Goals North Carolina has suffered a devastating loss of manufacturing jobs in the past few years through globalization. In addition, parts of our state are burdened by high unemployment and lack of funds for good schools and 21st century technology and communications. Our economy is in transition and we must find new answers to meet the challenges of educating and training our workforce in new directions. I believe strengthening our education system is the answer, from pre-school through our community colleges and universities. My goal is to help our poorer counties pay for better schools, increase pay and equipment funds for our community colleges, and make our universities competitive. We could pay for this by increasing the tobacco tax to 75 cents. This is sound fiscal policy because it also keeps children from starting to smoke who then won’t cost the taxpayer so much in Medicaid and Medicare in their later years. I will work to redirect funding from building more and more prisons to early intervention and prevention programs. We know that is the common sense answer to making our communities safer and can make a difference for those troubled families with mental health and substance abuse problems. There are effective programs and facilities, but they need more funds to handle the waiting lists and to reach into every community. Revisiting structured sentencing is another way to stop the trend of over-incarceration, especially minorities. Protecting our environment is crucial as growth overwhelms North Carolina. While business needs to flourish to provide jobs, many have found that working "green" actually helps them to prosper. Protecting our air, water and land protects our citizens’ health and quality of life. If re-elected, I plan to introduce an electronics recycling bill to deal with the flood of discarded electronic devices that our local land fills have to deal with and that are highly toxic to the environment. Home care is best for the disabled and elderly. We must allocate enough for home care rather than forcing them into institutions. We also need to police our adult care homes to protect the residents from unsafe and dangerous conditions. Separating the mentally ill from the elderly and disabled in these homes will prevent dangerous situations. We are in a health care crisis and must look for other ways to provide coverage for those who have no insurance or are under-insured. I would like to introduce measures so that those who have no insurance and can pay cash, get the same discount arrangements that insurance companies have with health care providers. Most importantly, I feel we need a system of universal, single payer health care. A study done some years ago found that for the expenditure on the uninsured through emergency rooms and other stop-gap measures, we could provide insurance for every North Carolinian. Sometime reality and common sense need to take over from the special interests who call the shots too often in our state. I would like to see lobbyists reigned in by limiting the amount of gifts they can give to legislatures and if re-elected, will introduce a bill to accomplish that. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT The state’s efforts to attract business to undeveloped parts of our state are give-away programs - tax credits and grants for infrastructure. But even when we give them sugar coated tax deals, business is not going to the poorer counties because businesses want a strong educational system for their workers and managers. We can cure that by instead using that give-away money for our low-wealth schools. To attract business, a state needs a good transportation and communications system, a top-notch education system, a well-trained work force. EDUCATION Everyone’s in favor of education. In fact, it is the number one concern when people are polled for campaigns. And for good reason: education makes the difference between being stuck in a low income, dead-end job, or the opportunity for a decent income and a career that is meaningful and challenging throughout life. But what is equally important is that a strong education system, from pre-school through the University system, is the leading indicator for attracting business. Our economic health depends on our investment in education. When we fully support our public schools, we make sure every child can succeed. Today, Public Schools are having a hard time hiring enough teachers. I will work to raise teacher and allied school personnel’s salaries and provide enriched training to make teaching an attractive career. We need to double the amount of funding for community colleges so they can train and retrain workers for the information and bio-technology age. Instead, we have starved our community colleges while relying on them to repair the crisis from our loss of manufacturing jobs. We must remain competitive in higher education. Our universities are our number one resource in the new economy that demands the best researchers and scholars. Day care, to make sure low income women can lift themselves and their children out of poverty, is another crucial part of our education system. I have supported Smart Start from its beginnings 10 years ago and will continue to strengthen it to help prepare our children to succeed in school. Finally, After School programs should be a standard part of our education system. Kids, especially during middle school, need guidance and supervision. We must provide that security while enriching their education and giving them extra help during those difficult years. The Democrats have worked hard to fulfill those goals. I will continue that mission if I am re-elected. Paid for by Ellie Kinnaird for Senate • PO Box 668, Carrboro, NC 27510 • 919-929-1607 •