Issue Position: Promises Made - Promises Kept

Issue Position

One of the biggest surprises in office is that constituents were surprised that I would follow through on my promises.

* I promised that I would not accept my pay and that I would fight to have it put in North River District's infrastructure account -- and kept it.

* I promised that I would fight to centralize our fire and rescue and address the deficiencies in our county -- and kept it. I voted to add 21 emergency service personnel to the county. After three years of asking for help, I placed three personnel at Mt. Solon fire and rescue to help our volunteers cover emergencies during regular working hours.

* I promised to help our school system -- and kept it. I pushed to provide our schools with an additional $3 million dollars. This year they had over $500k more than last year and had fewer students. I am currently fighting to push our schools to focus more on instruction versus construction. Augusta County has 2622 empty seats in our school system. We do not need to build any more. We need to focus on attracting and retaining our best teachers and on getting class sizes down.

* I promised to manage our county's finance well -- and kept it. I fought to dip into our reserve funds rather than raise taxes. I voted against the building of Greenville sewer, which subsidizes over 100 families with $35,000 each all in order to reduce and insignificant amount of water pollution. I am still fighting to reduce our local government's bureaucracy by merging departments and positions.

* I promised to help our school system -- and kept it. I have voted to provide extra money to our school system but have refused to provide long-term funding until the school comes up with a long-term strategic plan. I am currently fighting to push our schools to focus more on instruction versus construction. Augusta County has approximately 2600 empty seats in our school system. We do not need add extra seats but instead need to focus on classroom performance.

* I promised to manage our county's finance well -- and kept it. I fought to dip into our reserve funds rather than raise taxes. I have provided innovative solutions to reduce debt including a "pay as you go plan" where the County would save for large projects or would use short-term financing. I am still fighting to reduce our local government's bureaucracy by merging departments and positions.

The promise that cannot be measured by any single vote is the promise to fight for the best interest of my constituents. Before every vote I think of all of the residents in my diverse district: from the farmers out west to the citizens of the residential neighborhoods in the east. I continuously vote my conscience at every opportunity.

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