Questions to ask GOP candidates in tonight's VA-5 debate?

[malkusm]

Tonight at 7 PM in my city there is a GOP primary debate for the VA-5 House seat, sponsored by the local Tea Party organization. Michael McPadden is one of the candidates, good Constitutional/liberty-minded conservative, and I will be attending the debate. There will be the opportunity to ask questions of any/all candidates at the debate....so my question is:

What are some good questions to ask the candidates? I want to challenge them and maybe offer a different perspective than a lot of the crowd.

[malkusm]

http://lynchburgteaparty.com/2010/02/lynchburg-tea-party-debate-february-27-2010/


Second of Three TEA Party Debates Scheduled for Lynchburg

February 2, 2010, Lynchburg, VA – Lynchburg TEA Party today announced the second of three TEA Party debates featuring Congressional candidates for Virginia’s 5th Congressional District.

“The event in Charlottesville last month was a huge success,” said Mark Lloyd, Chairman of the Lynchburg Area TEA Party. “We had a great crowd, and we were able to get to know much more about the candidates who we want to replace Tom Perriello with.”

The event in Lynchburg will be held at Brookville High School on Saturday, February 27th, at 7:00PM. “Yes, all the candidates have confirmed they will be there,” said Lloyd.

The debate will be moderated by Lynn Stevens of WSET.

“Some people have real misconceptions about the TEA Party movement,” said Lloyd, explaining, “Our goal is to educate, and get citizens involved in the political process. Our members all have their own opinions, and we have some very lively conversations when get together, but we all seem to agree that we want, a smaller, limited government, free and fair markets, and personal liberty base on personal responsibility.”

Lloyd concluded, “This next event will be geared to making people really listen and think critically about these good folks that want to represent them.”

[malkusm]

The Candidates:

Ken Boyd http://www.kenboydforcongress.com/

Ron Ferrin http://www.ronferrinforcongress.org/

Robert Hurt http://www.roberthurtforcongress.com/

Jim McKelvey http://mckelveyforcongress.com/

Michael McPadden http://mcpaddenforcongress.com/

Feda Kidd Morton https://www.fedaforcongress.com/

Lawrence Verga http://www.vergaforcongress.com/

[malkusm]

Bump for brainstorming....heading over in 3 hours or so.

[Brett]

Abortion: State issue or federal level?
Do they support balanced budget amendment
Do they support term limits

[malkusm]

Thanks Brett! All very good questions and I'll write them down. My plan is to have a list of questions, and I'll feel out the debate and discussion until it's my turn to ask a question.

Two more questions that are on my list:

1) This past week at CPAC, there was a panel discussion on liberty vs. security. Most of the discussion revolved around the controversial Patriot Act, which some of the panelists argued provided the government with needed "wartime powers." My question is - do you believe it sets a dangerous precedent to use so-called "wartime powers" in a situation where a declaration of war has never been made?

2) I would like to hear your thoughts on (a) the Constitutionality and (b) the morality of the Federal Reserve system and legal tender laws in our country today.

[malkusm]

I'm off to the debate! I'll look for people who are filming and try to find out where it will be posted online, and I'll summarize the event when I get back!