Left of Centrist has some coverage of Dr. Tom Hayhurst’s campaign kickoff in his run against Mark Souder to represent Indiana’s 3rd Congressional District. According to Left of Centrist, three of Hayhurst’s main goals if elected are:
1. He wants a law that will require the U.S. government to negotiate with the drug companies for the best possible prices for prescription medication for Medicaid recipients.
2. He wants to establish a healthcare plan that will allow several small companies to join together to get the best possible insurance for the lowest possible price. He sees an inadequacy in small businesses being able to provide affordable healthcare compared to businesses that employee hundreds or thousands.
3. He wants to level the playing field when it comes to trade agreements. He doesn’t understand why our jobs are going overseas to countries, such as China, that aren’t bound by the same regulations as those in the United States. He specifically mentioned China and the fact their factories freely pollute the air and have a cheaper labor force.
For what it’s worth (not much probably), I look for Dr. Hayhurst’s campaign to be surprisingly competitive. There has been a lot of talk about the Ellsworth/Hostettler race and the Hill/Sodrel race, both of which should be close. But I think that because of the prominence of those races, the Hayhurst/Souder race is running under the radar. If nothing else, I hope Souder is given a steady diet of his own words from back in ’94 when Souder promised he would serve no more than 6 terms. He is now running for his 7th.
Mike Sylvester says
Dr. Hayhurst is a strong challenger. I think that Tom Hayhurst has the potential to win this election if he plays his cards right.
Doug says
How is he on fiscal policy? Social policy? I prefer fiscally responsible candidates — by which I mean, balanced budgets first and foremost, followed by cuts in unnecessary government services, followed by tax cuts if possible.
Social policy, I mostly prefer candidates who want to leave people alone so long as they aren’t hurting anybody.
Karen says
Dr. Hayhurst is a pretty fiscally conservative guy, but he also believes that letting the rich get richer and the middle class get poorer is not good social policy. He’s been a moderate force on the FW City Council – quite non-partisan and focused on getting things done for the betterment of the City.
Mike Sylvester says
I would not quite agree with Karen’s assessment of Tom Hayhurst. I like Tom; and if the election boils down to Hayhurst vs Souder I will vote for Hayhurst and ask others to do the same.
Tome is somehwat of a fiscal conservative; he is not as fiscally conservative as I would prefer; but, he is a fiscal conservative when compared to big government Souder. Tom is a military veteran. sense. He has a reputation for sticking up for Neighborhood Associations in Fort Wayne (Including my own).
He is a Dr. His views on health care and smoking bans are opposed to my own… He does want the government to negotiate drug prices with the drug company;s and that is a good thing.
Mike Sylvester
William Larsen says
Candidate Hayhurst states “He doesn’t understand why our jobs are going overseas to countries, such as China, that aren’t bound by the same regulations as those in the United States.” I would hope any candidate understands the cost of doing business. This does not give me a warm comfortable feeling about Hayhurst. He does mention a cheaper labor force. Does he want to force those with lower labor to increase theirs so our products are cheaper?
Hayhurst “wants a law that will require the U.S. government to negotiate with the drug companies for the best possible prices for prescription medication for Medicaid recipients.” Great, more importantly how is he going to fund this new Rx drug bill that the current congress and President have yet to identify?
Hayhust “wants to establish a healthcare plan that will allow several small companies to join together to get the best possible insurance for the lowest possible price. He sees an inadequacy in small businesses being able to provide affordable healthcare compared to businesses that employee hundreds or thousands.” Great, what is projected cost, who is going to pay for this (tax payer or company/worker) or is this a one minute sound bite with no substance?
Patrick Rainey says
I believe William Larsen is out of touch when it comes to outsourcing jobs to China. The reason why a lot of people can’t understand the outsourcing of jobs is because the prices of products are not going down, even though labor is cheaper. Not only is labor cheaper, but they also don’t have to pay other benifits that generally come with the job. Health insurance is just an example. Everyone knows it’s all about greed to the CEO’s and maximizing sharehoulder value. Think about this…are you paying less for any product other than one that’s solely in the business of technology? I say this because price decreases have been common with any product of technology as time goes on. Hayhurst is like me. He does understand why CEO’s and business owners are shipping our jobs overseas; they want their pay to increase. What he doesn’t understand is why they have to look us in the eye and say “it’s not about the money.” We all know that when someone says that, we darn well know that it is about the money. This makes me feel like you, Mr. Larsen, are out of touch with this issue. And maybe if you would admit the real reason why CEO’s outsource jobs overseas, you would have received better results in your primaries.