Ten Reasons to Vote for Joe Bouchard this Nov. 6, 2007.
On Nov. 6, 2007, vote for experience, leadership and caring.
Vote for Joe Bouchard for House of Delegates, 83rd District, Virginia Beach, Virginia.
1. Joe Bouchard has experience saving taxpayers $millions of dollars. As Commanding Officer at the Naval Station in Norfolk, the world's largest naval base, Captain Bouchard reduced operating costs an average of $2 million per year, three years in a row. His management innovations have been implemented at all bases Navy-wide. Delegate Bouchard will bring to the General Assembly his understanding that again he is a public servant charged with keeping a careful watch on public spending.
2. Joe Bouchard has experience providing effective and efficient government services. Joe has won awards for mission effectiveness by providing facilities and services necessary to make sure Navy ships, submarines, and aircraft were combat ready for the War on Terror. Delegate Bouchard will aggressively pursue greater efficiencies and effectiveness in state agencies utilizing strategic management and performance-based budgeting initiatives to reign in the spiraling cost of government.
Reasons 3 through 10 on the flip...
3. Joe Bouchard recognizes that protecting the environment translates to economic gains. As CO at the Norfolk Naval Station, Joe won numerous environmental protection awards while also attaining award-winning levels of efficiencies and effectiveness on behalf of his naval base. Delegate Bouchard will initiate policies and investments that will generate economic opportunities as well as protect clean air and clean water, clean up the Chesapeake Bay and Lynnhaven River, conserve natural resources and habitats, preserve open space, and promote clean, renewable energy sources.
4. Joe Bouchard is the real deal and a better match for the 83rd district. Unlike his opponent who owns 2 Virginia Beach homes valued at more than $1.5 million, Joe owns a modest single vinyl-sided home. Joe also gets campaign support the old-fashioned way... he earns it, by genuinely reaching out and listening to the issues and concerns of the hundreds of 83rd district voters he has met. As an indication of his grassroots support, Joe has collected $10,397 from 145 voters. His opponent, on the other hand, has only gained the support of 36 people for a total of $2,380. His opponent instead relies on his wealthy big brother to carry him, contributing over $35,000 so far and collecting over $57,000 from his brother's Republican elected friends. Delegate Bouchard understands who he works for and who he is responsible to while serving in Richmond. He will work hard to build and maintain an open and honest dialog with the citizens of the 83rd district, treating people equally and with the respect they deserve and have awarded him.
5. Joe Bouchard understands the concerns of military families because his is a military family. Joe was responsible for the safety, security and quality of life of the 65,000 military and civilian personnel who worked on the base, as well as providing facilities and services for the 217 military commands and organizations based at the Norfolk Naval Station. Delegate Bouchard will be an attentive ear to the idea of carrying legislation that will positively affect the often forgotten quality of life concerns that Virginia's military families face.
6. Joe Bouchard will ensure that every Virginia student receives a world-class education. A first-in-his-class US Naval Academy graduate, with two masters degrees, a fellowship in the Northeast Asia, US Forum on International Policy, and a doctorate degree from Stanford University, all with a major in political science, emphasis on international relations, Joe Bouchard understands and appreciates the value of a world-class education. Delegate Bouchard will ensure that the General Assembly looks beyond the Standards of Learning (SOLs) to address quality education in a comprehensive manner by adopting educational goals that ensure our students are well prepared for the complex, highly competitive world they enter upon graduating from high school, by employing a broad range of measures of student success, and by fully funding education based on those goals and measures.
7. Joe Bouchard recognizes malarkey when he sees it. Joe knows that the hastily thrown together GOP transportation plan with its dependence of taxes, tolls and fees, to include the abusive driver fees imposed on Virginia drivers alone, will fail within 3 years due to four major flaws: 1) inadequate funding to meet Virginia's critical transportation needs, 2) unreliable revenue sources based on unrealistic fiscal assumptions, 3) unfair revenue sources that target only Virginia drivers, and 4) wasteful spending away from our highest priority projects, that fail to relieve congestion or even exacerbate costly urban sprawl. Delegate Bouchard will work to remove these flaws, and improve the 2007 transportation plan to also include transit systems that are a proven means of reducing traffic congestion and that create lucrative economic development opportunities, as in new jobs and revenues for local governments.
8. Joe Bouchard has experience building vital regional support networks in Hampton Roads. After retiring from the Navy in 2003, Joe was named Executive Director of the Center for Homeland Security and Defense at Zel Technologies (ZelTech). Joe's work includes improving the security of the Port of Hampton Roads and integrating the sixteen cities and counties in Hampton Roads into a regional network for enhanced communications and information sharing during any type of major regional emergency. Delegate Bouchard will work to deliver improved coordination and cooperation between state and Hampton Roads' local governments that effect better regional planning efforts for transportation, environmental protection, economic development, emergency management and homeland security.
9. Joe Bouchard is a proven leader in our Hampton Roads community. Joe serves on the boards of numerous civic and business associations such as the Virginia Maritime Association, Hampton Roads Partnership, Civic Leadership Institute, Future Hampton Roads, and the Cypress Point Civic Association. From his many years of working with a variety of stakeholder groups in our community, Joe knows that it takes a regional approach to attract the type of private investments in our community that facilitate a better quality of life for Virginia Beach residents. Delegate Bouchard will use these many ties to Hampton Roads' leadership to craft practical and efficient economic development policies that deliver good jobs to our area as well as protecting existing jobs.
10. Joe Bouchard has realistic insight on how best to tackle illegal immigration issues. As a nationally recognized expert on homeland security, Joe knows exactly how it is that the Federal government has failed state and local governments in its capacities to cure its illegal immigration problems. Delegate Bouchard will pressure Congress to draft a workable solution while also ensuring that no unfunded mandates are passed onto local governments. Delegate Bouchard will also hold employers accountable knowing that eliminating the jobs that attract illegal immigrants to Virginia reduces the problem from a crisis to a manageable level.