Justice System Reform

Crime is out of control in Jackson County.

In 2024, the Kansas City Police Department reported 144 homicides in the Kansas City, Missouri Area. Clay, Platte and Cass County accounted for a total of nine homicides, while 135 were reported within Jackson County. From 2019 to 2023, Clay County had 59 homicides and Cass County had 30 homicides, while Jackson County had a total of 908 homicides.

We must change our overall philosophy from reactionary to preventative.

By using the three pronged approach of modernization, labor, and legalism, crime in Jackson County will decrease significantly. This first means focusing on policies that prioritize the use of modern technologies in order to reduce crime. Under my plan this would include creating a county-wide crime database, making body camera technology a county wide policy and initiating massive improvements to the 911 call center.

As your County Executive, I will not stop there. Reducing crime will not only focus on investing in crime prevention technologies, but also investing in our Jackson County Residents. Statistically speaking, employment is the biggest contributor to crime reduction. Multiple studies have found that within two years post release approximately 80% of prior offenders with stable employment will not commit crime, while 70% of underemployed prior offenders will reoffend. That is why I support making Ban the Box a countywide policy and promoting programs to help prior offenders receive meaningful, stable, long-term work.

Finally, I will lobby for laws that go after the root of crime.

This would mean focusing on working with the State Government to pass laws to make thefts harder to profit from. Under this three pronged approach, crime in Jackson County will subside. This is called working smarter not harder.

Audit the County Government

The Jackson County Government must be audited.

We must streamline governmental transparency in order to prevent such wasteful practices from ever occurring again. Under my plan, we tackle this issue by providing better management, transparency and oversight of our departments in Jackson County. This would include:

1. Reevaluating the budgets of each department to promote efficient use of our taxpayer funds
2. Ensuring that each department is fully staffed and focused on retention of current employees, and
3. Providing up to date disclosures of departmental financial information on the Jackson County Website.

Under Frank White’s tenure, historically, corruption has never been worse.

In 2020, Jackson County Government received a "Poor" rating from the State Auditor. For years, the County budget was incorrect by over $100 million dollars. Additionally, the auditor discovered that Frank White made Jackson County into his own piggy bank by authorizing over 2,046 improper administrative transfers, including using your tax money to buy him and his chief of staff personal vehicles worth over thirty thousand dollars each.

Since 2023, the mismanagement of our County funds has only gotten worse. Our Jackson County Government has wasted millions of dollars on unsuccessful ballot incentives, frivolous lawsuits, and increased administrative costs due to the property tax crisis.

This year, the Jackson County Government caused a budget crisis by delaying passage of a budget for over five months. This halted millions of dollars being distributed to departments and organizations for months. Worst of all, this historic delay caused Jackson County Government to lose over $300 million dollars in grant opportunities for our community. On top of this, the Jackson County Government still has failed to allocate over $70 million dollars in covid relief funds.

As your next County Executive, I will conduct the first deep scale audit of the Jackson County Government.

I will ensure that our dollars will be properly spent and will hold any person accountable for any illegality discovered. By implementing the policies in my plan, we can work towards fixing the corruption and wasteful spending in our government.

County-Wide Infrastructure Improvements.

The government buildings in Jackson County are crumbling.

Instead of organized and planned maintenance, Frank White has delayed maintenance of our buildings until it reached critical levels. Officials have stated that our County is behind a billion dollars in deferred maintenance. Many of our County owned buildings are not ADA compliant.

For the past years, our County buildings have endured failed air conditioning, plumbing, and other maintenance issues. Even the front doors of the Jackson County Courthouse have been closed for years due to the County Government failing to repair the front steps. Enough is enough.

Under my plan, we will prioritize repairing and renovating all Jackson County buildings.

However, we will not stop there. We will make a commitment to prioritize repairing and modernizing the infrastructure in unincorporated Jackson County. This means focusing on providing our unincorporated areas with sidewalks, streetlights, and other infrastructure improvements in our County.

Keep Taxes and Utilities Affordable

The Jackson County Government has a moral and legal duty to keep our taxes and utilities equitable and fair.

However, over the years, the Jackson County Government has violated its obligations. In 2019, our community was faced with a tax crisis created by Frank White’s government. Frank White allowed the Jackson County Tax Assessor to use corrupt data and questionable valuation practices to determine property values. More than 10% of Jackson County Property Owners filed for an appeal and studies showed that the property tax increases targeted minority and low income areas in Jackson County. Even the consultant that Frank White paid over $450,000 per year to value our properties stated that there had to be a county wide proper reappraisal of all properties. Entire communities were faced with the real dilemma of losing their homes due to these exorbitant property tax increases.

Sadly, Jackson County Executive Frank White caused another property tax crisis in 2023.

County Assessor Gail McCann-Beatty admitted to numerous mistakes in her 2023 property tax assessment process, which led to our Courts to find that Jackson County Government’s 2023 property tax assessment process violated our State laws.

Throughout this entire process, our Jackson County Government failed our residents.

Instead of showing us compassion and decency, Frank White approached this crisis callously and defensively. Frank White had the power to overturn the County Assessor’s values in order to properly review and publish more accurate results in 2021, 2023, and 2025. However, Frank White stood by the assessment and stated that the criticism was merely an attempt at character assassination.

Under my plan we will prioritize residents over wealthy investment firms.

This means we will focus on lobbying and passing new laws in Missouri to further cap increases on property taxes in order to prevent another property tax crisis from ever occurring again. We will also go further and lobby for laws to protect our residents from exorbitant increases in utility bills.

Small Business Support

Small businesses are the heart of Jackson County’s economic health.

In Jackson County, 93% of our business are small businesses, which employ 44.5% of the total workforce. However, in 2025, the Jackson County Government caused another property tax crisis against the small business community. Many small business owners either own their commercial businesses or lease from a landlord. In 2025, the Jackson County Government specifically targeted commercial properties and substantially increased their values with no indication of physical inspection. This meant that small business owners were hit with an unexpectant large expense to continue to operate their business. As a result, many small businesses may be forced to shut down due to these increased costs. That is not right.

As Jackson County Executive, I promise that another property tax crisis will never happen again.

I will favor local businesses for government contracts, work to revitalize abandoned downtowns into new economic centers, and create a new policy to support mixed use buildings to allow small businesses to flourish in our community. Additionally, I will create a small business fund that will provide grant opportunities to support our small businesses in times of need.

Ownership of Single Family Homes

We are in a homeownership crisis in Jackson County.

In Missouri, Jackson County has one of the lowest homeownership rates. Jackson County currently has a homeownership rate of 58.8%. In comparison, 67.9% of residents in Missouri are homeowners. In Cass County, 75.9% of its residents are homeowners. Homes are becoming too expensive for Jackson County Residents. This is because outside buyers have been purchasing our properties and artificially increasing the prices of our homes to historic levels. Within one year, the average house price increased by 48% while the inventory for available houses decreased by 61%.

We must fight back against the attack on homeowners.

Neighbor-to-Neighbor Transportation Plan

A future Jackson County is a connected Jackson County.

That means a true modernized and safe public transportation system that will connect all cities in Jackson County together. Jackson County’s public transportation system is broken. Our auto related death rates are higher than the United States’ average. Every year over 100 people die from car accidents in our County. Also, our current bus system is inconvenient, uncomfortable and slow. We don’t even have safe and efficient transportation options for our pedestrians and bike riders.

As Jackson County Executive, modernizing our transportation system will be a priority.

We will invest in higher quality roads, sidewalks, and bike lanes. Moreover, we will develop a true county-wide rapid bus transit line, which will provide fast and convenient transportation in Jackson County. Our plan will focus on reducing the fatality and injury rate on our roads; and also provide convenient and fast public transportation options to our residents.