Thursday, January 21, 2010

Candidate Statement

The next United States Congressman from the 10th Congressional District should be an independent and thoughtful thinker, who understands the complex technical issues, and who can make the hard decisions, that will benefit the greater good, and not just help the special interest groups. We do not need someone who just rubber stamps the party positions. The person should understand the unintended consequences of their decisions. I am a life time resident of Lake Forest, and understand the issues of the North Shore. I am a consensus builder and I have found that empowered people make good decisions. I have my Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University. I have 30 years of electrical engineering design experience, in the private sector, plus I have the experience of actively trading commodities and options for the past 30 years. I believe that you are either part of the solution or part of the problem and that I try to work on constructive ideas and not destructive ideas. I am a licensed electrical engineer in Illinois and Wisconsin. I would like to be the second licensed engineer in the United States Congress. One of the characteristics of an engineer is that they change one variable and look for a different outcome. The innovator and the politician have the same dilemma. The task is finding the equilibrium between costs and the requests, of the customers or the constituents. I believe that the principle of cost benefit analysis is an important factor, in legislative decisions, when there are limited resources. I believe that actions speak louder than words. People should lead by example. I am a registered energy professional in Chicago and will bring my environmental experiences with me to the United States Congress. Honesty is very important for me. I will always fight for honest data. I must have valid numbers and strong research. I hate soft numbers without back up data. I was the Energy Star Building Project Director, for a fortune 50 company, and watched people twist the technical data to justify many green projects. If I spend 20,000 dollars then I want to save 20,000 dollars.

One problem is that China is making decisions on fundamental science and not making investments that have questionable savings, so their costs, of doing business, are lower. Solar panels have been manufactured for the past 50 years. The advances in solar technology have been very slow.

My solution involves moving money allocated for environmental programs, to the budget of the National Science Foundation. Currently they are only funding 12 percent of the dollars requested, from engineering professors, at leading United States universities. I believe that research spending is an important part of our future, for long term growth, and prosperity. I am a problem solver dedicated to helping the people of the 10th Congressional District.

Monday, January 11, 2010

I am for TERM LIMITS in CONGRESS.

2 TERMS for SENATE. (12 Years)

6 TERMS for HOUSE. (12 Years)

I believe the legislation could be passed by allowing the current members to be grandfathered and not subjected to the limit.