In their own words

We wondered what they thought about several key issues facing us here in the 23rd Congressional District. But we wanted to hear their unvarnished thoughts directly from them, not from written responses or assisted by spin doctors.

On Oct. 11, we invited Rogers to join us for an interview. Capps sat with us on Oct. 18. We asked them the same questions. We taped each interview. We transcribed their words. Here’s what they told us.

 

Lois Capps

Democratic Incumbant

 

Our Congressional district is facing major health care issues. As a member of Congress, what are you doing to solve them?

You go to the heart of what I’m all about. As a nurse I’ve spent my life working with families and their issues with health care, and the challenges it poses with their schoolchildren. I was elected to Congress and just switched venues, if you will, to continue to work very hard advocating for health care. As one of three nurses in Congress, I felt then–as I do now–that there is a perspective I can bring based on my experience right here on the Central Coast. I have really sought to address the issue in a general way, not honing in quite yet on San Luis Obispo County, which has a unique set of circumstances.

You know I am very proud of my accomplishment in getting legislation passed to address one serious health crisis, which is the shortage of nurses. I learned about it here in the hospitals locally and I’ve checked it out across the country–California is 30,000 positions short. This bill that I stood in the oval office and watched the President sign into law–the Nurse Reinvestment Act–will address one problem.

But there are so many more things that are not finished–a patient’s bill of rights; we need a strong one because it impacts San Luis Obispo County as well. Doctors and patients, not HMO accountants, should make the medical decisions. HMOs are challenging part of the puzzle here. Equally challenging is the high cost of prescription medications, particularly for our seniors who take the majority of them.

And the fact that we have Medicare that needs to be modernized–in my view, to include prescription drug coverage–still hangs there. My work is still very much undone and I am eager to press on. I’m on the Health Subcommittee of Commerce/Energy by design and by hard work so that I could represent this area.

I know it’s frustrating for many citizens here who look at me and say, "Why isn’t it fixed?" And I have used San Luis Obispo County as a model for what’s wrong in many respects. A lot of it has to do with the reimbursement rate to rural areas, and I’ve tried every single year I’ve been in Congress, without ceasing, to increase the reimbursement rate. It’s unconscionable that the Medicare HMOs are paid such lesser amounts here than they are in Los Angeles–a huge differential.

I’ll continue to work hard to get the reimbursement rates up, but I think we have to go to the heart of the problem. This is the big difference between my opponent and myself, because I want to see this prescription drug benefit as a part of Medicare.

Now, there’s a whole other kind of situation, which has to do with the reimbursement rates to doctors and hospitals as well. Doctors are leaving, I know that’s a painful part of reality here and it is a symptom. Again I have used this as an example–the Medicare cuts were enacted in January as part of that balanced act back in 1997. Before I got to Congress, an additional 5.4 percent was cut. Immediately I drafted legislation and put it into the hopper to freeze it. My bill didn’t even get a hearing in my committee.

I mean, we certainly have a crisis, but it’s the rural areas–we banded together the prescription drug legislation that my opponent believes in, which actually was written by the drug companies. I’ve tried to insert an amendment that would deal with this very aspect of rural areas getting a fair share, but it wasn’t allowed into the bill. That’s why I voted against that bill in the end.

What’s the biggest environmental problem in the district, and how would you solve it?

Well, you go right to the heart of one of the most wonderful aspects of living here on the Central Coast. But, now I’m going to frame this with the particular environmental resources that we have here–and again, I look to the county this time as opposed to your previous question, which was holding the county up as something that needs attention.

I look at San Luis Obispo County as a model, a model that is shared, that comes right out of the Chamber of Commerce here and its partnership with the environmental groups. The fact that they have come together to write proposals for the future development of the county with the economy in mind; certainly the Chamber of Commerce is going to be looking out for the bottom line, looking out for what supports business. This county recognizes that it isn’t a matter of pitting new jobs or business opportunities against environmental regulations, but in fact they go hand-in-hand.

I think there’s a prevalence here of understanding that a strong economy depends upon the environmental resources that make it attractive as a place to do business, as a place to live. It’s a focus point–tourism dollars for sure–but it goes way beyond that. And I commend San Luis Obispo for its policies against new oil drilling, so that we can make the case to the Administration that we don’t want new drilling here. We have some leases now sitting off our coast that need to be dealt with.

I’m going to talk about another matter of big concern to me, because I want to present the nuclear facility at Diablo Canyon as an environmental challenge. I was amazed to find that all of a sudden it was decided that the waste of nuclear facilities across this country would be railroaded through and passed on. We’re going to have this repository in Nevada–never mind that they don’t want it there–but the part that I was very concerned with has to do with the transport. These are lives we’re talking about here in San Luis Obispo County.

Do you support a war with Iraq?

I made a "conscience" vote–I voted against the proposal that the president sent to the House of Representatives recently. It’s a very difficult decision; no one is doubting the evil actions and possible future evil actions of this man Saddam Hussein. He’s a threat to his own people; he’s destroyed many of them, and he’s a threat to his neighbors as he’s been in the past.

But to me, the question came down to what kind of power we would give to our president. I believe that what the president did when he went to the United Nations and asked for their involvement was a good thing, and we need to stick by that path.

We need to look very carefully at the use of force as a very last resort. Giving the president the authority for a preemptive attack puts 50 years of our national policy on its head: the policy of containment; the policy of working with our allies; working with other countries; and exhausting every diplomatic possibility before we resort to force, particularly without our allies being onboard.

To me, the question remained: Is there an immediate threat? I believe that it was a decision that was premature and potentially dangerous. And finally, at what cost? I’m not totally against the use of force, but only as a very last resort.

Do you think medical marijuana should be legalized by the federal government?

You know I came to my job out of the field of school health and school nursing. It’s a hallmark of the kind of Congressional offices we have and the way we deal with this community–these communities–that on issues like this we seek local expertise in the form of law enforcement and medical advice. I think about young kids a lot when I think about any kind of substance that could be abused.

My policy of not supporting the use of medical marijuana came from law enforcement, basically from them saying that it’s a step through the door. They would tell me of instances where it led to further abuse behavior and the actions that we try so hard to prevent.

But I’m also very mindful of the importance of local control. I’m of a very open mind about it, so let’s put it this way: I don’t want to let go of my initial stance, and believe me, I’ve been challenged by many, many of my good friends who are constituents. I’ve always said I’ll keep reading the material, so keep talking to me. You know, democracy is a process, legislation is definitely a process, and it’s also a kind of a compromise of one interest to see what the right stance is that should be taken. I would love to see us find this perfect world where things like this can exist side by side.

What’s your biggest criticism of the Democratic Party?

Well, I have to tell you something, and I’ll do this, but I have to again come to you as I have come to my job, which is not from a partisan setting. You know, I brought a lot of my nurse skills with me to Congress, and a sense of what’s fair and what’s right and the idea of bringing people around a table to solve problems.

Nurses are problem solvers, you know, we roll up our sleeves and we get busy working on challenges. Only as an afterthought do we think, is this a Republican thing to do, or a Democrat thing? That question is way down the list to me in terms of getting a job done.

What’s your challenger’s best asset?

The easiest thing that comes to my mind is that she’s a woman.

California does well with women in office, at least at the federal level, but very few states do, and I think when I look down at the House of Representatives and I see 435 people, we should see a cross section of America. We’re getting there, let’s just put it that way. Æ

 

 

Beth Rogers

Republican Challenger

 

Our congressional district is facing major health care issues. Some people call it a crisis. If you’re elected, what would you do to help solve these problems?

Well, I would characterize it as more than a crisis. I think it’s a catastrophe and I think it has great potential to get worse.

I do believe it is a federal problem. I think you are getting a cascade effect, and I think it relates to the fact that San Luis Obispo gets 20 percent less than the state average of federal money returned to the district. I think you have had, in that sense, very inadequate representation.

We are a $30 billion exporter of money, and of the money coming back you’re getting much less. I believe that the Medicare reimbursements were the start of the collapse, because by indexing those too low, having those too low for the county, you get other people niching in under Medicare.

I think the very first thing you have to do is raise the Medicare reimbursements, and I believe there is a precedent for doing that which we should immediately pursue. Certainly when we look at the recent case–I think the young man’s name is Tim Cochran–I mean it’s catastrophic, you know? I can imagine as a mom sitting there with my son and shopping around California and not being able to get any care for him.

I think what you can do with Medicare–and there is a precedent related to Hawaii, Guam, and some of the other high-cost-of-living areas in the United States–is have the reimbursements brought in line with the cost of living. Reimbursements for Medicare right now are set as if we were in Alabama and Mississippi; on average with the United States. It simply doesn’t reflect the Central Coast. I think the first thing you have to do is absolutely go in and lobby the Medicare reimbursements.

Secondly, I think we have to look at what’s causing and driving up the cost of Medicare. Lois Capps voted against the only bill for reimbursements we’ve had in five years, and I think that we should have gone on with getting the reimbursements increased this year. A lot of the cost right now within Medicare is going to litigation, and we have in California an excellent law–MICRA–which keeps a lid on it.

Lois voted against MICRA on a national level, and what’s happening now–and happened in Nevada–is the doctors being driven out because the litigation and malpractice costs are so high. I think we should have full tax credits for people who do their own insurance plans. I think we should look at medical savings accounts.

What’s the biggest environmental problem in the district, and how would you solve it?

The biggest? Well, I think there are a number of environmental challenges. One of the ones that we can address straightforwardly is offshore drilling. I think this thing has dragged on way too long–I think we shouldn’t have had the current representative just talking about plans and proposals and more committee meetings.

There is only one solution to getting offshore drilling taken care of: Buy out the leases. This was a deal that was made with lessees; the fact is that public opinion–validly–has focused on the environmental risk and the risk to the tourism economy. Until those property rights are retired, there is always risk of a change in policy. Messing around with plans does not eliminate the risk. If we can afford to buy the Carrizo Plain, we can afford all kinds of other projects.

What’s the second biggest?

My own personal interest happens to be in water, so I’ll get into that one. In water, I think watershed planning is the most significant. I worked on Region 4 of the Regional Water Quality Control Board; I was a member of the board, a regulator for four years. What I found missing was watershed planning, and by that I mean we have really pretty well accomplished the point-source pollution problems–meaning individual sources of pollution. We have to take a broader look at how the watershed is working from the water’s point of origin, and therefore the different impacts.

I think that oftentimes we drive the cost up way too high or increase litigation. Look at the Superfund sites–we have spent way, way, way too much in litigation. The structure of the laws is inappropriate in that sense–we could have actually cleaned up the site.

And then again, on water quality issues such as the one in Los Osos, we ought to bring in federal money to help people put in the sewers that have been mandated. That way no one is having to spend $35,000 a house to get a sewer in.

Do you support a war with Iraq?

I think that I support the Daschle/Gephardt/Bush resolution that I believe is going to pass today. [Editor’s note: The Senate voted in favor 77-23; the House of Representatives 296-133 in favor.]

So the wording of that essentially would be your position?

Yes, that seems reasonable to me.

Can you elaborate on that just a little? The wording of it?

Well, it is a joint resolution that allows us the latitude as ... I am pausing because it is just in the middle of being signed and drafted, and I’m hesitant when we’ve got something of this magnitude and don’t have all the details. I have a son, Davis, who is at UCSB. He’s a senior and he’s on pilot track to train as a fighter pilot for the Air Force. It is very personal to me–I have a family member who could be put in harm’s way.

When we look at the Iraq situation and listen to the dialogue of the last couple of months, I find it very curious that people think Saddam Hussein has not taken an aggressive step. Some of the dialogue has been "Why are we spontaneously going after somebody who has showed no aggression?", as if we woke up one morning, got the atlas out, and chose to bomb all Third World countries that start with "M."

Some of the dialogue has sounded like that, and it’s just ludicrous. This man attacked Kuwait–he mercilessly used these weapons against Iran, he mercilessly used these weapons against his own people, he mercilessly used these weapons against Israel. This is not somebody who has been benign, just passively sitting around running his country, selling oil and building hospitals.

The guy then broke every treaty that was signed for the last 10 years. Since he decided to blow up his neighbors, we’ve been in a 10-year-long conflict with somebody who I think both parties absolutely agree is a bad actor. My understanding is that Rep. Barbara Lee of Oakland has drafted another position that some 75 members have signed up for, Lois is one of them. I am looking for a quick resolution of the matter. I think Saddam is very scary, and I think we’ve got to do something about him.

You mentioned your son. Would you send him?

Sure. I mean, that’s what we’re here for. My husband went to Annapolis and actually ended up in Vietnam, and that was a lot more conflicted situation than this one.

Do you think medical marijuana should be legalized by the federal government?

Sure. Usually the issue is "Should California be able to do it?", and I think California should be able to keep it. It should be legalized, but I haven’t thought about it at the federal level.

I tend to think of this as a states’ rights thing–the culture in our country varies from state to state. Whether or not we should take on Mississippi if it wants to keep out legalized marijuana, I’m not sure I would agree since I believe very much in states’ rights.

I would have to give that some thought, but I would absolutely support it in California–and would not want to see the feds override it.

What’s your biggest criticism of the GOP?

Well, you’re not supposed to criticize your own party.

There must be some things in the party that you feel you might change.

My biggest criticism? Well, I’m a very independent thinker, so I very much agree with their fiscal view of the world. I’m extremely upset at the $25 billion deficit here in California. I worked for the former administration and we left with a $15 billion surplus. I support their fiscal principles. After that, I take things one at a time.

But are there any positions on issues the GOP takes that you disagree with?

Well, there are lots of people in the GOP and there are lots of issues. I absolutely support their fiscal agenda, but any other issues you’d have to raise one at a time and ask my opinion. There are many, many different kinds of people in the GOP, including me.

What’s your opponent’s biggest asset?

My opponent’s biggest asset?

Bearing in mind we’ll be asking her the same question.

Name recognition.

That’s the extent of it?

Uh-huh.