Congressional candidates answer to voters in Jasper

JASPER, Ind. – The audience at Tuesday night’s congressional debate was small, but the crowd was fierce.

Once the candidates for Indiana’s 9th Congressional District dealt with the pre-written questions from the participants on stage, they had to face inquiries from the local residents themselves.

SLIDESHOW: Indiana 9th District Debate

Issues such as abortion, energy, the national language and the appropriate tax system had constituents’ patience stretched to the breaking point. One man lashed out at what he said is corruption among politicians and groups like the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), and a Bloomington resident argued with Democratic incumbent Baron Hill on abortion.

But the main concern was the effects of the current tax system and its repercussions.

“I would support either a flat or a fair tax, either would be better than what we have now,” said Libertarian candidate Eric Schansberg, who is also an economics professor at IU-Southeast New Albany.

Republican candidate Mike Sodrel said he is also in favor of either tax, although he prefers a fair tax, which he said would help knock out foreign market competition. Sodrel said 22 percent of the cost of an American product is embedded taxes that foreign products don’t necessarily have.

“The fair tax is a jobs bill,” Sodrel said. “It doesn’t level the playing field between domestic and foreign products. It might as well be called the ‘American Jobs Creation and Retention Act.’”

Hill favored the current system, saying the fair tax and its goal for revenue neutrality would drive the deficit up. When it came to the state of the economy and one audience member’s retirement fund, he believed things would soon get better.

“Some economists are saying we’re going into a depression, but I don’t think that we are,” Hill said. “If you can hang on, I think eventually it will all come back. These things are cyclical.”

Schansberg agreed things won’t get as bad as some might fear.

“Unless the government does a lot of the bone-headed things it did in the ’30s, we won’t go there again,” he said.

One thing all of the candidates agreed on was the bailout plan, which Hill voted against both times it came up in the House. Both Sodrel and Schansberg said they would have done the same.

“It just boggles the mind the amount of money that we’re talking about here, and it will be paid by our children and grandchildren,” Sodrel said. “I think doing nothing was the wrong thing to do, but the bailout was also the wrong thing to do.”

Schansberg agreed, commending Hill for his vote against the plan.

“When the Republicans are leading the charge for that kind of spending, who’s left?” Schansberg said.