My Pledge to You
The needs and concerns of the people of the 10th District will be my first priority- not the opinions or desires of fellow congressmen, lobbyists, or outside interests. To that aim, I pledge that:
1. I will have an office in each county and staff members available for regular office hours to personally attend to the needs of my constituents.
2. I will remain accessible to the people of the district by phone, e-mail, and in person and will address their issues and concerns quickly and efficiently.
3. I will work with each municipality to learn their specific needs and positive attributes in order to be able to develop and attract potential new businesses or industries.
4. I will aggressively seek out opportunities to bring new businesses into our District.
5. I will work directly with local municipal and non-profit agencies to secure grants and loans to meet their needs.
6. I will not use "earmarks" or "pork barrel" funding to further "pet projects" for my District, and will do whatever I can to discourage this practice in Congress.
7. I will use my taxpayer-funded office budget wisely and conservatively, and will not abuse my franking (free postage) privileges.
8. I will work to ensure that the promised Hickory Veteran's clinic is completed as promised by 2010 and that there is sufficient funding to adequately staff and equip the clinic.
9. I will work to expand the veteran's services available in the 10th District and to increase the number of VA staff members to better serve the growing veteran population.
10. I will sponsor a bill to bring a mobile veteran's clinic to this District to provide routine and preventative health care to veterans.
11. I will support measures to reduce the number of illegal immigrants, and will not support any type of amnesty.
12. I will support a "guest worker" program to provide workers for farmers and other seasonal businesses when, and if, these jobs cannot or will not be filled by an American.
13. I will support the Federal Marriage Amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman.
14. I will oppose any measure to limit the Second Amendment right to bear arms.
15. I will not support any form of "universal health care."
16. I believe that abortion is wrong and I will not support any legislation where your tax dollars are spent to further this wrong.
17. I will fight to reduce your taxes and reduce the size of the federal government.
18. I will work to reduce the amount of federal aid that is distributed to persons who are able to work.
19. I will not become involved in local primary elections or use my position or my staff to assist or influence the local primary election process.
20. I will encourage research and development into new domestic sources of oil and other reasonable alternative fuels to reduce our dependency on foreign oil.
