Reply #7

I’m a father, a retired 30-year veteran Army colonel, a small business owner, and a community lawyer. Gridlock and partisan obstructionism are hurting America and Congress is broken. Eric Cantor is the poster-child for what’s wrong in Washington. I’m running to get Congress working for the people again and to end Eric Cantor’s culture of corruption.

Fighting Corruption in Congress

I’m running to reform Congress, create jobs, and make sure every American has the opportunity to find a job. Congress is broken, and I will fight to reform Congress, and end the culture of corruption in Congress that Eric Cantor symbolizes.

As a Congressman, I will end special privileges afforded Wall Street operatives. The corrupt practice of allowing “political intelligence” operators to use insider information from Congress to harm average investors must be outlawed.

Money is corrupting our democracy. On my first day in Congress, I will introduce legislation to make elections publicly funded. We need to limit, and make transparent, all independent political expenditures. Shadowy SuperPACS with secret donors have no place in a free America. I will advocate a Constitutional amendment to establish that corporations are not people so that corporate donors and secret donations will be once and for all prohibited.

Jobs, the Economy, and Rebuilding the Middle Class

Rebuilding our nation’s economy and putting the middle class back to work will be my top priority in Congress. Wall Street profits are rising every day, while jobs on Main Street are disappearing and benefits are being cut. What is worse is that Eric Cantor and Republicans in Congress are more interested in partisan political obstructionism than common sense bipartisan measures that can put Americans back to work.

We must level the playing field for the middle class, and ensure that big multi-national corporations don’t ship our jobs to China, India, and other countries around the world. We need to eliminate incentives for corporations to outsource jobs overseas. We must attract talent to Virginia, and promote American manufacturing in this country.

The middle class needs solutions from Congress, but Eric Cantor isn’t listening. Rather than work toward solutions for regular Americans, Eric Cantor and the Republican Congress are doing the bidding of wealthy special interests.

I’m focused like a laser on rebuilding the middle class in Virginia and in America. For 30 years, I served my country in the Army. Now, I will to fight for middle class Virginians, I will fight to reform Congress, and to end Eric Cantor’s culture of corruption.

Respecting Women’s Rights

Eric Cantor has been a leader in the Republican assault on women’s rights. In Congress, he has led efforts to eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood and he has sought to take away women’s access to the full range of health care services. As he has done this, he has sought to redefine rape, to cut funding for older woman in nursing homes, and to cut critical nutrition services for poor women, infants, and children.

Here in Virginia, Cantor’s cronies in the General Assembly have spent the entire year restricting women’s rights, trying to mandate invasive trans-vaginal ultrasounds and the “personhood” amendment that could ban common forms of birth control. I am proud to stand with citizens across Virginia to oppose these ideologically motivated attacks on women’s rights.

As a member of Congress, I will tirelessly fight for women’s rights. Women must be free to make their own health care decisions and they must have access to affordable, accessible medical care such as contraception, without government interference.

Veterans and Our Armed Forces

As a 30 year Army veteran and a retired Army Colonel and the father of a solider serving in Afghanistan, I know what our service men and women confront every day. Military personnel and their families deserve our respect for the sacrifices they make to serve our country. With the Iraq War over and our mission in Afghanistan winding down, our nation must provide soldiers and military families with assistance when they return. These include first rate health care and mental care to deal with not only the physical wounds of war but PTSD, other consequences of TBI injuries. We also must insure that veterans are provided with educational employment opportunities and training programs that take advantage of the skills they have gained during their military service so they can apply them in the civilian sector.

Medicare and Social Security

For generations, Medicare and Social Security have been an ironclad promise and commitment for those who work hard and pay their taxes during their working years. In Congress, I will make sure that promise is kept. To ensure the long-term financial viability of Medicare and Social Security, we must implement common sense reforms to lower costs and eliminate fraud and abuse.

I oppose the Cantor-Ryan Budget that destroys Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid for the benefit of private health insurance companies and financial interests. America must not break its promise to our seniors.

Energy and Conservation

Here in Virginia, we can create jobs and protect our natural resources by investing in new forms of energy. But career political operators in Washington have stalled legislation that encourages renewable energy.

This year, Eric Cantor has received more money from big oil companies than any other member of Congress. No wonder, then, that his Republican Congress has passed tax breaks for multi-national oil companies, even as gas prices have skyrocketed. We need to end Washington’s collusion with the oil companies, and end billions of dollars in handouts for companies that are already making record profits.