Issues

• Jobs & Economy
• Education
• Lower Taxes & Less Spending
• Healthcare
• Public Safety & Law Enforcement
• Environment
• Senior Citizens
• Military & Veterans
• Religion
• Gun Rights
• Community Service & Volunteering

Jobs & Economy

• Florida unemployment rates continue to soar and are well over 10% for our local community. This figure does not include the many who feel discouraged and have stopped job hunting— thereby making the actual jobless rate in our area much higher.
• Our community and state desperately need to focus on the creation of new jobs. The results of joblessness are an unfortunate reality for our community: homes are being foreclosed and our neighbors are being put out on the street. Families struggle an increasingly difficult battle to feed their children, pay their bills, fill their gas tanks, and be able to afford even the most basic of necessities.
• Substantial effort must be put into drawing industry and businesses of all sizes to our state and local community. Economic growth and development is largely the result of businesses (especially small and medium-sized businesses) establishing a foothold in our state and community and becoming an integral part of the local economy.
• There is an essential need to nurture (not suppress) local business and to encourage other new businesses to come to Florida . We should establish a pro-business economy so that these businesses will become an integral part of our economy and community, not just a temporary solution. The result will be many jobs created and/or saved, better pay, and a growing prosperous economy.
• As an entrepreneur and businessman, I know what it takes to start a business, make it grow, and make it part of the community. I know how to attract businesses, what it takes to save current jobs, and create many more good paying jobs. Many politicians speak endlessly about job creation, but seldom is much action ever seen. I have what it takes to lead the important task of creating jobs and bettering the economy in our state, and when I'm elected, I'm actually going to do it!
• Please also see section on Education as this also relates to the issues surrounding employment.

Education

• Quality education is an extremely important concern. Our children deserve the best available so that they may truly be prepared for a successful adulthood.
• Extensive improvements must be made to our educational system at all grade levels to yield better results. Failing schools, curriculum, standardized tests, and various other factors must be evaluated and improved where they are lacking.
• Students need to be prepared not only for standardized tests, but also given the foundation needed to prepare them for success when they reach college.
• College education needs to be made more accessible and affordable for all Floridians who desire higher education. The Bachelor's degree is increasingly becoming the minimum standard for many better-paying careers. We must aptly prepare our students to be able to compete in the local, state, national, and international job markets.
• Parents should have the choice whether to send their children to public schools, private schools, or if they desire to home school their children. Parents know what is best and should be allowed to choose where/how to educate their children.
• Please see sections on Community Service and Military/Veterans issues as these also relate to the issues surrounding education.

Lower Taxes & Less Spending

• Government has a responsibility to be financially responsible and thrifty in its spending. Just as the people are expected to live within their means and according to a budget, the government should do the same.
• Countless examples of wasteful spending plague our government and they need to be eliminated. Before the government should attempt to raise taxes, it should better manage the money it already gets.
• Individuals, families, and businesses are constantly faced with making intelligent financial decisions regarding how best to spend limited money. The government needs to likewise be smart, thrifty, and responsible in its spending decisions.
• As a result of cutting wasteful spending, taxes would not need to be raised, but rather the opportunity for substantial tax cuts becomes a reality. Our government wastes so much in needless wasteful spending. As your State Representative, I will cut our government's spending and work hard to lower taxes for all Floridians!

Healthcare

• Healthcare is a very important concern as Floridians deserve to have the highest quality doctors, the best medical treatment, explanations that are clear and accurate, and the freedom to choose for themselves the course of action/treatment they wish to pursue.
• Nutrition and healthy living education should be made widely available, especially to children and parents, as this helps to set the tone for a healthy lifestyle starting in childhood.
• Physicians and other health professionals should not be told how to treat their patients by pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies, or by intrusive government policies that restrict or otherwise dictate how a doctor must treat his/her patient. Health professionals are highly-trained and extremely skilled in what they do. How a patient is to be treated should be something decided between the patient and doctor, not corporate or governmental policy.
• As your State Representative, I will fight to make sure that our health professionals are allowed to treat their patients as they feel is warranted and to provide patients with the best healthcare possible. We owe it to ourselves and our neighbors to make sure the doctor's hands aren't being tied by government or corporate powers when we need treatment most!

Public Safety & Law Enforcement

• The issue of public safety is an extremely important concern. We should be able to feel safe in our homes and community, without fear of harm or other crimes infringing upon our piece of mind.
• We need to have strong penalties, with criminals serving more of their sentences. All of our citizens need to be protected from harm, especially our children, senior citizens, and law enforcement personnel.
• Being soft on crime should never be an option, nor should prison be seen as a resort. If someone commits the crime, they deserve to be punished accordingly. Sexual offenders, drug dealers, and other parasites of society should face strict punishment and monitoring, so that they can no longer prey on our communities.
• To assist (but not replace) full-time law enforcement officers in fighting crime, I support the expansion of volunteer law enforcement programs such as the “Reserve Deputy” (program exists in many FL counties), “Reserve Officer” (TPD), and “Auxiliary Trooper” (FHP) programs which add a highly-trained professional law enforcement presence, without adding additional cost as these are unpaid professionals who volunteer their time in order to serve their community. These unpaid professionals currently serve in almost any capacity, to include street crimes, vice, DUI enforcement, traffic control, and many other areas. In order to improve recruiting for these much-needed volunteers, certain benefits and incentives should be extended to them. (Please see section on Community Service as this also relates to these volunteer law enforcement opportunities)
• Likewise, I support the expansion of “neighborhood watch” type programs. These programs are instrumental in being the eyes and ears needed to report crime in the community so that law enforcement can act quickly and effectively. These volunteer programs allow community residents to take an active role in fighting crime and making their neighborhoods safe, and are without added cost to the government.
• As your State Representative, I will not be soft on crime legislation as we should all be able to feel safe and protected and enjoy the beauty of Florida without fearing that we, our children, our families, or our neighbors will become a victim of crime.

Environment

• As Floridians, we are blessed to experience everyday what people from around the world come to see. As such, it is important to safeguard and take care of our beautiful communities and state to be sure that which we enjoy today will be here for our children tomorrow.

Senior Citizens

• Issues facing Florida 's senior citizens are very important to me. My grandmother was like a second mother to me throughout my life, and after the loss of my mother to cancer, she served as a surrogate mother during her final years. As her health declined, in spite of my working and a demanding college schedule, I took full charge of taking care of her with whatever she needed. Being extremely close to my grandmother, and especially as a result of taking care of her at home those last years and also having volunteered assisting other senior citizens, I learned many of the issues and problems facing Florida 's seniors. This experience allows me to better understand and serve these extremely important members of our community. While some politicians are disconnected to the real issues facing seniors, and see them only in theoretical terms, I see the people themselves and what problems they are actually facing.
• Senior citizen programs, healthcare, transportation, tax breaks, assistance with independent living or to help people take care of elderly family members at home, and many other issues at hand must be discussed and developed.
• These senior citizens contributed so much to America , their communities, and to their individual families, and for that they deserve to be respected and honored with the best we can offer. As your future State Representative, I will fight hard for Senior Citizens, just as if every person was a member of my own family.

Military & Veterans

• Having come from a family with a long record of military service, and having many friends who are current or former servicemen and servicewomen, I have a detailed understanding of the issues facing our military service members and veterans. Likewise, I believe these important members of our society must be honored, for they offered a blank check to the nation with payment being up to and including their lives. For such a willingness to serve their country, they deserve to be rewarded and honored for their service.
• Benefits such as expanded educational opportunities, tax breaks during deployments, and free mailing of packages to deployed family members are among only a few of the issues facing these honorable members of our community. These, and other programs, need to be developed as our veterans deserve the best we have to give— afterall, our freedom itself is a result of their efforts.
• As your next State Representative, I have extremely high respect for those who serve in the military and will fight hard for veterans to be sure they get the benefits and honor they deserve.

Religion

• I openly admit that I believe in God and support traditional values. Likewise, I support an individual's right to practice (or not practice) religion as they personally choose, regardless of denomination or affiliation.

Gun Rights

• The right to defend yourself, your family, and to feel safe in your home should not be infringed. Gun ownership by responsible citizens must be protected.
• I am a member of the National Rifle Association (NRA), have completed FL Concealed Weapon Permit training, and am a strong supporter of the 2nd Amendment, gun rights, concealed weapon carry, personal protection, and am a lifelong gun enthusiast and sportsman.
• Responsible citizens must not be prevented from protecting themselves with a firearm or non-lethal method such as personal defense sprays, etc.
• As your next State Representative, I will fight hard to defend the right to bear arms and the right to protect yourself and your family from harm.

Community Service & Volunteering

• Florida has a largely untapped resource of using professionally-trained volunteers in public service. Where such programs do exist, there has been a great response from citizens who wish to serve their community. Programs to allow professionally-trained volunteers in fire, first aid units (ambulances, etc), law enforcement, port/harbor patrols, search & rescue, disaster relief, and many other areas of emergency and non-emergency community service are already in place with eager volunteers wanting to get involved.
• Many of these programs are greatly underutilized and recruiting efforts are often at a minimum. By using these volunteers in public service, the communities and state are able to have a force multiplier thereby increasing manpower, decreasing costs, and freeing the paid-professionals from doing tasks not requiring their specific expertise or legal status.
• Utilizing more volunteers would not result in job losses, but rather would contribute additional human resources to the overall mission at hand, without the increased salary expense. The paid-professionals we have in public service should be allowed to focus on that which they are trained to do, meanwhile allowing support roles to be filled by volunteers. The result will be increased personnel and better response from fire, first aid/ambulance, law enforcement, disaster relief, or other emergency services, without adding to the total cost of salaries.
• Many of these volunteers spend hundreds or thousands of dollars per year on additional (non-reimbursed) training, equipment, or other relevant expenditures to better serve the community. Oftentimes, the involvement these volunteers exhibit equates to a second part-time or full-time job, but is without payment or otherwise reward.
• In return for such involvement, and to encourage greater participation, these volunteer professionals should be allowed a partial tuition credit towards undergraduate education at state colleges or universities. This would not be an expenditure by the state, but rather a credit towards what the college/university would be paid by the individual volunteer. The result will be less spending, more volunteers, and better educated Floridians.