A couple of other changes have taken place in my life.  After serving for more than 25 years as a veteran police detective and police commander, I have retired from police work.  This has allowed me significantly more time to work issues as your State Representative.  During my first two terms in 1998 and 2000, I was also a full-time police officer, and this was difficult.  I feel that I now have the time to do a vastly better job representing you.  That being said, my experience as a police detective and Commander of a 15-city Homicide/Violent Crimes Task Force will stay with me as I use that experience in Olympia to craft laws to protect our communities from violent criminals.  Laws that actually work on the street, and in the courtroom.

A strong supporter of the Second Amendment, I believe we should protect the rights of law abiding citizens, and punish criminals.  Government needs to stay out of the private lives of citizens, unless there is a constitutional reason to be there.  Our freedom is the most precious commodity we as Americans have.

My family has also had to deal with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  My son, Andrew, is now serving his third tour of combat in the Middle East as a United States Army Infantry Sergeant with the 173rd Airborne.  Currently in Afghanistan, he also served in Iraq where he was wounded twice, once by an IED and once by a rocket-propelled grenade during a firefight.  Unfortunately, 56 soldiers in his unit have now been killed in action, and many more wounded.  Additionally, my nephew was killed in Iraq in 2005, and my son-in-law will be going to Iraq in September.  Dealing with this stress and with the grieving family members of soldiers killed in his unit has had a profound impact on me.  Veterans' issues are important.  Dealing with the problems and injuries of returning soldiers will be one of our greatest responsibilities and challenge as a nation and state.

Back in Olympia, I was the prime sponsor of a bill reinstating the voter-approved 1 percent property tax cap when the Supreme Court threw it out.  Without this legislation, your property taxes could have risen as much as 40 percent more than they already are!  I was proud to take the lead on this issue and plan to do more to reduce property taxes so people are not taxed out of their homes.  I have also been pressing the need for infrastructure to be in place before new development further overcrowds our roads, schools and emergency services.  I am also proud that we, for the first time in our states history, created a constitutionally-protected rainy day fund to keep essential government services like police, fire, transportation and education on an even keel.  This will allow us to budget and run the state with out raising taxes or cutting programs as the financial markets go through inevitable economic cycles.  We also passed a balanced budget with almost a $1 billion dollar surplus.  In fact, our budgeting in Washington State was seen as one of the most responsible in the country.  The financial markets rewarded us with an extremely favorable lower bond rating.  This allows us to save tens of millions of dollars of taxpayer money that we can invest in roads and schools.  Due to this fiscal responsibility, we will not be raising taxes, regardless of the nonsensical partisan political rhetoric you are likely to hear during this campaign season.  I also introduced legislation to ban gifts to elected legislators by lobbyists.  This is a tough issue as it is opposed by most legislators and lobbyists.  I, myself, have a no-gifts policy and will not take so much as a cup of coffee for myself from a lobbyist.  But other legislators take over a half a million dollars a year in gifts, trips, dinners, sporting ticket events and the like for themselves.  This is wrong.  I will continue to work this bill until I get it passed.

In my police work, I saw first-hand a disheartening amount of crime resulting from not solving problems with education, health care and illegal immigration.  I have seen that wisely investing in education is the best insurance against kids becoming involved in drugs, gangs, and crime.  I support funding the voter-approved teacher pay and class size initiatives.  I will continue to fight for responsible and accountable education funding. 

For more information about the 2008 Campaign, the Hurst Family, Andy's service in Iraq and Afghanistan and to learn about April and I, check out the About Chris page.  But of course you are free to call me at my home anytime you want.  My phone number is (360) 663-2608. I am one of the very few elected officials in the state who list their home phone number.  If you can't contact your elected representatives, I don't think they are dong their job.

Sincerely,

Christopher Hurst