House candidate vows to find truth of Sept. 11
COEUR d'ALENE - Republican Reed McCandless said he will get to the bottom of what happened to World Trade Center Building 7 on Sept. 11.
McCandless, who has a Moscow mailing address but declined to say where he lives, is one of several Republicans seeking to unseat Congressman Raul Labrador. The others are Sean Blackwell, Michael Greenway and Lisa Marie.
McCandless believes Building 7 didn't just collapse from heat and damage several hours after the nearby Twin Towers fell, but was brought down deliberately with explosives. It's a common conspiracy theory, and one that has been debunked.
"It's my responsibility to help the Republican voter become aware of some things that, to me, the Republican voter is supporting unwittingly," McCandless told The Press Tuesday as he campaigned.
He said the public remains in the dark about what exactly happened to Building 7.
"If people, I don't know, society, wants some evidence of something, you're not going to get any more than this," McCandless said. "If this doesn't work for people, nothing will."
He added: "There is no other explanation other than it was a controlled demolition."
The bank Salomon Smith Barney, the CIA, the Department of Defense, utility company ConEd and the IRS had space in the building. Everyone was able to evacuate Building 7 before it went down.
"I cannot expect Congress, I can't expect the Republicans to get this right on their own - they need a push," McCandless said. "And that's what I'm here to do."
He said such deceptive actions allow government powers, and their secret partners, to shape U.S. foreign policy around lies. That includes massive military expenditures, he said.
"There's no end to the ramifications of what happened to this building," McCandless said. "The real United States would not do that. The real United States would not sabotage something and blame it on somebody else just to start something."
The 52-year-old McCandless, who has three grown children and one 15-year-old son, makes his living as a truck driver.