The Lamar Ledger - Buck Informs the Community

News Article

By Chris Frost

Congressman Ken Buck outlines his distain of Common Core to attendees at his Town Hall meeting May 30. (Chris Frost / Lamar Ledger)

Prowers County residents enjoyed a spirited exchange of ideas and diverse political views with Congressman Ken Buck who visited Lamar May 30.

Buck is touring Eastern Colorado and engaging people about things that concern residents and affect life on the streets of the communities.

"Even if you don't agree with everything we do, isn't it nice to have a politician who runs for office as a conservative and when he goes to office votes conservative," Chief Of Staff Greg Brophy said. "The Congressman has the most conservative voting record of the entire Colorado delegation."

Operating at a deficit

Buck said the country has a problem, the National Debt.

Prowers County resident Jillane Hixson questioned Buck about the Citizens United case during the tpwn meeting Saturday, May 30.

Prowers County resident Jillane Hixson questioned Buck about the Citizens United case during the tpwn meeting Saturday, May 30. (Chris Frost / Lamar Ledger)

"We have $18 trillion of debt right now on our books," he said. "We have $4 trillion of debt the fed has created with their quantitative use, buying and bonds, and we have $100 trillion in unfunded liabilities."

To him, $1 trillion would be a huge liability.

"People ask me all the time what are we going to do about our roads and what are we going to do about Amtrak and water projects," he said. "It's a huge challenge when we've put ourselves in the hole."

The country must continue to build its infrastructure, he said, and have a strong presence in the world or Russia will do what Russia is doing and the Islamic State will do what it is doing.

"We have to also understand that there's only so much we can do as a country," he said.

Water

Buck was in Pueblo on Thursday, May 28,, and worked with the Bureau of Reclamation on the dam and hopefully will get the conduit built.

"It is a little bit different in my mind than a lot of other projects because there is a loan and a very clear path to paying back that loan," he said. "Even though it is a very large loan, I am very comfortable that the federal government should be in it for a variety of reasons. "

The Environmental Protection Agency has declared the drinking water along the pathway "unsafe and contaminated," he said, and they must make sure there is drinking water.

"We do have a path on that project and I am proud to sponsor and support it and make sure it happens," Buck said.

Citizens United

Jillane Hixson said the root of the problem as far as election laws are concerned stem from the Citizen's United decision that said "money is speech and corporations are people."

She asked Buck if he would support a Constitutional amendment that living, breathing people are people and not corporations.

"We've got the oil and farm industries, you name it, and all the billionaires funding all these outrageous campaigns instead of the people," she said. "If I can give you $100, it can't compete with the Koch brothers giving you $1 million. Who are the politicians loyal to other than these billionaires who control our politicians?"

Buck said he would not support any amendment that overturns Citizen's United.

"There are wealthy people on both sides," he said. "Tom Steyer in San Francisco supported Mark Udall and the Koch brothers supported Cory Gardner. What happened was the truth came out in all of that."

When people say that people, corporations and unions can't speak, what they're doing is restricting information.

"This government has been set up for over 200 years on the premise that more information is better than less information," he said. "We don't want to restrict the flow of information."

Many people volunteered on the Buck campaign and that was their contribution.

"I have never received a $1 million contribution," he said. "If I did, I'm not sure what I do with it. They are entitled to spend their money whether it is through a corporation or a union or other entity as they see fit."

Hixson said elections no longer exist but auctions do and she wanted to know what could be done to eliminate the special interests in the country.

"What vote did I take that you didn't feel had integrity," Buck asked.

She was not targeting Buck, but thought the problem was running through Congress.

"I appreciate you saying that I am not a crook," he said. "I hear you and I am doing everything I can to serve my constituents with integrity. Greg (Brophy) and other staff members meet with lobbyists all the time. We gather that information and when it comes time to make decisions on a vote I get together with staff, they present the various side of the issue to us."

Buck said he has never based his vote on the presence or lack of money or bias based on political views.

"A lot of time my voting record with the Republican Party is far less than a lot of other people,' he said. "I do everything I can to keep an open mind and not be trapped by the system. I don't see money as a determining factor in how I vote and I don't think we want to change our system and reduce the speech and freedom we have given people in this country."

Common Core

When asked about Islamic influences surrounding Common Core, Buck said he stays away from the influence side but feels that Common core is fundamentally wrong.

"We don't need a bureaucrat in Washington D.C, deciding what kids in Lamar learn," he said. "We need parents in Lamar electing a school board and hiring a superintendent and principals to decide what kids learn."

He does not want to confuse the standard and said the kids in Lamar should have the same quality education as someone in Philadelphia.

"We should do our very best to let Lamar develop a curriculum to dispense the history and diversity of the region and not let people in Washington D. C. do that," he said. "I am against standardized curriculum in this country."

He said most totalitarian governments standardize the curriculum.

"Communists, socialists, fascists, you name it, control that,' he said. "I believe in diversity and promote subjects like engineering, and other great subjects so they appreciate the historical value of this country."

Department funding

Bob Seay raised the question of cyber security, that Buck recently posted about on Facebook, and said the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is using computers from the 1970's with magnetic tape backup.

"The technology is antiquated," he said. "There is not a business in this state that would use that technology. Funding keeps getting cut. How do you reconcile cutting taxes and revenues yet keeping agencies able to function?"

Seay called it a philosophical difference between the two parties and Buck countered by saying that Democrats want to "spend and spend" and continue to grow the deficit.

"If the IRS came to the Congress and said we need money that would create efficiencies in the next three or four years and save money they would get that money," he said. "Instead what the IRS has done is say they are going to discriminate against conservative groups applying for 501c3 status. We are going to target conservatives who have donated money to certain candidates and audit their tax returns. The IRS has got to learn a very tough lesson and stay the heck out of politics."

The budget has been cut, and Buck said he hopes that IRS reforms will mean less agents.

"They should have a modern and efficient computer system that is able to withstand cyber-attacks," he said.

Transportation

Councilwoman Beverly Haggard asked about transpiration infrastructure and said the government was borrowing from the general fund to keep it solid.

Buck said because of very high corporate tax rates businesses have been keeping money off shore.

Legislation being discussed will reduce the tax rates and bring the money back, invest the money and create jobs,' he said. 'It will also pay that tax. So instead of a 35 or 37 percent tax rate, it will reduce the tax rate to 10-12 percent and be used to fund the highway trust fund. We need to give Colorado the gas tax money and give the County Commissioners local authority to spend that money and maintain their roads and create whatever new infrastructure they need to create. "

Part II of this story will appear in the Friday, June 5, edition.

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