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Jobs:
According to the Pew Charitable Trust, the greatest job growth by far in
NM since 1998 has come from the renewable energy sector. The
renewable energy industry has created nearly 30 times the job growth of all
other New Mexico industry sectors combined. As the President of the NM
Renewable Energy Industries Association, I know first hand how to create
good high paying green collar jobs for New Mexico and how we can take
positive steps towards energy independence. Instead of spending billions of
dollars on foreign oil, we can keep those dollars here at home, rebuilding
our own economy, putting New Mexicans back to work, and building new
schools, hospitals, courthouses & roads,
and better supporting classroom funding and public safety.
Education: We need
to be teaching our children for life, not for tests. No Child Left Behind
is actually leaving every child behind. We absolutely must get back
to providing our children with a strong, well balanced, comprehensive
education, and let our wonderful teachers focus on doing their job, not on
relentless assessments & testing.
Equality:
The pledge of
Allegiance says "With liberty and justice for all." It does not say with
liberty and justice for some, or only those we agree with, or only those who
look or act like us. The equal protection of the law must extend to
everyone.
Health Care:
We must find an
affordable way to offer quality health care to EVERYONE, no exceptions. We
have to stop merely throwing more wasted money at the problem and actually
sit down, do the necessary hard work, and solve it.
Environment: I
will work hard to protect and preserve our natural resources. It is
absolutely imperative that we as a society move away from gas and coal based
energy policies. I will vigorously advocate for clean energy, green
building, greater fuel efficiency and stricter emissions standards. I will
fight tirelessly to protect the Rio Grande Basin, its Bosque and our water.
Infrastructure/Economy:
Our economy will
never grow in the 21st century unless we expand and repair our deteriorating
infrastructure needs. Our economic policies need to focus on creating good
jobs; repairing and expanding our roads, bridges and other infrastructure;
paying our teachers, police and firefighters fair wages; building new
schools and hospitals (and providing them with the very best staff,
equipment and supplies); investing in clean sustainable alternative energy
sources; providing health care for our children and retirees; providing
services for the disadvantaged and at-risk, and boosting and building our
own locally-driven economy.
Crime:
We need to provide our law
enforcement staff with the best available equipment and technology. We need
to provide our judges and prosecutors with clear legal statutes and
sentencing guidelines. We need to provide our non-violent offenders with
effective treatment programs so they have an opportunity to rejoin our
society in a productive and positive capacity. It does a great disservice
not only to the offenders but to our community to simply lock them up for
their sentence and then kick them back out onto the street. We can do
better.
Spending:
I am fighting for
qualitatively better results from our hard earned tax dollars. We deserve
complete transparency in how the government spends our tax dollars. Our
government should be as careful with its money as we are. All government
contracts should require an open, fair and competitive bidding process. Not
a penny should be wasted.
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