9th district Democratic candidates debate gas prices, education

The five Democratic congressional candidates for Indiana’s 9th District gathered Tuesday night to debate the economy, education, healthcare and gas prices.

Indiana’s 9th District includes Monroe County and extends to the southern Indiana border.

Sponsored by the Monroe County Democratic Party and the IU College Democrats, the debate drew a representative crowd of students and community members, filling half the Bloomington High School South auditorium.

Mary Catherine Carmichael, director of Leadership Bloomington Monroe County, moderated the event, which evolved into more of a forum.

The five candidates steered clear of inner party conflict and spent their 90-second time slots speaking on their own platforms rather than debating each other’s.

“It’s a misnomer that tonight is going to be a debate because so many of us agree on these issues,” said John Tilford, retired military intelligence officer and congressional
candidate.

One student representative from Bloomington High School North, Bloomington High School South and IU College Democrats asked the debate questions, which were all drafted by students from each organization.

With different backgrounds and levels of government experience, each candidate brought a varied perspective.

But their civility revealed an atmosphere of party unity reinforced by their unwavering insistence in defeating incumbent Rep. Todd Young, R-9th District.

“Americans have always been very good at finding solutions,” candidate Jonathan George said. “That’s not our problem. We have lots of answers. What we need is leadership.”

George, a retired United States Air Force brigadier general who served
in the military for three decades, slightly deviated from his opponents’ standard answer that “healthcare is a right, not a privilege” when he answered the first question of the night.

When asked about the Affordable Care Act and the anticipated
Supreme Court decision on its constitutionality, George offered his own personal experience with health care security.

“I have never had to worry about health care for myself or my family,” George said.
“It’s almost a little embarrassing that I’m covered by an extremely good health network and system and not all Americans are.”

But he added that AFC is not a perfect piece of legislation, and “we’ve got to continue to work together as a people to develop it more.”

Candidate John Tilford expanded, noting that incremental progress is sometimes the best you can get, but that he thinks it is  unacceptable that the U.S. system falls so short within the global health care market.

When the candidates were asked about the federal deficit, all agreed that
infrastructure and job creation will be their central goals.

Candidate Robert Winningham, a former Lee Hamilton congressional staffer and economic growth specialist, said he would push to rebuild the state’s roads, bridges and waterways as a way to create jobs.

“I think a lot of Americans need to realize that we were almost in a depression,” he said. “My answer to reduce deficits is naturally to create jobs.”

John Griffin Miller blamed the banks for the U.S. debt problem, using Occupy Wall Street rhetoric as a theme for his answer. 

“We didn’t have a famine or some sort of natural disaster, we had a banking crisis,” he said. “It was the ‘too big to fail’ banks, or what I like to call ‘too big to exist’ banks.”
The topic of public education struck a chord with several of the candidates, who expressed it as one of the central reasons they were running for congress in the 9th district.

George said it was one of the reasons he got in the race, and Tilford criticized former President George W. Bush’s “No Child Left Behind” policies. Winningham added that he opposed many of Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Bennett’s education policies.

Shelli Yoder, former Miss Indiana and associate director for professional development at the IU Kelley School of Business, said she opposes the idea of strict standardized tests that are driving teachers, like her sister, out of the classroom.

“It is time that we become a country that is pro-teacher,” she said. “There is a sentiment that teachers are trying to pull one over on us, and I would be certain to invite them to the table to discuss these policies that affect them.”

Each of the candidates expressed their disapproval of Congress’ alleged “war on women,” stating that abortion and contraception are not issues they should take on.
Looking to the future, George said the success of the country will continue to come back to the economy.

“I joined the military because I saw that threats to our survival were primarily
overseas, but in the last few years we have had a breakdown in domestic policies that need to be addressed,” he said. “If we don’t get the economy back in check, we will struggle in whatever we do.”

After an hour and a half of discussion, the candidates wrapped up the debate with closing statements.

The Democratic primaries are on May 8, less than two weeks away.
Early and satellite voting began April 9. Hours and locations are listed on the Monroe County Democratic Party’s website.