Q: What political position are you running for and why?
-The Louisville Cardinal
A: I’m running for Congress and I think it’s important that this community has strong independent leadership that can help move us forward to prepare for the future. We have to compete against Indianapolis, Nashville and St. Louis.
Over the last 20 or 30 years, we’ve fallen way behind. Invigoration, growth and attracting new companies, those are all things that affect the quality of life. I’m in a better position to bring our fare share. I was able to bring $1.2 billion to this community over 10 years, much of it to the University of Louisville. The person that beat me hasn’t been able to bring any of those same kinds of dollars back.
Q: There is a lot of talk about lowering college tuition. What’s getting done about that?
-Tim Horton, junior, accounting major
A: The state has full jurisdiction over our colleges here in Kentucky. The Council on Postsecondary Education in Kentucky has to do a much better job in lowering tuition. Colleges have to make strategic and investment decisions, both to grow and compete, also to contain the cost.
College costs have exploded because they don’t have anything to force them to keep their cost low. Students pay for that. The other side of that is how do we pay for this? How do we help students have the money that they’re going to need to pay their tuition?
All we can do is help make sure that student loans stay low.
Q: What are your plans to lower crime in our neighborhoods?
-Amanda Roberts, junior, undecided major
A: Crime is something that’s a local issue; the federal government is not involved in this. That’s a question for Jerry Abramson primarily. I will say this, as a partner of all the police forces in this county we brought back millions of dollars to bring grants for police and computer equipment.
One of the issues that we have is police brutality. I was able to fund the cameras that are now in every single police car. The police like this too because they don’t want to be falsely accused. The individual person on the street has the right to know if there is a policeman that’s using excessive force.
Both John [Yarmuth] and I are on the periphery of how we directly address crime.
With that said, let me just say that crime is often relative to whether people feel they have hope, whether they have opportunity or whether they feel that the doors are closed to them.
I was able to increase the opportunities that give people better access to a better future while on the House Appropriations Committee. One of the things I found in the most disadvantage neighborhoods, where crime is also the highest, is that we have really good leaders. In those communities, many of them are in the faith-based organizations.
Over the time that I was elected, we were able to help build 16 community centers in those areas. There hasn’t been a new one since I went out of office.
Q: What makes you a Republican?
-John Weber, freshman, political science
A: I believe big government programs aren’t necessarily the things that best answer our needs. John Yarmuth is the co-sponsor of a bill that would put everybody into a single payer government run health care system. That’s been terrible in places like England and other places. The cost would go through the roof and they are only able to stay afloat by rationing. There are long lines for any services; services that we expect to get in a moment are not available in England. We can’t afford it. We ought to build on the private system that we have, providing excellent care.
With staggering debt we just incurred, Congress enacted the biggest subsidy program for farmers ever. At a time when farmers are making record profits, we’re paying the highest prices ever for food.
Government can’t get into that and drive up those costs.
The biggest reason I am a Republican is because I’m scared to see the government try to do any more than they’re already doing. You have a huge debt on your hands. Your generation [has] an enormous amount of new costs and I’m terrified for you. I’m terrified for my five kids, who are new into the job market, that no matter how much they make, they’re never going to be able to pay for the spending that’s going on right now. That would be the biggest difference.
-Editor’s Note: In future issues, look for more candidate interviews. The Louisville Cardinal will have endorsements in the Oct. 28 issue.