{"id":1467,"date":"2014-11-03T07:08:44","date_gmt":"2014-11-03T12:08:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/?p=1467"},"modified":"2014-11-03T07:08:44","modified_gmt":"2014-11-03T12:08:44","slug":"cookman-trump-debate-minimum-wage-sudafed-meth-and-negative-ads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/?p=1467","title":{"rendered":"Cookman Trump Debate Minimum Wage, Sudafed Meth and Negative Ads"},"content":{"rendered":"<p dir=\"ltr\">The idea that Democratic State Senator Donald Cookman and his Republican challenger Charles Trump are similar politicians with similar backgrounds and similar views was put to rest last night at the Tea Party sponsored debate in Romney, West Virginia.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">More than 100 people attended the debate at the Coca Cola Bottling Works on a Sunday afternoon. (Breaking news &#8212; Citizens give up football to watch politics.)<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">True, Cookman and Trump are both trial attorneys.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1WvNt_rUcZw\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">True Cookman and Trump are both former prosecuting attorneys.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">And true they were in general agreement on many issues &#8212; including guns, abortion, marriage &#8212; they both said they were for marriage &#8212; and pushing back against the Environmental Protection Agency.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">But when it comes to fundamental questions of political economy, Cookman and Trump presented a clear choice to the voters of the 15th Senatorial district.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Most stark was the difference between them on the minimum wage.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Earlier this year, Cookman voted for increasing West Virginia\u2019s minimum wage by $1.50 to $8.75 an hour.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">And he said he didn\u2019t think that went far enough. Cookman says he supports a living wage.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cI voted in favor if it,\u201d Cookman said. \u201cBut I will go further and say that the minimum wage should be a liveable wage. Anybody who is willing to work a 40 hour work week should be able to support themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Cookman said that it is virtually impossible for a person to live on the current minimum wage.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cWe should make it a liveable wage,\u201d Cookman said. \u201cA high tide floats all boats. If we have a liveable wage, that will improve our business climate. There will be more money spent in our economy and it will make it better for all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Trump positioned himself on the right fringe of the Republican Party by arguing against the minimum wage.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/debatephoto.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-1468\" title=\"debatephoto\" src=\"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/debatephoto-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Even the leader of his party in West Virginia &#8212; Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito, who is running for U.S. Senate &#8212; says she supports the minimum wage and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wvgazette.com\/News\/201403080092\">voted in 2006 to raise it.<\/a><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cWhy not make it $25 an hour?\u201d Trump asked. \u201cWhy not make it $40 a hour? It\u2019s just a law right? Everybody has to abide by it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cThe truth is this &#8212; when government interferes in the market in that manner, it eliminates jobs,\u201d Trump said. \u201cIt just does.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Trump said that one reason for the high unemployment rate among young people is the minimum wage.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cI want to see wages rise,\u201d Trump said. \u201cI want to see wages for everybody rise. And the way you do that is with an expanding economy that has a demand and an appetite for labor. Government regulation, government fiat, government edict &#8212; doesn\u2019t make that happen magically.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Cookman and Trump also were on opposite ends of the divide on requiring a prescription for pseudoephedrine.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Pseudoephedrine is used to make methamphetamine.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Cookman voted earlier this year for a bill &#8212; which was killed by pharmaceutical industry lobbying pressure &#8212; that would have required such a prescription.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cHas anybody ever seen meth mouth?\u201d Cookman asked \u201cHas anybody ever seen the travesty that is caused by methamphetamine &#8212; made by the ingredient of Sudafed? It has ruined lives and properties. It\u2019s a horrible thing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Cookman pointed out that there are alternate pseudoephedrine products &#8212; including one called Nexafed &#8212; on the market that cannot as easily be made into meth and that would not require a prescription under the legislation he voted for.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Trump said he is opposed to the law.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cI am not in favor of legislation that would require anybody to have a prescription from a doctor to get Sudafed,\u201d Trump said. \u201cThat\u2019s an unreasonable burden on people. I don\u2019t think anybody should have to pay a doctor $50 or $75 or $100 for a visit to a doctor to get a prescription to buy Sudafed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Cookman addressed the question of being attacked by a flood of negative ads.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cI\u2019ve had attacks on my family,\u201d Cookman said. \u201cI\u2019ve had flyers come out in the mail saying that I am against guns. I\u2019ve had little girls come up to me and ask &#8212; are you going to take my guns? And I\u2019m endorsed by the NRA.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cThere are push polls &#8212; people making calls to homes saying I\u2019m against seniors and children. And I\u2019ve been selected as the champion of children in the state. But yet, I\u2019ve had these false statements coming out saying that I am against children and against seniors.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cThe Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse (CALA) is saying &#8212; you have collected all of this money from trial lawyers,\u201d Cookman said. \u201cThat is terrible. You shouldn\u2019t be doing that. You are obviously bought by trial lawyers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cBeing a judge, who else would you look to for support other than the lawyers who have practiced before you for so many years? And Mr. Trump is a trial lawyer. He advertises as a trial lawyer. He advertises for personal injury cases. If he wasn\u2019t running for office, he would be supporting me. He\u2019s already told you that I\u2019m a fine guy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Trump reiterated that he \u201cadmires and respects\u201d Cookman.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cThe case I would make is based on areas where Don and I view things differently,\u201d Trump said. \u201cDon &#8212; I want you to know &#8212; and I hope you do know &#8212; that advertising materials that you talked about &#8212; and I got some of them in the mail &#8212; are not anything that I had anything to do with. You know that right?\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Cookman didn\u2019t answer.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cYou know I have nothing to do with those mailings,\u201d Trump said. \u201cI haven\u2019t sent them. I haven\u2019t arranged for them. That is the price we pay, apparently, for living in a free country where other groups can send out whatever they want and express their voices. Some of it is harsh. Some of it is offensive. But those do not come from my campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The idea that Democratic State Senator Donald Cookman and his Republican challenger Charles Trump are similar politicians with similar backgrounds and similar views was put to rest last night at the Tea Party sponsored debate in Romney, West Virginia. More &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/?p=1467\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1467\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/morgancountyusa.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}