Case releases economic agenda, calls for strong, effective leadership in Washington

For further information, contact:
Ed Case
808-888-9997
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

January 11, 2012
For Immediate Release

(Honolulu) U.S. Senate candidate and former U.S. Congressman Ed Case today released his economic agenda and called for strong, effective leadership to bridge the “yawning chasm” between business and government in order to effect change and grow the economy.

In remarks prepared for delivery at the Smart Business Hawaii conference, Case referenced his 30 years of firsthand business experience in Hawaii and his focus on small business as both a United States Congressman and Hawaii State Representative.

“Very few elected officials in our Hawaii and no other candidate in this critical race has lived and worked in these two very different worlds,” Case said. “No other candidate in this election has walked routinely through the ‘Valley of Death,’ as I always call it, the route between the worlds of business and government where neither has a clue about the other.”

He said that Hawaii voters have a choice. “It starts with the folks we send to DC to represent us. Send folks who are supported by the way things are in DC, who live and die by that culture, and we’ll get more of the same. Send folks who understand the business world and your challenges, and who are committed to a different way, and we can grow a critical mass inside the halls of Congress that can alter our country’s course.”

Case’s agenda for growing the economy features four main points:
• “To truly grow our economy, we must not only focus in on specific business initiatives but also squarely face all of our other challenges, especially balancing our federal budget.
• “Both nationally and locally, we should focus on the ‘Four Ts’ of tax reform, technology, trade, and talent in the workplace.
• “For Hawaii, we should focus not only on our bread and butter industries like tourism, but also on promising new export industries like green energy, health care and education.
• “We must focus always on the engine of growth, small business.”

“But an agenda doesn’t mean much unless it can be accomplished,” he said. “It comes down always to strong, effective leadership. That matters in both government and business: both thrive when they are led decisively and effectively, and both flounder when they are not.”

“Success in business is about breaking down barriers, about reaching across differences, about forging partnerships, about compromise where possible and reasonable. Why should government be any different?

But the most important ingredient is leadership, and that’s about making the decision.

We know from our business lives that there comes a time to make the call and move forward. We know that business owners who stall at the moment of decision fail. We all know that if decisions aren’t made as they become ripe, they fester, accumulate and overwhelm.

“This is our current path in Washington. I liken it to a busy air traffic controller; you have to land the planes. Today, we have the planes of tax reform, budget reform, Social Security reform, immigration reform, and so many other challenges, which have not benefited from strong effective leadership in Congress, are all stacked up in Congress, but the controllers, are unable or unwilling to land them.

“None of this can continue. Our country needs strong, effective leadership in Congress and that means change.”

###

Please click here to download this press release in pdf form.