Brad Hessel
Campaign website:www.electbradhessel.org
Phone number:1-919-278-7395
Email: info@electbradhessel.org
Years lived in the district: LOL between the insanity of gerrymandering and the attendant court cases, my district has changed many times. Thus, while my family have lived in the same house in North Raleigh for 26 years, we have only been in Senate 18 for a little less than a year.
1. What do you think are the three biggest issues facing our state? If you are an incumbent, what have you done to address those issues, and what more would you do if given another term? If you are a challenger, what would you do differently to address those issues than the incumbent has done?
There are four:
[1] Unfair Elections. North Carolina’s electoral district lines are drawn by whichever party controls the legislature. The result is districts that unfairly favor one party or the other, no competition in our elections, and no real voice for voters at the ballot box. The solution: draw electoral district maps in a fair and impartial way so that the freedom of citizens to hold their government accountable and to have a say in who represents them will be protected.
[2] Restricted Education Choice. Bureaucratic and political systems are not the best way to meet each student’s educational needs. They do not provide environments that foster learning diversity. They do not support innovative teachers or instruction. Too many students are stuck with their assigned public school, even if it’s not the optimal situation. The solution: enable more choice in education. Increased funding for vouchers and more charter schools would afford more students and parents a choice. Fewer state-mandated restrictions on public schools would extend more freedom to educators to apply their own best judgment and experience in order to better serve their students.
[3] Overpriced Health Care. Politicized solutions and bureaucratic regulation remove patients and families from the central focus of healthcare decisions. Healthcare innovation has been hindered by incentives that do not align with delivering better outcomes. The solution: Transition the current Medicaid direct payment model to a state-funded health savings account, giving people more flexibility in defining the healthcare options that best serve their individual circumstances. Eliminate anticompetitive and protectionist certificate of need laws that hamper the growth and affordability of healthcare services, especially in rural and disadvantaged urban communities. Address the state licensing roadblocks preventing innovative healthcare delivery options such as direct primary care, telemedicine, and out-of-state licensed doctors providing charitable care.
[4] Stifled Economic Opportunity. State economic policies are heavily influenced by established, well-connected interests. These policies stand in the way of innovative new businesses and hurt the customers they serve…or would serve if they were allowed to. The solution: Eliminate or reduce state occupational licensing requirements that don’t perform a critical role in vital public safety. Lower the costs and regulations for starting a new business, enabling entrepreneurs and small business owners to follow their dreams and create the great North Carolina businesses of tomorrow. Strengthen the ability of property owners to meet the growing needs of our expanding and changing population through tailored residential configurations that allow for small dwellings and affordable housing. Support the sharing economy and the ability for individuals to define the way they utilize their time and property for their own economic benefit.
2. It seems hardly a day goes by without news of another mass shooting. On the state level, what changes to gun laws, if any, do you support? If you do not support any changes, please explain why you think the current laws are successful.
When I was in elementary and middle school, we had drills where we would crawl under our desks to be safe from broken windows caused by the explosion of Russian nuclear weapons. Even six- and seven-year-olds appreciated how pathetically inadequate that would be and I can empathize with students and parents whose fear of violence disrupts what should be our focus on learning. I propose the NCGA consider making the seller of a firearm—along with the owner—liable for damage it causes in the commission of a crime unless the seller can show a full background check was conducted and that the firearm was equipped with a biometric trigger guard that prevented it from being used by anyone other than the owner and people s/he allows.
3. In recent years, Duke Energy’s coal ash spilled into the Dan River and Chemours’s GenX leaked into the Cape Fear River. Do you think these companies have been held sufficiently accountable? Do you believe the state has put in place sufficient regulations to prevent these problems from occurring again? If not, what more do you propose doing?
It’s not the companies that should be held accountable, but the individuals who made the bad decisions that resulted in environmental damage. Currently, those people are shielded by law from accountability in almost all circumstances. In effect, government is incentivizing these individuals to make reckless decisions which maximize short-term gains for their companies (and themselves) at the expense of medium- and longer-term environmental risks…which constitute no risk at all to them personally. The solution: reconnect the people who make decisions that affect the environment with responsibility for the consequences of their actions. The quality of corporate decision-making will rapidly and dramatically improve.
4. In the wake of Hurricane Florence, at least six hog-farm lagoons were damaged and more than fifty saw discharges or were inundated with floodwaters as of this writing, according to the DEQ. More than five thousand hogs have died, and right now it’s unclear what the ultimate long-term environmental impacts will be. Since Hurricane Floyd, environmentalists have warned that, in a severe flooding event, the farms’ “anachronistic” waste-disposal techniques could pose a threat to the state’s waterways and public health, while the industry has insisted that its farms utilize best practices and are already heavily regulated. Do you believe these farms, and their lagoons, pose a risk to the environment? If so, do you believe the state has done enough to minimize that risk?
Again, the problem is that the folks making bad decisions are shielded from any responsibility for the consequences. Attempting to regulate this activity is a fool’s game. First of all, even if the regulation process is totally honest, it’s very hard if not impossible to anticipate every contingency…and if the company is following a flawed regulation to the “T” and still there is a problem, then the company has no liability. But the regulatory process—both the creation of the regulations and their enforcement—are hardly free of political influence from well-heeled corporatists and often include intentional loopholes in addition to those which occur because of something unanticipated occurring.
5. This year, Smithfield Foods—the world’s largest pork producer—has lost three verdicts in North Carolina totaling millions of dollars, after juries found that its farms’ methods of waste disposal infringed on the property rights of their neighbors. But in the last two years, the General Assembly has taken steps to make it more difficult for these neighbors to sue or to recover substantial damages, citing the threats these lawsuits pose to the well-being of family farmers. Do you believe the legislature’s actions with regard to these nuisance lawsuits are prudent? Why or why not?
No! This is the way the system should work. If a company management runs operations that adversely affect property they or their company do not own, then said managers should be responsible for compensating those who do own it.
6. It has been estimated that special sessions of the North Carolina legislature cost about $50,000 per day. Since 2016, the General Assembly has called seven of them to deal with everything from passing HB 2—the so-called bathroom bill—to passing restrictions on the governor’s powers after Roy Cooper defeated Pat McCrory to, most recently, clean up controversial constitutional amendment language so that it complied with a court order. Under what circumstances do you think it’s appropriate to hold a special session?
A natural disaster or other serious crisis is the only reasonable justification for calling a special session. Too often in recent history, decisions made by the NCGA during a special session have done more to CAUSE serious crises than resolve them.
7. What are your thoughts on the six proposed constitutional amendments before voters this November? Please explain which you support and which you don’t support and why. What do you think about the process behind these amendments—what critics have described as a limited public debate, for example, as well as the elimination of amendment numbers and ballot summaries, and the lack of so-called implementing legislation, which could be passed in another special session after the November vote?
I oppose five of the six amendments.
The voter ID amendment is the worst of them. We should be making it easier for folks to vote, not harder. There is no demonstrated need for this amendment, it would be a waste of money, and make life harder for many of our citizens.
The bi-partisan election board is a blatant and unbalanced power grab by the legislature that would make our government even more dysfunctional. Not to mention, it fails to represent that interests of one-third of NC voters who are registered as independent, as there is no mechanism provided for independents to serve on the Board of Elections.
Similarly, the judicial appointments amendment is another unwarranted power grab by the legislature.
The Marcy’s Law amendment should be considered as legislation, not as an amendment to the constitution. I have concerns about the cost of implementing it as proposed.
The hunting and fishing amendment is a complete waste of time, energy, and paper; totally unnecessary.
I support the reduction of the income tax cap from 10% to 7.5%. The propaganda against this amendment is hogwash: it will not lower funding for public schools or any other government programs, as the current income tax rate is capped at 5%: all this means is the that the government would only be able to raise our taxes by 50%, instead of the potential 100% rise they have a available to them now.
The process by which these amendments were put forth was laughable. It constitutes a naked partisan political play to juice turnout by the Republicans. Predictably, the Democrats have responded in kind with their simplistic Nix Six campaign, conveniently ignoring that a majority of their representatives voted FOR two of the amendments.
8. In May, thousands of teachers from all over the state marched on the legislature to demand better pay, more resources for students, and more respect. Do you think North Carolina’s schools are being adequately funded? If not, what taxes would you be willing to raise—or what services would you be willing to cut—to fund them better?
State education policy directly impacts the lives of North Carolina’s 1.5 million K-12 students. Spending on education represents nearly $9.5 billion of our state budget—fully 60% of the total. Our approach to education policy is vitally important to students, families, educators and taxpayers. The decisions being made by legislators and state agencies today—and the availability of the best public schools, charter schools, private schools and tech learning centers—will determine if students will be college and career ready tomorrow.
Conventional school policy drives districts, schools and teachers into solutions governed by politics and bureaucracy. It does not promote more personalized and effective learning environments or curricula. It holds back students wanting deeper academic challenges. It does not adequately serve children with special learning needs. When politicians and public agencies play a larger role in shaping educational policy than students or families, we do not prepare those students for a diverse society or a dynamic economy.
There is a better approach to cultivating opportunities for North Carolina’s students, families and educators. This better approach focuses on the freedom to access options for student success. It includes the freedom to reward engaged teachers and develop innovative instruction. And it allows for the freedom to enhance quality and performance while responsibly controlling cost. North Carolina can promote a dynamic, future-oriented educational system based on choice. Students and families need choices among diverse, robust approaches. They need choices that promote high quality and responsive educational environments. They need choices tailored to the needs of individual students and the future they face. With these choices, we can achieve outstanding education policy for a better North Carolina.
I advocate:
- Expand North Carolina’s state-funded Education Savings Account program to cover more students, allowing better education options for all students, especially students with special learning needs and families with financial hardships.
- Expand open enrollment within and between public-school districts, allowing families to find the best school fit within the public-school system without obtaining permission from their home district.
- Expand and fully fund the North Carolina Opportunity Scholarship program, allowing greater access for all families, including those who lack the financial means to enroll their students in a private school.
- Enable more flexibility for public schools to enable teachers and administrator and parents to better address the needs of their particular students…for example, eliminate mandated standardized testing and let each school determine how much testing works best for them
9. Currently, twenty-nine states have minimum wages above the federal minimum. North Carolina is not among them. Do you believe North Carolina should raise its minimum wage?
Absolutely not! On the contrary, the Federal minimum wage law should be repealed. Minimum wage laws reduce or eliminate entry-level positions for unskilled laborers, impede the growth of small businesses, and incentivize the adoption of job-destroying automation. The suggestion to raise the minimum wage is well-intended, but doing so hurts the very people it’s intended to help.
10. Under current law, toward the end of 2020, municipalities will gain the authority to pass nondiscrimination and living wage ordinances—unless the General Assembly intervenes. Since the winner of your race will be in office at that time, do you believe local governments in North Carolina should be allowed to make these decisions for themselves?
Yes. Generally, such mandates are terrible ideas, but I believe localities should have the right to make those decisions for themselves.
11. Over the last couple of years in Wake County, county commissioners and school board members have battled over local school funding. Recently, some commissioners have made moves to petition the legislature to allow for a pilot program in which the Board of Commissioners turns over school-taxing authority to the Board of Education, as is the arrangement in most states. In general, do you believe the state’s elected school boards should have the responsibility to raise taxes for the schools they oversee? Why or why not?
Yes. I am not enthusiastic about creating another taxing authority but again, if a locality decides to organize themselves this way, I believe they should be able to.
12. Since Governor Cooper’s election, the legislature has taken a number of steps to assume powers that were previously the executive’s domain, including overhauling the State Board of Elections. Do you believe these decisions were merely power grabs, as Democrats have alleged, or that they were made in the interests of public policy?
Of course they were power grabs. Both establishment parties play this game. When the Democrats were in control prior to 2011, the Republicans proposed stunningly fair and effective-seeming redistricting reform legislation…which the Democrats, not wanting to surrender their power to gerrymander, dismissed out of hand. But of course, once the Republicans took control, they lost interest in redistricting reform. And now that the Democrats are out of power, THEY are championing virtually the same proposals the GOP put forth—and the Dems opposed—ten years ago.
13. Over the last year, the state has frequently found itself in court over its legislative and congressional districts, which courts have ruled to be unconstitutional racial and partisan gerrymanders. Given this, do you believe the state legislature of that last several years has acted as a legitimate body? If not, what do you propose as a solution? If yes, please tell us why.
LOL not to mention all the taxpayer dollars that have been wasted on the many court battles and special sessions and costs of implementing revised maps. We are supposed to change the district lines once every decade, after the census…so far we have changed them THREE times and will probably change them again at least once before 2020.
Having said that, the fact of the matter is that both of the establishment parties are guilty of perverting and manipulating the redistricting process to increase and maintain their power. Yes, it’s worse now than ever…but not because the Republicans are even more pernicious than the Democrats. It’s worse now because the information technology tools used to slice and dice the data are more powerful. There was even a case where an incumbent had a potential primary opponent’s residence—someone in his own party!—changed from one district to another in order to avoid having to run against that person: not only are the legislators illicitly picking their own voters instead of the other way around: they are even picking their opponents.
That is why I, along with 32 other Libertarian NCGA candidates have pledged, if elected, to support an independent, nonpartisan redistricting process in the 2019 legislative session. Like the overwhelming majority of North Carolinians, we believe that voting maps should be drawn in a fair and impartial way that protects the freedom of voters to hold their representatives accountable. Our party platform calls for an open and transparent redistricting process, involving significant public input with the opportunity for citizens to weigh in on proposed district maps.
14. Give an example of a time, during your political career, when you have changed your position as a result of a discussion with someone who held an opposing view.
In point of fact, I have changed my mind momentously several times on political matters. What does anyone sensible do when you get new information that invalidates your current position?
When I first registered to vote in 1971, I did so as a Democrat, and I campaigned for George McGovern against Richard Nixon in 1972 primarily because I considered our serial invasions of countries in Southeast Asia—not to mention our manipulation of the South Vietnam government—to be criminally wrong. But as the years rolled by, I became increasingly disenchanted with the Democrats’ propensity for dividing everyone up in to special interest groups…and more and more aware of and uneasy with their financial profligacy. Finally, in 1984, I re-registered Republican, and supported Ronald Reagan.
But then the GOP proceeded to spend money like a drunken sailor. And I was not happy with the way they seemed to believe they knew how to live my life better than I did. The final straw—more like a couple of pianos falling on me—came with the insane invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. The day Paul Bremer announced the disbanding of the Iraqi army—in effect, losing 400,000 guys warned with rifles and no prospects of jobs or income on the country—I lost the last of my faith that the Bush administration had any clue and put in the paperwork to re-register as independent.
Then in 2008, I discovered Ron Paul. His preaching of social tolerance and fiscal responsibility—and his forthrightness in speaking truth-to-power in his campaigns for the Presidency in 2008 and 2012—was alluring. At first, I imagined I might be drawn back into the GOP, but after the powers-that-be there would not even allow Dr. Paul to speak at the 2012 convention, I switched over to working for Gary Johnson, by then the Libertarian candidate for President. I realized I had always been libertarian, without consciously knowing it…who doesn’t agree with “don’t hit folks and don’t steal their stuff?” I’ve been a registered Libertarian since 2013.
15. Identify and explain one principled stand you would be willing to take if elected that you suspect might cost you some points with voters.
I am generally skeptical that government programs provide optimal—or even good—solutions to most problems. Because as a society we have become accustomed to government performing many functions that it was not designed to do, doesn’t do well, and should not be doing, I anticipate I would need to do some explaining of many of my preferences if elected. However, my main objective is to improve life in North Carolina, not to effect pure libertarian principles. I am perfectly prepared to compromise on doctrine so long as it results in material progress in the direction of more choice for more people.
