Eight years after his congressional career ended, former U.S. Rep.  Matt Salmon has become one of the state’s most vocal critics of the Republican party. Salmon, with the help of other conservatives like Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, former state Sen. Paul Boyer and Maricopa County Supervisors Clint Hickman and Bill Gates, is spearheading the newly formed organization, Conservative Agenda for Arizona, to help conservatives like himself find a home in Arizona’s political scene.

The questions and answers have been edited lightly for style and clarity.

Tell me about your organization.

There’ve been a lot of Republicans that I’ve spoken with that feel like the current Republican party just doesn’t represent them any more. With so many conspiracy theories that have been thrown out there and the election denialism, a lot of conservatives want to get back to our roots so to speak. The idea that we’re focused on a smaller government, less taxes, low regulation, safe neighborhoods, strong education. Those are the kinds of things that motivated conservatives for years and years. A strong military, free trade, pro business. Ronald Reagan was running for president when I registered and he embodied all of those things. Today, the Republican Party seems more committed to the personality of one individual rather than ideas and conservative policies.

What are some of the steps the group has taken to accomplish this?

We’ve organized the group. We’ve created a webpage. We’ve filed as an organization. We had a kick off event with former Gov. Jan Brewer speaking. Next, we just want to really do a couple things. We want to recruit like-minded people to come and participate with the group, but we also want to get back to actually drafting policy and putting that policy out there.

Any specific policy in mind?

Lower taxes, lower regulations, smaller government. One of the things just off the top of my head that I am very committed to at the federal level is a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution so that the people in Congress have to balance the budget every year instead of deficit spending as far as the eye can see. Term limits is another thing I’m really committed to. I was part of the team in Congress that actually balanced the budget four years in a row. That’s only been done once in the last 100 years. Runaway spending creates monetary policy at the Federal Reserve of printing more money and the end result is hyperinflation, which we’ve seen. It’s directly related to the spending that’s going on in D.C. 

How do you reach a voter who is still unconvinced about our elections?

We’re trying, and I think repetition is a good thing. Providing people with the facts. The fact that there have been literally dozens of lawsuits filed across the country and they’ve all been unsuccessful regarding a stolen election or a failed election. I mean the Republican party has long considered itself to be the party of rule of law and rule of law means that you abide by what happens in the court system. Evidence is an important thing. One of my heroes was John Adams, one of the framers of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Adams once said “facts are stubborn things.” I think that we need to make facts stubborn things and just keep repeating them until people understand what the facts are.

What was different about your two runs in Congress?

It was far more polarizing.There were no Blue Dog Democrats anymore. There were very few Centrists. I’m very conservative, but I think you have to have a balance.  Social media didn’t exist when I was in Congress the first time and it existed in a big way my second time. I think a lot of the problems were because of 24-hour-news cycles and social media. It contributed a lot to the problem – people providing misinformation through social media but also just people being so unkind. Many times, not even backing up their accusations with facts or even their real name. That really contributed in a big way toward the degradation of working together. For one thing too, I never saw a president that disrespected the Congress as much as Obama. He really tried to do everything through executive order and he kind of operated more like a king than a president. Obama wasn’t the first to really exceed constitutional authority through executive orders but he sure put it on steroids.

Favorite moment from office?

The very first year that we balanced the budget because it hadn’t been done in over 40 years. The fact that we did it four years in a row – I was very happy when I left because we had a balanced budget and had a surplus of $140 billion. I felt like I had done my job because the thing I was most concerned about when I ran for Congress was the deficit spending and the federal debt growing as it was.

What was the worst part of the job?

About 80% of the time, I was away from my family. Another worst part of the job is the pressure from the leadership in your own party to capitulate on your beliefs and do what they tell you to do. Both parties do it. It’s very frustrating for me. You don’t get placed on committees unless you basically agree to give them your voting card. I don’t think that’s what the American people expect. I remember one time a speaker referred to himself as the “boss” and I said you’re not the boss. The people are the boss, they’re the ones that elected us. I don’t report to you and you can’t hire me and you can’t fire me. You are the person that runs this place but you’re not my boss. Both parties don’t seem to have a real meritocracy. If you’re willing to raise money for your party, then they put you on the A-level Committees. If not, then they put you on other committees. So many people are joining the independent ranks because people are fed up with both parties being so self-serving. 

Tell me more about these A level committees.

The A level Committees are Energy and Commerce, Ways and Means, and Appropriations in the House side. Banking and Insurance is probably an A-minus committee but if you want to serve on one of those committees you have to basically pledge your life away and raise hundreds of thousands a year for the national Republican Congressional committee. They ought to be putting people on there that know something about those subjects. That’s what voters expect and that’s what they deserve.

What’s life been like for you post-Congress?

I’ve been able to spend a lot more time with my children, my grandchildren, my wife, and that’s been incredibly important. I’ve been able to be a lot more outspoken. When you’re in office, you’re always worried about the next election. It’s liberating to not concern yourself with that. Many of my former colleagues are so afraid to speak truth to power because they’re afraid that under the current regime, they’ll be primaried and it’ll be a tough election. They’re more concerned about that than speaking truth and that’s tragic. Now, I don’t have to pull any punches. I can say what I believe without concern of an election. We need a lot more truth speaking because our nation is in a bad way right now. It’s the greatest nation on Earth but I’ve never seen it so polarized, where people hate one another for their beliefs. Political beliefs, religious beliefs, whatever. They literally hate them and sometimes on both sides of the aisle, they wish them violence. That’s really tragic and sad. We shouldn’t be here.

Why are term limits important to you?

You don’t worry about losing. I made a term limit pledge when I was first elected. It was really liberating. Under the traditional set up, it was shackling because people considered me a lame duck from day one. I took on the speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. I went on to Larry King Live and Good Morning America, and I said I’ve got five votes with me to deny Gingrich the speakership and two days later, he resigned. Would most people in my position, if you were worried about serving for the rest of your life, do something like that? No.

Are you nervous about the upcoming election?

Yeah. Either way, and I can’t tell you how many people have brought it up to me that they’re nervous too. They’re nervous that there’s going to be violence either way the election goes.

I’m surprised to see a founding member of the House Freedom Caucus take on the position that you have.

The House Freedom Caucus started out with very good intentions.. It was a group of fiscal hawks that was about balancing the budget. That was our number one job. It was about adhering to Constitutional principles and holding the body accountable. it morphed into a cheering section for Trump when I left. They became a bunch of sycophants and people that were rubber stamps for whatever Trump wanted. Trump actually added more into the federal deficit than any other president in one term in the history of the country, including Joe Biden. I wouldn’t have stood for that. In a way, it was kind of a blessing I left when he was elected because I actually took our mandate seriously. He’s not a conservative. Never has been.