Evan Queitsch for Delaware State Legislature

On the Issues

Budget
Delaware must have a balanced budget. We cannot expect citizens to tighten their belts if we are not willing to do so ourselves. Our budget has doubled in the last 12 years to over $8 Billion (that’s $31,500 per family). Our government makes up 15% of our state’s workforce today and grows every day. We must transition some of our public workforce to the private sector and reduce our spending. We must also reduce the rampant fraud and waste within our government departments. Just by selling our two marinas, two golf courses and reducing the number of cell phones provided to state workers (currently 7,259) by 50% we could save $35 million.

Economy

Delaware’s economy has been hit hard by the economic downturn. The massive government spending and federal government taxation has only further injured an already frail system. In order to fix Delaware’s economy we must decrease spending, lower the tax burden on our businesses and citizens and help the private sector create jobs.

Job Creation

Delaware has got to reduce taxes on business to encourage job growth. Our government needs to be working with domestic and foreign auto companies to replace the jobs lost when Chrysler and GM abandoned their plants. We should also encourage high tech companies to locate their facilities in Delaware. High tech companies provide high paying and high quality jobs to our citizens and use half the footprint of “dirty” manufacturing with much less pollution. Delaware also has an opportunity to become a leader in alternative energy sources by encouraging leaders in alternative energy to locate their businesses here in Delaware.

Education

Delaware currently spends around $14,000 per student and only ranks 43rd in graduation rate. Our children deserve better than that. Delaware has 429 administrators (principles, district staff, etc.) making over $100,000 per year. By comparison, VT which is ranked number 1 in education in the nation has approximately 341 administrators making over $100,000 and they have 155 more schools than Delaware. We must consolidate our School District services and offer early retirement to senior administrators where possible. We must freeze expansion of the administrative staff in our school districts and pool purchasing, contracting and transportation best practices. We should also consider the effects of consolidating our school districts.

Healthcare

Delaware spends $1.2 Billion dollars on Medicaid and in the last 4 years that number has risen 20%. Medicare/Medicaid must be reformed to lower costs and improve care. We need to work with providers and devise a system that incentivizes doctors to spend the necessary amount of time to diagnose and cure patients as opposed to simply paying by the patient seen. Government must focus on ways to reduce the Medicaid roles and move people to affordable private insurance. We must cap malpractice insurance claims to decrease the cost of malpractice insurance to doctors. We must digitize our medical records and design a safe and effective way to share that information quickly between doctors. We should encourage providers to come together and share best practices and common themes in order to more quickly and accurately diagnose, treat and cure patients.

My Principles

I believe in returning the foundations of our Republic. Delaware was the first state to ratify the Constitution of the United States and we ought to hold ourselves to that standard of government. George Read, John Dickinson, Jacob Broom, Gunning Bedford, Jr. and Richard Bassett understood that the key to the success of our government lies in the idea of government’s power being derived from the people.
In fact, it was our representatives that fought so hard for states’ rights. They did not want to see a large federal government, or the consensus of the larger states push the smaller states down. Over the last 110 years our state government has given the federal government more and more power over us and betrayed that trust.

John Adams said in 1798 that” Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other." I believe we must return to the basic ideal that there is a Creator and that our government is created in His vision while maintaining the religious freedom that has made America the most sought after nation on Earth.

I believe that America is a force for good in this world and a bastion of freedom. This country has done more to advance the cause of liberty in this world than any other nation and those actions ought to be lauded from the highest mountains. We are not without our mistakes as no country is but we are a country with a long tradition of standing against tyranny and supporting liberty.

I believe that our elected leaders ought to be honest and open with the people. The foundations of our nation are built on an open and honest government held accountable by the people from who the government gets its power. Our elected leadership must not make secret deals in closed rooms but rather open its doors and offices to the citizens for without the citizen’s trust, our government may receive no power. George Washington once said “I hope that I shall always possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider to be the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man.”

I believe that our government must protect family values. The job of government should be to remove all obstacles for parents to raise their kids based on their own moral and religious beliefs while ensuring the individual liberties of all citizens. Government should empower its citizens to govern themselves.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” I believe that all men and women are created equal regardless of race, color, creed, national origin or sexual orientation. Government has no other place in the personal lives of Americans. We have a fair and equitable judicial system designed to protect the basic fundamental right of equality. With this being said, there is no guarantee of equal results. Hard work and determination produce results and government should not attempt to “equal the playing field”.

I do not believe that the government should force its citizens to be charitable. Charity is an individual choice. Americans have always shown a unique ability to help those less fortunate and do not need to be forced to do so even in times of great economic pain. Government should lessen the burden on all citizens so that the less fortunate will need less and the rich will have more to give.

I believe that government must be held accountable for its actions. Our Republican system of government for and by the people requires that we have checks and balances. Our Judicial system ought to be independent of both the Executive and Legislative branches and our citizens must be vigilant. It is every citizen’s responsibility to ensure that government works for them and when it doesn’t to inform them. Likewise government must be receptive to the people. Elected officials can no longer say one thing during the campaign and do another when elected. It is the job of government to represent the people and not to misrepresent their stances in order to get elected.

About Me (http://www.facebook.com/EvanQueitsch)

I was born in 1980 in Wilmington, Delaware. I went to Mount Pleasant High School and shortly after graduation I joined the Marine Corps. I'm not perfect, in fact I've been through an a lot in a short time. I've never been to prison but I've been close enough to have reevaluated my life.

I know how it feels to come from suburbia and I also know how it feels to be in the "rut" created by the inner city. I've seen both sides of "the system" and I've attoned for my sins. I haven't always made the best choices but through God and the wisdom of my family and friends I have grown as a person. I now live in Newark with my wife Tammy and our 3 children Jordan, Steven and Emillee.

I am a former U.S. Marine who served in the Middle East during the beginning of the war in Iraq. I believe in a small but strong national government who focuses on national defense, energy initiatives and oversees state governments while respecting the states rights.

I'm a conservative who feels very strongly that our country has been hijacked by "the loud ones" who are also known as the liberal Democrats. I really wish that America would just wake up...stop arguing about the parties. Let's be honest, especially here in Delaware they are so much the same and so different from most of America that they're not even legitimate any more.

I believe that the Republicans will be the party that catches on to that fact first but I don't see it now especially here in DE. There is very little outreach to new candidates with good ideas. They're going to have to find those new conservatives or they will just be more of the same big government garbage.