HD 13 candidates face off in debate

Two of the candidates for Montana House District 13 participated in a Lincoln Douglas style debate. Jim Elliott, the Democratic candidate and Renn Bodecker, the Constitutionalist candidate participated. The incumbent Republican candidate Pat Ingraham was invited but did not attend.

The debate was moderated by Tom Eggensberger and the format was different than any of the previous forums that have been held. Each candidate had 15 minutes to introduce themselves and explain some of the reasons why they running and what some of their main issues would be. After the introductions 10 minutes were allowed for each candidate for rebuttal. After the introduction period was over the candidates got a list of nine topics, which included: the bailout, health care, jobs, budget surplus, economy, education, health insurance, local option tax, and natural resources. The first candidate would pick a topic and get four minutes to discuss it, then the other candidate would also get four minutes to discuss the topic. After the initial discussion each candidate got two minutes to have a rebuttal against what the other one was said. After each candidate got the opportunity to select two topics, the debate moved to a five minute closing for each candidate.

Elliott started off the debate talking about how he got involved in the state legislature. He said he began his journey at the Trout Creek dump. “The dump board became a springboard to being the legislative chairman of the Senate taxation committee,” he said.

Elliott went on to say that the Montana Constitution gives the power to the people and you can’t govern any other way. He said that the most important issues that he felt faced Montanans were health care, economic stability and natural resources. He said that in Montana we insure the young, poor and disabled and others who don’t fit into those categories should be entitled to coverage as well.

Elliott closed his opening statement by saying that he really likes to help people and to see the actual results from the job he does.

Bodecker started off by saying that he didn’t really know what he was doing there and that the only reason he was running was to get people to think and to make responsible decisions at the polls.

Bodecker’s main point during the opening was that people needed to vote against every incumbent that was running. “We cannot put the same controllers back in charge of our lives or re-elect the same wolves to guard and control our country.”

He said he wanted to fight against the two party system and the fairness doctrine. “Throw them all out on Nov. 4,” he said. “If you think you are too small to be effective then you obviously have never been in bed with a mosquito.”

As far as Bodecker’s rebuttal to what Elliott said, he said he only had one thing against him that was that Elliott is a Democrat. Although he said that he agreed with Elliott on a lot of what he said and believed that Elliott wasn’t “too far away from being a Constitutionalist.”

Elliott said that he agreed with a lot of Bodecker’s points, but did disagree with voting against the incumbents, however he did point out that in this race he was not the incumbent.

“I am not the incumbent for the office I am seeking,” he said. He went on to say that no one can become an expert on the entire government and the more experience you have the better off you.

“The major reason experience is important is because it takes a while to know when someone is lying to you,” Elliott said, citing both lawmakers and lobbyists as those who might tell untruths.

Bodecker got to pick the first topic and he chose health care which he said he wanted to couple with health insurance. His statement was brief and he focused on the fact that he is 85 years old and hasn’t been to the doctor in 30 years. He said that doctors are overused and people take advantage of insurance.

Elliott agreed that health insurance can be overused, but said that if you put a co-pay on it, people don’t go running to the doctor as much. “I favor health insurance with some sort of a co-pay,” he said.

Neither candidate had a rebuttal, so Eggensberger asked them what their views on assisted suicide were.

Bodecker said that you were opening the door wide open to catastrophes. “Let’s die the natural way,” he said. “No one should be given [the right to suicide].

Elliott said that he would love to answer the question but he didn’t have an answer. He said while he didn’t like the thought of giving the role of executioner to a doctor, he though that maybe with judicial intervention it could be monitored. “However, on the whole it is kind of creepy,” he said.

For Elliott’s first category he decided to mix education and the economy into one. “Education is one of the major parts of economic development,” he said. He said that Montana has a competitive tax bracket, but there are other factors why businesses like to come here including having an educated workforce.

Bodecker said that he believed education was Draconian. He proposed that students go to school from first through sixth grade then do three years of high school and three years of college. He said this would take the boredom out of schools. “We won’t have so many pregnancies or car accidents, because they won’t be bored,” he said.

Neither candidate had a rebuttal, so once again Eggensberger posed a question asking them how they felt about expanding the community college system.

Bodecker felt that they could expand it into his education proposal. “We aren’t doing right with our youth at all,” he said.

Elliott said he saw no reason why it couldn’t be combined into the education system Montana has today. “Vocational skills colleges are overlooked and I think efforts should be fostered and efforts made to increase it,” he said.

Bodecker’s last topic was on the economic bailout package. “I’m a firm believer that if you let nature take its course then it’ll cure itself,” he said. “Let it work itself out.”

Elliott said that the bailout “stinks pure and simple.” He said that it is important to make sure that big business doesn’t have it all one way and that something needs to be done to stop companies and the federal government from spending money that they don’t have.

Eggensberger asked the candidates about the Dow Jones’ jump of over 900 points on Monday, the largest single gain ever and whether or not that was proof that the bailout was working.

Elliott said that he believed that the stock market moved on psychology for a large part and that if people think things will get better, they will, at least for a little bit. “I don’t expect it to stay up,” he said. “We need to have a serious change to fix this.”

Bodecker said that there was a plunge protection team that fed money into the stock market to make it go up at opportune times. However he said that what happened on Monday was not permanent and to expect the market to go back down.

Elliott’s last topic was on the Montana budget surplus. He said that it was a lot of money and the surplus is projected at about $700 million. He said that these are good times in Montana and so the money should be used to invest to help our economy in the future. “We need a rainy day fund,” he said. “We should fix what he have instead of repairing it every day.”

Bodecker said that he never had a surplus before in his life and that he really didn’t know how to handle it. He said that with this surplus money taxes could be eliminated for 11.5 years and that the money should be used to get rid of taxes instead of sitting in an account getting interest.

Elliott said he disagreed that the money should be used to defray taxes. “We could use it for taxes, but you couldn’t use it down the road,” he said. “Right now it is earning 8 percent interest, so we can use it sometime when things get hard.”

After Elliott’s rebuttal Bodecker kicked off the closing statements, once again saying that he really didn’t know why he was there. “The last thing I want to do is go to Helena,” he said. “I don’t want to go to hell or Helena, and they’re probably very close together.”

Bodecker closed by saying that he just wanted to make people think and wanted them to keep the Constitution in mind. “Take a stand for our government under constitutional law,” he said. “Remember the Constitution.”

Elliott said he was happy to be able to participate in a debate that let the candidates express their views fully. “We got to talk about what we believe, which is vital to the conduct of democracy,” he said. “We can’t always have 90 second answers.”

He said that it was unfortunate that all three of the candidates couldn’t have participated, but he was glad Bodecker was able to come. “The idea is to give the public a good report and basis for making a judgment when they go into the ballot box,” he said.