Candidate Q&A: Brett Rhyne

1. Both of your Democratic opponents voted with their party more than 90% of the time. What separates you from your opponents in the primary? How can Mass voters be assured that either of you won’t simply vote lockstep with Majority Leader Reid?

The reason that both my opponents vote in lockstep with the party is because they’re all indebted to the same special interests. I’m not. I don’t take campaign contributions from anybody, so therefore I’d vote in the interests of my constituents — the people of Massachusetts — and my conscience.

2. Our region benefits a lot from defense spending, including bases and the development of new weapons. Yet more progressive lawmakers want to cut defense spending more than social programs when federal spending cuts need to happen. How would you do that without hurting defense contractors and companies (and all their high-paying jobs) in your home state?

We’re often given a choice between some progressive goal and jobs. It’s a false dichotomy. The number of jobs lost, locally or nationally, through cutting defense spending is overstated. On the other hand, the value of redirecting our resources to creating jobs in a peacetime economy — not to mention the value of pursuing peace, not war — is immeasurable.

3. MetroWest suffered a blow with the loss of New England Compounding Center and the associated fallout: will you be working to draw other medical companies to the MetroWest area and how will you do that?

Massachusetts’ medical sector industries remain pretty strong, the New England Compounding Center tragedy notwithstanding (let’s not forget, people lost their lives, while others lost their jobs). What’s of greater concern to me is that the multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical industry keeps its manufacturing as well as its R&D facilities here, and doesn’t ship them overseas.

4. There has been a call for more federal oversight of pharmaceutical compounding companies in the wake of the New England Compounding Center scandal. Is there a similar federal role in the state’s drug lab scandal? Or do you believe the prosecution of Annie Dookhan and court reviews of the 34,000 affected cases is a sufficient response?

Public health crises are among the most grave of our problems — locally, nationally and globally — and as such demand federal attention and treatment. Included in these crises are autism, drug and alcohol addiction, food safety, GMOs, factory farms, HIV/AIDS and potential viral pandemics. Here in the Bay State, it’s clear the Department of Public Health is ill-equipped to oversee not only pharmaceutical production, but the distribution of medicinal marijuana, which it’s charged with under the recently-passed ballot initiative. In both cases, the only solution is a nationally-coordinated effort.

5. Whenever federal transportation money is discussed, the talk focuses on highway construction and expanding public transit. Yet the MBTA’s core service is in desperate need of repair and funding. What will you do at the federal level to improve the quality of T service for current riders? Or does expansion to Fall River and other economic areas in the state trump the needs of Bostonians trying to get to work in a safe, timely manner?

From a number of perspectives — environmental, economic, rebuilding the infrastructure — a national initiative to reinvigorate public transportation systems would be a very good idea. Riding the rails, whether we’re talking the T or commuter rail, is always preferable to driving on highways.

6. There’s been increased use of drones internationally, as well as domestically, primarily as a law enforcement tool. Are you comfortable with the use of drones internationally and domestically? What sort of rules should be in place for the domestic use of drones?

Dennis Kucinich once said the president of the United States shouldn’t use assassination as a foreign policy. I agree. Assassination should not be the official policy of this country, regardless of whether those being targeted are American citizens or foreign nationals. I also think the Patriot Act should be repealed. A government should not be allowed to spy on its own people, and certainly not assassinate them — it destroys the very foundation of our democracy. I would’ve crossed the aisle to support Rand Paul’s filibuster against domestic drone use.

7. Do you support the most recent catch limits on commercial fishing? Why or why not?

There’s that false dichotomy again, between a progressive goal — in this case, protecting endangered marine species — and jobs. If there are no more fish to catch, then all commercial fishermen will be out of a job, won’t they? The real threat to endangered marine life is not the small-scale commercial fisherman, but corporate factory-fishing. Regulating the corporate seafood industry would go much further in protecting endangered marine life (as well as small-scale fishermen).

8. For many who live along the coast, the only option for home insurance is the FAIR plan. It’s expensive, with many paying more for insurance than in real estate taxes, and it does not have a good reputation for paying out claims. Yet, it is the only game in town. If a storm like Sandy were to have hit the Mass. coast, it is unlikely the FAIR plan would be able to cover the loss. What would you do to encourage insurance companies that offer residential insurance to come back to coastal Mass.?

There’s a short-term and a long-term answer to your question. In the short term, the problems that we’re seeing with homeowners’ insurance, not just in Massachusetts but nationally, are similar to those that we’re seeing with medical insurance: escalating costs — of both payouts (to homeowners or health care providers) and premiums — and an unwillingness on the part of the insurance industry to cover higher-risk (i.e., less profitable) people. So the best solution to the homeowners’ insurance dilemma may be similar to the health insurance problem: universal, single-payer homeowners’ insurance.

But your question raises an underlying, longer-term and, frankly, far more serious problem. The changing climate means we’re going to experience more events causing greater damage and affecting more, eventually all, of the population; because we’re not just talking about coastal storms like Sandy, Katrina and extreme weather systems on the West Coast, we’re talking about flooding, desertification and other geological changes throughout North America and the world. The Earth’s climate and weather systems have been irreversibly altered, and we’d better adapt to them, or we’ll end up like the dinosaurs. This may mean we can’t live anywhere we want to, or everywhere we live now. If sea levels continue to rise and Chevy Chase is underwater, the strongest seawalls won’t hold back the flood, and the Markeys will just have to move. You can’t fight the tide.

9. Increasingly our police departments are dealing with the problems of drugs in our towns? What do you think the federal government can do to get more funding to fight drugs? How can the police get the funding and equipment they need to deal with the problem?

First of all, it’s time we admit the “War on Drugs” is an abject failure and stop wasting our resources fighting it. The way to reduce the supply of drugs is to reduce the demand for drugs; the way to reduce demand is by addressing drug addiction. Addiction destroys lives and communities; but it can be prevented through education and treated through recovery programs. Both are much more cost-effective in human and economic terms than the current approach.

10. What Senate committees and leadership posts will you seek if you become a senator and why?

My goal in running for the Senate is to help as many people as possible by working in the areas where I think our most pressing problems lie. As such, committees like environment and public works; energy and natural resources; and health, education, labor and pensions would be good places for me to serve. Obviously, the appropriations committee and the joint economic committee are also powerful and important. Finally, it’s obvious that Washington needs a new sheriff, and so I’d be interested in serving on the ethics committee, as well.

As for leadership posts, well, they’re all sort of filled at the moment. But as a journalist and a teacher, I’m interested in what people have to say and in what they think, and I’m sure I would serve as an informal consensus-builder among all members of Congress.