Accountable

As a Utah registered Professional Environmental Engineer, I have spent my career working with coal, oil, and manufacturing companies, mines, and rural communities in Utah. I have a firsthand understanding of land issues and potential economic resources our Federal Government has denied the State of Utah. As a State Representative, I will bring unique perspective to the Legislature. The land and resources of our State must be protected for We the People, and as your Representative I will be ready for the task. Rural Utah is suffering from the regulations the Federal government is putting on the resources available in and on Utah lands. These resources not only include mineral and oil resources, but the natural beauty of Utah is a resource as well. Increased tourism, mineral and oil extraction, and the introduction of new industries will help rural Utah succeed. Eliminating CO2 as a regulated gas will free up fuel production. Utah is rich in uranium, but rather than use this resource and create jobs in Utah, we import a majority of our uranium from Russian allied countries. I support development of our uranium to create quality jobs in rural Utah and cut off funding to Russia. Standing up against the Presidential power to lock up land through the Antiquities Act will allow Utah to protect our heritage in a logical way, rather than just locking up millions of acres of land and resources. I will work with my fellow legislators to pushing back on Federal regulations so Utah can re-assert our right to regulate our land. This will allow us to eliminate much of the bureaucracy that slows industry. This will also spur economic growth and will allow Utah to more effectively regulate land and resources. As our lands and resources are developed to create high quality jobs and generate State income we will fight to keep land open to the public. This is very personal to me as a member of the Utah Four Wheel Drive Association, avid hiker, camper, and shooter I rely on access to our public lands.

The right to protect the environment and health of our State resides with the citizens of Utah. As an environmental engineer working with both the State Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and the Federal EPA I understand the unnecessary control the EPA puts on our DEQ. We The People should have the right to enact these regulations through our State DEQ for the betterment of Utah. As your Representative I will use my knowledge of the environment and land issues to rein in the EPA. Political parties have been using the EPA as a way to “gin up” the base. The Federal Legislature has handed the responsibility to create regulations to the EPA. This allows the legislators we send to Washington D.C. to feign outrage at the passage of new regulations without suffering the consequences of supporting these regulations. Pro-regulation Republicans can pawn-off the regulations they want to unelected bureaucrats, then ask for the voters to re-elect these legislators to “fight” the very regulations they support. CO2 regulations are an example of this legislative election manipulation. Many in the Republican Party subscribe to anthropogenic climate change (global warming). However, these politicians know they would not be re-elected if they supported CO2 regulations. These politicians allow the EPA to regulate CO2, campaign on ending these regulations, and after they are elected, no longer fight to end these regulations until the next campaign cycle. As a registered Professional Environmental Engineer I do NOT subscribe to anthropogenic climate change. I will fight to end these regulations, opening our vast energy opportunities.

“…the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” I have always supported the right of We the People to bear arms, while the Federal, State, and local governments have not. Six months after moving to Utah my wife and I obtained our Concealed Carry Permits. We love living in a State that allows us to protect our family, even when we attend school activities with our children. As your Representative I will work to protect the right of We the People to protect our families by being a vocal advocate for the Second Amendment. As the Nation discusses whether or not to allow teachers to carry firearms or to add more armed officers at schools, we in Utah have the solution. We allow concealed carry permit holders to carry in schools. This means we not only allow teachers and administrators to carry, but we allow the public to carry. We have had no mass school shootings during this time. I personally know teachers and administrators who have carried for years. These educators take their roles as protectors of our children seriously. According to Northwestern University school shootings have decreased by 80% in the last 30 years with an overall decrease in the number of students shot. It is also important to note that 98% of mass shootings, four or more victims, occur in “gun free zones”. Firearms are used about 1.5 million times per year for self-protection. The founders did not build any exemptions into the Second Amendment. Only recently has Utah passed "Constitutional Carry." Where were our Utah Legislators and Governors for the past 126 years? Our State Legislature has not pushed back on the anti-Constitutional National Firearms Act, which is a clear violation of the very purpose or the Second Amendment. I have spent my time as a father and Scouting volunteer teaching youth to safely use and handle firearms. I have helped bring people into the firearms community. As your Representative I will push to increase Utah Concealed Carry reciprocity, fight against Universal Backgrounds Checks, and continue to educate the public about Utah’s embrace of our Second Amendment liberties.

The right to control the education of children resides with parents. The citizens of a State may allow that State to regulate education. However, the Federal Government has unnecessarily intervened in this right. Programs like Common Core, Race to the Top, and No Child Left Behind have limited our Utah teacher’s ability to creatively shape education as needed for our children. Additionally, Critical Race Theory (CRT) and transgender issues have been inserted into our school system. Our six children have received much of their education in Utah's public schools. Our oldest son received a Diesel Tech Certificate through the Tooele Technical College. Our Senior and Junior students have split time at Blue Peak and Stansbury High School. Our youngest three children were enrolled at Scholar's Academy until this year. With some educators introducing CRT and anthropogenic climate change agendas into the class room we removed our youngest three and are home-schooling them. My brother Carlos, step-father Kevin, and mother in-law Phyllis are/were teachers. My brother Carlos spent two years sharing my house while working as a teacher to save enough money to make a down payment on a house for his family. Watching Carlos struggle with government mandates, the National Education Association, and low wages added further to my frustration with our education system. As a hardworking, well respected, and well liked teacher, Carlos is not able to benefit from his hard work. Additionally, Carlos often explains that his students were not allowed to work at their optimum level. Instead, all students are mandated to work at the lowest level to assure that no students are left behind. School choice and allowing funding to flow to home-school families is a priority. Money attached to education is removed from Utahns through taxes. This money is the property of Utahns not the education bureaucracy. Therefore, I will work to prevent the State from testing or having mandates attached to home-school funding.

Civil Asset Forfeiture, Stingray phone trackers, and Eminent Domain are just a few examples of government over-reach. If we continue to justify these violations in the name of security because “only criminals have anything to hide” or "projects must go forward", then what liberty do we have when religious, political, or speech becomes “criminal”? Additionally, what right do we have to our property? As your Representative I will always vote against these violations of liberty and advocate for mens rea (intent of wrong doing) laws. Over the past few years we have seen examples of the FBI and CIA misusing their authority and ordering surveillance on private citizens based on spurious charges. We have also heard stories of innocent citizens having their property illegally seized by Federal, State, and local governments. These citizens have no recourse, even after proving their innocent they may never get their property back. Additionally, we have seen in some states entire neighborhoods destroyed for construction of a private facility, only to have the company back-out of the deal, leaving the communities and former property owners with nothing. With the recent revelations about surveillance on Donald Trump during the 2016 Presidential race I believe we can finally form a coalition of liberty minded individuals to rein in these and any other violation of our Fourth Amendment.

Whether one prescribes to evolution or creation, both belief systems agree the main purpose of sexual intercourse is to create life. To engage in an act that for 6,000 to 1,200,000,000 years has created new life and then act surprised by the creation of life is the very definition of ignorance. As your Representative I will work to end abortion in Utah. Many abortion supporters cite the Supreme Courts past rulings on abortion. Roe vs Wade attempts to create a "Constitutional Right" which even the most adamant abortionist cannot find. The State of Utah is a Republican controlled state with a strong family oriented ethic. However, the rest of the country is looking to Mississippi, Georgia, Texas and other states to push back on the killing of innocence. We in Utah should be leading this fight. What have our Legislators done to stop abortion? With Europe moving to allow abortion to eliminate Down’s syndrome, the world is returning to the eugenics philosophy popularized by the US progressive movement of the early 1900’s. Policies that allow killing for quality of life, convenience, or the betterment of society in the 1900’s inspired our own country to sterilize the “mentally enfeeble,” "generationally poor," and "racially impure." This philosophy lead to the creation of Planned Parenthood, an organization which has killed more people then Adolph Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and possibly Mao Zedong. We should not tolerate the existence of Planed Parenthood, its affiliates, or influence in our education in Utah. I will work to eliminate Planned Parenthood and end abortion.