Jonathan Farnick Q & A

1) What is the No. 1 issue in your district and how would you address it?

We are $15 trillion dollars in debt, we are soon getting to a point of not having the funds for what we need to, let alone what we may want to. It won’t matter what pressing issues you may have, if we continue on the present path, there won’t be money for it. Overspending and consistently lowering taxes got us into this mess, we’ll need to cut some spending and raise some taxes to get back out.

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2) How would you promote job growth in your district?

Pass the majority of President Obama’s jobs bill.

3) Should the federal government cut spending and where?

Almost all departments could stand to trim their budgets, some more than others, the DoD has gone from $357 billion to almost double that amount in 8 years, spending on the global empire has to be curtailed, and ending the occupation of Afghanistan will help save lives and money.

4) If Republican, which GOP presidential candidate do you support?

NA

5) Give an example of something you’ve done that is bipartisanship in nature.

Voted twice for a Republican for a Federal office because the Democratic House candidate in that specific election did not deserve reelection. (Dan Rostenkowski in 1994, Melissa Bean in 2008).

6)  Name one good policy idea that comes from the opposing party.

When the Republicans opposed President Bush’s nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court, but that isn’t really a ‘policy’ idea, am hard pressed to come up with one, they normally consists of some combination of the following: they’ll cost more and do less than advertised, they’ll benefit the already privileged and powerful at the expense of everyone else, and/or they’ll remove liberties and protections from Americans under the premise of making us ‘safer’ (some Democratic measures are oftentimes not too much better).

7) How do you define family values?

To live your life in a responsible manner, to be with your spouse for approaching on 23 wonderful years, to raise a bright, respectful child, to be friends with your neighbors and a benefit to your community. To focus on your own family, and not worry about others that may be different than yours.

8) What are your thoughts on the healthcare law?

There are a number of good, progressive, beneficial things in the law. I am not opposed to it because of the ‘mandate’, that is a needed ingredient to its success, I did not like it in that we are forced to purchase it from private insurance companies (and the government will subsidize those same private insurance companies if you don’t earn a certain amount), it did not include a “Medicare Part E” or at least a Medicare buy-in. I was also opposed to it because it did not do anything to address the Medicare Part D prescription drug prohibition on using the governments buying power to negotiate lower prices.

9) Who is your political role model?

Russ Feingold, Dennis Kucinich, Paul Wellstone, John Conyers, Bernie Sanders.

10) What’s on your iPod?

No iPod, an Android phone; not too much more than email, internet, and Sudoku; no music, movies, or too many pictures

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