Hopes to improve economic development

ADAMS COUNTY — Christopher Winter is running for election as state representative for position two in the Ninth Legislative District to help students with college debt.

He said he is running for the position because he is concerned about the cost of college tuition and the policies allowing and supporting it. He said it’s expensive because higher education institutions are viewed as a business with lenders putting students into debt for a large part of their life.

“We’ve got a lot of students in debt that hurts them over time,” Winter said.

He said college debt inhibits economic development because people are left with less money to spend at local businesses.

Winter said most lenders are located outside of state, leading to Washington dollars heading out of local communities.

His goals for office include creating coalitions to help work on a plan to spread the burden of the cost of college tuition to everyone to make the burden smaller overall.

Winter said he is an environmental activist, served the U.S. Marine Corp., worked in education, worked in the natural resource management field and is involved in various political issues. He said all those experiences helped to prepare him for office.

“I think I would say that this is a historical moment,” he said.

Most people are dissatisfied with Republican and Democrat leadership and it’s time to try something new, Winter said. He prefers the Green Party.

He said he will help attract jobs to the area by placing an emphasis on small businesses and economic development. Winter said his plan to alleviate undergraduate tuition costs is directly related because families will have more money to spend at local businesses because they aren’t paying so much for tuition.

Winter said he will improve agriculture opportunities in the Ninth Legislative District by supporting family farmers. He said he does not support agri-business. He said he wants communities to support family farms and buy products locally.

He plans to improve education opportunities by gaining control of education costs and working to create education coalitions. He said the cost of education needs to be spread throughout the state.

“I think that’s the right thing to do,” Winter said. “It’s the new contract between the baby boomers and the youngsters.”

He said voters can visit his Web site at progressivesforwinter.org to learn more about his candidacy and the issues important to him.