Election: US House: Texas: CD10: Michael McCaul: Questionnaire

1) What is your position on abortion - under what circumstances should abortion be made illegal/legal? When does life begin and how should it be protected at the state and federal levels? Do you agree or disagree with the Roe v Wade decision? Do you support the Human Life Amendment?

I am pro-life and believe that life begins at fertilization. I disagree with the Roe v. Wade decision in that it sanctioned abortion on demand and overturned state laws prohibiting abortion. I would support a Human Life Amendment if presented in the House.

2) What is your interpretation of the First Amendment Establishment Clause? Do you support public religious expressions such as 10 commandment displays at courthouses and prayers at legislative sessions, football games, schools, etc.? Do you support school vouchers that can be for religious schools? 2b) What is your position on the McCain-Fiengold Campaign Finance Reform law? What is the best policy regarding campaign finance?

The Establishment Clause was only intended to prevent the federal government from establishing an official state religion along the lines of the Anglican Church in Britain. It was never intended to be a weapon to drive expressions of faith from public life. Since the Ten Commandments provide a foundation for much of our jurisprudence, including, but not limited to, proscriptions against murder, the 10 Commandments should be rightfully displayed in such places as the Capitol grounds in Austin. Voluntary school prayer should be permissible. Vouchers can provide relief for parents whose students are stuck in low-performing schools. Since religious schools are often the best and most convenient option for those taxpayers, the voucher should be allowed to pay for education in those schools.

While the motives behind McCain-Feingold are noble, the bill itself fundamentally violates the First Amendment in that it restricts the right of citizens to criticize elected officials. There should be no prior restraint on political speech. The best policy on campaign finance is to require immediate and full disclosure of campaign contributions and expenditures, and maintain the ban on use of corporate and labor money as direct campaign contributions.

3) Do you support the right to keep and bear arms? What is the purpose(or intent) of the 2nd Amendment? what policies do you support to preserve RKBA?

I support the right to keep and bear arms because an armed citizenry is a check against a tyrannical government, and provides citizens the tool necessary for self-protection against criminals.

4) Do you support the war on terror? What specific things should be done to win the war on terror? How do you define victory in this war? 4b) Are there any sections of the Patriot Act or the proposed Patriot Act II that you oppose?

I was the Chief of Terrorism and National Security at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in President Bush’s Justice Department. I coordinated and carried out the Bush Administration’s efforts to combat terrorism and protect our shores from terrorist attack. My district included the President’s ranch in Crawford, the capital of Texas, and the Mexico border. I energized top US officials from the Justice Department – U.S. Attorney John Ashcroft – and members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force to coordinate and combine their efforts with Mexico in the first ever Joint Border Terrorism Conference. Based on his vast experience fighting terrorism, I developed a plan calling for the rapid and massive deployment of National Guard Units along the vast, unprotected stretches of America’s borders with Canada and Mexico to stop infiltration by terrorists.

I coordinated the Bush Administration’s efforts to combat terrorism and protect our shores from terrorist attack. I implemented Operation Tarmac, a security sweep at airports, which led to the arrest and deportation of airport employees, working illegally in the United States and whom had false documents.

While serving as Deputy Attorney General for Criminal Justice under John Cornyn, I served on the Executive Committee of the State Infrastructure Protection Advisory Committee (SIPAC) to make recommendations to better protect critical infrastructures following the September 11 attacks. I worked closely with the Attorney General, Admiral Bobby Inman – former Director of the National Security Agency - and other Committee members, to collaborate with local, state, federal government officials, and private-sector experts to develop a comprehensive strategy to protect state infrastructures.

No matter the threat America faces, we must always cherish our civil liberties as enshrined in the Bill of Rights. Osama bin Laden wins if America curtails its civil liberties in fighting the war on terrorism. However, our law must keep up with emerging technologies so we can investigate and prosecute terrorist attempts to disrupt and destroy our critical infrastructures.

5) What is your view of Federalism and the rights of states under the 9th and 10th amendments? What areas should the Federal govt leave to the states?

The federal government should leave almost all activities to the states, other than a federal system of justice, national defense and foreign relations.

6) What role should the Federal judiciary play and how would you ensure judges stay within that role? What would you do to rein in excessive judicial activism? Are there specific court decisions you oppose, and what do you propose to correct them?

It is the role of the federal judiciary to interpret the law, not to make the law.

7) What role should the United Nations play in US foreign policy? in US domestic policy?

8) What specific changes or refoms should be made to:
U.S. Tax System
Education System

9) What policies do you support to enhance Economic Growth and increase standard of living and create jobs? 9b) What is your position on trade (free trade versus trade barriers)? How should American policy respond to the outsourcing of jobs? 9c) Do you support or oppose the Bush guest worker program? Do you support or oppose amnesty for illegal aliens? Do you support increased immigration law enforcement (eg CLEAR Act)? Do you support or oppose immigration reforms to reduce immigration levels and the cost of immigration?

I believe in free trade. The same proposal outlined in the previous question would unshackle American business to effectively compete with the rest of the world.

The President has not presented a complete, detailed proposal for immigration, but I applaud him for bringing the issue forward. I do not, however, favor amnesty for illegal aliens. We should not give someone a special right based on illegal conduct. We need to secure our borders with grater use of the National Guard and the Border Patrol, and insure that all US workers are documented. I also oppose sanctuary polices that do not allow law enforcement to inquire about someone’s citizenship status, and I favor increased use of tools like biometrics (technology used to identify individuals using traits such as eye scanning, fingerprints, and face recognition).

Controlling our borders and documenting non-citizens is not only good economics, but it is also a necessity for combating terrorism. While serving as Chief of the Terrorism and National Security in President Bush’s Department of Justice, our office co-hosted the Border Terrorism Conference where these issues were studied in depth. While serving in this capacity, my responsibilities included securing the President’s ranch, the Texas Capitol, and a large portion of the Texas-Mexico border. I worked closely with the United States Border Patrol and the National Guard. As a result, I am experienced in dealing with immigration issues as they relate to our national security. I also led an initiative to arrest and deport undocumented workers who presented a security risk at the Austin Bergstram International Airport last year, called Operation Tarmac.

10) What policies do you support to protect the traditional family and the traditional definition of marriage? 10b) Do you oppose or support state laws recognizing homosexual/same-sex marriage and civil unions? How should the Federal govt handle this? What is your position concerning hate crimes? Do you support a Constitutional Amendment that declares marriage to be between a man and woman?

I oppose state laws recognizing same-sex marriages and I support the constitutional amendment proposed by President Bush. I do not think any crimes should be labeled “hate” crimes or otherwise be described based on motivation.

I do not support term limits because I believe voters should be able to elect and re-elect their representatives for as long as the public official fulfills the duties of the office. Trust should always be placed in the voter.

12) What is your position on affirmative action and racial preferences, and quotas? Should Texas Colleges and Universities use race as a factor in admissions?

I oppose affirmative action and quotas. Race should not be the determining factor for acceptance into a public college and university.

13) Do you oppose Socialism? Why is Socialism wrong? How would you work to expose it and defeat it in our country? 13b) What will you do as a candidate and in office to advance Conservative causes and make the case for limited Government?

I oppose socialism because it does not honor personal freedom, private property, or free enterprise.

14) What are your important qualifications and qualities that you bring as a candidate to this office?

I can be the most effective Congressman because I have the support of sitting U.S. Senator John Cornyn. Senator Cornyn has said that I am the man he can “work with in the House for security, tax relief, transportation and to win the War on Terror.” In addition, I am the candidate best qualified to unify the District as demonstrated by my endorsements that come from across the District – State Representatives Jack Stick and Todd Baxter from Austin, the Texas Farm Bureau representing the rural and agricultural counties of the District, and the United Republicans of Harris County from Houston and Katy.

I am the former Chief of Terrorism and National Security, U.S. Attorney’s Office. I am the only candidate with national security experience and top secret security clearance. I am a former Deputy Attorney General for Criminal Justice under John Cornyn where I initiated a successful crime reduction initiative called Texas Exile and the Texas Internet Bureau- to combat child pornography, child predators, and online fraud. I served in President Bush’s Justice Department, and was appointed by Governor Rick Perry to the statewide Anti-crime Commission. I also served as a prosecutor in the Public Integrity section of the Justice Department, specializing in public corruption and campaign finance abuses.

15) What will your top priorities be in this position? To what extent does your faith and family affect your priorities and viewpoints?

The three pillars of my campaign are national security, growing the economy, and faith and family.

In order to heal the broken heart, this country must welcome faith in the delivery of essential services for people who hurt.

I support the President’s faith-based initiative to empower the armies of compassion to help those in need. People of faith must have the courage and determination to participate in public life. America was founded by faithful people, the Constitution guarantees religious liberty, and all our founding documents reflect a profound belief in God.

Most importantly, people of faith will renew the American family and give life to our belief that marriage and children are beautiful, and absolutely essential to the preservation of our great nation. Faith will restore a sense of civility to public life and give our children hope that they will not be bruised, battered and abused by those who fail to accept that they all – like my five – are gifts from God.

My career as a prosecutor and my experience working on the front lines to help fight and win the war against terror make me best qualified.

17) What parts of the Texas Republican Principles and Platform do you agree with? Disagree with?

Are there any ways in which the Heart of Texas(Central TX) and Houston Area Texans Chapters of FreeRepublic.com can help you in your campaign in addition to making an endorsement?

This is the fourth of the responses to the rather lengthy questionnaire that was sent to all CD10 candidates. The candidates were informed to respond to as many questions as time allowed so even partial responses were welcomed.

I would like to thank Michael McCaul and his campaign staff for responding to our questionnaire at a very busy time during this campaign. For each candidate who responds, I will start a similiar thread.

Thanks also to all those who helped put this together and hopefully it will contribute to electing the best candidate available.

I especially wanted to thank NativeTexanandUTgrad for your help in getting this response.

PREVIOUS CANDIDATE RESPONSES:
John Devine
Dave Phillips
Pat Elliott

Well done ,DrewsDad, 4 responses aint bad for a bunch of "essay" questions.

I think it gives a good flavor of what we can expect from the candidates, and mostly the responses are pretty good, especially for the conservative base.

I think we have a 'surplus' of good conservatives, we out to 'outsource' some of these guys to other congressional districts! :-)

NO wonder the Austin Chronicle lefties are gnashing their teeth.

DD, Well I'll have to eat my words. I would have bet you wouldn't get one candidate to answer all those questions. I'm impressed..... Congrats for a job well done and for those who helped inspire the candidates. WOW!!!

Now let me crawl into my corner :-)

Another solid response. We are blessed to have so many good choices. Hopefully, this style of questionnaire help to reveal a little more about a candidate's thinking than the yes/no/SF/SO surveys.

I am still hoping for at least one more response though. (C;

This project has been far more productive than I ever imagined and I'm happy to report these may have been instrumental in luring one more of my Dixiecrat family members to vote "R".

Do you know if anyone else in any other districts are using these questionnaires?

Do you know if anyone else in any other districts are using these questionnaires?

This is pretty much the beginning. FR can be a powerful tool. Imagine if the discussion picked up to the point where the campaign or even the candidate wanted to respond on this thread. Visualize online candidate forums. So much more can be done.

The CD10 race was uniquely fitted for this environment since there is no obvious choice and still a lot of undecided(relatively informed) voters. There is no Democrat opponent, so this is pretty much no-holds-barred conservatism. It's up to the reader to determine if the candidate's responses convey the conviction that they want to see in their particular area of interest.

It's up to the reader to determine if the candidate's responses convey the conviction that they want to see in their particular area of interest.

What a novel concept: ideas driving political debate. Do you think it's too late for other GOP primaries to use this concept? We may want to encourage FReepers in districts w/ RINOs running to attempt this.

It is probably too late to start for the March 9th Primary in Texas, but any runoffs should provide enough time for a response. Other states with later primaries are more than welcome to use it.

I have a feeling that RINOs are unlikely to respond even with plenty of time.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.