By Chandler Lasch
When Buena Park resident and former professor Phil Janowicz saw his students struggling with issues outside of the classroom, he decided to run for Congress.
“I’m running for my students,” Janowicz said. “I’m running to make a change.”
Janowicz is running for Congress, hoping to replace Ed Royce in representing the 39th district. He taught chemistry at California State University Fullerton for six years.
“I saw my students struggle with more than just chemistry,” he said. “Some spend 30-40 hours a week at work to pay for school. My hope is to be a voice for students, family, and the community. For too long, the voice of working class families and students have not been heard in Washington.”
Janowicz is now the president and CEO of Quill and Abacus, an education consulting company that he began with his wife Angela. He worked at Fullerton to close achievement gaps, such as graduation rates, among minority students. There, he helped students teach other students.
“We’re empowering students to empower themselves,” Janowicz said.
A Democrat, Janowicz praised the Affordable Care Act, supports increased Pell grants and a higher minimum wage, and supports laws guaranteeing maternity and paternity leave.
On healthcare, Janowicz emphasized his view that affordable care is needed. He stated that the ACA allowed him to pursue starting his own business. Janowicz also related a story about a student of his who was uninsured, and, after an emergency surgery, had to leave school, and took two years to pay off her medical bills and return to her studies.
“If we are worrying about basic necessities,” he said. “This sows fears in people and in me. We should be living our lives without worrying. Our current medical system is not working well.”
Janowicz said a solution is needed to bring down costs, and when pressed for specifics, said he favored either a public option or a single-payer system, adding that a public option is “probably the most practical.”
A scientist, Janowicz is concerned with the effects of climate change, and said that solutions such as carbon dioxide sequestration are needed to counter greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, he said that the United States needs to invest more in scientific research and jobs, and criticized cuts to the National Science Foundation, NASA, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
“Investments in those led to the best scientific discoveries of the 1900s,” Janowicz said. “By pulling away, we’re saying that 50 years from now, we won’t be the leader in science and tech anymore.”
Janowicz said that funding for Pell grants should be higher, stating that grants do not currently meet the needs of low-income students, though he said he did not know how big an increase was needed.
“We tell people they need an education to thrive,” he said. “If that’s in our best national interest, when we say, ‘you need this, but it’s on you,’ then it’s only for the rich or those who can take loans.”
When asked where increased funding would come from, he said that “it would have to depend,” that it could potentially come from cuts to another program, and that this was “definitely worth looking into.”
Janowicz said that he favors an increased minimum wage, and when asked for specifics, said that the amount should vary by area and be indexed to inflation.
“It should reflect being able to live in an area where you want,” he said. “If people are working 2-3 jobs all at the minimum wage and can barely afford [to live in the area of their choice], this is a problem.”
He said that an ideal minimum wage in California could be determined by looking at the labor market, and added that $15 an hour seemed good, but that he hadn’t done the research to know for sure.
“The point of the minimum wage is to help workers,” he said.
When asked how he could guarantee that business owners could afford to pay their workers higher wages, he stated that there are no long-term negative effects of a mandatory increased wage. He cited Seattle, Washington as an example, and referenced a study done by researchers at UC Berkeley. This study found that the wages of workers in food service increased while employment was unaffected, although a conflicting study done by the University of Washington found that hours and overall payroll decreased for low-wage workers.
When asked about businesses such as McDonald’s and Panera Bread who have chosen to automate in response to higher minimum wages, Janowicz said that the solution is to “try to educate for the jobs of tomorrow,” explaining that he thought workers should learned to do jobs that machines cannot. He offered no short-term solution for a hypothetical fast-food employee who, while studying to learn a better trade, is replaced by a machine before he has the chance to take a more secure job.
Janowicz justified his view that a minimum wage is necessary by saying that a lack of a set wage leads to underbidding, and that this is “bad for national economic interests.” Therefore, employees and employers should not be able to agree on a set wage that is lower than the minimum wage, he said.
“If you work for $1 an hour,” he said. “This has negative effects. Social services will be needed to help you survive. It’s better to provide up front then save you later when it’s needed.”
Janowicz said that he supports laws guaranteeing maternity and paternity leave.
“It is in our best national interest to take time off to take care of newborns, if we want children to grow up well,” he said. “We are one of the few countries that does not offer this.”
He said that he has heard of stories of people leaving their jobs for other places of employment that do offer leaves, stating that this was a “selling point for workers.” When pressed on the question of why paid leave should be made mandatory given that the free market may be offering a solution, he reiterated that such leaves are “in our best national interest.” When asked if mandatory leave would make employers less likely to hire young people who might have children, he said only that he doubted it would.
Janowicz said that he supports “equal pay for equal work” laws, such as the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 and laws that would protect it. He supports an open hiring process, and said, “it needs to be clear why someone moved on or not to root out discrimination and protect against it the best that we can.”
Janowicz also stated on his website that LGBTQ individuals “deserve all the legal rights that all citizens are afforded.” When asked what rights are not currently protected, he said that these individuals “are not federally protected for jobs.” He said that some states have protections, but these are “needed as federal law.” He said, “No matter whom you love, this should not affect whether you have a job or not, and adoption as well.” When asked if he favored across the board protections or exemptions for religious organizations, he said, “across the board.”
Janowicz reemphasized his desire to be a voice for people in the 39th district.
“We are working hard every day to flip the 39th,” he said. “There are so many people in the 39th working hard every day, and they need someone working hard for them. I’m working hard right alongside them.”
This article was first featured in the July 21 Buena Park Independent.
