This page outlines my thoughts on our biggest and most widespread issues. I hope to meet many of you throughout this process and I encourage you to engage me in discussion. If I am to truly be your voice in Frankfort, I will need to hear the voices of each of you!
Promote Policies That Create Jobs & Educational Opportunities
We have so much to be thankful for in our community. But there is much that can be done to promote job creation and encourage entrepreneurship in our district. Once elected, I will work to ensure that our local economy is strong and inclusive. I will promote policies that favor small business growth and opportunities for all of our citizens. Stability is key to putting down roots in a community and I believe our leaders should ensure that our families have access to stable jobs in their community.
I have helped many young adults gain employment at UPS, providing them with the opportunity to take advantage of the tuition reimbursement program. As your representative, I will fight for legislation that ensures our children are prepared to compete for new job opportunities once they graduate, and sculpt policies that assure life skill preparedness. This is one of many solutions we will need to utilize if we hope to strengthen our economies with skilled workers upon graduation and remove some of the burden from our debt-ridden students and taxpayers.
Work towards Destigmatizing Mental Health
I will also fight for gainful employment for ALL of the citizens of our district. 1 in 88 of our children are born with autism, a mental disability for which the cause is unknown. These children grow into adulthood and want to contribute to society and yet 80% of these community members cannot get or hold a job. I have worked with my son and Options Unlimited, a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to help disabled adults find employment. I will continue to fight for the rights of disabled adults when I am in Frankfort.
Protect Life
Calling oneself 100% pro-life means preserving the dignity of life from conception to natural death. We have been fighting the conception issue since 1973 and our state government is diligently working toward righting those legislative wrongs of the past. I have served on the board for our local Meade-Breck chapter of Kentucky Right to Life and the state board for Kentucky Right to Life. I have been the table host for 100 Wise Women of Louisville and a chair for the UPS Women’s Leadership Development program acting as a mentor for young women. I am truly invested in this issue and I will continue to be a force for life and women’s empowerment.
Put an End to the Pension Crisis
In my work, I have been tasked with negotiating the provisions of an annual, multi-million dollar budget and then ensuring that the budget was followed. I have had to balance these large budgets or risk losing my position at the company. My question is, why do we not hold our politicians to this same standard?
For years, our state leaders ignored the ever-growing pension crisis. They pushed the mismanagement onto the next administration with no incentive to fix the problems they created. All that aside, just as a failure in accountability kick-started this mess, true accountability will fix it. I do have faith that our current leadership is ready and eager to tackle this issue. If elected, I know I will look forward to working on solutions that keep the promises made to our public workers.
Address Community Health and the Substance Use Disorder
As a society, we must start treating addiction as a disease if there is to be any hope of making a meaningful impact on those who struggle with addiction. I am a supporter of investing in programs that provide paths to recovery for those seeking help. The best long-term solution to the drug crisis is not only teaching our youth about the dangers of drugs, but teaching all of our community members where they can seek help in the event that they begin to develop a dependency to prescribed painkillers. Better prevention and recovery techniques – as well as accountability – will begin to heal the families that have been touched by this devastating issue.
Support Our Military, Veterans and Law Enforcement
Safety is a two-way street. We must protect the safety and welfare of our law enforcement if we want to make sure they are equipped to protect our communities. Fortunately, we have not had quite the same issues as other cities, but that is not to say it cannot happen here. Similarly, a strong community includes our veterans and active military men and women. I will do my best to assure respect for our veterans and help them succeed after their service to our country is complete.
Promote our Strong Agriculture Economy
Kentucky is a state synonymous with agriculture and as your representative I will make sure that our Ag economy continues to be a national example. I will push back against government overregulation and I will lead the fight to preserve our agriculture heritage, including the values that a life lived in agriculture instills in us.
Transportation and Better Roads
Our country has a transportation network that is the envy of the rest of the world. Not only can we move goods and services quickly within the domestic United States, but we can move those same goods and services anywhere on the globe within 24 hours. Improvements to our local transportation systems will help bolster economic growth and help us keep up with the globalization that is happening all around us. Better roads will also promote safer commuting for our citizens and encourage the growth of tourism.
Defend Our Constitutional Freedoms
It is imperative that we respect the constitutional freedoms we all hold dear in Kentucky. I will always stand for our religious freedoms, for our second amendment right to bear arms—and pray we never have to defend it for its intended use.