Where they stand: 4th District Congressional candidates

Editor's note: The Journal asked each of the candidates for the District 4 congressional seat to identify and comment on the five issues they think are key in the June 3 election. For the candidates' complete responses, see the Election 2008 link at AuburnJournal.com.----------Charlie Brown, DemocratIRAQ/WAR ON TERROR: As a career military officer who coordinated intelligence flights in the middle east, and father of an active duty Air Force pilot who has served four rotations in Iraq, my approach is grounded in real world experience defending our country and first hand understanding of our military and the threats we face. In just five years, the miscalculations of Washington politicians have strained our military to its breaking point, alienated many longtime allies, emboldened Iran, and left Al Qaeda's home base of Afghanistan vulnerable to a resurgent Taliban. By any measure, our troops have performed brilliantly in Iraq, but the current open-ended blank check policy is both unsustainable and the wrong prescription for the centuries old sectarian divisions fueling the violence. Ending the war responsibly demands robust regional diplomacy and enforceable benchmarks that require Iraq's politicians to pay their fair share, manage internal security and do the hard work of political reconciliation. By requiring Iraq's politicians to stand up, we can give the Iraqi people a real chance at lasting stability and bring our troops home---so they can be rested, well equipped and ready for re-deployment to the real front lines against global terrorism---starting in Afghanistan. PATRIOTISM BEFORE PARTISANSHIP: When you raise your hand - you don't swear to defend a political party. You don't promise to protect a special interest or a campaign contributor. You promise to put America's interests first. And for this career officer, there's only one way to judge allegiance to those values---results. But we don't see results in Washington right now. Instead, we see politicians putting partisanship ahead of solving America's problems. The evidence is all around us – an economy headed towards recession, skyrocketing gas prices and healthcare costs, out of control government spending, a record number of foreclosures, a mismanaged war in Iraq that has stretched our military to its breaking point and left hundreds of thousands of veterans behind here at home, and 35 years of outright neglect on our borders. That's why in this campaign we have not waited until January of 2009 to make a difference. We've led by example, giving 5% of every dollar we raise to veteran service organizations that serve veterans and families in need here in the 4th District. And we gotten results, so far, we've donated over $20,000 and helped six organizations that help hundreds of veterans and families.RESTORING ECONOMIC PROSPERITY: The failed economic policies of the last 8 years have mortgaged our children's future and pushed the American Dream beyond the reach of millions who work hard and play by the rules. The government must execute the fundamentals to get our economy back on track. We need to balance the budget. We need to provide permanent tax relief to those who need it most---middle class families and small businesses. We must take action to solve the problems undermining the financial security of American families and the competitiveness of American businesses--- skyrocketing healthcare costs, record energy prices, and flawed trade policies. We must also make long overdue investments in our crumbling infrastructure, educating the next generation of American innovators, and the development of new energy, potentially life saving medical research, and green collar technologies that can create millions of good paying new jobs. ENERGY INDEPENDENCE/CLIMATE CHANGE: Eight years ago, gas $1.46 a gallon. Now it's $3.89 in California and rising every day. Crude oil costs more than $120 per barrel. We import more mid-east oil now than we did on 9/11. The Naval War College has identified Global Warming as the greatest strategic threat facing America. We are now paying the price for failed policies. We need to stop talking about it and make America energy independent. Over the short term, we can expand supply by investing in domestic refining capacity and reduce demand by creating incentives for the development and consumption of renewable energy. Congress should take these steps immediately. Over the long term, government needs to stop subsidizing the record profits of oil companies and reinvest those resources in a clean energy future that creates thousands of new jobs. On Climate Change, innovation can solve the problem, create thousands of new jobs and ensure America's place on the cutting edge of the global economy of the 21st Century. That's why in Congress, I will fight to expand science and math education, create tax incentives that promote conservation, and support the work of innovators developing market ready green technologies here in CD4, and across the country. LOCAL LEADERSHIP: I am the only candidate in this race to have lived, worked and raised my family here in the 4th District. I have worked with local law enforcement and taught in our local schools. For 17 years, I have been proud to call Placer County my home, and I understand the diverse set of challenges facing our community first hand. We need to address our long-term water storage and catastrophic flood protection needs, ensure sustainable management of federal forest lands, continued modernization of our roads and highways, the stewardship of one of our country's most prized tourist destinations, and the funding shortfalls that continue to plague our rural schools. Placer Country isn't just important to California, it's vital to America. That's why as your Congressman I will fight for the resources we need to fund our rural schools, prevent catastrophic wildfires and floods, and to meet our obligations as a major thoroughfare for interstate commerce, international tourism, and California agriculture—which doesn't just feed America, it feeds the world. ----------Suzanne Jones, RepublicanTAXES & ECONOMY: Reform tax code, reduce tax rates, eliminate AMT (Alternative Minimum Tax). Not just lower taxes, but fairer taxes. Lower tax burden stimulates the economy. Reward the producers, grow the economy, increase revenues to treasury.BORDER SECURITY: Build the fence — now. Eliminate incentives that bring illegals pouring across the border; allow guest workers; no amnesty; no sanctuary cities.VETERANS: Keep our promises to veterans, retirees and surviving spouses. Drastic reform needed in VA (Veterans Affairs) system.STAND FOR PRINCIPLES: Bring common sense to government and return conservatism to the party. Unite and revitalize the party.----------Tom McClintock, RepublicanIMMIGRATION: I am running with the endorsement of Tom Tancredo and intend to carry on his fight to stop illegal immigration. The border fence must be completed without further delay; the military should supplement border patrol enforcement; illegals encountered through law enforcement or social service agencies should be deported; sanctions against employers of illegals should be rigorously enforced. GOVERNMENT SPENDING: I have proposed billions of dollars of spending reductions in the state budget and seek to do the same in Congress. I've signed the "No Tax Pledge" of Americans for Tax Reform and the "Earmarks Reform Pledge" of Citizens Against Government Waste. REDUCE GOVERNMENT: Our district is blessed with bountiful resources, but is forbidden to prosper from them by our own government. The surest way to revive our economy is by reducing the role of the federal government — not increasing it.AUBURN DAM: I strongly support completion of the Auburn dam, and believe that it could be fully funded by revenue bonds if only the state and federal governments would get out of the way. That way, these local resources could be protected for local use.OIL: We have vast domestic petroleum reserves in the Arctic tundra, off the Gulf of Mexico and in virtually unlimited shale deposits which we can develop now, but Congress prevents us from touching it. ----------Doug Ose, RepublicanGAS TAX: This gas tax proposal is really about making the federal government accountable for its actions. I am a proponent of any measure that gives money back to the people. Plenty of our income goes toward taxes each year; we do not need to be taxed again each time we fill up the tank. I am standing up for the citizens of California and the Fourth District, who drive significantly more than other states, have significantly less public transportation systems and end up getting only 92 cents back for every dollar of gas tax we send to the federal government. The federal gas excise tax is outdated and is no longer serving the purpose it was initially set up to accomplish. While much of it does go to infrastructure such as roads and bridges, the fund has also been used for many unrelated things over the years including a general revenue fund to relieve the deficit. I am also in favor of measures to reduce dependence on foreign oil, including opening up ANWR and streamlining the permit process for domestic oil exploration. VETERANS: Being a patriot starts with supporting our troops, both while they are serving and after they come home. If we do not provide veterans with the support that they deserve we will not have the best and bravest fighting to defend our country. During my first term in Congress I was one of the biggest advocates for veterans. I sponsored several bills that expanded their benefits and helped make veterans aware of those benefits. In the year 2000 alone, I sponsored or co-sponsored seven bills to support our troops. Without these individuals and their willingness to fight for our country, there is no question that we would not be the nation we are today. Everyone who enjoys freedom and living in America is in debt to our veterans. I recognize their contributions and want others in Congress to acknowledge it as well. ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION: Living in a border state comes with the additional responsibility of to facilitating border control and I want California to be the trailblazer in the control of illegal immigration. I sponsored the "Ose Amendment" in Congress, which sought to expedite the construction of the border fence near the San Diego border. This was just one of over 20 bills I supported during my time in Congress that sought to curb the influx of illegal immigrants into the United States. Illegal immigration really goes back to the basic principle of requiring people to earn what they are afforded. It is my essential belief that illegal immigrants should not be given any benefits for having broken the law by entering this country illegally. Like any other crime in our country is prosecuted, there should be stiff penalties for those who enter our country illegally and we should absolutely not provide perpetrators with health and social benefits. It is imperative that we secure our borders and require those living illegally in our country to take all the steps necessary to become a legalized citizen or face the consequences. TAXES: This issue is at the core of my campaign and agenda for Congress. It is really simple and I want to be as clear as possible about it; I want to keep as much money as possible out of the federal government's pockets. That means leaving the money with the citizens so that they can spend it at local shops and stores and keep money in our local economy rather than sending it to Washington so that everyone can have their cut and return a fraction of what was paid. I will do whatever it takes to keep the money with the people, even if that means voting against pay raises for Congress, like I did several times during my first term in Congress. I voted for one of the largest tax cuts ever; a package that ended the marriage penalty tax, lowered the death tax and increased tax credits for families. I signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge saying I would oppose any efforts to increase income tax rates.. I intend to keep that promise and will work with others to do the same. INFRASTRUCTURE: Improving the quality of life for the citizens in the Fourth District is also a key issue for me. One of the largest facets of this will be the improvement of our local infrastructure. This includes but is not limited to the expansion of I-80, the Highway 65 bypass, construction of regional wastewater facilities and water conservation issues such as the Auburn Dam. The city of Lincoln has the equivalent of a four-lane freeway going through the city each day. I want to build that four-lane freeway away from Lincoln, so that traffic goes around it and the city no longer has to deal with that burden. Water has always been an issue here and will continue to get worse as our population increases. It is important that we prepare ourselves now by creating the necessary facilities to deal with that influx. We need to secure the water for our own district and we need to have elected officials who will stand up for that at a national level. Addressing these infrastructure issues and securing funds to assist their efforts will be one of my highest priorities. ----------Ted Terbolizard, RepublicanSTOP FEDERAL DEFICIT SPENDING: Congress has the Constitutional role to approve federal government spending, and Congress does have the Constitutional ability to go into debt on behalf of the United States people. However, I have never seen any reason in my lifetime to justify deficit spending; just because we have this power doesn't mean we should use it. We've had federal deficits in the hundreds of billions of dollars range for years and years in a row now, and we are starting to feel it in our day to day lives. Deficits guarantee a week economy, and lead to a dilution of our money supply as the Federal Reserve then prints and/or loans more money into our system, which inevitably leads to future debt payments and real world inflation, which we see today in the prices of gas and milk.PROTECT CONSTITUTIONAL FREEDOMS: Congress routinely passes bills that violate our first, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth amendment rights; this trend needs to be stopped and reversed immediately. Sadly, many of these bills are currently passing with broad bipartisan support, and too few of the citizens in our country are noticing what is going on. Fortunately, many other citizens are becoming increasingly aware of this problem, which will help correct the situation as we continue to speak out. I will never vote against our cherished Constitutional Freedoms in Washington. Fighting to preserve our rights is one of my main motivations in running for the House of Representatives.PROMOTE FOREIGN POLICY THAT'S GOOD FOR BUSINESS: Constitutionally, our Executive branch is in charge of foreign policy, but Congress has the role to fund our government. Our current foreign policy makes more enemies than friends, and dangerously limits our opportunities for prosperity in the global marketplace. Many in our party are correct to point out that we should be doing business with the remaining countries around the world who do not embrace free market capitalism. However, our current use of market protectionism, hostile diplomacy, economic sanctions and military occupation is not conducive to business deals. Successful business is about mutually beneficial and consensual transactions, and should never be attempted with force.REFORM THE FEDERAL RESERVE: Most people do not realize that the Federal Reserve bank, which controls our currency, is a privately held and unaccountable corporation that is not publicly traded. Constitutionally, it is the role of Congress to regulate our money supply, and not the Executive Branch or a Privately owned bank. Right now, under Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve system is involved in inflationist dilution of ourcurrency, which we can see in record commodity prices, from gas to gold to milk. Congress and the House Finance Committee must work to repeal the Federal Reserve Act and exercise their proper role in regulating our money, or we will face tragic economic consequences.END THE WAR: The unconstitutional and undeclared war we are fighting overseas is damaging our economy and our reputation around the world. The mainstream media will tell us that up to 70% of the public disapproves of the way the Iraq adventure is being conducted, yet I see opposition to the war reaching a consensus, in excess of 90% of the public is now against the way this operation has been planned. We need to bring our troops home safely and spend our money here in our own country, not overseas. Iraqi politics are none of our business, we never should have interfered there in the first place, and the whole thing has been a tragic mistake.----------John Wolfgram, DemocratGOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY: As a lawyer in El Dorado County, Wolf did post graduate studies in the causes, effects and cures of government corruption by and through the judiciary. His thesis on judicial corruption is "How the Judiciary Stole the Right to Petition" and his thesis on the cure is "Democratizing the Judiciary" both available through Google. He is working on "How Congress Sold the Constitution"; an expose of the causes and effects of congressional corruption and cowardice in office, and of what voters must do to end the charade of "elections by beauty pageant" to put the right stuff in Congress. TAXES: Personal Income Taxes reflects congressional abdication to government by agency and makes everyone's business the government's business, nullifying most of the Bill of Rights. Collecting all tax and mandates from payroll artificially increases labor costs pricing us out of world markets. We can plug the "job drain"; reverse trade deficits and end personal income taxes by shifting half the tax burden to consumer taxes and the other half to corporate taxes. That expands the tax base to tax imports and foreign profits on American business forcing underground economies supporting millions of illegal aliens and tax dodgers to surface. INTERNATIONAL TRADE: We have an $8,000,000,000,000 (trillion) international trade deficit. That undermines American jobs, the dollar and our future. If those dollars bought American production it would stimulate our economy. But instead, they buy American real estate and industry essentially trading America for cheap lead painted toys and poisoned pet food driving up our own costs. Skyrocketing oil prices are caused by weakened trade dollars. We must shift half the tax and mandate burden to consumer taxes to level international trade fields and uniformly tax imports and corporate profits to restore our industrial base and foreign demand for our production. IMMIGRATION: A "Berlin Wall" along Mexico's 2000 mile boarder is irresponsible boondoggling. Eliminating income taxes lays foundations to make migration control in Mexico's interest under Treaty by which Mexico bonds migrants for liability and return to Mexico. In exchange, Mexico receives "income taxes" from US employed migrants. Result: Mexico prevents illegal migration because it taxes bonded migrants and maintains control over them in USA. Mexico decides which illegals to bond and repatriates the rest under treaty. It is in Mexico's interest to control and "recycle" its migrants because they bring American know how and money back raising Mexico's living standards. CONGRESSIONAL ABDICATION: Under US Constitution, Article I, "All legislative Powers herein granted SHALL BE VESTED in a Congress". That does NOT allow Congress to divest itself of its responsibility by abdicating war making power (Vietnam, Iraq) to the President or taxing power (taxing incomes to defeat foreign trade) to agencies nor does its impeachment power allow the judiciary to rewrite the Constitution or create government immunity to violate it, nor does it allow congresspersons to sell their representative capacities to special interests.