John Driscoll Interview

I'll start by thanking John Driscoll for meeting with me and answering all of our questions.  Driscoll is a soft-spoken, good looking and knowledgeable candidate (that's my opinion) running for State Representative of the 6th District.  He willingly and thoughtfully answered each question without dodging any subject as a commenter suggested I not let any candidate get away with.  I recorded the answers so I would not misquote him.

Gary asked:  Would you buck your party to support or oppose an issue if you believed it was in the best interest of your constituents?

Driscoll:   I want to represent my constituents. Here is the order that I go in when I have to make decisions about any bill I vote for, my first filter is I vote the way I believe my district would want me to vote.  My voting record is that I voted on Party line about 70% of the time which is an unusual voting pattern.  Most people tend to vote more along the party platform. The party's position is the last thing I consider.  So first I ask, is it good for my constituents and is it sensible and sound from a policy perspective?

I'm working for the people of Spokane.


Rob asked:  List the two most important issues that you think you can make a difference on if elected and how would you do that.

Driscoll:  What is most important this year, begins with getting our budget balanced.  That is going to be our highest priority.  The other big issue is jobs.  They relate to each other directly.  We need to get people back to work, reduce our unemployment rate in order to recover our state's revenue and stabilize the state's economy.  The question then becomes: what can you do in government to stimulate job growth.  I'm a strong believer that the way government can stimulate job growth is through targeted incentives for hiring.   For example if you give a tax credit for new hires or if you create some incentive for employers. 
(for the sake of shortening this blog, I am leaving out his examples)


Marci asked:  Who is your biggest campaign contributor?

Driscoll:  We have campaign limits at the state level so that the most any one individual or corporation can give is $800 per race, so that's $800 for the primary and $800 for the general.  There are a certain amount of people who have given me that much.  There is a public website http://www.pdc.wa.gov/  with all that information (discusses what is on website). We have to report every week as our campaign contributions come in so it is very current.  It also lists how the money is spent and where it's coming from.

Come back for the rest of the Q & A