Sunday, October 26, 2008
News, In this Issue..., Politics

Election guide 2008

The Sunday Paper examines Atlanta’s House and Senate races, explains three proposed Constitutional amendments, and looks at how Georgia may vote in the presidential contest

U.S. Senate race: Establishment versus establishment

U.S. Senate candidate Jim Martin at his headquarters in Midtown.
Spencer Freeman


Sen. Saxby Chambliss (left) listening to Delta Airlines employees on Capitol Hill in January 2007.
Jamie Rose/Getty Images

Attorney Saxby Chambliss was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2002 after serving eight years in the U.S. House representing Georgia’s 8th District. A staunch Republican, Chambliss has been known to disagree with President George W. Bush, most notably on the issue of farm subsidies. “When he is right, I vote with him, and when he’s wrong, I vote against him,” he told The Sunday Paper last July. “I just voted against him on the Farm Bill for the third time.”

Indeed, Chambliss may be the patron saint of farm subsidies. When the Farm Bill came up for renewal in 2007, Bush insisted that farmers who earn more than $200,000 a year not be allowed to receive subsidies. The House and Senate, Republicans and Democrats alike, overwhelmingly opposed the president. A majority of lawmakers, including Chambliss, supported a provision of the bill that allows farmers with income of up to $750,000 and non-farm income of up to $500,000 to receive subsidies. The guidelines apply direct payments that are disbursed based on land acreage—whether the land is actively farmed or not—regardless of current market conditions. To fend off the passage of the plush new Farm Bill in 2007, Bush extended the existing farm bill for another year. But when the bill’s renewal rolled around this year, all but two Senate Democrats and 15 Republicans voted for it. Chambliss voted for it, as expected. Bush vetoed the bill last spring, but the House overrode the veto in May, and the subsidy-laden Farm Bill went into effect almost immediately.

On Nov. 4, Chambliss will face Democrat opponent Jim Martin, who is also an attorney. A Georgia General Assembly veteran, Martin was referred to by his Democratic primary rivals as the “establishment candidate.” They also demanded that he return PAC money.     

“This is the first time in my career I’ve been called an insider,” he told SP before the primary election.
   
As a U.S. Senator, Martin says he would fight to increase regulation of oil futures. He says that this, along with withdrawing our troops from Iraq and curbing America’s housing crisis, will propel the economy out of stagnation.

Here, The Sunday Paper looks at each candidate’s stance on the issues. – Stephanie Ramage

Martin and Chambliss on the issues

  By Nani Mathews

  The Economy

Saxby Chambliss

--Voted in favor of the $700 billion Wall Street” bailout.

--Served on the committee to amend the Food Stamp Act to adjust for inflation, as well as to amend the Fair Labor Standards Act to entitle agriculture workers to receive minimum wage.

--Sponsored the Fair Tax bill, which calls for the repeal of income taxes, abolishing the IRS and enacting a 23 percent national sales tax on all goods and services. The bill was pushed into a committee after its introduction in 2007 and has been there ever since. Chambliss teamed up with the author of the bill, Congressman John Linder (R-Ga.), to create more awareness in the House. However, Chambliss concedes that “with the Democrats in control of Congress, it is doubtful the Fair Tax legislation will be given time on the House or Senate floor.”

Jim Martin
Blames the Bush Administration for most of the economic woes in America. He opposed the bailout plan and wants tighter regulation and consumer protection. 

--If you know anything about Barack Obama’s economic plan, then you know Martin’s plan. According to his Web site, MartinforSenate.com, Martin supports “lower taxes on the middle class while maintaining fiscal discipline.”

Health Care

Chambliss

--In the 1990s, while serving in the House, Chambliss helped create the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). The legislation called for families earning between $38,000 and $40,000 annually to receive a subsidy that would pay their children’s insurance premiums. But in 2007, when the Senate entertained the idea of allowing states to expand SCHIP to include families earning as much as $82,000, as well as providing for coverage of some adults, Chambliss voted no, saying, “this is not what the program is intended for.”

--Believes an unborn child should be covered by SCHIP.

Martin

--Supports the preservation of private health care and the creation of a public health care system to balance the cost through competition and to achieve “universal coverage.”

--Martin supports SCHIP, and believes the program can insure every American child by 2014.

--As a state representative, Martin helped write the legislation that created PeachCare.

--Co-sponsored state legislation that required insurance companies to provide a certain level of care to women with breast cancer.

Immigration

Chambliss

--Voted against immigration reform in 2007. Also opposes a guest worker program or any path to citizenship for guest workers.

--Introduced legislation into the Senate that would finance the teaching of federal immigration laws and policies to state officials. The bill also calls for illegal aliens to be moved from state to federal custody to ensure that proper legal steps are followed.

--In 2004, introduced a private relief bill to fight for the citizenship of Charles Nyaga, a Kenyan immigrant who faced deportation because the Immigration and Naturalization Service failed to process his application on time.

Martin

--Supports secure borders, a crackdown on employers with undocumented immigrant employees, and global outreach. Martin believes that immigration is an international issue and that development projects in other countries would cut back substantially on immigration to America.

--According to his Web site, Martin supports “hard-working immigrants with no criminal records and basic English skills” to be allowed the “opportunity to gain legal status after paying a fine and back taxes.”

National Security

Chambliss

--Appointed to the Select Committee on Intelligence and the Senate Armed Services Committee, Chambliss has demonstrated a belief in the importance of a strong national security. He supported the bill that removed a need for a warrant when wiretapping abroad, and voted “no” on requiring CIA reports to include interrogation methods. He also supported the extension of the Patriot Act’s wiretap provision.

Martin

--Wants rapid withdrawal of troops from Iraq and supports a transfer of U.S. troops from Iraq to Afghanistan. SP