How has your background prepared you for the seat you are seeking?
A key component to any job is being able to relate to all aspects of the operation. My ongoing service as the chairman of the Habersham County Board of Commissioners will help me better understand what our local governments and municipalities need before they even ask. I will be able to understand their issues and that alone will help me to be a very effective State Senator.
Why are you the most qualified person for this position?
I am the most qualified for this position for several reasons, but I feel the most important of that is my recency of experience as well as the level of effectiveness we have achieved recently in Habersham County. During my time as a county commissioner, I have demonstrated that I have the time necessary to be an effective public servant. We have improved water infrastructure, perpetuated our growth management planning and created jobs by partnering with Glenroe Technologies, Habersham Steel Cell and others. I have demonstrated that I can build a team to do a job and then step aside and let them do it. That's how leadership should work. The leaders don't need to be full time when the job is not intended to be a full time position. If the leadership is effective the taxpayers are the winners.
What do you consider to be the key issues facing the campaign? If elected, what would be your plans on how to address these issues?
The key issues that need to be addressed in our district are water management and infrastructure, improving the education we provide to our children, and working for real tax reform, not just tax shifts. I have ideas on each of these issues and how to address them. In each case, my ideas include getting the key individuals engaged in making positive change. In my experience as a leader in the United States Air Force as well as the Habersham County Commission, we have "let the professionals be the professionals" and that has proven to work very well. Once we have a system to communicate what positive changes need to be made, I will help close the gap between these key individuals and our State Capitol. I truly look forward to these challenges.
What course would you like to see the country take as it grows over the next decade?
Our District is thirsty for leadership. I will provide that leadership and communicate with the communities in the 50th District in a timely, responsive manner. One challenge is that the District covers a very large geographic area. There is no unimportant corner of this District, however. Each part is crucial for its own specific reason. The key to being responsive will be in building the leadership team that our District deserves. The team I build will better help me to provide an understanding of what positive change needs to happen and how to most effectively bring about that change.
I would like to see our District proceed into the 21st century with a strong plan of how we will grow. One assurance for the 50th District is that our area will continue to grow, even given the current economic downturn. Our country is, and will be, a very strong economic force. With the right leadership and direction we will continue to prosper. We must prepare ourselves for this impending growth, including water and growth planning as well as economic development efforts. These things will help to remove the tax burden from property owners themselves. A growth plan that includes good, strong business organizations that create jobs for our communities is the kind of growth planning I will help create and perpetuate.
