Redmond residents, ballots are in the mail and its time to make a decision. People of any political persuasion can agree that the reps we’ve sent to Olympia are not getting it done. Our budgets are blown every year, the tough business climate impacts tax revenues and one of the most frustrating consequences for our state is that our kids’ education isn’t funded correctly.

I want to ask you to vote for Joel Hussey because he is the right person for the job at the right time.

Joel has a sharp financial mind and proven real-world leadership as a CEO, school board president and former president of Lake Washington Youth Soccer Association. He’s a man of great character and empathy. Frankly we are lucky that a guy of his caliber wants to serve as a legislator, knows which problems to solve and can bring a common sense approach for tackling them.

His opponent Roger Goodman has served three terms, and done some nice work on the legislative front for public safety. But when I read his re-election pitch that he now wants to focus on business development, I have to ask based on his career as an attorney, what experience is he going to bring to bear to solve the biggest problems facing our state?

The state budget needs structural change to avoid perpetual crisis. We need financial expertise to fix it. We need people with business experience to put the right conditions in place for growth as a healthy economy helps everyone. Properly funding our kids’ education? Moves from impossible under the current way of doing things to probable if we put the right people in place.

Please vote for Joel Hussey this November, we need him as the 45th District representative.

J.D. Klein, Redmond