Jabs thrown at lively U.S. House debate

The three candidates vying for Montana’s lone congressional seat faced off in a debate Sunday in Kalispell. The candidates spoke on a broad range of issues from the Ebola crisis, to gun rights, environmental regulations and campaign finance.

Republican Ryan Zinke, Democrat John Lewis and Libertarian Mike Fellows gave their views during the 90-minute debate at Flathead Valley Community College hosted by the Daily Inter Lake.

They are seeking the seat currently held by Republican Steve Daines, who is running for the U.S. Senate. The general election is Nov. 4.

The trio threw a few political jabs at one another during the evening. Both Zinke and Lewis accused each other of waffling on the issues.

“Throughout the campaign, we’ve seen two candidates with firm positions — Mr. Fellows and myself,” Lewis said. “The third candidate, Mr. Zinke, has been the multiple-choice candidate.”

“There are a lot of differences between you and I,” Zinke told Lewis. “So why don’t we point out the differences rather than make things up about what I’ve said and what I haven’s said. If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember lies.”

Fellows said both Lewis and Zinke represent the ideals of political parties, claiming that he is the only candidate that doesn’t waffle on the issues.

“You won’t see me changing my views to suit the various audiences,” he said.

Following the first question on the Ebola crisis, Lewis used most of his time criticizing Zinke. He did say that he doesn’t support sending American troops to Africa to deal with the outbreak. He added that millions of Americans don’t have access to health care and that needs to be addressed as an underlying issue as it relates to Ebola.

“We’ve got to fix our public health care system,” he said.

Zinke said there should be a quarantine of the African states affected by Ebola. He wants there to be flight restrictions, as well.

“Governments No. 1 job is to protect the people,” he said.

Zinke set out a hypothetical scenario in which an Ebola-infected person crosses the border into the U.S. from Mexico to seek treatment here. He said the border should be closed.

He said he would not support sending troops to Africa and such soldiers would need to have special training.

Fellows agreed that troops shouldn’t be sent to Africa. He said the CDC has been “lax” and there is a need for better containment procedures.

Candidates were asked to address issues related to fracking in the Bakken oil fields and how they plan to address energy issues.

Zinke said he supports increased production of oil, gas and coal in the U.S. and Montana has a role to play securing energy independence for the country. He added that he does not favor energy subsidies.

He said he would rather have oil moved through pipelines than transported by rail.

Fellows said he would get rid of the Department of Energy and called for a free market development rather than subsidies for alternative energy companies. He suggested industrial hemp as something he would like to see explored.

“There is too many crony capitalists in Washington, D.C.,” he said.

Lewis said it’s important to look at long-term needs and invest in future energy sources. He suggested biomass development as a potential investment.

He said he has concerns about the long-term effects of fracking and wants to know “what’s going into the ground.”

“Climate change is an issue and we need people that want to be part of the solution,” he said.

Candidates took on the issue of the state’s struggling timber industry.

Fellows said the downturn in the housing industry is to blame and he doubted whether the “bureaucrats have even been east of the Mississippi” to see the issue. He also suggested hemp as an alternative building material.

Lewis said there is too much timber caught up in litigation and reforming the Equal Access to Justice Act could help. He also said he supports Sen. Jon Tester’s Forest Jobs and Recreation Act.

Zinke said more local management of forests will help the timber industry. He said forest rangers “don’t have the power they once did and that’s because it’s been sucked up by Washington, D.C.”

Following a question about gun rights and the Second Amendment, both Lewis and Zinke argued over their ratings with the National Rifle Association.

Lewis claimed he has an “A” rating from the NRA, and pointed to Zinke’s 42 percent score from the association. Zinke said Lewis’ rating is only based on a questionnaire and that he himself has the endorsement of a former president of the NRA.

“I’m being attacked as if I want to take away guns and that is not true,” Lewis responded.

“We can all agree that in Montana, guns are a legacy,” Zinke said. “I’ll defend every law on the books and will continue to do that.”

Fellows said the Second Amendment is not about hunting and that there shouldn’t be all the checks concerning guns rights.

He added that Zinke has more in common with former “New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg than the people of Montana” when it comes to gun rights.

On national security and whether or not Congress should take an active role in the issue, Zinke said the border should be shut, while Lewis said Congress needs to debate the issue.

Zinke said the U.S. needs to show leadership abroad.

“ISIS is a threat to all of us,” he said. “If you don’t think ISIS is a threat, you’re wrong.”

Lewis said Americans are wary about the U.S. getting involved in another war. “We need to stop policing the world,” he said.

Fellows said national security is important, but agreed that Americans don’t want get into another war.

The candidates tackled the issue of campaign finance.

Lewis drew audience applause when he advocated a reverse in the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United decision, which allowed corporations and unions to make unlimited independent expenditures in elections.

He attacked Zinke, claiming that much of his campaign war chest has come from out-of-state donors.

Zinke responded by saying he won’t apologize for his 25,000 donors and disagreed that a Constitutional amendment should be used to overturn Citizens United.

On the issue, Fellows stated, “If you don’t think money should be in politics — vote Mike Fellows.”