Question and Answer Session with Steve Fox

By Steve Fox

Question and Answer Session with Steve Fox

Steve Fox is practically a household name in the Antelope Valley. He served the area as a member of the Antelope Valley Hospital District Board of Trustees for 14 years and as a Trustee on the Antelope Valley College District these last two years. Now Fox is seeking election to the State Assembly. We stopped by his office to ask him a few questions about this endeavor.

1. Question - What qualifies you for this job in the State Assembly?

Answer by Fox - It's not just my past public service, it's the tools I've learned how to use so that I can go to Sacramento and get our District our piece of the financial pie. We can go after existing public dollars to build the new schools for our growing community, allocate funds to train the medical employee shortages we face, and we can pass laws to enforce deportation of illegal aliens.

2. Question - Our Governor suddenly has a stunning deficit, a problem he says he will halt with across the board ten percent cuts. This sounds too simple and even potentially dangerous. If you could advise Governor Schwarzenegger, what would you suggest he do first?

Answer by Steve Fox - The Governor's across the board cuts are injurious to public welfare. He cuts both the valuable programs as well as those programs which have outlived their usefulness. One example of poor judgement of this proposal is the Governor's attempt to suspend Proposition 98 and cut 4.7 billion from the State budget that would have gone for education. The State budgetary problems should not be balanced on the backs of our children's education.

What the Governor should be cutting down on is our overgrown bureaucracy. We currently have a number of agencies such as the Fair Housing Agency, which have outlived their usefulness. We should put sunset clauses on many of these agencies, whereby if the State cannot re-justify their need to exist they would automatically be cut out of the State budget.

Another area we can save million of dollars in is by cutting out overlapping State and Federal regulatory agencies. If the Federal Government is already performing the regulatory functions, then there is no reason that the taxpayers should pay a second tax to do the same thing.

3. Question - What are your feelings about the Governors plan to release some prisoners early in order to reduce his budget deficit? Do you think that this is safe?

Answer by Steve Fox -Criminals are put in prison for a reason, because it isn't safe to have them out on the streets. By releasing the 20,000 prisoners which the Governor proposes to let lose upon the public, it will not only increase the crime but endanger the public and cost us more in losses in the long run. No, these prisoners should not be released early. If anything they should be made to serve their "full" sentences. If they do the crime then they do their full time. We should not pay for our budget deficit by sacrificing public safety.

What the Governor should do with the overcrowded prisons is to house the prisoners in tents. If tents are good enough for our troops, they are good enough for our convicts. However, there is a class of prisoners which can be sent elsewhere: Any non-violent illegal immigrant should be deported immediately. Why should we have to pay to house some other countries criminals.

4. Question - One of the hot-button issues in this campaign is illegal immigrants. Some people believe that the State of California needs them to do jobs that American workers will not do. Some people look at illegal immigrants in our hospitals and prisons and see the financial drain on our State. If elected, how wold you balance these problems?

Answer by Steve Fox - Just as we seize property when a criminal uses it in the commission in a drug crime, we can do the same in the breaking of all our laws. If an illegal immigrant is caught, then their property can be seized to pay for their own deportation. Illegal immigrants are putting a drain on our social services and it should not be American taxpayers who pay for them. We need to deport any and all illegal immigrants forthwith. We need to make them repay our system for what they took. It is time to help our own first.

5. Question - Typically, the answer to keeping people out of harms way is by pro-actively supporting our deputies and police officers. How do you propose that we support police agencies in your Assembly District?

Answer by Steve Fox - I would like to see each City have enough sheriffs to walk the beat. We need more sheriffs so that they can be proactive and make our neighborhoods safe. We need to give the sheriffs the tools they need so that they can properly do their jobs. I would like to re-allocate existing State funds to increase the State funding to our Sheriff's Department. Let us set proper priorities for the State and let us increase public safety.

6. Question - As you know the bottom has fallen out of the real-estate market. Many Americans have lost their homes and many more have lost the equity in their homes. What would you do about this?

Answer by Steve Fox -20% of the nations foreclosures are right here in California. It is because we have had too loose standards in financing mortgages. Many people now owe more on their homes then when they originally bought them. Plain greed has allowed these mortgage companies to create negative amortization loans by offering initial low interest payments, which jump up beyond a homeowners ability to pay them after a few years. As a result, many consumers lose their homes and, as a result, the equity in our homes drop. We need to write stricter regulations on issuing new home loans. We want people not only to be able to afford to get their homes, but we want them able to keep their homes as well. We cannot allow this catastrophe to happen again.

7. Question - I know you're a big advocate on Grandparent's Rights. What do you intend to do to ensure that grandparents are allowed to help in protecting young children?

Answer by Steve Fox -We just have to make changes in the States Family Law and Welfare Codes, and it will not cost a single penny to do so. Grandparents should be allowed to assist when no one else can. Instead of sending children off to foster care, grandparents should have codified rights to help. Instead of allowing children to be adopted out, grandparents should have the right to step in to protect their loved ones. We must be a nation that fosters the family, not a nation that allows it to be pulled apart.