McCauley: ‘Stop the bickering’

Republican hoping to win 6th District seat in Congress as Costello set to step down

WEST CHESTER >> People have all sorts of reasons to run for public office, whether it be a particular cause or issue they want to have an impact on, or a need to massage their ego. Greg McCauley wants voters in the 6th Congressional District to understand that they can strike one reason off the list of why he is running.

“I’m not going to Washington at my age to go to cocktail parties,” McCauley declared in a recent interview about his campaign.

What McCauley was driving at is that there are serious problems that he sees with the nation’s financial and social condition that he is passionate abut addressing, believes his ideas on how to address them deserve attention, and promises to put he hard work into trying to solve them on a bipartisan basis.

“I’m going to write the bills and walk them around the halls (of Congress) and get people to agree to them,” the Republican nominee for the newly formed district and veteran tax attorney said in the interview at the Chester County Justice Center earlier this month. “I work with the IRS every day, and you know if I fight with the IRS I am going to get crushed. So we have to work together.

“We just need to solve these problems rather than fight about

them,” he said. “Problems that we have had have now become crises.”

McCauley, 62, of Pennsbury, is making his first run for political office after a career in law and business. The 6th district includes all of Chester County, as well as portions of southern Berks County, including Reading.

The district’s boundaries were redrawn earlier this year by the state Supreme Court to address what plaintiffs in a lawsuit said was unconstitutional gerrymandering. The decision, as well as the coarsening political culture, led incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Ryan Costello of West Goshen to announce that he was leaving Congress. He withdrew his name from the Republican ballot afterwards, giving McCauley the party’s nomination.

McCauley styles himself as a financial conservative worried about the impact the federal debt and deficit will have on future generations in the country, but not an inflexible politician unwilling to think outside the box or cross partisan aisles.

“I am trying to bring common-sense ideas to the table to balance the budget, and to help restore the American Dream to the next generation,” he said. “I tell voters that I will not vote for a budget that does not balance. We must immediately start to deal with the deficit and prevent interest rates from rising. Because if not, the kids aren’t going to be able to live the American dream.”

His ideas include adjustments to both the revenue side of the budget as well as the expense side, although he rules out an direct increase in federal income taxes. “People who are on a budget live paycheck to paycheck and are not putting money in retirement, and not saving,” he said. “If we increase taxes hat has to come out of their budget. Being a person who does taxes and budget every tax, I know how tight everybody’s budget is.”

One idea that he has proposed would address both increasing federal revenues, while easing the immigration controversy. If those living and working in the country without documentation were allowed to obtain work visas for a fee, revenue would rise by what he estimates as $50 billion to $100 billion, while bringing those workers out of the shadows and having them contribute to taxes and Social Security, he says.

While not giving those undocumented workers amnesty, he also thinks a work visa program would establish a system where those who qualify would start on a path to permanent residency status.

“If we issue work visas which they pay for and they are all allowed to work and stay, it’s a compassionate answer to a problem that has existed for 50 years,” he said.

He would also look for inventive areas of the budget to considering cutting, including cutting nuclear weapons costs and local small airport subsidies, areas he says have not been considered in past attempts to trim government costs.

“We need to cut expense everywhere,” he said. The problem with our politicians is that they don’t have the expertise or the experience with a budget to do it. It took me a life time to acquire my experience. It’s not going to be as painful as everyone thinks it might be.”

The candidate has also proposed helping recent college graduates who are burdened with huge debt by cutting interest rates on those higher education loans, and expanding some background gun checks, although he remains a firm supporter of the 2nd Amendment.

McCauley graduated fro St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia with a degree in business, and got his law degree from Widener University Law School. he clerked in the U.S. District Court, and also worked for his father’s law firm, Blank, Rome. Comisky & McCauley. he has been in private practice since 1987, specializing in tax law — and authoring a self-help guide to IRS strategies called, “TaxJams.”

His family also owned and operated a chain of fast food restaurants, and has invested in other small businesses and start ups.

Not a career politician, McCauley says he believes that working across the aisle is a necessity to fixing the nation’s financial and social problems.

“I think we have to expect our politicians to work across the aisle to solve our problems, and I don’t think (Washington officials) have been doing that,” he said. “That’s what my ideas should do, it should bring everybody together. Our leaders need to set an example. If the members of Congress are bickering with one another, I think they are setting an example for the rest of the population, and our kids.

“It’s time that they work together because if they don’t what are we leaving our kids?” he said. “The voters need to demand that rather than partisan bickering.”

McCauley and his wife, Maureen, who has been working on his campaign, have four adult sons. He has lived in the county for more than two decades. To contact staff writer Michael P. Rellahan call 610-696-1544.

Greg McCauley