Speech WFP "THE AMERICAN DREAM"

WORKING FAMILIES PARTY

FIGHTING FOR A MORE JUST WORLD

CANDIDATES NIGHT

CITY HALL 5/24/2011

Good Evening:

My name is Jean Jacobs and I am a Republican Candidate running for Mayor in the City of Kingston. I would like take this opportunity to thank the Working Families Party for hosting and facilitating the WFP Candidates Night Public Forum at City Hall this evening. I am honored to have been provided this opportunity as a candidate to share my platform which includes economic fairness, positive reform and justice for all. I am a life long resident born and raised in the City of Kingston. I have worked in Corporate America for over 35, years while raising my four children and affording them the educational opportunity they deserve

I am Living Proof of the Working American Family or should I say the American Dream. I am the daughter of a blue collar worker here in the Hudson Valley. My proud Dad brown bagged his lunch and started his day at 4:00 PM working for Hercules Powder Company for 40 years from 1945-1985. I was raised in the 50’s when my Dad went out to work and my mother was a stay at home Mom. Taking an at a glance at many All American Families today, I see two members of the household working just to keep food on the table, increasing child care costs, and the average wages far below the standard of living.

Well let us fast forward here to the twenty first century year 2011 when the national debt is at an all time high of $14.32 Trillion, total population in the United States is 311 million and the official Americans unemployed as of March 2011 is 14 million and currently at 9.4%.

New York State can no longer afford or sustain the increased cost of government. The middle class will no longer exist until we begin to create fiscal alternative programs that will incorporate a master plan for the future. At some time in life all families will face some of the following issues: Paid Sick Days, Green Jobs, Clean Elections, and Good Education for all children, Equal Rights, Good Jobs and Living Wages, Public Transportation, and Honoring our Veterans and the Military Families, Financial ruin in our economy, Health Care, and Paid Family Leave. This is a roll up your sleeves grass root effort, to create quality and equity at an affordable cost to the working class population and their families.

As an elected official I will utilize my professional business and fiscal management background and I will recognize the importance of creating a Comprehensive Business Plan for the future of our fine city. I will ensure that the City of Kingston’s expenditures do not exceed the budget. This requires a Mayor that is a fiscal LEADER and a manager who has the professional business background and who will create collaborative partnerships with the business leaders of Kingston. When elected by the people, my first order of business will be to change the current Table of Organization. I will develop and implement strategies to create jobs and sustain economic development, and above all without SAFETY FIRST you do not have a city. Quality of Life is paramount and the driving force for all growth to follow. The future of America depends on a government that will LISTEN to the people of the Working Class. They are the GLUE that holds and sustains the very people I have always represented throughout my professional and community service career.

Thank You,
Jean C. Jacobs
GOP Candidate for Mayor, City of Kingston