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KWARG Press Releases
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Monday, October 07, 2002
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Contact: Maria Holiday
913-461-4443
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Remarks of Maria Holiday,
Chairwoman
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Kansas Women for Accountable and Responsible
Government
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Good afternoon. Thank
you for being here today.
Women’s issues are changing. Today, more and more women
work full-time jobs. More and more women are starting their
own entrepreneurships and companies. Kansas ladies are facing
new challenges, balancing children, work, home-life, and
often the family checkbook.
With our increased involvement in the economic community,
we’re seeing more women taking an active political interest.
Our growing economy requires leaders who are forward thinking,
fiscally responsible, and place a priority on personal safety.
Kansas Women for Accountable and Responsible Government
is a non-partisan group of philosophically diverse ladies.
It was created to give a voice to the concerns of professional
women, the multitasking wives, mothers, and single women
who demand fiscal responsibility and personal safety standards
from our state government.
Addressing our State’s budget, we understand the importance
of balancing the budget. But it’s unacceptable for government
to compensate for their budget crisis by burdening small
business owners and working Kansans with higher taxes. So,
we expect elected officials to explore creative ways to
achieve state priorities, and commit to a “no tax increase”
agenda.
Addressing the growing small business community, we recognize
that this growth strengthens our economy. Today, women are
starting entrepreneurships and other small businesses. Our
state officials should create an environment friendly to
small businesses, and conducive to increasing participation
in the professional community.
Consider insurance costs. When insurance premiums increase
by just one percent, as many as 300,000 people lose their
coverage. Unnecessarily high insurance costs are a huge
burden for small businesses and entrepreneurships that struggle
to attract and retain quality employees.
It’s in the best interest of Kansans for insurance costs
to go down and basic economics show that as competition
increases, prices go down. So, we support sensible initiatives
that encourage competition, and create a winning, healthy
environment for all Kansans.
Addressing education funding, the diverse needs of growing
schools insist that Kansas state officials explore a more
flexible finance formula. Educational basics, like a core
curriculum, special education, and teachers salaries deserve
to be fully funded. And taxpayers deserve to know how that
money is being spent.
Regarding personal safety, women and children have the right
to live, work and play in non-threatening environments.
We want Kansas’ leaders to support initiatives to educate
women and children about legal, self-defense options. And
it’s critical that our leaders expand, rather than limit,
our options for protecting our families and ourselves.
Women who follow state politics are frustrated by the spending
waste and almost criminal negligence of misplaced priorities.
Irresponsible budgeting and duplicated spending led to a
budget crisis. And to compensate, some state leaders have
bartered with the safety of women and children.
Violent and sexual crimes devastate the lives of victims
and families. But today, many such criminals are re-offending.
They roam the streets. They live in our neighborhoods and
they pose a hazard to our children, our families, and our
friends. Too many violent and sexual lawbreakers have been
released, and more Kansas citizens are at risk. Why have
these horrible criminals been released? Because our elected
officials claim they don’t have the resources to house so
many criminals.
Misplaced spending priorities have resulted in the release
of violent and sexual offenders. Regarding personal safety,
our demands today are clear: stop gambling with the lives
and safety of our daughters, and our friends. Our state
government owes Kansas citizens a “Better safe than sorry”
attitude toward protecting us from re-offending criminals.
To ensure public safety the state budget must fund sufficient
prison space to accommodate vicious, deviant lawbreakers.
Severe sentencing guidelines will send a clear message to
criminals: in Kansas, we don’t forgive violent and sexual
crimes against women and children. We need state officials
to institute harsher sentencing for violent and sexual offenders,
especially in cases of crimes against children.
We believe in supporting initiatives and candidates that
will restore accountability, fiscal responsibility, and
safety priorities to Kansas government. A questionnaire
addressing these issues has been mailed to candidates for
this year’s General Election. The deadline for returning
completed surveys is October 15th.
For further information, or to see a copy of our platform
visit our website at http://www.kwarg.com.
That concludes my written statements; I’m open to taking
some questions. |
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