HARRY C. BRUNER, JR.
UNITED STATES SENATE CANDIDATE
P.0 BOX 1015
CHARLESTON, WV 25324-1015
wv4hb@yahoo.com
www.harrybruner.com
(304) 342-7717
Monday, August 23, 2010
Hand Delivered to Governor’s Office &
Governor’s Mansion
The Honorable Joe Manchin
Governor of West Virginia
State Capitol
Charleston, West Virginia
Re: Your refusal to attend any U.S. Senate Candidate Forums
Dear Governor Manchin:
You have refused all invitations to attend any U.S. Senate Candidate Forums or other public forums with the other 13 candidates to be questioned about your record and your positions. Your excuses have been flimsy. This is a disservice to West Virginians, your party and the other 13 courageous candidates.
You have earned the moniker of “No show Joe” by your refusal to attend any of these candidate forums. The last straw was Thursday, August 19, 2010, where your 13 opponents faced the media for over 2 hours in Charles Town, WV.
Accordingly, I am challenging you to a Lincoln-Douglas style debate at a time and place of your choosing before this Saturday’s special election. I will come to the Governor’s Mansion front porch or your party tent for this debate. Please reply at your earliest convenience.
Sincerely,
s/ Harry C. Bruner, Jr.
Harry C. Bruner, Jr.
| Name | Harry Bruner |
| Date | Friday, August 20, 2010 |
| Web Site | http://www.harrybruner.com |
| wv4hb@yahoo.com | |
| Phone Number | (304) 342-7717 |
| 1. Do you oppose government regulation of greenhouse gas emissions? | Yes. The scientific evidence is inconclusive on where mankind has produced enough CO2 to change the earth’s normal heating and cooling cycles. |
| 2. Would you support repealing the Obama Health Care Bill, including the individual mandate? | |
| I will vote to repeal Obamacare. It harms the financial stability of the USA and moves our country toward more socialism and away from free enterprise capitalism. Most Americans (85%) have health insurance they like, and 65% opposed Obamacare. Our WV senators and governor didn’t listen. A complete takeover of health care was unnecessary. However, this is typical of the overreaction “Chicken Little” and the “act before thinking” mentality in Washington. Health, like wealth, is a personal responsibility. Insurance companies must compete throughout the USA and consumers need more private sector solutions. Americans want jobs with health benefits – not a 3,000 page socialized health plan no one understands with 47 new bureaucracies. I oppose any form of health care plan based upon a European socialized model. | |
3. Should Congress continue to use the “general welfare” clause (Art. I, Sec.  to regulate aspects of our lives, such as agriculture and education, that are traditionally under the authority of the private sector, state, and local government? |
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| No. The Federalist Papers have conflicting interpretations of the “general welfare” clause. This conflict leaves the Article III federal court judges much room to expand or contract the law regarding what is meant by “general welfare” when it comes to taxing and spending. Madison argued for strict construction and Hamilton for broad construction. The Supreme Court has agreed with Hamilton’s view. Congress has the taxing and spending authority to provide for the general welfare of citizens as it sees fit. The voters have the final say as a check and balance to an out of control Congress and President. It is important to elect candidates to the Senate who understand the two views in the Federalist papers, and the court cases interpreting the general welfare clause. Specifically, I will be a senator will advise and consent and vote for judges who are strict constructionists. | |
| 4. Do you support a “border enforcement first” policy for defending America’s borders? | Yes. Deport illegal immigrants faster. No benefits. Change law giving citizenship to children of illegals. Korean border is secured by military coalition. Obama and WV senators are indecisive, inexperienced. A token military presence will fail. I support AZ citizen protection law. I support legal immigration for highly educated, trained persons with needed skills. |
| 5. Should we promote free trade agreements that allow Americans to sell goods in foreign markets, even if it may cost American jobs? | Yes. Free trade benefits consumers through increased choice and reduced prices. Protective tariffs were one cause of the Great Depression. Retaliation tariffs kill both economies. Competition and free trade are good things. Protectionism along the lines of the Smoot-Hawley tariff which made the Depression worst, can bring again bread lines and 25% unemployment, and destroy the world economy. |
| 6. Does the War on Terror demand more of a military response or a law enforcement response? | In foreign wars the military response should be to kill the enemies of the United States – not nation build or be cultural change agents. Within U.S. borders a law enforcement response is needed coordinating local, state, and federal law enforcement, including the FBI and CIA. |
| 7. Would you pledge to return federal spending levels to the level of 2007 or earlier? | No. Federal spending has been out of control for 60 years. As Senator, I plan to propose budget cuts of 10% yearly for 6 years and use the savings to pay off debt and lower taxes. See my webpage www.harrybruner.com |
| 8. Did you sign the Americans for Tax Reform’s “No Tax Pledge?” | I have not seen this document. However, my pledge has been no new taxes and decrease of existing taxes. Additionally, please send this pledge to me for review. |
| 9. Are there any circumstances under which you would vote for a program similar to TARP or other federal bailouts? | |
| No. Under the free market principles of Adam Smith and Milton Freidman, incompetent businesses should fail. “The natural effort of every individual to better his own condition is so powerful that it is alone, and without any assistance, not only capable of carrying on the society to wealth and prosperity, but of surmounting a hundred impertinent obstructions with which the folly of human laws too often encumbers its operations.” — Adam Smith (1723-1790) Scottish philosopher and economist “Agriculture, manufacturers, commerce, and navigation, the four pillars of our prosperity, are then most thriving when left most free to individual enterprise.”– Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), Founding Father, drafted Declaration of Independence, 3rd US Pres. December 8, 1801 Source: in his first annual message to Congress |
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| 10. Do you believe the government is eroding the Founders’ vision of faith, family, and culture and, if so, how? | Yes. America is one nation under God. “We Recognize No Sovereign but God, and no King but Jesus! – John Adams and John Hancock, Founding Fathers (April 18, 1775) “The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained.” – George Washington, 1789 |
| 11. Would you commit to solid, informed congressional oversight if you were in Washington, D.C. — not random acts of after-sight or political grandstanding? If so, give us at least two areas in which you would want to better learn and ask questions of our government to seek the effectiveness of programs, curtail the growth of the federal largesse, or properly oversee the enforcement of current laws? | In my legal career I have used the state and federal Freedom of Information Act to open up government. When elected Senator, I will start requesting detailed budget information to cut government spending by at least 10% yearly. |
“If you are as happy, my dear sir, on entering this house as I am in leaving it and returning home, you are the happiest man in this country.”
– James Buchanan
(1791-1868) — also known as “The Sage of Wheatland”; “Buck”, 15th US President (1857-61) Source: to Abraham Lincoln
“He alone deserves liberty and life who daily must win them anew.”
– Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)
“Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principles.” — George Washington
“When you start talking about government as ‘we’ instead of ‘they,’ you have been in office too long.”
– Ronald Reagan (1911-2004) 40th US President
“The Framers of the Bill of Rights did not purport to “create” rights. Rather they designed the Bill of Rights to prohibit our Government from infringing rights and liberties presumed to be preexisting.”
– Justice William J. Brennan (1906-1997) U. S. Supreme Court Justice Source: 1982