|
Important Issues
The Economy
The economy has
been at the tip of everyone’s tongue this year. Whether you are a
citizen or a politician, money matters. Both federal and state
government should take the current economic conditions seriously. I
believe that Georgia will be able to fend off the threats of a looming
recession by concentrating on local and regional economic development
projects. I believe the state representative should work closely
(emphasis added) with local government economic development
initiatives.
New businesses
are the key to our state’s success. We have everything a business
desires, low taxes, great weather, excellent international
transportation facilities, a diverse and educated workforce, and
everything else that competing states would love to call there own. By
putting the full support of the state of Georgia behind a local
governments’ ambition’s to attract new businesses, the state will be
able to ride out and transcend through this current economic condition.
School Vouchers
The state should not fund vouchers for private schools for anyone. It
doesn't make sense to me to take the best and the brightest out of
public schools and send them to private schools. State vouchers leave
the most troubled schools with less money and fewer star students.
Monies that could be spent on vouchers could be spent on textbooks,
field trips and other resources to enhance learning in failing schools.
We should not focus on boxing our kids up and shipping them out of our
public schools.
School vouchers also lead few schools (private) becoming very rich off
of taxpayer dollars. Private schools are private for a reason. Some
private schools may have beliefs that I do not support morally, like
physical punishment, and I definitely would not like to give them money.
It's a shame that some people feel that the State of Georgia cannot
educate her citizens without outside help. We need to focus on what
needs to be done in education to make it competitive.
Separation of Church and State
I would oppose legislation to legalize the posting of the Ten
Commandments in county courthouses. Though the Ten Commandments are
respected and followed in my personal life and in my household, there
are no reasons to have them posted there. It's too late to tell someone
they did something wrong if they're in a courthouse already! I feel a
courthouse is like a public school. This would violate our definition of
the separation of Church and State.
It has been ruled before that permanent structures may stay, however
there should be no new displays of the Ten Commandments. I thought the
ruling was a good compromise. We are going to get upset when there is a
request to display the Eight-fold-paths (Buddhism), the six Vedic
schools of thought (Hinduism), or any other religious document or
symbol. We have churches for our religious duties and we have courtrooms
for legal duties. Everything has a place.
Open Government
I
think any meeting should be open to the public except for meetings that
deal with national security. The American government system is so unique
because the public can interact and know what is going on. If government
meetings were private, how could we ensure that the people we have
elected to represent us are doing a good job? How would we know if an
executive appointed the right person for a position? It is our duty as
Americans to be involved in our own government, this alone is why I
would support anything to guarantee that government records are always
open and available to the public, barring that it is not being used as
evidence or national security.
I
see evidence of us straying away from public government with the house
passage of Bill 218, which would allow the government to hold meetings
without public knowledge; a bill than my opponent Pedro Marin voted for
in 2006!
Illegal
Immigration
Unlike my
opponent, I do not support illegal immigration activities, such as
gaining drivers licenses or giving Georgia Welfare aid. It is
unfortunate that our federal government has failed us in dealing with
this problem. I think there are two actors in causing the problem; the
illegal immigrant and the illegal employer. The illegal immigrant was
the first person to disrespect the laws of this country by crossing the
border without permission or overstaying their welcome. The employer is
obviously a problem in dealing with illegal immigration. Illegal
immigrants don’t come to Atlanta for the Georgia Aquarium; they come for
jobs from sharks. The sharks are employers that purposely seek illegal
immigrants who may stand at gas stations or walk the corner looking for
illegal work. Both should be seen as acts of crime. The employer should
be striped of his business license if it is found that he or she has
sought illegal workers.
My opponent has
said that the anti-illegal immigration bills that passed in 2006 were
not a good thing for Georgia. He has consistently voted against the
will of his constituents and against the best practices for the state of
Georgia. What’s next for this incumbent? It should also be the duty of
the state representative to push these important federal issues in
Washington. A state representative should not rest at the Gold Dome,
but should take pertinent issues to the capitol and Whitehouse if
necessary.
Proposed
Legislation for 2009 Session
-
College Sex
offender Registry
-
Stiffer
penalties against Graffiti
-
Stiffer Gang
Laws
-
Stiffer
Organized Retail Crimes
-
Stiffer
Credit Fraud Penalties
-
Mandatory
Credit Education in high school
-
More funds to
rural county education
-
Establish
Ethic Commissions for all School Boards
-
Tax cuts for all public
educators and public safety personnel.
|
