League of Women Voters of California Education Fund
Monterey, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz Counties, CA November 4, 2008 Election
	Mark W.A. Hinkle Answers Questions Candidate for Member of the State Assembly; District 27

The questions were prepared by the League of Women Voters of California and asked of all candidates for this office.
Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

Questions & Answers

1. What does California need to do to address the current budget crisis?

We need drastic reductions in spending and taxation. The budget has been growing faster than inflation and population growth combined. It's time to stop spending. It's time stop going deeper into debt. Cut taxes and business regulations and the California economy will grow again. Don't, and it will continue to die. The choice is simple: grow or die. It's clear that our legislature does know how to kill an economy. We need a separation of the the economy and the state just as we have separation of church and state.

2. What should the state's priorities be for K-12 education? For the Community College System?

First, eliminate Sacramento from the picture. Return all funding back to local control at the school board level. All curriculum needs to be returned back to local control. Also, tenure must be abolished. We must be able to fire incompetent teachers and not just move them from one school to another. Parents must have the opportunity to move students into the schools best suited for them, regardless of geography. Long term, education is too important to be left in the hands of political hacks. So, the ultimate goal should be a restoration of real diversity in education through private, parochial, and alternative schools and an abolition of the government run school system.

3. What measures would you support to address California's water needs?

Government is the only institution that can take a substance (water) that covers 3/4 of the planet and make it scarce. We must end the politics of water control and let rational decision making occur within free markets. We must end the government's monopoly control over water. The law of supply and demand is the best law to determine who gets water and at what price. Anything less breeds corruption via the political process. And that means rationing, dislocation of the economy, and classes of winners and losers.

4. What should the Legislature be doing to address the needs of Californians without health insurance?

Health insurance should be left to the free market. It is NOT a proper function of government. One of the main reasons why health care is so expensive is because of government regulation and taxation of the health care industry. All profit making businesses have to pass all costs of doing business onto their customers. That includes all business taxation and adherence to government regulations. Instead of over regulation of the health care industry, which drives up costs and reduces availability, our state government should get out of the way to allow more competition, which will drive prices down and availability up.

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Responses to questions asked of each candidate are reproduced as submitted to the League. 

Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

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Created from information supplied by the candidate: September 25, 2008 06:51
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