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The questions were prepared by the League of Women Voters of Ohio and asked of all candidates for this office.
See below for questions on
Qualification,
Priorities,
Private sector regulation,
Immigration,
Outsourcing
Click on a name for candidate information. See also more information about this contest.
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1. What are your Qualifications for Office? (50 word limit)
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Answer from Randy Lee Conover:
A natural-born American citizen, my entire life I have been successfully involved in making decisions wherein other people's lives and futures were at stake. Through extensive, ongoing study of history/academics - and through listening to others who will share life experiences - I have learned what America should be!
Answer from Surya "Chili" Yalamanchili:
My best qualification is that I am not a career politician and have experience in the real world. I've worked at companies large and small- from being Procter & Gamble to LinkedIn. Despite this white-collar career, I grew up in a blue-collar family and understand the struggles of working-class families.
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2. What plans do you have to address your top three priorities? (100 word limit)
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Answer from Surya "Chili" Yalamanchili:
Jobs: Congress must end the tax, regulatory and trade policies that have destroyed millions of American jobs. Currently our trade policies aid other countries' poaching of American factories and our corporate tax and regulatory costs are so high they make our workers globally uncompetitive.
Campaign Finance: Cosponsor the Fair Elections Now Act so we have public campaign financing to stop the legalized bribery that has corrupted our government.
Budget: I would push for dramatic accountability for all departments in the federal budget through transparency and zero-based annual budgeting. My commitment is to work towards eliminating the deficit within 5 years.
Answer from Randy Lee Conover:
Perhaps the most effective means of addressing my top three priorities is being chosen by my fellow voters in the 2nd District to represent them in Congress. There I can be their vote and voice, among others with similar responsibility, in producing beneficial legislation towards bringing about these and other priorities returning greater freedom to our nation. Through my campaign I shall highlight these priorities with the voters and encourage them to become involved in reclaiming America through their grass-roots spreading of my message to others whom I cannot otherwise reach.
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3. What is the role of the federal government in regulating the private sector? (150 word limit)
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Answer from Surya "Chili" Yalamanchili:
Our government's role must not be to choose winners or losers in our private sector but must instead ensure the best outcome for Americans. The government can best do this by playing the role of referee and fulfilling its job to enforce the laws and regulations on the books. When government fails in its supevisory role as it did on Wall Street and in the Gulf, We are forced to pay for private sectors mistakes.
Answer from Randy Lee Conover:
The powers (and limitations) of the Federal government in regulating the private sector are specifically listed in the Constitution (especially Article 1, Section 8) and its properly-adopted Amendments, especially the Bill of Rights. As the 9th and 10th Amendments specifically state, all other powers belong to the States and/or the People. To properly interpret the meaning and intent behind the powers granted to the Federal government, study must be made of the historic period of the Founders and of their documents left to us. The Founders had amazing powers of writing explicitly their intentions, there is no need for modern reinterpretations of what various passages mean nor for extension into areas where a totally inappropriate reinterpretation may be claimed! In simple terms, if it isn't specified in the Constitution as amended, the Federal government probably has overstepped its powers to be involved in it!
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4. How will you address the challenges and opportunities to the United States posed by unauthorized immigrants? (150 word limit)
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Answer from Randy Lee Conover:
History shows that those nations which have been unable/unwilling to control their borders soon become extinct! History also describes how America has always been enriched by legal immigrants positively adding to our "great meltingpot" society. We have been enriched by legal immigrants becoming loyal Americans! However, those refusing to await their proper turns, who start out by breaking our immigration laws, who don't intend to leave their foreign loyalties at the border and become proper Americans, not hyphenated-Americans, should not be allowed to be here! The Federal and State governments must work together to protect us from such. Employment of unauthorized immigrants should be ended, legal loopholes allowing their staying should be closed, and any unauthorized immigrants not voluntarily leaving our nation should be removed. Our borders should be physically closed to further unauthorized entry. I will work through the legislative process to see that this is done!
Answer from Surya "Chili" Yalamanchili:
I appreciate your interest in this issue, however I do not think this question is of as vital importance to the people in my district. The Ohio 2nd district is more concerned with the consequences of dealing with an unemployment rate unseen in decades, a home foreclosure crisis, and seeing a runaway federal budget. Having said that, unauthorized immigrants do pose a security threat to America in that our porous borders can be exploited by terrorists who wish us harm. I am strongly in favor of a plan that would secure our borders over the long-term as a matter of national security.
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5. What specific functions of the federal government can be performed better by contracting with the private sector? What specific functions of the federal government should not be contracted out to the private sector? (150 word limit)
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Answer from Randy Lee Conover:
Within the specified framework of the Constitution as amended, the Federal government has certain responsibilities for which it must make contracts and spend funds in the private sector to accomplish. As the Founders never intended the Federal government to own private sector enterprises, yet they recognized that the government (and military) would need support, supplies, and equipment which could best be obtained outside the government, certain limited outside contracting is necessary. Contracting consultants with expertise beyond that possessed within the government, maintanence and construction work, certain research and development functions, are among those functions likely best contracted out. Congressional deligating of its law-writing responsibilities, then passing voluminous unread bills into law should never happen. Nor should allowing private and foreign banks (Federal Reserve, et al) to control the money-supply and dictate our economic policy be accepted by the American people.
Answer from Surya "Chili" Yalamanchili:
I believe that an effectively structured (private) market place can perform a number of valuable services for the public that result in superior performance for a lower cost. However the key in this structure is to ensure that the incentives that are in place are focused on the long-term so they can not be manipulated with shortcuts for short-term gain and coupled with effective regulation. An example of inappropriate contracting with the private sector is the field of national defense as we saw with outsourcing to mercenary firms like Blackwater.
Responses to questions asked of each candidate
are reproduced as submitted to the League.
Candidates' statements are presented as submitted. Word limits apply for each question. Direct references to opponents are not permitted.
The order of the candidates is random and changes daily. Candidates who did not respond are not listed on this page.
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League of Women Voters of Ohio Education Fund
