Candidate for
State Senator; District 31

ECONOMY - CREATING JOBS - This month we have seen our economy take a plunge. Many said they knew this day was coming. Yet they did nothing.

And today we see out leaders scattering about trying to fix the problem + to put a band-aid on it. This problem is not one that happened overnight. It happened over the course of 8 years. We financed our war on borrowed money. As of today, our national debt is nine trillion, seven hundred ninety five billion, seven hundred twenty one million, seven hundred fifty eight thousand nine hundred twenty five dollars and 21 cents. 25% of our debt is in the hands of foreign governments and 44% is held by foreign investors in particular central banks of Japan and China.

The Government Accountability Office, the Congressional Budget Office, the Office of Management and Budget and the U.S. Treasury Department have reported that the federal government is facing a series of critical long-term financing challenges.

A few weeks ago, we were concerned about our cost of living. Our paychecks have not increased, but we paid more in gasoline for ours car and pay more for groceries. We now wonder how this will further affect our wallets.

Let's talk about solutions for Pennsylvania.

Like Pennsylvania's early coal days, creating energy creates jobs. The opportunities are endless - wind, solar, biofuel. We already have the infrastructure in place for wind power. The companies and technologies are there. We know that when an industry wants to find a location to move to they look for 3 things + access to labor, tax breaks, and cheap reliable power. And in order to bring in more jobs we need to restructure our government's priorities. Creating new power means cutting our energy bills, paying less at the pump and being able to afford that bag of groceries. By focusing our energy on short and long term projects, we will ensure the future of Pennsylvania.

HEALTH CARE - Today, over one million Pennsylvanians live below the poverty level. One out of every four of your neighbors or friends cannot afford the basics + food, housing, childcare and health care. With the economy spiraling downward, Pennsylvanians are struggling to provide for their families.

800,000 of our friends and neighbors do not have health insurance in Pennsylvania and a recent study by Families USA reported that nearly two Pennsylvanians die every day because of a lack of health insurance.

As insurance companies continue to raise rates businesses continue to make hard decisions. Businesses are passing along increases to their employees, they are cutting full-time jobs to part-time hours and they are laying off employees in an effort to make their own budgets. Meanwhile, families are left with hard and limited choices. They are to pay out more for health care while their paychecks are not increasing or if health care is not an option for them, they are faced with the challenge of buying insurance on their own. Those with pre-existing conditions are faced with being denied care and those who receive health insurance from an employer live in fear of changing jobs.

Meanwhile, as more people become uninsured, hospitals see more emergency room admittance and more patients in critical care because of lack of preventative care, and more Pennsylvanians go into debt with hospital bills they cannot afford.

Physicians, nurses, seniors, working families and business owners are forming a partnership in pursuit of health care for all citizens. They are proposing the Family & Business Health Security Act - bill 300 in the Senate and HB1660 in the House.

These important bills provide complete health care coverage for every Pennsylvanian + not just a few of the many.

Our legislature receives the best health care available to Pennsylvanians. Why should all Pennsylvanians not have the same right?

Single-Payer is a smart concept. By Pennsylvania purchasing insurance in bulk, insurance costs decrease. For example, a family making $50,000 per year would pay less under the plan. And with a single-payer system, there are no deductibles or co-pays. There are no HMO's, separate purchases for eye and dental care, or denial for pre-existing conditions.

Health insurance premiums have shot up 76% and yet our average wage has only increased by 13%. Health care in bulk is like a tax cut. If we could bring prescription drug cuts down by a 1/3 that would + at the end of the day - put money back into your wallet. Put your government to work for you. Put that money in your gas tank. Put that money in your child's college fund.

Health insurance for all Pennsylvanians is a system is of the people, by the people, and for the people. Pennsylvanians would receive the health insurance they need and would no longer live in fear of getting sick or choosing between medicine and food. We would no longer need to worry about what to do with an asthmatic child without health insurance or our grandfather with diabetes in the Medicare donut hole.

Let us focus on health care for every Pennsylvanian.

PROTECT OUR NATURAL ENVIRONMENT - Our state has a rich history and beauty that others have seen in it for hundreds of years. Pennsylvania was once he Noah's ark of diversity. Hunters, fisherman and explorers came to Pennsylvania to enjoy its resources. Today, because of toxins game fish is unfit for human consumption. Our children cannot safely play outside because most of us live in areas that fail to meet the country's basic air quality standards.

Pennsylvania has more people at risk from toxic air pollutants than the national average. And five of our cities are listed in the top 25 most polluted cities in United States.

We can no longer allow our legislatures to bury their heads in the sand and allow Pennsylvanians lives be sacrificed because of greed.

It is our duty to protect our children from breathing toxic air, to keep our water clean for locals have a place to fish, to allow farms to be self-sustaining and keep the rich tradition of farming alive. It means not allowing any more of our great state to be portioned off to sprawl anymore. It means to not allow our politicians the short sightedness to be in this predicament again.

PROPERTY TAXES - This year, Pennsylvania will be providing almost $800 million property tax relief. However, it is not enough for the 12 million people living in the state. Gaming revenue will help reduce property tax, but again it will not help enough + only approximately $190 per household. Our seniors, who have worked so hard their entire life are trying to manage their budget through the Medicare donut hole. Many can barely afford their medicine and should not be further stricken by increasing property taxes.

As a mother, I value the education my daughter receives, but I see areas where we can improve the amount families' pay. The most affective way to control property taxes is to have our state government fully fund our schools. However, we will not get there with the current administration. We need to consider why our life-long elected officials have not fixed the problem. With all of their time in office, why haven't they helped Pennsylvanians? It is time for new leadership who understands the hardships of working families and seniors.

EDUCATION - It is our obligation as a society to fully fund education to ensure the future of our children and our state. Education leads to new ideas, new technology, and new industry. To remain competitive in the global market, we need to provide our children with every educational opportunity possible. The wealthiest countries in the world are the most educated countries in the world. The most tried and true way of creating a healthy economy is by creating an excellent school system.

Public education needs to meet the needs of students and schools. Funding for Pennsylvania schools has declined since the 1970's and yet costs have risen. Communities do their best to support their children and teachers, but overall it affects the wallets of residents. The state should reclaim the responsibility of funding education, which would in turn relieve pressure on local property taxes.

REFORM STATE GOVERNMENT - As a voter, I like many of you believe that the role of our elected officials and their staff is to make decisions that are in the best interest of our community. An elected official is a servant of the people. And in turn, we expect our leaders to be a role model for integrity, honesty and justice. They are the ones that create the very laws we are told to uphold.

Our forefathers wrote checks and balances into our constitution. They had the foresight to realize that politics corrupts. Today, our legislature has forgotten whom they work for. They work for you. We have seen a decade of corruption in Harrisburg. Our legislature is not doing what we hired them to do. We hired them. We elected them. And because of our forefathers, we have a way to correct our course. Every few years, their job comes up for review. And is for you to decide whether they did the job you hired them for.

As someone like you, I am able to come into Harrisburg with a fresh perspective + not someone that is so engrossed in politics, not someone that lives in the pockets of big corporations and partisan politics. Our leaders should be upheld to the highest of standards.

It is in times like these that we define who we are and find out what is in our soul. I ask you to look into yours. Stand up for what you believe in. And know that together we can elect people who are true leaders and ready to stand up for good and justice.