By
Janine Unsoeld
www.janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com
A debate Monday night between the 10th Congressional District candidates, incumbent
Democrat Denny Heck and Republican challenger Joyce McDonald, drew about 60 people. The event was held at the Washington Center for the Performing Arts in Olympia.
Cythnia Iyall, chairperson of the Nisqually Indian
Tribe, moderated 11 pre-determined questions, and Allyson Brooks, vice
president of the Olympia chapter of the League of Women Voters, asked several questions
posed by audience members, written on index cards. The debate was taped for broadcast on Thurston County Television (TCTV).
Heck mentioned the Seahawks game in progress as a possible reason for the sparse crowd and kept the audience up on the game score during the debate and announced its outcome at the debate’s end, which received the loudest cheer of the evening.
Heck answered each question
with confidence while McDonald read some answers about national or international issues from prepared notecards. She spoke most warmly and effectively about being a former foster parent and softball coach, and her time as a state legislator. McDonald also has several years of experience on the Pierce County council.
Questions covered standard election issues: the
revenue disparity between rich and poor, federal legislation for curbing carbon
emissions, the quality of the rail system with regard to safe fossil fuel
transport, immigration, foreign policy, wounded veterans, jobs and more.
Questions posed by the South Sound audience were
also wide ranging. McDonald was sometimes vague, as was Heck, who also liked to tell
stories and use his allotted time to its fullest capacity. In brief:
Should the Washington Redskins be compelled to change its name or face Congressional censure?
McDonald: …Public pressure should do the job for them…. the market tends to work quite well in these cases...I don’t think it’s the role of government….
Heck: Yes. Nobody has the right to engage in a racial slur….It's deeply insensitive to the First Peoples of this nation....
The
Trans Pacific Partnership - How can we protect our local environment and jobs?
Heck: Well, I think you've touched upon two of the three criteria I think applies to any proposal for the Partnership...this is kind of a big deal - this is a proposal to enter into a trade
agreement with 11 other nations…it is fraught with both danger and opportunity:
Three criteria should include: 1) assurance that its adoption will not harm workers…2) Assurance that we are not just exporting
low governmental standards… 3) assurances
that it will protect our sovereignty….we ought not to delegate the right to set policy for America.
McDonald: …At
the Congressional level, I would very clearly be working on it depending on
what committee picked it up…this is a very important issue, a more important issue for
Washington State than for some others so I’d be following this very closely….
The
proposal to de-list the Great Wolf from the protection of the Endangered
Species Act:
McDonald: I wouldn’t support that...I don’t think
they’ve come back with enough population to warrant that…
Heck: …Science ought to dictate this…it ought not to
be a political decision, it ought to be based on science. It just seems to me
that it shouldn’t be that difficult to determine whether or not the base of
that population is sufficient….
What
to do about the high incarceration rate in the United States:
Heck: …I think it’s more than worrisome when America
has the highest incarceration rate in the world…This is a very expensive way to
deal with problems in our society...it’s a lot cheaper to invest up front…in a
strong education system so they can see the future of hope….
McDonald: …In Pierce County, we put in place other alternatives
to incarceration and allow… alternatives to court such as drug court and
veteran’s court…and put people into pathways…rather than just put them in jail
and throw away the key…As a former foster parent, I understand that some people
have to play the hand they are dealt, but we need to bring people alongside so
they can get the help and encouragement and modeling that they need to become
productive citizens….
Funding
priorities and if you would increase funding for the National Park Service:
McDonald: I’d love to but… my priority will be getting
on board with a plan that will reduce the federal debt so we don’t continue to burden
our future generations….so I won’t be going there to increase funding. I’ll be
going there to see if we can’t find a way to maintain…what we have….
Heck: The fact of the matter is that we get to the
point that the funding for providing for some of these facilities and services
is so low that it will end up costing us more in the long term… our
national parks have been degraded over the last several years…The bigger threat
is sequestration….
If
Shelton were to receive 400 new immigrants who are meeting their families in
Mason County, who should pay for the bi-lingual teachers and the load on the
schools and the community?
Heck: It is the paramount duty of the state to make
ample provisions for the education of all children….It is unequivocal….
McDonald: Unfortunately, the state of Washington
would have to pick up the bill for those children… but this is just another example
of …where the federal government has…failed to do its job….to enforce existing
law. In my perspective, this is something that should be picked up, at the very
least, by the federal government….
Should
President Obama ask for a declaration of war against the Islamic State? How
would you vote and why:
McDonald: Well, I think it’s evident that the
Islamic State has made a declaration of war against the United States and its
citizens by beheading American citizens and other citizens of allies of the
United States…I think it’s definitely something that should be debated in
Congress. It’s not that simple, an act of declaring war and then we run into a
country, and start bombing and put troops on the ground…. War is a very serious
matter and people’s lives, people we love, who put their lives on the line….Our
military is the best in the world….so I’m just not sure this is the right time
to be making a declaration of war….but when the time comes, the President
should go with Congress, and with one voice, we should take care of the
business that must be taken care of.
Heck: …Not once has war been formally declared since
WWII….think back to all our conflicts we’ve been involved with in the last
seven years – not once, except WWII, did
we formally declare war. What’s happening now at least is that the President
is operating under…the Authorized Use for Military Force, AUMF, it is called.
It was adopted by Congress in 2002, and that’s what he’s using… as his
justification… What I do think is appropriate…and it’s
past due, is for Congress to at least try…to… make it more reflective of our
times… new conditions and/or limitations, new instructions to the President and
our Armed Forces with respect to our involvement there….I think it’s a
Congressional responsibility… to at least attempt it.
For
more information on Representative Denny Heck’s positions, see an article dated January 8, 2014 titled, “One Year in Congress: Is Congressman Heck Giving ‘Em
Heck?” go to www.janineslittlehollywood.blogspot.com
and type key words into the search engine.
