Wells, Fisher debate state issues

Thursday, October 26, 2006
Challenger Tim Wells, a Democrat, left, and incumbent Barney Fisher, Republican, candidates for Missouri state representative, District 125, prepare to face off in a debate Tuesday night at the Nevada Elks Lodge. About an equal number of supporters showed up for each side. Interestingly, Democrats primarily chose seats on the left side of the room, while Republicans primarily chose seats on the right side.

By Lynn A. Wade

Nevada Daily Mail

In the Elks bingo hall, a room charged with the collective support and curiosity of about 60 people, candidates for Missouri state representative in the 125th District squared off in a debate Tuesday night.

Challenger Tim Wells, a Democrat, won the coin toss determining who would give the first opening statement, with incumbent Barney Fisher following suit.

Wells said he chose to run for office because he works with children and families, who lost a lot of their health care coverage in the legislature's cuts of Medicaid, saying 100,000 elderly and disabled lost coverage as well as thousands of children, with devastating effects.

"These are cuts that did not have to be made. We have a surplus that's more than these cuts."

Higher education today is increasing in cost, he said.

"I believe it's up to Missouri to provide low interest loans to students so that they can have a good education. Education is of utmost concern."

Fisher opened by stating that "Just two years ago, Missouri was leading the nation in jobs lost. We've now created over 50,000 jobs since January of 2005." He noted that at that time, the Missouri budget was in the red, but is now operating in the black because the legislature made "hard decisions ... legislation and public policy that we passed."

Fisher praised improvements in the highway system and said although taxes weren't raised there are better roads, less crime, more funding, more jobs and so on. "If you want to go back to the days when the governor withholds money from education ... takes money from the veteran's trust fund ... we can go back, but I don't think we'd have the kind of state that you want."

Dr. Jason Meisenheimer introduced the event and thanked sponsors -- The Nevada Elks, KNEM/KNMO radio, and the Nevada Daily Mail. Moderator Bryan Breckenridge posed preselected questions to the candidates, who alternately answered, with a one-minute rebuttal allowed for each question.

Throughout the debate, Wells concentrated on his theme, "We can do better," but Fisher repeatedly countered, "We have done better."

Questions touched on a wide variety of meaty subjects:

Health insurance for small business

Wells said affordability is the issue, and although some improvements have been made, controls over health care premiums and other costs must improve more.

Fisher said the answer's already been provided through new legislation that allows small businesses to form larger groups to take advantage of lower premiums often available to larger groups, one aspect of the solution that also had been brought up by Wells.

"All they have to do is read the legislation and do it," he said.

Wells clarified that health care costs are also too high, and said providers are still leaving the state because malpractice premiums are still too high in Missouri, claiming that the steps the legislature has taken are not enough.

Funding for education

Fisher said, "We already have full funding" of public education, in a record amount. Higher education, he admits "probably does need some attention," but "I will start feeling sorry for higher institutions when they stop raising tuition and start leaning out their budgets."

Wells said the legislature's plan achieves "full funding in the next seven years," saying the schools need the funding now.

"I also believe that higher education does need to be funded," with low interest loans.

"We have to stand behind the needs of our students," Wells said.

Fisher countered that Wells "doesn't understand the way education funding formulas work," saying that it's 85 percent the old formula and 15 percent the new formula. "You just can't stop one and switch to a new one. It has to be transitioned in," Fisher said.

Minimum wage

Wells supports an increase in minimum wage, saying that five Nobel Prize-winning economists have said that raising the minimum wage would be good for America and that concerns that it would hurt the economy are unfounded.

"When workers make more money, they spend more money in the local community," Wells said.

Fisher said that minimum wage was never intended as a "living wage," but as a stepping stone to a better position.

"If this passes it's going to cost Missouri businesses $44 million and go up after that."

Businesses, in turn will react to the increased cost with layoffs, leading to teens having trouble getting part time jobs, an increase in unemployment and in a few quarters, a recession.

Wells countered that adults -- many of them female -- would benefit most, according to research.

Medicaid

Fisher said Missouri Medicaid "is not going to be discontinued in 2008," it's being redesigned. The biggest problem is that it is "fraught with fraud," Fisher said, citing a St. Louis Post-Dispatch statement that fraud was estimated to cost as much as $500 million per year. However, he noted, in 2006 medicaid received $264 million more than it received last year, and that humanitarian programs as a whole, debt and education, it amounts to 68 percent of the budget.

"I don't think we should pour more money into a system that has $500 million of fraud. We've got to fix that system first.

Wells said cutting people from the rolls isn't the answer, and neither is throwing out the whole system.

"You don't throw out the baby with the bathwater. The republicans have had a chance every year to deal with that problem, and they've refused to do it. They'd rather do away with the program than make the legislation necessary."

Users are neighbors, friends, and customers, and more, Wells said, and "the money doesn't go to those people. It goes to health care professionals" who pay taxes on it and spend it in the community. "To say that it's OK to have 68,000 people without health care just so you can balance a budget" means that "Missouri can do better, " Wells said.

Fisher countered that for four years prior to 2004 Democrats didn't stop the fraud either.

Family values

Wells said that family values means parents who are able to take care of their families, being able to get good health care, being able to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

Fisher said family values means a mother and father caring for children; protecting the unborn; no embryonic stem cell research; and no abortion.

Wells countered that in the real world, families aren't made up that way. Many are single-parent homes, and Missouri has lost 8,200 jobs.

Stem Cell Initiative

Fisher said he's very much for adult stem cell research, saying it's produced 65 treatments and therapies that have been effective. But he's against Amendment 2.

"This amendment is not about approval or disapproval. It is a vehicle to provide public funding for embryonic stem cell research. It's a bad amendment," Fisher said.

He pointed out that the amendment claims to ban cloning, but human cloning is already banned at the federal level.

Wells said that Amendment 2 is not a mandate for public funding, but a mechanism to protect Missourians' abilities to benefit from stem cell research.

Wells agreed there have been no successes with embryonic stem cell research but notes that researchers have worked with adult stem cells for much longer and that many scientists believe successes are inevitable.

In the end, though, he said that people must vote their own conscience. "If you believe an embryo's a baby, vote no."

Fisher countered that paragraph 7 of the amendment is deceptive, and that it "provides your money for voodoo science."

Taxes

Wells said he favors tax cuts for the middle class and that the wealthy could bear a much larger share of the tax burden.

Fisher said "soaking the rich" isn't the answer, calling Wells' views socialism.

Wells countered that it's not socialism -- it's concern for the working class and the poor.

Budget surplus

With a budget surplus, the legislature plans to reduce or eliminate the tax on Social Security, and, possibly, other pensions, said Fisher.

"If people keep more of the money, they do wonderful things with it, that puts more money in the state's coffers."

Wells said a surplus should be used to "take care of people who have lost so much."

Tobacco tax

Wells said he has mixed feelings about this, and that each person will have to vote according to conscience.

As a health care provider, he has deep concerns about the cost of smoking, in terms of health and dollars. He's also concerned, though, because it's often lower income people who smoke, so they'll be bearing the burden.

Fisher said it's a self-defeating tax. If it passes, and is successful in discouraging people from using tobacco, then the tax income will ultimately decline. At that point, the state may have become reliant on the funds, and it would be difficult to wean the state from that income, Fisher said.

MOHELA

Fisher said the state has a good plan of selling off some assets of MOHELA to pay for capital improvements at Missouri university, as well as creating a scholarship fund.

Wells believes MOHELA should do what it was designed to do -- provide low interest loans to students.

Candidates shook hands at the end of the debate, and several of those attending said they found the debate "informative," "worthwhile" and "interesting."

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