By Jeff Arnold
Stephens Media
FAYETTEVILLE — Rogers Mayor Steve Womack and Gunner DeLay provided the only sparks at a candidate forum today that featured all nine candidates seeking the 3rd District congressional seat.
Womack and DeLay are among the eight Republicans seeking the GOP nomination to face Democrat David Whitaker in the general election.
All eight GOP candidates and Whitaker participated in a forum hosted by the Fayetteville Chamber of Commerce.
In response to a question on how to fund Medicare in the future, Womack said all options discussed by the candidates before him had to be on the table. Among the options discussed but rejected by other candidates were a tax increase and borrowing money.
Womack also said Congress had to have the political will to look at cuts in entitlement spending.
When questioning returned to DeLay on an unrelated subject, he called Womack’s answer to Medicare funding question a defining issue in the campaign.
DeLay, a former prosecutor and state legislator, said it “boggled the mind” that Womack would say a tax increase or borrowing money were “on the table.”
Womack took exception, insisting he did not suggest a tax increase to fund Medicare, and he accused DeLay of putting words in his mouth.
During the next round of questioning, DeLay targeted Womack again, saying that unlike some of his opponents he would not propose any new government spending.
In March, Womack pledged to work to establish a national program to partner with local communities for the construction of regional wellness centers, like the one in Rogers.
The next day, DeLay called the idea a “billion-dollar boondoggle,” saying it’s not the role of government to build fitness centers that would cost billions of dollars and create an unfunded mandate for local governments.
In his response to the continued criticism today, Womack told DeLay that continuing “to put words in my mouth is not a sanitary thing to do.”
Womack then reiterated the program he suggested would not be mandatory, would only be launched if funds were available and could reduce the Medicare liability by improving the health of Medicare recipients.
After the forum, Womack was asked to clarify if a tax increase was among the options that had to “be on the table,” when discussing future funding for Medicare.
He said “always and never” are hard to back up, so a tax increase would have to be on the table as a “last resort.”
To sustain Medicare, benefits have to be cut or there has to be an infusion of revenue that would ideally come through more people paying into the system as a result of economic growth, Womack said.
Outside of the back-and-forth between Womack and DeLay, there was general agreement among the GOP candidates on reducing government regulation and cutting taxes to spur job growth and repealing the recently enacted health-care reform law.
However, Womack said, while it’s nice to be seduced by the idea of repealing the health-care law, it is the law, so it’s a matter of fixing it by interjecting conservative measures to counter it.
Whitaker said his primary concern with the health-care law is its failure to include measures that control the cost of delivering health care services, but said he believes this is only the first in a series of laws to address health care.
Retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Bernard Skoch, former Drug Enforcement Administration special agent Steve Lowry, Boone County Judge Mike Moore, Gravette businessman Kurt Maddox, state Sen. Cecile Bledsoe and former state Rep. Doug Matayo are also seeking the 3rd District GOP nomination.
