Candidate, United States House of Representatives, District 8, 2012

No caucus information on file.

Engineer, General Motors, 2001-present

Employed, Customer Care and Aftersales Division, General Motors Proving Grounds, Milford, Michigan, present

Employed, General Motors Assembly Plant, Wilmington, Delaware

Employed, Lansing Grand River Assembly Plant, General Motors, Michigan

Employed, Saturn Corporation, General Motors, Spring Hill, Tennessee

Engineer, The Saturn Corporation, 1996-2001

Member, The Society of Automotive Engineers, 1991-present

Reason for Seeking Public Office:

I distinctly remember my first encounter with Washington, DC politics. I was in high school and all that was on TV was the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings and the accusations of Anita Hill. While the subject of the hearings was very serious, I was enthralled with Senator Joe Biden who was presiding over the hearings and his sometimes outrageous comments. He was the first politician that I encountered who said exactly what was on his mind and to heck with the consequences. As we all know, Vice President Biden hasn't changed much in 20 years and what I found outrageous and amusing then was just a snapshot of the string of verbal gaffes, sometimes profane in nature, to this day. As I mentioned on the previous page, I worked in the State of Delaware for two years with Joe Biden as my Senator. Living in Delaware reminded me of my days in high school watching Senator Biden on TV and re-ignited my interest in politics.

When President Obama was elected in 2008 he promised a different tone in the politics of Washington. What we received was more politics as usual. With the Democrats controlling both houses of Congress, Democrats thought they could ram through any and all legislation without resistance - and they did. The result was Obamacare that only passed because of procedural tactics that worked around the election of Republican Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts, the 51st vote to stop the bill in the Senate. What we got was a 1,990 page bill that most members of Congress didn't even read. I'll talk more of my views on specific issues on other pages on this site, but for now I'll get to why I'm running.

As I became more and more agitated the past three years with the lack of any attempt of compromise from either side, one comment from Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky made me think. He made a comment about the national debt getting out of control and how we are burdening our children and grandchildren with all this debt. I researched Senator McConnell a bit and found that he was first elected to the Senate in 1984 when I was still in fourth grade. He and other members of Congress that have been in office for so many years have only contributed to the fiscal problems we face today. Through further research, I found that the average age of the members of Congress is 58 years old. See link:

www.senate.gov/CRSReports/crs-publish.cfm

It was then my decision was made. The Congressmen and women both Democrat and Republican who created this fiscal mess aren't capable of fixing it for their children (citizens my age-38) and grandchildren (my child's age-1 year old). It is at that point I decided "your generation screwed it up; it's my generation that will have to fix it." I believe a new generation of politicians is needed and the career politicians in Congress need to go. As I said on my home page, I've never been involved in politics. I believe the best ideas are the ones that come from a fresh perspective without the baggage and constraints from promises of the past.

So here we are. I am asking for your vote so that I can be part of the solution to the issues that affect this country and most importantly the people of Michigan's 8th Congressional district.