Question 1:
Age: 36
Occupation: Ward 1 Member, DC State Board of Education; Owner, The Dolan Group, LLC
Education: BS, Environmental Science and Political Science, Marist College; MBA, Babson College
Qualifications for office sought: Ward 1 Member, DC State Board of Education; Tutor, Project Northstar; Treasurer, One World Education; Board Member, College & Career Connections; Board Member, Columbia Heights Day Initiative; President, Marist College Alumni Executive Board; Alumni Board Member, Marist College Board of Trustees; Past BUILD mentor at Maya Angelou Public Charter School; Past mentor, Hoop Dreams Scholarship Fund; Past Board Member, Hope for Kids.
Question 2: How to increase tax revenues? As our next At-Large DC Councilmember, I am committed to not raise taxes on DC residents. It is abundantly clear the District government is not efficiently and effectively spending taxpayer money. Recent local news of leased Navigators, inflated political salaries and poor hiring only highlights the tip of the iceberg as to the severe lack of accountability when it comes to spending money. Unless we address our spending patterns, the District's deficit will continue to be a problem. Councilmembers like Jack Evans and David Catania have outlined unique proposals that would reduce spending on services that are non essential. According to Councilmember Evans, 13% of the people earning $250,000 (in DC) are paying almost 70% of our (income) taxes. That is an astonishing figure and I believe we cannot ask District taxpayers and businesses to shoulder any more additional taxes until we do a better job at encouraging economic growth on a more level playing field. The budget deficit we are faced with is due to a spending pattern that in many cases has increased year after year while our commercial tax revenues have decreased. In many other jurisdictions, this pattern has devastated resources. The District is a bit more sheltered due to our unique relationship with the Federal Government but until we address Council and Mayoral spending habits, we will continue to face deficits year after year.
Questions 3: How to reduce spending? The District's budget deficit did not get to this point overnight, nor will it be cured tomorrow. In fact, if you study the rate of population growth compared to how quickly our DC budget has increased, you will find that our population growth has not been able to match our highly inflated spending increases.
Similar to how Councilmember Jack Evans approaches the Budget, I will encourage my Council colleagues to press their Council Committees to adopt a set of standards to reduce spending. Adopting an across the board reduction in spending for DC government agencies is an idea that I support. Although next year's budget has not been made public yet, the speculation is that Mayor Gray has asked his department heads to propose budgets that will include a 10% reduction in spending. This is welcome news for DC residents.
Pinpointing areas in which we can reduce the deficit by a reduction in spending can and should happen. Some Councilmembers suggested we adopt pay reductions for DC government employees who do not reside in the District (over 50% of DC government employees). We should enforce the current laws that prevent outrageous salaries from being awarded to DC government employees. Currently (March 2011), the Mayor's Chief of Staff earns more than the White House Chief of Staff. Agency department heads use taxpayer funded vehicles and in some cases they have drivers. There is almost no reporting for credit and debit cards at departments or agencies with a limit of 20,000 or less. These are only small examples of ways in which we can drastically reduce our budget deficit without impacting important and critical social services.
Questions 4: Will Council salary be your only employment income? Unequivocally, yes.
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