James K. "Ken" Overstreet (Updated 07/06/2011 )
James K. "Ken" Overstreet (Updated
07/06/2011
)
State Senate District 46 Campaign
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Tuesday November 8th, 2011 General Election
• Insurance Reform . ( For More Details )(Updated 07/06/2011 )
• Preserve Mississippi's State Flag. ( For More Details )
• Free Elections in regard to city annexations. (
For More Details )
• Free Elections in regard to casino locations. (
For More Details )
• Free Elections in regard to drastic increases in fee’s by Utility
Districts. ( For More Details )
• Support for locally controlled schools.
• Resistance to State and Federally controlled schools.
• Opposition to government vouchers for controlling private schools.
( For More Details )
• University Consolidation ( For more Details
)
• Tort Reform. ( For more details )
• Judicial Reform.
• Resist programs which reward Illegitimacy.
• More support for the Legitimate Family Unit. (
For more details )
• Law enforcement consolidation & greater support at County level.
( For more details )
• Opposition to Racial Quotas. (
For more details ) .
• Oppose the Liberal Agenda of the "Tax & Spend" Democratic Party.
.
• Restore Mississippi's Boundaries. ( For
more details )
• Mandatory Automobile Insurance( For more details )
BACKGROUND AND QUALIFICATIONS :
Ken has been a Diamondhead resident and property owner for most of the past 25 years. He is a Mississippi native and has resided on the gulf coast for the past 17 years. Graduated from of Hattiesburg High in 1976 and graduated from Mississippi State University in 1981 with a degree in Electrical Engineering. Ken was V.P. of the MSU alumni association in Hancock County in the early 90’s and was a board member for his church in the mid 90’s. He is also a practicing registered Professional Engineer in the states of Mississippi and Louisiana. He typically works as a consulting or contract Electrical Engineer or Electrician.
Ken’s political experience includes involvement in numerous Republican campaigns and also several endeavors to preserve and/or restore the well being of the Diamondhead community and Hancock county. He recently was involved in the movement for the right to vote on the out of state garbage menace in Hancock County. He is supportive of having a major garbage recycling plant in the Hancock/Pearl River vacinity if public support permits. Has held membership in various Diamondhead organizations. Last year, Ken was a delegate to the Southern Regional Republican Leadership Conference in 1998, 2010, and 2011 The 1998 convention was hosted by Governor Fordice, Senator Lott, and Senator Cochran and was attended by Speaker Gingrich, and Congressman Bob Barr, and several presidential Candidates. At this convention, Overstreet worked with Congressman Barr in promoting HR304 which led to the eventual impeachment of bill clinton.
PLATFORM AND PRINCIPALS :
Insurance Reform : (Updated 07/06/2011 )
CAMPAIGN BRIBERY: Reform the Mississippi Insurance Commissioners office in such a manner that it does NOT accept political campaign contributions from the very industry that it regulates. TORT REFORM: Support tort reform to the extent that punitive damage awards are limited to 5 times the actual damage award. LOCAL TRIALS : Require that insurance lawsuits be tried in the county where the policy was sold. That all home owner policy's contain ALL Perils coverage and the homeowners insurance policy contain the elevation of the slab or base floor and the 500 year high water mark, the fire rating of the walls, and roof, The wind speed design, Wave design, and tree impact design.
University Consolidation : We presently have 7 or 8 schools that we call university’s. This could easily be consolidated into 3 or 4. My choice would be merging Delta State with Ole Miss. Merging MUW with Mississippi State. And Merging Alcorn State with Jackson State. Each university would have several branches and community colleges. All Vo-Tech and community colleges would be part of a University Network. Back to top
Correspondence/Continuing Education: Once a student graduates from a college and enters the work force, it is difficult to further his/her education as it requires physical attendance in a classroom, many times during working hours. Many times student’s will graduate and not find jobs in the field that they were trained. With more correspondence, continuing education, and computer on-line opportunities many of these problems could be addressed. Back to top
School Vouchers : Opposes government vouchers that would enable anyone to attend a private school for free. This would be a government boondoggle program which would destroy both the present public school system and also destroy the private schools. Private schools would now be confronted with lawsuits for refusing vouchers from undesirable students. Parents at the local level should be able to send their children to the public school of their choice and there should be more opportunities to create local neighborhood schools. The only school voucher I would support would be a tax credit on property or income tax. Back to top
Forced Busing : School Districts should have the choice of refusing any federal funds that require forced busing if they desire to do so. Back to top
School Prayer/Curriculum Choice : School Districts should have
the choice of refusing any federal funds that require banning school prayer
or traditional curriculum choice such as reading, writing, arithmetic,
etc … . Local school districts should be free to refuse any federal funds
if they require bilingual, multicultural or other forms of education alien
to the american way of life.
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Insurance Reform : Insurance
City and Utility District Annexations : Proposed annexation by cities or Utility Districts should require the consent of those affected. If there is any increases in fee’s or taxes, that too should require a popular vote. Back to top
Utility-Municipal District Reform : Massive Utility Municipal
districts can be created with a petition containing only 20 signatures,
a simple vote of the supervisors, and a few public hearings advertised
in the back of the newspaper. No popular vote is required for the creation
of these districts. Once these districts are created; they have the power
of eminent domain, unlimited annexation powers, and there is no limit to
the amount of fee’s they can charge. The district can sue anybody for anything
and ask that they pay the attorney fee’s which they call reasonable. People
who move to country to escape government now have a menace much greater
than an incorporated municipality. Much change is needed in this area.
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County Government Consolidation : Presently every county is required to elect 5 supervisors regardless of the number of municipalities or the population of the area. Supervisor districts are gerrymandered to wrap over incorporated cities, split residential neighborhood in half, and can extend from one corner of the county to the other corner. Many city residents elect a city councilman, a mayor, and a county supervisor. I would support legislation which would allow a municipality or combination of municipalities of over 15,000 to be considered as a supervisor district. Supervisor districts should be restricted to continuous areas where people have something in common. Federal guidelines for drawing local voting districts voting rights, etc… should be resisted as much as possible. Back to top
Garbage pickup and recycling : Presently there are laws on the books that imply that all county residents should participate in mandatory garbage pickup. There are no requirements that the county provide dumpsters or recycling bins. Everything is geared to mandatory garbage pickup and landfills. There are little or no incentives for industries to use re-cycled materials. In some county's; officials invite lucrative out of state garbage contracts while ignoring recycling industry's. There is much improvement needed in this area. Back to top
Casino Locations : Presently a casino can locate anywhere it pleases without the consent of the residents in the immediate vacinity of the proposed location. All that is needed is the money to purchase the land and some government permits. Communities worth millions of dollars are powerless to stop the menace. Improvements in zoning laws and elections could eliminate this menace. Only elected officials accountable to the public should have the power to enact zoning laws.Back to top
Judicial System-Tort Reform : Presently, anybody can sue for anything and the defendant has to respond within 30 days or loose by default. There is no requirement to specify what the actual damages are. There is no requirement to produce a signed contract before filing a lawsuit. It is possible to sue for many times what you could make in a lifetime. Many time’s a solitary judge can mandate that you pay an attorney to represent you. This equates to a guilty fine before you even go to trial. In addition, a judge can deny you the right to a trial by jury. A sheriff’s deputy or constable can be directed to go out serve papers for a frivolous lawsuit before the legal documents have been reviewed by a judge or jury. Getting a frivolous lawsuit dismissed is a costly, time-consuming process even for the most frivolous of lawsuits. Litigation is costly; motions for this and that and continuances to motions being heard, etc … Recently AG mike moore's tobacco trial lawyers received 1.4 billion dollars in fee’s to pursue the tobacco farce. This accounts to $100,000 per hour for their work on the tobacco settlement. This did not go for the benefit of the Mississippi economy. Back to top Click here for lawsuit abuse info
Other objectives to be achieved by tort reform are as follows :
1. Limit attorney contingency fees-
2. Limit punitive and non-economic damages-
3. Prevent a plaintiff from cashing in if he is
responsible for his own injuries-
4. Abolish the financial penalty for appeals-
5. Abolish joint and several liability-
6. Place a final time limit on filing lawsuits.
7. Limit Punitive damage to 5x the actual damage award.
Law Enforcement Consolidation : Presently, law enforcement is divided into a number of different agencies. The sheriff’s department operates on a mere 3mil budget, the same as a volunteer fire department. City and state police departments are always better funded than the Sheriff Department which is supposed to be the chief law enforcement agency in the county. I would favor legislation which would allow for more millage to be levied to support the Sheriff's department, say up to 4mils with that department supplanting many of the functions of the municipal police departments. Additionally state law funded law enforcement personnel should be set up to assist the sheriff’s department. The and these personnel be supplied on a rotation basis. The state and local police departments should be consolidated and beefed up. Efforts by federal law enforcement to supplant the locally elected and controlled law enforcement agencies should be resisted. The Sheriff’s department should be the chief law enforcement agency in the county and salary’s should be improved to exceed all the municipal police department salary’s and private security guard salary’s. Back to top
Traffic Citation Revenue: Many municipal police departments generate enough traffic citations to fund a major portion of the city’s budget and are allowed to use radar whereby the sheriff’s department cannot. Ticket revenue should go into a trust fund for automobile insurance … not as a source of revenue enhancement for city governments. Many police officers are required to meet ticket quotas. This practice should be exposed and outlawed. Ticket revenue from the Highway patrol and the police departments should be published on a regular basis just like the stock market. A radar traffic citation should require a visible display of the clocked/locked in speed. There should be restrictions on the use the radar by municipal police departments while the sheriff’s department should be allowed to use radar if requested by citizens in a particular area. Back to top
Federal Law Enforcement: Federal Law enforcement includes FBI-BATF-IRS-DEQ-EPA-DEA-US
marshals … etc … many of these officials carry guns, enforce laws which
are void for vagueness, and have questionable jurisdiction. All the federal
agencies should be accountable to the local sheriff’s department, and other
local officials. Back to top
Mandatory Automobile Insurance : Generally oppose having the
government force citizens in the private sector to purchase a service that
they may not be able to afford. Another way to describe this practice would
be to call it a mandatory TAX AND SPEND GOVERNMENT PROGRAM. Once you accept
the reality that mandatory insurance is a GOVERNMENT PROGRAM, then
you can start looking for ways to achieve it. I believe that it is ideal
that everybody have insurance. My suggestion would be to establish a trust
fund and fund it with Speeding ticket revenue, gasoline taxes, highway
funds, etc. To draw from this fund, claims would be limited to $2000 and
you would have to pay $200/year insurance premium. Attorney fees would
be limited to 10%. Discounts for tags for insurance purchasers would be
part of the program. If you did not purchase insurance, you would ineligible
to file a claim on somebody else's insurance policy for anything. I totally
oppose having somebody's tag seized or car impounded because they couldn't
afford insurance. Any Politician who voted for a law like this should be
sued for malfieance in office for ignoring the 4th amendment to the US
Constitution, regarding protection against illegal searches and seizures.
If you are going to mandate that everybody buy insurance, then you need
to limit liability for claims, limit premium costs, limit attorney fee's,
etc. Otherwise all you are doing is building a feeding pool for insurance
companies, trial lawyers, and greedy plaintiffs too lazy to work. Back
to top
Illegitimacy-vs-Support for legitimate family unit : Thanks
to conservative’s; laws have been enacted which require people to work
after being on welfare for given period of time. Gone are the days when
a welfare Mama could have 10+ illegitimate children and have the government
subsidize them for 18 years. Still on the books are laws which will pay
for the birth of an illegitimate child and not for a legitimate child.
Still on the books are laws and programs that will feed an illegitimate
child while not feeding legitimate children. Still on the books are programs
which pay medical for illegitimate children. Thanks to Governor Fordice,
we now have the elimination of the marriage penalty on Mississippi income
tax returns. This, however is peanuts to the taxes couples pay in federal
income tax and property taxes. Much work is needed in this area.
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Racial Quota's : All hiring should be based on qualifications and not on racial quota's. All state programs should be structured such that they are not vunerable to the menace of racial quota's. Back to top
Mississippi's Boundaries: In 1990, a measure was placed
on the ballot which looked like routine repeal of horse and buggy type
legislation. This measure, which called for removing Mississippi's boundaries
passed along with several other measures. Removal of the state's boundaries
could down the road result in a total loss of state sovereignty. This same
measure should be placed back on the ballot where the people can reverse
the mistake and reinstate the state's boundaries. Back
to top
Tax Increases : Oppose all tax increases at all costs . PERIOD. Back to top
Preserve Mississippi’s State Flag:
Attacks by liberal multi-cultural advocates,
against our state flag cannot be tolerated. These multi-cultural liberals
are hell bent on destroying the
history and heritage of the great state of Mississippi. For over ten
years, a liberal negro legislator has
been introducing legislation to repeal our state flag.
We need state legislators who can commit in advance to
being in support of PRESERVING MISSISSIPPI'S FLAG.
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