Republican candidate for State Delegate for District 29A, Henry E. Camaioni took time out of his schedule to explain his position on the issues and campaign strategy to unseat long-time incumbent, Del. Johnny Wood. Camaioni met with Baynet Radio and TheBAYNET.com for a series of interviews.
When asked why he decided to run, Camaioni stated that “like many people, I’m tired of the way things are being run. I wanted to find a candidate to get behind who I could support, but that didn’t happen.”
Camaioni feels that it is about time that the idea of a government ‘of the people, by the people, for the people’ is reintroduced into local government. “Perhaps the 2010 election will be a reminder that these officials hold their positions at the pleasure of the citizens and none of them are entitled by bloodline, marriage, corporate or political connections to any position in government,” said Camaioni.
The candidate stated that elected official have been sending the wrong message to citizens; from healthcare reform to immigration to the fight against drugs. “The government has been more active in controlling free speech on the radio and television than protecting it,” said Camaioni. “When the Supreme Court defended free speech, the President publicly scorned the Judges.”
Camaioni stated that while companies are going out of business and hard working families are losing their homes because of overwhelming federal, state and local taxes, the job creator’s, large corporations and the small entrepreneurial companies are being discouraged from growth by higher taxes and fear of future legislation.
“Our number one priority, really two fold – jobs and the budget, must be approached from the standpoint of taking care of the people and getting the economy going. We need to cut taxes and cut regulations that are anti business,” said Camaioni.
He stated that all levels of the budgeting process need to be address with the first area to look at being the legislative budget. “It doesn’t make any sense to give yourself a raise and increase your budget when everyone else is being asked to cut back and do with less,” said Camaioni. He stated that the government makes higher and higher expenditures, with the knowledge that increasing debt and spending only creates a “crisis of debt, which they can use to push for increasing taxes.”
Camaioni said that Maryland residents pay higher state and local taxes than most of the country and that when combined with property taxes it is too heavy a burden for the average citizen to bear. “For many homeowners, paying higher interest rates and/or higher taxes is beyond their means and they head toward foreclosure. For those families still struggling with the higher payments, life has become much more difficult. There simply is little or no money left at the end of the month and they have to worry that the family car, or some major appliance will break, and they wonder how they will cover any unexpected expense.”
He compared the current climate in government spending and taxation to the early days of the mining industry where mine owners used the Truck System to control the miners. “In this system the company employees were paid in Scrip, which was a credit system that could only be used at the company store. The employees were forced to purchase over-priced goods and services without choice or competition. This created a system of debt bondage,” said Camaioni. “The government eventually recognized that this was a f
