Nov. 2022 Election: Q&A with Brian Maryott, 49th Congressional District candidate

By The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board

Aug. 15, 2022 5:54 PM PT

Businessman/nonprofit executive Brian Maryott, a former mayor of San Juan Capistrano, is challenging Democratic Rep. Mike Levin, who seeking a third two-year term in the House of Representatives in the newly redrawn 49th Congressional District that represents northern San Diego County and part of southern Orange County. Election Day is Nov. 8 and voting will begin a month earlier. Here are Maryott’s complete answers from both candidates to all 16 questions from The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board.

Q: What will be your top domestic and international priority in Congress?

A: Domestically, my priorities are suspending the federal gas tax, expanding tax credits for small businesses and middle-class families, and reducing inflation by reining in out-of-control government spending. My top international priority is unleashing the potential of American energy independence by increasing production of clean natural gas, relatively clean domestic oil and green energy, while protecting our California coastlines from new offshore drilling leases. We should be more competitive with and less dependent on our foreign adversaries for energy. And we must maintain our standing as the world’s preeminent military and economic power. Recent events have reminded us all how high the stakes are when we lose ground in our efforts to maintain peace through strength.

Q: How do you view the events of Jan. 6, 2021, in our nation’s Capitol and what led up to them? Do those events have implications about the future of the United States?

A: Jan. 6, 2021, was a shameful day in the history of our country. Joe Biden is the duly elected president of the United States. Ultimately, though, I, like most Americans, have no taste for political theater and that is just what the Jan. 6 hearings have become.

We need to focus on the fiscal issues our country is facing. Money is tight, people are choosing between gas or groceries, and yet politicians are showboating in Washington, D.C. It’s disgraceful, and it’s time to get real results instead of playing games with Americans’ lives and livelihoods.

Q: Inflation is at 40-year highs in the U.S., causing economic hardship for many Americans. What can the federal government do about this? What will you do?

A: Day after day, I hear from voters in the district that inflation and high gas prices are their No. 1 concern. We must suspend the federal gas tax, pass immediate tax relief for middle-class families and small business owners, and stop the trillions in reckless government spending.

As a nation, we have come through a pandemic and are facing an impending economic crisis. We borrowed trillions of dollars to get through a hard time. Now is the time to regroup and take an accounting of where we are at. That is what any clear-thinking household or business would do.

The last thing any rational decision-maker or planner would do is go borrow more money and try a bunch of new unproven ideas right after a crisis. But that is exactly what President Joe Biden and Rep. Mike Levin, have done and are continuing to do, and we are all experiencing the consequences.

Q: Confidence in the Supreme Court is steadily declining. Should justices have term limits? Should the court be expanded? What, if anything, should change about the high court?

A: Trust in the Supreme Court is declining in large part because of the high drama of Senate confirmation hearings. These hearings used to be dull, drab affairs. Now they’re a highly charged main stage for presidential hopefuls and fuel for small dollar fundraising. Our Founding Fathers created the Supreme Court to be apolitical, independent and trustworthy. We don’t need to expand it or impose term limits to restore public trust. Instead, we need to stop electing political celebrities and start electing quietly effective leaders for our nation.

Q: What do you see as the implications of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade?

A: I do believe we will go through a period in our country where the understandable emotions that surround the issue of abortion will be strained throughout many of the 50 states. When the dust settles, I expect the vast majority of states will allow for safe and legal abortion in the first trimester. I also believe that most states will continue to not allow late term and partial birth abortion. I think access to all forms of contraception should remain legal, and I expect that will be the case in nearly every state.

Q: What will you do in Congress to combat climate change?

A: Americans want action on climate change, but many are understandably apprehensive of sweeping proposals that will make heating their homes and putting food on the table far more expensive. I believe in incentives, not punishment. Market-based incentives that encourage businesses and individuals to make greener decisions will propel us toward a cleaner future. We can do this without surrendering the energy independence we worked so hard to achieve.

The work that lies ahead is monumental, and it starts with collaboration and a willingness to include climate economics and human consequences in the debate and ideas. It will also require federal and state governments working together to change the power structure of our utilities in a way that will allow for clean energy to flourish. We can do this. And we can do it over time and in a way that will not require punishing mandates. Locally, I will work to protect our precious coastline by opposing any additional offshore drilling in California, and I will lead the way in the pursuit of a deep mountain repository for spent nuclear fuel. More press conferences and study commissions will not change anything about the fact that 3.6 million pounds of nuclear waste remains buried on our local beach at San Onofre. If Finland can figure it out, we certainly can.

Q: How should the U.S. approach the war in Ukraine? What should its involvement be?

A: Russia’s invasion is an illegal act of war, plain and simple. Ukraine deserves our support in fighting for its freedom, including everything short of boots on the ground. In general, I believe the United States has engaged in too many, too long foreign conflicts. I believe this is because we’ve seen an increasing pattern of presidents engaging in foreign conflict without congressional approval. I’d like to get back to the balance of power our Founding Fathers outlined, which is involving the body of Congress in decisions of war, as well as in peace.

Q: How should the U.S. change its immigration policies? What specific changes would you pursue?

A: Securing the border is an urgent necessity to stop human trafficking, and the flow of deadly drugs like fentanyl pouring across the border. Once our border is secure, I will work across the aisle to pursue needed reforms to our broken immigration system and to expand and streamline our legal immigration process. What is happening at our southern border right now is tragic, and there has been awful suffering associated with the chaos. We need to support and properly fund our Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, commit all the necessary resources and technology to make our border safe and manageable, and dramatically increase our support and commitment to processing cases.

Q: What specific issues about border life in San Diego and Tijuana will you prioritize?

A: We have spent hundreds of millions of dollars cleaning up the Tijuana River Valley, and yet it is still a disaster. Untreated wastewater is pouring directly into the Pacific Ocean and impacting our beaches and inflicting vast environmental harm to the region. This must end.

We have tried new spending plans to fix it, but that has gotten us nowhere. We need foreign policy solutions to stop Mexico from continuing to damage our beaches and environment.

Q: The nation is experiencing more mass shootings with higher death tolls in recent years. How would you address this issue?

A: I have always believed that gun safety laws should remain the purview of each individual state. However, in California we have the most restrictive gun control laws in the nation, and we still have horrific mass casualty incidents, so gun control laws alone are not the end-all. We need to enforce the laws on the books, expand resources to law enforcement, and undertake a massive effort to promote mental health funding and support.

Q: What did the U.S. government get right and wrong in its approach to the pandemic since its start in early 2020? How would you have responded differently?

A: The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a major toll on our country. When we look back on the government’s response to COVID-19 decades from now, I think it will be more than clear that it was handled poorly. Families, small business owners and the working class have been hit hardest. People who were already fighting to make ends meet are now financially devastated. The kids who were falling behind in school are now far below their grade levels. People with mental health struggles have seen those struggles worsen. There are an untold number of stories of the real impact that years of shutdowns had on our country, and I think we ought to recognize that. As I said, during the pandemic when shutdowns dragged on through the summer of 2020, we should have had kids in classrooms in the fall of 2020 and we should have had people back to work instead of giving out endless government handouts.

Q: How would you address the rising cost of private health insurance nationwide? Do you support government-subsidized health insurance for all Americans? Why or why not?

We need to empower individuals and families by giving them greater control over their health-care choices and dollars — allowing them to buy the care they need, not what government mandates for them. We must allow insurance carriers to compete again in a way that is certain to dramatically reduce premiums, deductibles and overall costs of care. And we must end the drug patent abuse and corruption that has kept certain prescription drugs at artificially high prices. For our veterans, we have an obligation to build on the success of the VA MISSION Act of 2018 and continue to expand their choices and access to community care and outside specialists as needed. Also, we can and we must maintain a strong health-care safety net and make sure no individual is uncovered or denied care due to preexisting conditions. We are a wealthy and generous nation, and nobody should ever be without health care in America.

Lastly, but very importantly, we must fully resist H.R. 1976, the health-care bill Rep. Mike Levin cosponsored, which seeks to fully repeal Obamacare, criminalize private health insurance, decimate TriCare and Medicare and turn over nearly our entire health-care system to the federal government. There would be no turning back or recovery from something so destructive and ill-conceived.

Q: What can and should the federal government do to address the high cost of housing?

A: Throughout our country, it’s clear that the demand for housing is far outpacing the supply. Inflation is making it harder for home builders to source affordable goods, and burdensome regulations have made creating new housing a longer, more costly process. We must roll back government regulations that make it more difficult to build more housing, without sacrificing the character of our communities. I will also fight to freeze and then cut federal spending. The current spending spree being led by President Biden and Rep. Levin will inevitably push interest rates higher and make home ownership far less affordable for new families.

Q: Reducing homelessness has been a focus for all levels of government in recent years. What would you do differently?

A: Homelessness has now reached a crisis level in our bigger cities, and it represents a shameful failure at every level of government. And that is a big part of the problem — every level of government is in fact involved. Therefore, there is exactly zero accountability, and our fellow Americans are literally dying in the streets.

The vast majority of our homeless population is either bone sick with addiction or dealing with untreated or undiagnosed mental illness, while we are busy spending hundreds of thousands of dollars per unit to convert rundown motels into shelters. Enough. We need to allow municipalities and county officials to enforce our homeless ordinances, wrap our arms around these individuals, and help them face their challenges with resources, love and with some expectation that they must engage in the recovery process to the best of their effort and ability.

Q: The U.S. national debt has exploded in recent decades. Are you concerned about this?

A: Every household in this country is now shouldering federal debt of over $235,000. That is stunning and allowing this madness to continue will have devastating consequences. We must freeze and then start dramatically reducing all non-defense discretionary spending, hold every cabinet secretary and agency head strictly accountable for cost adjusted performance, and focus our energy on maintaining the solvency of Medicare and Social Security, which are tracking to be insolvent in just six to 13 years, respectively.

In short, we must get our nation’s fiscal house in order. This will take political courage and leaders who are not going to Congress with an eye on a lifetime career in Washington. That is why we so desperately need term limits in Congress. Members of Congress have stopped even pretending to care about the annual deficit and cumulative debt, while we continue to trend toward near certain credit rating downgrades. As the years and decades go by, they all seem increasingly oblivious to the fact that we are spending trillions upon trillions on the national credit card. I will be a bold and persistent voice for badly needed fiscal restraint and term limits.

Q: Why should voters elect you over your opponent?

A: Middle class families in the 49th Congressional District want bipartisan, commonsense solutions and tangible results. All we have seen from four years of Rep. Levin is determinedly hyper-partisan rhetoric and an activist voting record. Rep. Levin is great at making promises and hosting beachside press conferences, but his policy ideas and lack of tangible results are hurting working families and business owners throughout every community in the 49th. By supporting a new tax legislation that would raise payroll taxes for all working Americans by nearly 20 percent, voting to spend trillions of dollars on the backs of our children and future generations, supporting a federal tax that could raise gas prices by 90 cents per gallon by 2030 and childishly calling for us to reimagine policing, Rep. Levin demonstrates almost daily how completely he is out of touch.

We need serious leaders who can enact serious change. We need people who will go to Congress to collaborate and serve the greater good. For nearly all of my professional life, I worked with families, helping to guide them financially through every stage of life. I understand everyday anxieties such as raising a family or growing a business, juggling a career while caring for an elderly parent, providing for a special needs child, rebuilding from a divorce or defending one’s small business and life’s work from regulatory assault. These are all things I have experienced through the eyes and emotions of real people and families. I will take that understanding to Capitol Hill and relentlessly advocate for our communities every day.

Commonsense solutions, nothing more and nothing less.