Opioid addiction has been a problem in many sections of the 6th District. Congress recently passed legislation to provide increased funding to programs to combat opioid abuse and to take steps to stem the supply of opioids. If elected, what would you advocate to deal with this problem?
What I would advocate is block grants to localities to design programs that specifically relate to their needs and their assets. My example: In Frederick, there is a facility called The Ranch. It is now a rehab center for young men, and it would not exist except for the fact that there was an old sheriff’s boys’ camp that got abandoned. A group in Frederick took it over and developed it into a rehab center. The largest supporter is the Rotary Club in Frederick, and I credit them with really taking this on as one of their charitable actions. So it’s largely privately supported.
There’s one in Hagerstown that is getting state funding as an example program. That’s the day [reporting] center that is run by the sheriff there. What makes that program work is the relationship between the sheriff and Goodwill [Industries], where Goodwill has guaranteed jobs to the people in the day [reporting] center if they can’t find a job on their own qualifications. My point is that this [should] not [be] a federally controlled program; I think you have to have each community, based on the assets it has and the needs it has, design their own program. So what I would support at the federal level is grants to the localities.
Under the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” policy on immigration, a practice of separating children from parents in families crossing the border was instituted—and then dropped following an intense outcry. Did the administration err in putting such a policy into place to start with?
I would never separate children from their parents. I firmly believe that children belong with their parents; I’d be a tiger mom if anyone tried to take my kid away from me. I do understand why it was done—because there is a procedure for people who come to this country as refugees or seeking asylum. They have to go through the procedure, they have to be detained while that procedure is in place—and [administration officials] sort of weren’t figuring out what to do with families. I would be in favor of family camps, family detention centers. I would not simply release the families on the street, because I do think they need to go through the process of vetting.
Mr. Trump has been insistent on building a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico—a plan opposed not only by Democrats but also a number of Republicans, particularly in the border states. Do you think this is a good idea?
I’m not in favor of building a brick wall. I am in favor of a secure border, however—and those two things are not the same thing.
I have developed lots of border security systems for other countries. The Nunn-Lugar program [named for former Sens. Sam Nunn of Georgia and Richard Lugar of Indiana] spends roughly half a billion dollars a year helping other countries who request help to secure their borders. This originally started when Russia fell, and there was concern about protecting the Russian weaponry from getting across the border. It has since expanded to where it’s included border control systems in North Africa and Asia—and the U.S. pays for securing borders in other countries. Why aren’t we spending that sort of money securing our own border?
Yes, you might put up physical barriers in some places, but most of this is electronic. You set up electronic surveillance towers at appropriate distances, and then you place response forces so that they are no more than X minutes … away from responding to any incursion across the electronic barrier… . It is not really a physical wall—it is a secure border … . The group I have worked with, as part of my small company, has designed these systems probably for 10 countries in the last five years or so. The latest one I worked on is between Libya and Tunisia: They have more secure borders than we do. And my view is that we ought to use the same technology here.
In addition to beefing up border security, does a solution to the immigration problem require a path to citizenship for those here already? Obviously the fate of the so-called “Dreamers” covered under the Obama administration executive order creating the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program has been left hanging for the past couple of years.
For the DACA ones—mostly brought here as children—we need to develop a path to citizenship. It may require time, it may require specific things—like proving you know the language. And I have no objection to working on plans for other illegal immigrants who have become part of our society and been productive members.
Where I occasionally disagree with others is for the people who commit crimes other than immigrating illegally. I am a very strong supporter of the 287(g) program, which is instituted in Frederick County but not in Montgomery County. That is where if there is an ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency] detainer, you release them out of prison to ICE rather than just on the streets. These are people who have been arrested and convicted of other crimes. That has lowered the crime rate in Frederick County way below what it is here in Montgomery County, where we don’t institute that program.
If you’re elected, you’ll be 77 when you’re sworn into Congress in January.
That’s younger than Pelosi. [Editor’s note: House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi is currently 78.]
And you won’t be the oldest freshman member ever—that title belongs to an Illinois Democrat, James Bowler, elected at 78 in the early 1950s. But you would be among the oldest freshman legislators in history. Should this give voters any pause, and are there any issues involving your health that are relevant to your ability to serve in this position?
None whatsoever. I’m strong, I’m healthy; my doctor would vouch for me if I wanted. I exercise every other day with a trainer. I’m in great shape; I’m out on the road campaigning eight or nine hours every day. My mother was still teaching at 95; she died at 101. My father died at 97. We were just out at my aunt’s funeral; she died at 102 and was sharp until the last week. I have no qualms about my ability to serve.
You signed a term limits pledge in 2016, and you have signed it again this year. So, if you’re elected in November, you would serve a certain number of terms, and that would be it?
The pledge itself does not have a number in it. The pledge says to support the limits that are agreed to in Congress. And I would support it, whether it be two, three or four terms—whatever the Congress as a whole approves.
So if Congress didn’t approve a term limits constitutional amendment, you wouldn’t feel bound to self-limit?
I figure it’s up to the constituents to limit me at that point. I don’t see any reason to make that sort of commitment arbitrarily.
Recognizing you have stated that you wish your opponent, Mr. Trone, the best of health, do you feel he was sufficiently candid in disclosing his condition to voters this past summer following discovery of a cancerous tumor in his urinary tract?
If it had been me, I think I might have had an instinct to react the same way [as he did]. A serious illness like that is a private matter, and I certainly wish him the best. That having been said, I think the constituents would have been better served to have it be a little more transparent. I worry about the implications of not releasing it for a while. It could be construed as a character issue.
I would want my congressperson to be like Gov. Hogan, and be totally upfront instantly on everything like that. [Editor’s note: In the summer of 2015, Hogan revealed he would undergo treatment for lymphoma soon after he was diagnosed with this form or cancer.] But I understand the instinct not to be.
