Lockard

For Governor

"A snap shot of the family album

Daddy what else did you leave for me

Daddy what of you left behind for me

All in all it was just a brick in the wall

All in all it was just bricks in the wall"

Pink Floyd,  The Wall

About

the

Candidate

E-mail Bill at

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 Medicine for the Elderly

On behalf of all the citizens of Virginia I would negotiate with insurance and drug companies for the lowest price on group health insurance and prescription drugs.  Let's see if a company will give us a good rate when I tell them there are 1 or 2 million people in our group, who are looking for a reduced rate.  You ask, for example, a Postal Worker how much he or she pays in health insurance and they'll tell you less than 20 dollars per month.  You ask an individual outside some large group and the answer will be 5-10 times that amount.  People are going outside the country to get their prescriptions.  They're missing meals to pay for their medications.  12% of Virginia residents have no coverage at all:  "That's Bull!"  The fact is Joe has insurance because his large group gets in cheaper than Bill's group and as a result he can't afford it for his family.  This is an affront to us as a society or it should be!  To correct this inequity costs nothing extra in the form of taxes, in fact, none of the programs I have mentioned will cost any more in taxes but rather less taxes.  We have a responsibility to offer quality health services to the residents of Virginia.

Elderly people should not have to choose between food and medicine. We as a society cannot let this cry for help go unanswered.....and if I'm elected governor.....WE WON'T! My wife is a nurse manager for a home health company, and often she meets elderly people who are confronted with either paying for the medicine or buying food.  We as a society and as individuals will have to answer for this oversight.  If, by some miracle, the federal government decides to pay for the prescriptions for the elderly and indigent, this untapped revenue source should be used to offset tuition costs for college and trade school students.

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No one dies on my watch - It's time for the killing to stop, and let it begin with me.

    I believe that killing, whether through capitol punishment or drive-by shootings, is wrong.  I'll call for a truce on killing, and "take it to the streets" through the media, billboards, and people on foot.  All the hue and cry in the world for gun control doesn't hold a candle to the proclamation I am making that "The Killing Fields of Virginia" are closed!

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We continue to destroy peoples' lives, especially our youth, fill our jails, tax our court when the reality is that, all those who want pot can get it anytime.  "By any possible standards of failure," it is clear that our present policy is not working and  that we need to re-evaluate how we are dealing with this issue.

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The demands for clean water by growing metropolitan areas will force us as Virginians to reach out to new water sources.  The uncertainty we confront isn't about whether we need this water or not, or whether we can access it when we need it.  The uncertainty about this issue lies in who do we trust to know and determine our needs.  Much like the issue of light rail, the building of a new reservoir or for that matter, any expenditure of huge amounts of tax money demands that we examine who also stands to benefit.  Who is the driving force behind the project?  real need or special interest?  That's what this campaign is about.  It's about the growing inequities between the wealthy special interest groups and those who work just as hard and come away knowing  that they have been left out of the prosperity many in the state of Virginia have been experiencing.

Back to the environment - 30 years ago very few would have thought that clean drinking water would be such an important issue as it is, and 30 years from now, with the rate of urban sprawl, we can only hazard to guess  that open space, green acres, and nice stands of trees will likewise be something we will only have fond memories of.  I'm not opposed to development, I'm opposed to stupid development.  we need to educate Virginia home buyers to the fact that the present type of new home development is simply not the best of all possible choices.  HELL!  I've been on new construction sites just recently, and witnessed the site clearing and thought - the slash and burn going on in the Amazon Rain Forrest hasn't got anything on this!

What I'm saying is we can do better.  We don't have to curtail building, we have to build smarter.  The builders will build anything that will sell, for the most part.  It is up to us to educate the public on earth friendly development.  Homes that are just as comfortable, just as private, just as warm and inviting, but less intrusive on the land, taxing to the commuter, and crushing to the environment. 

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The average working person changes jobs every 5 years, never staying with a company long enough to accrue any kind of retirement.  a July 10 article in the Daily Press confirms that fully 60% of those with 401K plans cash them in upon changing jobs.  Also while there are those who are more affluent or capable of structuring their own 401K retirement plan, many working people, especially lower paying jobs simply can't, or don't.  I recently asked a master brick mason, who works for many contractors, if he has a 401K plan, his reply was - "What's that?"  The result is that the current retirement system fails miserable in its intended goal of providing some sort of financial security in old age.

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I, myself, and numerous people I have met, have been victimized by this most inept system; where people can be dragged into jail, on any charge without any investigation, and have their lives turned upside down.  My plan is that no warrants will be issued except by a presiding judge and only after a police investigation has determined the validity of the charges.

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I'll turn to a policy of "most favored status" for the working man and not big business.

I've been a member of 3 different trade unions in my life and I've learned the importance of knowing the struggle that organized labor went through to get us the benefits many take for granted, like the 40 hour work week, and time and 1/2 for overtime.  Virginia government, touts the benefits of a "right to work" state.  Although this might sound like an extraordinary freedom, the benefit goes mainly to the employer.  I think what most working people in Virginia want is a good job which pays a living wage, not some "carrot on a stick" promise of promotion to the next level, of a flat bed pyramid, where one or two employees are making huge incomes.  There are those who are genuinely happy that the CEO of their company is making a million dollars a year while the average worker is making 1/50 that amount.  Personally, I think it's obscene and an insult to the working man.

What I want to bring to Virginia is not just good jobs, with good benefits, but my overall goal is to raise the quality of life for working people.  I'll walk the picket lines with you in an attempt to bring about that balance.  I'll go to bat for the nurses of Virginia who seem incapable, or have been unable because of employers' oppressive tactics, to garner any type of organized effort to reduce patient load, at the expense of patient care.  I will advocate for parity between the good wages offered in some parts of the state and the dismal wages offered in many other parts.  My point is that when you're at the top of your game in terms of skill you shouldn't have to live on less than living wage or be put in a position of providing less than top quality patient care.

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I'll have a bill presented to the house to allow for referendum vote.

Throughout the history of Virginia government, unlike other states, our legislatures have felt that its voting population was incapable of processing issues into knowledgeable decisions.  No matter how many signatures we get on a petition, we as voters cannot get an issue on a voting ballot.  This is one of the greatest obstacles ever to confront the democratic process in Virginia and a true barrier to inclusion for the disenfranchised.

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I will allow for education and educational policy to be done by the educators, not bureaucrats or appointed panels of people who have no grounding in education.  The best of our educators should be at the forefront of our education policy, while the worst, the bureaucrats and politicians, "shut up" and let them do their job.

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In order to relieve traffic congestion in our cities, I would move to create the most advanced bus system in the country - long before addressing the issue of light rail which costs billions.  The reality is  that light rail on a fixed bed can only transport you along that line.  If you are going somewhere else you have to use another mode of transportation.  Think about having to drive to the light rail, getting on the train, getting off at some point in between, then having to find transportation to your final destination.  Without a good bus system, the whole process is a huge "cans of worms."  Before we spend any money on a light rail system, we'll develop a good bus system first.

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I'll initiate a program I call "The 2V Corp."  Virginia is blessed with thousands of bright, articulate, people, many of whom are retired, or perhaps they're students, or somehow in a position where they can donate a small amount of time.  I'm going to start an all volunteer program to make our state more beautiful, a little more humane, and perhaps a bit more civil.  Let's see if we can move Richmond from the top of the nations "Clap" List, to the top of the "most caring" list.  I know retired masons, carpenters, engineers, flower planters and a gynecologist who would love to do something to help, if we would only ask.  I'm sure you know someone also.

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I'll move to get legislation passed that required small contractors to be paid for work completed within 5 days after job completion.  The existing law in Virginia prevents contractors from taking money prior to the job beginning (except for materials delivered onsite).  What possible reason could there be for not having a corresponding law, which says that the company who hires you has to pay you within 5 working days?  You can't believe how many small companies go under because they have to wait 30, 45 or 60 days to get paid.  If companies want to hire you, why is it unreasonable that they have to pay you when the work is completed?  The excuse is that their accounting practices require an extended period of time - So change it!

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I will begin a weekly TV question and answer program that would make the Governor more accessible and accountable to the public.  What did you do this week Governor, and what did the state government do besides "blow smoke?"  This could be easily done on cable access channels considering some of the really dull nonsenseable programming that is currently airing.

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