At Week's End; Election Special 3rd District

Replacing Bill Richardson next at Weeksend. Welcome to at Weeksend. I'm Dan Vukulic. Tonight we bring you a live forum of the five candidates seeking election to Congress from the third district of New Mexico. Election day is next Tuesday. Each of these five plus three write-in candidates seeks to replace eight term veteran Bill Richardson, who has been appointed ambassador to the United Nations. The five candidates with us tonight all appear on Tuesday's ballots as representatives of New Mexico's major and minor parties. They are Eric Serna, Democrat Bill Redmond, Republican

Carol Miller, Green Party Dan Perlman, Reform Party Ed Nagle, Libertarian Party. They will be questioned by three of the states most distinguished journalists all from the third district. They are Helen Gaswan, Legislative correspondent for the Gallup Independent, Mark Oswald, Capitol reporter for the Santa Fe, New Mexican, and Ann Constable, Senior correspondent for the Santa Fe reporter. The ground rules for tonight's hour-long event are as follows. Each candidate gets a one-minute opening statement. Each will get a one-minute closing statement, and in between the candidates will be questioned by our panel. A question will be posed to one candidate and in round robin fashion, the other four will be given a chance to address that question or critique another candidate's answer to the same question.

The order has been decided by drawing lots. As moderator I'll run a tight ship, no personal attacks are allowed, and I'll try to keep the discussion on track. But first, let's take a look at the third congressional district, what we call Northern New Mexico. District 3 has more than half a million people, a third of whom are Hispanic, and one fifth of whom are Native American. District 3 enjoys a long and diverse cultural history. The district has some of the most crushing poverty in the United States, as well as some of the most affluent and best educated people. District 3 includes portions of the Navajo Nation where unemployment averages 70 percent. Unemployment and economic development have always been problems in District 3. Today per capita income in the district is less than $11,000 annually, and almost half its residents live in rural communities. One third of them are married with children,

and politically the district is traditionally Democrat. More than half the voters went with President Clinton, and before him, Michael Ducakis. Candidates and journalists, thanks for being with us. We'll begin our opening statement with candidate Dan Perlman. Thank you. Thank you very much. I'm with the Reform Party. The Reform Party was formally attached to United Resend. It's now a separate organization. We've only had one other candidate, and that's been Ross Perot. Our Party Platform is fairly basic. We stand for the Constitution of the United States, and we support exclusively the humanitarian rights of all people. Our basic purpose is to unify the entire community. Our agenda is strictly that to develop a community which has one goal in common, and that's to unify each other and to feel that America is the right and only place to live.

Thank you. Our next opening statement will come from candidate Carol Miller. Thank you. I'm the green party candidate for the third congressional district, and I have worked 30 years in public health, and for more than two decades, I've been living and working in rural New Mexico on the issues that are important to all of us. I want to get right to my qualifications for this race. I have a lot of experience in Washington, DC. I've been appointed to important offices by both President Reagan and President Clinton. And what I bring to this seat is the ability to work with members of both parties for the good of people in the district. The numbers are great for me right now. We feel this is a winnable race, absolutely. This is a time when people can vote their hopes and not their fears. This is a time when we can make history here in New Mexico. There hasn't been a woman elected to represent New Mexico for 50 years,

and this is the time to do it. We can do that on Tuesday when people go to the polls and vote for Carol Miller. Thank you, Ms. Miller. Our next candidate opening statement is from Eric Serna. Excuse me, Eric Serna. Thank you, and I want to thank this station for allowing us this opportunity. Over the last several weeks since my nomination, I have laid out an aggressive progressive agenda for the people of the Third Congressional District. We have been talking about the important issues to the people in this district, issues such as education, crime, protecting our environment, issues that involve senior citizen rights and the protection of those rights. These are the issues of importance to the people of the Third Congressional District. As a fifth-generation Native New Mexican, I know this district. I want to work hard for the people of this state and this district. I will work hard if I am honored to serve the people of this district. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Serna. Our next opening statement comes from Bill Redman.

Thank you, Dan, for allowing us to be here today. America is an awesome nation, and what makes it awesome is that every generation wants something better for the generation that follows them and at the same time simultaneously supporting those that preceded them. This is the first time in American history where America is on the edge of a financial crisis to where we're almost unable to take care of the senior citizens that have gone on before us and at the same time placing a crushing debt on the children that follow after us. We have an open window of about 15 years to turn the situation around to regain the economic stature that we once had. And I've campaigned for the last two years in this congressional district. I've talked to people of all ethnic groups in all 17 counties and I've prepared myself for this particular this particular position. I believe in the people of New Mexico and I believe that we can be the jewel of the southwest, unparalleled quality of life here better than anyplace else in the United States. Thank you, Mr. Redman. Our final statement to begin comes from Mr. Ed Nagel. My name is Nagel.

I am Swith Bagel, Principal of the Community School in Santa Fe where the home schooling movement was born. I fought against the monopoly of state education and won a New Mexico Supreme Court decision. It's all here. Sood the IRS and won tax exemption, helped defend the vitamin distributor against FDA tactics and won. As Congressman Nagel, I could fight over regulation at its source. Libertarians hold elected offices from school boards to state legislatures and we are the first third party ever to be on the ballot in all 50 states for two successive presidential elections. Why did 50,000 new voters register Libertarian in 96? Government doesn't work. That's when Harry Brown became the first presidential candidate ever to qualify for federal matching funds and then refuse them as political welfare. With Libertarians reform is not just talk. We are the party of principle.

Thank you very much, Mr. Nagel. We're going to go into our round of questioning from our journalists on the panel. The answers will be one minute and length hopefully. The first question will go from Helen Gaswan of the Gallup Independent to candidate Carol Miller. Ms. Miller, starting July 1 each state will begin implementing its own welfare program designed within federal parameters. New Mexico's plan has been criticized as being too harsh because it is much more restrictive than the federal guidelines. Should Congress intervene if a state mismanages its program or an acts a program that is too lenient or too strict? Congress right now it's my understanding it's not going to be reconsidering the welfare repeal act that was passed this year and I think what we have to look at it's up to the Department of Health and Human Services right now to approve or disapprove the governor's plan. One thing that I know because I

have read that that act called the Personal Responsibility Act over and over and I have found exceptions and actually ways that the state could make the plan more flexible that the Department of Human Services has not chosen to do. We could have a better plan right now with the way the statute is if the Department Secretary and the governor choose to do that. I would welcome the opportunity to be in Congress so that we could actually have a very fair welfare program that takes care of those most in need and I think that it's just been my understanding that the 105th Congress does not want to open that issue to discussion again. Thank you Ms. Miller. Mr. Serna what would you do if the state went too far in controlling Medicaid cost? Well first of all it's my understanding that this Congress will look at reforming the already agreed upon reform so I don't know if Ms. Miller is correct

but I have already spoken with the president about the welfare reform and the disagreement that I have with that reform which has a disproportionate impact on people in New Mexico especially people who can ill afford any type of a negative impact. That includes our children. On the Navajo Nation alone 7,000 Navajo children are going to be impacted very negatively. I have an assurance in the president to his credit has already started reforming the welfare reform as it currently has been accepted to make sure that these children that are going to be impacted negatively will be protected. Thank you Mr. Serna. Mr. Redman what do you think about that? Well first of all I think we need to recognize that American government is set up to be resilient. It's possible for the American government to take a course of action that we that we deem at a particular time to be the proper course of action

for instance in prohibition and then find out only later that we went down the wrong path. And America has a resilience built into its system that know their political know the political system in the world has and so it if for some reason the welfare reform act which it is a reformed act not a repeal act if for some reason it needs to be revisited to strengthen families and poverty we will do that because it's a compassionate thing to do in America is a compassionate nation but we need to recognize that under the current system we've gone from three million children in poverty to nine million children in poverty it's not functioning and something has to be done and this is the first step and I applaud the first step. Thank you very much. Mr. Nageral what's your thoughts on the Medicaid and welfare? Yes well the libertarians believe that the federal government should be limited to those functions delegated to it in the constitution of this United States that's limited to three functions that is the national security the judiciary and coining money

they should definitely not be meddling in the lives of anyone and that includes the poor so the welfare reform act that has been instituted and applied here in New Mexico harshes it may be needs to be done it's necessary that it be done in order to begin to balance the budget which is much more critical to our country than the situation that we now have. And Mr. Proman on the subject. The primary problem with welfare is that at this moment we're not paying people livable wages should we pay them livable livable wages welfare would be a minimal problem in this community a livable wage means something around $15 an hour that means for for 40 hours you can achieve a fairly satisfactory home car etc so when we start paying people a fair wage not slavery we will pretty much eliminate most of the welfare problems all welfare I believe Medicaid welfare education

should go to anyone who needs or desires it and should be kept in place as long as they need it thank you. Okay thank you very much Mr. Proman the second round of questioning starts with Mark Oswald of the Santa Fe New Mexican and he'll direct his question to Eric Surnon. Okay Mr. Surnon some of your campaign opponents have made an issue your character in this race they cite a list of issues raised during your 16 years on the Corporation Commission ranging from your acceptance of campaign contributions from industries regulated by the Commission to allegations that you pressured Commission employees to buy from your family jewelry store what do you have decided of voters who may be concerned about these issues that have been raised I have decided the voters what I have always said to the voters that I am a committed public servant they know this they have returned me to office time and again these girlish allegations have been checked on investigated discarded they produce

no meaningful results this campaign is about education scholarship funding jobs for our communities protection of our environment this campaign and in the issue oriented campaign that I am running is to discuss those issues I have done that with my advertisements I have done that with with with all of the debates that we have had and there have been many those are the issues of importance to the people in this third congressional district not unfounded inaccurate scurrilous allegations and they're not going to be distracted by that the public wants to hear what we stand for and what we are going to do to make this a better third congressional district that's what they want to hear that's what I'm discussing and I will do that until the 13th of this month thank you very much Mr. Mr. Redman that question was pretty specific to Mr. Serna but it raised the issue of campaign finance in general and the problems are up there in congress as well what's your thoughts well first of all I think we need to make a distinction

between what is legal and what's ethical I think when you speak to the average voter out on the street that they they believe even though it might be legal to take money from the people that you regulate it is unethical to do that that seems to be the consensus on the street the attorney general should have made a ruling early in this race concerning the circumstances which Mr. Serna finds himself and the people are the the top two issues in this campaign Mr. Serna is correct is education but the other one is character and the the people are tired of things like the the China the China money which was illegal and there they they would like to see honesty and ethics restored to Washington DC so it's not just education it's it's also ethics and honesty and government thank you Mr. Nagel the same subject campaign finance and ethics and government yeah it's amazing to me why this has suddenly become a number one issue or among the number top in 96 crime was the number one issue whatever happened to that why has this become the major problem now it's because the two major parties have decided that's going to be

the issue why because they've been taking money illegally follow the money who benefits certainly not the voting public the candidate who gets elected benefits most of these public servants make politics a career and then retire as pension millionaires we need to repeal the last congressional pay heist make public service no more profitable than an average American salary or that individual's income for the year previous to the election and limit the number of terms thank you mr. Nagel mr. Proman campaign reform is very important to the reform party it is believed by our party and myself that no candidate should receive money from anyone but voters and it should be capped at one thousand dollars to receive money from outside your district as say the president has been is is now doing is tantamount to treason as far as I'm concerned when you ask for money from another country to infiltrate your

country it is treasonous and so as I say we should cap at a thousand dollars and only voters or residents of the district should be able to contribute to our candidate thank you thank you very much Ms. Miller yes I'm a candidate who my first press conference was calling for a spending cap because I think we have so many needs here in this district and as someone who has raised a lot of money to try and keep our community clinics open to help Indian tribes with their economic development I really know how much we need the money in the district and I think what I learned when I worked in on Capitol Hill in Congress and at the White House for health reform we did not get health reform because there was too much special interest money influencing the outcome and this morning I will say that we have studied Mr. Serna's contributors because he's suggested that a lot of them were individuals but really only 15 percent of them on the first filing were individuals and the

85 percent were packs and other special interest money and I do think it is an issue because I want to represent everyone in the district certainly not any special interest thank you very much Ms. Miller our next question comes from Ann Constable of the Santa Fe reporter and will be directed to Bill Redman Mr. Redman access to health insurance is a growing concern to people in New Mexico according to a recent study 43 percent of the children in this state did not have health insurance at some point in the previous two years only Texas had a higher percentage of uninsured children changes in Medicaid and welfare reform may increase these numbers aren't these children falling between the cracks good question I think that we need to make a distinction between having health care insurance and having access to health care the children in New Mexico may not have a complete access as they do in other states and usually that's because of the world nature of New Mexico

particularly the third congressional district but by and large the children of New Mexico do have adequate access to health care though there are many areas in which it can be improved the other the other component of this is that we need to recognize that that traditionally health care insurance go side-by-side with benefits of labor and until we begin to have more jobs in Northern New Mexico free market jobs not government jobs because the government can only finance a finite number of jobs in a district free market jobs when we develop those jobs those insurance benefits will be there for those families and for those children thank you mr. Redman mr. Nagel next on the same subject health insurance for children in New Mexico yes I agree with what Bill said actually at this point and what I'm thinking is that the federal government is again being asked to pick up the tab for a function that it's not delegated in the Constitution to exercise again I remind everyone that the Constitution delegates to the federal

authorities only three functions that is national security the judiciary and coining money our Constitution gives them no other power consequently I would oppose federal sponsored health care there's no reason why we can't have medical savings accounts and we can privatize the insurance for those in need thank you very much mr. Perlman that's a pretty constructionist strict constructionist absolutely view of the of the Constitution but what's your position on the well the Constitution the preamble to the Constitution specifically says to provide for the general welfare I consider the preamble the equivalent of the ten commandments therefore everyone without exception should receive health care and we can easily obtain monies for such a thing by simply cutting about 10 percent of corporate welfare the welfare it is very important to provide medical services to every every human being in this country

all over Europe and Canada they have wonderful health care systems why can't we thank you mr. mr. Perlman Carol Miller on the subject of health care and insurance for our children well I hate to shatter anyone's myth about access to health care but as someone who works in our rural ambulance services we sometimes spend three hours trying to find a hospital that will receive a patient even in an emergency there is not access to health care for people with uninsurance particularly for referrals we do mammograms screenings for breast cancer and if we find someone there is no one that will provide at low cost a screening mammogram for that woman the children in this state do not have access to health care they have a tragic lack of access to dental care which is certainly very important health care service I stand for universal health care for everyone the first bill I want a co-sponsor is hr 1200 the American Health Security Act which will finally let us hold our head up

is the last of the developed countries to guarantee health care and access to health care to all of our citizens I think there's a myth out there about the access and people should work as I do every day trying to actually get that access thank you very much mr. Miller Eric Cerny the question was protecting children for falling through the cracks we don't do a good job and I disagree with mr. Redmond we do not do a good job in this state or in this country in protecting children the 43% is an accurate figure but the more alarming figure is 25% of the children in this state do have never had insurance and we're not talking about those that are covered under Medicaid we're talking about the working poor what I would like to do and I would support kids care legislation which would be a cooperative effort between the industry and government that would allow for credits based on income this way we have a cooperative public sector private sector

partnership which would would would take us a lot further along than we are now in protecting our children I think it's important that we do that if we have that ability to to do this it would be much better for society and if we don't then we all pay because then they go to a hospital or to a thank you very much mr. Cerny the next question comes from Helen Gaswan of the Gallup Independent and she'll direct the question to Ed Nagel mr. Nagel some of the rural counties in northern New Mexico are among the most impoverished in the country and are highly dependent on federal assistance how do you propose to promote economic development in those areas so that they are no longer dependent on public on federal assistance and what how will that be different from what has failed in the past well first of all our welfare system is unfair to everyone to attack everyone to taxpayers who pick up the bill for failed programs the society who's mediating institutions of community church fan family are increasingly pushed aside

and most of all to the poor themselves who are trapped in a system that destroys opportunity for themselves and hope for their children we would encourage independent families to engage in entrepreneurship we would move the welfare system to churches and private charities who would do much better job a study was done that indicated the welfare money raised by a private charity is cost 20 cents on each dollar by church it only costs a nickel by the federal government for every dollar they give to the poor it costs three dollars we've got to take this program out of the hands of the government and put it back in the hands of the local community to help the poor and provide jobs thank you thank you mr. nagle mr. promen your thoughts on welfare reform and or whether that idea might work uh that idea might work uh welfare for one thing the United States government has removed from any use or at least private use uh

the land over a one half the land of our community if that were brought back into the into the community that is to say the mountains and the plains that now presently is completely controlled by the government and given back to the hands of the people the people themselves would be able to flourish with with uh by by utilizing the land also mining concerns logging concerns and things like that are not paying their fair share to the community they often remove something like 20 times what they pay to the people it should be more equitable the the mining companies should pay at least half to the local communities and that would that would balance the problem thank you miss miller on welfare reform well i i actually thought the question was on rural economic development so um i'd like to talk about that because we did address uh welfare reform and what i want to say is that the farm bill was reauthorized last year and it had many cuts of programs that

were just starting to be of benefit to rural New Mexico i think we need to go in and add appropriations to some of those programs for example the rural development administration which incorporated the old farmers home administration was really reduced and that's a program that needs to be built up we need to give money to people in northern new mexico to build up an economy based on our agricultural strengths we're paying corporate farmers not to farm and there is yet no money to help people in the rural part of this district get going we need a lot of programs here that i'd like to talk about in greater detail thank you uh miss miller it was my mistake i didn't hear the question properly and thought we were talking about uh welfare reform but you have your choice right now you can talk about rural economic development if you choose well actually the question was the reliance on the federal dollar i think but let me address that that quickly there is too much of a reliance on the federal dollar in new mexico in general and especially

in the third congressional district and the way we get around that is we diversify our economy we get some economically sound environmentally acceptable industry into the area in cooperation with the communities that's long-term sustainable and acceptable with regard to welfare reform maybe let me just add we are a proud people a lot of people that qualify for welfare are not on welfare in new mexico and that's because of the northern new mexico values which which i am a product of those values so when we talk about welfare reform there are many falling through the cracks but there are also many that qualify that don't accept the welfare because they are too proud and they have family that are helping them thank you very much mr. serno mr. redmond thank you and the question was on economic development what would we do different from the failed programs of the past in the past we've relied too much on federal programs that have to be

reauthorized every year and that places our rural communities completely dependent on the federal government uh and i've been dealing with uh local people in the small communities for the last two years addressing those issues and asking what they would like to see in their communities i just have my first town hall meeting in water county the other night and uh the people in water county and i've already begun to work on ideas for uh native uh Hispanic American furniture that can be exported we would put together internet catalog uh but but you know one of the ideas that i have for northern new mexico is a mobile home manufacturing site one third of the new home starts in new mexico our manufactured homes they come from outside the state while we have carpenters electrician business people here they could build those in market those in new mexico's could be purchasing the their biggest item uh from felon that have been made by fellow new mexico's thank you very much mr. redmond will uh go with another round of questioning we'll start with uh mark oswald of the santa fe new mexico and he'll direct his question to

mr. perlman okay mr. perlman um and the rest of the candidates an important issue for the future of northern new mexico is the future of the los alamos national lab do you support continued weapons related work at the lab do you think the labs works needs to be paired back in the post cold war era and what other proposals would you bring to congress for the lab well uh a little background i was in the military i was uh information theorist with the army and a strategist with the rand corporation for a while it is my very strong belief that no one should be manufacturing or even possessing nuclear weapons anywhere in the world the detonation of a single nuclear weapon could cause the end of the planet as we know it so i am totally opposed to the production of nuclear weapons however that is a fine research facility there are a lot more directions they could go in than killing people

so i think it's terribly important to keep such a facility but not to manufacturing nuclear weapons at all in fact dispose of them thank you mr. perlman uh miss miller what do we do with the labs in the post cold war war era well i just want to do a tag from the previous question one of our problems is that too many of our communities that have development only have a single industry for example los alamos with the labs intel mainly in real rancho in that area and we really need to diversify our economy i would like to see very high level of spending at los alamos going to figuring out what to do with the nuclear waste which i think is very problematic i don't think we need a second generation of nuclear weapons but i do think we need intensive research into how to make ways safe how to reuse it as they do in other countries i think those are the kinds of programs los alamos used to work there were the international leader on solar energy research i would like to

see them get back into that field i think that it is a very valuable national resource but we could change what the research is on thank you miss miller uh mr. serna new missions for the lab i toured the lab today and i was impressed with the change in the mission there and what they are accomplishing there you know los alamos is a treasure trove for the whole country but especially for northern new mexico and although the mission has changed we need to make sure that there is no more production of nuclear weapons since that mission has changed we need to make sure that what is that the funds that are appropriated for the labs are used in a fashion that will continue to make for a strong defense but also provide for the economic development for the surrounding communities one thing i have been very pleased with is in their new rfp processes there is a provision that forces these that are applying for these funds to include the surrounding areas in the economic

development phase of of their investment there's a recent investment in espanola for example that starts out with a three and a half million dollar investment will go to ten million million and will provide the jobs i spoke of earlier about three hundred long term sister thank you mr. serna mr. redman the the jewel of the research community los alamos in northern new mexico okay los alamos los alamos has a very unique mission in the history of uh of the united states and and i i believe that we do need to go ahead and uh diversify and that's already begun uh but one one of the problems that we're facing right now is american citizens is the fact that we have all of these weapons that uh that are in stock but we do not have a defense network we have weapons that we can send of mass destruction overseas to other countries but we do not have right now a a defense network to protect america or metropolitan areas or any of our rural areas from a first strike i i believe that the first mission uh if there will be a newly defined mission for los alamos would be to develop a defense system i think it's

morally unconscionable for us to have the technology to prevent a uh a a first strike from a rogue nation and not use that technology uh and then also the uh with the hopefully the diabetes center for uh national center for diabetes bids research being here in new mexico the human genome study takes place at los alamos and i think that they'll be a very crucial part in the cure for diabetes thank you mr. redman mr. nagle what would you do with los alamos national laboratory when you're in congress well weapons related work uh i would say no to discontinue weapons related work because of the uh end of the cold war on the other hand it is the responsibility of the federal government one of the three to provide for our national security and consequently i would support the encouraged uh development of work related to that purpose that is as a defense mechanism as mr. redman suggested however there's a lot of research that is not related to defense or national security and that needs to be cut back

uh thank you very much mr. nagle the next question comes from and constable of the Santa Fe reporter and she'll address her question to and miller of the green party miss miller this is another this is another question related to welfare reform 25 percent of the people in new mexico live below the poverty level in the third congressional district for example there are 127,000 people including 48,000 children under 18 who are officially classified as poor beginning july 1st welfare recipients will be required to work to receive public assistance but jobs are few particularly in rural areas and the reforms do little to stimulate the economy and job development some people may be forced to move from rural to urban areas to find work what would be the impact of that migration and does that concern you well it definitely concerns me because there are no jobs for people even in some of the urban areas i think it's important for people to

realize that working at a minimum wage if you have two or three children you can work full time and still fall below the poverty line you'd still be eligible for food stamps and other programs and the housing costs are so expensive what people talk about this is being debated very seriously all all through the rural communities where will my child go who won't be here to help take care of me the elderly parent these are the concerns people have about this forcing people into what i am afraid will be urban ghettos where people will live in poverty the housing will be substandard because they won't be making enough there are not a lot of high paid jobs available to people who do not have the educational and job training skills that's where the emphasis needs to be right now on bringing people up and making sure that when they go to look for a job they're trained for it thank you miss miller uh... mr. serna the the question was about whether welfare reform might depopulate northern omexico

first of all there are not adequate funds for training you don't uh... you can't expect people who have been on welfare for many years to all of a sudden be faced with with going into a situation without proper training i think there has to be an emphasis on the training of these individuals and also more of an emphasis in a cooperative effort between the businesses to help some of these people with training perhaps some credits of some sort for the small businesses we still have a new mexico 80% of our employment which is produced by small businesses these small businesses if they had proper training monies would hire these individuals offer welfare into a work fair but it's not going to happen quickly if we don't have the proper training monies in the proper proper training commitment thank you mr. serna mr. redmond welfare reform has been a priority of your party

but the fear is that people might leave or be forced to leave northern omexico to find jobs okay well for first of all we need to recognize that in washington there's a difference of philosophy there's a group of individuals that measure the success of a social program by how many people are free and no longer and independent no longer need those programs and then there's another set of individuals that measure the success of the program by how many people they can get on the program and then trap on the program and how many government jobs they can they can uh... they can create and i i am of uh... the former not the latter and i want to see people that are in poverty next side by side with me in the middle class uh... this is america the land of opportunity and when we have federal programs that because of their structure implicitly keep people down let me give you an example uh... mr. serna mentioned training but the truth of the matter is there are a hundred and thirty federal job training programs and the research shows that eighteen to twenty five year olds to participate in those programs they are less likely to be gainfully employed uh... uh... the next question the same question for mr uh...

promen thanks i think it's uh... a tragedy as a matter of fact it it might be considered a national disease to allow twenty five percent or more of our community to be starving to death to be in slavery in effect it would be a good idea to correct it by for example developing community cooperatives teaching entrepreneurialism and further getting large corporations to move out of our communities basically what a large corporation does is drain the money this is also true by the way of gambling and other such institutions uh... it's best to trust your neighbor than a stranger and once we close down our communities and keep them tight and start to share with each other much of the welfare needs will disappear thank you thank you mr promen i took uh... you out of order it was mister niggals turn okay one of the things that we can do is reverse what our government is already

done which is to declare that hemp be classified is illegal hemp used to be a product that could save the planet still is problem is it's illegal for the wrong reason it's considered to be a drug and hallucinogenic and it's not really that kind of a serious problem that it should be classified in that way in fact it's medicinally helpful and has been so passed in california in Arizona so they can be medicinally hemp is a first is of the first necessity to commerce and marine the wealth and protection of the country said Thomas Jefferson make the most you can of the hemp seed and sow it everywhere said George Washington we need to go back to these wisdom of our founding fathers thank you mr. nagle a new round of questions will start with uh... Helen guswan of the gallup independent and she'll ask her question of eric cernna mr cernna as the attempt to balance federal budget gets a little bit more aggressive one of the segment

suffering from the cuts is the need of american tribes what would you do to both help them become more self-sufficient and what degree to what degree do you think that those cuts should be made well first of all i don't think that the cut should be made on the navajo nation they already have a serious shortage of housing there are many families that don't even have running water so the cuts that they're talking about in the congress should not start with a navajo nation or in the native american community and that's the problem i had with the balance budget amendment which would restrict us and what the office we are seeking to represent the people it would restrict our authority to to work a a consensus come up with the consensus to work with these problems we need economic development on the navajo nation we need continued funding of some of the programs that they have with their agricultural community there the navajo nation also has a special

ability to to do a very finite work this is recognized worldwide we need that kind of development as they have with navtech on the reservation now and i believe that more industry like that will have mr redmond on the issue of funding to help a navajo nation okay i've attended the last two economic development summits on the navajo nation i've talked with their leaders i've talked with the very business the various businesses that are interested in locating there and there's a few issues that need to be addressed number one is the bia has been very intrusive into navajo life and they've been extremely ineffective and it's a classical example of how the government has not helped through their programs the people that they're created to help and so either a complete elimination or complete revamping of the bia is necessary the second thing is that the balance balance budget amendment has nothing to do with this year's budget balance budget amendment basically says that we're going to balance our budget every year it doesn't say how we're going to balance our budget

proposals i have for the native americans particularly number one the average college student only receives fifty four or across the nation receives fifty four hundred dollars in academic support while the native americans only receive twenty nine hundred dollars in academic support i've pledged to the navajo leaders that i'm going to push for parity within the first twelve months the other mr. mr redmond thank you very much mr. nagel yes the navajo people as all Indian people our sovereign nation we have no business giving them money or requiring them to follow our laws we respect the sovereignty of the indian people and if we weren't involved in for instance controlling gaming on their land or preventing them from growing hemp which is again a good solution to the problems that they face because it has fifty thousand commercial uses this could be used to replace the trees that we're cutting down for paper it can be used for medicine it can be used for nutrition it can be used for buildings for fuel for clothing

hemp needs to be made legal again and that should be the first one of the first things that the congressman does who was elected you thank you mr. nagel mr. promen that hemp discussions funny i just was going to say you know i'm like bill clinton i've never exiled but uh... the native americans are a sovereign nation and as such they should receive some compensation for for many of the lands that we've taken from them however we we are draining that that native of black mesa for example we have come in with our machines and we've torn up their land and we've taken all the value from from it and we're not replacing it with money or services of any sort if in fact they really own the land they would prosper but on the other hand corporations have been allowed to decimate their land uh... should they have a proper share in it

their their financial woes would be over with thank you mr. promen miss miller uh... the issue was uh... navajo uh... funding economic development budget cuts great uh... i think what's really important to understand here is this is where the bipartisan wheeling dealing on the balance budget has gotten us where we're being forced to or congress is making decisions to hurt one group of people to benefit another they needed tax breaks for upper income people so they had to make cuts in other programs if in fact the tribes are sovereign nations they own this entire continent i think we need to make that very clear there is a trust obligation for education and health care that's guaranteed by treaties that all native people have a right to and that doesn't mean less money for health care and less money for education the first thing we have to do is deal with the fact that the bia i believe criminally

has lost or misused a lot of those native trust funds and there are billions of dollars missing that they could if they had that they could use for their own economic development thank you miss miller okay that this may be our last round of questions it'll start with mr. Oswald from the santa fae new mexican and it'll be directed to mr bill redman uh... mr. redman you may be a lot i'm sorry there'll be a forty five second response on this question you've made it clear that you're the anti-abortion candidate in the rice and while you said you could vote for a measure that would allow legal abortions in cases of rape and incest you've also made it clear that your ultimate position is that all abortions to be a legal except when the pregnant woman's life is in danger given that position how would you explain to a right victim perhaps a teenager that she shouldn't have the choice of abortion and what kind of penalties would you assess against women who chose to have abortions if you made them illegal okay i'd like to answer the second part first uh... as i stated last night's form uh... there there's no discussion at this particular time in terms of penalty and and uh... as i said our nation is

is going to have to do some soul searching in regard to this particular issue in the same way we did concerning slavery uh... we have a certain class of human life that is considered non-person uh... historically that has been uh... uh... not good for our nation uh... and and the way we we resolve that was mercy toward all so in terms of the penalty for the women that have had abortions i i don't foresee penalty uh... on on the horizon uh... the the the question in regard to uh... the question in regard to uh... rape uh... for say the 14-year-old girl i think we need to first answer the question what are we going to place our foundation for a cult run if we don't visit her life redman thank you very much mr. nagle the same question it was abortion yes i think we need to respect life and i'm a libertarian for life and consequently i would be opposed to abortion in any kinds of government policies that would support the right to an abortion by the same token i would be opposed to any government

intervention to impose penalties for a woman's right to choose when she's exhausted all other possible alternatives to this very critical question that should be a concern of herself her family and her clergy thank you mr. nagle mr. pro-man on the subject of abortion i'm uh... totally support the women's right to choose uh... however i personally feels that it's wrong to have an abortion and uh... if we could avoid it at all costs i would recommend it i think it's important that our schools teach sex education and teach morals and teach ethics otherwise we have no principles by which we can uh... levy laws against them so again the women's right to choose i support exclusively i personally of non-violent and opposed to killing in all forms thank you mr. pro-man miss miller maybe it's because i'm the only women in this woman in this race but i hear over and over men talking about their spin on

abortion and i want to say that there have always been abortions and what we're talking about here is legal abortion so that the woman's life can be safe and i feel that a woman and her physician have the right to a confidential relationship that it is okay for a physician to lay out all the options for treatment to any patient that he sees and certainly women as well as men i don't want the u.s congress in the medical exam room with women in this country remember the days before abortion was legal we didn't stop abortion unfortunately we caused many unnecessary deaths thank you miss miller and finally we're mr. serna well unlike uh... mister red men who would imprison doctors or women uh... who choose abortion or children whether they are raped or victims of of incest i am uh... pro-choice i think it's presumptuous of anybody especially a man to make that choice for a woman it's a very personal choice that should be made

by the woman her doctor and her god thank you mr. serna uh... that'll finish the round of questioning we're almost done it'll be uh... one minute close for each of the candidates and we'll start with mr. nagel libertarians oppose the initiation of force on principle but support a strong defense that means one strike and real criminals would feel the full force of the law no more deals in sentencing if you do the crime you do the time with full victim restitution but if there is no victim as in most drug cases there's no crime no fine no time this would empty half our prisons and save us billions the feds have created too many costly rules too many laws that reach too deep into our pockets in our personal lives let's first limit the federal government only to those functions delegated in the constitution then we can balance the budget and support around tax zero percent don't waste your vote again invested vote libertarian vote ed nagel not bagel

for congress thank you very much mr. nagel well next we go to mr. proman thank you uh... i i've been a businessman for the first twenty years of my life i created the halogen light i created an environmentally sound lumber business i was in the mining business and the housing business i think we have to go at the government straight on i think we have to do something that attack a particular system that nobody likes and eliminated and that's the irs we could go straight to a flat tax it's true it would be aggressive to the we're repressive to the wealthy but that's that's their problem it would reduce the taxes for the poor further we have to approach the secret budget of the government the president himself has a one hundred billion dollar secret budget that secret budget part of which is the cia what do they do with it let's examine it that's our national deficit

thank you thank you very much mr. proman and uh... one minute close from carol miller i want to ask people watching this program to go and tell your neighbors that this is a historic moment that new mexico can say we're tired of this bipartisan bickering these budget deals made on the backs of the people in need that you can have your vote count so many times over it will be of national significance to send me to the u-s congress someone who's educated on the issues and has worked every single day for the last twenty years on the things that you care about your health care the economic development in your community i have been working with these organizations and volunteering because that's where the change will happen the green party believes in grassroots democracy that we go to the people we we relate to their needs and that we build on the on their desires and from that we will build a better country so i respectfully ask for your vote thank you thank you very much miss miller a one-minute close from

erick cernna as i have traveled this district i am finding out what the true needs of this district are and what people expect they want us to go to the congress and represent their northern new mexico values which include education unlike mr. redman who would dismantle the u-s department of education i want to improve on our educational system i want to provide for scholarships so we will have equal opportunity for our youth unlike mr. redman who who would eliminate funding for law enforcement i want more funding i want a hundred thousand cops throughout our nation a hundred and eighteen more in this third congressional district i want to make sure that our seniors are protected that our veterans are protected the teachers are paid what they what they should be paid i want to represent northern new mexico and northern new mexico values and i will do that if elected thank you very much mr. cernna your final closing statement from bill redman

i'd like to ask the the viewers to look tonight and and look at the honesty and integrity of the individuals that are here uh twice this evening mr. cernna has rep- misrepresented my position he did not tell you the truth concerning my position in regard to uh doctors have performed abortions i've never stated that they should be put in jail and this is indicative of the kind of campaign that mr. cernna has run i've never said that i would dismantle the department of education i myself miss special education teachers so i critique the system from the inside i know what works and i know what doesn't work currently right now out of every dollar that you send to washington dc only twenty eight cents comes back to help the children here in new mexico mr. cernna wants to continue seventy two cents for the bureaucracy in washington dc i want the teachers in new mexico to have a pay raise i want the children to have the technology the whole dollar should be spent here i'd encourage you to call my office in sanafi to get the truth concerning my platform and please do not take it for mr. cernna i campaigned on a vision of a free and a prosperous america based on the idea that the hard-earned money of you the american worker belongs to you and your family first mr. cernna wants it to go to washington dc i ask for

your vote thank you mr. redman i appreciate all the candidates being here and the journalist i would like to say goodbye to uh bill redmond of the republican party dan perlman of the reform party carren carol miller of the green party ariks cernna of the democratic party and uh ednegal of the libertarian party i thank you very much live tv is an exciting thing we tried it tonight uh... election day is twos day i hope you'll go out and vote i thank you for joining us at week's end i'm dan vokalich you

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