Today’s installment of Candidate Corner will highlight the political positions of the candidates running for the House of Representatives seat for Missouri’s 3rd Congressional District.

The “Fighting 3rd” is in the eastern part of the state. It includes much of the City of St. Louis, southern St. Louis County and all of Jefferson County and Ste. Genevieve County. The district is home to much of Washington University’s campus, including the South 40.

A Democrat has held the congressional seat for more than sixty years. Former Rep. Dick Gephardt, who served as both majority leader and minority leader, held the seat from 1977 until his retirement in 2005.

Democrat Russ Carnahan currently holds the seat and is running for re-election. His opponent is Republican Ed Martin, who served as chief of staff to former Gov. Matt Blunt and as the chair of the St. Louis Board of Election Commissioners.

Ed Martin

Besides serving as chief of staff to former Governor Matt Blunt and as the chair of the St. Louis Board of Election Commissioners, Republican Ed Martin is a member of the Missouri State Park Advisory Board. He is originally from New Jersey, but entered law school at Saint Louis University and remained in St. Louis after graduate school. He headed the leadership team that designed and implemented the Missouri Accountability Portal, which is an Internet search engine that tracks state spending in order to boost transparency. He is also the founder of SaveAB.com, a group dedicated to stopping the sale of Anheuser-Busch to InBev.

ENERGY

Martin is strongly opposed to the Obama administration’s cap-and-trade legislation, which according to his website, is meant to redistribute wealth. He believes the initiative will artificially increase energy costs, destroy jobs, increase the costs of utilities and groceries, have a hard effect on agriculture, penalize the Missouri coal industry and enrich interest groups. He supports an “all of the above” approach to energy to reduce the country’s dependency on foreign sources of energy.

While working for the Governor, Martin helped push legislation requiring gasoline sold in Missouri to contain 10 percent ethanol. He is in favor of biomass, biofuels, wind power and solar energy.

JOBS

Jobs are a main focus of Martin’s campaign. He is also in favor of reducing excessive regulation on Missouri businesses that hinders job growth. Finally, he wants to cut taxes.

During his time working in state government, Martin assisted Blunt in bringing about tax cuts, tort reform and workers’ compensation reform. He also helped spearhead the Quality Jobs Program, which continues to run. Under Blunt, Missouri saw a net increase of 70,000 jobs.

HEALTH CARE

Martin is opposed to Obama’s health care plan. He seeks to replace it with a series of controversial reforms. He believes that the plan was passed haphazardly and added too many people to Medicaid. He also says that the plan will drop insurance plans in favor of paying the relatively lower cost penalties.

While working for Blunt, Martin pushed forward a MO HealthNet plan to replace the old system. The new plan empowered patients by increasing access to health care, gave access to primary care for all participants and reduced the number of uninsured Missourians.

EDUCATION

Martin is in favor of annual increases for construction of K-12 schools. He is also in favor of college construction and expanded college scholarships. While working with Blunt, he was in favor of selling Missouri’s student loan agency in an effort to pay for endowments and new school construction. He also believes that schools should be spending a majority of their money on education.

Russ Carnahan

Russ Carnahan was born in Columbia, Mo., and raised in Rolla, Mo. He was elected to the U.S. House in 2004, after winning a tight Democratic primary race against nine competitors, including Mark Smith, director of career planning and placement at Washington University and Jeff Smith, former University professor and former Missouri state senator. Carnahan is a member of the New Democrat Coalition. He is assigned to the Committees on Science and Technology, Foreign Affairs and Transportation and Infrastructure.

ENERGY

According to Carnahan’s website (www.russcarnahan.com), “The United States must move towards energy independence by developing alternative fuel sources.” Carnahan seeks to remove the tax credits being given to the oil industry. He also wants the federal government to support research that will create technology that will lower energy costs.
In Congress, Carnahan voted for tax incentives for renewable energy, removing oil and gas exploration subsidies and keeping the moratorium on offshore drilling. He voted against authorizing construction of new oil refineries, and he supports letting states define stricter-than-federal emission standards.

JOBS

Carnahan supports union rights. He also wants the government to focus on strengthening job opportunities on a regional level. In February, he unveiled a regional job plan that included an overview of the economy, an evaluation of local assets, an industry-by-industry analysis and a growth plan for each industry.
In Congress, Carnahan voted in favor of extending unemployment benefits from 39 weeks to 59 weeks, restricting employer interference in union organizing and increasing the minimum wage to $7.25. Carnahan is in favor of banning discriminatory compensation and seeks stronger enforcement against gender-based pay discrimination.

HEALTH CARE

Carnahan is in favor of government-sponsored national health care. He believes that Congress should restore taxes on the wealthiest two percent of Americans and use those funds to provide access to basic medical services for all Americans.

Carnahan voted yes on expanding the Children’s Health Insurance Program and on the health care bill.

EDUCATION

Carnahan is opposed to the Bush administration’s No Child Left Behind Act, claiming that it lacks the funding that is required to maintain the legislation. He supports the Obama administration’s initiative to provide college access for 100 percent of Americans.

Carnahan voted in favor of allocating $40 billion for green public schools, providing an additional $10.2 billion for federal education and Health and Human Services projects and offering every parent a choice between charter schools and public schools.