jsoulliere@thestamfordtimes.com
WILTON — Democratic Congressional candidate Diane Farrell rhetorically asked attendees at Tuesday night's debate whether they thought U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays' [R-4] consistent alignment with George Bush has benefited the country, while Shays asked the prospective voters whether they thought Farrell offers solutions to the issues facing the country or merely criticisms of the present administration.
And the third party candidate participating in the League of Women Voters-sponsored debate, Libertarian Phil Maymin, contended his opponents sounded like an "old married couple," bickering back and forth over issues they fundamentally agree upon.
The three candidates faced off at the Clune Performing Arts Center at Wilton High School, tackling such issues as how the U.S. should approach North Korea, health care and illegal immigrants, and offering opinions on the newly-signed military detainee bill, which authorizes tougher interrogation and prosecution of terror suspects.
Given North Korea's recent nuclear bomb testing underground and Iran's defiant announcement in February that it had resumed its uranium enrichment efforts, the candidates were asked how they think the U.S. should handle such situations.
Farrell said the present administration has proven it rushes into action when an international threat is posed, and the U.S. needs to instead hold consistent talks with a country that poses a threat.
"The U.S. has practiced a policy of not talking, and you should talk to your enemies more than your friends," the former Westport First Selectman said. "[Not talking] has emboldened Iran. There's no question this administration has failed miserably. I would rather talk, talk, talk, not war, war, war, to quote Winston Churchill."
The key to quelling a situation like the one in North Korea, Shays said, is doing what the present administration has already determined needs to be done — working together with the countries surrounding North Korea to help alleviate the threat.
"This president recognizes that in order to get North Korea, what we need to do is we need Japan at the table, China at the table [and] South Korea at the table," he said.
Maymin said the U.S. should stop all trade with a country which poses a threat.
"We support countries like North Korea with money, so stop," he said. "We need to pull our trades."
When asked whether she supports universal health care, Farrell said she is not yet convinced that's the answer.
"A lot of my colleagues believe in universal health care, I'm just not there yet," she said. "I believe in a free market, the problem is the marketplace is leaving too many people out."
Farrell said government and medical officials need to voluntarily work together to make health insurance more accessible to all Americans, and the government should be able to negotiate discount drug prices.
Shays said he's a "strong believer" of importing discounted drugs, and companies creating health savings accounts for their employees, which would enable workers to use money they contribute towards medical expenses. He also said George Bush has done a great job of strengthening community based health clinics in this country, and that needs to continue.
Maymin said the government needs to take itself out of the health care business, and let the free marketplace run its natural course.
"Here's a puzzle, why was health care so cheap before the federal government got involved?" he rhetorically asked the attendees, referring to the days when doctors used to make house calls. "Costs would be much, much lower if the government simply got out of the way and let the free market take place."
On attending to the growing number of illegal immigrants in America, Shays said they should be able to work in this country, but they should not be given the opportunity to apply for citizenship. Immigrants who continue to stay illegally should not be given a chance to become citizens, he said, because it opens the door for relatives of those illegal immigrants to choose the same path to citizenship.
Farrell stressed the importance of taking action against those employers giving work to illegal immigrants, but said the U.S. should not be making it difficult for post-graduate students from other countries to come to the U.S., as it has since September 11, 2001.
"It helps our global competitiveness," she said.
Maymin said all illegal immigrants should be deported, and America should build a 700-mile fence across its southern border.
"We need to seal every inch," he said.
Regarding the new federal law authorizing tougher interrogation of terror suspects, Farrell said the law is fundamentally undemocratic, denying detainees the right to petition for a writ of habeas corpus, which enables them the opportunity to have a court appearance determining whether they were imprisoned unlawfully or not.
Shays contended the law states a detainee has to be told why they're being held, and it contains an administrative procedure outlining whether someone should be held or not. And, contrary to what has been said about the law, he said, "there is no torture in this legislation."
Maymin said Shays has specified what happened at Abu Grabbe was not torture, adding that the new law goes against the democratic principles America was founded on.
"The passing of this bill spells the end of freedom in America," he said.
Former U.S. League of Women Voters President Kay Maxwell was the moderator at the debate, which was hosted by the League of Women Voters in six different towns in the northern portion of District 4.
"We hope this debate will help voters make an informed decision this November," Maxwell said before she began the night's questions.