U.S. Senate debate: a closer look at the candidates
By Staff Report, April 19, 2010
FRANKLIN, Ind. - Five candidates for the U.S. Senate Republican nomination debated top issues at Franklin College Monday. Below is a look at each candidate, in alphabetical order.
Don Bates Jr.
Though he doesn’t consider himself to be part of the problem, Don Bates Jr., pledged Monday to be part of the solution for America at a Republican primary debate held at Franklin College.
Despite the fact that Bates has not held a political office, he said he feels it’s time to send someone who cares about Main St. to Congress.
“I believe it’s past time we send someone to Washington who knows how to fix the fiscal disaster out-of-touch, career politicians have created,” Bates said.
Bates, a financial adviser from Winchester, Ind., joins plumbing company owner Richard Behney, former U.S. Sen. Dan Coats, former U.S. Rep. John Hostettler and state Sen. Marlin Stutzman in the race for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate. The seat will be vacated by Sen. Evan Bayh, who has chosen not to seek reelection.
Bates attacked the policies of President Barack Obama, which partly influenced him to enter the debate.
“Barack Obama has launched an unprecedented assault on the American dream and for the past 13 months, I’ve been running to stop him,” Bates said.
Bates, and all the other candidates at the debate, vowed to repeal the health care reforms Obama signed into law last month.
“[Health care reform is] radical because it doesn’t meet the needs that we’re facing today, and that is an economic crisis that we need to address,” he said.
Among the other topics candidates took up in the debate were the current wars in the Middle East, balancing the budget, the green energy sector and qualities they would look for in a Supreme Court nomination.
The major challenge Bates said the Republican Party would face would be uniting the Party under one person.
“We must nominate a candidate who can do the best job of bringing tea party leaders, tea party people and traditional Republicans together,” Bates said. “I believe I can do that.”
--by Samm Quinn
Richard Behney
Feeling disenfranchised and let down by the Republican Party, Richard Behney said the tea party movement was a way for him and other like-minded citizens to show dissent.
Richard Behney is best known for popularizing the Tea Party movement in Indiana, and he said that group still believes in the American free market system.
“It’s not a Republican or a Democrat thing,” said Behney. “It’s a freedom-loving thing. I feel like the [Republican] party has left me.”
Behney also blasted Democrat Barack Obama for keeping healthcare as a hot button issue while the nation was torn by a failing economy. He said that a drastic change in the recently passed bill was needed and that “healthcare in America is not a right.”
He said that the American healthcare system was the best in the world, and many patients from foreign countries seek treatment here.
As solutions, he suggested more competition and letting individual states deal with issues such as the cost of malpractice insurance for doctors that has driven costs up. However, there were some costs he would not reduce. If anyone out there deserved “Cadillac health care,” it is the families of me and women serving in the military, Behney said.
Going on to attack the spiraling national debt, Behney suggested that the government return to sound business practices such as those he has used to build a thriving plumbing business, the Atta Boy Plumbing Company.
“It’s really a question of business 101 and common sense, which seems to be lacking greatly in D.C.,” he said.
Behney said that first and foremost America must stop spending. He suggested that energy reform would be a good place to start saving money, and advocated less U.S. dependence on foreign oil and using the nation’s ample coal and oil resources.
While insisting America needs to defend its shores, he said that as a businessman, he favors befriending other countries and opening up the United States to more trade.
During a question-and-answer portion of the debate, an activist from Lebanon, Ind., posed a question on family life regarding the importance of children having divorce-free extended families. Behney said this was a value of his but that he was against having federal intrusion in people’s lives.
“Hoosier families can take care of Hoosiers,” he said.
In his closing statement Behney concluded that the economic times were grim, but there was hope.
“We are in very difficult times, and we are in a deep hole. We have tough decisions to make but we have done it before, we have hard work to do but we will get it done,” said Behney.
--by Isaac Pollert
Dan Coats
In his opening statement, former U.S. Sen. Dan Coats said he hoped to “address issues that directly affect” the youth in attendance at the Republican Senate Debate held at Franklin College Monday afternoon.
A veteran politician, Coats is the oldest of the five candidates for the Republican nomination. Although he touted his record in the Senate, his opponents criticized his voting record.
Coats sidestepped a question about the involvement of two of his competitors in the American Tea Party. He said that it did not matter so much if voters were Republicans or Democrats, so long as they were engaged in the political process.
Another student panelist questioned Coats on health-care reform.
“Do we believe health care has problems we need to address? Yes, we do!” said Coats.
He maintained that the government should have paid more attention to health reforms in the 1990s, making sound decisions based on compromise rather than the sweeping changes passed by the Barack Obama administration.
Another debate questioner asked Coats what programs he would cut in order to balance the deficit. Coats said he would stop the fiscal bleeding and not start any new programs. He listed balancing the national debt as one of his campaign priorities.
Coats was asked next what type of nominee should fill Justice Paul Stevens seat in the Supreme Court. He responded with a criticism of Stevens. "We need justices who will defend the constitution, not rewrite the constitution.”
In Coats’ closing statement he stressed that his issues were the national debt, mass spending by government, and numerous international concerns.
--by Jesselyn Bickley
John Hostettler
Former U.S. Rep. John Hostettler did not intend to run for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate, yet he found himself on the campaign trail debating with four other candidates at Franklin College Monday afternoon.
Hostettler, former U.S. Sen. Dan Coats, Indiana state Sen. Marlin Stutzman, and businessmen Richard Behney and Don Bates, Jr., debated several key topics in Franklin College. Hostettler said he decided to run after the 2008 election.
“Our country is going in the wrong direction very fast, and we must do something in order to change that,” Hostettler said.
Hostettler said that he was discouraged by the direction his own party was going until he was invited to a Tea Party event.
“My discouragement melted away when I saw about 200 people show up in the middle of the day…that were there willing to take time out of their busy schedules and bring their children, in many cases, to talk about the issues,” Hostettler said.
When asked about the recent health care reform, Hostettler said that health care was legislated by a Congress which has “gone beyond the constitutional boundaries set by the numerated powers and others in the U.S. Constitution.”
Hostettler said that purchasing health care needs to expand across state lines along with the creation of tax credits for 100 percent of health insurance and cost, instead of the proposed health care reform.
Hostettler said the $1.6 trillion deficit is an “over-arching issue,” and the country is passing on to the next generation a “crippling debt” that will be difficult to overcome. He said every program should be looked at when trying to balance the budget, but Hostettler did not support any cuts to the military program.
Addressing a question about the strategy for the Middle East, Hostettler said he supports full military removal from Iraq. When in Congress, he had been against the Iraq War from the outset.
Hostettler said that his primary campaign has spent more time getting to meet people, and he did not have an exact figure of what he has raised at the debate. He said that the campaign has been able to raise money, and that after the primary, the main focus will switch to fundraising.
-- by Suzannah Couch
Marlin Stutzman
Indiana state Sen. Marlin Stutzman defined himself as a “pro-life, pro-business” farmer in Monday’s U.S. Senate debate for the Republican nomination at Franklin College.
Stutzman debated with four other candidates – businessmen Don Bates Jr. and Richard Behney, former U.S. Sen. Dan Coats and former U.S. Rep. John Hostettler – in Franklin, Ind. The five candidates debated on issues such as health care reform, the war in the Middle East, and the $1.6 trillion deficit.
Stutzman said he was against government-run health care, and he would support repealing the bill.
“Is it even the federal government’s responsibility to take over such a massive portion of our industry, heath care system, and our economy?” he asked. “I think they’re focusing on the wrong issue to begin with. Rather than insurance, they should be focusing on the cost of medicine.”
Stutzman said the current health care system has problems that should be fixed instead of a full health care reform. He argued that the federal government has overreached its boundaries on the health care bill.
Another thing Stutzman would like to see changed is the amount of spending in Washington.
“One thing I’ve learned as a small business owner is that you can’t spend more money than you take in, and you can’t borrow more money than you can afford. We can’t give government more money to spend when they don’t have a plan to pay it back,” said Stutzman. “I think that we are a great example right here in Indiana where we went from a billion dollar deficit to a billion dollar structural surplus all without raising taxes.”
Stutzman said the federal government should model Indiana and pass a balanced budget amendment to prevent overspending.
“We cannot continue to spend on pet projects when our country, children and grandchildren are going to be facing massive amounts of debt. Even considering the spending bills like the farm bill and the stimulus package we have to stop spending,” Stutzman said.
Stutzman said he currently supports having troops in the Middle East. He says Iraq is much better off without Saddam Hussein. Stutzman also supports Obama’s increase of troops in Afghanistan, and an American presence in the Middle East is important to allies like Israel.
In a news conference following the debate, Stutzman shared his views on immigration reform.
“I think first of all you secure the border and identify those who are here illegally,” he said. “I think the hard part is going to be figuring out if you send them back to their country. I just can’t see us as a country doing a round them up and ship them out. I don’t think it’s the compassionate thing to do or the right thing to do. It would also be very expensive to the taxpayer.”
He also said that he wouldn’t support amnesty; the focus should be on stopping illegal immigration at the borders.
He finished with stating the importance of the upcoming elections.
“I believe that this is one of the most important elections that our country will face. It is up to us to stand forward and make a difference and I believe that I am best suited to do that with my experience as a small business owner, farmer, and a part time state legislator,” Stutzman said.
-- by Savannah Raines
- debate
- franklin college
- republican
- U.S. Senate
- Don Bates Jr.
- Richard Behney
- John Hostettler
- Dan Coats
- Marlin Stutzman
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