Burning Questions for Dave Reichert

Last Wednesday the Seattle Times hosted an online Q&A with Democratic candidate for WA-08, Darcy Burner. On Monday at 2pm they will do so again, this time with Dave Reichert. You can submit your own questions through their online form.

This comes on the heels of last Tuesday's 90 minute debate.

After attending that debate, and following Dave Reichert's undistinguished congressional career, I've put together a couple dozen of questions that I would like him to answer. Perhaps the following will help inspire you to come up with your own. By the way, you can also submit questions of Dave Reichert or Darcy Burner through the Newcastle Chamber of Commerce Candidate Forum scheduled for next Saturday.

Questions for Dave Reichert:

- September reports noted that the National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq from April indicated that the war in Iraq has worsened the threat of terrorism. Do you believe the war in Iraq has made this country safer?

- Do you really believe that Iraq had anything to do with the 9/11 terrorist attacks?

- Please explain the importance of Net Neutrality.

- How do you propose that this nation pays for each citizen's $28,000 share of the national debt?

- When a U.S. Representative betrays the people's trust do you believe they should be accountable for their actions and step down from their position as a matter of doing the right thing, or do you believe that they should not step down until they've been investigated and convicted in court, perhaps after years of litigation?

- The 9/11 Commission had unprecedented access, for a civilian body, to intelligence and information, including access to Bush and his administration, and produced a thorough list of 43 recommendations. Why then do you feel that even though overwhelming bipartisan support exists to pass these recommendations, you need to have a half dozen hearings of your own before you will move them out of committee so they can be enacted into law? What makes you so important in the process that you would hold these up for month and years on end?

- The diversity of media is an vastly important issue in our democratic society. How could you not be familiar enough with the issue to answer the question about it at the debate last week?

- Why are there 40 million uninsured Americans? What are you going to do about it?

- As a Congressman making a nice six-figure salary why aren't you paying into Social Security at 100% of your salary like most working Americans do? When are you going to vote to change that inequity?

- You argue that you agree that you need to do more to support veterans, so why have you not legislated a benefits program that fully funds the projected needs of veterans, and instead consistently settled for only small increases that are not enough to keep up with the growing demand?

- You keep touting your four votes against drilling in ANWR, yet you voted for drilling in ANWR in December 2005 as part of the appropriations bill instead of standing your ground and forcing the rider to be removed. Why was ANWR not a priority then, or did you just want to get back to Auburn for Christmas, ANWR be damned?

- You would like us to believe that you are not really a Bush Republican because you took a few votes here and there that differed from the party line. The record shows that in the past two years there have been about 78 key votes in which the majority Republican and Democratic positions differed. In those votes you voted with the Republicans 88.3% of the time. How is that a sign of independence? How is that representing a constituency that is clearly split down the middle in its support for one party or the other? Why have you, in your own words, voted as your party tells you to, as opposed to how your constituency tells you to (and no, one or two examples of voting as your constituency tells you to, out of the 1153 you've taken isn't going to cut it).

- If you are so proud of inviting President Bush to our district, why did you have him holed up in a Medina mansion instead of having him visit the district and visit with regular people, not just millionaires? Will he only fly out here when it's only about raising money for your campaign? Is that how you show off your district to the President?

- Who is Kim Young Il Jill? In the debate last week you said we need to meet face to face with him regarding North Korea's nuclear program.

- Also at last week's debate you never answered this question: why can't Congress raise the nation's minimum wage without tying it to other legislation?

- Another followup question to an answer at last week's debate: you indicated that phamacists should be able to refuse to fill a prescription based on their personal religious beliefs. Your one word answer screams for a more detailed explanation of your reasons. Please explain why a patient that is required to have a prescription filled at a pharmacy should be at the mercy of a pharmacist's personal issues, as opposed to the patient's doctors orders?

- Why do you continue to support tax cuts for the rich over tax fairness for the working and middle class that suffer because of the very tax cuts you keep giving to the rich?

- What kind of nation have we become when we suspend habeas corpus and the principles of the United States Bill of Rights? The terrorists must be dancing in the streets over our own self destruction when we would so willingly burn the Constitution of the United States of America in our so-called "War on Terror".

- And finally, yet another question you didn't answer at the debate: do you feel we need to change the nation's campaign finance laws? (Hint: the question is about finance reform, not lobby reform.)