kennedyseat.com meets the candidates: Exclusive email interview with Joe Kennedy.

It's been a while since I had a new candidate to feature in my kennedyseat.com Meets the Candidates series. But now that the primaries are over and the signature deadlies have passed, I am excited to introduce you to our independent candidate for Senate, Joe Kennedy.

As a reminder/disclaimer: my goal in reaching out to the campaigns is to try and capture a slightly different picture of the candidates as people and politicians.  I am not asking them about their positions on specific issues because a) I don't have the opportunity for follow up questions, and b) if I want a stock answer I can just look at the website.  Instead I'm trying to gauge their personalities, passions, and sense of humor.

For the time being I will let their answers speak for themselves, and hope readers will weigh in with their thoughts in the comments.

Without further ado, I give you my exclusive email interview with independent Senate candidate Joe Kennedy, uncut, unedited, unspun:

KS: You have spent your career in the private sector, and have never run for office before.  What inspired you to run, and how have you prepared yourself for service in the Senate?

Kennedy: There are a number of things that have caused me to run.  Both major parties continue to increase taxation, fight in undeclared wars, maintain unbalanced budgets, disregard the constitution and violate individual liberties.  As much as I am new to actually running for Politics, I am very familiar with the process of bill creation, filing, committee, amendment, debate and voting processes which go into law making.    I am familiar with all the major issues and many lesser issues and have well grounded understanding of how politics, law and finance work together in powering our country.  I also bring a significantly amount of financial, insurance, clinical and technology experience to the seat as well as experience managing multi-cultural staff on 3 continents.  These qualities are sorely lacking in the representation we have today.  Those skills and my ability to use them have prepared me for the Senate.

KS: Who is your political role model?

Kennedy: I have many, so it would be hard to pick just one. I would say my current day role model is Ron Paul and my historical role model would be Thomas Jefferson.   Personally I think that my other role models have a greater influence on me and they would be my Father, Martin Luther (initiator of protestant reformation) and  Martin Luther King Jr..

KS: Recession, war, health care: What is the greatest challenge facing the United States and how can you help to address it?

Kennedy: Jobs and the Economy go hand and hand and combined they are the biggest issue America is facing.  Maintaining our lifestyle requires an understanding of foreign financial policy and how our local economy and jobs go into maintaining the value of our currency.  In brief, to ensure our way of life in a global economy, we must get the individual person back to work locally to fuel the economy and protect our dollar. In my research I have found major recessions and depressions end when we cut government spending and lightened the load on the individual tax payer, I have not been able to find an exception to that rule (I will keep looking).  If elected I would immediately re-enact Pay-Go (one of the primary reasons the Clinton years were so bountiful), push to end the expensive wars, push to stop the bailouts and bring any unspent money back, move to Audit the Federal Reserve ( as they may be hindering our ability to recover and dollar valuation) and CUT taxes.  When in power, the Republicans in congress did not address the job problem.  The Democrats have had full control for almost a year but they chose to address entitlement programs first, while the unemployment rate rose.  The Massachusetts and American people have been begging for focus on jobs and they have gotten lip service.  We must address the Jobs/Economy problems immediately and get America back to work.

KS: You are running as an independent, but identify yourself as a Libertarian and have attended Tea Party rallies.  In your view, what is the biggest problem with the two-party system of government, and how can we work to change it?

Kennedy: From where I stand, the 2 party system is a one party system.  Both parties are pro-big government (even if the Republican’s claim to be small government).   Both parties increase taxation, fight and promote undeclared wars, maintain unbalanced budgets, disregard the constitution and violate our individual liberties while telling us they do otherwise.  Even my opponents are both Pro Big Health Care plans as opposed to simpler less intrusive/more effective solutions and they are both  Pro larger government budgets and spending.  Most importantly both parties stick with their own.  It no longer mattes what the people say.  Examples:  The vast majority of the population is against health care. Health care is getting pushed through.  The population is against bailouts. The bailouts get pushed through.  The population is against the wars.  The wars continue with additional troops.  Both parties listen to themselves and try to sell the ideas of lobbyists and special interests to the American people and when the majority of the American people say no, both parties say – we will do it anyway.  They are 2 sides of the same coin to me, and I am not alone.  The 2 party system can only be changed if people start to vote their conscience.  According to Rasmussen Polls (The only poll of likely voters) the majority of people dislike the 2 party (one party) system, don’t trust either party and want something new.  The steps are simple.  People like myself, who understand politics, economics and foreign cultures, have to stand up and run for office so people have a choice.  The media has to make a commitment to fairly represent all candidates (in turn we will continue to support their advertisers).  People who are tired of the way things are have to vote their conscience. Lastly when one of us gets into office we must enact term limits to increase the amount of different minds flowing through the system and decrease the corruption that comes with any power position over time.

KS: You have laid out positions on a huge number of issues.  What area of policy do you identify as your strength (i.e. foreign policy, financial regulation, job creation, etc.) and why?

Kennedy: I bring many things to the table.  I have worked in the private sector my whole life and my experience at both the employee and managerial level spans the fields of finance, insurance, high-tech, consulting, clinical research, venture capital and entrepreneurship.  I have held board positions, assisted startup companies in getting off the ground and managed staff in the UK, America, Germany, China and India.  My primary objective in all these positions is to understand problems, build consensus and create efficient solutions everywhere.   My knowledge of finance, foreign culture and foreign fiscal policy, free markets and job creation will all come into play in my job as Senator.  Above all I bring a proven track record of adaptable and the ability to apply all my skills and knowledge together under any circumstance to build consensus, cut out waste and create solutions to problems.

KS: Obviously you have a name that resonates with the Massachusetts electorate, even if you are not related to the Ted Kennedy clan.  Do you view your name as a positive or negative in this race, and how much impact do you think it will have on election day?

Kennedy: The name question is always difficult to answer and my views on it have changed with my experience in the race.  I have a few people who are very senior players and have been in politics for much longer than I who have given me some insight that I garner to be true:  The press/media is often the group who elects candidates.  They have the ability to cover one candidate more than another, they have the ability to take a positive or negative view on any specific stance the candidate has and the have the ability to not cover a candidate at all. My advisors tell me that (with my name) if I am not covered well, so there is no question of my identity, Scott Brown will benefit greatly as there will be people who will make the mistake and just vote the Kennedy name.  While we are trying to get our message out there, the media doesn’t usually engage in fair time across candidates.  That is great for Scott Brown and I will split the Democratic vote for people who are under informed (potentially 10 -15% of the population).  It’s not good for me or Martha Coakley.  Rest assured we are sending our press releases and trying to inform the public, however I can’t guarantee the media will assist us.  You can however by posting our site: http://joekennedyforsenate.com.