Warren “Grizz” Grimsley
District running for: IL 5th
Party: Green
Political/civic background: None
Occupation: Remodeling Contractor
Education: Evanston Township H.S., Southern Illinois University (BA Philosophy),
Northwestern University (Associate in Accounting), University of Chicago (Masters of Liberal Arts)
Campaign website: Grizz2106.com
Warren Grimsley is endorsed by the Sun-Times. Read the endorsement.
Chicago Sun-Times Editorial Board questionnaire responses
Legislative priorities:
Q) What are your three top national legislative priorities for the country?
A) Building a renewable energy electric grid including public wi-fi by using government investment to create jobs, connect people and reduce carbon emissions.
B) Enact a progressive income tax including expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit, property taxes on fossil fuel production (carbon tax), and intellectual property taxes on corporate holdings of patents and copyrights.
C) Reduce the military and its budget by 10% per year until it represents only 1% of GDP. Begin to lead the world in comprehensive arms reduction.
Q: What are the three most important issues in your district on which you believe the federal government needs to act?
A) Creation of a regional renewable electric energy grid doubling as a public wi-fi
system.
B) Protection of our air and fresh water including spending on sewer and water
treatment and distribution.
C) Coordinating the chaotic public transportation network in the region.
Q) What is your biggest fundamental difference with your opponent(s)?
A) I do not take corporate contributions or PAC money for my campaign. I am
running a people powered campaign.
B) I am against the Trans Pacific Partnership and the big corporate giveaways which it enables. This includes the toothless environmental and labor protections which are always promised and never delivered. The investor protections make the grease that will see our U.S. jobs slip even quicker to low paying foreign lands. I am in favor of fair trade agreements that protect workers, the environment, and our democracy.
C) Do away with the surveillance state which prizes security over liberty,
bureaucracy over real knowledge and paranoia over actual risk. The Democratic
placeholder currently in office is on the House Permanent Select Committee on
Intelligence. He has been captured by the vast public relations operation for the
security industry which requires the general public being in a constant state of
fear to keep itself operating. He uses his position on the House Appropriations
Committee to keep funding the excessive surveillance. Even after his defeat in
November I predict he will find a lucrative position selling intelligence services
back to the U.S. as a private contractor.
Transparency:
Q) Will you pledge to make public: a) your campaign schedule; b) your fundraiser
schedule and the names of all fundraiser hosts ; c) if elected, your daily schedule of meetings? If not, why not?
Q) Please list all relatives on public or campaign payrolls and their jobs on those
National security:
Q) What are the most important actions Congress can take to reduce the threat of ISIS abroad and at home?
A)The wars of imperialism started by the U.S. invasions in the Middle East and the resulting resentment of our occupation is the leading cause of terrorism.
Starting with the military budget we should reduce our spending by 10% per year until defense spending is only 1% of GDP. This reduction should be in concert with other world military powers, including NATO, to shrink world wide military production and foreign sales.
The move to renewable energy dependence will remove the need for oil to fuel our military. The reduced oil needs will reduce our need for foreign fuel depots to supply our ships, planes, humvees, and military bases for their protection. Reduction of U.S. military presence will dramatically reduce the terrorism directed at us.
The borders of Syria, Iraq, Jordan and Afghanistan, to name a few, were created by the European colonial powers of the previous two centuries to exploit their natural resources, especially oil. Now the people of the world are increasingly reaching for democracy , that is, self-determination and the sovereignty of the people. Cultural differences and local communities will necessarily lead to smaller countries, some of which may adopt democratically chosen values that are not the same as our own. For the U.S.to stand in the way of these self-determination movements is to be on the wrong side of history and our own founding principles.
Through U.S. attempts to control events motivated by a desire to protect the interests of Big Oil, such as, arming various insurgents (Free Syrian Army, the Sunni Awakening in Iraq, the Libyan National Army), toppling governments (Libya, Iraq, Egypt) and arming to the hilt the central funders of radical islam, Saudi Arabia, the U.S. always suffers blowback, including attacks on our own soil, which demands greater violence in return resulting in an escalation of destruction.The Military-Industrial-Congressional complex is motivated by conflict and rewarded in the pursuit of chaos while our own people and those in these lands suffer.
Q) What bans, if any, do you support on Muslim admissions to the United States? Please explain your position.
A)None. Muslims should be considered for admission to the U.S. based on the same criteria as those from any other religion. A ban on members of any particular faith is un-American. I would, however, object to admitting members of the royal families of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.
Q) Specifically, how would you have, or how did you, vote on the American Security Against Foreign Enemies (SAFE) Act of 2015 and its efforts to make it harder for Syrian and Iraqi refugees to enter the U.S.? Please explain your position.
A) Against. We have a responsibility to take refugees from the chaos that U.S.
policies have created. In addition, the fanning of the fear of terrorism is a cynical
attempt to keep the American populace in a constant state of submission .To
recontextualize, a U.S. citizen is 55 times more likely to be killed by a policeman
than a terrorist.
Q) Do you support a Syrian no-fly zone or the U.S. enforcement of Syrian humanitarian safe zones? Why or why not?
A) No. The Russians already have the no-fly zone covered. The Syrian humanitarian safe zones are the regions controlled by “our Jihadi soldiers” which are the bungled and shrinking remains of our failed policy of overthrowing the Syrian Government. Until recently, the U.S. Mideast policy has been run for the benefit of 1.) the Likud party in Israel whose ambition is grow the state of Israel through the settlement of territory under its military and administrative control including the Golan Heights which is still Syrian land. 2.) The House of Saud in Saudi Arabia which seeks to use its despotic control of oil to foment radical Islamic Wahhabism throughout the region and 3.) The NATO ally, Turkey, whose
Salafist Justice and Development Party President seeks despotic power to reclaim the Ottoman empire and crush their Kurdish minority. Those parties desire that no industrial development or educated political class arise in the area to threaten their control in the region. The U.S. arms all three of these putative regional hegemons and eventually they will fight each other over control of Syria should it fall.
Q) Regarding the House Benghazi Select Committee, should its investigation remain open-ended, or should the panel be given a deadline to complete its work? Please
A) Clinton’s actions in Benghazi should not be the focus of inquiry, instead it should be the entire failed policy of protecting U.S. fossil fuel interests in the Middle East.. Stop the Benghazi inquiry and realize that we did the bidding of our NATO allies, France and the U.K. and provided a no-fly zone. The resulting murder of Gaddafi and his military rule has left another African country in chaos and ISIS is growing. Secretary of State Clinton was surely aware that the CIA facility was being used as a transport point to run military arms through Turkey and into the Jihadist “allies” in the Free Syrian Army to help overthrow the Assaf regime in Syria.
Q) What measures, if any, do you support to give U.S. authorities access to encrypted or “dark web” communications about potential terrorist plots? Please explain.
A) None. The people are guaranteed the right to privacy and the government is to be transparent. Not vice-versa. Besides, the government had the information to stop the 9/11 attacks and still did nothing with it to protect New York and the
Pentagon. The intelligence services are mostly public relations operations
designed to persuade the public that endless war and invasion of our privacy is
necessary .
Q) Do you support transferring the detention of terrorism suspects from Guantanamo Bay to the United States? Why or why not?
A) We should close Guantanamo Bay and give the land back to the Cubans. The
suspicious nature of the Executive branch which led the U.S. to invade Iraq with
false intelligence also created a bizarre set of legal positions to prevent detainees
from receiving justice. There are currently only 91 detainees left of which 34 have
been recommended for release. Bringing 57 into the U.S. to face equal justice
under the law would shine a light on our country and begin to heal this wound on our national character.
Gun violence:
Q) What is the single most important action Congress can take to reduce U.S. gun
A) Rescind the law protecting gun manufacturers from consumer protection liability.
Q) Do you support or oppose the ‘‘Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act?” Please explain your position.
A) Yes. This is just common sense.
Climate change:
Q) Do you believe there is scientific evidence of climate change, and is it caused by human activity? What is your position on the Paris climate change agreement?
A) Yes. I support the Paris agreement. It needs an enforcement provision and the
estimated 5% of the total emissions due to international shipping and airplane
traffic needs to be added into the agreement . I am convinced that the burning of
oil, coal and gas leaves significant amounts of greenhouse gases into the
atmosphere which leads to global warming. I am also concerned about the
acidification of the seas and watersheds due to the accumulation of carbon dioxide absorbed from the atmosphere into the water. I support a carbon fee at the point of production to drive consumers away from using hydrocarbons.
Q) What changes, if any, to the U.S. tax code do you support and why?
I support a progressive federal income tax. The tax system is the best way to bring fairness to the disparities created by the failures of our capitalist system. Those failures are 1.) the disparity created by contracts exerted by the powerful onto the weak, such as mortgage documents, credit card and student loan agreements 2.) the outright purchase of laws by Corporate agents for their sole benefit 3.) the Federal Reserve Bank’s credit policy to prop up the asset prices for the 1% and 4.) the dynastic transfer of wealth to the children of the 1%.
I support the following tax changes:
● Progressive individual income tax rates above $100,000 reaching 70%
over $1 million
● Increasing the Earned Income Tax Credit, especially for single parents
earning less than $50,000
● Ending the income cap on Social Security contributions
● Taxing dividends, interest and capital gains as ordinary income
● Corporate taxes on patents and copyrights
● Carbon tax at the point of production of oil, gas and coal to reduce
greenhouse gases
● Reinstating the Estate Tax
Q) What are the most important actions Congress can take to ensure the solvency of Social Security?
A) Congress should eliminate the income cap on social security deductions and
employer contributions to bring fairness back into the system for all Americans.
Q) Do you support a “risk fee” on big banks? Why or why not?
A) No. I support breaking up large banks and financial institutions until they are no longer systemic risks to the financial system. I support separating commercial
banking and investment banking. I support higher capital ratios and criminal
punishment for accounting fraud.
Health care:
Q) Should Obamacare be overturned, left intact, or changed — and if so how?
A) I see the ACA as a step toward a single payer system with universal healthcare. I advocate a Medicare for all health care system.
Q) Do you favor stripping federal funds from Planned Parenthood? Why or why not?
A) No. Planned Parenthood helps reduce unwanted births and is often the only place lower income women can receive medical attention. I support a woman’s right to have control over her own body and reproductive options. Planned Parenthood helps women do this as well as providing needed healthcare for women and men.
Immigration:
Q) President Obama used his executive powers to prevent the deportation of
"DREAMers—youths who came to the U.S. illegally as children with their parents. Would you support legislation to prevent DREAMer deportations? Do you support putting DREAMers on a path to citizenship?
A) Yes. Our country needs the energy and drive of these young people. Usually they are here because their parents have been driven from their homeland by the results of U.S. policies such as NAFTA and the War on Drugs. It is both morally and economically correct for the U.S. allow them a quick path to citizenship.
Q) What congressional reforms do you favor to address America’s student loan crisis?
A) Forgive the debt by having the Federal Reserve purchase the student loans and
writing them off, as they did for the big banks that held the bad mortgages in 2007 and 2008. This solution would immediately jump start our economy since these bright, talented, educated young people would be free to begin businesses, buy houses, and start families, things they are putting off because they are saddled with student loan debt.