Honig for Governor 2010 - For a new Nevada! Join the campaign today!

Address: PO Box 400925 Las Vegas, NV 89140
Campaign Phone: 702-699-3372, fom cell phone 702-518-6832
Web Site: www.aaronyhonig.com
Email: aaronyhonig@aaronyhonig.com
Age: 36
Marital Status: Married
Family: Heather and I will celebrate our first wedding anniversary on July
4th. Heather is also CCSD elementary school teacher and she is a part-time
instructor for Sierra Nevada College.
City/Town: Las Vegas, Nevada
Birthplace: Buffalo, New York
Education/Degrees: Distinguished Scholars Diploma Chaparral High School
B.A. History, B.A. Political Science, and B.A. Criminal
Justice, University of Nevada Las Vegas, 1997. Master of Arts Teaching,
Sierra Nevada College, 2008.
Experience: I have life experience and I am not a career politician. I
have worked in the insurance industry, casino and know the issues that
face Nevada's hardworking, struggling families. With my background in
education, I have the firsthand knowledge needed to improve our school
system.
Campaign Message: This is a critical turning point for Nevada and we
can't afford four more wasted and nonproductive years. We either continue
to sink or we can start to swim November 2. Let us work together to make
Nevada the place that we want it to be. It needs to be a place where
people live, retire, prosper and raise a family in a safe and secure
environment.

* Nearly $700 million in increased sales, payroll and business license
taxes will expire in 2011. Will you include an extension of those tax
increases in your proposed budget? Why or why not?

As governor of our great state of Nevada I will fight to reduce the raised state sales tax rate that exists in each county and I will fight to reduce the DMV registration fees that increased on vehicles. The hardworking people of Nevada should not have to pay for corporations not paying their fair share to do business in Nevada. Nevada's corporations have been given a free ride for too long. All other increases set to be renewed will be reviewed to see if they warrant an extension via a cost benefit analysis.

* The state is expected to face a nearly $3 billion revenue shortfall in
2011. How would you propose addressing this problem? What would you cut
and/or how would you raise revenue?

As the only teacher running for governor, I will fight to make sure that education is not cut anymore at all whatsoever. It is despicable that our inept and ineffective leadership would even allow any cuts to education. Nevada is already dead last in the nation in education and is funded at a shameful, disrespectful level. Nevada is the 17th wealthiest state in the nation for family median income. This fact alone makes it unacceptable, disgraceful, embarrassing and intolerable that this was allowed to happen. I will fight to make sure education is funded out of its own fund and that restructuring of our priorities occurs so that education is funded first before everything else. We have seen what Nevada has become do to poor policy, the same old rhetoric and solutions. We can not afford any more malfeasance as our childrens successful futures hang in the balance. I will fight to make sure that state employees pensions and their subsequent earned health care are not raided to fill the budget short falls of our great state. I will look for efficiencies and cost savings across state government. A review of the state medicaid program to eliminate any possible waste and inefficiencies will be conducted. Any expenditures saved are in essence revenues raised. All of these actions aimed at improving the performance of state government and making sure that there is no wasteful spending.

* Nevada consistently ranks poorly in indicators for quality of
education. How would you improve the quality of the state's education
system?

As the only teacher running for governor, I have firsthand knowledge of the issues that families and their students face on a day to day basis. With my background in education, I also have the firsthand knowledge needed to improve our school system. I believe academic standards should be raised, teachers should be given more power in the classroom to teach to their students and not to standardized tests. NCLB (No Child Left Behind) has been failing our students, teachers and our schools. Schools should be funded equally and those schools in lower income areas should be given more. I will fight for a scholarship program that guarantees free in-state tuition to underprivileged students who stay in school and graduate from high school with passing grades, so long as they sign a pledge to be gang free, alcohol free, drug and crime free. Remediation programs will be created so that every child who has difficulty meeting those higher academic standards would receive extra instruction to help with their education.

* Nevada’s economy has suffered more than most states in the current
recession. What would you do to spur job creation, address the housing
crisis and otherwise stabilize our troubled economy?

I not only want to create jobs for Nevadans but I want to create high paying jobs so that graduates of our higher education system do not have to leave the sate to make a living. With education being my focus high tech companies will hopefully want to bring their business here to Nevada. We need to offer incentives greater than other states to get them to come here. I stand for bringing more businesses to Nevada to diversify our job base and create more opportunities for our workers. I will personally go recruit businesses to come here to Nevada to get our citizens working again. I see new businesses coming to Nevada due to our wonderful environment for corporations. We need to market our state to those states that have big corporations who are being taxed to the hilt and entice them to come to our state. This will in turn bring more jobs for Nevadans and make our economy stronger.

* Do you support or oppose the immigration legislation recently signed
into law in Arizona that would require the police to determine whether
immigrants are in the country legally? Would you sponsor similar
legislation in Nevada?

I would not sponsor similar legislation in Nevada as I feel it has to much room for abuse of our citizen's civil rights and borders on prejudicial views on members of our society. Immigration reform needs to focus on changing the laws so that if you commit crime here in Nevada then you are either deported immediately to that countries justice system or you are put in prison here to serve your time and then deported.

* Do you support mandatory participation by businesses in the federal
E-Verify program for employees?

Companies hiring illegal immigrants is a problem that needs to be addressed. Any company found to be illegals to face harsh penalties. E-Verify seeks to reduce the continued employment, not the hiring, of people unauthorized to work; this includes legal residents who lack work authorization. Employers may not query work authorization until after hiring. There needs to be a system in place that checks to see if the employee is eligible before they are employed.

* What makes you different from your opponents?

I am an everyday person who knows what it is like to struggle day to day to make ends meet not a lawyer, executive, business person, career politician, or judge, who all have much higher salaries and on average do not know what it is like to walk in our shoes. I don't know what it is like to be appointed to a job let alone jobs by politicians. I don't know what it is like to come from money and have everything laid out for me and have support to no end. I have had to get my employment for 18 years. I have worked in the casino, shipping and insurance industries and I have life experience on my side. I am the public elementary school teacher with a Master of Arts in Teaching who is passionate about what I do and tired of the same old garbage coming around at election time and the same old garbage after election time. The children are why I decided to run for governor. They have no voice nor have they had one for a long time. It is time that they are heard as they are Nevada's future teachers, veterinarians, entrepreneurs, leaders, caretakers, doctors and other important professionals that our state will always greatly need.