The Issues.

• Accessible, quality healthcare
• Continued excellence in education
• Sustainable transportation solutions
• Conscientious environmental stewardship
• Support for small business and entrepreneurship
• Inclusive and accountable governance

Healthcare

One out of every eleven children is uninsured in Virginia. Our taxpayers spend $1 billion every year to treat many of these children in emergency rooms and clinics. This places an enormous burden on our budget and on our healthcare providers. We must, therefore, shift our emphasis to preventive care – away from emergency care.

A new survey conducted by the Medical Society of Virginia (MSV) shows that access to physician care will be significantly reduced throughout the state if the General Assembly cuts the budget for Medicaid physician payments by even 3%. In a state that enjoys higher than average per capita income (ranked 8th in 2007), Medicaid spending per capita ranks 48th nationally. Additional reductions would have severe consequences for vulnerable populations including children, the elderly, expectant mothers and the disabled, all who rely on Medicaid for the primary care they need.

That is why I’ll support:

• Expanding the number of children insured under the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).
• Providing tax credits to employers that assist in the purchase of health insurance.
• Increasing Medicaid reimbursement and protecting Virginia’s Medicaid program from budget cuts to ensure that quality services continue to be delivered to our most vulnerable and needy residents including children, elderly and disabled.
• Increasing support for community based solutions, including free clinics.
• Developing and supporting measures that will expand access to psychiatric care, maintain high standards of care and protect patient privacy.
• Implementing best-practice regulations to make Virginia the leading state for physicians to practice medicine while protecting the patients’ rights.
• Elimination of smoking in public places and places of employment. Tobacco-related diseases take the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans each year, and are the leading causes of death for many Virginians.
• Developing partnerships and programs in health care information technology, especially in the implementation and portability of electronic medical records, and matters of compliance and confidentiality.
• Continuation and enhancement of medical programs for senior citizens, and protecting them from the impacts of budget cuts.

Education

Fairfax County Public Schools are among the best in our nation. Our continued achievement in curriculum, test scores and graduation rates reflect our community’s commitment to educating the next generation of students as global citizens and competitors in the new economy. In order for us to maintain these standards, we must continue to retain and recruit committed well-qualified teachers who can respond to the growing needs of our student diversity.

That is why I’ll support:

• Recruiting and retaining the best teachers in the country, and providing them with competitive compensations.
• Supporting expansion of the pre-school programs, while ensuring that all pre-school teachers are qualified to teach early childhood developmental classes.
• Nurturing creativity of teachers and administrators by allowing flexibility in adherence to the Standards of Learning.
• Maintaining the funding necessary for our schools, despite the current economic challenges.

Transportation

Transportation in Northern Virginia is a serious problem, which requires an aggressive approach to bring about solutions. Improving transportation in Northern Virginia is one of the best investments we can make with our tax dollars. To maximize the value of this investment we need to have a robust framework for oversight and investment management.

That is why I’ll support:

• Incentives for businesses to encourage telecommuting, and reducing cars from the road.
• A statewide initiative to expand broadband availability, which not only improves telecommuting, but also impacts many other quality of life issues including education.
• Implementation of proven smart growth solutions, in partnership with the business community, so that we do not continue to exacerbate the problem.
• Better funding from the state to address public transportation needs, including improvement of accessibility to VRE.
• The Silver Line Metro expansion, with proper organization and oversight to prevent project overruns.
• Inclusion of secondary roads in overall planning for transportation in Northern Virginia. Currently, secondary roads are being crushed by the quantity of traffic they facilitate, yet are not considered in overall planning.

Environment

As a medical surgeon, I am keenly aware of the environmental impact on our health.  But that impact extends to our business and socio-economic activities, and overall wellbeing of our community as well.  We have to accept our responsibility of good stewardship for our air, our water, our coastal areas, our wildernesses – not only for ourselves, but for our future generations.

That is why I’ll support:

• Funding for more efficient and eco-friendly infrastructures, which take cars off the roads, increases energy efficiency of the public and private buildings, and reduces overall costs.
• Investments in clean and renewable energy, including wind, solar and other green sources.
• Research and job creation in green technologies.
• Initiatives for Virginia to become an observer of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.
• Protection of Virginia’s natural resources.  I am committed to preserve the ecological health of our bays, watersheds, wildernesses and land.

Business and Employment

The current economic recession has decimated the job markets around Virginia, with businesses closing down, homes being foreclosed, and unemployment numbers hitting alarming highs.  I’ll work tirelessly to put Virginians back to work by supporting responsible economic stimulus initiatives.

That is why I’ll support:

• Green jobs development to help offset the recent job losses in construction and other areas, while helping the environment.
• Retraining unemployed workers for jobs in growing fields like healthcare and education where there is generally a shortage of labor.
• Employment flexibility through encouragement of more telecommuting arrangements that will accommodate the busy lifestyles of Virginia households while reducing traffic and it's related costs through infrastructure, pollution and job-related stress.
• R & D funding for Virginia schools to encourage more jobs and technological innovation in emerging industries like energy, medicine and technology.
• Initiatives to bring more responsible international and domestic investments toVirginia.

Inclusive and Accountable Governance

I believe that a transparent, accountable and inclusive government is the best kind of government, and I’ll fight for more accountability and inclusion in Virginia government.  In the diverse population of the 35th District, everyone’s voice must be heard and everyone’s interest must be considered.

That is why I’ll support:

• Formation of a District Advisory Council consisting of representations from various ethnic, age, religious and other groups, so that everyone’s concerns are heard.
• “Open House” in my District Office once every month for anyone to come in to personally discuss any issues and concerns, or just to provide feedbacks and receive information.
• In addition to the Open House, Town Hall Meetings at least once a quarter and at least once during the General Assembly sessions, with dedicated Town Hall Meetings to hear the concerns of our senior citizens.
• Appointment of more minorities and women to various Commonwealth committees and advisory councils.
• Measures aimed at more open, accountable and inclusive government.