Princeton musician Alonzo Pennington and Murray State University professor Paul Walker are vying to be the Democratic candidate for Kentucky’s 1st Congressional District. Kentucky’s Primary Election is on May 22. The winner of this primary faces incumbent Republican James Comer in November.
Here’s where they stand on issues, compiled from recent forums in Hopkinsville and Murray:
Education:
Walker:
Paul Walker expressed interest in improving and providing funding for education in his opening remarks at the League of Women Voters Debate in Hopkinsville. Walker said he wants the government to fund free tuition for two years at a community college, university or towards vocational training. He said the years following should only cost a small fee. He said investing in education has incredible returns on investment.
“We have to remember that education is an investment, not a cost,” Walker said. “So anything that’s offered low-cost or free will pay off in the long run or the short run.” Walker said he believes that free tuition should not be based on a family’s income. He said the money invested in education will pay itself off in dividends eventually.
Pennington:
Pennington said college needs to be more affordable overall. He said the four-year college plan is not right for a lot of people and, as a result, people have racked up debt. “They come into society not being able to spend money, not being able to get loans and buy houses and cars and things like that. We need this money going into our system,” Pennington said. “Instead they’re paying off student loans.”
He said the government could lessen that burden by offering free or low-cost community college. He said there should be more trade schools available so that students coming out of high school can have the opportunity to see if it is right for them. He said the district does not have enough trade schools.
Pennington said free tuition should be based upon the student’s income rather than their family’s. He said when a person turns 18 they are an adult and are “supposed to be responsible.” He said part of that responsibility is figuring out what they are going to do following high school.
Pennington said the state missed out on an opportunity to fund tuition relief by not supporting legalizing medical marijuana. He said the government spends too much money on things that don’t take care of people. He suggested that the government “cut back a little bit” on the military budget.
Health Care:
Walker:
Walker said he wants to make sure people have access to the “quality health care that they deserve and is necessary to make them contributing members of society.” He said health care is too complicated to be a right but is more than a privilege. He said everyone needs to have it and people have a right to live.
Walker said people need to be realistic when talking about a right. “We can’t just say everyone can go see a doctor. Health care is expensive and it needs to be paid for and I think it can be paid for, but doing so isn’t saying it is a right is not the way to get that done,” Walker said. “We need the help of doctors and we need the help of insurance companies. We need the help of patient advocates to decide a way so that it maintains its ability to serve the public.”
But he said the cost of health care can be managed by meeting with the various stakeholders. He said care through Medicaid should be provided for everyone who needs healthcare. Walker said he thinks the country needs to move towards a single payer system that covers everyone. For now, he said health care officials should manage insurance without trying to get people to work more to lose money.
Pennington:
Pennington said good and affordable health care and preventative care should be a right. He said he believes every American should have the right to walk into a doctor’s office and see a doctor. “I believe that every American should be able to get help if something’s wrong,” Pennington said. “And not just in your physical health, but if something’s wrong you should have somewhere to go to and you should be able to have someone to depend on and someone to count on.”
He said Governor Beshear’s health care program Kynect was one of the most ideal in the country. “Kentucky was leading the country in something positive for a change and it was getting people enrolled in health care,” Pennington said. He said Governor Matt Bevin did away with the program because “he wants to privatize everything.” Pennington said he supports Medicare for all. He said, if elected, he will do everything in his power to make sure that health care is a right. He said he supports a single-payer health system.
Guns:
Walker:
Walker said gun reform is a campaign finance reform question. He said organizations have far too much power over legislators. He said legislators need to look into what is causing people to enact violence on others to solve the issue of gun violence. “What is it about what our culture entails that encourages or doesn’t help these people find answers to their struggles,” Walker said.
Walker said he supports banning people on the terror watch list from buying guns. But he said there needs to be a comprehensive way of determining whether or not a mentally ill person should be able to purchase a gun. He said the CDC needs to be able to explore how mental illness and gun violence are related.
He said he believes legislators can be more imaginative in finding ways to combat gun violence. “We Americans are really good at giving band-aids without stopping the bleeding,” Walker said. “We don’t really look at what causes the wound.”
Pennington:
Pennington said he thinks it is possible to protect both the second amendment and schools from gun violence. He pointed out that the second amendment refers to a “well-regulated militia.” He said the country “has to draw a line somewhere” and that line is making sure that those who own guns are qualified to have them.
Pennington said half of the year he makes his living as a hunting guide. He said people do not need a bump stock for hunting and recreation. (Bump stocks allow semi-automatic firearms to shoot in rapid succession.) “A bump stock is something that makes your gun basically malfunction. It makes your trigger finger go back and hit it twice as fast so you shoot much. But it’s inaccurate,” Pennington said. “So why in the world would you want that on your rifle?”
Pennington said he supports “getting rid” of bump stocks, requiring solid background checks for a person purchasing a gun, and making sure that the people who have guns are capable and mentally qualified to have one. He said he supports a ban against people who are mentally ill or on the terror watch list from buying guns.
Immigration:
Walker:
Walker said he does not support a border wall between the United States and Mexico. He said there are portions of the border that already have and wall and there is security there. He said that he thinks the government needs to be more open in immigration policies.
“I think we found with the dreamers that these individuals who were technically here illegally have been extremely productive members of our society,” Walker said. He said he supports a clean path to citizenship for DACA recipients. He also said more needs to be done to encourage workers to come into the country.
Pennington:
Pennington also said that he “doesn’t support wasting a lot of money on a wall.” He said he supports people that want to come to the country the correct way but the government needs to make the process more accessible for them.
“Twelve years is too long to wait,” Pennington said. “We’ve got to have a plan in place where they can be a citizen four, five, six years into being here. That way they can become tax payers and members of our society that are contributing.”
Pennington said some immigrants come into the states and do the jobs that “people here don’t want to do.” He said the district is agriculture-based so it is important to improve the accessibility of legal immigration. “Lord knows that right here in western Kentucky we need migrant workers,” he said. “We need them coming here and stripping and cutting tobacco and working our farms.”
Voter Turnout:
Pennington:
Pennington said that by beating James Comer he would show voters that regular, working-class people “deserve a seat at the table.” He said that will encourage voting and will encourage people to be involved. He said that he is a musician and entertains at his events. He said that gets people interested and pulls in people that aren’t typically politically involved.
Walker:
Walker said he doesn’t think voter turnout is about entertainment. He said he believes that candidates need to give voters--especially young voters--a choice about what they’re voting for. He said some of his students feel like their vote doesn’t make a difference because “everyone seems the same, everyone seems to not take them seriously as voters.”
“Let’s make sure we’re electing people who will benefit and have the qualifications to work with each other to do that,” Walker said.
Pennington:
Pennington rebutted Walker and said that some people are not following politics because they don’t find it entertaining. He said one of the reasons President Trump was elected was because he was entertaining and caught people’s attention. “I’m not saying we elected the right person by any means. But what I am saying is the way he went about doing it is different...and that got people interested and got people involved,” Pennington said.
Business:
Walker:
Walker said he wants to reexamine or reconsider the tax structure so that local companies and entrepreneurs receive incentives and benefits rather than out-of-state businesses that take their profits elsewhere.
Pennington:
Pennington said the state needs to create jobs. He said there are people that are working jobs that they are overqualified for or they’re leaving the area to find jobs that they more suitable jobs. He said officials need to find a way for businesses to come in to the state and stay. “There’s a war against working class people all across the country,” Pennington said. He said there are complains of corporate welfare and he said the middle class carries the burden.
Term Limits:
Walker:
Walker said if term limits were imposed they would reduce the power of the legislature and increase the power of the judicial and executive branch. He said it is difficult to name a number that would allow Congress to maintain its influence in the checks and balances system. “I think it would require a lot of discussion to decide how to maintain that balance in power, among the three branches, before I would name a number,” Walker said.
Pennington:
Pennington said he did not apply to run because he wanted to be a career politician. “I wanted to sign up for this because I wanted to get things done,” Pennington said.
Pennington said he is tired of the government being so divided and separated that it doesn’t do anything. He said he doesn’t think he would want to be in office for more than 10 or 12 years unless he was needed there. He said Walker had previously named 12 years as a desired term limit.
Walker:
Walker said that he had previously said that if there was such a thing as term limits it could be 12 years. He said he has recently discovered that term limits “may be not the best idea” and that legislature needs to consider the variables before selecting a number.
Minimum Wage:
Pennington:
Pennington said he believes the minimum wage should be raised to between $12 to $15 in Kentucky. He said he is not as knowledgeable on the economies of other states and said he is aware that the economy is different depending on the state. He said minimum wage is a federal issue because there’s a lot of states that would not want to go along with it because they are under different leadership that do not care if people are living in poverty.
“Whatever we can do to get people out of poverty and out of living from paycheck to paycheck and from wondering whether they’re kids are going to eat are not, I’m all for that and I believe that starts with raising our minimum wage and giving these people a hand up to start looking for jobs that pay better,” Pennington said.
Walker:
Walker also said that the minimum wage should be raised on the federal level but states should be allowed to adjust as necessary. Walker said $15 per hour seems like a good starting point but he doesn’t think there is a magic number.
“I don’t think there’s a magic number ever for any situation. There’s too many individual factors. There’s too many aspects to consider and that shouldn’t stop us from looking at it and deciding some sort of beginning number but we shouldn’t believe that there’s some sort of magic number that’s going to solve all of our problems with wage inequality and that sort of thing,” Walker said.
Climate Change and Energy:
Walker:
Walker said the country needs to look at all sources of energy as ways to provide power. However, he said that people can look very closely at the things they do and minimize energy consumption.
“One of the things that I think is humorous is the electric pencil sharpener. One of the easiest machines and non-electric machines out there is the pencil sharpener and yet offices are filled with electric pencil sharpeners,” Walker said. “That seems like a waste of power when there’s a viable human-powered machine that can do the same thing.”
Pennington:
Pennington said coal is important because many people in the area depend on the work. “We can’t just say ‘oh, let’s get rid of coal’ and put these people out of work without a plan to transition them to other things,” Pennington said.
He said the country needs to move away from being dependent on coal and bring in renewable energy resources like water, wind turbines and solar panels. He said the empty lots and buildings across the district could be utilized to manufacture those products. He said the district’s geographic location makes it a “perfect spot to get these potentially Kentucky-made products out to the rest of the world.”
Vetting for Refugees:
Pennington:
Pennington said the vetting system that is in place to let refugees into the country is not sufficient. He said the White House does not want any refugees or immigrants coming through. But he said the country was built on immigrants and refugees.
“When our forefathers laid down the Constitution or the Bill of Rights, they had that in mind because their families and they were those people that came here,” Pennington said. “So we must find a way to make sure that we have a way to bring them in here securely and be able to know who they are. But we must keep an open mind and have the door open so we can be able to accept them.”
Walker:
Walker said he doesn’t think there needs to be anything added to vet refugees. He said he thinks that more need to be allowed in. “What we have is a way to process them and establish them in communities. I think it works really well and I think that we need to be open and allow more of these refugees in to enjoy the benefits of this country,” Walker said.
National Security:
Walker:
Walker said the government needs to cut spending that funds the building of missiles and other weapons. But he said money should still go towards soldiers and veterans. He said the country has good national security except for the president’s tendency to “strut strength rather than listen to advisors.” He said this is putting the United States’ alliances with European countries at stake.
Pennington:
Pennington said he disagrees with the concept of the president’s ability to declare an act of war without congressional approval. He said he’s afraid that is what is happening with the president’s decision to pull out of the Iran deal. He said the country has the largest military in the world. He said there is a lot of spending that could be cut to use towards healthcare and education.
Political Action Committees/Money in Politics:
Walker:
Walker said there are individual and corporate limits to campaign contributions. “If the local business here, the Pella corporation, wanted to donate a thousand dollars to me, then that’s legal. But I’m not going to be beholden to them for a thousand dollars,” Walker said. “But if a super PAC, which has the ability to use unlimited funds to pay for commercials on my behalf, then that might cause some people--members of Congress, some senators--pause when that organization that sponsors that super PAC asks them for a favor.” Walker said contribution regulations need to return to the “strict lower limits that individuals have.” He said everyone needs to be subject to those limits.
Pennington:
Pennington said the country is letting lobbyists and corporations buy politicians. “Until we get rid of that and start electing regular, middle class, working people that know what it’s like to go and get your hands dirty, we’re going to have a tough time fighting that,” Pennington said. “We’re going to have a tough time overturning Citizens United until--which I’m all for--we can get people in there that--like myself--are not out to collect those big PAC dollars.” Pennington said he believes the change starts at the voting level by electing people that can be trusted.
Social Security:
Walker:
Walker said he does not believe social security should be privatized. He said he thinks it is earned. “I think this is one of those things that we as community members know and experience because we see that money taken out of our paycheck,” Walker said. “We are paying social security every month so that generations ahead of us will have that earned benefit. And we will have the same thing for the generations behind us.” Walker said social security is “basic community kindness.” He said it needs to be sustained and fully funded.
Pennington:
Pennington said the Trump administration is wanting to privatize everything “from our social security to our schools.” He said this is because of money. Pennington said social security is not an entitlement. He said the government is trying to take from the working class people.
“If they were trying to take from the top one percent and the big corporations it would be raining down hell and fury down on Washington and politicians,” Pennington said. “But no, no they’re taking from the working class people and that’s because we don’t have working class people in office and it’s time to change that.”
Taxes:
Pennington:
Pennington said the top one percent wealth-earners in America is eliminating the middle class to increase the wage gap and “put them so much farther ahead.” He said until regular people are in office, the one percent will receive “corporate welfare” and be able to keep their money offshore. He said the tax burden is continuously on the middle class and the lower-income earning citizens.
“It’s on our backs and we’re the ones struggling to carry this burden,” Pennington said. He said the increase people have seen in their checks from the new tax reform is “just hush money.”
“What’s it going to be in two years when it comes back around?” he said. “It’s going to be back on the working class people.”
Walker:
Walker said he agrees that the biggest problem with the tax reform is that the benefits to the lower and middle-class tax rate expire in eight years while the corporate tax cut doesn’t change. He said he believes that everyone can find a tax rate that they think is fair.
“Taxation can be fair and it can be progressive so that the thousand dollars that the lower classes pay is exactly fair and they’re okay with that and that the million dollars that someone else pays, they’re fair with that too,” Walker said.
He said the interstate structure that is crumbling now was built after World War II when the richest one percent paid 90 percent in taxes. He said the rich should be taxed more--at roughly 75 percent. “Three thousand dollars of my taxes is a lot more to me than 100,000 for a millionaire,” Walker said. He said if the government wants to get money and revenue it needs to go after the people that have a lot of money because the money is already working for them in banks and stocks.
Communication with Constituency/ Town Halls:
Walker:
Walker said he would want to hold as many town halls as he could if elected, but said he is not sure what his schedule would look like. He said he would like to hold the meetings at least in every area of three counties at least once a year if not more often. Walker said he is comfortable listening to and answering questions.
Pennington:
Pennington said he believes town halls are extremely important. He said congressman should be in every county every year talking to as many people as possible. He said he believes in complete transparency and communication.
Marijuana:
Walker:
Walker said the country should legalize medical marijuana. He said doing so would provide funding for research on the effects of the drug. He said that data could help determine whether or not to legalize recreational marijuana. He said legalizing marijuana could also serve as a revenue boost but said he leans away from “vice taxes.” He said he believes that is an unfair way to tax things.
Pennington:
Pennington also said he supports the legalization of medical marijuana but said it needs to be studied. He said the drug could help people that are paying for expensive prescription medications or are addicted to opioids.
Opioids and Drug Use:
Pennington:
Pennington said he believes medical marijuana could serve as a way to help people off of dangerous opioids and drugs. “It’s also a way to get big pharmacy out of the pockets of our politicians,” Pennington said. “It’s also a way to reduce corporate greed in what’s making our laws.”
Walker:
Walker said the government needs to allocate resources like Narcan to local communities. But he said that is the band-aid solution. He said state and local governments need to look at what they are doing for the people and why people are turning to drugs like opioids.
Gender Equality:
Walker:
Walker said unequal gender pay and sexual harassment needs to stop. He said the solution extends past punishing or firing men who are most guilty. He said it extends to the culture and raising of children. He said it is important to create programs and movements like Title IX and #MeToo and to recognize and stop the cultural problems that contribute to these issues.
Pennington:
Pennington said the issues surrounding gender equality are issues of respect. He said these issues are part of the country’s history.
“Whether it’s gender, sexual orientation, color of your skin or religion people want to distance you from this or from that,” Pennington said. “But we have got to come together as people and we’ve got to talk about it.” He said people who witness these issues and don’t call others out are just as guilty.
Gerrymandering:
Pennington:
Pennington said a bipartisan group should discuss to determine where congressional lines should be. He said people need to start electing politicians who are concerned about the needs of their constituents rather than reelection.
“When the time comes we have to make sure that we have a bipartisan effort making sure that we have equal amounts of people and not so much this party is in this district and this part is in this district,” Pennington said. “So we have a fair shot at elections whether your democrat or republican.”
Walker:
Walker said he is not sure how gerrymandering could be solved. He said he thinks the key is moving away from divisive districting. “Let’s just start with geographic districts,” Walker said. “The problem with that of course, then you have 8,000 people and all of them make the same amount of money.” He said it is too difficult to make the call on fixing the issue and he would have to look at the data.
North Korea:
Walker:
Walker said he believes in consulting experts and said he doesn’t have the information to make a call on entering into an agreement with North Korea.
Pennington:
Pennington said he supports discussion between the White House and North Korea over a “showdown of who's the bigger and badder.”
Matt Markgraf contributed to this report.
