POSTED: Friday, Jul. 09, 2010

Congressional candidates share spotlight at Bellingham Tea Party forum

BELLINGHAM - The first ever Bellingham Tea Party candidate forum on Thursday, July 8, made for a whirlwind evening, as nine candidates for federal office spoke at a nearly packed Whatcom Community College Syre Auditorium.

It was a mish-mash question-and-answer session, with House and Senate hopefuls - and incumbent U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen, D-Everett - answering in a rotating fashion.

Not all candidates for a specific seat got the chance to answer each question.

And not all candidates for U.S. Senate were on hand, including two of the major players: U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Republican Dino Rossi.

Because it was largely a conservative crowd, only Democrats really seemed to get any negative reaction to their question responses.

But that didn't stop any and all - conservative, moderate and liberal - from stating their thoughts on issues.

Larsen said he hoped people would support his re-election to a sixth term in Congress, and said that he runs for office because he has hope for the future of the country.

The representative said one key to America's success will be Wall Street financial reform - recently passed by Congress - that ensures that if a big corporation wants to "drive off a cliff," taxpayers will no longer be in the passenger seat.

Democratic challengers Larry Kalb and Diana McGinness railed against the current Congress, which they view as doing not enough to help people and, in McGinness' view, to get away from the political spin and lies in today's national discussion.

Republican John Koster said that while he wants to "take the country back," Larsen and the Democratic majority want to "take the country backwards."

All 345 lower auditorium seats appeared filled for the event, with other people standing near the door - and not necessarily all local conservatives or Republicans.

Some in the crowd sported buttons and stickers on their clothing for some of the Democratic candidates, too.

Whatcom Democrats sent out a Facebook info blast during the week encouraging their supporters to show up to provide a response to the more conservative Tea Party supporters, they said.

The biggest cheers, however, went to the more conservative candidates, and it seemed that a hefty majority of the audience was conservative.

Tea Party members handed a sheet explaining the format out at the door, along with "We the People" buttons synonymous with the group's organization.

The sheet encouraged applause, and said booing or jeering were "absolutely not allowed."

The rule wasn't completely followed.

The first jeers of the night were directed toward Larsen for saying he would support the Employee Free Choice Act.

The law that some refer to as "card check" allows employees to unionize.

Republicans criticize the law because they say it removes the secret ballot from votes to unionize, which Koster, a challenger of Larsen's, said would open the door to possible employee intimidation.

Larsen said the law would "level the playing field" between employers and their workforces.

The next jeer came from even more people when Democrat Kalb said he'd like to expand the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include health care as a civil right.

Bellingham Democrat Bob Burr, making a liberal challenge to Murray, consistently argued that corporations had too much control over the government and politicians who write the laws.

McGinness said the current $13 trillion deficit wasn't a major issue, which received hisses from the crowd. She said the government needs to focus on cutting spending, however, including for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Two popular Republican Senate candidates, Whatcom County's Paul Akers and Tea Party favorite Clint Didier, railed against big government and overregulation, at times receiving standing ovations.

"We can't sustain this. We have to downsize the government and get it back to what the Founders thought of a limited size and scope," Didier told the crowd.