Jamie Pedersen: He'll Fight For What's Right • It's Time to Solve our Health Care Problems Twenty-five years ago, Ronald Reagan tried to close the hospital on Beacon Hill serving verterans and the poor. He failed, but five years ago, PacMed was again on the verge of shutting its doors. I was brought in to help make sure that didn't happen. Today, PacMed is thriving, expanding its charity care. From that work I learned how badly our health care system needs healing. I believe companies that don't provide health insurance must pay to expand the state's Basic Health Plan. The state should use its buying power to reduce prescription drug costs for everyone. And, we must guarantee health care for every child in Washington. • Our Future Depends on Public Education My mom, dad, aunt, uncle, cousins and partner have all dedicated their lives to teaching in our state's public schools. For them to succeed, our state must commit to fully fund education and provide the innovation necessary to help our next generation. That means lowering class sizes, providing all-day kindegarten and making pre-school affordable for everyone. Our kids deserve nothing less. • Improve Transportation and the Environment We all know what needs to be done --- make it affordable and convenient for people to get out of their cars and onto public transportation. Expand light rail and bus service. Make sure the Viaduct and 520 include transit capacity. And, as a bike commuter for over ten years, I believe we should do more to encourage bicycling, Flexcars and carpooling. • Everyone Deserves the Same Rights As a gay man, I have faced discrimination. As a civil rights attorney, I have helped people about to lose the family home, a loved one's inheritance or custody of children because gay men and lesbians aren't treated equally under the law. But we can't protect our community one family at a time. We need to change the law so that all families are valued and respected.