Congressional candidates debate in Kalamazoo

By Matt Buck
Intern

The candidates running to represent Michigan’s 6th District, which includes most of Allegan County in Congress, debated Monday, Oct. 13, at the Michigan Technical Educational Center near Kalamazoo Valley Community College in Texas Township.

Among the candidates present were Republican candidate and incumbent U.S. Rep. Fred Upton, Democratic candidate and current Kalamazoo city commissioner Don Cooney and Libertarian candidate Greg Merle.

Although the debate focused on a variety of topics, one of the issues that became a focal point throughout the debate was the recent bailout.

Upton said he thinks that, although the bailout plan was not great at the start, it was a much better plan when passed.

“It was not a perfect bill the first time through; it was a blank check with no accountability or oversight,” Upton said.

Cooney, however, still disagrees with the bailout bill, saying it still is missing the people who need help the most.

“The bill did very little, almost nothing, for the people who are going to lose their homes to foreclosures,” Cooney said.

Merle has a completely different take on the subject, saying that the Republicans shouldn’t have to worry about offending people in making these decisions, because they want what is right.

“I don’t understand why the Republican Party is worried about being politically correct when they are the ones taking the moral high road,” Merle said.

Merle also thinks that the government is the reason why the United States is in this situation.

“The government caused this problem; we cannot expect them to fix it. The government can’t fix this,” Merle said.

The focus of the debate was then shifted to the overall economy, where Cooney thinks that it isn’t enough to simply return to the state of the past.

“It’s not enough to restore the economy to where it was before,” Cooney said. “We need an economy that works for us, not just for the top 1 percent.”

Merle said he thinks that the less citizens rely on the government, the better.

“Government should not be involved in the business of providing health care and education, it’s not demanded by the Constitution,” Merle said.

Upton said he thinks that, despite the already weak state of Michigan’s economy, it will only get worse if the Bush tax cuts expire.

“In Michigan, our economy is far worse than the national economy,” Upton said. “If you let the tax cuts expire, it will only hurt Michigan more.”

Cooney wanted to also make sure to draw attention to what he feels is one of the most pressing issues in the coming years: health care.

“We are the only country in the world without universal health care; health care should be a human right,” Cooney said.

Upton said that energy should be one of the biggest priorities for the country in the next few years.

“I’m tired of sending hundreds of billions of dollars a year to countries who aren’t exactly our best friends,” Upton said.

Merle said he believes that the United States should do anything necessary to gain energy independence and doesn’t believe that global warming is an issue.

“It isn’t CO2 that is causing warming, it’s warming that’s causing CO2; it’s like saying lung cancer causes cigarettes,” Merle said.

This will probably be the last debate between the candidates before election day, which may be why an overflow room was required due to the large crowd the debate drew.