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Candidate Questionnaire

Name: Anthony McCarthy

Office Sought: Delegate

District: 44

Party Affiliation: Democrat

Have you previously held public office?

No

What is your Occupation?

Public Relations/Marketing executive and ordained minister

What are the three key issues of your campaign, and why are they important to the business community?

Unemployment, Education and Healthcare. All three issues if not remedied will have the impact of driving businesses out of the state of Maryland leaving citizens without options for a positive quality of life.

Why are you the best person to represent the people of your district?

I have a varied and diverse background in the public and private sectors. I believe that consensus can be found on issues of importance to all communities. We simply need visionary leaders in the legislature. I am such a visionary leader.

Fiscal Responsibility
Despite the temporary surplus resulting from robust economic expansion, funding of current state services and new accounting requirements impacting state retiree health insurance costs will consume all available state revenues. The State continues to have a long-term structural deficit.

Which of the following actions would you support to balance the state’s budget?
	Support	Oppose	Undecided
Contain state spending
Cut state spending
Avoid new unfunded or under-funded state spending mandates
Authorize slot machines
Increase taxes

More: My goal would be to make sure we look at current spending and revenue before increasing any taxes or fees. If a savings can be found in a particular area without compromising services, then that should be our first course of action.

Do you support any of the following measures to increase state revenue?
	Support	Oppose	Undecided
Income tax increase
Income tax increase on high wage earners
Corporate income tax increase
Sales tax increase
Broadening the sales tax base to include professional services
Regional sales tax increase for mass transit
Dedicating one cent of the existing sales tax to transportation and/or transit needs
Gas tax increase
No new spending mandates

Health Care Affordability
Health insurance costs are rising at levels nearly three times the overall rate of inflation. Employers and employees are increasingly unable or unwilling to purchase health insurance coverage as it is currently offered.

Which of the following steps do you support to make health care insurance more affordable and available?
	Support	Oppose	Undecided
Enact meaningful medical liability reform
Enact association health plan legislation
Reform the small group health plan
Enact a single-payer, government-run health care system
Review and repeal unnecessary health care mandates
Employers should contribute to HSAs and leave the health care decision to the individual
Tax employers who don’t offer health insurance, or whose plans don’t meet state requirements

Do you support expanding the “Wal-Mart bill” payroll tax to more employers in the future?

No. I believe the "best and brightest" leaders in the state can be more creative than putting precedent setting mandates on a particular employer to ensure health coverage for employees. I am uncomfortable with the door we are opening with this legislation. I support its intent - to ensure fair wages and medical coverage - but am uncomfortable with the constitutional questions raised by this action.

Civil Liability Reform
Maryland’s fair and predictable laws governing tort liability are an essential part of Maryland’s business climate, and are important in business retention and attraction.

Which of the following do you support?
	Support	Oppose	Undecided
Support reforms to civil liability law that will help moderate medical liability insurance rates
Restore the cap on non-economic damage awards in latent disease and latent injury cases
Enact legislation to provide reasonable limits for appeal bonds
Make it easier for a person filing suit to receive punitive damages
Lower caps on non-economic damages.

Miscellaneous

Do you support indexing Maryland’s minimum wage to inflation?

Yes. Creating a good and thriving business environment for our state requires that employees be valued and honored. This is clearly a way for us to ensure that we are always moving in the right direction when it comes to providing wages our citizens can thrive on, not simply survive on.

In 2004, Maryland de-coupled its state estate tax from the federal estate tax. Should this change be repealed to bring Maryland law back in line with the federal law?

No. I am a strong proponent of states functioning as independent of the federal government as possible. In this case, giving states the option of managing its estate tax laws is preferable to me.

Should the Governor be authorized to impose price controls when products are in short supply?

I would need some very good examples, and am open to education on this matter, when it would be appropriate to give such a broad and sweeping power to a chief executive.