By Bobby Tingle

 

Dayna Steele is running on a platform of healthcare plus education resulting in an equipped workforce.

Steele was in Orange Thursday and stopped for a visit at The Orange Leader office in the Dal Sasso building behind the new Burger King on MacArthur Drive.

Steele is running for United States Congress. She was elected by 72% of Democrat voters in the primary election held last spring.

Steele would like to represent all residents of United States House District 36 in the State of Texas.

Congressman Brian Babin currently serves as congressman for the area. He assumed office in January 2015.

Steele and Babin will face each other in the general election in November.

Steele’s priorities are commendable and logical.

To compete we need people who are healthy and productive in this district. To succeed people need the proper tools and training. When we provide others with good health and good education, Steele believes we will equip them for success in the workplace.

Who can argue against healthy, educated and productive citizens with a good job?

Steele did not ride in on a blue wave to Orange County.

The Democrat Party in Orange County has struggled for several years to post viable candidates for any office.

Nationally the party is hoping for a blue wave across the country creating a tidal surge of elected congressman returning control to the Democrat Party.

But in Orange County the chances look slim.

Steele seems confident in spite of the odds against her here.

Her priorities are excellent.

No one would argue with her priorities.

But the question is how we achieve her stated goals.

She provides an outline of her ideas at her website.

Her ideas to achieve healthcare goals include providing Medicare for all. She also wants to ensure preventive care, long-term care and pre-existing conditions coverage are available at affordable rates.

She proposes achieving education priorities by providing free internet and laptops to students whether young or old. She proposes free community college and career training. She wants to emphasize science, technology, engineering and math in her educational initiatives.

Once equipped she expects productive employees who are capable and willing to achieve employer’s desires. She also wants to ensure a decent wage by raising the minimum wage to $15.00 per hour. To ensure long-term effectiveness she proposes tax incentives to companies providing continued training and education of their workforce.

Steele also advocates for gun violence prevention, women’s rights, immigration law reform, equality for all, care for the environment, and adequate care for our current veterans while reducing the number of veterans we produce by avoiding unnecessary involvement in conflicts.

I suspect any political candidate for office could find some common ground in her goals.

Personally, while I agree with her goals, I disagree the federal government will ever find a way to accomplish these objectives.

The federal government is more of a hindrance to achieving goals.

Take for instance her suggestion of tax incentives to employers who provide training to their employees.

Providing training to employees by employers is beneficial. But why link behavior with tax rates?

Why not simply reduce taxes to all companies and allow each to determine how best to prosper their company.

Related to taxes the federal government should focus on spending less. A lot less!

Steele made the decision to run for office after meeting with a politically active group of 55+ women over a period of time.

The group was concerned when Babin ran unopposed in the last election. So they sought a candidate to counter him.

Steele emerged as the candidate.

Her home is in Harris County where she worked at a rock and roll radio station for 22 years. Her campaign headquarters is in Harris County with offices also in Newton and Polk counties. Her campaign is considering additional campaign offices in Orange, Liberty and Harris counties.

She wants to be available to the people of South East Texas she desires to represent.

Steele is open to a town hall meeting in Orange to allow area residents an opportunity to meet her and interact with the on the issues important to voters.

That is commendable.

Could the Democrat Party in Orange County make it happen?

We shall see.

Bobby Tingle is publisher of The Orange Leader. You can reach him at bobby.tingle@orangeleader.com.