CURRENT ISSUES:

As in any government, there are serious issues at the time of the campaign and the issues are fluid, meaning what is important today can be more or less important tomorrow.  Below are some of the current issues of importance, but if there is something that is important to you that is not listed here, you need to contact me.  I truly want to be your representative in Frankfort, and to be effective, I need to hear from you.

EDUCATION:

My involvement in education has taught me that we need to encourage parents and others in the community to be involved in our public schools.  Parents need to grasp the importance of education now and in the future and instill in their children the need to get as much education as possible.  One of the primary ways for parents to do this is to go back to school and further their own education.  If children see their parents studying and working on their GED or a college or technical degree, they will learn from the example.  It will also give Kentucky a more educated workforce sooner.

We must also start educating children as early as possible.  The sooner we can get children in school, the better prepared they will be when they actually start first grade.  This will also allow us to identify those children who need special assistance in order to get up to expected levels before they start school.  I know we do some of this now, but we need to make sure no children fall through the cracks.

I believe we need to examine the high school experience our children receive.  It is important to know that roughly 25% of the young people who start high school never finish.  We lose too many students, possibly because they are not engaged enough to commit to learning.  Some students can be moved through school more quickly and can take college level courses early.  I believe that it is vital for our businesses and community organizations to be involved in mentoring and internship programs.

Our K-12 teachers need to be paid as the professionals they are.  We often hear talk of bringing teacher’s pay up to the level of the average of the surrounding states.  It is time that we make Kentucky the leader in our region by raising pay to exceed our surrounding states.  Why is this important?  Because I firmly believe that if we pay our teachers well, they will know that they are appreciated and we will be able to attract future generations into the teaching profession.  We need to encourage the best and brightest to consider teaching as a viable life-long profession.

The final piece to the puzzle is making sure that postsecondary education is affordable and accessible to all who want to pursue continuing their education.  Financial aid must keep pace with tuition and fee increases at our public colleges and universities.  We must ensure that middle and low income families can afford to send their children to college. Working adults stuck in low paying jobs need to be eligible for financial aid, even if they go to school part-time.

HEALTH CARE:

We must work together to ensure that all Kentucky citizens have access to high-quality, affordable health care.  An appropriate starting point is to find a way to provide health care to all Kentucky children.  At the same time, we must fully fund Medicare and Medicaid to ensure that our senior citizens have the health services they need.

One proposal that you hear a lot about is tort reform.  This proposal would limit the amount of money that could be awarded by our court system to patients who are harmed by their health care provider.  I don’t believe it is in anybody’s interest to punish the victim by tying the hands of our justice system.  Tort reform is not a cure for anything.  It only helps insurance companies by increasing their profit.

I believe that one of the contributing factors in the rapid increase in health care costs is the availability of new and very expensive technology.  I would like to see our health care providers find ways to share technology and I would favor laws and incentives that would encourage the most efficient use of new technology. 

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT:

It is important to provide a job for every Kentuckian who wants to work.  Not just any job, but one that will provide for her or his family.  We must change the way we traditionally think about economic development.  Manufacturing jobs are not going to grow in number as they have in the past.  They will also have lower wages than in the past.  We need to embrace the new economy and teach our citizens how to be entrepreneurs.  We should look at providing incentives for Kentuckians who start or expand businesses in Kentucky.

We must ensure that businesses provide workers with a living wage.  Part of this involves increasing the minimum wage.  No one can support a family on minimum wage.  We can and must do better.

Kentucky must protect the jobs we have.  I firmly believe that the only way that workers have any power to negotiate higher wages and safer working conditions is by being organized.  We cannot afford to allow workers standing to be weakened by right to work legislation or by changing the prevailing wage laws currently in place. 

STATE EMPLOYEES:

I work with state employees on a daily basis and I know they are hard-working and committed to serving Kentuckians.  We must protect their retirement system by fully living up to our commitment to them.  We must also do better in providing annual wage increases at more than simply the cost of inflation.  These valuable employees deserve better and we need to take care of them.  I’ve always found that if you take care of your employees, they will perform better and take more responsibility for the success of the organization.  We must protect the merit system and keep politics out of the day-to-day operation of state government.