BELLA VISTA — Running for different offices, two Republican candidates said things need to change in Washington, D.C., and they will help to change them if elected.
Addressing the September meeting of the Bella Vista Republican Women were 2010 candidates Buddy Rogers, a financial adviser seeking the U.S. Senate seat now held by Democrat Blanche Lincoln; and Bernie Skoch, a retired brigadier general seeking the seat in the U.S. House now held by Republican John Boozman.
Rogers is for limited government under the Constitution, unfortunately running at a time when the federal government is expanding in size and scope, growing beyond its proper, limited role, and spending irresponsibly, he said.
"Without the limitation of government, government takes everything under its control," Rogers said.
He is convinced government should not make endof-life decisions, and he is pro-life, he said.
"An embryo that's attached has all the genetic information it will ever have and therefore is a human being," he said.
One club member asked why government continues to raise congressional salaries even as it contemplates cuts in Social Security.
Lawmakers should have to justify pay increases, Rogers said. Some $78 million for a recent automatic pay raise is, indeed, as proponents of it say, a small portion of the entire federal budget. Still, spending the money is wrong because the federal government has no money for the raise, he said.
"I believe that any pay rise for the legislative branchshould be tied to what's going on in the country," Rogers said.
Skoch, the other candidate, has held several posts with the Defense Information Systems Agency and was communications operations director at the U.S. Air Force headquarters.
Skoch said he has no personal quarrel with his GOP opponent, Boozman, but is running because in his view, a major problem in Washington, D.C., is that members of both parties are staying in Congress too long, becoming career politicians instead of citizen-lawmakers, and not listening to their constituents.
People need to ask themselves, "Are you happy with the federal government? To where do you attribute your unhappiness, and what will you do about it?" Skoch said.
It's hard to find people happy with the federal government, facing problems from a national debt of $11.8 trillion - "everyone (in America) owes $40,000" - to having more people in the country illegally than can be counted.
In 2006, of the about 16,000 babies born at Parkland Hospital in Dallas,Texas, some 70 percent of them were born to illegals, he said.
He favors legal immigration, Skoch said.
He attributes much of the country's problems to career politicians and willnot become one if elected, Skoch said.
Both major parties need to replace many career politicians in the House and Senate with ones, like himself, who will listen to their constituents and vote accordingly, the candidate said.
He would vote as his constituents indicate unless such a vote is unconstitutional, illegal or immoral, Skoch said.
News, Pages 7 on 09/30/2009