Biographical Information
Education
Georgetown University, Bachelor of Science; Fordham University School of Law, Juris Doctor
What is your top concern about K-12 education in Nebraska and what would be your solution?
Ensuring we provide a quality education to all kids in Nebraska. Often parents feel trapped and unable to provide the education that best fits their child’s unique needs. Parents know what’s best for them. We need to support parents to help them realize the full potential of their children. This means creating a robust and diverse public and private educational environment that meets the needs of the children of Nebraska. This competition is good for everyone. We acknowledge a healthy marketplace in commerce is good for customers and it is no different in education. It will foster an environment of innovation and accountability, while meeting the needs of children. This can be done without affecting public education funding.
What steps would you support to ensure access to clean water for all Nebraskans?
We should ensure all local utilities providing water meet the requirements of the Safe Drinking Water Act and the requirements of Nebraska law at a minimum. In connection to this minimum requirement, we should be willing to review current standards in relation to any new findings on what is safe, such as whether current levels of acceptable lead are satisfactory. With this information in hand, we should ensure the water infrastructure is up-to-date, safe and provides access to all Nebraskans with safe drinking water.
What are the most important challenges facing our state, and how do you propose to address them?
The most pressing issue is our state’s general unattractiveness both economically and the general cost of living. We need to make Nebraska an attractive place for businesses, families and entrepreneurs. Nebraska has a spending problem and not a revenue problem. We need to shift to a mentality of stewardship and accountability. Over the past 50 years inflation adjusted per person total state spending has grown by nearly 400% while the state’s population only increased approximately 31%. We need to re-evaluate how and where we spend taxpayer money. Reducing taxes and the regulatory burden will put more money in taxpayers’ pockets, who are better stewards of their money and ultimately the drivers of economic growth and job creation.