Sunday Political Talk Show interviews during 2015: on Government Reform

Carly Fiorina: Assert principles to facilitate bi-partisan action

FIORINA: The way to bridge difference, the way to negotiate a good deal--you start out by stating very clearly what your principles are, what you must have, what your walk away position is. And then you enter into an open-minded spirit of collaboration about everything else and try to find common ground. On the other hand, there are some issues about which there really is broad bipartisan agreement and yet nothing gets done. How long have we been talking about broad bipartisan reform for tax reform? It doesn't happen. Everyone says they want to secure the border. It doesn't happen. Everybody says our VA is a scandal. Nothing changes.

John Kasich: Move power, money and influence out of Washington

Donald Trump: Get rid of the regulations that are just destroying us

Chris Christie: Congress must work together for progress to happen

CHRISTIE: Well, I think that's why they're not working together. Because they want to burn Congress down because it doesn't do anything. I mean let's face it, I was out on the trails, you know, a lot in 2014, helping governors candidates and Senate candidates to get elected. What have these guys done, these Senate candidates, new senators, that they promised to do? We don't have tax reform on the President's desk. We don't have a repeal and a replacement of Obamacare on the desk. We don't have any of the things that they ran on, on the desk. Make the president veto them. This is why people can't stand Congress.

Chris Christie: As president, I will enforce law and transparency

CHRISTIE: The same thing that I've been doing every day, both as US attorney and as governor for the last 13 years, hold myself to the highest standards, and if mistakes are made, to hold the people responsible who make those mistakes, and to discuss it with the public openly and transparently. And remember this; everything I said 18 months ago in a two hour press conference, after three investigations, not one thing has been contradicted that I said.

Q: So the long-term effect of BridgeGate?

CHRISTIE: People love to make a big deal about this stuff, but in the end it's how you react. And I wish Barack Obama might have reacted the right way to the IRS scandal and been more transparent. But he hasn't, and that's a failure of leadership. This President's allowed lawlessness. I'll enforce law and order in this country as president of the US.

Carly Fiorina: Reduce size of federal government by not replacing retirees

Chris Christie: Reform instead of tax increases

So we need to reform these programs and we can do it and we can do it in a way that's not going to throw anybody off the cliff.

Chris Christie: Does not support electing Supreme Court justices

CHRISTIE: No. I don't think we should elect Supreme Court Justices. What we do in New Jersey, which I think is something that folks can consider is we appoint our justices for a seven-year term. And then after seven years, the governor has the opportunity to again consider whether to nominate them then for a lifetime tenure. I don't want to see judges raising money and running for election. I would, though, trust the executive after seven years, like we do in New Jersey, to decide whether or not to reappoint people. I'm the first governor in New Jersey's constitutional history to not reappoint two supreme court justices. I wanted to go in another direction. That can work. I've done it in New Jersey. But I don't believe we should be putting judges on the ballot. I just disagree with Senator Cruz.

Mike Huckabee: South Carolina was right to remove the confederate flag

Mike Huckabee: Banning confederate flag is an issue for the states

HUCKABEE: Well, it depends on which level of government. If the state government of South Carolina wishes to address an issue in their state, that's fine. But if you can point me to an article and section of the Constitution in which a United States president ought to weigh in on what states use as symbols, then please refresh my memory on that. But for those of us running for president, everyone's being baited with this question as if somehow that has anything to do whatsoever with running for president. And my position is: It most certainly does not.

Ben Carson: Covertly spy on government workers to make them work harder

Carson suggested people would work harder if they suspected their coworkers of monitoring their work. "And we make it possible to fire government people!" he said to loud cheers. It's true that firing government employees who underperform can be notoriously complicated--so much so that most agencies don't even try to do it, a GAO report found earlier this year.

A spokesperson clarified Carson's comments: "Covert division? More like Secret Shopper, a quality control strategy used worldwide to improve customer service and customer care."

Mike Huckabee: Opposes "judicial supremacy"; they're just rulings, not law

A: Judicial review is actually what we've operated under. We have not operated under judicial supremacy. The notion that the Supreme Court comes up with the ruling and that automatically subjects the two other branches to following it defies everything there is about the three equal branches of government.

Q: Are you saying that it's up in the air as to whether you're going to obey the Supreme Court?

A: Well, the president has to follow whatever the law is. It's a matter of balanc of power. If the Supreme Court could just make a ruling and everybody has to bow down and fall on their faces and worship that law, it isn't a law because it hasn't been yet passed.

Ben Carson: We should discuss "judicial review" in its modern usage

CARSON: Well, what I said is the president doesn't have to agree with it.

Q: No, of course not. But does he have to enforce it?

CARSON: The way our Constitution is set up, the president or the executive branch is obligated to carry out the laws of the land. The laws of the land, according to our Constitution, are provided by the legislative branch.

Q: But, since Marbury v. Madison in 1803, we have lived under the principle of judicial review: if the Supreme Court says this is the law, this is constitutional, the executive has to observe that.

CARSON: This is an area we need to discuss, because it has changed from the original intent.

Q: So, you're saying this is an open question as far as you're concerned?

CARSON: It is an open question. It needs to be discussed.

Carly Fiorina: Zero-based budgeting, and civil service pay-for-performance

1. Zero base budgeting, so we know where the money is spent. We're talking about the whole budget and not just the rate of increase.
2. Pay for performance in our civil service. How many reports do we need to read that say, "you can watch porn all day and get paid exactly the same"?

Carly Fiorina: Crony capitalism is alive and well

So, if we want mainstream and the middle class going and growing again, we've got to get small and family-owned businesses growing again. Washington has become a vast unaccountable bureaucracy. It's been growing for 40 years. We have no idea how our money is spent.

There are two things that would help tremendously. One, zero base budgeting, so we know where the money is spent. We're talking about the whole budget and not just the rate of increase. And two, pay for performance in our civil service.

Jeb Bush: Vetoed more than $2.3 billion in earmarks