Richard Carmona in 2012 Arizona Senate debate
On Immigration:
Comprehensive immigration reform ties into the economy
Both contenders said the economy and border security are major issues for the Desert Southwest. Carmona said, "Comprehensive immigration reform ties into the economy, it ties into jobs, it ties into a workforce that can go back and forth, so I will spend
time on that."Carmona said immigration reform will help boost commerce. "It's an important thing, because without comprehensive immigration reform, comprehensive tax reform, our small businesses are going to continue to suffer," Carmona said.
Source: KYMA-TV-11 on 2012 Arizona "Rural Issues" Senate debate
Oct 26, 2012
On Immigration:
More visas for day-workers to enhance commerce
The focus of the debate was on rural issues, including migrant workers. The moderators asked Flake and Carmona where they stood on guest-worker programs. "We do need to revamp it," Flake said. "We simply don't have a program that's robust enough to take
care of the needs that we have."Carmona said comprehensive immigration reform should include visas, day-worker programs "that don't impede commerce but actually enhance commerce." They both agreed that border security needs to be stepped up..
Source: KYMA-TV-11 on 2012 Arizona "Rural Issues" Senate debate
Oct 26, 2012
On Environment:
No uranium mining in Arizona Strip watershed area
Addressing what they would do to protect Arizona water rights, Carmona agreed with Flake on the need to fight for the state's water rights but blasted Flake for his support of uranium mining in the watershed area of the Arizona Strip, north of the
Grand Canyon, which Carmona claims would contaminate water.Flake countered that the mining would not threaten the Grand Canyon and said he is trying to protect a bipartisan agreement and the area's economic development.
Source: Yuma Sun on 2012 Arizona "Rural Issues" Senate debate
Oct 25, 2012
On Health Care:
Repealing ObamaCare means public pays for the uninsured
Flake said, "I will vote to repeal the president's health-care plan, my opponent will not." Repealing the plan would only put the burden on the people as the general public would pick up the insurance costs for the uninsured,
Carmona said. "There are good things in the plan, but it needs a better business plan," he added.
Source: Yuma Sun on 2012 Arizona "Rural Issues" Senate debate
Oct 25, 2012
On Jobs:
Farm Bill should offer support to struggling farmers
The Farm Bill sparked the longest exchange between the candidates. Due to Congressional inaction, the last bill expired in September. "It will be a priority for me because I realize how antiquated the bill is," Carmona said. He said the bill is
naturally tied to health issues such as obesity and should offer "appropriate support to farmers struggling here along the border."Flake agreed on a need to redo the bill, describing it as being "out of whack."
Source: Yuma Sun on 2012 Arizona "Rural Issues" Senate debate
Oct 25, 2012
On Budget & Economy:
Supply-side economics is valid
Carmona allowed that some Republican economic views, like supply-side economics, hold validity, but insisted that "the markets are much more complicated than that." On taxes, however, he said that he agreed with
Flake that "we have to do everything we can to lower the tax rates.""We don't want to raise taxes now because that'll push us further into a recession, but we need to start generating some income," Carmona added.
Source: The Hill coverage of 2012 Arizona Senate debates
Oct 10, 2012
On Government Reform:
All earmarks are not pork
Flake attempted from the start of the race to tie Carmona to Obama particularly and Democratic policies in general. And it's a fight Flake continued at this debate, arguing that Carmona's positions, ranging from earmarks to healthcare, reflected the
position of the Obama administration.Carmona defended earmarks, arguing that "all earmarks are not pork," adding that "there are necessities that the federal government can provide"--pointing to investments in infrastructure as necessities that
small businesses simply can't handle on their own. But Flake, who has been criticized for failing to bring federal funding to his district, said that Carmona's view was similar to Obama's.
"Here's this philosophy again, that all jobs have to be
created by the federal government. That's why Dr. Carmona is comfortable in the Democratic Party, because that's the attitude of the Obama administration--that unless the federal government somehow creates it, it didn't exist," Flake said.
Source: The Hill coverage of 2012 Arizona Senate debates
Oct 10, 2012
On Health Care:
Would not have voted for ObamaCare
Carmona said he wouldn't have voted for President Obama's healthcare reform law, although he has previously expressed support for the law and called its passage "brave."Flake attempted from the start of the race to tie
Carmona to Obama particularly and Democratic policies in general. And it's a fight Flake continued [in this debate], arguing that Carmona's positions, ranging from earmarks to healthcare, reflected the position of the Obama administration.
Source: The Hill coverage of 2012 Arizona Senate debates
Oct 10, 2012
On Health Care:
Eliminate waste, fraud, & abuse--then prevention
Carmona asserted that both parties were wrong on healthcare because they hadn't addressed the main drivers of cost. In the short term, he suggested eliminating waste, fraud and abuse from the system, and, in the long term, he said there
would need to be a focus on preventive care. "The public can't get [an insurance] card anymore and just do what they want to do--smoke, drink excessively, don't wear a seat belt, don't wear a helmet," he said.
Source: The Hill coverage of 2012 Arizona Senate debates
Oct 10, 2012
On Tax Reform:
Extend Bush tax cuts as part of comprehensive reform
The two did agree on a few issues, including full extension of the Bush-era tax cuts, even for the wealthy. Flake toed the Republican line in favor of a full extension, and Carmona said he'd be willing to extend them fully only if
Congress in turn took up comprehensive tax reform--a position that puts him in opposition to some Democrats, who would let the cuts for the top earners expire.
Source: The Hill coverage of 2012 Arizona Senate debates
Oct 10, 2012
On War & Peace:
Whatever means necessary to prevent Iranian nukes
On defense, both agreed that the U.S. should take whatever means necessary to prevent
Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.
Source: The Hill coverage of 2012 Arizona Senate debates
Oct 10, 2012
On Government Reform:
Supports Open Government initiative for non-partisan primary
Q: What do you think of the Open Government initiative that would put everybody on the same primary ballot?A: I like it. The more transparency and nonpartisanship that we can bring to government I think is good.
Q: It's designed, in part, to address
gridlock. Will it work?
A: I hope it works because the more we return democracy to really what it should be--that is candidates getting on their soapbox, speaking their values, convincing people they're the right person--and what's more important is
the values you bring and the party you belong to, and I think this type of initiative helps to move it along... What we do know now is that partisan politics is paralyzing us.
Q: You've used the term "vicious" to describe Washington politics a
couple of years ago. Is it any better today?
A: I would say that it's probably worse, and it's more polar. That's not what democracy should be. Democracy really should be a spirited exchange of ideas, make your case--it's the ultimate debate club.
Source: The Sahuarita Sun on 2012 Arizona Senate debates
May 29, 2012
On Immigration:
Dynamic interdiction plus prevention
Q: Immigration reform, what's it look like?A: There are too many important issues that we have to deal with as a state and as a nation to be bickering about who's to blame for this. There are simple ways to solve this problem if we will allow the
politics to be left at the door.
Q: You said it starts with a secure border. Explain that.
A: A secure border is really a dynamic concept. If you looked at the concept of a secure border 20 years ago, it was boots on the ground. As we've evolved we
have sensors, we have electronic surveillances, we have drones, we have human intelligence working both sides of the border. So it's a lot more complex and layered system that protects our nation. So, do I know what will be best in five or 10 years?
No, but I know that as long as there is demand to come here or to bring drugs in, people will always try to counteract our defense mechanism. The other side is, of course, prevention. It just can't be interdiction, it has to be prevention as well.
Source: The Sahuarita Sun on 2012 Arizona Senate debates
May 29, 2012
On Social Security:
Raise retirement age; raise payroll tax ceiling above $106K
Q: How bad off are we on Social Security and what's it going to take to save it?A: There's a number of things that have to happen over time. First and foremost, for those people who we've contracted with, the seniors in the room who've paid in to the
system, we owe it to them to honor those contracts. It's not an entitlement, they've paid; they've paid expecting their government will return that investment and help them through their senior years.
On the other hand, as we move forward and we look at what we can do, there are a couple of things. We can raise the ceiling above that $106,000 and say, 'OK, let's get more money into the pot.' We can look at the retirement age. We can't keep running
the system the way we did 50-60 years ago. There are a number of steps we can take to make it solvent over time, but also to reorient and educate people as to what is needed in the future for Social Security.
Source: The Sahuarita Sun on 2012 Arizona Senate debates
May 29, 2012
On Abortion:
Championed women's health and pre-natal health services
Carmona served in the Bush administration as the 17th U.S. Surgeon General. In that position, he championed women's health care and pre-natal health services.
He left the position after the administration tried to make health care a political issue.
Source: Kingman Daily Miner on 2012 Arizona Senate debate
May 24, 2012
On Health Care:
Helped open the first trauma center in southern Arizona
Carmona grew up in Harlem, dropped out of high school, joined the Green Berets and served in Vietnam, where he became a battlefield medic. He graduated from the University of California, San Francisco's medical school.
He was recruited by the University of Arizona to help open the first trauma center in southern Arizona. While serving as chief of staff at the medical center, Carmona was also a reserve deputy and a commander of the county SWAT team.
Source: Kingman Daily Miner on 2012 Arizona Senate debate
May 24, 2012
On Principles & Values:
1999: shot and mortally wounded a deranged murderer
One fall day in 1999, on a busy street in Tucson, Arizona, Dr. Richard Carmona shot and mortally wounded Jean Lafitte, a mentally disturbed man who had just stabbed his own father to death.Carmona, a Tucson trauma M.D., had been on his way to a
football game when he stopped to deliver first aid at what appeared to be a traffic accident. When he got closer to the scene, bystanders told him Lafitte was armed. Carmona returned to his car, retrieved his Pima County Sheriff Deputy badge and gun,
identified himself repeatedly and warned Lafitte to drop his weapon, news accounts say. Instead, the gunman blasted away at Carmona--one bullet grazed Carmona's head.
Carmona returned fire, mortally wounding Lafitte. Next, he triaged the wounded man. And later, he was credited with saving the lives of bystanders and Lafitte's girlfriend, whom Lafitte was going to kill next.
Source: TheDailyBeast.com coverage of 2012 Arizona Senate debate
May 19, 2012
On Principles & Values:
Classified as disabled veteran from Vietnam wounds
The former U.S. surgeon general downplays the wounds he sustained as a Special Forces medic in Vietnam. (He still wears his medic medal; it dangles from a gold neck chain.) "I am classified as a disabled veteran," he told The Daily Beast recently. "The
reason I'm disabled is because I have wounds and injuries that I got while on active duty--from parachute jumping to combat to gunshot wounds, all that stuff," he said. "I've gotten shot in the head. These injuries are almost all impact & trauma
& blast injuries. When you put your body through all of this stuff over 35 or 40 years in the military or police you pay the price, that's all."In 1992, he rappeled from a helicopter to deliver medical help to victims of a helicopter crash in the
snowy Arizona mountains. Carting an injured person, he was hauled up to the hovering helicopter. His life seems adrenaline-charged, and he self-identifies both as a law-enforcement officer and a doctor.
Source: TheDailyBeast.com coverage of 2012 Arizona Senate debate
May 19, 2012
On Principles & Values:
Of Puerto Rican descent; grew up poor in Harlem
A Latino of Puerto Rican descent, he grew up poor in Harlem, dropped out of school, joined the Army, got his GED, became a Special Forces medic in Vietnam, then attended medical school in California. After a stint at the National Institutes of Health,
he was recruited to open a trauma center in Arizona, and moved to Tucson with his wife and four kids. He's been a Pima County deputy for years, working part time, of course, and is a trauma physician who teaches at the University of
Arizona medical school. He works for a high-end destination spa company that has a foundation that delivers health help to underserved communities. His narrative draws veterans, women, Latinos, and,
Democrats hope, moderates in sufficient numbers to turn Arizona blue.'I am not a Hispanic candidate,' Carmona told The Daily Beast. 'I am an American candidate who happens to be of Hispanic heritage.'
Source: TheDailyBeast.com coverage of 2012 Arizona Senate debate
May 19, 2012
On Health Care:
Indignity of being poor patient in hospital sensitizes me
"You know, having walked in those shoes of being hungry and being homeless--the indignities of not getting health care, or waiting in the public hospital, hoping somebody will care for you; going to sleep with a toothache
because you can't go to the dentist," he said. "I think it was, in retrospect, almost a gift of experience to me that sensitized me to the complexity of the world that we inherit today."
Source: Washington Post coverage of 2012 Arizona Senate debate
May 3, 2012
On Technology:
Criticized Bush for placing politics ahead of science
Richard Carmona built dual careers in medicine and law enforcement, including work as a trauma surgeon and health-care administrator and as a deputy in the Pima County Sheriff's Department. He was named surgeon general in
2002 and served one term. At a 2007 congressional hearing, he strongly criticized the Bush administration for placing political considerations ahead of scientific ones.
Source: Washington Post coverage of 2012 Arizona Senate debate
May 3, 2012
On Principles & Values:
Seeks to earn the respect of disenfranchised populations
: Democrats think that Latino turnout in Arizona will be higher than average this year.A: This is my first rodeo, okay? So I'm not an expert. But I think that there's good reason to believe that I have earned the trust and respect of the Hispanic
community--not just because I'm Hispanic--because I was always there when they needed me as a professor, as a doctor, & as a trauma director here in town. And I've earned the respect all of our Native American brothers and sisters because of my actions.
So I think there's every reason to believe that these populations which are normally disenfranchised--and they don't want to participate because they don't feel anybody really understands them--in me, they have somebody who not only understands, but
who's somebody who's lived their life and has experienced the American dream. And I think that they will entrust me with being their senator because they know that I will always do what is best for them."
Source: Washington Post "Ten Questions" 2012 Arizona Senate debate
May 2, 2012
On Welfare & Poverty:
Experienced poverty and homelessness as child in Harlem
Q: Tell me about your life growing up.A: I came from a pretty poor family. I grew up in Harlem, in New York City. And my parents were good people, but they struggled with some of the substance and alcohol problems. And we were homeless for a while
when I was a kid, when I was 5 or 6--I remember coming home and I remember seeing all of our belongings on the street and a Salvation Army truck picking them up. We got taken to a shelter. And then we moved around a lot, finding places to stay.
We ended up living with my grandmother in the Bronx projects, which are rent-subsidized. At one point there were 12 of us living in this little apartment. Something happened with my father; I don't know what it was.
Q: How did those experiences
affect your views later in life?
A: I think what it does is it gives me a much broader perspective than the average politician. You know, having walked in those shoes of being hungry and being homeless.
Source: Washington Post "Ten Questions" 2012 Arizona Senate debate
May 2, 2012
On Immigration:
Vitriolic 'deport everybody' message loses Hispanics
A new GOP effort led by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) to produce a scaled-back version of the DREAM Act is nothing more than election-year politics, argues Democratic Senate candidate Richard Carmona (Ariz.).Carmona had some blunt criticism for
Republicans on the topic of illegal immigration. "Why do you think they're reworking their initial vitriolic, far-right, 'deport everybody' message?" he asked. "Why? Do you think that all of a sudden there's an epiphany and their hearts have opened up to
people who are struggling? I don't think so. I think it's a political calculation--that they recognized they cannot win their races and stay in office unless they embrace the Hispanic community. So, I really feel it's very disingenuous."
The original
DREAM Act would grant young people who were brought illegally to the US as children a path to citizenship provided that they attend college or serve in the military. Rubio's plan would provide not a path to citizenship but rather non-immigrant visas.
Source: Washington Post blog on 2012 Arizona Senate debate
Apr 26, 2012
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