As a candidate sharing values with you, I would ask for your vote for House District 44. You will get a candidate who shares concern with you on such things as Medicaid expansion, open government, lobbyists, and prison reform.
You will not be getting a legislator who simply votes on the bills presented. You will not be getting a spectator legislator who does little more than taking it all in, just proud to be there. There are many social injustices to be corrected.There are many wonderful things we can do to change our society greatly and significantly.
I do not arrive at your door without some ideas -- wonderful ideas. I do not know how much I will be able to accomplish once elected, but I will push. I do not know how much Republicans will resist, simply because the ideas are coming from the Democratic side of the aisle, but I will push. I do not know how far a bridge some of these ideas might be, but I will push to cross that bridge. I am inviting you to be the empowering force, for without your nomination, I will not be able to go to the Hill to even begin to push.
I have run for the House before, first as a Democrat, then as an independent, and finally, even as a Republican. Each time, I rejected not only taking campaign contributions, but even spending money at all. I do not like it that money buys elections. I do not like it that the person who has the biggest wad is the person who draws the biggest vote. Indeed, if elected, this is something I have resolved that I would like to help change.
But, I have learned my odds on being elected are not very good if I do not accept contributions and do not spend the money it takes.
I am an independent, at heart. (Should you like, you are welcome to read the following blog, which I wrote back in 2012: http://newsasnewstravelsfast.blogspot.com/2012/10/america-of-today-deeply-divided-by_26.html. A much better-known candidate of our party, Bernie Sanders, also is an independent now running as a Democrat. He has been the longest-serving independent member of Congress in American history. Bless him.
Today, I am a Democrat. My views and stands remain the same. What I now stand for, I already stood for. We will have another census in a few short years, and it will be followed by redistricting. Again, I do not know how much I will be able to accomplish, but one of the things I would love to do, is to take the redistricting process out of the hands of the legislators. They should not be allowed to taint the redistricting to benefit one political party above the other.
I am a Democrat. Of all that I aspire to change, perhaps nothing would be more society-altering than what I would do to the corrections system. Democrats value people, and they do not exclude those who have stumbled. Democrats believe prisons should not be just holding cells, should not be there just for punishment. If we can effect change in the prisoner, how great an improvement would that be for us, as a society? Yes, we are living in a day when many wonderful changes are being made. But, we are but scratching the surface of what can be achieved. There are so many things we are not doing, that we ought to be doing, things that make it exciting to think of how much room there is for improvement. The thoughts in the blogs below reflect but a portion of what I wish we could do with our courts and prisons. Give one or two a glimpse, if you like.
http://newsasnewstravelsfast.blogspot.com/2012/10/love-criminal-or-face-him-again-if-you.html
http://newsasnewstravelsfast.blogspot.com/2015/05/it-takes-village-to-correct-criminal.html
http://newsasnewstravelsfast.blogspot.com/2015/05/prison-should-be-incubator-for.html
http://newsasnewstravelsfast.blogspot.com/2014/12/will-have-this-prison-not-in-my.html
http://newsasnewstravelsfast.blogspot.com/2015/05/prison-time-should-be-family-time.html
http://newsasnewstravelsfast.blogspot.com/2016/04/in-addition-to-sentence-being-given-to.html
http://newsasnewstravelsfast.blogspot.com/2013/06/this-is-essential-if-we-are-to-reform.html
http://newsasnewstravelsfast.blogspot.com/2015/06/if-we-would-change-prisoner-we-must.html
http://newsasnewstravelsfast.blogspot.com/2012/10/blog-post.html
http://newsasnewstravelsfast.blogspot.com/2014/02/dont-release-them-from-prison-until.html
http://newsasnewstravelsfast.blogspot.com/2015/06/what-is-important-in-raising-child-is.html
As a Democrat. I am excited at that ours is a position of strength in arguing for more Medicaid expansion.
http://newsasnewstravelsfast.blogspot.com/2016/04/we-let-them-die-with-no-apologies.html
As a Democrat. I favor not the lobbyist, but believe all people should have equal access to our elected officials.
http://newsasnewstravelsfast.blogspot.com/2012/02/why-register-lobbyists-why-give-them.html
http://newsasnewstravelsfast.blogspot.com/2015/03/lobbyists-should-walk-through-same-door.html
I am a Democrat. I believe in openness.
http://newsasnewstravelsfast.blogspot.com/2016/02/do-away-with-backroom-meetings.html
http://newsasnewstravelsfast.blogspot.com/2015/08/if-you-are-doing-publics-business-do-it.html
I am a Democrat. I believe in campaign reform with regard to contributions.
http://newsasnewstravelsfast.blogspot.com/2016/04/this-is-so-close-to-bribery-it-too.html
Perhaps some of these feelings as I have on lobbyists, openness, and campaign contributions would translate into proposed legislation. I would first give my thoughts more thought, but I certainly think there is reason for change.
Nor are the topics I have discussed a wrap on the legislation I would consider. We need a better lemon law. We need legislation to protect us financially from devastating hospital bills. I, myself, was in the hospital three days, without getting surgery or so much as having my broken lips sewn up, and was billed $39,000. I was so aghast as the cost, I called them back twice trying to figure out what was wrong. Yes, I would legislate to protect us from such a crisis. Yes, I think there is an urgency to correct this wrong. I have since run across others in the same boat.
Perhaps, most notably, of what I would consider doing, I do, of a truth, believe there are things not being done that should be done to slash the cost of health care. Just do these basic things, just try them here in Utah, and see if our prices do not tumble.
Bless you all for participating in this process, for being delegates. My opponent is a wonderful candidate. I hope you select me above her. Actually, if I had my way, both of us would fit on the ballot. I much like it when the voters are given the choice. Why have them come to the primary election if they are not given a choice of candidates? I remember a number of years ago, when I was a delegate at a Democratic convention, trying to vote for the candidate less likely to win, in hopes of leaving the decision open for the public.
(Edited April 8, 2016)
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