Talking Points -
Mark's Stand on the Big Issues

K-12 Education
- Quality schools are the key to expanding our economy by bringing new businesses and good jobs to Kansas.
- There must be assurance that our K-12 dollars are spent wisely. Teacher salaries and classroom assistance are the key places.
- We cannot have our K-12 education dollars disappearing into layers of administrative
bureaucracy.
- State funding for K-12 education has not increased for four years in a row. Some say
schools have been "held harmless", but there is no "held harmless" in the life of a child.
- Without new funding to meet modern challenges, our schools will fail to produce the
high quality, highly trained workforce Kansans deserve.

Healthcare and prescription drugs
- I will work with Governor Sebelius and the business community to make health coverage and prescription drugs affordable for working families and elderly Kansans.
- Prescription drugs are too expensive. The state must stop waiting on the federal government and take action on its own. It is wrong to make Kansans decide between life saving medicines and basic essentials including food, clothing, and housing.
- The state should coordinate its healthcare purchasing power to force reforms in the health care system that will help control skyrocketing costs.
- The state should make common sense reforms to eliminate the red tape in our healthcare system. Almost 25 percent of healthcare spending is gobbled up by administrative costs.

Economic Development
- I will work hard to develop new businesses and new jobs in Reno County. I will work to develop programs that will encourage existing businesses to move to Kansas and Reno County.
- Forbes Magazine recently named Kansas the #1 state to do business in, thanks to the results of a national survey. Let's start talking positivly about what our state offers. Let's end the current negative attitude about the business climate in our state.
- Presently there are many initiatives available in Reno County that encourage the development of new and existing businesses in our community. I will work with local leaders of Vision 20/20, Spirit of Success, K-96 Highway Corridor, Quest Center, and the new HCC Entrepreneur program to improve our economy and grow our tax base.
- I will support the agricultural economy and work to build the economies in our small Reno County communities.

Taxes
- I will fight for a fair and balanced tax policy that ensures that Kansas businesses and families can compete and prosper.
- Small businesses must have a reasonable tax structure to ensure their growth in the early years. Future Kansas jobs depend on successful business growth.
- The school finance formula needs to be changed so that funding is generated at the state level, not the local level. The present school finance formula has shifted the tax burden to the local property owner through higher property taxes.
- I support the Governor's Fair Share initiative that has tracked down those who haven't been paying their share of state taxes.

Ineffective Legislature
- The partisan bickering in Topeka will never improve our schools, create jobs, make health care more affordable or eliminate waste in government.
- Many politicians in Topeka are more interested in their careers than they are in dealing with the real problems faced by Kansans.
- The Legislature is controlled by a large, Republican majority that has failed to act on the issues most important to Kansans.
- While every other state agency has been cutting waste and doing more with less, the Legislature has been increasing its budget, including its travel budget.

Cutting Waste in Government
- I will reduce the size and cost of state government.
- A leaner, more efficient government will provide more and better services to Kansans for less cost
- The current Legislative leaders said there was no waste to be cut from government. It's this type of entrenched attitude I will work to eliminate in Topeka.
- Every dollar the state spends needs to be carefully accounted for, not wasted on a special pet project.