Himes, Debicella Get Serious in First Debate

Most voters in Connecticut's Fourth District agree it will take more than pluck and luck to fix the nation's economic woes.

And yesterday, more than 200 people got a chance to hear Congressman Jim Himes (D-4) and his Republican challenger, State Sen. Dan Debicella talk specifics. The adversaries tackled social security, health care, the federal deficit, and the economy during the AARP Connecticut-sponsored forum at the Bridgeport Holiday Inn.

"It was refreshing to hear the candidates talk about important domestic programs such as Social Security and Medicare in substantive, meaningful ways," Brenda Kelley, AARP state director, said.

This was the first of five debates scheduled between now and Oct. 24. Because of the economy, many agree it's a mid-term election like no other.

"We've made some real progress, but we should not forget where we stood 22 months ago," Himes said in his opening remarks. "We were free falling into a second Great Depression. Urged by Gov. Jodi Rell, I helped pass the Recovery Act."

Himes said stimulus funds enabled cities and towns to hire more firefighters and police officers. Bridgeport hired about 20 new officers last summer. Westport was awarded a $1.2 million SAFER grant to hire 8 new firefighters. However, the town's Board of Finance voted it down.

"But should we celebrate? No way. We still have millions of Americans out of work," Himes said.

The national unemployment rate is 9.8 percent. More than 95,000 jobs were lost in September.

Although the stock market has risen 25 percent since January 2009, people worry about the recovery's slow pace. Debicella seized on that.

"Jim, you've been in power for two years now, you and Nancy Pelosi. It's time to take responsibility for your government," Debicella said. "What Washington has done is create uncertainty. The policies of the last 23 months have extended this recession by bringing uncertainty."

To hear Debicella tell it, Himes and Pelosi have co-governed the nation for the past two years. That's strategy, said Gary Rose, Sacred Heart University's chair of politics and government.

Cementing candidates is a way for opponents to carve their independence. Unaffiliated voters may indeed decide the election's outcome, said Sacred Heart's Rose. As of Oct. 13 there are 147,321 unaffiliated voters in the district.

Yet, Debicella twice linked himself to former GOP Rep. Christopher Shays. A new Debicella campaign advertisement features Shays.

"If you want a Congressman like Chris Shay's, vote for me," Debicella said.

However, the political sniping appeared to grate on Himes.

"I take an approach in not mentioning Nancy Pelosi six times like my opponent.  In not mentioning Fox News talking points like the 2,000 page bill," Himes said. "We need to get away from the rank, intense, obnoxious partisanship."

Still, partisanship permeated nearly every issue the two discussed, except perhaps for Social Security. Both candidates said they oppose privatization.

In addition, Debicella repeated his plan to return unspent stimulus money. Yet, in a previous interview with Patch he conceded it's unlikely the House would achieve the necessary two-thirds majority to do that.

Instead Debicella said he hopes President Barack Obama would cooperate with Congress to repeal the stimulus. Debicella also said Himes' votes contributed to the federal deficit.

Himes didn't take office until after TARP was passed, yet, "he is consistently supportive of the bailouts," Debicella told Patch after the debate.

Whether voters think that means Himes voted for the bailouts, "I'll leave that up to the voters," Debicella said.

Himes pushed back hard on the question of stimulus spending.

"Every time stimulus money came into his district he hailed it," Himes said, waving six press releases. "So when you hear my opponent say he's against the stimulus, that's not what he was telling his constituents."

Ashley Maagero, Debicella's spokeswoman, acknowledged that Shelton and other areas in Debicella's district received stimulus money.

However, she said, "Dan would trade every dollar of stimulus money Connecticut has gotten in exchange for a payroll tax cut."

Debicella favors tax cuts. He supports making the 2001 and 2003 tax rates permanent. The GOP candidate also pointed out that Himes voted to adjourn Congress before it voted on extending the rates.

That's a political ploy, Himes said after the debate.

"The cuts expire December 31 and we go back November 15. We can deal with it after the election," Himes told Patch. "I would rather have dealt with it earlier, but when the Senate said they weren't going to vote, then it was game over."

He also favors capping the GDP at 20 percent.

By contrast, the Himes campaign said the only way to cap GDP at 20 percent is to cut $700 billion from the federal budget, or the entire Pentagon budget.

"The only way to meet that 20 percent limit is to make massive cuts to Social Security and Medicare," the Himes campaign told Patch.

There are an estimated 100,000 Medicare patients in the 4th district. Recently, the Connecticut State Medical Society announced its concern over decreasing Medicare reimbursements.

"Doctors I have been talking to said they're not going to take new Medicare patients because they can't afford to," Debicella said, adding the health care act should've included tort reform.

In addition, Debicella said the health care act required $500 billion in tax increases and $500 billion in cuts to Medicare.

Not so, said the Himes campaign.

"It cut $150 billion in subsidies to private insurance companies through Medicare Advantage, which are private insurance programs that have failed to deliver the efficiencies they promised," said a source close to the Himes campaign. "In short, health care reform begins reforming Medicare so more money goes toward care rather than insurance company profit."

At the end of the forum, one couple gave the debate high marks.

"They did a good job sticking to the issues," said Judy Himes, the Congressman's mother. "I give them a lot of credit, 90 percent of this was serious discussion."