Here is the transcript of this afternoon's interview:
WILLIE: Alright, Billy Cunningham, as is my want during the election time. If I have on one candidate, I endeavor to have on all the candidates because too many times the political class wins because their name is Taft. If you're Taft, you win. If your name is Gleason, you lose. And so I want to have on someone running against Senator Mike DeWine because we put on the Senator quite often. I've had on David Smith several times, who I have been told has run for Congress four times in three different states. Utah, Texas, and Ohio -- uhh, Tennessee, I'm sorry, Utah, Tennessee and Ohio. Now I am having with us William G. Pierce, who is running against Senator Mike DeWine for the US Senate nomination by the Republican party to run, I guess, against Sherrod Brown. Mr. Pierce, welcome to the Bill Cunningham show.
PIERCE: Bill, thank you very much. I appreciate the opportunity you are affording me here to chat.
WILLIE: Give me something about your biographical background. Danny-Boy wants to know where you grew up, where you went to school, issues about where you work, married, that kind of stuff.
PIERCE: Okay, I grew up in Florida, moved up to Cincinnati in 1970 to attend the University of Cincinnati. I got a degree in mechanical engineering and I am a degreed and registered professional engineer in the state of Ohio. I've lived here in Ohio for 36 years now. Uh, I married my high school sweetheart. We went and put each other through college together at the University of Cincinnati. She got her degree in education.
WILLIE: I married my grade school sweetheart.
PIERCE: Well, you're a step ahead of me then. (laugh)
WILLIE: Anyways, please continue.
PIERCE: We have three children. All in college. One is two weeks away from a master's degree in architecture at Washington University in St. Louis. And then my two sons are in Marquette University in Milwaukee. One in biomechanical engineering and one in mechanical engineering. The Golden Eagles.
WILLIE: The Golden Eagles?
PIERCE: The Golden Eagles.
WILLIE: So your kids are smart?
PIERCE: I have the tendency to believe so, but I guess I'm slightly biased.
WILLIE: Let's talk about why you are running against Senator Mike DeWine. Why do you think someone, who is not a DeWine, not a Taft, not a Voinovich, could actually win political office.
PIERCE: I think there's a tendency to -- there's a frustration building with some of Senator DeWine's votes and his positions and in particular as I have travelled 81 of the 88 counties -- uh -- his absence. His avoidance of the issues and his absence out on the front talking to his constituents. My background -- as I told you, I am a degreed and registered professional engineer; for 15 years I had my own engineering consulting firm which I started from scratch. And I had offices in Louisville, KY and Detroit, MI. I experienced the wonders of free enterprise and entreprenuership and the ability to create something for me and my family. But I also experienced the obtrusiveness of government.
WILLIE: Yeah.
PIERCE: And that is one thing that is driving me a great deal. Then, in the mid-1990's, I went in to education; experienced the wonders of education, but again I experienced the obtrusiveness of government. The mandates that are being reigned down upon teachers in the classroom, tying their hands, and preventing them doing the job that they were actually hired to do.
WILLIE: And you taught for many years?
PIERCE: I have taught for the last ten years. I have taken this year off because I didn't feel that you could challenge a two-term incumbent by working evenings and weekends.
WILLIE: So, you are doing this full-time?
PIERCE: Full time. And I have been since last July.
WILLIE: Is William G. Pierce going to be the next US Senator from Ohio?
PIERCE: I would certainly like to think so.
WILLIE: Have you run for office before?
PIERCE: No, I have not--well, I take it back. In 1980 or '81, I ran for Mason Local school board.
WILLIE: How'd you do there?
PIERCE: I did not make it because my residency as a resident of Mason wasn't long enough. They didn't view two years as a long enough residency to invoke support.
WILLIE: Let's go over the issues. Where do you stand on abortion?
PIERCE: Abortion. I am a pro-life candidate.
WILLIE: What about parental notification? Children. Minors?
PIERCE: Aboslutely there should be. They are minors and it is still a parent's obligation and responsibility.
WILLIE: What about partial birth abortion?
PIERCE: Partial birth abortion? I absolutely abhor.
WILLIE: What about the death penalty for vicious murderers who prey upon defenseless citizens and torture, rape and murder them?
PIERCE: I have a tendency to say let's keep them in prison, period. With no chance of parole. Let them sit there for 30, 40, 50 years and think about it.
WILLIE: So, you're against the death penalty?
PIERCE: I would say yes.
WILLIE: What about Timothy McVeigh who killed 167 people at Oklahoma City?
PIERCE: I'd say let him sit there and think about it.
WILLIE: What about Zaccarious Moussoui, participant in the 9/11 massacre?
PIERCE: I'd let him sit there and think about it. Because Timothy McVeigh and the other gentleman both are looking to be executed. Why give them what they want? Let them sit there for 50 years and think about what they did.
WILLIE: Well, McVeigh is dead.
PIERCE: Without the -- yes, I understand that. Without the, uh, the benefit of the frills that are given to people in prison today.
WILLIE: Illegal immigration?
PIERCE: Illegal immigration. I stand solidly behind the bill that has come out of the House, the Sensenbrenner bill. First and foremost, we gotta control the bordr because if we don't control the border, we can't do anything from there. Control the border first and then go and let's deal with the 12 million illegal immigrants that are here. First of all by going to business. It has been a law in this country for many many years that you can not hire illegal immigrants. We need to enforce our laws. Not only with people who want to come in to the country, but we need to enforce them with the people that are here. Which means you don't hire illegal immigrants.
WILLIE: Let's say you're a landscaper, and the government now says you have to fill out an I9 form with two forms of ID. Or you own a restraunt, an immigrant or somebody walks in; there name is Juan Valdez and he has two forms of identification which looks legitimate on the surface. The employer then has discharged his responsibility by filling out the I9 form, look at the forms that appear to be adequate. Is that wrong?
PIERCE: Well, there are other options too. The federal government has established an 800 number and computer systems where you can check and verify Social Security cards. So if they are working off a false Social Security card, that can be caught now. It didn't exist three or four years ago, but it does exist today. And as a matter of fact, I have filled out I9 forms when I started my company in 1982. I think it was about two years later when the federal government initiated the I9 forms and basically deputized me as a deputy immigration officer.
WILLIE: I think that the federal government ought to do that. What about a fence on the border? Do you want to build a fence like the North-South Korean fence?
PIERCE: I feel that we're going to have to do something like that to secure the border completely.
WILLIE: What about conceal and carry and NRA, National Rifle Association?
PIERCE: I stand solidly behind the second amendment and the reason and purpose for it as it was originally invisioned by our founding fathers when they wrote the Constitution.
WILLIE: The federal defecit under frugal Republicans is skyrocketting to untold numbers. Over 9 billion dollars. 400 million. 9 trillion dollars is the total debt. We run up 400 billion dollars a year. We're all against that, but what would you do to cut it?
PIERCE: Several things, uhh. I absolutely abhor the national debt that we've got and the legacy of debt that we're leaving for our children. Right now it is running 26 billion dollars; the interest on it alone is running 26 billion dollars a month. And that is non-discretionary funds. We don't have the discretion not to pay it and frankly neither will our children and future generations. When we look at the total debt, which you said is about 8.2 trillion dollars. It took us 6 years to go from 5 trillion to 6 trillion. And it took us two years to go from 6 to 7. And it took us a single year to go from 7 to 8 and we're on a glidepath to get to 9 in less than a year. As a math geek, I'll tell you that is not a linear progression; that's an exponential function. And it is incredibly troubling to me. Right now, communist China owns almost 500 billion dollars of that paper debt. Which means that American taxpayers are spending 2 and a half to 3 billion dollars in interest only payments to a communist government. Which, by the way, right now is increasing their defense budget at a rate of over 15 percent a year and have targetted the United States as an enemy.
WILLIE: So, we're giving the Red Chinese money to build bombs to destroy us.
PIERCE: Absolutely. And that is one of the reason why I'm running against Senator DeWine. I have taken a most unusual approach. I've asked people to go to his senatorial website and click on news releases. If you click on his news releases, you'll see that he has issued 440 news releases in the last 50 weeks. Almost all of them pertain to monies that he has brought in to the state of Ohio. that is better than 8 news releases a week. As you look at the list, I ask the people to give two considerations: Number one, does that list represent monies that our founding fathers had invisioned as a role and responsibility of the central government. And I think that you'll agree with me that they don't. But the second one is, who's paying for it? Mike DeWine isn't. And frankly, Bill, I don't think you and I are paying for it either. This nation is in deficit spending right now, so all these monies are being charged to a national credit card for our children and their children and future generations to pay and at the same time, Senator DeWine is boasting on his campaign information, that as a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, he can bring in even more money. Add to that, if I can, November of last year was a big market day for Senator DeWine. He co-sponsored three new spending bills. In November 2nd, he co-sponsored a long-term entitlement program that his office says that they haven't even calculated the cost for. But, he co-sponsored that with Ted Kennedy. Two weeks later, he co-sponsors another spending bill with Dick Durbin. And two weeks after that, still in the month of November, he co-sponsors another bill with Chuck Schumer. And of course, recently, he signed up to co-sponsor a healthcare for children with Ted Kennedy and Hillary Clinton.
WILLIE: How much is the cost of all that?
PIERCE: They have not estimated any of those costs.
WILLIE: We are talking about hunderds of billions of dollars.
PIERCE: Well, when we talk long-term entitlement programs, which is the one he signed with Ted Kennedy on November 2nd, you've got to believe that that is how all of our entitlement programs end up.
WILLIE: Now, have you appeared before various counties, to seek the endorsement of the Republican Party with Senator Mike DeWine and how have you done?
PIERCE: Mike DeWine and I have gone head-to-head in five contested endorsement programs. I have outright bettered Mike DeWine in three of them. I have tied him in one, which a tie for a challenger to a two-term incumbent has got to be viewed as a win. And Mike DeWine has won a single one. That's where we stand today.
WILLIE: Now the election, believe it or not, is two and a half weeks away.
PIERCE: Believe me, I am counting each day.
WILLIE: It is two weeks from Tuesday. And between now and then, where will you be campaigning, if anywhere?
PIERCE: My schedule next week is terribly busy, and matter of fact I am going to have some surrogates sitting in for me at a number of places. The last week before the election is still -- I still have some open spots, but it will be all over the state.
WILLIE: Alright, William G. Pierce, who is running for the US Senate seat in the primary with Senator Mike DeWine, would you like to make a one or two minute final summation to the American people who live throughout Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana, as to why Ohio voters should vote for you and not Senator Mike DeWine.
PIERCE: Well, I would greatly appreciate their consideration. My background is -- as a small business owner and entreprenuer and also as a teacher, I have experienced firsthand the two critical aspects of our country, of our society, and the influence and impact from government on that. I abhor the legacy of debt that we are leaving for our children. And one last comment that I'll share with you comes from Senator George McGovern. Bill, I'm sure you remember him.
WILLIE: I do.
PIERCE: A fine, liberal Democrat.
WILLIE: 1972.
PIERCE: After he got out of the United States Senate, he fulfilled a lifelong dream he had and that was to be a small business owner. He bought an established, reknowned bed and breakfast in Connecticut called the Stafford Inn. Within five years, he went bankrupt. And at his bankrupcy proceedings and in an op-ed piece he penned for the Wall Street Journal, he stated that had he been a small business owner before he went in to politics, and understood the pressures and demands on small business, his entire political career would -- his entire voting career would have been different. And he would have made a better senator. When I look at what we are facing now, we look at Senator Mike DeWine and even Sherrod Brown, they are cut out of the same cookie cutter mold. That's college. Law school. And then 35 years of politics. Our founding fathers had envisioned citizen caree-- citizen legislators, not career politicans. And I think what we see in Washington right now is exactly why.
WILLIE: William Pierce, if the America people want to get a hold of you, what is your website or how do they get a hold of you?
PIERCE: My website is www pierceforsenate.com and my phone number is 513-239-2793.
WILLIE: Well, William G. Pierce, I wish you nothing but the best. You appear to me to be an honest and a good man. A citizen out of the bowels of Cincinnati, much like Cincinnatus himself coming out of the hills of Rome to save that sacred city. And good luck to you. And in two and a half weeks, if you win, will come back to debate Sherrod Brown?
PIERCE: I would absolutely love to.
WILLIE: William Pierce. The website again?
PIERCE: pierceforsenate.com and the phone number is 513-239-2793.
WILLIE: Mr. Pierce, thank you very much.
PIERCE: Thank you, Bill.
Audio file is
here.
