Things are looking up for 27-year-old congressional candidate Paul Dietzel II, who raised $200,000 in campaign donations in 2013 and recently made his first national media appearance Tuesday on the Fox Business network. If elected, the University alumnus could become the youngest current member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Dietzel’s competition for Louisiana’s 6th Congressional District seat includes Republican Dan Claitor, Republican Cassie Felder, Republican Ryan Heck and Democrat Richard Lieberman. Also running is University political science Ph.D. candidate Norman Clark.
According to University political science professor James Garand, Dietzel has one distinct advantage over his opponents.
“A person with the name recognition of Paul Dietzel gives people a basis to remember him,” Garand said. “That name is worth its weight in gold.”
For Louisianians, the name Paul Dietzel carries considerably more weight than it does for residents of other states. Paul Dietzel, the candidate’s grandfather and namesake, led the University’s football team to its first national championship in 1959.
The University is significant to Dietzel in other ways, teaching him skills he said he plans to use in Washington, should he be elected.
“One of the things I took away from my experiences was that you really have to go out of your way to make sure you can work with everybody,” Dietzel said of his time spent as president of the University’s College Republicans organization.
After graduation, Dietzel moved to Los Angeles to pursue film financing. While there, he received an MBA and a master’s degree in public policy from Pepperdine University and met a few film stars in California.
Dietzel credits Gary Sinise for leading him to start his software company.
Sinise’s nephew introduced Dietzel to his friend, who was running for Congress. After working for the campaign for three months, Dietzel left to start his own business, Anedot.com, a website that gives political campaigns and other causes the ability to collect and manage donations.
“I had realized that everybody across the country all needed to raise money,” Dietzel said.
Though Dietzel values the skills and experiences his education had provided, he said he believes “not everyone should go to college,” and said young adults are too often pressured to pursue fields they have no interest in.
Responding to critics who question his lack of political experience, Dietzel said he does not think political experience is a “valid criteria” for effective congressmen.
In terms of social issues, Dietzel opposes the death penalty, noting that, “from a fiscal standpoint, killing somebody costs a lot more than it does to keep them alive.”
Dietzel, a Baptist Christian, quickly added he does not believe humans were created to be the deciders of life.
When it comes to gun control, Dietzel vows to uphold the constitution and defend the Second Amendment.
“Law-abiding citizens that go and buy their gun and register their gun and everything else – they’re not going around killing people.”
In an article from February 2013, however, Mother Jones reports there have been at least 62 mass shootings across the country since 1982. Of the 143 guns possessed by killers, more than 75 percent of the weapons were obtained legally.
“The issue is not guns,” Dietzel said. “The issue is making sure that we have the appropriate resources to take care of people that have mental health issues.”
In addition to anti-gun legislation, Dietzel also opposes the Affordable Care Act, which allows young Americans to stay on their parents’ plan up to age 26.
“I assume the reason why a lot of young Americans want to be on their parents’ plan is because they can’t find a job,” Dietzel said. “I don’t know many young Americans that wouldn’t want to pay for their own health care.”
On the subject of gay marriage, Dietzel said the matter “is not my issue” and “marriage seems more like a church issue, not a government issue.”
Instead, Dietzel said he is more concerned with the federal government’s debt and the long-term implications it has for this country.
“If we continue spending the money that we are spending as a country, we’re not going to be able to protect our country,” Dietzel said. “It won’t matter who you’re marrying or what you’re doing. We’ll all be in a very bad position.”
“One of the things that I took away from my experiences was that you really have to go out of your way to make sure you can work with everybody.”
Paul Dietzel is running for congressional office in 2014.
