Name: Christian Fernando Acosta
Your age: 37
Family status: I am married to my wife, Rachel, and have a 4-month-old daughter named Violet
Please tell us about your education:
I attended Omni Middle School in Boca Raton and Atlantic High School in Delray Beach (the old location near Swinton Ave, the school later moved to the location near I-95)
I attended the University of Florida for all my college degrees:
M.S. Nuclear Engineering
M.S. Management
B.S. Nuclear Engineering
Please outline your work history for the past 15 years.
I have worked at Palm Beach State College for 2.5 years. I began as an adjunct professor teaching in the Electric Power Technology program at the Palm Beach Gardens Campus. For the last 2 semesters I have been a full-time Associate Professor. The courses I taught during the Spring 2020 semester were Introduction to Engineering, Industrial Tooling, Fluid and Pneumatic Controls, Introduction to Solar Energy, Energy Efficient Buildings, and Quality Assurance.
Prior to Palm Beach State, I worked in Pittsburgh, PA. at a railroad signaling company called Ansaldo STS (old Union Switch and Signal Co.) as a Project Engineer for 4 years. In that position I managed the engineering schedule, delivery, and technical compliance of major railroad signaling projects. Examples include installing a positive train control system for SE Philadelphia Transit Authority, preliminary design for a light rail system in Aarhus, Denmark, delivering onboard computer control systems for Sao Paulo Metro, and repairing the signal systems in the Montague Tunnel in NYC that were damaged after hurricane Sandy.
Prior to Ansaldo, I worked (also in Pittsburgh) for 8 years at a nuclear engineering design and service company called Westinghouse Electric Company as a Senior Nuclear Engineer. This was my first position out of college. During my time at Westinghouse I was responsible for design, field work, technical review, and technical leadership. Some of the projects I worked on include delivering an in-reactor instrumentation system that had not been executed in the United States for over ten years, installing instrumentation on main steam lines, working abroad with large equipment sub-suppliers, and performing radiation analysis calculations.
Have you ever been arrested, charged or convicted of a crime? Or have you ever received a “withheld adjudication” or had a matter sealed or expunged? If yes, please explain.
I have only ever received traffic citations for speeding or moving violations.
Have you ever been a plaintiff or a defendant in a civil action, including bankruptcy or foreclosure, or had a restraining order issued against you? If so, please explain.
In Pittsburgh I sued a property manager in civil court because they went months over deadline in repairing water damage from a pipe burst. I won a judgement of about $4000
Are you a member of any civic groups? If so, please name them.
I have attended events for the Community Foundation of Palm Beach and Martin Counties, the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Palm Beach County, and Americans Against Anti-Semitism, as well as a few others. Unfortunately, my attending has been mostly as a candidate and I have not had the time to do more volunteering as a member.
Have you ever run for office before? If so, where and when?
No
Why are you running for this office?
I love Palm Beach County and want to give back. This community is where I grew up as a young adult and learned everything that formed who I am and what I think. Our district is diverse and vibrant and exceptional. I want to share that with the rest of the country and make sure that we are getting the support we deserve from Washington.
If you have chosen to run against an incumbent, why specifically have you done so?
After the primary I would be running against incumbent Congresswoman Lois Frankel. The main reason I am running against her is because I believe she puts party politics above delivering for our county. It is difficult to find any significant bill or benefit she has brought home to the district…and she has been in Congress for ~8 years. I believe that a Representative’s number one job is to go to Washington and bring home support and benefit to their communities.
Why should voters vote for you?
I am not a politician, I’m an engineer and a professor. I believe in solving problems and will always put your issues above party politics or my political career. If I can return to my community, whether it be 2 years or 10 years, and point to specific programs, buildings, parks, or businesses that I helped bring to Palm Beach County then I will have succeeded in being a good Representative. Everyone is Palm Beach County has their dreams and vision for their families…it is my job to work tirelessly to help them make it happen.
What grade would you give Congress for how it works, and why?
I assume this question refers to Congress as a political system and not the specific members and their record right now.
I would overall give the concept of Congress a “B”. The system is designed to be slow moving and deliberative. As a direct contrast, the parliamentary system you see in countries such as the UK has tremendous concentration of power. A UK prime minister who controls 51% of the chamber can pass virtually any law with almost no recourse to the minority parties. Our system was designed as a direct contrast to that and it works as intended. I know this frustrates people but policies that affect the lives of 300+ million should not be enacted on a whim. The main problem I have with Congress is that they are able to, and seemingly willing to, divest their own power to a President or to a Government Agency. This defeats the purpose of separation of powers…the central concept behind the entire Constitution. Congress is supposed to be the most powerful branch of government and should be forced to tackle all the tough issues head on. We aren’t supposed to have a bulk of our laws enacted by unelected bureaucrats.
How would you assess the performance of President Trump?
I assess the performance of President Trump as a “B” as well. My primary focus is on actions and policies, not image or presentation (I know this is a sore spot for many on this topic). I agree with the tax cuts that improved take home pay. I support the cutting of regulations that are shown to be unnecessarily burdensome. I support pulling us out of multi-national agreements that artificially bind our hands and don’t even deliver…the Paris Climate Accord, for example, failed to even deliver on it’s own emission reduction goals. I am a big supporter of bringing soldiers back home and reducing overseas military expenditures. I believe strongly in supporting Israeli self-determination. I believe that we need to be tougher when it comes to trade agreements and realize that free-import is not the same as free-trade. While we can’t have all manufacturing in the United States, it isn’t a zero-sum game…every tariff placed on our exports could potentially have saved a few jobs if we pushed back against it, etc. Lastly, and this is most important, the President has not abused his legal powers. I know the imagery is placed out there that he has…but the truth is the exact opposite. Every action he takes that is even a hair out of line is met with multiple lawsuits and injunctions. His administration has followed every law and Presidential power has not been expanded under his administration. And that is as it should be, the President is part of a separation of powers system we must preserve.
Top issues: In your view, what are the top three issues facing our nation?
Restoring the Economy and getting unemployment back down to it’s low levels pre-COVID
Fixing the Education achievement gap that leads to cyclic poverty
Ensuring that Healthcare and Prescriptions go down in cost without sacrificing choice or service quality
Impeachment: What is your take on the outcome of President Trump’s impeachment trial?
Honestly, I believe the entire process was political theater. The idea that a President would be impeached for doing less than the previous Vice-President actually did is ludicrous. An impeachment process is not supposed to be a no-confidence vote…it has nothing to do with popularity or policy. There needs to be a violation of Constitutional duty or, at the very least, a proven crime.
Election security: Does more need to be done to ensure fair, free and safe elections in these turbulent times? If so, what?
I believe the voting system has already been strengthened significantly. We already have easy access to vote-by-mail through in most States. Here is Florida, you simply fill out a request form (which in PBC is being mailed to every voter) and you will receive a mail-in ballot. We have already been taking many good, proactive steps to strengthen the voting system here in PBC and we should continue on that path.
Health care: If you support the Affordable Care Act, what do you believe could be done to improve it? If you don’t support the Affordable Care Act, what do you propose? Do you favor letting people import drugs from countries like Canada?
The ACA was an omnibus bill, passed largely in secret, that did some things right and many things wrong. I am open to either reforming it or replacing it…to me the details are what matter. It is unacceptable to force anyone to purchase health insurance if they choose against it…so I am against the individual mandate. Likewise, it is unacceptable to create closed business environments and, possibly monopolies, on which providers can compete in each state. The low income subsidy is an element I believe is positive and should have been rolled out through and expanded Medicaid system. The pre-existing condition coverage is something I fully support and any concept must incorporate it. I am also in favor of expanding which drugs Medicare supports (this has a fallout effect on the whole market) and allow increased import of drugs. We must also realize that multinational companies choose to charge different rates in other countries for the same product. It is true that, often, U.S. prices subsidize a larger portion of R&D costs for a drug sold by the same company, but cheaper, in other countries.
Right now we are in an interesting hybrid time where ACA is still available, as is subsidy, but you are not forced to get it and other insurance plans are starting to be available again. We have more options, some price stabilization, and have not lost low income subsidies or pre-existing coverage. What we should do is continue to incentivize the development of new plans while looking to make the good parts of the ACA more effective. I also believe that COVID has shown us the value of incentivizing more domestic pharmaceutical production. This last thing, specifically, can bring benefit directly to South Florida. (and, incidentally, Puerto Rico, where my father is from)
Cuba: Did you support President Trump’s reversal of President Obama’s Cuba policy? What should happen there?
I was unsure of the policy when President Obama put it in place, but was willing to admit we had not tried it before. I believe that there was sufficient evidence of inefficiency to support the reversal that President Trump enacted. The hope is always that increased wealth would lead to a liberalizing of society and politics. The problem with this approach is it generally requires a younger, more pliable ruling class than currently exists in Cuba. With the transition in power from Fidel Castro to Raul Castro and now, nominally, to both Miguel Diaz-Canel and Manuel Marrero it does not seem like the centralized control of the regime will change any time soon. It is possible that the newer leader group will be open to alternate paths in the future but I believe any U.S. overtures should be preceded by efforts from the Cuban Regime.
National debt: Before the coronavirus, the federal deficit was expected to top a trillion dollars this year. How would you have us think about our nation’s mounting debt?
It is difficult for Americans to get a handle on the national debt and understand its effects on us. The truth is, debt service, costs us a significant amount of money we could be using elsewhere. Deficit spending is supposed to be a technique available to us in times of crisis…but politically, cutting spending becomes near impossible and we tend to only see budget increases over time. Perhaps if every American received a yearly “bill” showing how much their portion of the national debt/interest was people would care more? Obviously that’s not going to happen, but we do need some rationality in our national spending. I won’t sign a budget that is larger than the previous year (except in times of real crisis). Getting back to a balanced budget will be a difficult task but we can do it if we set small goals and actually stick to them.
Climate change: What should be done, if anything, to address climate change?
For me what matters is if we ready for a potential problem and are we continually improving? Honestly, we should be concerned about sea levels because they may rise regardless of whether we are the cause. And we should always be moving towards cleaner generation because it is objectively better to have fewer pollutants emitted.
The real questions we should be debating should revolve around how do we approach the future. I don’t believe throwing thousands of people out of work or having utility bills increase is helpful. In fact, it is counter productive because investment in environmental causes always go down during difficult economic times. It is a fact that Americans have reduced their per-capita carbon footprint by ~20% over the last few decades. This is due to public consciousness and better product development and research.
We must support the transition to natural gas. Protesting fracking or gas pipelines just leads to a utility relicensing their coal plants. Germany, a so-called green leader, is transitioning to natural gas for its baseload power needs. Natural gas provides us an immediate, cost effective and economically stable way to immediately reduce emissions and pollutants. As part of the longer term plans, I want to see continued support for solar and wind power but as subsidies to the customer or utility, not manufacturers. I want a national research plan into developing the next generation battery because this is one of the key things holding back electric vehicles. I also want to see expanded use of next generation nuclear power and a renewed focus on energy efficient / green building design. As long as we focus on incentives and research, and not on taxes and punishments, I believe we are more than capable of safeguarding our environmental future.
Money in politics: Have we had enough of campaign finance reform or should something should be done about the influence of money in politics? If so, what?
I am open to campaign finance reform but it is very difficult to actually tackle the problem. Advertisers, lobbyists, political advocacy groups, as well as most incumbent politicians, all directly benefit from the ability to leverage campaign money.
Erosion of trust: People are losing faith in institutions — government, politics, corporations, the media, organized religion, organized labor, banks, businesses. Do you worry about the future of our democracy?
I do not because a loss of faith in the institutions is a giant kick in the rear for the individual human beings to do a better job. “Faith in X Institution” is a way of diverting attention from the actual human beings who failed their jobs. The FBI didn’t fail, the agents who violated their ethical rules failed. The Media didn’t fail, the journalists and editors who knowingly withheld information in order to shape public opinion failed. Our Democracy will survive specifically because it is centered on the concept of separating power. If people know about, and are upset at, abuses…that’s a sign that things are working as intended. It’s when everyone seems to agree and there are “no scandals” that you should probably be worried.
Infrastructure: When President Trump was elected, there was bipartisan agreement to do something about our nation’s infrastructure needs. What happened?
I am unsure why infrastructure was bumped back. I know that tax cuts was a number one priority, which I support. Healthcare reform came as a priority afterwards but it was blocked. After that we got into a sequence of midterm elections, Russia investigations, the Mueller Report, Impeachment, and now COVID and the killing of George Floyd. Up until the last two (COVID and Mr. Floyd), it’s safe to say politics got in the way…
Ethics: Does more work need to be done on ethics reform in Congress? If so, what?
Yes, we need to start with an investigation into why taxpayer money was used to settle personal complaints against elected officials. We also need to know why those complaints were not public knowledge.
Abortion: Do you believe reforms are needed around the issue of abortion?
I believe that we need to immediately place restrictions on late-term abortions and post-birth medical care refusal. Killing babies that are 7+ months old and can clearly live outside the womb, if delivered, is undeniably outside the spirit of any law or supreme court decision.
Past that, I believe we need to see the legal and societal results of several of the current pro-life bills being passed in several of the States.
Education: What is your assessment of the changes and proposals made by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos?
I support increased funding to our Historically Black College system. I also support de-emphasizing Common Core, and specifically the curriculum that was chosen and rolled out for math instruction. Support for school choice and voucher programs is critical for addressing the education achievement gap, as long as support is provided so that public schools are not shut down. At a university level, there needs to be some level of reform so that Universities are responsible for if their graduates have high loan-default rates. We need to put more focus on getting vocational programs back into our middle and high schools as well as supporting Colleges and 2-year programs around the country. I am unsure of how much Ms. DeVos has done in some of these areas.
Venezuela: A great many of the 300,000 Venezuelans who live in this country live in South Florida. What more can or should be done to address the chaos in Venezuela?
I believe Venezuelans here in the United States should be granted legal status if there is any question about their qualifications for asylum. As for policy in Venezuela, I support the current sanctions on oil exports. The simple truth is that Venezuela is one of the richest geographical regions in South America, if not the world. The regime there has destroyed the majority of economic activities and become completely dependent on oil incomes. This is not a case of a poor country that can be lifted through external help. Venezuela was one of the richest countries in South America, with a significant middle class as well. The economy cannot be rebuilt without internal change.
FERPA: The state commission investigating the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School is critical of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA.) It’s been used to prevent law enforcement officers from sharing vital information about such serious events as a serial rapist on a campus, academic favoritism to athletes, biased admission policies and accidental injuries and deaths. It’s also allowed Broward’s school district to withhold what its personnel knew about Nikolas Cruz. Do you see a need for change and if so, how would you make it happen?
I am not read enough of FERPA to comment. I will say, generally, that programs which withhold evidence of violent behavior should not be allowed. We can rehabilitate and help at-risk students without covering up for violent tendencies.
Homelessness: Like other metro areas, homelessness remains a big issue in South Florida. What should be the federal government’s role in addressing this problem?
This is a multi-faceted problem. Every homeless person is different. Some can be helped through general economic improvement and job programs. Others can be helped through homeless shelters and foodbanks. Some require psychiatric help and others actually do not want to engage with society. At a federal level, we can provide support for many of these items, but local assessments need to be done in order to determine individual needs. I would directly engage in performing local assessment, determining our shortage on beds/food/jobs programs/mental health/veterans supports/etc and going to Washington to secure the funding.
Gun safety: The House has passed significant gun control measures. One mandates background checks on all gun sales, including firearm purchases made privately, whether it be online or at gun shows. The other lengthens the review period for a background check from three to 10 days. Do you support these measures? If so, is there anything that could get the Senate to move?
I do not support these measures. These measures have no evidence to show they will lower the crime rate or improve school safety. Families, especially single parents in high crime areas, must be able to defend their homes.
School safety: It’s been a little over two years since the nation’s worst high school happened in Parkland. How would you assess the progress in making schools safe, and what more should be done?
Given that the coward Broward Sheriff (Scott Israel) is running for another term…not enough. I have personally seen enhanced drilling and active shooter planning. This, along with more police training at every individual school (for familiarity and speed of response) has been happening. This is critical, along with further planning and security assessment. Every school needs to have a defined perimeter and we need to explore the use of cameras and video software to immediately highlight suspicious activity for school defense personnel to respond. The Parkland shooter was on a no-bags on campus list, and walked in with a giant duffel bag. That is something that could have been detected and stopped with technology and trained personnel. We owe it to our students to use every tool we have to keep them safe.
Everglades: What do you make of the Army Corps designating the southern reservoir as a “new start,” which will cause delay?
I have to read the specific reasons behind the decision. The reservoir is only part of what we need for proper water management, however.
An imperial presidency. To an extent unseen before, even during the Nixon Administration, President Trump has claimed to be exempt, at least while in office, from laws that apply to others. What would you propose and/or support in response to this?
The President expresses himself with force and exaggeration on a regular basis. This is his style and I understand how it can be upsetting for some. My focus is always on action. The President has not expanded Presidential power or violated the law while in office. That is what matters most to me.
Integrity and independence in government: By dismissals, demotions and transfers, President Trump has extinguished the independence of the inspectors general and the ability of other agencies to perform their duties without fear of presidential reprisal. What, if anything, will you do to protect the independence and integrity of our civil servants?
The President has not done anything outside of the powers given to him by the law. Anyone focusing on whether it is alright for President Trump to remove opposers within his chain of command should also focus on why it was acceptable for President Obama to place sycophants under is. This is the system we currently have. My personal opinion is that we have too many unelected bureaucrats with little to no oversight. I wouldn’t be opposed to an election for National Inspector General…for example.
Is there anything you want us to know about your opponent(s) or anything else, for that matter, that we didn’t ask about?
Nothing about my opponents.
My father is a 25 year airforce veteran, born in Puerto Rico. My mother is a small business owner here in Palm Beach County and was born in Argentina. I am an airforce child and was actually born on tour in the UK. We lived in Spain and New Jersey before coming to Florida. My parents have never left since and I wanted to come back ever since I left for work after college. Got back about 3 years ago and am loving being home.
Is there anything about yourself that we didn’t ask about that would embarrass you if an opponent found out?
Not that I am aware of.
How much money have you raised so far? Please include today’s date.
About $80,000 total as of today, June 9, 2020.
Have you received any other endorsements? If so, which ones?
I am endorsed by the Republican National Hispanic Assembly of Florida and by the LEXIT movement.
