ISSUES
Taxes
I will continue to support any effort, both short and long-term, that reduces property taxes and returns those taxing decisions to the local and county levels.
George Washington once remarked "Government is like a fire, useful in the fireplace, but if it gets out of its place, it will consume everything you own." Today, we are well beyond the originally intended scope of government functions in how we tax and spend. And about half of all our earnings now goes to support a huge myriad of functions most of us are not even aware of.
I have consistently supported efforts to reduce our overall tax burden. It is well known in the state senate that Don Benton will support bills that seek to lower taxes. I successfully led the fight against attempts to raise the gas tax during the 1997 legislative session and other attempts since. I strongly supported I-960 this past year because it put the legislature on notice by requiring a two-thirds majority to pass tax increases. Even then, the Democrats found a way to partially skirt the will of the people by pooling $75 million into a fee increase package.
People are weary of convoluted tax schemes like motor vehicle licensing where all kinds of government programs are paid for by auto licenses ... the majority of which have nothing to do roads and automobiles. It ended up being the 'grab bag' for all sorts of good will programs.
Property tax reform is another area long overdue. If you think you own your own homes, try not paying your taxes! There's a widespread feeling among homeowners that property taxes are too high. I support property tax reform that begins with getting state government out of the property tax business. I'm getting very impatient watching senior citizens and others on fixed incomes living in fear of losing their homes due to exorbitant taxes.
I led the charge and was successful in getting the Governor to call a special session to re-enact initiative 747 after the courts ruled it unconstitutional on a technicality. While we were able to get the 1% limit on raising property taxes re-instated, the Democrat majority refused to eliminate in the law the loophole that allows local governments to go back and tax us for the capacity they haven't used in previous years. I will continue to fight to remove this loophole and reduce our over-all tax burden.
Transportation
"You get what you pay for," goes an old American axiom. Not so with transportation in Washington.
An efficient transportation system is critical to both our economic vitality, as well as our American lifestyle. As free-market choices serve all of us best, the same applies to transportation. The most demand is for private automobiles and trucking that moves people and commerce, therefore, our network of roads and highways is the mode choice that deserves the most attention. But that is not the way we spend our transportation dollars. An inordinate share of dollars goes to public transit that moves about 3% of all daily trips. And to get the numbers to that dismal level, we subsidize around 90% or more of each rider's ticket.
I do not support light rail for our area or as an addition to the proposed new bridge because the projected usage years from today comes nowhere close to justifying the expense. When all is said and done, we will spend billions of dollars to build the most expensive rail program imaginable for the mere purpose of moving less than 1 percent of daily trips. That is not a prudent use of tax dollars for transportation.
Many times we support transit proposals in hopes that people will decide to give up their cars and ride the bus, thereby creating less congestion. But the problem is the folks in the next lane are hoping we will do the same. The fact is, if the majority of people want to drive - that is their choice - and rightly so. We simply need to apply the free-market choice in this regard, same as in other arenas.
I am concerned with moving everyone, while supporters of light rail are concerned only with moving 1 percent - at a much higher cost. Bus rapid transit is a much more effective way of getting commuters to and from work and I will continue to support common sense strategies like bus rapid transit.
Transportation decisions today are more about social-engineering and political ideology than they are about moving people. That is our problem. I want to simply get back to the goal of moving people the way they want to go, not the way liberal-socialists think they should. I have been successful in securing funding for major road improvement projects in Clark County and will continue my efforts to do so.
Education
One of the biggest problems in our public education system today is that academic control is being removed from local communities and going to the state. Consequently, parents are being removed from educational decisions affecting their children. Scholastic test scores have dropped steadily over the past two decades, in spite of the fact that per capita funding has increased. It becomes clear that throwing money at the problem is not the answer. Education already absorbs more than half of the state's entire budget.
I see a need for increasing spending of school infrastructure (buildings and equipment) and certainly for teachers. I cannot support increasing taxes to accomplish this because I know it can be accomplished without picking the taxpayers' pockets. Much of our education funding is spent on a huge administrative bureaucracy that does not directly improve academic achievement. I believe much of this bureaucracy can be eliminated, and the funds shifted to the local classrooms to meet our present needs.
Public schools need to continue to focus on academic skills. It is not the job of government schools to make up for perceived deficits of parental teaching of values and morals. That is the job of parents and churches. I believe that as we limit government involvement in schools, parents and local boards will once again take their place in the process. This can be done without going to the taxpayers for more money.
Health Care
The high cost of prescription drugs, HMO control over physicians' decisions, and the high cost of medical insurance are the major health care problems looming today.
We need to take a close look at Canada and the failure of that nation's socialized medical industry before we continue making the same mistakes. Hoards of Canadians come to this country for better and timelier medical care. My family and I face the same high costs and dilemmas about losing choice in our medical care.
The increased cost of medicine, health care and health insurance has in many ways been caused by mounting state and federal micro-management of the health care industry. If we can limit government intervention in health care, we will see lower costs and increased choices for all of us. I will support efforts to limit government intrusion into this critical industry and the return to time-tested free-market solutions.
Environment
I'm as concerned as anyone about our environment. My wife, my young children and I have to breathe the same air and drink the same water as others. We all need to be good stewards of our planet.
Along with much media fear-driven hype, It is government's mistrust of citizen's ability and desire to protect our environment that promotes the volumes of regulations. This is further fueled by a media that often seems to favor more and more government. Environmental issues must be viewed over the long-term. Answers do not come easily. More government control is not always necessary.
I remain confident in the personal and corporate responsibility of most Americans. I believe public awareness of environmental issues has done more to turn the tide than any new law purported by liberals.
I have been resistant to voting for every "politically correct" piece of legislation that's introduced just because it is labeled as green. Environmental law should be based on sound scientific evidence. When that happens, I have and will continue to support it. Until then, I will continue to have faith in the citizenry. I will attend to my first duty of guarding their rights and liberties by not giving in to 'knee-jerk' reactionary legislation.
Social Issues
ABORTION
I am pro life because I believe that the first duty of civil government, as recognized by our founders ... and expressed in the Declaration of Independence is to protect innocent human life. In it they stated:
" ... that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights. That among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
GAY MARRIAGE
I believe in the sanctity of marriage between a man and a woman. If two men or two women choose to live together as same-sex partners in any lifestyle within the law, that is up to them. However to allow this miniscule portion of the population to redefine the meaning of marriage and destroy the oldest foundation of society and the family is not something I can ever support.