Economy key issue to 3rd District Democratic candidates

For the two candidates competing for the Democratic nomination for Nebraska's 3rd Congressional District, the faltering state of the U.S. economy is a big motivating factor for them to run for the seat currently held by Republican Adrian Smith.

The two candidates are Paul Spatz of Pierce County and Jay Stoddard of Grand Island.

Spatz said his motivation to run for Congress is his belief that the country is in jeopardy.

"I don't see anybody stepping up to make the kind of changes that need to be made," he said.

What especially troubles Spatz is the nation's credit-based economy that is now struggling because it was so easy for people to obtain credit and they are unable to pay it back.

"I think the root cause to most of our problems is the ’bigger is better,' ’newer is better' philosophy that has led us to quickly use some very risky financial tools," Spatz said.

A free-market advocate, Spatz said, "Some businesses have lost the right not to be regulated."

Stoddard said hus message is simple: "Federal spending must be managed better."

"Our politicians (including the president and federal regulators) have done a very poor job, with only emergency patch jobs, for quick fixes," he said.

Getting federal spending under control won't be easy, he noted.

"We are in debt beyond belief, totaling trillions," Stoddard said. "If we do not use smart, long-range thinking, we will have difficulty getting things back in order."

Spatz lives on a farm in Pierce County and is serving as interim Pierce County Democratic Party chairman.

He has a degree from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in education. He is a Vietnam era veteran who served in the U.S. Marine Corps. He is retired from farming. He has also worked for Burlington Northern Railroad and remains a member of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Union.

Stoddard is the owner of Jay C. Stoddard Enterprises in Grand Island and is a fifth-generation Nebraskan.

He worked as an Allstate Insurance agent for 45 years and is a Kearney State College graduate. He is a past member of the Grand Island school board and has been a scoutmaster, president of the Grand Island Life Underwriters, and a volunteer for the Salvation Army and Red Cross board.

Another priority for Spatz is re-establishing the country's manufacturing base instead of exporting that base and jobs that go with it overseas.

According to the National Association of Manufacturers, since July 2000, manufacturing has lost 2.8 million jobs. Also, since the late 1980s, manufacturing cash flow hads dropped from 40 percent of total corporate cash flow in the U.S. economy to 25 percent, putting severe limitations on companies' abilities to make the necessary investments to spur future innovations and growth.

Spatz said he would also help develop a program for new technologies that can be developed in Nebraska and throughout the U.S.

"Let's roll back things back to a time when things worked, but don't throw out the baby with the bathwater for new ideas that are working," Spatz said.

A retired farmer, Spatz's farm policy would reset the safety net support level to current market levels, a Homestead Act for beginning farmers, villages and small towns, enforce the federal Stockyards and Packers Act, and gradually convert CRP acres to switchgrass for renewable fuel production.

Stoddard said he is also concerned that federal farm policy has done little to address the loss of small farms in Nebraska and throughout the nation.

"In the 3rd Congressional District, we have lost population and farms have gotten bigger and bigger," Stoddard said.  "My personal concern is that eventually under this trend, foreign money will come into our market and buy out these large corporate farms with ’foreign equities.'"

To better foster better rural economic development, Stoddard said he would advocate programs that make sure all rural Nebraskans have access to broadband, high speed Internet service.

He also said it would provide a necessary tool and incentive to provide opportunities for young people to stay in rural Nebraska, along with attracting them to move to rural areas.

"These little towns used to be filled with services for people," Stoddard said. "If we want to see those services return, we have to have people there. But if we don't start the initiative, who will?"

Spatz's immigration plan is for those illegally in the U.S. to return to their home countries and apply for legal entry into the U.S. with those doing that first having top priority in entering the U.S. legally through guest worker programs.

Stoddard said this is a nation of immigrants, but the U.S. must adopt a plan to know who is entering this country, similar to the Ellis Island registration.

"The Statue of Liberty pretty well explains what we are," Stoddard said. "We must have an open system -- not open borders.”