Candidate for
United States Representative; District 33; Republican Party

Veterans Rights and Benefits

As a Veteran, I have felt the need to express outrage over the loss of benefits to our country's men and women in uniform. For me personally, it has never been felt more keenly than in Education Benefits for Veterans. I disapprove of it being lost after a 10-year period. I am proof that such benefits need to be in place for a lifetime, until used. I have struggled to find ways to pay for my schooling, coming as it did later in life. I also disapprove of a landgrab that has been initiated by others to take away land specifically deeded to Veterans in perpetuity. The trio of Diane Feinstein, Henry Waxman and Sue Young must be opposed in their bid to make a local public park, in Brentwood, on Federal land. When elected, my first resolution will be to stop this mocking of all Veterans.

Fiscal Responsibility

I am a strong believer in fiscal responsibility. The United States cannot continue to spend its way into the ground. We must stop the reckless spending that leads us into becoming a welfare state. To this end, I will introduce a resolution calling for a line item veto ability for the President. The best place to start trimming is in the excessive pork being spent by the Democrats in Congress. The only way to do this is, I feel, with a line item veto. This is only a start, however. There will need to be a long hard look at what can be trimmed to prevent waste at the federal level.

Education

The education system is a mess not only in California, but across the nation. "No Child Left Behind" has proven itself to be a failure. To combat this failure, the "A PLUS Act" has been introduced in Congress. It will start us on what I feel is the right path in education: grade promotion by merit. This is how education should be measured, not by how many children you can pass from one class or grade to another. There is more to do here than just this and it will take time, a long amount of time, maybe a generation for us to see the results of merit once again assuming its rightful place in American society.