U.S. House District 7 covers Springfield, Joplin, Branson and much of southwest Missouri. The following is a transcript from Ozarks Public Radio's interview with Richards recorded on July 24.
I'm Chris Drew. I'm here with Republican candidate for the seventh Congressional District, Camille Lombardi-Olive, thank you for being with me today, Camille.
“Oh, well, thank you for inviting me.”
We're going to jump right into things here. If you are elected to represent Southwest Missouri in the US House of Representatives, what will your top agenda items be?
“Immigration issues, mainly people coming into the country without being vetted, without applying, without paying the fees. That's one big issue. Funding for Ukraine. Let's take care of our own first. Let's rebuild our inner cities. You know, let's help raise them up to a level where, you know, we're all successful. Because I think when we're throwing $80 billion a year at a foreign country and getting involved in their civil war, we're not really benefiting Americans directly. And I think with the economy tanking and everything else, it's time that we focus back on America and making America strong and making America safe. And that's my main thing with the immigration. We're not vetting these people. Known terrorists have come over our border. Criminals, you know, that were escaping other countries come here and then commit crimes. We're putting Americans in harm's way. That's got to stop. We need to go back to the old immigration. I'm not anti-immigration. Let's do it legally so we can vet you to make sure you pay your fees and you wait your turn in line, because it's not fair when they cut in front of everybody else.”
Abortion is a hot button issue right now with several states facing ballot issues on the subject. What are your views on abortion and the right to choose?
“Well, I'm pro-life. I'm also pro birth control, but not the abortion pill. Um, it doesn't make sense if you say you're pro-life, but then you tell them they can't take birth control to prevent getting pregnant. I think birth control should be free nationwide. I think when you start putting a price on it, you're telling low-income people: well, you can't afford it that's on you. And then they get pregnant. You say: well, you have to take care of the kid. Um, we're taking the responsibility away from the woman and handing it to politicians. I do believe, like I said, I'm pro-life, but I do believe that birth control is an issue that needs to be accessible nationwide, and it should be free. And that's about all I have to say about that.”
The voting process has been a key topic of discussion both at the federal and state level. How do you think the US can ensure fair elections, while also ensuring that everyone has an equal chance to cast a ballot?
“I think Americans have lost faith in the system. I worked the ballot box last time. I worked the election in 2020 and what I personally witnessed, I would tell you, I don't believe that our elections are secure. Um, while I had taken an elderly person to the front who overmarked her ballot and it wouldn't feed, when I got back, within those two minutes, the back of the ballot box was wide open. Ballots all over the floor and somebody taking photos. Now, keep in mind the Republican judge and the Democrat judge each have a different key to open the back. So how did the back get open? And then later that night they were hand, you know, removing them by hand and putting them in manila envelopes. And I'm like, wow, how is that secure? I could understand if it electronically got fed into, you know, this container. And then it went to a secure location and then it was verified with account there. But when you have all these in-between things, taking them out, putting them in an envelope, people getting access to the back that shouldn't have access. I just, I think we have a big problem with securing votes, and I can't guarantee to people that their vote counted because I'm not sure it did. I think we have the technology to make it better, and I think we should.”
What do you think should be done to address illegal immigration issues in the United States?
“Um, no illegal immigration. If they come over our border without being vetted, without applying they've broken our laws. Zero tolerance. In fact, if you come over our border illegally, you need to be banned for life from ever being allowed to immigrate again, because we can't allow people to just play with our laws and just ignore them at will. That's putting all Americans in harm's way, number one. Number two, financially, the burden is incredible. We are stealing money from areas in this country that need it. We're stealing money from education. We're stealing money from health care because we're giving it to them. We're giving them housing. Not one immigrant, illegal or even legal should have housing before we have housed every single homeless veteran. You know, we have to change our priorities, and our priorities have to be veterans and legal Americans first. That's it. You know, there's no compromise on thatOh, I'm being persecuted. Yeah. That's why you have an iPhone 14. You're being persecuted. I can't even afford that. Yet, we're letting these people in. We're supporting them with our tax dollars, and that's got to stop. Take care of us first.”
Do you think the United States should continue to fund the war in Ukraine? Why or why not?
“No. This is a protracted, extended civil war. Um, it's been going on for over two years now. You know, what are we spending at least $80 billion a year to build them up? I'm not even sure what's actually going on over there. But if you look back in history, Ukraine used to be part of Russia. You know, I believe that was before World War two. They even speak Russian in Ukraine. So, it's like, what are we doing? Oh, we're using the Russian threat. Well, 2016, what did I hear for four years? Oh, Russia, Russia, Russia, the Russia collusion, you know, hoax. Um, I'm sorry, this is not an issue that the United States needs to take on every single time. You know, if they can't get some kind of consortium of all these other nations to get together and equitably share this cost, then it should not be Americans’ burden to bear. We've got our own problems here. Let's take care of Americans.”
And what are your views on the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas?
"What are my views on what happened on September 11th, 2001? It's the same thing. There's no difference. They were attacked by terrorists. Hamas is terrorists. Hamas was installed by over 90% of those eligible to vote them into office or power or whatever have you in in Gaza. So, the people it's hard to separate the people from the terrorists because as far as I can see, they all seem to work together, you know, towards whatever their main goal is, which seems to be to eliminate Israel. Israel, on the other hand, has been around for over 2000 millennia. You know, that's back in the Old Testament, um, for people to say: oh, Palestine's always been there. Actually, if you look in history, there is no such place as Palestine. So, we've allowed that, that murky, you know, uh, pro-terrorist kind of mantra to overshadow reality from, you know, fairy tale. I don't believe they should have their own state either. I don't think you should be able to attack a sovereign nation like Israel, and then turn around and say, well, we'll sign a peace thing if you give us our own country. No, I don't agree to that. They were attacked by terrorists. They have a right to defend themselves, and they have a right to do whatever you know, they deem necessary to keep their people safe. We were in Afghanistan for 20 years. We killed over 432,000 civilians. So, if you don't look at that marker and say, oh, that's okay, but then you're going to judge Israel, that's not right.”
Just a couple questions left. If your political party wins a majority in the US House, what should voters expect?
“It depends on who gets voted in. I think we've had a lukewarm activity up in Washington, DC in the past two years. I've heard a lot of promises. I've heard a lot of threats. Oh, we're going to threaten to impeach this person and this person, and we're going to censor him. And but I haven't actually seen a lot of action. So, when you run for office and you promise your constituents, you promise the voters you're going to take action, you're going to cut down on corruption, you’re going to, you know, hold people accountable. And then you get in and you don't really do anything other than threaten. Um, we need new leadership. We need a new vision. We need new representation that actually remembers that they work for us, the people. They don't work for themselves. They're supposed to work for us. You know, if they're not an extension of our voice or the will of the people, then they're not there on our behalf. They're there for themselves. And I think that's what's happened in Washington, D.C. in general is politicians in general are narcissistic. They'd love to be worshiped. At least that's my opinion of them. They rarely do things that benefit their community. And I mean personally hands, hands, you know, down boots on the ground. I just don't see them helping the people directly like they should.”
And our last question, in your opinion, what makes the seventh district a unique place and what can our elected representatives contribute to leadership discussions in DC?
“Seventh district really kind of represents kind of almost the entire America. We have Springfield, which is a quasi-city. We're surrounded by rural areas. We have to deal with a lot of things. And unfortunately, Springfield, I've recently read, is considered one of the most dangerous small towns or small cities in America, and yes, I have seen violent crime escalate. So how are we like the rest of America? Well, I if you look at Springfield, it's a lot like Saint Louis. The homeless is growing. You know, the crime is growing. Perhaps the standards and education aren't quite what they used to be. Our tax liability is growing. So, we are kind of the epitome of, you know, a general view of what's going on in America. And, of course, we're surrounded by farmland that slowly dwindling away into foreign hands. Um, companies like Smithfield, which is wholly owned, I believe, by a Chinese subsidiary. They don't have the same, you know, environmental processes that we do. And there's just a lot wrong with what's going on. I feel like we're being sold."
Thanks again for being here again. I'm Chris Drew, and I've been speaking with candidate, Republican candidate for the seventh district, Camille Lombardi-Olive.