, we also need structure in place that does not place authorities control in only a few peoples hands for too long.

Q: Our nation is currently in the middle of a polarizing conversation about racism, particularly with regards to over-policing in communities of color. There have been calls for police reform, including but not limited to defunding the police and reallocating funds to other services that would replace a police response with social services. What are your opinions on this issue and what plans do you have to work on improving relations between police and communities of color?

See the below response.

Q: Additionally, if you do support defunding the police, how would you go about doing that? If not, what other plans do you have for police reform to ensure people and communities of color are treated equally?

I’ll address (questions) 6 and 7 together. I think we need to break down what the role of the police is — when I talk to law enforcement their intention was to be in a job that enforced laws not one of consoling and working with homeless issues. It seems that we have an opportunity to separate roles and create partnership positions that allows a police office to focus and be trained for managing criminal activity while there is another person who is trained as a consoler. This could function is a similar was a police and fire do today with police securing a site and then allowing fire to go to work.