the true independent in the 47th congressional district
Bill Smith for Congress
Our campaign did not win this time. However, of those who came to this website, over 50% voted for our ideas! Thank You!
DEMOCRATS & REPUBLICANS HAVE LOST THE PLOT!
THE BORDER AND IMMIGRATION
THE APPROACHING DEBT DISASTER (This gets a bit technical)
THE APPROACHING DEBT DISASTER (This gets a bit technical)
Both parties have created a social and public trust disaster on our southern border. Our system is now captured by partisan activists, conflicted lawyers, foreign adversaries and criminal gangs. The cost of this disgrace is borne by lower income Americans, legal immigrants, overwhelmed social services, taxpayers, our legal system, our so
Both parties have created a social and public trust disaster on our southern border. Our system is now captured by partisan activists, conflicted lawyers, foreign adversaries and criminal gangs. The cost of this disgrace is borne by lower income Americans, legal immigrants, overwhelmed social services, taxpayers, our legal system, our social fabric and migrants themselves.
MY PLAN FIXES THIS!
THE SOLUTION
To start the process of addressing our border and immigration fiasco, I will propose the following legislation with the help of Congress's Problems Solver's Caucus*:
1. By January 31st of the second year of each Congress, the House Homeland Security Committee shall publicly recommend:
a. The number of legal immigrants that, in total, shall be allowed into the United States during each of the following two years under all types of visas and programs. That House HHS Committee shall consult experts from organizations with an interest and knowledge in immigration needs and impacts. These will include immigration experts, economists from the Federal Reserve and elsewhere, employment experts from corporate trade organizations, the U.S. Military, non-profits, affected state governments, religious and educational organizations and other organizations specifically formed to provide knowledge and informed opinions about the social, cultural, economic and humanitarian impacts of the proposed level of immigration.
b. By March 31st of the second year of each Congress, the House HHS Committee shall issue a public report:
i. Stating whether the administration’s efforts to secure the border from have been sufficient, and,
ii. if not, the changes in policy, personnel and funding necessary to make those efforts sufficient.
2. By June 30 of the second year of each Congress, Congress shall pass legislation that
a. states the total number of immigrants that the United States shall allow into the country in each of the following two years and
b. provides sufficient funding and direction to administrative agencies to secure the border from illegal immigration.
c. After August 31of the second year of each Congress, until legislation conforming to 2.a and 2.b above is enacted (either through Presidential approval or Congressional override of any Presidential veto), no member of Congress shall be paid, nor shall any funds be made available to Congressional offices.
PROS AND CONS
A bill like this will prompt public discussion of a critical issue that is currently on autopilot.
Advocates will argue that we need more, or less, or better, or different immigration. Good, we will finally have that honest discussion on a regular basis.
Industry will argue that determining a number in advance is impossible and that doing so could hurt our competitiveness. Okay, but right now we have a process with countless exceptions, obscure determinations and activist dominated discussions – under this bill, we will finally force Congress and the Administration to take seriously on a continuous basis, the border and immigration generally Opponents will argue that administrations will continue to fail, even under this proposal. Perhaps, but the failure will come with teeth in the form of continuing legislative requirements and exposure that will do vastly more than what we do today and will put this issue back to its place of centrality in our public discussion!
Bill Smith for Congress
*The Problem Solvers Caucus is small but increasingly influential, bipartisan group of House members, equal numbers from each party, that was founded by the group No Labels. I am a supporter and delegate to the convention of this organization.
THE APPROACHING DEBT DISASTER (This gets a bit technical)
THE APPROACHING DEBT DISASTER (This gets a bit technical)
THE APPROACHING DEBT DISASTER (This gets a bit technical)
Our government's massive federal debt represents shameful negligence against ourselves, our children and our grandchildren.
Our annual deficits increase that claim every year. Yet our entitlement, interest payments and other mandatory obligations mean we cannot fund the government without more debt.
MY PLAN FIXES THIS (Slowly but Surely
Our government's massive federal debt represents shameful negligence against ourselves, our children and our grandchildren.
Our annual deficits increase that claim every year. Yet our entitlement, interest payments and other mandatory obligations mean we cannot fund the government without more debt.
MY PLAN FIXES THIS (Slowly but Surely)!
THE SOLUTION
Our only way out is to immediately become responsible stewards of our spending while allowing the economy to grow to reduce debt as a percentage of our economy. To start the process of reasserting responsible stewardship. I will propose the following with the help of Congress's Problems Solver's Caucus*:
1. Each year, Congress shall pass a conforming budget for the next fiscal year by the legal deadline. After that, during the period until a Conforming Budget is actually enacted (either through Presidential signature or Congressional override of a Presidential veto), no member of Congress shall be paid, nor shall any funds be made available to Congressional offices.
2. A Conforming Budget will include the following:
- Absent a Congressionally declared Emergency, each annual deficit shall be smaller than that of the previous year through 2035, and thereafter smaller as a percentage of GDP – transparently and without gimmicks (even one dollar smaller will make a difference).
- New programs and tax cuts shall be fully offset.
- Any Emergency designation shall be enacted and renewed only by a vote of Congress each year, or it shall automatically end.
- The defense budget shall reflect current world threats and events.
- The budget shall address the pending insolvency of Medicare and Social Security by assuring that those in need shall receive their benefits and younger contributors will not be cheated out of promises made.
3. The budget must be transparent, use plausible projections and use zero budget gimmicks! Examples of past budget gimmicks include:
- discretionary spending that grows at a rate less than inflation,
- mandatory spending that is projected to slow without cause,
- robust revenue projections attributable to unrealistic economic growth,
- net interest costs that are incompatible with projected deficits and debt;
- inflation, unemployment, and interest rates projections that are far too optimistic,
- tax cuts that are intentionally sunset to hide the expense of making them permanent;
- projection windows that are shortened (e.g. from 10 years to 5) to cloud the long-term deficit effects of spending proposals;
- packing policy changes (like the extension of temporary tax cuts) into the baseline when the costs instead should be attributed to post-policy totals;
Simply put: a fiscally responsible Conforming Budget, is a transparent budget.
Bill Smith for Congress
*The Problem Solvers Caucus is small but increasingly influential, bipartisan group of House members, equal numbers from each party, that was founded by the group No Labels. I am a supporter and delegate to the convention of this organization.
CONGRESSIONAL ETHICS
THE APPROACHING DEBT DISASTER (This gets a bit technical)
AMERICA AND THE WORLD
Members of Congress benefit from what is rightly called inside information - and they take advantage of it. This needs to change. Members are trading stocks, options and derivatives right on the floor of Congress. Many members make investments in industries and businesses over which their committees have oversight!
MY PLAN FIXES THIS
Members of Congress benefit from what is rightly called inside information - and they take advantage of it. This needs to change. Members are trading stocks, options and derivatives right on the floor of Congress. Many members make investments in industries and businesses over which their committees have oversight!
MY PLAN FIXES THIS!
THE SOLUTION
Hundreds of members did dealt in investments over which they have oversight opportunities during the last session of Congress with results that would impress (or embarrass) leading hedge fund managers! This creates both the appearance and reality of corruption.
My proposal, with the work of Congress's Problem Solver's Caucus*, will change the way we deal with this. Its a simple proposal; members of Congress will be barred from from investing in individual investments for which there can be inside information or lobbyist kickbacks. There are already numerous members of Congress who support this solution. Recalcitrant members will be called out publicly on the floor by me!
*The Problem Solvers Caucus is small but increasingly influential, bipartisan group of House members, equal numbers from each party, that was founded by the group No Labels. I am a supporter and delegate to the convention of this organization.
AMERICA AND THE WORLD
SAVING SOCIAL SECURITY
AMERICA AND THE WORLD
We Americans are by far the greatest beneficiaries of a decent, stable, civilized international order, and thus, we have a powerful interest in maintaining it. Countries that are allied with us in that effort deserve help from each other and from us when threatened by countries and brutal groups led by leaders who would drastically alte
We Americans are by far the greatest beneficiaries of a decent, stable, civilized international order, and thus, we have a powerful interest in maintaining it. Countries that are allied with us in that effort deserve help from each other and from us when threatened by countries and brutal groups led by leaders who would drastically alter that order. Among the most egregious of these leaders are those of China, Russia and Iran along with their violent international accomplices and subordinates. Aiding allies who are threatened by these forces with arms, training and moral support is often a remarkably efficient, effective and honorable way of supporting America’s – and the civilized world’s – great humanitarian effort. I support no litmus test per se in this effort. Every decision and conflict is context dependent. But every decision should be in the interest of us – which is to say, in the interest of decency, stability and civilization.
REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS
SAVING SOCIAL SECURITY
SAVING SOCIAL SECURITY
Reproductive Rights should be outside the political arena. These are matters and decisions of personal conscience that should be determined and decided in privacy among loved ones. Period.
SAVING SOCIAL SECURITY
SAVING SOCIAL SECURITY
SAVING SOCIAL SECURITY
The United States needs innovative thinking on a range of public policy issues, including Social Security and retirement savings. Unfortunately, anyone advocating a more focused Social Security program and increased private retirement savings will likely be accused of wishing to “privatize” the program. But Australia in particular as I ha
The United States needs innovative thinking on a range of public policy issues, including Social Security and retirement savings. Unfortunately, anyone advocating a more focused Social Security program and increased private retirement savings will likely be accused of wishing to “privatize” the program. But Australia in particular as I have studied for years - but also Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom - clearly demonstrates ways to address retirement security that reduce budgetary costs and increase private retirement savings while agreeing with our political and economic traditions and values!
Reforming Social Security to focus on low-earning Americans could eradicate old-age poverty while allowing the program financially sustainable. The nation should reform its private retirement savings system to close coverage gaps and automatically enroll employees in retirement plans. Compared to other public policy challenges facing the United States, such as health care and education, Social Security and retirement savings are eminently solvable! — but only if members of Congress willingly and bravely step up with creative solutions to politically difficult issues. Unfortunately, major party candidates do not want to talk about -- or fix -- this very solvable problem.
WHY YOUR VOTE for me is the best message you can send this year: As the former general counsel of a large, national corporation, a President and CEO of an Orange County community bank, and student who worked on the factory floor to put myself through College and Law School, I have a long history of seeing our country from every angle. I have worked with both sides of difficult issues from labor/management to high-dollar legal settlement negotiations; from banking-investment decisions to trade association legislative efforts. I am now retired with energy and purpose to work for the future of this greatest country.
WHY YOUR VOTE for me is the best message you can send this year: As the former general counsel of a large, national corporation, a President and CEO of an Orange County community bank, and student who worked on the factory floor to put myself through College and Law School, I have a long history of seeing our country from every angle. I have worked with both sides of difficult issues from labor/management to high-dollar legal settlement negotiations; from banking-investment decisions to trade association legislative efforts. I am now retired with energy and purpose to work for the future of this greatest country.
WHY YOUR VOTE for me is the best message you can send this year: As the former general counsel of a large, national corporation, a President and CEO of an Orange County community bank, and student who worked on the factory floor to put myself through College and Law School, I have a long history of seeing our country from every angle. I have worked with both sides of difficult issues from labor/management to high-dollar legal settlement negotiations; from banking-investment decisions to trade association legislative efforts. I am now retired with energy and purpose to work for the future of this greatest country.
What follows is probably way more than you'll ever want to know about me. However, in the interest of full disclosure: I was born in Long Beach California in 1952 to Rosalie Delite Smith, a first grade teacher, and Robert Alexander Smith, a marine sergeant in World War II and later a small businessman. I was one of two. My sister Caro
What follows is probably way more than you'll ever want to know about me. However, in the interest of full disclosure: I was born in Long Beach California in 1952 to Rosalie Delite Smith, a first grade teacher, and Robert Alexander Smith, a marine sergeant in World War II and later a small businessman. I was one of two. My sister Carolyn, who bravely lived a long life through a difficult genetic illness, died of its complications in 2018. My family moved to Indiana when I was young and I was raised and educated there until returning permanently to California in 1977. To pay my way, I worked many jobs between the time I started work at age 14 (I have paid Social Security and Medicare taxes since that age and wish to keep those two entitlements solvent) and the year I became a lawyer at age 29. Some of those jobs were, baling hay and slurrying roads for two summers, often in 100 degree heat; working first as a laborer and then a carpenter in exterior construction (framing and concrete) for eight years, often in the rain, heat and cold; working on the factory floor for one year packaging glass bottles and another year installing the basic plumbing in ceramic toilets; selling furniture in a retail store for three years; selling vineyard wire (by the mile) and nails (by the ton) for four years to farmers and construction companies in the San Fernando and San Joaquin valleys for the last such manufacturer in North America (all moved to China). I worked those jobs to support myself and put myself through school. I studied law, first at a major law school then, to earn money at full-time jobs during the day, at a lesser school at night. From 1982-1987, through the depths of the savings and loan crisis, I worked as an attorney for the California League of Savings Institutions (CLSI), the largest such trade association (and a significant financial services lobbying group) in the United States. While there I developed a multilayered understanding of the nuances, complexities and difficulties facing Congressmembers and regulatory officials during major crises. In 1984 Anna Brice Williams, a native of Australia, and I married and in 1989 we had our only child, our wonderful son, Lucas. From 1987-1992 I worked in the financial services industry as an attorney, lending executive and regulatory officer. From 1992-1996 I was President and CEO of a small bank in Irvine. In 1996 we sold the bank to a large national bank and Anna, Lucas and I took a brief vacation in Australia. Unfortunately, Anna was diagnosed there with her first terrible bout with cancer – we stayed in Australia that year. In 1997, we returned to the United States and from then through 2011, I served, at the behest of federal banking regulators on the boards of two different troubled banks. I also served as a consulting attorney both to various start-up financial services companies and again with the CLSI. During this time I also began a 16 year tenure as a Board member and then Chairman of the Board of United Labor Bank, the largest and most successful labor union owned bank in the western United States. In late 2001, I was hired as the General Counsel of an H&R Block subsidiary dealing with mortgage finance and in 2008, I was retained by H&R Block to help resolve the many difficulties facing that subsidiary arising from the world financial crisis. In fourteen years, through intense work and commitment, our small team managed that challenging situation to a successful resolution - the only such success in the industry I believe. In 2016, Anna’s cancer returned and we spent her final year in deep commitment – the most difficult and meaningful year of our life together. In 2021, in the midst of Australia's draconian Covid lockdowns, my son Lucas met and married my wonderful daughter-in-law Anita. My two granddaughters have arrived in the two years since. I retired in early 2023.
In general, I am in very good health (please join me in the Running is for the Birds 10k at Bolsa Chica State Beach on April 6!). I have many good (and thoughtful and challenging!) friends. I very much want to help address the many critical issues facing our nation for the benefit of you, me, our children and our grandchildren. I hope you will join me. Bill Smith for Congress
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Meet me for Coffee!
Thanks to everyone who supported me! You can still meet me for coffee most Saturday's at Starbucks at Culver and Michelson at 10:00 A.M. Please join me