Dan Schmitt: Candidate Profile

Note: Answers provided have not been edited for grammar, misspellings or typos. In some instances, candidate claims that could not be immediately verified have been omitted. Jump to:BioKey IssuesQA Bio City: ChicagoWebsite: http://www.walkwithdan.com/Office sought: 5th District U.S. RepresentativeAge: 63Family: I am married to Joyce Schmitt. I have two children, Brigette and Danny. They both have four children each. Joyce is not the mother of my children. I have four brothers, all are living.Occupation: I am currently producing a weekly public access TV show called: Team Chicago Challenge. I have produced 1183 one-half hour shows over the last 25 years. I have traveled over one-million miles throughout the good old USA.Education: I went to Our Lady of Mercy grade school 1954-1963 and I graduated from St. George High School in 1967. I have 6 credit hours from Mayfair Junior College. I then owned my own business, Dan's Coffee Cup.Civic involvement: Life long member of the AMA. Been involved with the Republican Party since 1984 or so. Helped in elections mostly since then with the local 45th Ward Republican group. I was the President of the Mayfair Community group until I got involved in the 1987 elections.Elected offices held: I am an average citizen who wants to save America as we know it.Have you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: Back when I was 'Coffee Dan?, my first stop at 6:30 AM was the IC Train Station on East South Water Street. One morning a squad was waiting for me. These two Chicago Police officers said I could not park there and took me in to 11th and State. It seemed that some Police Sergeant had a friend that was opening a coffee shop in the train station and they wanted me removed. I forget the charge, but I was held in a cell until my brother showed up with $100.00. When I went to court, no police officers showed up and all charges were dropped. This was just a little message for me as an average businessman in Chicago...........Candidate's Key Issues Key Issue 1 This nation is suffering from the worst unemployment situation in the last twenty-five years. What Mike Quigley and President Obama don?t quite understand is that employment comes from business. In a free-enterprise system the vast majority of employment comes from production of raw materials, manufacturing, distribution, delivery and retail of goods and services. These are the avenues that create wealth. Most of the other employment in the private sector is considered overhead, but thousands of more jobs are created there also. All government employment can also be considered as overhead. We need government to help the flow of goods and services to the population, to regulate the highways and byways and to enforce the laws created by the owners of this country, the citizens of the USA. In the perfect world, the ratio of government employees to the population should be one to one-hundred citizens or so. This includes all municipal, state and federal employees. To increase manufacturing in this country, we need to reduce taxes, roll back these new oppressive regulations and make land deals with these overseas American companies. Bring back manufacturing, put Americans back to work and free-up the ?American spirit?.Key Issue 2 The current Congressman in the 5th District voted to steal 713 billion dollars from Medicare. 713 BILLION DOLLARS. Maybe this Congressman is forgetful, but this Medicare fund was established in 1964 and millions of American have paid into this fund from their weekly paychecks. This fund is the health insurance for millions of Americans when they reach the age of 65. With the stroke of a pen and the vote from a runaway Congress, this money was stolen.......I WILL WORK TO RECOVER THIS MONEY...AND END THIS MADNESS CALLED OBAMACARE.Key Issue 3 Our very liberty is under attack from President Obama and Congressman Quigley. The out-of-control spending is going to destroy America as we know it. The Federal Budget needs to be cut by 10% across the board. Each and every Department must be cut by 10%. The Congress must take responsibility for the budget. They must debate and pass an annual budget. Automatic increases in the budget must be ended. All spending comes from the House, and I will make it my responsibility that federal spending is reduced and justified. You may remember a policy that was passed by Congress in 1974. Our federal budget is controlled by a policy called ?current services baseline?. To relieve the House from the day-by-day requirement to set the federal spending, this ?baseline? includes automatic yearly increases in all federal spending. If you touch any federal spending you are accused of ?cutting this? or ?cutting that?. They say you are mean or cruel if you touch any of the billions of federal spending. I hope the citizens in the 5th Congressional District will hire me to go to Washington to clean up the mess and end this madness. I will go through the budget and protect the taxpayers? money.Questions Answers Should tax breaks be extended? Why or why not? If so, for whom? What should Congress do to improve unemployment? Why do you support or oppose President Obama's jobs plan? What cuts or revenue increases do you support for deficit reduction?Again, we get into the subject of what is the proper tax rates. Just what tax breaks are you talking about. If I remember correctly, the top rate was 28% under President Reagan. Then President Bush got punked by the Democrats in Congress and raised the rates a bit. Within 30 seconds, these Democrats were on their favorite TV shows and with their favorite newspapers accusing President Bush of breaking his promise ?No New Taxes?. You just cannot trust any deal with the Democrats. (I could tell you more stories but that can wait for our eye-to-eye interview). Now, when President Clinton got in there, he raised the top rate, and all the other rates as well. He was lucky that Newt got in there to help him balance the budget. Even with the higher tax rates, President Clinton?s budget would not have balanced the budget. Just go back and check this out. He was planning on spending the so-called ?peace dividend?. It was the Speaker of the House who throttled him back and made the Clinton years look pretty good. Newt promoted things like ?welfare to work? and other Republican programs. Now, we did have the dot-com collapse, but that was caused by the goofs that got involved in investing in ?vapor-ware?, imaginary companies and building companies with no concept of selling anything. (We can talk about this failing also). When President Bush II came in the Oval Office, there was a surplus, so the question becomes this, should taxes be higher than needed? Or should taxes be enough to pay the bills. This is one of the biggest questions facing this nation. So, President Bush II, decided to cut all the rates, and only collect enough to pay the bills. But then, September 11 happened and World War IV began. 3000 Americans were killed and something had to be done. (if you want to talk about IRAN and AFGHANISTAN, we can in our interview). George Bush was wrong to keep the war expense off the books. What should Congress do to improve unemployment? Get out of the way. Cut taxes for manufacturing. This will help bring back some of the companies that have fled this country because of tax policies. I have talked to people who have worked in China, and a good majority are ready to give up there. They are tired of the payola, the corruption and the attitude of the Communist leaders. Nothing is protected, there is no patent protection. Spies are trying to steal all production secrets. I believe if we reach out to all of the American companies we could get some movement back to the good old USA. In Chicago there are thousands of vacant lots, can we give the land away for a fifty year no tax policy? Can we demand that companies take the responsibility of ?Job Training?? Can government work with business again? There are thousands of residents in the 5th Congressional District who would love to work in a factory again. President Obama does not have a Jobs Plan. It is just pure BS. He believes in the big Federal Government and wants control. Just look at General Motors. He stole that company, stole all the money from the bond holders and investors. He then gave it to his buddies at the UAW. It is the large purchases of car and trucks by the Federal Government that make GM?s sales numbers look good. President Obama only knows how to create more government jobs. Cut all Federal spending by 10% across the board. Or let?s go back to President Clinton?s last budget. Set the spending at that level and the budget would be balanced. Cut the spending, we don?t need higher taxes. End Current Services Baseline.What would you do to help ease partisan gridlock? Are you willing to compromise on sticking points including spending cuts and taxes to produce results? How can Congress move from being a "crisis-driven" institution?Well, I can remember a time when the parties got along. I also remember a time when the Democrats controlled everything and the Republican took the crumbs and were happy. Just look at the Republican State Reps right here in Cook County. They are happy to have a job and not rock the boat. Our dear President is the worst when it comes to getting along. He and his cronies jammed his ?health care bill? through. There never was any input from the Republicans. Just look around Chicago, Cook County and the State of Illinois, they have it all and they have broke it. Our dear President doesn?t ever care about the 60-70 young black brothers and sisters that have been murdered in his old Senatorial district. Just think about that one-minute, he still owns a house on the south side and these young people are his neighbors. We have serial murderers running around the streets of Chicago and never once have the Chicago Police called for help from the community as a whole. When will we get the description of the cars involved? When will the President or the First Lady do something to end the killing of their neighbors? Remember there were no Republican involved when the Daley boys robbed the citizens of Chicago out of billions of dollars with their ?parking meter deal?. There were no Republicans involved when their old man, Richard J. drove all manufacturing out of Chicago. Just how many families have been destroyed when these business left? I remember when you could walk down just about any street and there were jobs on every corner. Find me a few Democrats with at least a half-of-a-brain, and I will try to work with them and give them an education to bootDo you agree with the Supreme Court's decision to uphold the health care law and why? Do you support or oppose repeal of the law? Which parts would you change and why? If you are elected, how, specifically, will you work to achieve those changes?Justice Roberts stated that the Supreme Court will not correct the problems created by the legislators, so he punted the problem back for either the House or Senate to take up the argument. I am 100% against this evil bill. You only own one thing and that is your life. You are only responsible for one thing, and that is your health. You buy insurance to protect yourself. You buy home owners insurance so if your house burns down, there will be money to rebuild. You buy health insurance to cover any major problems. Generally, you can take care of the small things, but that has all been changed over the years. A good number of people think health insurance covers everything,. The Federal Government changed everything when it required all hospitals to care for all. Big mistake. We allow the lawyers to run wild with lawsuits and we penalize the doctors as they try to save our lives. What happened to all the clinics that helped the poor? Were they put out of business by the lawsuits? Why can anyone, citizen, non-citizen or illegal immigrant, get free service at any hospital.? Just what is up and what is down? Mike Quigley voted on the largest tax increase in the USA history with ObamaCare. With this vote he stole 713 billion from Medicare. Now the bureaucrats are at work writing 13,000 pages of rules and regulations. They are planning on 65 new agencies to carry out these regulations. And the topper of all, IRS will enforce it. Try to start a new business on a shoestring. You will have IRS agents coming around every month taking your start-up money. You will be doomed. To change the entire system, a system that has cared for over 80% of the US population, is a evil deed. We can improve health care in the USA, but don?t destroy it. One way to cut down on prescription drug prices is to allow patients to sign releases with the drug companies. They will promise not to sue and the drug companies will sell their products at a much lower price. This is just one of my solutions to the cost of healthcare.How do you believe marriage should be defined legally? Should the law that defines marriage as being between a man and a woman be overturned or upheld? Why?Marriage is one man and one woman. I really don?t care what people do in the privacy of their own homes, but don?t call it marriage. Married couples get the benefit because it is hard to be married to someone from the other sex. And then add children and it is really hard, and this is the reason for this special status from society. I am sorry that a very small percentage of couples in our nation are unhappy with this situation, but they can still try to find someone from the opposite-sex to love them. Sleeping with your beer drinking buddy is just wrong. Just because you were girlfriends in college doesn?t mean you should sleeping together.. Marriage is tough, but it is worth it.The Latino population in the suburbs is growing. What is the biggest challenge created by that growth? Do you support or oppose President Obama's directive to stop deportation of undocumented immigrants who are in college or the military and why?Let?s see, the Latino population is growing. I always though there were plenty of Italian living in the suburbs. Not too many Frenchmen there, but I am not counting. I have noticed a good number of Romanian churches popping up, both Catholic and Protestant. There are a few Spanish restaurants showing up throughout the suburbs, I do enjoy a good tapas selection once in a while. We don?t have many professional fisherman in the area, so the population of Portuguese-American is quite limited. So is this the political correct question of this survey? I am not politically correct. It may be a fault, but I have found that honesty is the best policy. Now, if you are referring to immigrants from south of the Rio Grande, from Central America or South America, yes there is an influx of people from these areas. There is no doubt that Mexico is a failed and corrupt country. The same sixteen families who are the direct descendents of the conquistadors that beat the Aztec still run Mexico. They have no Constitution like the U.S. Constitution in Mexico. Central America is basically the same, no God given Rights for those folks also. Whereas I believe we can increase the number of spots for immigration to the USA from Mexico and Central America, we need to get control of our borders. The Obama Administration will admit to 11-12 million illegal immigrants, I believe it is closer to 20 million or so. Just think about that for a moment. One-fifth to one-fourth of the population of Mexico is living in the USA.. We can provide more 6-month work permits, to ease the transition back to the home country. If children are looking for a favored situation for staying in the USA and working for citizenship, they have always been able to join the military service. This is the path I will support. Another problem we face is the fact that a good number of Mexicans believe they have a right to come to the USA, that they have a claim to a good portion of this country. .Sadly, they are historical challenged. After the USA won the Mexican-American War, the USA paid for the lands north of the Rio Grande. It was the Mexican who declared war over the Independence of Texas and the rights of Texans to join the Union. They lost. We won and we paid for those lands. Even now, these current immigrants are not interested in becoming Americans. They want to keep their identity. Some of these immigrants want to take back parts of the USA. I believe this is wrong and not in our interest.