Candidate selector: Douglas County Commission / LJWorld.com

Welcome to our candidate selector for Douglas County Commission. It's a fun and educational tool that can help you decide which candidate(s) you agree with the most.

Here's how it works. Below, we've listed a set of issues and the candidates' positions on these issues. Check the box next to a candidate's response if you agree with it. After you're done, we'll tell you which candidate(s) you agreed with the most.

Please note that this is meant to be fun and educational - but shouldn't necessarily be used as the de facto way of making such an important decision. We encourage you to learn as much as you can about each candidate.

If elected, what would be your top three priorities as a Douglas County Commissioner?

1 Tax Kansas Athletics Inc. 500,000 for Allen field house, and 500,000 for memorial stadium each year. (No part of the net earnings of the corporation shall inure to the benefit of , or be distributable to the members,directors, officers, or other private persons, except the corporation shall be authorized and empowered to pay reasonable compensation for services rendered and empowered to pay reasonable compensation for services rendered and to make payments and distributions in furtherance of the corporations purpose.) Giving Man-genius 3 million, Perkins 2 million, Gill guaranteed 10 million, making up a new position for Olin for 100,000 per year does not represent the harmony with and and subject to the educational policies of the University of Kansas. See(amended articles of incorporation The University of Kansas Athletic Corporation.) What is reasonable? 2. Have an independent investigation into the Computer Assisted Mass Appraisal system that is used by the county, it is not uniform of fair. (It is either garbage in and garbage out, or what you see is what you get.) Reappraisal happened in 1989 and it has be

My top goals are investing in our workforce so Douglas County residents have the skills they will need to compete for the jobs created in our community over the next decade; to help Douglas County continue to lead the local sustainability effort by establishing an Energy Efficiency Fund to reinvest savings into even more efficient improvements; and to protect and enhance the quality of life that we enjoy in Douglas County by working to make sure families have access to affordable housing and health care.

Do you agree with the Douglas County Commission's decision this summer to raise taxes to cover the budget?

I could not support a budget that would have required making devastating cuts to key services like Bert Nash and Senior Services when we have more residents counting on them everyday. I could not support a budget that would have undone the good work being done to slow down recidivism at the Jail. The budget the Commission passed this summer will help maintain and even improve our quality of life in Douglas County, and it will put our community in a stronger position going forward.

What is the biggest challenge Douglas County is facing today? How could you help fix that problem?

Lack of revenue. It is not going to get better. Cutting the county payroll 10%, take revenue from the illegal cell phone towers on top of the Oread hotel. Take the revenue form one of the 8 generators proposed by Bowersock in the new north power plant. Get revenue from Kansas Athletics (see #1 above) . The county needs to look very closely at the non profit status of many organization.

The biggest challenge facing Douglas County today is making sure our workforce is ready to compete for the jobs that are going to be connected to our growing bioscience and technology industry and other key fields like nursing. I'll be an advocate for our public schools - the foundation for any successful workforce development initiative. And I will make sure we use our economic development resources to invest into our workers and building their skills to help them find stability and advance to better jobs.