1. Campaign reform. My campaign will NOT accept donations from PAC’s (Political Action Committees) or other special interest groups; nor will I accept contributions from businesses, health insurance companies or oil and energy companies or ANY company for that matter. I will only accept contributions or in-kind services from individuals. I will be a man speaking for the people, a representative of the people, not a tool that large corporations can use to protect their profits. My goal is to discontinue contributions from PAC’s and corporations via legislation; place a limit on contributions to a maximum of $2,000.00 from any one individual. In that light I will be able to listen to ideas, debate and vote with a clean conscience and clean hands; there will be no paid agenda. Furthermore, all monies collected and not directly used for expenses during the immediate campaign will be donated to charities chosen by a politically balanced, independent board of citizens. I will propose legislation that will forbid elected officials from “building a war chest” of donated dollars for future campaigns or to take with them when they leave office.
2. Ethics reform. History has shown that we cannot trust elected officials to regulate or police themselves. There have been violations of campaign law, compromised or conflicted interests and just plain bad behavior. Why are these violators not prosecuted aggressively? Because they prefer to police themselves with internal panels of their political peers. My stand is that we need legislation that would put that disciplinary authority back in the hands of  an independent and politically neutral board of citizens.
3. Make a requirement that "able bodied" people who receive welfare, food stamps, and other government benefits, actually perform some useful work for federal, state or preferably county government while receiving these benefits.  This would help with public budgets across the board by reducing payroll while giving taxpayers something in return for their generosity.  If you are taking government assistance you simply must give something of value back to society.  This is a basic element of capitalism or a free market - earning payment or reward for goods and services rendered - and we have strayed too far from that standard.  While I believe in helping those who are truly in need, I stand against entitlement handouts to those who put little or no effort back into the common good when they are perfectly able to do so.  There are those amoung us who legitmately cannot meet the "able bodied" standard for one of any number of physical or mental reasons and would need to be excluded from this requirement.
4. Health Care. I see no reason why elected officials or public employees should have medical care plans that are not available to every citizen of the USA, regardless of whether it is public or private.  Elected officials and public servants are not a privileged class and they should not enjoy benefits that are above what the citizen taxpayer can take advantage of.  The current debate over single payer and public option has spun hysterically out of control; we can’t even sit together and have a calm rational discussion about the options. I know this much - as a former small business owner in Utah who provided partially paid health care as part of our benefit package, something HAS TO CHANGE because the nation's current health care system is both unsustainable and excludes too many.  Without some change, health care premiums will soon rival salaries.  We currently spend 17% of our GDP on health care (more than ANY other nation) and don’t even rank in the top 10 of surveys collected regarding user satisfaction.  I hear this from doctors, nurses, users and citizens.  We simply must have something different.  Important note: currently there are six (6) paid health care lobbyists for every member of Congress.  Can we connect the dots? Defending the profits of health care companies under the banner of free market capitalism is not a noble cause.  The incumbent, Jim Matheson, has publicly said that healthcare reform is "too complicated."  Can anyone doubt that hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations from the healthcare industry might have clouded the issue for him?  How much longer are you willing to accept "too complicated" as an answer/excuse for delay and failue to execute his responsiblity to serve the people?   Some form of Public Option simply must be part of the discussion of the means to the solution.
5. Medical litigation reform to reduce healthcare costs. High malpractice premiums resulting from outrageous malpractice claim awards lead to increased healthcare costs that are ultimately passed down to healthcare consumers. Physicians' malpractice premiums began skyrocketing beginning in the 1970s and now are about $15,000/year for non-surgical physicians with OBGYNs and other surgeons often pay FOUR TIMES or more as much. Many improvements have been made recently by encouraging other forms of settling for damages by arbitration and mediation. The largest percentage drop in malpractice premiums has occurred recently in Texas which reformed it's tort law as well. The overhead of the malpractice system as it presently exists in most states is large - with only 28-46% of the money in the malpractice system returned to patients who are injured through negligence. This is poor even compared to the woefully inefficient insurance industry that has administrative costs that run in excess of 20% of premiums for medical expenses.
6. Immigration. Redirect taxpayer dollars from inefficient uses (i.e., there are hundreds of very low priority/low security value military bases scattered around the world) and do what is needed to lock down the border between the USA and Mexico. Here is the touchy one - fine employers for hiring illegal immigrants. (To be fair, employers also must have EVERY federal documentation resource at their quick disposal). Leave immigration control to the Federal government. Frankly, I do not see how we can possibly continue to extend social benefits to illegal immigrants. We live in a different time now from when the 14th Amendment was created (at that time the USA was actively looking to rapidly expand it’s population) which gave automatic citizenship to any child born in this country regardless of the status of the child’s parents.  Click here for a look at our past.
7. Some type of “flat tax” where everybody contributes to the common good. Perhaps some progressive scaling of this concept would be required, however the goal is to be able to look at your year end earning and be able to quickly look up on a reference table exactly what you tax is. I believe that all should pay some amount of Federal Income Tax. 
8. Feature the use of natural gas as a “bridge fuel” to immediately (2 to 3 years) reduce our thirst for imported oil until we can ramp up our use of renewable energy.  I see this as an important national security issue as well as an environmental one. Our country can no longer afford to weaken itself by sending our treasure overseas to fill the coffers of countries that do not support the values of the USA. We have plenty of natural gas (over 50 years worth) that we can immediately begin using while we actively develop and expand the use of even cleaner renewable energy sources. It is important to our country to begin doing this NOW from both economic and national security standpoints.  In addtion we need to sharpen our focus on renewable energy sources and quicken our pace of adoption and implentation of solar, wind, geo-thermal and wave power. Click here for an essay about how we can achieve energy independence using renewable sources.
9. Why Independent candidacy? My belief is that both major parties have sold their soul in order to gain and retain power. This is why current polls indicate that nearly 50% of voters no longer claim loyalty to either major party.  The primary job of an elected official should be to represent the needs of those within their district. Today, we see all too often that job one for most elected officials is to grovel for more cash to get re-elected and not necessarily to make the tough choices required to provide for the needs of the citizens.  The most serious fallout is when this flood of campaign contributions starts influencing legislation.  Voters are not being served when their representatives are working round the clock to pander for campaign cash.  This is why I'm running as an independent and why I will run a campaign on a tight budget and without the corporate money that dominates Washington politics.
10. Propose and support legislation to impose term limits for length of service for the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Other issues of significant importance.

1. Advocate and endorse conservative spending policies with an eye toward reduction of our foreign indebtedness and restoring a balanced budget.  Americans have tightened their belts through this Great Recession and we need our government to do the same.
2. Bring the two Wars of Terror to an orderly and rapid end. Click here to read more.
3. Ensure that the United States can deal from a position of both strength and respect with all nations. Ensure we are prepared to take all steps required to protect and maintain our national security according to accepted International law.
4. Kill the existing laws that allow for the party in majority to gerrymander election precincts. Work for a law that requires political district boundaries be established by an equally balanced and politically neutral board.
5. Responsible resource management. The USA needs to start leading in the discussion about sustainable living practices. Here in Utah we have finite resources of water and arable ground.  Accordingly, we must plan in advance to manage what we are have and ensure it will remain viable for future generations. We need to be realistic about sustainable growth and prudent when making decisions that can possibly have unknown lasting effects.
6. Personal freedom and liberty. A citizen has the right to enjoy equal rights and liberties and those rights are guarnteed by the US Constitution for any and all citizens regardless of their place in the social spectrum of this great country. 
7. Open the debate as to the success of the “War on Drugs” This topic has received few headlines as of late but is a growing problem and the accompanying violence and illegal immigration aspects are spinning up. We need to talk about working towards solutions to the core problems and start working towards any program that will help quell the violence and crime that surrounds illegal drugs. 
8. Propose varied type of voluntary or incented public service, whether military or public service, perhaps 1 or 2 years. Provide incentives such as paid education.