Candidates for United States House of Representatives

Candidates for United States House of Representatives

Two-Year Term

Steve Obsitnik (Republican)

Economy: I believe that entrepreneurship and individual opportunity lie at the core of America’s greatness. When the private sector thrives, jobs are created and the nation thrives.

My priorities are:

1) Work towards pro-growth tax reform by lowering individual and corporate tax rates, eliminating the tangle of loopholes, making the tax code fairer, flatter, and simpler for families and small businesses.

2) Work towards eliminating over-regulation and red tape that punishes job creators, thereby discouraging economic growth.

3) Work towards getting the nation’s debt and deficit under control.

Difficult decisions regarding our tax system, regulatory environment and debt and deficit cannot be made in a crisis environment. I am going to Congress so that our country is not beholden to party politics.

Campaign Finance Reform: A person’s right to donate to political campaigns is one of our First Amendment freedoms, in the form of free speech. I also believe strongly in transparency and accountability in government, which is why donations should disclosed as they are given.

Environment: As a nuclear and electrical engineer, I support practical and sound measures to reduce pollution and protect our environment while preserving our economic vitality.

Our energy needs must not be held hostage by foreign governments, special interest groups, or an overbearing regulatory environment. America is blessed with the natural resources and technical know how to bring cleaner, cheaper and more abundant energy to the market.

In Congress, I will pursue a national energy strategy which:

• Facilitates the use of cleaner carbon sources like natural gas
• Pursue alternative energy sources including nuclear, wind, solar, geothermal and hydroelectric
• Advance solutions through solid, scientific development and market incentives

Gun Laws: I support the Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

Jim Himes (Democratic, Working Families)

Economy: Since I took office in 2009, we have gone from losing 700,000 jobs every month to 30 months of private-sector job growth. But unemployment is still too high, and businesses continue suffering from insufficient consumer demand. We need to promote short-term economic growth and enact policies that set us up for long-term prosperity.

Right now, with thousands of engineers and construction workers looking for work, we should invest in our roadways, railways, and airports which all need billions of dollars in improvements to make them safe and efficient. And I am aggressively working to improve the business climate. I consistently support efforts to remove incentives to ship jobs overseas and wrote and passed legislation to make it easier for businesses to access capital to invest in their companies and hire more workers. Looking forward, we must reduce the deficit, streamline our tax code, and improve our education system.

Campaign Finance Reform: The explosion of poorly regulated and undisclosed money in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United has reaffirmed my belief that money plays an outsized role in our political system. That is why I support amending the Constitution to reverse the effects of Citizens United and ensure that Congress can create responsible campaign finance laws. I believe this can be accomplished in a manner that protects free speech and the First Amendment.  I also support legislation such as the Free

Elections Now Act, which would increase the power of small contributors and reduce the influence of interest groups.

With disclosure, I agree with Justice Brandeis that sunlight truly is the best disinfectant. Disclosure allows voters to make informed decisions and can help fight corruption and avoid the appearance of corruption. I have voted for and continue to support legislation which would create sensible disclosure requirements.

Environment: In the past, I have been supportive of the careful development of nuclear power, which as you may know, now accounts for 20 percent of U.S. power generation. Like so many others, I watched in horror as the Japanese earthquake and tsunami demonstrated just how dangerous nuclear power can be, both in its generation and in the subsequent disposal of waste. I am particularly conscious of these dangers given the proximity of the Indian Point reactors to my constituents (and my family).

America must transition to a sustainable energy economy. This means reducing our consumption of oil and natural gas, and deploying new technologies for capturing wind and solar energy – energy sources that are both clean and plentiful.

Personally, I hope that truly clean technologies will someday replace nuclear generation. Until then it is absolutely essential that we redouble our efforts to keep our nuclear capability safe and protected.

Gun Laws: I support the right of Americans to bear arms. After a long series of violent tragedies, we must do more to protect our communities and keep weapons out of the hands of criminals and the unbalanced. Balancing these things is possible with simple regulations and technologies that protect responsible gun owners and the public at large.

I believe the most effective method for ensuring weapons stay out of the hands of criminals is through reasonable regulations at the point of sale. I support reforms to the background check system which would close loopholes and better ensure that criminals, the mentally ill and people inclined to violence are identified. I also believe that we should encourage the sale of trigger locks to keep guns out of the hands of children and other unauthorized users. Finally, we should limit access to devices, such as high-capacity magazines, solely designed for mass-killing.