EDUCATION

Education has been a big part of my life - traditionally funded public and nonfunded parochial. I do not oppose those who send their children to private or religion based schools, for I staunchly believe in a family's choice to educate their children as they wish, as long as a good education is the result. However, I firmly oppose school voucher programs as the voodoo economic gimmick that they are. It robs hard earned taxes that were intended to fund and improve the public school system - that all have access to - in order to enrich a stratified private system. One that with a voucher system in place, will exclude those families who cannot pay the considerable difference between the voucher value and the actual price of tuition. This is welfare for the rich, not a solution for you and it will also drain the public school system where the rest of us will have to continue to send our children. The proponents state that voucher programs produce better students and teachers, and provide studies that show such improvements. What they don't show you is that over the long run, the results are very similar to that of traditional public schools. Why is that? Any time attention is given to the needs of teachers and students, the process improves. After a while it flattens and then drops off. This is the "Westinghouse Effect".

Paying more attention to the way teachers and students interact and allowing teachers to "own" the process of teaching will increase grades significantly. This can be done in ANY of our public schools - if we just try. But we won't be able to try if all that the public school system is left with is the dregs of the tax barrel after it's been drained by vouchers. Any politician who supports any school voucher program is looking out for either their well-off friends or the private school lobby. THEY ARE NOT LOOKING OUT FOR YOU!

LEGAL REFORM

South Carolina should NOT implement a tort reform policy known as "loser pays". The belief that there are a lot of "frivolous" lawsuits these days is what is driving this. The truth is that big time lawyers from companies can win and you can lose. This means that you pay for all the expenses - NOT ONLY yours. There are so many legitimate lawsuits against companies, and so few are actually are won by the person suing, usually because of the enormous legal resources of the companies (can the average person afford a staff of 12 high paid lawyers, plus researchers and aides?). If "loser pays" passes, it will prevent almost anyone from attempting a lawsuit. This is a method by which big business protects itself. Not you. And any politician who supports this tort reform is protecting big business, and not you!

PAYDAY LENDERS

The rate of interest that financial institutions and other lenders are allowed by law to charge should be set by the legislators. It is the elected officials' responsibility to protect their constituents from unscrupulous lenders who act as "loan sharks". PayDay lenders are an example of this type - they make pawn shops look like saints. They have been able to self regulate and get around any regulation and it is time to stop them! If you find any politician who proposes any legislation to protect them, or blocks any legislation to regulate them, that politician is protecting the PayDay lenders. NOT YOU!

EMPLOYMENT

The state's "Right to Work" laws were introduced to the public by stating that now the employee can switch jobs without a two week notice. What it really meant was that an employer can fire an employee without giving any cause. These laws should be repealed because they grant rights to the employer while taking rights away from the employee.

ESTATE TAXES

Estate taxes have been labeled as "Death Taxes". They should NOT be eliminated. The amount is governed by the IRS. In other words, we depend on the IRS rules to find out if we need to pay any tax. The reason for these taxes were to prevent the rich from passing all property to their children and keeping the land and monies intact forever. They would be like the old "Land Barons" of Europe. By taxing these people, property would eventually change hands and go back on the market. Proponents have indicated that these taxes would affect everyone at every economic level. The Federal level exceeds $2,000,000 (and will increase to $3,000,000 next year) before the inheritors are affected. This affects the wealthiest 2% of all Americans. Why should we subsidize the rich by getting rid of this tax?

MEDICAL

All South Carolinians should be entitled to health insurance coverage regardless of their ability to pay. If we have mandatory automobile insurance, why can't we have optional universal health insurance?

Insurance companies have placed caps on the prices they will pay for services from hospitals and doctors. This protects the insurance companies and increases their profits by passing any increases on to the public. The state should also adopt a similar cap program based on the average insurance model. Currently there are more medical facilities in major communities of our state than there have ever been in the past. They are making their money by charging the consumer an increasing amount each year. This practice should be stopped. If we can regulate other industries in the amount that they can charge, why can't we do the same for the medical industry?