Garner M. Shimizu

Drug Policy

A major first step is to bring this situation into the light. Draw attention to and demonstrate the specific problems for everyone to see, be aware of, understand, acknowledge and recognize the seriousness of the situation. Learn more

Education

Critically important is the need to care for the emotional heart, and moral character development of each child, to nurture them into the fullness of who they were born to be. Introduce new fresh curriculum appropriate for that purpose. Learn more

We need to move away from the one-size-fits-all model. With a wide range of needs and proficiency, we need to identify each individual student’s needs and address them specifically and accordingly. Learn more

Promote charter schools, and vocational schools. Learn more

Government Reform

I propose the following changes and initiatives: 1. Term limits for the Legislature, to prevent the increased prevalence of special and self-interest relationships that result in the abuse of power, corruption and illegal activity. The Governor, Mayor, and City Council all have term limits. 2. More accountability and transparency through regular audits, to help identify and prevent fraud and mismanagement. 3. More accountability to identify conflicts of interest, and disqualify those officials from participating in the process. 4. Campaign spending limits, to put all candidates on an even playing field; greatly eliminating the influence of and entitlement of donors and money on future legislative decisions; and greatly reducing the significant advantage of long entrenched incumbents. 5. Prohibit legislators from soliciting campaign funds, holding fundraisers, or accepting campaign contributions during the legislative session. 6. Correct the legislative procedure that currently allows gut and replace manipulation of bills. 7. For every legislative session, identify the state’s top priorities and dedicate all bills to only address these top priorities, while also limiting the number of bills. This would focus legislative time and effort where it is most needed, allow more thorough research and deliberation, and reduce the number of nonessential bills being introduced. Note that there were almost 6,000 bills introduced in the 2022 session. 8. Require every new bill to have analysis to determine the cost ramification if passed. 9. Privatization where cost effective, eliminating unnecessary government handling and overreach. Working collaboratively on valid ideas to achieve solutions, should take priority over the limitations of a first-term elected official. A practical realistic goal for my first term would be for me to be a connection to the people, keeping the public informed of the concerns that affect their lives and families. Learn more

We need government reform to decentralize control and transfer power from the few in position, especially career politicians, back to the people. Learn more

Taxes / Budget

Lowering or temporarily suspending state taxes on gasoline would help ease the pain at the pump. However, this would be a temporary fix, and does not get to the real causes of the problem. Inflation arguments presented above, apply here also. Government reform is necessary to remove oppressive regulations, streamline procedures, identify and correct mismanagement and unwise spending, and expose and clean out corruption. This can in turn allow and promote more competition, productivity, and working together for the good of the people, and not special or self-interests. Learn more

I believe unwise government spending and inefficiency is at the core of high costs, causing high tax rates and constant increases. We need to identify areas of spending and inefficiency that need change, correction, or elimination. Learn more