League of Women Voters of Ohio Education Fund
State of Ohio (Clermont, Brown, Adams, Hamilton, Pike, Warren, Scioto Counties) November 2, 2010 Election
	Surya "Chili" Yalamanchili Answers Questions Candidate for US Representative; District 2

The questions were prepared by the League of Women Voters of Ohio and asked of all candidates for this office.
Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

Questions & Answers

1. What are your Qualifications for Office? (50 word limit)

My best qualification is that I am not a career politician and have experience in the real world. I've worked at companies large and small- from being Procter & Gamble to LinkedIn. Despite this white-collar career, I grew up in a blue-collar family and understand the struggles of working-class families.

2. What plans do you have to address your top three priorities? (100 word limit)

Jobs: Congress must end the tax, regulatory and trade policies that have destroyed millions of American jobs. Currently our trade policies aid other countries' poaching of American factories and our corporate tax and regulatory costs are so high they make our workers globally uncompetitive.

Campaign Finance: Cosponsor the Fair Elections Now Act so we have public campaign financing to stop the legalized bribery that has corrupted our government.

Budget: I would push for dramatic accountability for all departments in the federal budget through transparency and zero-based annual budgeting. My commitment is to work towards eliminating the deficit within 5 years.

3. What is the role of the federal government in regulating the private sector? (150 word limit)

Our government's role must not be to choose winners or losers in our private sector but must instead ensure the best outcome for Americans. The government can best do this by playing the role of referee and fulfilling its job to enforce the laws and regulations on the books. When government fails in its supevisory role as it did on Wall Street and in the Gulf, We are forced to pay for private sectors mistakes.

4. How will you address the challenges and opportunities to the United States posed by unauthorized immigrants? (150 word limit)

I appreciate your interest in this issue, however I do not think this question is of as vital importance to the people in my district. The Ohio 2nd district is more concerned with the consequences of dealing with an unemployment rate unseen in decades, a home foreclosure crisis, and seeing a runaway federal budget. Having said that, unauthorized immigrants do pose a security threat to America in that our porous borders can be exploited by terrorists who wish us harm. I am strongly in favor of a plan that would secure our borders over the long-term as a matter of national security.

5. What specific functions of the federal government can be performed better by contracting with the private sector? What specific functions of the federal government should not be contracted out to the private sector? (150 word limit)

I believe that an effectively structured (private) market place can perform a number of valuable services for the public that result in superior performance for a lower cost. However the key in this structure is to ensure that the incentives that are in place are focused on the long-term so they can not be manipulated with shortcuts for short-term gain and coupled with effective regulation. An example of inappropriate contracting with the private sector is the field of national defense as we saw with outsourcing to mercenary firms like Blackwater.

---

Responses to questions asked of each candidate are reproduced as submitted to the League.  Candidates' statements are presented as submitted. Word limits apply for each question. Direct references to opponents are not permitted.

Read the answers from all candidates (who have responded).

Candidate Page || Feedback to Candidate || This Contest
SmartVoter Home (Ballot Lookup) || About Smart Voter

---

Created from information supplied by the candidate: September 8, 2010 12:04
Smart Voter <http://www.smartvoter.org/>
Copyright © League of Women Voters of California Education Fund   http://www.lwvc.org
The League of Women Voters neither supports nor opposes candidates for public office or political parties.