Students question candidates for governor

NASHVILLE - It was almost enough to restore faith in the future: dozens of high school students assembled at the governor's residence this evening to pose questions to gubernatorial candidates Bill Haslam and Mike McWherter.

The students were assembled by First Lady Andrea Conte from Nashville public and private schools, including Tennessee School for the Blind. The students took turns asking separate questions of each candidate. The format kept the candidates from answering the same questions and from talking to each other - making it difficult to gauge differences between them - but it resulted in some new topics they haven't faced before.

Would Democrat McWherter, for example, seek to restore financial aid for local high schools to participate in the International Baccalaureate program - a rigorous program of academic study that gives high school students several hours of college credit? "Yes!" he declared..

Haslam, the Republican, said TennCare will be among the programs that will have to be shrunk to deal with budget shortfalls and that some of the federal health plan mandates concern him.

On other topics:

· McWherter was asked about controversies over an Islamic mosque proposed in Murfreesboro. He said: "There is no question that I am a huge proponent of freedom of religion in this country. This is what this country was founded upon and I always want to promote that. At the same time, I well understand the constraints and problems you have when you locate an institution like that inside of a quiet neighborhood. And so I think as a community, you ought to be able to have some zoning restrictions....

"Now having said that, I think the people who committed the atrocity down there (in Murfreesboro) in burning that equipment should be found and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. That's unacceptable in Tennessee. It's unacceptable anywhere in the United States. We need to find them and we need to prosecute them."

· Haslam was asked whether he supports efforts by some legislators to nullify elements of the federal health reform act in Tennessee that require uninsured people who can afford to buy health insurance to buy plans or potentially face tax penalties. He responded:  "I do wonder about a new plan that forces you to purchase something. I don't think we've ever done that in this country before. So that is a concern to me. Coming back to the big picture, I'm concerned long term about the cost of the health care plan. Whether it's an additional $200 million, the low-end estimate, or $400 million a year, it's going to cost us. The impact to the state is going to be big and its going to be felt somewhere along the way in other programs that you care about. I'm also concerned that employers might find it easier just to not pay insurance, have their employees go on TennCare and Medicaid, pay the penalty and come out ahead." 

·  McWherter was asked about the federal government's program that allows employers to electronically check the immigration status of potential hires and his view on sponsoring legislation creating "real consequences" for employers who are not validating status prior to hiring. Said McWherter: "This is one of those areas where I totally agree with Zach Wamp. He has talked about the fact that we need to do a much better job of making the E-Verification information available to employers. And I do think we need to make that information avail to employers. We need for them to know if there is an undocumented worker in their workforce, and frankly if there is and they're caught, we need to prosecute them and fine them. It creates a totally unfair advantage for small business in this state for those people who are using undocumented workers. You know they are not paying any kind of taxes on them, you know they're not providing health benefits. Those are expenses that small businesses normally incur and it gives those people an unfair advantage. We need to make sure we go after them. As governor, I'm going to do that."

·    Haslam was asked his postion on universal health care and how it would affect Tennessee. He said: "I assume you're talking about the national health care plan that passed this past year. Here's my concerns: the state of  Tennessee is already in a big budget hole - over a billion dollars that's coming out of our revenue that the next governor is not going to have. So we're going to have to address that. Gov. Bredesen called this plan the 'mother of all unfunded mandates.' It's the federal government telling the states what they have to do. Estimates are that it will cost $200 million to $400 million additional. So the question is again, where does that come from? Do you want to take that out of K-12 edcucation, higher education, or infrastructure.

"My thought is, what we have to focus on in health care in America is we have to begin with personal responsibility. You look at where our costs have escalated so much, in the end I think a lot of it is...we're not taking care of ourselves and the government's paying for most of that. Until we introduce more personal responsibility in the system, we're going to have problems with health care costs."

·   McWherter was asked if he's in favor of Arizona's immigration law and would he support similar legislation in Tennessee. He said: "Frankly I think the responsibility for immigration is a federal issue, not a state issue and I am very disappointed that we've got a federal government that has not secured our borders. If we can secure the border between North and South Korea, then I've got to think we can secure our own border. And that has got to be absolutely the first step before we do any kind of immigration reform.

"I don't think there should be a patchwork of immigration laws all across the states. You're going to have a patchwork of immigration laws all across the states. If we're forced into that, then yes, I'm going to support it. But what I want to do right now is work with (U.S. Senators) Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker and our congressional delegation and see if we can't get a congressional resolution to that."

Haslam was asked how he would deal with a potential billion dollar budget shortfall when a recent congressionally approved increase in Medicaid funding for the state expires. He said: "We don't have a drawer full of money that we can (say) 'Oh that's a good program; lets keep paying for it.' In Tennessee, we don't have an income tax. That's a good thing. Our sales tax is the highest in the country. We're not going to raise taxes in Tennessee. It's the wrong thing to do.

"Our only choice is either to shrink government or to take that out of some other pot. It would mean taking money away from K-12 or higher education or money away from helping folks with mental disabilities. I can go on and on. We're going to have to shrink the size of state government and TennCare is going to be one of those places that happens."