I have a personal promise: Don't complain unless you offer a working solution. These are my complaints:

• We must admit that it is time to fire a large portion of government employees.
• Our leaders fear to make fundamental changes because changes are likely to bother someone.
• I'm sickened when I compare our per capita spending to results.
• I'm not hearing action oriented solutions from our community leaders.
• Continued selling of resources and borrowing against future earnings delays and increases our problems.
• The current strategy of increasing taxes and fees is a delaying tactic that won't work.
  

Solutions

• Make Government Accountable: The best way to insure responsible government is to make spending public knowledge. It is not fair to collect taxes and not explain how the money is spent.  The sunshine law is not working in the USVI.  The VI legal code must be revised to require, at strong penalty, public disclosure of raw data. This is accomplished inexpensively in many other US municipalities. 
  Illegal activities should be prosecuted. We ought to repossess criminally obtained cars, houses, property, etc.
• Education Unfortunately the monetary focus is not on classroom teachers. Most management should be back in the classroom or out on the street.  With our huge per capita budget, the Virgin Islands could be a world model.  The legislature can use line item budgets to make this happen. 
  The legislature should empower the Board of Education and provide them with direct funding sources.
  • School Bussing: Why do we pay for two public bus systems?  Let’s use some school bussing money to make VITRAN really work and give students a pass during certain hours.
• Reduce Government:Our government continues to live in a fantasy world that does not and cannot exist.  To survive, we must remove (fire) a huge number of people from government service.  At least at the upper levels, it seems that our government’s only purpose is to sustain itself without care for the people it is supposed to represent or the employees that do the real work.  Almost every department has too many “decision makers” who have no authority to say “yes.”  I will focus on laws and budgets that empower front line employees while reducing middle and upper management. 
  Consider the interest on a billion dollar debt; we must pay it off.
• Employment: Many of our residents are facing the five-year lifetime limit on welfare benefits and will soon be without an income source of any kind. Many local government employees will also soon be unemployed.  We must fund effective training programs and encourage business growth.
• Federal Intervention: We can’t continue “business as usual.”  Significant change is going to happen.  We can try to guide this change or lose all control. My preference is responsible local guidance.  But, if the time comes, I will welcome intervention.  It is possible that the federal government will pay our debts including: back taxes, unpaid bills, retroactive pay, and retirement funds. After intervention, there will of course be an accounting and legal actions.  Perhaps this is the primary reason that our government officials fear intervention.
• Crime: We need more police officers on the streets and fewer behind desks. Our officers need to be better paid, equipped and trained.  Many criminals go free because proper evidence is not and can not be collected.  This must stop.
• Lead by Example: The only Senatorial jobs are to review/revise VI code and establish budgets. We don't need 15 full time legislators spending a million dollars each to do this.  Thus, Senator's salaries and numbers are way out of line.  Senator should work part-time for part-time pay:  consider one evening a week and a stipend of around five thousand dollars.  More importantly, Senator’s operational budgets must be cut to about fifty thousand dollars.  Of course Senators and their staff don't need cell phones, cars etc.  Frequent flyer miles should go into a common pool – perhaps to fly children to special events.
  I intend to continue driving my 14 year old Samari to work. If I need to drive someone else in style, the public can pick up the occasional cab fare (out of my operating budget).
  Examples begin at home.  I do not accept financial campaign donations.  When elected, I won’t owe anyone but the voters.
• Business We will not attract business until we have an attractive infrastructure.  I.E. See crime and education.
  IDC benefits go to businesses that should not get them and not go to worthy businesses. We need laws that make both the IDC Board and companies more responsible for increased local employment and growth of our economy.
  Government should be privatized as much as possible. 
  We should increase spending on promoting the Virgin Islands as a destination and reexamine how this money is spent.  Our goal should be to increase tourist spending.
  The Virgin Islands incorrectly advertise themselves as a free port.  I am apposed to any tax increase; with substantial government layoffs, we can and should reduce taxes and create special tax free enterprise zones.
• Centralize Government: With government offices all over the place, it is difficult to accomplish anything in a timely manner.  Further, our government presence in town adds to traffic and parking problems.  We must create a simplified one-stop government area.
  This are should include a government customer protection center where governmental and business complaints are received and responded too.  Our town-based buildings could be rented for substantially more than we would spend elsewhere.

  Your vote is important! Vote #25 – Balch for Senate