N.C. Representative John Ager files for re-election

Filing press release (per John Ager):

Today I am proud to announce that I am filing to ask the voters of North Carolina House District 115 to send me back to Raleigh in November of 2016. I worked long and hard for my constituents, serving on eight committees and missing only one vote. (And I think my button just malfunctioned on that one.)

Last week, the Pew charitable trust announced that the shrinking American Middle Class dropped below 50 percent of all families. Wages are not keeping pace with the rising costs of food and housing. Poverty is growing, especially for children. And since 2010, the leadership in Raleigh has been giving tax breaks to the wealthy, while increasing sales taxes for the rest of us.

North Carolina was once known as the education state, but no longer. Our teachers are leaving the state and the profession. Teacher prep programs are struggling to attract the next generation of educators. Once proud education leaders in our communities are now demoralized by low pay and disrespect.

While our state’s investment in education is one of the lowest in the nation (47th), North Carolina’s commitment to its citizens continues to shrink in other areas as well. We heard recently about the woeful salaries of our Highway Patrol officers, forcing many to work second jobs and even move into the basements of their parents. North Carolina now provides one of the stingiest safety nets in the U.S. The state has lost billions of dollars by not expanding Medicaid for our most vulnerable citizens, causing health providers to deliver care at expensive Emergency Rooms with no hope of compensation.

And North Carolina has become a paradise for polluters. Leaky coal ash pits, fracking incentives, ‘business friendly’ regulators and a rollback of clean water and air regulations have put our state at risk for decades of environmental disasters. As we struggle with our superfund sites at Chemtronics and CTS, we must remember that prevention saves money and lives. As our state faces up to the challenges of global warming, we must not lose our commitment to renewable energy.

It is time for North Carolina to re-imagine the future. That begins with an investment in our people, in education from early childhood through our universities. The time is now to innovate. Transportation is evolving rapidly, and we don’t want to be left behind. We must figure out how to deliver cutting edge medicine to our people. We must do everything we can to attract living and family raising jobs to Buncombe County. My goal in Raleigh is to lead our government forward, not to throw rocks at it. Please join me in helping to rebuild a North Carolina we can be proud of.

Representative John Ager