Child Care
Reasonable childcare needs to be free of charge to parents who need it. Too often children aren't cared for properly because the parents are struggling to make ends meet. Some parents can barely afford to keep their children fed, let alone pay costly daycare fees. If we instate a government run daycare system, we can ensure that each child in this state is getting one good meal a day and they are being taken care of when they need to be. I know we can find the money somewhere, even if it means raising taxes (gasp) or cutting back somewhere else. Our children are worth it. Which would you rather have? A starving child on your block or 5 bucks more a month in taxes? Think about it people. Balance the priorities.

Education
And let's start valuing the people who teach and take care of our children. Let's stop idolizing celebrities and buying People magazine. Let's start buying Teacher Magazine and Childcare Professional magazine! Our teachers and caretakers are the celebrities of the future! (photo: the ravishing 4th grade teacher at PS45)

Choice
What a woman does with her body is her choice, not the government's.

Equal Pay
If you do the work, you should get the pay. Simple as that. Whatever it takes to enforce this, we'll do it. This isn't an issue only of concern to women and minorities, it's a concern to every citizen. How we value someone's work reflects upon us as a community. When work is undermined, hope is lost. When work is rewarded, the entire community flourishes.

Environment
When you pick your nose in New York, what you find in there is pretty digusting and black. When you pick your nose in Iowa, what you find is still pretty disgusting, but not nearly as black. I think it's time we aimed for Iowa level nose pickins! If your nose looks like that, think what your lungs look like. We need to stop making so much garbage, focus on eliminating the levels of pollution in the air, especially in the densely populated areas. What we do with the environment will affect how our children and grandchildren will live. We owe it to them to do as much as we can in our lifetime to make this state, and the entire world a better place to live. I am in full support of keeping as much green in the state of New York as possible. And I'm not talking about the green you find on Wall Street, or your nose.

Gun Safety
Guns need to be controlled. That goes without saying. When we live in a day and age where young children are killed while trying to get an education, we know it's time to take action. Guns should be kept away from children and the mentally disturbed. Each individual who feels that they need to obtain a gun should have to go through training on the proper care of that weapon. And there are no second chances with deadly weapons. If you've made a mistake once with a gun, you should never be allowed to own one again. I'm not saying I'm against guns, I'm saying I'm for using guns in a responsible way and keepig them out of the hands of people who may bring harm to others, intentionally or unintentionally.

Hate Crimes
There have been so many times that I've just wanted to take people and shake them and say "look at what you're doing" and try to get them to realize that the hate that they're feeling inside could so easily be turned into love. We're all on this earth for too short a time to waste it being mad at each other. Skin color, age, sex, money... none of it matters enough to kill someone, not when you look at the big picture. It's so much easier to just be nice to people. I'll be spending a great deal of my term trying to act as a guide for those who are ready to leave the hate behind and live life the way it was meant to be lived.

Health Care
There are few things worse than keeping a sick child away from the doctor because you don't have health care. I'm in favor of creating a health care plan that will allow all New York children the proper Medical coverage they need, whenever they need it, regardless of health care plan or income level. For those adults who are on a plan, they should be receiving proper, professional attention when they need it.

School Safety
We need to pay attention. So much trouble in this world could just be solved by people paying attention to what other people need. Our children need better educations, yet in our public offices people squabble over methodologies and money, in our homes we squabble over work and inconsequential day to day things. Yet, if we were to simply pay attention, listen and teach we could all be doing so much better and our children will feel the love and attention we have to give them. Everything else will fall into place. I'm in support of adult training courses to enrich the lives of parents, continuing education classes to encourage high-school dropouts to drop back in and above all, I am in support of campaigning directly to the parents of children, educating them on how to listen and advise their children.

Social Security and Medicare
In some cultures, the elderly are the most cherished members of the community. It saddens me that so often I see that is not the case in New York. It further saddens me that we would even think of cutting what programs we currently have in place. Not only do I feel very strongly that we need to keep both Social Security and Medicare, but we need to enhance these programs so that we are providing our elderly and disabled the best quality of life our country can afford.

Welfare Reform
I believe that after a certain age, people need to be responsible for their actions and do what they can to make the most of themselves and their communities. For certain people, welfare reform is the answer they're looking for and for those people I support it. But medicaid is equally important for those people who have been dealt a blow in life and need a helping hand to get back on the right track.