Biographical Information
Campaign phone
2193637485
What experiences, education, and personal characteristics qualify you to serve as a member of this office?
I am a business, finance, accounting, and auditing professional. I have a B.S. in accounting from DePaul University in Chicago (1990). I served as a Federal Financial institution examiner, fresh out of college. I am a former two-term LaPorte City Councilman, and served my entire 8 years on the Finance Committee. I have an entrepreneurial background, and have spent my main living, the last 30 years, as a professional investor in the stock market. I utilize financial statements all the time in that profession. I am highly methodical and analytical. I am also highly conscientious...and nothing is more important to me than my integrity, which will never be for sale.
How will you support and encourage economic growth and development in LaPorte County? Are there any project you would like to see developed or squashed? Please include your thoughts on Solar Farms in LaPorte county, and infrastructure conditions.
La Porte County has special strengths that relate to its natural beauty, including its topography, lakes, parks, the historic built environment (especially of its two major cities), and the idyllic and pristine nature of its rural spaces. We need to compete economically on the basis of this unique and special way of life. That which differentiates us attracts outside investors. Similarly, our lower cost of living (while still being relatively close to the Chicago Metroplex), and great transportation access, represent strengths. It is important that the executive authority of the county have a reputation for honesty, integrity, and independence. We need a stronger ordinance regulating solar farms, so they are not an imposition on people, but also need to respect property rights.
What if any changes could be made to improve the county’s working relationship with state and local government?
The local legislators (state senators and state representatives) are always a key conduit between the county and the statehouse. It is important for county officials on both the Commission and Council to maintain professional relationships with those state officials, a relationship that is a two-way street, so that the needs of the county (especially those that require the typical 80% state or federal grants to be able to complete), can be properly met/addressed.
Will you be willing to collaborate and set aside your differences with other elected officials to put the needs of LaPorte County ahead of your self-interests?
I don't have any self-interests. I am here to serve the will, and best interests, of the people of La Porte County. And I always have been. That having been said, elected officials also have to follow their conscience. Nothing is more rewarding than building trust and collaborating with other elected officials and department heads, and having a sense of pursuing a common destiny for the precious sake of the people of La Porte County. Unfortunately, not everyone operates from this same basis. There is ego. There is self-aggrandizement. There is the corrupting influence of power upon those who are lured by its temptations. If something bad or wrong is going on in government, good men and women confront that and call it out. Sometimes, that is both required and necessary.