2022 Voter Guide: Stephen Slater, candidate for Maryland House District 3

Why are you running for office?

I am running for the House of Delegates to put my lifetime of public service to work for Frederick County in Annapolis. Together we can make Frederick County and Maryland an even better place to live, work, and raise our families.

What is the most pressing issue in your district?

The most pressing issue in my district is access to public resources - affordable health care, mental health services, and substance abuse treatment. A positive change in this area will improve public health, reduce crime, and improve economic opportunity.

How will you help your constituents deal with inflation?

To deal with inflation, I will work to assure that the costs of public goods and services remain affordable for the citizens of Maryland. I will do this by supporting legislation that maintains stable pricing for currently publicly provided goods and services and ensure that future services are affordable to the citizens of Maryland.

What do you see as the top transportation priority in your district, and how would you address it?

The top transportation priority in my district is relieving congestion on I-270 between Frederick and Montgomery counties. To address this, I will encourage more public transportation, especially increased MARC rail transportation between Frederick and Washington, D.C. and the eventual expansion of the Red Line Metro rail service to Frederick County.

What should schools do differently during the next pandemic to help students, families and teachers?

I think that the COVID-19 pandemic taught us a lot about the flexibility of schools, teacher, parents, and students to adapt to challenging circumstances. If there is a future pandemic, we all need to work together with understanding and patience to get through the difficult times. The most important things to keep in mind is that school administrators, teachers, students, and parents need to work together during adversity and that all parties need to treat each other with understanding and respect at all times.

How equitably do police officers treat people of color?

Most police officers are dedicated public servants with a very difficult and demanding job. However, there is a lot of work to be done in changing historic prejudices and unconscious biases that affect the decisions that police officers make everyday - we change this with education of new and existing officers and hiring leaders who promote diversity and inclusion. We also need to eliminate the bad actors and repeat perpetrators of bad behavior that are within every law enforcement organization and punish bad behavior when it occurs to the fullest extent under the law.

What would you do to make sure Maryland's voting system is secure and accurate?

To ensure we have a secure and accurate voting system I will support vetting and testing of secure voting systems as well as adequate training for voting personnel. I also support a verifiable paper trail for every vote cast in the state of Maryland to ensure accountability and the ability to recount if necessary.

What are the right goals and deadlines for Maryland to reduce carbon emissions and develop renewable energy sources?

Maryland should strive to reduce carbon emissions drastically over time. We should wean ourselves off fossil fuels, both for domestic electricity production as well as for automobile transportation. We can do this with a planned transition to renewable energy sources, such as solar, wind, geothermal, as well as clean and safe nuclear power. Maryland should encourage electric vehicle use by setting an example with state-owned vehicle fleets as well as creating incentives for privately-owned electric vehicles and the infrastructure to support them (a network of charging stations).

What's Maryland's best use of federal COVID relief money?

Federal COVID relief money would best be used by trying to make whole those small businesses adversely affected by the pandemic. In addition, small businesses and entrepreneurs should be encouraged to build the small businesses that drive our state and employ the majority of Marylanders through a grant system, where they would receive the COVID relief money to start new businesses and reopen small businesses that were forced to close as a result of the pandemic. In addition, the arts community in Maryland was drastically affected by the pandemic and a portion of the relief money should be set aside to revive our previously thriving arts community.