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Interview Transcript
| Interview with Andy Goss 9-12 Candidate for Congress Arizona District 8 |
| Show Host Danielle Hampson |
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Welcome to The 9-12 Show...
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| INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTS available by clicking on links below |
recognize that things can be improved in our healthcare system but you are not for a government takeover of it. What would you recommend
be done?
Candidate: Well, I think there are a lot of things that can be done to improve our healthcare that doesn’t involve government solutions. I think
the first thing that we have to look at before we can even discuss reforming our healthcare is we have to get our ridiculous tax code reformed
and we also have to look at getting some companies to come back to the United States and bring their jobs with them so we can get our
unemployment down. Higher unemployment is also contributing to the cost of health care for everyone and I really think to improve the
health care, one of the things we have to look at is retail health clinics. Now, when you buy car insurance, your car insurance does not pay
you when you get a flat tire. It doesn’t pay for oil changes, for new windshield wipers. And there are some that think that health care shouldn’t
be required to take care of these things either. A lot of people support catastrophic coverage which of course is coverage to pay for, you
know, the tragedies or things that are not routine medical procedures. And obviously we’re going to have to do some court reform. We’ve got
to get these frivolous lawsuits down and I think these will go a long way towards bringing the cost of health care down. But also, I think
another thing we really have to look at is making sure that we get the government mandate out of the health care coverage. I think in 1979
there was, I don’t know about maybe an average of five per state as far as mandates go. And now today, there are over 1900 and of course
these are going to contribute to the cost of health care. I mean hair prosthesis, acupuncture, port wine stain removal, of course these are
going to contribute to the rising cost of health care, so we’ve got to fix that first.
Host: Now let’s go to the national security issue. You live close to the border. How do you view the border situation and what would you
propose to fix what I actually like to call the “Swiss cheese border syndrome” meaning that we get plenty of holes to fix in not just the border
but the entire immigration system?
Candidate: Well, if we’re not going to enforce our laws, then we can’t do anything effectively. Number one, we have got to enforce the laws
that we have on the books. Secondly, we have got to make sure that E-Verify is used. E-Verify is a tool that will determine eligibility to work
at a business or a company and it’s not being used everywhere. If we use E-Verify, if we punish the guys who are hiring these illegals, we hit
them in their wallet. Well eventually they’re going to stop hiring and these people are probably going to leave on their own. Now I don’t
support amnesty for anyone. You broke our laws, you should be returned to your country of origin. And that’s my view on the border. Now
we send a lot of money to Mexico and this money has been used to help them with their drug trade, to buy weapons, to support their military.
This money is going unaccounted for. We have to take care of ourselves first.
Host: When you refer to those that break the law and need to go back, well the minute that they come here illegally, they have already broken
the law. So what do we do with all the people that are here right now?
Candidate: Well, it’s unreasonable for us to…. We don’t have the manpower to simply go round up everyone, so when we have people like
Speaker of the House, you know, Nancy Pelosi, when she claims that the ICE agents that are doing their jobs are un-American, you know
that’s a problem with our government. That’s a problem with ideology that needs to change. Now I’m not saying that we don’t keep doing our
jobs as far as trying to catch those who are in our country illegally. Of course we do, but can we catch, I don’t even know how many there are,
maybe twenty million, some people say twelve million. I think it’s probably closer to twenty. And the problem with the border is not
necessarily just Mexico. I don’t know if you’ve heard of the Fort Dix 6. but we have terrorists that cross our southern border and this is a
problem for the United States. We have to change our rules of engagement I think with the Border Patrol and we need to make it a little
more difficult when they come across our border. We need to finish our fence.
Host: Now you are currently a member of the intelligent community. How strong do you feel our national security is and what do you think
really needs to be done to insure that our country stays safe from those who wish to harm us?
Candidate: I have a lot of opinions on this subject. Number one, our Congress and our President need to realize that those individuals who
are doing human intelligence, that work for the CIA and for the other alphabet soup agencies, they are doing a difficult job. And one thing
that we do not need is constant Congressional oversight. We do not need Congress constantly meddling into the affairs of those who are
keeping our nation safe. Now torture, you know, everyone has a different definition of what torture is. I’m not going to support, you know, just
torture for the sake of torture and I don’t even know what everyone’s definition of torture is. I know what I think it is and what I think it is not,
and I think our government needs to let us do our jobs.
Host: You know, that ties in very nicely also with, of course, the border situation because as you said before there are a lot of terrorist
wannabees or terrorists already who crossed our borders whether it’s from the north or from the south. So would you have an idea as to
how to fix that particular problem?
Candidate: Well, as I said, I think we really have to look at getting that fence finished. You know, we’ve sent so much money to Mexico. It
could have been used to finish that fence. Now the fence isn’t going to stop everyone obviously, hasn’t so far. We probably ought to look at
getting some of these checkpoints that are, you know, 50 or 60 miles in-state and get those agents along the border. Another thing that we,
and I see this all the time, someone crosses the border, say a drug dealer for example, they struggle, there’s a shooting and what happens is
their families or they, if they make it back into Mexico, they wind up suing our border patrols. And what incentive does it give our border
patrol to do their jobs if they feel like they’re just going to be sued by the people they catch. We have to really look at changing some of
these laws and we have to look at changing our rules of engagement.
Host: Now on another subject. You appear to be very concerned about waste and abuse in our government. Would you please explain your
position on fiscal responsibility?
Candidate: Yeah, I think it’s pretty obvious from the last decade of so just looking at the way that our government has grown. Jimmy Carter
instituted the Department of Education and President Bush instituted or he designed and created the Department of Homeland Security. And
these are two money pits. They’re huge bureaucracies and our government continues to grow. We now have Health Czars, people that are
appointed who are not accountable to anyone yet they’re paid by us. I’m tired of seeing our Congress waste our money and I think some of
the ways we can improve this are to start cutting some of these wasteful programs and eliminating some of these agencies that waste our
money.
Host: Do you have any particular in mind?
Candidate: Sure, I’d really love to see the Department of Education go away. That is a bureaucracy that employs four thousand people who
don’t teach one student. I think education should be handled at the local level.
Host: Any other one?
Candidate: I also think the Department of Homeland Security should go away. I think we did okay for two hundred years without it and I think
we can do okay without it now.
Host: What would you replace those with if anything at all? How would we make that switch?
Candidate: Well, I think we could go back to the way it was. I mean we already have a Federal Bureau of Investigation. We have a multitude
of other investigative services and security services already present in the United States. I think that was plenty. I don’t think we need this
huge money pit whose head disparages veterans coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan and accuses them of joining right-wing
organizations. I just don’t think we need that.
Host: Now let’s go to energy for a second. What’s your position on that particular subject, on energy and the various types of resources that
are available to us? How would you see that moving forward?
Candidate: Well, President Obama I guess recently has decided to allow Brazil or give them two hundred million dollars or something like
that to help with their oil. I don’t understand why we in America, when we have what some geologists claim are oil finds that will probably
dwarf Saudi Arabia. I don’t understand if we’re serious about energy independence, I don’t understand why we are not drilling for our own
oil. Now I support nuclear technology. I support wind and solar technology, but I don’t support those at the expense of ignoring what we have
available to us right now which is large deposits of oil, whether it’s Anwr, whether it’s in the Dakotas, whether it’s in Montana. We should be
drilling for this, if we are truly serious about weaning ourselves off of foreign oil, which we get most of from Canada and Mexico anyway. If we’
re serious about that then we need to be drilling for our own oil. And we also need to be building refineries when the Iranians are a perfect
example of people who are oil rich, but they still have to import most of their oil because they don’t have refineries. These are job creators as
well and it will get us some independence.
Host: Now you are running in the 8th Congressional District, so obviously you have at heart the constituents that are living in that particular
district. What do you think you would bring to the table that would help people in your particular district?
Candidate: Well, I think the first thing is that people are paying too much in taxes. Everyone, I think we are being taxed too much and like I
said, I know that health reform is on the front burner right now for a lot of folks. They don’t want government takeover. I don’t think the
majority do anyway. I think everyone agrees that we could reform things but the way we do it is another issue. But before we can do that and
the first thing that I would like to do for my constituents is to put more money in their pockets and that’s going to be reforming our tax code. I
think when people have more money they have more freedom. They have more freedom to choose what they want to do with it, whether it’s
to invest it, whether it’s to spend it, whether it’s to buy insurance. I think the first thing that we need to do in this district is to stick more money
in people’s pockets.
Host: Now this is the first time you’re running, isn’t it?
Candidate: It is.
Host: What made you decide to run?
Candidate: Well, I was in Iraq from July of ’07 until July of ’09, two months ago I guess, and I was watching with great interest who was going
to become our next Commander In Chief. I watched all the debates on … I’d get up at 3 am or 2 am and watch these debates and along
the way I saw a lot of interviews with members of Congress and I couldn’t believe that some of the people that I saw on television had been
elected, quite honestly. Their views, the things they had to say, and I got really tired of seeing the great lengths that the media was willing to
go to, to make history. You know, that’s all I heard. “Well, we’re going to make history.” It’s our decision, not the media’s and I got really tired
of screaming at my television. I told my wife, you know what, I can sit here and scream at the TV and be like most people or I can actually try
and do something about it. I think I know how to fix what’s wrong. Not everything. No one can fix everything, but the big things. I think I
know how to fix them and I think I can tell people how to fix them. So that’s when I decided to run, probably, I don’t know, November of ’08,
right after the election.
Host: Okay so now that’s it, you’re running and you have a website, so would you give us the website so that citizens and supporters can
maybe help you, and contact you or your campaign?
Candidate: Sure that website is www.GossForCongress.com. It’s going to be overhauled soon. It’s still accessible right now. Everything’s
available on it, we’re just going to overhaul it. My wife and I did the whole thing ourselves and we realized maybe we aren’t as talented at
web design as we thought we were. So we’re going to try to get that overhauled, but it’s going to stay the same website, the same web
address no matter what. And that’s www.GossForCongress.com.
Host: Goss For Congress dot com and that’s G O double S as in Sam For Congress dot com. Mr. Goss, thank you very much for being on
the 9-12 Project Show today.
Candidate: Hey, thanks for having me. I really appreciate that.
be done?
Candidate: Well, I think there are a lot of things that can be done to improve our healthcare that doesn’t involve government solutions. I think
the first thing that we have to look at before we can even discuss reforming our healthcare is we have to get our ridiculous tax code reformed
and we also have to look at getting some companies to come back to the United States and bring their jobs with them so we can get our
unemployment down. Higher unemployment is also contributing to the cost of health care for everyone and I really think to improve the
health care, one of the things we have to look at is retail health clinics. Now, when you buy car insurance, your car insurance does not pay
you when you get a flat tire. It doesn’t pay for oil changes, for new windshield wipers. And there are some that think that health care shouldn’t
be required to take care of these things either. A lot of people support catastrophic coverage which of course is coverage to pay for, you
know, the tragedies or things that are not routine medical procedures. And obviously we’re going to have to do some court reform. We’ve got
to get these frivolous lawsuits down and I think these will go a long way towards bringing the cost of health care down. But also, I think
another thing we really have to look at is making sure that we get the government mandate out of the health care coverage. I think in 1979
there was, I don’t know about maybe an average of five per state as far as mandates go. And now today, there are over 1900 and of course
these are going to contribute to the cost of health care. I mean hair prosthesis, acupuncture, port wine stain removal, of course these are
going to contribute to the rising cost of health care, so we’ve got to fix that first.
Host: Now let’s go to the national security issue. You live close to the border. How do you view the border situation and what would you
propose to fix what I actually like to call the “Swiss cheese border syndrome” meaning that we get plenty of holes to fix in not just the border
but the entire immigration system?
Candidate: Well, if we’re not going to enforce our laws, then we can’t do anything effectively. Number one, we have got to enforce the laws
that we have on the books. Secondly, we have got to make sure that E-Verify is used. E-Verify is a tool that will determine eligibility to work
at a business or a company and it’s not being used everywhere. If we use E-Verify, if we punish the guys who are hiring these illegals, we hit
them in their wallet. Well eventually they’re going to stop hiring and these people are probably going to leave on their own. Now I don’t
support amnesty for anyone. You broke our laws, you should be returned to your country of origin. And that’s my view on the border. Now
we send a lot of money to Mexico and this money has been used to help them with their drug trade, to buy weapons, to support their military.
This money is going unaccounted for. We have to take care of ourselves first.
Host: When you refer to those that break the law and need to go back, well the minute that they come here illegally, they have already broken
the law. So what do we do with all the people that are here right now?
Candidate: Well, it’s unreasonable for us to…. We don’t have the manpower to simply go round up everyone, so when we have people like
Speaker of the House, you know, Nancy Pelosi, when she claims that the ICE agents that are doing their jobs are un-American, you know
that’s a problem with our government. That’s a problem with ideology that needs to change. Now I’m not saying that we don’t keep doing our
jobs as far as trying to catch those who are in our country illegally. Of course we do, but can we catch, I don’t even know how many there are,
maybe twenty million, some people say twelve million. I think it’s probably closer to twenty. And the problem with the border is not
necessarily just Mexico. I don’t know if you’ve heard of the Fort Dix 6. but we have terrorists that cross our southern border and this is a
problem for the United States. We have to change our rules of engagement I think with the Border Patrol and we need to make it a little
more difficult when they come across our border. We need to finish our fence.
Host: Now you are currently a member of the intelligent community. How strong do you feel our national security is and what do you think
really needs to be done to insure that our country stays safe from those who wish to harm us?
Candidate: I have a lot of opinions on this subject. Number one, our Congress and our President need to realize that those individuals who
are doing human intelligence, that work for the CIA and for the other alphabet soup agencies, they are doing a difficult job. And one thing
that we do not need is constant Congressional oversight. We do not need Congress constantly meddling into the affairs of those who are
keeping our nation safe. Now torture, you know, everyone has a different definition of what torture is. I’m not going to support, you know, just
torture for the sake of torture and I don’t even know what everyone’s definition of torture is. I know what I think it is and what I think it is not,
and I think our government needs to let us do our jobs.
Host: You know, that ties in very nicely also with, of course, the border situation because as you said before there are a lot of terrorist
wannabees or terrorists already who crossed our borders whether it’s from the north or from the south. So would you have an idea as to
how to fix that particular problem?
Candidate: Well, as I said, I think we really have to look at getting that fence finished. You know, we’ve sent so much money to Mexico. It
could have been used to finish that fence. Now the fence isn’t going to stop everyone obviously, hasn’t so far. We probably ought to look at
getting some of these checkpoints that are, you know, 50 or 60 miles in-state and get those agents along the border. Another thing that we,
and I see this all the time, someone crosses the border, say a drug dealer for example, they struggle, there’s a shooting and what happens is
their families or they, if they make it back into Mexico, they wind up suing our border patrols. And what incentive does it give our border
patrol to do their jobs if they feel like they’re just going to be sued by the people they catch. We have to really look at changing some of
these laws and we have to look at changing our rules of engagement.
Host: Now on another subject. You appear to be very concerned about waste and abuse in our government. Would you please explain your
position on fiscal responsibility?
Candidate: Yeah, I think it’s pretty obvious from the last decade of so just looking at the way that our government has grown. Jimmy Carter
instituted the Department of Education and President Bush instituted or he designed and created the Department of Homeland Security. And
these are two money pits. They’re huge bureaucracies and our government continues to grow. We now have Health Czars, people that are
appointed who are not accountable to anyone yet they’re paid by us. I’m tired of seeing our Congress waste our money and I think some of
the ways we can improve this are to start cutting some of these wasteful programs and eliminating some of these agencies that waste our
money.
Host: Do you have any particular in mind?
Candidate: Sure, I’d really love to see the Department of Education go away. That is a bureaucracy that employs four thousand people who
don’t teach one student. I think education should be handled at the local level.
Host: Any other one?
Candidate: I also think the Department of Homeland Security should go away. I think we did okay for two hundred years without it and I think
we can do okay without it now.
Host: What would you replace those with if anything at all? How would we make that switch?
Candidate: Well, I think we could go back to the way it was. I mean we already have a Federal Bureau of Investigation. We have a multitude
of other investigative services and security services already present in the United States. I think that was plenty. I don’t think we need this
huge money pit whose head disparages veterans coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan and accuses them of joining right-wing
organizations. I just don’t think we need that.
Host: Now let’s go to energy for a second. What’s your position on that particular subject, on energy and the various types of resources that
are available to us? How would you see that moving forward?
Candidate: Well, President Obama I guess recently has decided to allow Brazil or give them two hundred million dollars or something like
that to help with their oil. I don’t understand why we in America, when we have what some geologists claim are oil finds that will probably
dwarf Saudi Arabia. I don’t understand if we’re serious about energy independence, I don’t understand why we are not drilling for our own
oil. Now I support nuclear technology. I support wind and solar technology, but I don’t support those at the expense of ignoring what we have
available to us right now which is large deposits of oil, whether it’s Anwr, whether it’s in the Dakotas, whether it’s in Montana. We should be
drilling for this, if we are truly serious about weaning ourselves off of foreign oil, which we get most of from Canada and Mexico anyway. If we’
re serious about that then we need to be drilling for our own oil. And we also need to be building refineries when the Iranians are a perfect
example of people who are oil rich, but they still have to import most of their oil because they don’t have refineries. These are job creators as
well and it will get us some independence.
Host: Now you are running in the 8th Congressional District, so obviously you have at heart the constituents that are living in that particular
district. What do you think you would bring to the table that would help people in your particular district?
Candidate: Well, I think the first thing is that people are paying too much in taxes. Everyone, I think we are being taxed too much and like I
said, I know that health reform is on the front burner right now for a lot of folks. They don’t want government takeover. I don’t think the
majority do anyway. I think everyone agrees that we could reform things but the way we do it is another issue. But before we can do that and
the first thing that I would like to do for my constituents is to put more money in their pockets and that’s going to be reforming our tax code. I
think when people have more money they have more freedom. They have more freedom to choose what they want to do with it, whether it’s
to invest it, whether it’s to spend it, whether it’s to buy insurance. I think the first thing that we need to do in this district is to stick more money
in people’s pockets.
Host: Now this is the first time you’re running, isn’t it?
Candidate: It is.
Host: What made you decide to run?
Candidate: Well, I was in Iraq from July of ’07 until July of ’09, two months ago I guess, and I was watching with great interest who was going
to become our next Commander In Chief. I watched all the debates on … I’d get up at 3 am or 2 am and watch these debates and along
the way I saw a lot of interviews with members of Congress and I couldn’t believe that some of the people that I saw on television had been
elected, quite honestly. Their views, the things they had to say, and I got really tired of seeing the great lengths that the media was willing to
go to, to make history. You know, that’s all I heard. “Well, we’re going to make history.” It’s our decision, not the media’s and I got really tired
of screaming at my television. I told my wife, you know what, I can sit here and scream at the TV and be like most people or I can actually try
and do something about it. I think I know how to fix what’s wrong. Not everything. No one can fix everything, but the big things. I think I
know how to fix them and I think I can tell people how to fix them. So that’s when I decided to run, probably, I don’t know, November of ’08,
right after the election.
Host: Okay so now that’s it, you’re running and you have a website, so would you give us the website so that citizens and supporters can
maybe help you, and contact you or your campaign?
Candidate: Sure that website is www.GossForCongress.com. It’s going to be overhauled soon. It’s still accessible right now. Everything’s
available on it, we’re just going to overhaul it. My wife and I did the whole thing ourselves and we realized maybe we aren’t as talented at
web design as we thought we were. So we’re going to try to get that overhauled, but it’s going to stay the same website, the same web
address no matter what. And that’s www.GossForCongress.com.
Host: Goss For Congress dot com and that’s G O double S as in Sam For Congress dot com. Mr. Goss, thank you very much for being on
the 9-12 Project Show today.
Candidate: Hey, thanks for having me. I really appreciate that.
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