Andy Barr, Nancy Jo Kemper debate over state of the nation

U.S. Rep Andy Barr, R-Lexington, and Democratic challenger Nancy Jo Kemper sharply disagreed Monday on KET’s Kentucky Tonight about whether the United States is on the right track under President Obama.

Barr condemned Obama’s eight years in office, and said he is pledged to repeal the Affordable Care Act, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, environmental rules that have made coal less attractive and “the avalanche of regulations” that he said is crippling the nation’s economy. The less government, the better, Barr said.

By contrast, Kemper said she largely supports Obama’s record. Moments after the program began, she accused Barr of lying about her own record with a recent televised attack ad that ran positive comments she made about new economic data against a video of ISIS soldiers, suggesting that she was speaking favorably of the terrorists.

“One of the principal problems that is wrong with Washington is the fundamental kind of dishonesty that this represents,” Kemper said.

Barr, 43, is seeking a third term representing Central Kentucky’s 6th Congressional District in Congress. He’s a lawyer by training who worked a decade ago for Republican Gov. Ernie Fletcher.

Kemper, 74, is pastor at New Union Christian Church in Woodford County and a former executive director of the Kentucky Council of Churches.

Monday’s program was the first time Barr and Kemper have appeared together this election year. Barr has raised a far larger campaign treasury — $2.2 million to Kemper’s $384,252 — allowing him to skip the public forums that she has attended and instead run a barrage of television and radio advertising. The pair will share a stage just once more, for a candidates forum at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Clark County Extension Office in Winchester.

Much of Monday’s debate was spent on the subject of banks.

Barr, a member of the House Financial Services Committee, has pushed for years to reverse the Dodd-Frank Act’s prohibitions on risky behavior by banks, passed after the 2008 financial collapse. Kemper said Barr does favors for the banks that have poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into his campaign. She noted that Barr took more than $10,000 from Wells Fargo, which illegally charged its customers $1.5 million in fees after it secretly opened two million sham accounts in their names, while he attacked the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that helped expose the scandal.

“I’m sorry, but it just doesn’t pass the smell test in my book,” Kemper said.

Barr said he was a free-market advocate long before he entered politics.

“I am opposing over-regulation, and I am opposing Dodd-Frank because it’s hurting the people of Kentucky,” Barr said. “I am opposing over-regulation because it is hurting the American people. It is politicizing the allocation of credit. It’s why businesses can’t access capital. It’s why small business lending for banks is at a generational low.”

When moderator Bill Goodman directly asked both candidates about Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, Barr avoided mentioning Trump by name but said he supports “the Republican ticket.” Kemper dismissed Trump as “impulsive” and “vulgar.”

Toward the end, Kemper called for an increase in the federal minimum wage of $7.25, which she said is not a living wage. Barr agreed that it isn’t, but he said it isn’t supposed to be.

“The minimum wage job is a stepping stone,” Barr said. “Most of the people on the minimum wage are teenagers. It’s an internship where they’re acquiring skills.”

“No, no, no,” Kemper shot back. “Most of the people on the minimum wage are working single moms. And I’ve been there. I know what that’s about. Excuse me. They’re not teenagers.”

Federal workforce data indicates that about 80 percent of the hourly American workers who earned minimum wage in 2015 were adults, often women in food, sales and personal care jobs. More than half were 25 or older.

This story was originally published October 24, 2016 at 9:34 PM with the headline "Andy Barr, Nancy Jo Kemper debate over state of the nation."