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Questions
The League of Women Voters has made every effort to present accurately the candidates' responses as they were submitted.
1. If elected, what two things do you hope to accomplish as a member of the House of Representative for the people of Utah?
1) Continue efforts to improve energy efficiency in public and private sectors.
2) Work to develop additional programs to retain and graduate higher education student in their chosen fields.
2. How would you address the following issues? (Please answer each question in 200 words or less.)
-Adequate funding for education, including funding for disadvantaged populations such as non-English-speakers and prison inmates
In order to determine how much is adequate funding, one must first identify what is to be accomplished. My definition of the objective for education or what needs to be accomplished is to prepare students, regardless of their present position in school or not in school are to become contributing members of society. To do this the state must have a strong, growing economy that generates income tax revenue to support education.
- Energy resource development and clean air
The state must immediately start the long and expensive progress of developing all of its energy resources including alternative energy.
Utah
is a growth state and needs immediate new sources to keep up with the growth, we need to tap the fuel that is immediately available. I call it our "First Fuel". It is the fuel that we now have and don't burn by conserving what we have to help cover the growth in our economy. Of course, developing alternative energy resources together with using our "First Fuel", the air quality will improve.
- Water development and conservation
Water development is very much like energy resources development. We must develop water resources while we conserve all the water we can conserve. It's not one or the other but it is to do all we can with both development and conservation. We might also call the water we don't use through conservation our "First Water" because it is immediately available to use somewhere else. The ability to use it somewhere else is critical in a growing economy.
- Better communication between elected officials and their constituents
The key to better communications is accessability. I have always made my email addresses, telephone numbers, including my Blackberry number, and regular mail address available to my constitutents and try to respond to all direct correspondence. I also attend public hearing and meeting of interest to my constitutents. My accessability is evident by the hundreds of contacts I receive from the public every week.
3. If the State had a revenue surplus of $100 million, how would you allocate the money? (Response should include $______________ for ________________________________.
Since this is a surplus, I would assume we are taking about "one-time" money that cannot be used for "on-going" programs. Therefore, I would hold the money in reserve for a downturn in the economy that nearly every other state is currently experiencing.
Reserve for economic downturn
Oppents:
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