3rd CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT Green Party candidate challenges English

The two candidates differ widely on the U.S. policy dealing with Iraq.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
SHARON, Pa. -- It looked like U.S. Rep. Phil English would coast to an easy re-election to his 3rd District seat when no Republican or Democrat challengers appeared in the May primary.
That changed for the Republican incumbent, however, when AnnDrea M. Benson, an Edinboro attorney and former Democrat, entered the fall campaign in early September as a Green Party candidate.
The Green Party espouses a platform of social justice and equal opportunity, ecological wisdom, nonviolence and grass-roots democracy.
The public hasn't gotten a side-by-side look at the candidates because the two camps have been unable to arrange any public debates.
One area where they clearly differ is the president's position on Iraq.
Supported it
English supported the recent bipartisan legislative resolution that essentially gives President George Bush the authority to wage war against Iraq.
"The United States must show an unbending resolve in seeing Iraq disarm now. After a thorough and heartfelt examination of the Iraqi threat to our country, I voted to authorize the use of military force in Iraq should it become necessary," English said.
"Sept. 11 showed us that we are vulnerable to terrible acts of war on our homeland. There is no question that Iraq is a threat to the United States," he said.
Benson said she isn't sure the terrorist attacks justify a radical change in American foreign policy or a war with Iraq, calling war "a failure of negotiations."
A crime against humanity such as the terrorist attacks "must be dealt with swiftly and justly, in accord with international law and without violating or curtailing human rights," Benson said.
Benson said English doesn't reflect the interests of most of the people in his district, claiming his support of trade that has exported jobs from the region has hurt people.
PAC contributions
Her opponent was the 28th-highest recipient of corporate political action committee contributions in the House in the last election, she said.
English said he wants to continue his efforts to strengthen the security of America's homeland, help build the economy of the future in western Pennsylvania, promote fair trade and improve the health-care system.
He said his eight years in Congress and membership on the House Ways and Means Committee and its Health, Trade and Human Resources subcommittees put him in a position to accomplish those goals.
Benson said she has a broader base of experience than English, noting she worked as a poverty lawyer for three years, worked on a Democratic caucus staff in the Minnesota Legislature and served as a business attorney for 15 years.
She is critical of what she calls "the mad rush to globalization" that has resulted in exporting jobs from the region and said she supports fair trade but not the label "free trade" that has been used to imply that we have it.
America's balance of payments to other nations is climbing, meaning we are buying, not buying and selling in a fair trade arrangement, she said.
English said he has worked to improve trade relations with other nations, including supporting a Trade Law Reform Act to strengthen anti-dumping laws, promoting sound labor and environmental standards, and restricting the Export-Impact Bank from making loans to foreign competitors to build manufacturing facilities that destroy American jobs.
He said the main issues of the campaign are jobs, tax reform, affordable higher education, fair trade and health-care reform (including Medicare prescription drug coverage).
Other issues
Benson agrees with the jobs and health-care issues, but she added that corporate reform and the corrupting influence of money on elections are other big issues.
As jobs leave, people lose their health-care protection, she said, adding that she favors universal, single-payer health care as a way to control costs for businesses yet provide protection for everyone.
Electoral reform is needed to reduce the power of corporate political action committees, she said.
English said his most innovative idea is a new tax system that is simpler, fairer and flatter than the antiquated federal tax system. It would create an unlimited IRA and provide tax incentives for capital investment and trade fairness, he said.
He said he has been a leading advocate of tax reform and middle class tax relief.
Benson said her most innovative idea is the creation of a temporary restraining order to be used by someone fired for trying to organize their place of employment, allowing them to keep their job until the National Labor Relations Board can investigate.