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Editor’s Note: In June 2012, Civil Beat sent 10 questions to each of the candidates registered to run in the Aug. 11 primary for U.S. Representative Congressional District 2. Seven of the eight responded, including Rafael Del Castillo. The questions and answers are reproduced below in full. Read responses by Mufi Hannemann, Tulsi Gabbard, Esther Kiaaina and Bob Marx to see how Del Castillo’s positions compare to those of his main competitors. Click on each topic listed below to read Civil Beat’s question and Del Castillo’s response.

• Drone Strikes
• Transportation
• Federal Debt
• Economic Growth
• Health Care Policy
• Global Warming
• Bipartisanship
• District Distinctions
• 112th Congress
• Overlooked Issue

1. President Obama has significantly increased the use of drones to assassinate terrorist targets. The policy has been criticized for denying due process rights for at least one American target, and for the collateral killing of civilians. Do you support this policy — why or why not?

I do not support the drone policy because I believe it presents a threat to our freedom and to peace. Drones are very seductive because we are freed from putting our fighting men and women in harms’ way, and preventing harm to our brave armed forces is something I passionately wish for. But drones provide terrorists and radicals with a powerful point for their sermons vilifying the U.S. ↩ back to top

2. Transportation and infrastructure are critical to an island state — especially the neighbor islands. How would you work to increase federal support for Hawaii’s roads, airports and harbors?

The Federal Highway Admin has a strategic plan for addressing needs, and thus I will work for plan revisions that address needs on the neighbor islands. FHWA has designated shares for roads, bridges, and infrastructure to Native Americans totaling $255 million in the 2011 program. $0 are designated to address Native Hawaiian needs. There is precedent for the use of FHWA funds in projects for OHA, so, consistent with our drive for Native Hawaiian recognition, I would pursue specific projects that facilitate uses by Native Hawaiians to improve infrastructure in the rural reaches of the neighbor islands. ↩ back to top

3. A divided U.S. Congress has not been able to come to agreement on how to lower the federal debt, in spite of bipartisan recommendations from the Simpson-Bowles deficit commission and others. What is your evaluation of those recommendations, which include hard decisions regarding entitlement programs, defense spending and taxes?

I appreciate the work that went into the recommendations, but believe that it is not the correct approach, and I oppose some of the social program cuts Simpson-Bowles recommended specifically. Those who are calling for a smaller federal government are not all wrong. The federal government has grown too large because Congress and the administrations, especially the Bush administration, have created federal agencies and departments to address needs when local communities are better positioned and would be more efficient and effective at addressing those needs. Obviously, a policy preceded the creation of federal bureaucracy in every case, so Congress is setting policy as it should. Congress has failed to implement policy intelligently by supporting local communities in creating the solutions. The federal idea must be restructured, just about everyone in America believes that. I will lead Congress in the direction of transferring function to local communities whenever appropriate, and downsizing federal government as part of that process. ↩ back to top

4. The major issue for most candidates is jobs and the economy. Can you identify a concrete example of how you as representative would go about stimulating growth both nationally and in Hawaii?

I would provide direct incentives for companies to repatriate jobs, and for entrepreneurs to create jobs that stay in America. I would also provide disincentives and penalties for companies that outsource jobs unless they can prove that Americans won’t do the work or they cannot find a community willing to host their production.

I would close the tax gap between small businesses and their big business competitors, making sure that companies like GE (0% tax) and Apple (9.8% tax) pay their fair share. Leveling the playing field for small businesses to compete will energize their ability to create jobs and improve productivity. ↩ back to top

5. Regardless of how the U.S. Supreme Court rules on President Obama’s Affordable Care Act, what would your goals be in terms of health care policy as a representative? Would you support universal health care?

I have the following goals:
Reduce the profits in health care finance (insurance companies and contractors administering publicly-funded health care). The 80% medical loss ratio in the ACA is too large because the private HC financiers are not investing any of the 20% or more they have been taking home back into improving facilities, modernizing technology, and financing medical education. They squeeze and struggling facilities and providers, and disincentives to innovation and improvements are the result.
Remove the financiers from the decisions about whether you get the care your doctor ordered.
* Enact legislation that penalizes private insurers that push patients, cost, and risk off to publicly-funded health care.

I support universal health care. I also support the single payer system. A lot of politicians talk about it, but they clearly don’t know how to get there and the private insurance industry is very able to stop a frontal attack. I believe we can get to single payer with the types of regulation and legislation I have outlined and will introduce. ↩ back to top

6. Global warming is real, and rising sea levels will certainly impact Hawaii. What steps would you take as a U.S. Representative to mitigate the effects of global warming?

We are failing at the job of conservation education. I rode an elevator two floors tonight several times (I was at the hospital awaiting the birth of my great grandson), thinking about the amount of electricity that was consumed each time. I could have taken the stairs, but they were locked. We must teach Americans that electricity is not an unlimited resource, and that little daily acts like taking the stairs can add up to a big difference, and maybe make us healthier in the bargain.

I plan to form a task force to review historical projects that succeeded in mitigating the effects of rising waters or flood waters, and in reclaiming land to identify the best approach for Hawaii. During that process, I will also search for private partners for the public sector to carry out the solution. ↩ back to top

7. Longtime D.C. observers say the inability of the two major parties to work with each other has never been worse, especially in the U.S. House. Many experienced leaders are leaving office rather than continue in such a hostile climate. Is compromise necessary to governance — and if so, how would you reach out to your colleagues to craft and pass legislation?

It is typical of institutions that have too much responsibility to crumble at the edges, as Congress has done. My plan for restructuring the federal government will refocus Congress on policy-making and delegating to local communities implementations that can best be done by local communities.

Consensus is necessary to good governance. Building a consensus around a policy or legislation implementing policy requires identifying the benefits for all of the interests involved, and that is where I will focus my efforts to enable me to reach out to my colleagues and show them why the policies and legislative actions I believe are necessary for Hawaii and the nation benefit them and their constituents. ↩ back to top

8. How is the 2nd Congressional District different from the 1st Congressional District? Or are their issues largely the same?

The 2nd Congressional District is largely rural, in contrast to metro Honolulu which comprises the 1st Congressional District. Because it takes more effort and time to organize rural communities politically, the 1st has dominated in securing infrastructure and services while the rural communities have been waiting for years and even decades. The job of the 2nd Congressional District’s representative is to do effective political organizing throughout the district, not to hang on to the seat, but to make sure rural Hawaii is effective with the State Legislature and Administration in getting their needs met, as well as with the federal representatives, and also effective in being able to identify their common interests and work together to get those interests served. ↩ back to top

9. What is the best thing the 112th Congress did, and why? What’s the worst thing, and why?

Congress helped people who needed help: Restoring GI Bill Fairness Act of 2011, Combating Autism Reauthorization Act of 2011, Kate Puzey Peace Corps Volunteer Protection Act of 2011, Temporary Payroll Tax Cut Continuation Act of 2011, and Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, and Congress took responsibility for itself: Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act of 2012.

The worst thing: 28 bills to repeal the Affordable Care Act were introduced. ↩ back to top

10. What is an issue you think is important to address as a U.S. House candidate — one that perhaps has not been given sufficient attention during the campaign?

A couple of things: some candidates are now saying that the Affordable Care Act needs work. True, but I have not heard anyone specifying what exactly needs work. The recent Supreme Court decision upholding the Act created a significant uninsured gap group, and a very significant problem with that group: the Court held 7-2 that Congress could not compel states to expand their Medicaid programs (with a very large share covered by Federal funds) to include a group of the working poor not able to qualify for the insurance exchanges or Medicaid, leaving them uninsured without the Medicaid expansion. The decision means that states can opt out, creating a group of poor uninsured in their states. These poor will have a powerful incentive to migrate to states that do not opt out, or rather opt in to the expanded Medicaid program. States thus will have an incentive to opt out so that they do not entice uninsured poor to migrate to them, and even to encourage uninsured poor to leave the state. Congress must quickly resolve the problem as it threatens the entire framework.

Second, the candidates have responded to repeated questions about gridlock with various ambiguities about working across the aisle, etc. Gridlock is the product of an overwhelming burden Congress has imposed upon itself in governing, which can be mitigated by restructuring the federal government as I have described. ↩ back to top