(upbeat music) - Welcome to WGVU's Decision 2022, the US House of Representatives Candidate Forum.

This is an opportunity for voters to hear directly from the candidates.

Today we turn our attention to the US House of Representatives race in Michigan's third congressional district.

Four candidates' names will appear on the November 8th ballot.

They are, Democrat Hillary Scholten, from Grand Rapids, John Gibbs, Republican from Byron Center, Libertarian candidate Jamie Lewis from Grand Rapids, and working class party candidate, Louis Palus also from Grand Rapids.

Today's forum was recorded Tuesday, October 25th, from the studios of the Meijer Public Broadcast Center, at Grand Valley State University.

Now let us begin by introducing Republican candidate, John Gibbs from Byron Center.

John, thank you so much for being here.

- Thanks so much for having me on.

Appreciate it.

- We truly do appreciate your time.

Tell us a little bit more about yourself, and why serving in congress is so important to you.

- Sure.

So I was born and raised in Michigan.

Went out and did my bachelor's in Computer Science, at Stanford University.

Stayed out in Silicon Valley, did some great work out there, working for...in cyber security.

Worked for Palm on the Palm Treo smartphone, some people might remember that.

And I worked for Apple on the very first version of the iPhone.

Then I went to Japan as a Christian missionary, because I'm fluent in Japanese.

Wanted to use that for a higher purpose.

So did that for several years.

Then I realized I wanted to get into public policy back home.

So I came back to America, did my master in public administration, at Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government.

After I graduated from that, I went to work for Dr. Ben Carson, at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development for four years where I ended my time as Acting Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development, where I had about 700 employees under me, and about $8 billion budget that I managed, covering homelessness, economic development grants and disaster relief.

And as far as why I'm running for office, I realized that there was a leadership void back home.

A lot of people were very upset with something that had just happened in terms of a congressional vote.

So I said, maybe there's a chance here.

So I talked to some people who are wiser and more experienced than me, prayed about it and I said, "You know what?

I think I can do this."

So I jumped in headfirst and here we are right now.

- You call Byron Center, home, in this district, in your mind, what is the most pressing issue, and how would you address it?

- Economics.

People are paying too much at the gas pump, too much at the grocery store, and all of our great businesses are paying way too much for the inputs for their products.

I visited a pork processing plant, they're paying something like six times more, for the plastic used to wrap the meat, and something like seven or eight times more for the wooden pallets that they put meat on.

You talk to regular people, your job involves driving.

Many people actually can't drive anymore, because it's too expensive.

If dad has to take a trip to say Fort Wayne, Indiana for work on Monday, he can longer go afford it because it costs 70% more than it did two weeks ago, two years ago.

So that's a big problem.

The other thing I hear about is education, education, education.

What they're doing to the kids in the schools, and what they're trying to shove down their throats in terms of indoctrination is appalling to so many parents out there, which is why you have so many people who have never been involved in politics before, who are getting in for the first time to stop the madness that's happening, in some of the schools out there.

- We're gonna get to education in a little bit, and you've touched on inflation.

Currently the US rate is running at about 8.2%.

What policies would you enact to curb inflation?

- So yes, our inflation rates, year over year, are at 40 year highs, and my opponent's support of the so-called Inflation Reduction Act, which actually we did nothing to reduce inflation, but would actually only increase it because it increases spending so dramatically.

All it does exacerbate the problems we're having right now.

So we do need to reduce spending.

The federal balance sheet is increased by something like 50% over the past couple of years.

This is a major problem and this leads directly to the inflation that we're having right now.

So we really gotta get things back to normal, and part of that involves stopping and reducing some of this spending we have right now.

We also have a shortage of workers, which contributes to this problem.

That is because the government is, in a sense, paying workers not to work through the benefits out there, which ostensibly are supposed to help, but are actually not helping 'cause it's making it very difficult for our companies to find workers.

So we need to reconfigure that so our great people out there can actually go and do work instead of being paid not to do work, which is sadly something happening right now.

Those are two things we can jump on right away to get this inflation down and get prices down.

- We'll talk a little bit about election integrity.

Michigan's Proposal 2 will appear on the November ballot.

This gets a little wordy, but I'm gonna... - Sure - break this down as best I can.

It would amend the constitution protecting the fundamental right to vote.

Some of the basics include use of photo ID or a signed affidavit to verify voter identity.

It also includes placement of permanent absentee voter list, prepaid ballot postage, and a state funded ballot tracking notification system and access to ballot drop boxes.

I tried to condense that as best I could.

Do you agree with this amendment?

Disagree?

Tell us why.

- So we definitely want to have photo ID, not signed affidavits when ever possible.

So it's problematic that they're saying you don't have to have photo id, you can just have the affidavit.

I think that's a big issue.

The second issue that I hear from that is drop boxes, which are actually a very bad idea.

So I think we need to eliminate drop boxes.

Look, the goal here is very simple.

Make it easier to vote and harder to cheat.

That's what we want do.

And I think what I'm hearing with that, has some alarming provisions in it, that will reduce people's sense of confidence in our election system.

- Dobbs v. Jackson, reversed Roe v. Wade and the constitutional right to an abortion.

What is your view on reproductive rights or right to life?

- Well, I'll first point out that my opponent supports taxpayer funded abortions up until the day of birth.

Only 9% of the American population supports third trimester abortions to begin with.

So that is by definition, a far extreme position, supported by only a very small minority of the population.

47 out of 50 European countries, by contrast, have a 15 week limit.

The United States has no national limit.

So that just shows you where we are in context of the rest of the world.

So I believe in pro-life, I believe life begins at conception, and to just give the simplest answer possible, babies are adorable and cute, and I don't think they should die.

- You've been accused of making misogynistic remarks as a student at Stanford University.

CNN uncovered the think tank you founded called the Society for the Critique of Feminism.

You wrote in a blog post, arguing against a woman's right to vote.

"We conclude that the United States has suffered as a result of women's suffrage."

There's also a reference to the Bible arguing it, "clearly articulates the idea that women should not teach or maintain positions of power."

If you could, please provide context to these arguments that you made 20 years ago.

- First of all, I never started any think tank, so that's not true.

They put an extra ketchup and mustard on that article there.

But look, this was in 1999, when I was 19 years old.

We were having discussions on campus with the liberals, and the question was, what does liberty mean?

Doesn't liberty mean that a person can choose to work, or choose to be at home when they want to?

Well, they disagreed with even that basic simple premise.

So as a trolling effort, as part of a debate, I put that out there.

It was over the top.

It was meant to evoke reaction and it did, and it continued the discussion we're having on campus.

So that's something I did is a deliberate troll, over the top, as part of that two-way back and forth we were having back then.

To give you the real answer, I have great women that work in my staff.

Obviously they do wonderful work.

My mom worked for the Michigan Department of Transportation for 35 years.

I wouldn't be where I am without her today, and I want every single person out there to vote for me, male and female both.

I want them to work for me, and let me take it even more real.

If you bring down gas prices, you're bringing on grocery store prices, that's gonna help everybody.

It's gonna help families, and it's especially going to help women.

That is gonna be much better for women.

Crime is outta control today.

My opponent does support defund the police.

She does support cashless bail, which lets violent repeat criminals back out in the streets.

That is way worse for women.

If we reduce crime, that's making the world safer for everybody, especially women who very sadly are often targets of these criminals.

They appear to be an easy target.

So the policies I support, let's be very clear, are much better for women and everybody.

So I'm very proud of that.

And I think that most of the voters out there, if not all, are going to realize that when they cast their votes.

- Let's get into crime.

Violent crime has been rising across the United States.

What solutions would you propose to curb the current trends?

- Sure.

So a lot of these are local problems caused by district attorneys who are refusing to prosecute or who are using cashless bail again to let repeat violent offenders back out really easily.

So people have gotta go out and vote and replace their DAs.

This happened in San Francisco, they actually voted to recall their district attorney.

That was a good move and we've gotta see more of that all across the country.

At the federal level, the DOJ does have grants and the Congress does control the power of the purse.

So we can use some of that power of the purse to compel communities to not do things that increase crime.

Why would we be giving money to communities to fight crime if they're doing things that increase crime?

I think the taxpayers don't understand that, that's a fair argument.

So we can say, "Look, if you guys are doing things that are increasing crime such as cashless bail, then we're gonna change your grants.

So maybe that you're not getting money, only to turn around and use it to increase crime in the first place."

- Told you we get to education, time has arrived.

There are philosophical differences about how children should be taught and learn in the K through 12 classroom.

What is your suggested curriculum, or best method for teaching our children today?

- I would say go back to the basics.

Reading, writing, math, history, etc.

I mean, those are the things that you learn in school and that's the way it was for the vast majority of our history as a country.

When it it comes to history, I think we gotta focus on the basics of our American history, Constitution, Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights.

Those are things we all share as part of our American heritage, no matter what kind of background we come from.

That's what it means to be American.

So I think we've gotta teach those things, when you look at history.

- What is government's role during a public health crisis?

- Government's role is to make sure that within reason, they could mitigate what's happening with a crisis, and make sure that it doesn't spread as far as it possibly could.

Now, we don't always know everything when something's happening, but we do know what we know, and so we have to act based on that.

And if you look at what's happen recently, people are raising a lot of questions now about the response, especially the effect on children, keeping kids outta school.

And when they're wearing a mask, they can't see other people's facial expressions, which severely hurts their communication skills.

We might see negative impacts for that for many years to come.

So I hope that we've learned some humility from the past crisis that we had, and we can apply that to the future.

- John, this is a big one.

We've got about two and a half minutes, so... - Sure.

- Let's see if we get through it.

Foreign policy.

What approach do the United States take with Russia and China?

- Sure.

Well, when it comes to Russia, we had peace up until about two years ago, and there's a Southwest Airlines commercial that says, feel free to roam about the cabin.

Well, when Joe Biden came into office, people like Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping in China, they said, Feel free to roam about the planet.

And so they smelled that weakness like a smart shark smells blood in the water and Putin went right to work, and invaded Ukraine, which is absolutely wrong, he should not have done that.

So that's why we have, the crisis we have right now.

And right now it's looking like a stale mate, which is a very big tragedy.

We've gotta use actual diplomacy and strength, get both sides to the table and work on a deal.

And that's not happening right now.

But China's very similar.

They respect strength.

So we have to be strong, we have to have diplomacy, we have to make sure they know there will be consequences when it comes to Taiwan.

So it's important to maintain that stature of strength and diplomacy, which is absolutely absent right now.

- Is there a moral or personal issue you support, that is in opposition to your party's ideology?

What is it and why do you strongly adhere to your belief?

- Yes.

Well, I would say very simple, but we need to be tougher.

Now, when I say be tougher, that doesn't mean be mean.

It doesn't mean be be belligerent on purpose, it doesn't mean that.

But it means when it comes to standing for our values, which I believe are the right values, we're pro family, we want less crime, we wanna protect innocent babies, we want fair trade deals, we want economic growth.

I think we've gotta be stronger in standing up for those principles and passing policies that reflect those principles.

- What makes you better qualified than your opponents, to serve as representative?

- I have more experience in government.

I spent four years in a policymaking position.

My opponent has none.

She's been a lawyer but not a policy maker.

I have experience overseas, I speak Japanese fluently.

I was not only the only American around, I was the only Christian around, and I was only black person anywhere around.

No one else out there has as much experience as I do in dealing with people from different cultural backgrounds, different belief systems.

That's something very important.

Many of my family are Democrats.

We talk all the time and we never ever argue, because I know how to respect them, they know how to respect me.

And I have that background and experience of knowing how to get along with people from all political backgrounds, not just my own.

So my seven years as a software engineer, I know the world of business, my seven years as missionary in Japan, I know the world of non-profit, the world of service, the world of understanding other people's point of view.

And with my four years in a presidential administration under Dr. Ben Carson, I know government policy much more than my opponent, which means from day one, I'll know about how laws are made, how the congressional committees work, how they interface with the federal agencies, and how they interface with lobbyists.

I know that from day one, my opponent doesn't, that's why I'm much more qualified.

- Government spending, I know it's a big topic.

- Sure.

- Where would you focus taxpayer dollars?

- On the core things that we're supposed to be doing, to defend our country, defend the border, defend us from all enemies, foreign and domestic.

So we've gotta make sure our military is well equipped to fight the threats out there, both today and tomorrow.

We've gotta secure our border.

Every country on earth has a sovereign right to secure its territory that includes securing the border.

So we gotta spend money on that as well.

And then I think we wanna have a model of federalism, which our founding fathers gave us.

Where as much as possible things are delegated to the states that way the average citizen has a much easier reach to someone in their state than someone potentially thousands of miles away in Washington DC.

- In your mind, what is this race about?

- Look, I always told people that November 8th is not so much Democrat versus Republican.

It's crazy versus normal.

That's why I'm seeing huge support from Independents and Democrats as well.

Had a gentleman come up to me in Muskegon and he said, "I'm voting for you, I'm a Democrat.

Is that okay?"

I said, "Yes sir.

That's wonderful.

I love that and I appreciate that."

Look, are we a country where there's male and female, or is there 57 genders now?

Should you have to pay $7 a gallon for gas, or should we have energy independence and low gas prices?

Should the government force you to buy an electric car?

Can you buy whatever kind of car you want?

By the way, nothing against electric cars just saying in a free country you should be able to buy whatever kind of car you want.

That's what we're looking at.

This is not 1996 where the Democrat party wants to increase taxes by 2% and the Republican party wants to reduce taxes by 2%.

No, we are in this absolute crazy territory right now.

So I think people that realize, they want the country we grew up in, back, those kind of folks are going to vote for me 'cause they know that I represent that.

You know, I have a friend who's 24 years old and I heard him say the other day, "Things are a lot worse than when I was a kid."

He's 24 years old.

And so that's what people are feeling, that somehow everything seems to go in the wrong direction.

And I think people can feel, and sense, and know when they talk to me, when they see me, when they hear what I'm saying, that I am the person that stands with them on getting things back to normalness.

Whereas you know, my opponent... in our party, we have diversity, we have social liberals, social conservative, libertarians, more government people, we have all kinds of views.

You don't see that so much on the other side, which means if you pick my opponent, Hillary, you are getting Pelosi and you're getting Biden period.

You're getting that package.

If you get Hillary, you're getting Pelosi and you're getting Biden.

And that is a huge driving force, behind the disorder and the chaos that we're seeing today.

And I think people realize that.

So I think people are gonna wanna vote to get back to normal vote to get back to the country we all love.

And I think they're gonna realize I, by far, am the best candidate for that.

- You touched on energy, so we'll go there now, and that is, how can the nation secure energy independence?

- Well, I have a very simple solution.

American oil from American soil.

Basic economics tells us that when you increase supply, prices go down.

So we need to increase supply of energy in our country dramatically.

By the way, we had energy independence just a couple of short years ago, but based on the actions of the current President and reducing our production domestically, we now do not have it anymore.

And we see dramatically rising prices.

So I think we've gotta increase a supply and increase production domestically, so we can get back to energy independence.

- Do you believe humans are significantly contributing to climate change?

If so, can humans reverse climate change?

- Look, I would say that we love the environment.

I want clean water.

I don't want dirty water, I want clean air.

I don't want dirty air.

I want our great open spaces and outbacks, we can go camping and hunting and fishing.

I want that.

So I think it's important that we protect that, we do whatever it takes.

What is also equally as important as we do not let a pseudo environmental agenda be used for a government takeover of entire sectors of the economy.

And I just subscribed the Green New Deal, by the way.

That's what it is.

It is something that's under their pretext for protecting the environment, which it actually does not do, but just gives the government more control.

So we've gotta be very careful that we do not allow that to happen.

- We'll wrap up with this one because the district has now changed and that is the impacts of a redrawn third congressional district.

- Sure.

So our newly drawn district, is such that half the people in it are new to the district.

So we have quite a different configuration here, and I'm very excited about it.

I think this gives me a great chance, not only reach Republicans, but as I said earlier, reach many Independents and even many Democrats who look at the world around them and do not recognize it.

It is so different than the America we grew up in, and we love, and the gas prices the way they are and going to the grocery store, paying twice as much, people realize that this is crazy.

It's not supposed to be that way.

And I think many, many, not only Republicans, but Independents and Democrats who talk to me every day say, "We're voting for you.

We want you in there to get things back on track."

So I'm very excited about the chance to reach out to those Independents and Democrats and it's a great model.

I think it's gonna be a great model for the whole country on how to reach across and start to talk to each other.

Now when something doesn't make sense, of course it's difficult, but if something makes sense and both sides are willing to have, give and take, then I have no problem with that.

So the new configuration I think is gonna be very favorable for me and it's gonna be good to reach out to people of all stripes.

- Republican candidate John Gibbs, thank you so much.

- Thank you.

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