The 47th Congressional District of CA is currently represented by (D) Loretta Sanchez. The District has a population of 640,000. It is composed of sections of Anaheim, Fullerton, Garden Grove and Santa Ana. Demographics of the District report the population made up of roughly 65% Hispanics, 18% Whites and 14% Asians.
My two hour interview of AUHSD Trustee Katherine E. Smith was conducted at her Anaheim home on January 14th. As is true for all of my interviews, I did not provide any of the questions in advance nor did I guide her in her responses, some of which may not have been as direct as some might desire.
During our discussion I told Katherine that I would hold her responses to my questions until the other GOP candidates were given an opportunity to share their viewpoints. Although Quang X. Pham had agreed to an interview we were unable to connect. Assemblyman Van Tran has never responded to my proposal. Therefore we now post candidate Smith’s responses.
Part of her bio is provided at the end of this post. Mrs. Smith said she has pulled papers, is serious about running, and will file her application and candidate statement in the next few weeks.
March 1 update. Mrs. Smith has filed her papers and just confirmed having a campaign web site that I will provide at the end of this lengthy interview.
My opening statement and the Q&A follows:
Trustee Smith. As you enter the 47th CD GOP Primary fray you will need to defeat both Assemblyman Van Tran and Author Quang X. Pham, each of whom have been actively campaigning and raising funds. Please answer the following random questions that you have not seen nor were discussed by me before this interview:
LG Knowing that two other Republicans have already filed for this seat, what prompted you to enter this Primary Congressional race to unseat Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez?
KS I’m worried about the future of this country. I have traveled to 93 countries and have seen the decay of our global standing that neither of the other two can relate to. The time for change is now. We need to reverse this train wreck we are on.
LG What strengths do you bring to the table that the other GOP challengers lack?
KS I am a fourth generation Californian who has watched this country nosedive effecting education, health care and our prison system. I have life experiences they can’t even imagine.
LG What are your biggest concerns?
KS The future of my grandchildren. I bring wisdom, experience and knowledge and I’m not a politicians politician.
LG Do you support the president’s sending of additional troops to Afghanistan?
KS As a navy wife, my husband was the first medical doctor drafted out of private practice to serve in Vietnam, attached tot he 3rd Marine Division, where he witnessed first hand, our government not being fully committed to the war. I question we are getting into another Vietnam where the terrain is next to impossible to win if our government is not fully committed to winning the war on terror at their training camps.
LG With your background in the health care industry what is your position on the universal health care plan currently being crafted behind closed doors in Congress?
KS It’s a tragedy. It needs to be completely disassembled to aggregate all of the issues that make up our health insurance in the country. People should be able to purchase insurance coverage over state lines. We need tort reform. It is immoral to deny coverage for preexisting conditions. My husband is one of the six people nationally who initiated Medical Savings Accounts, MSA almost 25 years ago.
LG Based on what you have heard and read, what changes, if any, would you make to that 2,000 page document if you were seated at the table?
KS. Tear it up and start over. Bring everyone to the table. If people have to spend their own money they will want to take better care of themselves which is why I support medical savings plans. Purchase high deductible plans similar to auto insurance.
LG President Obama may not extend the phase out of the “death tax.” HR4145, the “Death Tax Permanent Estate Tax Relief for Families, Farms and Small Business,” while repealed for 2010 it will be reinstated next year. Would you vote to block that reinstatement?
KS You start taking away from family farmers who built this great country. You are gutting this great country.
LG What changes, if any, would you propose relating to our Homeland Security?
KS Look at the latest report where you have a passenger who paid cash for a one way ticket, had no luggage, no jacket. He should have been pulled out and interrogated in Amsterdam. This has to be a huge wake-up call for the Agencies responsible for securing our safety.
LG As a donor state would you lobby for Grant funds/ear marks? And if so, what would be your top three priorities for said funds?
KS. Water, water, water
LG As a former candidate for Superintendent of Public Instruction what role should the federal government have in our education system?
KS None. They should turn over the responsibility to the states and individual school boards.
LG Do you support the Second Amendment?
KS My husband is a lifetime member of the NRA. WE target shoot privately.
LG What’s your position on government “takings” of private property for private use when the owner does not wish to sell?
KS We support the Institute for Justice that provides legal service for people fighting to keep their property. That is the heart and essence of America.
LG What’s you position on the proposed two state solution for the nation of Israel?
KS The solution will have to come from the people who live their daily lives there. However I believe firmly that we have a responsibility to Israel particularly to Iran’s threat to wipe them off the map.
LG How do you feel about offshore drilling?
KS Absolutely support it. We have to. However there is not an unlimited supply for generations to come so it behooves us to work to reducing our need to it for future generations
LG Do you support expanding our nuclear energy to meet future energy needs?
KS. We are so behind the eight ball. Look at what France is doing
LG Do you support or oppose [Same sex marriage] Prop 8 that is now being debated in the courts?
KS I oppose gay marriage. I support marriage contracts. If they need a contract for their peace of mind. Separation of church and state in important here.
LG What is your position on abortion?
KS I am totally against federal funding. I am concerned about babies being found in dumpsters. We need to educate the children. The government has not solved this issue. Yet I don’t think the government should be involved. It should be the church and community outreach and education.
LG What suggestions can you propose to put Americans back to work?
KS. Lower the price of whatever we are selling to create more volume
LG Should our Federal tax system be revised and if so, what changes would you promote?
KS I’m so glad you asked it. Throw the existing system out. We need to go back and revise how we collect taxes in this country.
LG. What form of federal tax would you support?
KS. I support a consumption tax
LG What should be done with all of the terrorists now being held in Gitmo?
KS They have to be tried under military law. We are paying for the Fruit of the Loom bomber’s defense.
LG One major policy currently off the radar screens of late is the “Employee Free Choice Act” also known as “card-check.” This legislation would impact private-ballot elections. As a member of Congress, how would you vote on that proposed legislation?
KS I absolutely oppose it
LG As we have a major water shortage in CA what are your thoughts on protecting delta smelt by compliance with the Endangered Species Act that has created a dust bowl in Central, CA?
KS It is insane that we now have farmers cutting down their fruit and nut trees due to our lack of water. We need to farm smelt in swimming pools and feed them to the salmon.
LG Do you have any major endorsements and if so, from whom?
KS. I am not asking for any endorsements, not one!
LG How much money do you believe it will take to win in the GOP primary?
KS I am not going to raise one penny.
LG What’s you budget for this race?
KS. I’m paying for my Ballot statement and voter registration fee
LG Do you have a campaign manager and if so, can you tell us who is it?
KS No
LG Do you have any “grass roots” support such as the CRA?
KS. I’m not asking for it
LG What’s your position on illegal immigration?
KS. We have to change the paradigm on how Republicans convey their message on this issue. We say to the leadership of Mexico that they have created and perpetuated a system of immorality and corruption that they have heaped on their citizens. They have forced them to leave their communities and come north under terrible conditions to work and send their money back to Mexico to support families and the Mexican economy.
LG What’s’ you solution for 12 million undocumented now residing in the US?
KS. As a nation of laws everyone must respect our laws. People who are not obeying our laws should self deport to their countries of origin and get in line to come back legally. Time will be allotted to get your affairs in order.
LG What’s your thoughts about “global warming?”
KS I think it is disingenuous to say the sky is falling. This is a natural cycle that has been made into a huge scare tactic. Many people will have to pay more for everything if consumers are forced into any more stringent regulations.
Katherine E. Smith is currently serving as a Trustee on the Anaheim Union High School District Board of Trustees, AUHSD.
She and her husband S. Clarke Smith, MD resided in Anaheim for the past 45 years. They have two sons who are USC and Chapman University graduates and have three grandchildren.
“She was the originator and co-founder of the National Coalition for Drug Policy Change, founded in 1993 at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. Economist Milton Friedman and Secretary of State George Schultz were also signers of the Resolution .The coalition was successful in gaining the inclusion of the Hoover Resolution in the 1994 Federal Crime Bill.” Mrs. Smith is also the “creator and innovator of Oxford Academy, which since its founding, has ranked number one in Orange County and is in the top five nationally, according to U.S. News and World Report in 2009.”
Notes: While Trustee Smith did not directly respond to every question, I felt that it was more important to get her off the cuff answers on a broad list of issues rather than an immediate follow up or later revisiting those questions for which her responses fall short of my specific questions.
Mrs Smith just called to confirm her candidate filing, candidate statement, and creation of her web site:
www.citizensmith2010.com
March 2nd changes. Due to my errors I have changed the following terms and spelling:
Medical Savings Plans should be Medical Savings Accounts, MSA
On the question of immigration paradox should be paradigm
In the closing note Trustee Clark should be Trustee Smith
One mailer and done, Recall Anaheim school board
http://orangepunch.freedomblogging.com/2007/07/31/recall-anaheim-school-board/1939/
I’ve heard Smith was a bit delusional and I sort of doubted it. But now I guess it’s true.
Is she really saying a man who escaped a country about to be overrun by our greatest enemy, came to America and served his new country in the Marines as a combat pilot, started a company, and wrote a book about his experiences does not have the “life experiences” that a public school teacher and career politician has?
Let’s see a list of these 93 countries she’s been to.
Now I’m more sure than ever that I will be supporting Quang Pham.
Matt.
Feel free to contact Quang to confirm my offer to interview him. Although my questions are now out in the public domain for all to see I will gladly extend the same courtesy to both Quang and Van Tran.
This post is to address issues that I felt were relevant back in Jan. As stated above I did not conduct any follow up questions as I wanted the candidate to provide answers without the ability to retract or later alter the responses posted. I leave it to the voters of the 47th CD to decide which candidate best meets their core beliefs. The Juice post is simply another public service offered to all candidates running for office.
Larry please ask her about Desiree Fritz. This is the child that Katherine Smith believed was culpable for her molestation when she was a minor. Ms. Smith refused to admonish Harald Martin for his egregious comments he made to the Los Angeles Times. Silence equals consent.
This occurred in 1999. http://www.ocweekly.com/content/printVersion/34710
anon.
I just read the OC Weekly link which you added. Unless I missed it, there is nothing in that report that indicates any involvement in corrective action by Mrs. Smith or any statements she may have made regarding the tragic events as cited.
Question: “President Obama may not extend the phase out of the “death tax.” HR4145, the “Death Tax Permanent Estate Tax Relief for Families, Farms and Small Business. Her answer? “You start taking away from family farmers who built this great country. Hey Kathy, The death tax hits everyone, not just farmers.
Question” What suggestions can you propose to put Americans back to work?” Her answer “Lower the price of whatever we are selling to create more volume”. WHAT???? Is she serious?
Her visits to 93 countries were vacations. What 93 countries? Vacationing around the world does not make one worthy of congress.
Mrs. Smith is a bored housewife. Engage her one on one and you’ll find out she knows more about who married who and how many children they have than what happens in our country or the world. In depth discussions about real issues facing California are not in her vernacular. She is an empty dress.
Vote for Pham. This woman is dangerous to have in congress.
A Reagan Republican.
As Mrs. Smith is not on line reading blog posts I will see if she will respond to the comments as received from Juice readers.
No fund raising at all? No major endorsements or grass roots support wanted? No campaign manager? Is she really running or just spoiling the race? Or looking for attention?
Mr Cunningham.
so nice of you to join in.
Katherine wanted you to know that she has not been to Antarctica or the Arctic.
Gilbert comments. Having visited many countries myself there is a value to that experience regardless of whether or not it was on official public business. You can see what happens if you permit your nation to decay or be taken over by dictators.
Katherine laughed when I said that I would also comment that unlike president Obama she has not been to nor does she plan to campaign in all 57 states as you felt compelled to make a point of her travels.
On a serious note Mrs. Smith did say that she “would welcome the opportunity to meet Quang Pham who has an amazing story ..he is a contribution to our country.”
Larry, what makes you think Matt C is Jerbal? Not his wordsmithing style, not his e-mail address.
Vern,
Maybe Larry figured Matt C was Jerbal because Jerbal’s name is Matt Cunningham, and Jerbal is a known shill for Van Tran.
Quang is a Trannie? I’m really confused now.
We’re talking about comment 2.
Never mind…
Vern,
Pay attention my friend. Jerbal is a Trannie. Quang is running against Tran.
You will note that Jerbal doesn’t run Quang’s press releases…
Airhead just like Loretta. This airhead has her own lil cash stash- she is not lacking her own money- yet she is unwilling to spend it on this campaign. This should tell us voters that there is no heart in this; her motives for running are not quite clear.
Now as for her nonchalant response as to not bothering with seeking endorsements and not doing any funraising- well- maybe she just cannot think of any local, credible, honest or worthy public official-or any unquestionable org. out here who’s endorsement would prompt voter support! ooooo!
This interview further reaffirms how there are individuals holding office-and on boards (she is an AUHSD Trustee) who simply take up space and offer no significant skills, intelligence, or gift worth noting. Her answers are quite shallow and even quite comical. Her response on immigration has already isolated most immigrant groups. Her focus on Mexico proves how unintelligent she is. Furthermore, her inability to juxtapose immigration and economics is scary as she misses an enormous window of opportunity during these present times of dire economic forecast for our country. Her stance on abortion and Prop 8 is ridiculous. Just answer the question without duplicity, lady! Perfect example of a candidate who is avoiding a question. We don’t need someone who will be throwing out real issues and passing the buck —in this case to the church– come on!! I understand that maybe she is simply saying leave it up to ppl’s own faith, religion, ethics, convictions, etc.-HOWEVER, Mrs. Smith these two questions happen to be testing your ability to protect ethics and the law without infringing upon individual rights. I suggest you start by reading or hopefully re-reading [since you are running for congress] The Social Contract/Principles of Political Right by Rousseau (Jean-Jacques Rousseau, 1762) You must get it into your head, that no one— has a divine right to legislate- or as Rousseau put it- no monarch is divinely empowered to legislate. By the way, Rousseau’s Discourse on Inequality will also help you with your apathy in regards to humanity, as you start by pointing fingers and passing the buck – i.e “I’d tell Mexico’s government….blah blah blah or Sep. of Church and State, blah blah blah, or Education aaaahhhh leave it up to the State –Lady you are running for congress and still thinking like a corrupt school board trustee– minimize Fed. oversight-huh… Well welcome to Earth, lady– our lack of a national policy on Early Education better known as Pre-school is the root of all evil in the breakdown in education: our country’s high school drop out crisis, our national literacy level being that of 5th grade, and our inability to compete globally. Ms. Smith get a political debate coach who can train you, a campaign consultant who may be willing to do it for free since you are a well known official who can be a little more resourceful— Larry, I know you meant well with this interview- but don’t sent it out on AP Wire unless you want to hurt Ms. Smith.
Ms. Smith- this is business- God Bless You. Bounce back- and have a good morning- no offense meant, no negativity sent- Good Luck
LOL typo “funraising” she is doing a lot of–
correction fundraising– LOL 🙂
JIT. Thank you! You can now join the list of people who have caught my typos. I will make the correction
My friend, the commenter “Matt C” in comment 2 above is a supporter of Quang. (Not to mention his e-mail address includes his real last name which I won’t print here.)
That’s why it doubly made no sense for either you or Larry to think he was the Trannie Jubal.
Vern,
I am happy to know that this “Matt C” is not a Trannie.
And even better he is a Pham supporter!
JIT. There was no coaching or follow up by me as I wanted the candidate to respond with her first thoughts. These were basically the same questions I had intended to ask of the other Republican challengers
Brother Vern.
I truly thought the MattC comments were from Jerbal.
My error.
Mrs. Smith has very few supporters in the community as they all think she is a busybody. I will wager her neighbors have a bit too much to say about her as well. Her nanny style activism in the last takeover attempt of the county pocket she lives in was laughable. She wants everyone’s property to look perfect and does not tolerate anything out of place. From trash cans to lawn mowing, she is one of those finger wagging nannies we all dislike. Leave her home where she belongs.
#18 Larry,
I was correcting my own typo.
🙂 did not notice any of yours. 🙂
boomabooma says
Regardless of how well she performs in the GOP primary I will take her class over your personal attacks any day of the week.
This post is open for reader comments be it in support of or opposition to her answers to my specific questions.
Personal attacks will not be tolerated. Period!
Ask Mrs. Smith in a public forum about her son Steele Smith’s involvement in the so called medical marijuana trade. Everyone knows the these sham co-operatives that invade our communities and sully our neighborhoods with traffic and crime are only money making operations taking in over $75,000 a week in cash. Where does she stand in this issue?
Informed voter.
This post is about the candidate’s position of a variety of policy issues. I take offense to your introducing something about her son if in fact she has a son named Steele.
If you have a question or comment on her answers to my questions in this post bring it on.
If you engage in another personal attack against Mrs. Smith or a member of her family I will delete it.