Editor's note: Patch has submitted candidate questionnaires to all candidates in the local legislative and Congressional districts, and will post the responses verbatim as we receive them.
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NAME: David Spring
OFFICE SOUGHT: State House of Representatives, 5th Legislative District, Position 2
PARTY AFFILIATION: Democrat
TOWN OF RESIDENCE: North Bend
CURRENT OCCUPATION: Teacher and Website Developer
PROFESSIONAL BACKGROUND: Master’s Degree in Education, University of Washington, Instructor at Bellevue College for nearly 20 years.
WEBSITE: springforhouse.org
WHAT IS THE MOST PRESSING ISSUE FACING VOTERS IN YOUR DISTRICT: The most pressing issue in East King County is the lack of adequate school funding. Our children are forced to attend some of the lowest funded most overcrowded schools in America – three thousand dollars per child or 30% below the national average. Yet families in East King County pay State taxes at a rate which is 20% above the national average. It would take $3 billion per year to restore school funding in our State to the national average. Our State used to be 11th in the nation in school funding. We are now 45th. The reason for this decline has been a rapid rise in tax breaks for wealthy multinational corporations – which have tripled from $15 billion per year in 1996 to $45 billion per year today.
IF ELECTED, WHAT WILL YOU DO IN THE FIRST SIX MONTHS IN OFFICE TO ADDRESS THIS ISSUE? I will submit a bill to roll back corporate tax breaks for any corporation making more than one billion per year in profit. For example, last year Microsoft made $23 billion in profit on $73 billion in sales. They evaded paying their fair share in State taxes by pretending that their products are made in Nevada. Had they paid a normal tax like any other business in our State, they would have paid one billion in State taxes. This would not have harmed Microsoft as they could deduct their State taxes from their federal taxes. Rolling back this single unwise and un-needed tax exemption would allow us to hire 10,000 more teachers.
DO YOU SUPPORT/OPPOSE REFERENDUM 74: SHOULD GAY MARRIAGE BE LEGAL IN WASHINGTON? BRIEFLY, WHY? I support gay marriage as a basic human right.
DO YOU SUPPORT/OPPOSE, INITIATIVE 502 TO MAKE SMALL AMOUNTS OF MARIJUANA LEGAL TO PEOPLE 21 AND OLDER? BRIEFLY, WHY? I have misgivings about some of the language in Initiative 502. Nevertheless, I believe strongly that we must stop filling up our prisons with young people who use small amounts of marijuana. I therefore will vote for Initiative 502 with the hope that the minor flaws in this initiative can be corrected in the next legislative session.
