Ian Bayne: Candidate Profile

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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:BioQA Bio City: AuroraWebsite: http://www.TakeBackAmerica.comOffice sought: 11th District U.S. Representative Age: 39Family: Wife, CarolynOccupation: Small Business OwnerEducation: Attended University of MassachusettsCivic involvement: Candidate did not respond.Elected offices held: Candidate did not respond.Have you ever been arrested for or convicted of a crime? If yes, please explain: Yes, I was raised very poor in a bad neighborhood by a single mother. I have an arrest record as a teenager for what is basically fighting. This has been subsequently sealed by a superior court and occurred when I was 19 years old, prior to joining the army and turning my life around.Questions Answers Why are you running for this office? Is there a particular issue that motivates you, and if so, what is that?I believe we are at a point in America where, for the first time ever, we risk our children failing to do as well as ourselves. We have a government that is expanding at an alarming rate, spending more money than they take in, and earning more money than those of us that pay their bills.Recently, it was reported that the top 3 wealthiest counties in America were surrounding Washington D.C., and the Federal Salary Council reports that if you were doing your same job for the federal government, you'd be paid 34% more in salary.A new generation is learning that filling out government forms is compensating them more than finding a job, and we all just lost our health insurance because of some fantasy idea that government can provide for us better than we can for ourselves.After 10 years of political retirement, almost to the month, I feel it is my calling to do this. God's will certainly is for me to engage in this, no matter how foul the business of politics is. We cannot continue down this path where government spends our money and plans our lives, and we sit around and watch.There are consequences to bad government, and those serving now don't get it or don't care.I'm running because freedom is something that we have to fight to keep, and as a fighter, I know what I have to do. I was born in Illinois, raised in Illinois; I love this country, this state, and its people too much to watch it go down.What differentiates you most from your opponents in the race?My opponents will likely take this opportunity to show how qualified they are to plan your life for you. They will discuss their experience in being part of a large bureaucracy where they "managed" other people, were a cog in a large machine, warmed a seat and executed a master plan.We have enough of these people in Washington. We have so many followers in Washington that they're all running around in circles.In 2002, while working in politics, I faced an entire Massachusetts Republican establishment that told me they were pleased with their liberal establishment Republican incumbent governor. I started calling delegates, asking party officials to back this "conservative" choice by the name of Mitt Romney. Only after numerous media appearances did our establishment friends give up to popular opinion and pressure from the people to embrace Romney.It seems obvious now, but it's this kind of ability to bring issues to the people, past the government bureaucracy, past party leadership, and past "experts" that seem to be wrong about everything and are in a constant state of surprise over their predictions being incorrect, that we need.After voting for numerous tax hikes, Darlene Senger thought it government's role to check for identification before you're allowed to purchase Drano at the supermarket. Bert Miller liked Barrack Obama's ideas so much that he sent Obama a check for $1,000.These people have the right to follow whatever is in their heart, but I believe in freedom and advocacy for people who are suffering.Suffering is paying $1,000 a month for property tax so that government bureaucrats can build 20,000 square foot government buildings to sit in, and tear up roads that are perfectly operable. People in Illinois, in America, deserve better. We worked for it, and yes, we built this.Do you support moving ahead with the Affordable Care Act? Why or why not? Which parts of the law, if any, would you change?I favor the complete repeal of Obamacare. Washington has no right to take our health insurance plans away, and they have to restore them, give them back.This Obamacare cannot be fixed or worked with. It is a fantasy of government central planners that has just, in a matter of a few years, managed to threaten to destroy the world's best health care system. It's got to go and not return in any way.What specifically would you do to end gridlock and partisan infighting in the U.S. House and promote cooperative problem-solving?Your term "partisan infighting" is very interesting to me, as I've never seen it before. The most significant problem in government service, recently, is that elected officials see themselves as being representative of government first, and a representative of people last, if at all. So if you mean to imply that "partisan infighting," being the pursuit of fighting bad government, is a bad thing, I completely disagree.We fight bad ideas in this country. We stand up and we refuse to take it.I'm a product of Tennessee Volunteers given land in Illinois in exchange for service. They fought in the War of 1812. My grandfather dropped out of medical school to join the Navy in WWII. The man received a purple heart for service and ended up managing an auto parts store.America is so unique because we as individuals have the right, almost the responsibility, to stand up for what we believe is right and wrong.So to simply lie down and take the opinion of "experts," whose only consistency is being incorrect about the economy, is un-American to me.I owe it to you, my district, my state, my country, to fight whoever is in the way, whoever desires to take our health insurance, our food, our right to play a violent video game if that's what we want to do, or smoke a cigar in the comfort of our car.Which is more important? Preventing "gridlock" or fighting for our rights? I think I've been pretty clear on the issue.What should the U.S. House do, and what specifically will you do, to avoid another government shutdown?This is like asking me how, specifically, I would ensure that no child goes hungry.Certainly no one "wants" a government shutdown. Even after many of us realized that the government was, in fact, shut down, it is the product of a government that lacks the courage to stand up and fight for what they believe in.As a former political operative in Massachusetts, I had an unusual alignment with certain Democrats that served in the state house and state senate. I disagreed with about 99% of how they voted, but I enjoyed their passion. Those specific members cared about people and they thought they were doing what's right.I authored a bill in the state house that demanded an expansion of transparency of the state budget's line item expenditures. Co-sponsors were two: a single Republican and a single Democrat. Years later, Governor Romney embraced the same ideas behind my bill.We have government shutdowns because Republicans and Democrats don't have passion. They see government as a way to ensure a paycheck for them and their friends next year and beyond. They see elected office as some kind of grand game of Monopoly where they "play their cards right" and move up the ladder.So when negotiation time comes, no one cares. It's all grandstanding and "thinking strategically" for the next election or the next press conference. It's never about America, it's always about the party or the consultant's advice.No one can prevent a government shutdown any more than they can prevent forest fires, but if we elect people who care, people who stand on principle, then you'll find a far less threat of a government shutdown.Do you favor measures included in Senate Bill 744, the Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013? Specifically, which segments do you support, if any, and which segments do you oppose, if any? Are there other proposals related to immigration that you support or oppose?Washington has no credibility and no right to engage anything else until they return our health insurance back to us. After this happens, we can have a long discussion about "economic opportunity' and whatever that's supposed to mean to the author of SB 744.On what issues would you break with your party, or have you broken with your party, and why?I had an entire political career where I basically broke with my own party. I believe in adherence to the Constitution, that failed leaders should be replaced, and money belongs to the people and not the government.When I was 27, I took a job as a press secretary for a black conservative Harvard lawyer who was running against Ted Kennedy, days after the state GOP dropped all support for him. About a week later a car drove by outside my home and took a shot at me with a handgun. I had heard that Ted Kennedy didn't want to be opposed in his re-election "at all costs."Good thing I ducked. I thought it was a rock.Two years later, I organized a movement that turned delegates from an incumbent Republican governor to Mitt Romney, where I was the sole Republican ex-officio or elected officeholder at the state convention to embrace the move (at the time). Obviously, we know how that turned out.You can't be afraid to do what's right, even when it's not popular. This is why God has given us free will, and likely why I, as a kid from a broken home, where a $5 bill in my mother's pocket meant that we had money for dinner, have a chance to run for United States congress. This is what America is all about.Should federal spending cuts known as the sequester be continued in their current form? Why or why not? Where specifically would you cut the federal budget, if any? What areas, if any, would you exempt from cuts?We certainly seemed to have survived the "sequester."Newt Gingrich told John Kasich to "balance the budget" in the 1990's. That was the goal. And it was done.There's waste everywhere in government. And government is trained well, like a misbehaved child, to pretend that they aren't misbehaving and that there's no waste.Government will change the topic, forget things, refuse to answer questions. And like a child, we cannot allow ourselves to believe a government that has proven to be so wrong for such a sustained period of time.We have to set goals and then expect our government department heads to adhere to those goals. If the department heads cannot, then they can be removed. This is why we have department heads.George Patton used to fire men on the spot and replace them with those who could perform.As a small business owner, the first way to cut back spending, and it's something I've had to do quite a few times, without a CFO or an accounting department, or a line of credit, or investors, is to set a goal.Once you set a goal of overall spending reduction, you fight for that goal.A glass that's half empty, someone drinks. A glass that's half full, someone fills up.We have a lot of glasses in Washington filled with our money. This has been going on too long.How would you vote on cutting Social Security and/or Medicare?I would not vote to cut Social Security or Medicare.Finally, is there anything we haven't asked about that you feel we should know?Candidate did not respond.