Would you send a leader with no understanding onto the battlefield? No, we all want wise leaders. We are at the forefront of new challenges. We need leaders who are experts, who have personal lived experience, and who have the foresight and a thorough understanding of the complexity of our crises in order to devise and implement solutions rapidly and get ahead of, or close to, the curve. 

Elect me to Whatcom County Council District 4, and we’ll finally get to the root cause and go beyond being fiscally responsible. Experts with lived experience are a rare find, and our government is trying to find these individuals because it is clear how valuable they are. 

Having to relocate due to environmental migration and a family member’s medical condition, our lives inevitably changed as we tried to stay afloat with one income. My family’s lives were capsized into the abyss with no lifesaving tugboat; there were simply too few resources to give us a hand up. Gaining rare insight through my personal lived experience and my work with grassroots organizations like HomesNow, I've climbed the civic ladder because I’m compelled to bring my foresight as the middle class shrinks. I realized that if this could happen to me, it could happen to anyone. 
 
As a regular person with lived experience, a mother, and a locally recognized peace-builder who stands on integrity and the Constitution, I have a deep understanding of the approach and sustainable solutions we need going forward. While empathy is an important aspect of understanding and relating to others, it cannot fully replace the depth of understanding gained from personal lived experience. It is important to be aware of this distinction when voting locally to ensure the leaders you place in office are well suited to create the solutions we need now and avoid offering well-meaning but often misguided solutions. Similar to the expert’s historical wildfire suppression practices that have contributed to mismanaged forests, significantly making our wildfire crisis worse and more expensive.
 
I’m requesting that you vote for me, a pioneering leader and expert with this rare lived experience knowledge, and we’ll go forward transforming our community's well-being to keep pace with these changing times and create a legacy for our future generations of prosperity and justice for all. Our founding father, George Washington, made it known that the two-party system would create the divide we are living with. I am and will always be of an independent nature who goes beyond being fiscally responsible by having the foresight to solve these multifaceted challenges now.
 
Our biggest challenges fall under the umbrella of public safety (jail, housing, drug use, agriculture, environmental impacts and natural disasters, growth management, water challenges, and more). As we grow and balance our needs together, we must address these challenges as a whole, as they all tie into a much larger picture of public safety. We need bold leaders who have the foresight and understanding to realize we need a comprehensive, multifaceted approach now, one that addresses all aspects of our public safety, or we will continue implementing solutions that, while well-intended, do more harm to the people they are trying to help and our precious tax dollars.

Find out more about me and my valuable experience at VoteKatherineOrlowski.org for Whatcom County Council District 4, and share with me what you love about our county and your concerns.

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Editor note:  Each candidate for elective public office in Whatcom County is invited to submit a statement for posting on NW Citizen. For specifics, click here.