Norfolk Daily News US Senate Candidate Questionnaire for Steve Larrick Nebraska Green Party, U.S. Senate Candidate

1. NAME AND COMPLETE MAILING ADDRESS AND TELEPHONE: Steve Larrick, 920 South 8th Street, Lincoln, NE 68508; 402-435-5612.

2. PERSONAL BACKGROUND (tell us about your family, education, what you do or did for a living, what organizations you belong to, etc.)

I was born in Colorado Springs in 1952, where my father was a U.S. Army Medic at Fort Carson caring for badly wounded soldiers from the Korean War. We moved to Omaha, Nebraska, in 1966 and I graduated from Omaha Westside High School in the top ten percent of my class in 1970. I graduated from Grinnell College with a BA degree in Economics in 1974 and from the University of Alberta in 1988 with an MSc degree in Rural Sociology, focusing on sustainable agricultural development. From there, I worked in international development for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome, Italy. I have over 20 years experience in Community Development in Nebraska – five years with the Nebraska Department of Economic Development, 13 years with the UNL College of Architecture, a year with the USDA Farmers Home Administration in Scottsbluff, a year with the Rural Home Repair Program in eastern Nebraska, and a variety of other community development projects. I am a three-time president of the Nebraska Chapter of the Community Development Society, long-time board member of the Nebraska Division of the United Nations Association – USA, a long-time supporting member of the Center for Rural Affairs, and a long-time member of Nebraskans for Peace.

3. PREVIOUS ELECTIVE OFFICES HELD (if any) OR PERTINENT RELATED EXPERIENCE:

I have served as an elected representative of the Lower Platte South Natural Resource District since 2002. In more than 20 years of community development experience with the Nebraska Department of Economic Development, the UNL College of Architecture, and other agencies, I’ve worked with grassroots community leaders to meet challenges across the state of Nebraska. I ran the All-Nebraska Community (ANC) program for five years, working with representatives of scores of communities and representatives of more than ten different state agencies working to improve the quality of life in Nebraska communities. I returned to graduate school to study sustainable agriculture and community development and was able to use these experiences working for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) at the UN World Food Day Secrtariat on their global anti-hunger campaign in 1989-1990 on the theme of FOOD AND THE ENVIRONMENT.

4. WHAT ARE THE TWO MOST IMPORTANT ISSUES FACING THE UNITED STATES AND HOW WOULD YOU ADDRESS THEM?

Our two most important issues in the United States are: (1) the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and impending wars in Iran, Pakistan and Venezuela; and (2) the need to redirect our nation’s war spending toward our Green Economic Revival Plan. We need to phase out these wars as soon as possible and redirect our nation’s resources toward creating Green Jobs in a Healthy Green Economy. We will bring young people back to our communities to work on building the renewable energy infrastructure of wind, solar and other locally available clean energy sources and conserving energy by insulating all homes, and building more energy-efficient buildings and vehicles. We will put people to work rebuilding our declining infrastructure and redeveloping our public transportation systems for future generations.

5. BRIEFLY SUMMARIZE YOUR POSITION ON THE FOLLOWING ISSUES:

Abortion – We need to prevent unwanted pregnancies. We don’t need to criminalize millions of women, doctors and nurses. We don’t need back-alley coat-hanger abortions. I support a woman’s right to make her own decisions rather than using the force of big government.

Federal farm policy – I support research to reduce our dependence on petroleum-based agrichemicals for productivity. We need research to improve organic food production systems that build the health of organic soil while producing healthier foods. We need to make sure that public power states like Nebraska are not restricted from participating in all Federal renewable energy tax credit programs.

Federal spending – I support a balanced budget. To balance our Federal budget, we need to restore tax rates used by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in the 1950s, when we had a balanced budget and a growing economy. Our war-related spending has skyrocketed to over $1 trillion per year and now needs to be redirected toward more peaceful and sustainable development initiatives.

U.S. economy – I reject the current $700 billion blank check bailout being demanded by U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, former CEO of Goldman Sachs, an investment bank at the heart of our financial crisis. We need full public oversight over a Green Economic Revival Plan that would protect individual bank accounts, retirement plans, municipal bonds and insurance policies, but not the CEOs who brought on this financial crisis through short-sighted greed-fueled deregulation. Deregulation by Repubicans and Democrats has removed protective firewalls in our financial system, causing our current economic meltdown. My Green Economic Revival Plan calls for investment in Green Jobs that boost our economy while building a healthier economy and environment for future generations.

Education – College education is more important than ever and yet is becoming less affordable to more young people. We need to provide all qualified students with a college education, as European countries do. We can do this by redirecting some of our currently bloated $1 trillion per year expenditures on war-related spending.

Health care – We need universal single-payer health care for all of our people. Canada and Europe already provide health care for all their people at 60 percent of the cost of our inefficient system with better health outcomes for their people. Already, 60 percent of the U.S. health care system is publicly funded if you include medicare, medicaid, veteran health benefits and health care tax deductions. A single-payer public system would be cheaper, more efficient, and would provide health care coverage for all our people. This will help our people and our business community.

Immigration – We need a more humane immigration policy. In all international trade agreements, we must protect working people and the environment so corporate globalization does not lead to economic and environmental devastation around the world. This would greatly reduce the flow of economic refugees into the United States. People around the world could move toward economic prosperity and environmental health in their own communities around the world.

The war in Iraq – This has been a disaster for Iraqis and for Americans from beginning to end. Private military contractors are profiting at the expense of people all around the world. We need to end the senseless, illegal and immoral war in Iraq and redirect our nation’s resources away from wars over oil toward a clean, renewable energy future for all humanity. America can be the leader in renewable energy from the sun, wind and other renewable resources if we retool our educational system for a Green Energy Future. We can end wars over oil and give our children the educational tools to invent the renewable energy systems that save our planet for future generations.

Social Security – Social Security should be safe through 2040, but to assure longer-term solvency, we need to increase the upper limit of taxable incomes.

Taxes – Taxes are needed to build a more peaceful world and to implement our Green Economic Revival Plan. If we vote for the Green Party, future generations will look at what we’ve created with these public investments and they will thank us for supporting the Green Party’s plan for the peaceful development of a clean, renewable energy economy for the 21st century.

6.ANY ADDITIONAL INFORMATION YOU’D LIKE VOTERS TO KNOW:

The Nebraska Green Party is more than an “alternative” party. It is the IMPERATIVE PARTY. It is imperative that we redirect our nation’s economy away from perpetual wars over oil. We need to redirect our nation’s resources toward renewable energy education so our young people can spend their lives inventing and building the clean and renewable Green Energy Economy of the 21st century and beyond. With a growing global population of more than 6.8 billion people and a declining natural resource base to work with, it is essential that we move as quickly as possible toward a clean and renewable Green Energy Economy that revitalizes our family farms, rural communities, nations and global community. By voting Green, you are NOT throwing away your vote. You are building a global Green Movement working in over 80 countires for world peace and clean, renewable energy economies that meet the needs of current generations without depleting natural resources needed by future generations. GREEN VOTES COUNT MORE THAN EVER IN THIS ELECTION!