I shouldn't have to stand up and say anything on this page. The United States is the richest country on earth, and yet I see homeless and hungry people in my Louisville neighborhood almost every day.

I'd like to think that the people we have elected to represent us would do just that: represent us. Unfortunately, our district's current state senator has collected money from giant corporations whose interests are not those of most Kentuckians. Furthermore, she has squandered time on the senate floor by sponsoring resolutions to honor football teams, golfers, and cheerleaders.

I have nothing against recognizing the achievements of Kentucky's citizens, but come on, do we really have the extra time for that at the moment? I'd argue that it's a slap in the face to Kentucky's unemployed, under-insured, under-fed, and under-educated people for our legislature to waste its time and money with such frivolous matters.

While countless Kentuckians struggle with expensive medical bills or no health care coverage at all, our district's senator has accepted campaign contributions from Humana and Anthem insurance companies, and Eli Lilly Pharmaceuticals. While energy prices are at record highs and we continue to burn fossil fuels, she has taken money from LG&E and Columbia Gas. And while the banking industry has seen unprecedented increases in profits from outrageous, unregulated fees, our senator has been in the pocket of Citigroup, Fifth Third Bank, the Kentucky Bankers Committee, and BB&T.

How can the interests of ordinary Kentuckians possibly be represented fairly when our elected officials ride into office with money from corporations who have so much to benefit from the suppression of the people's voice?

That is why I am doing this. I may not be the most qualified person who ever ran for office, but what use is hiring the most qualified applicant if they have no intention of doing the job? People have been voting for "qualified" politicians since I was a kid, and yet the same problems persist. What do you have to do to be considered "qualified" anyway – raise a lot of money from corporate interests and ignore the needs of the people who voted for you?

This is why I take pride in being more passionate than qualified. More angry than qualified. More willing to do whatever it takes to put Kentuckians and Kentucky's government back on the same side. Government and the people should be on the same side, helping each other, but too often we're fighting against each other.

A lot of people have asked me during this campaign to explain what our state senators do. If our legislature actually did what they're elected to do, I don't think people would have to ask.

If you elect me, I promise to make the biggest stink in Frankfort on behalf of every one of us who has ever felt that our government could be so much more than what it has become. I promise to scream at the top of my lungs until the silence and monotony in Frankfort have been shattered. Our state government must realize it has an obligation to help those who cannot help themselves. Kentucky must take better care of its people. Even if these objectives require small sacrifices of some, the benefit for the greater good of our society will be incalculable.

I promise to introduce as much of the legislation on this page as is humanly possible, and to fight for it on the senate floor, or to be dragged out kicking and screaming. As your state senator, I promise to be the most vocal and memorable advocate of statewide universal health care, election reform, workers' rights, living wage, equally fair taxation, ethics legislation, and the elimination of paid lobbying.

Having healthier and more educated Kentuckians benefits everyone. Having more people engaged in these processes and feeling like they're being treated fairly is even better.

Please join this Ballot Revolution. I need the help and contributions of ordinary individuals like yourself in order to make this happen.

I will not disappoint you if you send me to Frankfort as your state senator on November 4, 2008.

Thank you for your support,

Scott Ritcher

Health Care

We should treat health care with the same level of shared obligation as the fire department, libraries, and police, by creating a statewide health care system that covers every Kentuckian free of charge and is included in our taxes.

The program should provide a basic level of coverage as a safety net for all residents to ensure that medical conditions can no longer result in financial problems.

Institute a minimum period of Kentucky residency before services are available to individuals, to ensure that people moving to the state for the health care program have paid into the system for several years.

Allow each patient to pick their own doctor and the freedom to see any doctor as conditions arise.

More than a quarter of health care costs now go into marketing, executive salaries, paperwork, profit, and other non-medical costs. These costs can be greatly reduced if Kentucky negotiates bulk prices for pharmaceuticals and medical services with providers on a wholesale, statewide scale as a single customer.

Nationally promote Kentucky's health care system as a competitive edge for businesses and a standard of living for residents that no other state could match.

Ensure that existing services and commercial insurance billing remain available at competitive rates for non-residents visiting Kentucky. Commercially available insurance should still be available to those who wish to augment their state coverage. Employers may choose to continue offering private insurance as an incentive for employees.

In the event that the federal government creates a national health care system, we could expand Kentucky's program to offer more services, or transition it to a new benefit such as drastically discounted college education for Kentuckians or free public transportation.

Lobbying

Paid lobbying must be completely eliminated. Currently, lobbyists in Frankfort outnumber members of our legislature by 5 to 1. In Washington, it's 54 to 1. This system that tolerates the influence of big money in our public affairs must be made a thing of the past.

All citizens should still be free to individually solicit their representatives and officials, however, no one should ever be paid for performing this service, nor compensated in any way, directly or indirectly, including gifts, trips, or implications of future compensation, employment, or benefits.

Significant penalties should be instituted for anyone who breaks or bends these laws. Elected officials must be directly accountable to the voters with no middlemen, no outside forces, and no corporate influences.

Elections

Completely revise the way elections are conducted. Develop, pilot-test, and deploy a new voting system that meets the following criteria:

Allow voters to vote from wherever they are on Election Day, no longer requiring them to travel to their home district; either make it possible for voters to go to the nearest polling place, or vote by telephone or computer.

The new system must be easy to use, more accurate than the current system, and provide proof to the voter that their vote was cast and counted accurately.

No longer require pre-registration for write-in candidates and ensure that the system efficiently tabulates write-in votes.

Election Day should be expanded to a period of several days – one of which should be a Saturday, Sunday or holiday – to allow for maximum convenience.

The media must be prohibited from reporting exit polls at any time when voting is still being conducted.

Create voter-initiated ballot referendums. Voters must be able to propose legislation and get it on the ballot for a public vote by collecting a reasonable number of signatures, without requiring the participation of the legislature.

Begin keeping records for the party affiliation of voters who aren't Democrats or Republicans. Kentucky currently tabulates these voters' parties as "other" which prevents any minor party from accurately estimating its voter base in the state.

Split Kentucky's presidential electoral votes proportionally to the state's popular vote. Encourage the Federal government to replace the Electoral College with a direct popular vote for president.

Campaigns

Create clean, publicly funded campaigns - like those in Arizona and Maine - which eliminate the influence of big-money interests and allow less affluent people to seek office. Require publicly-funded candidates to collect signatures in their district in order to qualify for funds and ballot access.

Provide an opt-out system for candidates who wish to continue using traditional fundraising methods, but match those funds publicly for opposing candidates.

Require all candidates seeking office to raise funds only from donors within the district or area they are campaigning to represent. Currently, it is legal for huge corporate PACs and other entities from anywhere in the country to use their money to influence local elections in Kentucky.

Remove the barriers that make it difficult for independent and third-party candidates to get on the ballot. Ballot access requirements should be identical (and simple) for all candidates and organizations, regardless of their political affiliation. The ability to run for public office is a basic American right.

Taxes

Replace the income tax system with a simple sales tax that eliminates the need for individuals to file tax returns. An expanded sales tax instead of income tax insures that everyone is taxed at the same rate.

For most Kentuckians, the sales tax rate would be much lower than what they are currently paying in income taxes, and it would mean that no money would be deducted by the state from payroll checks.

Everyone eventually spends everything they earn, so all income is taxed more accurately than through income taxes and there is no way to fudge the numbers.

Because food, energy, and other necessities are sold at a fixed cost to everyone regardless of income, the new tax system must be created in a way that exempts Kentuckians who earn less than a designated minimum level from paying any state taxes. Alternatively, like the system in Rhode Island, necessities could be exempted from being taxed; items such as unprepared food, clothing, and home energy.

All posted retail prices should include all applicable taxes to eliminate the need for on-the-fly calculations while shopping.

Professionals in the tax preparation business would receive free training so they could make the transition to providing services for retail establishments and tax rebate services for individuals.

Optional tax rebate applications could be filed in place of deductions, but only if the taxpayer wants to take the time to submit them.

Require that any tax increases be approved by the people or a 3/4 majority of the legislature.

Education

Make teaching a lucrative and comfortable career choice in Kentucky in order to attract serious teachers from across the country.

Kentucky currently ranks 34th nationally in teachers' pay, 16th in student-teacher ratio, and 30th in what we spend per student. I'd like to see us in the top ten in all of those.

Spread the school year across the entire 12-month calendar, keeping the same number of school days but eliminating the three-month downtime in the summer.

Start children in school a year earlier to advance their exposure to different, dynamic, stimulating environments. Children living in energizing environments during their earliest years have a future learning advantage over children who have lived in non-stimulating environments, even if they are offered the same education for the rest of their lives. A child's capacity for learning ultimately determines what he or she will be capable of as an adult.

Quality public education influences everything from productivity levels to crime rates. I believe education is the single most important factor in determining the quality of our society as a whole. It is imperative that we do everything we can to provide Kentucky's teachers and students with the tools the need to excel, regardless of the cost. Investing more money and resources in schools today will save us vastly greater amounts of money and resources in the future.

Energy

Kick-start the transition to renewable energy. I'd like to see some of our hardworking coal miners be able to make the transition out of the mines and into fresh air, working on safer, cleaner, renewable energy systems like solar and wind. There's only so much coal in the ground in Kentucky, and there's only so long people will continue to tolerate the pollution that comes from burning it.

The younger generations will be increasingly more environmentally conscious. We need to think into the future, so there's no downtime or loss of jobs in Kentucky as America make their transitions to cleaner, renewable fuels. Kentucky needs to be ahead of the curve on producing new forms of energy so we can continue to produce lots of energy and the related jobs that accompany it.

Double, triple, or quadruple the coal severance tax. Currently, the corporations who destroy Kentucky's hillsides and communities to remove coal from beneath ground pay the state only 4.5% of the value of the coal. That's practically nothing in exchange for what they're taking from Kentucky.

This money is supposed to go back into the communities it comes from, but little of it finds its way there. With this money, coal mining communities should be the most beautiful places in Kentucky. They should have the best schools, the safest streets, and anything else they could possibly need.

Kentucky is one of the top three places in the country to get coal, so it's not as if coal companies will abandon our state if we have a higher tax rate on coal production. This is where the coal is and in order to get it out of the ground you have to pay our rate.

We are giving these companies the right to come into our state and take our non-renewable resources out of the ground and leave. When the coal is gone so, too, will these employers be. If we have retained only 4.5% of the massive revenue this resource has generated and not invested it completely in our communities, infrastructure, and social programs, we have allowed ourselves to be played for fools.

Workers' rights

Mandate a living wage. The minimum wage must be calculated by a formula which insures that a person working 40-hours-a-week at that rate can afford sufficiently reasonable housing, utilities, transportation, food, and entertainment. The minimum wage should update automatically and annually based on changes in the cost of living.

Hold companies accountable for their actions or inaction with relation to the safety of their workers. This should apply to every company, but I'm thinking of coal mining companies in particular. So much electricity is generated from the backbreaking sweat of our Kentucky miners. It sickens me that these companies are able to go on earning gigantic profits after a miner gets hurt or killed on the job. The penalties after such accidents should be substantial enough to make coal producers take these events seriously enough to prevent them. The company's bottom line should feel the same pain as the miners' families. Over 100 miners died in Kentucky between 1996 and 2005 - no industry should be permitted to get away with this.

Transportation

Make automobile insurance no-fault. Your insurance covers you and your car. This reduces accident disputes, litigation, police involvement, and the timeframe in which claims are settled.

Incorporate all highway and automobile infrastructure costs into the price of gasoline.

Institute mandatory, aggressive fuel efficiency minimums for new vehicles sold in Kentucky at rates higher than the federal levels.

Substantial new investments in public transportation, including the exploration of a forward-looking plan for a publicly-funded connection of the state's non-metropolitan population centers.

Regulate the noise level and pollution emissions of motor vehicles. Provide assistance to low-income drivers who cannot afford to keep their vehicles up to standards.

Ethics and values

Mandate the highest ethical behavior for all levels of government in Kentucky. Create time-out penalties that prohibit offenders from participating in government for designated periods.

Poverty and homelessness must no longer be acceptable or tolerated in Kentucky. We are judged by how we treat the most vulnerable among us. Serious steps must be taken to ensure that no Kentuckian ever again dies from a lack of shelter, food, work, or medical care.

Discontinue the celebration of Columbus Day. Replace it with a Native American & Pioneer Heritage holiday that recognizes America's native cultures and pioneers ranging from Red Cloud and Sacagawea to Daniel Boone and Neil Armstrong.

Hold a public vote on the proposition to legalize, regulate, and significantly tax the sale of marijuana products. Release people convicted of marijuana and non-violent drug crimes from prisons. Use marijuana tax revenues to help reintegrate prior offenders into society and educate the public about safety regarding the products.

Separation of Church and State

Amend Kentucky's constitution and write separation of church and state into the law. Religious groups cannot be involved in government and government cannot be involved in religion.

Churches and religious organizations that participate in public policy debate, advocate political views, make use of the airwaves, or host political functions must be taxed at the same rate as everyone else.

Corporate Welfare

End corporate welfare immediately. No more use of taxpayer dollars as incentives, rebates, or bail-outs for corporations.

State budget

The Commonwealth must operate within its means and never borrow money. Small surpluses must be created each year and placed into savings in order to ensure we have the resources to handle any unforeseen shortfalls, disasters, or events. These funds should be used only in the event of an emergency.

Banking

Prohibit banks from implementing stealth fees. Programs like "courtesy overdraft protection" allow overdrafts and add large fees without notifying the customer that a transaction would exceed their account balance. The customer may not know until days later that their account has been overdrawn and by then the fees have compounded.

Systems like these that quietly add large fees to a customer's account without their knowledge must be eliminated or be implemented only at the customer's request. Transactions in excess of a customer's balance must be declined by default.

"The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in a time of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality."

This is the official campaign web site for Kentucky State Senate candidate Scott Ritcher.
Accessible from BallotRevolution.org, ScottRitcher.com, ScottRitcher.org. Paid for by Ritcher 2008.