Civility Takes Center Stage in Debate

The candidates for the 10th Congressional District, from left, James Sheets, Maryanne Lewis, Joseph van Nes, William Keating and Jeffrey Perry, participate in Thursday night's debate at Cape Cod Community College. The event was sponsored by the League of Women Voters and the Cape Cod Times. Cape Cod Times/Ron Schloerb

October 19, 2010

           Considering this week we were free to choose what to write our weekly entry on, I decided it was the perfect opportunity to talk about the debate that took place on Thursday October 15. The debate took place in West Barnstable at Cape Cod Community College which is interesting to me because it is the town that I live in.  

           According to the Cape Cod Times, the President of the League of Women Voters for Cape Cod asked the candidates for civility and all five of them cooperatively complied. The Republican candidate Jeff Perry and Democratic candidate William Keating set only inches apart. But topics that are normally up for discussion like debate over Perry’s controversial past as a police officer and Keating’s campaign contributions were never brought up.

            Perry and Keating were joined in the debate by three candidates running as Independents for the 10^th Congressional District of Massachusetts, Maryanne Lewis of Scituate, James Sheets of Quincy, and Joseph van Nes of Martha’s Vineyard. This was a rare opportunity for van Nes and Sheets to participate in the debate because they had been barred from other forums. Although there were a few jabs at one another, it was nowhere near the intense animosity that normally dominates the debate stage. Most of the drama occurred before the candidates even arrived at the forum, when the league officials asked the supporters to take off their buttons and turn their t-shirts inside out because they were attempting to “maintain a bipartisan atmosphere.”

            The candidates shared and discussed their views on things like Cape wind, unemployment, Social Security, and Cape Cod’s wastewater issues. Most of the candidates agreed that the federal government should assist the Cape communities by funding new sewer systems and solutions to clean up the bays.

            The two party candidates’ opinions varied on the Bush-era tax cuts. Democratic candidate Keating said he wants to restore the tax cuts for everyone, but the top 2% of income earners. He also wants to close military bases in Eastern Europe in order to start decreasing the national debt. Republican candidate Perry on the other hand, stated that Congress should’ve reinstated those cuts before it adjourned. This made it clear that the two party candidates’ views on major issues differ greatly.  With just a few weeks left we are getting down to the wire!

Democrat William Keating and Republican Jeffrey Perry shake hands at the end of Thursday night's 10th Congressional District forum at Cape Cod Community College. The independent candidates in the race, Maryanne Lewis, James Sheets and Joseph van Nes, also participated in the debate.Cape Cod Times/Ron Schloerb