When elected to office, I will continue to follow the same principles that have successfully guided me in my career and community involvement; listen to what YOU have to say about how our towns should operate, research the viability of those ideas and communicate to town and state leaders a plan to make our shared goals happen!
GET TAXES UNDER CONTROL
Instead of hiking taxes, tolls and fees, I want to limit the growth of government bureaucracy and the abuse of payrolls, pensions and irresponsible spending that result. We need to keep our communities affordable for the working families and seniors that make our towns a strong and safe place to raise our children.
As a 2010 candidate for office in Massachusetts, I pledge to vote for this year’s ballot initiative to cut the sales tax to 3%, to urge voters to vote for it, and to work to drive down total Massachusetts state government spending by at least the amount of this sales tax cut (approximately $2.34 billion – a 4.7% reduction in total state spending of $51.8 billion).
KEEP EDUCATION AFFORDABLE
Massachusetts was founded on the principle that education is a fundamental right for all citizens of the Commonwealth. Funding of our schools by the State cannot be compromised by bad decisions in the Legislature. I will work to preserve local aid so that taxpayers are not asked to spend more each year to sustain basic programs and services necessary for our children to remain competitive.
ALLOW SMALL BUSINESSES TO PROSPER
Most of us work for or have retired from a small business and know the value those companies bring to our communities - tax revenue, employment, sponsorship of local charities and civic organizations. It is vitally important to help those businesses with the high costs of healthcare, insurance and fees that are driving jobs out of the state. I will fight to improve the business climate in our region so that we can all earn a decent living and local businesses can continue to support the towns they call home.