Fewer Candidates in Wake of Ninth District Forum

Featured Stories, Politics

The Gilmer County Tea Party continued to vet the Ninth District Candidates last week at a special forum Tuesday night. Moderated by Tea Party Member Margaret Williamson, the candidates underwent more scrutiny from questions previously prepared. Ranging from the economy to education, the questions highlighted each candidate’s forte and refined some of their platforms.

Overall, the questions seemed to cater to each candidate’s area of expertise.

Former Principal Roger Fitzpatrick was asked about the effectiveness of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation.

“It was never intended to work,”

he commented, explaining that the President (Bush, at the time) and his staff were told that there was no way every child in the nation is going to be proficient in reading, language arts, and math by the time they take their annual tests. Georgia recently received a waiver for NCLB, where the legislation will be replaced by a new set of accountability measures.

“What we’re moving toward now,”

he said,

“is a much better solution.”

He said the new accountability measures are based on a model of growth, gauging the growth of students and schools from year to year.

Williams asked Rep. Collins about his legislative experience. Through out the campaign, Collins, himself, has built his platform on his tenure in Legislature, emphasizing that he is the only one in the race with such experience. But, Williamson wanted to know how this experience would be an advantage as representative in Washington, suggesting voter skepticism towards seasoned legislators or “career politicians.” Collins said his legislative experience was only one part of who he is, “one part of cumulative life experiences.” He said his first two years in Legislature were spent battling a Speaker (Glenn Richardson) who had taken a wrong path. Collins, Tom Graves and other legislators stood up to Richardson, he said, and were punished for it. Asserting his position, Collins said his legislative experience

“provides an understanding of the pressures that are involved, the issues of what goes on and how people have different opinions and come together to build a bill that not only works for Georgia, but for the nation.”

Early in the campaign Collins emphasized that “experience matters,” a motto that has resurfaced as an unofficial slogan over the months. Zoller, however, has taken exception to this. During the forum, she refuted the notion that this was the only type of experience that matters.

“The idea that only legislative experience matters is just not that important,”

she said during the forum. Legislative experience is part of it, she elaborated, saying that she will use her experience from the corporate world, small business, raising a family and running her husband’s medical practice to serve in Congress. Zoller said that doing things the same way and people getting into office because

“it’s just their turn because it’s the next legislator’s job is not the right way to get things changed.”

She later mentioned Rep. Paul Broun’s health bill, noting that Broun did not have legislative experience before entering Congress.

“Citizen Legislators are what the Founders wanted,”

she asserted. Through out the evening, Zoller also promoted her M.A.P. (Martha’s Action Plan) for Prosperity. Rolled out earlier this month, the plan is a three-pronged outline, focusing on Accountability, Bold Reform, and Citizen Engagement.

Although then-candidate Clifton McDuffie’s forte is the economy, his most poignant response of the evening came in a question regarding national defense.

“Do you believe the pending future deductions to the U.S. Military Budget will seriously affect our national security?”

Williamson asked. McDuffie said it could, if the cuts were deep enough. He recalled his time in the National Guard where he said he saw waste that could’ve been avoided.

“But, I am not for cutting national defense,”

he said,

“that’s just a first priority.”

He said his father was on the invasion force at Okinawa and was proud that he served the country in that respect. “I don’t ever want to see America get so cost conscious that we destroy our military and we can’t fight when we need to.”

For his part, Hunter Bicknell repeatedly showed his bold ideas and solutions oriented platform. In a question on a recent, partial audit of the Federal Reserve, Mr. Bicknell asserted

“We do not need the Federal Reserve (or the FDIC) to be controlling the banking system…It is a hindrance to our growth.”

He said community banks need to be left alone, without the regulations of the FDIC or the threat of the FDIC shutting these banks down. Community banks, he said, are the banks that help small business grow, thrive and prosper. Later, Bicknell was asked if doing away with the Federal Reserve and the FDIC included deposit insurance coverage. He said deposit insurance can easily be done by the state and done well, reminding voters that deposit insurance coverage is simply an insurance program.

Later in the evening, during the citizens’ speak portion of the forum, Gilmer Voter and Tea Party Member Joene De Plancke pressed the candidates with a more pointed question. Prefacing her question, De Plancke commented that people in Gilmer County and around the Nation are fed up with candidates making campaign promises and then doing what they want once they get into office.

“Will you sign a contract with the voters of the Ninth District,”

she said,

“before the July 31st Primary that if you are elected you will vote against any legislation that reduces States’ Rights, that reduces the individual rights and freedoms that lessens the Georgia Immigration Laws or increases the control or power of the EPA, the Department of Energy and Department of Education. And, you will either introduce or at the very least vote for any legislation that will eliminate or reduce the size of the IRS, the EPA, the Department of Energy or the Department of Education and if you violate this agreement you will resign so that we can elect someone that will follow the voters’ mandate.”

All candidates sad they would sign the contract, while Bicknell and Zoller said they would be willing to go further regarding the reduction of the power of the Federal Government.

Although the forum did little to display the candidates’ debating abilities, the event offered an opportunity for voters to hear the candidates’ positions on the issues as the election inches closer.

Also, since last Tuesday, the race has changed immensely. On Wednesday, Hunter Bicknell, whose campaign was gaining support, suspended his campaign. Additionally, on Friday, Clifton McDuffie chose not to qualify, based on financial assessments of his campaign.

On the Republican side, this leaves Collins, Zoller, and Fitzpatrick. Perhaps more bewildering, though, is the news of Democrat Jody Cooley’s entrance into the race. Cooley, a Gainesville attorney, qualified and announced his candidacy on Friday.

Cooley’s announcement throws a proverbial wrench into the race by extending the contest beyond the July 31st Primary. With a Democrat in the mix, the race will now go to the November general election, where Cooley will go head to head with a Republican in one of the most conservative voting blocks in the Nation.

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