Candidates for U.S. Senate
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Christine O'Donnell
As a woman of principled determination, with a governing philosophy centered on the core values of the great American tradition and a wide experience in taking on the liberal establishment, Christine O’Donnell is your candidate for U.S. Senate from the First State.
Christine O’Donnell is a nationally recognized political commentator and marketing consultant. She appears weekly, sometimes daily, on national news outlets such as the Fox News Channel, CNN, C-SPAN, MSNBC and ABC, including major ratings hits like “The O’Reilly Factor,” “Hannity & Colmes,” “The Glenn Beck Show,” “Hardball with Chris Matthews” and “Entertainment Tonight.” Christine is also a frequent radio talk show guest-host on WGMD in Rehoboth Beach and WDEL in Wilmington, DE.
As part of a delegation of journalists, Christine toured the middle-eastern country of Jordan as a guest of the Royal Jordanian government. Having witnessed firsthand the oppression in the Middle East, Christine describes this journey as truly a life changing experience and says it deepened her commitment to the women’s movement.
An effective communicator, Christine is known for her skill in winning over even those who disagree with her most. Liberal Bill Maher stated, “I don’t know how many times you’ve been here but it’s always a good show when you’re on.” Even Democratic strategist James Carville was forced to admit of Christine O’Donnell “Now, this is one hip woman,” on CNN’s “Crossfire.”
During her 20-year career, Christine has served as a social advocate in Washington, D.C., participating in regular White House and Capitol Hill strategy meetings and leading delegations to the United Nations to lobby on behalf of pro-family global policies. She’s successfully debated Cabinet members, lawmakers and international leaders.
In the early 1990’s Christine worked for the Republican National Committee (under then Chairman Haley Barbour) helping to develop the marketing strategy credited with having had a key role in the historic ’94 Republican Congressional sweep.
Christine has served as a marketing and media consultant to various clients, including: Icon Pictures’ The Passion of The Christ; Natalia Tsarkova, the Vatican’s first female portrait painter; and non-profit organizations such as the World Education and Development Fund, a charity that provides scholarships to children in poor communities throughout Latin America.
After attending Fairleigh Dickinson University in Madison, NJ, Christine was awarded a 2002 Abraham Lincoln Graduate Fellowship in Constitutional Government from the Claremont Institute in Claremont, CA. She resides in Wilmington, DE.
Christine O’Donnell is a member of the Delaware Press Association and served on the Board of Directors for Birthright of Delaware until May 2008.
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Education: We can do better than what we are offering Delaware families. No child should be trapped in a failing school. It is appalling that with all the money we are putting towards education, good teachers are still forced to buy their own classroom supplies.
To improve education we must not simply throw more money at a broken system. We need to work with teachers and parents to create a real solution that addresses the root problem. Education funding should flow primarily from the people most invested in the success of schools, local communities and states. However, the Federal government has become a major funder of local education. Therefore, we must improve oversight of Federal education appropriations to ensure our dollars go directly to improving education, not funding more bureaucracy.
I will:
Support programs that provide parents with maximum choice of schools for their children, including giving parents options to transfer their children from failing schools to schools that work, whether they are government schools or not.
Fight to ensure that all schools receiving Federal dollars meet basic minimum standards of success, set by their states or local communities.
Health: Delaware is drowning in rising healthcare costs and even Democrats now admit that Obamacare only makes the problem worse. We pay more for our government healthcare programs per person than the national average. Our average growth in Medicaid spending far exceeds the national rate. Obamacare will also dramatically increase these Medicaid costs by forcing by law lower-income families into Medicaid who do not currently qualify, even as the program faces a crisis of providers fleeing the program because the government reimburses them below their costs of providing care. More people and fewer doctors in the program is a recipe for disaster.
The fact is, the government takeover of healthcare is wrong for Delaware and wrong for America and I will oppose it vigorously.
Instead, I will:
Support measures that bring more competition into the private insurance market, including allowing employers to contribute to health plans that employees can take with them when they leave their job and allowing plans based in other states to compete for business in Delaware. As in any industry, this added competition will lower prices, increase efficiency, quality and customer service.
Support measures that get Big Government out of the exam room. Politicians and government bureaucrats should have absolutely no say in life and death decisions made between patients and doctors.
• Support reforms that would reduce the frivolous lawsuits that are driving up healthcare costs and driving doctors out of business, especially in certain high-risk fields such as OB/GYN.
• Support the self-employed and small business owners by taking steps to eliminate the unfair tax penalty on those who are not insured through their employers. The tax code currently favors employees with Cadillac plans provided by their employers, while punishing those who have to buy their own plan in the individual market.
Environment: It is critical that we preserve and protect the incredible natural resources that America is so blessed to enjoy. As we do so, we must balance our fundamental Constitutional rights as well, especially private property rights. In caring for our environment, we must always proceed with the right deference to the welfare of our people, including ensuring that protecting the environment doesn’t place an undue burden on them that might cost jobs, reduce economic well-being or cause undue hardship on farmers, employers, and private citizens’ use of their own property.
At the same time, our policies need to ensure that polluters pay for real and verifiable damages caused to the property and well-being of individuals. Congress has a duty to strike the right balance between responsible stewardship of our environment and the protection of the most sacred Constitutional liberties of our citizens.
Unfortunately, my opponent supported a job-killing, family budget-raiding, economy-choking cap-and-tax bill that would impose a national energy tax and artificially jack up the price of energy to the tune of $1000-2000 per family every year. Small businesses and farms would be harmed even more by these government-mandated price hikes. This misguided scheme to demand conservation of the citizens would come at far too high a price on America’s already-strained family budgets, our job creators’ ability to survive and grow jobs and would essentially choke off the fuel that drives the engine of the American economy.
Public Safety: Public safety involves several elements, including the primary role of local and state law enforcement, but also federal homeland security and immigration efforts. The best way that Congress can help local and state law enforcement is to stay out of their way, and do not tie their hands as they seek to protect the safety of the citizens in their care. For instance, the Federal government should never sue another state for trying to help enforce Federal immigration, drug, kidnapping or other laws.
With respect to homeland security and immigration, one of the best ways that we can fight terrorism is to know who is in our country by effectively securing our borders and monitoring the status of all lawful visa holders, including immediate follow-up of visa over-stays.
Economy: We can’t spend our way to recovery nor tax our way to prosperity. Yet, Harry Reid and Mike Castle continue to back spending bills that only serve to cripple our economy and increase our debt that our children and grandchildren will have to repay. Career politicians who vote to spend money we don’t have are just as guilty as those who then vote to raise taxes to pay for the overspending. As a result, taxpayers are left to foot the bill for this irresponsibility.
The best thing the government can do to help the economy is to get out of the way of the small business owner and the entrepreneur. This is how real job growth is created. I will vote to extend all the Bush Tax cuts, propose a two-year tax holiday on the capital gains tax and vote to eliminate the Death Tax. The Death Tax is a second tax on income and assets that have already been taxed and force families to sell businesses and other assets that their loved one worked hard to pass on to them, just so they can pay the tax man.
Click here to search the WDEL Archives for stories about Christine O'Donnell. |
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James Rash
I’m a Delawarean, born in Milford, raised in Harrington. After graduating from Harrington High School in 1967 I worked for a year at DuPont’s nylon plant in Seaford.
In August, 1968, I joined the Navy. I attended three service schools in Pensacola, Florida, and received orders to Morocco then Guam where I served as a Communications Technician (T Branch).
I attended Delaware State College in Dover upon separation from the Navy, married a girl from Dover, then moved to California in 1973.
While in California I worked in radio as an on-air personality and Music Director at KKXX, the highest rated station in Bakersfield. I moved to Fresno and was Program Director and Station Manager at KTED, a contemporary Christian music station.
While in Fresno I joined the California Army National Guard where I served full-time (active duty) as Operations Sergeant at the Aviation Brigade, 24th Infantry Division (Mechanized).
I moved back to Delaware in 1990 after the death of my father. My first wife and I divorced and I married my high school sweetheart.
I’m a real estate broker. My wife, Carolyn, and I have been partners in the business for the last 13 years.
About three years ago I became involved with the Libertarian Party of Delaware. Presently I serve in the capacity of State Chair. This is my second term.
I first voted Libertarian in 1980 when I heard Ed Clark, LP presidential candidate, say, “I don’t want to cut the fat out of government; I want to cut the muscle.” I had finally found my party. I still consider myself a recovering Republican which has put me at odds with some Libertarians from time to time. However, every position I take is supported by the Libertarian Party Platform.
Also, it’s important for any bio about me to include the fact that I’m a Libertarian because, first and foremost, I’m a Christian. As a Christian, the Libertarian Party is the only political party that aligns with my faith. In 1 Corinthians 10:23, Paul writes, “‘Everything is permissible’ – but not everything is beneficial.” With liberty comes responsibility and my liberty is only restricted by the liberty of someone else. I can’t violate your liberty to exercise mine. However, there are consequences to my actions for which only I am responsible. In Matthew 7, Jesus taught, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged.” As a Libertarian, I believe that gay people have every right to be married and enjoy the same benefits as straight couples. I support marijuana legalization because God created it and, Genesis 1:12 tells us, “it was good.”
You can find out more about me at JimRash.com, RashTeam.com, and NewspaperTaxi.com. |
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Education: Before I address the issue of education, I think I need to address whether it’s a legitimate federal function. I’ve been on both sides of the argument. Clearly, the Constitution does not mention education and, therefore, it becomes a State issue. However, under the “general welfare” clause, I think the Federal Government may have a right and proper role. Surely, the general welfare of our country is dependent on having an educated populace. But, because Education doesn’t appear in Article 1, Section 8, of the Constitution, I think guidance from the Federal Government should be broad while State regulation should be specific. We certainly do not need a federal-level Department of Education.
As a federal office holder I would only seek to set guidelines which would include a standard for the States to achieve. For States that didn’t meet the standard, I don’t think withholding Federal funds would be appropriate. I believe pressure from citizens of those states would prompt their state governments to bring the quality of education to a higher level. If a state did not, school districts within the state would be motivated to graduate students who were academically superior to other districts’ students.
Each state would compete aggressively to provide the best workforce in the country. Those that succeed would have the benefit of a robust economy as the result of luring manufacturers to that state, having successful small businesses, solvent banks, and the like. I think of it as Free Market Education.
Health: Health Care has traditionally been a State issue, and rightly so.
As a federal office holder I would review every federal law regarding the health care industry that is currently in effect with the intended consequence of repeal.
Environment: I believe all Americans want clean air, water, and land. Every State has the right to determine how these resources are protected within that State. There is no need or Constitutional authority for the federal-level Environmental Protection Agency.
Public Safety: I’m not sure what you mean by “Public Safety.” That’s a collective noun and, in general, I’m not big on collectivistic terminology. I believe in individual safety and in the individual’s right to protect his/her person and property.
Does public safety include, for instance, helmet laws for motorcyclists? Or, gun laws?
I hope this clears it up; I believe in Individual Rights and Responsibility. I believe in the libertarian principle that I should be able to do anything I want as long as your rights are not affected. Until you infringe on my rights, how you choose to live is none of my business.
Economy: The economy has stalled. Government stimulus has failed. The private sector is holding onto its cash out of fear of what the government may do next. Uncertainty has had its predictable effect.
I believe there should be separation of economy and state. There is no provision in the Constitution that authorizes the federal government to meddle with the economy.
Government spending is the problem. Taxes cannot be raised enough to offset the current level of spending. Government must be downsized.
That prompts the question, “Where do the cuts come from?” You don’t need to look any further than the President’s Cabinet. George Washington had four seats in his Cabinet; the Attorney General (our Department of Justice), Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of State, and Secretary of War (our Department of Defense). Barack Obama has 15. I would look at eliminating as many of these additional Departments as possible. Some might be warranted under the Constitution but most are not. For instance, the Department of the Interior, by definition, is the States.
To be sure, there are Agencies within these unconstitutional Departments that fulfill Constitutional roles. Those Agencies could be moved to the remaining Departments. The Bureau of Indian Affairs, for example, could be within the State Department.
Some of the functions these Departments provide would be transferred to the States that chose to keep them. Of those, nearly all would be modified and made more efficient. Some would go to providers in the private sector. Some would undoubtedly be eliminated.
Click here to search the WDEL Archives for stories about James Rash. |
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