Wilson, Pearce debate troop funding, farm subsidies

HEATHER CLARK | The Associated Press

5/18/2008 - 5/18/08

ROSWELL — Republican representatives Heather Wilson and Steve Pearce argued about opposing votes taken earlier this week on a farm subsidy bill and funding for troops serving overseas in a debate here Saturday.

The two candidates are running for the U.S. Senate in the June 3 primary. The winner will face Democrat Tom Udall, who is running unopposed for the seat being vacated by Republican Sen. Pete Domenici.

Domenici, who has been diagnosed with an incurable brain disease, is retiring in January.

The debate at Grace Community Church got off to a rocky start when organizers refused to let Wilson give a rebuttal to Pearce's answer on the first question about immigration.

Wilson stopped the debate, saying rebuttals had been agreed to ahead of time and asked Pearce to agree to them, a request he refused.

Wilson said after the debate she thought the setup was unfair to both candidates because neither could answer the other's statements.

"He has a tendency to make false statements and hope no one calls him on it," Wilson said.

Pearce disagreed that the rules skewed the debate toward either candidate.

"It was equally balanced, an equal number of questions, so I didn't see any unfairness," he said.

The candidates answered questions that included the war on terror, education, stem cell research and high gasoline prices.

One unanswered question that remained after the debate, Wilson said, was Pearce's support of a $290 billion farm subsidy bill passed Thursday by Congress.

Wilson said New Mexico dairy producers asked her to oppose the bill because it sent subsidies to their competitors in the Northeast and Midwest.

"Why did he vote in favor of it when the dairy producers, which is the largest agricultural sector in the state, asked us to vote against it because it hurts New Mexico," Wilson said in an interview after the debate.

She said the industry provides 20,000 jobs in southeast New Mexico and has a $2.5 billion economic impact on New Mexico.

Pearce said after the debate that 80 agricultural groups supported the bill, which also funded school lunches, commodities and the food stamp program.

"I was stunned frankly ... because you don't take one group and vote against all of that when you've got 80 groups saying vote for it," Pearce said of Wilson's vote.

He also said he wanted to see the bill pass because now because it would be more difficult to pass a bill he supports, if a Democrat is elected president in November.

Pearce dropped a bombshell as he closed the debate with his closing statement.

He said he did not support Wilson's vote of "present" on an amendment that offered $163 billion in funding for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Wilson voted with 132 other House Republicans on Thursday in a move that killed the bill for the present.

Pearce, a Vietnam veteran who has made straight talk a hallmark of his campaign, called the move political game-playing by both Republicans and Democrats.

"I just disagreed with my leadership completely and I told them I'm not going to play games with our troops," he said after the debate, adding that troops overseas "will consider this a slap in the face without measure."

Wilson, the only female veteran in Congress, said she voted "present" because the funding was conditional on troops being withdrawn from Iraq in 30 days.

"If you voted yes, you added the funding for the troops to a bill that required withdrawal. If you voted no, you voted against the troops. This was a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't bill...," she said.

At least one man in the audience of about 150 people said he supported Pearce's taking a stand on the issue.

"I'd rather see a decision," said Jerry Heck of Roswell, who served in 2004 and 2007 in Iraq.