Most people would rather be governed by their neighbors than by a bureaucrat in a distant office somewhere. The idea of local control is appealing to many people. But what would that actually look like? We asked candidates to cast their vision for a government “of the people”.
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Warren’s Voice reached out to several gubernatorial candidates. Adam Steen was one who responded and answered our question.
In response to how he would promote local control as governor, Steen said, “There’s a couple of avenues or approaches to look at. I’ll call it a bookend strategy.”
For Adam Steen the first “bookend” of local control is keeping the state government in its correct lane. He said, “We as a state government look at areas where the state government…has overstepped its bounds. Where have we created regulatory burdens? Where have we created reporting burdens? Where has the state stepped too far? I want to look at different areas where we could remove the state’s control over local authorities.”
But it’s not enough to just remove state overreach. The second “bookend” of Steen’s strategy is to fill that void with the correct authorities. “We need to make sure that families and communities understand how, why, and where they need to get involved.” He added that he would help advocate for involvement in local elections. He concluded by saying, “We need to get communities charged up to understand why it is important to get involved in local government so that they can take ownership and accountability in their local communities.”
These “bookends” to minimizing state overreach and maximizing local involvement could be key to secure local control for our communities.
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