|  In
the Washington state legislature, Toby Nixon says his goal is to be
known as "Mr. Privatization." The Republican state representative
(45th District) explains: "My primary goal is to reduce the scope
and size of government, privatizing or contracting out those portions
that can reasonably be performed by individuals, families, communities,
or the private or nonprofit sectors, restoring a focus within government
on those essential services envisioned by our Founding Fathers."
First appointed to the House in January 2002 (to fill a vacancy), Nixon
was re-elected in November 2002 with 52% of the vote. He serves on the
House committees on Transportation; State Government; and Technology,
Telecommunications and Energy. As an elected official, he says, "I
view government as a service business, focusing on those services that
individuals are not able to reasonably provide for themselves or acquire
from the private sector, with the most important of those services being
to help people protect their lives, liberty, and property."
Nixon says he first realized he was a libertarian after reading Robert
Ringer's Restoring the American Dream in 1980. In 1984, he
joined the Libertarian Party of Georgia. In 1990, he ran for state representative
(61st District), and two years later ran for Labor Commissioner, winning
82,002 votes. He also served on the board of directors of the Advocates
for Self-Government, and created the original ASCII text version of
the World's Smallest Political Quiz, which achieved widespread popularity
on computer bulletin boards and newsgroups (in the days before the World
Wide Web).
Nixon moved to Washington state in 1993. When he ran for state representative,
he did so as a Republican, he says, because "bringing about real
change was more important than advancing any particular party label.
My principles remain the same as they always have been -- although tempered
by a greater understanding of what is actually politically achievable."
In addition, he says, "I agreed with virtually all of the county
and state Republican platforms. While the [national] Republican Party
platform might not always be consistent with libertarian principles,
at the grass roots, many Republicans do believe in those principles
of individual liberty, personal responsibility, and limited government."
Professionally, Nixon works as a "Web Services Diplomat" in
the XML Web Services Standards team at Microsoft Corp. He has worked
for the Redmond-based software company since 1993. He also chairs the
Steering Committee of the Universal Plug and Play Forum, an organization
of 660+ companies working to create technology standards for "smart
homes." He holds several patents for computer communications technology.
Nixon is a resident of Kirkland, where he lives with wife Irene and
their five children. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Youth
Eastside Services, the president of his homeowners association, a Merit
Badge Counselor for the Boy Scouts of America, a volunteer for local
youth baseball and swim teams, and a Sunday School teacher for his church.
In addition, he is the Washington state coordinator for the Republican
Liberty Caucus and vice chair of the Washington House Republican Caucus.
-- Bill Winter |
|
Quotable
"I
always describe myself as a libertarian and am very upfront about it,
even in Republican Party circles. More often than not, other people
describe me as a libertarian before I even get a chance to use the word!
I believe in and openly espouse the principles upon which our nation
was founded and that made it great -- individual liberty, personal responsibility,
limited government, and tolerance of differences." -- Toby Nixon
(April 14, 2004)
|
