• Submitted by: manso
• Politics and Government
• 10 / 17 / 2010

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Posted: Friday, October 15, 2010 9:15 pm. GREAT FALLS - Democratic congressional candidate Dennis McDonald accused Republican Rep. Denny Rehberg on Friday of reversing himself on the Cuban trade embargo after receiving campaign donations from a Florida businessman and a political action committee.

McDonald used his opening speech to turn fire on Rehberg, a five-term congressman favored to be returned to Washington in what likely is their final debate before the Nov. 2 election. The two men and Libertarian Mike Fellows debated twice in June but not since then.

At a debate sponsored by the Montana Farmers Union at its annual convention, McDonald said Rehberg advocated lifting the embargo up until 2004. But McDonald said the congressman began changing his position after receiving $1,000 in campaign donations from Florida car dealer Gus Machado and $9,500 from the U.S.-Cuba Democracy PAC over the years.

"It's hurt Montanans and farmers significantly through this day," McDonald, a rancher from Melville, told a crowd of several hundred people. If elected, McDonald said he would work to lift the trade embargo.

In response, Rehberg said he's been to Cuba twice on trade missions, including once with Democratic Sen. Max Baucus.

"We have the ability to sell agricultural products," Rehberg said. "The problem is they have tied it to the lifting of the travel embargo." That is not acceptable, he said.

One difficulty is the cost of transporting Montana agricultural products to Cuba, Rehberg said.

Both Rehberg and Fellows advocated eliminating the federal estate tax. Estate tax exemptions are due to expire Dec. 31, with new tax rates going into effect Jan. 1, 2011, unless a lame-duck Congress acts after the election.

Rehberg said he has favored eliminating the estate tax his entire political career. He talked about the personal financial difficulties he and his wife and his sister faced in having to come up with money to pay estate taxes after inheriting a ranch from his great-grandmother several decades ago.

"I'm very passionate about the elimination of the death tax," Rehberg said.

McDonald said he doesn't favor wiping out the estate tax, but favors setting a high exemption threshold to protect farmers, ranchers and small-business owners.

"I'm not sure I buy into the notion we should do away with the estate tax, particularly with these multibillion-dollar estates," McDonald said.

All three candidates called for increased U.S. production of energy from all sources: coal, oil, gas, wind, solar, biomass and others. However, Rehberg and McDonald disagreed on whether there should be oil and gas developments on the Rocky Mountain Front.

"We shouldn't discourage any development of oil and gas," Rehberg said. He said the "extreme environmental community" has stepped in the way to block production.

Rehberg advocated oil and gas development in the Rocky Mountain Front, drawing applause from some in the audience.

McDonald said he also favors additional oil and gas development and production but drew the line at the Rocky Mountain Front.

"But we don't need for a moment to sacrifice one of the most precious jewels Montana has and that's the Rocky Mountain Front," McDonald said, also to applause.

"No one is suggesting destroying the Rocky Mountain Front," Rehberg shot back, noting that many landowners along the Front favor responsible oil and gas development there.

Fellows said that hemp could be an energy source.

Rehberg and Fellows both criticized the federal health care reform bill that President Barack Obama signed into law earlier this year.

Rehberg said the federal bill failed to address tort reform, contending that "defensive medicine" was not addressed in the new law. He also called for more incentives for telemedicine.

McDonald has said he would have voted for the federal bill, although he strongly favored a single-payer, Medicare-for-all approach. He voiced concern that the bill doesn't adequately address health care in rural areas and on Indian reservations.

All three men expressed frustration over an August ruling by U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy of Missoula that returned wolves to the federal endangered species list.

"It's time no longer to allow the judiciary to legislate," Rehberg said. He said he has introduced legislation to delist the gray wolf in all states, as well as to delist in Montana and Idaho and let the states manage them.

McDonald advocated automatically letting states manage endangered species when they reach a certain threshold number. He said both Montana and Idaho had developed excellent wolf management plans, but unfortunately Wyoming took its own route.

Fellows said farmers and ranchers have property rights and "these guys are going to decide what needs to be done."

A panel made up of a Farmers Union officer, a board member and a youth advisory committee member asked a number of agriculture-related questions to the candidates. The Great Falls Tribune co-sponsored the event.

By CHARLES S. JOHNSON Missoulian State Bureau missoulian.com

Missoulian State Bureau reporter Charles S. Johnson can be reached at (406) 447-4066 or at [email protected].

Source: missoulian.com/news/state-and-regional/article_2d1dd680-d8ae-11df-a958-001cc4c03286.html