AL House Of Representatives District 94

Margaret "Maggie" Helveston

I was born in New York City and grew up there. After a brief interlude of traveling around and being a hippie, I found that I preferred hills and meadows to skyscrapers and concrete canyons, so I moved to a small community in upstate New York, where I remained until my husband and I retired and took up residence here in Fairhope some years ago.

My first job was as a maid in what was then called a “beauty salon” – sweeping up hair, cleaning brushes, and running errands. Over time, I learned to “run the desk” – making appointments, running the cash register, and earning my first raise! Working at various jobs, (except for the above referenced sabbatical from ’68 -‘70) I attended and graduated from nursing school in 1974. I worked in the operating room as a scrub nurse and continued my education. In 1984 I graduated cum laude from Binghamton University earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology. I next attended Syracuse Law School where I earned my Juris Doctor in 1988. After some years in private practice, I accepted a position in the Family Court as a Court Attorney/Referee. I left the bench after 21 years and, with my husband, Leo, have spent the last six years enjoying the people, sights, sounds and flavors of beautiful Fairhope.

When I am not reading, painting or cooking, I am a faithful servant to 6 cats, our dog, Maggie, having passed away just this year.

I am running for this office because I believe voters should have choices and, as a Libertarian, I offer the choice of a pragmatic representative who is fiscally conservative, socially liberal, who opposes the initiation of violence to achieve social or political ends, and who supports the entire Bill of Rights – no exceptions. I have been a member of the Libertarian Party since 1984, during which time I was also a member of my state’s party, first in New York and now in Alabama.

If you are not satisfied with the candidates running under the usual “red” or “blue” banner, cast your vote for a Libertarian candidate. Vote Gold this time.

Margaret "Maggie" Helveston

Issues

School Taxes

So long as there are taxes appropriated and being disbursed for educational purposes, the money should follow the student, not the school system. This gives greater educational choice to parents and makes possible a variety of alternative schools rather than our current inadequate public school system.

Grocery Taxes

Currently, unlike most states, we have a sales tax on groceries which, naturally, impacts the lowest income people the hardest.

Libertarians recognize that taxation, properly understood, is theft. Some government entity demands money from you and, if you fail to pay, you will be hurt. Padlocking your business, freezing your bank accounts, seizing part of your paycheck, confiscating your home - not to mention imposing fines and penalties putting you further into the hole - are some of hurts that will be inflicted upon you. In the case of grocery taxes, it limits the amount of money which can be budgeted for food.

Games of Chance
Adult gambling is a consensual activity. Many humans love to gamble. From the office sports pool, to the penny ante poker game, to the church bingo hall, to the casinos, to the stock market, people like to place bets on what they think might happen. Here in Alabama, folks just pop over into one of the surrounding states to buy lottery tickets - and contribute to the other state’s budget.
Grocery Taxes vs. Games of Chance

The grocery tax generates about $500 million per year which is earmarked for education. A recent report to the governor projected between $500 and $700 million in revenue would be generated from a lottery and some limited forms of gambling.

State run lotteries, slot machines, e-sport betting, etc. are beneficial in two ways:

  1. All actions are consensual. No state representative is going to come to your home or business to compel you to buy a ticket to the lottery, or place a bet on a team to win, or put currency into a machine.
  2. As in any form of gambling, the odds favor the house. States do not lose money running lotteries. There is no reason to conceal this, or pretend that it is anything other than a way for the state to raise money. One can choose to participate or not.
Recreational Marijuana

Last month, West Alabama Narcotics Task Force agents carried out a search warrant at the home of 35-year-old man, finding 34 pounds of marijuana, 29 pounds of marijuana edibles, and a bunch of cash. The court levied a $4.6 million bond on the accused for possession of drugs and bunch of US currency.

Do you really think this is a wise use of tax money - to deprive a person of his liberty and destroy his apparently thriving business (because you may not approve of his product) or would you rather policing and prosecutorial dollars be directed to criminals who prey upon their fellow humans (hurt them/steal their stuff) rather than fulfill the demands of the marketplace?

We could eliminate the black market in marijuana - and the violence that inevitably escalates during times of prohibition - by legalizing weed for adult recreational use.

Medical Marijuana

Early in the 2021 legislative session, after years of activist efforts, medical marijuana legislation finally was passed in Alabama and was shortly signed into law.

The law which passed punted all the details to a “commission” that was expected to implement the law by “fall of 2022.” They didn’t exactly get right to work.

Will patients be permitted to grow, possess, smoke or ingest any actual marijuana? No. They will be allowed access to highly processed cannabis creams, oils, tinctures and suppositories. If you are a patient hoping for some kind of relief soon, you’re out of luck. The chair of the commission, John McMillen’s, most recent prediction for when patients might be able to fill a prescription is “sometime in 2024.”

Your legislators should have done the hard work on the details, rather than passing them off to an unelected “commission.” I am willing to work with my fellow legislators to pass complete bills rather than “frameworks.”

Previous
Next

Contact

Scroll to Top