1st District candidates clash over gay marriage ban in debate in Hutchinson

In a debate on Wednesday that lacked fireworks, 1st District U.S. Rep. Tim Huelskamp and his Democratic challenger, Jim Sherow, discussed issues that ranged from immigration reform, alternative energy subsidies and same-sex marriage to the nation’s deficit.

The debate was hosted by the Hutchinson/Reno County Chamber of Commerce at the Ramada Conference Center in Hutchinson.

The biggest reaction from the audience came in the discussion about same-sex marriage, when Sherow, a Kansas State University history professor and former mayor of Manhattan, drew applause after defending the rights of gays to marry.

He said he believes in equal rights and equal protection under the law for all Americans. He also said the U.S. Army and K-State have nondiscrimination policies that extend to gay people. It doesn’t make sense for gay people to fight in the military and return to Manhattan to face discrimination, he said.

Sherow also referred to a recent Vatican document saying that same-sex couples can offer good things to communities.

Huelskamp, R-Fowler, who authored the 2005 Kansas constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman, said the state decided the issue when it passed the amendment.

He said judges who overturn such amendments should not be imposing their will on states. He also said he worried about the impact of same-sex marriage on the culture and on families.

“We should be promoting families, we should be supporting marriages,” Huelskamp said.

Sherow said during his closing remarks that Huelskamp has demonstrated failed policies in Congress, and he pointed to Huelskamp’s ouster from the House Agriculture Committee by his Republican peers.

Sherow said his record of working with people in Manhattan has helped make that city one of the fastest-growing metro areas in the nation. In Washington, he’d continue to work with people who disagree with him to find common ground, he said.

Huelskamp said people in Washington get out of touch with their districts and spend more time playing politics and fundraising. That is why he comes back to Kansas, where he has held 250 town hall meetings, he said.

Huelskamp said he tries to check for Kansas common sense and principles every day in Congress.

“A lot of solutions are simple,” Huelskamp said. “It’s just that Washington is broken.”

In a discussion of wind energy production tax credits that are expiring, Huelskamp said the federal government has subsidized the wind industry for 20 years.

“The problem in Washington, D.C., is they like to subsidize forever,” he said. “They like to make certain if you’re special interest, you get a select provision in the tax code.”

He said wind and ethanol can compete in the energy marketplace and don’t need Washington to give them tax breaks.

Sherow said renewable energy sources in the 1st District, such as wind and ethanol, are “critically important” to the state and national economy. Eleven ethanol plants in the district produce nearly 16,000 jobs and more than $1 billion in wages combined, Sherow said. Huelskamp would do away with all that, he said. Ethanol producers are concerned about having support pulled out from under them just as they’re getting up and running, he added.

While working to support wind and ethanol energy, the country also needs to work to make fossil fuels cleaner and more efficient, Sherow said.

“We can do both at the same time,” he said.

On a question about immigration reform, Huelskamp said his first priority is to secure the border. The immigration system is a mess that needs to be streamlined, he said.

Sherow agreed with the need to secure the border but also said immigrants have brought growth and economic prosperity to the district in cities such as Garden City and Liberal.

The U.S. needs an immigration bill that is languishing in the House, Sherow said. Part of the reason House Speaker John Boehner hasn’t brought it to the floor is that he has difficulty controlling his own party because of divisions between the tea party and moderate Republicans, he said.

“If he brought the bill to the House floor, it would pass, because there are enough moderate Republicans and Democrats to put that into law,” Sherow said.

On the national deficit, Sherow said it is coming under control and the national debt is growing at a slower rate. But he also said the country needs to deal with both now. He would adjust both revenue and spending, not just cut taxes, he said.

“I would be happy to lower corporate taxes as long as they actually pay taxes,” Sherow said.

Huelskamp said the national deficit is “a grave threat to our economy.”

It has grown massively under President Obama and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, he said.

Huelskamp said a balanced-budget measure he supports would put the country on a path toward balancing it in 10 years.

This story was originally published October 15, 2014 at 4:58 PM with the headline "1st District candidates clash over gay marriage ban in debate in Hutchinson."