“Putting First Responders First”

“Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the
blame for the past – let us accept our own responsibility for the future.” –JFK

“There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured with what is right in America.” “It is much more
important that we unite, harmonize and improve what we have than attempt to acquire more.” –Henry Clay

“A good compromise is where both parties are dissatisfied.” –Larry David

First Agenda

Put first responders first!

Defund the Police? No! Train the police to be paramedics. My belief is that if you carry a tool to take a life, you should have the tools to save a life. Let me be clear, I wholeheartedly support our police, I am seeking to elevate and take care of all our first responders.

Economic Recovery

Bring back our economy safely, efficiently and effectively, better than ever by investing in our communities.
Help small businesses recover by re-allocating more than $140 million in big corporate tax breaks.
Bring broadband internet to rural areas by using a mix of limited but targeted public sector help and encouraging private sector investment in new wireless technologies, (TV white spaces, satellite, etc).
Supporting and fully funding our postal service is vital to our economy, our seniors and our rural communities.
Expand affordable housing by targeted rezoning for developments, incentives for long term affordable rentals and working with groups like HousingNorth.org to find the best solutions to the issues.
Protect and restore our lakes, forests and flat lands and bring high paying, long lasting jobs in renewable energies. I will make no decisions regarding our environment without the 7th generation in mind.
Over 43% of our population is listed by United Way as ALICE (Asset Limited Income Constrained Employed). If we address the underlying causes of this, we will see our communities positively impacted in all areas

Healthcare Reform

Work to assure everyone has access to the basic human right of the best available healthcare.
Provide Safe and affordable in home health care, nursing home care, and prescription drugs.
Emphasize metrics based on patient care and outcomes with a focus on healing, recovery and health stability.
Expand Medicare/Medicaid to more people, allow them to negotiate prescription drug prices and reclassify ambulance services from a transportation service to a medical services to increase reimbursement to EMS.

Public Education Reform
Emphasize metrics focusing on life skills, critical thinking, social awareness, and personal achievements.
Increase funding for teachers, hire and train more teachers and assistants while reducing class sizes.
Cut strings attached to school funding and allow educators to create and adapt their own effective curriculum.
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Criminal Justice Reform
Implement more Public Safety Officers and work to move all emergency services under this umbrella.
Emphasize public servant mentality and focus training on de-escalation and peaceful conflict resolution.
Re-evaluate laws, no-knock warrants, civil forfeiture, cash bail bonds and mandatory minimum sentencing.

Endorsed by:

Pro Life MDFL, AFSCME Council 25, Michigan Nurses Association MNA, American Federation of Teachers

Michigan Education Association MEA, Michigan Professional Fire Fighters Union,

Michigan Health Choice Alliance, Rural Caucus MDP and more.

Warmest greetings,

I am a critical care nurse and paramedic now running for House of Representatives in Michigan district #105.
But why am I choosing to go from the most trusted profession to the least trusted?

Simply put, I have been serving our community on an individual basis, mostly our sick, elderly or injured, for
well over a decade. What I have noticed in those countless interactions is that our people are surviving but they are
struggling. I am running for office in an attempt to ease the collective suffering of our communities by bringing much
needed compassion and integrity to our local government. I will forever be a public servant, but look now to use the
skills I have learned as a health care professional, of listening, researching, and problem solving on a broader scale. I
look to advocate for everyone in our district and our state as I have advocated for every one of my patients. I want to
support all of our people, especially our marginalized communities, literal front line of EMS responders, all medical
health professionals, and essential workers. Whether you currently have a job or not, you ARE essential.

I am not interested in towing a party line, rather I hope to be the politician that inspires with not just words, but
motivates with action. I wish to be the public servant who delivers lasting solutions to our problems, well thought out
with bipartisan cooperation, wisdom and compassion. We can make Michigan the shining example that all other
states follow, with a simple re prioritization and focusing our efforts on providing three things; education,
healthcare, and equal opportunity to all of our people.

Most importantly I believe if we elect compassionate officials that have an understanding of the new challenges we face as well as new ideas for the old challenges, we will be better prepared as a society to tackle the systems and the
policies that have hindered our growth for far too long.

I am hopeful that we can make the painfully necessary changes to be the country we always hoped we could be!

Platform Expanded:

Healthcare Reform Never have we been more aware of the glaring disparities in our health care system, where many go without, and many more can’t afford to use the insurance they do have. Not having access to health care when you need it, hurts us all as it only serves to spread disease while costing us more in the long run. It is time we fix the many issues of our for-profit health care system. We need to guarantee:
Access to the best available health care and affordable prescription medications.
Access to safe and affordable in home healthcare or skilled nursing facilities when needed.
Access to healthy food and diet information regarding disease prevention and proper nutrition.
Access to clean, affordable drinking water and enforce strict penalties for those that undermine this right.
Implement a care giver tax credit to help ease the financial burden of caring for loved ones at home.
Promote and expand Tele-Health Care use, options and availability.
Establish a tele-triage system linked to 911 to divert non emergent patients from emergency services.

Public Education Reform We must make public education as fundamental as protecting our health care workers and supporting our farmers. It is vital to have plans already in place for extended absence, special needs, or our current outbreak situation. Distance learning is no longer a luxury of the future but a necessity for the present.
Expand online or phone options for students requiring isolation or special assistance.
Assure healthy meals provided by local farmers for students as this is an essential part of being able to learn.
Enforce proposal A and work to ensure that students in every district get equal funding.
Protect our minority groups including the LGBTQ community and increase accountability for persons committing hate crimes.
Offer affordable secondary and vocational education to all of our citizens.
Tackle the issues brought on by No Child Left Behind, and eliminate charter school funding from tax dollars.
Offer higher wages to encourage the most dedicated professionals apply to teach our children.

Protect and Promote EMS We must safe-guard and promote our literal front line of EMS workers and ensure they never go without the tools they need to treat our community safely and effectively. If they suffer, we all suffer. Michigan is retiring more paramedics than are being licensed every year, and most medics don’t have access to the State retirement system. The solution I propose addresses both issues WHILE saving the tax payer money as we move all of our emergency services under the umbrella of Public Safety Officers.
Assure adequate personal protective equipment (PPE) is readily available.
Reclassify emergency medical services as medical providers rather than the transportation service they are now.
Increase Medicare/Medicaid reimbursement to EMS to increase pay which helps with recruitment/retainment.
PSO’s lessen the burden on all three entities while addressing medic shortages and being fiscally responsible.
Requiring officers become EMT’s increases training and aims to recruit those with a public servant mentality.
Anyone patrolling should have life-saving equipment and knowledge. We required all professional fire fighters to become paramedics many years ago, there is no reason why we can’t require at least EMT of our police.
Detectives, special units, fire investigation, etc. still needed, but will incentivize hiring EMT’s and firefighters.

Criminal Justice Reform I fully support my brothers in blue and want to help with the negative public image they have been getting recently. I have worked beside them for years and can tell you their hearts are to serve their communities. Most of the calls they take are directly related to our mental health and addiction crisis. We need to do everything we can to help ease the burden on officers to allow them to focus on the bigger issues of preventing and solving crimes.

End our for-profit prison system, mass incarceration and mandatory minimum sentencing.
Reevaluate qualified immunity, no-knock warrants, civil forfeiture, cash bail bonds.
Increase funds for mental health services and addiction treatment centers to alleviate undue stress on officers.
Focus officer training on recognition and treatment of physical, mental health and addiction problems.
Add more social workers to police precinct payrolls to help lessen the burden on officers of followup calls.
Expand Public Safety Officers (PSO’s) and incentivise police to hire EMT’s and firefighters.

Address the Mental Health and Substance Abuse Crisis
I know first hand that our issue is not that we need more jails, but that we need a better mental health care and addiction
treatment system.
Most inmates have substance abuse issues, mental health issues, or both.
Incarceration is not the answer as most are non violent offenders posing no danger to the public.
We need to divert funds from mass incarceration to mass mental health treatment and rehabilitation. We also need Public Safety Officers that are professionals with a good understanding and recognition of mental health situations and highly trained in deescalation and peaceful conflict resolution.
We must work to eliminate the stigma of therapy and expand mental healthcare for everyone including our officers, EMS, firefighters and veterans.

Protect Nurses, Health Care Workers and Essential Workers Those not on the front line directly still need to be taken care of and properly protected, including ancillary health care workers, grocery store workers, truckers, janitorial staff and food workers. All workers are essential. I will work hard for:
Hazard pay increases and proper PPE based on level of contact.
Safe patient to provider ratios decided on by doctors and nurses, not administration staff.
Livable wages based on standard of living/inflation, and stop subsidies to big corporations that do not meet these standards.
Affordable housing, utilities and healthcare for all of our citizens.

Protect Woman and Mothers
Mothers are our truest heroes. We need to lessen the burden on all woman, especially single mothers trying to provide a
better life for their children. I will work to assure that all women have access to:
The best OB/GYN care and include feminine hygiene products in basic health care assurances.
Education, birth control, contraceptives and resources needed to plan for and raise a healthy, happy child.
Affordable childcare and assistance in attaining a secondary education or skilled training.

Take Care of Our Veterans
With many former and active military members in my family, I will work hard to support our troops and work to make
sure that they are taken care of when they are home, as well as abroad.
22 veteran suicides a day is unthinkable and we need to do everything we can to combat this problem.
There is a mental health crisis in our country effecting our military and first responders disproportionately.
Extend Veteran’s benefits to offer dental and expand mental health coverages to include alternate treatments.

Protect Our Environment
Regardless of what is causing climate change, there is no downside with moving to renewable energies. No longer is
our environment a separate issue but we are now fully aware of the dynamic connections to all aspects of our health,
our economy and the entire ecosystem. The protection, cleaning and rebuilding of our environment has to be a top
priority. I will make every decision with the 7th generation in mind and work to:
Keep our natural waters as clean as possible and hold people and businesses accountable for pollution.
Implement more renewable energies, bringing with it many permanent, high-quality jobs.
Protect our water rights and not let corporations profit from our resources without paying appropriate taxes.
Shut down Line 5 or require drastic improvement paid for by Enbridge with an added increase in accountability.
Remove harmful PFAS contamination from our drinking water and clean up Superfund and Brownfield sites.

Support Farmers
These hard working families give us our most basic necessity making them THE essential workers while providing jobs
and services that effect our entire economy. Many do not know how serious soil nutrient depletion is or how quickly it
is happening. We must do everything in our power to make sure our farms survive but also address the serious issue of
nutrient loss. I will work towards:
Incentives to grow food as natural and as local as possible and with out using harmful chemicals.
Promoting regenerative farming techniques like no-till, perennial and organic farming that builds back the soil.
Support to those growing their own food, promoting community gardens or starting farmers markets.
Assistance to any farm or small business struggling by creating a network of mentors and successful farmers and business owners looking to give back to their communities.

Workers Rights
It has become blatantly apparent that our economy rests solely on the backs of our workers. We must do all we can to
take care of our essential workers by offering:
Affordable quality housing based on income helping workers live closer to their jobs.
Increased paid sick leave, maternity leave and family medical leave.
Assistance to single mothers or fathers with child care, child rearing classes and counseling if needed.
Protect our unions and workers rights to unionize.

Protect the First and Second Amendment
I will work hard to assure our right to free speech and our right to bear arms is not infringed upon, but work with all
parties to make common sense laws that keep guns from the hands of small children, criminals and the mentally ill. I
will work for:
Common sense legislation aimed at safeguarding our rights while keeping us all safe in the process.
Work with any organization to come up with and implement agreed upon best practices.
At no time will I be “after anyone’s guns.” Responsible gun ownership is the goal.

Promote Tele-Health Care
Internet based video has shown to be helpful in lessening the burdens on our already strained healthcare system.
Expand tele-health care use, options and availability.
Establish a tele-triage system linked to 911 to divert non emergent patients from emergency services.

Address Pro Life/Pro Choice
I believe that most people want to see people choose life and understand that making it illegal only increases the number of dangerous abortions and complications. As sister Joan Chittister says, “I do not believe that just because you’re opposed to abortion, that that makes you pro-life. In fact, I think in many cases, your morality is deeply lacking if all you want is a child born but not a child fed, not a child educated, not a child housed. And why would I think that you don’t? Because you don’t want any tax money to go there. That’s not pro-life. That’s pro-birth. We need a much broader conversation on what the morality of pro-life is.” I will work hard to make abortion unnecessary by:

Providing education to our young adults and teens about options, contraceptives and the risks of abortion.
Bolster the alternatives by making adoption more affordable and accessible to qualified families.
Link our foster and adoption agencies to better serve both our children and adoptive parents.
The number one reason listed for abortion is “can’t afford a child.” By addressing the underlying issues of poverty and education I believe we can reduce abortions effectively to zero.

Address Our Infrastructure I will work hard to make sure our tax dollars are going towards their intended use and to:
Fix roads timely and efficiently while being fiscally responsible.
Utilize new technology for longer lasting roads, bridges and infrastructure.
Stop using salt on our roads in the winter. Salt negatively effects our environment, our vehicles and prematurely erodes our infrastructure. We have an abundance of sand, let’s use it. A beet brine sprayed on roads before storms lowers the freezing temperature of water to -20 degrees where as the use of salt only to -5 degrees.

Responsible Use of our Tax dollars I believe we are taxed enough and I will use the revenue we already collect as appropriately and efficiently as possible, to do the most good for the most people. I will also look for new revenue streams as we bring more businesses and industry to Michigan.

Affordable Auto Insurance and Registration Rates
Work on focused use taxation legislation.
Require corporations pay their fair share.

Politician Term Limits

I will fight for term limit reform and retirement plan reform for our politicians.

Promote Our Hunters

As an outdoor enthusiast, I support our local hunters and sportsmen and will work hard to protect our public lands and look out for their best interests. Lets be the good stewards of this land we put here to be.

Above all else I will fight to erase the imaginary divisions of race, class and political parties that keep us all separated, and work to build those connections that unite us all as one community. I look to have meaningful conversations with anyone, putting political affiliations aside and make your issues my issues. I don’t claim to have all the answers, but I promise to listen to your problems, hear your solutions and to fight with bulldog tenacity for our district and the great state of Michigan. I want to fight for you and your loved ones. For our future.

For Liberty. For Justice. For All.

Jonathan Burke, RN, EMT-P for MI House Rep. Dist. # 105

Qualifications:

Critical Care Nurse/Paramedic, Volunteer Fire Fighter.

Working class Jo(Nathan) from a working class family.

Endorsed by:

AFSCME Council 25

Michigan Nurses Association MNA

Michigan Education Association MEA

Pro Life MDFL

Rural MDP

Michigan Professional Fire Fighters Union American Federation of Teachers AFT Michigan