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Conservatives and democrats criticize patriot act and nclb Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.arkansasnews.com/archive/2004/10/21/News/305191.htmlhttp://www.arkansasnews.com/archive/2004/10/21/News/305191.html
Boozman opponents criticize administration's policies, deficit
Thursday, Oct 21, 2004
By Doug Thompson
Arkansas News Bureau
FAYETTEVILLE - Opponents of 3rd District U.S. Rep. John Boozman of Rogers criticized the president's policies and Boozman's support of them at a candidates' forum Wednesday.
Both state Rep. Jan Judy, D-Fayetteville, and conservative activist and independent candidate Dale Morfey of Fort Smith cited the federal budget deficit, the Patriot Act that broadened federal police powers, and President Bush's "No Child Left Behind" education program as serious errors, and they criticized Boozman for supporting the administration's position.
At one point, Judy called Boozman "a rubber stamp for this administration, which has grown government at a faster rate than ever before."
Boozman defended the education program, citing progress in test scores. He blamed the deficit on a recession that the Bush administration inherited and made worse by the terroristic attacks of 2001. He also said the Patriot Act may have gone too far.
All three candidates appeared in a forum hosted by the Fayetteville Chapter of the League of Women Voters. The event was recorded and will air on the city's government cable Channel 16 at 9 a.m. today and Friday and at 6 p.m. Saturday.
Morfey said he decided to run against Boozman largely because his children and grandchildren "will inherit a country with less liberty and less of an economic future for them.
"We have a government that is not concerned with balancing the budget," he said. Morfey also said he was concerned about "moral erosion."
Morfey said his first priority if elected would be to "repeal the Patriot Act, which was a knee-jerk reaction" to terroristic attacks.
Judy agreed.
"Our constitution was put in place to ensure people's freedoms," she said. "Most of our ancestors immigrated here to get away from restrictions and controls."
Boozman said he was open to looking at whether some of the provisions of the Patriot Act give excessive power to the government.
"If you lose liberty, if you start chopping away at liberty, those things never come back," he said.
However, he added "that I'd like to see an instance in which the Patriot Act has gone too far. I haven't been able to find one."
Morfey also said he'd favor deploying the military to stem illegal immigration. Boozman replied that "my dad was in the Air Force for 20 years. He didn't join to be a border guard."
Judy criticized the administration on a range of health and human service issues, including education.
"I met with a first-grade teacher who had one of her students ask if she'd read him a book, and she said 'No! I have to finish my paperwork,'" Judy said. "Then she thought, 'Has it come to that?'"
Morfey called Bush's school program an attempt to "seize control of education and turn it into a federal program."
Boozman defended the initiative, saying it was bi-partisan. Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., one of the most liberal members of the Congress, voted for the bill, Boozman said.
In a related issue, 1st District U.S. Rep. Marion Berry held an afternoon news conference with Judy at Collier's Drug Store in downtown Fayetteville where he criticized the administration's prescription drug benefit plan.
If the administration would allow re-importation of American-made prescription drugs, "where we'd pay the same price as the rest of the world, we wouldn't need a prescription drug program," Berry said.
"All but the very poorest could afford them, and we can help those," he said.
Patrick Creamer, a spokesman for Boozman's campaign, said Boozman has voted for re-importation twice and agrees it would greatly ease price pressure on prescription drugs, but the effort to allow re-importation was obviously going nowhere against heavy opposition. Boozman voted for the administration plan rather than have no plan at all, Creamer said.
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