Retiring congressman talks taxes, TARP and takes a look at the future
In a conversation with the VBJ less than a week before Tuesday's primary, retiring Congressman Brian Baird talked about his plans for the future, what he called a "broken" federal tax system and defended his votes on two crucial pieces of legislation passed at the nadir of the recent financial crisis.
This year marked the first time since 1996, when he made his first losing bid against former Rep. Linda Smith, in which Baird, a six-term Congressman, did not appear on a 3rd District ballot.
"The election? That's next Tuesday right?" he joked during an interview on Aug. 13.
Rather than commenting extensively on the jockeying between candidates looking to succeed him, Baird seemed largely focused on a perhaps more pressing issue, especially given the looming end of a 12-year career in the House of Representatives – his legacy.
"I hope I set a high standard," Baird said.
The votes likely to define that legacy came in relatively quick succession towards the end of Baird's tenure in the House – his "yes" vote authorizing the creation of the Trouble Asset Relief Program in the fall of 2008, as well as his approval of a $787 billion stimulus bill the following February.
On opposition, widespread in some circles, to the stimulus program: "It is factually dishonest to say that the stimulus did not create jobs."
Baird pointed to road projects across the region that moved forward because of stimulus funding, creating jobs in a construction sector hit hard by the housing bust and frozen credit market.
"With the stimulus, we have tangible results and lasting public benefits," he said.
In regards to TARP, a fund set up by the federal government to bail out the nation's largest financial institutions, Baird called the program an essential tool in heading off a "shut down" of the global economy.
"Had we not passed TARP, General Electric could not get a line of credit," he said, referring to the world's second-largest company, according to a survey this year by Forbes Magazine.
In addition to his votes on bills past, Baird talked about one proposal which never made it to the House floor. Sounding more like a candidate running for office than a longtime incumbent on the verge of retirement, Baird called for reform of a federal tax code which he said "distorted the economy" and promoted economic inequality.
Baird also denounced former President George W. Bush's tax cuts, set to expire this year, and called current President Barack Obama's campaign promise not to raise taxes on individuals making $250,000 or less a "mistake."
"We are the first generation to cut taxes during a time of war," he said, referring to ongoing military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan – conflict zones Baird planned to visit later this year for the last time as representative of Washington's 3rd District.
Meeting with the VBJ as the contest for his Congressional seat began to heat up before primary day, Baird criticized some of the campaign rhetoric beginning to emerge in the race.
"What's the point of getting elected based on promises that will hurt the country?" he said. "There are easier ways to get a job."
Baird has endorsed Democrat Denny Heck, a former chief-of-staff to former Washington Gov. Booth Gardner and a founder of a public access channel covering the statehouse in Olympia. As of press time, Heck remained a favorite to make it through Tuesday's primary to the general election in November.
"Denny is going to win," he said.
As for the future, Baird said it was "virtually certain" he would remain in the Pacific Northwest, where he planned to relocate his wife and young children, all of whom currently reside in the Washington D.C. area.
Baird said he might reconsider his decision to relocate if there was an "astonishing" administrative position, while adding, "that's not something I see happening."
Perhaps most tellingly, Baird did not completely rule out a return to public life.
"It is years of grueling service," he said. "But I may come back."
