Tonight I attended the Candidates’ Forum for representative in Congress – 3rd District, Massachusetts, put on by The League of Women’s Voters of Shrewsbury and Worcester. All three candidates took part in the forum — Pat Barron, the Independent candidate, Marty Lamb, the Republican Candidate, and Jim McGovern, the Democrat candidate.<\/p>\n
There were about two hundred people at the event. The Moderator for the event was Stefani Traina of the League of Women Voters of Andover – North Andover. First of all, there was no American flag at this event. Second of all, when one of the candidates brought up the voting record of Congressman McGovern, the moderator stopped him, calling that a personal attack. When the audience responded loudly, a discussion of the candidate’s voting record was permitted. <\/p>\n
This was not really a debate. The candidates were not allowed direct exchanges and there were many things said that I personally knew were not true, but there was no provision in the format the challenge the statements made.<\/p>\n
The one thing that became obvious at the forum was that there is a clear choice in this race. Congressman McGovern made no apologies for his record. He claimed that he has brought many jobs into the district, despite the fact that the U. S. Chamber of Congress gives him a 35 per cent rating. It was also mentioned that one of the businesses in the district that received government grants also made large contributors to Jim McGovern’s campaign. Congressman McGovern made no apology for healthcare reform or the method in which it was passed. He also claimed to be a protector of the well being of senior citizens. This is an amazing statement since the healthcare bill he voted for in the dead of night includes $455 billion reduction in Medicare spending from 2010 to 2019 and has just resulted in 22,000 senior citizens in Massachusetts and two other New England states losing their Medicare Advantage plans.<\/p>\n
Marty Lamb stated that he felt that the healthcare reform bill needed to be defunded, repealed,and replaced. He stated that there were some good ideas in the plan, but that other good ideas needed to be included. He commented that the hiring of 16,000 additional IRS agents as part of Obamacare was not one of the good parts of the plan.<\/p>\n
Pat Barron generally stated that Washington is broken, both political parties are broken, and the only answer is to elect independent candidates who are not part of the ‘system.’<\/p>\n
When the subject of term limits came up, Congressman McGovern said that he trusted the voters to implement term limits by way of elections. In other words, when the people of Massachusetts vote him out, that will be the end of his term. Marty Lamb expressed the idea that the Founding Fathers embraced the idea of the ‘citizen legislature’ that would serve in Congress for a few turns then return to the private sector. Mr. Lamb stated that he was not interested in making a career out of politics.<\/p>\n
Another difference was on the subject of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Congressman McGovern’s stand was that it should be repealed, and he supported the court decision to repeal it. Marty Lamb stated that he would not comment on the issue until the Pentagon released its evaluation. He felt that Congress (and the Courts) should listen to the opinions of the currently serving military leaders when dealing with the issue.<\/p>\n
The choice is rather clear. Congressman McGovern votes with Nancy Pelosi. He follows the party line and has a very liberal voting record. If you support higher taxes and more government regulation, he is your man. If Marty Lamb is elected, he has pledged to look for ways to cut government spending and government bureaucracy. His positions on illegal immigration, spending and other issues can be found at his website, MartyforCongress.com<\/a>. One of things that impresses me about Marty Lamb as a candidate is his willingness to take stands on issues and make specific recommendations. <\/p>\n As I said–when you go to the polls in November, you have a clear choice.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Tonight I attended the Candidates’ Forum for representative in Congress – 3rd District, Massachusetts, put on by The League of Women’s Voters of Shrewsbury and Worcester. All three candidates took part in the forum — Pat Barron, the Independent candidate, … Continue reading