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Republican congressional candidate Justin Bernier is casting himself as the conservative alternative to Andrew Roraback in Connecticut's 5th Congressional District race. Bernier described the 5th as a "right-of-center district, no doubt about it."
During an appearance on WNPR's Where We Live, Bernier weighed in on the Citizens United Supreme Court decision. "I support Citizens United," said Bernier. "I think that what they're doing is good in terms of getting Republicans elected."
He took the opposite position from outgoing Democratic representative and current U.S. Senate candidate Chris Murphy. Murphy called Citizens United the "worst Supreme Court decision" of his lifetime.
Bernier argues in favor of the controversial Supreme Court decision on a First Amendment basis. "I don't see why you'd have restrictions on some people and not on others," said Bernier.
One caller asked him to clarify his stance on whether corporations should be treated as people. "A corporation is not a person," said Bernier.
Environment and climate change
Bernier takes a strong stance against a cap-and-trade system. He said air quality in the United States is good but reducing emissions further can be done through technological development.
He also weighed in on climate change. "I believe that we're going to have climate change forever in this world. But I don't think that a huge part of the problem is man-made emissions," said Bernier.
Even if man-made climate change does exist to some extent, Bernier said "The cap-and-trade system that has been proposed would be so detrimental to our economy and to our energy sector that you would actually see more pollution."
Bernier also argued that the cap-and-trade system only applies to the U.S. By imposing this system on the United States "It's going to make us less competitive," said Bernier. "It's going to slow down our economic growth and it's going to, I think, eliminate the technological development that's occuring in this country that we need to make the rest of the world cleaner."
Health Care
The Supreme Court's decision on the Affordable Care Act is expected to be announced later this month and Bernier wants it struck down. He does think the government has a role in making sure patients with pre-existing conditions are covered. "But that doesn't mean you take over one-seventh of the private sector," added Bernier.
One part of the Affordable Care Act that has received support from both sides of the aisle is the provision that allows young adults to stay on their parents' insurance plan until age 26. "I don't think that creating a permanent child in your household is the way to solve the healthcare problem," said Bernier. "Where should we stop that? What about 40 years old?"
Reaction to FBI probe of Chris Donovan's campaign
Last week, the 5th district race was shaken up by the FBI's arrest of Chris Donovan's aide. Previously Bernier criticized Donovan for not speaking up himself about the story. His new campaign manager Tom Swan took questions on Friday instead of Donovan. On Sunday evening, Donovan held a press conference to deny his knowledge of illegal contributions to his campaign.
"I find that tough to believe that he didn't know anything was going on but if that's his word, we'll see what the court of law decides," said Bernier.
After coming in third place at the Republican convention, Bernier is campaigning for the Republican primary on August 14.
