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BEAVER: Questions for our candidates
By TOM BEAVER, The View From Beaver Lodge
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It is almost Election Day and I will be glad when it is over. I already am tired of commercials for political candidates. It almost seems as if this election season is the one that is never ending.
I am a bit irritated with our political candidates. All I want to know from those seeking office is: “What you are going to do to help Ottawa and Franklin County?”
What are your plans for a variety of issues? What is your vision for the office you are seeking?
Do you have a plan to help with the education of our school children? Please do not claim your plan is the elimination of the No Child Left Behind act. Such talk tells me you have no idea of what to do for the benefit of our students. Tell me how you will make sure all of our students in Ottawa and Franklin County will graduate from high school.
How will you fund our public schools? Tell me how you plan to make our colleges and universities affordable for all students.
Please let us in Ottawa and Franklin County know of your plan for all of us to have jobs paying a livable wage. What is your plan for economic development in our communities?
What are your plans for the taxes we all pay? If you tell us your plan is to cut taxes, then you have no plan at all. If you continue to cut taxes, how do you plan to maintain our highways, roads and bridges? It seems to me cutting taxes have already jeopardized our local governments’ ability to maintain streets, roads and bridges.
For you candidates seeking an office in Washington, D.C., I have some questions. How will voting for you help Ottawa and Franklin County citizens? What federal funds have you captured for Ottawa or Franklin County?
How will you bring federal jobs to our little area of Kansas? Do you have a plan to develop jobs in our area with federal grant money? What is your plan to help local businesses win contracts with the federal government? With those funds our local businesses will be able to expand and hire more people.
What are you doing to secure federal dollars for your local museums and libraries? Do these issues ever come to your attention? If not, why not?
If you want to talk about homeland security, stop telling us about stopping people from crossing into our county from another country. Such talk is just is not going to cut the mustard.
I want to know how the federal government is going to secure our homes and protect our families from the criminal element in our society. What plans do you have to secure our homes and businesses? How will you help our law enforcement officers take criminals off the streets?
People in Ottawa and Franklin County need health insurance. What is your plan to make sure all our children have health care? What is your plan to stop or slow down the ever increasing cost of health care and prescription drugs?
Do you have a plan to care for our elders? Will our elders have a home? Will our elders be free from the increasing cost of utilities?
Our military veterans have placed their lives in harm’s way for us to have a wonderful country. Do you have plans to make sure our veterans have the health care they need, both physical and mental? Do you have a plan to make sure veterans are treated with respect when they seek help from the Veterans Administration? Nearly every veteran I know has had problems with getting health care from the VA and they are treated with disrespect.
If you want our vote: Stop telling us the faults of your opponent. If you run such commercials, you obviously do not have any of your own plans for office.
Many of us everyday citizens would like to know what your plans are and give us a reason to vote for you.
Tom Beaver is a member of the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. He writes about issues facing Kansas. E-mail him at joandtom.beaver@sbcglobal.net.
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