June 4, 2012 -- I had the opportunity to sit down with Kevin Raye at Amato's Pizza in Presque Isle on Monday.
In this interview, we talked about his candidacy for the US House of Representatives. He is headed for a primary next week, and hopes to run against long-time incumbent Mike Michaud.
We talked about the differences and similarities between Augusta and Washington DC, illegal wars, usurpation of congressional powers by the President and of House powers by the Senate, the differences between himself and Mike Michaud, the appropriate role of the federal government, the deficit, small businesses, and the federal government's role in bailouts as well as healthcare. We also touched on the Patriot Act, Congressional salaries, and ObamaCare.
“I don’t believe in ‘letting things slide.’ I think if you talk with people who have served with me in the Legislature and the Maine Senate over the past seven and a half years, you would find out I am a person who doesn’t believe in ‘letting things slide.’”
On ObamaCare:
“We have a President who worked with Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi to ram through ObamaCare because they had the votes. They had the votes to do it, so they drove it down the throats of the Republicans; they drove it down the throats of an unwilling public. And it really, I think, established a very bitter, negative tone in Washington that now permeates everything, and our current Congressman, frankly, has done nothing to improve the situation.”
On how he is different from Rep. Michaud:
“If you look at my record in the Legislature, I’ve been somebody who has pushed for fiscal responsibility, on making sure government doesn’t grow too big -- too intrusive in people’s lives, whereas Mike seems to be perfectly happy with growing government and seeing it take on a greater and greater role.”
Listen to the interview here:
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Kevin's official campaign website is at Raye for Congress.com
**During this interview, I erred by calling Rep. Justin Amash by the wrong first name.**