While he wasn’t at Wednesday’s candidate forum, U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran loomed large at Wednesday’s forum.
“It’s a virtual certainty” voters will elect Moran, his Libertarian challenger, Robert Garrard, said.
Nevertheless, Garrard, Democratic challenger Patrick Wiesner and Joshua Berg, serving as Moran’s proxy, tackled a number of issues, ranging from whether the Farm Bill should be revamped, to how to tackle illegal immigration and the battle against ISIS.
A summary of the topics follows.
AFFORDABLE CARE ACT
The recent announcement that insurance rates for some recipients could rise as much as 30 percent is proof ACA needs to be reworked, Wiesner said.
“It’s not affordable,” he said. “It doesn’t allow people quick access to doctors. It should be a major rework when we start our work in Washington.”
Garrard, meanwhile, espoused the free market system.
“Your health care is your business,” he said. “A big part of the problem is the tax deductibility. If it wasn’t for that, it wouldn’t be tied to your job.
“It’s certainly not the federal government’s job” to provide health care, he said. “If the state wants to try what Mr. Romney tried in Massachusetts …I wouldn’t recommend it.”
Berg noted Moran, when in the U.S. House, filed the first motion to repeal ACA after it became law. However, he was uncertain how Moran would replace the law if it were repealed.
ZIKA VIRUS LEGISLATION
All three agreed add-on legislation has largely stalled efforts to fund the fight against Zika. Likewise, all three agreed of the “one issue, one bill” mode of governing.
ISIS AND IMMIGRATION
The Islamic State’s genesis can be traced to the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, Garrard contended. He also was critical of Donald Trump’s proposal to build a wall along the Mexican border largely because it would be so easy to get past, through tunnels or other means.
In regards to ISIS, “We took out a government (in Iraq) and replaced it with an ineffective government,” Garrard said. As for defending ourselves against such groups, he urged everyone “to buy the best gun they can afford and learn to shoot.”
Wiesner said the United States cannot afford to report 11 million illegal immigrants all at once. What’s needed, he said, is a systemic effort to register those 11 million, then create a path to citizenship to create tax-paying citizens.
FARM BILL
The cost of farming has skyrocketed, Wiesner said, in part because of federal subsidies tied to acreage or production — a byproduct of the federal farm bills.
“Subsidies are bad,” Garrard agreed. “Subsidies are like a fish hook. It’s painful to take it out,” yet it’s necessary, he said.
Subsidies lead to crony capitalism, he decreed.
Berg noted Moran was endorsed by the Kansas Farm Bureau, evidence of his support of sensible farm legislation.
WIESNER grew up in Ellis County, served in the military, lives in Lawrence and works as a tax attorney in Overland Park.
He touted his ability to understand the federal tax code and decreed his desire to see the U.S. be rid of its $19 trillion debt within the next 30 years.
Garrard works as an aviation electronics technician. He, too, served in the military. He was discharged in 1991, and filed as a Libertarian in 1992.
“Nobody has a right to tell you what to do with your life or your property,” he said. “You should be free to live your life as you want, as long as you’re not hurting others.”
Garrard said his priorities included abolishing the income tax and replacing it with a consumption tax, withdraw military forces from foreign countries and avoid getting involved in other nations’ conflicts.
Moran, who was in Iola earlier Wednesday for groundbreaking ceremonies for the G&W Foods store site, was unable to attend the forum because of a schedule conflict.
Moran is seeking his second term to the Senate. Prior to that, he served 14 years in the U.S. House of Representatives.
