Issues

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  I want you to know what I am going to do about issues critical to our district like education, health care, and financial security.



  1. Education and Schools:  My children attended quality schools in South Orange County. I am committed to continuing this tradition with adequate funding. We need to maintain a reasonable pupil/teacher ratio, and supply adequate classroom equipment and support staff for our teachers. I also believe that education is not just about testing. Teaching to the test is not the way forward to the kind of educated citizen we need to bring us innovation in business, genius in the arts and sciences, and good government. Our state educational goals and standards need to reflect more than the results of "fill in the bubble" tests.

  The 70th Assembly District is home to one of our finest public universitities, UCI, as well as community colleges that need our support. As we strip them of resources, we strip our young people from chances for future success. Just as important, we strip our economy of the fund of trained and innovative business owners, employees, inventors and scientists that are required to move our state forward. I pledge to do everything in my power to return sensible budgeting to the California Assembly so that our schools can prosper as they did in the days of Pat Brown.

  In Kansas, also an oil producing state, I introduced a bill to tax oil and gas production -- an oil and gas severance tax. Eventually, it passed. I find it shocking that California still has no such tax, when even a conservative states like Texas and Alaska understand that this tax is important to their economy. We could make a huge dent in the financial problems of our universities, for instance, if we would pass an oil severance tax in California, and I will certainly propose such legislation on my arrival, and work to get it passed as quickly as possible.

  2. Economy:  For the last 18 years I have tried to make California more “business friendly” by working to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse in the workers’ compensation system, while encouraging my small business clients to balance their needs with the needs of employees for a safe working environment. I have a small business myself, and have long represented small businesses, the backbone of our economy, in my day to day work. I will work to eliminate unnecessary regulation, streamline the state permit process, and provide a rational health care program to save employers costs while providing quality care for employees. The market economy can best serve the needs of consumers when government regulates in an innovative and rational manner, providing safety in the workplace, confidence in the market, and investment in new and existing infrastructure.



  3.  Employment:  California needs jobs. Our current governor has decimated the ranks of state employees and teachers, while the housing crash has eliminated thousands of good jobs in construction. As a legislator, I will work to make sure that money that flows into the state from the federal government will be used in ways that will bring back jobs to California. People who are receiving a steady pay check have money to spend in the small businesses in their communities. The ripples from these jobs are what makes all our boats rise! And when jobs are provided for teachers, and for those who are repairing and strengthening our infrastructure, lasting value is created from their work.

  4. Balanced Budget:  I will work to eliminate waste, and fiscal abuse, eliminate entitlement projects, as well as unfunded state and federal mandates to help us get past the current budget crisis mode. I know that our State Controller, John Chiang, has already identified many ways our state could save money, but our current governor has refused to pay attention, because then he would have to admit his own errors. One of my first acts will be to sit down with John. I also will work to ensure that our 'rainy day' fund is increased so that will help us get through any future budget crisis events.


  Although it may seem that the easy way to balance our budget is to follow the lead of Governor Schwarzenegger and the promises of Meg Whitman, and furlough or fire as many state employees as possible, the fact is, that this merely exacerbates the problem. Those individuals, when they do not have jobs, change from being tax payers, to being tax users. They need unemployment, Medical, food stamps, and other government services. They stop spending money at their local businesses. They lose their houses and cars. It's especially shocking to find that some state employees are paid by the federal government, so we are actually turning away federal funds when we let them go or reduce their hours, and are not saving one penny of state money. Also, when work must be done, by law, and we have reduced the state work force, those workers who remain often work overtime. Often, the overtime is more than if we had merely retained an additional employee. 


  5. Health Care:  This is obviously the topic of the hour. Rising health care spending comes with a triple crisis: the unravelling of employer-based coverage, the gradually building financial crisis in Medicaid, and the long term state and federal budget crisis, driven in large part by increased health care spending. We need fundamental reform of our system of health care financing and costs. We need to provide a system of universal coverage with a mixed payment source. The purpose of  any reform is to make health care financing more efficient in order to moderate the increase in medical spending, while providing excellent health outcomes, choice of providers, and freeing up resources to provide medical insurance for children and adults who are currently uninsured. Naturally I am excited about the prospects for a federal health care program, but I will continue to work for even better results for the state of California when it comes to a heathly population.

  6. Rising Fuel Costs and the Environment: Californians are dependent on their cars and highway congestion is everywhere. The current high cost of gasoline/diesel is further hurting our ecomony and putting families under even more pressure on balancing their budgets. While there have been many discussions about what to do about the high cost of fuel, no short term fixes by our federal government appear on the horizon. It's time for long term planning for our state.

This subject is related to global warming, and environmental concerns. Let me paraphrase Tom Friedman of the New York Times in a recent editorial, add to his thoughts, and substitute California for his statement about the United States:  Our growing state is going to demand clean air and water, as well as renewable, non-polluting, and affordable energy. The state that develops the cleanest technologies will have the most energy security, financial security, innovative companies and the jobs that come with them.

  7. Crime and Punishment:  California spends over $10 Billion annually for a prison system in which over 90% of the inmates return to society and over 75% of them return to prison, often as the result of an inadequate parole system. As a former prosecutor with six (6) years of experience I am committed to “swift and sure” punishment that is proportional to the offense and compensation for victims, along with a strong committment to the civil rights of the accused. We need experienced prosecutors to provide leadership on how to increase public safety and reduce the per inmate cost of incarceration.What we do not need in order to be safe, however, are overcrowded prisons populated with people who are the products of a failed "war on drugs." There is something radically wrong when we spend more on keeping a young man in prison than we would on educating him through college. There is something radically wrong when the punishment for possessing crack cocaine can mean years in prison, in contrast to the punishment for powder cocaine, or driving under the influence of our drug of choice, alcohol, where not even one night is spent in jail. We need to talk about sensible rules for Medical Marijuana, and we need to have a reasonable discussion about the prohibition and non-taxation of recreational drugs that are surely no more harmful than alcohol. Yes, we need to lock up those who would hurt us, hurt our children, and ruin our communities, but we also need to take a serious look at our entire prison and parole system and be prepared to make changes. We cannot afford to do otherwise, because prisons are bankrupting our state.