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Jeffrey Dale Gregory (born July 14, 1958) is a Democratic Party candidate from North Carolina, who is running for the congressional seat of representation for the state’s 10th Congressional district. in the November election of 2010. He is a veteran of the Air force and a retired 31 year employee of the United States Post office. He is married for 31 years to Sonya McAbee Gregory, 49, with whom he has had two children, Stephanie Jeflyn Gregory, 25, an aspiring actress and horse back rider, and Jeffrey Michael Gregory, 22, a 2008 Appalachian State University graduate.

Early Life

Gregory, a Southern Baptist, was born in Kings Mountain, North Carolina and was raised there for most of his young life. He is the son of Spergeun Eugene Gregory, a local mill worker and farmer, and Sally Gregory, a house wife, and is fourth of their six children. His parents are now deceased.

Brought up in an economically low class family Gregory along with his father and two brothers worked in the local King’s Mountain textile mill for much of his high school years until his graduation from Kings Mountain High School in 1976. During high school Gregory met his wife, Sonya McAbee, who he married in 1978. After his graduation he entered into the United States Air Force which he served in for four year during which he served time on military bases in Okinawa, Japan, New Mexico, and Texas. During his time in the military he was awarded the Air Force Commendation Metal.

After his time in the military he returned to Kings Mountain and joined the United States Postal Service. It was at this time that he and his wife also had their two children. While in the service of the post office Gregory worked in many different cities Forest City, Gastonia, Spruce Pine, Brevard, and Shelby all within the state of North Carolina and eventually rose to the rank of Post Master with in the service.

Gregory worked in the postal service until 2009 in which he retired.

Political Career

Gregory’s first attempt at political office was in 1990 when he ran for city council in Kings Mountain, North Carolina in a non partisan election but lost and attempted to run once again in 1992 but failed to win once again. He was prevented to run for office in any other political position due to the Hatch act which restricted government employees such as postal workers from running for office.

Congressional Campaign

Jeffrey D. Gregory announced in 2009 that he would run for the Democratic Party in the 10th Congressional district election for the state of North Carolina. He has yet to win the parties nomination and currently has competition for the position.

Issues

Gregory plans to focus on many different issues during his congressional campaign, including

Heathcare Gregory’s stance on health care is that “we have the best healthcare in the world but we still need to look at it and fix what is wrong.” Gregory believes that the immediate plan for reforming health care that is being considered in the congress is not what is needed for the nation and that there needs to be a new and fresh look upon the issue from the “people’s perspective.”

Natural Resources Gregory’s stance on the usage of the nation’s national resources is that they need to be protected and “wisely managed.” He believes that the nation should balance the uage of locally available resources such as off shore oil and other available and cheap power sources, with the protection of our natural treasures and heritage. This should be done so that it will allow the nation to stay financially competitive within the world economy and allow us to become less dependant upon foreign oil sources while also protecting the environment for future generations.

Education As one of the issues that he cares for most Gregory said on education that “if you meet the requirements then school should be available to everyone” believing that the lack of financial requirements to attend college is no reason that someone should be denied the right to a higher education. He supports the assistance of college students when it comes to their loans. As well he has expressed a great level of concern over the high school drop out level of his district and believes that this issue must be addressed in order to keep its population competitive for employment opportunities.

Energy Independence “We must strive for it.” As said before the evaluation of local energy sources such as off shore oil and natural gases is one of the main stances that Gregory holds is the key to the end of foreign oil dependency. As someone who lived thru the gas shortages of the 1970s Gregory believes that America cannot remain dependant on foreign nation for its power source since there is no way to control that nation or governments stability. As for alternate resources he believes that we must search for them and that “though the price may be high we must look for them because what we have will eventually run out.”

Care for Veterans As a veteran himself Gregory has said that “Veterans are the most deserving members of our nation when it comes to the governments help.” Gregory supports educational, health, and other benefits for veterans regardless of anything and that they should be made undeniable under all circumstances.

National Security “It is one of our highest priorities. We have seen that no nation is immune to attack and that we must defend our national and international interests at all costs.” Gregory believes that though war is needed at times that it must be a last resort and must be done in a swift and precise manor allowing the nation to send in its troops and defeat the enemy and pull them out as fast as it can.

Taxes and Spending “Taxes must be reduced and Spending must be cut.” Gregory’s stance on the economy is that in this time of financial crisis the people need money and not the government, that higher taxes will on exacerbate the situation and drive the nation into deeper debt.

Jobs Due to the financial crisis Gregory believes that the nation has continued to steadily rise in unemployment and that his district in North Carolina has been hit the hardest of all since the loss of the areas textile mills. He states that the only way to recover is to create jobs that will be able to give the people the money that they need to survive. He as well supports the financial assistance and stimulus of both large and small business, but most especially small, by the government in order to keep them open and help them in the hiring and employment of more people. His stance is that jobs must be made available to everyone so that they can “live the American dream, to rise up from nothing to something.”

Farmers As the son and grandson of farmers Gregory supports the assistance of farmers in his district with financial help from the government in times of trouble and environmental stress.

Main Stance

In his campaign Mr. Gregory makes one thing clear above all is that he believes that the government has gone out of control and thinks that it must be run by the people and not the politicians. He believes that too many politicians have done what they wanted and not what the people wanted them to do and that it is their job to represent the people and not their own personal agendas and politics.