Issues for a Smart Future
The Upstate Jobs Party key issues reinforce our belief that people, not government, create the private sector jobs we must have to restore economic vitality to our region.
Our issues focus on enabling individuals to create well paying, innovation industry jobs – the surest path to building a foundation of renewal for Upstate New York’s families, as well as a sustainable, stronger America – an America rededicated to fulfilling its promise of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness for each and every individual.
Toward achieving those ends, the Upstate Jobs Party is committed to:
Elected officials have the power to convene – UJP backs candidates who will be active in bringing together the right people to have the right conversations about jobs.
• Identifying paths for collaborating across institutional and geographic boundaries to leverage common assets in helping grow new industry jobs.
• Forge consensus with leaders from industry and public institutions on priorities for regional collaboration.
• Get more of our successful entrepreneurs engaged in helping the next generation.
• Identify, track and promote metrics that bring visibility to our smart jobs baseline and progress.
• Bring visibility to our region’s successes in new industries by driving awareness through public remarks and personal interactions, as well as engaging traditional and new media.
Foster an environment that leverages private sector investment and faster growth by creating new companies and jobs in innovation industries.
• Catalyze economic growth by raising awareness of regional assets that can help grow more companies in the innovation industries where our best and brightest talent want to work.
• Showcase ways Upstate New York people, companies and local organizations can support entrepreneurs who are creating companies in new industries.
• Incentivize investment in emerging, innovation companies with smart growth policies.
• Break down regional and institutional boundaries that interfere with the job creator’s efforts to connect with resources they need to grow their companies.
• Drive funding and awareness of “Smart City” opportunities for local and regional governments to deploy technologies that can improve services, reduce costs, and attract new residents and visitors to our communities.
Develop and support those in our local workforce so they can pursue new industry careers here in Upstate New York.
• Help our primary and secondary schools adopt more effective and efficient use of digital tools, increasing student engagement and better preparing graduates for the rapidly evolving workplace.
• Fight adoption of Federal mandates, such as Common Core standards, that undermine the ability of local school districts to determine curriculum appropriate for their community.
• Help colleges advance student entrepreneurship, expanding pathways to connect emerging entrepreneurs with local business professionals.
• Spotlight Smart Jobs initiatives so that past graduates who have left the area know of the new opportunities that await them here.
Identify job-killing policies and mobilize support for common sense solutions that preserve the intent of helping those with needs.
• Inform voters and legislators about the unintended consequences of regulations that inhibit hiring and wage growth.
• Support efforts to bring local government services online that enable customer service, efficiency and public access to information.
• Create incentives to achieve efficiencies and reduced tax burden by regionalizing local government services.
Put an end to corporate giveaways, tax loopholes, and “pay to play” politics.
• Get government out of the business of picking winners. Private investors, not taxpayers, should be assuming the risks of helping companies develop their products and markets – that’s how our economy has always worked best.
• Bring transparency to public-funded economic development initiatives that are handing taxpayer dollars to private companies, and calculate the full cost of creating jobs.
• Fight to establish reporting mechanisms that insure whenever public-funded economic development is tied to expected job creation by private companies, such job creation is tracked and publicly disclosed on not less than an annual basis – to include comparison with the commitments made at the time of the original funding.
9 Upstate Jobs Party FAQs
