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September 1, 2009

Congresisonal candidates mostly agree at forum, Fed a target

Charles Oliver

Several candidates seeking to represent Georgia’s 9th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives say they’d like to see the nation’s central bank audited.

“I will always be in favor of auditing every single part of the government that’s possible,” said former state Sen. Bill Stephens of Blue Ridge.

He, former State Transportation Board chairman Mike Evans, state Rep. Tom Graves of Ranger, state Sen. Lee Hawkins of Gainesville and Ringgold businessman Jeremy Jones took part in a forum hosted by the Carpet and Rug Institute (CRI) on Tuesday at the Northwest Georgia Trade and Convention Center. All are Republicans.

While at least nine candidates have publicly said they will run for the seat currently held by Nathan Deal, R-Ga., those are the only candidates who had actually filed to run as of Friday, according to CRI officials. The men took questions from about 60 people.

All five said they support House Bill 1207 introduced by Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, that would require the General Accounting Office to audit the Federal Reserve.

Stephens noted that when he was in the state Senate he co-authored a law requiring every single state agency to be audited over a four-year period.

“Any time you can audit a part of government you’ll be better off,” said Evans, who noted that as chairman of the transportation board he pushed for an audit of the state Department of Transportation that uncovered financial problems at the agency.

All five spoke of the need to cut taxes and spending and rein in the size of the government.

“Do you want freedom? Or do you want the government to take care of you? You can’t have both,” said Jones.

All five said they oppose government control of health care.

Hawkins, a dentist, said there is already too much paperwork involved in health care.

“It’s drowning the system. That’s where a lot of the money is spent. It’s unnecessary. We have one of the best medical systems in the world,” he said.

But Graves said it isn’t enough to say no to government health care. He said lawmakers have to offer workable alternatives. He said one key way to reduce health care costs is to increase competition in the field.

“We can increase competition in a number of ways. One is to allow insurance to be sold across state lines,” he said.

Graves also said that reducing mandates on insurance companies could cut costs.

“Why not let consumers choose the health coverage that is best for them and only pay for what they need?” he said.

Several people who attended the event said they came away knowing more about the candidates.

“Getting to know these individuals, getting to know what they stand for, is very important,” said Whitfield County Board of Commissioners member Randy Waskul. “It’s a long way to next November. I want to see what they do and what they talk about.”

Dalton City Council member Denise Wood said she didn’t know much about most of the candidates before the forum.

“I was basically pleased with all of them,” she said.

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