Why This Election Matters

I have lived in this district for 31 years, so I know how special these neighborhoods are, with our forward-thinking intown values. Having a State Legislator from these neighborhoods who is committed to our values and who is experienced in the State Legislature is important to you. It's important to all of Georgia, too.

Think of what is at stake:

Our Rights.
We support equal rights for all, regardless of race, gender, age, national origin, or sexual orientation, and we support freedom of choice and the right to privacy. Defending our rights is a Legislator's first job.

Health Insurance Reform.
Major changes are coming in the way we pay for health care. More and more businesses are dropping coverage of employees and retirees. The government in one form or another already pays for more health care than all private employers combined, even in this time of vigorously applied cutbacks. The number of uninsured people grows. Many of us with health insurance worry that coverage will be dropped, or that we will hit lifetime limits, or that employee-paid premiums will price insurance out of reach. The debate that will consume the rest of this decade is between two futures. The first (epitomized by Medicare's recent so-called reform of prescription drug benefits) shows unrestrained profiteering at taxpayer expense, ultimately leading to rationing and lower quality services. The other - our goal - invests the private and public funds devoted to health care today to finance a health insurance system that covers everyone. It's a stark choice that will have immediate outcomes for your health and your finances. I manage a small business, have faced the dilemmas of business owners wanting to provide health care for their employees, and have been in the midst of the policy debates for many years. This experience provides practical knowledge that is useful in the General Assembly.

Education and Jobs.
As a former teacher, I know that the single most important ingredient for a child's educational success by the end of high school is class size in the lower grades. The single most important ingredient for a high school graduate's lifetime of high earnings is a college degree. The single most important ingredient for attracting jobs to Georgia is the readiness of our workforce. To prepare children for twenty-first century jobs and to grow a thriving economy, we must make an investment. We must invest in education, and that means hiring enough teachers to reduce class size, paying teachers above the national average, and fully funding the HOPE Scholarship. Or job is to secure the funds necessary to raise our SAT scores and protect the right of every hard-working student to a college education. Our children's tomorrows are at stake, and so are our jobs today.

Quality of Life and the Environment.
We live in a splendid green community, never far from parks, undeveloped land, and tree-lined streets, with grand landscaping alongside cottage gardens. Greenery and nature this close to the center of a major city are rarities in twenty-first century America. Outside intown Atlanta, a mix of pristine but unprotected ecosystems and ruined but restorable land and water make up the environment. Strong action is needed. With unplanned infill and a gridlock-prone road network, our intown quality of life is at the mercy of developers. Public transportation languishes. Industry and agribusiness have mobilized to turn Georgia's rivers, watersheds, and wetlands into commodities. The State Legislature will have to decide whether we will have land use planning and transportation infrastructure that respect communities, weigh citizen input, and value quality of life as much as the bottom line. Who pays is part of the debate, too: Will those who profit pay for the impact of their development on the public? The future livability of our neighborhoods is at stake.

Civil liberties, health care, education, jobs, the environment, and urban livability: these are all things that matter to you and that have a real impact on your life. The path that each of these key issues will take for decades to come will be decided by your State Legislature in the coming years. That these issues matter is a compelling reason to elect a State Rep who has both the commitment and the experience needed to win the votes of other Legislators from every part of Georgia. I ask you for your mandate to do this work.

Pat Gardner