Steele Submits Sun Survey Answers to Marylanders, Not Paper
August 8th, 2006
Steele said, “After careful consideration, I have decided not to submit to the Baltimore Sun my responses to its candidate survey, but instead to post them on my website for the people of Maryland to view unfiltered and without bias.
“In 2002, the Sun editorial board concluded that I brought ‘little to the team but the color of [my] skin.’ And although I have spent my years as Lieutenant Governor chairing the Commission on Quality Education, reforming the state’s Minority Business Enterprise program, and promoting policies to reduce crime and protect our environment, their attitude toward me and my campaign has progressed little.
“Therefore, I have decided to take the Sun’s questions and my answers straight to the people of
“I am hopeful that the hiring of a new publisher may help shift the Sun toward listening to the views of all Marylanders. I also encourage the new publisher to increase diversity among the paper’s editors and management staff because they are at the heart of what perpetuates these paternalistic and stereotypical attitudes toward certain politicians and leaders from a certain part of the community.”
Michael Steele’s responses to the
The
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Pasted below, please find Lieutenant Governor Steele's answers:
Michael Steele's Responses to
1) Should judicial candidates be potentially subject to a filibuster, or should that rule be changed?
The bi-partisan “Gang of 14” should be applauded for coming together to find common-sense solutions when partisanship threatened to tear the Senate apart.
Many state and federal districts have had judicial vacancies prolonged due to political posturing in
2) Is the current
All one has to do is look at the price of a gallon of gas to know that our energy policy is not adequate. My family paid $600 in gasoline costs for the month of April alone. While current energy costs are a strain on middle-class families, they are a real crisis to many of
To provide immediate relief for Marylanders, I have called on President Bush and Congress to enact an immediate moratorium on the federal gas tax - more than 18 cents per gallon - and an immediate moratorium on the 24 cents per gallon diesel tax. Moreover, Congress should approve legislation to suspend the tariff on ethanol imports.
But those actions are designed to deal with our immediate crisis. Congress must roll up its sleeves and work to solve the underlying problem - our dependence on foreign sources of energy. To do that, I’ve called on Congress to double President Bush’s budget request for biomass and bio-refinery research, and create market and tax incentives for E85 fuels, hybrid technologies and alternative energy sources. Tax credits for hybrid and alternative fuel vehicles need to be renewed and expanded. Additionally, we must increase fuel efficiency standards for automobiles – not just this year, but over the next several years.
Our dependence on foreign sources of energy has been an important issue for generations. Repeatedly,
3) How would you address the growing gap between Americans who have adequate health care insurance and those who don’t?
In 2003, a survey of
As Lieutenant Governor, I worked with legislators to create the Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities, and worked to pass the Health Care Services Disparities Prevention Act to require the Maryland Department of Health to reduce health care disparities – like the number of uninsured - based on race, gender, ethnicity and poverty. The Senate has to get serious about closing this gap on the federal level as well.
Additionally, I believe we need to create a health care system that works for small business owners and small business employees. Millions of them are going without health care today just because bureaucrats in
To help increase our nation’s seniors access to affordable care, I have called to extend the sign up period for the Medicare Prescription Drug plan.
4) What should be done about the enormous federal budget deficit?
I often hear politicians jump through complicated hoops when trying to explain why we have such an enormous deficit. Of course, any such discussion quickly devolves into partisan name calling. The time for partisan rancor and political double talk has passed. The plain truth is we are spending more than we have in the bank. We’ve all heard it said that we are mortgaging our children’s future. Not true, we are now mortgaging our grandchildren and great grandchildren’s future. When a “bridge to nowhere” receives millions of dollars in funding, we know
Congress must also enact pro-growth policies that encourage the economy to expand: like making tax relief permanent and repealing the death tax. As we saw with the most recent deficit figures, a growing economy will in fact reduce the size of the budget deficit. In order to achieve optimal economic growth, Congress must adhere to sane spending guidelines while promoting smart policies devoted to growing businesses and creating jobs.
5) Are federal affirmative action programs necessary and effective?
Studies show enormous disparities still exist in education, healthcare, employment and economic opportunities along racial lines in the
6) What further investment - monetary and military - if any, should the
There is no doubt that war requires sacrifice and fiscal constraint. We have a responsibility to ensure that our armed forces have the supplies, the equipment, and the technologies they need to get the job done.
It is imperative we improve conditions on the ground so we can bring our troops home as quickly as possible and have the Iraqi people take control of their own destiny. At the same time, we should not publicly state a timetable for implementation. I do not support a “cut and run strategy.” Any politician out there talking about timetables and timelines is playing into the hands of our enemies who have an enormous capacity to wait. It would be a disaster for us to cut and run, as it would destroy our credibility in the region for at least a generation. At the same time, it is the Iraqi’s themselves that will ultimately have to make democracy work in their country. We should stay there only long enough to give the Iraqi people the tools they need to secure the very democracy they voted for three times. After that, it’s up to them.
7) Do you support easing federal restrictions on embryonic stem cell research? And please outline any specific proposals on this subject.
I am very encouraged by innovations in technology that make it possible to treat and prevent disease without the willful destruction of human embryos, including innovative technologies practiced right here in
8) Discuss your views on immigration reform, particularly with regard to undocumented aliens already in this country.
Congress’s unique inability to multi-task highlights our nation’s need for common- sense immigration reform. Until we see Congress take some real and immediate steps to secure our borders, we can hardly expect Americans to seriously consider proposals for dealing with those illegal immigrants already in our county and those employers who fail to adequately report them.
Nearly 1.2 million people were arrested trying to illegally enter the
9) Name two senators, one past and one present, whom you would most choose to emulate. Why?
In my opinion, Senator Charles "Mac" Mathias was a senator’s senator. He was a gentleman and a dedicated public servant who proved himself to be an independent thinker and consensus builder. He took difficult stands on issues even when it was unpopular to do so. Senator Mathias did not stand in the doorway of opportunity; he helped to create it by standing up for civil rights, voting rights, and inclusion for all Americans.
Of today’s sitting senators, I am especially inspired by Senator John McCain, who works above the partisan fray that is too often stifling progress in
10) If you now hold public office or have in the past, briefly identify your top three accomplishments while in office.
The reform of the state’s Minority Business Enterprise Program is certainly one of my proudest achievements as Lieutenant Governor. When I took office, the state had a dysfunctional, fraudulent system that gave minorities hope with no sense of substance. Here are some of the significant changes we were able to make:
- Eliminated the 10-day waiting period for prime contractors to name their subcontractors.
- Established a small business reserve pool where ten percent of all the state’s procurement contracts are to be carved out for small businesses.
- Established a Mentor Protégé Program where large companies are partnered with small companies and they provide guidance and opportunities for small business owners.
- Led an historic trade mission to
- Lobbied for increased funding for the Maryland Small Business Development Authority which gives much needed capital to the state’s small business community.
- Worked to create a linked deposit program that allows banks doing business with the state to create a pool of money that can be accessed to provide capital for small and minority-owned businesses.
As
- I worked to provide millions of dollars in funding for many of the recommendations in the Commission on Quality Education in Maryland, including $2 million for Professional Development Schools that advance the skills of Maryland teachers;
- $1.45 million to strengthen services for those with Autism and fund the launch of the Autism screening pilot program;
- And $2 million to create a Science, Technology, and Mathematics Academy to advance students' skills in the subject areas that will play a major role in the economy of the 21st Century.
- Made historic improvements to the Maryland Teacher Pension System. Through the passage of the State Employees' and Teachers' Retirement Enhancement Benefit Act of 2006, I worked with legislators to provide teachers and state employees hired after 1998 with a benefit equaling 54 percent of their salary after 30 years service (an increase over the current 42 percent of salary).
Additionally, I have worked to secure
- With the help of the Office of Crime Control and Prevention and the Maryland State Police, I worked to combat the proliferation of gangs threatening the well-being of
- I convened a Statewide Planning Group to develop a strategy to both prevent and respond to gang activity.
- Though the Vehicle Theft Prevention Council, I also worked to provide more than $1.4 million to law enforcement agencies aimed at reducing car theft in our state. children.
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