Blog: Answers to a Candidate Questionnaire

Statement

The RGJ emailed me this questionnaire the day I filed and indicated it would be published in the "Sunday Paper".
No sign of it in there today. Perhaps next Sunday. :-)

Political party: Democrat

Age: 44

Hometown: Reno

Family, (are you married, single, do you have kids and/or a wife)
Married. No human kids, but we do have 2 cats named Charlie and Pascal.

Previous political experience: (What other offices have you fun for or is this your first)

I have ran for city council in Huntington Beach, CA. I have served as an Associated Students Senator at both UC Santa Barbara and CSU Monterey Bay. I also served as president of running club at CSUMB where I recruited 7 other gentlemen to run Big Sur International Marathon and had another 30 students participate on relay teams.

Why are you running: I have always dreamed of running for Congress since I was a kid. This is an once in a lifetime opportunity that has presented itself. In fact, one of my teachers once told my class, "If you do not vote, then you have no right to complain about the election results." I will take that one step farther and say "If you do not participate in your community, and your government, then you have no right to complain about how things are ran." I am also running so I can blog about the experience of being a congressional candidate.

I believe first and foremost, that my country and the state of Nevada comes first over special interests, lobbyists, and political parties. My number one loyalty will be to my constituents.

There are many things about the direction of this country and the state of Nevada that really concern me. For example, there have been severe cuts in education funding. I fear we will end up with a poorly trained illiterate generation that will only be able to text the most simplistic things like "lol" and "omg". I believe education is an investment in everyone's future. Do we want doctors practicing on us who are poorly trained? Do we want accountants handling our financial affairs who are poorly trained? Do we want to limit our potential as a society?

I also am concerned about the staggering amount of debt our country has. I fear that if we continue to be world police and indefinitely occupy third world countries, then we too will become a 3rd world country. I believe America's and Nevada's needs should come first. We should have first priority for new schools, hospitals, and infrastructure over foreign countries and not engage in nation building, unless it is our own.

Now don't get me wrong, I am all in favor of using any means necessary to defend our country, including going into Pakistan without their permission to take out someone as evil as Osama Bin Laden, for example. But to continue to occupy Afghanistan and Iraq with massive armies when so few Al Queda members are left there is incredibly costly.

I also want to see government become more efficient. For example, I worked as a Census Enumerator and received a very large amount of training manuals for the numerous operations I was a part of. I had to wonder if the same training materials could have been converted into pdf files and uploaded onto Kindles that are temporarily issued to employees. It would save a tremendous amount on printing costs, and training time, not to mention all the paper that ends up in landfills.

I also am opposed to using Yucca Mountain to dump toxic nuclear waste in our beautiful state. If this material is so "safe" as some proponents claim, then why is that some states are so eager to export it to us?

Nevada is sitting on a potential goldmine of alternative energy. I want to see the Silver State also become the Energy State. We need to have our own "Manhattan Project" where we take the best scientific minds in developing clean energy sources and employ thousands of people and keep our state clean, green, efficient, and beautiful. There is also a lot of potential to improve Nevada's economy with eco-tourism and ghost town tourism.

I also am strongly opposed to the assaults on Medicare and Social Security. Our seniors PAID into them and they deserve to have a decent standard of living and not be relegated to living their golden years in dire poverty. A simple solution would be to raise the income limit beyond the current $108,000 for the Social Security tax. Now someone beyond that income amount may grumble, but think about this, they will still have plenty left over AFTER taxes. Also, if one loves this country and wants to thank "The Greatest Generation" for persevering through World War II, then we must treat them with the respect and dignity they deserve and not doom them to a low standard of living in their final years. We need to take care of the older generations who once took care of us, and to educate the younger generations who will take care of us someday. My late grandma once told me, "Taxes are your rent for living in the greatest nation on Earth!"

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