Core Values:
We are running deficits and accumulating massive debt in two ways:
Fiscal/economic debt, that is, money; and
Ecological debt, that is, our land
In both cases it is clear that we are:
Spending far more than we’re taking in;
Using up our savings, that is, eating away at the capital needed for future prosperity; and
Steering most of the benefits of this deficit spending – wealth – to trickle up while the costs – foreclosures, lost jobs, degraded land – largely trickle down.
Specifically, my core values include:
Fairness, in personal relationships and in public policy
Hard work, entrepreneurship and self-reliance that helps families and communities meet their own needs
Sustainability, of farms and food, of businesses and of communities
Education that prepares students for productive work and for citizenship
Balancing individual needs with responsibility to the community — what the Founding Fathers called “the general welfare”
Honesty and a commitment to the truth, grounded in facts
Experience
Moved to district 27 years ago to work in community development
Raises fruits and vegetables on an old tobacco farm
Director of SCALE, Inc, a consulting firm building strong local economies and farm and food systems throughout Appalachia and the nation.
Worked with the UMWA mobilizing volunteers during the Pittston strike of 1989 – 90.
Started or helped start a number of farming, business and community programs over the past 20 years, including:
A homeownership program for low-income people that has now built nearly 200 homes in the district
Appalachian Sustainable Development, which started food, farming, forest and wood products enterprises around the region
Appalachian Harvest, which has helped more than 60 farmers (including many former tobacco farmers) to increase profits and sell to supermarkets
The Abingdon Farmers Market, one of the strongest in the state, and several other farmers markets around the district
A local merchants association, after successfully stopping the development of a WalMart Supercenter in Abingdon
Healthy Families, Family Farms, which provides local organic produce to families in need, while helping local farmers
A local green building coalition which helped promote businesses in energy efficient building, solar and wind energy, and geothermal energy.
