From the Ayers for Council 2013 Campaign
Dr. Greg Ayers, a local resident, participated today, [Nov. 26] in a meeting of the White House Business Council held in Washington DC. This meeting allowed for business leaders to discuss the President’s plan for the budget and the current situation regarding the fiscal cliff with the Obama Administration. The attendees also discussed job creation, economic competitiveness and middle-class tax breaks. Ayers had participated in past events on similar topics, related to Administration initiatives and goals focused on small businesses. Recent legislation, including the “American Jobs Act”, and also changes at the US Patent and Trademark Office, were the result of recommendations from prior meetings.
“It is an honor to have the opportunity to interface with the Obama Administration on topics important to every American” Ayers stated. “I am hopeful that this meeting will provide important input that will allow the Administration to consider the impact their fiscal policy has on small businesses, such as those found throughout the San Juan Islands” Ayers added.
Dr. Ayers first met with President Obama and senior staff members at Cleveland State University in February 2011, where he had the opportunity of spending a few hours with the President and Secretary of the Treasury Geithner. Subsequent meetings have occurred in Washington DC.
“From a personal standpoint, entering the security gates of the White House, Treasury Building, or the Eisenhower Executive Office Building for a business meeting is the experience of a lifetime” Ayers says. “Last night I again flew into Regan National Airport, passing from the air the White House, Capital Building, Washington, Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials. I know it sounds corny, but it sure felt good to be an American”
For more information, please visit www.ayers2013.com
Greg, What was discussed at the meeting? What outcomes will come from the meeting? What happened there that you are excited about, concerned about?
Thanks!
What an opportunity to have the shades of National governance pulled away by one of our own Orcas Islanders! What is the president’s plan for the looming and already upon us fiscal crisis? What did you talk about?
If we elect you to represent our Will and Voice at the County level, will you help the people who live and work here year round continue to live and work here, but at a living wage?
San Juan County has the second highest rate of income disparity of all counties in WA State. This is a real problem for people who actually work here for a living and especially for working people who are raising their families here.
I don’t believe trying to recreate the last thirty year real estate boom is going to work. We are Locally and Nationally at the end of “Westward Expansion”, economically, socially, and environmentally. We have to start looking within and solidifying a sustainable support structure for Island Life that supports All People, and All of Life, or we will collapse inward into the mostly invisible moral void that has been created at the heart of our society.
The current County Council giving the Transfer Station On Orcas to the Exchange is is huge positive step toward making this Island a Sustainable place to live!!
We all need to recognize that Orcas Island, and All the Islands are more than just a paradise for vacationers and the wealthy. The working people, while we still live here, demand to be represented in our struggles, along with the small business owners. We demand a say in the future of this Beautiful Island and if you want to be Our Voice at the county level, these are the issues that you need to competently address.
All the Best, Domenic Verbano
Jay – sorry for my delay in responding, I just got home to our island today. Thanks for the questions. Hopefully you and I can catch up in person to discuss further, but let me give you a brief summary of my visit, discussions, and interactions with the Obama Administration yesterday.
Most important to the Obama Administration is the looming financial cliff and its potential impact, expiration of tax cuts for all American’s and the mandatory cuts in discretionary spending. They feel it is very important that we use this looming cliff as a reason to push for a budget that is reasonable short term but also sets a path for future deficit stabilization or reduction in later years. Also discussed was the ACA (aka Obamacare), where there is a strong interest on the part of the Administration to use the most recent election as a mandate to fully implement this piece of legislation.
Going in I had three messages to deliver. First that the fiscal cliff is important, but changes to taxes, tax deductions and government expenditures are more critical to sustainability of government. I shared that we have a similar issue in San Juan County (I used the description that we are the most northwest county in the lower 48) in that we have a fiscal cliff of our own, potentially as soon as 2014, and that I feel that our county must sit down as a community of residents and decide what services we want to have provided by the county. Many others shared similar situations with the group. My other two topics were more focused on the biotech industry but one could argue no less important to San Juan County.
I discussed the importance of trading off the risk of angel investment in start up companies vs. capital gains tax; namely I support the concept of tax deductions for investment in small business at the time that investments are made, and a reasonable capital gains tax if and when the company does well. In that way the government “risk shares” with investors who are putting funds into local small businesses.
Secondly I discussed the concept of cost effectiveness of healthcare (an Obama administration objective) versus the medical device “tax”. The medical device tax puts at risk the ability for Americans to gain access to state of the art medical technology.
These concepts require far more discussion than I can put in this reply, but I would be happy to discuss the concepts from this meeting in person, where I can provide more color on the topics we covered.
Greg
Domenic,
Thanks for you questions and comments. It was a pleasure and an honor to have the opportunity to share with the Administration my thoughts on what is important to the residents of San Juan Island and to have the ability to hear directly the opinions and plans of the Obama Administration. As I shared in my response to Jay, there were many topics discussed, more that I could fully provide in my response here. I would encourage you to reach out to me if you want to discuss any topic in more detail.
The Administration does recognize the need for rapid action on the fiscal cliff. It was clear that they are expending significant efforts in an attempt to avoid the fiscal cliff, and its associated across the board tax increases and spending cuts. They have also begun engaging the public, to educate us in their fiscal plan. There must be a level of grassroots effort and I would encourage you to engage our US elected officials with emails and/or letters.
In brief, the Administration claims that the President’s plan is a mix of spending cuts and tax increases that decreases spending by $2.50 for every $1 increase in taxes. I do not claim to have audited these numbers personally, but I am rather sharing with you what was presented. The President made it clear and stressed it again in this meeting that he will not increase taxes on middle class families. Is his plan the right plan? I am still considering all aspects of the various plans. I would encourage you to review the materials from the White House webpage to form your own opinions. If you have specific questions about anything you read or see, I am more than willing to either attempt answer or get you an answer from the White House directly.
Equally challenging would be for me to tell you all the ways in which I feel I can effectively serve as your voice on County Council, but let me attempt to at least make a few points. I want to stress that I am in the listening mode, wanting to hear from as many people as I can about their concerns and needs related to county government. I fully understand that I must be prepared to not only address your questions and concerns about the many issues that face our County, but also that I must be able to convince you that I have the skills and experience to represent you. Clearly a task beyond what I can provide in a blog.
What I can tell you is that I have two guiding principles that I will use to be your voice. First and foremost is that we must improve island life for all residents, but we must do this while protecting our island culture. My wife and I moved to the islands and live here full time as we enjoy the island culture and the close-knit community. At the same time we recognize that we must give back and work hard to improve island life. For example, my wife just departed for the Fire Station where she works and once I finish this respond, I plan to go to the Grange to work on the set for the next performance. Yesterday I was working with people on some operational issues associated with the Island Reproductive Health Initiative and last night I was at the meeting of the Eastsound Water and Sewer District. I stress that we must ALL work together to improve the quality of life of ALL our island neighbors and friends.
Secondly, and associated with my participation in the event on Monday, is that I believe that while San Juan County is unique, our elected officials still must think globally, engage at the federal and state levels, while acting locally. We must not believe that we are completely isolated here, or that we do not have the ability to stand up for our needs and beliefs at the state and federal level. I have worked at the global level on healthcare issues, including conducting medical research and developing medical devices that have improved many lives. As you have seen in this article, I have and will continue to engage our elected officials (whether I am elected or not), representing you at the federal and state level, to assure our voice is heard and that outside information is considered inside San Juan County operations. Most importantly is that I will work hard for you locally to use my skills to take actions on the situations that matter most to us, all of us.
Thanks again Domenic for your comments and questions.
Greg
I would love to get a “What can we do to improve Island Community Life” blog going here, perhaps at Orcas Issues?