Your Mark On The World

#plugintodevin Show - Devin Thorpe for Congress Guest: Scott N. Howell Office Held: Utah State Senate Issue: Healthcare and Education. I am concerned about my grandchildren receiving the best healthcare and education. Making sure healthcare if affordable. Providing the best quality education. Bio: Scott N. Howell currently is a consultant providing government relations consulting to businesses and organizations, including several development companies and various business and civic entities. Scott spent 34 years with the IBM Corporation most recently as Director for the Public Sector Industry guiding government and business leaders in pursuit of outcome-based strategies and successful delivery of implementation initiatives. During 1990 to 2000 Scott served as a Utah State Senator. For eight of those years he served as the Senate Minority Leader. In 2000 and 2012 Scott was elected as the Democratic Nominee for the United States Senate. #plugintodevin #UtahValues #BoldSolutions #UTpol

Listen to my town hall to hear around various issues!

#plugintodevin Show - Devin Thorpe for Congress Guest: Karina Brown Office Held: City of Nibley Planning Commissioner Office Sought: Lt. Governor Issue: Healthcare Access - Medicaid Expansion is available for people in need. Complete expansion up the 138% of the poverty level went into effect 1/1/20. I was one of the five signatories or sponsors of Proposition 3 to expand Medicaid. I became interested in this issue because my mother passed away in the healthcare coverage gap in 2013. I feel it is important for people to have access to quality primary care especially with the potential loss of employment during the pandemic. Bio: Karina is President of the Cache County Friends of the Children's Justice Center Board and was a founding sponsor of the Medicaid Expansion ballot initiative (Proposition 3) adopted by Utah voters in 2018. She also serves on the Cache Valley Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and is Co-Chair of the Cache Chamber Legislative Affairs Committee. She is a Planning Commissioner for t

#plugintodevin Show - Devin Thorpe for Congress Guest: Priyanka Bakaya Bio: Priyanka Bakaya is Renewlogy’s CEO and is an entrepreneurial environmental leader. Bakaya worked in the energy research sector and in electronic waste, which led to her researching plastic waste technologies during her time at MIT. Bakaya also worked in venture capital on start-up financing for Silicon Valley firms Accel Partners and Globespan Capital. Bakaya has previously been selected as a World Economic Forum Global Shaper, a Lightspeed Venture Fellow and a Laureate for the Cartier Women’s Global Initiative. She has been named to the Fortune 40 under 40 Ones to Watch List, and Forbes 30 under 30 List in Energy and Waste360 40 under 40. She is a graduate of MIT and Stanford (Honors). Website: http://renewlogy.com/ Twitter: @renewlogy Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Renewlogy/ Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pbakaya/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/renewlogy/ #plugintodevin #UtahValues #BoldSolutions #UTpol

With questions submitted in advance, Devin answers 10 questions in about 10 minutes. Topics include healthcare, the war on drugs, education, rural communities, water and ethics. Questions from Carol Fineagan, Sean Thomas, Richard Davidson, Janis Baker Ferre, Nate Blouin, Walt Sorenson, Margie Broschinsky, Jake Garn, Cindy England and Richard Swart. #plugintodevin #UtahValues #BoldSolutions #UTpol

#plugintodevin Show - Devin Thorpe for Congress Guest: Jamie Cheek Office Sought: Utah's 1st Congressional District Issue: Healthcare. Everyday I see people who can't afford or access healthcare. Growing up my family was on Medicaid. Growing up in a small town, my mother hated using it because "everybody knew everybody." I honestly believe this is why she delayed getting healthcare for herself when she was sick. By the time she went to the doctor, at the age of 35, she was diagnosed with Metastatic Colon Cancer and died within a month of being diagnosed. I was only 16 when she passed, and my brother was 15 and our younger sister was only 3, the same age as my daughter now. My take is that as your Congresswoman, I would fight for affordable and accessible healthcare. We hear too many stories of people delaying going to the doctor for treatable and preventable illnesses because they don't have healthcare. There have been so many stories of people dying from COVID-19 having their last concerns being the financi

#plugintodevin Show - Devin Thorpe for Congress Guest: Jared Anderson Office Sought: Utah 3rd Congressional District Issue: Poverty Better monetary income is an idea to bring hope back into the lives of the American people. I’d equate it to what the G.I. Bill was after the 2nd World War. I support it wholeheartedly. Bio: Jared is a father, husband, student, and progressive. He is currently writing a book to defend the democratic institutions of our polarized nation. He is a history nut and loves the musical Hamilton. Twitter: @jaredforutah #plugintodevin #UtahValues #BoldSolutions #UTpol

#plugintodevin Show - Devin Thorpe for Congress Guest: Jazmin May Issue: Immigration and Education. I am a DACA recipient. We need to find a pathway for Dreamers and their parents to obtain citizenship and grant us equal opportunity in this country. Bio: Jazmin May has a passion for community work and advocacy. She believe that every member of the community has a right to access the resources they need to be successful. Jazmin had a lot of helping getting to where she is today. She came to the United States when she was five years old. Knowing no English she was places in 1st grade where she took it upon herself to learn English very quickly and do well in school. From a young age Jazmin loved learning and school. As she got older she knew the challenges that came with being undocumented. Applying to college and getting financial aid would be difficult. That however motivated her even more to work harder in high school. With the help of many of her teachers and the AVID program Jazmin was able to go to her

#plugintodevin Show - Devin Thorpe for Congress Guest: Thandeka Tutu-Gxashe Issue: Currently I would guess the spread and impact of Covid19 infections and the impact on our lives and the devastating impact on our economy and all that flows from that. Also what will life be like post our country lockdown. Mainly just socially and the curtailment of ones ability to move around at will and as we know it. We can still go to the shops and put food on the table which is not the case for many people in our poorer communities. However as the schools are closed countrywide we cannot continue to do our work of handing out Tutudesks from the Desmond Tutu Tutudesk Campaign to learners at schools where they are needed so badly. A lot will need to be done to uplift and protect our poorer communities and the homeless. It cannot be just trying to get back to business as usual. This virus has highlighted what an unequal society South Africa is. There have had to be donations of food parcels but also some rioting and looting

#plugintodevin Show - Devin Thorpe for Congress Guest: Lynette Wendel Office Sought: Utah House of Rep., Dist 39 Issue: Currently, the effects of COVID 19, schools, jobs, healthcare. Because of my community networks and commitment to service, I am utilizing my relationships and skills to support one to one connections in our district. We are connecting those who can to those who need assistance. This idea started off as a need to feel empowered and helping people. It started off as a thought of neighbor helping neighbor and has culminated in a volunteer team of 40 callers trying to reach thousands of our neighbors over the next several weeks. We have had an overwhelmingly positive response. The callers are energized and feel appreciated. The people we call feel connected again. Sometimes, we are the first person they have spoken to in days. In addition to worries about schools, jobs and the virus itself, the isolation has been very hard on a lot of people. Bio: Lynette has a rich professional history in edu

#plugintodevin Show - Devin Thorpe for Congress Guest: Greg Skordas Office Sought: Attorney General Issue: Utahn's voted to expand medicaid in 2018 and the legislature overturned that vote by the people, and the Attorney General just stood by and didn't protect the peoples voice. The Attorney General should be the attorney for the people of Utah, not special interests and big donors. Bio: I’m Greg Skordas, Democratic Candidate for Attorney General for the State of Utah. I've lived in Utah all of my life. I studied and received degrees in both Engineering and Law at the University of Utah. I raised three highly successful children here too. Nic, Annie and Bina— an Air Force medical doctor, an educator, and an environmental scientist. I also have five grandchildren. In addition to being a lawyer, I've worked for the past 35 years with the National Ski Patrol at resorts in Summit and Weber Counties and ski 25-30 days a year. My wife and I currently live in Eden, just east of Ogden in Weber County, and we have

#plugintodevin Show - Devin Thorpe for Congress Guest: Chris Peterson Office Sought: Utah Governor Issue: Chris Peterson has spent his career fighting for working families. A professor of business law at the University of Utah, he has worked tirelessly to help industry to improve the lives of their employees and customers. When our neighbors were losing their homes and the economy was crashing before our eyes, Peterson took the fight to Wall Street greed helping build a team in Washington, D.C. that returned $12 billion to cheated American families. Chris knows Utahns need a fair marketplace that treats customers right and gives every business a chance to succeed. Bio: Chris' government and policy experience include: · Working as a Special Advisor in the U.S. Department of Defense where he helped lead the Pentagon’s efforts to protect military servicemembers from predatory lending. The Secretary of Defense awarded Peterson the Office of the Secretary of Defense Award for Excellence for his efforts on behalf

#plugintodevin Show - Devin Thorpe for Congress Guest: Shannon Miller Cox Issue: Trauma (ACE) Responsive and Informed Services I am a survivor but I have white privilege, I come from having every opportunity to pick myself up and thrive! Private insurance, safe supportive family, never falling so far down that I suffered for very long. My women don't have this experience! We need to recognize the underlying Trauma issues inn this community if we are ever going to really deal with our Suicide rates and our addiction rates! Bio: I am the Executive Director and Founder of Journey of Hope started 6 years ago after retiring from Law Enforcement. A survivor of sexual assault, I believed wearing a gun would protect me from further harm; what I found were thousands of victims suffering in Poverty, Addiction, Mental Illness, and anv intersection of crushing systems of oppression. In this space I found my calling on this Earth, to use my privilege, my survival to help others find their Journey of Hope! Website

#plugintodevin Show - Devin Thorpe for Congress Guest: Heidi Totten Issue: Helping solve global hunger through economic development and self-reliance. I work with families that live below the poverty line in Kenya. It's quite ridiculous that we live in a world where people go hungry. Period. Bio: Heidi Totten is an eclectic wife and mother of two relatively normal children. She spent her early career building technical teams around the world during the dot com era, and ten years ago launched her own business helping entrepreneurs and small businesses go global by embracing social media and online marketing. Her focus is connection and collaboration, and her personal business motto is “Content is king, but community builds the kingdom.” Heidi has helped hundreds of entrepreneurs over the past 3 years. She runs Heidi Totten Consulting (www.heiditotten.com) and The Eclectic Entrepreneurs (www.eclecticentrepreneurs.com) as a way to help the most people possible during her one crazy life. In her spare time, she

#plugintodevin Show - Devin Thorpe for Congress Guest: Howard Leonhardt Bio: Inventor with 21 Issued U.S. patents and dozens more pending mostly focused on organ repair and regeneration. Invented leading stent graft system and first percutaneous heart valve. Led team to complete first ever in man non-surgical repair of an aneurysm and first stem cell repair of a heart. Founder of over 33 startups. Operates incubators/accelerators in California and Utah. Founded a number of social good impact startups including The California Stock Exchange TM and The Kindheart Lionheart TV Network. Leonhardt Vineyards a California wine making operation was founded in 2000. Website: http://www.leonhardtventures.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/howardleonhardt Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LeonhardtVentures/ Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/howard-leonhardt-6694185/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hleonhardt/ #plugintodevin #UtahValues #BoldSolutions #UTpol

#plugintodevin Show - Devin Thorpe for Congress Guest: Isaac Nuttall. Issue: Making government more of, for, and by the people (i.e Campaign Finance Reform, Improving Voter Participation, etc.) I see many people at my school (Timpanogos), and community abroad, who are affected heavily by voter apathy, seeing no feasible way to improve politics at all level. This has led to depressingly low voter turnout levels for young people in my community, leading to one party holding a monopoly on state and local politics. I know that if young people, my friends, classmates, and neighbors were to engage in the political process, state and local politics would be far more reflective of their, as well as my, pressing issues. This issue of making government more of for and by the people, particularly among traditionally silent voting groups, is paramount above all other issues. I believe that we need extensive campaign finance reform to make our leaders more beholden to their constituents and less to wealthy donors. A sol

#plugintodevin Show - Devin Thorpe for Congress Guest: Wendy Davis Office Sought: Utah House District 45 Issue: So many...but I'll go with affordable, liveable communities My own kids are looking for affordable housing and finding it challenging to find it. They are also challenged to find jobs with adequate wages that lead them to economic prosperity. We need to work collectively to provide options for more affordable housing, increase wages and ensure it is not only big business that prospers in good economic times. Bio: Wendy Davis was raised by a single mother and is the daughter of a Vietnam War Vet and a union steward. Originally hailing from the Midwest, Wendy has proudly called Utah her home for 25 years. Wendy Davis has a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Utah and has spent her career as a higher education technology expert. Wendy has served on the Mount Jordan Middle School Community Council, on PTA in the Canyons School District, and has been an advocate for refugees. As a moth

#plugintodevin Show - Devin Thorpe for Congress Guest: Nate Blouin Issue: Expanding regional markets for continued growth of renewable energy. Utah is still largely dependent on coal for electricity. Coal is becoming uneconomic and has always been a large source of pollution. As an outdoor athlete, burning fossil fuels is dangerous to my health through reduced air quality and endangers everyone along the Wasatch Front and throughout the Uinta Basin. Mineral leases risk destroying the lands we recreate on and that are sacred to indigenous tribes. Expanding regional energy markets will help renewable energy proliferate and will coordinate entities including utilities and other energy producers, ensuring a reliable an efficient grid. Regional markets exist in most of the United States, but the west's wide open spaces developed differently than other areas. Coordination will ensure prudent land use and will allow for a smaller footprint of energy infrastructure, protecting viewsheds, public lands and our enviro

#plugintodevin Show - Devin Thorpe for Congress Guest: Jeff Silvestrini Office Held: Mayor of Millcreek Issue: Growth and redevelopment Bio: I am the best mayor Millcreek, Utah, has ever had—and also its worst! As the first and only mayor of this city of 63,000, settled in 1848 but not incorporated until 2017, I have had the rare opportunity to create a city government from scratch. Millcreek is an “inner-ring” suburb south of and adjacent to Salt Lake City. It is part of a metropolis home to over two million Utahns. Millcreek is namesake of the mountain stream which flows through our town. Our boundary extends from the alluvial fan of Mt. Olympus in the Wasatch Range on the east to the Jordan River bisecting the Valley of the Great Salt Lake on the west. Our residents include wealthy, educated east siders and a substantial immigrant and refugee population who are far less affluent, living predominantly our west side. We have some of the best performing schools in our state. We also have elementary sch

#plugintodevin Show - Devin Thorpe for Congress Guest: Misty Frost Issue: I think our community of learners is really focused on the impact to healthcare workers and what that means for their future job prospects. I've always been passionate about giving people opportunities to improve their economic state. With the pandemic, and it's impact on our healthcare system, it's becoming clear that there are going to be more even more jobs in healthcare than we anticipated. Not only will there be jobs, but we're going to need to rethink those jobs in ways that provide even more opportunity for people in the field. I don't think anyone can say for sure yet how our lives will be changed post-pandemic, but we do know that with any cultural shift of this magnitude things will change. There are so many who are being negatively impacted right now, I'm really hoping that this can be an opportunity for people to find meaningful work in the areas we desperately need good people. Bio: As CEO of Carrus, Misty drives the v