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SCARSDALE, N.Y. ? Bronx resident Joseph McLaughlin is challenging U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel to represent District 16. McLaughlin has limited experience in government, but if the Republican wins, he will represent Scarsdale, Eastchester, Rye, Mount Vernon, Pelham and a portion of the north Bronx.
Name: Joseph McLaughlin
Age: 44
Occupation: Commercial Real Estate, focusing on multi-family housing.
How long have you lived in town?
I grew up in the Bronx. We moved back to the Bronx in 2006 to raise our daughters. We moved to Hastings-on-Hudson in September.
Party affiliation and ballot lines held: Republic registration with Conservative Party endorsement. Republican-only ballot line.
Civic organizations: Knights of Columbus
What are the three biggest issues facing your district or town?
Unemployment. We have the highest taxes in the country, and gas and food prices are exploding; and the loss of wealth and retirement security and childrens security.
How would you address those issues?
My plan is to extend the Bush tax cuts another year, so taxpayers don't get kicked again by their elected officials. This will allow time for the 113th Congress to rewrite the Tax Code and allow taxpayers to keep more money in their pocket to spend in communities. Let individuals and corporations re-patriot profits held in foreign dollars at a one-time 10 percent tax rate. It would be a huge boost to the economy and job creation. Allow businesses to deduct 100 percent of capital investment costs to unleash the money held in corporate treasuries and create jobs. Recapture unspent stimulus money and send it back to taxpayers as rebate checks to spend as they wish. Repeal Obamacare before its tentacles take root and crush the taxpayer with its fees. Work with energy developers to keep and create high-paying middle class jobs by allowing them to build keystone pipeline. Finally, allow long-term unemployed to withdraw from IRAs penalty free until unemployment drops below 6.5 percent for three consecutive months.
If you are a challenger or running for an open seat, what would you do differently than the previous office holder?
Unlike the incumbent, I would not have let government grow as much as he has over the last 12 years. $16 trillion in debt on the way to $20 trillion is irresponsible, immoral and un-American. I would not have voted for Obamacare and its attack on individual freedom and religious freedom. I would not have voted to take down Glass Steagall restrictions on banks. I would not have voted for bank bailouts without better covenants and restrictions on the funds. Voted against Clinton Era Federal Drug Sentencing Guidelines that put a generation of black and Hispanic men and women in jail and out of the political process forever. I would not have voted for the Patriot Act unless warrantless wiretaps were excluded. I would not let our soldiers fight with one arm tied behind their back in Iraq and Afghanistan, and I would not let them be deployed one day after the White House showed they have no plan to win in either theater. I would have worked on strengthening Social Security and Medicare 24 years ago. Finally, I would have raised my family within the district I represent, instead of moving them to Potomac, Md., in 1993.
Westchester is among the highest-taxed counties in the nation. What would you do to lower the tax burden? Be specific.
I would vote to keep Rob Astorino in as county executive for as long as possible. I would vote for Bob Cohen for state senator and for every fiscal conservative Republican for state offices until they control enough to bring down the cost of government.
Why should people vote for you?
People should vote for me because I am their level-headed neighbor with good ideas who will live among them and listen to their ideas and bring them to Washington to make our lives and the lives of our loved ones easier and with less government interference. I am an open-minded leader who isnt married to party ideologies or old-boy networks. I believe in government for the people, by the people. I believe good government is there when you need it instead of one that insists you need it.
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