Himes: Shays Out of Touch On Economy, Iraq War
Greenwich Citizen, Friday, October 24, 2008
By David Hennessey
FAIRFIELD - In a meeting last Friday with the Brooks Community Newspapers Editorial Board, Democratic candidate Jim Himes once again took the offensive in his ongoing battle to unseat 21-year incumbent Republican Christopher Shays in the U.S. House of Representatives' 4th District.
Himes, a Harvard graduate, Rhodes Scholar and former Goldman Sachs vice president, displayed a command of the major issues at hand - from the war in Iraq to the reform of No Child Left Behind and the pressing question of how to remedy the nation's economic woes.
Himes' vision for the 4th District - and, indeed, the country at large - is one molded from over a decade of experience on Wall Street and time spent as Northeast operations director with Enterprise Community Partners, an organization devoted to addressing urban poverty. Adding chairman of the board of the Greenwich Housing Authority to his list of accomplishments, Himes -- who credits his public school education and family-oriented upbringing as much as his career experience -- solidified his position as a candidate prepared to tackle the challenges of Congress.
The road to Washington, though, will not be an easy one for the 42-year-old Greenwich resident. With less than three weeks remaining until Nov. 4, it is clear that 4th District voters remain divided in their opinion as to who is best suited to represent them in Congress.
According to a poll conducted Sept. 22-26 and released by Sacred Heart University, 29 percent of the 400 voters surveyed still remain undecided in the 4th District Congressional race. Shays' garnered the majority of the support in that poll - 40.5 percent to Himes' 30.5 percent.
"Chris Shays doesn't understand the economy. He's been dead wrong about our economy, and he was wrong about Iraq," Himes said last Friday.
Much of Himes' criticism of the current congressman has been geared toward his positions on the economy and the war in Iraq - a war, Himes said, that his daughters and their generation will be paying for for years to come.
"I have to question Shays' withdrawal policies [from Iraq]. I believe we should start withdrawing our troops right now. We can't afford what we are doing there now in terms of lives - 4,200 young Americans have lost their lives. We also can't afford it in terms of money at $10 billion a month, and we can't afford it in terms of what we need to do in Afghanistan."
Himes went on to say that the tax legislation Shays supports would jar middle class citizens - a group already suffering from spiked gasoline, heating and food costs.
"We need to cut taxes on the middle class to put more money into the hands of the middle class. A couple of months ago, I proposed a specific set of middle class tax cuts targeted at households making less than $250,000 a year... Those tax cuts would put money into people's pockets, which would be good for families and for the economy... I think the middle class has been left behind by a lot of the tax policies put into place over the last eight years," Himes said.
The cuts he has proposed, Himes has explained, would help Americans achieve three pillars of the American Dream: making college affordable again, helping families to buy a first home and amplifying savings for the middle class.
Ultimately though, the "question of the day," Himes said, is the economy - a topic upon which Himes has repeatedly hammered Shays. Himes said that, despite Shays being a member of the House Financial Services Committee, the congressman has been part of the "failure of oversight" that has led to economic implosion on Wall Street and financial headaches for Americans. Himes also berated Shays for missing half of the HFSC meetings.
"Frankly, a big reason that I decided to run for Congress was that I sensed our economic policy was driving us in the wrong direction. We got past the bailout plan, but it doesn't seem to have calmed the market, and I'm a little unclear if it will achieve what it was designed to do. We are where we are today because of a massive failure of oversight and regulation in an immensely risky industry," Himes said, noting that he would have voted for the $700 billion dollar bailout plan.
Himes is looking forward to a string of seven upcoming debates with Shays in area towns where he will tackle other issues, including universal health care, education reform, clean energy and transportation. Addressing the latter, Himes said last Friday that if elected he would seek a seat on the Transportation Committee.
On energy he said, "We need to pass a carbon cap and trade regime. Part two is efficiency, and we don't talk enough about this. We've been so inefficient in how we've used energy, that just getting focused on efficiency is going to make a big difference. A lot of the affordable housing we built in New York City, we built using green building standards. I know that if you used green building standards for a new building, you can take anywhere from 30 to 50 percent of the energy footprint out; for an old building that you rehab you can take 60 to 70 percent of the energy footprint out just by doing simple things," Himes said of his plans for better energy policy.
With a host of pressing issues at hand, the choice come Election Day, Himes has said, will be the difference between a fresh perspective and more of the failed policies typical of the past eight years. The difference, he believes, is between two very different men.
One is a seasoned Congressman with a career spanning over two decades - a career that Himes pointed out has been riddled with a lack of oversight in the financial services industry and fraught with flip-flopping on issues, such as the privatization of social security.
The second is an experienced former Wall Street executive, a man who has relentlessly professed concern for the middle-class and who has pledged to bring much needed relief to the 4th Congressional District of Connecticut.
"It's a question of priorities," Himes said. "Energy universal health care the state of the economy a responsible withdrawal from Iraq tax cuts for the middle class These are going to be my priorities in Congress."
In what is shaping up to be one of the most closely contested congressional races in the country, 4th District residents will soon cast their votes in the only decision that ultimately matters: Are his priorities in line with their own and is Himes the best man to send to Washington?
