At a time when many Democratic candidates for Congress seem afraid to speak frankly on the important issues of the day, Jeeni Criscenzo is running a frank, yet decent, campaign to challenge Republican incumbent Darrell Issa. Balancing criticism of Congressman Issa’s professional liabilities with a commitment to avoid personal attacks against him, Criscenzo is promoting a strong progressive vision as an alternative to the failed policies of the right wing Republican government.

I spoke with Jeeni Criscenzo earlier this month about her campaign. A transcript of our discussion can be read below:

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You’ve taken a pledge not to be personally critical about Darrell Issa. I’m wondering how you would characterize, professionally, the kind of representation that Darrell Issa has given to your district, and what you hear people saying about that.

He hasn’t represented people. He has represented the special interests. Every vote that he’s made has clearly reflected who his contributors are, who his cronies are, and it’s not the people. It’s not the best interests of the people, from the way that he’s voted not to support the troops with funding when they come home, for the returning veterans and troops and body armor, to the way that he’s voted on the Medicare prescription drug program, to his support, in fact, helping to author the meanest part of the Sensenbrenner bill, which would criminalize people who serve soup to a hungry, starving person in soup kitchen who doesn’t happen to be documented. I don’t think he really is in touch with the people.

You’re speaking of special interests, and I noticed that in some of what you’ve written of corporatocracy to describe the status quo of power in the United States. What does that term mean to you, and how do you think that the corporatocracy works?

It has to do with profit, strictly profit. Corporations have the rights of people in this country, but they exist for one reason: Profit. In fact, it’s illegal for corporations to do something that’s unprofitable. So decisions are being made in this country on the basis of profitability only, and not on the basis of humanity and what’s best for all human beings.

You have a lot of experience working with businesses as a consultant. So, you know the importance of business. How can we support the role of businesses in the economy without creating a complete corporatocracy of the sort that you talk about?

Well, I think we need to take away the people right of corporations. I don’t think that’s going to hurt the ability of businesses to be profitable, and we have many examples of companies that are profitable and ethical. It’s in everybody’s best interests to look out for the best interests of everyone. I’m talking on an international level, on foreign trade policy, we have created cascading consequences. The whole immigration issue can be traced right back to our trade policy that has caused havoc in Mexico and South America and created a situation where we have desperate people. This is all about profit for corporations. If those same corporations were required to have an ethical parameter to their decisions, on what impact their decisions have on human beings and on the environment, it will be for the good of all of us, and those corporations can still make plenty of money. There’s no reason for the incredible greed that’s going on right now.

Darrell Issa will take, and is taking, donations from special interest groups aligned with corporate interests, and because of your ideals and because you want a clean system, you’re not taking that money. How do you run a campaign, practically speaking, without the support of the corporatocracy, with all of the support that they will give to those who are working against your attempt to get into Congress?

It’s really hard. This is why I support clean elections. The people say, “Well, why should we pay for campaigns?” They’re paying for it. They’re paying for it in the bad decisions that are being made against their best interests. For an example, Darrell Issa has been really pushing these sunrise power links, SCG&E high tech power transmission lines that are going to go through the back country and go through the Anzaborego desert. The environmental impact of that is terrible. It will affect the quality of life of so many people. We’re going to give the power of eminent domain to a corporation, so that they can just go in and take people’s land.

Darrell Issa is taking contributions from Granite Construction. They want to build a huge, open pit quarry in Temecula that will not only be a huge scar on the landscape, it will be an environmental problem. It will put 1400 of those huge trucks on I-15 every day. It’s going to cause silica dust to be blown into Temecula valley, and the way that the environment is there, there’s a nice breeze that blows in from the Pacific, which is why people like to live in Temecula. What that breeze is going to have in it now is the same thing that causes black lung disease, Miner’s Lung. You’re going to have a whole generation of children growing up with asthma and lung disease as a result of this quarry. Darrell Issa takes money from this company, and you can’t tell me that that doesn’t influence his decisions.

You’ve been very outspoken in your style of campaigning, using strong language and addressing important issues that other Democratic candidates seem to be afraid to touch. So, what makes you different?

Well, I actually have a great freedom because everybody said I don’t have a chance in hell of winning this campaign. The reason that I stood up to run is that nobody wanted to. How do you win a campaign against one of the richest men in Congress, in a district that’s two-to-one Republican to Democrat? It’s impossible, they told me. So, that gives me tremendous freedom to say what I think, because I have nothing to lose. I just might surprise everybody. They might just find out that you can say the truth, that people do respect someone who speaks truth to power and stands up to the bully.

So, what can supporters like me, people who don’t live in your district, do to help out your campaign?

Write big checks. You know, we need money to do anything. The news has pretty much spiked me. The Union Tribune, the day after the primaries, there must be a law over at the Union Tribune, something on a bulletin board that says, “Do not ever print the name Jeeni Criscenzo.” After the primary, they wrote that Darrell Issa was facing no opposition. I’ve done several major events, one after the election to call attention to what I discovered with all of the flaws in the election system, and the Union Tribune covered it, but they said it was organized by an election activist. They refused to print my name. So, how do I get my name out there? It takes money. We can be creative, but it still takes money.