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Bo Hess is one of seven Democrats vying for the chance to face incumbent Rep. Madison Cawthorn. Donated photo
Pillar of NC-11 Democrat Bo Hess’ campaign is safety standing on. We’re not just rehashing or telling the voters what is wrong. We already know what is wrong. We need somebody who is a problem solver and that is what this campaign is about.”
that is going to be immediately struck down by the Supreme Court. I definitely am not going to be the legislator that gets there and starts writing laws that become struck down and ineffective.
The Smoky Mountain News: I’ve asked all the candidates some pretty similar questions because these sorts of issues have been haunting this district for more than a decade. The first one — is Medicaid expansion the answer for North Carolina, or do you have a different idea of how to address the healthcare gap?
SMN: Other components that people usually mention when they’re talking about common sense gun reform is banning the sale of high-capacity magazines and strengthening red flag laws. Let’s take these one-on-one — magazines first. BH: I think that the federal courts have pretty much said that we have a right to those. SMN: The second component is red flag laws. BH: That must be a time-limited thing, and then there must be consequences for people who cry “wolf ” on those. I am one of those people, I’m a mental health clinician who actually does perform IVCs [involuntary commitments]. That is a level that I work with. I work with people who are homicidal, suicidal, who have already tried to commit suicide, or are just severely psychotic and maybe dangerous and in other ways, so absolutely this is an issue, but it must be time limited and there must be consequences for people who cry “wolf.” Again, because that is taking away somebody’s rights, and our rights are guaranteed in the Constitution.
Sept. 29-Oct. 5, 2021
I’m not running on being a black pastor. I’m not running on being a lesbian mom. I am running on the issues that are important to the people of WNC. — Bo Hess
BY CORY VAILLANCOURT POLITICS E DITOR orn at Reese Air Force Base in Lubbock, Texas, Democrat Bo Hess is both a product of his upbringing and of the influence of his parents. “I’m a licensed clinical social worker, addiction specialist and law enforcement trainer. I run a small private practice as well. I grew up in military schools. My dad was in the Air Force, my mom was also a social worker and so service has been a huge piece of my life,” said Hess. “For the 21 years that I’ve made Western North Carolina home, I have been showing up in a lot of ways, whether that’s working with the local sexual assault agency or being on the board of the North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition, or delivering food to elders or showing up like in Cruso.” Hess, 37, earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Western Carolina University, and styles himself a systems thinker, con10 cerned with the effects of decisions down the
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road. “If we have hungry people in WNC or if we have an addicted population WNC, that directly affects our national security,” he said. “If we have corporate bailouts so that we can get them to our area, then that has a ripple effect 10 years down the line on the types of people who move here, the congestion, the crime, and all sorts of things that we need to really be thinking about.” But the biggest concern for Hess is, in a broad sense, public safety. Although most people would associate that term with law enforcement, as a social worker Hess thinks of it as more revolving around healthcare, addiction and mental illness. “Mental illness is going to be the number one cause of mortality in the next 20 years and we must have a leader who understands systems, understands what the threats are and then knows the solutions and provides the solutions,” he said. “We have a full and robust platform on my website where we have concrete solutions that we are really
Bo Hess: Medicaid expansion is kind of the next step that we can do. However, we also need to be making sure that we’re building up the infrastructure for health care. The issue is that if we pass Medicaid for all, or even really expanded Medicaid to any certain degree, we would have trouble actually delivering quality care to individuals. We have actually trouble delivering care to people who have insurance right now. And so a big piece of my platform is making sure that we are educating our high schoolers, making sure that our community colleges are on board, making sure that we have nurses, physical therapists, making sure that we have counselors, social workers, doctors in the pipeline, ready to go so that we have an infrastructure in five to 10 years, because that is where we’re headed, especially as we move to elect younger, more forward-thinking candidates. SMN: Similar question, another of these issues that’s haunted us for far more than a decade is gun violence. What does common sense gun reform mean to you? BH: It means legislation that doesn’t trample on any rights of any law-abiding citizen to their Second Amendment. That is front and center for me. We must be able to keep and bear arms. We must be able to defend our person, our home, our car, so common sense is not legislating something
SMN: Your campaign is about safety. You come from a public health background, and you deal with some of the most difficult problems in our society on a daily basis. What can be done in Congress to further address the opioid epidemic? BH: There are a couple of tiers here. Number one, increasing access. So right here in Western North Carolina, if somebody needed access to a bed for addiction, they would not have that access. If they needed a bed for depression, they would not have that access. Number two is increasing evidence-based care at these facilities. We have many staterun facilities that are actually wasting taxpayer dollars because they are not actually providing evidence-based care. Number three, making sure that there’s good retention and follow up for these individuals, making sure there’s good primary care. And we’re looking at all the social determinants of health, which means things like healthy food, sleep schedule, the crime rate, all of these other kinds of peripheral things that the campaign, from a systems perspective, will affect. In the long-term is building up that infrastructure. I want to
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