Democrat Ashley Bell and incumbent Republican Carl Rogers, who switched to the GOP earlier this year, appeared on the Martha Zoller Show on WDUN NEWS TALK 550.
Bell promised to limit himself to ten years as a state Representative, if elected. Rogers has been in the state House nine-and-a-half years.
"I think you should move on," Bell said. "If you can get in there and get the job done, do what you want to do and have a vision, accomplish that goal, you should be able to come home and feel good about what you've done."
"Everyday I learn something new," Rogers replied, saying he's still learning the ropes of state government. "Ashley has called me a professional politician, I'm not. I'm still the same person I was eleven years ago."
But it was the issue of taxes that brought one of the sharpest exchanges of the morning.
It began when Bell accused Rogers of voting to raise taxes.
Rogers: "I go through the process."
Bell: "Right."
Rogers: "I work the process. You never worked the process. I've spent hours and days down there. But, you don't know what you're talking about."
Bell: "Just give me why you raised the taxes, Carl."
Rogers: "I was passing the budget out the House..."
Bell: "Right."
Rogers: "... to get it to the Senate. That's what we have to do."
Rogers said Bell's approach to taxes and the budget means he would be voting against teacher pay raises and medicaid, which Bell denied.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2004/10/150126