Although we are for change, we'll not make change for just change sake, alone. We wanted to be forward looking, thoroughly touch the lives of all taxpayers, especially the new, savvy and skeptical young voter. This group as a whole has become completely jaded and has given up on politics. We must energize this group & convince them that democracy still can work, if and only if, they become involved!

    Without the present and looming budget insufficiency, we must stop the practice of annual deficit spending. Pensions must be realistic & funded from real funding, not pie in the sky. New hires should have built into their pension plans realistic payments and deductions. We have consistently borrowed from the future to pay inflated retirement benefits for both future and present retirees. Present pensions problems must be amicably resolved to benefit the taxpayers.

     Comparatively young people are leaving the workforce as a result of unrealistic retirement ages. Therefore, we must realign public sectors' salaries with realistic private sector wages & benefits. Encourage existing manufacturers to remain in the state using tax incentives, as necessary.

     The Charter School System has proven to be both successful and a failure, similar in nature to that in the public schools. We're replicating a system with flaws and successes but with duplicate over-head costs. We must retreat from the Charter School System and go back to the old, but true, argument that the public schools must be strengthened. "Let teachers teach, and let children learn, in order" to remain competitive in the 21st Century & "Stop the blame games."

     We should encourage vocational training and include such training in the needed trades within the community colleges network. Realistically, not everyone needs a college degree. There is no shame in being a properly trained technician.

Elliot Isibor