Mark Madsen - running for State Senate 13

I got to listen to Mark Madsen. Here is what he had to say:

OPPONENTS, WHY RUNNING, ETC.: He said that everyone who voted for vouchers has an opponent. He says that there are still things he wants to accomplish. He believes that the Constitution is a divinely inspired document. He says that legislators don’t refer back to their Oath of Office enough. He says he is a Republican of conviction, not a Republican of convenience. He says that he agrees with the Republican platform 100%. He said he was rated the most conservative state senator by the Deseret News. He says that he is not going to be persuaded by 1000 emails if it violates principle.

10th AMENDMENT: He believes that the 10th amendment still matters. That all states retain their sovereignty. He thinks that when the federal government can't mandate the states to do something they will tax us instead and say if we do what they want they will give us a tax break.

TOP 2 ISSUES: He says that education clearly rises to top. 100% of our income tax, both individual and corporate, goes to education. Depending on the year, education is 40-45% of the state budget. Education always needs additional money from the General Fund. He voted for every dollar allocated to education. He says that education of children is important, they are the hope of our future. The more important he feels something is the less he wants government involved. He says they mess things up.

The second issue he says is Transportation. He says we are way behind in our state road projects. He says there is only one year in the history of the state that education didn’t receive additional money and it seems like the reserve fund for education is money for the roads. When the economy dips the roads really suffer.

IMMIGRATION: The federal government has failed in many ways. Securing our borders has been ignored. He thinks we shouldn’t have policies that give incentives for illegals to come to our state. He says that we need to train law enforcement to enforce the laws. He says that those who think that enforcing these laws aren’t compassionate aren’t looking at the flip side of it, where the illegals are doing work for unfair wages and being abused. He said that they passed an immigration bill, but didn’t have the guts to take out the instate tuition. He says the bill doesn’t even take effect until 2010.

PUBLIC EMPLOYEES: He would like to see a policy where public employees could work in the private sector off and on without losing their pensions, "free flow of the best and brightest without risking everything they put in pension, cross pollinating is good..." He’s not universally opposed to privatization. He says privatization is in the future. He thinks we should have toll roads possibly done with private partnerships.

GOVERNMENT ROLES: He says that the government exists to protect the rights of individuals. The federal government should make currency, protect our borders, have a military defense, and protect us from treason and piracy on the high seas.

LAW ENFORCEMENT: Police authority should come from the counties or the state not the federal government. Police powers actually come from the people.

ROADS: He doesn’t think that the government, because they collect the taxes, should be the only ones to build roads. Tax money is bonded or collected by the government. We finance our roads through bonds that are sold to private entities.

PRISONS: He thinks that maximum security prisons should be funded by the government. He thinks that halfway houses could possibly be privatized.

WATER ISSUES: A body was created to help with putting checks and balances where they weren’t before. Private companies build sewer treatments and work with cities He says 60 cities do this in the U.S., but none in Utah. Private companies are watching water rights. States need to aggressively protect water right.

DEMOCRATS: He says that democrats are patient, pragmatic and keep at it.

JOHN HUNTSMAN: He says that he gets along well with him. Jon signed all of his bills that he managed to get passed, but he also signed bills that he voted against. He was very disappointed with Jon’s climate change ideology. He made a unilateral action with any checks and balances. He has been more disappointed with Jon lately. He feels that Jon is not as republican and not as conservative as he is. He thinks that Jon left the platform on certain things and that he left the voucher advocates out to dry.

WHICH CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE HE SUPPORTS: He says he supports Chris Cannon. He said there was only one time where he made phone calls on behalf of Cannon's opponent and that he won't be making calls like that this time. For himself he says that there are votes that he wishes he could take back and that Chris' mistakes have been in immigration.

SALT LAKE REAL: He says it's not appropriate for government to spend money to build private venues. He voted against it and also against giving another government entity the money to build venues. He also thinks that if a company is given a tax incentive to come here than the same incentive should be given to companies that are in state.

PROPERTY RIGHTS: He believes in property rights. Sees people’s property rights violated by city and sometimes state governments.

VOUCHERS: He is strongly in favor of vouchers. His kids are home schooled. He said that vouchers will absolutely be revisited this coming year. He said that people who voted against vouchers were ignorant.

REPUBLIC: He wanted to remind us that we live in a republic, not a democracy. He thinks that the 17th Amendment should be repealed.

UTAH vs ARUBA: Aruba is suing the state of Utah in an international court because we won’t allow internet gambling. He thinks that before the U.S. enters into agreements it should go back to the states.