About Michael
Michael graduated from the University of Southern California in 2000 with a degree in Music Performance. While working as a musician and English teacher in both Hawaii and Nagoya (Japan), Michael taught himself computer science and transitioned to IT, eventually working as an independent contractor with a branch of the DoD in Okinawa (Japan) in 2005.
In 2013, he moved to Tokyo to take a position with Facebook (Meta), later transferring with the company to Seattle where he currently leads the Enterprise Engineering Field Operations team for the Pacific Northwest.
He has served on the Ballard Little League board and was a contributor to the Ballard transportation council in its year-long attempt to extend bus service from the Ballard Locks to Golden Gardens Beach Park.
Michael lives aboard his 53-foot, ketch-rigged sailboat with his wife and three sons in Seattle.
Born into a Brazilian-American family whose political values encompassed aspects of both conservative and liberal party platforms, Michael eventually found a home in the Libertarian Party in his late 30s when he began studying economics and politics in earnest.
Having witnessed Washington’s (and particularly Seattle’s) decline over the years, Michael believes the problem largely stems from not only our elected leaders’ lack of understanding of economics but also their general disinterest in preserving the ideals our state held dear at its founding—courageous entrepreneurship, inalienable rights of the individual, and voluntaryism—in favor of ideas that furthered collectivism and globalism instead.
As governor, Michael intends to act as a bulwark against this tide of legislation coming out of Olympia, ensuring that the citizens of Washington are well-positioned to endure the tsunami of economic recession that has already begun but is likely to worsen in 2024. Some of his priorities include:
- A 4-year phased reduction of Washington business, property, sales, and carbon offset taxes to both lure back businesses and keep more money in the wallets of workers,
- Reducing government oversight into the private affairs, speech, and commerce of its constituents,
- Ensuring Washingtonians have monetary safeguards outside of US dollars they can escape to and use locally as more commercial banks collapse, including digital currencies and precious metals,
- Bolstering community safety and violent crime reduction through citizen-led defense, pivoting local law enforcement to focus on high-impact initiatives,
- Increasing private and charter school options for parents thinking of exiting the state’s public school system while making the system itself more efficient and beneficial for students,
- Strengthening the autonomy and private commerce of native tribes.