Mahmood (Michael) Sabri

Name:Mahmood (Michael) Sabri
Age 54
E-mail address:vote@SABRIforCongress.com
Campaign Web site: www.SABRIforCongress.com
Party affiliation:Republican
Office that you are seeking:Representative, U.S. Congress

Please answer the following questions about your background:

1.What is your educational background, including the highest degree you attained (high school, college, advanced degree, etc.) and the year it was attained?
MBA 1985

2.What is your professional background, including your present employer and job description and other significant posts you have held in the past? If you are retired, what was your most recent employment?
Natural Gas Engineer, Business Executive, Assistant Professor, Vice President of Faculty Senate, Northeast State Community College.

3.Are you married? If so, please list your spouse’s name and occupation and any elected office they hold or have held in the past (if applicable).
Yes I am married. My wife has not held any public office.

4.Do you have children? If so, how many and what are their ages? Do they (or did they) attend public schools?
Four children, ages 17 – 23, all of them attended public schools.

5.Do you presently hold an elected office or have you held one in the past? Please list all elected posts and the years you were in office.
No.

6.Have you ever been an officer in a political party on the local or national level, worked in a campaign or been a delegate to a political convention? If yes, please provide details and names of candidates for whom you worked.
I have worked as District Coordinator for Ron Paul presidential campaign, and I ran as a Delegate-At-Large for Ron Paul.

7.Who are your three biggest campaign contributors? How much money have you raised in your campaign? Have you taken any special interest or PAC money? How much money do you expect to spend in your campaign?

I do not solicit campaign contributions. I request my supporters to donate either to Appalachian Scholar Annual Scholarship Fund at Northeast State Technical Community College or Salvation Army. As a principle, I have neither taken nor will I take special interest or PAC money. I have budgeted $360 for this campaign. I plan to donate same amount of money to charity as I spend on my campaign. I have already committed at least $360 for the scholarship fund.

8.Do you volunteer your time or give money to local causes? If so, please list them.
I have volunteered my time for Little League Baseball in Johnson City, drove golf cart to transport passengers during races in Bristol Motor Speedway, worked at the booth of Washington County Young Republicans during Appalachian Fair in Gray, helped to clean up the lake at Winged Deer Park, and coached a Park & Rec. Soccer team.
I contribute to the scholarship fund at Northeast State Technical Community College, and donate to Salvation Army. 9.Have you ever been convicted of a misdemeanor or felony crime as an adult? If yes, please give jurisdiction and details. You may explain if necessary.
No.

10.Have you ever filed bankruptcy? If yes, please explain.
No.

11.Have you served in the military? If yes, please provide details including branch of service, highest rank, years of service and date and terms of discharge.
No.

12.Have you or your business ever been the subject of a lawsuit, lien or foreclosure? If yes, please explain.
No.

13.What ties do you have to any business or organization that could profit from action as a congressman or senator, no matter how slight the ties or the action? Please explain your plan to avoid even the appearance of conflict of interest.
None.
I do not accept any contributions from a special interest or a PAC. So, I have no obligation to promote any business, special interest, or a PAC.

Please answer the following questions about the issues:

1.The nation is in the grips of an energy crisis. What specific steps would you take to improve our energy independence and to reduce the strain of high prices on consumers? How would you balance these plans with the need to protect the environment?
Oil/Gas
a.Expose speculators in the oil market
b.Demand the oil companies to reveal their oil/gas reserves and demand that they open their books and show cost of oil and how they price their product.
c.Expose by name all those who are hindrance in the oil supply, their motives and how they are benefiting from the energy crisis. Let America see their real enemies.
d.Promote oil drilling within the U.S. as well as offshore
e.Demand that new refineries be constructed to replace the aging ones

Nuclear Energy
Most developed countries meet their energy requirements with nuclear energy. There is no reason why the U.S. cannot do the same. Electricity produced with nuclear energy can replace majority of our energy needs.

Mass Transit and Cargo Transportation
We must develop mass transit systems in all our major cities. The best option is electric trains like subway in New York. Cargo trains should replace hundreds of thousands of trucks on America’s highways. There is no reason to haul lettuce from California to New York or cosmetics from New Jersey to Oregon on a truck. Electric trains powered by nuclear energy should be used for this purpose.
These alternatives will not have any major adverse effect on the environment.

2.What can Congress do to help the U.S. economy recover from the present downturn?
Congress needs to pass a balanced budget. It should cut all programs that are against the Constitution like foreign aid. It must get our currency back to the gold and silver standard. These measures will restore confidence in our currency. It will also reduce inflation. Once the confidence is restored, economy will automatically find its way up.

3.How will you ensure that health care remains affordable and accessible for all?
Healthcare will become affordable when consumers are responsible for providing their own healthcare rather than their employers, and HMO’s are taken out of the picture. We must look into the origin of healthcare crisis. When wages were frozen during WWII, healthcare benefits and other perks were used to entice new employees since higher wages could not be offered. There is no reason to do that now since there is no cap on wages. Healthcare portion of the salary should become part of the paystub. Income tax should be reduced to accommodate that change. Health care providers must be required to list their charges for each procedure in advance so that patients can compare one health provider with another. Healthcare has become a major item in a household budget. It must be addressed the same way as we address other major expenditures like buying house or a car. We don’t have real estate management organizations) or automobile management organizations to make housing or transportation affordable. There is no reason for HMO’s to exist. Neither healthcare providers are not happy with them nor are the patients.

4.How will you shore up Social Security and Medicare for the next generation?
Social Security and Medicare cannot be saved in the long run. It will eventually bankrupt the country. It took us fifty years to get into this mess. It may take us about the same time to get out of it. But the process of getting out of entitlements must start now. We should treat the existing damage as a national debt and follow a sound fiscal policy of getting out this debt as soon as possible. People must bear responsibility for their own well being. They must not demand others to provide for them.

5.What should be done to realize the vision of the No Child Left Behind law?
To realize the vision of No Child Left Behind law, family values must be instilled in the society. A broken family is not conducive for a child to excel in school. Parents should be given the authority to rear their children properly and then held responsible for their children’s performance. It is mind boggling that our high schools promote students who are not qualified to be promoted and confer high school diplomas on students who are not qualified to graduate.

6.What can be done to reduce the national debt? (Please be specific).
Cut spending. Reduce taxes. Any budget item that is against the Constitution must be eliminated. Federal government is not supposed to be a nanny or a charitable organization. Citizens should be required to pay for only those items that they want. Federal government should be run like a post office. It is not tax supported and its charges are same for everyone.

7.Should the tax code be simplified? Explain.
Definitely!
The basic premise of a tax (forced collection of money from citizens) is that the citizens would not be willing to pay voluntarily for the expenses of the government. That is the reason government uses force to collect taxes. The reality is that most citizens would be willing to pay their fair share of the expenses for an efficient government. We didn’t have federal income tax before 1913. We didn’t have so many federal programs. Elected officials as well as government employees didn’t have so many taxpayer supported perks. The best way to simplify the tax code is to have a flat tax. Then reduce that tax by one percent each year until the tax disappears. Taxpayers should have to right to choose where the tax revenue is spent. The tax code should be simple enough for a sixteen year old to understand. On our tax return, we should have a list of programs that the taxpayers can choose to support and they should indicate the percentage of their tax dollars to be spent on their preferred items. This will provide funding for programs that are in demand and eliminate items that are not supported.
8.What is the proper balance between protecting the nation’s natural beauty and using natural resources? What will you do to maintain the balance?

Natural resources are useless if they stay buried underground. Natural resources must be explored and brought to the market. Cost of restoring natural beauty must be included in the cost of recovering those natural resources. This measure will provide a balance in protecting natural beauty while using the natural resources.

9.What programs would you put in place to ensure that America’s young people remain competitive in math, science and engineering?
No additional program is needed. As it is, we spend most dollars per student in the whole world. A well paying job at the end of the education is the best incentive. A loving and disciplined home is the best program a child needs to do well in school. Educational institutions are designed to provide education, not emotional support. These institutions should be held responsible for providing education that would prepare students to become competitive in scientific as technical fields. Teachers should be rewarded on their merit, not on real estate tax base.

10.What local projects would you support with federal funding?
None. It is not the responsibility of the federal government to support local projects. However, as long as the game is played under current rules, I will strive to get as much money from the federal government as we sent to Washington.
11.How will you meet the needs of a diverse district that includes both rural areas and urban centers? I will invite the leadership of rural areas as well as urban centers and have a consensus on what needs have priority. Rural areas support urban centers and vice versa. It is not a situation of us-against-them.

12.Do you support a Constitutional ban on gay marriage, and should such a ban be extended to civil unions? Explain.
It is not the job of the federal government to regulate morality. This issue should be left for the states to decide.

13.What is one piece of legislation you plan to introduce in your first (or next) year in congress? Why?
I would propose to balance the federal budget. Without a balanced budget, we will not be able to get rid of our federal financial woes. As long as our financial house is out of order, no band-aid solution will provide long term stability.

14.Should illegal immigrants be deported? How would you accomplish this?
No, they should not be deported.

15.Should there be a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants who work, pay fines and back taxes and learn the English language? Explain.
Illegal immigrants are here because of two reasons:
a.The federal government failed to do its job of protecting the borders and rooting out illegal aliens who violated their visa status
b.Unscrupulous businesses hired them

It is unfair to punish only one party involved in the crime. If illegal aliens are to be punished for their crime, then the government employees involved should be prosecuted for dereliction of duty and the businesses hiring the illegal aliens should be prosecuted for breaking the law. Since this is not on the table, illegal aliens should be given an opportunity to correct their visa status by granting them permission to work. Meanwhile, they should take a number behind those who have already applied for immigration. Any illegal alien who breaks the law should be immediately deported. This is not amnesty. This is solution based on justice. Either we punish all parties involved in the crime, or we let all parties go free. These illegal aliens have taken the place of Americans that are missing. There are approximately 49 million Americans missing because of Roe vs. Wade decision. If abortion was illegal, there would be 49 million more Americans alive today and they would be doing the jobs the illegal aliens do.

16.Should parents get vouchers to send their children to any school, public or private? What about a tax credit? Explain.
Yes, parents should get vouchers to send their children to schools of their choice. Tax credit will complicate the tax code even more.

17.Does the U.S. have a clearly defined foreign policy? What would you do differently?
U.S. does not have a clearly defined foreign policy. It does not treat all nations with mutual respect. It focuses on her interests alone and tries to achieve some of those interests on the sly. I would promote a foreign policy of mutual and equal respect to all nations and protect our interests with negotiation rather than toppling other governments or making deals with dictators.

18.Should the U.S. set a timetable to withdraw troops from Iraq? Explain.
No. But some benchmarks must be clearly outlined. Two benchmarks have already been met. We have removed Saddam Hussein and the threat of weapons of mass destruction. It is time to withdraw some troops. Next benchmark should be to hand over certain areas to the Iraqis that they want to assume responsibility for, and withdraw troops from those areas.

19.Has the war in Iraq distracted the U.S. from the war on terror? Explain.
Of course! Terrorist activity has increased in Afghanistan. War on terrorism will not be won until the U.S. adopts a foreign policy based on Liberty and Justice for All.

20.Should smoking in restaurants and other public places be banned? Explain.
It is not a federal issue. It is up to the state, county, and city governments how they want to handle it.