10th Congressional District challenger had 'Tea Party moment' 16 years ago

Editor's note: This is the first in a series of stories involving candidates for state and federal office in the May 18 primary.

SHAMOKIN - Republican congressional candidate Dr. David J. Madeira said he supports the Tea Party movement that has gained traction over the past year.

He says his "Tea Party moment," however, came 16 years ago.

He was at U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski's town hall meeting at the Luzerne County Courthouse in Wilkes-Barre with his 1-year-old daughter, listening to details about a government-backed, multimillion-dollar project promising plenty of jobs.

Recalling the story Wednesday afternoon in a campaign interview at The News-Item, Madeira said his skepticism bubbled into a question.

"I said, 'Congressman, the national debt is $4 trillion. This little girl is 1 year old, and she has $16,000 that she owes right now - right now. This is great; I hope it works out, but how much are we going to borrow before we're done and say no more borrowing?'"

He said Kanjorski scoffed at him and told him to trust the nation would grow out of its debt problem.

"He never did answer the question of how much. Well, I'm getting a sense now that $13 trillion might be the number," Madeira said, citing the current national debt estimate.

'Constitutionalist'

Madeira, a 43-year-old business consultant and former chiropractor from Dallas, describes himself as a "constitutionalist." He is running for the Republican nomination in the 10th Congressional District against former U.S. Attorney Thomas Marino and Snyder County Commissioner Malcolm Derk. The winner in the May 18 primary will face incumbent Democrat Chris Carney this fall.

The father of six children, who was accompanied by his wife, Melanie, on his Wednesday visit to several locations in Northumberland County, Madeira is running on a platform of what he calls getting back to the constitution's first three words: "We the people."

He said at a Tea Party event he spoke at last year in Wilkes-Barre he had the opportunity to survey people in the crowd. While they had different reasons for attending, there was an underlying theme.

"(It) was a feeling that nobody is listening to us. We're trying to talk to our elected officials. We tell them what we want, we tell them what we don't want; they don't care," he said.

"It's time for a new attitude," he said.

Repeal health care

Madeira said that while health insurance reform is needed, the recently passed health care reform bill should be repealed.

"There was a false choice set up," he said, "that we must stay with the current system just as it is or we must do this other system and there are no other options."

The important question is how the nation ended up in a system where health insurance was so expensive, unaffordable and inaccessible, he said. The consumer and payer must become the same person again; with people relying on insurance companies and coming to expect and demand better coverage, cost has gotten out of control.

"As long as the two things are distanced, you will always have problems controlling price, and the only way to solve is some form of rationing," said Madeira.

He also said health insurance is no longer insurance by definition, but rather pre-paid medical care.

"Insurance is preparing for something that is not likely but might happen and would wipe you out," he explained.

He said the system should be structure more like car insurance, a system where the payer and consumer are the same.

Furthermore, he disagrees with issuing a penalty in the new system if a person doesn't buy insurance, especially if the penalty is lower than the actual insurance.

"We further exasperate the problem," he said. "We have now created an economic incentive not to participate unless you have a problem."

"I am a big fan of freedom," said Madeira. "I think individuals make better choices for themselves and for their family than governments. How can we give people more choices? What's good for me and my wife is not necessarily good for everyone. "

Debt and earmark

During his 80-minute interview, Madeira, who supports a limit of four or five terms for members of Congress, said his platform is also focused on reducing the national debt and addressing out-of-control spending and earmarks.

To control the national debt and spending, he offered a three-part plan of tax reform, regulatory reform and incentive reform.

A flatter, fairer tax system would provide the simplicity, efficiency and predictability that businesses need and the American people deserve, he said. He also supports payroll tax reductions on employees and job-creators, and reducing taxes on businesses across the board.

In order to reform regulation, he proposes the creation of a five-year maximum "sunset provision" on all new legislation and regulation; that would ensure that they are reevaluated on a regular basis, he said, noting that practice with the Patriot Act.

"I support government agencies justifying their existence every five years after a proper review by Congress that includes cost/benefit justification," he said.

He does not support earmarks, saying, "pork-barrel politics circumvent the oversight and accountability of a normal competitive, merit-based appropriations process." He said members of Congress have plenty of other appropriations to obtain for their constituents without having to build earmarks into unrelated legislation.

He considers earmarks another term for buying votes, and would rather see each issue voted on independently.

"They create the system and they provide a cover by saying 'the system forced me to do it,'" he said about lawmakers explaining their votes to constituents. "It's your system. Change the system!" he said.

On the Net: www.madeiraforcongress.com.