Issues

"It is important to remember that a campaign should not be all about the candidate. Politics is about nurturing innovative leadership for the families of our state, securing a clean and healthy environment, improving our public schools, providing quality health coverage, enhancing our quality of life, and sustaining hope for the future." -John Burbank

Solutions for Small Business and Health Care

John wants to help small businesses in our state to thrive. He runs a small business himself, the Economic Opportunity Institute, with five employees. They provide health care to all their employees, spouses, domestic partners, dependents. Health care costs for just one employee and his family add up to over $14,000 a year.

Most businesses simply cannot sustain this.

We need to find solutions for small businesses so that the weight of health care doesn't put them on the brink of failure. We need to relieve small and new businesses of the B & O tax on gross receipts. We need to enable employees of small businesses to participate in retirement savings plans.

Environmental Problem-Solving

We must protect our environment and ensure a sustainable and healthy quality of life for us and our children. John has been an active member of the Washington Conservation Voters for over a decade. He wrote the comprehensive policy brief that detailed the fallacies of the failed "Takings" Initiative 933 in 2006. He volunteered in the campaign to defeat the ill-conceived "property-rights" referendum in 1995. He bicycles to work and otherwise fill ups with bio-diesel at Dr. Dan's in Ballard.

The Legislature just passed the climate action and green jobs bill, creating a framework for environmental problem-solving. Next year we will need to find the money for this. John has recently developed a plan that will redirect windfall oil company profits into creating new jobs in the green economy and funding rapid mass transit. He will work in the Legislature to take this plan and put it into action. That's what he knows how to do and he'll use his skills in Olympia to change things for the better.

A World of Opportunity

Working for High Quality Education

Working with Bill Gates Sr., John helped get the Legislature to fund the education legacy trust fund. He single-handedly increased pay for child care teachers by creating a career and wage ladder. He and his colleagues developed the evidenced-based policy for full-day kindergarten. John has served on the Seattle PTSA Board and the Ballard High School PTA Board.