We asked each candidate to answer a few questions so that you can know a little more about their priorities. See responses from other candidates: Bruce Gibson
We have yet to receive a response from John Whitworth.
If elected, what will you do to address the issue you identified above as most significant?
San Luis Obispo County is the second-most-expensive small metro area in the Country. Historical inflation and skyrocketing gas prices have only made the Central Coast less affordable. My goal, as a long-time local small businessman and job creator, is to create a countywide business environment that maintains and creates new head-of-household jobs. All of the items mentioned above play into how we accomplish that goal. We cannot create more jobs without building more housing, without bolstering our local healthcare system, without creating a better regulatory and tax environment, without improving our infrastructure, or without making our communities safer.
Which theme in the Chamber’s economic vision, Imagine SLO, do you think deserves the most focus in the next four years and why?
Empowering Innovation is the pillar that most stuck out to me. I will do everything in my power to make San Luis Obispo County a hub of innovation and create jobs. We need to be focused on job creation and economic growth here on the Central Coast. With Cal Poly’s agriculture and engineering programs, the expanding Career Technical Education programs at Cuesta and Allan Hancock, the proposed spaceport in Paso Robles, and the groundbreaking energy projects slated to come online locally, SLO County is uniquely situated to lead California into the future.
What is the biggest opportunity for the County as a whole in the next four years?
Our county is full of economic opportunities – we just need leaders who have the experience to understand them and take them. We have the opportunity to be the clean energy capital of the United States, with new projects across the county that will create energy and jobs, and generate tax revenue for police and fire. With the proposed Spaceport in Paso Robles, we also will have a chance to bring major
engineering firms and innovators right here to the North County. These are both ways to create more head-of-household jobs.
Do you think our business environment is healthy? If not, what would you do to change that?
California’s business environment is terrible. CNBC gives us an F for “Cost of Doing Business,” an F for “Business Friendliness” and an F for “Cost of Living.” Historical inflation and highest-in-the-nation gas prices have made things worse.
SLO County isn’t much better. Even the incumbent Supervisor is in favor of dismantling Proposition 13 and making it easier to raise taxes – something our local businesses could hardly afford.
As somebody who has made a career out of owning businesses and hiring people, I can use my small business experience on day one to reign-in out-of-control regulations and help create jobs.