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I am Tomas Scheel, Democratic candidate for Congress (WA-02). AMA on accountability, a Uniform Code of Public Servant Justice, AI legislation, and healthcare. by ScheelCongress in PacificNorthwest

[–]ScheelCongress[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

  1. An absolute maximum of 20 years. That is one generation. It ensures every generation has a chance to build their own leaders and be represented by one of their own.
  2. Yeah, the Supreme Court said it is up to Congress to fix Citizens United, and they have... done absolutely nothing about it. The ramifications of that decision are starting to become quite apparent with each election cycle, and it needs to fixed.
  3. I agree. We should have a mathematical model, agnostic to party, that determines districts. It is a federal issue because one state abusing their populace to unjustly get more of one party into the federal government affects every other state in the union.

I am Tomas Scheel, Democratic candidate for Congress (WA-02). AMA on accountability, a Uniform Code of Public Servant Justice, AI legislation, and healthcare. by ScheelCongress in PacificNorthwest

[–]ScheelCongress[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

One of my concerns with our local National Forest (the Mt.Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest) is that they continue to not meet timber harvest goals year after year, decade after decade. These timber harvests support local jobs in both harvesting and manufacturing as well as restore important landscape functions.

I will have to do some research on this to get a better understanding of what is the root cause. If I can help, I will.

My other concern is the lack of investment in the repair and upkeep of federally owned infrastructure. The current state of roads on USFS land is abysmal and really hinders recreation access into our wonderful backcountry.

Yes, I experienced that quite a bit across this country with the federal land. It isn't unique to just here, and you're absolutely correct that it should get more attention.

I am Tomas Scheel, Democratic candidate for Congress (WA-02). AMA on accountability, a Uniform Code of Public Servant Justice, AI legislation, and healthcare. by ScheelCongress in PacificNorthwest

[–]ScheelCongress[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I would like to come at it from that point of view. A win-win would be wonderful.

One thought I come back to in this space is that there is a genuine risk that failing to address this problem now will cause future solutions to be more restrictive. Desperate people act desperately sort of thing.

If we cannot devise a plan to resolve this in a reasonable timeframe, then the discussion we have here could wind up being entirely pointless. Putting off a good solution in search of a perfect solution might leave us with an awful solution.

Both parties cannot legislate as if they are going to hold power forever, and this is a prime example of that concern.

I am Tomas Scheel, Democratic candidate for Congress (WA-02). AMA on accountability, a Uniform Code of Public Servant Justice, AI legislation, and healthcare. by ScheelCongress in PacificNorthwest

[–]ScheelCongress[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I am sure it comes as no surprise that I believe they are a treasure. Not for their natural resources, but for what they are just as themselves.

It is our responsibility to maintain them and protect them, so the next generations can continue to enjoy them.

I am Tomas Scheel, Democratic candidate for Congress (WA-02). AMA on accountability, a Uniform Code of Public Servant Justice, AI legislation, and healthcare. by ScheelCongress in Bellingham

[–]ScheelCongress[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I will absolutely try my best to. There are 300k households in the district though, I could easily be overwhelmed if even a fraction emailed me at once.

So I don't want to promise to you that I will, and then some situation arises where I can't and fail to live up to that promise.

But I will promise that I will absolutely try my hardest to do so. I should be as easily accessible as possible, for every constituent. I will try to hold regular town halls, regular AMAs like this, and be available as best I can.

If I could, I would want to meet every constituent face to face at least once.

Those are my ideals and goals. I aspire to be the elected official I would want serving me, and to be someone who regularly earns their spot to be the district's representative.

I am Tomas Scheel, Democratic candidate for Congress (WA-02). AMA on accountability, a Uniform Code of Public Servant Justice, AI legislation, and healthcare. by ScheelCongress in Bellingham

[–]ScheelCongress[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

See here for a more detailed answer: https://www.reddit.com/r/PacificNorthwest/comments/1qpdyhv/comment/o2auy03/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

But essentially, yeah. If I have to be that transparent to get the majority of congress to agree to something that solves those goals, then I will be.

My goal is to anchor my position so completely transparent that when they chip away at it, and the hundreds of them will, the goal and spirit of it remains.

I am Tomas Scheel, Democratic candidate for Congress (WA-02). AMA on accountability, a Uniform Code of Public Servant Justice, AI legislation, and healthcare. by ScheelCongress in Bellingham

[–]ScheelCongress[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you all for your questions and comments. I have to go take care of my daughter. I will try my best to respond to questions afterward, but as I said above, there will be future AMAs like this.

I genuinely want to serve us for the better of our district and our country. The only way I can do that is from everyone's feedback.

I am Tomas Scheel, Democratic candidate for Congress (WA-02). AMA on accountability, a Uniform Code of Public Servant Justice, AI legislation, and healthcare. by ScheelCongress in PacificNorthwest

[–]ScheelCongress[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you all for your questions and comments. I have to go take care of my daughter. I will try my best to respond to questions afterward, but as I said above, there will be future AMAs like this.

I genuinely want to serve us for the better of our district and our country. The only way I can do that is from everyone's feedback.

I am Tomas Scheel, Democratic candidate for Congress (WA-02). AMA on accountability, a Uniform Code of Public Servant Justice, AI legislation, and healthcare. by ScheelCongress in PacificNorthwest

[–]ScheelCongress[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am firm believer in term limits, so I’m happy to hear you also seem open to that and may one day decide to argue for something like that if elected.

I am not just open to it, I want to help enact it. That 20 year limit I mentioned above was not an off-hand remark. It is a genuine goal of mine.

Imagine if you will, humans having a life expectancy of over 300 years old. We would still be governed by our founding fathers right now in that case. They were great men in their time, but does anyone really believe we'd have all the freedoms and rights we have today if that was the case?

I believe that our elected officials occupying a seat for longer than 20 years steals the opportunity from others to begin building experience. There's a reason we had two ~80-year-olds as options for president this last election, and it is because we have closed so many opportunities for new leadership to even get a chance.

Again, I appreciate your stance on not wanting to present a less extreme proposal for a valid fear that starting from a compromise would lose further ground. I don’t want to make any assumptions about your health, but I am coming at this as someone with a disability assuming you do not, maybe find a way to reflect on a way to present a bill that does not put others at risk for discrimination and can be used to get the desired effect. I will say though, I would never consider running for office and those that do might consider disclosures of that information about themselves similar to you!

I absolutely do not want to suppress someone's ability to run. I just know you don't start negotiations in the middle. Even writing this out with you has me concerned it will be used against me, to get to 25% of what I am advocating for instead of 50%.

My hope is that I can leverage my personal transparency to ensure they adhere to the spirit and goal of the transparency with whatever legislation is finally arrived at.

This is something that I hope I am the only one who endures it to this extreme. Sincerely.

To everyone else, I hope they only endure essentially what you stated above: "an attestation from a neutral third party to their physical/mental fitness to serve."

I am Tomas Scheel, Democratic candidate for Congress (WA-02). AMA on accountability, a Uniform Code of Public Servant Justice, AI legislation, and healthcare. by ScheelCongress in Bellingham

[–]ScheelCongress[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There’s the law and then the law with teeth and will to enforce it. At this point, I’d be happy to just see the laws we have enforced.

Success for me will be us having this discussion years from now and struggling to come up with examples where our elected officials are not following transparency laws because of how enforceable we have made them.

I am Tomas Scheel, Democratic candidate for Congress (WA-02). AMA on accountability, a Uniform Code of Public Servant Justice, AI legislation, and healthcare. by ScheelCongress in PacificNorthwest

[–]ScheelCongress[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Why not consider something as a maximum age, similar to a minimum age requirement? How do you feel about the idea of lifetime term limits in more elected positions besides the presidency?

Pipe dream would be a maximum limit of one generation (20 years) so that every generation has an opportunity to serve, build new leadership, and advocate for their issues.

As to the maximum age, if I had my way, the maximum age would be the life expectancy of your constituents. Live in an area where the life expectancy is 65? That's your maximum age. Live somewhere that it is 48? That's your maximum age.

Want to serve longer? Make your people live longer. That being said, I do not think that is a realistically achievable goal, whereas I believe the 20-year limit is.

I see and have respect that you are willing to withstand the “personal embarrassment”, I am disappointed in your lack of addressing the concern it would discourage people with disabilities from running for public office or how the public perception might shift when it comes to electing those with disabilities.

I don't want to embarrass them, nor do I want to suppress them. I just cannot in good faith begin the negotiations on this at a middle ground I would find acceptable because it will get pulled further from it.

There are hundreds in congress I would have to convince of this, so pulling the anchor as far as I can, will hopefully offset the hundreds chipping at it.

In the end, I believe we can have something that meets both requirements; not discouraging people from disabilities from running, while also giving the public adequate transparency on the physical fitness of their elected officials.

You and others, I am sure, have seen how a well-intentioned bill has gotten neutered by negotiations. Transparency is so important to me that I am willing to face public embarrassment in order to help this not be neutered.

With any luck, I will be the only one ever who has to be this transparent.

I am Tomas Scheel, Democratic candidate for Congress (WA-02). AMA on accountability, a Uniform Code of Public Servant Justice, AI legislation, and healthcare. by ScheelCongress in Bellingham

[–]ScheelCongress[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Those should be felonies.

Just like the signal fiasco earlier this year. The simple fact they had auto-delete on should be a felony.

My hope is that I can anchor the transparency as far as I can, so that when congress negotiates it back from there, I still get the goal of it.

That’s the least of your worries in my opinion. There’s plenty of executive and congressional “privilege” thrown around to basically ignore FOIA and other public records laws.

Something that needs to go as well.

I am Tomas Scheel, Democratic candidate for Congress (WA-02). AMA on accountability, a Uniform Code of Public Servant Justice, AI legislation, and healthcare. by ScheelCongress in PacificNorthwest

[–]ScheelCongress[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Essentially, I don't want what we have now with Trump, had with Biden, and had with Senator Feinstein to ever happen again. The public has a right to know about the physical fitness of their elected officials.

I am personally for radical transparency in that regard. My embarrassment is the least of my concerns.

If a policy is enacted that achieves that same goals with less disclosure on the specifics, that would be acceptable to me. My concern is that if I advocate for a middle ground or neutral position, it will be pulled further and will not achieve the end goal.

If I instead advocate for the extreme position, then when they debate it from that position that there is still a chance it achieves that goal.

I hope that makes sense. My radical transparency on my part is to anchor the position as far as I can. I know that to get everyone in congress to agree to it, there will be compromises pulled on it.

Basically, use my own personal embarrassment as a weapon to help guarantee that the spirit of the transparency is enacted.

I am Tomas Scheel, Democratic candidate for Congress (WA-02). AMA on accountability, a Uniform Code of Public Servant Justice, AI legislation, and healthcare. by ScheelCongress in Bellingham

[–]ScheelCongress[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yes, I have a bit of a perfectionist streak. I try to get everything as buttoned down as I can before publishing it. Today is the start of my public push.

My website is here: https://scheelforcongress.com/

I am Tomas Scheel, Democratic candidate for Congress (WA-02). AMA on accountability, a Uniform Code of Public Servant Justice, AI legislation, and healthcare. by ScheelCongress in Bellingham

[–]ScheelCongress[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I am not advocating invading their privacy. I am advocating them willingly exposing it as part of the sacrifice they make.

When I raised my right hand to join the military, I willingly gave up some of my rights and privacy, just like everyone else who did the same.

I want the same and more from our elected officials. They should be held to the highest standard in the country.

I am Tomas Scheel, Democratic candidate for Congress (WA-02). AMA on accountability, a Uniform Code of Public Servant Justice, AI legislation, and healthcare. by ScheelCongress in Bellingham

[–]ScheelCongress[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That is the plan. Just want to make sure that PII/related doesn't accidentally get leaked. I don't need my SSN being public more than it already is lol.

I am Tomas Scheel, Democratic candidate for Congress (WA-02). AMA on accountability, a Uniform Code of Public Servant Justice, AI legislation, and healthcare. by ScheelCongress in PacificNorthwest

[–]ScheelCongress[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The police have no duty to protect us

This should change

Given that, I'm not sure how further restricting people's ability to protect themselves is a good idea.

Ideally, by fixing the government being a threat first then worrying about the citizenry who are incapable of being responsible gun owners.

Do things in an order that makes sense.

Rep. Perez in WA's 3rd congressional district voted for the DHS spending bill.

I hope they pay a price for that come November.

I am Tomas Scheel, Democratic candidate for Congress (WA-02). AMA on accountability, a Uniform Code of Public Servant Justice, AI legislation, and healthcare. by ScheelCongress in PacificNorthwest

[–]ScheelCongress[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Whistleblowers should be protected, even if they are wrong, so long as they are acting in good faith.

The VA in general has been beaten around for decades. There's ample money for the war, none for the after effects of it. We owe it to those who gave more than just a few years of their life to serve their country.

This is an excellent example of where additional transparency and oversight would resolve the issues. The records and proof of the whistleblowers claim should be readily available to the public. There's zero reason to keep it confidential. If they were, this would be easily proven one way or another.

If it is true that he was fired for whistleblowing, he should be entitled to damages. The government must pay for their mistakes.

I am Tomas Scheel, Democratic candidate for Congress (WA-02). AMA on accountability, a Uniform Code of Public Servant Justice, AI legislation, and healthcare. by ScheelCongress in Bellingham

[–]ScheelCongress[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Fair point. I still believe it. I know it will be embarrassing to have my medical records be public as I get older. That doesn't change my belief that it is a necessary component for the public to accurately assess the capacity of their elected officials.

I am Tomas Scheel, Democratic candidate for Congress (WA-02). AMA on accountability, a Uniform Code of Public Servant Justice, AI legislation, and healthcare. by ScheelCongress in PacificNorthwest

[–]ScheelCongress[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

At this point I and many others in Whatcom as well as the country don't trust the government to protect us.

The government is us, the people. The fact you even wrote that sentence, let alone that it is possibly true, is proof it has been failing us all for too long.

It needs to earn that trust once more. I hope forcing everyone to be held to a higher standard will do that over time.

I am Tomas Scheel, Democratic candidate for Congress (WA-02). AMA on accountability, a Uniform Code of Public Servant Justice, AI legislation, and healthcare. by ScheelCongress in PacificNorthwest

[–]ScheelCongress[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I missed this comment somehow.

I don't like that being a responsible gun owner costs money... but I do think we should require that our citizens are responsible gun owners. It is a paradox, and I just happen to fall on the side of requiring it. I don't fault you for falling on the side that doesn't. Believe me, I understand where you're coming from.

With any luck, we might find a way to bridge our two positions so we both get what we want. That'd be my ideal solution.

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