This post features responses to the Xpress questionnaire from candidates vying to represent the 11th Congressional District, which includes most of Western North Carolina and sections of western and northern Buncombe County. Republican Mark Meadows (pictured left) is competing with Democrat Hayden Rogers (pictured right) for the seat in the U.S. Congress.
Hayden Rogers
Slogan: [no answer given]
Website: www.haydenrogersforcongress.com
Occupation: Former chief of staff to Rep. Heath Shuler; former small-business owner
Residence: Brasstown
Top three donors: All campaign donations are public record, as required by law
Total raised as of Sept. 1: Approximately $550,000
Endorsements: N.C. Assoc. of Educators, American Postal Workers Union Local 277, Asheville Fire Fighters Assoc.
1. Do you support replacing Medicare with a voucher system? If yes, how do you ensure that the vouchers would cover the cost of adequate private insurance?
No. I am strongly opposed to a voucher system. I believe we must preserve and improve the traditional Medicare program. Ensuring Medicare remains solvent is about priorities. I believe Democrats and Republicans must come together and make shared sacrifices to ensure Medicare remains viable for current and future beneficiaries.
2. Do you support efforts to increase public disclosure of campaign financing, such as the DISCLOSE Act of 2012?
Yes. I believe the Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court, which essentially permits unlimited anonymous spending in campaigns, is detrimental to our democratic process. I would support the DISCLOSE Act, and I support public disclosure of campaign financing.
3. Should women have the exclusive right to make medical decisions concerning their own birth control and pregnancy? Why or why not?
I am pro-life. However, as someone who is pro-life, I believe we must do everything we can to prevent unwanted pregnancies. Women must have access to preventive health care and family-planning services.
4. Do you support capping the national debt? If so, what specific cuts or revenue increases would you advocate? If not, how would you reduce the debt?
To truly reduce our $16 trillion national debt, we must take a bipartisan, comprehensive approach that looks at both sides of the ledger. Real solutions will mean shared sacrifice from both parties, but we must make the difficult decisions necessary to put our nation on a long-term fiscally sustainable path.
5. With state budgets strained, how do you propose to ensure Medicaid availability?
Like Medicare, protecting Medicaid is about priorities. Medicaid provides thousands of low-income children, families and seniors in WNC with health care. I support preserving and strengthening this program. However, Medicaid is primarily managed on the state level, and it is the state’s responsibility to provide adequate matching funding for Medicaid.
Mark Meadows
Slogan: “Life, liberty, less government.”
Website: www.meadowsforcongress.com
Occupation: Small-business owner
Residence: Cashiers
Top three donors: [no answer given]
Total raised as of Sept. 1: Reports will be available after Oct. 15
Endorsements: Gov. Mike Huckabee, Rep. Patrick McHenry, National Federation of Independent Business
1. Do you support replacing Medicare with a voucher system? If yes, how do you ensure that the vouchers would cover the cost of adequate private insurance?
Medicare must be preserved and protected for current as well as future seniors. That’s why I support repealing Obamacare, which cuts $700 billion from Medicare and leaves us on a path to bankruptcy. Our plan ensures that future generations will benefit from a program they paid into all their lives.
2. Do you support efforts to increase public disclosure of campaign financing, such as the DISCLOSE Act of 2012?
Any attempt to limit the First Amendment rights of American citizens guaranteed by the Constitution is unacceptable. Elected officials should be held to the highest possible ethical standards. This means that we must improve oversight and transparency in government. I value openness and transparency in my own campaign.
3. Should women have the exclusive right to make medical decisions concerning their own birth control and pregnancy? Why or why not?
It is not the responsibility of government to make families’ decisions for them. This is why I want to repeal the Democrats’ big government takeover of health care and its insurance mandate. I am proudly 100 percent pro-life and will not back away from that.
4. Do you support capping the national debt? If so, what specific cuts or revenue increases would you advocate? If not, how would you reduce the debt?
I support a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution. The problem isn’t that Americans are taxed too little; it’s that Democrats spend too much. We need to reform the tax code, eliminating special-interest loopholes to make it simpler and fairer for the middle class.
5. With state budgets strained, how do you propose to ensure Medicaid availability?
Medicaid for the poor and elderly is critical and must be improved by limiting bureaucracy. We need to adopt policies, such as block grants to the states, that ensure the viability of this essential safety net. Democrats want more government dependency; we want to encourage upward mobility.
Mark Meadows-Q. Top three donors? A. None of your business.
Q. Support turning Medicare into a voucher system?
A. Yes, but I have to dance around the issue, but the phrase “our plan” says it all.
Q. Do you support public disclosure of campaign financing?
A. No, we want corporations to rule, but hey, we really, really, really favor “transparency.”
Q. Should women retain exclusive rights to their own medical decisions relating to birth control and pregnancy?
A. It’s not the responsibility of government to make family decisions; we support eliminating these bothersome personal decisions by making every zygote a citizen, and convicting every doctor who performs an abortion for murder.
Q. How would you reduce the debt?
A. By selling a gullible public the same snake oil we always trot out under the guise of ‘creating more jobs’ so the poor overtaxed 1% can get some relief; plus, we’ll throw in the illusory idea that we can somehow get a Constitutional amendment passed.
Q. How will you ensure Medicaid’s viability?
A. By reducing the infrastructure needed to administer it, thus throwing these leeches of the dole, and letting states divert these funds from the indolent lazy recipients to more worthy goals.