The Gazette - Congressional District 5 Race Pits Military Veteran Against Long-Time Politician

News Article

By Megan Schrader

Republican U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn of Colorado Springs is seeking his fifth term in office, but standing in his way is retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Irv 
Halter.

The race for the 5th Congressional District has been odd, with the incumbent engaging in little active campaigning while his Democratic challenger is on TV with three ads.

The race pits Lamborn's name recognition and GOP affiliation in a region where he has been in political office since 1994 against Halter's deep military connections in a district that has more than 90,000 veterans and five military installations.

Irv Halter

Halter's military career began as a student at the Air Force Academy and ended when he retired in 2009 as a general helping oversee global military operations.

In 2005, Halter served for just over a year as vice superintendent at the academy, and he and his wife decided then that they would make Colorado Springs their home after Halter retired.

"I'm doing this because I served my country for 
32 years. I've been in business. I think I bring a unique background that is good for the district," Halter said. "But more important, I chose Colorado Springs as my home. I could have lived anywhere. My wife and I came here because we love it. But because we love it, we ache for it. We need a congressman whose image does not hurt our brand."

That knock at his opponent, Halter said, stems from incidents where Lamborn has received national attention for negative things, such as using the derogatory term "tar baby" when talking about President Barack Obama, boycotting the 2012 state of the union address and most recently saying he encouraged generals to resign in protest over Obama's military 
policies.

If elected, Halter said his top priority is ensuring veterans have services they need, including improved health care, federal help finding jobs and more help transitioning to civilian life.

"We have more and more people coming, both locally out of our bases and across the country, who have a wealth of knowledge and capability," Halter said. "They may also have issues, but as I frequently say, if you have PTSD but you have a job, a family and a roof over your head, dealing with PTSD is a manageable thing."

The Democrat has billed himself as a moderate in this race for one of the most conservative districts in the nation.

Take his stance on Obama's Affordable Care Act.

Halter said he wants to repeal the ACA but only if key provisions - such as ensuring coverage regardless of pre-existing conditions - are retained.

"I know that puts me at odds with a lot of my Democratic friends," he said.

Halter said he wants to work across the aisle on other issues, too, particularly the federal budget.

"The bigger issue in Congress is that the U.S. has not passed its annual budget on time for 16 years," Halter said. "If we could just do that, just pass all the budget measures on time and get them to the president for a signature, it would save so much money because the executive departments would know what their budgets are so they could plan."

Halter said during his military career he learned the government was not running efficiently.

"We have duplicative efforts across government," he said. "We also have federal agencies coming in every year and it's not just the Defense Department, it's others as well, saying I don't want to buy anymore of whatever it is, and Congress for parochial reasons forces them to buy it."

But Halter said that doesn't mean he won't be a tough advocate for maintaining Colorado Springs' important military assets, especially if there is another federal base realignment and closure study, or BRAC.

"The congressman from this district ought to lead the state delegation on defense issues and in terms of preparing for possible BRACs," Halter said. "I will be the one who works across the state to try and make sure we are prepared for these possible cuts."

Doug Lamborn

Lamborn has consistently ranked among the most conservative members in Congress over his eight years in office.

He holds seats on the House Committee on Natural Resources, the House Armed Services Committee and is second in GOP seniority on the House Veterans Affairs Committee.

"I have a proven record of conservative common-sense voting, and my opponent only has empty promises," Lamborn said.

He served in the state General Assembly for 12 years, where he earned the reputation as a tax cutter, and he won the 5th Congressional District seat in 2006.

If elected for another term, Lamborn said his top priority would be fighting for a strong national defense.

"We need to oppose President Obama when he's advocating a weak defense posture and he's doing so in so many ways I can hardly count them," Lamborn said. "We're showing weakness in not standing up against Russia. We're not funding the pivot to the Pacific to counteract China, and in the Middle East we seem to be making enemies of everybody."

The U.S. needs to rely more heavily on a coalition of forces to respond to the threat from the Islamic State in northern Iraq and Syria.

"Someone is going to have to put boots on the ground," he said. "And right now not enough is happening."

He said the government must reverse the deep military cuts that have been put in place.

He said if BRAC does come, someone in the minority party would not be able to advocate the way he would, using both his seniority and his position with the GOP majority.

"Republicans in Congress do not want another round of BRAC," Lamborn said. "It's not BRAC that I'm worried about, it's defense cuts. I did not vote for sequestration in the first place and then when I had a chance to vote to restore 60 percent of the defense sequestration budget cuts . I did that."

Lamborn said when the nation looks to balance its budget it should look somewhere other than the billions spent on national defense.

"Defense dollars need to be spent wisely and efficiently," Lamborn said. "By and large we need to look at the rest of the budget because defense is the number one priority of our national government's obligations. It says so plainly in our U.S. Constitution."

Lamborn said he'd support cuts in food stamps "so that those who can take care of themselves" don't qualify for the program.

And he said he'd repeal "Obamacare" or the Affordable Care Act because it has only driven expenses up.

His fix would be to reintroduce market-based incentives such as giving the self-employed the same tax breaks that corporations receive for purchasing health insurance for employees.

"We could have other kinds of reforms like being able to buy insurance across state lines, or tort reform that would do away with defensive medicine practices," Lamborn said.

His campaign has focused on Halter's political party during the past several months.

"A vote for Irv Halter is a vote for Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid," Lamborn said. "They have been responsible for running our government into the ground."

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