The Tri-State Defender is committed to providing our readers with essential information to make an informed choice in the 9th District Congressional Election.

Earlier, the newspaper profiled the candidates in the Aug. 7 Primary. This week, we sought the candidates’ responses/positions on five key issues.

Steve Cohen

Defender: What specifically would you do to help stimulate the creation of jobs in Memphis?

Cohen: In my first year in the United States Congress, I brought home over $40 million in federal grant money to the 9th District.  Much of that went to renovations at Memphis International Airport, which helps us maintain our status as the distribution center of the nation, as well as created construction jobs for the people performing those renovations.  I've brought home grants and appropriations that have gone directly to our educational facilities, as well as increasing the amount of Pell Grants that are available to the students of the 9th District, attracting business to our community by providing businesses with a better educated workforce. 

I favor tax credits for investing in inner city expansion and cosponsored HR 1985, the Minority Entrepreneurship Development Act of 2007, which established the Office of Minority Small Business Development within the Small Business Administration to provide small business loans and assistance to small businesses owned by minorities. I also cosponsored HR 2578, which establishes economic empowerment zones for inner city revitalization.

I've worked to restore order to the tax structure in the United States so that the poor and middle class in our community are able to hang onto more of their hard earned money, driving the local economy forward with increased purchasing power.

Defender: Do you support the withdrawal of U.S. forces in Iraq?

Cohen: I opposed the war in Iraq consistently from the very beginning, and nothing has happened to change my mind.  I visited Iraq in 2007 and met with soldiers who told me of their families being torn apart by long deployments.  It is time that we reunite those families and end the bloodshed. 

I joined the Out of Iraq Caucus as soon as I became a member of the House of Representatives, and I’ve never voted for any funds to extend the war.

Progressive Punch ranks me 4th on War and Pace issues.

Defender: Questions have been raised about racial disparity in the criminal justice system. Do you think these questions warrant examination?

Cohen: I have devoted my life to stamping out racial inequality wherever it may arise, and I always will.  I do believe that there are inequalities in our criminal justice system, and I want to bring that to an end. 

I recently sponsored HR 6518, a bill that establishes a pilot program to study ten congressional districts, analyzing any racial disparities that might exist within the justice system.  It was strongly suggested by Veronica Coleman-Davis.  It is my hope that the 9th District will be among those studied.

Defender: Do you favor universal health care?

Cohen: Yes. Access to medical care should be the right of all rather than the privilege of the few.  As a Shelby County Commissioner, I voted to build The Med, which has served the people of this community for decades.  As a State Senator, I constantly worked to increase access to medical care for all, particularly children.  I vehemently opposed the TennCare cuts several years ago. 

I worked in the House to pass the SCHIP bill which, had President Bush not vetoed it, would have broadened access to medical care for working families across this nation.  I've also signed on as cosponsor of Congressman John Conyers' National Health Insurance Bill, HR 676.  I was also one of the original 5 members of the HR 676 Caucus.

I take the health of this nation and my community quite seriously, and have brought home millions in federal grants which provide for medical research.

Defender: A number of communities are taking more aggressive action in addressing the need to help citizens returning from prison populations. What, if any, policies/programs would you support relative to such action?

Cohen: I have co-sponsored Congressman Charles Rangel’s HR 623, known as the Second Chance for Ex-Offenders Act, allowing nonviolent offenders who have filled certain conditions to file a petition to have their records expunged so that they are able to live a more normal life. Competing in the job market today is tough enough, and nearly impossible for someone who has made a mistake in their youth.

I also cosponsored HR 1593 with Congressman Danny Davis, which provides grants for Second Chance programs.  I also secured appropriations for Mayor Herenton’s Second Chance program, and was honored at their graduation ceremony.

As a State Senator, I worked with Rep. Larry Turner to pass the Felon Voting Rights law.

Dr. Isaac Richmond

Defender:  What specifically would you do to help stimulate the creating of jobs in Memphis?

Richmond:  I will propose a small business investment capital, joint-venture, self-help program to focus on rehabilitating, refurbishing, re-imaging and upgrading small neighborhood businesses/enterprise zones in shoddy, run-down business strips, such as exists to some extent between South Parkway and Kerr on Elvis Presley Blvd.

Defender:  Do you support the withdrawal of U.S. forces in Iraq? If so, under what circumstances?

Richmond:  Yes, I support withdrawal. I stand opposed to the unwarranted, unjust war in Iraq. And in the U.S. Congress, I will vote to support the troops by calling for their immediate withdrawal from Iraq.

Defender: Questions have been raised about racial disparity in the criminal justice system. Do you think these questions warrant examination?

Richmond: The criminal justices – courts, police, and juvenile court, are systems of chronic racial discrimination in total disregard for civil-constitutional rights when it  comes to African Americans. What’s needed is a national class-action lawsuit against the American justice system across the board.

Defender:  Do you favor universal healthcare?

Richmond:  Yes! Affordable to everyone. I support and will fight for a universal health care plan that makes health care affordable and available to  every U.S. citizen, regardless of income or immigration status.

Defender:  A number of communities are taking more aggressive action in addressing the need to help citizens returning from prison populations. What, if any, policies/programs would you support relative to such action?

Richmond: I will propose legislation, and fight for its passage, to cut the red tape for expediting citizenship restoration and right-to-vote status to ex-offenders who, for many, after paying their debt to society, still carry the debilitating social and self-inhibiting stigma of being eternal felons (non-citizens), which forever stands in the way and blocks the path of a rehabilitated individual’s desire for reinstatement and acceptance  back into society, to employment opportunity, family unity/stability, and social upward mobility.

Joe Towns

Defender:  What specifically would you do to help stimulate the creating of jobs in Memphis?

Towns: We’ve got to get the speculation out of oil. We’ve got to get the oil petroleum industry back down to earth. Because oil impacts just about everything in our economy at this particular point. We have to do that, and it has to be done on a world level as well.

After that, I would go out and recruit. It’s just like when I brought the Mike Tyson fight to Memphis. People thought I was off my rocker from trying to bring a major fight here. But that fight created jobs all over the city. Okay?

Now, an African-American group of guys who bought every Captain D’s. It’s called Servo. They bought all the Captain D’s in the city and some of those in Mississippi and Arkansas as well. They’ve already created jobs. But, however, the more skilled jobs and other kinds of jobs. As a congressional person what I would simply do is go out and recruit them. I would make some kind of offer – give them incentives to come into your city.

The first  thing is we’ve got to ask. We have to go ask people. We have to ask people. As a congressman, you showcase what it is that Memphis has to offer, what Shelby County has to offer.

And one of the good things about the city is that we are right in the heart of the country. Okay? We have every thing needed to get your products distributed out to the rest of the world. We have the number one distribution packager in the country right here in Memphis, Tenn. You’ve got water. You’ve got all this stuff that makes for regional and national companies to come into our city. But you’ve got to have people who are competent and who understand business and want to do business.

Jobs is not just what I’m about. You’ve got to create jobs here. I’ll give you an example of things that need to be done. We are actually making a lot of movies in Memphis. Alright, we have not been able to get laws changed at the state level where we can compete with Canada and so forth. All the movies are going to Canada when they don’t have to. If we changed the laws to make regulations that would allow them to do more movies here, we could do more of that kind of stuff.

And we could break the music down, which we never really capitalize totally off of it. Memphis is more than Elvis Presley; Elvis Presley is a big part of what we have done. But (so) is Al Green and B.B. King and all the people at Stax – Isaac – we’ve got a lot of stuff…all the way back to W.C. Handy.  We’ve got a lot of stuff. I’ve thought about it, and we’d really want to take it to the next level.

Defender:  Do you support the withdrawal of U.S. forces in Iraq? If so, under what circumstances?

Towns:  Well, we never should have been over there. Those people hadn’t done anything to us. Our country was not attacked by those people. That’s something we’re going to have to pay for. Yeah, we’ve got to get out of there. All our money has been spent in Iraq. We cannot control our economy fighting wars all over the place – Iraq, Iran, talking trash to North Korea, talking trash to China. We just can’t do that.

Now obviously, to get out of a tight situation, you have to do it cautious. You’ve got to meticulously get out. You would talk to the commanders on the ground. You would talk to the boys and girls who are fighting and get their input. You would tell them what we want. We’ve been over there already four or five years. And we want to get them out to there in 18-24 months. At some point, that country has to stand on its own two feet.

Defender: Questions have been raised about racial disparity in the criminal justice system. Do you think these questions warrant examination?

Towns:  I’m a black man. I mean, that’s a no-brainer. It’s no question about discrimination in this country’s justice system. This country still upholds discrimination. Right? And a black man we know better than anybody because he gets shot down in the streets. It’s all over the country – racial profiling and racial discrimination. This country has improved, but there is still some work to do. There’s still a disproportionate number of African-American men in jail here. There are more African-American men in jail than there are in college.

That’s a . . .shame. That’s a travesty. And it’s not by accident. It’s not serendipitously. It’s happening on purpose. They’re targeted. Now, a lot of this stuff – a lot of young African-American men are not getting themselves educated. And they make bad choices. And when they make bad choices, they have to pay for it. But once they get out, they should be able to be absorbed  back into society.

Then we get into the rate of recidivism because no one wants to hire you once you get a felony. Then you get these bad lawyers who tell these young men to plead guilty. You have DNA and a whole lot of other scientific technology showing that some of these people are not guilty. The criminal justice system is fraud at its core. And it’s bigoted at its core as well. It is without excuse. When young people commit a crime, they should pay for it. But they still should not be discriminated against in the process.

Defender:  Do you favor universal healthcare?

Towns:  Healthcare has to do with when you get sick, the only thing that matters is if you get well or not. I mean, that should be a right of our citizens. I favor, obviously, a system that will allow us to have life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness – and healthcare.

I favor some form of universal healthcare. However, before we would implement something of that nature, obviously, we would get input from doctors – African-American doctors, army doctors, and  white doctors – all over this country and figure out what’s the best approach. Because you want to have the best quality of care from some of the best skilled doctors from around the country and around the world.

But we have to look at the healthcare system, and we have to look at budgets. State budget gives healthcare about 40 percent. The national budget is too high. No one can pay it. And as a result, one major illness in your family can wipe your savings out. So we’re going to have to look at the thing.

We have to look at what healthcare will be in 20 years. It’s too high. We’ve got to look at reform. It’s out of control.

Defender:  A number of communities are taking more aggressive action in addressing the need to help citizens returning from prison populations. What, if any, policies/programs would you support relative to such action?

Towns:   The prison system is an archaic system. While they are in there, it ought to be a part of the system that you have to get educated there, meaning you have to get your high school diploma  and whatever skill you will need.

But after they get out, they need to be able to go to school and work. And they need to be able to work while they are in the system. They do work in the system and make about $.50 an hour. They should be able to get more money while they are in there. They’re being exploited. That’s worse than slave labor. They are being totally taken advantage of it.

It’s a failure and it’s a shame in our country, this penal system. They were meeting about privatizing the jails. And it’s wrong. It’s wrong to profit off of human misery.

Nikki Tinker

Defender: What specifically would you do to help stimulate the creating of jobs in Memphis?

Tinker:  Without a doubt, we need more jobs in Memphis. However, we need to train people for the jobs that already exist.  Memphis is the transportation hub of the world. Yet, we do not have a school on transportation. I am tired of watching the business community struggle to recruit talent around the country when we have people in Memphis that need those very same jobs. I will fight for a school that will train Memphians for logistics jobs in aviation, the railroad, river and roads.

I will also seek an increase in federal funding and tax incentives to businesses that participate in the second chance program.

Defender:  Do you support the withdrawal of U.S. forces in Iraq? If so, under what circumstances?

Tinker:  We need to end the war as quickly as possible. However, we owe it to the soldiers and their families to remove them safely. Thus, I support a timetable for withdrawal. Eighteen million dollars is sent to Iraq each hour, while 15,000 gang members are on the streets of Memphis each day. We need to fight the war here at home.

Defender: Questions have been raised about racial disparity in the criminal justice system. Do you think these questions warrant examination?

Tinker:  Absolutely. Economics play a huge role in our “justice” system. So many are unable to afford adequate counsel and our public defenders are stretched too thin. Too many are being pushed through the system, and those that are undereducated do not know how to assert their rights.

Question:  Do you favor universal healthcare?

Tinker:  Yes. There are approximately 800,000 uninsured people in Tennessee. Healthcare must be accessible and affordable for everyone.

Defender:  A number of communities are taking more aggressive action in addressing the need to help citizens returning from prison populations. What, if any, policies/programs would you support relative to such action?

Tinker:  I will also seek an increase in federal funding and tax incentives to businesses that participate in the second chance program. I feel so strongly about it that I talk about it in my radio advertising.