On the Issues...

By Kathrina M. "Katrina" Ognyanovich

I will address the 15th District's needs and concerns: Campaign Finance Reform, Education, Environment, Health, Seniors, Employment, Labor, Economic Development and Criminal Justice.

I am committed to reviving participatory democracy and placing the interests of the people of the 15th Senate District ahead of the interests of well-funded lobbyists.

There are alarming statistics of lobbyists' spending efforts to promote their interests.

ENVIRONMENT

A healthy environment must be secured. The environmental degradation jeopardizes the health of our people and the vitality of our economy. The environmental decisions we make today will affect the well being of our children, ourselves, and generations to follow us. We can no longer ignore the loss of prime agricultural land, degradation of the air and ocean, dwindling water resources, saltwater intrusion, logging problems, serious pesticide issues, congested highways. Our health, our economy and our future all rest on the integrity of our environment. We must decrease our dependence on activities that degrade or deplete natural resources. We must give industry and agriculture incentives to move toward less toxic production practices, enforce clean air and water laws and provide greater support for public transportation. Secure scenic open space for parks and along the coast. We must encourage governmental and industrial support for environmental educational program at all academic and vocational levels.

As a democrat I join our Democratic Party Platform and oppose placing corporate greed above the needs of the environment. Business that manifests environmental leadership should be commended and supported. I am committed to increased conservation and environmental restoration and to more protected wildlife - plants and animals. Environmental protection means the creation of jobs - not the loss of the jobs.

Democratic Party calls for environmental protection that will create jobs while protecting the natural resources, preventing health hazards, heightening environmental and energy awareness through public education and through developing sound plans for sustained productivity of resources.

THIS IS ONE OF SO MANY REASONS WHY WE CALL UPON ALL REGISTERED DEMOCRATS TO SUPPORT OUR SHARED CAMPAIGN. It is a MUST for us, democrats, to build and secure the majority in Sacramento. By creating democratic majority we open the door of many possibilities and opportunities!

REPRODUCTIVE CHOICE

Reproductive choice is a fundamental right. It is a right of a woman to make her decision and choice she feels the most comfortable with. As a woman and a democrat I am committed to preserving this right for all women. Real freedom of choice means access to medical and prenatal care, family planning, adequate wages, childcare and safety from violence at home and in the streets.

HEALTH

I strongly support universal and comprehensive service health coverage for all. We must strengthen and expand programs to protect the health of all Californians. Let us have affordable health care for our families.

We must prevent any discrimination in access to health care coverage based on age, ability to pay, disability, ethnicity, gender, genetic characteristics, pre-existing conditions, religion, residency requirements and sexual preference. We must place greater emphasis on preventive medicine, on community based clinics, provide health benefits for working parents. We must reorganize HMO and other private insurance companies and assure a free choice of the health care providers. We must protect and enforce in-home support services and strengthen Medi-Cal and Medi-Care and so insure that at risk groups receive needed care and proper medical treatment as directed by the physician in charge.

SENIORS

Senior citizens enrich our everyday lives. We can learn so much from their experience and wisdom. It is imperative to preserve the integrity of the Social Security system and its current structure and to guarantee full cost-of-living adjustments on annual basis.

Many of our SENIORS live on fixed incomes and have difficulty making ends meet for basic necessities including health care. I am not happy seeing our senior citizens' difficulty coping with medical bills and many health restrictions. We must allow our seniors to earn as much as they want to without losing their retirement benefits. The California Democratic Party endorses " the use of any budget surplus and/or dedication of an appropriate portion of the ongoing budget to extend the solvency of Social Security System." Removing the limitations on earned income can enhance Social Security System's solvency.

DEMOCRATIC PARTY IS THE ONLY MAJOR PARTY THAT SUPPORTS THESE IMPORTANT ISSUES; THEREFORE, WE CALL UPON ALL REGISTERED DEMOCRATS TO ENDORSE OUR shared campaign and support our efforts.

We must regain the seat. We must secure quality education and protect the rights of our children, working parents, seniors and all of us. To strengthen "EQUAL OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL" means to support our democratic ticket all the way.

Working together we can improve living standards of our seniors, working people and our residents at large.

EMPLOYMENT

Proper environmental protection will create jobs.

Employment opportunities can be improved only by job creations. And it is one of my top priorities. We cannot afford the despair, dependency and violence that are the consequences of joblessness. We have to stop the alarming increase of the homeless families and their children whose educational performance is in decline. Since the small business sector is where most new jobs are created they need our support. We must keep more of the financial resources of our communities by creating jobs here at home. Adequate funding and higher wages for all working people but especially for the home health care workers, students and blue collar/migrant workers are a MUST.

BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Must be planned with vision that will be sustainable and healthy, not just for a few years, but for many years to come.

We must promote business and agriculture, which create good jobs and wealth for all.

We must:

• Revitalize our cities
• Promote trade
• Support Training for employees
• Rebuild Infrastructure
• Expand economic equality
• Encourage Government involvement in job creation,

We must be firm on penalizing violent crimes. I will fight poverty, lack of educational opportunity, joblessness, the overabundance of guns. I will do my utmost to offer affordable housing for all in need, protect rights of mental health patients and domestic partners.

We have to encourage and support law enforcement units and local community leaders/activists to work together and so decrease crime, gang activity, drug and alcohol addiction, as well as to protect our streets of violent crimes.

We must redouble our efforts to fight domestic violence and child care abuse. We have to control the flow of weapons to our streets and so secure a safer environment for all of us.

We have to promote and secure equal justice and fairness of criminal justice system. To stop hates crimes and racist/sexual harassment is a must. And finally, we must revisit and rebuild our correctional system and introduce the programs/training that will prevent crime increase. The implementation of such methods is the only way to stop the ongoing building of so many new prisons.

LABOR

The employers must recognize unions as soon as a majority of the employees join the unions' membership.

Today the labor is experiencing many changes. New ideas, new activism always produced a great progress in civil rights, health, education, social and economic justice. However, this is changing rapidly because Republican Party successfully eroded these gains. Today, workers who want to gain a voice in their relationship with their employers can face an increasingly difficult situation filled with intimidation and hostility. The balance of power within the workplace is getting more and more difficult to restore due to a visible split of many labor organizations that opt to endorse and support the incumbents or candidates of Republican Party. The leadership of labor organizations must realize that only Democratic Party proved its strong support of the right of workers to organize, to insure parity with employers and to bargain for fair contracts. Worker's Rights, Protection of Low-Income Families, Union Activism, Collective Bargaining, Workplace Fairness Legislation, Unemployment Insurance, Workers' Compensation, Civil Service and many other issues are the cornerstones of Democratic Party platform and its membership.

EDUCATION

A belief in equality is the cornerstone of our country and the essence of moral idealism.

One among many demands that deal with various aspects of equality that I feel strongly about is EDUCATIONAL EQUALITY

EDUCATION is the key to acquiring economic security, developing individual freedom and restoring community hope. I am a strong advocate of a free, quality public education that enables all children to develop their abilities to the utmost. We must strengthen the public school system (K-14) in order to prepare future generations to meet the challenges of the 21st Century. We must promote diversity and increase educational opportunities for all. We must enact progressive and creative programs.

We must secure and expand

• Equal educational opportunities to all students regardless of their socio-economic background;
• Class size reduction for all grades so that teachers can provide more quality time with each student, up-to-date textbooks, solid academic/vocational curriculum, computer technology, community services and a safe and healthy learning environment for all students;
• Highly trained teachers to remain in the classroom providing quality instruction;
• Increase opportunities for professional growth and better working conditions for faculty and classified employees;
• Our schools must emphasize tolerance by teaching non-violent conflict resolution skills;
• Parents must be given greater encouragement to take an active role in their children's education;
• COLA and salary increase is a must. During the recession of the early 1990's teachers' and classified employees' salaries were either frozen or reduced in many district. Their salaries have yet to catch up with the growing economy of California.