Issues

Jobs & Small Business

“I own a small business. I’ve seen how Sacramento’s over-regulation, over-taxation and over-litigation keep forcing small businesses to shut their doors for good, or drive them to other states. This is irresponsible. Small businesses, and not the government, provide most of the well paying, middle-class jobs in California. State government should encourage entrepreneurs to start up new companies, should encourage companies from other states to move here, and should help the companies that are here today hire more employees. California must become a business friendly State again. After all, we are never going to regulate and tax our way out of this recession – but by encouraging business we can grow our way out.”

Taxes & Spending

“We pay higher sales and income taxes than any other State in America. For the state
government though, it’s never enough. In good times they increase the budget dramatically. They don’t plan ahead for bad times. Instead they just shrug and hold out their hands for more of our hard earned money. We are in the middle of a recession and they want more of our money, more money from our small business owners and hard-pressed families, so that they don’t have to cut wasteful spending. That’s unacceptable. We need to cut spending, not raise taxes again.”

Pension Reform

“We pay taxes to the state to get world class schools, roads, and public safety. Instead, year by year, the state has spent our money recklessly on ever more outrageous pensions for state workers. The result: in many parts of the state our schools have failed, our roads are crumbling, and crime is rampant. State workers deserve a fair deal – but not a better deal than people in private industry get. I support real pension reform at the state level, reform that would return pensions to a reasonable level and make sure we have all the money we need for our schools, roads, and public safety.”

Immigration

“As a legal immigrant, I recognize the importance of legal immigration to the fabric and
greatness of America. However, immigration control is critical to managing the integration of new cultures into our communities. Illegal immigration is another matter. Besides being fundamentally unfair to legal immigrants, illegal immigration costs our state billions of dollars. Further, the open border threatens public and national security. I support completion of the border fence, and do not support public funding for services for illegal immigrants.”

Education

“For years, California was known for its education system. We were a world leader in
innovation. Now we are near the bottom of the list. Why? Unions and special interests are now fully in control of the state education system. We need to take our classrooms back. What does that mean? It means empowering parents, allowing teachers and principals to instill discipline in the classroom, eliminating the gangs and drugs that haunt even some of our best schools, reducing the millions of dollars that are spent on bureaucrats in Sacramento and putting that money back in the classroom. We must demand that every child read, speak, and write English
before they graduate.”

Transportation and Infrastructure

“Anyone who has to drive to work knows one simple fact: our overcrowded roads are crumbling. There isn’t much worse than driving down the I-5 near rush hour. It doesn’t just make you want to pull your hair out, it makes you angry at the time you aren’t spending with your family or aren’t being productive at work because of the congestion. It doesn’t have to be this way. Our gas taxes provide more than enough money for freeway, road, and public transportation improvements. Instead, the legislature wastes the money. For years they outright wasted our hard-earned money, by spending it on welfare and other social programs. I’ll protect this money, and make sure it is spent responsibly on projects that actually make our lives easier!”

Water supply

“Providing reliable and safe water supply to Southern California residents is an important economic, social, political and national security issue. Most of San Diego County ground water is saturated with salt and is extremely expensive to convert to drinking water. We can no longer rely on the Bay Delta and Colorado River to supply San Diego. The region has to find more locally-controlled reliable water sources. As a director on the San Diego County Water Authority I’ve played an important role in the negotiations with Carlsbad to clear the path for the construction of a long-awaited Seawater Desalination Plant. The plant was approved in August and represents the first time Southern California will have a desalinization plant providing protection against drought and regulations restricting water flow to our cities.”