Transcripts For CSPAN Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20141031

Collins. She was first elected to the senate in 1996. Democratic candidate is Shenna Bellows, the former executive director of the American Civil Liberties union. She has not held elective office. Welcome to you both. In the first segment, we are going to tackle broad topics. We are going to devote 45 minutes to each topic. We hope you will articulate your position as well as your differences with each other. Shenna, the number one concern of our listeners and viewers is people are concerned about maines economy and jobs. What will you do to improve the economy and jobs . Thank you for hosting this. It is wonderful to be here in bangor. As i walked across maine, 350 miles, the number one issue that people said was jobs and the economy. I walked three miles. A farmer talked about investment in infrastructure. He sells heirloom potatoes across the country, but it takes him 20 minutes to get online. He said if we had broadband access, people like him could grow their businesses. People could connect with the global economy. Infrastructure is number one. Also, a fair tax and regulatory environment. What will you do to create better paying jobs . I talked to employers all over the state. I find there are jobs available, but often there is a difficult time finding the employees that have the skills and education needed for those jobs. Nationwide, about a third of the Unemployment Rate is due to that gap in skills. I have been a strong supporter of a bill which got incorporated which would bring together employers, employees, educational institutions, local workforces to identify the jobs of today and tomorrow. And the skills and education needed to ensure our workers have the skills they need. That is something where the federal government can be very helpful. You can to go into a machinists shop in the state and not find that they have vacancies. Those are good jobs with benefits and pay. I have also found that businesses are hoping for certainty any tax code and regulatory policy. We have incentives on one year and off the next. That keeps Small Businesses from investing and hiring. We need transportation improvements in the state. I am fortunate to be the ranking republican on the transportation appropriations subcommittee. I have been able to secure some 9 million in grants to refurbish our railroads, roads, and ports. I also agree with my opponent that we do need to invest in broadband. That is important in terms of allowing businesses to locate in rural maine. One of the areas where i am most proud is getting the trucks onto the interstates and out of downtown street and country roads. That has allowed businesses to ship products more efficiently. Increase safety. Lower energy use. It has reduced emissions. Moving onto a topic important to businesses and homeowners, energy costs. Maine is the most Oil Dependent state in the nation. It is very expensive or prohibitive for many people to heat their homes. This question goes to you, senator collins. What policies will you pursue to reduce the cost of burden . This has been a problem for our state. One of the policies i have pursued in washington is making sure we are increasing investment in Energy Efficiency programs and weatherization. I have been a supporter of the low Income Heating Assistance Program which has supported many families, help them stay warm in the winter. Weatherization is a better investment because it prevents the heating dollars from going out. The uninsulated doors and walls. I believe we need to get more natural gas into the state. There is a real bottleneck with the pipelines we need to get natural gas from pennsylvania, where it is plentiful, into the state of maine to help manufacturers as well as residents. That would make a big difference in our energy costs, particularly electricity. Finally, we need to pursue alternative energy. I am interested in the deepwater offshore energy, the wind energy, that a consortium of private companies and the university have worked on. That holds great promise. It helps create thousands of good paying jobs. Ultimately, we could be a net exporter of energy to the east coast. Shenna bellows, what is your Energy Strategy to relieve the high cost burden . We need bold visionary investment in Renewable Energy to reduce longterm cost. To tackle Climate Change now, which is a real threat to our state and country. We should be investing in solar, geothermal, title, wind, and biomass. Solar, for example, germany is a world leader. There is less usable solar sunlight falling on germany. Maine could be a world leader in Renewable Energy. That would reduce energy costs in the long run. President obamas Affordable Care been in place for about a year. We have seen the exchanges at work and a Supreme Court decision, affirming the legality. Shenna bellows, do you support the act . I support universal health care for all. We should strengthen and expand the Affordable Care act to cover more people. We can do that by gradually lowering the medicare eligibility age. By medicaid expansion, which susan has vetoed five times. When he to fix the provisions of the Affordable Care act that have created a burden for individuals and Small Businesses. We can move toward universal health care for all. A Home Health Care nurse sees firsthand what happens we can do that with universal health care. You mentioned maine opting out of the expansion of medicaid, excuse me. As senator, would you push to make that mandatory, that states expand . I would push for unicode parcel universal medicaid expansion. We save money in the long run if we expand primary Health Care Access for all. Susan collins, do you support changing the Affordable Care act . I do support changing the Affordable Care act. I think there was a real missed opportunity here. There are a lot of Health Care Reforms that both republicans and democrats embrace. For example, both hearties are for prohibiting Insurance Companies from discriminating against individuals with preexisting conditions. Both parties are for tax credits for Small Businesses to make it easier for them to afford insurance. Both parties are for letting young people, which comprise the Largest Group of the uninsured, stay on their parents policies until age 26. I think it is unfortunate that it devolved into such a person debate when there were some any issues we could have worked on together. There are some provisions i think are particularly problematic. In some cases, it has led to fewer choices. I have heard from families in maine who no longer are able to go to the physician may have used their whole lives because it is outside of the network of plans available under obamacare. I have seen higher premiums for Small Businesses and higher copays and deductibles. They have been there have been billions of dollars in additional fees and taxes imposed by the law, not to mention the money taken out of the underfunded medicare to pay for it. I have introduced bipartisan bills to change the law. One has to do with the definition of a fulltime worker. The definition of a fulltime worker has always been 40 hours a week. Under obamacare, it is 30 hours a week to read the result of that has been felt in bangor. The superintendent says she has to cap the number of hours a week that substitute teachers can teach because otherwise they are going to have to come into the system and be covered by obamacare. Think about that. That means they are getting lower paychecks. The students are having a revolving door of substitutes. I dont that is good policy. Is going to create confusion when it goes fully into effect. I have a bipartisan bill that would change the definition back to 40 hours a week. Even the president has indicated there have been problems in the area. The other problem is that there is a mandate that an employer with 50 or more employees have to comply with all the if they are at 48 or 49 employees, they are never going to hire that 50th employee. Because they dont want to have to deal with all of the mandates and paperwork that come with obamacare. Susan collins, do you support president obamas current policies to deal with isis and other groups . If not, what should u. S. Policy be . I support some of the president s policies. Putting together a Coalition Including arab nations in the region to fight isis and other groups was a good approach. Where i have some concerns about the president s policy, and i have talked to him directly about this, is whether he is going to be able to have a successful vetting of the socalled moderate Syrian Opposition. Three years ago, we could identify who were the moderates in the Syrian Opposition to the assad regime. Now, the opposition is infiltrated. I am worried some of the training equipment and arms will end up in the hands of isis. I think the president was too slow to come up with a policy to confront isis. Isis is not the only threat we face. Al qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is considered most likely to launch an attack on our homeland. That is very worrisome. That is where al qaedas chief bomb maker is. We also have a group in egypt. We have seen a proliferation of terrorist groups. They are now operating in 20 countries. I think the president s reassurances to us that he has estimated core al qaeda have turned out unfortunately not to be the case. Shenna bellows, do you support president obamas current policies . What do you support and not support about that . Isis did not exist in its current form prior to the invasion of iraq under president bush, which susan voted for. We are seeing the product of a misguided policy, a war that cost us over 1 trillion and sent troops in harms way. We are less safe today than we were a decade ago. She voted with the republicans. It was a bipartisan effort but it was wrong. Unfortunately, we do see the dangerous and barbaric rights of isis. I dont think the right approach is arming the Syrian Rebels. Groups whose goals we do not share. Who may be our opponents in five years or 10. 20 get was irresponsible for susan to vote to authorize arming the rebels and the airstrikes. It has strengthened the hand of the assad regime, which has not traditionally been an ally. I think we need a more targeted and strategic approach to Foreign Policy. President obama showed the way when he did what president bush failed to do. When he killed Osama Bin Laden and significantly weakened al qaeda with a targeted and strategic special forces operation. That is the kind of Foreign Policy we need. I think we are in the wrong track. We are continuing down this path toward overseas wars we cannot afford that make our country less safe. Would you like to respond . You guessed correctly i would like to respond. Isis is just al qaeda in iraq by another name. It has grown in sophistication. Just because it changed its name does not mean it did not exist. This violent islamic extremist ideology was reflected in the attacks on the World Trade Center in 1993. In the bombings in africa of two of our embassies in tanzania. And in nairobi. And the horrendous terrorist attacks in 2001. Which claim in nearly 3000 lives. All of those clearly preceded the iraq war. To say that this extremist ideology developed in the wake of the war in iraq is wrong. That is not what i said. What i said, is that it was a mistake to arm islamic extremists in the middle east. We see chaos that is the product of the wrong Foreign Policy. Susan has been in office 18 years and backed overseas military intervention again and again. It has cost taxpayers over 1 trillion that we could have invested here. People are very nervous about the Ebola Outbreak, whether it may spread in the u. S. And how horrible it can get in africa. Is the Obama Administration doing enough to combat the spread of the disease both in the u. S. And africa . What we need to do is to stop the epidemic where it is in west africa with an increase in aid to countries in west africa. What we do not need is a travel ban like my opponent suggested. Experts say it would make us less safe by limiting the ability to get relief to west africa. By eliminating the ability to monitor travel back to this country. The lack of preparedness now that the main state Nurses Association and nurses across the country are talking about, that is a direct result of republican votes for sequestration. A bill that susan voted for has undermined funding for the cdc and nih. The director said they were not able to develop the ebola vaccine and the funding, they might have been able to develop the vaccine. Susan collins, what is your ideal response to the Ebola Outbreak . It has to be a comprehensive approach. We do need to increase preparedness at our hospitals. The president requested additional funding, which i strongly supported read which we voted on right before we adjourned. My opponent has said she would have opposed the bill that included that funding that was essential to fight the ebola crisis. We also need to establish Regional Centers to treat people with ebola in this country. It is not feasible to expect each one of the 5000 hospitals in this country to have the resources, the expertise, the gear, the knowhow to deal with this epidemic. I support a limited travel ban from the three african countries in western africa most affected with an exception for healthcare workers and aid workers. We dont want to turn our back on africa, but my First Priority is to protect americans. Just yesterday, the Obama Administration announced travel restrictions, saying people with travel originating in those countries could only arrived at five american airports where they would be carefully screened. I want to tell you what the president said about that. The president s press secretary said president obama changed his view on travel restrictions after hearing from scientists and other experts. The scientists and experts recommended to the president that he put these restrictions in place. I am glad he did. Today, the administration went further and said individuals coming from these countries should be monitored by the federal government for 21 days to make sure they do not have this highly contagious disease. Until this epidemic is under control, i think the steps the president has taken make sense. I will let you respond. The American Association of medical colleges wrote a letter a few weeks ago to senators. It says we need to get away from these shortterm crises and invest in longterm Public Health. The bill that passed just before session was an emergency bill to army Syrian Rebels and engage in airstrikes. I said im concerned about arming Syrian Rebels. I think what we need instead is instead of republican obstructionism, which got us the sequester that underfunded the cdc, we need to be more strategic and visionary. Invest in the Public Health system, not just in a crisis but over time. Would you like to respond . The bill we passed included 88 million to fight this crisis. She said very clearly on her website that she would have voted against it. In addition, the administration has said the funding the cdc had was adequate to deal with this crisis. There have not been huge cuts in the cdc. Nor in the agency which was created in the wake of the anthrax attacks that occurred in 2001. Both have been adequately funded, according to the administrations own experts. We will try to squeeze in one more question. Susan collins, congress is likely to tackle Immigration Reform soon. What are your views on whether the system needs to change . Our immigration system is clearly broken. I support comprehensive Immigration Reform. Right before the recess, we went to the southern border where we talked with teenagers and children coming across the border. More than 60,000 of them have arrived in this country from central america. That clearly shows we do not have good control of our border. So we need to have Strong Border control. We also need to have a plan to deal with the 12 Million People who are here illegally. It is not practical to somehow round them up and ship them back to their home countries. I think what we need to do is distinguish between those who stood in line and got here legally versus those who came here illegally. That is why i have supported the Immigration Reform bill that required them to be requires them to pay their taxes, pay a fine, learn english. A series of requirements before they would be allowed to stay and eventually work toward citizenship. My grandparents are immigrants. My grandpa came from france. He went to college and started his own business, became an entrepreneur. My grandmother came from scotland. I think it is important, we are a nation of immigrants. We can agree the system is broken. We need comprehensive reform to create a path to citizenship for people who come here for a better life to make america what it represents. That end is the first section. We will be right back after a short break. Welcome back to the debate between Senate Candidates Susan Collins and Shenna Bellows. The next section features you or questions. Questions from members of the public who send them in by email. The first will go to you, shenna. Can you lay out which policy changes you would make to medicare and how you would propose making Social Security sullivan so my generation can have the same benefits our parents do . This is such an important question. We need to strengthen and expand medicare and Social Security. I have proposed scrapping the cap on Social Security. People making more than 117,000 a year stop pain in. If we scrap the cap, we will have more revenue. It will strengthen Social Security for the future. Lead to allow medicare to negotiate drug prices and lower costs. We need to lower the eligibility age to expand access for all. Susan collins . How will you make Social Security solvent . This is one of the most important social programs. It has made the difference between poverty and an adequate standard of living for so many americans. The fact is, it is going broke. The Disability Trust fund will be out of money in two years. By 2033, Social Security will only be able to pay about 75 of the benefits due. We have to take a comprehensive look at Social Security. I am not for increasing the tax rate, which is 6. 2 for individuals. I think that would be very burdensome for working families and Small Businesses. I agree we should take a look at the tax cap. It used to be that the tax cap covered 83 of wages. It used to cover 93 of wages. And now covers 83 of wages. There has not been a congressional budget for five years or so. These tell us what you plan to do about this failure to take care of business please tell us what you plan to do about this failure to take care of business. We finally did get a budget negotiated by democrats in the senate. And a republican in the house, paul ryan. But the listener was right, it was years since we had a budget. That is one reason the debt has climbed to 17 trillion. Most people could not imagine operating without a budget. We are not setting priorities. I think that is a real problem. I would bring people together. We should have a budget by march 15 of every year. That would help guide the appropriations process. That is the best way for us to set priorities and make sure we are keeping within the budget cap. Shenna bellows, the question is whether you would bring parties together to work on a revision of the tax code. Yes. Tax policies favor the wealthiest individuals and corporations at the expense of working families. In the last 18 years susan has been in office, the rich have gotten richer and the poor have gotten poorer. We can build a coalition, just as i did in the American Civil Liberties union. We can build a Bipartisan Coalition of around Common Ground and common principles to create a text code that is more fair to working americans. And also to create a budget that focuses priorities on investing in local communities and jobs and education and health care. Stop spending so much money on overseas wars, surveillance programs we cannot afford, and on the criminal Justice System which is out of control. That is what i would do to bring our policies more in line with the needs of working families. The third question i would love to hear the opinions on the millions of dollars being spent for both the senate race and Gubernatorial Race by national parties, especially when mainers are going hungry. Our Campaign System is going program. We have a congress of billionaires and millionaires. People like me do not run for federal office very often. We need to overturn Citizens United because corporations are not people. Susan was wrong when she voted against because additional amendment to overturn Citizens United. We needed a Public Financing system, just like we have here in maine. So working people can run for office and lead in washington. We need stronger disclosure laws. Right now, a lot of the television ads, nobody knows who is paying for them because of the flood of dark money. Susan voted against the disclose act twice. Those are three things we can do to reform the system. I will fight to reform the system. It is broken. In my campaign, i am proud that we have not taken any Corporate Tax money. Susan has taken over 1. 9 million. The majority of our contributions are from small dollar donors. Susan collins, what is your opinion . There is too much money spent on campaigns. In sharp contrast to shenna, every single adult i have run has been positive. I think that is what the state deserves. Not negative ads that distorts my record. She brought up the constitutional amendment i opposed. It is opposed by her former boss, the aclu, because they warned it would open the doors for government regulation of free speech. It would have many unintended consequences. Similarly, the aclu while shenna was working for them, also opposed the disclose act. It was unfair and exempted some organizations altogether. The fourth question is from clayton. There are many Farmers Markets in maine. When was the last time you shop at one . The last time was in early september. The Farmers Market in downtown bangor, across the street from the library. It is set up every sunday. It has wonderful, fresh produce. One of the things i bought were multicolored carrots. I had never seen anything other than orange carrots before. It was great fun to buy those as well as fresh beets and lettuce. I also bought blueberries, which i made a blueberry buckle with. I would be happy to share the recipe. I joke that i ate my way across maine when i walked 350 miles. We walked through Farmers Markets in waterville, farms. I love blueberries. I also love cherry tomatoes. Those are my favorite purchases at Farmers Markets. My husband and i shop regularly at Farmers Market and also the Apple Orchard where we live now. My husband was at the Farmers Market last week. This is the chance for you to ask each other questions. We will try to control this. Each of you has 20 seconds for the question, and a minute for an answer. Shenna bellows, you have a chance to ask Susan Collins a question. Why have you cosponsored ted cruzs bill, the Obamacare Repeal act. As you know, i voted against obamacare. I have explained why. There were other ways we could have gotten to health care reform. At this point, now that the law has been in place, i believe we should try to fix the most egregious flaws. I dont think outright appeal would go anywhere. The president would veto it. Rather than sending the president a bill that would surely be vetoed, i believe we should try to fix the numerous problems with obamacare. Contrary to what you have been saying, i have never been for repealing obama care. I have always said it should be replaced by a better approach. A chance for a rebuttal. I read the Obamacare Repeal act. It said obamacare should be repealed. You are at an original cosponsor. Have you removed your name . Let me explain the way this works. I have a series of bills and proposals i have put forth that i have advocated for four years. For example, tax credits for people who are selfemployed so they could afford Health Insurance. Tax cuts and tax credits for Small Businesses. The bill on the 30 hour work week in the employer mandate. You have to look at the whole record. I would be happy to provide you with more information on those you can go back and read my floor statement i made in 2008 when the obamacare bill passed. You have a chance to ask Shenna Bellows a question. You have endorsed increased spending in at least 15 programs that already add up to trillions of dollars in spending over the next five years. You have proposed expansions and medicare despite the fact that that program has financial problems. You have also proposed increasing programs like nasa. Using to be saying your approach is to ask taxpayers to foot the bill as the federal government tries to spend its way out of most problems. We are already settling the next generation with enormous debt. We are on our way to having have having a half trillion dollars in debt. In 18 years, it is this congress, with the war in iraq, tax cuts for the wealthiest americans, that has left us with this debt. That has mortgage are young our young peoples future. I have proposed an investment in broadband that we could pay for if we cut surveillance and reduced spending on incarceration. I have proposed scrapping the cap so the wealthiest americans pay their fair share and we can increase benefits for seniors. I have proposed reducing the Interest Rates on Student Loans and paying for it on a finanal transaction tax for people making money on wall street and not paying any taxes. We need a different approach. Dont say that this congress or leadership has been responsible. First of all, if you confiscated all of the income that everyone who makes a Million Dollars or more in this country has, it would amount to 938 billion. If you took every penny, not just increased taxes. That does not begin to cover the increased spending that you are proposing. Cuts in military spending at a time when the obama and it the Obama Administration has cut spending by 800 million would be foolhardy. You have said you voted against raising the minimum wage to 10. 10 an hour because that is too much. You have proposed nine dollars an hour. How would you feed a family on 18,000 a year . Clearly that is not a livable wage. I am curious what you think a livable wage would be if you think a minimum wage should produce a livable wage. It would have to be higher than 10. 10 an our. I support increasing the minimum wage. Because the independent Congressional Budget Office said if we go with a 40 increase, it would cost error economy cost the economy 500,000 jobs. Those are largely jobs held by low income people. I dont think that is the answer. Shenna mentioned 13 states increased their minimum wage. Not one has gone to 10. Rhode island increased it would you like to rebut . 13 states raised the minimum wage this year and saw jobs grow. More than states that did not raise the minimum wage. To scare tactics the scare tactics are simply not borne out by the evidence. There is something deeply wrong when members of Congress Make 174,000 a year and think 10. 10 an hour is too much. I have talked to Small Businesses. They say they pay their employees more than the minimum wage. Thank you. Susan collins, you can ask Shenna Bellows a question. Let me say that two thirds of the individuals making the minimum wage get an increase within that year. 25 of those who make the minimum wage are teenagers. Im going to turn to your support for a government run singlepayer Health Care System like canada and Great Britain have. Here we see canadians coming to maine for cancer treatments because in canada, you have to wait on average two months for an mri. The whole month for a cat scan. Months for necessary treatment after you have been referred to a specialist. Nine months to get a joint replacement. Canada ranks higher for mortality due to cancer than the u. S. My question is why you support a singlepayer government to run washington system when we see people from canada coming here for treatment . I support universal health care for all because i believe health care is a human right. If we invest in health care and prevention, in primary care, we will see better longterm outcomes. Less disease and less mortality. Countries like canada and europe do have Better Health care outcomes. They are spending less money. The inflation of Health Care Costs in this country and the level of medical bankruptcies is out of control. How many medical bankruptcies in canada . Zero. That is because there is basic health care for all to read we have a government run system called. Medicare it is working quite well. Go ahead, Susan Collins. There is a difference between universal access to health care, which is a goal we all embrace, and having a government run singlepayer system. There is a reason that in Great Britain, an individual diagnosed with Prostate Cancer has only a 5050 chance of surviving beyond five years. In our country, it is 91 . We had to take a break we will be back. Welcome back to the debate between the candidates for u. S. Senate. The next round is the lightning round. These are questions meant to be answered with one or two words. Yes or no. Maybe a whole sentence but no more three do you support the antibearbaiting referendum . I have never taken positions on state referendums. Shenna bellows . No. Would you support allowing Tar Sands Oil to pass through a pipeline in maine . Yes. I want to make sure i understand. Are you talking about the main montreal . I believe there needs to be a full environmental study to answer that question. Shenna bellows . Know, and i also oppose the keystone pipeline. You support federal funding for amtrak . Yes. Yes. Do you agree with a womans right to choose . Yes. Yes. Should local Law Enforcement agencies be allowed to use Surveillance Drones . Again, i think that is a local and state issue. What i can to you i have done at the federal level is require justifications from the administration at the use of drones for surveillance at the federal level. I led the effort to place checks and balances on the use of drones to prevent them for surveillance. Should the u. S. Reduce the number of military bases . No. No. Do you support grants for Higher Education . Yes. Absolutely. Should the federal government legalize medical marijuana for medicinal purposes . Yes. From medicinal purposes only. Should they require the labeling of medicinal purposes . Probably. Yes. Susan was wrong when she voted against you support the proposal that would allow Internet Access based on the ability to pay . We are talking about net neutrality. No. We need to maintain the ability to access the internet. We should not be allowing internet providers to favor some content over others. I know the audience loves the lightning round but we are out of time. Closing statements. Each candidate will have one minute. Susan collins, you will go first. For a state of just over one Million People, maine has elected remarkable senators. They represented different parties but they had a commitment to debate. Bipartisan compromise. And a better life for the people of the state. I have worked hard to each and every day since i was elected to uphold this proud tradition. When Government Shutdown last year, i put together a coalition of seven republicans, six democrats, and we hammered out a compromise that led to the reopening of government. That is how government can and should work. That is the approach i want to continue to take. I ask for your vote on november 4. Shenna bellows . This race is more than just policy differences between susan and me, although those are significant. This is about two different visions for the future. My sister is putting her three kids to bed while their father serves overseas in kuwait. I think about the dangers might brotherinlaw faces overseas my brotherinlaw faces overseas. What kind of world are we leaving for my nieces and nephews . We cannot afford republican gridlock or to pretend things are ok. Things are not ok when thousands of workers are without jobs. Things are not ok when student debt exceeds 1 trillion. Things are not ok when Climate Change is hurting farms and fisheries. A vote for susan is a vote for republican control in washington. If you share my concerns and hopes we can do better, that we must do better, than i ask for your vote on november 4. Thank you very much to both candidates for appearing in taking part in the debate. And thank you for the partners in this production, the new England School of communication. Thank you for joining us. All the debates will be rebroadcast several times between now and election day. And of course, join us for full Election Night coverage november 4 and the following day. We hope you will take the time to vote. Thank you for joining us. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2014] one of the races to help determine which party will control the senate is in georgia where republican david purdue is running against democrat Michelle Nunn. Heres a look at some of the tv ads from their race. Im Michelle Nunn, and i approve this message. My dad founded south wire in carrollton more than 60 years ago, and today, its the leading manufacturer of power cable in north america. When i hear david purdue say he is proud to have outsourced jobs to other parts of the world, i have to wonder. Every time we invest in georgia workers, they can compete with anyone in the world. I dont know how you can be proud of having sent american jobs overseas. David purdue helped create and save thousands of jobs right here in america. Is Michelle Nunn seems to do attack david. We want to know where she is on jobs, education, national security. She never says. Thats because she supports president obamas agenda. We dont need more bad policies from washington. We need a new direction. Thats david purdue. David purdue. David purdue. Im david purdue, and i approve this message. Im Michelle Nunn, and i approve this message. David purdue is defending his career amid an outsourcing report. David purdue, former ceo of dollar general, announced he spent most of his career moving u. S. Jobs overseas. The attorney asks him to describe his experience with outsourcing. Purdue responds, yeah, i spent most of my career doing that. When asked how he defends outsourcing, purdue. Defendant . Im proud of it. David purdue is not for you. Michelle nunn admits she is too liberal and her foundation gave money to organizations links to terrorists. She needed to fool georgians to win. She attacked david purdue with ads that independent Fact Checkers called mostly false and a stretch. Deibert for duke spent his career creating thousands of jobs. Perdue will grow this economy bring common sense will to washington. Im david purdue. I approve this message. One more debate tonight and this week and. The debate between firstterm democratic senator mark eggen and his republican challenger, dan sullivan. At 10 00, a debate from virginia seven debtors seventh district, held by eric cantor until he lost his primary. The man who defeated him, republican dave brat, will debate democrat jack trammell. Morehouse debates saturday on cspan starting a new from new hampshires second district. After that, debates from the 24th and night Team District of new york, then minnesotas seventh district in the 14th Congressional District of ohio. In oregon, the democratic governors running for reelection against republican in this richardson. The cook a little report rates the space as likely democratic. There debate next from medford, oregon. Good evening from the nbc five studios. And i wills director be the moderator this evening. We are joined by two men competing to be governor, john kitts hopper and Dennis Richardson. And denniszhaber richardson. From the studios of nbc five and medford, oregon, a debate featuring John Kitzhaber and republican challenger Dennis Richardson. The debate is brought to you by care Source Health care plan and the organization of realtors, protecting your piece of oregon. The lifestream is sponsored by debate, host for the news director craig smullin. Ofthey will cover a variety topics in studio. In 15 days, one of these men will be a like to to lead organ for the next four years. Two lead oregon for the next four years. Thanks for joining us. Before we begin, lets meet our candidates. Dennis richardson has been a resident since 1979. An Army Helicopter highlight in vietnam, he returned home and put himself through law school. Nd open a small practice they have one son and eight daughters. A state representative, he was elected by democrats and republicans to be the speaker pro tem and served as the cochair of ways and means where he fought to Fund Education first. Workedr John Kitzhaber ofa doctor and served parts Douglas County as a representative, senator, and president before becoming governor. He led the formation of the Oregon Health plan and business plan. In 2011, he was elected governor in the midst of an economic crisis. Added 100 new jobs and expanded Health Insurance coverage to 95 of oregonians. It is time to hear from representative richardson. You have two minutes for your opening statement. A this election is not about republican versus a democrat. It is about the past versus the future. Kitzhaber once a fourth term. Has he earned it . Rate is highert than the national average, for the last 18 consecutive years. One in five oregonians are on food stamp and the economic arrow has been going down 20 years and is still decreasing. Lets consider education. 2010, the lord the Education System has declined. Rudy crew that he brought in. That ended in a scandal. We have Graduation Rates which are next to last and we are hurting students from low income families. Now he is promoting common core, another program that is an experiment on our children that ignores parents, teachers, and School Boards. Finally, more than half 1 billion has been wasted on excuse me, uncover oregon. He is embroiled in a scandal that makes oregon again a national joke. He thinks it is ok for his chief advisor to get paid more than half 1 million while she is advisor. He thinks it is ok for his first lady to triple her income in one year receiving payments from companies that wanted access to her government connections. Governor, that is not ok. That is corruption. It is time for oregons to choose a leader that can fix what is broken. I will create jobs and move the economic arrow upward. I will reform education and put our students on track for a worldclass education. I will restore accountability to the office of the governor. Helping families succeed is why im running for governor, not to change anyone elses politics. With nudity leadership, we can be proud of with new leadership, we can be proud of oregon. Governor kitzhaber. Y political career is built on the same thing, we want the same thing, we want hard work and be rewarded with a better life and all of us want to leave our children better off than we are. There are two basic views on how to get there, the notion we are pretty much on our own. If we are lucky, we make it. The other view is based on the notion we are in this together, there are things we can do as a community and society and state to lift all of us. I mean all of us, regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation. I subscribed for the second view. A doctor,or ait as legislature, and as a father. We faced high unemployment and a divided legislature, the ingredients that would lead us to a disaster that we saw in wisconsin. The fact that did not happen speaks to the leadership we need. We had to throw away the political playbook, and that is what we did. We have created over 100,000 new jobs. We have reopened the last lumber mill in Josephine County. We have support provided support to amys kitchen, and another project that supports regional agriculture. Tuition, 95 of healthans have insurance. Last year, in a threeday session, we raise revenue for Mental Health and reduce the pension system. Im proud of what we have done agether and i look forward to serious conversation between myself and representative richardson about our accomplishments and visions for oregons future. Tonights questions have not been shared with the candidates. Each candidate will have one minute to answer. The first man will get a 32nd rebuttal when his opponent furnishes finishes. Flipmentioned, the coin was actually won by governor kitzhaber. Representative richardson, we have several questions about education. The first one is from a seventh grader. Education is important to me. I want to know what you will do to change Graduation Rates in oregon. Thank you. The grant the problem we are facing as a result of 20 years policy in the education field. Remember in the 1990s we had the common core as a followup. What we can do to increase our Graduation Rates is to ensure that every student has a mentor and an opportunity. We have 100 of our focus on higher ed. Only 25 of our kids go there. What about the other 75 . Needed to have trades, we to have shops, we need to have music and art. A focus so every child will have their needs met so they can be successful in life and not have it be determined by government that wants to ensure they are in the direction that may not fit the needs of those individuals. Governor kitzhaber. We need a longterm investment strategy. Important is learning. Weve got to ensure every child is ready for kindergarten. We have increased funding over four years. Linking fullday kindergarten, which starts in the fall of 2015, so kids are reading at a level of third grade. Likelye four times more to graduate from high school. We need to reconnect kids in high school to the world of work by replacing technical education, reconnecting them with computer science. Those will be elements that i will submit to the legislature in september. Excuse me, december of this year. Tore is no magic bullet change the system. We have to recognize where those points are, where dollars can give the greatest return in terms of performance. We have added a billion dollars as well as. Spending those dollars on the right places is important. Early learning is important. The question is about Graduation Rates. We need to look at those School Districts that are having nearly 100 Graduation Rates. We can learn from their success and ensure we do those things that will help our kids have their needs met. Common core is not the answer. Because itpport it takes away from parents, teachers, and School Boards to control their education. The next question, there have been many stories about your fiance who entered into a green card marriage with the intent of running an illegal marijuana growing operation. Several articles suggest she has used her role as first lady to recruit and obtain clients for her business. You think any of these issues should matter . Is what sylvia did before i knew her. She has a knowledge those mistakes and assumed responsibility. Those issues are personal. The second issue is more important. I disagree with his conclusion. Sylvia had a professional career before i was elected. We recognized the need for transparency and guidelines to make sure her professional career was separate from her first lady role. We set up guidelines and a we compliednsure with the letter and the spirit of ethics laws. Nonetheless, this is political season with inflated rhetoric and partisan shots and so the last week i asked the Ethics Commission to confirm our guidelines and to review the three contracts we had. Stateing money while in office is nothing new to the governor. 100,000 for speeches he made as a senator dealing with the health plan. Now we are dealing with his fiancee who sees nothing wrong almost tripling her income in one year by taking money by companies that want to buy influence with government. That is wrong. That is corrupt. We cant just ignore that. Crimes have been committed. It may be the governor is complicit. Last year in july, his Legal Advisor prepared and ethics letter and asked cylvia to sign it and it said what she was doing was unethical. She reduce refused to sign it and they had revised the letter in such a way that made it ok to and she signed that letter. Who would have the authority to tell the Legal Counsel they should change that letter . You,vernor, i would ask should oregon voters consider this . Abouty certainly showed ethics violations. That is why we have the commission reviewing it. Somebody did file a violation with me in 1994. It was my opponent. Those were discharged. I expect that will happen again. We have taken an allegation and we are treating it as though it were fact. It raises questions in my mind what they have to offer oregon, except for the fact they are not me. I do not think that cuts it in terms of leadership. Thank you. Should youated become governor you would create a position of Lieutenant Governor, not in the traditional sense. Specifically, who do you have in mind . The funding will take place out of the governors budget. It depends on who has the qualifications available to do this. The reason for having Lieutenant Governor is to give status to an individual who will promote International Trade. Oregon is a leader in exports and we need to expand that to create jobs in oregon. Greater to create a demand. Greater demand means you have to have somebody to meet that demand, so you hire people. We need to have somebody that is in the export countries such as china, malaysia, japan, to establish offices and ensure we are marketing our products and services and then the governor goes in for the close when necessary. The governor has not been on a trade mission in a couple of years. I have organized 10 missions to china and have shown i can create jobs. I will do that even more so is governor. Governor, your thoughts on the job of Lieutenant Governor. Unnecessary. Is people in asia want to see the governor. I have been on three trade missions. Went to berlin and belgium. We visited tokyo, kyoto, shanghai, hong kong, several times. We have also opened, for example, Oregon Agricultural to the korean markets because of the relationships between myself and korea. Oregon is the first state to export blueberries into korea. This has huge implications. Is a very trade dependent state and it is something the governor has to take seriously and not delegate to a surrogate. We havedemonstrated boosted our International Trade and will continue to do so. It is a job the governor has to do. Representative richardson. Talk is cheap. Had three terms to increase our sales and exports. Has taken a trip to china or japan or korea, but he has not spent time in expanding accounts. It takes time to do that. Organizednt i have 10 trade missions as a legislature. The governor does not have time. He is too busy doing other things. The next question, three main areas of importance our health care, Law Enforcement, and education. Give this your grade of how you feel oregon scores in these areas. A in health care. Have coverage. Ns it is an amazing story. Tens of thousands are happier, healthier, they dont have to choose between paying the doctor or utility bill. Are on a newthem care model. On education, we have a c, we are moving toward a b. The infrastructure to ensure all of our kids are ready for kindergarten and within five years, i believe, we can have all of our Children Reading at a third grade level, which will be a boost for those children not only in terms of education, but also rejuvenate the achievement gap. The third was Law Enforcement. We have a real challenge because of the inflexibility of sentencing guidelines and counties to raise resources necessary to provide basic services. I would give us a d. Thank you. Representative richardson. Do you want me to repeat the question . Importanceareas of our health care, Law Enforcement, and education. Give us your grades how you feel oregon scores in these areas. Haveder this governor, we an f in health care. We have spent 300 million on a website project. Now it is being transferred back to the federal government as if it did not exist. They are going to reenroll everybody under that plan. He takes credit for establishing 350,000 oregonians. The federal government expanded eligibility. That is what made that happen. Most of them are medicaid. Been doing that for decades. Now the hope is things are going to get better in the future. We need leadership that will Pay Attention to the details. Law enforcement, we have decreasing rates of law and theent costs occurrence and that is going to be we need to make sure we have Adequate Funding for all of this state and not just in the areas of north. And for education . An f aslo. We are failing in achievement, Graduation Rates, and we are promoting common core, which is using our kids as a subject, and experiments ended your tracks and takes away responsibility from teachers, parents, and School District. Law enforcement would be a c. Secondwas a 92n0 response. Anyone who would do miss 95 of our citizens would dismiss Health Insurance coverage probably has good coverage for themselves. These are hard working families and they deserve access to health care. We have dropped our rate 17 to 5 and that is a policy success that is changing the lives of hundreds of thousands of oregonians. And thank you, washington, d. C. , for making it happen. One employer stated how difficult it is to find workers who can pass preemployment drug tests. What would you say . We have to have a governor that will focus on removing the barriers that have caused so much depression and poverty on people that we have such high drug utilization. Workersto ensure our have a good education and they and an opportunity for jobs they have hopes for with the future. So many feel this bondage. They feel in despair and they turned to drugs. We need to ensure they do not have to have that kind of despair and my message to them, if you feel in despair, i will give you hope for the future. If you feel depressed, there is a chance for the future. We talked about the need to connect kids in high school with through experiences code and computer science. Not we can do. The root problem happens earlier and our investment in covering most people with health care and Early Learning are providing the resources to families and children who are struggling and the vast majority have some kind. F rug or alcohol challenge providing bad treatment and coverage for that treatment, for their parents, because the kids reflected the environment in which they grow up, we can reverse this problem by getting at the root cause. Is it a real problem . Absolutely. Do we have funding to address it . We have. The next step is to invest in education and then reconnect kids in school with real life experience. If we aretalking as both running for the first time. He has been there three terms. He finally figures out we need to support Mental Health for adolescents and adults. We have needed that for years. The despair is the result of the failed policies of this governor. We need to provide opportunities to break the addiction and that is going to require a new hope for education, employment, and for opportunity. We should not have to have some at a get it right. Rural counties are providing difficulties providing Law Enforcement. It is referred to as the wild, wild west. It is not an easy issue. Part of it is these counties have a low tax rate. Far below the rest of the state. Some local effort is important for them to provide resources. The state police have been providing backup for these counties and we need to increase the budget for the state police substantially if we are going to provide that service. It is an economic problem. You need to create jobs to bring in revenue. The work we are doing, i am meeting regularly for a markup on november 17, hopefully that will provide some clear and sustainable yields for this area, some flow of resources to the counties that will subsidize juan forstmann, and some lawenforcement, and using transportation funds for Law Enforcement without having to repay those is another shortterm step we can take. 60 seconds. Depressionlem with in Josephine County is a result of failed policies about our timber, our Natural Resources. It was in the 1990s decisions were made as to what was going to happen with our federal lands. We have lost 40,000 jobs. Where was the governor . Was he fighting for this . He was hoping congress would give him money. They compete,lls, but nothing is done. It is always about talk. We need a governor who will align with other governors and make it and. C. And issue as to who is going to manage the federal forest. We have 53 controlled by the federal government. They have broken our trust with us. We need to make that a national issue. That is not happening with our current governor. 30 seconds. We are both working. My top priority for the year will be u. S. Forest Service Renewal because the process and setting up sales is antiquated, and outdated, and process oriented. It does not provide a responsible level of harvest for local mills and economies while preserving the very important conservation and environmental values that are very critical to the Tourism Industry in this area and to americans. , representative richardson Public Schools are battling for funding on extracurricular activities. Those activities can shape the future of our youth. What will you do to reenergize their programs . We need to make education a top priority in deed and not just in word. Except for the one time i was cochair of waves and means, education is funded at the end of the session. If there is not enough money, one party says, you must hate children because you wont allow tax increases. If we care about education, we should Fund Education first. We have done that one time, in 2011. Ensure there is Adequate Funding for our priorities. The government has an appetite for money and it should be first to spent on our priorities and education should be one of them. 60 seconds. Funding Education First is not a policy. It is a gimmick. It leaves the question with what are you going to fund in the social Service Space . Increased funding for education. By about a billion dollars. A 14 increase. We are taking steps in the Health Care Field to free up resources for reinvesting in education. Are in aon oregonians care model. State employees are in the same model and we intend to ring those into that mix. People. Ion by 2019, that can eliminate the budget deficit we had and by the we can have a budgetary surplus. This will save us or billion dollars over eight years. 4 billion over eight years. 30 seconds. The answer had nothing to do with the question. Have a we are going to balanced budget. In the 1990s, he proposed the Oregon Health plan. Expensive than we had to raise taxes to pay for it. Let me tell you, that does not work that way. There is a billion dollar hole in the budget we have to face and a billion and a half dollars in the 2017. It says to be determined because we dont know where the money is going to come from. Nois all promises and reality. You voice to support requiring that grant checks for private party gun sales. Stepalled it a reasonable about keeping felons from obtaining guns. Representative richardson sent an email to three superintendents that read if i had been a teacher at sandy hook and if the School District did not preclude me from having of theto a firearm, most murdered children would still be alive and the gunman would not be dead, and not by suicide. Should educators carry guns in schools . The answer to that question is no. Schools are not the place for firearms. I dont believe we need to go there. Support expanding background checks. It makes sense to keep firearms out of the hands of people who should not have them. People who have records of felonies. There should be some accountability for parents whose children gain access to their guns. Reasonable and important steps. The issue of School Safety goes beyond that. State, local, and National Press covered it and then they disappeared. There has not been anything written about the shooting for months. We need to have an ongoing conversation about identifying kids and providing them support. We can do that through Early Learning, coordinated care. We need a proactive policy. 60 seconds. The issue of School Violence is so important to us. I wrote an email that dealt with the fact sandy hook was doing all of the things schools were supposed to do. It was locked down. The kids were isolated and yet the death rate was a standing. Was astounding. It is not right when the only person armed is a perpetrator of violence. School districts should consider whether it would be appropriate to have Law Enforcement or retired military or others that are trained to have conceal carry on board school grounds. It is for parents and teachers to decide. Akron checks are important. We need to ensure we do not put guns in the hands of those that or either mentally unstable felonies and so forth, not prepared they should not have a gun. Funding isth crucial. We need funding for Mental Health for adolescents so we can discover them before they act out. There is a difference between a Public Safety officer and an armed teacher. A different issue. We have to have, as a community, a discussion about gun safety and it really do think it starts and i grew i agree on the Mental Health side. We have to put time and energy into funding those kinds of services. Those are the services that are left out if you Fund Education first. It is important to be reactive and proactive and look at this from a preventive standpoint. You are quoted as saying some of the social issues are different from others. I would take an oath to enforce the will of the people. What about a womans right to choose and gay marriage . Number one contributor to my campaign are three prochoice that are supported of me because they are trust i will help the economy and keep my promise that the social issues are not heart of this campaign. The governor is trying to make it this way. He quotes things that were said 25 years ago. Economy, jobs, education, and restoring trust to the Governors Office. As far as the social issues, it is my promise i will honor the will of the people. Those things have been decided. Im glad. Lets focus on those things that are of lasting meeting for the future of our state. Whether theyon of can marry the person they love, immigrant children, those are important questions to a lot of people. They speak to values. They are legitimate in this campaign. We should look at them. I disagree with the defense that he will honor the law. The state has voted in an effort to restrict a womans right to choice. And yet representative richardson has introduced 11 bills to restrict a womans right to choose. Only issues ine this campaign, that they are issues that are important to women in the state and i think the right for couples to marry the person they love is important to a large segment of society. It is about embracing all oregonians and striving toward equity and opportunity in the state and i believe that is what i have attempted to do in mike career. In my career. Part is not going to be a of the agenda while im governor. We are going to be focusing on our economy, jobs, and education and restoring trust any accountability in the Governors Office. These issues have been decided. When i was asked about what i would say to a gay couple, i would say congratulations. It has been done. I believe in free agency. Weve had our debate. We had a discussion. Now we have made a determination on that point. We do not need to spend more time on it. Im not going to be focused on it. What areor kitzhaber, your greatest strengths and weaknesses as a leader . Good. Lets start to there. In the past, my first term, i was a 91st legislature. It is about setting an agenda and trying to engage people outside of the building. Know, strengths involve experience. This is a job where where the state has been and being a presiding officer for eight years and having served as governor gives you a range of experience and a wealth of knowledge and understanding that can serve the state well. In 2010, theected state was more polarized than you can imagine after the fight over 66 and 67. We have brought the state together. We have not toured the state apart and that is because of leadership and experience. That is one of my assets and im hoping the voters will take that into consideration on november 4. Representative richardson. Strakes, the experience in the army as a helicopter pilot taught me lessons about life and people and about myself. Becoming a lawyer and putting myself through college was a challenge. When we were newlywed, we were poor. We put ourselves through school. It was a challenge. We have learned through those hard times. I have been a lawyer 30 years. The experience ive gained has been valuable to the state because i only one client, the citizens of the state. I get too focused. Im a workaholic. Im a perfectionist. Ive been told, you want certain people to be a perfectionist, your accountant and your lawyer. Those have to be done right. Sometimes that can be trying for people that are working with you. 30 seconds. I dont have a rebuttal. I also think people want their doctor to be a perfectionist. [laughter] representative richardson, give us an example when your constituency was against what you felt was best, but you accepted that and voted with them . Would you repeat the question . When your constituency was against what you felt was best, but you accepted that and voted with them . I dont have an instance because i believe Representative Democracy is such you are not taking a poll to determine which way the wind is blowing. You elect someone you trust whos got experience and who will focus on the issues and determine what the best course is and explain why he or she has voted the way they had. By having my newsletter, i have done that. I promise to the people i would during ashow up campaign. I have kept my constituency of aware of my position and why i voted the way i have to explain what has gone on. I would probably say i voted in favor of the bridge because government do bridges. We did not get the bridge. That is a different issue. My constituency would have said, why would you vote for a bridge in portland . Wouldswer is because it be best for the whole state to have commerce and commuters make the crossing. Instances, when i was a state senator. One involved a bill that would have prevented discrimination based on sexual orientation. A pretty mild bill. I voted for that because i thought it was the right thing to do. It was an issue of basic human rights. Ive been a supporter of the landuse planning program. 1978, and again because i think while it has a flaw is, it has protected our resource lands and our ability to run forest operations, which are essential to the state. My belief is that leadership is about leading. It is not about agreeing with your constituents, but having the courage to differ and face them and explain why you did it. I was returned to office. They did not agree with me, but they respected the courage of speaking out for my own views and values. 30 seconds. The governor failed to mention what he did as far as Capital Punishment is concerned. The majority of the state voted for us to have Capital Punishment when you have a great just murders that they should not be allowed to live. He did not mention that when he was running for office in 2010. He says, no, i dont agree with that. So regardless of the fact that people have ruled one way, im going to let my own feelings overpower what the people at said. I think that is contrary to the oath of the governor. What do you feel is the Biggest Issue facing Economic Development . Workforce. We have an abundance of open jobs in the state. We have an aging industrial workforce. So theve welding jobs, great jobs out there, we are not feeling them. 26 schools teach computer programming. Developing the workforce is the single most important thing we can do for Economic Development and actually we are doing it. We are making sure kids are ready when they get to school. So kids can Enter High School with the set of schools in the Knowledge Base and of critical , which is one of the. Oals and pathways it will be a priority in my budget that i will present to oregonians on december 1. It is kind of a combination, education is important because we have people graduating, kids out of high school and they are not prepared for a career or for college. That is a failing. We have our Natural Resources that are not being utilized. It is a shame. It is a shame when we have all we cantforests and harvest them and replant, like we have done for generations. And yet what do we do . We watch our environment go up in smoke. What we need to have is to take advantage of our opportunities. Right now there is a liquid natural gas plant, 7. 5 billion over 100e investment, jobs that would be ongoing and would revitalize that region. Governor said he is neutral. He is not moving it ahead. He is not promoting those areas. If you talk to farmers in the valley, both are extremely agricultural operations. They are hungry for workforce. They cant fill jobs. Hightech jobs. Welders. Computer programmers. It does come back to the workforce. Whether that is heavy industry or agriculture and four street. Representative richardson, the state of oregon spent 250 million on the Health Care Website which was a failure. , whatentative richardson responsibility should the voters assigned to the legislature for this failure . Separate questions . Do you want me to report repeat it . Just a start my time over. [laughter] a tremendous amount. In the ceo of the state. I wrote him to letters and talked to him about the fact we had a Quality Assurance team that said this is going to fail if you dont take action. That is in september. He took no action and we lost four seats. I was demoted and the legislature came in and the following session and eliminated the Oversight Committee for that project. Now you dont have the executive paying any attention to the program nor the legislature. It was a fiasco. There should have been oversight from both sides and there was oversight by neither. There is plenty of blame to go around. It was the governor who handpicked the people over this. He should have had his position on the way to the october date and still instead of just trusting it is going to work and then telling the media he did not know what that it until sometime after the date it started. 60 seconds. Voters should hold me accountable for the failure of the website. Representative richardson did send me a letter and he sent me and other l in december congratulated us on addressing the problems raised. Same information. We were all assured this would going to get. Having said that, i assume full responsibility. E have downsized cover origin clash oregon. We have enrolled 500,000 people. Those dollars were not wasted. We will recover those after we conclude the lawsuit from the attorney general. 3. Is all talk. This is ridiculous. He knew it was not going to wor k. Million forr 1 sure what was going on. They were overseeing the project. I have access to it. I warned him, there was no action taken and later on, i said we should shut down cover oregon. There was no action taken. So we continue to have cover oregon cost 10 a person to obtain it. , agovernor kitzhaber persons home is typically the largest investment and him and also the greatest creative for the middle class. What policies would you propose to make it home . Hurricane of . Make it more obtainable . You dont have the resources to buy a home, you were not going to play home. Atn people get him economist his important things like him is essential for cash they have less pot. So fixing that to create a system is results in more money in your pocket is essential. I will come back to the workforce issue. The kinds of jobs are trade jobs, itll income jobs, jobs with benefits, that allow people to get ahead and we need to figure out how to connect our students and our of work people will make jobs and we a lot more homeowners in the state of oregon if we can accomplish that. 60 seconds. A greatovernor has idea. He should have had a 20 years ago. When he took over, oregon was 22nd in the nation in per capita income. Now we are 33rd. Asmake 9,000 less in oregon a worker than the state of washington just on the other side of the river. We have one in five oregonians on food stamps. We have a failure in dealing with the lack of jobs and a vibrant economy. That is what is needed to buy homes and to make make that happen, we need to change the way we are doing business. We need to remove the barriers that prevent entrepreneurs and innovators and inventors from growing from Small Businesses from growing, from selling or products to other nations in other states. We need to expand our economy, create jobs, and we will have people that will be in a position to have the oregon dream, which presently may feel despair. 30 seconds. Do not hear any specifics. I know he is not me, which is central to his campaign. I do think there have to be suggestions. I promise you, funding Education First and getting rid of common core will not create more jobs. The next question, immigration. If you were president , what would you want . Done . If i were president , i would first ensure we have a border. It makes no sense for us to allow anyone who wants to come across the border into this country to be able to come in. It could be a terrorist. It could even bein a disease. The chances of us been harmed because of an open border are tremendously risky. I believe we should do that. We should have a program to help those that want to come here and work to be able to do that. We should not have any problem with immigrants coming here. We are all immigrants. It is about doing it legally. That is the challenge. Those that are here that have a green card and play by the rose, they should be rewarded. We should not be making special arrangement for those that come illegally. Gally wouldi was president , i try to find a pathway to citizenship for undocumented americans. If you took all of the undocumented oregonians out of the state tomorrow, large portions of the Agricultural Industry would collapse. So i think it is important to a grownup conversation about providing a pathway to citizenship. A border. We do need the money we are spending, it is like the war on drugs. It does not work. Those resources should be spent trying to create pathways to success for children in the country. 30 seconds. A cliffrd a story about and people fell off the cliff and they kept getting hurt and they got help. One solution was to have an ambulance at the bottom of the cliff. The other was a fence across the top of the cliff to prevent them from falling. That is what we need to do with the border. We need to have a fence. Not allowtries do people to come in whenever they want and provide for them. We need to have a path for citizenship, but it needs to be law supported by the people and it needs to be based on those that are here legally. Governor, what do you think the potential of Marijuana Legalization would have on the state and what message would it send to children and young adults . Guess being a father, the message is, what is the big deal . A troubling message. I was around in the 1960s and i know what marijuana is. It is inevitable we are going to have recreational marijuana. Ofneed a better framework Public Safety safety, Law Enforcement, and of Public Health. We do not have it in place today. It makes more sense to recognize this is a drug, not unlike alcohol. Washington,rado, they have experiences we should learn from. We should put in place a framework if and when it is legalized in oregon. Should driving while high that is not a breathalyzer test. It is a blood test. What are the implications for that in the crime lab . Message wenk the want to send to children is, what is the big deal . Are pretty much in agreement on this issue. Ive got nine kids. 31 grandkids. I nurse and what it is like i understand what it is like to grow up today. Abelieve we are making mistake by pressing on with this. We ought to learn from the experience of washington and colorado before we live into the same deep water without knowing what is beneath the surface. We have Law Enforcement issues. I have spoken to officers in washington state. They have doubled the arrests from driving under the influence, but it takes hours because they can do a breathalyzer test. They have to do a blood test to determine whether or not there is marijuana in the system. Finished with this. As governor, if it passes, i will enforce it and implement it because that is going to be the will of the people. We would be wise not to go down this path if we would choose a better course for our kids and grandkids. 30 seconds. We substantially agree on this. Representative richardson, what two of you do as governor to make Eastern Oregon feel they are part of the success of the state . Implies theion reality. Eastern oregon feels detached. The governor does not care about them. Or that they are part of the state. They think the governor represents the interstate five core or from eugene north. They are right. Governor who will be where they are at. Every county, every year. I will meet with them. I will have town hall meetings. I will use the media in a way that has not been used. Social media and otherwise. I will use my newsletter, expanded from its current sendribers, to 700,000 and information out on key issues facing our state to all of the state and get their input before we implement new reform. We should not just pass laws peopleve and have live with unintended consequences. We should get input from the people so we pass laws by and for the people. I have been to Central Oregon many times. You have to directly engage them. We have worked with the Blue Mountain partners. Have a 10 year timber supply they are adding jobs. We started a juniper project, creating jobs from taking your juniper, which improves stage growth. Ouse. Ge gr we are working on the Columbia River to actually increase the withdrawal of water from the river to have it available for groundwater we charge and fish recharge and fish. We have worked to increase affordable housing, which is a big obstacle to actually bringing in the workforce we need. By leading. Ou do you roll up your sleeves and you solve problems. I have a long list of achievements weve done together and i think they feel a lot more included and a part of oregon today than they did four years ago. 30 seconds. He takes credit for keeping one mill open. They dont have a consistent source of logs. We have lost 150 mills. Eastern oregon needs access and water. I propose we study and work to have a freeway to ontario. Open up Eastern Oregon and the coast in a rational way. It is going to cost a lot of money. It is going to take 1020 years. If we dont start, we will never get there. Concludes the debate portion. Time now for closing statements. 60 seconds. We have to be proud in oregon. Good jobs, high income, educated workforce, natural beauty, the pioneer spirit. Sadly this governor has made our state and national joke. Scandals, waste, coverup, investigation, corruption. We can do better. Together we can rebuild to the economy and create jobs while respecting the environment. We can reform education and empower terrence and teachers. We can restore trust and protect our civil liberties. Can start by voting out the governor and his cronies. Campaign is about values and the ability to deliver. His values a corrupt administration. Rising unemployment. Student. Spending half 1 billion on cover oregon. How can they be proud in oregon . Vote for Dennis Richardson for governor. Andhis race is about values the ability to deliver. Values matter. Values thatn the underlie this great state. We differ on the right of oregonians to marry the person they love. On the importance of protecting our environment. This state is better today than it was four years ago. We have faced a tough issues and we have done it together. We have created over 100,000 new jobs, full day kindergarten, frozen tuition and 95 are sent of oregonians have Health Coverage 95 of oregonians have Health Coverage today. Im very proud of what we have done. This race is about values and the ability to deliver. The choice is very clear. And im kitzhaber asking for your vote on november 4. That concludes the debate. I would like to thank governor kitzhaber and representative richardson for joining us. Replay of this debate can be fined a replay of this debate can be found on her website. Is thursday,e october 23, at 7 30. The ball is now in your court. Dont forget to vote. On behalf of all of us, good tonight. [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] more debates tonight and this weekend. At 8 00, a debate between senator mark begich and his challenger dan sullivan. And a debate from the seventh district which was represented he lost hisor until primary. Davidn who defeated him, bratt, debates jack trammell. And more debates starting at noon from the second district. Marilinda garcia and then debates of new york and from minnesota and the 14th district of ohio. Now to the new york governors debate between andrew cuomo and his republican challenger rob astorino, howie hawkins, and michael mcdermott. Listsok political report it as solid democrat. This hourlong debate comes courtesy of wned tv. Four, five, three, seven. Six. 8, 7 , these are the stakes. Do we really want to governor who may in the bin jail . And up in jail . Can we trust rob astorino . Cut propertyo taxes 20 and then he broke his word. He vetoed a property tax god. But in the nation. Taxes in st property the nation. If you cannot trust him to menace taxes in westchester, you can never trust him as governor. The governors poster represent all the people, but andrew cuomo only represents elitist liberals in the city. Cuomo does not care about you. His arrogance would wipe upstate off the map. That is why cuomo forced extreme gun control. Uganda magazines, and violated the privacy of lawabiding gun owners. Take the Governors Office away from him