Our County needs jobs now. I believe the best and fastest way to create jobs in our County is to improve our business climate so we encourage local families to start their own businesses and make our County more attractive to out of area companies to locate here. For example, during the current recession Texas has been the only State to create jobs. In Texas, policy makers reduced taxes, fees, and regulations on businesses to improve their business climate. As a small business owner, I understand how regulations, taxes, and fees hurt our competitiveness by making it very expensive and difficult for families to start their own businesses. As your Supervisor, I am working hard to build a job creating business climate by reducing taxes, fees, and regulations.

On 12/6/2011 A motion was  adopted by the Board of Supervisors Policy B-15, Traffic Impact Fee Deferral for Owner Occupied Single Family Home, as amended, Section 1.B. first sentence to read, ” New development of an owner-occupied residential unit on which the TIM fee equals $10,000 or more is eligible to defer the fee.”

Every American has a right to speak to candidates and policy makers. It is important to see that there is more to a person than what is displayed on the surface, and I am willing to give anyone a chance regardless of their looks or personal lifestyles .  When we prejudge someone we make assumptions without giving the person a chance.  And more often then not, the assumption we make is wrong.

I will not discriminate against any group of people who want to discuss solving our County problems with me.

Even if it might cost me votes!

Our life and economic activity in the county are dependent on water originating in our county. Our County’s water is our water. I don’t care who wants it or why they want it. Whither it is the Federal, State or another local government, water is too important to the future of our County to lose. I will fight any attempt to take or sell our County’s precious water rights.

Our Second Amendment is the most misunderstood protection in our Constitution. Our Founding Fathers added it to the Constitution to guarantee individual Citizens, like you and I, the right to self-protection and self-defense.

No government agency can detail a police officer to instantly protect you and your family 24 hours a day. That is why when the prior Sheriff’s Administration adopted a restrictive CCW policy, I introduced the adopted County Resolution that called for our Sheriffs Office to “adopt and maintain a fair and equitable policy for the issuance of CCW licenses that is in compliance with California State Law in order to ensure that our citizens’ Constitutional rights are protected.”

I also strongly support Sheriff D’Agostini’s efforts to take the politics out of CCW’s and make sure that we have that fair and equitable policy for their issuance I called for back in 2009.

Our Representative Republic works best when our policy makers listen and learn about our problems. I believe everybody deserves a fair hearing. That’s why I always listen to all sides of our issues and problems in order to make wise and informed decisions. I will continue to keep an “open door” policy to make sure I hear all sides of every issue we need to fix or problem we must solve.

Since the 1960’s, every time the State Legislature has overspent and run-up massive deficits, it has dumped the responsibility of providing more and more programs onto cities and counties. At the same time, the State Legislature has also changed the allocation formulas for dividing up our tax money, usually at the expense of local government.

Often these State Mandates, like housing “short-time” prisoners in our County jails, are highly unpopular and/or insufficiently funded. Currently, both the Governor and State Legislature are discussing “re-alignment” of services, whereby responsibility for more State programs will be dumped onto local government.

To me, mandating the programs and services which a county must provide or maintain violates the principle of local government. This is why I work with other County Supervisors, representing El Dorado County on the Regional Council of Rural Counties to fight these costly and unwelcome State Mandates.

It’s obvious we don’t have enough jobs in our County to support all of our families. Competition to attract new employers has never been greater. Discretionary incentives are awarded on a case-by-case basis to entice particularly desirable employers to relocate or expand in the area.

I believe we need to put a welcome mat out for potential employers.

That’s why I am pushing to reduce fees even further and start offering better incentives to out of area employers to relocate here in our County.

No industry requires fewer County resources then Tourism. Folks come from out of town to visit our community, spend their money at local businesses, and leave. Our County offers visitors historical sites, agricultural delights, and outdoor recreational opportunities. Our local Tourism Industry generates millions of dollars and creates hundreds of jobs for County residents. That is why I continue to pressure State legislators and bureaucrats to end the ill-conceived moratorium on suction dredging, foolishly stopping the gold mining hobby that used to bring thousands of tourists to our County each year. As always, I will keep supporting workable programs that help attract tourist dollars and oppose job-killing proposals trying to increase regulation of this growing industry.