integrity of all the election results. ..

and some of the most closely watched senate races throughout the night and into the morning we want to hear from you with your calls, facebook comment. campaign 2014 coverage on c-span >> next to some of our coverage with a debate between oregon

democratic governor and his republican challenger dennis richardson. the political report is listing the race as likely democratic. it comes to us courtesy of kobi in medford oregon and it runs in our. >> good morning from the kobi studios in downtown medford. i will be the moderator this evening. we are joined tonight by two men competing for the next governor incumbent democratic kitzhaber and richardson. >> featuring democratic incumbent kitzhaber and challenger oregon state representative dennis richardson. tonight's debate is brought to you by care source program and the oregon association of realtors protecting your piece

of oregon. now your host and moderator for tonight's debate, nbc news five director. >> tonight governor kitzhaber and richardson will cover topics affecting oregonians in the studio. in 15 days on of these men will be elected to lead the next four years. we go through the nbc site studios and on behalf of all of the viewers i want to thank you for joining us. before we begin but speak the candidates. >> dennis richardson has been a resident since 1979. an army helicopter pilot during the mom he returned home and put himself through law school and opening practice in central point. he has one son and eight doctors. a state representative since 2003, richardson was unanimously

elected by democrats and republicans be the speaker pro tem and served as the cochair of the ways and means where he fought education first and led to the repeal of the largest tax increase in oregon history. governor john kitzhaber grew up in eugene and worked as a a doctor in roseburg and served for the douglas county as a representative, state senator and president before becoming governor. he led the formation of the oregon plan and helped launch the business plan. in 2011 oregonians elected him in the midst of an economic crisis and since then oregon has added 1,000 new jobs and expand health insurance coverage to 95% of oregonians. now that you've met the candidate it is time to hear from the representative richard said. you have two minutes for your opening statement. richardson: thank you. this isn't about republican versus democrat. it's about the past versus the future. governor kitzhaber is a fourth term and has he earned it lacks

a? even higher than the national average for the next 18 consecutive years. we have one invite oregonians on food stamps and the economic arrow has been going down for the past 20 years and it's still decreasing. now let's consider education. since the election in 2010, the education system has continued to decline. we have the crew that he brought into the scandal. we have a graduation rate that is next to the last in the nation and we are hurting students in low income families. now he's promoting the common core. another pro- educational program that's an expert on and on our children that it lowers parents, teachers and local school boards. finally, on his watch more than a half a billion dollars has been wasted on the common core in into cover oregon and other such projects. and he is involved now in a

scandal that makes oregon a national joke. he thinks it's okay for the chief adviser of the bridge project is to get paid more than half a million dollars while she's his advisor and she got paid by a contractor. she thinks it is okay for the first lady and senior advisor to triple her income in one year receiving payments from companies that want access to her government connections. it's time to choose a leader that can fix what's broken. i will reboot the economy, create jobs and move the economic arrow up working to reform the education system and our students on track for a world-class education. i will restore trust, integrity and transparency to the office of the governor. helping them succeed is why i'm running for governor. not to change anyone else's politics. we can be proud of oregon and its future. vote for dennis richardson.

kitzhaber: my bill is the one basic belief that we all want the same thing. we have the chance to achieve our full potential. we want hard work to be reworded and all of us want to leave our children better off than we are. there are two basic views. one is on the notion we are on our own and we have to fend for ourselves. the other is based on the notion that we are all in this together and there are things we can do as a community and a society in the state a state to lift all of us up regardless of race, income or orientation. i subscribe to the second view as an er doctor, legislator, governor and i fight for every day as a father. four years ago, we were in bad shape and the state of chip deficit. most people would lead to the disaster that we saw in wisconsin and the fact that didn't happen speaks to the kind

of executive leadership we need. we had a political playbook and that is exactly what we did. we created over 100,000 new jobs seen in this area alone and we are working to solve the problem and we agree over in the last in the county and we also provided direct support for the places like amy's kitchen member of the plywood into the regional agriculture and we've increased funding for education and 95% now have health insurance coverage. tens of thousands of them for the very first time. last year in a special session they raise revenue for the mental health and of seniors and reduced the system all with bipartisan votes. i'm really proud of what we've done together over the last four years and i look forward to a serious conversation between myself and the representative about the conversations and respected position for the future. thank you very much. >> liked questions have been

created and haven't ventured with the candidates. each candidate will have one minute to answer questions in the first will then get a 32nd rebuttal when his opponent finishes his response. at the conclusion each candidate will be provided a 62nd closing statement. as i mentioned the coin flip was actually won by the governor kitzhaber but he elected to the first of the governor richardson will receive the first question. >> moderator: we had several questions on education. the first one is from a seventh grader at middle school and rights i education is important to me if i want to know what you will change to ensure that graduation rates are currently second lowest in the country. kitzhaber: the problem that we are in his face as a result of 20 years of bad policies in the education field. back in the '90s and now we've got common core as a follow-up.

what we can do to help increase the graduation rate is to ensure that every student has a mentor and opportunity. we have 100% of the focus on higher education. what about the other 75% they need to have their education provided for as low. we need to have trades and shops and music and art. we need to have a focus so that every child will have their needs met so that they can be successful in life and not have it be determined by the government that wants to ensure that they are all heading in the direction that may not fit the needs of those individuals. >> moderator: governor you have 60 seconds to respond. kitzhaber: there are two primary components to the rate. the most important is learning. we have to ensure every child is ready for kindergarten and we have to increase funding over the last four years. we have a kindergarten readiness

assessment and we are going into burger king on the fall of 2015 to the robust literacy program. kids that read at the level 14 times more likely to graduate. second we need to reconnect kids in high school to those in work by replacing the career technical education and by reconnecting them with computer science. at the point is that there is no magic bullet to change the system and we have to recognize where those planes are to give the greatest return in the student performance. we also added a billion dollars, so the funding is important but spending the dollars on the right places are just as important. >> moderator: governor, thank you. richardson: it's about graduation rates. we needed those that are high. we need to look at the school districts that have a hundred%

graduation rate and we can learn from their success. we can ensure that we do those things that will help our kids have their needs met and the common core is not the answer. the governor supports common core but i do not because it takes away from parents, teachers and school boards to control over their own education and they know the students best. >> moderator: next question for governor kitzhaber there've been any stories about your fiancée who entered an illegal so-called green card marriage and are involved in purchasing land with inattentive running an illegal marijuana growing operation. but the price winning journalist has also written several articles that strongly suggest that she was the role as the first lady to recruit and obtain clients for her energy consulting business. do you think any of these issues should matter to oregon voters? kitzhaber: it has to do with what she did 17 years ago before i knew her and she acknowledged his mistakes and stepped up and i think that is the right thing

to do and those issues are personal. the second issue is more important i disagree with his conclusions but the fact is that sylvia had a successful career before i got elected and we recognize the need for transparency and guidelines to make sure that her professional career is separate from the first lady role so an abundance of caution. we set up protocols and a review process to ensure that we complied with not only the letter but the spirit of the ethics laws and we believe that we have. nonetheless this is political season with the inflated campaign rhetoric and partisan shots as last week i asked the ethics commission to come for the guidelines and review the contracts offer which nonprofit agencies. >> moderator: 60 seconds to respond. a. richardson: taking the. richardson: taking the money in-state office is nothing new to the governor. in the early '90s he took about $100,000 for speeches he

made as a senator dealing with health plan. now we are dealing with his fiancée that sees nothing wrong with taking almost tripling her income in one year by taking money from companies that want to buy influence with the governor and government. that's wrong. that's correct. we cannot ignore that. there are crimes committed in it may be that the governor is complicit because it turns out last year in the middle of the summer in july his legal advisor prepared a letter and asked sylvia to sign it and it said that what she was doing was illegal, inappropriate or unethical. she refused to sign and by the end of august they had revised the letter in such a way that made it okay and she signed the letter. who would have the authority to tell the legal counsel that they should change the ethical weather. spend delete the. >> moderator: you have 30

seconds and should the oregon voters consider this? kitzhaber: they should consider the ethics violations and that's why we've asked the commission to review it and if someone did review the ethics of the relation with me in 1994. it was my opponent and was discharged by the commission and i expect that will happen again. we've taken an allegation that is on true and treating it as a fact and if someone is desperate enough to go down that route raises serious questions in my mind what they have to offer oregon except for the fact they are not me and i don't think that puts it in terms of leadership and what we need to face the serious problems. >> moderator: representative you stated that should he become governor you are the position of lieutenant governor not in the traditional sense in other words not elected [inaudible] specifically who do you have in mind and how would this be funded? richardson: it will take will take place out of the governor's

budget. who i have in mind a defense on who has the qualifications to do this. the reason for having lieutenant governor is to get status to an individual that will promote international trade. oregon is a leader in exports and we need to expand that to create jobs in oregon's economy you need to create greater demand. that means we have to have sunday to meet its demand so you hire people. that creates private-sector jobs so we need someone that is out working in the countries such as china, malaysia, japan, china to establish offices to end sure we are marketing our products and services as the governor as the ambassador goes in for the close when that's necessary. the governor hasn't even been on a trade mission. he spent more time into tanned and he has in china or japan, the major trade partners. i've organized the missions to china and i've already shown

that i can create jobs and i will do that even more so as governor. >> moderator: what are your thoughts on the position of lieutenant governor? kitzhaber: it is unnecessary. people want to see the governor not a lieutenant governor. there are three trade missions, two in asia and one to amsterdam and belgium. we visited tokyo, beijing, shanghai, hong kong and several times we have also opened oregon agriculture to the market because of negotiations we had to train myself into the department of agriculture and korea to export fresh blueberries into korea that has huge implications for the industry that is one of the high spots in the economic recovery so this is a very dependent state and it's something the governor has to take very seriously and not delegate and i think we've demonstrated that we

have boosted our international trade and we will continue to do so but it's a job veteran has to do him or herself. >> moderator: talk is cheap. he had three terms to try to expand the economy and increase the sales and exports. he may have taken a trip to china, japan, korea but he hasn't spent the time emphasizing the accounts. it takes time to do that. i have organized the missions as a legislator. why would a legislator do that? because the governor doesn't have time. he's too busy doing other things to focus on the exports like he should have. >> moderator: three main areas of importance for healthcare, law enforcement and education. please give a grade from a through f. powell you powell u. feel they currently score in in the serious. >> i think that we scored and healthcare.

95% now have coverage and an amazing story. tens of. millions of them are in the care model that will save billions of dollars going forward. on education i would say we are moving towards a b.. we've put in place the infrastructure to ensure that all of our kids are ready for kindergarten when they get there and within five years we can have all of our children reading at third grade level which would be a huge boost for those children not only in terms of education but also achieving the gap which is disproportionately for the communities of colors and into in the generational poverty. third we have the challenges in law enforcement because of the inflexibility of the sentencing guidelines and the counties to raise the resources necessary to find the basic public safety services.

>> moderator: do you want me to repeat the question? they are healthcare, law enforcement and education please give a grade on how you currently score on these areas. we have spent $300 million on the website project and i michael being transferred back to the government as if it didn't exist they are going to enroll everyone in the personal policy in the plan he takes credit for enrolling them and together the government expanded eligibility. that's what made that happen. most of them are medicaid. we are enrolling medicaid for decades before cover oregon failure and is now the hope is that things are going to get better in the future.

it's not just going to happen unless we have leadership that will pay attention to the details and not waste $300 million. law enforcement be of decreasing rates of law enforcement costs and the occurrence. we need to make sure that we have added that funding for all of the state and not just the areas of north. richardson: we are failing for the achievement and graduation rates and promoting the common core which is using our kids as a have a subject expert on it and it detracts and takes away any responsibilities for the school district. law enforcement would be a c.. kitzhaber: for the record that was a 92nd response.

anyone that would dismiss the fact that 95% of the systems have a veterans coverage has to be someone for good health insurance coverage for themselves and their families. a number of people are on medicaid and working families,, hard working families deserve access to healthcare. we've actually dropped the rate from 17% to 5% and that is a policy success that is driving hundreds of thousands every day and i'm really proud of it. >> moderator: during a recent meeting with partners in the project they stated that difficult it is to find workers that can pass a preemployment drug test. what would you say to businesses moving as we go forward x. richardson: we need a governor that will remove the barriers and have caused so much that we have the high drug utilization. we need to ensure workers have a good education and they have an opportunity for jobs and they

have hope for the future. they are in despair. we need to ensure that they do not have to have that kind of despair and my message to them is if you are in despair i will give you hope for the future and if you feel depressed or is a chance for the future if we make a change in leadership. kitzhaber: we talked about the need to connect kids in high school with the career job experiences in the technical education and through that writing the code computer science. the problem however happens earlier in our investment in a coordinated care and most people are providing the resources to families and children that are struggling in the majority of those have some kind of drug or alcohol challenge so providing the treatment not just for the kids but for their parents

because they reflect to the environment they grow up up weekend overtime reverse this problem by getting at the cause. is it a real problem? absolute lee. have we put in place strategies, we have and the next step is to continue those investments in healthcare and education and early learning and child development and then reconnect the kids in school. >> moderator: 30 seconds. a. richardson: we are talking as if we are both running the first time time time to be a key spending piece been in for three terms and he's figuring out we need to separate metal and provide the help of adolescence and adults need. the despair that people are in are the result of the failed policies of the governor. we need to provide opportunities for them to break the addiction to break the cycle of poverty and that is going to require the new hope for education, employment and opportunity. and we shouldn't have to have someone get a fourth term to finally get that right.

>> moderator: in the counties referred to as the wild west what should the role be in helping the other counties kitzhaber: the heavy low tax rate and i do think that some local effort is important for them to buy resources. second at the state police have been going back up into counties and we need to increase the budget for the police substantially. it is an economic problem to create the jobs that bring revenue into the counties and i would say the work that we are doing on the act meeting regularly with the representatives for a markup november 17 hopefully will provide two things. one will be the sustainable

yield in this area and some predictable flow of resources would help subsidize the law enforcement and finally some conservation gains. i also think modifying the ability is another short-term schedule that we can take. >> moderator: time to respond. richardson: the problem with employment and low tax rates in the counties is the result of the failed policies of the timber and the whole utilization of resources. it was in the '90s that the decisions were being made as to what was going to happen with our federal land. we lost 40,000 jobs. where was the governor? was he fighting for this? know he was hoping they would give him money. you've got the bill and you have got wyden's bill.

nothing gets done. it's all about the talk. they aligned with a couple of other western governors, go back to dc and make it an issue of who is going to manage the federal force. we have 53% of the land mass controlled by the federal government. they've broken their trust and we need to represent for the state to make that a national issue. that isn't happening with the current governor. kitzhaber: my focus will be the resource renewal as we call it because the process of setting up sales integrated health data, process oriented and isn't providing the certainty that we need to provide a responsible level for the local economy while preserving a very important conservation and environmental values are also very critical to the industry in this area and i think to americans.

>> moderator: next question to representative richardson. schools are battling on the extracurricular activities and college sports and on and on. they can help change the future. what will you do x. >> we need to make it a top priority except for the one time that i was the cochair of the ways and means it is generally funded at the end of the session with whatever is left and even if there isn't enough money one-party system the other you must pay to children because they won't allow tax increases. if we care about education in all facets of education that we should fund education first. that was in 2011 when i was the cochair of the ways and means. we need to make sure that there's adequate funding and that the government has an insatiable appetite for money and it should be first spent on the highest pay rds and education should be one of those.

>> it doesn't increase the amount of money and it leaves the question of what we funded the service of space as important for kids to be ready for school. we have increased funding for education and by about a million dollars 14% increase in the k-12 and we are also taking steps in the healthcare field for reinvesting and education. a million are now in the care model growing at 3.4% a year. and please are in the same model and we bring those back at their coverage of the benefits more into that mix that means the state would be repurchasing for 1.3 million people at a rate of 3.4% a year. by 2019 that could eliminate the structural budget deficit we had since the ballot measure five and by 21, 23 we could actually have a structural budgetary surplus to would save $4 billion over the next eight years. that's a general funding dollars and resources that can be pumped right back into the education and shut and will.

>> moderator: representative, 30 seconds. richardson: the answer has nothing to do with the question that i will go along with that. we are going to have a balanced budget in the '90s he proposed a health plan was way more expensive than what you said and we have to raise taxes to pay for it and now we need to save money with the new health plan. that doesn't work that way. there is a billion dollar hole currently sitting in the 2015, 2017 budget and the $1.5 billion hole in the 2017 and 2019 access to be determined because we don't know where it is going to come from. it's all promises and no reality. >> moderator: next question in the 2014 legislative hearing you support requiring background checks for the private party gun sales. you called the bill in unreasonable step that shows oregon as being serious keeping felons from obtaining guns. representative richardson garner garnered national attention and

a certified teacher returned to the fec and the documentary school and if the district didn't preclude me from having access to firearm a firearm he thereby concealed carry or locked in my desk was that the children would still be alive into the gunmen would and the gunman would still be dead but not by suicide. where are you both on the gun legislation and should educators carry guns in schools? kitzhaber: schools are not the place for firearms, period. we don't need to go there and we shouldn't. i do support expanding the background check and it makes sense to keep firearms out of the hands of people that shouldn't have them come the people that are mentally unstable and have records of felonies and there should also be accountability for parents whose children gain access to their guns and commit a crime. so i think that those are very reasonable and important steps that i think the issue of school safety goes beyond that. when there is a school shooting come and i was governor when we had the first shooting, state, local and national press covered in a sensational way for two or three days days and then they

disappeared. there hasn't been anything written for months and we need to have an ongoing conversation about identifying the kids are at risk and provide them and their families support. we can do that through early learning and the coordinated care organizations. see part of it as background checks. >> moderator: 30 seconds. richardson: the issue of school violence is so important. i wrote the e-mail and newsletter that dealt with the fact that sandy sandy hook listl the things the schools are supposed to do. it was locked down and they taught the teachers how to isolate kids and all that and yet the death rate was astounding. it is and right when the only person who is armed on a campus happens to be a perpetrator of violence. ..

fundamental different issue. but again i think we have to have as a community and a society a larger discussion about gun safety and i really do think it starts, and i do agree with representative richardson in the mental health side of it. you have to put resources, time and energy into funding those kinds of services and those are kind of services that get left out if you simply fund education first. so it is important to be reactive but even more important

to be proactive and look at this from a preventative standpoint. >> moderator: next question for representative richardson, you're quoted saying quote, my views on some social issues are different from others but as governor i would take oath to enforce the will of the people, end quote. what about women's right to choose and gay marriage. your second biggest contributor is oregon right to life. >> that's true. but number one contributors are three pro-choice women they are supportive of me that i will help our economy and make things right and keep the promise that the social issues are not part of this campaign. the governor makes it that way. he quote things said 25 years ago. but what is important we realize it is about our economy. it is about jobs. it is about education system and restoring trust to the governor's office. as far as the social issues are concerned it is my promise that will honor the will of the people, those things that have been decided.

good, i'm glad they're decided. let's focus on those things that are of lasting meaning for future of our state. >> i do think the question of women's right to choice. whether they marry person they love. welcome immigrant children those are important issues to a lot of people. they speak to values and i think they're very legitimate in this campaign. we should in fact look at them. i simply disagree with the representatives defense, with the law, he will honor the law. the fact this state voted several times in effort to restrict a women's right to choice and voters rejected those every single time. yet representative richardson introduced 11 bills in 10 years to restrict a woman's right to choose. they are legitimate issues. not the only issues in this campaign but enormous issues to women in this state. i think the right for couples to marry the person they love is important to a large segment of our society. about us all being in this together. not singling us out, putting us

into categories and striving towards equity and opportunity in the state and i believe that that's what i've attempted to do during my entire political career. >> moderator: representative, would this not affect your decision making if elected governor? richardson: it will not be part of the agenda when i'm governor. we will be focusing on economy, jobs and education and restoring trust and accountability in the governor's office. these issues related to the social issues have been decided. i would ask in last debate what would say to a gay couple, i say congratulations. i believe in free agency. we've had our debate and discussion and now we've made a determination on that point and we do not need to spend more time or effort on it. i certainly am not going to be focused on it as governor. >> moderator: governor kits hauber and are your greatest strengths and weaknesses as a leader. remember this part of the question includes weaknesses. kitzhaber: let's start there,

particularly in the past, as governor i was 91st legislator. i didn't appreciate the power of office is micromanaging the legislature and setting an agenda and engaging people outside of the building. i would say strength involves experience. this is job where understanding historically where the state has been, having legislative experience as well as being a presiding officer for eight years and having served eight terms as governor, gives you i think a range of experience and a wealth of knowledge and understanding. that can serve this state well. i mean, when i was elected in 2010, this state was more polarized than you can imagine after fight over 66 and 67. we brought the state back together. we faced tough problems together. we haven't torn the state apart. that is because of leadership and experience. i think that is one of my assets in this race. i'm hoping that voters will take that into consideration on november 4th. >> moderator: representative,

strengths and weaknesses as a leader? richardson: strengths, experience i got in the army as helicopter pilot in vietnam taught me tremendous lessons about life, about people, about myself. becoming a lawyer and putting myself through college was a huge challenge. when we were newlywed, we were poor. we put ourselves through school. we had four little kid when we came out. it was a huge challenge. we learned through the hard times. i've been a lawyer for 30 years. the experience i gained has been extremely valuable to the state. i have one client, that is the citizens of our state. as far as weaknesses are concerned. i get too focused. i'm a workaholic. and i perfectionist and i've been told, you want certain people to be a perfectionist. you want your accountant, your stockbroker and your lawyer to be perfectionist, they have to be done right but sometimes that can be a bit trying for those that are working with you. >> moderator: you have 30

seconds. kitzhaber: i think that was a great answer. i don't have a rebuttal. i also think people want their doctor to be perfectionist. >> moderator: representative richardson give us an example where your constituency was completely against what you felt was best but you accepted that and voted with them? richardson: would you repeat that question, again? >> moderator: an example please as a legislator your come constituency was against what you felt was best and accepted that and voted with them? richardson: i don't of an experience that i can give. you do not take a poll to determine which way the wind are blowing. you elect someone you trust, who has experience, who will focus on the issues, dig deep, determine what the best course is and then explain why he or she has voted the way that they have. by having my newsletter i have done just. that when i was elected i promised people i would not just

show up during the campaign and when i wanted contributions. so i kept my constituency aware of my positions and why i voted the way i have to explain what is gone on. if i would have to have one, i would probably say i voted in favor of the columbia river crossing bridge because governments do bridges. we didn't get the bridge. we ended up a go it alone strategy. that is a different issue. in that one instance my constituency would say why would you vote for a bridge up in portland when it will not help us down here? the answer because it would be best for the whole state to have commerce and commuters be able to make that crossing. >> moderator: above? kitzhaber: two instancings both when i was state senator representing douglas county. one involved a bill that would have prevent addition crime nation in housing based on section you'll orientation. pretty widely unpopular in douglas county. i voted for that because i thought it was the right thing to do. i thought it was basic issue of

human rights. i've been a strong supporter of oregon's land use planning program. i was elected in '78, the year the effort to repeal senate bill 100 was on the same ballot. while it has flaws it protected our resource lands and our ability to farm and run forest operations which is essential to the state as a whole. my belief, leadership is about leading. not necessarily about agreeing with your constituents. but having courage to differ with them and when you differ with them and go back and face them to explain why you did it. after both of those votes i was returned to office by voters of douglas county. they didn't agree with me but they respected courage of speaking out for my own views and values taking time to explain it to them. >> moderator: 30 seconds. richardson: with all due respect the governor failed to mention what he did as far as capital punishment is concerned. majority of the state voted for us to have capital punishment

when you have egregious, vicious murderers that they shouldn't be allowed to live. he didn't mention that in office running 2010. he said, no, i don't agree with. that regardless of the fact people ruled the state one way i will let my own feelings and philosophies and overpower and overrule what the people have said. think that is contrary to what the oath is as governor. >> moderator: next question for you governor kits haber. what do you think is the biggest issue favoring economic development in oregon? kitzhaber: he would withing jobs are coming open. average workforce is in the mid 50s. great jobs out there we're not filling them. only 26 schools in oregon are teaching computer programing and there are 8500 open jobs. developing workforce is the best thing we can do for economic development in the state of oregon. we're doing it.

we make sure kids are ready to do when they get in school. we get the pipeline working without mediation so they enter high school with a the is skills and knowledge base. what is critical importance reconnect the kids with the world of work. which is one of the goals and pathways of the oregon investment education board. it will be priority in next session and priority in my budget that i will prepare to present to oregonians and legislature on november 1st. >> moderator: 60 seconds, representative? richardson: not just one. kind after combination. education is certainly importances, we have people graduating, they come out of high school or drop out or don't graduate and not prepared for college. that is a failing. natural resources of our state is not being utilized. it is a shame, crying shame, when we have all the forests, we can't even harvest them and replant like we've done for generation in the past. it is legacy for our state. yet, what do we do? we sit and watch our economy and

environment go up in smoke. what we need to have also take advantage of our current opportunities right now in koos bay, there is liquid natural gas plant, seven 1/2 billion dollars of private investment, create 1,000 jobs for construction and over 100 jobs that would be ongoing and would revitalize that entire region. congressman defazio is in favor of it. senator wyden is in favor of it. the governor says he is neutral. not moving ahead. not promoting areas where we can create jobs for oregonians. >> moderator: governor, 30 seconds. kitzhaber: natural resource industry face same challenge. farmers in the valley and bob hail in heal farms in northeast oregon, both extremely successful agricultural operations. they are hungry for workforce. they can not fill jobs. not just entry level jobs but high-tech jobs, welders. computer programmers. it goes back to workforce. goes across sector.

heavy industry and agriculture and forestry. >> moderator: representative richardson, this next question is for you. the state of oregon spent $250 million on a health care website that was complete failure. what responsibility should voters assign to representative richardson. what should oregon assign the state legislature. richardson: time over? >> moderator: start time when you start talking. what responsibility should voters assign to the oregon state legislature for this failure. richardson: tremendous amount. i personally wrote him two letters and talked to him personally had quality assurance team that said this would fail if you don't take action. that was in september 2012. he took no action. in november we lost four seats. i was demoted from my position and legislature came in following session and eliminated the oversight committee for that

project. the audits and i.t. oversight committee. so now you don't have the executive paying any attention to the program. nor do you have the legislature. it was, a fiasco. there should have been oversight from both side and there was oversight by neither. so there is plenty of blame to go around but ultimately it was governor who hand-picked the people that would be over this he should have had go, no-go positions on the way to the october date instead of just trusting it is going to work and finding out it is not going to work and telling the media he didn't know about it until october, sometime after the date that it started. >> moderator: governor, 60 seconds. kitzhaber: governors should hold me accountable for failure of the website period. representative richardson did send me a letter in september and sent me another letter in december on congratulating us on problems we raises. that happened over and over again. i was getting it. legislature was getting it. federal government was getting

it. we were awl assured it would work until it didn't. i assume full responsibility because this happened on my watch. i took responsibility for fixing it. we downsized cover oregon. we have functional website. we enrolled 500,000 people in health care in this state. those dollars were not wasted. what was wasted on dollars we had to spend on manuel piece of that. we will recover those successfully when we conclude the lawsuit the attorney general fired with oracle. >> moderator: 30 seconds to respond. richardson: this is all talk. this is ridiculous. he realize it wasn't going to work but he failed to take action after he was warned. we had a quality assurance team. we spent over a million dollars. they were to insure that we knew what was going on. they're overseeing project. i had access to it. he had access to it. but never read it. then when i warned him there was no action taken. and then later on i said, we should shut down cover oregon. there was no action taken. and so we continued to have cover oregon. it is costing $10 a person a

month to maintain it and all the responsibility is back with the federal government. >> moderator: next question governor kitzhaber. oregon realtors. submitted this question. person's home is the greatest expense they make in life. what policies will you make for homeownership to make it possible for middle class. kitzhaber: if you don't have resources to buy a home you can't get into a home. give you a couple specific questions. we have people get a little bit more money they start losing important thing like employment related day care which is essential for single mother to stay in the workforce. somebody moving from $9 an hour to $11 an hour has effective marginal tax rate of 150%. they have less money in their pocket. fixing that benefit cliff to create a system where a raise results in more money in your pocket is sanctionly sengal.

-- absolutely essential. kind of jobs going empty are trade jobs, jobs with benefits, jobs that allow people to get ahead and not just get buy by. we need to get our students in high school today and out of work people with those jobs. they're out there. it needs to be a top priority in the state of oregon if we can accomplish that. >> moderator: 60 seconds, representative richardson. richardson: the governor has a great idea. he should have had it 20 years ago. when he took over leadership in the state, oregon was 22nd in the nation in per capita income. now we're 30 third. we make 33rd. we make 9 thiazole less in oregon as worker the state of the washington does on the other side of the columbia river. four out of five oregonians on food stamps. we have failure of lack of jobs and economy. we need to change the way we're doing business. we need to remove barriers we

have, that prevent entrepreneurs and innovators and inventtores from growing, from small businesses from growing. from selling our products to other nations and other states. we need to expand our economy, create jobs and by doing that we will have people that will be in a position to have the american and oregon dream which presently they feel despair. >> moderator: governor, 30 seconds. kitzhaber: i don't hear any specifics. i know representative isn't me and strong selling point and essential to his campaign. there have to be rational suggestions how we bend the dial. funding education first and common core standard and defunding lieutenant governor will not create more jobs. >> moderator: representative richardson, if you were president of the united states, what would you want done? richardson: if i were president of the united states i would first ensure we have pa border. it makes no sense for us to

allow anyone to come across the southern border into this country to be able just to come in. they could be terrorists and now, they could even be bringing diseases that are in the 21-day period. chances of us being harmed because of an open border are tremendously risky. i believe we should do. that we should have a program to help those who want to come here to work to be able to do that, to do it legally. we shouldn't have any problem with immigrants coming here. we're all immigrants if you go back far enough. it is about doing it legally. that is the challenge. those that are here, that are citizens or have a green card and a played by the rules they should be rewarded. we shouldn't make special arrangements for those that come here illegally merely because we think that would be best for some other reason. >> moderator: governor, 60 seconds. kitzhaber: if i was president, i would try to find a pathway to citizenship for undocumented americans who already are working in the state. if you took all the undocumented

or gone january out of the state -- or gonians out of the state tomorrow, large portions of our agricultural industry would collapse including in county and the valley. that is extraordinarily important. have a grown-up conversation about providing pathway to citizenship for people in the united states working very hard and raising their children here. we do need a border, money spending on border like war on drugs, didn't work. treating symptoms rather than causes. seems those resources should be try to be spent creating pathways for children in this country. much better outcome than what we're doing with it right now. >> moderator: 30 seconds. >> years ago i heard a story, whether there was a cliff and people fell off a cliff and kept getting hurt and got help. let's have ambulance sitting at bottom of the cliff. the other was why we put a fence across top of the cliff to prevents them from falling. that is what we need to do with our border. we need a fence. other countries don't allow

anybody to come anytime they want and provide for them do all those things. we need to have, i agree with the governor, we need a path for citizenship but needs to be law supported by the people and it needs to be based on those here legally and a path for those that aren't to, have, to not be ahead of those who are here. >> moderator: governor, what do you think potential impacts of marijuana legalization would have on our state? furthermore, what message would marijuana legalization send to children and young adults. kitzhaber: you know i guess, being a father i think the message it sends, is what is the big deal? i think that is troubling message. i don't support the measure. i was around in the '60s. i know what marijuana is. i think it probably inevitable what we will have recreational marijuana in oregon. we need better framework, public safety, of law enforcement and public health which we don't, we simply don't have in place today. seems to me makes much more

sense to recognize this is in fact a drug, not unlike alcohol. we have colorado, we have washington out there. they have experiences that we should learn from. and then we should put in place a thoughtful framework for if and when the drug is legalized in state of oregon. driving while high, that is not breathalyzer test. that is blood test. what are implications for the oregon state police crime lab which is woefully understaffed? there is a lot of questions out there. the message we shouldn't send to oregonians, what's the big deal. >> moderator: 60 seconds. richardson: we're pretty much in agreement. i have nine kids and 31 grandkids. i understand what it is like to grow up in today's world. i'm concerned about them. i'm concerned about you will at children and grandchildren we have in oregon. i think we're making mistake by pressing on with this at this time. we ought to learn from the experiences of washington, colorado, before we dive in the same deepwater they dove in without knowing what is beneath the surface. we have law enforcement issues.

i talk to law enforcement advisors, officers up in washington state. they said they have doubled the arrests for driving under the influence but they have said it takes two hours because they can't do a breathalyzer test. they have to go to hospital. get a warrant, do a blood test to determine whether or not there is marijuana in the system we, we're not finished with this. now as a governor, if it passes, i will enforce it. i will implement it because that will be the will of the people but i think it would be wise not to go down this path if we as voters would choose to, a better course for our kids and grandkids. >> moderator: 30 section governor. kitzhaber: i think we substantially -- >> moderator: representative richardson this is question from sue. what will you do to make eastern oregon part of the overall success of the state? richardson: first of all the question implies the reality. eastern oregon feels detached. they don't think the governor cares about them.

they don't feel they're about the state. they feel the governor represents i-5 corridor from eugene north and they're right. what we do to change this, have a governor who will be where they're at. i made the promise as governor i will be in every county, every year. senator wyden set a good example on that and i think that is an appropriate thing to do. i will meet with them. i will have town hall meetings regularly. use the media in a way it hasn't been used before and social media and otherwise. use my newsletter, expand from current 420,000 subscribers to 700,000. and send information out on key issues that are facing our state to all of the state and get their input before we implement new reforms. we shouldn't just pass laws and have to have people live with unintended consequences. we should get input from the people so we pass laws by and for the people. >> moderator: governor, 60 seconds. kitzhaber: i've been to central

ore gone many times. eastern three times. we should work with blue park mountain, with 10-year stewardship open. we're adding jobs in legrand because of same thing. we've gone down to burns to start the juniper project which creates jobs from taking out juniper which improves same growth habitat. we're working diligently to prevent the sage grouse listed which would be east side spotted owl. we're working in umatilla and columbia river to actually increase the withdrawal of water from the columbia river during peak flows to have it available for groundwater recharge, expanded irrigated agriculture and fish in, when it is needed. we've worked with our community solutions team in hermiston and pendleton to increase affordable housing to one of the big obstacles to bring in workforce we need. you do by leading. you go over there and you roll up your sleeves and sit down with the people and you solve

problems. i have a long list of achievements we've done together and i think they feel a lot more included in part of oregon today than they did four years ago. >> moderator: 30 seconds, representative. richardson: he takes credit for keeping one mill open in john day. they don't even have a consistent source of logs. since he was senate president, we lost 150 mills. we've lost ability to utilize national resources. eastern oregon needs access, they need water. i propose we study and work to have a freeway from koos bay to burns to ontario. open up eastern oregon to the coastline in rational way. it will cost a lot of money, federal state partnership. it will take 20 years to happen. if we don't start we'll never get there. >> moderator: unfortunately concludes the debate portion of our program. time for closing statements. representative, you have 60 seconds. >> we used to be proud in oregon. good jobs, high incomes,

educated workforce, natural beauty the pioneer spirit. sadly this governor has made our state a national joke, scandals, waste, cover-ups, investigations, hush-money, corruption. we can do better. together we can reboot oregon's economy and create jobs while respecting the environment. we can reform education and empower parents and teachers. we can restore trust in our government and protect our civil liberties. we can restore pride in oregon and start by voting out the governor and his cronies. he says this campaign is about values and ability to deliver. his values, corrupt administration. his ability to deliver, rising unemployment, low student -- more than half a billion dollars on cover oregon. how can oregon families and workers be proud in oregon? vote for dennis richardson for governor. >> moderator: governor, you have 60 seconds. kitzhaber: this race is about two things. it is about values and ability to deliver.

values matter and mr. richardson and i differ greatly on values that think underlie this great state. we differ on woman's fundamental right to control reproductive health choices. we differ on oregonians to on the person they love. and tuition equity and disagree on portion of protecting environment as foundation of our identity and economy. this state is vastly better today than it was four years ago. we come together and faced tough issues and we've done it together. we erased the deficit, created over 100,000 new jobs, added full-day kindergarten and frozen tuition. 59% of oregonians have health insurance coverage today. we come together over last four years and pulled oregon back together and delivered for oregonians. i'm very proud of what we've done. this race is about two things, about values an ability to deliver. the joyce is very, very clear. i'm john kitzhaber and i'm proud to be your governor and asking for your vote on november 4th. >> moderator: that concludes

tonight's gubernatorial debate. i like to thank representative richardson and governor kitzhaber joining us. don't forget on 7:30 on thursday, nbc 5 is hosting meet the candidates forum. with that is thursday at 7:30 right here on nbc 5. we invite you to stay with nbc 5 and nbc 2 throughout 2014 your place for election coverage. the ball is in your court. don't forget to vote. on behalf of all of us here in the nbc 5 studios. good night. [applause] >> throughout this campaign season, c-span's coverage has included about 130 debates from around the country. one ever those debates we've been follow sergeant open georgia senate race between democrat michelle nunn, republican david perdue and 30 pared candidate amanda swafford. here is look at their recent

debate. >> so, david, during your tenure at dollar general you made over $40 million, and yet there were 2000 women that sued the company during your tenure and they said they were paid less and it was found by federal investigators that they were paid less. so given your experience there, i wonder if you would join me today in actually supporting the paycheck fairness act, which would help insure that all women are paid equally to their counterparts, men? >> well, thank you, michelle. first of all, we have a law in the land. this new law would only serve the plaintiffs lawyers of our country. i worked my entire life-supporting equal pay for equal work. but i have to tell you this is again another false attack that has been disproven by independent fact-checkers. and when you look at the reason why she is trying to distract us away from the real issue of job creation, you understand why. the obamacare law, the signature law of this president, is

killing 2 1/2 million jobs right now. we've said that. and yet she supports that law. she would even want to expand that law. i'm sorry, but when 400,000 georgians, more georgians gone on food stamps that gotten jobs in georgia in the last six years that is not kind of law we need. epa is killing thousands of jobs in our energy and utility industries today. no wonder obama obama wants michelle nunn to fight for them. people of georgia want somebody that will fight for them and their families. >> david, i do think people of georgia want someone who will fight for them. . .

and that women and families deserve pay equity. and i'm disappointed that you will not join me in advancing the goal. i agree that we need parity and there is always an improvement around the world haven't got a new guest to talk about obamacare. you talked about how it is a great bill and i support this bill and yet it is killing 2.5 million jobs right now. go even further and let's talk about amnesty. the amnesty bill has 1500 low-wage workers in the country at a time we have fewer people

working than anytime since jimmy carter. it seems to me that this president is adamant about getting you in the senate because he needs you to be his rubberstamp in the senate. the policies are indeed on the ballot and in georgia they go by the name. >> recent polls have the race list as a tossup and we will have the full debate at fife p.m. eastern on c-span. tonight at 6:00 eastern a preview of what to expect on election day featuring the most recent debates from the key races as we take your phone calls and reaction on to bigger and facebook and we will follow the latest headlines as well. join us tomorrow night for the campaign 2014 coverage starting at 8:00 eastern. we will see who wins, who loses and which party will control congress and you can engage by phone or on twitter at c-span or facebook.com/c-span. you can join the conversation answer the question that we have

posted. which party do you think should control congress. if there is one message in the book to take away it is the notion that an innovative state is characterized by handshakes and handoffs and it speaks to your question of who should do what. they are shaking hands on some of the key principles of an innovative state opening up data and encouraging the collaborative standards and issuing challenges and so forth. that means that the opportunity to have a more open government starts with a bipartisan commitment to be the foundation. but what is critical in the state is if you are handing off the american people entrepreneurs and innovators in the public and academic levels of government to take up data

and build more interesting products and services. next on minnesota's second congressional district in the debate between democratic congressman peterson and his republican challenger torrey westrom. rothenberg rated as leaning democratic and the debate comes to us courtesy of pioneer television. it's about 30 minutes. >> tonight we will have the incumbent collin peterson and collin torrey westrom. >> welcome to pioneer public television minnesota congressional district debate. i will be your moderator this evening. we will start off with opening remarks and then move onto some

prepared questions and then we will wrap up with closing remarks. asking questions this evening are the two members of the media we have the editor and publisher of the monitor newspaper and the news character for k. w. m. radio. welcome, gentlemen. tonight's candidates running for the u.s. house of representatives in the seventh congressional district are collin peterson and torrey westrom. welcome, gentlemen. we are now going to look at a map of the district said that you can see this is your voting area. the seventh district includes all of the western side of minnesota with the exception of the the southern counties ordering iowa the largest southern in the district is more had come to some others are longer, fergus falls, alexandria and marshall. this event is the largest

congressional district in minnesota. we will now start with the opening remarks from both of the candidates that have 90 seconds to give an opening remark and the coin toss was one this evening by the representative peterson so welcome and you may give your opening remarks. >> i want to think thank the pioneer television for hosting this debate and i want to think my constituents in the district for honoring me with being able to serve them the last 24 years. i'm somebody that works across the aisle to get things done. and my being able to be in office for a. of time i moved to the top of the agriculture committee. and as the chairman and now as the ranking member of the table writing of the 2008 and the 2014 on the. as probably the premier accomplishment of the congress adding the farm bill done it took a little longer than we wanted, but in january we passed a very good farm bill with not

only the safety nets which is what most people think about when they think about the farm bill but there's a lot more to it and we have a very good conservation plan expanding significantly over the parts of the farm bill in the rural development which has helped us build new hospitals and other kinds of facilities across the district so the farm bill has been a very important thing for this district and now we are in the process of getting it implemented and we are making good progress but it's going to take a while and that is one of the main reasons i'm running is to make sure that it gets implemented correctly and the folks against it don't take it apart. we are working together in this district and we've done a lot to rebuild the airports, the road from other clinics and also the clinical access hospitals. >> moderator: thank you. next i would like to welcome senator westrom.

you may give your opening remarks. westrom: thank you. my name is torrey westrom. most of you know i lost my eyesight and i'm accident at 14. today i served in the state senate, run a small business in my hometown with my wife and i am a proud father of three beautiful children. i believe our country is headed in the wrong direction. but you can't change the game if you don't change the players at the table. after 24 years in washington, congressman peterson hasn't done enough to stand up to the big spenders in dc. on his watch we have seen the national debt skyrocket, obamacare passed by democratic leadership, the keystone pipeline still not built because of the obama administration and capping trade legislation passed through the house with

congressman peterson's support. the way they are doing business in dc doesn't work in our district and i know that we can do better. here in minnesota we balance our budget. we need someone to represent those minnesota values in washington. as your next congressman i will dedicate the can-do attitude and perseverance that have in washington. >> moderator: thank you. we will now move onto the questions. on to the questions. each candidate will have 60 seconds to answer a question and there will be an opportunity for some limited rebuttal. the first question will be asked by representative peterson and he will have the opportunity to answer first. we can start with the question. >> moderator: representative peterson, farmers are very concerned about the plunge in the corn prices and land values

also are anticipated to drop. is there anything that washington can or should do to prevent a western minnesota retention? peterson: the new farm bill changed the way that we did the safety net. in the past we have direct payments that went up at the matter what the situation. we are going to the floor under prices and this is going to pay off given what's happened in the last few months. the process is being implemented and it's going to do a lot to put a floor underneath this decline that have been in the last few months. >> moderator: thank you representative peterson. representative speak you living you may even then you may give your answer. westrom: agriculture is a very important part of the district. i have an agriculture background in life than a strong voice for

farmers and communities in the state capital and i will continue to be that strong voice and i would have supported this past year's bill but something that allows them to do what they want and not have the government told them what they can do. but a couple of things the government also needs to do is get out of the way of the farmers, rein in the obama pa and stop trying to find the navigable waters and landowners to more federal water and epa control to build the keystone pipeline so that we can get them back. we need things like that in the obama administration that the current situation isn't getting done. a. >> moderator: the next question will start with you and this is being asked.

in minnesota and our challenge wasn't so much job creation as it is worker creation. what can we do to resettle to ensure the jobs that are available right now gets built? westrom: we have jobs for them to come back to and it's so important and so having a strong economy and a strong job environment one way to do that is to get the regulations in the government out of the way and let the jobs be created but we also have to have a strong educational opportunity. and educational opportunities that are attainable and accessible for the students that want to further themselves in higher education and take on that challenge. but then we need to make sure that they have good paying jobs when they leave college so that they can pay back their student loans and expenses that go along with it.

but one thing that i've heard as they travel to the counties in the district a lot of manufacturing jobs, high-tech jobs that we see in a manufacturing need to find more students coming out into those fields into so we need to make sure that our colleges and universities are putting out students of a student of canceled jobs in the moral minnesota. peterson: thank you for the question. this is something i hear a lot about from one district to the other. probably the number one thing i hear is we can't find enough qualified people to build these drugs. that is a good problem to have. what i've been working on the last few months is to tie together the education system at the vocational school level and also the secondary school level with the jobs available in the district and we are making good progress in some of these places. and in alexandria they have four economies to start in the ninth grade getting these folks

experience or getting them to succeed the opportunities that are out there in the manufacturing community and the district and then they are working together with the schools so that's the kind of thing that needs to happen because folks are telling me that they have to see the opportunity is is at ninth grade instead of waiting until they get out of high school. so we are working on it and we need to do more work to make sure that it happens in the future. >> would like to ask another question please? >> residents and farmers basically had shortages. what can be done to ensure that we don't have the shortages again this winter and fall? a lot has already been done. i just came from the co-op east of town and the other folks doubled their storage from last year and that is the main thing

on the short-term that needs to be done and is done. we also need to get the pipelines working in the right direction so that we have the actions to the product. we had the coldest fall but we have ever had in the winter and we have the crops that needed to be dried and it all came together at the wrong time so there was a serious situation. we are a much better situation but folks are working on this and we need to continue to focus so we don't have a problem going into the future. >> moderator: senator. >> and quick. westrom: we need to make sure that we have storage. several companies around the district and around the state are doing more to have more storage that we need to have the keystone pipeline built rather

than blocked by nancy pelosi and we can't people in charge of the block these commonsense projects. pipelines are a safe way to move forward and we need to have that done so they can be back in the area and the availability to whole-grain and also bring propane for this season because we now rely on them even more because the pipeline right in the home area is not moving propane anymore. so this year it could be even worse when he did we need to build commonsense projects like this. we can't separate the leadership like congressman peterson does. if. >> moderator: back to you with a question for the senator. >> we are taking a look now at the federal budget and vitamins such as medicare, social security and the federal portion of medicaid are a large part of

the federal budget. are they part of a discussion on the balanced budget? westrom: i think that making sure that we have those programs so they are going to be available 20 years from now is an important discussion to have. we know we have to rein in the out-of-control spending. the national debt is now $18 trillion. congressman peterson since he went to office 24 years ago was 4 trillion it's now up to 18,000,000,000,024 years later. that's the wrong direction and that is our children's future at stake so we need a big discussion on how we would balance the budget that has to be in the context of how we preserve the current programs are that those enrolled are protected but reasonable incremental changes that would be looked at in a bipartisan way that's the way you change it and

that's what you have to do with some of the programs or they will be bankrupt and we can just put our head in the sand. you can't take a budget off the table when you're trying to get the budget resulting under control. part of how we got into the current problem is that we couldn't get a bipartisan effort on the budget control act of 20011. the only committee that that did their work as the agricultural committee. we produced a bill and our budget is an entitlement. if the other committees would have done something similar would have a production and the budget deficit. i supported the amendment and they voted for a number of them over the years. we haven't been able to get done all the way through the process that we have to look at all aspects of the government.

medicaid is and going up as fast and so we just need to take the capital for pages and that will expand for quite a while. >> moderator: would you like a rebuttal? westrom: we talk about balancing the budget but you can't keep raising the national debt ceiling by a trillion dollars with the congressman peterson did this past year and not hope that andre balanced budget. you've got to balance the budget at the same time as you are discussing raising the death because dead because that is a rich reference future. that is something i would advocate for us was a balanced budget amendment we have a budget here in minnesota and the congress needs one, too. peterson: people need to understand this and authorizing the new standard. all it is doing is authorizing

the payment. it's exactly what they did a year ago when they did that. we would all like to not raise the debt ceiling that we have to pay our bills and if you didn't raise the debt ceiling we would end up default on our debt and that isn't something that we should do. >> moderator: the next question is representative peterson. >> regarding the national security, do you favor using ground troops against isis and if the current campaign proves ineffective. westrom: i am not advocating

for the ground troops. i think that it is the failed leadership we have seen out of president obama and this administration. it took too long to recognize a threat of isis and it lets them go to the point that they are today. so we need a commander-in-chief that recognizes the problems rather than continuing to see the pattern of the failed leadership and his administration and that's why we need change in washington and it's time to shake things up. we have a president that implemented the ban. so many people around the district ask why we don't do that and suggest that makes sense. some travel restrictions in the crisis. as the 20 you're next question for the senator? >> moderator: as it hoped would hurt the congressional

district? westrom: i call it to be unaffordable to act. it's farmers, small businesses, families continue to see skyrocketing premiums, loss of choice in their health care and it's not delivering the promises that we were told by president obama and nancy pelosi and congressman peterson supports when they passed the legislation. it's not delivering what we were told that it does. we can keep the good parts of it but you can't keep this in place and have the small businesses to me they are seeing 40, 50, 60% increases. last night picking my kids up from church they talked to me afterwards and said we are seeing a 400-dollar a month increase in the premiums because of obamacare. that is not acceptable.

it's time for a change. peterson: i didn't vote for the act and one of the reasons is because i read it. i got halfway through it and i knew enough that i wasn't going to support. but there are parts of this act that are good and have helped my constituency and that's why i've not been willing to repeal. i don't know how many times people come to my office and they couldn't get coverage and they want to ask the government for help because their kids have juvenile diabetes or some other existing condition if we repealed it we would lose that and also the 26-year-old on their policies having to get rid of the lifetime limits. we need to work on the part of the bill that isn't working.

and there is too much in the bill written for the insurance companies and for the drug companies and that is exactly the wrong thing to do and the main reason i voted against it and we didn't fix the medicare situation that's been going on for years. >> moderator: would you like a rebuttal? westrom: thank you, amy. the vote passed into since been the congressman continues to vote to keep this the law of the land. he now announced that he won't work to repeal it and that's the wrong direction. we can't get help. our families and farmers and small businesses and delete events us to talk to me last night, they need to have more hope that we can take the things and write it into a level that will work for the families and deliver what was promised by nancy pelosi who continues to support and enable us to allow this to happen.

peterson: the first two years ago was enacted that they tried to repeal it 51 times. it's not getting any place. they were not going to sign a bill to repeal the law and he's going to be president for the next two years. so i told the leadership and i told john who is a friend of mine i can deliver 60 democrats to fix the problems we have in this bill but they don't want to do that because it is all political. it's all for nothing. so they want to keep everything and say that nothing is wrong and republicans want to repeal everything but the reality is both of them are wrong and what needs to be done with me to go to the middle and work on the things that are a problem. >> moderator: you can ask your next question to representative peterson. >> moderator: we talked about this earlier the hospitals,

clinics, public health services to the district are preparing for a case. what should the federal government will be in helping them? >> we should make sure that they will be the ones on the front line and they have the resources they need and the training they need to deal with it. and where it is going to enter their archrival restrictions on five airports where the majority of the folks will come in if they come into the country. we also asked to have been added minneapolis because we do get folks in that part of the world coming to minneapolis. i think that they should be added and resources should be given to these folks that have to deal with that level. we should work with the community connection or that they have the resources and the training that they need so that

they can confront this. westrom: as i mentioned earlier we should have had better leadership than the current administration. our communities seem to have confidence in what the government is offering them for help. competent, up-to-date information which has been a big concern in the situation. like i said we should travel restrictions. it should be replaced and that's what i hear of the district and it makes sense and i hope that they would choose leadership rather than what we see here. >> moderator: you may ask your next question to senator westrom. >> moderator: sometime this year the governor gave plans to look at the population. is the federal government doing enough credit habitat creation

and sustaining the development? >> i think the present pollution has certainly increased since i was a youngster since there were not very many 20 or 30 years ago. so, i think that there has been a good mix. one of the things that you have to have is the government programs and sending that they have the good lab in the production and that takes sometimes the land of the tax rolls or reduces the taxes paid into the production of pc but rather it should be focused on the environmental areas into sensitive areas along the rivers streams and lakes and as a congressman i would work for that solution and i think those balances have been made pretty well. >> the conservation reserve program which i would say was responsible for bringing back the citizens and docs and dear

is something i worked on to get up to 36 million acres when we did the 96 bill. but what has happened over the last few years is as the price has gone up you have seen people coming out of the conservation reserve program and because of the economics we were not paying enough to compete with that so we had to lower the cap in the 2008 village was 32 million now in the last bill we produced up to 24 million. the reason we did that as we were going to end up at that level anyway and it would have disappeared us we would have used that to create the new conservation on the worship program that will be a big advantage for the valley and the minnesota river valley going forward and controlling any other kind of problem. so, i think we have done about as much as the can. >> moderator: thank you

gentlemen that all the time we have for questions this evening and we will now move on to the closing remarks and begin with the senator. westrom: when i was in a hospital bed just after the doctors told me i would never see again i would never imagine i would be your running for the privilege. i was fortunate. i have parents and others that wouldn't let would let me give up and by the following summer i was right back at work bailing hay on the family farm. that experience has taught me two things. first there is never a time to make excuses. second there's always a way to get things done. i am tired of hearing the excuses that we get out of washington. our children's future depends upon fixing obamacare into stopping the big permit overreached. even i can see the mess in

washington. my name is torrey westrom and i'm ready to take on the challenge and i'm asking for your vote on november 4. thank you. >> moderator: thank you. representative peterson he may give your closing remarks. peterson: i want to thank you for doing this debate and tell a story at the end here to kind of eliminates what experience. back in 2003 a fellow named bill thomas was a republican from california and the chairman of the ways and means committee and he was going to do a medicare improvement bill that he couldn't get any democrats to support him because they opposed some of the things in his go into debt and and get him think that he was doing enough in that regard. i was working on the hospitals at the time which at the time we had a 15 bed of limit so he came to me, we have become friends and he said will you work with me and i said yes if you do something with the critical access hospitals so we got to the floor and in the bill we

raised the best of 25 and the reimbursements to 100%. the bottom line was that he didn't have enough votes. so i got a lot of heat from the leadership to switch my vote at the end of the day we got to build on and without that critical access hospital provision many of my 39 article access hospitals wouldn't be here. it may not be here if we hadn't done that in 2003. we have seven democrats were going to build, 19 republicans against it and it passed by one vote. the reason is because i saw an opportunity and i went and i made it happen. that's the kind of thing we need happening in washington for the hospitals and farm bills and i would ask for your vote on november 4. >> moderator: thank you, gentlemen that's all the time we have. i would like to think the candidates for joining us and a the jp agreed as well but most

importantly you the viewers for tuning in and remember your voice is important make sure that your voice is heard by voting on november 4. ♪

next heading to ohio the 14th district for the district where the debate was held between republican incumbent david joyce and wager and waco.

this comes to us from cleveland and runs about one hour. >> my name is paul harris and i'm president of the board of directors. in the election season when a number of incumbents have declined invitations to debate we are especially pleased to host republican congressman david joyce and challengers libertarian party candidate david macko and democratic party candidate idles wager to today's 14th congressional district debate at the site at all free speech. the 14th congressional district covers late counties in eastern county, northeastern summit county and northern trumbull counties. mr. joyce was elected in 2012 following stephen latourette's retirement. today mr. joyce mr. macko and mr. speedy above and the wondrous issues.

they will reveal the format and of the rules and also serve as moderator. thank you very much ladies and gentlemen and the candidates for joining us today. please allow me to review the format and rules. you will have up to three minutes for your statement and the order is determined by the drawing event three after the opening statements people have questions for all of you and you will be allowed 90 seconds for your answers and questions to a particular candidate to receive an answer from the candidate and 32nd rebuttals from the others. you will be signaled when you have 15 seconds left. the first half of the program is for questions for the moderator and the second half is questions for the audience in the room. i would ask that you refrain from cheering as that gets in the way of what we are accomplishing here.

david macko you may begin. macko: i'm a liberal candidate and if elected i will never vote for new taxes and it will always oppose the invisible inflation tax. i would oppose the constitution 100% of the time and i would hope to withstand the liberties of the american people. first, to save the country we must impeach barack obama and the attempts to destroy the constitution and set up a dictatorship. we need to stop the police state and that the department of homeland said to be. i used to tell people that now i

want to make it clear they should listen to us when we want them to. we need to stop and bring all of our troops home now and so the bases and stop before an aide that is unconstitutional, counterproductive and since we are almost $18 trillion beyond money to put some of those troops on the borders to stop the invasion that obama has accelerated greatly. finally we need to get out of the depression and we need to have the liberty amendment that would require the federal government to sell all unnecessary practices and businesses so that in the three years we could repeal the federal income gift and death taxes. the income tax is in its manifesto. with the repeal of the income tax the average salary would increase 20%. we also need to get rid of the

reserve system and find out where our money has been in the need to replace it and we need to abolish the agency's keeping us in the depression like the epa. we need to abolish to do everything except national defense and if some of our courts. these are the most important things. however there are other important issues also. we need to restore the rights to keep right to keep and bear arms and to get rid of the bill firearms and explosives and if the threat is real, the american people should have the right to be armed and protect ourselves against it. we need to stop the invasion of

the threat which again obama isn't following the protocols. the protocols do not help those coming from foreign countries. we need to keep a careful watch on travelers. >> moderator: thank you very much mr. macko. the democratic party candidate your turn. wager: my thanks to the city club officers for hosting this debate into david macko for his authenticity. i'm a democratic candidate for the 14th district. i am a businessman and educator and first-time candidate. so, if so, why did i disrupt my prior life to run for the united states congress? like many of you i find a dysfunction in washington to be a failure of ideas and leadership and it is unacceptable. it's time for the informed legislators to engage in the debate, compromise and solutions

just as i've done in my business over 30 years. today our elected officials are engaged in talking points and sound points in the government shutdowns and political brinksmanship with such a system that threatens the markets and tears up the social fabric of the country. but congress the congress has failed but there are solutions to the problems facing the nation at the end balances in the country that they require them to take on the so-called special interest. why don't our e-book that representatives talk about this. why are they afraid to engage in aggressive on those issues. they require difficult solutions and the politicians like sound bites. so a lot of the regular advertising. so to hold me accountable and the other candidates appear

accountable i hope that he would address the questions in the campaign for several years. they didn't pursue his nomination to be attorney in the northern district of ohio. they cannot disclose that he is repeatedly avoided the question with dismissive responses. flippancy isn't an answer and character does matter so whether you agree with me or disagree and whether you were going to vote for me or not, i stand for what i stand for and the truth about my personal professional history is on the table today. i look forward to the questions from the moderator and the tradition from you and i also look forward to sharing with you my views on the broad spectrum affecting the nation and how those challenges would be

addressed. thank you. >> congressman dave joyce. joyce: thank you for the opportunity to be here today. i had an opportunity to years ago and it was my first debate at the city club and i've got to tell you i was pretty nervous when i got up here because you sit down at the table who is good to be running and it was one of those things where i'm talking about a suggestion that i went to the same political acuity of being in the job county. ladies and gentlemen in 1988 i was appointed and i got up last night and i told the people to things, i want to develop the county. in 2008 the magazine in the

county was the fourth best in the nation. they didn't get there alone. they get there by working with other people. i also announced that we wouldn't get enough good people and i went down to the law firms in ohio with a partnership track hired them to work for me and gave them laptops and cell phones and made sure that they were paid appropriately. my commissioners were going crazy. if the work isn't done. so, that a lot of people want to dump their chest and think about the things they are going to do. it's very limited. you have to work with people and when you work with people i reached out the first time to do one thing and that is getting budget. but guess what for the first time america is back on the budget and we have another one going on in 15.

i also reached on the other side of the bill with a young freshman and a bipartisan group that we started together that was allegedly the $5 billion of spending but it would cut $200 billion over a decade by working together ladies and gentlemen. i know my opponents are something and that is something that young soldier has to take off and we were discussed in tears. i worked with a good friend of mine and we got to helping heroes act and now they don't have to suffer the indignity of going to the line and to be treated the way they should be as honorable veterans. those are the small things that you do by working together with people and you don't provide time towing people that you're going to do to them. that is just and acuity that i took to the sea.

thank you for having me. >> moderator: thank you, congressman. we were able to sort some questions are from friends on facebook and social media and better as well and i want to start with a question that actually has come up many times at the city club in the last year it is a topic that has been discussed by democrats and republicans alike. the united states is the world leader in incarceration from 2.2 million people in the nation's prisons and jails. its impact on the recidivism and how it rates of mental illness are treated. this is a question and and we all get 90 seconds. mr. wager, we will start with you. wager: the question about the fact that we have the highest incarceration is another question. and that is some of the

difficulties we have on the kernel justice system. we might start with the fact that too many people are on state and federal prison because the violation of the drug laws and we need to revisit that as a nation and not because of the sense of permissiveness but because of the sense of practicality about the cost and the justice of the people based on the drug laws. additionally the notion of privatized incarceration is a fundamentally objectionable issue to me and my away don't know if my opponent has taken direct contributions from those that run out of the contributions i do know that many members of congress and many members of the state legislature have. there are functions which the government provide solution. incarceration is one of them but in terms of proliferation of the population and the mental health within it that requires the

policy and and engage to legislators, investment in our own prison system and fundamental change about the way that we treat. macko: the principles of liberty tell us that we should repeal all federal drug laws. we should repeal the agency into the food and drug act. the constitution doesn't allow these things until 9/11 the drug law was the chief means of establishing the state in the country. we have more people imprisoned in china and that is a disgusting thing. the constitution had to authorize the measure because back then the american people still understood the constitution at least a little bit, but there is no authority

at all for the program. why should there be? we should repeal all of the federal drug laws immediately imprisoned for drug use and for other acts in the free society in that instant and without exception. the crime damages to property. it began interestingly enough the drug act of 1914 was by a man named samuel harrison so we can see that this is a very important matter if we do not repeal it. >> moderator: congressman joyce. joyce: on the issue to hold judges accountable to discern

which people need to be in the populations in jail and which deserve to be in some type of probation or some other status but when you have the judges with a static set of rules and they go away it doesn't allow them the discretion to be elected so one of the ways we could cure that is by allowing the judges to get back to the freedom sense that the second problem that is terrible is back, i will date myself 57-years-old we used to have mental hospitals when we were young and those don't exist anymore. we have people in there that are not well. i learned there were times when they would start and go out and commit crimes and go back to jail because that's where they needed to get the scales. we have to deal with the issues

we have in the country and stop saving those spots in prison for those that truly deserve to be there and make sure that we are taking those that are mentally ill by doing what we need to do and allowing the judges to sentence in the way they see appropriate based upon the facts >> moderator: we have three candidates and i am pleased. let's find out where there is not consensus although maybe there will be on this one as well. the great lakes this has come up and congressman i would like to start with you. the federal government role is specific while you advocate protecting the great great lakes in the advertisement you also voted for hr 5078 the waters of the united states over each protection act. so i wonder if you can talk

about that a little bit and what the question is. what is the federal government's role with respect to the health of the great lakes one fifth of the world's freshwater. >> i don't view it, i view it as a national treasure to be dealt with accordingly. the overreach has been when you have the army corps of engineers or the epa talking about the water every now and then in the property when it rains and calling that an amicable river. that's part of the bill that i proposed in the ecological protection act but the idea is to take the agencies that work together in the concert to preserve and protect and doing that we would be able to do what we need to do to preserve because when we talk about creating jobs and the go to dc

however when we protect and preserve the great lakes we have the 40 million americans who have jobs from the $62 billion in wages. the other thing that opens up the parts. we have to be able to work together with people to get the job done. there is more agreement than you probably wanted. i agree on a couple of things. there are many people here in the port authority and i'm glad to see the congressman becoming an advocate that we can engage in the container. here's what we diverge.

you can't talk about incremental legislation protecting an asset and do it through the kind of small steps that build or others have proposed including the president of the country barack obama. we needed massive infrastructure investment need massive infrastructure investment in the lakes for both economic development as well as public health. the. he will many to look at what happened in the western basis. those are the results of the crumbling infrastructure and agricultural runoff and until we start addressing that with a kind of investment this country deserves and has not seen now in approximately 80 years we will continue to have the kind of public health challenges. i believe it is a national treasure and i believe in the budget deficit hysteria and i intend to become a voice for the

investment coming each of you and the people the great lakes deserve. macko: there may be a need for some federal involvement on this issue since there is a commerce clause but the purpose should be to make sure that it flows freely and not to suppress it further. we certainly don't need huge advances in spending. we are broke minus $18 trillion. the best situation would be a too have a contact for this issue which would protect the great lakes but still protect us first. i believe there already is a contact and there is a debate about whether it was a good idea or bad one. this is one reason why we have

the opportunity to vote libertarian whereas the old parties have the government, more control, more spending leading us to a total collapse. the. >> moderator: now i'm pretty sure that we do not all agree on immigration. so let's begin with what exactly you believe ought to be done and many people believe there is an immigration crisis that we are experiencing right now over the summer there are thousands of children coming from the central america to texas and that is a crisis that still has not been resolved. what is given in the nation's history of course as a nation of immigrants i think some might argue the first settlers were illegal immigrants. what is the responsibility and what is the best course for the nation to?

of david macko you can begin. macko: this is one of the issues on the national party platform we don't have an immigration problem, we have an invasion problem by barack obama another reason to impeach him. he encouraged the countries in mexico and others to bring these immigrants in. when we bring the troops home from abroad and try to stop world war iii we should station as many of them as necessary in the southern border. ..