The eight men who have entered the Republican primary to compete for the Seventh District Congressional seat being vacated by Rep. Roy Blunt were part of a candidate forum held at Taylor Auditorium on the campus of Missouri Southern State University in Joplin. The June 1, 2010 event broadcast live was moderated by Josh Marsh of KZRG radio and sponsored by the Jasper County Republican Central Committee. The primary will be held on August 3, 2010.
While Marsh questioned the candidates in rotating order, we are providing their responses in alphabetical order. We also provide our observations.
JACK GOODMAN - Mount Vernon was a member of the Missouri House of Representatives from 2003-05 and since 2005 had been a member of the Missouri Senate (R-29). When he spoke of taking on the challenge of making the state of Missouri better by entering into public service, he always included his wife. He put emphasis on supporting pro life legislation as well as legislation like Conceal Carry and the Castle Doctrine with Rep. Marilyn Ruestman that makes the NRA happy and the two somewhat of a dichotomy. As a former prosecutor he is frustrated over ICE not handling the immigration problem; he thinks the "liberal elite" passed health care and in so doing usurped individual values (entering into private healthcare contracts or be penalized had him quoting Abe Lincoln). He believes that local school boards accountable to taxpayers should make educational policy not the US Department of Education and their "cookie cutter approach." He wants to see an end to welfare and people back to work and a repeal of the income tax law in favor of the Fair Tax to force people off the books to pay their fair share and also to bring about the removal of taxes that stifle business. Because of his values that are popular with the people of Missouri we've heard that many would not like to see him move on...but with term limits where do you go from there?
STEVE HUNTER - Joplin was term-limited as a Missouri Representative (R-127) and now admittingly is unemployed. After quoting Daniel Webster he said he wanted to see "term limits for the bums up there." A former teacher, he wants to eliminate the US Department of Education. As a supporter of business, he wants to eliminate corporate taxes "like Ireland did" and cut stifling regulations (cut personal income tax and social security tax by half). He wants to make states rights supreme, government trimmed (he gave as an example how New Zealand fired 30,000 government workers) and the Constitution followed. He supports the Fair Tax citing Pres. Wilson's remarks that he shouldn't have proposed an income tax in the first place. He joked, "crash the economy and the illegals will go home." He used the term "mumbley-peg" to describe the committee process, adding that he's "not for sale." His next comment, "Be careful how you get your influence" is more honest. Here's an interesting tidbit on Hunter. We also were dying to ask him about his wife.
BILLY LONG - Springfield, an auctioneer and former radio personality, prides himself on not being a politician. For a candidate "why not go to the business community," he said, throwing out names like Rudy Farber and David Humphreys. Do not send politicians, send citizens to Washington, he said. He was a bit inconsistent when he advocated trimming federal government yet in speaking of an immigration policy he said that Arizona was "doing what the Federal government should be doing." He said "don't invite the President of Mexico to give us a lecture. Instead secure our borders against illegals and the treat of terrorism; send troops. He labeled Bush's "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB) a failure and called for the dismantling of the US Department of Education. "Most programs can be cut," he said and called to mind Missouri's Hancock Amendment that calls for a balanced budget; he also said that he received Mel Hancock's endorsement "in a room full of Congressmen." He wants Tarp and the stimulus package canceled, doesn't want healthcare mandatory, understands the negative effect of Cap and Trade on the Midwest, wants the elimination of the capital gains tax and supports the Fair Tax or flat tax to eliminate the overburdened tax code and "pick up tax cheats." We think he was the only one that mentioned that the Republicans needed to rally together after the primary to insure the defeat of Democrat Robin Carnaham opposing Blunt for the seat vacated by US Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond. I guess he wasn't too concerned over either of two Democrats--Tim Davis of Branson and Scott Eckersley of Kimberling City running against him.
MIKE MOON - Ash Grove, a Mercy St. John's Fitness Center's director of membership in Springfield, has fought Planned Parenthood and provided public safety and health in Greene County. A Constitutionalist, he believes in personal responsibility, limited government (firing those czars and power to the people), and not taking a "train towards socialism." He's proud to say that his children have been home schooled and instilled with the values he supports. He called welfare an "unfunded mandate" that should be controlled locally and believes that the Republican platform should include balancing the budget. He supports the Fair Tax to eliminate corporate taxes (he thinks the money would go toward hiring more workers) rather than a flat tax which he says "punishes the poor." He said the government was the only segment growing and called that "a crying shame." In discussing illegal immigration and the notion that illegals cannot be found, he said if every cow could be traced then "give illegals their very own cow" and go after employers that hire them. We think that handing out cows would only benefit cattlemen.
DARRELL MOORE - Springfield as Greene County prosecuting attorney believes that most decisions should be made on a local level and that the role of government should be to provide public safety. Get rid of NCLB and the Race to the Top Act, Moore said, and create local control in education with charter schools. He supports Congressman Paul Ryan's Road Map for America's Future as an alternative to Washington's "reckless expansion and growing culture of dependency" and evoked the "Show Me" motto in regard to whether the Fair Tax would work in Missouri. He wants to eliminate the US Department of Education and merge the Commerce and Labor departments. At first he questioned administration of the fair tax and preferred a flat tax instead, ridding of capital gains and death taxes in order to free up revenue, but later on he said he supported the Fair Tax along with everybody else. When a roadblock in Greene County uncovered several illegal immigrants, he wanted to know "where's ICE?" Rather than having taxpayers foot their incarceration, he favored letting the illegals go. If ICE won't act, then that option showed that at least he was fiscally responsible.
GARY NODLER - Joplin, a Missouri state Senator (R-32) serving his final term, believes that the proper role of government is "simply to serve the people." In typical Nodler fashion, he questioned the premise of the question about education's "declining test scores" by saying that many local schools have improved and that the question failed to recognize the successes in Southwest Missouri. However, regarding federal educational mandates, he was concerned. He believes in baseline budgeting, getting rid of no bid contracts and rewarding strategies that save money, including treating social security funds as a trust invested at a reasonable return. He thinks that every federal commission should be sunseted; he advocates a simpler tax system and supports the Fair Tax or flat tax; he says that regulations on sound banks are unnecessary and are stifling job creation; he calls placing troops on the border a "tourniquet" to cut off the flow of illegal immigration. He was one of two who thought that President Obama wasn't purposely harming America and he says his knowledge and understanding of the House committee structure, his experience working for Missouri Congressman Gene Taylor (1974-1988) and his existing relationships make him the best candidate. By and large Nodler checked his otherwise egotistical personality that grates on some people. However, he needs to give more people credit for intelligence, especially potential voters who might recognize him as the most experienced candidate.
MICHAEL WARDELL - Nixa is a retired US Marine with national and international business experience motivating him to seek the expansion of commercial exportation. A couple of times in response to questions he emphatically agreed with the answers proposed by Nodler whom he followed. Those responses included limiting the role of a central government and not rewarding the mindset that if money is budgeted then we need to use it. He agrees that the US Department of Education should be dismantled and would like to see "our values in the Ozarks blanket the entire nation." He wants to see waste and abuse removed from our foreign aid where in one country (not mentioned) he said the aid was used for a fleet of limos...and he wants to see greater accountability from Amtrak. He said he is "ticked" over government salaries...benefits and property values in DC increasing instead of the stock market. He wants to cut taxes. (Yeah, yeah, read my lips.) He supports the Fair Tax showing that his main support is for cutting business taxes. He reminded everyone that it was easy to cross our northern border as well as the southern and believes that, if shot at, border patrol should shoot back. He says he has the integrity and discipline to deal with the job. We have no reason to contradict that, but is that enough?
JEFF WISDOM - Springfield is an economics professor at Ozarks Technical Community College (MBA, University of Memphis). He called the US Constitution the "backbone of a civil society" and that all other laws must be in congruence. He claimed to be the first candidate to call for the elimination of the US Department of Education and wants repeal of NCLB. More money for education wasn't his answer citing the $1 billion that Kansas City Schools got with what he labeled "atrocious results." He supports choice in education and the use of vouchers. He wants to see social security reform, streamlining or elimination of federal agencies, and taxes funding state and local levels in the form of the Fair Tax or a flat tax. He says he knows firsthand the issues affecting veterans of Iraqi Freedom and he wants to be as vocal as possible. He said that "too many candidates run on the coattails of others." Was that a jibe at Nodler and Long?
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