Congressional candidates (mostly) take positions

Candidates to replace retiring U.S. Rep. Ray LaHood (R- Peoria) from the 18th Congressional District are, in alphabetical order, Colleen Callahan (Democrat), Sheldon Schafer (Green), and Aaron Schock (Republican). Below are responses to questions sent to all three campaigns, questions derived from the nonpartisan Project Vote Smart – supported by the late U.S. Sen. Barry Goldwater (R-Ariz.) and former President Gerald Ford, a Republican, as well as retired U.S. Sen. George McGovern (D-South Dakota) and ex-President Jimmy Carter, a Democrat.

In mid-July, Schock explained to me that he refused to reply to Project Vote Smart’s questionnaire, but “if anyone wants to know my positions, they can come to where I’m talking and ask me.” Then he promised me that he’d respond to my written questions. However, multiple calls to his office, chats with helpful staffers and emails all resulted in no response.

Still, here are 15 issues, presented in alphabetical order, and candidate responses (Colleen Callahan =CC, Sheldon Schafer = SS, Aaron Schock= AS).)

Abortion – CC: I believe that all life matters and bringing a new life into this world should be a very serious decision for everyone. However, I do not believe that this is a decision I should make for any other woman.

SS: I embrace a “consistent ethic of life” philosophy – a commitment to the protection of life, which is threatened by war, poverty, environmental degradation and global warming, racism, capital punishment, abortion and euthanasia (aka, the “seamless garment”). Given the divisive nature of abortion, a change in the status quo is unlikely until social and economic justice inequities are addressed.

AS:

Alternative energy ideas – CC: Investing more money and man-power on alternative sources to oil can generate many new jobs and opportunities for development in our district, and therefore I support such efforts.

SS: Drilling our way out of the energy problem does nothing for reducing our carbon footprint. Climate change and the end of cheap oil demand that our federal government commit public resources on a large scale to developing decentralized and renewable sources of energy, such as wind, solar and geothermal, improving our conservation, and efficient use of energy in homes and businesses. I am in favor of sustainable transportation practices such as high speed rail and other efficient public transportation options.

AS:

Campaign finance – CC: Elections should not be about money, they should be about ideas. Therefore, I support efforts to provide a financial level playing field among candidates.

SS: Winning shouldn’t be all about money. Elections should not be bought and sold to the highest bidder, and the ability to raise money from special interests should not be the criterion upon which elections are won. The single most important item of election reform is the implementation of Instant-Run-Off voting, assuring a place for multiple parties in our electoral process.

AS:

Federal tax incentives to help families save for college tuition for their children – CC: College tuitions have spiraled out of control, and I agree with providing appropriate financial help to families in paying for their children’s college tuition.

SS: For.

AS:

Free trade agreements – CC: I support free trade agreements because they have been good for the agricultural industry in our district, yet we need to do more to help U.S. manufacturers compete with foreign producers, both domestically and overseas.

SS: Let’s repeal NAFTA, CAFTA, Fast Track and other corporate globalization policies. Let’s stop using our tax dollars to subsidize corporate agribusiness and promote poverty in Latin America, and start using them to help reward environmentally responsible family farmers here at home, and to favor policies that will raise labor standards worldwide.

AS:

Guns – CC: People in this country have the right to bear arms within reasonable government regulations for public safety.

SS: Now that the [Supreme] Court has set the precedent, I must uphold the Constitution.

AS:

Health care – CC: Health care should not be a privilege, as it is now! Millions of Americans are uninsured or underinsured because of rising medical and health care costs, the burden of which is incurred by all. Providing affordable healthcare coverage for the uninsured will benefit the whole society in the long run by reducing health insurance costs for everyone.

SS: [I want to] implement a universal healthcare program to guarantee coverage to all Americans, regardless of income [and] allow the importation of prescription drugs into the United States.

The framing of this issue by the corporate media and politicians as a “health insurance” crisis, rather than a health care crisis, is misdirection. The United States is the only industrialized country in the world that does not guarantee health care for its population. The U.S. spends far more on health care per person than any other country in the world – more than twice as much as the average for other rich countries. We have the best technology and among the finest physicians. Yet we are not getting our money’s worth. In Illinois, from 2000 to 2004, health insurance premiums rose by 34.9 percent, while average earnings rose by only 13 percent. Businesses and consumers alike are suffering from either being priced out of the market altogether, or from the growing strain of paying through the nose for increasingly inadequate health-care insurance.

I will work for a “single-payer,” government-financed health-care system – like the systems in Canada, France, Germany, the Nordic countries and many other nations. It would be funded similarly to the current Medicare system, but just as Medicare delivers quality care more efficiently than the current business delivery system, so would a single-payer system cost less.

AS:

Immigration – CC: The current status of illegal immigration is partly our fault for not enforcing our current laws. I support harsher punishments for those employers who knowingly hire undocumented immigrants.

SS: [I] support a temporary worker program [and] amnesty for illegal immigrants already working in the United States; illegal immigrants should be given a pathway to citizenship.

As long as the Statue of Liberty stands in New York Harbor, I intend to honor the words on its base. We need to have practical solutions – just do the math and one can see how mass deportations and giant walls may satisfy our inner greed, but would require inordinate expenditures and catastrophic disruption of families and even our economy. Let’s turn off the “magnets” for illegal immigration, by punishing the employers who seek to undermine our labor and minimum wage laws, and resist unionization, by exploiting undocumented immigrants.

AS:

Military using National Guard troops for long-term supplements to the armed forces overseas – CC: Although I wholeheartedly support their efforts I regret all that they are currently being asked to sacrifice. Asking ordinary citizens to take months away from their families and their daily lives to fight an overseas war is not the original purpose of the National Guard.

SS: I do not support that use.

AS:

Poverty – CC: Providing assistance to the neediest of our societies members does not only make good economic sense, but it also makes moral sense. I support funding for educational as well as employment training programs that can help poor people overcome their financial shortcomings.

SS: We need to return to our founders’ philosophy, that businesses should exist for the betterment of people. This should become the cornerstone of a policy toward jobs and business. Local business should be the mainstay of our economic development.

AS:

Prison sentences for non-violent offenders – CC: Our penal system is the least funded and most overlooked segment of our justice system, and putting non-violent offenders in prison might not be the best way of dealing with the problem.

SS: We have created the most incarcerated society in the world, with one in 100 adults in jail, far ahead of even the most repressive countries such as China or Russia. We cannot afford the monetary expense of placing such a large portion of our population in jail, nor can we morally justify this approach to crime

AS:

The right for workers to unionize – CC: I support the right of people to form unions wherever they work.

SS: Strongly for.

AS:

Social Security – CC: Social Security is barely enough to cover the needs of current retirees, let alone those who will enter the system in 30 years. We need a new national initiative to fix Social Security, and I will support those efforts.

SS: Don’t privatize (great for the rich if we do, but the safety net develops a huge hole).

AS:

Stem cell research – CC: Stem cells have the potential of curing many of our modern health problems, and I support further federal funding for stem cell research.

SS: Support, but don’t differentiate between embryonic, adult, umbilical, etc., and the moral dilemma will disappear if we let good science practices follow their natural course.

AS:

Taxes – CC: As one said, “Taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society.” I believe in taxation that provides for economic fairness.

SS: If those who are capable don’t support the government that we all want, who will? Read “Perfectly Legal” by David Cay Johnston and you’ll see concrete examples of how the tax code has been morphed to benefit the super rich.

AS:

Schock’s positions on these issues might be exactly what most district residents believe. Who knows? His web site claims that his are “Republican core principles,” “conservative principles,” and “tried and true conservative principles,” but not what they are, nor even whether his positions are closer to self-described conservatives Patrick Buchanan or George W. Bush, John McCain or Ron Paul – who strongly disagree on fiscal policies and foreign policies, on immigration, campaign finance, and more.

“I will offer in-depth substance about who I am,” Schock’s web site pledges, “why I seek to serve in the U.S. Congress, and most importantly, what I believe. You will find the specifics I have to offer during the campaign will be different from the generalities other candidates will offer you. I don’t think that generalized and vague statements on the issues are what you want to hear.

“I intend to offer original ideas,” he states there.

But for now, you’ll have to ask for yourself where Schock shows up. Meanwhile, search for details at candidates’ web sites:

Colleen Callahan: www.colleen callahanforcongress.com/

Sheldon Schafer: www.schafer forcongress.info/

Aaron Schock:

www.aaronschock.com/

Bill Knight is an award-winning journalist who teaches at Western Illinois University. Contact him at:

bill.knight@hotmail.com.