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| Interview with Doug Hoffman 9-12 Candidate for Congress New York State District 23 |
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Welcome to The 9-12 Show...
| Show Host Danielle Hampson |
| Transcript Copying Rule |
| Support the 9-12 movement Join our email list |
| TRANSCRIPTS available by clicking on links below |
Host: Welcome to the 9-12 Project Show, Mr. Hoffman.
Candidate: Thank you, Danielle. It’s a pleasure to be here today.
Host: Mr. Hoffman, I want to touch on these subjects: healthcare, tax reform, earmarks, and of course the stimulus. But before that, I want
to address the endorsement that you received from the Concerned Women Political Action Committee with more than 500,000 grass-root
members nationwide. This is the nation’s largest public policy women’s organization. Why did you get that endorsement?
Candidate: Well, I’m very honored to have gotten that endorsement. I believe that I did receive that because of my pro-life beliefs and my
family values belief, and I’m the only candidate in the race that has those two foundation beliefs that coincides with that organization.
Host: Congratulation on that. Now let’s go to healthcare. Many are coming up with their own healthcare reform solutions. What is your
solution, Mr. Hoffman?
Candidate: Well, I think that my solution is that before we can go very far with healthcare reform, we have to have tort reform. I’m on the
board of directors of the Adirondack Medical Center which is one of the largest hospital organizations in our district and I know for sure that
the malpractice insurance is one of the most expensive underlying costs of medical care. And if we can have a tort reform that would limit
the amount of liability that is exposed to our medical professionals, that would significantly reduce the cost of healthcare to begin with. And
I think that is the first step. The second step is that once you do have tort reform, then you can minimize the amount of defensive medicine
cost that’s going, that is incurred because of the concern of the legal liability. And then the third issue is to look at Medicare and Medicaid
and the waste in that system. Although I don’t agree with the President that there’s enough waste in that system to pay for his package. I
think
that’s way out of line. But there certainly is area in there to minimize some of the expenses by looking at that.
Host: You say that it’s way out of line. What makes you say that those numbers are not valid?
Candidate: Well, to say that that area alone would pay for a trillion dollars over ten years is very wishful thinking. There certainly is some
waste and fraud going on in Medicare and Medicaid, not like they don’t have auditors looking at it presently and finding some of that. I
believe that his statement that there’s 120 million dol… or billion dollars a year in waste in that and it would amount to the trillion dollars
over ten years is just a tactic to get people to vote for the package. And I think once you get the package in place and find out that that’s
not going to be that high and pay for the bill, it’s going to be too late. I’d like to see, if it is that high, some verification of that before we even
think about passing his bill.
Host: Right. Now I agree with you also in terms of the tort reform. I was floored not too long ago when I had a friend of mine who actually
is a retired surgeon. His malpractice insurance alone cost him $80,000 a year.
Candidate: And that’s very true. I’m a C.P.A. I represent quite a few doctors and I can tell you that in some cases it’s 20 to 40 percent of
their revenue that they’re paying out in malpractice insurance.
Host: I think that the public has absolutely no notion of that. Those are the kind of information that needs to get out there so that the proper
reform gets put through.
Candidate: Exactly. And I think that, you know, that’s one of the reasons I’m stepping forward in this race. I never thought I’d be a politician
but I think we need financial people in Washington. These career politicians and lawyers that we have in Washington have no financial
background, practical background, and working with people on a day to day basis like I do.
Host: Well, you know you have a point there because when you have a bunch of politicians, all of them that are in Congress, both on the
House and in the Senate. When they spent more than the revenue coming in, well obviously they’re not very good at counting the beans.
And as a C.P.A., I know that you can relate to that.
Candidate: That’s right and it’s sad. It shouldn’t take a C.P.A. to go to Washington to explain this. But on the other hand, here we are in this
mess. I think it does take a C.P.A. to go to Washington and try to tell these people you can’t spend money you don’t have.
Host: Right. Since we started to talk about money, let’s move on to the tax reform. And as a C.P.A., no doubt you know your way around
budget and balancing them. Now, you have recently signed the Americans For Tax Reform tax protection pledge. Can you please tell us
about that pledge and why you also decided to sign it?
Candidate: Okay, the pledge basically says that if I’m elected and I go to Washington, I’m not going to vote for any bill that is going to
increase the taxes from those that we have right now. And I think that’s very important. Ronald Reagan once said the problem with our
government is not that we tax our people too little, the problem with our government is that it spends too much. And I’m a firm believer in
that. And again as a C.P.A., I see my clients struggling to make ends meet now. And see every time they increase taxes, that’s capital that
you take away from the businesses to reinvest and create new jobs and new opportunities. As a C.P.A., I’m also a proponent of the flat tax
system. I believe that our tax system is corrupt, has too many complications to it, and it’s a shame that average people can’t fill out their tax
returns in ten or twenty minutes themselves. And that it’s so complex that a simple tax return takes hours and hours or needs a
professional to do it and help these people fill out their tax return. I’m saying that as a C.P.A. and I know that a lot of C.P.A.s , that’s the core
of their business. But if we had a flat tax system and a simple C.P.A.s could add values to their business clients and their individual clients
by helping them with valuable input rather than just filling out forms.
Host: Are you more a proponent of the Flat Tax or the Fair Tax or both?
Candidate: Well, both. I think that initially we wouldn’t have to go with a flat tax system because of the fact that it would be more acceptable
by a general population. The Fair Tax mainly deals with a consumption tax and therefore not all income would be taxed. And so I think
that it wouldn’t be as popular with the total population or the total Americas as the flat tax would be initially. But certainly both of them
have. The components that I’m looking for is tax simplification and a fairness throughout the spectrum.
Host: Now let’s go to earmarks because we’re still talking about money when we’re talking earmarks. When they took over Congress, the
Democrats promised to end earmarks and they did not do that. Most if not all elected officials have earmarks. Realistically how will you
be able to go against that trend?
Candidate: Well, I already signed the pledge not to accept earmarks and I believe that there’s many other House members that have
done that. And I think that we need to push to end earmarks and this is the first way to start it. Definitely, one system if we’re going to cut
spending would be the first one we should be looking at.
Host: Well, since we are talking about earmarks and typically they are present in every bill, would you also support the idea that bills
should be addressing only one particular topic and not be loaded up?
Candidate: Yes, I would certainly want to support that because we all know that that’s the way unfavorable spending gets through
Congress. Certainly if we can get legislation to prevent that we would have a more efficient government in passing the important bills. And
we would also eliminate this wasteful spending that is the main platform of my candidacy.
Host: Now you believe that the economy may be slowly beginning to recover in spite of the stimulus, not because of it. Can you explain
that please?
Candidate: Well, the stimulus was passed last spring and as of this date, I think only fifteen or twenty percent of it has actually been
disbursed. And we know that the economy, from what we hear, is actually coming around and some people have even said that the
economy has stabilized and it’s starting to recover. So the stimulus certainly didn’t make that happen if only fifteen or twenty percent of the
money has actually been disbursed at this point. And therefore that’s my belief is that it is in spite of the stimulus, not because of the
stimulus that we’re coming out of the recession.
Host: Now we’re starting to run a little bit short of time. Is there anything else while you’ve got the microphone that you would like to add?
Candidate: Well, there’s certainly a lot of topics that I would like to add but, you know, that the main reason that I’m in this race as I said is
not because I want to be a politician. I think people like me are fed up with what’s going on in Washington as far as government
regulations, spending that’s out of control and spending money that we don’t have that could bankrupt our country and our children and our
grandchildren, and the taxes that are ever increasing and more complex. And I think it’s time for people like us to stand up and say we’re
fed up, we’ve had enough. If we can do something about it, let’s try to do it and hopefully the voters will be behind us. But hopefully the 9-
12 group and people like me are going to be a trend of the future and we’re going to take over Washington and save our country.
Host: This is the first time you are running, isn’t it?
Candidate: Absolutely. I never had any desire to be a politician.
Host: So let me ask you one last question. How do you feel about term limits? What’s your position on term limits?
Candidate: I believe in term limits and I believe that in Washington and in my home state of New York, the lack of term limits is definitely
the problem with our government. To reward people for being there for a longer period of time and give them more power and control just
deadlocks our government and puts the power in the wrong hands and discourages average Americans like you and I from getting into
politics because of the fact that they have so much power and control. It keeps new ideas and new concepts from getting into our political
system because it’s very discouraging.
Host: Mr. Hoffman, one last thing. Obviously you would like for your constituents in your district to contact you to support you. How can they
do that?
Candidate: They can go to my website Doug Hoffman For Congress dot com DougHoffmanForCongress.com. And there’s all the
information on my candidacy there plus an opportunity to contribute if they’d like to do that.
Host: Okay one more time that website, Ladies and Gentlemen, is DougHoffmanForCongress.com. Mr. Hoffman thank you very much for
being on the program today.
Candidate: Danielle, it’s been my pleasure and thank you for taking the time.
Candidate: Thank you, Danielle. It’s a pleasure to be here today.
Host: Mr. Hoffman, I want to touch on these subjects: healthcare, tax reform, earmarks, and of course the stimulus. But before that, I want
to address the endorsement that you received from the Concerned Women Political Action Committee with more than 500,000 grass-root
members nationwide. This is the nation’s largest public policy women’s organization. Why did you get that endorsement?
Candidate: Well, I’m very honored to have gotten that endorsement. I believe that I did receive that because of my pro-life beliefs and my
family values belief, and I’m the only candidate in the race that has those two foundation beliefs that coincides with that organization.
Host: Congratulation on that. Now let’s go to healthcare. Many are coming up with their own healthcare reform solutions. What is your
solution, Mr. Hoffman?
Candidate: Well, I think that my solution is that before we can go very far with healthcare reform, we have to have tort reform. I’m on the
board of directors of the Adirondack Medical Center which is one of the largest hospital organizations in our district and I know for sure that
the malpractice insurance is one of the most expensive underlying costs of medical care. And if we can have a tort reform that would limit
the amount of liability that is exposed to our medical professionals, that would significantly reduce the cost of healthcare to begin with. And
I think that is the first step. The second step is that once you do have tort reform, then you can minimize the amount of defensive medicine
cost that’s going, that is incurred because of the concern of the legal liability. And then the third issue is to look at Medicare and Medicaid
and the waste in that system. Although I don’t agree with the President that there’s enough waste in that system to pay for his package. I
think
that’s way out of line. But there certainly is area in there to minimize some of the expenses by looking at that.
Host: You say that it’s way out of line. What makes you say that those numbers are not valid?
Candidate: Well, to say that that area alone would pay for a trillion dollars over ten years is very wishful thinking. There certainly is some
waste and fraud going on in Medicare and Medicaid, not like they don’t have auditors looking at it presently and finding some of that. I
believe that his statement that there’s 120 million dol… or billion dollars a year in waste in that and it would amount to the trillion dollars
over ten years is just a tactic to get people to vote for the package. And I think once you get the package in place and find out that that’s
not going to be that high and pay for the bill, it’s going to be too late. I’d like to see, if it is that high, some verification of that before we even
think about passing his bill.
Host: Right. Now I agree with you also in terms of the tort reform. I was floored not too long ago when I had a friend of mine who actually
is a retired surgeon. His malpractice insurance alone cost him $80,000 a year.
Candidate: And that’s very true. I’m a C.P.A. I represent quite a few doctors and I can tell you that in some cases it’s 20 to 40 percent of
their revenue that they’re paying out in malpractice insurance.
Host: I think that the public has absolutely no notion of that. Those are the kind of information that needs to get out there so that the proper
reform gets put through.
Candidate: Exactly. And I think that, you know, that’s one of the reasons I’m stepping forward in this race. I never thought I’d be a politician
but I think we need financial people in Washington. These career politicians and lawyers that we have in Washington have no financial
background, practical background, and working with people on a day to day basis like I do.
Host: Well, you know you have a point there because when you have a bunch of politicians, all of them that are in Congress, both on the
House and in the Senate. When they spent more than the revenue coming in, well obviously they’re not very good at counting the beans.
And as a C.P.A., I know that you can relate to that.
Candidate: That’s right and it’s sad. It shouldn’t take a C.P.A. to go to Washington to explain this. But on the other hand, here we are in this
mess. I think it does take a C.P.A. to go to Washington and try to tell these people you can’t spend money you don’t have.
Host: Right. Since we started to talk about money, let’s move on to the tax reform. And as a C.P.A., no doubt you know your way around
budget and balancing them. Now, you have recently signed the Americans For Tax Reform tax protection pledge. Can you please tell us
about that pledge and why you also decided to sign it?
Candidate: Okay, the pledge basically says that if I’m elected and I go to Washington, I’m not going to vote for any bill that is going to
increase the taxes from those that we have right now. And I think that’s very important. Ronald Reagan once said the problem with our
government is not that we tax our people too little, the problem with our government is that it spends too much. And I’m a firm believer in
that. And again as a C.P.A., I see my clients struggling to make ends meet now. And see every time they increase taxes, that’s capital that
you take away from the businesses to reinvest and create new jobs and new opportunities. As a C.P.A., I’m also a proponent of the flat tax
system. I believe that our tax system is corrupt, has too many complications to it, and it’s a shame that average people can’t fill out their tax
returns in ten or twenty minutes themselves. And that it’s so complex that a simple tax return takes hours and hours or needs a
professional to do it and help these people fill out their tax return. I’m saying that as a C.P.A. and I know that a lot of C.P.A.s , that’s the core
of their business. But if we had a flat tax system and a simple C.P.A.s could add values to their business clients and their individual clients
by helping them with valuable input rather than just filling out forms.
Host: Are you more a proponent of the Flat Tax or the Fair Tax or both?
Candidate: Well, both. I think that initially we wouldn’t have to go with a flat tax system because of the fact that it would be more acceptable
by a general population. The Fair Tax mainly deals with a consumption tax and therefore not all income would be taxed. And so I think
that it wouldn’t be as popular with the total population or the total Americas as the flat tax would be initially. But certainly both of them
have. The components that I’m looking for is tax simplification and a fairness throughout the spectrum.
Host: Now let’s go to earmarks because we’re still talking about money when we’re talking earmarks. When they took over Congress, the
Democrats promised to end earmarks and they did not do that. Most if not all elected officials have earmarks. Realistically how will you
be able to go against that trend?
Candidate: Well, I already signed the pledge not to accept earmarks and I believe that there’s many other House members that have
done that. And I think that we need to push to end earmarks and this is the first way to start it. Definitely, one system if we’re going to cut
spending would be the first one we should be looking at.
Host: Well, since we are talking about earmarks and typically they are present in every bill, would you also support the idea that bills
should be addressing only one particular topic and not be loaded up?
Candidate: Yes, I would certainly want to support that because we all know that that’s the way unfavorable spending gets through
Congress. Certainly if we can get legislation to prevent that we would have a more efficient government in passing the important bills. And
we would also eliminate this wasteful spending that is the main platform of my candidacy.
Host: Now you believe that the economy may be slowly beginning to recover in spite of the stimulus, not because of it. Can you explain
that please?
Candidate: Well, the stimulus was passed last spring and as of this date, I think only fifteen or twenty percent of it has actually been
disbursed. And we know that the economy, from what we hear, is actually coming around and some people have even said that the
economy has stabilized and it’s starting to recover. So the stimulus certainly didn’t make that happen if only fifteen or twenty percent of the
money has actually been disbursed at this point. And therefore that’s my belief is that it is in spite of the stimulus, not because of the
stimulus that we’re coming out of the recession.
Host: Now we’re starting to run a little bit short of time. Is there anything else while you’ve got the microphone that you would like to add?
Candidate: Well, there’s certainly a lot of topics that I would like to add but, you know, that the main reason that I’m in this race as I said is
not because I want to be a politician. I think people like me are fed up with what’s going on in Washington as far as government
regulations, spending that’s out of control and spending money that we don’t have that could bankrupt our country and our children and our
grandchildren, and the taxes that are ever increasing and more complex. And I think it’s time for people like us to stand up and say we’re
fed up, we’ve had enough. If we can do something about it, let’s try to do it and hopefully the voters will be behind us. But hopefully the 9-
12 group and people like me are going to be a trend of the future and we’re going to take over Washington and save our country.
Host: This is the first time you are running, isn’t it?
Candidate: Absolutely. I never had any desire to be a politician.
Host: So let me ask you one last question. How do you feel about term limits? What’s your position on term limits?
Candidate: I believe in term limits and I believe that in Washington and in my home state of New York, the lack of term limits is definitely
the problem with our government. To reward people for being there for a longer period of time and give them more power and control just
deadlocks our government and puts the power in the wrong hands and discourages average Americans like you and I from getting into
politics because of the fact that they have so much power and control. It keeps new ideas and new concepts from getting into our political
system because it’s very discouraging.
Host: Mr. Hoffman, one last thing. Obviously you would like for your constituents in your district to contact you to support you. How can they
do that?
Candidate: They can go to my website Doug Hoffman For Congress dot com DougHoffmanForCongress.com. And there’s all the
information on my candidacy there plus an opportunity to contribute if they’d like to do that.
Host: Okay one more time that website, Ladies and Gentlemen, is DougHoffmanForCongress.com. Mr. Hoffman thank you very much for
being on the program today.
Candidate: Danielle, it’s been my pleasure and thank you for taking the time.
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transcript is to be used,
as well as its web
address;
b- the title of your article;
c- reporter/writer's full
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2. Your article must
make reference to this
website as the source
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Bloggers and all other
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