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Three Senate District 13 candidates tackle issues at forum

• District 13 Senate candidates field questions Thursday at a Lee County public forum.

Susan McCord

LEESBURG — Three candidates running for Senate from Georgia District 13 differed on issues such as economic development, Certificate of Need laws and most of all taxes at a forum hosted Thursday by the Lee County Republican Party.

Rusty Simpson of Tifton, Bob Usry of Smithville and Horace Hudgins of Ocilla weren’t joined at the forum by candidates Wally Roberts of Leesburg or John Dickey Crosby of Tifton, both of whom said they had prior commitments. About 50 people attended the forum.

Asked by panelist Jim Hendricks, editor of The Albany Herald, how to attract economic development outside “the big donut,” metro Atlanta, Simpson said the best opportunity he’d observed recently was development of an inland port in Crisp County, where rail lines intersect with truck routes.

“Even though it would be located in Crisp County,” said Simpson, a lawyer, “the facilities would expand out in a wheel beyond that location.”

Usry, a registered nurse who retired from the Army, said a high dropout rate and loss of technical-track education were threats to economic development.

“You’ve got to have the work force,” he said.

Hudgins, a district manager for Georgia Power who had rearranged his schedule to attend the forum, said that with four elements — good health care, education, recreation and transportation, “you’re going to attract good industry.”

Panelist Darryl Quinn,, editor of the Lee County Ledger, asked the three candidates about their respective positions on House Speaker Glenn Richardson’s plan to replace property taxes with sales taxes.

“We’re already in the state over $600 million short in revenue,” Hudgins said. “I support tax reform, but I think we need to take a good look at it make sure we do what’s right... I wouldn’t want to jump into something without making sure that we would have the revenue to keep the state going.”

Usry said, “The question is, what kind of taxes do we want to pay? Is sales tax a more fair tax? Sometimes.

“You can’t just say I’m going to reduce taxes, you’ve got to get to Atlanta and see what you need to do.”

Simpson said Richardson’s plan had two flaws, an overemphasis on taxes on services and the redistribution of sales taxes in Atlanta, “based on some bureaucrat up there deciding on the needs of particular counties.”

“Everybody needs to get on the same page” about tax reform, Simpson said, and let the Legislature revisit the issue after it has been thoroughly studied.

Asked by FOX 31’s Hubert Wiggins about Southwest Georgia’s loss of a voice in the state Legislature, Simpson, who’d detailed his years of involvement with the Republican party and his relationships with state officials earlier in the forum, said, “The key is effective representation.”

Hudgins said legislators from the area should band together and figure out priorities, not just for Southwest Georgia but “in south Georgia.”

With several Lee County School Board members in the forum, which was attended by about 50 people, forum moderator Tom Heldenberg asked if school systems should be funded with sales taxes.

“Maybe a blend” of sales and property taxes, Simpson said. “I don’t think you can go solely to sales tax. ... The economy and the revenues are not that predictable right now.”

Usry said property taxes were a “burden on the backs” of people but there was “never a clear-cut answer.

“A lot of it can come out of the fat that’s thrown away in the budget,” he said.

Hudgins said, “I don’t have a problem with supporting a sales tax, not funding totally education ... a sales tax is probably the most fair tax, but you still have to have a property tax.”

Asked in an auidence-generated question about their position on Georgia’s Certificate of Need laws, which regulate the construction of health care facilities, the candidates differed sharply.

CON “reduces competition in the system,” Usry said. “The way to make revenue is to offer a good product. You cannot corner the market. ... It is what it is. It’s government controlled health care.”

Simpson said Certificates of Need “are necessary right now, in our environment with our health care delivery system, because that protects our rural hospitals from going out of business because of the burden of indigent care.”

Hudgins mentioned a Turner County hospital that was purchased by a private company. “The next thing you know it was closed,” he said.

Contacted after the forum, Roberts said he didn’t know why the event was held “so late in the game.”

“I had another commitment I’d made two weeks ago,” he said.

Crosby said he had a reception and fundraiser at the same time in Tifton that had been scheduled for about a week and could not attend the forum.

Advance voting in the special primary was in its fourth day Thursday in the district’s eight counties of Lee, Tift, Turner, Worth, Ben Hill, Irwin, Crisp and Wilcox.

The special primary election is Tuesday on the Republican ballot in Senate District 13. If none of the five candidates receives more than 50 percent of votes cast in the district, a runoff will be held.

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