by Gina Hamilton
Coastal Journal staff

Dean Scontras grew up in Kittery, and currently lives in Elliot.  He is running for the Republican nomination for the First Congressional District.

 Mr. Scontras has not held elected office before, and says that his “outsider” status grants him a kind of independence from party politics.  Dean is a third generation Mainer.  His family has been in Maine since the early1900’s, when his grandfather emigrated from Greece and opened a shoe store.  His father worked for 34 years in the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.  Dean Scontras went to Trape Academy and the University of Maine, where he played football.  Our goal in these interviews is to allow the candidate to speak for himself.  Here, then, is Dean Scontras on the issues.

Iraq:  I think that the Petraeus testimony was pretty telling, and the moveon.org ad was also pretty telling.  The large majority of Americans trust the General, and the military on Iraq …  only 18% trust the Congress.  People are clearly on the side of the military brass to make the decisions.  As a non-military person in Congress, we have the responsibility to take the opinions of the General in full faith and value.  My opinion is that folks like Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi should not be making military decisions.  There will people who will be against the war, always against it, some who will always support the President.  I am not in either camp.   I stand firmly behind General Petraeus.  This week at the UN, Iraqi President Maliki appeared. There are obviously a lot of political milestones left to make.  Many of these issues will require major legislative actions that will not happen in days or weeks.  We have to afford them the right to figure these things out on their own, like the young United States did.  We hear these terms, debaathification, reconciliation ... there are forces at work funded by Ahmadinejad [of Iran] to ruin it.  I have talked to a lot of people who say that the administration did not do a good job figuring this out.  When we went into the war, we sent troops with humvees that weren’t uparmored.  Now they have armor, and a v-shaped metal shield that helps to deflect the impact of an explosion.  The technology was ready before the troops went there in 2003.  I am dissatisfied that it took four years to provide them with the protection that could have saved many lives.  The president announced that mission was accomplished a few months after the war started.  Was that good?  Probably not.  I am not wholeheartedly with the administration, but Iran is waiting to fill the vacuum we might leave in Iraq.  It is too great of a risk to run… Petraeus and Crocker said that.  The fallout would be too large.  I know the money we’re spending there, and as a small government candidate, it makes me nauseous.  But Petraeus was unanimously approved by Congress, and now we need an apolitical spirit to support the people in the field. 

War on Terror:  I don’t have access to intelligence that might show any linkage between Iraq and the greater war on terror.  Obviously, there was no connection between Saddam and 911.  We know that part of what terrorism does is attempt to break the will of the people.  When [PLO leader] Arafat walked away from the two-state solution with Israel, he went home and escalated terrorism.  Why?  So that CNN turned their cameras on Israeli tanks rolling down Gaza streets.  I think the thing about terrorism is that six people hell bent on doing damage to the world, can change everything.  They want to destroy our will.  If you pack up and go home, you give them a moral victory.  Most of the 911 bombers were Saudi, but you have to look at this as a movement.  The preemptive war in Iraq ruined our moral authority in the middle east. Will the next president be able to conjure the ability to have the US follow him in defense of America?

Oil: Alan Greenspan said that the Iraq War is largely about oil ... and I have heard that claim before, from people who know what they are talking about.  It could be about oil, and markets react poorly to instability, so any instability in the region that causes civil war, for instance, will lead to higher prices.  It behooves us to create stability. Clinton tried for years to effect a solution to the Palestinian/Israeli crisis, and when he finally failed and walked away, we had 911.  You can’t walk away.  Energy independence is very important, but of all the solutions people are talking about so far, ethanol, natural gas, hydrogen ... none of them begin to scrape the surface of our dependence on foreign oil.  I am all for finding new energy sources, but that means more than “Hey, I’ve got a great idea, let’s put up some windmills.”  We need next generation energy solutions, and I am into free market solutions.  If government gets out of the way, the free market will devise a new energy source. Let the DOE use their research for commercial purposes, too.  I agree with Greenspan that if we don’t curb our dependence on foreign oil, we will reap the consequences. 

Global Warming and Climate Change:  I am a novice fisherman, I fancy myself a Teddy Roosevelt conservationist.  One of my first and earliest memories, is wading out into the ocean and being able to see sand dollars at the bottom.  Still to this day, that’s symbolic … Maine is clean and pristine.  I get that.  I am environmentally friendly.  But until you get India and China to sign on, we can talk and talk and talk, but they are contributing more and more carbon dioxide and pollutants every day.  I am willing to sit down with environmental scientists and talk.  I have yet to hear scientific studies on both sides.  We should work toward whatever the science suggests. On the local and community level, we should be working toward finding alternative energy sources. No matter what happens, global warming is going to be a challenge for Congress and the next President. 

Health Care:  Nobody wants to see a child die from a treatable condition, like the little boy in Maryland last year.  Republicans don’t want that, Democrats don’t want that.  Still, even though we are far from universal in terms of health care, that doesn’t mean government needs to be involved in providing everyone’s care.  That’s a knee-jerk reaction for government to provide the solution.  There are ways to decrease the cost of health care and make it more affordable for families who are currently being priced out of the system.  For instance, digitization of health care records.  How does it make it more affordable?  For every piece of paper, there are six administrators ... that’s a significant cost.  Having digital records would also assist in the quality of care … however long a person continues to fail, in an ambulance or in the emergency room, the ultimate cost of his health care goes up.  So there is a direct correlation between quality and cost and digital records.  Digital records also allows your health care provider to screen patients for potential problems, based on your history or likelihood of having a condition based on age, race, or family history.  Chronic health care is a major issue.  Right now, even systems that are digital are proprietary, and everybody is using a different system.  Government can require a standards-based health care system.  Another issue that affects the cost of health care is tort reform … about two elections ago, a rural Georgia clinic that served the poor couldn’t afford to stay open because malpractice insurance was too expensive.  So the cost of health care went up for everybody.  Government can help educate people about taking care of ourselves, preventing disease later.  I’m resistant to say, okay, federal government, get into the insurance business.  There is a lot of waste, fraud, and abuse in public systems.  America is a land of innovation.  I was talking to my sister who lives in Europe, and she said, “Just because Europe is doing it does not mean the U.S. should do it.”  We have to do what works for us.  Universal access should go to folks who need it and can’t afford it.  I am skeptical of government’s ability to be a health care provider.

Social Security:  I was able to speak to an expert called William Shipman, whose sole purpose is to try to find a solution.  Pretty soon we are going to have more Pauls, fewer Peters, and the math won’t work anymore.  His solution would allow people to opt out in early age to private accounts - up to the age of 37 or 38.  He says that for everybody else, the goverment needs to issue a bond now to cover the aging baby boomers. Nobody will lose their benefits ... everybody wants to suggest that we want to throw Grandma from the train, and that’s just not true.  It’s a twenty-year problem, but after that we will have to think about Social Security differently.   We are all going to have to take the hit somewhere.  How do we make sure the benefits are safe after that?  People need to learn how to properly manage their investment accounts.  Many more middle income people are investing now.  People who lost everything in Worldcom and Enron were putting all their investments in one company, which is always a recipe for disaster.   It is vital that the next congressperson understands the time bomb that is Social Security.  If we do nothing, we will have double the payroll taxes we have now to deal with the next 20 years.

Free trade and fair trade:  We are losing our global economic supremacy ... European stock market will pass US stock market by the end of the year.  Part of the reason for that is that many European countries are moving toward a flat tax, which decreases tax for most Europeans.  Innovation and energy independence will be the keys to American success.  Sarbanes-Oxley [Public Company Accounting Reform and Investor Protection Act of 2002, signed into law in response to Enron, Tyco, Peregrine Systems and Worldcom scandals], may have been effective in stopping the next Worldcom/Enron, but it killed innovation.  Now we are moving toward higher taxes and losing investment dollars to Europe and Asia.  As India and China are becoming connected to the rest of the world, what is happening?  Deregulation and lower taxes in Europe, and a highly competitive China and India, which spent years investing in infrastructure and education.  Yes, some low-paying jobs moved overseas.  How do we compete with the next generation jobs?  How do we get Maine connected and educated so they can compete in the next economy?

As to the quality issues … I have little children.  I have a little boy who loves Thomas the Tank Engine [one of the first major toy recalls due to lead paint]. Americans will act accordingly.  If we have to spend a couple dimes more for garlic from California or a few dollars more for a toy made here, Americans will probably react accordingly.  I don’t support resurrecting tariffs.  Consumer protection will take place at the activist level.  I don’t think the government can do an effective job. I would support free market solution to the problems. 

Education:  When I was in my graduate program, I wrote on school choice.  There is no correleation between spending and test scores.  Child’s best chances in scoring well comes from coming from two-parent household.  I do know that in places like Atlanta and Chicago, there are significant federal dollars for inner city schools.  What about northern Maine poverty…do they get dollars?  But there is a cultural element involved as well.  Some Indian friends of mine said, “We come over to the American university system and absorb the education, but we ignore your culture.”  I’m not convinced that more we spend, the better test scores will be.  A lot of people are talking about universal Head Start … now, I have kids 3 - 4 years old, and I understand the need for pre-K education for lower income children.  But rather than Head Start, I support vouchers so that low income kids vouchers to go to whatever preK system their parents choose.  Montessori, Head Start, whatever they want. 
As for higher education, I have always wondered why the cost of university education goes up every year?  I think the best way to help middle income families afford higher education is to lower taxes.  We have always seen a result with lower taxes, whether it was Kennedy or Reagan.  Parents are able to invest more in education.   But I also think we should be looking at why the costs keep spiraling up.

Immigration:  Recently, the Senate Finance Committee that Olympia Snowe serves on heard evidence about people who were able to get across the northern border unchallenged, with items that appeared to be dangerous.  Of course, it was a test ... but we failed miserably.  We have had our eyes on southern border, while the northern borders are almost childishly easy to cross.  I can’t help remembering that Mohammad Atta flew from Portland on 911.  He or people like him could have easily slipped in from Canada, if he hadn’t already been in the United States.  We have to start securing our borders.  Reagan said, “A nation without borders fails to be a nation.”  Border security must be a priority. 

The GAO did a study on the southern border fence, and said it deterred only 12% of crossings.  I wouldn’t buy anything that only worked only 12% of the time!  We have the ability to control the border … we should invest in that.  But we also have to change the immigration system to make it possible for people to enter legally ... perhaps an “Ellis Island” type situation on southern border.  We should welcome immigrants, but they should do it the right way.