Congress hopefuls debate VA care, tax claims

Both candidates for Eastern Washington’s congressional seat agreed there are problems with the care that veterans are receiving from the federal government, but disagreed over who was responsible.

In a joint interview with The Spokesman-Review’s editorial board, Republican incumbent Cathy McMorris and Democratic challenger Peter Goldmark also disagreed on taxes and congressional ethics.

McMorris blamed much of the problems at the Spokane and Walla Walla Veterans Affairs centers on poor communication and the bureaucracy. Record amounts of money are being spent on veterans services, she said, but the services are changing and the rules aren’t always clear.

Her office has helped about 125 veterans in the last two years, and “they should not have to come to a congressional office to get their care.”

Goldmark insisted that veterans are being let down, as in a recent incident in which an 83-year-old man came to the Spokane medical center a few minutes after the urgent care facility was closed and paramedics were called to take him to another hospital. That veteran died.

It’s up to Congress to keep an eye on the VA, Goldmark said.

The drop in services happened “on McMorris’s watch,” he said. “She could have done it on a proactive basis rather than a reactive basis.”

McMorris insisted she has been proactive, demanding that regional officials keep her informed of changes and convincing Veterans Secretary Jim Nicholson to visit Walla Walla.

“Part of it is just dealing with the bureaucracy,” she said.

On taxes, Goldmark accused McMorris of being “disingenuous” for claims that he would raise taxes. He’s never suggested that in any speech or position paper, he said.

But he has criticized the Bush tax cuts, she countered, and said recently he thought the upper income brackets got too good of a deal. If he’s part of a Democratic majority, some Democratic leaders have said all of those tax cuts are on the table, McMorris said.

“That will be the proposal that’s before the House” if Democrats are in control, she said. “You vote up or down, and (the Bush tax cuts) have proven to be effective.”

But McMorris’ current ads, which call him the “tax man,” mention specific tax increases, such as a return of the so-called marriage penalty. Goldmark said he’s not in favor of such a change and that he never said he was.

“I know of no requirement that any bill in the future has to be handled the way it was in the past,” he said.

He criticized Congress for “bundling” the state sales tax deduction with other tax cuts, and an increase in the federal minimum wage. When that happened in the summer, the bill failed in the Senate because it couldn’t overcome a threatened filibuster.

Each tax deduction should have been voted on separately, he said.

A separate vote would have been nice, but only eight states care about the sales tax deduction, McMorris said. Sometimes proposals have to be combined to get enough support, she said.

“It’s just the reality of the give and take of the legislative process,” she added.

Both candidates had harsh words for the scandal involving former Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., who resigned after sexually explicit e-mails and instant messages he sent to congressional pages were revealed.

McMorris said she was shocked by the news about Foley, and said members of Congress need to be held to a higher standard. Congress should take appropriate action after it gets the results of an ongoing investigation, she said.

But Goldmark called it “a symptom of Congressional leadership that has failed to hold members to that higher standard” and repeated his challenge to McMorris to call for House Speaker Dennis Hastert’s resignation. The House Ethics Committee has been “noticeably absent” during recent scandals and needs to be replaced with some other system to review ethics charges.

McMorris said the lack of action by the Ethics Committee is a sign of how partisan the House has become. But committee members did respond quickly and objectively to the Foley allegations, and “we need to see more of that happening,” she added.