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Name: William Dean “Doc” Gillenwater
Office sought: U.S. House District 12, currently held by Democratic Rep. Mel Watt
Party: Republican
Age: 59
Occupation: Worked as a supervisor from Tar Heel Utility, a subsidiary of Piedmont Natural Gas until last year. “I’ve been in construction most of my life.”
Political experience: Ran for a statehouse seat in the early 1990s but that run was cut short by an auto accident.
Community involvement: Gillenwater said he has not been involved in groups such as Lions, etc…
Online: http://www.docforcongress2010.com/
Family: Married, three sons.
Hometown: Greensboro (He moved here in 1980).
Quotable: On why he decided to run for Congress: “I got tired of arguing with the TV. I’m not satisfied with what’s going on in D.C.”

On the Federal Reserve: “I think the Federal Reserve needs to be investigated; I think it needs to be shut down. Ben Franklin and several others warned us not to have a centralized bank to control our money.”

Gillenwater was a Tea Party organizers (links here and here) and helped organize a “tax day” last year and helped with a couple of rallies elsewhere.

“They just aren’t listening and to me the greatest part of the reason are career politicians that have just gotten out of control and I think it’s time to replace all of them, Democrats and Republicans,” Gillenwater said.

Gillenwater says the United States is "moving in the direction of socialism." I asked him to talk about that assertion: “We’re getting too much government involvement in people’s personal lives, too much bureaucracy, too many agencies being created. They’re getting too much control of our money…This is crazy. We need to restructure our tax system. The IRS needs to be eliminated because to me they’re nothing but a punitive arm the government anyway.”

Gillenwater says he would favor a “Flat Tax,” in which most current taxes are replaced with a single income tax.

Click below to listen to more from Gillenwater on taxes:

I asked Gillenwater where he differed most with Watt: He replied that the congressman’s support of the president’s health care reform plans is one big point of contention.

“If you look at his voting record, he has voted straight Democratic ticket on every Democratic bill that’s ever come through,” Gillenwater said.

Gillenwater said that Watt is taking votes, particularly African American votes in the 12th District, for granted.

“He thinks that just because he’s black that black voters are going to vote for him,” Gillenwater said. “You know, I have worked in the trenches with these people all my life and I’ve been in their shoes, I understand where they’re at and I hope they’ll vote for me because I won’t lie to them, to anybody.”

On health care: Gillenwater said that tort reform – curbing lawsuits related to medical care – is needed. Also, he said that insurance companies should be able to offer products across state lines.

On trade: “I believe that putting a heavy burden on these tariffs would make people bring their factories and their jobs back inside the country, then you can reward them with tax breaks or whatever,” Gillenwater said. His proposal would essentially undue the free trade agreements negotiated over the past 20 years. “It’s hurting us in too many other ways, so I’m not sure how fair it is.”

Click below to listen to Gillenwater talk about health care, trade and the politics of the 12th district:

On immigration: “I believe the border needs to be shut down for a while, just completely shut down. We have the manpower; we have the resources to protect our own borders.”

All traffic? No, said Gillenwater.

“No, you can’t stop international traffic. I mean basically shut down between here and Mexico. Not for a long time but enough to get some sort of fence structure in place there…and to get probably the National Guard to watch the border. And I think the punishment needs to be more severe for people who get across,” Gillenwater said.

More on immigration from Gillenwater: