Sandie Morgan says politicians who say they want to cut wasteful spending are telling her nothing.

“That’s a bumper sticker line. Everybody wants to cut wasteful spending.”

Morgan, a Joplin resident, is interested in the specifics of the campaign promise. “I don’t mean to skewer anyone, but after all, everyone is against wasteful spending. What I’m interested in is a candidate who can tell me specifically where the wasteful spending is and what happens if the program is eliminated.”

Morgan says too many candidates call for cuts, but don’t explain how they would cope with people who are going to lose the help. She’s interested in how candidates vying for the party nod in the 7th Congressional District race will cut spending.

Ten candidates are running to fill the vacancy created when U.S. Rep. Roy Blunt decided to seek the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Christopher “Kit” Bond. Eight Republicans and two Democrats are listed on the Aug. 3 primary ballot.

GOP contenders, listed in ballot order, are Jeff Wisdom, Springfield, an economics professor at Ozarks Technical Community College; Gary Nodler, Joplin, a state senator; Michael Moon, Ash Grove, a farmer and employee of St. John’s Medical Center; Darrell L. Moore, Springfield, Greene County prosecuting attorney; Jack Goodman, Mount Vernon, a state senator; Billy Long, Springfield, an auctioneer and real estate agent; Michael Wardell, Nixa, a businessman and retired U.S. Marine; and Steve Hunter, Joplin, a former state representative.

Democratic candidates are Tim Davis, Branson, an attorney and economist; and Scott Eckersley, Kimberling City, a lawyer who sued his former boss, then-Gov. Matt Blunt, after he was fired when he said the office broke the law by refusing to release e-mails to the press.

Morgan puts the following questions to the candidates:

If you are sent to Congress, which federal programs would you favor eliminating, and why? What specific program would you define as wasteful spending?



Jeff Wisdom

I have repeatedly called for the elimination of several federal programs and agencies. Programs such as Obamacare and No Child Left Behind should be highest on the list for elimination. Agencies such as the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Energy have been utterly ineffective and should be abolished. Public education is constitutionally a responsibility of state and local governments. The 2009 federal stimulus bill, the bailouts of corporate executives that made poor management decisions, and the TARP moneys given to large banks that engaged in risky lending are all examples of wasteful government spending.



Gary Nodler

One hundred words is not enough for a comprehensive list, so I will use a slightly abbreviated version of a list proposed by Howard Phillips of the worst examples of federal spending without constitutional authority: AIDS education (there is no constitutional authority for this program), family planning, “dues” to the United Nations, office of the U.S. trade representative, the Legal Services Corporation, Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), sex education, the U.S. Department of Education, FDA-authorized distribution of RU-486, foreign aid, welfare for non-citizens.



Mike Moon

Article 1, Section 8 clearly defines the authority of the Congress to fund programs of the federal government. Each and every department and program must be scrutinized for constitutional authority, efficiency and effectiveness. Programs that do not meet the criteria found in the Constitution are considered wasteful and must be scheduled for elimination (over a sunset period of perhaps five years).



Darrell Moore

All federal programs must be reviewed to determine the purpose of each program, whether that purpose is proper to pursue on the federal level and, if it is a proper federal function, is it producing the desired result. This process would result in the elimination of some programs and reduced funding of others. In the Department of Education alone, $3.3 billion is spent on programs the federal government has defined as duplicative and/or inefficient. If we return responsibility for grades K-12 education back to the state and local governments, we can save billions on the federal level.



Jack Goodman

I will work to reduce the federal government, which exceeds constitutional parameters. I will fight against the new growth, including over 12,000 IRS agents, mandated by Obamacare. I support eliminating entire federal departments, such as the Departments of Education, Energy and others, that have usurped state and local authority. This can be achieved with legislation sunsetting the department or program and reducing the federal tax burden by the amount of its funding. Then, the levels of government closer to the voters can determine if they will need to make changes to assume functions that had been performed federally.



Billy Long

Americans are fed up with federal programs that never end. Ronald Reagan said the closest thing to eternal life is a government bureau. I favor looking at all federal programs and assessing whether or not they work or if they are needed anymore. I would work to end Visa Lottery that literally allows people from countries on the terrorist watch list to get a visa with a minimal background check, if their number is pulled in the lottery. We also have over 2 million federal employees. We need to put the federal government on a diet and reduce its size.  



Michael Wardell

Government auditors spent the past five years examining all federal programs and found that 22 percent of them — costing taxpayers a total of $123 billion annually — fail to show any positive impact on the populations they serve. I would work to eliminate these wasteful programs. But to be specific, Washington spends $25 billion annually maintaining unused or vacant federal properties. These liabilities should be sold off or decommissioned.



Steve Hunter

I would eliminate welfare and change it to work-fare. I would set up commodity stations to pick up food. I would eliminate all electronic cards that are used to get cash to gamble, obtain alcohol or any luxuries. The Bible tells us as a society to help widowed, orphaned and the elderly. It doesn’t tell us to create a dependent society of life-long parasites. If you don’t work, you don’t eat.



Timothy Davis

By a long shot — the two worst federal programs are Fannie Mae  and Freddie Mac. The stated goal of both programs is to help families of limited means purchase their own homes. In practice, the entities that cashed in on Fannie and Freddie were companies originating sub-prime mortgages later flipped in the secondary market. By injecting billions of dollars into that market, Fannie and Freddie stoked the subprime-asset bubble, locking hundreds of thousands of low-income Americans into exotic financial instruments (such as adjustable rate mortgages) that proved disastrous when interest rates rose in 2006.



Scott Eckersley

Every government program has a degree of wasteful spending within it. No program is immune, and every program has room for improvement. Each must be fair game for assessment with the goal of raising efficiencies, even if that assessment results in reduction or elimination. Given the size of our national debt, there’s no longer any room for sacred cows. Just like a family trying to make ends meet during difficult times, we’ve got to lay out everything on government’s kitchen table, make some tough decisions, balance the books, clear the debt, and make America our own again.