Komor4Governor Enhanced Platform
CHRISTIAN R. KOMOR FOR ARIZONA GOVERNOR 2018
Particularly because of the serious and imminent danger we all face from the destabilization of our climate that no other candidate is addressing, it is important you elect me as your next Arizona Governor. While we have a comprehensive platform for moving Arizona forward on all the issues important to you (see 1-32 below) my team will also bring to Arizona a workable step-by-step carbon removal plan called Ocean Assisted Carbon Capture & Reflection. (See our website for full details on OACC+R.) What can you do to help rescue our future? (A) Share this information with 3 other people, (B) Ask them to do the same with 3 more people, (C) and, of course, choose a candidate of substance, not one who just looks “the part” and write in your vote for candidate Christian R Komor on November 6th.
KOMOR4GOVERNOR CAMPAIGN PLATFORM & POSITIONS
(1) Prioritizing Our Children's Education as a fundamental cornerstone of community and society. The obvious moral decline in our society can be best addressed through our schools. There are many ways we can strengthen our educational system in Arizona:
(a) Bullying must be proactively addressed both by school staff and student-led organizations.
(b) There are a few special situations in which tax credits, vouchers, or education savings accounts should be available to enable children to attend any public, charter, private, homeschool, or online academy.
(c) We must ensure that our professional teachers and administrators are supported and fairly compensated for their important work with our children. In turn we must work to hire, train and expect the best.
(d) We must look toward a “pay-it-backwards” program where colleges and universities use their talents to strengthen the public educational system they draw life from.
(e) We must skillfully weave character building into the curriculum in our schools so that we are producing good citizens as well as good students.
(f) We must ensure our children are taught the skills they will need for a happy healthy life including: job hunting, good neighbor practices, proactive-protective driver safety, parenting skills, addiction resilience, and leadership.
(g) We must greatly expand (as appropriate by age) student governance and community building. Becoming good citizens starts with learning to participate together in tackling the social challenges faced in schools today. Stronger school communities mean less likelihood of school violence.
(h) Student loan debt must be effectively addressed.
(i) Specific to the active shooter situations in our schools. We must ensure that our students feel safe and are safe while learning in their school environments. We did not need to engage in Second Amendment debate to accomplish securing out airports, nor do we in protecting our students. In Arizona we will:
- Dramatically increase connectedness and peer support among students – what
research tells us is the true and lasting answer for school violence, bullying and
exclusionary sub-grouping.
- Provide the technology needed to make schools a gun-free or "sterile" zone.
- Deploy "School Marshalls" who are specially trained (in part using the FBI data
collected on school shooter behavior) for the unique environment of a school
campus, it's movement patterns, environment and dynamics the tactics and
equipment needed to address crisis events.
Paid for By: Progressive estate tax on inheritances over $1.5 million (est. $40 million). Closing tax loopholes on artwork (est. $5 billion).
(2) Supporting Arizona's Tribal and Latino Communities reducing government interference, supporting self-development, and increasing ease of access to legal accommodations.
(3) Continuing to Grow Vibrant Business We will engage and support the businesses of Arizona who are working to increase their profitability while sharing those profits with their employees on whom success depends especially in emerging sector jobs in science, engineering and the development of carbon capture and OACC+R technology (see #30 below).
(a) We will work to attract investment in healthcare, clean energy, technology, tourism, and entertainment sectors. We will bring emerging sector jobs to Arizona in science, engineering and especially the deployment of carbon capture and AACC+R technology (see below).
(b) We will work to create new jobs, find creative ways to keep jobs in Arizona, and provide the education and training for new generations.
(c) We will value our workers as human beings who require time to be with newborn children, equal pay for equal work, secure retirement and time to enjoy spiritual and recreational pursuits.
(d) We will target the creation and growth middle-income jobs and lifestyles knowing that society functions best when we do not have great disparities in income and resources. To this end we will work to rebalance the role of corporations making them profitable without unrealistic and unfair protections.
(e) We will maintain a balanced budget and work to create a surplus as protection against future recessions and climate change costs.
Paid for By: Creating a duty on income and investments by large business with high levels of outsourcing and, or low reinvestment within Arizona (est. $7 billion)
(4) Creating Health Care Equality The number of Americans without healthcare insurance rose by 3.2 million people between 2016 and 2017, or 1.3 percentage points to 12.2 percent. We must take proactive and creative steps to ensure that all Arizonans have access to healthcare including both synthetic and plant prescription medications.
(a) We will work to establish regulations on pharmaceutical medications coming into our state so they will be priced fairly for consumers.
(b) If the national healthcare picture continues on its current course of increasing complexity and reduced service we will explore with our legislature implementation of an Arizona Citizens Healthcare System, directly connecting patients with providers under State managed insurance and eliminating “managed care”.
(c) Address the epidemic of childhood obesity through education and intervention.
(d) Provide a pathway out of opioid addiction for Arizonans.
Paid for By: Creating a 6.2 percent income-based health care premium paid by employers and a 2.2 percent income-based premium paid by households. (est. 3.5 billion)
(5) Improving Resource Management Arizona is still growing rapidly and is already dangerously overstretched in resources and highly exposed to drought, floods, fires and other weather-related hardships. Plans continue for substantial further growth but there is no plan to support that growth. We must address these issues immediately and aggressively in terms of both preparedness and resource management. Phoenix, America’s 5th largest city, has been called the “urban bullseye for global warming in north America.” Central Arizona gets less than eight inches of rainfall each year. Most of the water supply for central and southern Arizona is pumped from Lake Mead, fed by the Colorado river over 300 miles away. This winter, snow in the Rocky Mountains, which feeds the Colorado, was 70% lower than average. In the first quarter of 2018 the US government calculated that two thirds of Arizona is currently facing severe to extreme drought. Last summer 50 flights were grounded at Phoenix airport because the heat – which hit 47C (116F) – made the air too thin to take off safely. The 2017 fire season, at its peak saw 21 wildland fires active across the state. Almost 190,000 acres of land was burned by August 2017 - roughly one-third of the size of Maricopa County, or roughly, 60 percent of the size of Phoenix. The Coronado National Forest southeast of Tucson alone saw more than 83,000 acres burned in five fires.
(a) Creating potable water through desalination of seawater has now become affordable.
(b) Drip irrigation needs to be more widely utilized especially in agricultural settings.
(c) Water transport infrastructure needs to be updated and repaired to prevent water loss.
(d) Most importantly ending global warming through direct removal of carbon already in the atmosphere.
Paid For By: Taxing capital gains and dividends the same as income from work, and savings from health tax expenditures (est. $23 billion). If necessary establishing a payroll tax that would total $0.79 a week for the typical Arizona worker.
(6) Environmental Protection against all threats foreign and domestic. True to its pioneering spirit, Arizona has taken on the task of moving as rapidly as possible to sustainable, non-polluting sources of energy and reducing our State-wide “climate footprint”.
(a) It goes without saying that my staff will encourage and foster all reasonable efforts to protect Arizona's natural resources and shift as completely as possible to sustainable energy and lifeways.
(b) We will resist to the fullest extent possible attempts by outside parties to damage the ecology of our proud State.
(c) Because of the extraordinary threat to public safety posed by hydraulic fracturing ("fracking") operations we will seek a ban on such operations and insist on the safe removal of any existing fracking equipment and waste products.
(d) We will insist upon companies paying for their own cleanup and not leaving this for the taxpayers.
(e) We will require companies ensure that the public is protected from pipeline and other energy infrastructure failures.
(f) We will encourage a federal job guarantee for former fossil fuel industry employees.
(g) We will work toward reparations for communities most impacted by fossil fuel pollution.
(h) We will restrict pipeline permits to avoid harm or potential harm to citizens.
(i) We will assist companies in divesting pension funds from fossil fuels.
(j) We will divert new fossil fuel exploration to building and production from carbon capture.
Paid for By: Ending the carried interest loophole that allows billionaire hedge fund managers to pay a lower tax rate than nurses and truck drivers (est. $12 billion). Establishing a fair-use tax for non-residents utilizing Arizona State services (est. $13 billion).
(7) Managing Migration and Human Rights for a stronger fairer Arizona. While migration will be an increasing problem for governments in many areas of the world, currently the United States has a net zero immigration rate making this a relatively low-priority issue in reality.
(a) We will work equal protections for all peace-loving citizens. Equality includes equal access to educational, public services and opportunities.
(b) We will involve our higher education institutions in the development of research-based curricula for our primary school system focused on positive citizenship and life values. We will spend our public money on effective education, social development and character building in our public schools rather than on warehousing offenders in our prisons.
(c) My Administration will foster programming for the prevention and remediation of physical, sexual and intellectual discrimination and abuse in educational, employment and all other relevant settings. In so doing we will also bear in mind that discrimination and abuse occur in situations where a power differential exists. Consenting adults, peers, colleagues, friends and others of equal status should not fear accusation or reprisal for behavior that does not violate the rule of law.
(d) Finally, in our youth-oriented culture, the elders of our community are too easily pushed aside and discarded. We should follow the example of other cultures who afford senior members dignity and respect in their old age. We will continue to vigorously assess and address the needs of our aging Arizona population.
(e) Migration due to climate change primarily brought on by the actions of North American corporations needs to be addressed. As climate is disrupted disease, drought, famine, and conflicts have increased around the world. Countries better positioned to sustain themselves in the face of climate disruption have a responsibility to address the needs of those suffering its effects. A balance between border strength and international aid must be reached.
(f) Boots on the ground are the most expensive way to police a border. Our Administration will relay on advanced technology including the use of drones, ground radar and various form of sensors.
(8) Building Stronger Government representing voters rather than special interests. Corporations have too much sway in politics and the media. In the past century American governance as an expression of the will of the citizenry has been degraded. It is not the purpose of government to absorb tax money to pay for more government, or to funnel or outsource public monies to private for-profit businesses chosen by that government.
(a) Public Polling Data. So often we elect officials and then it seems they do whatever they please instead of representing will of the people. Under my leadership the Arizona Governor’s office will conduct public polling to ensure that we stay on track with what is important to you.
(b) Separation of Business and Government as in Church and State. The Members of the 1787 Constitutional Convention were aware that England and other major powers at the time had already taken action to try and separate government and business. Scandals involving influence peddling and illegal lobbying practices had caused England to ban corporations some years before. While not codified into the U.S. Constitution delegates at the time voiced strong concerns which only became more serious as time went on. Today large multinational corporations now influence government like the church did during feudalism. The very necessary purpose of government is to determine the needs of its constituency and then administrate those needs with a high level of efficiency and economy. The role of business is to generate profits, not to represent the interests of the citizenry. Government, business and the church are and should be separate.
(c) We will move away from privatization and toward strengthening, streamlining and economizing, the direct provision of services to citizens.
(d) We will also work toward putting citizens back in control of their banking, loan, insurance and credit experiences.
(e) Only 28% of Americans report feeling our current system of governance is working well. We will research, develop and field test innovative methodologies such as, campaign finance reform, elimination of outmoded governmental structures, direct digital democracy and other strategies for making government more streamlined, directly accessible and responsive to the citizenry it serves.
Paid for By: Making corporations pay taxes on all of the “profits” they have shifted to the Cayman Islands and other offshore tax havens (est. $18 billion). Removing payroll tax cap for earnings above $250,000 (est. $15 billion). Closing carried interest loophole (est. $3.4 billion).
(9) Improving Driver Safety through:
(a) Research-based teaching and policing.
(b) Teaching drivers protocols for interacting with law enforcement to help reduce incidents triggering a escalation of force.
Paid for By: Creation of a special “20/20” excise on automobiles with fuel efficiency below 20mpg or purchase price above $20,000 (est. $14 billion). If needed a percentage of State lottery revenue.
(10) Closing the Gender Gap through:
(a) Increasing enforcement of laws against gender-based discrimination
(b) Vigorous prosecution of sexual harassment.
(11) Reducing Poverty by increasing the minimum wage, establishing local hiring ordinances for large employers in low income communities, and subsidizing Community College.
(12) Strengthening Communities for numerous reasons American society has become increasingly fragmented. To make matters worse, our intelligence agencies inform us we are under ongoing social media manipulation by elements in Russia (and perhaps other countries). Their aim is to inflame tensions among Americans over race, immigration, gun violence and other issues and thus destabilize America. Additionally, multi-national corporate forces within our own society often prey upon our differences and anxieties with the goal of distracting and disempowering us as citizens for their own gain (often referred to as the “shock doctrine” of “disaster capitalism”). We cannot allow these forces to further degrade the social connections which bind us together as Arizonans and Americans. (Interestingly, our neighbors in Europe contribute 50% less to global warming by living happier lives in tighter knit communities.) As Governor I will press forward on programs to strengthen our communities and social connections including:
(a) Increasing volunteerism. Everyone works for money – it is what an individual does for no reward that defines their character.
(b) Expanding access to community owned renewables.
(c) Working to build trust among neighbors and government agencies.
(d) Allowing employees should be able to use a set amount paid time off to engage in union activities.
(e) We will develop programs to increase community connectedness including the sharing of public resources knowing that isolationism is a danger to public welfare.
(f) We will build up public transit in underserved communities.
(g) We will develop labor agreements with local unions to build renewables.
(h) Instead of unfairly targeting people of color and recent immigrants we will focus our policing on removal of those whose actions cause fear and division in our communities. Behavior and not ethnic background is what should determine an individual’s citizenship.
(13) Legalizing Recreational Marijuana is a path that has already been paved by most other states. We have only to choose the most successful approach here in Arizona.
(14) Protecting Reproductive, Vaccine and End-Of-Life Rights are all individual freedoms protected by the Constitution and, except in emergency situations, should not be interfered with by the state.
(15) Gambling including slot machines, table games, and fantasy sports gambling should be the sole purview of our Tribal Nations as part of reparations for the damage our culture has caused to native livelihood.
(16) Protected Groups of “Sexual orientation,” “gender identity,” or “gender expression” should be added to race, religion, age, sex, and ancestry in nondiscrimination law. Same sex marriage should be protected - strong social bonds are more important to society than reproductive capacity. Due to heightened fears over terrorism in the Middle East, the US has been mistreating its Muslim population and this should not be allowed to continue.
(17) Government Solvency is crucial. State taxes need to be increased proportionally so that those making more contribute more funding for the state budget. State and national deficits can and must be reduced.
(18) Protecting Rights in Minor-Child Sexual Identity to seek professional counseling for their minor child with same-sex attraction or gender identity issues to assist the minor child in understanding the mental, physical, emotional and social aspects of their situation including effects on family relations.
(19) Gun Safety. We must increase gun safety while protecting Second Amendment rights. Automatic weapons are designed for use by military and law enforcement personnel. Their risks outweigh their benefits among civilians in our society.
a. We will continue to register semi-automatic firearms for hunting and personal defense.
b. Carrying a concealed weapon implies that the weapon might be used in a public setting (there is no need to conceal a gun at home). With this in mind approximately 24 hours of classroom and field training will be required to obtain or renew a license including a background check. This would include training in "shoot - don't shoot" scenario's, weapon retention, and use of concealment and cover.
c. Current license holders should be required to obtain this training upon renewal.
d. We will expand background checks to include guns bought from private individuals
(20) Homelessness and Affordable Housing must be addressed In the United States, more than 11 million households spend over half their monthly income on rent and over 500,000 people in the United States are homeless.
(21) Bullying and Violence in public schools, colleges, and places of work, must be effectively addressed. Increasing social connectedness is the least expensive and most effective means of achieving this goal. Terrorism is at the far end of the bullying spectrum. We should anticipate and prepare for an increase in terrorist behavior until climate change is resolved and national standards of living made more equal. Roughly 23% of police misconduct reports involve the use of excessive force. Psychological screening and training should be an integral part of law enforcement education. Officers need to be taught conflict reduction protocols. At the same time, it should be realized that American society has become more violent and with increased violent behavior will naturally come and escalation of force by police.
(22) Income Equality. While employment rates are trending up overall nationwide, a good chunk of the country remains unemployed or underemployed. The top 1% of Americans make twice as much as the bottom 90%. We need to do more to equalize income?
(23) Nuclear Arsenals should gradually and verifiably be reduced to zero as rapidly as possible as part of an international ban on all nuclear weapons. Defense Spending should be limited to that necessary to maintain superiority over all other countries.
(24) Endangered Species of animals should never be killed for sport or products?
(25) Campaign Finance Reform is essential. Having no cap on campaign donations can lead to unfair corporate and private influence over politics.
(26) Overpopulation is an example of the interconnectedness of human life on Earth and how Nationalism itself is a threat to our national security. Currently the US population is relatively fixed, and our migration rate is about net zero. We have fewer children, less middle-aged workers and an increasing percentage of over 65 adults. The world population, however, is increasing dramatically and is predicted to surpass the Earth’s maximum carrying capacity by 2050 so is a threat to our national security although not directly attributable to internal US population. The most significant way we can affect this lies in reducing poverty, poor medical care and a high infant mortality rate in underdeveloped countries – particularly sub-Saharan Africa. So, acting in an isolationistic or nationalistic manner is counter to our interests as a nation.
(27) Surveillance has increased and privacy decreased dramatically since the Second World War. Much of this has been a trade-off for increased connectivity and information exchange. Educating our students about personal privacy measures (e.g. data encryption, not revealing personal email and phone number, not using public storages for private information) is probably our most effective response.
(28) Embryonic Stem Cell Research from early stage embryos can help doctors study and possibly cure various diseases. It’s benefits probably outweigh its ethical and procedural complications.
(29) Capital Punishment is legal in Arizona. The United States is one of only four industrialized countries that still allows capital punishment. Statistically the practice does not appear to deter crime and raises significant moral and religious questions.
(30) Private For-Profit Prisons should not be allowed in the State of Arizona. A concerted effort needs to be made to reduce prison populations.
(31) Illegal Trafficking of drugs, minerals, or human beings or other contraband is a threat to public safety and will be dealt with by the Arizona Border Strike Force swiftly and with overwhelming force.
(32) Animal Rights should be protected including factory farms, animal testing and other humane treatment considerations unless in irreconcilable conflict with basic human needs (until such time as reflective self-awareness can be demonstrated in the species in questions).
(33) Repairing Climate Change the Secretary General of the United Nations said of Climate Disruption "It is the defining issue of our time - and we are at a defining moment. If we do not change course by 2020 we risk missing the point where we can avoid runaway climate change, with disastrous consequences for people and all the natural systems that sustain us." The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates closer to 2040. The group of senior scientists I have been working with is placing the deadline in the mid-2030's. So give or take ten years, somewhere in this time-frame the damage to our atmosphere will become irreparable and the minor climate disasters we have been experiencing will begin to escalate exponentially beyond our ability to keep up. We are already spending hundreds of billions of dollars in disaster mitigation and seeing the slowing of ocean currents, methane release from beneath melting ice, rising sea levels, altered disease vectors, the appearance of novel carbon-releasing microbes in the soil (the largest repository of carbon on Earth), and more. The important take-away is that a Climate Deadline is coming and it’s approaching very, very fast.
If we wish our civilization to continue, we must actively remove carbon already in the atmosphere. The good news is that we have a workable and realistic plan for repairing our atmosphere and we in Arizona have unique opportunities to accomplish this! The iconic Navajo Generating Station which has become a concern for Arizona’s Tribal people is a unique resource when viewed in the context of Climate Engineering. By far the safest and most effective method of Climate Engineering involves Ocean Assisted Carbon Capture (OACC). By retrofitting the NGS (and other carbon-emitting plants around the State) with available “Carbon Capture” technology, carbon pollution can be converted into the by-products needed to grow EHUX algae in deep oligotrophic waters Earth’s equatorial regions. EHUX algae are nature’s own carbon scrubbing system and, if properly encouraged with byproducts from Carbon Capture, can both remove carbon from the atmosphere in the massive levels needed and create increased solar reflectance.
It is important for everyone to read the primary research (academic research journals which can often be accessed online versus TV news or a magazine) to really understand the climate crisis, the deadline we are facing, and the option to use carbon capture in combination with EHUX algae to solve the problem. When we find ourselves doubting these facts (and we will because the situation is shocking and overwhelming) we must all ask ourselves......do I want to take the chance? Even if I am not 100% convinced the 2030's are our last chance to get atmospheric carbon under control am I willing to take the chance? What do we have to lose by trying? The down side would be more innovation, more industry, more jobs and, less carbon emissions, and if we find problems with raising EHUX algae in ogliotrophic (lifeless) parts of the ocean we stop and the EHUX have a lifecycle measured in only days. What do we have to lose by not trying? Everything we love.
Paid for By: Taking advantage of new tax cuts for carbon capture. Implementation of a transaction duty for the financial sector. Reductions in fossil fuel subsidies and royalties on fossil fuel extraction. (est. $10 billion). Reduction in tax havens (est. $7 billion). Installing a progressive carbon tax on CO2 and fines for businesses which have historically contributed more than the median for their sector to atmospheric carbon accumulations. (est. $24 billion). Ending tax breaks and subsidies for fossil fuel companies (est. $15 billion). Taxing corporate offshore income (est. $15 billion). Closing tax loopholes that allow the wealthy to avoid taxes on money they inherit and expensive artwork they collect (est. $7 billion). Reductions in fossil fuel and mining subsidies and royalties on fossil fuel extraction (est. $15 billion). Installing a progressive carbon tax on CO2 and fines for businesses which have historically contributed more than the median for their sector to atmospheric carbon accumulations (est. $25 billion). Additionally, revenue will be generated by the sale of downstream AACC-related products including energy, agriculture and jobs will also factor significantly. We anticipate an eventual net gain from OACC on many levels (jobs, tourism, investment, reduced energy costs, etc.).