Winston-Salem Journal - Foxx, Carter Disagree On Bailout, Immigration, Same-Sex Marriage

News Article

Winston-Salem Journal - Foxx, Carter Disagree On Bailout, Immigration, Same-Sex Marriage

The crisis in the economy and the government's response to it have given both candidates for the 5th Congressional District plenty to argue about as they make their way toward Election Day on Nov. 4.

Virginia Foxx, the Republican incumbent, was first elected in 2004 and is now trying for her third term. Her Democratic challenger, Roy Carter, is a retired coach and Christmas-tree farmer making his first run for office.

Foxx twice voted against a $700 billion bailout package for which the Bush administration and congressional leaders heavily lobbied: On Sept. 29, when the package was defeated, and again on Oct. 3, when the package passed. Although a number of Republicans changed their minds between the first and second vote, Foxx didn't.

"I think that what has been happening since the bailout vote has vindicated my vote," Foxx said. "Because what I told the president and what other people were trying to tell the president was that this was the wrong approach. What we needed was an injection of capital in the banks and that bailing out the Wall Street investment firms was not the approach to take."

Foxx blames Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae for causing the mortgage crisis. Foxx said that the two lending agencies enabled too many people to get houses who couldn't pay back their loans.

Carter said he would have voted against the first bailout package but would have voted for the second one "if they had taken the pork out."

"If there was no other way for the sake of the economy, it is very possible that I would have held my nose and squinched my eyes and voted for it," he said. "It helped Wall Street per se, but it also had a tremendous effect for the public and the small-business owner. If nothing at all had been done … many small businesses would have gone under."

Carter blames Foxx for helping to create the problem in the first place "by voting time and time again for deregulation" in the financial sector. He cited Foxx's vote in 2007 against a bill to tighten regulations in the subprime-mortgage industry.

Foxx said the bill that Carter cites was bad legislation in part because it would have superseded state laws. She said that the federal government tries to regulate too many things that should be left to the states.

The candidates seem to have different philosophies about the role of government. For instance, Carter talks about expanding education financing while scrapping the No Child Left Behind program. Foxx says there's no reason for the federal government to be involved in education at all.

Where Carter is calling for a "regional economic-development summit" and other job-promotion measures, Foxx is calling for cuts in taxes and regulations to improve the economy.

The candidates sparred over gas prices. Carter attacked Foxx for voting against a price-gouging bill and for owning stock in an oil company. Foxx said that the gas-gouging bill was too vague about what constitutes gouging.

With all the focus on the economy, hot-button social issues such as abortion and gay marriage have been largely off the radar screen, both candidates agreed. But the two differ on those issues, too. Foxx is opposed to abortion in all instances. Carter says he is in favor of "drastically reducing the number of abortions," but is opposed to outlawing it.

Carter supports legalizing same-sex marriage, but Foxx was a co-sponsor of an unsuccessful constitutional amendment to define marriage as being between a man and a woman.

The candidates differ on illegal immigration, too. Carter believes that a path to legality should be given to illegal aliens, but Foxx said that illegal aliens must return to their home country and apply for citizenship if they want it, although she thinks that more can be done to allow the presence of temporary workers.

Foxx approaches the general election with an advantage in party registration and money. According to the state board of elections, 46 percent of the district's voters were Republicans at the beginning of the year, with 34 percent Democratic and 20 percent unaffiliated.

The money imbalance is even greater: the latest campaign reports showed the Foxx campaign with about $950,000 on hand as of Sept. 30, having raised about $180,000 from July 1 and spent about $185,000 in the same period. Over the entire campaign, Foxx has spent almost $800,000.

By contrast, the Carter campaign had about $32,000 on hand as of Sept. 30, raising about $93,000 and spending about $65,000. Carter's total campaign expenses came to $160,000.

Carter blasted Foxx for taking hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years from the financial-services industry, as well as from "big oil" and insurance companies. He said he will not take contributions from such groups if he is elected.

The Foxx campaign said Foxx does not cast her votes based on the source of her financial contributions.

Foxx has represented the district since 2004, when she continued the Republican dominance of the district that Richard Burr enjoyed before Burr won a seat in the U.S. Senate.

Burr won 70 percent of the vote in his last 5th District outing in 2002, but Foxx has never completely overwhelmed her opposition. She won about 59 percent of the vote in 2004, and 57 percent in 2006. Although political pundits rate the district as a "safe" Republican seat, Carter said that his own polling shows the race close, with 48 percent for Foxx and 46 percent for himself. He said he's "forevermore trying to make the case" to the national Democratic Party that his race is winnable and deserves national support.

Foxx said she didn't know the results of her own opinion polling, but cast doubt on the accuracy of Carter's numbers.

"I do my polling by being with the people every weekend," she said. "I talk to hundreds of people -- last weekend I had five events on a Saturday. I would have done more but physically I can't do any more."

Carter recently challenged Foxx to a series of "town hall" forums around the district, but the Foxx and Carter campaigns are fighting about that, too. Foxx's campaign said that the dates proposed by Carter all conflict with previously announced commitments, but Carter's campaign denied trying to set Foxx up.

The candidates have agreed to two joint appearances: At 1 p.m. Friday at Ashe Middle School in Warrensville, and on the WXLV television show Triad Today on Oct. 29.

Source