MICHAEL CRIMMINS WANTS TO RESTORE AMERCIAN DREAM TO 51ST DISTRICT

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Republican maverick has challenged his party on ethical issues in past, says he avoids "special interest money"

By Janis Mork

September 28, 2012 (San Diego)- Republican Michael Crimmins is running against Democrat Juan Vargas for Congress in the 51st district, which includes the entire border with Mexico and Imperial Valley. View a map of the district: http://www.crimminsforcongress.com/map/.  The seat is open, since incumbent Congressman Bob Filner is stepping down to run for Mayor of San Diego.

Crimmins says he running because he wants to make a difference.  His qualifications include military service and an education background. He is a retired military officer and San Diego teacher with two master degrees in education.  Currently he resides in Point Loma, which is not in the district.  If elected, he says he would move to Imperial Beach.  Married in Florida in 1977, he divorced in 1988 and has a daughter, Ashley, a flight attendant.

 “In early 2012, I was asked to run by a group of Spanish speakers in National City and Imperial Beach, said Crimmins. “We have to have a safe and secure border. We’ve got to get the country back on track; we’ve got to get people jobs.”  

He has taken the ‘no new taxes’ pledge, as most Republican candidates have done.

Crimmins twice ran for Congress in Congresswoman Susan Davis’ district. In 2008, he sparked controversy when he was ousted by the San Diego Republican Central Committee  for“inappropriate behavior” after the GOP claimed he made “racial and violent remarks” against a fellow GOP committee member. Crimmins denied making the racial remark. Insiders believed the real reason for his removal was because Crimmins had sought ouster of County Republican Party chairman Tony Krvaric.  “He’s ethically challenged and a thug whose modus operandi is to intimidate, threaten, harass and coerce. He’s a divider, not a uniter,” Crimmins said of Krvaric, CityBeat reported. (The County Republican Party pointedly has made no endorsement in this race.) 

Crimmins  has a passion for the American dream. He insists that “we cannot continue to borrow, deficit spend, and print money because it’s generational theft of our children’s and grandchildren’s futures, and they’ll have to pay for it, and it’s wrong.” He continues, “It’s impossible to tax an economy into prosperity; we’re jeopardizing our children’s future. We should go back to zero based budgeting, where we start from scratch. What I believe is that we should balance the federal budget; you do not deficit spend. We should be cutting the budget by a penny out of every dollar. We should do it for a number of years, so we can get back into black. We can easily do that. We’ve been in $4.9 trillion in debt when Bush left office. Now, we’re $6 trillion in three years under Obama.”

Regarding education, he believes that  1) we should expand the school day by an hour, 2) expand the school year by 30 days, 3) pay teachers accordingly, and 4) If you’re between the ages of 18 and 28, “you’re going to serve our country for two years (e.g. military, border patrol, Bureau of Indian Affairs, National Parks etc.) because there’s a price to be paid for living in the U.S. And you determine where you’ll serve.” The benefits are that “you’ll get paid, you’ll get education benefits, and we should pay for it…We’re going to solve more problems than we created.” Serving for the U.S. also helps people assimilate and “learn what it means to be an American, to contribute,’ he maintains. “The most important words you can know are ‘we’, ‘thank you’, and ‘we love you’.”

On immigration policy and the Dream Act, his personal experience is that “Mexicans support my plans; I’ve sat down with them.” “We need to have a safe and secure border.” He added, “I want to enlarge the pre-existing fence around Amistad [Friendship] Park on the U.S. side. I want to re-open it, upgrade it, so it’s a pleasant environment to meet family and relatives. We open it up, we do it in daylight hours. Put in playground equipment, barbeque, tables. I can envision it as the size of a soccer field, so they have privacy but with security cameras. There will be two flag poles- one for the U.S. and one for Mexico, and have a small fee.”

He says he wants kids to have a good education “because they’re the future of America. This is a great country.” But he adds, “We have to give immigrants ID cards and electronic verification.” He tells his students, “You are not a hyphenated American. You’re going to naturally say I’m an American whenever you leave our country, so start to learn to do that now. Don’t limit yourself within a tiny slice of life description.”

Regarding foreign policy, he referenced his military experience. “I was an instrument of foreign policy. I know about our foreign policy and I know how important it is to have good relations with our neighbors through trade. We have to hold other countries accountable for their actions.” He believes countries should be dealt with diplomatically, politically, economically, and then militarily. He tells his students, “It’s time for you to fight for your freedom. You’ve been given a gift. This is the best place in the world you could possibly live.”

His views on the conflict in Afghanistan are “We win, they lose. We go home. It’s a war on terror. It used to be symmetrical, where you lined up horizontally. Now it’s asymmetrical, where they come at you from all angles. We have to have a strong and robust military, and it goes hand in hand with the economy. The economy pays for it.”

He supports U.S. military involvement overseas, such as in Iran and Libya under the circumstances of “we lead from the front. If Iran goes nuclear, we have a problem. Israel’s our only democracy in the Middle East. Israel won’t let Iran have nuclear weapons because they’ll get nuked. It’s our responsibility to stand up for and with them. We can’t have Iranians threaten the existence of Israel and launch on them. Israel has the right of self-defense. Do they need to wait until they’re attacked to use it? No.”

The attacking and killing of the U.S. ambassador in Libya and uprisings against the U.S. embassy in Egypt is “an act of war. We’ve gone through war because of things like that. We’ve been fighting this element for two hundred years,” he said.  “If we’re going to declare war,” he observed, “The President can send forces overseas for 60 days and then get authorization from Congress. We’ve never been an invading nation. We go to war because we’ve been attacked first. Iranians and North Koreans are testing us with nukes [nuclear]. We’re allies with the South Koreans and Japanese. It was a NATO action when we went into Libya last time, but we were leading from behind. It’s important we have strong allies overseas, dealing with them diplomatically, politically, economically, and militarily. Germans and Japanese are our strongest allies now. We won military war; they won economic war.”

He supports wind energy and solar, but notes, “It’s really expensive. We should be exploring and exploiting everything. We should be drilling for oil onshore and offshore in ANWR, Alaska, and down here in the lower 48. When we have oil spills, we clean it up. We need to be going after natural gas, and digging clean coal, and putting coal-mining industries back into business. We need to be doing everything. The problem with wind is that it’s really expensive. By the time the equipment is paid off, it needs to be replaced because it wears out. We need to have more geothermal. We need to become more energy self sufficient…We’ve got to do things environmentally clean.”

On the wind production energy tax cuts, he said candidly, “I don’t know much about it specifically.” But he added, “Generally, anything that is subsidized by the U.S. can’t stand on its own two feet and be profitable.”

He said that gas on the base was $1.70 when President Obama was inaugurated. Today, it’s $3.99, more than doubled. “We need to complete the Keystone Oil Pipeline,” he said. Places that should be off limits for oil drilling and energy exploration are “in sensitive coral reefs. Why aren’t we developing more nuclear, wind, solar, tides (like in France), coal? With solar panels, we should be placing solar where it’s not feasible for agriculture, where you can’t farm. There’s a tiny footprint on the land where oil drilling is slant drilled down and out at all angles, not straight down in ANWR [Alaska]. Not straight down as was the technique employed a hundred years ago. We have to become more energy self sufficient because it’s too costly right now. For every penny the price of gas goes up, a million dollars comes out directly out of San Diego’s economy every month.”

On budget priorities for veterans and funding for the V.A. (Veterans Administration), he believes, “We have to honor all our commitments for veterans past, present, and future. If we don’t, why would anybody want to join? I would increase funding.”

As for Native American healthcare,  he said, “It should be improved. We have to take care of the Native population because not everyone has a slot machine or casino. A lot are destitute, and we have a responsibility to take care of them. It needs to be honored.”

Being in the worst drought since 1940, having high fire danger, and resources cut, there has to be something done to prevent California from suffering another devastating Cedar fire. Crimmins feels conflicted because “fire is a natural resource of nature; it benefits. But you put out fires, and then a bigger one burns. There’s a cost to everything. We have to make sure our first responders are properly equipped. I’ve seen results of backfires. I know [fire prevention] is a priority; something needs to be done. First, you protect life and property.”

Since Pell grant funds have been given to struggling college students, he observed, “Kids are our future. A lot of students have to pay off debts of student loans after graduating, and they aren’t able to get a job.”

He wants to help the small business community by “extending Bush era tax cuts and cut corporate tax rate. Small businesses drive the economy. We need to encourage businesses to come back to the U.S. and for people to invest here.”

Asked about his biggest campaign donors, he said that “varies”, then added, “I don’t have any special interest money.” Crimmins had raised less than $12,000 for his campaign as of June, compared to Vargas, who had raked in nearly $700,000, according to Open Secrets which offers detailed comparisons of the two candidates' major donors.

For more information on Crimmins, visit his website at http://www.crimminsforcongress.com.

ECM has requested an interview with Crimmins' Democratic opponent, Juan Vargas and hopes to include interview comments in an upcoming profile on Vargas' candidacy.


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