Tempers Start to Show
Press Release
Tempers flared and accusations were traded Thursday night as the three candi-dates in the Illinois 12th Congressional District race appeared for their second debate.
Democrat Bill Enyart, Republican Jason Plummer, and Green Party candidate Paula Bradshaw addressed issues in the campaign, but also took some pointed shots at one another.
The raucous audience also became part of the show-- at times drowning out a candidate's answer and at other times direct-ing individual comments toward a candidate.
One man was ejected by Marion Police after an outburst at Plummer.
The 90-minute debate at the Marion Cultural and Civic Center was sponsored by The Southern Illinoisan with partners WSIU-TV, the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute and the Belleville News-Democrat.
In her opening statement, Bradshaw, 59, an emergency room nurse from Carbondale and political activist, painted a picture of a country under siege -- with millions of people homeless and out of work and natural disasters commonplace.
"We seem to be under attack, yet our trillion-dollar military can't pro-tect us," Bradshaw said.
A different kind of mo-bilization was needed than what was used to fight the Great Depression in the 1930s and World War II in the 1940s, Bradshaw said.
"We need to put everyone to work, producing the weapons to fight global warming, the end of cheap oil and a crumbling infrastructure," Bradshaw said.
Enyart, 62, an attorney from Belleville and recently retired major general who commanded the Illinois National Guard, used his opening statement to talk about his career and experience, while contrasting his positions with Plummer's
"It is important for you to know who we are and how we make decisions," Enyart said.
Plummer, 30, of Fairview Heights, is a businessman and former candidate for lieutenant governor of Illinois and an officer in the U.S. Navy reserves, said 12th District voters were anxious and scared, but that the area was blessed with tremendous resources.
"We need an elected of-ficial that's going to stand up for all of Southern Illinois," Plummer said.
During the debate, candidates were asked questions about taxation, defining the middle class, immigration, gridlock, military spending, transportation, fracking, renewable energy, the closure of Tamms Correction Center, education, same-sex marriage, and cap and trade.
Throughout the evening, Plummer and Enyart sparred.
Enyart several times asked Plummer to release his income tax returns.
"I don't care how much Mr. Plummer made, what I care is how much he paid," Enyart said.
Plummer repeatedly said unemployment was getting worse in Southern Illinois, but Enyart refuses to acknowledge it.
"People don't find it humorous when you gloss over their struggles," Plummer said.
Toward the end of the debate, veering from a question about same-sex marriage, Enyart and Plummer had a heated exchange over Enyart's assertion Plummer had endorsed Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan's budget plan.
"I have never endorsed Paul Ryan's budget; I do not support Paul Ryan's budget," Plummer said. "If you say that again, you're being dishonest to the people of Southern Illinois."
As the topic moved on to cap and trade, Enyart used his time to say he had Plummer on tape supporting Ryan's budget. "I swore an oath as an officer, my honor is very important to me, I don't have to lie," Enyart said.
Bradshaw, for the most part, stayed out of the firing line of the major party candidates, but managed to get her own digs in.
"I'm not impressed with the Democrats or Republi-cans, Bradshaw said. "I think it's time we had a Green in the House."
Gail Klam of Carbondale and Marianne Lather of Murphysboro attended the debate together, not for a particular candidate, but to hear what all three had to say.
Klam said she was appalled by the rowdy, partisan behavior of the audience.
"It was unnecessary," Klam said.
Lather said she had never experienced a de-bate like Thursday's.
"I thought they got a lit-tle harsh at some points," Lather said.
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