Hopefully not, because i think theyve got a good point. I dont know that thats been resolved yet. But i think they make a good point. Great. Lets have the questions from the audience. Maam, well start with you, in the back. Thank you very much. I really appreciate your statements. Im a correspondent from afghanistan. Basically im from afghanistan too. Everything looks wonderful after the big change in afghanistan. But the only concern that everybody has is their policy on pakistan. Do you think that after the new government in afghanistan, will be able to change their policy on afghanistan . Weve been pushing them to change their policy for as long as i can remember. I used to i made maybe a dozen trips to afghanistan in the last ten years or so. I used to always add pakistan, go to pakistan. But i received so much false information, baloney in afghanistan about their policies that i just finally dont even go there anymore. I dont want to hear their lying anymore. Lying about what theyre doing. At one point, i had the head of intelligence saying if you could point out to us where in pakistan the people are that are supporting the taliban in afghanistan, well go after them. And i looked at them like, are you kidding . You know where they are you know absolutely where they are. Youre supporting them. So ive sort of just given up in terms of trying to change their policy towards afghanistan. We shouldnt give up. The fact that im frustrated is not a policy, by the way. [laughter] its just a fact of life. Im just being honest with you. But now there may be some additional ways in which we can encourage pakistan to really go after the people who are creating trouble inside of afghanistan. There may be and we talked about it earlier in the meeting we had there may be some new ways of persuasion towards pakistan to really go after the problem thats being created in afghanistan, created in pakistan. So weve just got to keep looking for ways and not be frustrated by my frustration. Sir . Good morning, senator. Good morning. In our part of the world, if the mountain doesnt come to mohamed, mohamed will go to the mountain. You, sir, are the mountain. So we are here to talk to you. I know im older but [laughter] im an afghan american. For ten years, i have been the president of the National Coalition for dialogue with the tribes of afghanistan. Ive been dealing with tribes from all over, for the past 12 years. I came here for medical treatment recently. First of all, i want to extend our peoples appreciation for the partnership that has always existed between the United States and afghanistan, especially the tribes of afghanistan. We were partners in fighting the soviet union. You supplied us with the military equipment, and we supplied the manpower. And after a loss of three million of our citizens, one and a half million on the battlefield and one and a half mill through genocide, we managed together to bring the soviet empire down to its knees. The Afghan People are not getting the credit for that. Secondly, we as two nations partnered together to fight against terrorism. When the United States first entered afghanistan in 2001 with 500 soldiers, it was the Ground Forces of the freedom fighters, supported by the air support from the United States, that we managed to get rid of the i have a question about counterterrorism efforts in iraq. There have been some contradictory reports about counterterrorism collaborations. I would like you to clarify what that looks like. Also in terms of terrorist financing what is the , current status of saudi arabia . Are they moving towards countering that financing the way theyve promised . About i dont know any more about the u. S. Russian collaboration, if real, than you do, because i just saw the first time were not in session now so we dont get the briefings we usually do, but i only know what ive read about it. Well know a lot more when we get back about it, if its real, in the intelligence area. I hope it is, by the way. There ought to be Common Ground on some things. And it ought to be isis ought to unite the world, including people who now have kind of an unhappy chile relationship, which is the case of us and russia in the west, because of their activities in ukraine and other places. But theres still areas where there should be a working together, and if isis cant unite the world, nothing can. If isis cant unite the arab and muslim world, then i dont know what would. Isis is an opportunity. Its hard to use that word with isis. But it can unify people. It has unified the world. How many countries now, 60, 70 countries are signed up . To support in some way the effort against isis. Theres a Real Coalition that involves now arab and muslim countries, openly, not quietly, openly participating in the campaign against isis. That could have a major impact among their populations, a recognition that a tiny percentage of islam is conducting, in the name of islam, horrific acts. And the other 98 of islam, i think, is seeing that that is not what islam they already know thats not what islam is about, but they dont want islam to be perceived in that way. And so youre going to find a coming together over time, and the president has pointed out this is going to be a long battle. But i think now there could be a turning point in the world, in the islamic world, and in the nonislamic world, against the common threat. And so i hope the stories are true but i dont know anything more about it than what ive read in terms of sharing of intelligence between russia and the United States. But if its true, it would be, i think, a good sign of the power of horror and terror to unite people against it. Your second question had to do with iraq. Im sorry. Saudi financing . I know the issue has been raised constantly. And we think, we think that theres been progress in that area. We hope, because its been a real problem, even though its not the government. Its what the governments the strengthening. That weof the questions have and the recommendation in the report and previous reports tothat to do that we need provide what they are calling enablers. And thus far its not clear how provideding to be after 2014. They are getting clobbered in the moment. And while your suggestion along for action along the border relieve what may be a there, the question is how do you provide more support now. Hose moderate rebels the key word in that sentence is now. There is going to be is that itd the hope will be able to be provided earlier than later. I cant confirm that even though they were in the press. True, that theres been you dont know to what extent. On the, the president has course of action, i just hope it can be speeded up, in i think your point is, terms of the enablers you may not,ence to, those are except in general terms, i dont each the precise nature of been workedling has out. By that will be determined the circumstances and events and capabilities on the ground. I dont know that in any area that theyve been fully worked have been, if i didnt i wouldnt be able to see. That those have been fleshed out yet. I have to apologize for not being able to fill you in. But my huge that is that being on as we speak. Pointed outly before that, about pakistan that being frustrated or just hoping for pakistan to change its for do you think that one way to change the policy would be to andnstrate a longterm strong commitment to afghanistans stability in the to convince the pakistan i security officer. And the Current Establishment place. Main in based on my own experience and discussion with pakistan i officials, you are they are not convinced about that. They were raising some legitimate and exaggerated asked themd why i why youre not pursuing your concerns through the current leavitt legitimate government, they were leavinghat america is but we under this region. Whether it was about the surge or about they have this time frame. You think changing that will change pakistans policy . Did mention before that if the situation is bad, perhaps reconsider keeping it, possible . T well, its a totally in iraq thanuation there is here. Here the Afghan Government wants us there, except for putting karzai, the people of want us there. And their candidates wanted us there, both of them. Their primeaq where minister said theres no way troops can stay here after that deadline, i know there was a big debate as to whether or not the president could have tried harder, but if you read is thatwhat he said politically the Prime Minister of iraq was not going to allow american troops to stay deadline whiche president bush had negotiated, and i believe thats true, that toitically he was not going do it, period. He wished now that he had agreed to american troops staying there, but thats what he may wish now. Thats very different from afghanistan. The government wants us to continue. Your question, i they sense, yes, if sensesme, if pakistan constancy, a continued commitment on the part of the justd states, not militarily, but economically, the longe there, for term, and we are, and i hope we affect theirt will calculus, i think thats true. Calculus,fect their and if they think that yes, 2016 is now what is the goal, thats set, but as dempsey said, that campbell if circumstances are such at the got to2016 that thats be reconsidered, that they would recommend, because its only a themmendation, who ever and 2016 is, in 2000 guess, will be 2017, would make the decision, as to whether or the to follow a recommendation by our commander the jointirman of chiefs of staff to continue some military presence beyond the end of 2016. But given the fact that both of those leaders, military leaders said they would of course make a recommendation to military presence, thatrcumstances are such that leads them to make a recommendation, that theyre going to do that, because thats duty. Real. T possibility is as far as im concerned its real. Even though its not now the plan. Or the hope. We have time unfortunately questions. O more yourank you very much for service. You started your talk with we dont need doves, we dont need hawks, with a we need are owls. Could you speak to the characteristic of the owls that you envision . You. Eyes open, mouth shut. laughter you know, thoughtful, wise, not jumping to conclusions, history. Ding learning from history. I dont know if thats what the question was seeking, but weve got to understand the history a lot better. Iraniant to understand history, iranianu. S. History. What happened in the 50s in iran. That still drives iranians or at least their old leaders, not the young people of iran who apparently want a major change way. An, by the but the leaders who are alive in deposed when the c. I. A. A freely elected president in iran. Thatve to understand history, as part of the whole picture. Weve got to understand the asia. Y in i dont want to go beyond that. But so i think an owl, the characteristics would be that they would really understand open. Y, keep their eyes any prejudgments, understand our limitations, by our power. Well as understand the limits of power. Understand the capabilities of power, and when you decide to use it, use it wisely and effectively. Coalitions, i think understands its critical, particularly in that part of the world, unless some immediate threat to our own interests, that you act region. Ntries in the far more powerful than to just western effort militarily. Which plays into the hands of terrorists. Thats a propaganda fuel for them. Occupation. Western hey, this is not a western thing that, this is not a western effort thats going on right now in iraq and syria, this is a effort against these guys. Away thetakes Propaganda Club from isis that wants to talk about another crusade. Thank you very much. To have a question good understanding of the people with whom they are negotiating. Ofi like the importance language, is what youre talking about, speaking language. Think when president bush humility,talked about whether or not he lived up to his own standard or not, theres a different issue. I liked it, when president office, we need some humility. Question, quickly. So you just mentioned about the progress in afghanistan. Right because afghanistan 2001 and 2014 is a electionerences, showed that the people of afghanistan rejected the status they wanted for improving governments. Taliban ideas the or their influence, which was the people were facing threats, but they, so theyre going to go back, so we want to leave election behind. We have a new government there political will and relationship mend u. S. , so mylly the suggestion, my question is, what needed to are strengthen this relationship between afghanistan and the u. S. , and continuation of support, because we need support, because from one extreme you were giving a lot of money to afghanistan, we were but now a lot of money, you would like like how to balance this kind of relationship. Im not sure this is directly responsive to your question. But in terms of american support, which i believe is important, desired, and important, and other countries i think the same thing is true that have been supportive, either with troops or money. That what our publics believe in a democracy such as ours is important. And thats why i spoke about that issue, theres one part of this whole picture that i could change, it would be that there would be more balanced coverage in america of afghanistan. Its what i believe is so important. Not just today, that ive spoken about the importance in terms of what the impact of its reporting is on the typical americans view of afghanistan. If that doesnt become more balanced, if somehow or other cant see the glass not only half full in getting fuller. If they cant visit the aiversity or a school in village where girls are going to school, or a Health Clinic which service. Oviding health or whatever it is, if they cant cover that and say look what we helped produce, obviously the Afghan People produced it. We keep saying we want to open for people, that we cant walk through that door walkingan people are through that door now, they risked their lives. I dont know how many afghan lost their lives. Huge numbers have lost their lives in this fight. American people could sense that, i think it would really on our side of the the mosthip be important thing that could happen, because then there would willingness toer really be a true partner with afghanistan, which is so important. Think weve seen today an steady of this sound, leadership that the senator has senaten his years in the and particularly in the Senate Armed Services committee. Only one example. He has, if you will, been foreignan owl on policy. Wise, steady. He has been a supporter of usip. Down from yourep responsibilities in january, you will be sorely missed. Thank you. On a range of issues. Inyou could join me appreciation for the senator being here and his wonderful service. [applause] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] coming up on cspan, more coverage. 014 in florida, republican governor rick scott debated former governor Charlie Crist on wednesday. That debate was delayed because of a dispute between the candidates. Thats next, then in minnesotas 8th congress that district, congressman rick nolan faces two challengers. James comby will talk about technology, privacy and Law Enforcement, hes also expected to discuss how on encrypted devices designed to increase security enforcementome law investigations. Director comby will be at the Brookings Institution this 10 30 eastern. T and later, the head of the c. D. C. , and dr. Anthony fauci testify about the governments response to the virus. Live at noon eastern on cspan. A Florida Governors debate between incumbent republican governor rick scott and former crist, whoarlie while in office served as a republican but is now running as a democrat. Is the second debate between these two candidates. Courtesy of wfor miami. We are prepared to have the two Major Party Candidates for square off forr the next hour. Good evening, everyone, im elliott rodriguez, anchor at wfor cbs miami. Joining us on the panel tonight, rosemary goodrow, the editorial pain editor of the south florida sun citizen ten , of thefrank denton newspaper in jacksonville. We would like to welcome all of wedho are watching us and like to thank our host tonight. Broward college, and its jay david armstrong, junior who is joining us in the a group ofong with students. Tonights debate is set to be interactive. To hear from you. We have a panel of journalists who will be monitoring all of questions and comments on facebook and twitter. Garcia, and a reporter for the miami herald. Us is the executive editor of the tallahassee democrat. And jeremy wallace, the Political Editor of the sarasota tribune. And right now we want to take a bailey the stage here at hall in broward county, and as can you see, the two candidates to take part in this debate right now are not stage. G up on the anies and gentlemen, we have extremely peculiar situation right now. We have governor Charlie Crist. [cheers and applause] Florida Governor rick scott, our incumbent governor and the republican candidate for is also in the building. Havenor rick scott, we been told that Governor Scott not be participating in this debate. Now, let me explain what this is about. Governor crist has asked to have placeda small fan underneath his podium. That ies of the debate was shown by the Scott Campaign be no fan. Ere should somehow there is a fan there, that reason, ladies and gentlemen, i am being told that Governor Scott will not join us debate. boos ladies and gentlemen, this is debate, row mary, i dont know say . Can we well, applause]d sad that governor, were not asking question. Were not asking a question. Rosemary about the situation that we find ourselves in. Crist, do the rules of the debate say that there should be no fan . Im aware of. Rules that says that no electronics canning used to debatereally going about a fan . Or are we going to talk about education and the environment state . Few of our i mean really. [cheers and applause] there are serious issues facing our state. And its like funding education appropriately, protecting our environment. Making sure we have ethical, leadership. Governor [cheers and applause] if hes going to give it to it. Im going to take this is not this is not a platform for one candidate. Were hoping that Governor Scott will join us on the stage. Am told that Governor Scott will join us on the stage. In all fairness to governor a copy of thehown rules that they showed me that said there would be no fan on podium. Very strange. Frank, have you ever seen anything like that . No, i havent. Sort of able, over trivial issue. Awkwardre placed in the situation of having to decide this. And i dont think its our role to determine. [cheers and applause] governor, thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that has to be the most unique beginning to any debate. I dont think well forget. Florida, butn anywhere in the country. Let us start. Lets please lets start with first of all the rules. The rules of this debate are, one minute for the question to the first candidate the second candidate will have a minute. Candidatehe first will have 30 seconds to respond. We want to get a lightning round second. With 20 lets get right to it and lets ask the first question, which to determined by a coin toss governor crist. Governor crist, you have spent millions of dollars in this Campaign Defining your opponent through negative advertising. Voters areend the unhappy with their choices. Based on social media posts we monitored, the public is frustrated by the tone and campaign. This tonight without attacking your opponent, define yourself for why yours and tell them deserve to be governor. Thank you very much. First i want to thank you for debate, andhis governor its good to have you with us now. I want to start out by saying i grew up in florida. I love this state. Ive been here for 55 years, up in st. Petersburg, and i care deeply about public education, im a Public School kid myself, graduating from st. Pete high in 1974. Wehink its important that reinvest in education because we need to. I also think its important we do whats right for higher education. Im a graduate of Florida State university and i know that our higher institutions and universities need to have appropriate investment. And finally i know that it important for the future of that we get focused on the middle class and job creation, creating jobs that pay just minimum wage, although i think we need to raise the minimum wage. But we need to give an opportunity for people in the middle class to do better for themselves and their children, great all starts with a education. Thank you, governor crist. Governor scott, same question to you. To thanki want everybody for the opportunity to be here. I want to thank my wife who has me since i was 19. Weve been married 42 years and with twoessed wonderful daughters, three grand hopefully, my almost 3yearold eye today atin the school. But why should they elect me as governor again. A family that struggled. You saw the ads in 2010, mom good boy, but she was a wonderful mom, she was willing to divorce a husband was abusive, which gave me shot. If she had not divorced that man i dont know what my wife would been like. She rematter, we lived in public housing, but she told me if you go to church, study hard, make an eagle scout, then you have a shot at the American Dream. I ran in 2010 because i believe in the dream. Thank you, governor. Governor crist, your rebuttal. Thatthink its important rereinvest in education, we talked about that earlier and rick scott cut education by 1. 3 billion. You cant do that. Cut education to the bone that way and expect our children to get a good sold i education and have an opportunity Going Forward to great good employment and career. We have to have a laser focus on that and we also have to focus universitieses as i stated before, again url rick scott took 300 million thank you governor much next question from rosemary. Governor scott, you claim lost 825,000 jobs because of Charlie Crist. Governorell us what crist specifically did to cause losses . B sure. Actually it was were lost. Bs that lost. 0 jobs that were by the time he left office unemployment went from 3. 5 to 11. 1 , the second highest increase in unemployment in the country. Do. s what he didnt step one, he raised taxes. He raised taxes on the citizens by 2. 2 billion. Taxes,uld never raise especially after he see he wouldnt, but in a recession it. E people cab afford he see if you have a child going to the university it will cost money. E he wasnt willing to call on wouldnt help Economic Development efforts. He raised regulation. If you think about building a to build thoset businesses to be in florida, regulation, less stream line the permitting process, thats why we lost charlie was when governor. The people of florida know that i didnt cause the global any moremeltdown, than [cheers and applause] thank you. Any more than rick scott caused the National Economic recovery. That. Are smarter than they understand and they understood that we were serving time. Ifficult and we had to make tough choices gotit wasnt easy, but we florida through. One the ways we got florida through was to work in a bipartisan way, to work with across the aisle, to take the recovery money and help us firesure we didnt have to 20,000 school teachers. Rickis something that scott said was a mistake much what would he do if we have a goese dip and something again . Ith the economy Charlie Crist, powerless for the jobless. He couldntt her is do anything. He wanted the job as governor, call onidnt want to companies, he didnt want to do the tough things, didnt want to cut regulation. He spent all of his time trying to be Vice President and then theing against rubio for senate. He lost 3,000 teachers lost their job when charlie was governor. 832,000 people lost their jobs. Thank you, Governor Scott. Frank . Crist, you see you support raising the minimum wage youve said youd race it to 10. 10. Out that side points there are many Small Business toes struggling to keep the doors open. Government tell them what they should pay their employees . I think its important to raise the minimum wage because its very hard for people to get by on what the minimum wage is florida. 7. 93 is not enough to make end meet. To 10. 10 would be a 27 increase in income, for thousands of floridians. What a difference that would make in the economy. Have iney they would their pockets to be able to go to mom and pop Small Businesses have thee state, opportunity to in turn help those businesses do better, and more. Eir employees things arent great in florida right now. A kitchently been on table tour talking to real people, and they are challenged, and threeto work two jobs to make ends meet. Thats not right. Florida can do better than that. Deserve better than that. We deserve to have a governor who will fight for you, fight wage,ising the minimum fight for equal pay for women, rick scott is against both, its we can fix itut and i look forward to it. [applause] Governor Scott. Has a lot of talk, but not a lot of action. He had the opportunity. Minimum wagenst when he was in the senate, he right think it was the thing to do, so he voted against it. But heres the problem. Jobs. Charlie lost 832,000 jobs and he more . To lose oh c. D. O. Says 500,000 jobs would be lost if they get the minimum wage increase. Ahad parents who didnt have job, i had parents that watched almost be repossessed. Charlie doesnt worry about those people, he doesnt know be like that. O charlie is the zero wage wentnor, 832,000 people from wages to zero waynes when charlie was governor. Crist . Rnor rick, there you go again, trying to blame the global meltdown on me. It is unbelievable that he would continue to say that. But he says it. He also says that he created all these new jobs, all by himself. Just cant trust rick, and its sad, its unfortunate. You know, he has spent so much on television advertisements, the media themselves have said theyre the negative ads that have ever been aired in florida and the most dishonest, and hes continuing that dishonesty today. When he tells you that i lost or he brought right now we want to hear from the voters. Debate is connected through social media through our social media panel. Fine out what the voters are saying through social to manny garcia of the naples daily news. And manny, whats trending on media right now, and we need you to ask a question of Governor Scott. The fan, no actually trendinghings thats was you started it off, but i dont think the candidates answered it. For Governor Scott, one the things that continually comes up specialbetween you and interest groups, and i think it also applies to governor crist, but tens of millions of dollars have been spent, a scorched two. Campaign between you so the question is, why should you be reelected when the dirty . N is so when i talk to voters they about three care things. Step one, they want a job. They want a job, they want a job, they want a job. They want a governor that says to get up every day, im not going to be running for Vice President or u. S. Senate, up every dayget jobs. Y how can i get more how can i get Lockheed Martin to move more jobs here. I get Northrup Grumman to move more jobs here. Two, its like my mom, she cedric, get a good education. Education funding was cut when charlie was governor. Per student, both and overall k12 education was started. When he and third, they want to live in a safe environment. Every day isk at jobs. Better Education System, make sure you live in a safe neighborhood. Governor crist, you want to address the nastiness of this ads . Ign and the negative people are turned off by them. Of course they are, so am i. Had about 50 million worth of negative ads thrown on me, tired of it . Not this is a race about the future of our state. In have to make a decision less than three weeks about who you want to be your next governor. Rick scott has talked about the fact that hes called companies around the country to try to bring them to our state. True. Hes also offered them about here. Illion to come and theyve only come through with 4 of the jobs that they promised. Thats a 96 failure on jobs in that program. With that i do 266 million . What i think is the right thing thing forhe right florida. I would invest that money in florida Small Businesses, make fighting have a chance. I think we need to protect florida first instead of bringing companies from outside state that can balancize our own businesses. Its important to be focused on the Sunshine State, doing whats right for our people and make fair shot. Ave a Governor Scott, rebuttal . Talk versuss is all action. Charlie didnt want to do the job, didnt want to call on the and whats interesting is why wouldnt he want hertz to move a corporate here, why wouldnt he want Northrup Grumman to idea jobs. We have 261,000 job openings in the state right now, average top 25 in demand, 27 an hour. Charlies not what wants . Thank you, governor. The next question will be to governor crist. [applause] crist, were on a College Campus right now. We have College Students here andworry about tuition debt. You signed the bill allowing tuition 15 o raise a year. Governor scott has prohibited pushed increases and has state colleges to offer 10,000. Degrees for what do you say to kid now burdened with so much college lone dealt are lets look at all facts, elliott. What Governor Scott did in addition to what you said, the allowed tuition to go up 15 , so the premise of the question isnt correct. Two, i think its also important to point out to College Students that if you had hope of going to college on scholarship,re 50,000 of you are not able to do so today, because of rick scott. They reducedwhy him that much, i on know that ande are what the facts are facts are stubborn things much so if you want to go to college can affordy that you it, i would seek your vote, cuts toa restore those future scholarships because you knee them and deserve them. Tonighta young lady named marcella, i went to her house in miami just over a week andand sat down with her she was upset because she couldnt get a Bright Future a 4. 7 gradehad point average. Thats unbelievable to me, but thatbecause of the cuts rick scott has brought to education. Thank you, governor. [applause] not concernedis about the facts, hell say anything. If you want to get the fact, go for florida. Com. You can follow the truth. Off, Bright Futures, the legislature both under thelie and me raised eligibility. 15 ecause of charlies increases,tuition when you think you get a free future, youight dont. Think about a brand new parent. I want to save my money, make child can go to the university. It was 102 when charlie started it was 253. We today have the highest funding for k12, state colleges and universities in the history stopped soe, and we 200 million. Your rebuttal . Yes. Talks about telling the truth. Thats an interesting thing to assert. Guy who ran a company who had to pay the largest fine for of then the history United States of america. boos [applause] the truth hurts sometimes, and rick this is also a fact. Fifth, 75 times so you wouldnt have to answer questions involved in it. That is not the kind of leadership that florida desevens. Thank you. Audience, please hold your applause so we can get as many questions as possible. Governor scott, environmentalists are unhappy the budget for Water Management board, eliminated the department that big new housing developments, and in a record hot budget year gave only to the public land buying program, in forever. Lot about as a leaders priorities, where does yours . Ironment rank in heres what weve accomplished so far. When i took office it was a big that charlie sat on his hand, while we had a lawsuit over the everglades. So i went about it, sat down justice,department of interior, e. P. A. , core of engineers to try to sell that lawsuit. Environmentalists on board, i got the ad community on board and we had a report settlement. I went back to the legislature and they invested 880 million everglades. He something charlie didnt lift a finger to do. Putop of that we 100 million to protect our coral reefs, something charlie didnt put a dime into. Record funding for what charlie was willing to do is go buy land that we couldnt to restore the everglades, stop projects that would have helped us. Even on thef that river as we turned the budget around we started investing. Do, spent lesse money every year. Thank you from a is a special place and whoneed to have somebody really cares about the state to protect our environment and our everglades. Wrote a booklas called the river of grass. In that book she put forward the thought that if you want to the everglades you have to buy it. We started toking doing that during my first term and we were able to get about could nowes that we hold and preserve and restore the natural flow of water south. Rick scotted after got in . What happened is that he started the discharges that were coming out of lobbying eke choa bee and the ka loose hatch he and st. Lucie river. He wouldnt even get out and talk to the people. 500 of them showed up. To talk to show up them or answer their questions. Its a pattern. [applause] go to facts for florida. Com and you get the truth. So charlie stopped after the 272 million oft your tax money was spent, charlie stopped it. If we had finished that reservoir, none of the water dischargedhad to be out of the lake. So if charlie would have done thing, maybe nothing on the environment. [applause] crist . Rnor governor crist, florida has refused to accept 51 billion to expandars medicaid. Hospitals want it, doctors want it. Askingf other people are for it, some states have found a way to accept it. Not. Da has Governor Scott said he was against and it then he was for it. Ut didnt push for should we accept that medicaid money and if so under what arrangement . Would we just take it or have a unique way of doing it . Such an important issue, frank. Medicaid expansion means a lot our fellowmillion of floridians to are currently not getting the make they deserve importantly that they need. Theyre not getting it, because rick scott wont lift a finker it done and i dont know why. What i do know is that they weerve to have those funds, deserve to have a governor who will make sure we get that expansion money. Its money youve already sent to washington and you deserve to get back. Suffering. In addition to the 51 billion the state,ing to some studies it would straight about 120,000 jobs. Thats the to do. Hing talk about, all talk and no it. On, he said he supported we wont have it. No action. [applause] lets go back to the facts here. Charlie was governor, he was sitting in the governors office, there was a legislative going on. When obamacare passed. Did he go to the legislature and pass this because it such a great idea . No. Sessionalled a special that day, at that point did he i want to get Medicaid Expansion done . No. Law. Care is a bad people are losing their doctors, plans. Losing their [applause] what i said is as long as the government wants to pay 100 , i would not stand in the way. Willing to do what charlie did and bankrupt our state. [applause] governor crist . Welshes hes been governor you years, i would think would understand you dont bankrupt the state, you have to balance the budget, its in the constitution. We did it every year of my four governor. He [applause] thank you, this conclude the debate. Lf of our and remember our debate is interactive. Media panel continues to track your reactions and comment. Answer youres will questions when we come back after a two minute break. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2014] today at bailey hall in broward college, we want to ask the audience to please hold their applause so we can get as many questions in as possible. Right now i want to toss it over to my colleague at cbs 4 anchor Erica Sergeant who is with our social media panel. Thank you. Hundreds of you are interacting with us on facebook and twitter using the hashtag fl gove debate. And right now the three top trending topics on social media, are, one, economy and jobs, two, the cost of higher education, and the third trending topic is Climate Change. And its impact on florida. Now we want to turn back to our social media panel and im going to turn it over to patricia. My question is when science is at odds with religion, when youre faced with a question where science is not consistent with your faith, how do you deal with that problem . When somebody asks you is the earth 4. 5 billion or 6,000 years old, what do you say . My religion is very important to me. I have a very deep faith in god. And every morning i read the bible. Its important to keep centered and keep focused on that. So i take it very seriously and i also try to use utilize science and learn as much as i can. On the issue of Climate Change its pretty clear to me that man is contributing to this problem. Were in south florida tonight and it seems to me that in south florida as well as the rest of the state were really grouns ground zero. My opponent doesnt believe in it. But i believe its happening and i think we have an obligation to try to stop it. Thats why i held Climate Change summits in the past and signed executive orders to reduce emissions. If youre on miami beach and you go to aten road, youll find that many days it is actually flooding when its not raining. That tells you all you need to know. Governor scott. Well, i grew up in the methodist church. My mom went to church a lot. My mom and my grandmother were devout christians. Jesus christ became my savior at a very young age. I read the bible, i like to listen to sermons. My faith is very important to me and to my family, to my wife. Now, when i think about problems, i think about solutions. So lets take global warming. What weve done since i got elected is focus on the solution. We spent 350 million to deal with sea level rise, we spent 100 million to protect our coral reefs. Increased funding for beach renourishment on top of other things, springs, trying to move water south, the 880 million to put into the everyglates but my faith is very important to me. I believe in it. But im also going to solve any problems i see need to be solved. Rebuttal . Sure. I really dont have a rebuttal to that. We all have the right to feel how we feel about our creator. And i respect that different people may have a different point of view. For me, im happy to be a methodist, too. Maybe its the only thing we agree on tonight, rick. But faith is very important. Science is important, too. My father happens to be a medical doctor and so is one of my Three Sisters a medical doctor. So i think the combination of science is important and the core beliefs of your religion are more significant than anything. Thank you. Rose marive. Governor scott you say youre against discrimination but the courts have said floridas ban on same sex marriage is unconstitutional because it is discriminatory. Do you think the ban is discriminatory . Lets think about where we are. None of us believe in discrimination. I clearly dont believe in any discrimination. In 2008, part of our democratic process led by charlie, there was a constitutional amendment passed that said that marriage would be between man and woman. I believe in traditional marriage. People have different views. Its going through the court system. My understanding is its going right directly to the Supreme Court. Whatever the Supreme Court decides, theyll decide what the law in florida is. I will abide by that law. But whats important to me is we need to understand, people have different views. We shouldnt have ill will because people have different views. But we have to remember all this was started with charlies as governor. Governor scott, im not sure i got an answer to the question. Do you believe the ban is discriminatory . I dont believe in discrimination. But look, what i dont believe in discrimination. I believe in traditional marriage. This is a decision for the courts and theyll ultimately make the decision. Governor crist. I dont believe in discrimination, either. And i dont believe in it so much that i believe that gay couples should have the right o marry. And i think the best way to capture this. Rose mary you tried to get an answer. Its difficult. But i believe the best way to capture this is to understand that who is it for us to tell other people who to love . And what is it in our right to tell other people who to marry . I think weve come to a place in American Society and certain i think florida is leading the way with the decisions that have been made. This is the right thing to do. We need to move forward. Charlie just told his beliefs today. But we have to remember when he gave an interview before he said he took his prior positions for political expediency. That is to win office. We dont know what charlie believes because hes taken very side of this issue. Our next question is from frank. Governor crist, Education Research shows that of all the factors that affect a childs academic success, two thirds of them are outside the school. Mostly in the family and in the community. Especially in poor communities, success in school can be undercut by poor parenting or some other part of unhealthy home life. Should the state have a role in this crucial part of educating our children . And if so, what should it be . The state definitely should. The state always has. When i went to high school, i played high school football. It was an afterschool program, if you will. We had band, we had music, arts, sports, and one of the things that really saddened me when Governor Scott cut Education Funding by 1. 3 billion his first year is that some entire schools had to be shut down. Afterschool programs across the state had to be mothballed. In my home county of pine less, ap classes had to grow their class size by almost 30 . That is not the right thing to do to help a community, to help a school, or to help a child. So i think we have to do, as i said at the outset, reinvest in education, because of the dramatic cuts that rick scott has brought about. Those are the facts. Theyre stubborn things. But we need to move forward. Governor crist, thats investing in the schools. The question is does the state have a responsibility with family life, teaching people how to be better parents, preparing kids how to go to school so they can perform . I think the best way to do that is to try to lead by example. Any of us do that in our communities. Whether youre working with the boy scouts or youre working with whatever the organization might be, i think its important that all of us play a role in that, whether its the state or the private sector. Thank you. First, i believe in parental rights. I was blessed to have a mom that was willing to go through a painful divorce while she was pragnant with me because she was married to an abusive man. But i believe that unless we see problems, its we need to give parpts the opportunity to raise their children. Everybody has different goals for their children. They dont have to do exactly what we think. And i had goals for our daughters and i know our daughters their husbands have goals for our grandchildren. I think we need to leave as much parenting as we can for parents. At school our job is to educate them so they are going to be solid citizens and have great careers. But i believe in parental rights. Governor scott the next question is to you. Watching everything that evolved around the shooting death of Trayvon Martin and the trial of George Martin do you think justice was served in that case . Did and eres what i i first sat down with tray vons parents. I wanted to make sure they felt comfortable that Law Enforcement was going to do the proper investigation. Then i sat down with them when i brought in the special prosecutor to try to make sure they were comfortable that justice would be served. It went through the system. I respect the system we have in our state. I want to really thank Trayvon Martins parents because some of the issues that theyve had in missouri we didnt have here and a lot of it was because of his parents. My heart goes out to them. I cant imagine losing a child, a grandchild. But i thank his parents because they did a great job making sure we didnt have the problems we had in missouri. Governor crist, was justice served in that case . Its hard to say. Neither of us were on the jury. So we dont know the facts as well as the jury in the case know the facts. I used to be the attorney general and i understand that judging from afar is not a very good idea. What i do know, though, is that the stand your ground law needs to be fixed. Its a problem. I know that we have the right to defend ourselves. I think everybody believes in that american premise and its the right thing to do to be able to defend yourself and your property. But when it gets to the tonight and youve got a statute on the books that allows the initiator f an insgation to end up killing another human being after they started the incident, theres something fundamentally flawed with that law. I believe that we can protect the right to defend yourself and make sure that we dont have laws antibooks that end up with the tragic death of Trayvon Martin. Governor, would you change the stand your ground law . I would not change the law. I think that death is a tragic death but i believe in the right to defend yourself. I cant imagine losing a child like that. But ive talked to sheriffs and Police Chiefs. 40 sheriffs have endorsed me. 40 Police Chiefs have. I stand with them that we need to have the existing law in place. Governor crist, florida is the Sunshine State yet were not in the top ten for solar power development. Georgia instals more solar power last year than floridas installed in the past three years. Why isnt florida aspiring to be a leader in solar energy . We should be the Global Leader in solar energy development. My goodness, were the Sunshine State. It doesnt make any sense not to do so. So you have to ask why arent we doing that . We started doing that during my administration between 2007 and 2011. Unfortunately, with rick scotts administration they are the friends of the utility industry. They are funding his very campaign. And they have laws on the books that make it incredibly difficult for companies that want to develop solar energy in florida in the Sunshine State to be able to do so. How do you fix it . You elect a different government governor who believes in these Energy Sources thats not beholden to the Utility Companies that keep jacking up your utilities. Its just wrong. You need a governor on your side who has a bright idea no pun intended because its simply the right thing to do. Governor scott. Well first off, charlie doesnt worry about the facts. While he was governor utility costs went up 30 , below the National Average to above the National Average. Since i got elected utility rates have come down 11 . Now were below the National Average. With regard to solar we need to have an attitude that we want everything. But its got to be reliable and its got to be cost effective. If charlie has his way, wed go the path of california. Whats the path in california . Its a 40 increase in elect rissty for our residents. Its the average state pays about 208 in electricity right now a month. That would be an 80 increase. Charlie can talk but its going to come out of your pocket. A 40 increase. And remember when he was there, a 30 increase in utility costs. Lets get back to the truth. Tin crease in your utility bills has happened under the last four years. You at home watching tonight know if your bills are going up under rick scott. I know mine is and im sure yours is probably, too. You also know that your property insurance bills are going up under rick scott. You may not know this. He actually signed into law recently a law that says that the office of insurance regulation cannot regulate insurance. Does that make sense to anybody . What does to the insurance companies. Thats not true. Its true. So heres the facts. Charlies obamacare law has the federal government h. H. S. Deciding all the rates for those plans. Why would the state do the exact same thing . They wouldnt do the same thing. They have no power to do the same thing. H. H. S. Is deciding all those rates. And charlie signed legislation that allowed Companies Like duke to pass on costs for power plants that were never built. Thats not true. That was jeb bush. You can go to facts for florida and theyll explain and theyll show you the bill that charlie signed. Governor scott, florida is seeing a revolt over testing in our schools. The federal government has played something of a role but florida law makers have added even more tests and tied them to teacher pay. Are all these tests needed to preparing our kids for the future . I think what we all believe in is we want to make sure children get a great education and we all know that measurement works. It does work. But people are concerned about how much testing we have. The latest concern is how much the federal governments involved. In a lot of areas, including education. So about a little over a year ago i said were not going to use the federal assessment standards part. We worked on legislation, got it passed that said the federal government is not going to data mine our students. On top of that we said that the decisions would be made at the local level. Then we moved to florida standards and this next year what im going to do is go around and look at all the standards we have. Because some of the standards are at the state and some are at the district. To just make sure Everybody Knows what the standards are, who is doing them, and do we have the right standards. Governor crist. Theres way too much testing in our schools today. There is. And the reason that is is that rick scott signed a bill his first year in office that i have vetoed. I vetoed that bill because it put too much of an emphasis to teaching to the test. These learning centers have now become Testing Centers and thats not right and its not fair to our children. We need to have somebody like me as governor who served as education commissioner and understands these issues. Under rick scott we have had four education commissioners in four years. Weve got to get our Education System back on track. We need somebody who understands it, who actually went to our Public Schools. Ill do that. Ill make sure its funded properly. Weve got to get it right. Our fourth graders have the highest rates. Hispanic students have some of the highest graduation rates. The overall are up around 45 since i got elected. African americans have the highest gains. The National Council for teacher quality tworks surveys in a row says florida has the highest quality teachers in the country. Now, when charlie was governor, 3,000 teachers got laid off including a teacher who got laid off in 2008, she called his office and he wouldnt return her phone call. I have a question for governor crist now. Under your administration and under Governor Scotts administration, scores of children have died under the supervision of the department of children and families. Why are we unable to keep kids safe . Its tragic. Youre talking about the challenges and the difficulties that the department of children and families. And even if one child dies its a tragedy and its awful. But this is an area where i decided to reach across the aisle when i got elected governor in 2006 i reached out to bob, a former attorney general. One of the smartest things you can do with a leader is to surround yourself with the best and the brightest. And then heffed followed by george who is running for attorney general. Whats important is to be transparent, though. Theres a story in the paper today about a lack of transparency on this issue from rick scotts administration. And i cant understand that. Maybe hell talk about it in the rebuttal. But what is important is you have to be clear, you have to be open, or you cant fix the problems to begin with. One of the first questions i got from bob when he was secretary when we had a challenge with a child very early in the administration, he said what do you want me to do . I said call a press conference, lets shine a light on it. Governor scott. Its tragic. Right after the bell shootings i went and met with the survivors of that family. Your heart goes out to them. We have grandkids. We dont want anything to happen to our children. So heres what we did. When i came in, the first thing we did is we increased the pay for our child protective investigators. Charlie had cut the funding for child protective investigators. Then we also brought in the Casey Foundation to review what we were doing. They made some recommendations. This last year i went to legislature and asked for more child protective investigators and now we have 270 more and theyre going to be able to spend more time per family to stop this. Heres the positive. Its the number of child deaths has come down since charlie was governor. Its not 0. I wish it was 0 because every child death is a tragedy. Governor scot, thank you. Now were going to va lightning round with some shorter questions. You have 20 seconds to answer the question. Ill ask you governor crist then ill ask Governor Scott a different question. The first question i want to ask is why did you insist on bringing a fan here when your campaign knew this would be a contentious issue . Why not . You know, its is there anything wrong with being comfortable . I dont think there is. Having compassion with other people. We did fine. Thank you. And Governor Scott why the delay over coming out over a fan . I waited until we decided he was going to show up. He said he wasnt coming to the debate. Why come out until hes ready . Governor scott, why do you keep your assets in a blind trust . The reason is so i dont have a conflict. Charlie crist did a grand jir when he was governor and said do what jeb bush did. Charlie didnt do it. Put your assets in a blind trust so you dont have a conflict. So i dont know what assets i have. Thats what ive done. Governor crist. Say something nice about Governor Scott. Im happy to. I want to commend him on how he has handled the ebola situation. I want to commend him. Its better to be prepared than panic. Really. You had an sexracomma 7 seconds. Thast pretty nice of him. On that note, the lightning round is over. We were short on time. We started late, gentlemen. That concludes the questionanswer portion of this debate. The candidates will now have 20 seconds for will have 1 minute for closing arguments. And governor crist, will go first. That was determined by coin toss. 1 minute for your closing statement. Thank you very much. I just want to thank people watching at home tonight. Youve seen the differences between rick scott and myself. I care adeducation i grew up in this state and i love florida. I want to do everything i can to make sure that the middle class has an opportunity to do better than under Governor Scott. I want to make sure we invest in businesses first, more people instead of big corporations. And i want to make sure we protect our beautiful environment. I love the water and i love being out on the water and tampa bay and my home. And i want to make sure for future generations they have the opportunity to enjoy the beauty of this great state. Im asking for your vote. I would appreciate it whether you vote by mail you vote early or you vote on november 4th god bless you and god bless our florida. Governor scott. I want to thank my wife for standing by me through thick and thin. My moms watching from heaven. I want to thank her for being willing to divorce an abusive husband. Thank my daughters for being such great members of our family. Four years ago my mom was embarrassed calling me a good boy and i campaigned to get the seat back to work. Were on a roll. Its an honor being your governor. Its a great honor. I would love to get your vote. Ill do everything i can to make sure this is the state that you can live your version of the American Dream. Snfment speaking spanish thank you scott very much. Governor crist thank you very much. That concludes our debate. Dont forget to vote on tuesday november 4th. Thank you. In louisiana incumbent senator mary land rue faced her two republican challengers. Congressman bill cassidy. One of the topics was Climate Change. We have to be careful about the policies we promote. Im a strong supporter of fossil fuel natural gas particularly because it is a 50 cleaning burning fuel. We have 200 years of it. America could do itself a Great Service and Great Security increase our security by promoting more Domestic Energy exploration and production. And ive been a strong supporter. Ive opened up 8 million new acres in the gulf. I have secured expedited permits on western lands. I do not agree with president obama on his energy policies. I do not ive now served with three president s and six governors. Ive had disagreements as well as support for some of their policies. We have to be careful about what we do, what we can build a trong energy future. Global temperatures have not risen for 15 years so there might be Climate Change but were not seeing that reflected in temperatures. We are losing our coastline but that is relative sea level rides. Thats related to our levees on our river taking needed sediment from restoring our coast as well as other factors that cause the land to sink as much as water rising. For example, in florida theyve hardly seen any rising of the water relative to the beach. Weve had far more. So really if you want to preserve our coastline im not sure that the Climate Change is the issue as much as it is getting that sediment out of the mississippi river, putting it out into the marshes where it can rebuild. That is what is important. As regards senator land rues support for the energy industry, her first vote is for senator harry reid, senator harry reid will never allow a pro oil a and gas jobs bill to come to the floor of the senate and shes already said that will be her first vote. You can watch this entire Louisiana Senate debate at cspan. Org. This 09minute debate is courtesy of kgbr. Some acknowledgments this morning. I would certainly like to thank our friends for allowing the use of their facility. Theyve been very generous and gracious in helping us with the logistics of these forums. I would also like to thank our friends at the Community Foundation and their speak your peace civility project. Youre each handed a leaflet on the way in that laid out some expectations of behavior this morning. I would like to remind you of those. Please hold your applause until the very end. I will close us out after the final remarks from our candidates and then allow you to please express your appreciation. We wont tolerate any shouting or he cannling. No disruptive behavior will be tolerated. I want to mention ive already seen you werent allowed to bring signs into the theater. Holding up your tshirt is like holding up a sign and we wont tolerate that either. I hope you have another shirt on underneath of course. I want to welcome those atching. Congressman nolen, as the incumbent we gave you the opportunity or the option of either speaking first or having the final say at the end. You or your campaign chose to have the final say. So then to decide who is speaking first this morning we flipped a coin and mr. Sandman won the honor of speaking first at the opening. Well start with opening remarks. Introduce minutes wish. Ou first, thank you for being ere in the debate. Im a resident of duluth, been here for 25 years. Im a vietnam vet, a tribal elder, and my opening remarks is that as a lot of you know that i oppose the mine up there. Mining. Per sull fight im for womens equal rights, Debt Reduction for the students and student loans, and well go from there. Thank you so much. I thank the delutes chamber and getting us together and see the candidates on where they stand on the various issues. The choice could not be more clear. The fact is, ub disputeable, the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. And the middle class is getting crushed. With that, the American Dream is getting crushed. The American Dream is not all about everybody making a super million or a super billion, although theres nothing wrong with that. The American Dream is all about having a secure job with a living wage, being able to provide health care for your family, to be comfortable that youll be able to be secure in your retirement years. Be able to send your kids to a good Affordable School and get a good education, to belong to a union and to have some money at the end of the week when youre done paying your bills to do a little recreation or go to dinner with your family and friends. My dad once told me when i first went into public life, he said son if you just do a couple things ill always be proud of you. One is be honest, tell the truth. He said work for the working men and women in this country. He said be their champion. Dont worry too much about the rich and the powerful. They do a good job of taking care of themselves. This election contest i submit is a question of who are you for. Our primary opponent has made it clear who he is for. He wants more tax cuts for super millionaires and billionaires and yet at the same time he opposes an increase in the minimum wage. The choice could not be more clear. If you know who you are for, youll know who to vote for in this election contest. I thank you for the opportunity. Were going to have a spirited debate and i assure you and promise you it will be civil. Im looking forward to it. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Mills. Thank you so much for having me here today. Im somebody who never thought, ever, about running for public office. Im the Vice President of our familys company, mills fleet farm. My dad and uncle started it in 1955. Its hard work. As a little kid, i grew up working the business. Cleaning toilets. Sweeping floors swashing cars. Had just about every job there. In my current job now is Vice President. One of the things one of the many hats you wear in a Family Business is i should say in a Family Business you wear many halts. One of those many hats i wear as Vice President is looking out for our 6,000 employees. One of those hats is Plan Administration of our Companies Health plan. I have seen firsthand how obamacare has affected negatively our employees and their families. Not only that, i have seen all throughout our part of minnesota how people have been negatively impact bid it. Higher premiums, higher copays, higher deductibles. Theyre paying more getting less. Congressman nolen he wants a single payor model government run. Every time government has tried to assume the control or the production of a product good or service, every time, costs have gone up and quality has gone down. Theres never been an exception to that. And everybody who has ever studied economics knows that. Also, i got outspoken about Second Amendment issues. Congressman nolen gets back to congress and he wants to ban semiautomatic rifles the one that look scary and tell the government tell us how many bullets we can have in our guns. That earned him a failing grade from the National Rifle association. In our family you have hunting camp doctrine. If you complain about something you get the job to fix it. Thats why im here about it. Im putting skin in the game and im going to go to washington. Theres a lot of things that we have to stand up for for our part of minnesota and congressman nolen is wrong on so many of those issues. Thank you. Weve touched on some of the issues. But were going to begin this debate, this Candidate Forum by talking about some of the accusation that is are out there, some of the ugly charges out there, some of the maybe negative stereo types. And i would like you to address those. Congressman nolen this isnt me talking but they say youre as far left as the tea partiers are right. Youre a hasbeen, an enemy of the Second Amendment and you dont know how to hold a gun safely. Ow do you respond . Let me im not sure where to begin. Theres been so many charges and allegations. So many insults. Yeah. Theres 191 members of the Democratic Caucus and about 100 are judged to be considerably more liberal than i am. So the fact is im a moderate. And i do have a Rightwing Tea Party art on my i guess hes on your right. Ok . On my left. I guess i got someone probably a little more to the left of me on my right or your left. But im just not sure where to go here. Lets just take the f. Rating from the nra. The nra is primarily financed by gun manufacturers and gun salespeople. Like yourself, stewart. Theyre i want rested in primarily trying to sell guns. Thats all right. Theyve got a right to do that. But its never been more clear that someone like myself supports the Second Amendment and the right to bear arms. Some of my most joyful moments and memorable moments in life have been with a gun in my hand out hupting with my dad last weekend my wife mary and i are out duck hunting with our grandson. My wife and i were married 30 years ago. The first present i bought for her on her birthday was a 20gauge shotgun. I dont mind telling you she was thrilled to have it but she did look a little disappointed. I think she was hoping for something a little more romantic so on her second birthday i bought her a 30 ought six with a scope on it. Ive been buying my guns and ammunition and i have from my dad and your grand daddys store all our life. And i support the Second Amendment for hunting, for personal protection, for sports shooting, its a fundamental basic right. But that doesnt mean we cant have some gun safety like background checks. I mean, you support selling guns to people who have been found to be criminally insane or terrorists or well get to the gun issue in just a bit. Your time is up im sorry to say. Mr. Mills, the knock against you, millionaire partier, doesnt know how the challenges faced by most americans. You support tax breaks for the rich at the expense of the middle class. How do you respond to critics who say you wont work for the eighth district . Well, ive worked hard all my life. And in our business we didnt have a choice. It was something we did at a very young age. My father grew up during the Great Depression and work was not only a necessity but a virtue. I work hard but ive also had a very joyful life. But we live in a work hard, play hard part of mp. And minnesota. If they want to pick on my hair, it shows they dont want to talk about the issues. And there are things facing our part of minnesota and the issues are health care, obamacare, our Second Amendment rights which well talk about later. Its the fact that rick voted for a jobkilling carbon tax, a tax on energy that would absolutely strangle our part of minnesota economically. And its also about the fact im endorsed by the farm bureau. Its about the fact that representative nolen voted in favor of the waters the e. P. A. s waters of the u. S. Rule. I would love to talk about this issue not about my hair and the fact that my family and myself included because the Family Business isnt about one person or one generation, its about the entire family, and even family farms as well. We work hard, we reinvest back in our businesses. And that grows jobs and su stains the jobs that we have. But you know what . They want to attack a business. Again, were not publicly traded. Theres no Venture Capital money, theres no private equity money. Its a Family Business like any other. And if they want to attack me and my family for the success and the jobs weve created, well then thats their message. Their message is picking on my hair. I forgot to ask about your hair. Thank you for bringing it up. You have even longer hair. But yes, i do. What do you say to critics who accuse you of being a oneissue candidate and all environment antimining and thats about it . Well, its a very big issue. And critics will call me a lot of different things. But i look if we dont have water, we dont have life. When i was a veteran and in the service i had to stand up in front of a bunch of people and i had to raise my hand and i took that otes to protect this country from foreign and domestic. That means a lot to me because i was never released from that oath. Therefore, i see whats happening up there and whats going to happen up there in the ron range as a direct attack on america. Theyll come in, do their processing and extracting. But then when thats done, they pack up and leave. They dont care about the people. They dont care about the mining. They dont care about the environment. We have we do not have the science to clean up a spill. If you look at history of that type of mining, throughout the world theres never been a safe one. And for the life of me, i nnot understand how two to 500 jobs are worth our future. Once that stuff gets into the water, theres no guarantee. It will destroy our tourism which brings in northern minnesota about 200800 Million Dollars per year. How many jobs will be lost when it leaks . How many . It doesnt matter which party you are but we have to do the right thing. Both my opponents here Say Something completely different. Shortterm. I dont. I look for a longterm. We need that here in northern minnesota. We need someone looking after our children and after our future generations. It may not happen in our time, but 20, 30 years down the road it will. Thank you so much. Well get back to the mining snu in a minute. In the meantime ill give each of the candidates up to oneminute rebuttal on the negative stereo types. Congressman would you like one minute . I would. Mr. Mills says theres never been a federal Government Program that worked. I submit you might want to take a look at Social Security, medicare. And i know your Party Platform calls for privatizing and abolishing both of them. Most people would agree theyve worked quite well. With regard to clean air, clean water. I remember when they had to haul clean water into duluth because the water was so polluted. Rirm when the lakes and rivers were so polluted that they were catching on fire and that acid rain was destroying our forests and lakes. I dont apologize for supporting clean water and clean air. Ive got a Good Environmental record as youll find as nn in the country and i dont apologize for that. As far as the a. C. A. , my goodness, people with cancer and Heart Disease and parkinsons are now able to get affordable insurance because of that. People are able to keep their kids on their insurance. People are protected from bankruptcy. Women are not charged more for the same policy than a man is charged for. You really oppose those things and want to repeal all those important advancements . Of course theres things that needed to be changed in the Affordable Care act but its done a lot of good for a lot of people. And ive heard you say that there are not many people who suffered those circumstances. Well, im here to tell you there are a lot of people who suffer those circumstances and are grateful for the Affordable Care act. Thank you. Mr. Mills one minute. Just to correct a couple things. First of all i never said there arent many people that have preexisting conditions. What i said is that as Plan Administrator there are few people that ive run across that are not covered by hipa which allows you to go from an existing plan to another plan without having to worry about preexisting conditions. Also i never said that there was a federal Government Program that never worked. I said you just said. No hold on may i have some time sir. What i said is whenever government has taken over the production of a product good or service, costs have gone up and quality has gone down. Im not talking about Social Security and medicare. In the past you have said that i wanted to abolish Social Security thats absolutely not true and you said i want to turn medicare into a voucher system. Not true. And i challenge you to substantiate those remarks without editing my words together out of context. Well, thank you for the challenge. The Libertarian Party to which you are congressman can we give mr. Sandman a turn first. When you talk about Affordable Health care, we need to make it affordable. We need to make it affordable. That bill needs to be taken out and we dont have to start from the bottom up again but we need to pull the best parts out of there and make it affordable. If youre a single mother with two children or three children, you cannot afford what is being offered out there now. Especially if you have a lowpaying job, a minimum wage job, it needs to be what it says. Affordable for everyone. Roger. Thank you, gentlemen. Farmers ining a ra business frequently complain that ng oil shipping is tying up the railroads, impacting delivery of crops to market. Discussion of that issue often leads to the question of pipelines. What is your position on safe transport of oil, the backlog of the commodities to market, and ultimately where do you stand on expansion of pipelines . Mr. Mills. Well, certainly i support expansion of pipelines. Representative nolen said that he supported the Keystone Pipeline then he got to washington and voted against the bill that would have made it that much more closer to that project Going Forward. He said he was for the embridge sand piper pipeline and then he said well just not on this route. Well, if we change the route, the embridge sand piper pipeline, what happens is you delay it by four to five years and it costs an additional 500 million effectively killing the project. When you take a look at the 25 million worth of tax revenue that would come into our part of minnesota thats 4 million a year alone for aiken county which sorely needs the tax rev nufment and im endorsed by the farm bureau. When i talk to those guys they have trouble getting their products to market. Because the rail cars are loaded with crude coming off the backen. So we need to go forward with the embridge pipeline. They can do it safely. We need to go forward with the Keystone Pipeline. Our economy depends on it. You cannot be for jobs and against the activity that is create jobs. Thank you. Mr. Sandman your opinion position on shipping oil and pipelines. Thats not a very hard decision for me because where theyre proposing to put that pipeline at is runs nderneath a lot of water, runs jurts neath a lot of underneath a lot of wetlands and if you watch the news theres been all kinds of toxic spills out there. Is the science safe enough . I dont know. I dont think so. I know the president just the other day or someone i may be wrong talked about getting new tankers. Why not split that . Some for grain, some for farm products, some for the oil. But definitely reevaluate those routes that theyre talking about. I know we need oil. But at what cost . How is it benefiting us . Mr. Mills talks about some tax evenue coming through. Ill that outweigh the spill if we have to clean it up . Theres some real issues and some real thought to our environment that we need to think about and start doing about. Im pro active rather than reactive. We need to sit down at the table with the people involved and bring all these issues and concerns of the people before we make a final decision on it. But where i stand right now, no. No on that pipeline. Its just like hide drallics. You try pushing more oil through it, eventually its going to pop somewhere. We need to look at that. Thank you. Thank you. Congressman. Well first of all, ive taken the time to study the consequences of rail versus highway versus pipelines. To be sure, there are problems associated with each and every one of them. And none of them are perfect. With regard to sand piper and with regard to keystone, i do in fact support both of them. But mr. Sandmans made a couple of good points here. And i would like to add to that. First of all, theres probably 40,000 miles of pipelines running through minnesota right now. Every roads got a pipeline running down it. Theyre everywhere. I am convinced in my mind that pipelines have to be a part of the mix. They do in fact have a lower carbon footprint. They do have are less prone to danger and to accident. And if we use American Steel in those pipelines as i have proposed in my legislation, they will be even safer. But when you talk about keystone, the Tea Party Republicans brought a bill before the house of representatives that exempted keystone, a foreign corporation, from having to comply with the e. P. A. From having to get army corps of engineer permits, for installation and for maintenance, for having to post financial assurances when those accidents inevitably occur. Would you have voted for a bill like that . No. Im for the keystone and im for sandpiper but i want it to be done right. We have proven that we have the technology and the know how to do these things and to do it right if we have the political will. But we cant let Foreign Corporations come in here willy nilly and have their way with us. And the same can be said of sandpiper. Mr. Sandman has pointed out that some of that is going through some very fragile soils and waters. And we need sandpiper but we can alter the route a little bit to make sure that we protect our precious waters. Thats what im for. Im for pipelines but im for doing it the right way. Thank you. Mr. Mills rebuttal. Well, i keep getting accused of being a taper but im not sure thats entirely accurate. Nonetheless the e. P. A. And army corps of engineers has been weaponized against projects such as keystone. And you know what . After years and years of trying to get it done and if these agencies arent looking how it can be done but trying to come up with every reason how it can be stopped, its time to get the peoples people to take control of the government again from the burek sis and various agencies so we can get projects like keystone going so we can improve our balance of trade, our balance of payments so we can become energy pinned nt and then become a net exporter of energy. So whether its keystone, whether its poly meth, enough is enough. We have to get on with it. Its our jobs, its our economy. This is the worst economic recovery in u. S. History. And we have various Government Agencies and bureksizz for no good reason. Ulet hoops have been jumped through. Lets get on with it. Lets reignite our economy. Mr. Sandman do you care to respond . Not at this time. I mean, it doesnt make sense our wetlands nger for what it would bring to us. It does not offset. I always look mr. Mills made the statement of camp doctrine leaving it better. I dont see that happening when it does break. We dont have that technology. We dont have the funding for it. I cant see them stepping forward and doing it. Really dont. We really need to take a look at this. This is dapingruss. This is dangerous for the smallterm benefit. For the longterm effects that will happen. Its not will it happen but when it happens. Thank you. Congressman any final thoughts on that . Not to be rep tishes but like i said i grew up at a time when the lakes and rivers were so polluted they were catching on fire. The mississippi i where we lived you would go down there in the spring and there was toilet paper and condoms and turds hanging on every branch. And that was the good stuff. That wasnt the toxic stuff. And you had to haul Drinking Water into duluth. Acid rain was destroying our forests and lakes. Everybody said youve got to have jobs or environment. You cant have both. Guess what. We went to work, we pooled, we had the brains, we had the technology to do both and to do both we must. Our waters are precious. Our jobs are precious. Our mining our manufacturing is precious. Rebuilding this middle class is precious. And with regard to the economics of that you dont rebuild the middle class by giving more tax cuts to the super rich and billionaires and fighting against minimum wage for people that have to work two and three jobs just to make a living. Thats not rebuilding the middle class. Thats not restoring the balance. And thats not restoring the American Dream. Thank you. Thank you congressman for the sound bite. Perhaps the e most polarizing issue in northern minnesota and of course were in northern minnesota, has been Precious Metals mining, the copper nickle mining those that say the agencies are dragging their feet. Its taken nine years. Other folks say it cant possibly be done safely. Gentlemen, where do you stand on copper nickle mining . Can it be done safely . Do you have any confidence in that at all . Mr. Sandman this is your big issue. Well start with you, sir. No, it cannot be done safely. Not at this time. And even though we do not have the science for that. So i oppose that whole heartedly because i know what it can do. And what it will do. Just about a month ago a mine up there in British Columbia broke and dumped 5 billion gallons of toxic waste into the river. Now, its the same technology that the mining is proposing to make a containment field for that polluted water. But where theyre looking at putting that is already in the mine that is already leaking into the water shed. So i dont support that at all. Do support is the passenger train. Opponents will agree we need to get big money out of congress. Need to stop giving subsidies the corporations. We need to have the corporations paying their darn taxes. Can read the redirect some of this funding into morn minnesota so that into northern minnesota so we can go projects that are less environmental deadly and we to three hundred jobs, northern lights, they were day,ng about the other 13,800 jobs for the eighth district. Something to look at. It may be temporarily but three four years down the road maybe Something Else will happen. Need that mine up there. So much. Nk you very representative nolan on precious mining, sir. First of all, ire