David Groner (Louisiana)

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David Groner

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David Groner was an Independent candidate for the 2011 special election to District 22 of the Louisiana State Senate. The special election primary took place on January 22.

A life-long resident of New Iberia, Groner graduated from New Iberia High School. He graduated from LSU Baton Rogue and the Louisiana State University law school. Following his graduation he went into private practice. Groner went on to serve as Chairman of Fireman and Police Civil Service and Chairman of the Industrial Development Foundation. During his tenure with the IDF, he helped secure the ARCO project at the Port of Iberia, which involved building gas compressors on Alaska's North slope. He was active in the Republican Party for many years, but changed his registration in opposition to GOP approval of increasing deficits. Goner is married to his wife, Carolyn.[1]

Campaign themes

2011

Groner's 2011 special election campaign site emphasizes several key policy positions and campaign themes:

  • Economic Development: "As former Chairman of the Iberia Industrial Development Foundation, I was directly responsible for the successful decision for the ARCO project to be sited in New Iberia in 1992. This led to the immediate creation of thousands of new jobs and 150 million dollars injected into our local economy.... I feel as Senator I can personally help new business and existing business get through the red tape in Baton Rouge and get the grants, financing, tax credits or whatever is needed to bring in new jobs or expand existing jobs."
  • Education: "Not all students who graduate from high school go to college, nor should they. Many very good jobs are available in our state if they just learned a skill or trade that could bring in good salaries and benefits. We need to address the needs of our local business and industry and focus on providing the necessary skills to our children so they can fill those jobs. Our primary education system has become a maze of regulation that comes from Baton Rouge or Washington. We need to let the teachers teach. Our local school boards understand the needs of our children better than high paid political appointees and bureaucrats. Our teachers need the tools and facilities to educate our children so they can have a future in today's changing world. Obviously good teachers need to be compensated, the bad teachers need to be eliminated and the principles need the authority to operate their schools."
  • Ethics in Government: "We have all heard about the new "gold standard" of ethics laws changes in Louisiana. The truth is that the new standards are simply gold plated, the ability to enforce is worse than the old ethics laws. Once elected, I will push for ethics law changes that provide actual enforcement and independence from the Governor or Legislature. Ethics laws must be enforced by a qualified system of independent judges with transparency so the public can be satisfied that politics does not interfere with enforcing good government."
  • Healthcare: "The fact is that healthcare costs go up every year and more and more people cannot afford their prescription medication or the cost of healthcare insurance... We must not allow our public hospitals to be taken advantage of by the federal government or by the state through uncompetitive regulation. Emergency room services must be provided by all hospitals on an even basis. If the federal government is going to require hospitals to treat indigent patients at the emergency room, then the cost for this treatment must be borne by the regulating agency. It is not fair that our local hospital is required to treat patients for free, when private hospitals have no such requirement...The fact is that most doctors live and practice near where that received their training, therefore keeping doctors in Louisiana means keeping their training here in Louisiana...We have to provide a dignified and adequate method to treat our poor and indigent patients. There has to be a unified effort by public and private facilities to share our responsibility to the poor and indigent."
  • Keep Senate District 22 Intact: "I oppose any attempt to split Iberia Parish in Senate District 22 and maintain that the traditional allocation of voters has served our district well for many years."
  • Oil and Gas Exploration: "We need to encourage more investors to support our industry as an increase in drilling supports our state's economy, our families and allows our community to have the funds to provide services for our citizens. I also recognize that we have to encourage diversity in our energy production and support the marriage of alternative energy with our need to drill for more oil and gas. Currently we import 70% of our crude oil from foreign counties, some of which turn around and provide financing to terrorist who want to kill us...My support of alternative energy does not extend to "Cap and Trade," which is not based on actual science, but is an attempt to further socialize our energy industry and cause higher taxes and higher fuel costs. We need to let private industry thrive and prosper, not punish those who are successful and bring us jobs and are the foundation of our economy."
  • Stop the Excess Spending: "We have to stop this insanity. Our state has to operate like we do in our families and in our homes. We should only spend what we bring in. The legislature has known for the past three years that our income is declining, yet they spent not only the money we have coming in, but spent one time money on recurring debt. They spent hurricane relief money like it was going to be with us forever. The end result is that next year we face the most serious fiscal crisis this state has ever seen. We are 1.8 billion dollars short of our usual operations of state government."
  • Conservative Issues: "As a lifelong resident of New Iberia I share the conservative moral values of my parents and teachers who raised me. I value the sanctity of life and am against abortion and am opposed to stem cell research with the use of a human fetus. I feel the Catholic Church has taken a leadership role in the protection of the unborn and I will follow the direction of the church in issues that come before the legislature...I will champion our constitutional right to bear arms and will protect our right to hunt and fish...I fully support our troops but question the wisdom of the United States being called in as the peacekeeper of the world. We have many problems here at home to take care of, we should only send our troops to war when the safety and security of our country is at risk."

Elections

2011

See also: State legislative special elections, 2011

Groner was defeated by Fred Mills, Jr. in the District 22 special election for the Louisiana State Senate. The special election primary took place on January 22. All candidates, regardless of affiliation, appeared on the ballot. Since Mills received more than 50% of the votes, the election will not proceed to a runoff.[2][3]

Candidates:

Contact

Address:

David Groner Campaign

230 W. Main Street

New Iberia, LA 70560

Phone: 337-364-3693

Fax: 337-367-2438

Email: To email the campaign, use the webform here.

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Campaign Site, "Meet David"
  2. ↑ The Advertiser, "Mills Wins State Senate Seat In Special Election, Avoids Runoff" January 22, 2011
  3. ↑ Louisiana Secretary of State, "Candidate Information"


Current members of the Louisiana State Senate
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Senate President:Cameron Henry
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Ed Price (D)
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Adam Bass (R)
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Republican Party (28)
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