(Nancy Dallas) – This is the second in our series of interviews this week with Republican candidates for the United States Senate. Today’s interview features John Chachas.
1. Please write a brief summary of your professional and political history.
I’m not a professional politician. In fact, I’m the only major candidate in this race that has never run for office before. I’m a businessman, and I’ve spent the last two decades advising companies, managing growth and helping create and save jobs all across the country.
I grew up on a ranch in White Pine County where I learned to hunt and fish, to take care of the land and my family and earn a living by putting in an honest day’s work. After graduating from Columbia University and then Harvard Business School, I put my business education to work helping companies like Bonneville International, The Tribune Company and Stephens Media.
My background is unique and diverse. While I’ve never run for political office before, I can hit the ground running in the United States Senate and I won’t be afraid to roll back Federal spending to 2005 levels or force our government to live within its means. The United States Senate could use a few people with real economic experience.
2. What past experiences do you think best qualify you to represent Nevada in the U.S. Senate? Why should voters support you over your Primary opponents?
Republican Primary voters have a clear choice. They can choose the status quo and choose any one of a handful of likeable candidates who each have their own way of re-packaging standard Republican talking points…or they can have John Chachas. To date, I am the only candidate in this race who has presented meaningful issue papers and plans.
On our website, www.chachasfornevada.com, voters can find position papers on the Economy, Healthcare, Energy, Iran and the Middle East, and Financial Regulatory Reform. We’ll have more arriving soon.
No other candidate in this race has two decades worth of experience in a global economy advising businesses around the world and no other candidate in this race has the ability to assess and predict economic variables that can and will have a profound impact on the Nevada economy. Failure to see and adjust to global economic trends will cost Nevada not only opportunity and revenue, but jobs.
If the status quo is good enough, then voters have plenty of choices, but if they want a candidate tough enough to stand up for what is right and experienced enough to understand both global and local economics then I hope they’ll support our campaign.
I have every confidence that I have the experience and fortitude to stand up to Harry Reid, as well as a clean background that will stand up to even the nastiest of campaign researchers. Simply put, I am ready, willing and able to take on Harry Reid and finally give the people of Nevada the leadership that they truly deserve.
3. Should individuals be allowed to contribute unlimited amounts of money to Federal candidates? Would you support a law requiring immediate disclosure of large contributions via the internet?
Yes. Our campaign finance system is broken in America. I support efforts to allow unlimited contributions from an individual with complete online reporting within 72 hours. In order to make this a feasible approach, I also support cutting off contributions seven days prior to any election.
4. Understanding the proposed Congressional health plans are under scrutiny and changes will be made to the original proposals, what are your greatest concerns with the current proposals? What specific alternatives would you propose?
Market-based healthcare solutions should seek accessibility, portability, and restraint instead of creating another government- run bureaucracy that follows the exploding bureaucracies of Medicare and Medicaid in a quest for equal access universal coverage. Enacting common-sense market-based reforms will make healthcare more affordable without placing greater long-term financial burden on taxpayers and future generations.
• Congress should first make bold reforms within the existing system that allows healthcare plans to be portable permitting the insured to take coverage from state to state and job to job.
• Congress should provide incentives for the healthcare consumer to make smarter decisions regarding their health. This can be achieved by broadening, rather than narrowing, options such as health savings accounts.
• The self-employed and small businesses should be permitted to pool their resources to buy the most affordable healthcare coverage from competing market-based sources.
• A government run system, with businesses facing additional taxation, will simply encourage more employers to push their workforce into a government-run program.
• Move our healthcare system into the 21st century by requiring electronic medical records. Implementing technology into the process will cut costs, increase efficiency and reduce medical errors resulting in savings for the taxpayers and health insurance providers.
• We don’t need another National Health Service.
5. Our national debt is growing at an astronomical rate (to $1.4 trillion this past year). Do you support a ‘balanced budget’ amendment to the Constitution? If so, specify your plan to create an annual balanced budget?
I do support a balanced budget amendment because career politicians simply can’t be trusted to make decisions that aren’t short-sighted and biased by re-election campaigns. A large part of our financial and housing crisis can be directly tied to out of control spending by both parties and by a failure of most in Congress to understand basic economic principles.
Our current financial crisis is underpinned by a decade of increased household leverage by consumers and Federal deficits.
The country is suffering from 11 years of permissive interest rate policies, reckless lending standards coupled with a general attitude of entitlement about lifestyle that has led to a level of household debt relative to GDP that is unsustainable. This recession will be deep and longer than usual given its roots in a credit-induced hangover. The American consumer increased household debt by $8 trillion over the preceding decade which has now been followed by a severe slowdown in the velocity of money and a wholesale revaluation of assets (starting first and foremost with real estate)…all of which is manifest in the balance sheets of financial institutions.
Our well-intended President and a misguided Congress seem to forget that sustainable economic growth is not the consequence of government bureaucracy spending or of central economic planning. It results from millions of people individually seeking what is in their own economic interests by providing valuable goods and services sought by others, and the collective consequence of their actions is to increase the number of jobs in the economy, the wages earned by workers, and the income and wealth of the nation.
With the above in mind, Chachas would:
• Reaffirm the 2004 tax cuts and let Nevadans keep more of their earnings so they can pay down their credit cards, student loans and mortgages.
• Future tax policies should induce rapid deployment of equity capital (presently sitting on the sidelines) to take risks to create economic growth. Without a growing economy we can never really come out of this debt-induced hangover.
• Congress should support tax policies that leave Americans with more of their paycheck and consider tax credits for Americans below $250,000 in earnings to accelerate repayment of household debt on a tax-advantaged basis.
• Pursue reasonable, thoughtful and market-sensitive limited regulation of our financial system.
• The Federal government should accelerate its exit of ownership of banks, insurers and car companies and would favor a plan to accomplish this by the end of 2010.
6. Do you support the current U. S. military’s rules of engagement in Afghanistan? Explain.
The top commander in Afghanistan concisely summarizes the mission which has higher implications to the national security of the United States. It’s imperative that we win the war against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda moving towards lessening the role that terrorism plays on a national level.
US Army General Stanley A. McChrystal recently said, “To pursue our core goal of defeating al-Qaida and preventing their return to Afghanistan, we must disrupt and degrade the Taliban’s capacity, deny their access to the Afghan population, and strengthen the Afghan security forces.”
It’s important for elected officials to properly listen to the on the ground assessments and trust the guidance of our military commanders. Predictably, politicians enjoy rallying their base by making undue assessments of our military activities, issuing harsh statements and drafting policy which put our service men and women in undue harm.
As a Senator I will work towards ensuring our military has the tools to properly take on dangerous missions and engage the enemy properly. Empowering mission critical personal to properly interrogate top terrorists with proven methods is first and foremost. Some of the most valuable information we have utilized to stop terrorists’ attacks here in the US and abroad have come from interrogating top Al-Qaeda and Taliban officials.
7. Nevada’s unemployment rate is one of the highest in the nation. What, if any, steps should be taken by the Federal government to specifically address Nevada’s unemployment concerns?
We have an economy in Nevada that is so tightly correlated to the consumer, and so tightly correlated to a single industry, the leisure industry. We are economically driven by corporate conferences from Sunday to Wednesday and then people who come for entertainment value on weekends.
Corporations have dialed their spending dramatically back. There are many events that people are simply are not attending. One example, The National Association of Broadcasters, which I’ve attended for 22 years in Las Vegas, has been dramatically scaled-back. The number of broadcasters I’ve spoken to directly who aren’t sending anyone this April is astounding. Corporate spending just won’t allow it, so attendance will be down, spending will be down and our economy will feel the direct and indirect impact.
So you have this backdrop from a corporate perspective that is unlike the federal government – run in part by Senator Reid. Companies have ratcheted down what they are spending, they’ve cut their travel & entertainment budgets and even the most successful and important events and conferences in Las Vegas and Reno are dramatically downsized from where they used to be. And that’s the better part of this business model…
The worse part of the model, which is the consumer, is a catastrophe. In 1997, this country had 6.2 trillion dollars of household debt, defined as mortgage plus credit card debt. That was about 78% of the Gross Domestic Product. In 2007, a decade later, we had 14.3 trillion dollars or 107% of the Gross Domestic Product. By the end of 2008, that number was up another trillion.
We are a country, and a state, that is debt laden. Consumers are trying to figure out how they can maintain their quality of life while spending less money than they did just a few years ago. So people cut out short and long trips to Las Vegas, Reno and Elko and spend their money elsewhere.
For Nevada to truly grow our economy and reduce our unemployment we have to think outside the box and outside the Strip. I recently unveiled a plan for the Federal Government to return ten million acres of Federal land to Nevada for sale to companies and people willing to invest in our state. In tried and true industries like agriculture and in newer, growing industries like renewable energy and healthcare technology. That full plan can be found on our website at www.chachasfornevada.com
8. How would you propose the Federal government address the issues related to the number of illegal aliens currently in the United States?
First and foremost we need to close our borders – every other discussion point is moot until our borders are secure.
Initial steps have been made to erect fences and deploy technological solutions to make it less porous, but further steps must be taken to ensure that crossing the border only takes place at regulated access points.
The immigration system at the Federal level has failed miserably on every level to assess, manage and regulate the flow of legal and illegal immigrants into the United States. As it stands today – it is easier and more rewarding for many to immigrate to our country illegally; the process for well educated, able bodied persons to enter our country and follow the proper naturalization process is fraught with high costs, legal hurdles and exorbitant waiting times.
America has always welcomed legal immigrants and we must continue to do so, while eliminating the reward for those who choose to violate our laws and enter our country illegally.
I believe that it is critical that America increase the number of work visas and expedite the system for those who wish to bring their unique skills to our country; particularly in areas of education, renewable energy, technology and healthcare and will do everything in my power to both overhaul the federal immigration system and force our nation to begin enforcing the laws we currently have.
9. What would be your priorities in resolving the concerns related to the increasing dependency of the Untied States on foreign oil? What measures you would propose at the Federal level to help alleviate Nevada’s high energy costs? Do you support Nuclear energy? How do you propose we resolve the dilemma of dealing with nuclear waste?
Maintaining our competitiveness in a global economy goes together with responsible stewardship of our environment and requires a long-term energy strategy grounded at home. As a key part of our economic prosperity, there has to be a green-energy strategy designed to enable the United States to transition from imported fossil fuel consumption to a new, clean generation of U.S.–based energy.
This will enable America to be liberated from dependence on the Middle East, Hugo Chavez, or any other dictatorships looking to exploit our oil addiction. Adopting a 10 year plan to remove 50% of our use of imported oil will enhance our effectiveness in the global economy and allow us to provide for a cleaner, healthier future, while also ensuring that Nevadans do not face steep increases in their power bills.
To this end, I would redirect stimulus spending and press for tax policies to:
• Support a massive new investment in our nation’s power distribution and energy infrastructure.
• Pursue the goal of attaining 20% of electricity needs from wind turbines complimented by additional solar generation capacity in states like Nevada.
• Pursue a U.S. natural gas strategy incorporating much of Boone Pickens’ plan. By moving our nation’s commercial transportation fleets (The State of Utah has already started this) to natural gas we can eventually eliminate up to 20% of our consumption of foreign oil.
• Support investment in electrical transmission grids along with incentives for homes and businesses to upgrade their insulation and other energy saving options.
• Accelerate investment for deployment of clean coal and tar sands initiatives.
I recently released a detailed position paper on this issue which can be found at our website www.chachasfornevada.com.
10. Is there a Federal department/cabinet position you would support eliminating? Explain.
Unprecedented government intervention in American industry is damaging the spirit of risk-taking and entrepreneurship that is so essential to growth.
In this instance, I would support eliminating / blocking Federal “czar” appointments. Federal “czars” appointed to gerrymander the bankruptcy code to the detriment of creditors and the benefit of unions may make for nice headlines but the tactics are dangerous and the wrong approach for our economy and for our country.
If a firm is not sustainable the federal government should allow the entity to file for bankruptcy without intervention. Period.
By artificially sustaining an inefficient enterprise with unmarketable products the government is simply delaying the inevitable and using taxpayer dollars for political reasons. This is a disservice to all parties involved and amounts to theft of taxpayer dollars.
11. Should the Federal government be involved in the regulation of our nation’s public school education system? If so, to what degree? Are you satisfied with the “No Child Left Behind” law? Explain.
Absolutely not – education regulation is administrated at so many levels (federal / state / county / city/district) and these layers of bureaucracy have done nothing to improve our children’s education.
As an economic leader in the world, we continually fail the next generations of Americans by repeatedly failing to provide them with the tools necessary to excel and succeed in a global economy.
We have had a federal institution since 1979, the Department of Education that refuses to adapt in order to improve education. Education is best administered on a local level, with parental involvement and it is easy to cite the success of Charter Schools as a prime example.
As international markets become more competitive, it is one of my top priorities to ensure that we work towards reducing the federal oversight of education, while demanding greater input and success at the local level. Our top schools should be rewarded and those that need improvement must receive the guidance and funding to improve.
For far too long American education policy has been built around a concept that we must pull our great schools and great teachers down to the level of the worst. It’s time to begin pulling our struggling schools up and replace our worst teachers with those more qualified to maximize the potential of our students.
12. The inclusion of apparently wasteful, foolish “pork” and “earmarks” in federal legislation is a historical practice – the public and many elected officials decry this practice, but, with no one wanting to be left off of the gravy train, it seems it is impossible to curtail. As U.S. Senator, what will you do in regards to this issue?
Earmarks are political by nature and have become the backbone of incumbent protection efforts. Unfortunately, they are part of a broken culture in Washington that rewards those who choose Washington back-rooms over retail problem solving at home.
What’s worse, our own Senator Harry Reid, stands as the most powerful person in the United States Senate yet Nevada finishes near the bottom in return on our federal dollar so we are working with a system that may reward Senator Reid politically but fails to help the vast majority of his constituents.
We can’t change the problem with earmarks until we change the culture in Washington, DC and shift the power base from tired old power-hungry Senators back to the people. When we do that, we’ll finally have a chance to put a stop to the brazen campaign tactics that we, as taxpayers, are funding.
It is time to get some real transparency in the process. It’s time for Harry Reid and his cronies to end the backroom deals and the dead of night parliamentary procedures that snooker the American public.
Generally, I am in favor of eliminating burdensome laws over creating them, but one law that apparently needs added is a requirement that nothing can be inserted into a bill without discussion or debate. Until we put a stop to the sneaky tactics that have made lobbyists rich we’ll continue to operate government is ways that empower DC instead of the voters.
13. Should the United States support Israel in their efforts to protect their nation’s security and safety of its citizens?
The U.S.-Israeli alliance remains more critical than ever as the two countries face a range of shared strategic threats: from a potentially nuclear-armed Iran to the expanding military capabilities of global terrorist organizations.
• Congress should continue to honor our commitment to our key Middle Eastern ally. We can continue to ensure the safety and security of Israel by maintaining our military aid, supporting a constructive peace process with the Palestinians and partnering to thwart the intentions of a saber- rattling Iran.
• Implementation of a 2007 U.S.-Israeli security agreement, which pledges to provide Israel with $30 billion in military assistance over the next decade, is vital to ensuring that Israel maintains its military edge over those adversaries that continue to pose a threat and actively work to undermine U.S. interests in the region.
I support Israel and their long-term goal of achieving a sustainable peace.
• Israel has proven willing to make bold concessions in order to end the conflict with the Palestinians. Success may well hinge on the ability of the Palestinians to elect a single government to be an active peace partner.
• The U.S. should continue to seek bilateral Israeli-Palestinian negotiations with a unified Palestinian counter-party rather than multiple factions, some of whom continue to insist on the unworkable position of the ‘Right of Return’ as a prerequisite for a negotiated peace, a position that Israel rightly rejects.
The most pressing threat facing Israel is Iran. Tehran plays a destabilizing role in the region through its continued support of terrorist groups that are threatening Israel and U.S. interests.
• Iran and terrorist groups are working to undermine U.S. efforts in the region, from Israeli-Palestinian talks to Lebanon to Iraq. Being a constructive “pen pal” to Iran’s leadership isn’t the right approach.
• Continued pressure on Tehran such as divestment efforts, sanctions, limited access to international banking systems and limiting refined gasoline supplies – all are appropriate pressures to force Iran to abide by a transparent verification process of their nuclear program.
There should be no wavering — none — from the historic principle that if attacked, Israel as our ally will receive the unequivocal support of the U.S.
14. How would you propose to reform the Social Security program?
Fixing Social Security requires an education so Americans understand that their payroll taxes are not being set-aside for THEIR retirement. Rather, we have an intra-generational transfer system: people paying in today are funding today’s retirees…..and children in the future will be paying in to fund their parents. As a nation, to few people appreciate this aspect of our system and so we have an education challenge in order to properly frame the possible alternatives for preserving the integrity of the Social Security system.
After educating Americans about how the system really works, we also have to begin today to induce Americans to save so that eventually people rely less on the government in their retirement and more on their own savings.
When Social Security was created, FDR wrote it was “…not intended to insure every American against 100% of life’s risks and vecissitudes…” but was, rather, a safety net to protect the less fortunate in our society against poverty. Over four decades of government largesse, it has grown away from its original intent into a much broader federalized program for everyone. And that program is now mathematically unsustinable unless we: dramatically increase taxes or make other dramatics changes. Below are four ways we could fix the system without increasing taxes.
Right now social security payroll taxes are being used by our government for general purposes rather than being segregated and carefully invested.
At formation, 6 Americans were paying into the system to support every 1 receiving benefits in retirement. That figure is now below 3:1 and will soon be nearer 2:1…a mathematical certainty due to the aging of the American population. We live longer, but we retire younger. And with fewer paying into the system, the math does not work.
This is a structural problem which, together with unsustainable growth in benefits through Cost of Living Adjustments will eventually render the system insolvent.
We must fix these flaws by a collection of steps in numerous areas:
• As America has aged, allowing reirement at age 62 needs to change. Over a long period of years, the retirement age must begin to graduate toward 69 given the longer lifespan of Americans
•. Gradually instituting mandatory savings accounts for Americans will encourage savings and, over a longer period of time, permit Americans to sustain their standards of living in their retirement with less government support. Large numbers of developed and developing countries (Britain, Australia, Chile to name just three) all have some form of mandatory retirement savings plans for their citizens.
•. Revisiting and adjusting the Cost of Living and Wage Inflation mechanisms in the program would more properly control cost growth
• Instituting a means test to screen out of the qualified pool of recipients truly wealthy Americans who should not qualify for Social Security given their wealth
Some combination of the steps above could create permanent structural integrity in social security for generations to come.
15. Senator Harry Reid has a long history of using dubious Congressional rules and procedures to skirt normally accepted procedures in order to promote/pass his personal/party’s agenda. What would be your position in regards to skirting the normal process in this manner in order to gain approval of your agenda?
If Amerian’s don’t have faith in the manner in which their government operates nothing else matters… right now the faith that Americans have in their elected leaders is at an all time low. The American people understand the dubious methods by which Harry is using to force harmful legislation into law.
The harmful short and long term effects of many of the President’s and congress’s actions will begin to further erode the public’s support of their action. A proper leader builds support through solid character and transparent action and as a leader in business I hope to bring this methodology back to Congress and the federal government.
Back door deals and high dollar spending by lobbyists only flame the fire around critical debates that should be properly configured to ensure the stability of America’s future.
If American’s don’t have faith in the manner in which their government operates nothing else matters… right now the faith that Americans have in their elected leaders is at an all time low. The American people understand the dubious methods by which Harry is using to force harmful legislation into law.
The harmful short and long term effects of many of the President’s and congress’s actions will begin to further erode the public’s support of their action. A proper leader builds support through solid character and transparent action and as a leader in business I hope to bring this methodology back to Congress and the federal government.
Back door deals and high dollar spending by lobbyists only flame the fire around critical debates that should be properly configured to ensure the stability of America’s future.
15. Is there any issue I have failed to address that you would like to comment on? Go for it…….
Why is John the best candidate – our nation is on a perilous economic course – politicians have failed and if you elect the same old people nothing is going to change / keep putting the same type of folks there – going to get the same result.
I’ve got the experience to help restructure / be a strong voice for America and Nevadans.
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