POLICY
Hello and thank you for visiting my new page. Through the blog, mailed questionnaires, and email, people have requested my specific
positions on issues of the day. After answering many individually, I
thought this page would serve us all better.
Like the rest of the website, this page will develop as I have the opportunity to organize and to refine the sections as I receive feedback
on the issues people want to know about. Right now, I have drafted
some initial thoughts on policy, but these are by no means complete. This page is already getting long, so I will probably need to reformat it into a series of pages in the near future.
As always, I thank you for your patience while I improve during this process. Qualifications and Experience
I have the same amount of experience as Representative Shuler when he was elected, none. I have no ties to business or special interests. My greatest qualification is my desire to work as hard as possible for the people of the 11th District.I feel most fortunate to live here. I am a veteran who believes we need a district-wide vision to coordinate sustainable and reasoned prosperity for the next century. We have limited financial and natural resources to accomplish our goals. Understanding this, I would like to meet regularly with district officials to assure we are coordinating our growth efforts without working at cross -purposes. Values
I believe it is important for you to know the values that will guide me as we change our lives and the lives of our children and their children. First: Communicate With You
I genuinely want to communicate with everyone within the 11th District no matter your party affiliation or persuasion. While I have a pretty good sense of the district, I do not know how people across the district feel on all the important issues of the day. I also understand that perspectives change with perceptions of personal and economic security, information and misinformation streams, station in life, and more. Furthermore, on nearly every topic, I know you will have some personal or professional expertise on a subject that would benefit all of us if you communicate it to me.Second: Keep an Open Mind
Many of us on the right and left have entrenched, passionate views about issues and refuse to even listen to other options. I understand there is never one right way; that multiple solutions exist for the challenges facing us. I am willing to assimilate new information and try many avenues rather than engaging in partisan gridlock. I will participate in negotiations to craft good thoughtful legislation that balances the needs of the present and future. I think the only way to verify if something works is to try it. If a strategy sounds appealing in theory but does not work in practice, we should learn from it and try something new.Third: Work for you
That means I will never ask you to be on my team. I will always be on your team. I will support legislation that empowers businesses that behave properly and I will not compromise on the safety and well being of our country, our people, our environment and our future. My Vision
Strong Education
My vision for Western North Carolina begins with education. All the research I have seen indicates that an informed public makes better life choices, is financially sound, creates more opportunities, and is more self-reliant than an uninformed public. Therefore, I want to provide more resources to our schools at all levels. I want our local colleges and universities to have more graduate and research programs and keep our talented children here.Strong Economy
I believe the drivers of our future prosperity will include the alternative energy, technology and service sectors. We can lead these sectors. Small businesses and entrepreneurship are key to our prosperity, especially in this region. We must support them in every way feasible including university research opportunities, advanced technologies and building partnerships with business, secondary education, community colleges and our university system.Strong Healthcare
I would have voted for the bill just passed in Congress. Now, we need to focus like a laser beam on cost containment measures like reducing waste, fraud, and abuse as well as interstate competition, electronic medical records, tort reform, industry-wide standardized coding and billing practices and promotion of wellness. We must also provide much better physical and mental health care for our military personnel and their families.Taxes
I hear many views on tax reform from Fair Tax to Flat Tax to raising taxes on the wealthy to increasing the taxable income for Social Security and more. I am still researching this topic. I have not yet formed an opinion on the best way to proceed, but I have a guiding principle: We must pay for the services we expect from our government, the system must be fair and equitable, the system must be administered fairly and competently and we must get back the money we send to Washington.Reducing Our National Debt
We created a national surplus before; we can do it again using sound economic principles and not being seduced by failed supply side arguments. We must rapidly pass reform legislation so businesses can have regulatory clarity for future planning and compete on an even playing field. We must pay as we go and lock the lock box on Social Security funds.Intolerance
I reject intolerance in any form. I would have voted for the Matthew Shepard Hate crimes legislation.War
The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq must end. We must focus on defense rather than the ill-conceived “Bush Doctrine” preemptive strike strategy. In order to combat extremism and terrorism we need more diplomatic leverage. We need to recapture the moral high ground and earn the title of “honest broker”. Our capabilities in this arena have been undermined over the past decade and increased our national debt as a result.Affordable Energy and Environment
There are many solutions focused on conservation, efficiency and planning. My guiding principal is to reduce greenhouse gases, clean ground water and utilize renewable energy sources. I oppose deforestation, mountaintop mining or heavy industrial manufacturing that degrades our natural environment. CTS of Asheville must be remedied once and for all. The rate-payer financing of the Cliffside plant was a bad deal for North Carolina residents.Campaign Reform
Our current system is unfair and stacks the deck against many fine candidates. We need to require media outlets to provide free advertising, provide a budget for all candidates and keep interest groups out of the campaign process.
