I love the Fair Tax here for example. The key is simple, fair, no loopholes, putting the savings in lower rates making us a tax haven, rewarding savings and investment and doing away with the marriage penalty and AMT [Alternative Minimum Tax].
I have never seen Connie's plan and he could have been before me. There is no patent on this simple, fair, businesslike approach which we did in Louisiana 20 years ago, when we inherited a huge deficit.
RJ - If your plan was implemented, would you want the budget cuts to take place across the board, roughly equally in every department and agency of the federal government? Or would the cuts simply total one percent of GDP, but with some areas of the federal government being cut more and some areas cut less?
Buddy Roemer - I have never cut across the board, but judged the waste and abuse and necessity of each program. Same here and there are plenty of unnecessary items.
Connie and I served in Congress together and will work together on this with no problem. We just need other people to join us.
RJ - There are a number of current and former governors running for the GOP presidential nomination: Mitt Romney, Jon Huntsman, Rick Perry, Gary Johnson, and of course yourself. What do you believe makes you a better candidate than the other four Republicans running with similar executive experience?
Buddy Roemer - I think being governor is the best preparation for the office of president. (President Reagan told me that in the mid-80s when I was first thinking of running for governor of Louisiana. He also laughed and said, "Changing parties is required as well!") Executive experience building a team, hands-on budget experience, tax reform, jobs growth, the delegation of responsibility, and a 10 to 20 year vision; essential to being a great president.
Hard to compare among the governors, but some things are obvious:
First, Louisiana was in much tougher times compared to any other state in the late 80's with the highest unemployment rate at 12 plus percent in the country (we brought it down to six percent), the worst paid teachers in the US (we tested teachers and those who passed got a 30 percent raise, and started a school accountability and grading system), a budget 30 percent out of balance (and we balanced it the first year and every year thereafter without new taxes), Louisiana bonds rated worst among all states and Guam (and we got five bond upgrades, no state had ever done that), had the worst air and water toxicity in the US (we cleaned it up by closing tax loopholes for offenders, very effective, and an Environmental Scorecard for tax credit eligibility and with strong enforcement with penalties), and passed sweeping political integrity legislation still in force which eliminates the busing and paying of voters and the uninhibited acceptance without disclosure of special interest campaign funds.
Article comments
1 - Clavos
Thanks for a very good article/interview, RJ!
Until now, I was among those unfamiliar with Roemer; there's good food for thought here.
2 - RJ
Thanks, Clavos.
3 - Glenn Contrarian
Here's something interesting - Roemer actually said something very true:
Although he supported President Reagan's economic policies in Washington, Roemer said the party's lingering racism was holding it back: "The only thing that is keeping me from being a Republican is the Republicans." He finally made the switch in 1991 in the hopes that it would help his re-election chances (it didn't). For his switch, Roemer's critics took to calling him a "transvestocrat."
...but of course, since he said that there's - gasp! - racism within the Republican ranks, he must therefore be shunned and deemed a RINO and can never be elected to a national office.
And shame, shame on him for mentioning "racism" and "Republican" within the same sentence, because all right-thinking people just know (all evidence to the contrary) that racism's just as bad if not worse within the Democratic party.
But in this liberal's viewpoint, Buddy Roemer's not so bad when it comes to Republicans - he's shown some spine against his fellow Republicans in the past, and that's a real rarity these days.
4 - handyguy
Astonishingly gentle and polite interview of Roemer by Rachel Maddow on her show last night. I do like his position on PAC/SuperPAC money -- a moral stance about the corrupting influence of big contributors. Right on, Buddy!
5 - Reform
Seems like a breath of fresh air. Like both his ethics, and his position on Fair Trade.
Every other candidate from both sides the aisle seem to print and rubberstamp free trade agreements as fast as they can, then have the gumption to wring their hands and wonder where did all the jobs go?
YOU SHIPPED THEM ALL OVERSEAS, REMEMBER???
6 - Pat Downing
I am impressed, but I don't understand why Roemer hasn't made a public announcement or been in any of the debates. At this point I am not committed to any candidate, in fact it's to the point of just vote Republican, but get Obama out, but I feel that could be a dangerous decision as well. How do we get this man recognized NOW? He needs to be in the fight NOW before it's too late.