Reform is a scary word to some politicians and when you precede that scary word with either of two others -- tax or education -- it frightens the bejeezus out of every career politician! Career politicians are simply not known for their reform efforts. The status quo is working just fine for them so why rock the boat, right?
Here's food for thought from none other than James Carville (shockingly enough): "Those who can't, meet. Those who can, do."
A very appropriate statement as it paints a picture of the meetings and press releases of career politicians who want to appear to care about reform but do little more than meet about it. I truly believe it will take a non-career politician who can to shake up the status quo in this state and finally DO.
With the primary race for Governor of Kentucky building steam in the coming new year, it seemed appropriate to ask about reform from the only non-career politician in the race. In search of answers, I talked again with Stan Pulliam, Campaign Manager for Billy Harper for Governor.
I'll give you two quotes from Stan that come very, very close to my idea of the perfect reformer for Kentucky:
It seemed a bold move on the part of Harper's campaign to advertise so early and even more so to lead with an issue-oriented ad on education reform. After reading "The Harper Report" online, I can see why the campaign launched the way it did. No matter how you slice it, education reform is a key to improving the quality of life and that benefits us all, no matter what your politicial affiliation.
I like what I read in the report. These are good, common sense ideas that I can get behind. I wondered though how the state of Kentucky would finance all these great reforms without raising taxes? As most Conservatives know, it's actually pretty simple: cutting tax burdens and attracting new businesses will increase state revenues. Those increased revenues could then be channeled into education reform.
The quality of education in Kentucky is a social issue that must be addressed. Overall, this state tends to end up ranked in the lower half of just about every study concerning the academic achievement and quality of education. This impacts every one of us regardless of party affiliation. Let's face it, to make our state great, we must increase state revenues which means attracting new businesses. What is attactive to any new business looking for a place to locate operations? One important criterion is the quality of the potential workforce in an area. A well-educated populace is very attractive in this regard.
Saying, "Hey, at least we're better than Arkansas!" each time the education rankings are published is no longer good enough. We will never reach the quality of education that we hope for by allowing the status quo to continue in this state. By raising the quality of education in our state, we can improve the overall quality of life in this state. With an improved quality of life, we all win: our children, our college students, our young and upwardly-mobile workforce, our disadvantaged trying to improve their future, and our elderly all benefit regardless of their political party affiliations!
If Billy Harper garners the Republican nomination to compete in the race for governor, he could be the unifying factor that allows us to make education reform and improved quality of life a reality for all Kentuckians.
We in the state of Kentucky have been held back by the status quo and career politicians for far too long. I'd be willing to bet that you won't see a single career politician in Frankfort who hides behind the appearance of reform endorsing Harper. Billy Harper will only be endorsed by career politicians in Frankfort who actually DO want reform for this state and its people.
Here's food for thought from none other than James Carville (shockingly enough): "Those who can't, meet. Those who can, do."
A very appropriate statement as it paints a picture of the meetings and press releases of career politicians who want to appear to care about reform but do little more than meet about it. I truly believe it will take a non-career politician who can to shake up the status quo in this state and finally DO.
With the primary race for Governor of Kentucky building steam in the coming new year, it seemed appropriate to ask about reform from the only non-career politician in the race. In search of answers, I talked again with Stan Pulliam, Campaign Manager for Billy Harper for Governor.
I'll give you two quotes from Stan that come very, very close to my idea of the perfect reformer for Kentucky:
Unfortunately, school choice is currently unconstitutional in the state of Kentucky. Without bold legislative moves from that fractious bunch in Frankfort, we may simply be stuck working within the existing structure to improve education; however, with Billy Harper's help, we might just be able to do that."There has been a lot of speculation about where Billy Harper stands on school choice. I'm telling you now, exclusively, that Billy Harper supports school choice."
and
"Trading one tax for another is not tax reform. Billy Harper has pledged
that he will never support a tax increase."
It seemed a bold move on the part of Harper's campaign to advertise so early and even more so to lead with an issue-oriented ad on education reform. After reading "The Harper Report" online, I can see why the campaign launched the way it did. No matter how you slice it, education reform is a key to improving the quality of life and that benefits us all, no matter what your politicial affiliation.
I like what I read in the report. These are good, common sense ideas that I can get behind. I wondered though how the state of Kentucky would finance all these great reforms without raising taxes? As most Conservatives know, it's actually pretty simple: cutting tax burdens and attracting new businesses will increase state revenues. Those increased revenues could then be channeled into education reform.
The quality of education in Kentucky is a social issue that must be addressed. Overall, this state tends to end up ranked in the lower half of just about every study concerning the academic achievement and quality of education. This impacts every one of us regardless of party affiliation. Let's face it, to make our state great, we must increase state revenues which means attracting new businesses. What is attactive to any new business looking for a place to locate operations? One important criterion is the quality of the potential workforce in an area. A well-educated populace is very attractive in this regard.
Saying, "Hey, at least we're better than Arkansas!" each time the education rankings are published is no longer good enough. We will never reach the quality of education that we hope for by allowing the status quo to continue in this state. By raising the quality of education in our state, we can improve the overall quality of life in this state. With an improved quality of life, we all win: our children, our college students, our young and upwardly-mobile workforce, our disadvantaged trying to improve their future, and our elderly all benefit regardless of their political party affiliations!
If Billy Harper garners the Republican nomination to compete in the race for governor, he could be the unifying factor that allows us to make education reform and improved quality of life a reality for all Kentuckians.
We in the state of Kentucky have been held back by the status quo and career politicians for far too long. I'd be willing to bet that you won't see a single career politician in Frankfort who hides behind the appearance of reform endorsing Harper. Billy Harper will only be endorsed by career politicians in Frankfort who actually DO want reform for this state and its people.
Comments
http://mobyrebuttal.blogspot.com/2006/12/gerald-ford-kentucky-politics.html
Given the fact that Governor Fletcher has divided Kentucky, isn’t his statement laughable?
I worked my tail off to help get him elected and was royally peeved when the merit hiring scandal broke courtesy of the Dem Atty General. I thought Fletcher was bright enough to avoid something like that... Oh well. Live and learn, I suppose.
I certainly hope his pledge never to support any new taxes will be written in stone should he become our next governor! It's possible from that position to introduce new ways to think about funding and revenues...
--In respect to School Choice, how is it going to be funded if Kentucky is not properly funding public education as it is?
--Also, outside of some major cities, how are Kentuckians going to be able to choose schools in places like Elliott and Magoffin Counties?
At this point, you can best describe my feelings about Harper as hopeful. From my conversations with Stan (his campaign manager), Harper seems to have a lot of what I think it takes to be successful in politics: integrity, community-mindedness, private sector successes (the real world experience of being a consumer and a producer), the ability to bring differing parties together to get things done, and a mind for budgets and revenues.
I am hopeful that the Republican slates on the primary ballot in May will provide enough room for him to stand out. At this point, I'm very disappointed with Governor Fletcher's inability to build concensus and support to actually move this state forward economically. I know he's tried but he has allowed himself to get caught up in the power of the office and cut off the people he needs most -- his grassroots supporters. I've not heard one word from his campaign since he filed for re-election.
I really appreciate the fact that Harper's campaign has been open to talking to bloggers. This cannot be overlooked these days. Most of us are wary of the mainstream news outlets so we go in search of more personal, transparent insights.
I wrote some more about Harper in tonight's postings. I hope that will give you all a bit more info on how I am looking at Harper at this point. If Northup runs, it will be extremely tough for Harper. It will be extremely tough for me to pick a candidate too... yikes! ;o)
You also ask some very pertinent questions about school choice. I highly recommend The Bluegrass Institute's School Choice articles (http://www.bipps.org/ARTICLE.ASP?ID=718) for great info on the economics of school choice.
I think the short answer to both of your questions is reform, reform, reform. There are two issues at work in your questions: one is that you're assuming the status quo. Competition will bring providers into areas that the behemoth of government bureaucracies can't tackle. Think about the little Mom and Pop shops that pop up in rural areas -- they are there because there is a need. Same would be true if education were made more competitive. Notice what happens to those Mom & Pop shops when they become more established? Wal-Mart sees the revenue possibilities and rolls in. When people utilize private companies they create a desirable environment for bigger and better, more cost-effective providers. I believe this would be true for schools as well.
Funding cannot remain at the levels it is currently and provide any better results. We're throwing enough money at education now; the problem is inefficiencies in the current governmental structure. Without disassembling that structure, there's no way to find those inefficiencies to remove them. In a privately run structure, efficiency is extremely important. It is considered alongside quality: how to provide quality that people want at a price they can afford? That's an imperative in business. Vouchers would give us all a way to find the best quality at the lowest price (whatever a voucher will be worth) -- only those who are serious about competing will find a way to make it work. And it does, every time it's tried.
We have a lot of obstacles to overcome before we could make this a reality in Kentucky -- the state Constitution is probably the biggest one right now. We cannot use public funds to finance private education because of it. So until that issue is eliminated, we're all still sitting around scratching our heads wondering what we can do to get some reform underway.
Our kids, disabled or otherwise, certainly deserve a better education than they're getting now. It can be done and it certainly should be done!