Help Californians make an informed vote by allowing ballot statements for all candidates running for all offices. I propose that candidates for all public offices be allowed to post ballot statements, where the extra costs incurred for printing and distributing the ballots (sample ballots and voter pamphlets) be paid for by the candidates themselves, so that there is no additional cost to the taxpayer (this is how it presently works for non-partisan offices). If you look at your sample ballot for this year you'll see ballot statements by candidates for City Council but not U.S. Congress. This makes it hard for an average citizen to be elected to higher office because it drives the cost of running a credible campaign well beyond the reach of most citizens (the postage for a single mailing to the voters in a congressional district is --$70,000, whereas a ballot statement would cost a small fraction of this).

Also, as Secretary of State I will be an ex-officio Trade Commission member. I will focus on our yearly $180 billion trade deficit. As an adult education teacher I deal daily with hard working Americans who have born the brunt of our trade deficit (they were "down-sized") and who are now seeking to better themselves by going back to school. But every year the trade deficit grows and so grows the rift which enlarges our working poor. I will do more than bemoan the problem -- I will make concrete recommendations for change. My democrat and republican colleagues who supported NAFTA, GATT, and MFN for China are now giving lip service to "fair trade." I ask : What will they do? What have they done? Looking at taxes alone, our system favors importers. We are the only nation in the world that taxes imports at a lower rate than it's domestically produced goods. Given that one fact, it is not too surprizing that we have a trade deficit. It’s simple arithmetic -- if we raise taxes on imports, we could reduce income tax while collecting the same overall tax and at the same time reduce our trade deficit. Its time to re-establish reciprocity. There is a lot to do and we need your help. Be a reformer. If you want reform, Vote Reform.