{"id":770,"date":"2006-10-26T05:43:00","date_gmt":"2006-10-26T11:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nmpolitics.net\/index\/2006\/10\/pearce-a-no-show-kissling-goes-solo-at-forum\/"},"modified":"2006-10-26T05:43:00","modified_gmt":"2006-10-26T11:43:00","slug":"pearce-a-no-show-kissling-goes-solo-at-forum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2006\/10\/pearce-a-no-show-kissling-goes-solo-at-forum\/","title":{"rendered":"Pearce a no-show, Kissling goes solo at forum"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., didn\u2019t attend Wednesday\u2019s League of Women Voters forum in Las Cruces<\/st1:city><\/st1:place>, so his opponent, Democrat Al Kissling, had the podium to himself. <\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

When the forum moderator announced that Pearce \u201cwas unable to attend,\u201d many in the audience laughed.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cHa! Unable?\u201d one man yelled out.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Though he took part in one forum with Kissling in August, Pearce has ducked the opportunity to participate in many forums and debates with Kissling in favor of photo opportunities and other events.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Kissling said that is a shame.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s important that the issues be discussed openly with the public, and I think it\u2019s unfortunate that my opponent doesn\u2019t feel the same,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Kissling attacked the war in Iraq and No Child Left Behind during his remarks, and used familiar phrases about his belief that the Republican Congress has \u201cturned the American dream into a nightmare\u201d with a practice of \u201cborrow and binge.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Kissling was asked how the nation can obtain energy independence without destroying wilderness areas.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cSimple answer \u2013 God only knows,\u201d Kissling said. \u201cMore germane answer \u2013 put more resources into developing new technologies.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

He was also asked about immigration and border security. Kissling said he opposes building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and putting troops there, because he said they get in the way of those trained to do the job. It would be better to increase funding for the Border Patrol, he said.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

In addition, Kissling said, it\u2019s more important to focus on groups that draw immigrants here illegally than on the immigrants themselves.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to police the corporate interests that are drawing these workers over here,\u201d Kissling said.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Kissling was asked about practices used in the war on terrorism that some consider to be torture, and also about stem-cell research. He said he finds it ironic that those who claim to oppose stem-cell research because they support life would also resort to torture.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

\u201cI find it very irresponsible,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

Kissling said he supports stem-cell research.<\/p>\n

<\/o:p><\/p>\n

I\u2019ll have more on the other candidates who attended the forum later today. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., didn\u2019t attend Wednesday\u2019s League of Women Voters forum in Las Cruces, so his opponent, Democrat Al Kissling, had the podium to himself. When the forum moderator announced that Pearce \u201cwas unable to attend,\u201d many in the audience laughed. \u201cHa! Unable?\u201d one man yelled out. Though he took part in one […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/770\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}