John Bailey for State Delegate

During the past year I have been asked many questions while out campaigning and through email.  Recently I was asked the following four questions by one of my neighbors.  I figured this might be a good item to post on my blog since the questions covered a number of different topics.  If there is something you would like to know, please ask.

1. I saw you were a proponent of term limits. Would you pledge yourself to a term limit. If so, what would that limit be?

- I would like to see legislation passed by the General Assembly instituting term limits.  I don’t know how long of a term limit I would advocate, but I think three terms would be as far as I would go.  If after 12 years if you have not been able to accomplish what the voters sent you to Annapolis to accomplish then you probably won’t be able to.  I am against life-long politicians, it goes against the basic set-up of our country were we had citizen legislators, not career politicians.

2. What are your thoughts regarding the health care bill passed by the United States Congress this past March?

- I am not entirely in favor of the health care bill that was passed in the spring.  I do believe that something needs to be done to provide quality health care for all citizens.  That quality health care should not mean going to the emergency room whenever you have a headache or need to see a doctor.  I am a little leery of the government running a national health care system.  While the government does many things very well, it is also pretty evident that they get bogged down in bureaucracy and sometimes get in their own way when trying to accomplish goals.  To many agencies all vying to be in control and at times little gets done.  I also don’t think that the government should be determining treatment option for patients.  This is something that is done much better on a local patient/doctor level.  I would advocate more of a health system that provides options and is run by health professionals.  Everyone needs to be covered.  My brother a few years ago lost his job.  He was out of work for close to a year.  He was one accident away from having serious medical bills and drastically hurting his credit.  This should not be the case.

3. Where has Liz Bobo failed the citizens of our district? Why are you better suited to address the problems facing Howard County and the state?

-  I believe that Liz Bobo’s biggest failures have been in her focusing on issues that are not her responsibility.  She was a leading opponent of the downtown Columbia plan.  While she has a right to voice her opinion as a private citizen, she should not be holding private meetings and organizing opposition to a plan that is the jurisdiction of the County government.  She should also not be sending endorsement emails over her government email address to support candidates running in Columbia Association elections.  That is just not appropriate.  As far as her role in Annapolis goes, to be honest she is not very effective in getting legislation passed.  During the past three-four terms that she has served we can count on probably one hand the amount of legislation that was passed that she was the primary author of.  She claims to be an independent voice in Annapolis, and this can be a good thing, the problems arises when she is too out of step with her own party and is not able to be an effective legislator within the party that is in power.  She has been a State Delegate since 1994, yet she does not hold a leadership role.  Guy Guzzone on the other hand is a one term Delegate and has already moved up and holds a great deal of influence in the Democratic leadership of the House of Delegates.  It seems to me that she is out of step with her own party.  While this can be a good thing and we need different opinions, at the end of the day you should still be able to get things done and hold the respect of your own party leaders, especially if you have been a political insider for as long as she has.

I believe that I am better suited because my view point match-up well with the average citizen.  I am a moderate thinker who can work well with both parties and will work with leadership to advance the causes of Howard County.  I will look for ways to attract new business to Howard County and Maryland and will look for ways to make Maryland a more business friendly state.  Private business creates job and opportunity.  While we need to keep an eye on business and make sure that are doing what is best for the community, we should not suffocate them with regulations and fees.  I also bring a fresh perspective to the job.  I have not been engulfed by the political machines and “we have always done it this way” mentality.  I believe that sometimes you need change.  You need to go in a new direction and you need new leadership to take you there.  It is just common sense that if you have been around for so long and have done things a certain way for many years that change and a new direction are not on the top of your list.

4. If elected, would you vote against proposed tax increases and massive government spending in times of economic contraction?

-  My simple answer is yes.  You cannot expect to successfully spend yourself out of a recession.  That is the wrong approach.  We have seen that since the sales tax increase in 2007 tax receipts and spending in Maryland has decreased.  It does not make sense to expect people to send more money during a time when money has less value.  The government should have looked for ways to stimulate business growth and encourage private organizations to expand and create new jobs.  Sometimes you need to increase taxes, however those times are not when the economy is contracting and the house market is collapsing.  We know that all of this is cyclical, but I would have thought that the problem would have fixed itself by now.  I think that the increased taxes and spending have actually slowed down the long term recovery effort.  There have been short term gains, but that is a result of the influx of federal stimulus money.  What happens when the stimulus money runs out?  If the fundamental problem of why the economy collapsed in the first place has not been solved then all you did was put a Band-Aid over a wound that needed stitches.  The bleeding may be stopped, but eventually you are going to have to take the Band-Aid off, and at that point you are going to realize that you still need stitches because the problem has not been fixed.