Reid, Ensign square off on plans for schools

Tuesday, Oct. 20, 1998 | 11:21 a.m.

Playing to a churchgoing audience, Sen. Harry Reid and Rep. John Ensign clashed sharply Monday on public education and on the effectiveness of their respective legislation.

Those listening to the debate on Christian radio station KKVV 1060-AM in Las Vegas learned that the two major combatants for Reid's Nevada Senate seat strongly disagree on the need for school vouchers and the U.S. Department of Education. The hourlong broadcast, carried live, was the third debate between Democrat Reid and Republican Ensign as they head into the Nov. 3 general election.

About a five-minute portion of the broadcast early in the debate was disrupted and didn't go on the air. KKVV officials said there was transmission interference but didn't know the cause. What listeners missed were musings by both candidates about moral leadership and the way they would label themselves politically.

Reid termed himself a moderate who knows how to build consensus. Ensign described himself as a "compassionate, common-sense type of conservative."

In the presence of KKVV general manager and debate monitor Bill Ball, Ensign said he supported school vouchers and school choice because "that's a fundamental American way of doing things." Republicans for several years have broached the idea of tax-supported vouchers that enable parents to send their children to the school of their choice.

"Just like the GI Bill worked, where you could go to any school (college) you wanted to go, private or public, something like that I believe could work in our K (kindergarten) through 12," Ensign said.

Reid said he supported the current public-school system and opposed school vouchers, a position shared by most Democrats in Congress. The senator said he respects parents who send their children to private schools.

"But I do not think we should be supporting people (with vouchers) who send their kids to private schools," Reid said. "That's an individual choice that you should make."

Ensign lambasted the National Education Association, a teachers' union generally supportive of Democrats, for blocking attempts by Republicans to issue 2,000 vouchers on a trial basis to schoolchildren in Washington, D.C. Both candidates agreed that the school system there is poorly run. But Reid said that system would be a poor example to test the use of vouchers because "anything would improve that school system."

Reid said the Education Department has been good for the country.

"There are a multitude of education problems that the Department of Education has worked to resolve," he said. "They have been imperfect, but I think our school systems around the country would be in much worse shape if we did not have the Department of Education."

In contrast, Ensign said at one point that the Education Department should be "gotten rid of." He said the department formulated 95 percent of the regulations used by local schools.

"Since the Department of Education has been in place, test scores have continued to go down," Ensign said. "There is a role for the federal government, but the Department of Education has too much control over local schools. You need to look no further than special education and how they have messed up special education."

Both candidates favor overhauling the current federal income-tax code. Reid said he would instead support a consumer-based tax such as a sales tax. Ensign, too, said he would likely support a consumption tax but also would be willing to study a flat tax.

Ensign, however, criticized two separate Taxpayers' Bill of Rights laws sponsored by Reid.

"They were meaningless because the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) is still an incredible behemoth that is overly powerful," the congressman said. "People are still afraid of the IRS. That's why we have to get rid of the tax code. We cannot afford to just do little fixes."

But the senator countered that his legislation has been helpful to consumers and their accountants when they deal with the IRS.

"The 1996 Taxpayers' Bill of Rights, among other things, prevented the IRS from promulgating retroactive regulations, which was a significant step forward," Reid said.

Reid likewise blasted legislation that Ensign has sponsored to make federal prison inmates work at least 50 hours a week, repay their victims and remain incarcerated if they haven't kicked their drug habits.

"I want to see the victims put first in our criminal-justice system instead of putting the prisoners first," Ensign said.

Reid noted that there are already some programs for prisoners but that the federal government couldn't force them to work. Ensign countered that prisoners ought to have to work if they want certain perks, such as access to weight rooms and cable television.

Both candidates agreed that the federal budget shouldn't be balanced on the back of Social Security, but they clashed on the way to do that.