As your Representative, I will work to…

Create more jobs.

…with better wages for Muskegon workers, focusing on new strategies to make our county more attractive to new and expanding sectors of the economy. This would include saving jobs we have today, expanding economic development, favoring small businesses and enhancing tourism.

I will work aggressively with the State and local economic programs to attract new job providers. We have wonderful, positive communities. We need to make sure that people know about us, visit us, and choose to live and work with us.

For more detail about my plan to bring jobs back to our community, please read my ten-point jobs creation plan.

Improve racial justice and civil rights.

We need to make the criminal justice system more just, improve outcomes in our schools and more effectively address the particular health issues of minorities. We need to take a stand against the erosion of civil rights promoted by politicians preying upon our fears. Civil rights and non-discrimination for people of all races, creeds, and gender must be insured.

Strengthen women’s rights and protect reproductive freedom.

My history as a leader in the women’s movement goes back 30 years. I have worked for the ERA, Title IX, women’s health, women in politics and reproductive health care. I was instrumental in organizing women’s Political Action Committees in Michigan. We are way behind other states in earning power and pay equity. We can’t let this continue!

Make public education the backbone of our democracy.

We must make public education stronger.
My experience is that lower class sizes works. More and more costly testing does not work. Diverting public school funds to pay for private companies to manage for profit charter schools without providing anything more effective or unique is not the answer. And public schools need to do better using proven techniques and programs. We need to support our teachers, protect their retirement, find new ways to support education, and help failing schools, rather than punish them.

Provide affordable health care and drug coverage for all our citizens.

Health care should be a right, not a priviledge. The high cost of healthcare in the U.S. contributes significantly to the cost of our products on the global market. There most likely wil be a role for the state to “fill in the holes” left by the federal program we will have. As Michigan recovers, we will have to address the problem of covering healthcare for the Michigan citizens left out of the national program.