April 12, 2010
SECOND OF A SERIES: KY Senatorial Candidate Rand Paul Scorches Federalism as Bankrupting USA
By Tony Rutherford
Huntingtonnews.net Reporter
Ashland, KY (HNN) - During the ‘meet the candidate’ meeting with Kentucky Senatorial Candidate Dr. Rand Paul, the issue of sewer and storm water separation and the unfunded federal mandate came up. Kentuckians face the same issue as Huntington and Cabell County.
Senatorial Candidate Rand Paul told those at Tim Horton’s that one area of the state which lacked money to comply with federal standards would “dig ditches” for storm water runoff. He also discussed localism in opposition to federalism and repeal of health care.
SPECTATOR: We had our backs against the wall here. We don’t want the federal government running our water supply. We had one of the lowest water rates in the State [of Kentucky] so we raised it by a 1,000 gallons by $2.25. You’re going to see a lot of ditches here because of old infrastructure and there’s going to be a lot going on to repair [and upgrade]
HNN: I was curious about things were going with your opponent, Tray Grayson, Secretary of State, who oversees the election process
PAUL: We’re not real excited about that. We asked the Ethics Commission to review whether he has a conflict of interest. We think its apparent he should NOT be counting the votes. There have been controversies like the Bush-Gore and all those hanging chads. The person who signed off at the very end was the secretary of state [in Florida]. The election is over when the Secretary of State signs. You get a document signed by the Secretary of State.
What if it were an election with a ten vote difference , and they [question] did this person live in the right place, were there any irregularities. There are two counties the F.B.I. is investigating over voter fraud. If you want to be on the up and up, [he] should recuse himself. He [Grayson] has already said he will not do that.
HNN: The recusal standards are lenient. Do you remember that the US Supreme Court intervened in a case involving Massey Energy where the corporation donated about $3 million dollars to the election of a WV Supreme Court judge.
PAUL: There was a Republican Secretary of State running for governor in Georgia and she voluntarily resigned her office because she thought there was a conflict of interest between counting the votes and running for office at the same time.
HNN: That goes back to the ‘appearance for impropriety’ standard…
PAUL: It’s not that you are accusing someone of being dishonest, you’re saying, there’s the appearance of a conflict of interest to count your own votes.
FATHER HASN’T MADE 2012 DECISION YET
HNN: What do you foresee in the 2012 election regarding your dad, Ron Paul.
PAUL: I think he’s still thinking about it [the interview was taped prior to the New Orleans straw poll] . He’s running now for his Congressional seat; he had a primary, and he will run in the fall.
HNN: Do you think the Fall 2010 will be a Republican year due to the Health Care push through by the Democrats?
2010 YEAR FOR OUTSIDERS AND REPUBLICANS
PAUL: It’s going to be a huge year. There’s a Tea Party tidal wave coming. It’s going to sweep a lot of people out of office; it’s going to bring fresh faces to office, people once seen as outsiders have a great chance of winning this year. Most of the ‘insiders’ support my opponent, they are now doing polling to see whether to even announce [as] it may backfire on them to let the people know the insiders are [supporting] the other side.
HNN: Does it sometimes become a problem when incumbents lack term limits and become to strong against any challenger?
PAUL: My goal is not to function the way it always functioned. We have so many people who see their job as to grab part of the federal pie. They say, ‘what do you need in Ashland? We will get you federal money.’
The problem is that every representative around the country does that and because of that we are bankrupt. It’s not ‘free,’ it still has to come from somewhere.
Rather than send me up there to Washington and try to grab fifty cents of [federal dollars], let’s leave that dollar in Ashland. Leave the money at home. Then, if you need policemen in Ashland, let’s leave the money here locally for police protection. So much of the money is lost [through inefficiency] by the time it goes to Washington.
LOCAL EDUCATION DECISIONS, NOT FEDERAL PREFERRED
HNN: So, you support more control at the local and state level?
PAUL: The Republican philosophy: More local control; less federal control. Same way with schools. But, we as Republicans, lost our way with schools. Republicans passed ‘no child left behind.’ Most old fashioned Republicans, like myself, think locally controlled schools are better. Yet we doubled the size of the Department of Education under [GOP] control. We need to get back to what we believe in. Ronald Reagan’s Republican platform was to get rid of the DOE. I still believe we should not have it. It should be local.
If you interview teachers (many of whom are Democrats) but not one teacher I met is for no child left behind. We as Republicans could be true to our platform, true to local control, but also appeal to teachers who do not like no child left behind.
HNN: Do you believe the ‘zero tolerance’ drug policy should also be applicable to First Amendment issues?
PAUL: I think student expression should be locally controlled. I am not sure if students can have absolute First Amendment rights or not, but I’d have the rules done locally by communities. It might be different in San Francisco than if you live in Ashland.
HNN: Similar to the US Supreme Court ‘community standards’ obscenity ruling…
PAUL: The first Amendment does not give you the right to stand up and shout profanity in a classroom. There are rules of orderly conduct. I’d have those rules made in Ashland. You know your people in Ashland, you can go and ask them, whereas a U.S. Senator is so far distant, you can’t have any ability to influence. The more local the policy the better for education.
SUPPORTS REPEAL OF HEALTH CARE; FREE COUNTRY CANNOT COMPEL PRIVATE INSURANCE PURCHASE
SPECTATOR: Can you talk about healthcare?
PAUL: We had a rally in Frankfort with 300 people . We called on Jack Conway, Kentucky Attorney General, to sue and question it’s constitutionality. We were in the middle of the rotunda and we chanted, ‘Where is Jack, Where is Jack” echoing throughout the capitol. Legislators line the balconies; it was kinda neat. But Jack would not come out.
[However in a comment he stated] where in the Constitution does it say you have the right NOT to have insurance. He misunderstands; the Constitution says [in the Ninth and Tenth Amendments] those rights not listed specifically are to be left to the people and the states respectively. The Bill of Rights lists some of the important rights, but it does not list all of them. They did not want it to be just because we don’t list this right, you do not have it.
The right to private property is not listed in the Constitution, but it was assumed we have a right to private property. It does not list in there the right for the government to own your property, or to own your banks… [Attorney General] Conway is a lawyer and does not at all understand the Constitution.
[If elected], I will introduce and support repeal of it. That will be difficult with President Obama in office. There are ways to fight [issues] in society. You can fight it in the courts, and there are 13 attorney generals that have sued over the constitutionality. It will be fought there but take several years.
There is room for individual law suits, like if you have a religion (such as the Meninites ) that do not buy insurance and do not want to for religious reasons, I don’t know if there is a religious exemption . How does your government determine your religion qualifies, and yours does not?
What if you don’t believe in modern medicine? You believe in alternative health and do not want to go to the doctor? I personally believe in modern medicine, I’m a doctor, but if you do not that’s your right. I would never tell you have to come see me.
How do we in a free country all of a sudden say, you have to pay a private insurance company money. That doesn’t strike me as very American or Constitutional.
I think [health care] will still be a big issue [November]. I think only 35% of Kentuckians favored health care. That’s about President Obama’s approval rating. My recommendation for anyone running for office is include President Obama with your Democratic opponent he’s not very popular ….
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SECOND OF A SERIES: KY Senatorial Candidate Rand Paul Scorches Federalism as Bankrupting USA
By Tony Rutherford
Huntingtonnews.net Reporter
Ashland, KY (HNN) - During the ‘meet the candidate’ meeting with Kentucky Senatorial Candidate Dr. Rand Paul, the issue of sewer and storm water separation and the unfunded federal mandate came up. Kentuckians face the same issue as Huntington and Cabell County.
Senatorial Candidate Rand Paul told those at Tim Horton’s that one area of the state which lacked money to comply with federal standards would “dig ditches” for storm water runoff. He also discussed localism in opposition to federalism and repeal of health care.
SPECTATOR: We had our backs against the wall here. We don’t want the federal government running our water supply. We had one of the lowest water rates in the State [of Kentucky] so we raised it by a 1,000 gallons by $2.25. You’re going to see a lot of ditches here because of old infrastructure and there’s going to be a lot going on to repair [and upgrade]
HNN: I was curious about things were going with your opponent, Tray Grayson, Secretary of State, who oversees the election process
PAUL: We’re not real excited about that. We asked the Ethics Commission to review whether he has a conflict of interest. We think its apparent he should NOT be counting the votes. There have been controversies like the Bush-Gore and all those hanging chads. The person who signed off at the very end was the secretary of state [in Florida]. The election is over when the Secretary of State signs. You get a document signed by the Secretary of State.
What if it were an election with a ten vote difference , and they [question] did this person live in the right place, were there any irregularities. There are two counties the F.B.I. is investigating over voter fraud. If you want to be on the up and up, [he] should recuse himself. He [Grayson] has already said he will not do that.
HNN: The recusal standards are lenient. Do you remember that the US Supreme Court intervened in a case involving Massey Energy where the corporation donated about $3 million dollars to the election of a WV Supreme Court judge.
PAUL: There was a Republican Secretary of State running for governor in Georgia and she voluntarily resigned her office because she thought there was a conflict of interest between counting the votes and running for office at the same time.
HNN: That goes back to the ‘appearance for impropriety’ standard…
PAUL: It’s not that you are accusing someone of being dishonest, you’re saying, there’s the appearance of a conflict of interest to count your own votes.
FATHER HASN’T MADE 2012 DECISION YET
HNN: What do you foresee in the 2012 election regarding your dad, Ron Paul.
PAUL: I think he’s still thinking about it [the interview was taped prior to the New Orleans straw poll] . He’s running now for his Congressional seat; he had a primary, and he will run in the fall.
HNN: Do you think the Fall 2010 will be a Republican year due to the Health Care push through by the Democrats?
2010 YEAR FOR OUTSIDERS AND REPUBLICANS
PAUL: It’s going to be a huge year. There’s a Tea Party tidal wave coming. It’s going to sweep a lot of people out of office; it’s going to bring fresh faces to office, people once seen as outsiders have a great chance of winning this year. Most of the ‘insiders’ support my opponent, they are now doing polling to see whether to even announce [as] it may backfire on them to let the people know the insiders are [supporting] the other side.
HNN: Does it sometimes become a problem when incumbents lack term limits and become to strong against any challenger?
PAUL: My goal is not to function the way it always functioned. We have so many people who see their job as to grab part of the federal pie. They say, ‘what do you need in Ashland? We will get you federal money.’
The problem is that every representative around the country does that and because of that we are bankrupt. It’s not ‘free,’ it still has to come from somewhere.
Rather than send me up there to Washington and try to grab fifty cents of [federal dollars], let’s leave that dollar in Ashland. Leave the money at home. Then, if you need policemen in Ashland, let’s leave the money here locally for police protection. So much of the money is lost [through inefficiency] by the time it goes to Washington.
LOCAL EDUCATION DECISIONS, NOT FEDERAL PREFERRED
HNN: So, you support more control at the local and state level?
PAUL: The Republican philosophy: More local control; less federal control. Same way with schools. But, we as Republicans, lost our way with schools. Republicans passed ‘no child left behind.’ Most old fashioned Republicans, like myself, think locally controlled schools are better. Yet we doubled the size of the Department of Education under [GOP] control. We need to get back to what we believe in. Ronald Reagan’s Republican platform was to get rid of the DOE. I still believe we should not have it. It should be local.
If you interview teachers (many of whom are Democrats) but not one teacher I met is for no child left behind. We as Republicans could be true to our platform, true to local control, but also appeal to teachers who do not like no child left behind.
HNN: Do you believe the ‘zero tolerance’ drug policy should also be applicable to First Amendment issues?
PAUL: I think student expression should be locally controlled. I am not sure if students can have absolute First Amendment rights or not, but I’d have the rules done locally by communities. It might be different in San Francisco than if you live in Ashland.
HNN: Similar to the US Supreme Court ‘community standards’ obscenity ruling…
PAUL: The first Amendment does not give you the right to stand up and shout profanity in a classroom. There are rules of orderly conduct. I’d have those rules made in Ashland. You know your people in Ashland, you can go and ask them, whereas a U.S. Senator is so far distant, you can’t have any ability to influence. The more local the policy the better for education.
SUPPORTS REPEAL OF HEALTH CARE; FREE COUNTRY CANNOT COMPEL PRIVATE INSURANCE PURCHASE
SPECTATOR: Can you talk about healthcare?
PAUL: We had a rally in Frankfort with 300 people . We called on Jack Conway, Kentucky Attorney General, to sue and question it’s constitutionality. We were in the middle of the rotunda and we chanted, ‘Where is Jack, Where is Jack” echoing throughout the capitol. Legislators line the balconies; it was kinda neat. But Jack would not come out.
[However in a comment he stated] where in the Constitution does it say you have the right NOT to have insurance. He misunderstands; the Constitution says [in the Ninth and Tenth Amendments] those rights not listed specifically are to be left to the people and the states respectively. The Bill of Rights lists some of the important rights, but it does not list all of them. They did not want it to be just because we don’t list this right, you do not have it.
The right to private property is not listed in the Constitution, but it was assumed we have a right to private property. It does not list in there the right for the government to own your property, or to own your banks… [Attorney General] Conway is a lawyer and does not at all understand the Constitution.
[If elected], I will introduce and support repeal of it. That will be difficult with President Obama in office. There are ways to fight [issues] in society. You can fight it in the courts, and there are 13 attorney generals that have sued over the constitutionality. It will be fought there but take several years.
There is room for individual law suits, like if you have a religion (such as the Meninites ) that do not buy insurance and do not want to for religious reasons, I don’t know if there is a religious exemption . How does your government determine your religion qualifies, and yours does not?
What if you don’t believe in modern medicine? You believe in alternative health and do not want to go to the doctor? I personally believe in modern medicine, I’m a doctor, but if you do not that’s your right. I would never tell you have to come see me.
How do we in a free country all of a sudden say, you have to pay a private insurance company money. That doesn’t strike me as very American or Constitutional.
I think [health care] will still be a big issue [November]. I think only 35% of Kentuckians favored health care. That’s about President Obama’s approval rating. My recommendation for anyone running for office is include President Obama with your Democratic opponent he’s not very popular ….
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