Candidate Survey – Greg Newman

Name: Greg Newman
Occupation: Attorney
Party affiliation, if any: Republican
Political experience: First Republican mayor of Hendersonville, 2005-09; former criminal prosecutor
Endorsements: Not seeking any except from WNC voters

1) How much money have you raised for your campaign?
Around $40,000.

Who are your top three donors, and how much has each contributed?
Myself with a campaign loan, and my law partners Ron Blanchard and Jason Blackwell, who have contributed several thousand each.

2) What most distinguishes you from your opponent?
Former prosecutor and mayor of Hendersonville with conservative record of fighting crime, cutting spending and opposing tax increases. Will eliminate Education, Energy and Homeland Security departments, reform entitlement spending and taxes, similar to Congressman Paul Ryan's proposal. My opponents, like Shuler, haven't presented a plan to cut spending and debt.

3) What are your top three legislative priorities?
1. Cut spending, including reforming unsustainable entitlement programs;
2. Reduce exploding federal debt;
3. Reform tax system to encourage investment, so businesses can create good-paying jobs, especially by making our manufacturing sector globally competitive.

4) What's your position on the recent health-care reform legislation passed by Congress? What steps should be next in tackling health care?
Will work to repeal the health-care bill recently passed, which will bankrupt us. Doesn't address exploding health-care spending, which is causing increasing levels of federal debt. Support true reform to lower costs, including allowing insurance competition, reforming Medicare/Medicaid to pay providers based on quality not quantity, reform malpractice laws, etc.

5) What steps should be taken to deal with the contaminated former CTS of Asheville site? What's your opinion of the EPA's handling of the cleanup?
The federal government, including EPA and N.C. DENR, have been incompetent in dealing with the contaminated CTS site and have focused more on damage control instead of cleaning up the site. Federal bureaucracy must be reformed, and I will support any efforts to create a change in operation.

6) What's your opinion of the Defense Department's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy?
I support the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy and believe that current efforts to repeal are based on political expediency by the president instead of national-security concerns. While our nation is at war, we shouldn't try social experiments.

7) How do you believe the federal government should deal with the immigration situation?
Immigration reform should begin with strong border security, employer verification, elimination of sanctuary cities, temporary-worker program for businesses that can't find Americans to do the job, and visa programs so creative people throughout the world can create businesses here, most recently like Google and Intel.

8) What steps do you favor to deal with the economic downturn?
If we don't cut spending and reduce debt, the public sector will face a crisis similar to the '08 Wall Street crash, and then who will bail America out?  Reforming our tax system to encourage investment and job creation, like the plan presented by Congressman Ryan, will create sustainable jobs.

9) What's your position on abortion?
As a Christian who believes all of God's children are a gift from Him, I oppose abortion except in the cases of rape, incest and life of the mother.

10) What do you believe is the best course for the U.S. to take in Afghanistan and Iraq?
The surge orchestrated by General Petraeus and opposed by Congressman Shuler has been very successful in Iraq, allowing for the substantial reduction of soldiers with improvements in security and political stability.  I support General McChrystal's troop request in Afghanistan to fight the Taliban and their al-Qaida supporters.

SHARE

Thanks for reading through to the end…

We share your inclination to get the whole story. For the past 25 years, Xpress has been committed to in-depth, balanced reporting about the greater Asheville area. We want everyone to have access to our stories. That’s a big part of why we've never charged for the paper or put up a paywall.

We’re pretty sure that you know journalism faces big challenges these days. Advertising no longer pays the whole cost. Media outlets around the country are asking their readers to chip in. Xpress needs help, too. We hope you’ll consider signing up to be a member of Xpress. For as little as $5 a month — the cost of a craft beer or kombucha — you can help keep local journalism strong. It only takes a moment.

Before you comment

The comments section is here to provide a platform for civil dialogue on the issues we face together as a local community. Xpress is committed to offering this platform for all voices, but when the tone of the discussion gets nasty or strays off topic, we believe many people choose not to participate. Xpress editors are determined to moderate comments to ensure a constructive interchange is maintained. All comments judged not to be in keeping with the spirit of civil discourse will be removed and repeat violators will be banned. See here for our terms of service. Thank you for being part of this effort to promote respectful discussion.

3 thoughts on “Candidate Survey – Greg Newman

Leave a Reply

To leave a reply you may Login with your Mountain Xpress account, connect socially or enter your name and e-mail. Your e-mail address will not be published. All fields are required.