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Unger attended both the University of Hong Kong and Georgetown University School of Law. He then earned his B.A. from West Virginia University in 1993. He went on to receive his BA/M.A. from the University of Oxford in 2004.
Unger was a Missionary for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hong Kong in 1988, and again from 1990 to 1991. He also worked as Special Assistant to the Director for the United States Refugee Program in Hong Kong from 1989 to 1991. In 1991 he was a member of United Nations Operation Provide Comfort. He was also Liaison Coordinator for the Non-Governmental Organization/Private Voluntary Organization in the United States Agency for International Development Disaster Assistance Response Team in 1991. From 1991 to 1993 he was coordinator and founder of the West Virginia University Office of Service Learning Programs. Unger was Chief of Staff in the Hong Kong Legislative Council for Councilor Simon Ip from 1994 to 1995. He then worked as vice president of Community and Economic Development for Van Wyk Enterprises from 1996 to 1998. In 2000 and 2001 he worked as Non-Governmental Organization/National Guard Liaison Coordinator. Unger became Director of Communications for Save the Children International, Iraq in 2003. Since 1998 he has worked as producer and host of WEPM Panhandle Live Talk Show. He became Senior Advisor of Homeland Security and Economic Development for Edgerton, Germeshausen and Grier, Incorporated/United Research Services, National Energy Technology Laboratory in 2003 and has worked there since.
Chair, Homeland Security Economic Development Commission, 2004-present
Member, Berkeley County Democratic Executive Committee
Former Member, Enrolled Bills Committee, West Virginia State Senate
Former Member, Pensions Committee, West Virginia State Senate
Legislative Leader, United States Delegation to Nigeria, United States Agency for International Development/Nigeria and National Conference of State Legislatures-Democracy and Governance Program, Nigeria
Member, West Virginia State Democratic Executive Committee
Chair, State Disaster Recovery and Reconstruction Committee, 2004-2006
Assistant Logistical Coordinator, International Rescue Committee, United Nations Operation Provide Comfort, 1991
Member, Agriculture and Rural Development Committee
Member, Education Committee
Member, Finance Committee
Member, Health and Human Resources Committee
Member, Interstate Cooperation Committee
Member, Joint Committee on Children and Families
Member, Joint Committee on Education
Member, Joint Committee on Finance
Member, Joint Committee on Health
Member, Joint Committee on Interstate Cooperation
— Awards:
1. Abortions should always be illegal.
- No Answer
2. Abortions should always be legal.
- No Answer
3. Abortions should be legal only within the first trimester of pregnancy.
- No Answer
4. Abortions should be legal when the pregnancy resulted from incest or rape.
- No Answer
5. Abortions should be legal when the life of the woman is endangered.
- X
6. Prohibit public funding of abortions and to organizations that advocate or perform abortions.
- No Answer
7. Require clinics to give parental notification before performing abortions on minors.
- No Answer
8. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer
1. Education (Higher)
- Slightly Increase
2. Education (K-12)
- Slightly Increase
3. Environment
- Maintain Status
4. Health care
- Slightly Increase
5. Law enforcement
- Slightly Increase
6. Transportation and Highway infrastructure
- Slightly Increase
7. Welfare
- Maintain Status
8. Emergency preparedness
- Slightly Increase
9. Other or expanded categories
- Greatly Increase Senior health /pharmaceutical-prescription drug assistance and independent living initiatives.
1. Alcohol taxes
- Slightly Increase
2. Capital gains taxes
- Slightly Decrease
3. Cigarette taxes
- Slightly Increase
4. Corporate taxes
- Slightly Decrease
5. Gasoline taxes
- Maintain Status
6. Income taxes (incomes below $75,000)
- Slightly Decrease
7. Income taxes (incomes above $75,000)
- Maintain Status
8. Property taxes
- Greatly Decrease
9. Sales taxes
- Maintain Status
10. Vehicle taxes
- Slightly Decrease
11. Other or expanded categories
- Eliminate Food tax, especially on healthy foods.
12. Should the state sales taxes be extended to Internet sales?
- Undecided
13. Should accounts such as a "rainy day" fund be used to balance the state budget?
- No
14. Should fee increases be used to balance the state budget?
- No
15. Other or expanded principles
- Implement results-based budgeting reforms that is more responsive to the people by focusing on the results they want from their government.
1. Do you support the current limit of terms for West Virginia governors?
- Yes
2. Do you support limiting the number of terms for West Virginia state senators and representatives?
- Undecided
1. Individual
- Yes
2. PAC
- Yes
3. Corporate
- Yes
4. Political Parties
- Yes
5. Do you support requiring full and timely disclosure of campaign finance information?
- Yes
6. Do you support imposing spending limits on state level political campaigns?
- Yes
7. Do you support adopting statewide standards for counting, verifying and ensuring accuracy of votes?
- Yes
8. Do you support prohibiting media exit polling of voters until all polling locations in West Virginia are closed?
- Yes
9. Should West Virginia recognize civil unions between same-sex couples?
- No
10. Should racetracks be able to offer casino-style table games?
- No
11. Should the use of eminent domain be restricted to seizures of property necessary for public use?
- Yes
1. Other or expanded principles
- Government reforms that use market forces to define define public goals and then equip people with the tools they need to solve their own problems and prosper.
1. Increase state funds for construction of state prisons and hiring of additional prison staff.
- X
2. Implement the death penalty in West Virginia.
- No Answer
3. Support programs to provide prison inmates with vocational and job-related skills and job-placement assistance when released.
- X
4. End parole for repeat violent offenders.
- X
5. Implement other penalties than incarceration for certain non-violent offenders.
- No Answer
6. Decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana.
- No Answer
7. Strengthen penalties and sentences for drug-related crimes.
- X
8. Minors accused of a violent crime should be prosecuted as adults.
- X
9. Require that crimes based on race, ethnic background, religious belief, sex, age, disability, or sexual orientation be prosecuted as hate crimes.
- No Answer
10. Increase state funding for community centers and other social agencies in areas with at-risk youth.
- X
11. Increase state funding for state and local emergency agencies to prevent or respond to terrorism.
- X
12. Increase sentences on sex offenders.
- X
13. Support the restriction of the sale of products used to make Methamphetamine (e.g. tablets containing Pseudophedrine, Ephedrine and Phenylpropanolamine.)
- X
14. Other or expanded principles
- Increase support for community-based crime-fighting initiatives that make streets, neighborhoods, and public places safe for law abiding citizens.
1. Support national standards and testing of public school students.
- X
2. Provide parents with state-funded vouchers to send their children to any public school.
- No Answer
3. Provide parents with state-funded vouchers to send their children to any private or religious school.
- No Answer
4. Increase state funds for school capital improvements (e.g. buildings and infrastructure).
- X
5. Increase funds for hiring additional teachers.
- X
6. Support teacher testing and reward with merit pay.
- No Answer
7. Endorse voluntary prayer in public schools.
- X
8. Require public schools to administer high school exit exams.
- No Answer
9. Provide state funding to increase teacher salaries.
- X
10. Increase funding for Head Start programs.
- No Answer
11. Provide state funding for tax incentives and financial aid to help make college more affordable.
- X
12. Support sexual education programs that include information on abstinence, contraceptives, and HIV/STD prevention methods.
- No Answer
13. Support abstinence-only sexual education programs.
- No Answer
14. Other or expanded principles
- Raising schools' performance and closing the achievement gap by setting higher standards and holding schools accountable for students achieving them.
1. Increase funding for state job-training programs that retrain displaced workers and teach skills needed in today's job market.
- X
2. Reduce state government regulations on the private sector in order to encourage investment and economic expansion.
- X
3. Provide low interest loans and tax credits for starting, expanding, or relocating businesses.
- X
4. Provide tax credits for businesses that provide child care for children in low-income working families.
- X
5. Increase state funds to provide child care for children in low-income working families.
- X
6. Include sexual orientation in West Virginia's anti-discrimination laws.
- No Answer
7. Increase the state minimum wage.
- No Answer
8. Other or expanded principles
- Working families not only need health insurance, child care, transportation assistance, but also decent, affordable housing.
1. Public employment
- No Answer
2. State college and university admissions
- No Answer
3. State contracting
- No Answer
4. Other or expanded principles
- No Answer
1. Promote increased use of alternative fuel technology.
- X
2. Support increased production of traditional domestic energy sources (e.g. coal, natural gas, and oil).
- No Answer
3. Use state funds to clean up former industrial and commercial sites that are contaminated, unused, or abandoned.
- X
4. Increase funding for improvements to West Virginia's power generating and transmission facilities.
- X
5. Support funding for open space preservation.
- X
6. Enact environmental regulations even if they are stricter than federal law.
- No Answer
7. Other or expanded principles
- Support increase funding for farm land protection and historical preservation.
1. Maintain and strengthen the enforcement of existing state restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns.
- No Answer
2. Ease state restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns.
- No Answer
3. Repeal state restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns.
- No Answer
4. Allow citizens to carry concealed guns.
- No Answer
5. Require background checks on gun sales between private citizens at gun shows.
- No Answer
6. Require a license for gun possession.
- No Answer
7. Other or expanded principles
- Support 2nd Amendment rights and state laws on the purchase and possession of guns. Strengthen laws against convicted felons who use guns to commit crimes.
1. Ensure that citizens have access to basic health care through managed care, insurance reforms, or state-funded care where necessary.
- X
2. Transfer current Medicaid recipients into managed care programs.
- No Answer
3. Limit the amount of punitive damages that can be awarded in medical malpractice lawsuits.
- No Answer
4. Support patients' right to sue their HMOs.
- No Answer
5. Guaranteed medical care to all citizens is not a responsibility of state government.
- No Answer
6. Legalize physician assisted suicide in West Virginia.
- No Answer
7. Allow doctors to prescribe marijuana to their patients for medicinal purposes.
- No Answer
8. Other or expanded principles
- Increase state funding for health workers to recognize and respond to the release of biological agents or spread of pandemic flu.
1. Support increased work requirements for able-bodied welfare recipients.
- X
2. Increase funding for employment and job training programs for welfare recipients.
- X
3. Increase access to public transportation for welfare recipients who work.
- X
4. Redirect welfare funding to faith-based and community-based private organizations.
- No Answer
5. Use federal TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families) funds to extend health and child care subsidies to the working poor.
- X
6. Support marriage promotion programs for welfare recipients.
- No Answer
7. Eliminate government-funded welfare programs.
- No Answer
8. Other or expanded principles
- Allow for funding to go to faith-based and community-based organizations.
On an attached page, disk, or via email, please explain in a total of 75 words or less, your top two or three priorities if elected. If they require additional funding for implementation, please explain how you would obtain this funding.
- 1. Investment in our state's educational and health care infrastructures in order to equip our students and workers with the 21st Century skills, creativity, and health support needed to meet the demands of new economy.
2. Investments in our state's economic infrastructure (roads, water & sewer, broadband connectivity) to allow our businesses to grow, innovate and compete in the world market.
3. Modernize our tax system to ensure such investments in our state's infrastructures occur so our people have financial security through quality jobs that improve the quality of life for all West Virginians.
Type: resolution Chamber: upper
Type: resolution Chamber: upper
Type: resolution Chamber: upper
