GOP-endorsed Alan Fine on Shockwave

[barondave]

Politics is a subset of science fiction humor.

Tomorrow, Sat. 3:30pm Mpls time (90.3FM mpls, or go to kfai.org to get internet streaming), my guest will be Alan Fine, GOP-endorsed candidate for the Fifth District Congressional seat being vacated by Martin Sabo. His campaign manager just called to confirm. I don't know much about him, so did my usual web search for Stuff. Under the cut is my current thought on interview questions. Additional questions or comments are welcome. (I don't really want to talk about his brother...)


Much of what I've found of your campaign on the web is about the Democrats. A fair enough campaign tactic, but I want to you to convince me without going negative. I'm a white, Jewish moderate. In today's climate I'm a flaming liberal, but I'm still basically a moderate. There's really no way I'm going to vote for a Republican, but I don't want to vote against the other guy. In a three minute stump speech, here's your chance to convince me of the error of my ways. Why should I vote for YOU. (The same question as I asked Ellison.)

How would you handle the #1 problem facing the future: Global Warming. When you meet people who vociferously deny global warming, what do you say to them?

Do you support the federal government collecting personal data on you without a warrant?

Your slogan is "Fiscally Conservative and Socially Responsible!" Is it fiscally conservative and socially responsible to cut taxes, increase spending for pork barrel projects while cutting benefits for veterans and the elderly, and leave us with a $9 trillion federal debt?

You're a business consultant. That's a very wide area, can you be specific on what businesses you've worked with and what you did to help them? Warning: The use of too many buzzwords will get you buzzed. (From your literature: "Alan is currently a management consultant providing guidance to corporations on business strategy formulation and implementation, pre-merger and consolidation planning, leadership coaching and functional management." That's meaningless.)

Liberals -- not necessarily Democrats, but definitely the political left -- passed such programs as Social Security, Medicare, the Civil Rights Act, the 24nd Amendment outlawing Poll Tax, women's suffrage, repeal of Prohibition, federal deposit insurance, unemployment compensation, rural electrification, child labor laws, minimum wages and the 40-hour work week. Do you support these programs? (Probably an interview unto itself, and it may be the first casualty of a long-winded answer.)

Do you believe in the Bush's call for an Era of Personal Responsibility? Why doesn't Personal Responsibility include telling the truth, whether under oath or not?

Your web site contains none of your position papers. So here's your chance: What issues are important to you that aren't being talked about? (I like this as a last question.)

Comments

[bibliofile.livejournal.com]

Interesting questions. Do these parallel the ones you asked Ellison, or just the first one?

Will you define "personal data" at all?

As for business consulting, it might be more interesting how his background qualifies him. Did he start his own business, or what? I mean, W could probably come up with a decent resume as a business consultant. My father's had "management consultant" in his job title for a while, but he had very specific areas of expertise.

Also, it's my experience that SOME consultants are much better at giving advice than doing work. Others facilitate but again are temporarily helping out at meetings instead of getting the job done. I'd like to know how much hands-on experience someone has before giving them a job with lots of responsibility. But that's just me.

re: Personal Responsiblity
It sounds a bit like you're gunning for him, there. Why not ask him for a laundry list of what it entails, and then ask about what seems to be missing?

(Any chance you'll post a summary of how it went?)

[barondave.livejournal.com]

The questions I intended to ask Ellison were posted here (http://barondave.livejournal.com/40072.html) on LJ. As usual, I didn't have enough time to ask all of them, but I did get the first few. Brian and Doug added their own, and we rambled on a bit. The interview can still be heard until about 4pm tomorrow (Sat 7/15) off the kfai.org archives (follow the link on the left, scroll down to Shockwave, and it's last week's show). At some point I'll podcast/mp3 it on my site. Same with the Fine interview.

I like asking questions no one else asks. I don't feel I need to "parallel" questions, but I do try to find specifics on the web or through conversations and give them a chance to answer. I don't do attack interviews, even with people I disagree, and tend to ask open-ended questions that give people a chance to respond well... or lapse into political gobbledegook. Either way, it says a lot about them.

I should look up what Personal Data is currently collected without a warrant. Iirc, it includes things like book purchases.

I agree: I'm more interested in "areas of expertise", but I want him to define it. If he rambles on, I'll press the issue, a little. If he's just a talking head who's called in to justify a management decision already made, his answer will be revealing. If he really is on the ball, that will be apparent.

I'm not so much "gunning for him" as targeting what I think is a prime aspect of Personal Responsibility sadly lacking in Republicans today. I asked Ellison about his Islamic faith, I think I can see if Fine is a 9 Commandment Christian (ignoring the one about "bearing false witness"). We'll see.

Hmm... as a Business Consultant, perhaps I should give Fine The Space Merchants...

[bibliofile.livejournal.com]

Woo! Links.

I can't picture when your giving someone a book (especially SF) would a bad thing.

[bchbum-98.livejournal.com]

(I'm assumming he believes in the death penalty and prohibition of abortions - his web site doesn't have any position papers)

"Your assertion that abortion is immoral due to the theory that fetuses are human beings that other human beings have no right to destroy seems to contradict your belief that the death penalty should be utilized when society deems it prudent. Do we have the right to take another person's life?"