Photo courtesy of Kari Mitchell Whitaker
Kari Mitchell Whitaker is running for Alabama House District 45 as a Libertarian.
Kari Mitchell Whitaker has never run for public office before, but the Dunnavant Valley resident decided to put her name on the ballot for Alabama House District 45 after having trouble getting in touch with her representative, Dickie Drake.
She was not pleased with some of his votes and couldn’t reach him to share her views, and her daughter encouraged her to run for office herself, she said.
Drake ended up getting beat in the Republican primary by Greystone resident Susan DuBose, so now Whitaker — a Libertarian — is going against DuBose in the Nov. 8 general election.
Whitaker said she has three main issues.
One is to oppose new taxes and eliminate some existing taxes, she said. She was really upset about the gasoline tax increases passed by the Legislature, including Drake, in 2019.
The Legislature agreed to raise the state tax on gas and diesel fuel by 10 cents per gallon, beginning with a 6-cent increase on Aug. 31,2019, a 2-cent increase on Oct. 1, 2020, and a 2-cent increase on Oct. 1, 2021.
Beginning in 2023, the tax can be adjusted up or down with the National Highway Construction Cost Index and can increase up to a penny every two years.
Drake ran for office on a promise of new new taxes but voted in favor of the gasoline tax increase, saying it was needed to take care of the state’s deteriorating roads and bridges.
Whitaker said there was too much of a tax burden on people before that increase. She also favors eliminating the sales tax on groceries and medicine.
Whitaker said there is a lot of “pork and special interest” spending by the Legislature that she would like to eliminate.
“I would have to take a hard look at all that stuff and see what we can cut,” she said. “People have to learn to live on a budget, and government should have to do the same.”
Second, Whitaker favors limiting legislators to two terms in office, saying too many people get in office for decades and do very little.
Her third main issue concerns education. While there are some good school districts in House District 45, there is too much power in the hands of administrators and union members, she said.
She favors school choice and letting education dollars follow students wherever their parents choose to send them to school, she said.
Whitaker said she and DuBose agree on some issues, but she believes they disagree about cannabis. Whitaker said she thinks cannabis needs to be decriminalized because making it illegal fuels a dangerous underground market. Prisons already are overflowing with prisoners, and responsible adults should be able to make their own decisions about what they put in their bodies, she said.
Whitaker said she also wants to protect the environment from pollution, but she also believes that free markets and property rights will stimulate technical innovations. “It’s important to protect businesses and the economy,” she said. “It’s a complex issue and has to be carefully thought through.”
She wants to protect gun ownership rights while preventing high-risk people and known criminals from easily obtaining weapons, and she wants to protect the unborn, she said.
She wants to do away with government-issued marriage licenses but grant equal protections and privileges to all family units, regardless of sexual orientation, she said.
Whitaker, 45, has lived in Shelby County her entire life. She was raised in the Dunnavant Valley, graduated from Chelsea High School in 1997 and earned a bachelor’s degree in graphic design from the University of Montevallo in 2002.
She worked in corporate communications for Ebsco Industries from 2002 to 2008 until becoming a stay-at-home mom and launching her own graphic design business Launchpad Creatives about 15 years ago.
She and her husband, Steve, have been married 16 years, and she has two adult stepdaughters and a 14-year-old daughter at Indian Springs School.
Whitaker has been an active member of St. John’s Anglican Church in Chelsea for about 11 years, was a Girl Scout troop leader about four years and is an assistant teacher of Brazilian jiu-jitsu at Lion Heart Academy.
For more information about her, go to votewhitaker.org or Whitaker Works for Alabama on Facebook.
For information about DuBose, see this story or visit susandubose.com or Susan DuBose for State House District 45 on Facebook.
