First gubernatorial debate in Georgia: ethics, economy and education

The first debate in Georgia gubeatorial race took place in Perry on Tuesday evening, with all three candidates attending: Democrat state Sen. Jason Carter, Republican Goveor Nathan Deal and Libertarian businessman Andrew Hunt. The forum took place at the Georgia National Fairgrounds & Agricenter, and was moderated by 13WMAZ news anchor Frank Malloy.

As the incumbent and most experienced politician on the stage, Deal had quite a bit to defend in terms of a political record. The Goveor made sure to point out in his introduction that Georgia was recently chosen as the best state in which to do business, and that nearly 300,000 private sector jobs were added to the economy, all under his watch.   

Deal, 72 years-old and with over 30 years in elected office, went after his Democratic opponent right away, calling him ”young and inexperienced with no substance but plenty of ”high-sounding phrases and clichés. The Republican underscored that Carter seems to have a lot of ideas now, but while in the state Senate, he’s not proposed any legislation or budget amendments.

Carter, at just 39 years-old and four years in office, looked even younger next to his opponents, and did seem to speak in more general terms than Deal and Hunt, avoiding details.  The Democrat made education the focus of his campaign, and several times during the debate repeated that ”education is economic development.  He accused Deal of underfunding education, K-12 as well as the HOPE scholarship program.  Carter said that funding for education should be a priority ”every year, not just in an election year. But when Hunt asked how would Carter stimulate the economy outside of education, the senator’s answer about a need for ”dynamic set of policies that invest in middle class and small businesses was lacking in detail.    

Both Carter and Hunt attacked Deal on education, economy, and ethics. Hunt pointed out that Georgia’s K-12 is one of the worst in the nation, and that instead of adding money to a ”broken system it needs to be radically changed. Both candidates repeated that Georgia’s unemployment rate of 8.1 percent is the worst in the country.  Carter accused the Deal Administration of interfering with ethics investigation into Deal’s 2010 campaign finances, and Hunt added that tax dollars are being wasted on this sort of govement corruption.  

Deal reminded the audience that he was elected in a middle of a recession and that Georgia economy has seen great improvement since then. He talked about creating 300,000 jobs and increasing education funding in his last budget by more than $300 million. The Goveor also denied interfering with the investigation and pointed out that the ethics complaints against him were dismissed.

Hunt was the only candidate on the stage that wasn’t attacked by his opponents.  He spoke about a need for freedom, faiess, and representation of ”regular people in govement, instead of just slick-talking lawyers.  ”’We the People,’ that’s who I stand for, he said. 

In education, Hunt supports more variety in school choices and more freedom for parents to choose a proper school for their children.  The Libertarian also spoke for ”major tax reform and proposed cutting income tax rate to 4 percent.  Lastly, Hunt was the only candidate on the stage who said the word ”poverty – pointing out that Georgia has one of the highest poverty rates among all 50 states, and that needs to change.

Hunt and Deal did well in the debate, certainly didn’t do any damage, but Carter‘s answers needed more substance. With just four weeks to go, there is no room for mistakes.