The hopefuls for the open 12th Congressional District in Illinois went at it for an hour and a half at a debate in Belleville Wednesday night.
“You can’t fix this economy by cutting,” said Bill Enyart, the Democrat. “The Wall Street Journal, about six weeks ago, said if you fired every single federal employee, including everyone in the military, you would only fix about one-third of the deficit.”
“It’s important to have people that aren’t going to turn everything into a partisan battle,” said Plummer. “But let’s talk about the broader problem: why do we have one in four children out there that don’t know where their next meal is going to come from? It’s because people don’t have jobs. Jobs bring dignity. Jobs also bring opportunity.”
Enyart reminded the audience Plummer refuses to release his tax returns. Plummer tied Enyart to U.S. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).
Also participating was Green Party candidate Paula Bradshaw, who told the voters, “I hope you choose someone who faces reality; who opposes endless war; who believes government should be a force for good, not something to fear,” she said.
The debate, at Lindenwood University in Belleville, was also sponsored by the Southern Illinoisan and Belleville News-Democrat newspapers, the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute, and public radio and television in Carbondale.
(Posted 10-11-2012 at 9:44am, Illinois Radio Network)
