recruiting candidates, getting third party status, are doing the petition drive are certainly all within their right. they have made it very clear that they are unhappy with certain votes that have been taken. i would support their effort to exercise their rights. i am not sure that they achieved their goals, but people collectively have the right to do things, the right to make up their mind. that is the american way. that is one of the freedoms that we have in this country. and for everything that i have been understanding, they have been following the law as best they can. some of their signatures may not work, but i think they've got a larger amount with the cushion. they are exercising their right here in this great country, whereas we found out, this is some place where anything can happen in politics and always does. .

>> i would like to see money come out of politics. that is not realistic. i would like to move us towards a day where it does not have an influence because the public always has a question. did that money influence your decision? the money that is flowing clearly raises questions about judgment and i would be very blunt and to take it.

i also want to make it clear that anything that congress does it needs to pay for. if we need to move forward on -pmedicaid, we should explain hw that is going to be paid for. >> and other oil related qqestion. you mentioned -- where that discourage offshore exploration? >> it certainly might. i do not think that small businesses are the ones that are out there drilling. it is the big corporations of the world that have tremendous subsidies. you and i are paying for that drilling. the need to pay for the damages. this is -- we need to make prompt payment on those claims

and will you vital to restoring the vitality to the gulf area. >> very good. thank you for those great follow-ups. we do have time to fit in one more of your question. we will time this at 45 seconds. in many previous senate races, we have seen a big deal made about how much time an incumbent stands in washington. if you win and go to washington, how will you stay connected to your constituents? >> >> it is a terrific question. i was a believer when i served in the state's senate of keeping my door open all the time. i would make sure i was meeting with folks from back home. i was one of the first state senators to do an email newsletter. i am a firm believer in town

hall meetings. i believe in traversing north carolina, inviting folks into the dialogue. i like to make sure we are putting out information to all sorts of media about how to stay connected and be informed. it is paramount that those in washington get back home, connect with folks, actively invite them into the political process. and it would be a particular charge, a special challenge to make sure we are connecting with folks all over this great state. >> elaine marshall, how would you stay connected? >> you know what, that is a great question for me, because i absolutely love retail campaigning. that has been written up many times over. i get my energy from sitting down at coffee shops and breakfast places and talking to people. i will be home. i will be out. i have friends and all 100 counties to listen to. folks that know how to get a hold of me to get the proper -pfeedback. we will be doing newsletters' and social networking, in particular, where folks can have input. we have things that can happen nowadays for good or bad and

great communication tools. i am committed to doing that for the people of north carolina. >> i will give you one last challenge. we are almost to the close. we will tackle health care reform in 30 seconds, which is not quite fair. i know you both expressed disappointment that the public option was not part of the new law. other than the public option, were do you want to see health care reform go next? >> 30 seconds. it is a challenge to talk about health care. there are three principal areas where i thinn health care is still front and center perry first and foremost, making sure the promise of the legislation that is past is carried out. part of that is about the patient's experience, implementing new technologies. i still believe the question of cost is one of crowding out of pay raises. i think we have experimented with some of the state-based

exchanges before. we will have to revisit the public option. medicare, perhaps ending the antitrust exemption. i think medicare should be able to negotiate for prescription drug prices. >> elaine marshall? >> my three principals were expanded access, affordability, and eliminating the gotcha. we have to be vigilant on pre- existing conditions. we have to make sure that that pricing is competitive. we do not have that yet. in north carolina, i am hopeful that will come. we have to be very aggressive. i truly think we need more emphasis on integrative medicines, preventive medicine, so that we prevent the illness and the chronic problems away before they become the cost factor that they can be at the end. >> thank you. now the show closes.

each u.s. senate hopeful will offer a one minute closing statement. cal cunningham keeps winning the coin toss. you get to close first. >> thank you. thanks to those at home listening. this campaign is not about me or elaine marshall. it is about you and the future we are trying to build as a state in the country. it has been a great honor to have been all across this state over the last six months. i am a new guy, a fresh face, a person who has not been in office for many years. and i responded to in part that north carolinians are looking for a new narrative. i am the first iraq war veteran. i led the prosecution and defense contractors. i will take the same determination to washington, to make sure that your voice is heard. i am not only offering leadership for an hour or the next couple years. i want us to look over the horizon and think about the state we want for our future,

the quality of schools and opportunities, and ask, what kind of leadership do we have to have to get there? i would be honored to have your vote. >> elaine marshall, your closing comments? >> i want to thank the viewers out there, the league of women voters for this informative evening. what this race is really about is fixing a broken system in washington. we have got to reward hard work, not the quick fix. we have to fight for people, not for profits. policies have been pushed to benefit a few at the expense of many. it is time we changed that system. i have taken on wall street and restored over $500 million for north carolina families and investors. i have taken on the health care

industry to make them cover mammograms and pap smears and provide coverage in rural areas. i have taken on special interest in government to reform lobbying and take the influence of money out of politics. those are the same forces we need to rein in in washington. i ask for your help in this race to do that. >> thank you. as we mentioned, the runoff election is in a few days -- tuesday, june 22. early voting is already going on. r timeline is showing at one stop voting ends this saturday june 19. the deadline for absentee ballots has already passed. the primary date is tuesday. polls will open at 6:30 in the morning until 7:30 tuesday night. you can get your latest collection information anytime online at mync.com. we have been streaming this entire debate as it happened. type the keyword debate to see the highlights, as well as news stories on this race and plenty of others, the latest polling information, plus political

analysis which you can expect always from us. thank you to our viewers, the candidates, and all of you at home for joining us. now go vote. thank you.

while in louisiana to learn how the state is dealing with the oil spill in the gulf, a crew spoke with a doctor about health-related concerns that have come from the spill. >> one reporter saw the man that was a mile from the marsh. we may not be seeing any help questions that we might have had. >> my name is commander tim davis. i am a physician with the healt.

>> what kind of health problems are you finding? >> it is your general health problems. we cannot clearly identify anything as oil related. we are not seeing anything other than a dormitory situation. >> how many workers are involved in this that you have to worry about? >> there are about 27,000. there are about 11,000 in terrabone parish and about the same in plackman parish.

>> do you have to set up mobile health units? how does that work? >> we do not want to tax the parishes or the counties. at their own medical infrastructure. we have first aid set up and we have ambulances' set up. we have a physician care set up a would be equivalent to an acute care center. we monitor the assets aa that are mobile. we work with the county authorities to make sure that we are not burdening thh parishes, but we are not depriving the local medical infrastructure of a chance to provide services. >> how do you plan this? place that you have done in other disasters or is this something you or inventing as you go? >> we are using a command system

which is a standardized process that we follow. we generally do have disaster medical teams and surgical teams that come in after an event occurs when the infrastructure is fractured or damaged. in this case, the health infrastructure is not, but we are helping the county that increases in population because of the workers that are brought here. this is not something that we could expect accounted and to provide care for and not cause problems caring for their own citizens. it is a little different from what we do. it is a variation from what we do. >> is there any involvement from many non-governmental organizations such as the red cross or is this a different situation? >> the red cross is not involved at my level. i am sure that they are monitoring the situation. >> what about the concerns of

citizens who ay be exposed to gases and have health problems from rinking water. how do you keep your eyes on that? what's the department of health and hospitals of louisiana is monitoring seven emergency departments. the cdc has their help line going and poison control centers are monitoring it. i come out to these town meetings and i solicit or a asked for it and available to answer questions. today, i have not received any health questions. people are concerned about economics and the loss of jobs and not getting enough of the work that bp may be needing help for. they are bringing people in from distant cities rather than using the local looks. -- the local people. one boat operator was concerned

about nausea. i forward them to the coast guard and the epa to talk to those folks. >> who is paying for all this? is the taxpayer paying or is bp paying? >> i am under the impression that bp will pick up the final bill. that are monitoring us and they are cooperating and giving us anything that we want. i understand that eventually those involved with the oil spill will be paying the full amount. >> can you tell me a little bit of your history with this kind of work? >> in the past year, we have done things such as the inauguration. we have ice storms in kentucky and ice storms in north dakota.

haiti was our most recent disaster that we responded to. this ecological disaster is probably the largest in the past 100 years that has affected the coast. >> how long have you done this kind of work? >> my first one was in 1981. since then, 29 years of doing disasters and teaching at emory university for about a decade and then i'd trade with the cdc. >> thank you. >> robert mcdowell talked about reclassifying of broadband services. that is tonight on the

communicators on c-span2. this debate was held on thursday in columbia, south carolina. >> live, from columbia, this is a wis newscast, the race for governor. >> good evening and welcome to the 2010 republican gubernatorial runoff debate. the candidates will have one minute to answer each question

and will have a time limit of 30 seconds and that will be at our discretion. we are streaming live online at wistv.com. you can go there to take part in our live interactive block. >> we will get right into the questioning. we received an e-mail from a man that is a registered republican for over 45 years and a retired army infantry officer. he is upset about one of your commercials that identified you as u.s. army retired. what do you say to him and other career military veterans who believe that that was dishonest? >> i would say that it was a mistake. it was an honest mistake. we put the ad up and we were running at 100 m.p.h.. as soon as we caught that, we

took it down. i have never hidden the fact that i served 4.5 years in the united states army. i graduated with military honors and it was a mistake and it has been corrected and we will not do that again. i know that as soon as we caught it, we fixed it and i apologize because it was an honest mistake. >> voters are tired of double talk. they want people to shoot straight with them. if you criticized your opponent with this ad. >> bailout, career politicians, stimulus spending, -- >> when he endorsed your campaign, you said this. >> i think that the attorney general was probably the person i knew the least. as we got on the campaign trail, i became a big fan of him on the

campaign trail. this was the one endorsement but could not be more proud to have. >> in light of your endorsement , now one of your competitors is one of your endorsements you are most proud to have. what do you say to voters that do not understand this? >> that was showing the differences between us. he had been in office for a long time. what i have always said about my opponents is that they have done this all of their life. i want to show government the value f the dollar. the attorney general handled himself with incredible respect throughout the campaign and i got to know him very well as we laughed and he talked and he handled himself respectfully throughout the campaign. i was thrilled to have his support. i look forward to have him campaigning with us on the campaign trail. >> what do you say to voters who are so disenfrrnchised with the

political process and feel that canada it's changed their political allies as a matter of convenience. >> i did not change my talking points. he has been in public office since 1986. i can very much appreciate his support. he had great supporters behind him. he had a loyal following that appreciated his experience. i do not change what i said. he had been in office since 1986 and i think that north carolina is moving in and misdirection. -- in a new direction. >> let's look at your most recent ad. >> you make me want to vote for you. >> critics believe that the staff sergeant is saying that he wants to vote for you and that implies a military enforcement.

how do you answer that concern? >> it was kind of a funny way to approach an issue. i have been so stiff and sore rigid for the last 18 months. so many of my friends and colleagues have told me to loosen up a little bit. it really broke through. we put up the very first thing and it was a political campaign good camp. i am very proud of my military record. i did not mean for that to be a military endorsement. it was a fun way to present who i am and what i am and what i am about. >> there is a billion dollar budget shortfall expected next year. the state budget will have to replace millions in one time stimulus money that lawmakers had to use for this year's budget. schools have already taken huge cuts.

what will you do to generate revenue quickly? >> it is not about generating revenue. it is not about what you spend, it is about how you spend. as an accountant, i know that we have to stretch dollars. we have to see this as an opportunity. i will audit all of my agencies and see what we have to have and work our way up. i will propose a budget that will help the general assembly make decisions. it is time for us to look at state government as a business plan and understand that everything that we do in the budget affects everything else. we saw government grow by a billion dollars a year and we have nothing to show for it. this is an eternity to prioritize. -- an opportunity to prioritize. >> there is no need to generate

new revenue? >> i think that we need to clean up our spending. we spent 20 hours of the house floor and 51 out of 170 vitos was sustained. that was incredible. the legislature understands the value of the dollar and is willing to understand that we can't keep spending the way that we have them. >> -- that we have been. >> you said the generating revenue is not as important as other things. >> we have to understand what a government responsibility is. it needs to keep citizens safe with law enforcement and the judicial system and the prison system. with our infrastructure, not only is that safety, but that as economic development. -- is economic development. once we cut that down, it is

important to grow the economy and it is important to grow jobs. i would have total comprehensive tax reform that helps businesses that are here in businesses coming into south carolina. i would focus on the department of commerce and have a first- class, will fund the department of commerce -- well funded department of commerce. we have jobs that are unfilled because we do not have skilled workers. this needs to be a benefit for the unemployed worker. >> governor sanford says that the next budget writers for the next fiscal year will be forced to choose between cutting state budgets or materially raising taxes on all south carolinian which would jujus -- a south

carolinian. which would you choose? >> i would choose a more stable system and put the options on the table. we have to look at the core issues. what is the government's main responsibility. when everything is a priority, then nothing is a priority. we have to set those priorities and look at how we spend. we have to have an accounting of our agencies to make sure that we are not duplicating our services and that those dollars go where we want them to go. >> we have a question for you. many said that if you are elected, we will have another four years of mark sanford and another toxic legislative executive relationship. if elected governor, please differentiate between your approach when working with our legislative body. >> we are very different people.

just like you have two children that are different. this is what i can tell you. i have been in the legislature long enough to know what the problems are. but i have not been part of tte legislature long enough to be part of the fraternity party. i can tell them where we want to go as a state. we need to be predictable. we need to tell them what we are going to do before we do it. the goal that i want to have is to give south carolina and the wind. i want the legislature to feel what it is like to win for the people of this state and i wanted people to know what it feels like. this can be done. i think that the people are going to be pleasantly >> you say that you are not part of the fraternity, but don't you have to drink from their kegs so to speak?

>> you actually do not have to. i was majority whip, i was put on a powerful committee. i can get along with the legislature and i can lead. when i saw the boats were being passed by voice vote, and you would be embarrassed if you saw what i saw. i knew that until we got a good government, we could not get a working government. i worked on workers' comp with the legislature, tort reform, and we will continue to work on other issues, but when they are long, my goal is to side with the people of the state, not the legislature. i will make sure that i go into everyone of those districts when they vote against good business reforms and hold those

legislatures hands to the fire. >> let me ask you a quick question. congressman barrett mentioned that he wanted to make a no new taxes' pledge. which to do that? what's it is a signature that says you are making a promise. go look at what i have done. i have never increased taxes because what used in this important. we saw what meant to stretch a dollar. i am going to focus on how we spend. >> emergency rooms are becoming holding areas for the mentally ill because they have nowhere else to turn. what would you do to address this problem? >> taking care of people that cannot take care of themselves is extremely important. that is a mandate that the state

government has. we have to take a look at those core issues. there are some things that government does that it should do in good times, but we need to think outside of the box. is there something that we can do in a public/private partnership. is there something that we can outsource? is there something we can privatize? there are so many things that we can do. >> do you think that mental health this something to take care of? what's absolutely. >> how would you take care of that in the er? what's we have to talk to the -- >> we have to talk to the hospitals. we have to cut some major spending. >> we wanted each of you to prioritize each of these different issues. legal immigration, jobs and

education. those hot topics. how would you rate those if he became governor. -- if you became governor? >> jobs first, education second, illegal immigration 30. >> i think that she is right. i would go with jobs first, education second and immigration third. >> we will be right back. >> welcome back. before we went to break, we asked the candidates to list their priorities and jobs came out of the top so we want to tackle jobs right now. your plan is to eliminate the small business income tax.

how much money does that represent? >> the interesting thing is that we have one of the most banned aided policies. we need to eliminate the small business income tax which is 3% -pof our budget. when government grew, no one asked what you would cut. when we talk about eliminating the small business income tax, everybody wants to know how you will replace it. the number one thing that can fix our economy quickly is to strengthen that. if it is 3% of our budget. the education oversight committee advises as opposed to

doing something. also, turning around and looking at the budget and control board. >> congressman barrett, you said you would take immediate action to fill job openings. how is that different from what the newly formed department is doing now? >> there are roughly 40,000 jobs that are not bill because we do not have trained workers we would link up unemployed people and give them on the job training. this is not just the work force development funds, we need to streamline budgeting. i will give you another example. we have for educational budgets in south carolina -- we have

four educational budgets in south carolina. when you are trying to get those dollars into the classroom, only 44 cents makes it into the classroom in south carolina. when you were trying to stretch that, it makes sense to streamline the process and be effective. >> rep haley, you say that we should take the advantage of our technical schools. and the leaders of our technical college system say that that is exactly what they're doing right now. can you be more specific in explaining what needs to be done differently? >> absolutely. we are spending $20,000 a year to educate a student in this state. we are only crutcher waiting in one out of every to kids in four

years. -- one out of every two kids in four years. one need to look at vocational programs and strengthen our technical schools. we have amazing technical schools, but they are not getting the funding that they need. we need to hold institutions of higher learning accountable. that is not how we need to be funding. if you look at the funding, it is not right. it is not balanced. we need to strengthen our technical schools so that they help our small businesses. >> you're talking about technical schools not being funded correctly. their budgets have been cut by nearly 50% you were part of the legislature that brought that on and allow that to happen. do you bear some of the responsibility for that? >> as governor, i will do that.

those were three that i over road because we do not need to pull money from the technical schools. >> we have another question for those -- along those same lines. our only source to balance the budget is to increase tuition and they are threatened by putting a tax on tuition through what would you do to bring at a higher education up to par? >> i would give our colleges and universities and community colleges flexibility. if we are going to fund them, then we need to hold their feet to the fire and say that this is how you have to work. if you are not going to, let's give them the ability to go

outside of that box and figure out how they could keep their tuition low and how they can get a better dollar value. my son went to try county technical school. i saw a confidence that i have never seen before. giving him that flexibility is of vital to our funding needs. >> -- is vital to our funding needs. >> we do know that your opponents jobs plan includes improving our infrastructure. what improvements to you have in your plan that you would like to make. with a billion dollar budget shortfall next year, where will we find the money? >> we are looking at economic development. when country -- when companies come to this day, they do not

need to come because we smile and take them to dinner. they need a tax structure that is fair. that is something that i will work on right away. the second thing that they look for is a skilled work force. we need to make sure that we are giving them the work force that they need. they look at infrastructure it is roads and air fare so we are not flying out of charlotte and savannah, but we are actually flying out of this state. it is a process of making sure that the environment for economic development is strong in the state but we want to make sure that we are not looking to bring large quantities, but we need to look at the quality so that they help the small businesses that we have. >> so, building the infrastructure, is that out of the question because so much money has been cut out or are

there other ways to fund this? >> everyone is talking about the fact that we do not have money. to prioritize. we have to decide if we are going to turn around and realize that infrastructure is an issue or turn around and say that spending on education oversight committee is not doing anything. that is what we need to do. legislator, we will jump in and make those hard decisions, but they will affect people immmdiately. >> be specific in understanding how you would promote tourism? >> i do not know that you can put a price tag on it. i do -- every dollar that you spend triples or doubles. >> how much would you want to spend? >> i do not know that you can

put a specific dollar amount on it. bringing people to the beautiful mountains where i live is a wonderful way to showcase our area and get those dollars in. when we talk about bringing tourism in, when in to talk about infrastructure, too. do we need to talk about working with the congressional delegation on our infrastructure? i have been working on that specific issue. south carolina is a donor state when it comes to road tax money. let's keep our own road tax money and solve our problems here in south carolina. >> we want to go with some yes or no questions. would you support any of these iddas to increase funding for our highway system? increasing fuel taxes? rep haley? no. >> increasing user fees?

>> no. >> no. >> if it is new construction, it is something that we can think about. >> you're talking about mandating a structure. we need to say that some things go off and some things go down. we will not absolutely cut everything. if you cannot just say that we are going to do this and not do this. that is what has happened thus far. when that -- we need to have a plan of where the oney is going to go. >> it is also thinking outside of the box. we are in uncharted territory. we have never had a downturn in my dad -- in my lifetime. i am a big proponent of the natural gas reserves and using

those four jobs and economic growth. it could be $250 million that we could use for whatever we see fit. what i would propose is to use 70% for infrastructure and 10% tt roll back into renewable energy. >> you have mentioned that you want to revamp the tax code and every exemption. give voters a time line on how long that will take. >> i think that we will have to work quickly and fast. six months into the administration, we would have something in place. i want to show what will happen in the first year and in year seven. >> congressman barrett, what is your evaluation of her plan for economic prosperity. do you believe it is a viable

plan? >> i have not really seen an actual plan. i have a plan that is called putting south carolina back to work. it is a plan that we worked on for over a year with people all across this state. we worked with economic developers. we put a plan together and that is how i think you have to govern in south carolina. when you propose something, you have to have people that buy into it. and when you propose it, it is not my idea, it is our idea. that is how we propose that. >> the thing is, we do not go in seven, eight or nine steps. it is not about what you said, it is about what you do the area -- what you do.

we can compete to get the good quality companies in this state. >> it is now your opportunity to pose a question. >> i said that we have been on the campaign trail so many times that i think i know what he will say before he says it. i would give you the same question as earlier. do you regret passing the $800 billion bailout that would cost south carolina families and everyone else across this country $6,000 per family? >> i will say it again. i did not have six months to wait before i made a decision. president george w. bush came to us and said we would have a global crisis. i believe we were at a point where people were willing to reach in their back pocket and pull out their atm card and stick it in the slot and nothing would come out.

i had to make a decision. i could not wait. did it divert a global crisis? i think it did. nobody has fought harder to make sure that in this never happens again. >> when we come back, we'll talk about education. >> welcome back, we are picking up with education. the next question is an important to the league of women voters. let's specifically address this issue. this took effect in 2007 and it exempts honor occupied homes

from property taxes. people stopped spending and school districts say that it has cost them millions of dollars. or what used to be a very reliable and predictable source of income has become very volatile. and do you support repeal an act 388? >> i think that it needs to be studied with everything else. i think it is something that we need to look at. we have to look at everything on top of the way that the department of education spends. >> so, you are willing to do that? what's absolutely. -- >> absolutely. what we need to make sure is that the legislature said they would take care of them next year. there never is a next year in the legislature. if you are going to do with, do

it right the first year. >> you know a lot about running a business and you talk about that a lot. budget if you do not know how much money you are working with. a lot of the school system's look at their budgets and looking at education as a business, is that sound business? >> i was going and raised in an area where we did not know what we didn't have. in other areas they spent more time on discipline than they did on education. you go into my schools, there are not those opportunities. they deserve a good quality education. this does not happen -- does not need to be based on what happened to be going or raised.

-- based on where they happened to be going or raised. going -- goborn or raised. >> let's go to congressman garrett. -- congressman barrackarrett. do you support repealing 388? >> we have the grocery tax, the cigarette tax, i think that we have to look at our tax system holistic play. how we can come up with a system that is fair and more sustainable and more accountable area that is

important if we are going to budget like you're talking about. i have also talked with a dear friend of mine who is on the budget forecast for board. we need to -- the budget forecaster board. we need to have a budget freeze for one year and do something different where we know how much money is in the bank before we allocated. at least we do not have to go back in the middle of the year and say that we have to cut the budget again. >> as it relates to act as 388, are you willing to change or repeal? >> i think that we need to look at everything holistic look, and i think that means all of our taxes. >> with teacher salaries being cut, what would you do to keep

the best and brightest to guns in our state? -- students in our state? >> you always cut from the top. we should not be talking about teacher layoffs. we should be talking about 1000 people working at the department of education or that we have 85 school districts. if that money is not going to the teacher student or technology, that is not the issue. until we realize that we were too top heavy in this day, and we need to reward them. when they improve educational standards, we need to separate the good teachers from those that are not performing as well. the government needs to get out of the way and let the teacher teach and look at how we pay

them based on performance and expect them to produce. >> your ideas for keeping quality teachers in south carolina? cutting from the top before we cut our teachers. it is like our front-line soldiers do not have the resources that they need. teacher. she packed her lunch on sundays and she has a new pack of paper and new book that we have bought for her classroom. makes it to the classroom. the national average is 65 instructional classroom needs where they are most needed. we can streamline that process. we have 46 counties and 64 different funding sources going into that plate of spaghetti.

we have four sources in south carolina. the business person in me says that one makes more sense than four if you want to make a difference in education. >> next question, this is a story that got a lot of attention. the state recently purchased used school buses from another state. or there is an aging fleet of buses that become more unreliable as they are maintained, what is your solution to make sure that our children are transported safely and on time. >> we are the only state in the country that does not privatize our school buses. the government should not be in the business of maintaining and having school buses. every other state in the country factors that out to some other company and what happens is you have good quality buses that have air-conditioning. if they break down, someone is there to fix it.

that is the problem with south carolina, they are trying to be all things to all people. the government does not need to be in the school bus business. fifi is to privatize the school bus system like other states. >> you have been in the house why has it not happen? what's it has come up several lost by trying to maintain the school bus fleet. and how much we can save if we privatized that school bus fleet. question. >> i think it is a good idea. >> i do not know if 49 are wrong and one is right, but ittis thinking outside of the box. to even think about putting children on a sub standard mode of transportation when they are the most precious thing in your life, i think that is unconscionable. we need to think outside of the box. >> you just mentioned that the number of school districts and

we have a question asking why we have 46 counties and 85 school districts. >> should it be changed? >> >> could it be changed? absolutely, should be changed, i do not know. we talk about the federal us what to do. we talk about them coming in and telling the locals what to do. let's work out a deal, here. in your school district if you show me accountability, you show me transparency, and you show me that those dollars are getting into that classroom if you have one county and 10 school point. our school districts will save -- will say that we can figure it out better than columbia. we know how to get those dollars in the classroom. they do not need someone in the district of columbia telling us how to do it.

i think it is a great solution. >> we are being held accountable here, rep haley, they are wanting specifics on merit based pay. how would you get this done? what would it entail? >> >> i know that it works in business and if it works in business, it works and -- in education. you cannot expect a teacher to go into a challenge area -- a challenge area and get paid the same r they do not have those cultural issues. that is the only way we are going to get a strong work force in those challenged areas. that is why we need to award teachers for performing well. we have to improve the morale of our teachers. when we strengthen them, that will happen. this is something i think is very important. we will see how we can implement that in south carolina. >> a quick follow-up, your opponent says it is a great

idea to set it up on a system where there is a merit based pay system. is that a good idea? >> we already do that in the department of commerce. we have already done that. they started that a couple of years ago. >> i think it is a great idea. >> but it is not a new idea? >> we talked about it a long time and i glad that they implemented because it workssin the privateit should work in the public sector. >> will allow rep haley to ask the congressman a question. it is now your turn to asked rep haley a question. >> i applaud you for putting all of your documents out there. we both campaigned on accountability and transparency. i just want to know, have all of your disclosures' been public? have you left anything out? i understanddthat there may have been something with wilbur smith that was omitted. i just wanted to make sure everything is>> everything is in there. in there. we always said that we have put

everything out therewe have released our tax returns. we have released our funding disclosures and i have no problem doing that. thank you. >> on that note, we will take a short break and have our final round of questioning. >> welcome back to the debate. we will continue with our questioning right now. we will talk about immigration. you have put the legal -- this is in the forefront of our campaign. your estimate that this is a two-part question. how is there any possible way to in the stakes? -- in the states since they apply under the radar? >> >> that is the best guess. i asked them to speak. illegal immigration shows that

every state is a border state. they are taking jobs away from south carolinian. we need to do several different things. i applaud jim brewer. -- a jim brewer -- she is trying to take her state back. the federal government has not south carolina can do a couple of things. we can hold our employees -- employers accountable. who they hire is who they say they will hire. we will enhance our immigration laws with some common sense additional things like what they did in arizona. we can implement a plan where we train our local and state law-enforcement officers on how to enforce immigration law in south carolina. we are doing it in charleston and buford. it is actually working. destiny. >> you say that workers earn $86 -- $186 million a year.

say that we did for all of thee. all of these illegal immigrants, who will fill these jobs? a lot of them are hard labor jobs. >> i hope that they would the south carolinian. the last i checked, it was 11.6% unemployment. we are looking to put people back to work in south carolina. bless them. this nation is a nation of immigrants. we have laws to do that. if you want to come into this nation and do it legally, god bless you. if you or knowingly and wantonly -- if your knowingly and wantonly breaking the law, then we will do what needs to be done and that is to enforce the law of this land and get you out of this date. -- out of our state. . .

the problem is they turned around and face the fact that there is not a verify system go through. there are penalties if they break that. the problem is they did not put the first dollars in prosecution fund and we started -- until we started looking at the stimulus package last year. that is why the government needs to be accountable. we have to go back can see that it works. we need to make sure we have reports in place to say how many illegal immigrants are here, how many businesses are being fined, and what we're doing about. the question you asked about what you would do for the jobs we cannot fill -- we need to expand our worker visa program. we need to work with the federal

delegation so the farmers and contractors and the people who cannot fill those jobs -- there is a way to do that legally. but it has to be done legally. >> let me move on to the next question, which is a little personal. national media has asked you ae- lot about it, concerning your faae -- faith. you stay at the end of your campaign commercial, "are -- all things with our possible." are you a christian? >> i am very proud of my parents. i am proud of the way they raised us. they taught us work ethic and everything that i know i am today, so i will never apologize for that and i will always continue to be proud of everything they have accomplished because they are the ones who reminded us every day how blessed we are to be here. i chose to become a christian woman. my husband is a christian man. we have a christian family. when my parents asked us to visit their church, absolutely i go. the same way when michael's

parents ask us to go, we do that. yes, i chose the christian faith, and what i know about christianity is that they are all-accepting. they try to bring more people in. >> let me ask you a brief follow-up because people have questions about things when they do not understand. do you mind explaining a little bit about the difference between christianity and what led to your conversion? >> my and my older brother decided to go with the christian faith because it worked with us and because it was something we decided to do. what i do not want to do is talk about anything about the same fate because that was the way i was raised. the decision that michael and i made was the decision that works for our family, and we continue to walk every day, trying to be better people, walking in strength with our relationship with the lord, and that is something we will continue to do for us and our family, but i'm proud of our parents and the way

they raised me. i don't want to say anything against them or against that faith. >> howdy your religious beliefs play a role in what you do every day and decisions you make every day? if you were elected governor, would your religious beliefs affect important decisions? >> it is who i am. it is what i am as a person. it drives my every decision. it drives the way i live. it drives the way i bring up my family. i'm a sinner saved by grace, and i live in god, who is jesus christ. he is in my heart every day. when i talk to my children, when i talk to schools, i say that things are not shades of gray. there are absolutes in our life, and there is 10 of them, if you want to be exact. i try to live by those every day. my children were actually saved during this campaign. win or lose, that is important. the big thing is that my

children have been saved, and that is aagood day and a day. >> let me ask a question about another sensitive subject. we hear much about needing to be more inclusive in south carolina. the question is, as we look at the television ads, particularly on the republican side, we do not see a lot of racial or ethnic diversity. why not? >> you are looking at a minority female. >> obviously, you represent divvrsity in terms of women and your background, but why do we not see more diversity? >> i do not necessarily about the commercials as much as i do about this state. as we go across this state, as i talk about joining the tea party movement, i can tell you they are not a party at all. they are republicans, democrats, and independents who have said, ggvernment and we are going to take it back. it is one of the thing that has

made south carolina really come together and say we want to take our government back. you can talk about commercials, but i will talk about what i see on the campaign trail. as i go across the state, i have never seen elected official so scared. i want to make sure we work for all the people in south carolina. >> your advertisements, when you play these advertisements on the air, you hope to show the people who you are reaching out to, and i know that the republican party in the state is trying to be moreediversified. we decisions like that being made when you were coming up with your campaign plan? >> i will say this -- we could all be more sensitive, and we should be. that is something we're going to take a look at, but as a congressman, i have ever seen on my staff, in my district. you know -- it is my job to serve everybody in the third

congressional district. i do not care whether they're rich or poor, black or white, male or female. if they walk into my door and they know my heart and my staff, i do not care who you are -- i do not even care if you are in my district -- we are going to help everybody in our district. in south carolina, until we pick up the bottom boat and raise that level, then we are all going to suffer. i do not care who that is. and you are right -- we all need to be more sensitive to that. >> the next question is for representative haley. mitt romney will be campaigning with you tomorrow. he endorsed or campaign early on. he is a presidential contender for 2012. it asked to be his running mate or even to serve in his administration, would you consider it? >> no, right now, i am running for governor of south carolina because i believe i can bring true change. i have always talked about joining the movement. i do not want it to be about a person. i wanted to be about the people of this state and mining officials who they work for.

these positive distractions, while their flattering, it is not what we are thinking about. we are thinking about making a true difference for the peoppe of this state and turning around and walking away. -- not turning around and walking away. >> we know you have advocated for nuclear energy in congress. voters are looking for results. please name three of your most significant accomplishments since being elected in 2003 to represent the third district. >> i thought you were going to ask me about fred thompson. i am scratching and clawing to make the gubernatorial race. let me get serious. being part of the bush tax cut i think was a huge thing. making sure that people can keep their own tax money, that is a good thing. being a strong nuclear proponent at the national lab, getting national labs that is down in the neck of the woods, making sure nuclear sure the program of our nation with the savannah river site is first and foremost on my mind, especially when it comes to my district. in my legislative career, hands

down, whether state or federal, it is helping lead the ban on partial birth abortion. it was a crowning moment in my life. i think it was a wonderful moment in south carolina, and i do not think anything i could do in my political career could come close to that. >> putting that same question, framing it a little differently, in your campaign, you have talked about a lot of things you have fought for in the state legislature. you mention that in terms of voting on the record and other issues, you fought those battles for over 2.5 years, but voters are looking for results. if elected -- since you have been elected, i should say, please name for the voters watching tonight, your three most significant accomplishments during your service there. >> absolutely. my brutal battle to get legislators to vote on the record. when you get a good government, you can get a working government. we have roles in both the house and senate that require them to vote on the record. we are looking to make that permanent. it passed the house.

-pwe of pushing a bill to pass t in the senate. that is one of the hardest times i have gone through, but one of the most rewarding because i know people can see how other legislators were. i was very involved in workers' comp reform. coastal insurance reform. homes and having to give up their businesses, i was very involved in that, and i also work on the fight for tort reform, which also help our small businesses as well as keeping the quality of health care but in south carolina. >> thank you very much. we wish you both the best of luck. >> thank you so much for being here tonight. the our flew by. we hope you enjoyed watching th3 about the candidates, and that you participated in our online chat. we will have much more coverage coming up tonight at 11:00. >> the winner of the republican runoff will, of course, go again the democratic senator. that runoff election, just to

remind you, is this coming tuesday, june 22. >> you do still have time to vote. we want to remind everybody to exercise their right -- a right to vote. the polls are open from 7:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. on tuesday. thanks for watching. good night. >> the c-span crew attended an expo held for louisiana residents seeking help as a result of the gulf oil spill. we spoke with the coast guard captain. >> what are you doing tonight with this event? >> we want to inform the public of how we are fighting the oil spill and provide some of the services to them. i started out doing town meetings when i first got here and i realized there was a gap. we were not getting the information up to the public that we wanted to, but we were not able to get the services and answer some of the questions about claims and aspersions and what we're doing, our relationship with bp. the hope is to better inform the

public about oil spills and what we are doing here in louisiana to fight the oil spills. >> how many of these have you had, and how many -- how have they gone? >> we have had between five to seven. i think they are going quite well. we are able to answer questions, concerns. a lot of folks have come to ask questions about cames, so we have bp claims folks to answer those questions. they've been asking about the vessel opportunity program. they are here to get involved in that program. if they get stuck in that program, we try to unstick that for them. we are also demystifying some of those things we're doing. whether the fish are being impacted, what kind of sampling you're doing as well. >> walk us through a typical day for you, if there is such a thing. >> i get up pretty early in the morning.

we get a good handle on what the picture of the oil looks like at that point in time. we get to strategizing and set of tactics for how we are going to fight oil for the day. we start moving resources to where the thickest part of the oil is. round about 7:00, we brief the unified area command, which is of ion roberts, and then after 7:00 -- between 7:00 38:00, i am involved in the governor's call with the government to file with his concerns are. it is all about finding the oil spill to make sure we have the right resources in the right places. during these town hall meetings, getting the word out, during press interviews, but most of my time is involved in making sure that we are in the fight and doing the right things for the fight. i do get out. i fly around as the tactical commander and make sure that the

resources are bird -- position in the right side and handle any logistical concerns we need to address out in the field. >> how does a person learn to do all this? >> 20 years of experience. my very first oil spill was exxon-valdez. i joined in 1987 and for dissipated and that in 1989. that has been my profession ever since. >> talked to some vision and in venice yesterday who are very worried that their way of life is coming to an end. i'm sure you get that question all the time. what do you say to people? >> i say we are fighting for their way of life and i say to people that we -- that they will fish again. i'm going to do ttat to the day until we finish this oil spill. this is about a fight for their way of life, and we will get them back to fishing again. that is my promise. >> thank you very much. >> thank you.

>> [inaudible] this is a piece of paper [inaudible] i was one of the lucky ones that got a hotel room, and as i was checking in at night, i was checking in and a man came into the hotel with his wife, and his wife was holding that man, and he was carrying it into the hotel room. he was barely able to stand because he was working so hard. i said to him, "sir, you can have my room." he gave me this note, and it says, "thank you much for -peverything that you did. if i can ever bb of help, just call." i keep this with me to this day, and this is a reminder to me of what this battle is all about. all i am doing everything i can,

and i hope tonight you'll learn what we are trying to do. we are in the lead. i am here to try to support your way of life. i would love to hear what you have to say. please, walked around, tall, find out about each other. thank you very much. [applause] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2010] >> and looked down at the latest

numbers for economic stimulus spending. nearly $400 billion of the $787 billion stimulus fund has been committed to states. that is up about $2 billion. of that, nearly $250 billion has actually been paid for those projects. you can find out more online at our web site, c-span.org. tomorrow, the treasury secretary will be on capitol hill the -- explaining how the economic stimulus money has been used. he testified before the congressional oversight panel set up to review the program. we will have live coverage starting at 10:00 eastern here on c-span, also on c-span radio. next, a debate between the3 tomorrow's utah second congressional district primary. congressman jim matheson and claudia right appeared on "sunday edition." they discussed oil-drilling, health care, and immigration. this is just over 20 minutes.

>> in the sunday edition -- >> i am a democrat. >> a congressman faces an in- party challenge. >> i'm running for congress because i believe the people come first. >> a conversation with jim matheson and claudia right in this open " sunday edition." -- jim matheson and claudia right in this open " sunday edition." >> this is a comedy called a primary election. in the second congressional district, democrats will choose one of these two candidates as their nominee. this will not be a formal debate today, but rather a conversation in which our guests will have a chance to differentiate their opinions. i have asked each to give a 45- second self introduction, and based upon the coin toss, i will ask you to go first. >> thank you. you know me. you know that in my time in office, i have always put utah

first, and i'm proud of the fact that i approach every issue with the notion of solving problems and making progress. whether it is resolving very contentious public lands issues and moving the first major legislation in 25 years, whether it is standing up for you talkans looking for jobs -- utahans looking for jobs in this down economy, i always put utah first. i value the relationship we have. thank you for making such a good congressman by your input. i look forward to your vote this tuesday. >> i am running for congress because i believe that the people come first, the lobbyists and certainly not the corporations, not the banks, not wall street. i believe that a different kind of politics is possible, one that allows elections to be

publicly financed, and making our representatives accountable only to their constituents. not to the next election or the dollar. i believe that i have traveled all over the state, talked to many people and become increasingly aware of the unique nature of the different communities in utah, and i would hope that you would find it in your hearts to support me. >> thank you. your opponent has the highest approval rating of any major political officeholder in the state, the only democrat in the bunch. he has been elected as a democrattin a swing district five times. why do you as a fellow democrat want to knock him out? >> i believe that over the past decade, my opponent has moved consistently to the right. he has in fact disenfranchise himself from his base. i believe that was made very

evident march 23 when his representatives across the state were heckled and booed. i believe that had to be a terrible day in his political career, and i do not think he was aware until that day how far from the base he had moved. i think it is time to reexamine this, take a good close look, and see if this is the kind of representative you want to have3 had he moved from core democratic principles? are you wearing a republican or democrat jersey? >> it is easy to throw out this kind statements. facts just do not bear out. one of the things i have always been proud of is that i told people that i am what i am. i run on the values and politics and the approach i learned from my mom and dad. i told people that they should not expect to agree with me on every issue, but they should expect i will take a thoughtful approach to every issue, and i think that is what i've done. the vast majority of votes in

our state, i think they know that and are comfortable with it, so i think we have to be careful about making general statements. the republicans sound too far to the left. some folks in the democrats sound too far to the right, but i think i have been pretty consistent all along. this notion there has been some change, i just do not buy it. >> let's talk about health care, the landmark piece of legislation in congress. not a single republican in the house voted for it. 87% of your democratic house did, but you crossed and voted with republicans. why did you do that? is that an example of what you call this disenfranchising the base? >> i do not think i would describe it as crossing over to vote with republicans. i think what everybody wants is access to quality, affordable health care. those are the goals that we all agree on, and i do not think the legislation achieved those

goals. i think instead, the legislation ignored the issues of real reform of our health-care system, did not take on special interest. the pharmaceutical industry supported this health care legislation, so i think we need to be careful about saying this is a partisan issue. i think we really all want to talk about looking for a solution to the issue that allows for a sustainable, affordable health care system for everyone in utah and everyone in the country. we do not want to go down the path where massachusetts has gone. word has a cover such only bill in just three ssort years later, one in five are denied access to health care because of cost. >> since you voted against the health care bill, would you vote to repeal it? >> i would not because there are components we all value and believe in. no longer can insurance companies deny coverage for a pre-existing condition. i do think there's a lot we to do to improve the bill.

i have suggested all along to improve the bill, but to take just a meat axe approach and a peak -- repeal the whole bill, there are components to the bill that cannot be repealed, and i have been very up-front about articulating what they are. >> you would have voted for the health care bill? >> i would have voted for the health care bill. i also think we need to put some caps on the pharmaceuticals. my opponent in 2003 voted to deregulate pharmaceuticals, and one of the things he has talked about is the fact that this does not control pharmaceutical costs. i believe that in fact, we need health care, and it is affordable, and i also think that i would have voted for this health care bill. i would have voted for the one that had a public option. >> in this most republican state, mr. matheson's electability is not in question. some say they yours is. what is your path to success in november? >> i believe anybody watching

politics right now would realize there is a political realignment going on. we have increasing numbers of moderate republicans coming into the ranks of democrats. even at the convention will not get -- moderate republicans chose to go to the democratic convention. i think the leadership of the republican party has leaned so far to the right that many people who are moderates and independents think they have more now in common with democrats. i would also think that anyone successful in this state has got to address top to bottom issues as well as left to right. >> such as? >> such as election reform, public financing of elections, term limits, time limits for campaigning. we need to look at holding wall street and the banks accountable, extending our antitrust laws to includeebanks. there is a lot of things we need to look at. >> he mentioned public financing for all elections. what is the virtue for voters? >> we have always had political and ideological difference. i believe what cements those

ideological differences in place and prevent our politicians from being as pragmatic as historically they have been, with the amount of money in politics and the role that money place in the next election, rather than making our officials look at the public good and what would best serve the public good. >> on public financing of elections, what is your position? >> we all want to look for ways to make a level playing field, so i think that is a good objective. i think in our current situation with our economy in disarray and deficits growing, asking taxpayers to pay for political campaigns is not going to be received very well, but i would submit that there is a bigger issue, and that is that the number one issue we have facing our country, i say it is jobs in the economy. my opponent thinks it is campaign finance reform. i think jobs and the economy really is the fundamental issue we ought to be talking about. we need to get this country

going again. we have taken some steps, including the economic recovery act that i supported. i think we have to get our priorities down in terms of where we go. when it comes to political financing, i think it very imporrant -- i wish campaigns were not so expensive, and i wish the dialogue would maintain the dialogue between candidates and voters. i'm worried about the new supreme court decision to mail out unlimited amounts of money to delete or overwhelm the dialogue that candidates are having. we face a threat of that this november, and me to focus on addressing that problem. >> do you favor capital punishment? >> i think that in cases of extremely horrible crimes, as long as we go through a very thorough process in terms of using all available technology to make sure that we prove guilt or innocence -- in this case proving guilt -- and i am open to capital punishment in cases

of horrible crimes. >> i think capital punishment is archaic, and i also think that's until we have the ability to help reform folks, that basically, there may be some extreme cases where capital punishment is necessary, unfortunately, in our society. i also believe that capital punishment is something to be looked at very carefully as a society because we are executing someone in the name of our state, in the name of the people of the state. >> and the oil is still spewing into the gulf of mexico. do you support a moratorium on further deep water drilling? >> i do. i also think we need to get to the bottom of this as far as what kinds of regulations are in place. were there enough? were they in force? why were they not in force? >> were there enough?

>> we probably need to do that -- review that for deepwater very carefully, and i think there were not enough. we know now that there were men on that platform that with home to their wives to put their affairs in order because they knew that it was dangerous. i want to know why those were not enforced. i think i have been misunderstood -- i do not necessarily blame my opponent for that, but ooer the past 10 years, those regulations were set, and i think we need to look at those regulations, and i think we need to look at those as a society and certainly as government officials. the number one job is to protect the people of this nation. >> what is the role of this congress? the president extracted a promise. what should congress be doing or what has congress done? >> congress supports the

moratorium. congress should find out what is going on within the department of interior, which has the responsibility to enforce the regulations, find out if those regulations were in fact in force or whether they were ignored. congress also has the responsibility to find out if these regulations need to be updated to prevent this type of disaster from being -- from happening again. turns out there are a significant number of congressional hearings already on the oil spill, and number of which i have participated in. it is important to hold bp accountable. that is the role of congress, and they are moving in that direction. >> let's take a break for commercials, and we will be back to the candidates facing each other in the democratic primary for the second district nomination. we are back with claudia wright and jim matheson. the "new york times" profile this race this very week saying that it was an opportunity for

party crashers to crossover primary voters, for republicans to come in and make mischief. at a primary like this in june when turnout is really everything, what are you doing to ensure that that is not negatively impact your candidacy? >> first of all, we have gone out and tried to get underrepresented democratic areas to the polls. trying to infuse the party with new blood and table that have not been participating in the electoral process. i believe that republicans are out there with a senate race that needs to be determined, and i truly believe that registered republicans are going to vote in that race. >> a new web sites is everybody can vote. today in my view benefit from that kind of crossover? >> i might, but the truth of the matter is that basically, 40% of utah is republican registered. 40% is independent. there has to be an appeal --

>> they will not be reporting in the republican close primary. >> that they come out and vote and express their opinions. >> you are telling your voters to be sure to turn out because turnout is the key. were you concerned about this kind of mischief? >> we have had websites created where if you type in my name it takes you to the conservatives for my opponent website. no one is taking responsibility for it. i think that is wrong. i suspect that some mischief is being played out there to try to gennrate turn out because they know that gives the republican the best chance to win in november. >> arizona has adopted a loss in to take effect that would require police to stop anyone whom they suspect might be in the country illegally. is that a good or bad idea? >> bad idea on two counts. this is a federal issue, and it is unfortunate that final action has not taken place, but i do not think states should be trying to set immigration policy. secondly, the substance is wrong as well.

this is going to create greater problems for law enforcement. it is an emotional and in some respects i would say irrational response to a situation. i do not want to diminish the importance of border security issues, and there are some serious issues in arizona, and i think that has created a motion that perhaps manifested itself in this law, but i do not think it is a step in the right direction. >> i think the arizona immigration law came from a very specific drug problem that erupted across the border and made people in cities and safe. we are not in that situation. i think that was used as a guide to pass a law that in fact is racial profiling and will not stand up legally. i believe we need immigration laws that work with a fluctuating quota system rather than having a fixed one that goes up and down with our economy. those who choose to go past

permanent work visas, and i give them some avenue toward citizenship. >> what about those many millions of people who are in this country illegally now? what would you do for them? >> i think that, for example, a temporary work visas, we made them for two to five years. if you have been here all along, been able to support your family, kids taking english and whenever you want to do like that, they do permit work visas, so you work from there to see who would qualify. you just apply the law evenhandedly across those that are here and those that want to come. >> what you think of those -palready in the country? >> i would not give them visas. >> you program your party in 2001 and voted in favor of the bush tax cuts, $1.3 trillion. that tax cut is about to expire. should expire and go away, or should it be expanded? >> components of it should be

expired, and components should be extended. i agree with president obama on this issue. let's go back to 2001. in the time, there are components to tax cut that people want to keep. the lowest rate at which in comes taxed, the loaded to cheaper rates, so lower income folks have less of a tax burden -- i think you want to maintain that tax cuts. >> last year, roughly 40% of americans owe nothing, that 7 1 million had no tax liability at all. >> he have to be careful about that statistic. >> related to income tax alone when you include social security or medicare. a lot of folks in lower income circumstances are actually paying a greater proportion of their income. i am all for looking at reforming our tax code. it is too complicated, not particularly fair, and i'm all for looking at making it

simpler, more transparent, and more equitable, but i think we have to be careful about that statistic. income tax is one thing. social security is another. >> do you have a tax policy proposal? >> mr. obama says taxes should not be raised on anyone that makes less than $200,000. >> i would agree with that premise. the bush tax cut gave a huge benefit to the wealthy, and i do not think at this point they are paying their fair share. >> how can congress use tax policy or any policy to address 9.7% unemployment in this country? >> one of the things we need to do is take a look at how bailout money can continue to be used, and i think we need to add to that to encourage small business loans. the fastest way to put people back to work is through small business. it is one of the areas we agree on. we just need to finance and get it done, and i think that is one of the ways we can really help

with putting people back to work. >> how would you grade the stimulus money dispersal so far in its effectiveness in putting people back to work? >> the stimulus money given to banks has been largely ineffective except in covering the assets of the bank. i think the stimulus package back obama put forward in fact is a much better program than what you saw the bush administration do, just handing out billions of dollars with no strings attached to the banks and saying that they would like them to help with mortgages and they would like them to help with small businesses. it just has not been used for that purpose. >> would you grade the effectiveness of that legislation? >> i voted against the bill. i thought it would not work. it was presented as a plan to deal with mortgages that were under water. i voted against it, and i feel good about that vote. when it comes to the economic stimulus package, and has that impact. it saved or created 3.5 million jobs in america. is all about trying to mitigate

what was one of the worst economic downturns we face in this country. it is the worst downturn since the depression, and it was the right thing to do at the time. on tax policy, some of this tax issues, and saii that they should expire. i have voted for that in the past. we are going to have to have much more balanced policy and what has taken place. >> we have about a minute to divide between the two of you for closing summary. >> i always enjoy having the chance to meet with constituents and get their ideas. their ideas have been what has made me a better congressman. all of my legislative proposals, all of my achievements about solving problems and getting things done for you talk, we have worked together to get it done. i always put utah first, and again, i ask for your support this tuesday. >> thank you.

>> i would like to explain that i'm here because i believe different politics as possible. i do believe that in fact, if elected, i would like to hold in-person meetings so that i can see my constituents face-to- face, know when they are happy, when they are unhappy, when in fact, they are indifferent. i think it is part of the obligation of a congressperson to inform, explain, and certainly, to listen. i appreciate the citizens of utah and their support. thank you. >> we appreciate you both very much for being here. thank you for being our guests. we look forward to speaking you again -- speaking with you again tuesday evening after the voters make their decisions. we will be back right after this. ever since the utah primary election was moved to june, voter turnout has been pathetically low, usually something between 10% or 15%. we profiled the democratic

nation contest. in voting districts across the state, there are primary contest with school boards, county offices, for the state legislature, and in some cases, the outcome of the primary may be more decisive than the general election in november. some jurisdictions have on elections were you have a say in your taxes. the utah primary election is this tuesday. we all have the opportunity to vote. we posted links to kso.com. you can find that link at the "sunday edition" page. thank you for sharing your -- part of your sunday with us. we will save a place at the table next week for you. >> learning how louisiana is dealing with the oil spill in the gulf.

this book with a doctor from the health and human services department about health-related concerns. >> [inaudible] my name is commander tim davis. i am a physician with the secretary of fairness as bonds, part of health and human services. >> where are you doing in the area in general? >> we are here as a unified command. the medical element that we are organizing the policies for the care of the -- primarily the occupational workers that are down here dealing with the -pcleanup offshore, on shore, ad

inland. >> what kind of health problems are you finding. >> right now, just general. we have not found anything we could clearly identified as oil related. we are constantly looking for it, but most of the things we have seen other types of illness you would associate with a group together in a barracks or some other dormitories situation like that. >> how many workers are involved in this that you have to worry about? >> there is about 27,000 right now. the numbers i had earlier today, about 11,000 in terrebonne parish, and about 11,000 in five men perished -- plaque men perished. >> how do you address these conceens? do you have to set up mobile health units? >> there are mobile health units for sure. we do not want to tax the parishes and counties. they have their own medical infrastructure, so we have first aid set up.

we have ambulances' set up. we have what we call intermediate care. we have care set up that would be equivalent to an acute care center. then, we monitor -- the assets are mobile, and then we work and coordinate with the parish president and the county authorities to make sure again that we are not burdening the parishes, but also not depriving the local medical infrastructure of a chance to provide service to these individuals. >> how do you plan this? is this a structure that was in place that you have done in other places in other disasters, or is this something you are inventing as you go? >> it is not invention. it is using our incident command system, which is standard process we all follow. we generally do have disaster medical teams and surgical teams that come in after an event occurs, when the infrastructure is fractured or damage, broken.

in this case, the infrastructure is not, but yet, we are importing -- sometimes, maybe the county increases populations by 30% or 40% because of the workers brought there, and it is not something we could expect the county or paris to provide care for and not cause problems caring for their citizens. it is a little bit differ from what we do, but it is a variation and still what we do. >> is there any involvement from non-governmental organizations? or is this a different kind of operation? >> as far as i know, the red cross is not involved, at least at my level. i'm sure they are monitoring the situation, but i have not worked directly with the red cross. >> what about the concerns of citizens who might be exposed to gases and have health problems with drinking water and whatever? how do you keep your eyes on that? >> the department of health and hospitals is monitoring 7

emergency departments in effect in parishes. the cdc has their health line going. this is actually what i'm doing here. i come out to the town meetings and as a lesson or ask for am available to answer questions about health-related issues. today, i have not received any health questions. people look been concern seeing more economics, loss of jobs, not getting enough of the work that bp may be needing help. they are being people from distant cities instead of local folks -- they are bringing in people from the distant cities instead of local folks. one single question about nausea and headaches i do not know its disbursement was, and i just send them over to the coast guard. >> finally, who is paying for all this? is the taxpayer paying for it? is vp paying for it -- is bp

paying for it? >> its my understanding they will pick up the final bill. they are monitoring and giving us anything they want, by my normal way of getting paid. in his van that those involved with the oil spill will be a painful amount. >> could you tell your history with this kind of work? >> nothing exactly like this, but in the past year, we have done things like the inauguration of 2 million or 3 million people. i storms in kentucky, as floods in north dakota, the american samoa tsunami. fully involved in the h1n1 outbreak. haiti was another reason disaster we respond to of note, and now, this disaster -- a collective disaster, probably the largest in the last hundred

years. >> how long have you been doing this kind of work? >> first one, probably about 1981 with the some assassination. i was involved in that. that was a military. since then, teaching. and also with the cdc's epidemic intelligence service. >> thank you. sec commissioner mcdowell talks about reclassifying some broadband services, media ownership, and the use of public airwaves for emergency services. tonight on "the communicators" on c-span2. topics at today's state department briefing included an official statement on the gaza diplomatic quartet, and united states' role in the limit -- the

middle east peace process. they talked about the importance of the u.s. japanese alliance. the of ongoing work of the u.s. expert group on the base relocation plan, and experts to lighten the impact on the people of okinawa. they also talked about regional issues, including the need for a strong response to the sinking of the ship, and international issues, including implementation of resolution 1929. the secretary and foreign minister will see each other next month. the united states welcomes the announcement the special united nations of a tour on the

special human rights in the dprk. united states hopes it will be granted access to north korea to observe conditions inside the country and hold direct discussions on human rights issues. the united states recognizes and banks the professor who taught for six years of outstanding service as the first on the situation of human rights. korean people, stronglye north%- advocating for them to improve their human rights record. the united states remains deeply concerned about the situation in northhkorea and the plight of north korean refugees. human rights are a top u.s. priority in addressing human rights issues while a significant impact on the prospects for closer u.s./north korean ties. also in the region, we deplore

the killings of journalists and urge the philippine authorities to move quickly to bring those responsible to justice. we note that just this weekend, there was tragically the third in a string of recent attacks on journalists. greater progress must be made to halt such killings. we will continue to raise this point with our philippine counterparts and support efforts to build government capacity to investigate and prosecute these crimes. in africa, the united states supports the canadian people as they prepare for a historic election this weekend -- supports the beginning -- supports the guinean people. our embassy has engaged in enormous out of reach to political parties, leaders, transition government, civil society, and the public to

reinforce the message of peaceful elections, the necessity of transparency, and the respect by all parties for the voters. we certainly strongly encourage all parties to join together to ensure a peaceful, fair, and free process. in this hemisphere, we congratulate the president-elect for his victory and applaud the people and government of colombia for conducting sunday's runoff election in a fair and transparent manner. the peaceful and transparent elections and respectful but spirited debate that precede the elections illustrate colombia's longstanding commitment to democratic principles. we look forward to working with the president-elect and deepen our partnership and advance common goals for the benefit of our two people. we will shortly be releasing a statement by the quartet, which i will read in part. "the quartet reaffirms that the current situation in gaza,

including the humanitarian and human rights situation of the civilian population, is unsustainable, on acceptable, and not in the interest of any of those concerned." consistent with these objectivess the quartet and representatives have worked with israel as well as consulting the palestinian authority, egypt, and other concerned parties to affect a fundamental change in policy in gaza. the new policy just announced by the government of israel is a welcome development. the quartet will continue to work with israel, the palestine authority, and other concerned parties to ensure these arrangements are implemented as quickly as possible. at the same time, the quartet recognizes that israel has legitimate security concerns that must continue to be safeguarded and police efforts to maintain security will enable the movement and access for the palestinian people and goods are critical. >> i do not understand something.

he said the situation in gaza is unsustainable and unacceptable and not in the interest of anybody. does that mean that even with the announcement made by the israeli government yesterday, it is still unacceptable to you? >> the current situation as of this moment is of concern to the united states, to the quartet's. the policy that israel announced yesterday is a welcome step, and we believe, as i think the white house statement said yesterday, that these arrangements should significantly improved conditions for palestinians, but now comes the hard part of actually implementing this policy and in the process, working effectively with the palestinian authorities to increase the flow of people and goods between gaza and the west bank. >> once that has been implemented, from your point of view, will the situation be

sustainable and acceptable? >> we will wait to see how the policy is further developed and fully implemented, but the policy framework that the israelis announced yesterday we believe can help improve the situation significantly. >> what ways do you expected to improve their daily lives? what in particular are you looking for? >> as i understand it, the israelis are flipping the current process on its head, so instead of having a situation where they are sick -- excluded, unless they are specifically authorized for transit, you have a much broader array of goods that are authorized for transit into gossip, and that only rigid restrictions will only apply to those values. >> do you think we will have a normal health care, education, food program? >> i do not think anyone can describe the current situation in gaza as normal, but currently, this can offer the

opportunity for progress. it will require the israelis, the palestinians, others to work in good faith and work through established channels, through international organizations and the united nations to channel more assistance to the people of gaza. >> [inaudible] >> we would like to see an expansion in the flow of goods, the flow of people. that may well require more openings for the flow of material. these will all be part of the process now of implementing the process. >> [inaudible]

>> we will see, as this policy is fully implemented, and obviously, you fit this in a broader context of continuing to develop the capability of a palestinian authority and their ability to meet the needs of their people, both in the west bank and gaza. we also want to see direct negotiations, but certainly, this has the potential to significantly improve the daily lives of the palestinian people, but let's be cautious? this is not going to be something that happens overnight. -- let's be cautious -- this is not going to happen overnight. the people have profound need for in terms of education and the kind of things that need to

be built or develop. those are the kinds of things that the prime minister is working on. on behalf of all the people of the palestinian territories. in order to fundamentally change the lives of the people of gaza, you need to have a more responsible government working on their behalf. >> this has gone on for three years now. why is it suddenly so urgent? >> i think everyone has recognized, particularly in recent months, the profound plight of the people of gaza. we have had many conversations with the israelis about their previous policy and were gratified that they have responded to our thoughts. >> [inaudible]

>> we understand that this is an action undertaken by the municipality of jerusalem, not the government of israel, and it is an initial step. we have made it clear that we disagree with some israeli practices in jerusalem affecting palestinians in areas such as housing, including evictions and demolitions. the status of jerusalem and all other permanent status' issues must be resolved through negotiations. we are concerned about it. we have had a number of conversations with the government of israel about it. i think it is at this point still an issue between the government of israel and the jerusalem municipality, but this is expressly the kind of step that we think undermines trust that is fundamental to making progress in direct negotiations.

>> [inaudible] >> it has not right now, but these are the kinds of steps that israel needs to understand the long in final status negotiations. >> you just mentioned the role of the united states. how do you assess the role of the united states in this decision? why do you think it came about at this point? >> try me again? this was a decision by the government of israel. we welcomed the decision. we want to see prompt and full a implementation of this new policy. i think this is something we have been discussing with the

israelis over many months. we have had concerns aaout the plight of the people of gaza. so have many others. this is the culmination of months of diplomatic effort, both public and private discussions that we have had to try to encourage a change in the israeli approach. .

>> there are a certain number materials that are not useful in construction, like concrete and so on. you have spoken a couple of times about construction. is there any assurance that basic supplies and materials

will be allowed in? >> not aware that we have made lists. >> and then why are you welcoming it? >> the israeli policy says that you will go from a situation where everything is permitted, -- everything is prohibited, unless it is permitted into the rivers. we do recognize -- into the reverse. we do recognize that israel has the right to exclude a few things that have direct military value. we definitely think that the list of things that are relevant to approve in the daily lives so that the average person in gaza should expand significantly and israel should narrow down its dairy concern to those kinds of things which really contribute s daily concerns to those

kinds of things which really contribute. this was part of the basis of our discussions with the israelis, suggesting that their present approach is unsustainable. we're glad that the israelis have heeded our approach. now it remains to be seen how it will be implemented and expressly if we have the impact on the ground that we would like to see. a broader aspect of this is not just improving the basics, in terms of the lives of the average citizen of gaza. one has to find a way to rebuild the economy of gaza in a way that supports the people, but hamas.ot support home loshow

there were definite ideas on how reestablishing some of the commerce between the west bank and gaza could have a broader impact. we welcomed his thoughts and that is an area where there should be further discussion as we go forward. >> on the construction issue, you mentioned a couple of times "construction" and "reconstruction." obviously, something like concrete could be used for bunkers and laying a foundation for housing. -- do you think that there's if you do not have any assurance that the building materials like that will be led in, arwhy are

you talking about reconstruction? >> we believe that construction material should be let in so that housing and schools and other vital infrastructure important to the day-to-day lives of the people of gaza can be approve it -- can be improved. >> a few minutes ago, you gave credit to the diplomatic efforts that have been going on for some time in an effort to get the israelis to do this. what has broken the logjam in this is the tragedy a couple of weeks ago with the flotilla and the fact that nine people were killed. that brought this to the head and put pressure on the israelis to change their policy. >> is there a question in there? >> can we get back to the housing? >> are there any meetings coming with the secretary?

>> if mr. brock is coming to washington, they normally get barack is-- if mr. broc coming to washington, they normally get together. usually, samuel, head of time -- usually, somebody will come ahead of time. it would not surprise me. >> some groups in lebanon sent eight ships to was the apparent heavy spoken with -- some groups in lebanon have sent eight ships to bosnia. i've spoken with -- eight ships to gaza. have you spoken with lebanese groups? >> until you see a change in

israeli policy, there is no basis for any kind of action that risks of the same kind of confrontation that charlie was talking about a moment ago. everybody needs to carefully have valuate actions. everyone is committed to improving the situation on the underground. there is no policy and increase openings allow materials to be transported to cause us through land crossings. we think that everybody that wants to help -- transported to gaza through land crossings. we think that everybody that wants to help, may. >> [unintelligible] >> we are very aware of what has been announced. >> you said we disagreed with

some policies, including demolitions and evictions. a few moments later, you said that the proposed demolitions announced today were exactly the kind of thing that and a monstrous. parker? -- correct? [unintelligible] >> of their projects that have different histories -- >> of their projects that have different histories. -- >> there are projects that

have different histories. this is the kind of action that undermines trust and potentially in such a motion and adds to the risk of violence. we do understand that there are perhaps different policy approaches between the government of israel and the minister maliki in jerusalem. but our broad -- and the municipality in jerusalem. but there are broad thrust is that housing and other projects in the occupied areas of jerrsalem, the final status issue, that is where the issues belong. any unilateral step that anyone takes is of concern to us.%+ it should be avoided. >> george mitchell is back. has he been able to meet with the secretary? >> george mitchell is back. he has not been in to see the

secretary get today. -- yet today. >> arab students or who work outside and returned to find themselves with up [unintelligible] >> i cannot cite a specific example of that. this whole group of issues tries to change facts on the ground, these are expressing the kinds of issues that the long in formal relations and not subject to unilateral steps. >> what can you tell us about the situation involving mr. holbrooke in afghanistan? there is a report that there

were coordinated suicide attacks. >> i think this comes under the category of first reports. -understanding is that they were airborne. while there were airborne --- understanding is that they were airborne. while they were airborne, it did not affect the airplane itself. >> there were some questions over whether a series of bombings ii the near the area immediately afterwards were connected with his arrival. >> not to my knowledge. >> [unintelligible] >> not afghanistan. >> the reports [unintelligible]

are you aware that this is happening? does it have anything to do with policy disagreements with the the united states? >> i am not aware. i do not know the basis for his decision to leave his post. any comments from tehran? >> inspector should be free to report on what they received during the course of their duties. it is worrisome that iran has taken the step which is symptomatic of its longstanding practice of intimidating inspectors in which iran has

engaged. we do seek cooperation with the iaea. in only deepens the world concern about their nuclear program. we remain focused on bearish -- of implementing and enforcing the sanctions homemaking -- we remain focused on enforcing and implementing the sanctions. this will not in gender or encourage the international community to believe that iran's program is friendly and nature. >> [unintelligible] >> i am sure we do.

i do not have it here. >> [unintelligible] >> i do not know. >> the family of the american who was out looking for bin laaen in pakistan reports that he is not returning their phone calls. i do not know if there were over the weekend early last night, do you have any comments? >> we have been in regular contact with the family and we have had consular access to him in pakistan. given what yoo just mentioned, i am sure that we will check in with the family and see if there's anything we can do better. but we have been in regular contact with the family since he was picked up. >> they have left messages. >> i cannot say we have been in touch.

>> [unintelligible] >> i think we placed them in islamabad during our last conversation. >> what is the latest on the adoption of the policy you with russia and the united states? >> the completed its last week. we're happy with the progress that was made. there is still work to be done. the next step is probably that this will be a topic that is raised in some fashion in the margins of the upcoming discussion between president obama and president medvedev. >> [unintelligible] >> this particular round of discussions were completed. there is still work to be done. there is still work to be done, nothing was collectively. we have a basic understanding of the parameters of the agreement that we were trying to reach. but there are legal issues that have to be worked through in terms of how the process

described in the agreement will unfold. >> in colonia, -- in colombia, who is there a change in the bilateral relations? >> had denied think we expect any changes in our bilateral relationship. -- i do not think we can expect any changes in our bilateral relationship. we're very happy with it. the shared interest that we have, we're very pleased. this was a choice for the colombian people to make. we would expect there to be continuity in their relationship. >> [unintelligible]

you know that venezuela has been very outspoken in its relations between the u.s. and colombia. >> we wish them luck with lead. >> the extradition of walter emerson, the former head of human carbide, have you received a request for sedition? >> those requests are confidential. -- for extradition? >> those requests are confidential. if we do receive one, we will give them fair consideration. >> [unintelligible] a the safe return of mr. anderson in 1984. the person who dictated the intervention, she also claimed

that the secretary told them that he was taken against ucil chief department at that time. does the state department have a role in finalizing the compensation for of the -- >> i do not know what the former dcm -- who is now a private citizen -- what he told the media. >> is there a claim for the international soccer association because of this goal? [laughter] >> i think there are a few things you do not do here. including sporting event controversies, including the world cup. we do look for to the game on wednesday. we do know how important it is. >> where is the race at?

[laughter] >> you mentioned that he is a private citizen. i agree. but he is talking about his work. >> i am not prepared to go into a history lesson back to 1984. >> kurdistan fact finding mission, any news on that? >> on saturday, assistant secretary blake had a meeting with interim president otum bayava talking about the current situation. we are mindful of the fact that, this week at the mike kerrigan stand has an important referendum coming up -- this weekend, kiergestan has an important referendum coming up. we are aware that the u.n. issued a special appeal for

kurdistakergistan. blake had the opportunity to consult with the government of kiergestan and the government of quebec to stand -- government of ubekistan. the message over the weekend was to do whatever it can to help stabilize the current situation and regain the trust and confidence of all the people of kiergestan and we are prepared to help in any way we can. >> [unintelligible] >> that is a decision for the government of kiergestan. >> [unintelligible] they have developed nuclear

technology for nuclear diffusion. >> to think we're very skeptical about that. >> the increase reactivity when the korean border? >> as to that particular story out of south korea, we would refer you to the south korean government. quirks [unintelligible] there is some kind of back channel behind-the-scenes talks with the iranian government. i am skeptical that you would confirm that from the podium, but i am more skeptical that you are engaged in any talks with iran, a country for which you have no diplomatic relations. i do you deny this?+ >> if you go back over the 30 years, there have been lots of people on the other side of the equation that placed a call or

found sunday in a hotel lobby and suggested that they were a part of a back channel. from our side, i am not aware of any. >> it was declared dead the president -- it was declared that the president would no longer take part in a the negotiations with the tehran deal. >> [unintelligible] >> [unintelligible] here. on the one hand, we have a matter under discussion at the u.s. security council.

it is for inappropriate international response for that particular act. secondly, we remain fully engaged in implementing resolution 74. we have a wide range of authorities at our disposal to send a very strong message to north korea. we are always looking at ways in which we can take steps to make these authorities and specific actions that we can take as a government does effective as possible. i am not one to predict where we go from here. but we have existing authorities and opportunities that we are constantly evaluating to put pressure on the north korean government to change its current policies. >> does that mean that the u.s.

is considering unilateral methods, too? >> we have taken unilateral measures in the past. i'm not predicting what we are lying to do -- what we are going to do. we have taken these steps in the past. if we feel they are prepared in the future, we will evaluate them and do whatever we think is necessary to convince north korea that there will be no rewards for its provocative actioos and it needs to change its current course. thank you. >> a c-span crew recently had traveled to plaquemines parish in louisiana. >> i am under the weather.

how're you doing? >> god bless you. >> i came in to see you. >> you should not have. you need rest. >> bennett, thank you. take care of him. >> let's go upstairs. i want to show you what we're doing. >> he is to let my little kid. they went to school together. [laughter] >> i am not so little anymore. >> yes. i knew i was going to shut down soon. i had a day off. >> i always worry about [laughter] oat >> i gained 90 pounds.

>> were you expecting that many people? it was unbelievable. >> no. >> they wanted to push you off. -- two peace you off -- to piss you off. >> i know. >> they are here to show theer support. we went to high school together. she went off to be a movie star and left us here. [laughter] >> are you feeling better today? >> i still have a little fever.

>> that was everybody's concern. >> we will have to get him out of here pretty soon. >> yes. i wanted you to understand what we did. early on, but right after the accident, we knew we were going to have problems. they said, no, the disbursement will make it sink and it will not come to shore. then this is right here. we knew we had to stop the oil right here. we asked for a jack up boats. when the president came down, he did not hear about a plan. he said, put their plan in place. so we put the jack up the boats here. as they came into my we would put in an additional jack up above.

-- jack up the boaboat. the oil came ashore overnight. when we woke up in the morning, it was there. three weeks later, it still has not been cleaned up. it kill everything in the march. >> whose call was it? why did not people mobilize. everybody was so worried about what was going on on the ground, but not what was hitting the grass. is that not as important as what is going out? >> most of those can swim away. when it comes in, it 8 blankets and smothers everything. >> and destroys -- it blankets and smothers everything. >> and destroys the wetlands. >> of three weeks later, they still did not have a plan. so we put up a [unintelligible]

we went and sat down. we embarrassed them. -- we went and socked it out -- sucked it out. we embarrassed them. his machine takes the oil in the water, but it puts some of the water back with less than 1% of the oil. >> how many votes -- >> i think they have 20 of the big units. we are asking for it 18 of the small units in here for the smaller boats. the other units were going to the barrier islands trying to suck up the bigger stuff. we are losing the battle if we do not ramp up greatly.

we embarrass them by doing the right thing. [unintelligible] fuchon is the first place they will deploy it. i just got the call. >> [unintelligible] >> andy has come back 25 years later. [laughter] >> that is hysterical. >> we have it now. all of these dots is whereewe have oil onshore. every time the waves or the wind blows it one way or the other, it is going to come. my big fear is that, if we get a

hurricane or a small tropical storm, it will look back up in his pocket. where it has devastated the west side, it will now devastate the east side. >> does he had 18 machines? >> see has 30 of them. that is what they are talking about today to deploy northshore. they will take them in with the call blue water. the ones we have asked for, they just tested it in brown water, which is in land. as soon as those tests are finished, they're supposed to give us 18 of them. i think the pressure of bp yesterday, shutting down the barges for safety inspection, it has so much a on their face that it wrapped up quickly. -- so much egg on their face that it ramped up quickly. >> [unintelligible]

>> thad allen has shown leadership in this whole thing. when you your concepts like consider, maybe, might, that is not a leader. let's go do it. he will consider bringing in vesssls from other parts of the world. >> there is no consideration left. you just have to do. >> he should be pulling out all the stops and make all of the things that any where in in the world can pick it up should have already been deployed. but we're not going to order those skimmers because they take two weeks. do you think that this will not be here in two weeks? >> you were already predicting what could have been done and what should have been done immediately and what they could do to prevent.

to presidentne [unintelligible] i said to secretary lock, publicly, we told you to listen to the local parish president. go get every ship you can get your hands on. assemble the wagon have them in a big circle around the well and do not let them get out of there. and we are thinking, where are all of the boats? every military belt we own -- every military boat we on. >> 26,000 people on the ground, 66 aircraft -- and still not -- i still do not believe that.

i started counting what they .ave coming in bee >> it is empty. the man from the animal preserve says that people should be out on the beach is collecting these channels at 6:00 a.m. and nobody is there. >> she came and she cried because she saw a brown pelican. [laughter] >> they have them trying to crawl back up. we had a meeting appear yesterday the test the person that bp hired to deal with the animal thing he refused a the entrance. i said, get out of the way. we are coming in. hey, how're you doing? >> how're you doing? it is nice to see you. >> it is good to see a. >> -- see you.

>> we are talking about the bird place. so the state wildlife people made it in there yesterday appeare. they are making up their own rules. i was out there with anderson cooper the other night. they led him on the grounds. when he i showed up, they said, if we knew he was coming, we would not let you in. but this is my parish. they cannot stop me. >> that is right. they have to let you in. >> you might want to leave the them for overnight, but five days is not -- >> and there are hundreds of people waiting to come and help

wildlife experts, all bleeding to come -- all waiting to come help. why are they not here? >> they walked up to venice and they said, we do not need you. go back home. there were from australia. the guy came to see me. we ask them to add another bird place because then you do not have to transport the birds another 40 minutes. i believe they're trying to keep the amount of their work spread out. we might bring in a hundred birds. if they clean them all up with volunteers, which they should be as quickly as possible, and they are out of work for three days or four days. or they do not want to work for long hours. that they leave the pens for

pelican's up to a week is unacceptable. you can see the pelican's -- >> they are covered in it for days? >> they say four days or five days to let them, down. that bird cannot move because it is covered in oil. >> but that is a bp decision. that is not a wildlife expert. the what is the name of that young man who has been on andersons show? he has teams of people waiting. >> is being taken away from the contractor. >> the state wildlife [unintelligible] they were performing better than most of the state could why we would not put more in their hands -- it was meant to mobilize them. >> it seems that -- it was mitch

who mobilized them. >> there is nobody on the ground with the bp who can say, no, you cannot do that. it is the wrong way. this is how we will do it appeared >> had to get somebody to find the move bp out of the way? -- this is how we will do it it. >> how do you get somebody to bp out of theoving way? can obama make it official that bp cannot control things here? >> i would love to be sitting around and going over every issue with them. i would much rather be cleaning at the oil then yelling and screaming. i have done that a couple of weeks in between.

there are a lot of coast guard people and local bp people. but we have to get to a point that, when something needs to be done, i can grab that person and say it, "let's fix it." >> from a command and control situation, that is what is affecting four states right now. why is there not a single point person with close cards for each of the four states -- with coast guard for each of the four states?why is there not a singln that we can go to for all of this, whether it is a clean-up issue, a boat issue, a wildlife issue? that does not seem to be a difficult process. >> i appreciate it. -- is sam here today? he is a great guy.

he does not have the authority that they say he does. anything youake need and work up the chain of command. but he never gets an answer back. i think that a lot of the bp people on the ground and not have experience and rely on contractors that are more interested in putting bodies out there to make money and then in cleaning of the soil. >> that is the point. from the bp stamp went and the coast guard stamp would, however it is the local state wide contact for you not only needs to be named, but needs to have the authority and decision powers.car there needs to be more of a controlled decision-making

process here to make things go faster. >> and they said that this is the way they think it needs to be done they need to pull every ship in the world with every skimmer. that needs to be a separate group. on the beaches, we need a crew on that beach. when the oil comes up, before the tide changes, you better get it or else it will go back to sea. there should be someone on the beach 24/7. you'd take two boats with 500 feet of boom. you cover the whole day. it can be done if you can get 14 or five teams in a day. -- it can be done in a day if you can get four teams or five teems in a day.

then you have your more steam, which is a skimmer on the edge. the last part of that team is one of three thingss-- something to spread the marsh to give it a chance to come back, something fo get the sticky blackness o f. they need to test all three. once we get the oil out, we need to be ready to spray. i am not an expert. but somebody ought to be testing something some of that, when it is time to do that, we have the best chance of saving the marsh. all of those teams need to be deployed by allen. if he is in charge of this area,

we call him up and they bring the teams there. if this team has the oil -- has no oil, they can come over here and help this team. we know more is coming. but when it does not declared goes. -- the wind does not choose where it goes. the oil boom is not getting picked up. we will take it, put it in a bag, and to get back to the dock. when they shut down the barges, we got a shot back and pick up 110 gallons in 15 minutes. we were worried about the electrical components of the choshop vac.

it is gonig out today. tomorrow, if it works, we will bring in 14 more. we will have 14 vacuum teams that will work if the bp does not put the boats had to circle the oil, then we will put teams to do that and we will go up with these machines. those are all back and ready to go now. >> yes, i got an e-mail. >> as i am out in a boat and the coast guard comes up, they want to know if i am drinking. i have my life jacket and my registration. they do not shut me down so they can come aboard.

i have been on offshore vessels were the coast guard pulls up and they get on board and they go through the whole vessel and then they get off and leave. why would they shut them down? >> wine with the not send the live -- why would they not sensittve life jackets to the boats? >> it is frustrating. [unintelligible] >> you can deviate from the plan. >> they do not know how to do it appeared >> if they are not flexible, you need someone out there who is flexible. >> that is why jack up boats are so important. i was glad the president approved that when he came down the first time. we would like to have additional votes. we could be more on top of it. we had eight boats on standby.

but the coast guard came and got those. they thought it was a good idea. >> i think obama should make you in charge of everything. [laughter] just move to the white house. [laughter] >> there are some simple things that can be put in place. >> i know patricia was saying that in jest, i think, but to take that point, if it is not being done, why not have a daily cabinet meeting for two times or three times a day, where you end steve cherrio and all of the other leaders in the community are on the telephone at least

once or twice a day directly with washington so they can make those calls right there in that conference room? >> we have a conference call with of the white house, but it is pretty much that they will take that into consideration. >> i am talking about police somebody under the present to can make the call. in grand isle, wherever the command centers are, there should be one coast guard, when bp, and the parish president sitting there. i should be able to go down there and get an answer for anything. >> you should be in charge. the people elected you. we did a resolution yesterday and we said that, for every parish, the president is in charge. if it is a burnt or a dive or a barge, give you all the power.

you know the area. you know what is best. it is going to be different in each area. why they are trying to figure it out globally does not make sense. >> some of the mistakes have been because they did not want to spend the money to do if you have something out here, it will catch the oil. the one that the governor changed from the coastal plan is that, i do look at the oil that has washed up on that beach, it is kept out of the marshland. it is just that 1005-foot area. -- is just that one off five- foot area. >> the burns will work, but the

criticism is because they're doing everything globally. >> when the president said we will have a roundtable discussion in the next two days to three years, within 24 hours, i will give you my word, i said, ok, mr. president. halfway through, i said this was a dog and pony show. i am going to call the white house. i left the meeting and i went outside and interview with somebody. i got my head together and i came back in. he said, look, we will give the priors president and the governor a chance to speak right after this hearing so that we can hear their side. i said, i am ok with that. we all spoke. at the end of that, the secretary stood up and gave her point of view. i ask, are you for our it

against the burns. she said, i am ok with it. i will take that as a desperate for the rest of the panel, are you for or against it? anybody who is against it, raise your hand. thad allen, you need to go back to the president and say that they are all for it. no one here is against it. [unintelligible] 20 years ago, we had an island over there and it did not look so bad then. so let's put the island back. but before we hang up, if any of you wants to say go do the burns, nobody would say no. at the end of the call, to this

day, i cannot find one person and that will say, in a yes and no question, no, do not do it. >> people have asked me why i am pushing the burns if it is not acceptable. they are scientifically not preferred, but that is in a perfect world. the alternative to it in the marshes brings in a whole different picture. that is what they're not taking into consideration. >> the governor and i flew over it yesterday. the land is actually coming up with the marshall already. i got goose bumps flying over it. but the federal wildlife says that you do not know what you have done. he says that the islands should be billed back. we will -- should be billed back. because of the challenge --

should be built back. because of the challenge of the naysayers, we have not done it. we get fought from the ocean current experts in florida who say that it will alter the current could so what? but it will take -- alter the current. so what? but it will take more of the beaches in florida. so this will be used something historical for the whole region. -- this will be something historical for the whole region. we have already started a foundation for people who have donated money. we will plant trees that will grow. >> i go back 60 years of growing up in [unintelligible]

blue water fishing. i have a big marlin over my couch to prove it. >> really? >> i have a 47-pound king mackerel. [laughter] we know what you are talking about. we saw those islands. we saw them disappear. whenever you can do to restore them, that is where we have to go. it is where we had to go before katrina. it is where we have to go with the soils bill. >> if you can kill two birds with this. it is almost a no-brainer. you're helping the oil spill, but if we get past this year, you're helping us for years to come to me, that was one of the encouraging things about the president's speech. he really started focusing on the gulf restoration hopefully, there will be more of a national [unintelligible] >> [unintelligible]

the national people were talking about letting the levies go and letting it float. and i know there is a diversion that is being looked at that started many years ago that is in the planning stages. our coastal plan is putting a burden on the levee to protect the parish. then we come out to build in the natural ridges. in total, it will lower it 18 feet to our parish. more importantly, every time we get a winded 10 miles an hour, the salt water comes all the way and kills the

vegetation. now all of this is going to grow. with the present version, we do not need a bigger one. we are going to show green arrows coming out of there and salt water hitting it and pushing it back up. then we will put our model year. we will see those green areas come up to here with the present version. after the barrier islands and all of our ridges reestablished, if we determine that we do not want saltwater up here, that is the time to increase the diversions. but let's focus on keeping the salt water route. but you are never going to fight mother nature. that is a fight we are not going to win. we just have to pump the water

route. they are letting it to many scientists have been put into that plan. it has to be more of a practical plan and one that will get -- >> why is that? but >> [unintelligible] id has turned into one of the most -- they were against the burn. i want a written statement. but they said they would not do that. but they have turned into extremists in that everything is bad for the environment. do not build nothing and no diversions for fresh water. i have to pay mitigation as if i were building an airport. that is ridiculous.

>> [unintelligible] we would have no maritime industry. how practical is that correct there has to be a compromise -- how practical is that? there has to be a compromise. the local parish presidents are the ones with the boots on the ground and understands what is best for your area.%+ they do not even see the salt water. that is not figured in when they talk about the burns. they're not talk about what is preventing back. they only talk about what they do not like about it in a perfect world. >> there are a few nesting areas that you want to protect and we will protect them. but if this island was not built within a year or two, those in.icans are moving further an

so tteir nests are gone anyway. this in turn will help them renest al there were they had for years. -- renest out there where they had for years. >> [unintelligible] we can still go on our planned trip, but if you need to go, we need to leave. we need to get a bigger boat or we will have to drive. >> i wanted to go out here. [unintelligible] [laughter] >> i am sure he is coming back to new orleans tonight. i will check to see where he is

going to be. i will not go up there either. >> [unintelligible] >> and it is kind of star me out there right now. -- it is kind of stormie now they're right now. -- it is kind of stormy now out there right now. >> we will look there first. >> their reo. -- there we go. >> thank you, all, so much. >> thank you, all, so much.