Mike DeNunzio

A pro-American from San Francisco

By Matthew Vasquez
From the November 2006 Print Edition

Mike DeNunzio is challenging Democrat Nancy Pelosi for one of San Francisco’s seats in the House of Representatives. DeNunzio is known as an aggressive advocate of conservative principles, a citizen politcian in the vein of Ronald Reagan, a Republican leader and successful businessman. What sets DeNunzio apart is his aggressive and steadfast defense of conservative principles in one of the most liberal media markets in the nation. DeNunzio shared his vision for America with the Patriot.

California Patriot: Why did you decide to run for Congress?
Mike DeNunzio: I am challenging Nancy Pelosi because the House of Representatives is not the House of Lords or Ladies; it is the people’s house. It was created by the Founders to do the people’s work. Mrs. Pelosi fails to do the people’s work and the people are clear. I want to do what Mrs. Pelosi fails to do.

I speak for a 21st-century America that Mrs. Pelosi does not understand and cannot be trusted to represent, an opportunity America with incentives for enterprising young people, active seniors, and the small businesses that create most jobs and pay most taxes.  An America in the competitive global economy where Toyota — not GM — will soon be the largest automaker. An America threatened by terrorists with chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons to kill innocent civilians.

I am a candidate because in 1987 the Burton political machine that disgraced the Democratic process in California by gerrymandering every election district in the state promoted Nancy Pelosi for Congress as “Our Voice” in Washington.

For the last 19 years, that “voice” has been the obedient echo of greedy trial lawyers and the special-interest hustlers that enrich themselves on taxpayer funds by exploiting civil rights, the environment, minorities, and the poor. San Francisco needs a different voice and I have that voice.

CP: If elected, what goals would you set for yourself?  What do you expect to accomplish?
MD: In general, I want to help America understand what Thomas Jefferson said: “Government shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. The Government that governs best will govern least.” The government that governs least governs best.

Specifically, I want to: 1) Protect America with real-time surveillance of suspected terrorists; 2) Destroy all terrorists with strong preemptive military actions; 3) Secure the borders and end illegal immigration; 4) Reduce taxes and expand prosperity with free-market policies; 5) Achieve energy independence with clean, low-cost alternative fuels; 6) Improve public education with vouchers and charter schools; 7) Provide social services that respect life and human dignity; and 8) Save Social Security for future generations with voluntary private accounts.

CP: What did you do before entering the political arena and how will this experience make you a better congressman?
MD: I was the president of the western division of an international consulting company that specialized in working with business and community leaders to secure public and private funds for better health care, educational, and social services. I have worked successfully with civic leaders in San Francisco and throughout California, in 30 states, and in Canada, Europe, and the Pacific Basin. As a congressman, I will use my career experience to advance legislation for better health care, educational, and social services.

CP: What political experience do you have that would make you a better congressman?
MD: In addition to my service as chairman of the San Francisco Republican Party and a delegate to the 2004 Republican Convention, I have been appointed to two city commissions by Democrat mayors and I presently serve as finance chair of Mayor Newsom’s Planning Council to end chronic homelessness.

CP: Illegal immigration is a major problem today.  What do you see as a solution to this problem?
MD: I subscribe to Theodore Roosevelt’s dictum: “America is not a boarding house, it is a home and we welcome everyone, but we have room for only one language, one flag and one loyalty and that is American.”

I will work to secure the borders first and then on a comprehensive plan to include strong demands on the new government of Mexico to cooperate, an ID card that will prevent business from hiring illegals, an end to Sanctuary Cities, the deportation of illegal-alien criminals upon release from prison, and making English our national language.

CP: Where do you stand on national security and Iraq?
MD: President Kennedy said: “We will pay any price and bear any burden to assure the survival of liberty,” and President Reagan said: “Freedom comes once to every generation, it is never more than one generation from extinction and every generation must defend it.”  I believe America is in a war, not lawsuit. We don’t read Miranda rights to non-uniformed combatants. The first responsibility of government is to protect the lives of its citizens. The first civil right of every American is the right to stay alive. I want prompt surveillance of suspected terrorists and I want a powerful high-tech volunteer military and civilian leaders who will use the military to destroy terrorists. We need leaders who know the U.N. is a cesspool of anti-American, anti-Israeli thugs and the Europeans are feckless failures who won’t do the job because they won’t even define the word “terrorist.”

CP: What do you feel is the most important issue facing the nation today and why?  What is your stance on this issue?
MD: There are several “most important” issues, not the least of which are the “blame America first” liberal elites in education and in the media who deny the real and growing  danger of sleeper cells of radical Islamic terrorists who are planning to use chemical, biological, and radiological weapons on innocent civilians in theaters, shopping centers, and college campuses. I want real-time surveillance of suspected terrorists and effective interrogation of non-uniformed combatants without protection of the Geneva Convention.

CP: Running against the House Minority Leader, Nancy Pelosi, must make it harder for you to win.  How can a conservative such as yourself win in such a liberal bastion as San Francisco?
MD: Of course it is harder to win; there are 188,000 Democrats and only 27,000 Republicans in Congressional District 9. I don’t take on easy jobs. I will remind all voters of what President Reagan said: “Freedom is only one generation away from extinction and every generation is called to defend it.” And in the words of President Bush, “We will not tire, I will not falter and I will not fail.”  I will win just by being heard.

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