Incumbent?: No
Party: Democratic
Office you are running for: State Senate District 32
Important campaign issues:
1. Supporting and strengthening Indiana's economy by investing in education and developing a skilled workforce. This goal includes restricting the State government from contracting for services with companies who are not residents of the State of Indiana and rewarding Indiana Businesses that do business with other Indiana companies. In order to develop a skilled workforce Indiana colleges and universities need to be linked to Indiana business for technical and research partnerships. We also need to provide lifelong learning opportunities for all Hoosiers to be sure that they have the skills to compete in a global economy. This strong economy goal means ending corporate welfare for businesses that do not pay workers a living wage or do not meet their commitments to the state or to their community. We need to reward businesses that provide health insurance to their employees and to implement green and alternative energy development into their manufacturing processes.
2. Healthcare for Hoosiers. The healthcare issue is linked to the economy issue. First, conventional medical care is not healthcare. It is disease management. Healthcare is the absence of disease; therefore, in order to reduce the cost of medical care we need to promote healthcare or stated another way we need to promote disease preventative care. We are doing some of this with anti-smoking campaigns; but, we need to do significantly more such as anti-alcohol campaign, good nutrition programs and we need to incorporate diversity within the medical care system. In Indiana, we have a long tradition, almost a hundred years, of recognizing different branches and in particular recognizing branches of medicine, which are preventative in nature such as osteopathy and chiropractic. We need to find a way to integrate alternative practitioners into the medical care system so that true prevention actually becomes a reality. The allopathic system is very expensive and is fueled in part by exorbitant pretax profits generated by the pharmaceutical companies. Therefore, creating a universal access program with true diversity will reduce medical costs freeing funds, which can be used for education thus improving the skills of our workforce and our economy.
3. Finally, the financial health of Hoosiers needs to be strengthened by tax reform and the reduction in the costs of government. Significant funds can be freed for constructive activities by implementing alternatives (to incarceration) for non-violent offenders thus putting them back into the workforce and creating more taxpayers. This reduction in cost will in turn strengthen the economy, the educational system and help us create true preventative healthcare.
See Curriculum Vitae for professional background.
Family info: Married - Cheryl Kern
4 children - Deborah, Douglas, Lincoln, and Bennett
6 grandchildren - Joshua, Ashley, Braden, Kelsey, Josephine, and James
Phone: 317/353-6038 or 317/966-7466 (cell)
Email: kenkern@webtv.net
