Interview: Joseph Innella (NL) for U.S. House for 1st District of South Carolina

By: Joe Urban 

1. What distinguishes you from your opponents?
 I'm Italian!

 2.   How long have you been involved in politics? Do you remember the first
 time you voted?
Since 1992 (actively).  I remember voting when I was 18.

3.   What is the greatest challenge of public service?
Being honest enough to vote for issues that better serve the constituency,
rather than what might be politically expedient.

4.   What is the most important issue facing the 1st District?
Education

5.   What advice would you give someone thinking of running for public office?
Go for it!  Run a positive campaign.  Your opponent is probably a good person
to.

 6.   What was your first car?
A Blue 1967 Fiat Sedan that my dad gave me. It had four cylinders, but only
ran on three!

7.   What was your favorite subject in High School?
History

 8.   How did you become involved in the (Natural Law) Party?
 I was inspired by the Party's common sense approach to government.

9.   What is your favorite snack?

I love pistachio ice cream.

10.  Will the U.S. invade Iraq by December 2002?    Should they invade?
I hope not!  Absolutely not!

11.  If you were in the U.S. House today, what would be your first bill to
sponsor?  

1.  HR 4814 Genetically Engineered Food Right to Know Act.  

2.  I would introduce legislation that would fund the training of a small percentage of our armed forces in the technology of creating coherence in consciousness, for the purpose of generating coherence in world consciousness, in order to produce a lasting state of world peace and invincibility for our nation. With this technology of raising world consciousness we can prevent terrorism and put an end to war forever."

12. Why should the citizens of the State of South Carolina Elect you on
Nov. 5th, 2002?
 I will represent the people of the district. I do not accept PAC money,
therefore I will not owe any special interests any favors.

13.  How do you improve the current Healthcare system in America? What type
of legislation would you be a proponent of?
The problem with health care in America is poor health!  We are the
wealthiest of nations with the most expensive health care system and are
among the poorest health of all modern industrialized nations. 100 million
Americans have one or more chronic disease. 70% of disease is self
-inflicted caused by an epidemic of unhealthy habits.  Therefore, many
diseases are preventable.  I support scientifically proven prevention
oriented techniques for improving overall health in America and save our
nation billion of dollars annually. This would include education in programs
that create health such as diet, exercise, stress management through
meditation, etc.  I would encourage the use of natural medicine remedies and
less dependency upon medical drugs which can have such dangerous side
effects as to cause disease, commonly known as iatrogenic disease.

14. How do you improve education in South Carolina and throughout the
United States? 

Investing in education is an investment in America's future. I support programs that are proven to produce excellence in academic outcomes. I would increase funding for improving education and teacher training.  I support the use of meditation techniques for education; useful in areas of stress management, improving academic performance, increasing intelligence growth rate, improving test scores and positive development of the student's overall personality, as seen in personality inventory and self-actualization
tests.

15. What are three current legislative bills in the U.S. House that you
support and why? 

The one I mentioned above, HR 4814, the Genetically Engineered Food Right to Know Act would require mandatory labeling of all genetically engineered food and all products containing genetically engineered ingredients.

I would support a stronger, more effective campaign finance reform bill.
More insidious than soft money are PAC contributions which go directly into
the pocket of the Congressmen in the House and Senate. These sizable contributions are made by special interest groups and has the effect of influencing legislation.  I believe this is wrong. PAC contributions are essentially legalized bribery and I
oppose it.

16. What is your view on the recent Enron debacle? Will the new federal law
be effective?

 It is a tragedy.  I don't know.