Election 2012: U.S. Representative in Congress, District 2

Party affiliation: RepublicanOccupation: U.S. Representative Website: http://amodei4nevada.com/Explain your background and how this qualifies you for the position you are seeking.The perspectives gained as a lifetime resident of our State are helpful in understanding and seeking solutions to the issues Nevada faces. Raising a family, attending our public schools, earning a living working in and with Nevada businesses, and serving our region as an elected official, all provide an appreciation for the need to consider a multitude of factors and to involve all stakeholders in generating solutions for our State and our Country. I am honored to have been given the responsibility of representing Nevadans in the U.S. Congress, and hope that you are pleased with our performance in going right to work on dealing with our fiscal issues, our energy issues, our healthcare issues, our job creation needs, and veterans issues. I am hoping you feel that my efforts on your behalf have proved to be effective and that you will allow me to continue to be a strong and effective advocate for our State. What are the two most important issues to you, what should be done to resolve them? 1. Jobs and Energy: These are interconnected issues. Our nation and our state are vitally impacted by energy issues. We can achieve energy independence. To do so, we must stop recent practices of picking political winners and losers in energy production. I believe that it is possible to respect nature and our environment while responsibly producing and using a myriad of natural resources. Clean coal, natural gas, oil, renewables and other energy sources are legitimate aspects of powering our economy. And with a healthy vibrant energy sector, jobs nationally and in Nevada are enhanced. Energy exploration and production throughout America should be one of the key aspects in producing jobs and making Nevada’s key industries like hospitality/resort, minerals, manufacturing, warehousing/distribution and technology ones which are once again growing. I will continue supporting efforts to support responsible energy exploration and production, and living wage job industries in our right-to-work state. 2. Health Care: Middle class? Veterans? Seniors? Baby Boomers? No matter what your station in life, access to affordable health care is a necessity. The reform of our nation’s healthcare industry affects all Americans. The need to revisit the Affordable Health Care Act is a necessity. Impacts on employers and employees, as well as retirees, are negative. Keep in mind that as our population continues to age, approximately 20 percent of our economy will be attributable to the health care industry. I do not believe that Washington, D.C. should administer health care in our country or have direct operational control over a fifth of our economy. Reforms over insurance and other cost-related issues affecting everyone’s access to and cost of health care are urgently needed. Some items in the present law are good. However, to fully implement the present system will have significant negative impacts on individuals, employers, seniors, middle-class members, and ultimately accomplish only putting the federal government in control while restricting access, interfering with doctor-patient relationships, and increasing costs. There is much work to be done in this area, tort reform has helped in Nevada, and will help nationally. Medicare and Medicaid must be reformed to avoid the failure of these programs if nothing is done. I don’t see the issue as partisan, but political courage is needed to demonstrate the leadership required to repeal the present measure, and set to work on rational fact-based reforms. What is the single issue that you could work across the aisle on day 1 to resolve? Well, hopefully all members of Congress are capable of working issues based on the best policy as opposed to seeking political position or advantage. We have had too much political sportsmanship and too little work on the issues based on getting the policy right! It is ironic in my view that our major issues, budget, debt, health care, energy, foreign policy, Social Security, defense, are not partisan in a factual context. Whatever happened to judging the quality on one’s work by what was accomplished, instead of what was put into a political sound bite? As a new member it is frustrating to attempt to penetrate political barriers when the facts and policy support immediate bipartisan passage of a measure. I’m happy to support bipartisan issue-based work on all issues of the day.

Party affiliation: Independent American Occupation: Disabled VeteranPhone: 775-434-8897Email: best4congress@gmail.com Website: www.best4congress.comExplain your background and how this qualifies you for the position you are seeking.I went to storekeepers school and was successful in the financial management duties assigned to me in addition to training. My military career ended prematurely when I was honorably discharged for medical reasons. After leaving the military I went on to graduate from Moorpark College and worked for companies like Gulf Oil, Taco Bell Company and Meritor Mortgage. Afterwards owning a few small businesses I became a mortgage banker and broker and owner of an independent mortgage company which brought me to Northern Nevada. I went on to become a property developer helping bring jobs and homes to the state.With my interest in real estate in Nevada I became an unpaid lobbyist in banking laws and real estate. I hoped to stop not only unlawful and unethical practices by large corporations but also look out for the independent businessman. After some years concentrating on business, upon seeing the state of affairs in my state and country, I felt that the only way to help was to run for Congress. I feel with this knowledge and experience I can help get the country back on track and return us to the great nation we deserve to be.What are the two most important issues to you, what should be done to resolve them?1. I would make all employers use E-Verify, then anyone caught not verifying their employees would be fined $10,000 per violation of the law. The third time caught they would be put in jail for one year. This would immediately create jobs. The money collected would be used in the state to balance the budget.2. I would like to see a smelting plant and refinery put in to stop the minerals like gold, silver, platinum from leaving the country and the state not getting its share in taxes. Right now the mines ship raw minerals out of the country to Canada and China and we use a guesstimate to tax it. With the smelting plant it would create jobs and we would know how much tax to collect for every mineral in the rocks. By adding a refinery it also would create jobs for the oil shale in Nevada to be processed here, and this would cut gasoline prices out here. Now take it one step further and take a percentage like Alaska does and give it back to the citizens of Nevada. What is the single issue that you could work across the aisle on day 1 to resolve?Repeal Obama care. It as is a sham and the biggest tax increase that we can’t afford. I believe it’s also unconstitutional. First, make all health care providers meet certain requirements uniform in all 50 states to do business in the U.S. This allows for choice of company, price and portability in any State.

Party affiliation: DemocratOccupation: IT Professional (Server Administrator)Email: skoepnick@samkoepnick.comWebsite: www.samkoepnick.comExplain your background and how this qualifies you for the position you are seeking.I was born in Reno in 1981, I was raised in Fernley, and did my undergraduate work at UNR. I studied archaeology at Texas A&M and moved back to Nevada after finishing work on a master’s degree. I have no background in law, and I have no background in politics. I am simply a citizen of Nevada that still has the audacity to believe that our best times are still ahead of us. I believe in equal freedom to information, and equal freedom to education. Lastly, I believe that Nevada has the tools necessary to redefine who we are, and to become a technological leader for our nation. What are the two most important issues to you, what should be done to resolve them?The first issue that needs a prompt resolution is a balanced budget. If average Americans ran their financial lives in the same way that our federal government does, they’d still be doing time. We are going to have to make some uncomfortable cuts to programs once thought inviolate. I would like to see funding for national defense scaled back. There is no need for the United States to be the world’s police force. We are mortgaging our future in order to finance a pair of completely unnecessary wars. The second issue that needs working out is the current culture of fear that is pervading our national consciousness. Fear is what convinces our representatives to give billions of dollars to fund security theater in our airports that terrorizes people far more than any terrorist that they’ve actually caught. Fear is what convinces us to give up the very liberties and values that define us as a nation, in order to thwart an enemy whose main goal is to get us to cower in anticipation of the next attack. I want to go back to being a proud, fearless nation. One willing to stand up for our principles of liberty, and freedom of speech. There is an entrenched bureaucracy standing in our way, but the louder our voices get, the more fearful they will become.What is the single issue that you could work across the aisle on day one to resolve?I feel that health care is becoming an increasingly divisive topic in this country. The hallmark of a great country is not how we treat our wealthy and powerful, but how we treat our poor and downtrodden. I’m happy that we have joined the ranks of other first-world nations and have implemented the first step into providing basic medical needs for those who need it most. I would like to work across the aisle (and within my own party) to rework the Affordable Care Act so that it is more acceptable to all parties. We have to have stability in our healthcare system, the constant fear of change and the possibility that the new law may be struck down is not going to help matters