Mike’s Commitment to Community Service 

For more than 35 years I have worked in our community as a public servant and as a volunteer in many organizations. From my first experiences as a new member of the Millcreek Fire Company, to my 23 years of service as a New Castle County Police Officer, I have always taken great pride working to improve our state and communities. 

As a former scoutmaster I have worked closely with many children in seeking to develop in them a full understanding of the importance of character development and their need to understand the relevance and value of a strong education. 

In my current position as an instructor at Delaware Technical & Community College I continue to work with students of all ages as they seek to improve their skills in order to remain competitive in this very difficult employment market.  

As a current board member of the Greater Hockessin Area Development Association as well as my civic association, Southwood Estates, I have experienced the frustrations of dealing with a county and state government that often seems to be at odds as a result of inadequate and/or antiquated planning processes, to pure inefficiencies across the system. 

With your help I would like to continue to seek improvements in the system as your state Senator. Outlined below are some of the key issues that I believe need immediate attention in Dover, and as your Senator I pledge to make these my priorities and demonstrate to my senate colleagues that it is time to act! 

Fiscal Responsibility 

The State of Delaware like every other state, county and municipal government has experienced significant challenges as a result of a weak national, regional and state economy. Options should include a review of all funding streams, staffing levels, technology upgrades and possible agency consolidations. To that end, government must seek every opportunity to be as efficient as possible in reducing costs and to seek to develop best practices in the delivery of required state services. As your Senator, I will work closely with the administration, and through the Senate committee structure to demand that there are no sacred cows and that every state delivery system and program be reviewed. For the record, the first answer must not be that we need to raise taxes and fees on services, but rather the first question must be, how can we lower government spending with minimal impact on the citizens and programs of various agencies. 
Throughout our history, Delaware has been fortunate to have had a few solid industries that have provided much needed revenue for the state as well as good paying jobs for our citizens. What we are now faced with is a different type of economy that may not offer large scale employers, but rather many small companies in growth industries like Bio-Tech and other health care related fields. As such, we must be creative in developing ways to encourage companies to locate here, as well as to expand existing start-ups. With declining revenue streams we must seek to avoid any increases in the cost of doing business in Delaware. 

In closing, while many states are looking at new revenue streams, like gambling as a result of a weakened economy, I am not convinced that gambling is the sole answer to our revenue problems. When elected I will work with my colleagues and the experts in the field to determine what’s best for Delaware. As a retired police captain, I have seen firsthand the problems associated with gambling and their effect on the community at large. At some point in time we may take advantage of the states unique ability to offer enhanced gambling opportunities but it must be done with all stakeholders at the table. I have never been, nor will be a quick-fix guy and I strongly believe that we must look at how government operates overall on both the revenue and expense side and seek to develop efficiencies and best practices.

Education 

Over the past few years we have witnessed firsthand how a lack of oversight by the state and local school boards have cost us millions of dollars in ridiculous spending that never made it to the classroom. Both the Red Clay Consolidated and the Christina School District’s alone have deprived students and classroom teachers many of the resources needed to ensure success. As your Senator, we must hold school district administrators and school boards accountable for how they spend our scarce resources. I will work with my colleagues to “open the books’ of the districts so that we may all see where our tax dollars are going. Further I will work to develop oversight teams for each district that will review and if necessary audit the spending practices of the districts. 

The success of the Delaware economy and our children’s successes will be measured directly by the quality of the education they will receive. Our children, Delaware’s future, deserve nothing less than a total commitment from the boards and district administrators in seeking to provide a solid educational foundation for every child. Additionally, our teachers, counselors and building administrators need our support as well and that we work to provide them with tools necessary for student success. 

Some specific areas to be assessed are: 

School district consolidation

Designing a pupil transportation that is cost effective given rising fuel prices

Centralized purchasing of textbooks 

Infrastructure/Roads  

Each of us is painfully reminded everyday of how crowded our roads are. As an active member of a local civic association we have often been faced with a new development that will clearly add volume to our roads. The fight usually continues through the planning process at the county level, of which we usually lose and then off to DELDOT which invariably cites their lack of authority as it is a county issue. 

My question is where is the “comprehensive” in the states comprehensive planning process? I am not satisfied with the current processes and will work to develop a true “Comprehensive Development Code” that actually works. Responsible growth and development is a natural outgrowth of economic development. Jobs created by new companies moving operations to Delaware as well as the thousands of jobs created as a result of needed construction all work to improve our overall standard of living. But growth must be responsible, planned and coordinated at all levels of government. 

Additionally, we must stop raiding the Transportation Trust Fund. These funds are designed for infrastructure improvements and we must stop the transfer of funds to General Fund purposes to pay salaries etc. at DELDOT.  

Open Government

We must open the books! Over the past few years the issue of “Open Government” has emerged as a top priority of the citizenry only to be buried in a desk drawer in Dover. Each of us has a right to know how every dollar is being spent and I pledge to support open government initiatives. I will work to insure that all decisions are made in the light of day!

Health Care

Health care reform is a national issue that has and will have severe local consequences in the future. One of my priorities in the senate will be to work with my colleagues, the Governor and Insurance Commissioner to develop a universal health care plan that makes sense. The costs associated with treating the Delaware uninsured population eventually is passed along to all paying consumers of healthcare via increased rates.  This problem will not go away!

This past legislative session Senate Bill 6 was a great start in moving to reform our overall healthcare needs. SB 6 would create a statewide health insurance pool aimed at making health insurance more affordable by requiring private insurers to offer lower-cost coverage to workers at small companies and to individuals who make $50,000 or less. Further, we must strengthen programs that support small business owners, children and seniors.