Congressman Ron Kind Meets Herndon High Political Science Students
Clare introduces her 2nd semester boss- "Congressman Ron Kind represents the 3rd district of Wisconsin. He is on the Ways and Means Committee as well as other committees. He is also the 'Aaron Rogers' of the House Democrats! Please welcome Congressman Ron Kind!" Questions and answers below as well as a trip to the Jefferson Memorial. This meeting took place November 16, 2010.
Congressman Kind, Brooke who voted with Congressman Kind more than anyone else in our class, Clare and Kind staffers Brett Halverson and Meghan Roh.
Elizabeth- A few years ago Mr. Graney brought students to meet Rep. Jeff Flake. When asked which Democrats he worked well with and was friends with Rep. Flake mentioned you. So which Republicans do like and work well with and is the House as partisan as the media makes it out to be? ANSWER- Certainly Jeff Flake. He recently went on his over version of "Survivor" and was emailing me his experiences. Dave Reichert of Washington State is another.
Joe- Regarding your vote to tax executive bonuses at 90% for TARP recipients, did you cast your vote in righteous indignation or do you think that is an appropriate use of tax policy? ANSWER- We wanted to make sure there were controls on the money going to those in the TARP program. President Bush would not allow that. That money should have been used to help small businesses not as bonuses for those that almost brought our economy into a depression that would have made the Great Depression look like a picnic.
Zoe- In May, 2007 you voted in favor of hate crimes legislation. How far are you willing to take that concept? For example, I can understand Nazi graffiti on a synagogue being considered a hate crime but if someone spray painted slurs or threats against the Green Bay Packers and their fans on the side wall of a 7/11 would that be a hate crime? ANSWER- Whoa! That would be terrible! It is necessary to convict hate crimes separately from other crimes in order to send a message to society that they may think discriminatory or racist thoughts, but they can't act on them. Hopefully treating certain crimes as hate crimes will discourage others from acting on their discriminatory thoughts.
Ashley- There was an amendment to the health care bill prohibiting federal funding for abortion. We saw Rep. Dale Kildee say he would not risk his “eternal salvation” by voting for a bill that has abortion funding and this bill did not have that funding. Then we saw Rep. Chris Smith say this health care bill would “open the flood gates to federally funded abortion.” Who was right about that bill? ANSWER- Rep. Kildee. There was language in the Senate bill that we voted for that had a prohibition against taxpayer funded abortion. The Stupak amendment made a specific rule that tax money could not go to abortion and President Obama signed an Executive Order saying no tax money could go to pay for abortions.
Sanford- In February of 2009 you voted in favor of the stimulus bill. When you weigh the results vs. the cost, has it been worth it? ANSWER- Yes. We have had more job growth in the last few months than we had in the entire Bush administration. There have been a lot of construction and infrastructure projects in my district in western Wisconsin.
Samantha (center)- You voted in favor of voting representation for D.C., but how do you get around Article I, Section 2 which states members have to be from the states? ANSWER- I firmly believe that taxpaying American citizens should have representation in the House of Representatives. We had a deal where Red state Utah would have received an additional congressional district which would have balanced the Democrat seat in Washington, D.C. I'm hoping we can get this passed.
Amanda (2nd from right)- Your opponent in the recent election linked you with Nancy Pelosi in an ad. Did that bother you and do you think Pelosi is the right person to lead House Democrats at this time? ANSWER- There was $3.5 million worth of negative attack ads against me. A little kid at a campaign event asked me if my name was Congressman PelosiReidKind. The truth is I act in the interests of my district and a survey showed I had the 5th most independent voting record out of 435 members of congress. The NRA also endorsed me. Does that sound like I'm just like Nancy Pelosi?
Libby (right)- Regarding President Clinton’s impeachment, we saw some videos in class where it certainly appeared he was lying first in the Paula Jones deposition and then in his grand jury testimony. Do you think he was lying and if so is it your view that perjury is not an impeachable offense? ANSWER- What Clinton did was wrong and politicians should hold themselves to high standards morally. But impeachment should only be considered when the president acts dangerously towards the nation.
Ryan- It seemed to me that Democrats ran away from their legislative achievements in the last election and I’m wondering if you did the same or was your message "I voted for TARP, GM loans and Health Care, reelect me”? ANSWER- I did run on my record. I had people in my district describe problems they've been having with the health care system. We used one woman in an ad. There was a lot of support in my community for those votes.
Antwanett- On July 18th, 2006, the House voted on a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. Why did you not vote on this and where do you stand on this topic? ANSWER- First of all we recently voted on "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and that policy needs to change. As former Sen. Barry Goldwater once said "I don't care if they're straight, I just want them to shoot straight." As far as same sex marriage, I'm in favor of civil unions and I don't think the government should be able to tell churches who they can or can't marry.
Clare- I have never been to your district, but I'm looking forward to learning more about it when I intern for you. Would you mind telling us what is cool about your district? ANSWER- Of the 435 congressional districts, mine is the most beautiful. It is very rural, there may be more cows than people. Lots of agriculture plus 4 state universities so it's also a great education area. It is a great place to raise a family.
The Jefferson Memorial
Jefferson and Jefferson.
Nyeisha, Amalia and Diana
Ian and Miya
