LITTLE ROCK — U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln and Lt. Gov. Bill Halter went after each other Friday on unions and health care during a debate among Democratic U.S. Senate candidates.
A third candidate, D.C. Morrison, said he wished he had enough money to advertise on television.
Lincoln of Little Rock is seeking a third term, and Halter of North Little Rock and Morrison of Little Rock are challenging her in the May 18 primary. They met in a 53-minute live televised debate at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
Halter accused Lincoln of saying different things to different audiences about health-care legislation.
“You can’t really lead on this issue unless you are clear in which way you are going,” Halter said. “Unfortunately, Sen. Lincoln initially said she was for the public option. Then, she said she was against the public option. She also voted against the reconciliation bill that would have improved the underlying Senate bill. She’s run ads that said she opposed the public option that President[Barack] Obama supported and she’s also run ads on African-American radio touting that she stood with President Obama.”
Lincoln defended her votes as the right thing for Arkansas.
“I’ve worked with President Obama,” she said. “I already know him. I work well with him. Health care was a big issue that I worked with President Obama on. I feel proud about what we did. Reconciliation was a group of things the House wanted. I didn’t think it was essential. I thought we did a good job with the health-care bill. I voted for it on Christmas Eve, and I did join the president at the signing ceremony at the White House.”
She touted how the law will keep insurance companies from discriminating against people with pre-existing conditions and give coverage to more children.
Halter declined to say whether he favored a bill commonly referred to as a “card check” that would make it easier for unions to organize nonunion workplaces. But he said Lincoln has wavered on it.
“The Employee Free Choice Act is really no longer operative,” he said. “Labor leaders and management leaders say that’s no longer on the table. What they are talking about is streamlining [union] elections. Interestingly, Sen. Lincoln was a sponsor of the Employee Free Choice Act and more recently she’s been an opponent. I’m looking forward to a compromise that Sen. [Mark] Pryor [DArk.] and five other Democratic senators are working on.”
Lincoln said, “That’s great. I certainly appreciate that Bill has seen that compromise because most senators haven’t seen that compromise. I think the most important thing we can do is bring workers and management together to help create a good economy.”
Each took credit for helping reduce budget deficits in the 1990s when Bill Clinton was president.
“For the first six years of Clinton’s presidency I worked in the White House budget off ice,” Halter said. “I was proud to be part of a team that balanced the budget.”
Lincoln said, “My opponent takes credit for balancing the budget under President Clinton but I’ll tell you, that I took a tough vote in 1993 [while serving in the U.S. House] that actually passed that budget ... that made those deficits go away.”
Halter criticized Lincoln for taking $4,500 in campaign money from a committee for Goldman Sachs, a New York City investment firm that was recently charged with fraud by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
“I would not be simultaneously regulating industry and then going out and soliciting campaign contributions from them,” he said. “I just think it’s unseemly.”
Lincoln said she’s no longer taking money from affiliates of that company. She brought up her legislation to regulate financial trading that recently was endorsed “in record time” by the Senate Agriculture Committee, which she heads.
“I have created ... the toughest reform bill on Wall Street that anyone has seen,” she said. “We prevent future bailouts. We bring 100 percent transparency. Unfortunately, I’ve been criticized I didn’t do that 10 years ago, but I only got chairmanship of the Ag committee back in September. But I’ve done the best that I could.”
Each said they were bothered by the “negativity” in the campaign.
“I am disappointed by the negative tone,” Lincoln said. “I don’t want to be a part of that. All I’m trying to do is to make sure my message gets out and be sure the voters are able to see past my opponents. That’s only fair.”
Halter said Lincoln had run “dishonest” ads. He said he had taken down a website from his campaign called Bailout Blanche, ridiculing her vote for the Wall Street bailout in 2008. He challenged her to take down her Dollar Bill Halter website regarding past problems at companies he was involved with.
Lincoln and Halter each have raised millions of dollars for the race.
Morrison, an agricultural loan originator, has raised little. Taller than Lincoln and Halter, he stood between them on stage, often providing a contrasting view and sometimes evoking laughter from the audience, such as when he said he enjoyed seeing their commercials.
“Man-made global warming is a hoax perpetrated on the gullible public,” he said. “The earth is actually in a cooling period.”
Regarding the health-care bill, he said, “In 10 years, you’re going to be talking to a government bureaucrat instead of your doctor.”
He said he opposed the union organizing legislation “card check” because of one of his heroes, George McGovern, the 1972 Democratic presidential nominee, has opposed it.
Answering one question, Morrison tried to swat a fly but instead hit his microphone.
“Excuse me,” he said.
Of the ads by Halter and Lincoln, Morrison said, “I used to think talk was cheap until I found out how much Channel 7 charges. But it’s worth every penny, and if I had the money I would do it.”
Channel 7, KATV, Little Rock was a sponsor and telecaster of the debate, which also was available on other stations and CSPAN.
At the conclusion of the debate, Morrison patted Halter and Lincoln on the back and gave them hugs.
Arkansas, Pages 11 on 04/24/2010