Serving Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and other towns of the North Carolina High Country
Founded 05-05-05
May 1, 2008 issue
Story by Kathleen McFadden
While the televised debates between candidates for the presidential nominations are generally contentious affairs, the recent match-up between congressional candidates Roy Carter and Diane Hamby was not. Each candidate focused on his/her particular background and positions without attacking the other, and none of the questions led to any significant differences of position that resulted in debate. Instead, the forum in Boone on Monday night principally gave the candidates the chance to present their credentials and their views.
Democrats Carter and Hamby are in a primary to determine which name will be on the November ballot against incumbent Virginia Foxx for the Fifth Congressional District seat.
Carter emphasized his 40 years in the public school system and his “passion to serve the working families of the district” whom, he said, “have been betrayed by Virginia Foxx.”
Hamby emphasized her “20 years of leadership” in the Democratic Party, her experience on the Iredell County Commission, her two decades as a small business owner and her role in helping to found two charter schools.
Both candidates agreed that the county is in a recession. To help bring the country out of recession, Carter said he would focus on holding Washington accountable for high fuel prices that are “driving up the cost of everything” and find ways to bring jobs back to the Fifth District, with a focus on small business and entrepreneurship.
Hamby said her business is facing the toughest quarter in 20 years and identified the loss of jobs overseas as a cause of the recession. Hamby proposed amending the tax code to bring jobs back to the United States.
Both candidates favor withdrawal from Iraq. Both candidates favor comprehensive healthcare for all citizens that covers both physical and mental illness.
Both candidates oppose the federal No Child Left Behind school accountability act. To reduce the high school dropout rate, Hamby proposed a program that would permit fast-track graduation in 11 years and looking at successful vocational programs overseas as a model for the United States. Carter focused on vocational programs that would give students who are not planning to attend college and those who drop out of school because they cannot pass algebra II the opportunity to earn “a meaningful diploma” in skilled trades.
In response to a question about how they would lead the effort to “go green,” Hamby responded that she is so green she doesn’t even own a clothes dryer and does not have yard signs because they’ll end up in a landfill. Carter said he was “preaching global warming before it became popular” and said that yard signs are a necessity in a campaign to beat Foxx. Carter added that he intended to recycle his signs in two years during his reelection campaign.
Both candidates said they are “candidates for change.” Carter said that he will not accept money from oil or drug companies and wants to change the entire attitude about politicians. Hamby said that she is different from most politicians in Washington because she is a mother putting a child through college and a small business owner who has to buy health insurance for her family.
Asked his position on gay rights and gay marriage, Carter said, “The federal government needs to take care of real problems. It cannot take care of moral issues. The government needs to stay out of people’s bedrooms and not tell people how to live their lives.
In response to the same question, Hamby said, “The Republicans have used this issue as a distraction for years. When they had total control of all three branches of government, why didn’t they pass a marriage amendment? We need legal protection for civil union…but we have far greater problems in American than worrying about this.”
Both candidates acknowledged that they would have to raise a significant amount of money to campaign against Foxx in November, and both expressed their confidence that they can raise the necessary funds.