Archives > Allen American > News
Print
E-mail
Comment
Rate
RSS
Share
Candidates duke it out
By Stefanie Ackerman, Staff Writer
The League of Woman Voters invited the candidates from specific races pertinent to Collin County, to a question answer forum Thursday evening at Haggard Library. The democratic candidates and a loan libertarian were the only to show up.
The forum was designed for the candidates running for the U.S. House of Representatives, State Representative for Districts 70 and 89, and County Commissioner, to answer questions from the audience on topics ranging from border security, nuclear energy and Iraq.
Each candidate was given three minutes before the start of the forum to introduce him or herself. Kathy Ward, chairperson of the Collin County Republicans, spoke on behalf of Jerry Hoagland’s absence. She explained he had another event scheduled that evening with another absent candidate, Congressman Sam Johnson.
At the forum, each candidate was asked a question from the audience and was given one minute to respond. The following is a synopsis of each candidate’s answer to a specific topic.
Iraq Policy
Dan Dodd: “Give me a break; we’re not helping those [Iraqis] people.”
Chris Claytor: “I believe it’s a pipe dream and we’re wasting a lot of money on a dream.”
Solution to illegal immigration
Dan Dodd: “We need to enforce the law that was passed in 1984 that says if a company hires an illegal immigrant, then they’re going to pay a fine, then a bigger fine and a bigger fine until they go out of business. I think that walls don’t work.”
Chris Claytor: “I think the immigrants that have come here, illegal or not, have flourished our economy. I think we need to register the people that are here. We shouldn’t give anybody a hand-out, a hand-up yes. I am not opposed to, as our constitution says, the Army defending our borders.”
Rick Koster: “Maybe illegal immigrants might not individually pay a fair share of the services they might be taking, but as a community, we really need to see and do the math. And to demonize them for that is wrong because in reality, since our government is not accountable to the people, it’s accountable to lobbyist that benefit corporations oversees, if they do a deal with Mexico; it’s impossible to not have people move up because we changed their economy.”
Lehman Harris: “If we want to help them, then let’s help build their economy. I believe the government of Mexico is responsible to the people of Mexico.”
Alternative energy plan
Dan Dodd: “An energy plan starts with conservation. We need to invest in alternative renewable resources.”
Chris Claytor: “Free market. There’s too much regulation in the industry. I think one of the things that can solve our dependence on oil is for the government to sell off a lot of the federal land. If we sold off that land to private corporations they’re going to take care better care of it and not pollute it.”
Rick Koster: “Nuclear power is dirty. We can’t live off fossil fuels anymore and nuclear is going to have to come into it.”
Lehman Harris: These plants [nuclear] are going to have to be upgraded and I think one of the things that is going to happen is we are going to bring on nuclear storage facilities.”
Contact staff writer Stefanie Ackerman at 972-398-4265 or sackerman@acnpapers.com
List of candidates invited to Thursday night’s forum
U.S. State Representative -- District 3
Sam Johnson
Republican, Incumbent
U.S. State Representative -- District 3
Dan Dodd
Democratic Candidate
U.S. State Representative n District 3
Chris Claytor
Libertarian Candidate
Texas State Representative -- District 70
Ken Paxton
Republican, Incumbent
Texas State Representative n District 70
Rick Koster
Democrat Candidate
Texas State Representative n District 89
Jodie Laubenberg
Republican Incumbent
Texas State Representative n District 89
Lehman Harris
Democrat Candidate
County Commissioner n Precinct 2
Jerry Hoagland
Republican Incumbent
County Commissioner n Precinct 2
Bill Baumbach
Democrat Candidate
The following are comments from the readers.
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
In no way do they represent the view of Starlocalnews.com
You must register with a valid email to post comments.
Only your Member ID will be posted with the comments.
Only your Member ID will be posted with the comments.
Registered users sign in here:
Become a Registered User
- Return to: News «
- Home «
- Top of Page ^
