As a citizen and as a candidate, I believe that Congress should be working to improve the lives of all Americans. As your representative in Congress, I will work to restore civility to political life, to forge effective change, and to lead on issues important to my constituents. As your representative, I will work for health care for all citizens, for veterans benefits, for a withdrawal from Iraq, and for far greater fiscal responsibility.

People ask why I am running and what I stand for. I have summarized some of my views here. Please contact me to discuss these further.

What is your vision for America? Are these your values?

• A Republican tax system that values wealth over work?
• Republican tax cuts for the very wealthy?
• A Republican budget that cuts financial support for veterans and the elderly?
• A Republican Medicare program that enriches pharmaceutical companies and raises the costs of medicines for the poor?
• Republican programs to enrich large corporations at the expense of workers, the poor and the elderly?

These are not my values, this is not my vision for America. I have a vision for America where there is respect for all people, that there is fairness, that those who work hard can get ahead, and that the sick, poor, and elderly are treated humanely.

The Republican Medicare Prescription Drug Program squandered the opportunity to significantly improve the lives of seniors. The program is a disaster, it is overly complex, underenrolled, and does not have the competitive pricing it should. Seniors are worse off then they were before passage of the bill. Some 20 states have had to jump in to help them until the federal government gets its house in order. This is just another example of Republican-led corruption, providing big benefits for drug companies at the expense of the poor and elderly. Read More

We need to honor the sacrifice that active duty military and National Guard have made for us in Iraq. For those that are still serving, we need to execute a plan to return them home. And we need to invite other countries to join us in helping to rebuild Iraq. For the veterans, we need to do much more. Read More

On May 1, 2003, the president declared victory. Now, three years later, on May 1, 2006, American troops are still fighting and dying in Iraq. Victory is nowhere in sight. There is no perfect solution to the war in Iraq. There are, however, solutions which will minimize the loss of life - lives of brave American women and men, lives of innocent Iraqis. More

Port Security

Protecting America from a terrorist attack should be the primary responsibility of our Federal Government. This Republican Congress, however, is beholden to special interests, not to the welfare of the American people. Here is a painful example of how Republicans voted to compromise the security of our country. As your elected representative, I would work to implement 100% scanning of containers entering the country. More

The Republicans say they support a smaller government but our government has never been larger. To make matters worse, we are getting less from our government spending than ever before. Republicans are spending more than $6B a month in Iraq, cutting programs to the poor, entering into no bid contracts, and cutting taxes to the rich. Funding for veterans, education, the poor, and much more has been cut. The government was completely unable to respond to Katrina and wasted millions trucking ice around the country and ordering mobile homes for the displaced but not being able to use them. Now, the new head of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke has gone so far as to say that our current spending levels are jeopardizing our future economic wellbeing. As your elected representative, I promise to pursue prudent spending and to restore our budgets! Read More

I believe abortion is a matter between a woman, her conscience and her doctor. Unintended pregnancies can be reduced by ready availability of contraceptives and education about contraception. I am very much pro-life and believe every child born in America should have the chance for a healthy and productive life. In 2006, the US ranks at the bottom of the developed world in the number of children who die before they are a year old. I deplore that situation and if I am elected, I will work for programs that provide prenatal health care for all pregnant women. In our America in 2004, 13 million children were living in poverty. We must have programs to help working families and single parent families so the children in these families will prosper.

Our private pension system is in crisis and House Republicans are advancing legislation that fails to protect millions of hardworking Americans. As your representative I will work hard to stabilize the private pension system. Read More