Jim Slattery made a stop in El Dorado Friday at noon for a town hall meeting.
“We have just been having a real busy last few days,” he said.
He has traveled to several cities across the state visiting with people and discussing the issues.
He talked a little about his past before getting to the issues.
Slattery spent the first 20 years of his life in Good Intent, a farming community by Atchison.
“My father taught me how to work and my mother taught me how to dream,” he said. “I don’t know which is more important for young people.”
He encouraged everyone to get as much education as they can.
Slattery attended Washburn, then went on to law school before holding a seat in the Kansas legislature.
“Then I served in the Kansas Army National Guard,” he said.
Following that, he started a real estate business in Topeka.
“I told people the joy of starting a business and having to borrow money to meet payroll makes you grow up,” he said.
It also made him appreciate what businesses do.
Then he joined the United States Congress.
“It is important to be in congress, then out, so you have to live with the rules you make,” he said.
Slattery made one more attempt at a political post when he ran for governor in 1994.
Since that time he has been working with a national law firm in international trade. He has been working with some Kansas companies.
“That’s been called lawyer lobbyist,” he said.
He said despite what people often think when they hear “lobbyist,” he was happy with what he did. He helped a business sort out trade matter problems and saved a business in his hometown.
“I’m proud of that work,” he said. “I’ve never asked anyone to do anything that wasn’t in the public interest.”
Most recently he decided to run for U.S. Senate, walking away from what he called a comfortable job.
Slattery said he believes the country is in trouble and needs change.
One concern of his is that the country now has the largest deficit in the country’s history.
“Senator Roberts has voted for all of this,” he said. “He’s voted for the spending, the war and the tax cuts.”
He pointed out Roberts also voted for the bridge to nowhere in Alaska.
“I believe very strongly that we have to reduce our deficit and live within our means,” Slattery said, adding that the deficit was dangerous economically.
“Experts say the deficit drove down the price of the dollar since 2002, which drives up the price of gas,” he said. “We need to change our policy to reduce dependence on foreign oil.”
He said by purchasing oil from Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Middle East, the U.S. is helping fund schools there that teach kids to hate Christians and Americans.
“We are funding both sides of the war on terror with our petro dollars,” he said.
To solve this dependency, Slattery feels something should have been done 10 to 15 years ago to require car manufacturers to improve mileage in cars.
“I reject that we can’t build cars that get 40 to 50 miles per gallon and drive comfortably right here in America,” he said. “Roberts historically voted against automakers to improve fuel efficiency until this year.”
He also believes the future holds a lot of electric hybrid cars.
One other solution to this for Slattery is alternative energy. He wants to see wind turbins here in Kansas.
“I would vote tomorrow for production tax credits for wind turbins,” he said.
“We have to drill in the United States,” he added.
He also talked about Medicare and drug costs, which he said was another area he and Roberts disagree.
He said he would vote tomorrow to give Medicare the authority to buy drugs in volume at discount prices.
“It is time in America we put patriotism ahead of partisanship,” Slattery said. “We have to build the coalition from the middle out to deal with these issues. It is important for us this year to take control of our country.”
Among other topics, Slattery is against privatization of social security and Medicare and making sure of what kind of trade agreements are entered into to keep jobs here.
He also was asked about immigration issues.
Slattery feels the border needs to be secured and problems with employers hiring illegal immigrants dealt with.
He said these employers don’t pay taxes on these workers and the laws should be vigorously enforced.
“The more complicated part is what do we do with the 12 million undocumented people here,” he said, adding that everyone knows they can’t all be sent back.
Slattery wants to put in place a track for them to become legalized more quickly if they have been good people.
“I am open to all ideas on how that can be done,” he said.
To a question about the fairness of requiring ID for citizenship, he said there should be one ID for everyone that is fair.
“We all need to work together to solve this problem,” he said. “It will take compromise on all sides.”
Commissioner Steve Pershall asked Slattery if he would have the courage challenge fellow congressmen about earmarks.
“I believe members of Congress should have to give public notice of every earmark they ask for,” he said.
One final question was about the second amendment.
He said he was a strong supporter of it, although he did vote for one ban when he was in congress before, calling it a “dumb vote.”
“I don’t support any additional gun control measures,” he said.
Slattery said he believes in a strong America.
“We’re going to give the people of Kansas a choice in this U.S. Congress election,” he said.
