Ron Mortensen for Senate - Looking Out For You

Ethics. Many Utahn's have the perception that most legislators have loyalties to the special interests and professional lobbyists who fund their campaigns and provide gifts and meals for them--loyalties that require return favors. Ron Mortensen will be accountable only to the citizens of South Davis County. He will:
1. create a citizens' ethics advisory panel to advise him on ethics.
2. only accept campaign funds and in-kind contributions from private individuals – no lobbyist or other special interest funding will be accepted.
3. not allow anyone working for a special interest group to manage or otherwise control his campaign.
4. refuse to take gifts or other perks from lobbyists or special interest groups.
5. rely on citizen advisory groups to advise him on pending legislation.
6. require that any meetings he has with citizen advisory groups, professional lobbyists, etc. be fully open to the public and press.
7. encourage Senate Republicans to open their caucus meetings to the public and press.

Economy. Utah must have a favorable climate for businesses to grow and develop. We need a top-rated work force, low taxes and no burdensome regulations. Economic development incentives must be limited and carefully targeted to ensure that they do not harm existing Utah businesses. Employer provided health insurance must be affordable. Businesses that refuse to hire illegal immigrants using our children's stolen identities must be recognized and rewarded.

Education. As an educator himself, Ron wants Utah to have public and secondary education systems that are the best and most innovative in the world. He supports solutions to our education problems that recognize the needs of both students and teachers. This includes a more responsible allocation and accountability of money already in the school system. (For more information click here).

He supports encouraging and rewarding high performing students rather than lowering standards so that everyone "succeeds" equally. Our children have different talents and capabilities and these needs and challenges must be met by our public education system. In addition, Ron will work to control illegal immigration, which puts an unfair and costly burden on our public schools.

In recent years, too much time, effort and money has been spent on battles that have not brought significant benefits to our children, their teachers or to the taxpayers who ultimately pay for public education. Ron will use his diplomatic skills to bring all parties to the table to jointly form balanced policies that best address the interests of students, parents, teachers and taxpayers.

Energy. Mortensen supports the development of Utah's energy resources in a responsible manner in order to help control rapidly increasing energy costs (gasoline, electricity and natural gas), while at the same time encouraging the development of alternative energy resources. Having responded to humanitarian disasters around the world, he strongly opposes converting food stocks to ethanol and other energy sources that result in political instability and deaths from starvation. He encourages individual efforts to reduce energy consumption, such as using the old-fashioned clothesline rather than energy intensive clothes dryers or using less gasoline by changing our driving habits.

Environment. Ron supports environmental policies that protect our lifestyles, balance economic growth and safeguard the environment.
1. He opposes misguided environmental policies such as greater ethanol use that result in food shortages leading to civil disorder and humanitarian crises.
2. He advocates selling public lands to Utah citizens in order to bring these lands onto the tax rolls. Public lands do not bring any tax revenue to the State. Putting this land into the hands of private citizens or businesses would bring in tax revenue. (The federal government owns over 67% of Utah’s land.)
3. He recommends pressuring our Congressional delegation to require the federal government to make at least ten acres of public lands available to private citizens for each acre of land designated as wilderness.

Family. While employed by the Sutherland Institute, Mortensen lobbied to pass legislation designed to protect the traditional family with a focus on parental rights, requiring a family impact statement on legislation similar to that implemented by Ronald Reagan at the national level, protecting children from pornography, and reducing divorce rates.

Health Care. Ron co-authored a major proposal for an authentic charity care system that would meet the needs of the uninsured while at the same time helping them obtain private health insurance. Ron opposes any government run, socialized health care system. The focus must be on reducing the number of individuals receiving government provided health care rather than expanding government programs. It also must decrease the number of unpaid hospital and doctor visits, which increase the rates for paying clients.

Illegal Immigration. Utah is a compassionate state and we welcome legal immigrants from all nations, including refugees from some of the world's greatest humanitarian disasters; however, Utah cannot afford to be a magnet state for illegal immigration and for the negative impacts that follow, including:
1. Huge increases in identity theft as illegal immigrants steal our children's Social Security numbers in order to obtain jobs. Ron is a national leader in protecting our children from the epidemic of illegal immigrant driven child identity theft. He helped pass every meaningful piece of illegal immigration legislation in Utah during the 2008 legislative session. Again, he has done this on his own time and at his own cost.
2. Higher education costs, such as increased funding for English as a second language, all day kindergarten, more subsidized lunch programs, fee waivers, etc. These costs are passed on to you--the taxpayer.
3. Rapidly rising health insurance costs as providers shift the cost of medical care for uninsured illegal immigrants to Utahn's with insurance. In addition, the state spends millions of dollars in Medicaid to provide care for illegal immigrants and their children.
4. A weakening of the rule of law, which is essential for a stable democracy. Ron is a co-founder of the Utah Coalition on Illegal Immigration and has signed the Coalition's pledge to support legislation designed to protect Utahn's from the negative impacts of illegal immigration. He helped pass every significant piece of illegal immigration legislation during the 2008 session. He has volunteered thousands of hours to protect Utah's children from illegal immigrant driven identity theft. This includes encouraging state and local governments, including the Davis School District, to implement programs which protect children against illegal immigrant driven identity theft, educating the public, and working with key legislators to develop, present, and pass every significant piece of illegal immigration legislation during the 2008 session. (For more on this, click here scroll down the page).

Second Amendment. Ron is a life member of the National Rifle Association (NRA) and a certified concealed-carry instructor. He often works in some of the world's most dangerous areas and clearly understands the importance of safeguarding the individual's right to keep and bear arms. He will support all efforts to protect and expand our second amendment rights, while opposing any and all efforts to weaken them.

Taxes and Spending. Ron has fought for years against tax and spend Utah politicians and bureaucrats in order to keep our property taxes in check and to control government spending. His efforts have resulting in millions of dollars in savings to taxpayers. He has fought to replace the volatile, "unfair" market value property assessment system that the state currently uses with a predictable system based on acquisition value . He is committed to ensuring that citizens are never forced out of their homes due to speculation-driven or fraudulently established real estate values. (For more on Ron's position on property taxes click here and scroll down the page).

Ron has signed the Americans for Tax Reform pledge which reads: "I, Ronald Mortensen, pledge to the taxpayers of the 23rd District of the State of Utah and to all the people of this state that I will oppose and vote against any and all efforts to increase taxes." (Note: As a presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, also signed the ATR tax pledge.)

Ron is the co-founder of CitizensForTaxFairness.org and Citizens Coalition for Tax Fairness, a statewide coalition of grassroots taxpayers groups. He spent every day as an unpaid, volunteer citizen lobbyist at the legislature during the 2008 session. He led the opposition to the .25% transportation tax and the large tax increases passed by County Commissioners. In addition, he spoke out against current budget practices, which guarantee that state budgets will continually increase. Further, he strongly supports placing governments' checkbooks on the internet so citizens can easily see how their money is being spent and to encourage increased accountability and responsibility.

Transportation. Ron supports creative solutions to make better use of existing roads and infrastructure, including providing incentives for businesses to stagger work hours and to make greater use of telecommuting. He also supports shifting jobs away from downtown Salt Lake to Davis County and to Ogden so traffic can flow both ways during rush hour, minimizing congestion. Ron opposes efforts to shift the state's traditional responsibility to pay for state roads and highways to local taxpayers through the imposition of local sales taxes, and he opposes the proposed 40 cent per gallon increase in the gasoline tax. Additional financing for roads will have to be found within the state's existing, roughly $12 billion budget. This can be done by reallocating funding from lower priority items to transportation and possibly by requiring developers to pay for more of the cost of new roads and increased congestion associated with their projects. Ron does not support a static light rail line or street car line that runs from South Davis County to Salt Lake City due to unreasonable construction costs and because it is quicker and more convenient to drive the short distance into Salt Lake City, thus minimizing citizens use of such a system.

Veterans Affairs. As a Vietnam era veteran and the Commander of Bountiful's American Legion Post, Ron will work to ensure that those who serve this nation are given priority in state programs and benefits.

Ron at illegal immigration Press Conference: Ron at illegal immigration Press Conference 2008 General Session. Also, in the picture, Senator Hickman, sponsor of SB81 and Representative Glenn Donnelson