Submit questions for October political debate

Democrat Baron Hill, Republican Todd Young and Libertarian Greg Knott, the congressional candidates for Indiana’s 9th Congressional District, will engage in a debate, answering questions submitted by IU students and constituents.

The debate is sponsored by the School of Public and Environmental Affairs and will take place from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Oct. 18 at the Buskirk-Chumley Theater.

“The main purpose of the debate goes along with the mission of SPEA to increase the knowledge and the engagement of students with public policy,” said Brian DeLong, the facilitator for the debate. Delong is a SPEA lecturer and IU debate coach.

The 9th district’s current representative, Hill, was first elected to Congress in 1998 and is currently serving his fifth term. He also served eight years in the Indiana House of Representatives and worked as a senior advisor at mCapitol Management, a lobbying firm.

“Two years ago, the country was on the verge of economic collapse, and Congress
actually got that turned around,” Hill said. “The issue in this election is all about do we want to return to the past politics that got us into this mess in the first place or do we want to move forward in a different direction like we started to in 2008?”

Representing the Republican ticket is Todd Young, a Marine veteran and deputy prosecutor, who earned his J.D. from IU. He served as a delegate to the Indiana Republican State Convention and as a vice precinct committeeman.

“My background lends itself to being a member of Congress in ways that Hill’s does not,” Young said. “I’ve spent 10 years in various capacities in the military. I do have business experience. I spent a short stay on Capitol Hill — just long enough to figure out how things work up there — and I’m familiar with our Constitution, having studied it and applied it on a daily basis as an attorney.”

On the other hand, Knott said experience is not necessarily the key to solving the problems the country still faces.

“I haven’t been a lawyer like Mr. Young — we’ve got 220-something lawyers in
Congress already,” Knott said. “If we’re wanting change in Washington, I don’t think sending another lawyer is the way to accomplish that.”

Knott is running on a platform that supports the Lobbyist Reform Act. With the act, he said he hopes to prohibit individuals such as Hill from switching from corporate lobbying to government service.

All questions for the debate must be submitted by Oct. 6 either on the IU SPEA Web site or by mail to Debate Question, SPEA, 1315 E. 10th St., Suite 312.

The League of Women Voters of Bloomington-Monroe County will then choose the final questions on Oct. 12 to 14.

The debate is free and open to the public, and Hill encourages all students to attend.
“What we do in Congress affects everybody’s lives,” Hill said. “Whether it be college loans or taxes or the deficit or what we are going to do for secondary education or what we are going to be doing for social security — all of these one day are going to be affecting the lives of the students at Indiana University.”