Doug Obey on the Issues...

ENCOURAGING JOB GROWTH

"Private Sector Jobs are what the Commonwealth and this Country are built on."

Making sure that every citizen in the Commonwealth that wants a job has a job is one of  Government's most important responsibilities. We have one of the most highly educated workforces graduating from our world renowned colleges and universities every year.  We should not be losing jobs to other states!  It is imperative that we do everything we can to encourage new businesses to come to Massachusetts by showing them that our state is the most profitable place for their business. 

This will bring jobs back to the Bay State.

REPRESENTING YOU THE TAXPAYER

“People should be able to keep more of their paychecks.”

Doug Obey is a strong supporter of allowing people to keep more of their hard-earned paychecks and using tax cuts to stimulate our state’s economy.  He has already signed Citizens for Limited Taxation “No New Taxes” pledge and Doug is in favor of rolling back the income tax to 5% as promised.

The people of the Commonwealth are saddled with too many taxes.  And it is this tax burden that is causing our state to lose population.  Our elected representatives must stop ignoring the will of the people who elected them.

As a small business owner and financial planner, Doug Obey understands that new growth will help individual investors prepare better for their retirement, children’s education, or future needs.  Most importantly, growth in the economy will create new jobs and spur opportunity for thousands of Massachusetts residents.

Doug Obey supports tax cuts to stimulate the economy and ease the burden on the taxpayers.

IMPROVING EDUCATION

“Providing our children with a quality education is one of the most important challenges the Commonwealth faces.”

As a father of three children, Doug Obey wants greater accountability for failing schools and an emphasis on core subjects like math, reading, and history.  As the next State Representative, Doug will work to recruit and retain the best qualified teachers and require teachers to be proficient in the subjects they teach.

Doug supports re-directing money from the bureaucracy to the classroom.  He wants to give local schools flexibility in deciding how to allocate their resources and he wants to end the practice of unfunded mandates being placed on our schools.  Furthermore, Doug supports rewarding exceptional teachers with merit pay.

Make Tuition State Tax Deductible

As our next State Representative, Doug Obey will support legislation establishing the deductibility of any and all tuition paid by Massachusetts residents.
The costs for attending private school and/or college are astronomical with no end in sight. In order to be competitive in the ever-evolving workplace, a good education is a necessity. Doug believes the State can help offset the high costs of education that young people and their parents incur by making tuition state income tax deductible. Doug will work for initiatives that will encourage college attendance along with helping to make it more affordable.

“You should not have to mortgage away your future to pay for tuition.”

STOP ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

“We are a nation of immigrants who have made this country great but who did it by earning their citizenship legally.  We are a nation of law.”

Doug Obey believes that Massachusetts needs a stringent plan to deal with the pressing issue of illegal immigration.  He sees the issue of illegal immigration as one that threatens the state’s economy by overburdening the state’s social service budget and one of homeland security.

As our next State Representative Doug Obey will fight for the following initiatives:

• Require businesses that do work for the state to verify a workers’ immigration status.
• Create stronger penalties for those caught making fake IDs.
• Require the courts to verify the citizenship of any individual appearing in a state court.
• Prohibit legal state residents from being bumped off public housing lists by illegals.
• Require identification in order to receive state and local services.
• Stiff punitive penalties for knowingly hiring illegal workers.
• Prohibit illegal aliens from obtaining driver licenses.
• Withhold funding to cities that participate in the sanctuary policy for illegal immigrants.  The practice of sanctuary cities for illegal immigrants has allowed violent criminals to enter the country and commit crimes within the United States.

PUT THE GOVERNMENT ON A SPENDING DIET

“We don’t have a revenue problem.  Our state has a spending problem.”

As our next State Representative, Doug Obey is the only candidate committed to being a fiscal watch dog.  As a financial planner, he is the only candidate with the experience to bring about positive change and fiscal stability.

Here are the Obey reform ideas on spending:

• End all earmarking – Earmarking within budget items encourages pork barrel spending by allowing members to circumvent budgetary procedures.  Most of the funded projects are district specific and used as a campaign tool for re-election. 
• Establish a Sunset Committee—This committee will scrutinize state programs to determine if they are necessary and where they can be cut.  This committee will investigate duplication of services and to make sure programs are still necessary.  It will allow for greater accountability in tax dollars.  On Beacon Hill, we have dozens of committees devoted to spending our tax dollars.  We need at least one committee looking for ways to cut spending.  This committee will call for strategic cuts instead of across the board general cuts
• Two Year Budget--Advantages to having a biennial budget include:
• The lengthy budget process and accompanying administrative work is done only every two years instead of every year.
• The process forces the legislature to become more proficient at long range planning.
• State agencies have more time to administer state programs, rather than spending time trying to defend programs.
• It discourages inflated budgets in elections years.
• Obviously, the political nature of budgeting is reduced.
• Recycling of Durable Medical Equipment—New Jersey and now Pennsylvania have implemented a program that recycles medical equipment to Medicaid/Medicare recipients.  Most equipment is used for an average of a week and then either sold on ebay or thrown away.  The state of New Jersey saved over $20 million and created a list of assets.  We should follow their example.

AFFORDABLE AND ACCESSIBLE HEALTHCARE

“It is time to make health care about health care rather than lawsuits and insurance costs.”

Doug Obey understands the importance of accessible, quality health care.  He strongly believes that medical decisions belong in the hands of doctors and their patients.  Tort reform is the first step for decreasing health care costs.  There are just too many people trying to get rich through abusing our legal system.  Doug is for capping the non-economic damages and legal fees in malpractice cases. 

Doug Obey supports lower cost health insurance options so small business and their workers can get insurance.