League of Women Voters of Massachusetts Citizen Education Fund
	Barnstable County, MA September 16, 2008 Election
	Candidates Answer Questions on the Issues State Representative; Fourth Barnstable District; Democratic Party

The questions were prepared by the League of Women Voters of Massaschusetts and asked of all candidates for this office.     See below for questions on Employment, Infrastructure, Education Click on a name for candidate information.   See also more information about this contest. 1. What proposals do you have to increase employment opportunities in Massachusetts? Answer from Sarah K. Peake: I have worked hard to protect the jobs that already exist in our ecomomy while also working to bring new economic opportunities to the Cape. I have fought back unfair regulations that threatened our fishing industry, worked to lower exise and unemployment taxes on our small business owners, and supported our creative economy. I co-sponsored an amendmment to the Boradband bill in an effort to bring wireless large capacity broadband to every corner of Cape Cod. Broadband access will allow small businesses to grow and new, clean, tech businesses to start up. In addition, I support our seasonal tourist economy. I fought to maintain tax incentives to support our regional airline, and co-sponsored amendments supporting our Chambers of Commerce. 2. How will you rectify problems with aging Massachusetts infrastructure, especially bridges and tunnels? Answer from Sarah K. Peake: We need to grow the economy and make it robust. With a robust economy comes the revenue to take on projects like road and bridge repair. I supported the Biofuels Bill, the Broadband Bill, film tax credits, and the Biotech bill. All are designed to create jobs, put people to work and get our economy humming again. I did not and will not support casino gambling. I have studied the numbers and the risks and costs far outweigh any benefit. 3. Governor Patrick has proposed a wide-ranging plan to transform education in the Commonwealth. What do you see as the top priorities in his plan and what funding mechanism do you feel will enable their successful implementation? Answer from Sarah K. Peake: I support his early education initiatives. Pre-K and after school care are top priorities in the 4th Barnstable Disrtict. In the upcoming session I will work with the Administration and fight to regain funding we lost when the child care subsidy formula was changed. I support the acknowledgement in the Readiness Report that we cannot base our assessment of our educational success or failure on a narrow, written examination. The unintended outcome has been a narrowing of curriculum. Paying for the broad overhaul called for in the report is always the difficult part. One way to afford the changes is to find opportunities for savings. We should utilize the collective expertise and resources in the region to control costs and create rigorous and shared learning expectations and experiences. Vermont, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island have already entered into an interstate agreement. Clearly, more revenue will be needed and the state is cash strapped. I return to my response above. We must get our economy humming again. We have taken some very bold and positive moves here in the commonwealth during the last session to support our existing economies and welcome new sectors. I believe that with a change of administration at the federal level and the Legislature's and Administration's continued willingness to take bold moves we will see the economy turn around. Responses to questions asked of each candidate are reproduced as submitted to the League.  Candidates' responses are not edited or corrected by the League. The order of the candidates is random and changes daily. Candidates who did not respond are not listed on this page.