Kalamazoo Gazette - Democrat Paul Clements Talks PAC Money, Obamacare and Congressman Fred Upton's Record in Kalamazoo Gazette Editorial Board Interview

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By Emily Monacelli

Paul Clements went before the Kalamazoo Gazette Editorial Board Friday to state his case why he should represent Michigan's 6th congressional district.

During the 30-minute interview, Clements, D-Kalamazoo, was asked a number of questions by Kalamazoo Gazette Editor Mickey Ciokajlo on topics ranging from how he would spur economic development in Southwest Michigan, to whether he supports the Affordable Care Act and issue of big money in politics.

Clements, 53, said his top priorities if elected would be to strengthen the economy, invest in education and protect the environment.

Clements faces three opponents in the Nov. 4 election. Longtime Republican Congressman Fred Upton, of St. Joseph, is seeking re-election to the seat, and Libertarian Erwin Haas and Green Party candidate John Lawrence also are seeking election to the seat. The district covers Southwest Michigan.

Upton will be interviewed by the editorial board at 1 p.m. Oct. 17.

-Yesterday a national super PAC called Mayday PAC launched a $1.5 million negative ad campaign against your opponent, Congressman Fred Upton. Do you welcome this outside intervention in the campaign?

Clements said outsiders contributing to elections is nothing new, and that Upton usually has outspent his Democrat opponent 10 or 20 to 1.

"(The Mayday PAC's) purpose is to remove the influence of big money in politics," Clements said. "The reason they picked Congressman Upton is because they think he is one of the most -- I'll use their terms -- corrupt in Washington in terms of being influenced by big money. They get their money from 60,000 people around the country, and they ... think our democracy is going to work better when it's representing the people just when our votes, when you and I can make a big difference. The more influence big money has, the harder it is for you and I, the voter, and the citizens to influence politics."

-Do you believe the Mayday PAC that by throwing money on top of money they're going to somehow get rid of money in politics?

"I think that to have citizens organizing together as they are to try to move our politics forward to reduce the power of big money in politics, and to spend money on that, does make sense."

-You have an ad called "Clean," that says new clean energy jobs are leading the economic turnaround. In what ways are they leading the economic turnaround?

Clements said clean energy jobs are a leading sector in the economic turnaround. He said other states and areas of Michigan are seeing substantial investments in clean energy.

"More importantly, we want to get investments in areas where jobs will be increasing, where there's going to be increasing ability for exports or manufacturing in the future."

-If elected, what would you do to spur economic development and the economy in Southwest Michigan?

Clements said the government should do more work with businesses to increase investment in leading technologies that will have increasing demand in the future, including clean energy.

"We also don't do nearly as well in the United States at training workers for the jobs that the economy needs. This is both in terms of vocational education, and it's everything from engineers to IT professionals to plumbers and electricians ... where we still have 6 percent unemployment, but there are employers who can't find qualified applicants because our education and our retraining programs aren't doing the job."

Clements said the federal government could work with schools to provide subsidies and partner with state and local governments to create a pipeline of workers to available jobs.

-One recent example of potential job development that Congressman Upton supported was a proposed missile defense system at Fort Custer. Do you support the idea of bringing a missile support system to Fort Custer?

"Getting it right next to our district, where some of the jobs are going to be in our district, I think that's a good idea. I support that."

-Congressman Upton was first elected in 1986. Why do you think voters have returned him to Washington so many times?

Clements said Upton's advantage in spending compared to his Democratic opponents in each election helps get his message across. He said Upton's incumbency also has helped him get re-elected.

"I do believe that when he first went to Congress, he was doing a better job representing the people, but certainly in the last few years we've seen his voting record become considerably more extreme and polarized," Clements said. "He's been voting far more in his party, with the Republican party, than he was on average in the earlier years."

-Can you name a major issue from which you separate yourself from the Democratic party?

Clements said President Barack Obama's education program, including No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top, has been "significantly misguided."

He said standardized tests don't take into account outside factors that may influence students' test scores, such as poverty.

"We do need tests that provide valid measures of student achievement, and I think the federal government properly has a role in that, but we don't want to be accusing schools of failing when their progress is not as much as you'd might like to see, when some of the causes of that failure have nothing to do with the school."

Clements also noted that the bank bailouts following the recession in 2008 created an "insurance policy" for banks in case they make bad decisions again. No one else in the economy has that kind of protection, he said.

"What we've seen in the legislation since that time is the banks and the big financial firms, they have actually helped to write the new legislation for ongoing banking," Clements said. "The President and Congress, including the Democrats, have not taken the steps to break down those banks. There's no economic efficiency reason we need to have four banks with assets that large. They can be just as economically efficient at a smaller scale and it's not fair for them to have an insurance policy that no one else in the economy has."

-You've never held elected office. What qualifies you to be a Congressman from the 6th district?

Clements said he has a doctorate in public affairs, has taught national economic development, has studied congressional politics and has advised on areas of government policy.

"If we look at the people who have been in Congress for a long time, we ask is their experience making Congress better? I think the evidence is pretty clear that it's not. I'm going to bring fresh ideas, a broad, well-grounded perspective, a good experience. I think I can be a very effective Congressman, making congress work better for Southwest Michigan and this country."

-Another WMU professor, Don Cooney, has recently run against Congressman Upton. For those of us who maybe don't pay as close attention to politics on a day-to-day basis, how do you distinguish your qualifications from Don Cooney's qualifications in running against Upton?

Clements pointed out his bachelor's degree in social science from Harvard, his master's degree and PhD in public affairs from Princeton, and experience studying under Ben Bernanke, former Federal Reserve chairman.

"I look at programs in many different areas of completely different sectors. I look at agriculture, manufacturing, education, and what has worked to get results," Clements said. "Most of my teaching is about what's worked in other countries. Every year, I'm looking at new programs, saying, how were they designed, how do they work, what were the results, how cost effective was that, and what could be done to make it better. Idon't know that Don Cooney has that experience.

-If you're elected, what would your top priority be?

Clements said his top priority is to strengthen the economy. He said his priorities also include making education a larger priority for the country. He suggested investing in high quality preschool around the country.

"I realize that state government plays a larger role in education than federal government, but insofar as our country isn't addressing the challenges that we face in education adequately, partly for the economy, but also for our society. We're going to be a better society when we're a more educated society. I frankly think the federal government should play a stronger role."

-What role does the federal government play in making higher education more affordable?

Clements said Upton has voted to student loan interest rates and to cut federal student aid.

"Teaching at the university, I see so many students who are graduating with tens of thousands fo dollars of debt," Clements said. "In an economy where it's hard to get jobs, they just can't get their lives started, and that's a very serious challenge. My priority will be to lower the interest rates on student loans, work out some kind of refinancing, and to increase Pell grants. We do need to strengthen higher education."

He said the biggest misallocated resources go to for-profit higher education institutions that have gotten federal support but "aren't providing an education that supports most of their students in getting a job. They make claims that are, frankly, false, that aren't justified, and a substantial part of federal student aid is going to those programs that is not providing the education that allows for serious job performance, and that also is landing students with this enormous debt."

-Do you support the Affordable Care Act? If so, what improvements would you make to it, if any?

Clements said Congress could have done a better job in using data to anticipate results to avoid the computer glitches, calling that a "failure in policy." But some aspects of the ACA are positive, he said, like not allowing insurance companies to discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions, and allowing young adults up to 26 to stay on their parents' insurance plans.

That being said, Clements said, the biggest driver of the American federal debt has been health care inflation in recent years.

"There are a lot of ways in which we can look at how our medical system can maintain the dignity of the patient and get better medical results, health results, for the patient, at lower cost," he said.

-What does successful immigration reform look like?

"To have 11 million people living in the United States, working in the United States, paying taxes, following the law, but as citizens, not being able to have the obligations and responsibilities and benefits of citizenship, I think that's a problem. I want to make sure that these are individuals who are following the law, these are people who are paying their taxes, but for me successful immigration reform is a pathway to citizenship for those people."

-What is your stance on changing federal laws in regards to legalizing or decriminalizing marijuana?

Clements said the general movement toward decriminalization of marijuana is a positive thing.

He said what the public has been paying for prisons and jails for people with small quantities of marijuana isn't efficient, but also questions the public safety and health effects of decriminalizing marijuana. He suggests that we study the effects of Colorado, Washington and Oregon's marijuana decriminalizations.

-Do you believe climate change is a problem?

Clements called climate change "the greatest environmental challenge that we face here in Southwest Michigan and around the country and the world."

Clements said he has co-chaired a working group on climate change at WMU. Scientists who have studied climate change daily are concerned with instances of increased drought, hotter summers and stronger storms. He said we have to get greenhouse gas emissions under control to be sustainable for the future.

"What we've seen so far is just a pale foretaste of where we're going to be going within this century if we don't get this under control."

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