FreeRepublic , LLC
PO BOX 9771
FRESNO, CA 93794
STOP BY AND BUMP THE FUNDRAISER THREAD
Posted on 10/01/2002 6:11:49 AM PDT by GailA
Edited on 05/07/2004 9:20:08 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
CHATTANOOGA
(Excerpt) Read more at tennessean.com ...
Clement, Alexander exchange business ethics barbs By BILL POOVEY Associated Press Writer September 30, 2002
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn.- Democrat Bob Clement criticized President Bush's economic policies and Republican Lamar Alexander said Clement represents another vote against the White House in the first debate of their U.S. Senate race Monday night.
After Clement opened the debate by accusing Alexander of profiting from a "sweetheart" contract with the state, Alexander asked Clement to explain his relationship with the "Butcher banks," a reference to a Tennessee financial empire that collapsed in a fraud scandal about 20 years ago.
Alexander accused Clement of "character attacks," saying there was nothing amiss about the Educational Networks of America contract during GOP Gov. Don Sundquist's administration to provide Internet service to Tennessee schools. Alexander is a paid consultant of the company and member of its board.
Clement, who said he "never served on a Butcher bank board," challenged Alexander to follow his lead in releasing his personal income tax returns. Alexander said he had always made his tax returns public.
On the economy, Clement said the GOP president "does not have a first class team in place."
"I feel like right now the economy is being ignored," he said.
Clement said that he supports making Bush's tax cuts permanent and that he voted against President Clinton's tax bills in 1993.
"I've shown a lot of independence," Clement said.
Alexander said Clement has voted for numerous tax increases. Alexander said a Clement victory on Nov. 5 would mean departing Sen. Fred Thompson's desk would be moved alongside "Sen.s (Hillary) Clinton and (Ted) Kennedy."
Recent statewide polls have shown Alexander _ a former two-term governor, University of Tennessee president, U.S. education secretary and presidential candidate _ leading Clement, an eight-term Nashville congressman.
Before the debate attended by about 65 people at the Chattanooga Choo Choo Holiday Inn, both campaigns agreed that Alexander is better known statewide.
Bob Swansbrough, a University of Tennessee at Chattanooga political science professor, said Clement "based on his current standing in the polls had to launch an attack right away and he was very aggressive throughout."
He said Alexander's response showed he "had been preparing for that and expected it."
"The whole issue seems to come out as a wash," Swansbrough said of the exchange of remarks related to business ethics. "It just shows both of them had been well prepared."
He said Alexander appeared to be "more comfortable."
A mid-September poll of registered voters by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc. found Alexander the favorite at 54 percent, 19 points ahead of Clement's 35 percent, with the rest undecided or favoring other candidates. A Zogby International Survey about the same time put Alexander at 45 percent and Clement at 37 percent _ a difference of 8 points _ with 15 percent undecided.
Before the debate, Alexander spokesman Kevin Phillips said that while polls show "most Tennesseans know Lamar" and approve of his performance as governor during the 1980s, Clement's name recognition is around 80 percent. Clement, the son of the governor, previously was a Tennessee Valley Authority director and elected member of the Public Service Commission.
Clement spokeswoman Carol Andrews said the campaign's polls "are showing us we are right where we expect to be and need to be at this point in the game" and the race will tighten now that Clement has started advertising on television.
Swansbrough said Alexander and other GOP nominees have benefited from White House talk about war against Iraq because voters "tend to like to trust and follow our president's lead on national security issues."
Meanwhile Clement and other Democrats are trying to focus attention on the economy, jobs, education and health care, Swansbrough said.
"How long can you wave the flag to detract attention?" Swansbrough said.
The debate, sponsored by the Chattanooga Times Free Press, NewsChannel 9, WGOW radio and the Chattanooga Bar Association, was broadcast live on NewsChannel 9, C-Span and WGOW-FM.
An audience, divided equally among supporters of Alexander, Clement and uncommitted potential voters, submitted questions in advance, but the candidates did not get to see them.
Alexander and Clement debate again Sunday at Jackson, Oct. 4 in Knoxville and later in Memphis and Nashville.
Senate candidates battle over net worth
By Joe White 10/01/02
Democratic Senate nominee Bob Clement accused Republican Senate nominee Lamar Alexander of profiting by “insider deals” in a long-awaited debate carried on the national C-SPAN network Monday night.
The debate was in Chattanooga, sponsored by local media including the Chattanooga Times/Free Press and the Chattanooga Bar Association.
Clement started on the attack, challenging Alexander to return money he received as a board member and calling it a “golden parachute.”
Alexander responded that tax returns show “that we’re both millionaires” but that he had become a multi-millionaire in 19 years out of office, while Clement became one (Alexander later said Clement is worth $2 million) as a congressman.
Clement said Martin Marietta paid Alexander a $236,000 bonus while 30,000 people lost their jobs as the result of a merger with Lockheed.
Clement said that one of Alexander’s companies, Educational Networks of America (ENA), recently landed a $102 million contract with the State of Tennessee under Gov. Don Sundquist.
Alexander dismissed the idea that he had somehow profited from government contracts.
He was on the board of ENA but the state contract had been awarded – by low bid – before he went on the board, he said. He had nothing to do with the renewal of that contract, he said.
“I would hope that we would go on to talk about terrorism, jobs, industry,” Alexander said.
Alexander also said he disagreed with Clement on the issue of tort reform. He said “sky-high” judgments against doctors are driving up the costs of malpractice insurance in Southeast Tennessee, and he said he wanted to reduce the amounts of punitive damages in health care cases.
Alexander several times remarked on the partisan nature of present Senate fights. “If there were one more Republican vote the homeland security bill would be passed,” he said. Alexander rehearsed three different times his word picture of taking his place at the desk of Fred Thompson, as opposed to Clement “moving the desk to the other side of the aisle” to sit, apparently, between Hilleary Clinton and Ted Kennedy.
Clement responded “I’m not gonna be a rubber stamp for a Republican president or a Democratic president.” He voted against the Clinton tax bill of 1993 and for the Bush tax cuts, he said.
Alexander later responded, “It’s news when Mr. Clement votes with President Bush; it’s news when I don’t.”
“I will protect Social Security and fight for a prescription drug benefit for Medicare,” Clement said.
Questions were presented by partisans of the two sides – Alexander was asked a homeland security question by a member of his own law enforcement advisory committee – and led neatly to the pre-set positions of the two candidates.
“What disturbs me is that we’re putting all the attention on terrorism, but what about the economy?” Clement said. He said President Bush “does not have a first class economic team.”
Alexander closed saying he was “disappointed we’ve spent so much time on the personal attacks you started here.”
He said he would vote for the values of the president and of Tennesseans.
At the close Clement quoted a Larry Caldwell of Franklin County, who “wrote me a letter last week to tell me that the only income he has is a Social Security check and about how he and his wife struggle with their medical bills, about how he had big medical bills that Medicare didn’t cover and that he paid them off $50 a month, and how he was turned down for TennCare.”
Caldwell wrote that “in the system, I don’t think that this correspondence will ever be read or that it will make a difference but I have written it anyway.”
People in Tennessee “are losing faith in the system” and in government, Clement said, because of “too many inside deals.”
Clement said “I will oppose efforts to privatize Social Security. I will work to pass a real Patients’ Bill of Rights. I will vote for an increase in the minimum wage.”
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.