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Show gouf new/ A6 Democracy Days MONDAY • NOVEMBER 6 • 2006 UVSC hosted three congressional and senatorial candidates as part of its Democracy Days Nov. 1-3. Candidate for U.S. Congress Christian Burridge, U.S. Congressman Chris Cannon and U.S. Senator Bob Bennett all spoke to UVSC students and faculty, hoping to pitch their respective candidacies to Utah County voters. by John Ditzler • Executive Editor Christian Burridge (D) Chris Cannon (R) Bob Bennett (R) For Utah's 3rd Congressional District, Democratic challenger Christian Burridge spoke to UVSC students and faculty the day before his Republican opponent incumbent Chris Cannon visited. Burridge is a former UVSC instructor of Ethics and Values and spoke to college concerns about rising student loan interest rates Wednesday. He said he is in favor of capping interest rates on student loans at four percent since lenders face zero risk when investing in federally secured student loans and, therefore, should not expect to see higher interest rate returns. Current interest rates on federally secured student loans are between six percent and eight and a half percent, depending on the specific type of loan. Burridge said he is a consumer rights attorney who sees clients in financial trouble all too often. "All the social ills in the world come from class division," said Burridge, "When people have financial problems, that usually causes marital problems, family problems, and the family can fall apart. Our Congressman Chris Cannon visited UVSC, Thursday, hoping to defend his seat in the House of Representatives against Democratic challenger Christian Burridge in the 3rd U.S. Congressional District. Cannon is seeking reelection for a 6th term in office. Asked to speak on several environmental issues. Cannon said he believes global warming is a reality but claims it has not be conclusively demonstrated to be the result of human action as environmentalist claim and defended the President's environmental policies. "Largely because of the philosophy of the President we've cleaned up the quality of the air faster than expected," Cannon said. Cannon also said he tries to strike a balance between competing interests over the issue of immigration, saying he has repeatedly supported bills in congress that allocate increased funding for the reinforcement of the Mexican-American border but believes immigrants should be treated compassionately. Cannon has extended higher educational opportunities to illegal im- U.S. Senator Bob Bennett came to UVSC Friday, Nov. 3 to field student questions about American politics and to offer his perspectives on the history and development- of the American republic. Bennett's seat in the Senate is not up for reelection until 2010. Bennett spoke of the concern many Americans have about the often partisan divide between conservatives and liberals, saying, "If you go back to earlier elections, again trying to put this in a historic context, you discover some things some people may not be aware of today. I have people that have said to me, 'Isn't it terrible that we have this bitter partisanship and the election between Kerry and Bush is the nastiest election we've ever had?' And one fellow asked me, 'Why is it we're stuck choosing between Kerry and Bush and the founding fathers could choose between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson?'The nastiest Presidential campaign this country's ever had was between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. They called each other names. They made threats. Each one was ab- economic policies directly effect our value systems if we feel, as I do, that the family is one of the foundations of our society," Burridge said he sees the President's tax cuts as detrimental to the family and middle class individuals. "Some of the wealthiest people and corporations in America pay one percent in taxes, while you sometimes have to pay upwards of 25 percent on your five or six bucks an hour," said Burridge, who is in favor of increasing the minimum wage. . Bucking the Democratic trend, Burridge also said he is personally pro-life. Burridge* also lamented the growing national debt, calling it irresponsible to spend more than we have and pass that debt, compounded by interest, on to the next generation to pay. migrants who were brought to America by their family while they were a minor, and thus should not be held responsible for breaking the law as they crossed the border into America, Cannon argued. When asked about campaign finance and proposed PAC reform Cannon said, "Politics work much better when candidates run off of the money from many small individual contributions rather than large contributions," but did not say whether or not he favored mandating that through law. Cannon also said he thinks one of the shortcomings of our legal system is that it focuses on punishing the perpetrator rather then requiring some sort of repayment of the victim's loss by the convicted criminal when possible. •'•• solutely convinced that if the other won, the country was through." When one member of the audience asked Bennett for his thoughts on BYU professor Steven Jones' hypothesis that controlled demolitions were partially responsible for .bringing down the World Trade Center September 11, 2001, Bennett said he did not believe that to be the case because he generally does not believe in "conspiracy theories." Bennett did not say whether he favored investigations on the subject as both Congressman Chris Cannon and his challenger Christian Burridge claimed to favor when they visited campus on Thursday and Wednesday, respectively, if for no other reason they said, than to refute those who think the U.S. may have had a hand in the destruction of Sept. 11, 2001. a fire in her, • ' • • M • -'• J E W E 1 £ R S gi* MAIL m m • • • am M m m m m • I 4J0,10:10 CirtQ Stlp4lp PO'll 1t45.2O0.riS.d-50 InvincwWPQ DftGfMlronGMiflMMS ±>U^ 1 uesdays • it back come join our team at the {netxnews} room sc220 netxnews.net Does your car eat better than you do? Pick up a UTA Ed Pass at the Campus Connection in the Student Center and start saving right away. ss |