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 Republican Women hold Congressional Candidate Q&A web posted February 26, 2010  JOHNSTON – The
Edgefield County Republican
Women held their second meeting and a candidate forum with four
candidates for the US District 3 Congressional seat. Mary Alice
Pettigrew (left) welcomed everyone to the meeting and after a brief
dinner
period opened the forum by inviting the candidates to the podium to
explain their platforms before presenting them with questions on
pressing issues facing the state and nation.State Sen. Shane Massey opened his remarks with an update on some of the things going on in Columbia starting with the 10th Amendment Resolution. The final version passed the Senate today, he said, “So Congress is going to get the official word from the State of South Carolina with the seal on it that we are displeased with some of the things that’s been going on,” which was met with a round of applause. Another important piece of legislation that has been working its way through the Senate is that all voters will have to show a photo ID in order to vote. Sen. Massey said it was important to protect the integrity of elections and the bill will be working its way through the House very soon.  On the Congressional
race Sen. Massey said when he was first approached
about running, “I didn’t want to do it.” But as time went by “I saw
what a lot of what you probably saw, and that is a Congress that is out
of control.” Massey pointed out particularly uncontrolled spending, the
Democrat healthcare plan, and cap and trade legislation. All of which
he called disasters waiting to happen that raise taxes and cost and
would created untold numbers of job losses.“I looked up, much like I did when I ran for Senate, and said, I can do better than that,” Massey said. “I might not have all the right answers, but I believe I have some of them.” Sen. Massey said that he felt the stakes were too high with the things going on in Washington that would fundamentally change the nation. “I’m just not going to let it go without a fight.”  State House
Representative Rex Rice, of Easley, was the next to speak.
As a 14-year veteran in the House he sits on the ways and means
committee, which balances the budget, and spoke to the deep budgets
cuts the state is facing this year and the spending in Washington.
“When we run out of money here in South Carolina we don’t print more of
it,” he said, adding that he wants to take that same thinking to
Washington.Rep. Rice said the government has no problem auditing him and felt it was time to start auditing the government agencies. “We need to determine if they are operating within the constitution or outside the constitution,” he said. Any agency or department that was operating outside the constitution needs “to be shut down”. “That’s how we can save money and balance the budget,” he said.  Dr. Mike Vasovski,
of Aiken, said he was a political newcomer and
became weary of “professional politicians” who were only worried with
“getting rich” and re-elected. “I don’t buy it,” he said. He applauded
Sen. Massey and Rep. Rice for doing their work in an honest and
transparent way of service. “I say service because that’s what it is.
They’re doing it as a public service.”Dr. Vasovski said that as he prepared for a recent debate in Aiken he found that the answers to almost every question could be found in one of three things or a combination of the three. “It was follow the constitution, use the free market as much as possible, and stick to a small government that keeps us free.” By sticking to those principles, once elected, would help to solve many of the problems facing the nation he said.  Neal Collins, also
of Easley, stated from the beginning that he was
running for Congress for the purpose of “improving our community.” As
an attorney, he said, “I affect one person, one client at a time.”
However, in politics, “I see you can affect hundreds, thousands of
people at a time.” He said with his abilities and ideas, “this is where
I think I can affect the most change and positive change, so that’s the
main reason I’m running.”His platform was three tiered; responsibility, recovery, and reform. Under the responsibility was personal responsibility of the individual citizen and is the matter under debate also the fiscally responsible on the government side. Under recover he said jobs topped the list and the focus should be on education, training, and a tax policy that supports small business. Under reform Mr. Collins said candidates were the first needing reform and their sole purpose in serving should be to improve their communities. To further that point, Mr. Collins said he was tired of the money and influence of political consultants on a candidate and stated that when he decided to run, “I would not hire a political consultant and I would not focus on fund raising.” Mrs. Pettigrew thanked each candidate and opened the floor to questions from those in attendance. The first question came from a teacher who asked Sen. Massey about the disproportionate funding the school districts are seeing lately. “Where is this coming from? It is a lack of a tax base? Is it coming because of mismanagement of funds? Sen. Massey said the “quick answer” was a combination of things. The recession of course was hurting revenues, mismanagement at the state level was a factor, and “there’s also some problems at the local level. I think some decisions could have been made differently.” Sen. Massey then pointed to the two members of the press present and stated, “Those guys will get me in trouble if I say more on that.” However, Sen. Massey pointed out that education in the state budget accounts for 55% of spending and when cutting $2 billion over the last two years because of a drop in revenues, “it’s hard not to cut that 55% part of the pie”. Massey said teachers should be the last ones cut and he would prefer to see cuts at the state level in the bureaucrats and the administration positions at the local level. “We can educate our children without bureaucrats and administrators, but we can’t educate our kids without teachers.” Rep. Rice also responded saying that revenues were about $100 million short. He said he supported virtual education. At current funding levels, it takes $12,000 a year to educate a child and through virtual school that cost could be lowered to $5,000 a student. “The Department of Education is trying to cut that out,” he said. Dr. Vasovski said he feels the three biggest problems were parental involvement, which could not be legislated, smaller class sizes, and more power given to enforcement of discipline in the schools. The most important aspect of making new funds available would be getting rid of the Federal Department of Education. “The federal government has no business telling South Carolina, or any other state, what to do in their schools.” Mrs. Pettigrew then posed her prepared questions for the candidates, the first being, if elected, “you would be working with Senators Jim Demint and Lindsey Graham. Which one is your philosophy most closely aligned?” Rep. Rice said, ”Jim Demint, as a small business owner I would say we see eye to eye on most things.” Dr. Vasovski said, “Jim Demint”. Sen. Massey said on the fiscal side, “I’m much more aligned with Sen. Demint.” He also added that he did support Sen. Graham’s position that terrorist should not be tried in domestic courts. But overall he agreed with Sen. Demint. Mr. Collins said he was going to give a different answer. “I’m a very fiscal conservative; I’m for limited government, so I’m going to be my own man.” He did state that of the two choices he would align himself more with Sen. Demint. The next question posed was how to bring jobs to South Carolina. Sen. Massey stated the first thing would be to act as a liaison with local governments and county councils. “You have to be able to work with the folks on the ground. If the local folks can’t sell your area, they’re not coming here.” More importantly was to create a tax structure that is conducive to promoting business expansion in the current economic situation. Regulations should also be reined in, which he felt added an extra burden on businesses trying to expand. Dr. Vasovski said he breaks it down to two different issues. One is what he considers as “work” such as law enforcement, educations, and other government employees, which are all controlled and funded by government. The other was “jobs” which he said comes from the private sector. “That is the engine of our economy.” To increase jobs created by private sector businesses is to “tax them less and remove regulations so they can do what they need to do.” Rep. Rice said he agreed and by taking those steps would “incentive” business to expand. It was that reason he supports the Fair Tax amendment that would removed all corporate, business, and personal income taxes making America more competitive and enhance business growth. Mr. Collins stated that decreasing regulations and less government control was his position. The next question involved the current healthcare debate taking place in Washington and how each candidate viewed the legislation. Dr. Vasovski stated outright that the constitution, if followed, does not give the federal government the power to force citizens to buy a product from a private company or the government. “Get rid of the mandate and fix the rest,” he said. “It is no longer health insurance if you are forced to buy it, it is a tax.” Sen. Massey said he sees there is a problem in healthcare, however; he felt that the problems in healthcare could be fixed, “in a market based approach.” He said preventing competition across state lines made no sense to him. “Competition creates lower prices and greater access.” He compared it to Wal-Mart and Target. With competition comes lower prices and that makes for more people being able to access the product, including insurance. Mr. Collins stated competition was one aspect of the problem solving, but he felt that making insurance costs paid for by the individual should be tax deductible just as it is for businesses. By making it more accessible from the individual standpoint rather than an “employer based” program of insurance, the other measures would fall into place, including competition. Rep. Rice stated the individual responsibility was key. He supported increased payments for those who buy state insurance if they use tobacco products, “they should pay more”. He also supported stopping individuals from being able to file legal action in medical malpractice situations saying the person should seek “mediation” rather than a court case. A question from the floor came last asking that, if elected, would the candidates support an Enumerated Powers Act that would require Congress to show where in the constitution they were given the authority to spend the money on a program or legislation before it was placed for a vote. Mr. Collins answered simply, “Yes” Sen. Massey said, “The sad thing is that you have to ask that, “Because Article 1 Section 8 is the enumerated powers law.” Massey said that the constitution states what those powers are but the Congress has overstepped those powers and continues to do so regularly. “The interstate commerce clause has been expanded so far that it’s practically been broken to where Congress can do pretty much anything they want to do.” Massey said he would support such a bill but found it “sad” that such a bill would even have to be brought forward. Dr. Vasovski said he agreed. Rep. Rice answered that he felt any government agency or program that was operating outside the prevue of the constitution should be dismantled. “If they are operating outside of the constitution they should be done away with.” The meeting was adjourned and the candidates spent time speaking with attendees in one on one conversations. The next meeting of the Edgefield County Republican Women will be held on March 18 at 6:16 pm at Pine Ridge Country Club. © Copyright 2010
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