Q&A: Georgia Senate race

Each week until the Nov. 4 election, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution will pose a question to the U.S. Senate candidates about issues facing the nation. Each candidate has 120 words to answer the question.

This week’s question: Will the recently passed $700 billion financial rescue package work?

The Republican Incumbent: Sen. Saxby Chambliss

Georgians are losing their jobs, homes, retirements and savings. I’m furious about what happened but we must work together to stop the economic meltdown.

This was the first step, not the total answer. Federal regulators and Congress must enforce our laws overseeing this bill and it will work, but not overnight. Implementation has begun and frozen credit markets will begin to thaw. Georgians will again be able to get loans. Should it not work as planned, we can stop the program.

Next, expect federal investigations of everyone, company employees or members of Congress, who cheated the system contributing to this disaster. Anyone found guilty should be severely punished.

And while the economy recovers, I will keep fighting to lower taxes.

— Saxby Chambliss is a Moultrie attorney and former member of the U.S. House of Representatives who was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2002.

The Libertarian: Allen Buckley

I think the Act will reduce the likelihood of a depression or a severe recession. However, absent an economic catalyst like the internet boon of the late 1990s or tremendous immigration (which I don’t favor), the economy will likely be down for awhile. I support government rewards for clean-burning energy breakthroughs that spur substantial economic activity.

I would have voted against the bill because it: (a) didn’t place only those responsible for the problems at risk; (b) included approximately $150 billion of tax cuts without equal spending cuts; and (c) included pork. I would have supported/drafted legislation that provided the liquidity relief but made only the people who borrowed excessively, loaned excessively or owned the tainted assets potentially at risk.

— Allen Buckley is a metro Atlanta attorney and CPA.

The Democrat: Jim Martin

I strongly believe that action must be taken to stabilize our economy in order for us to start reversing the failed Bush economic policies that have proven so disastrous for the middle class. Unfortunately, this bail out went too far for Wall Street and not far enough for Main Street. For $700 billion, taxpayers should be getting more than just assurances from former Wall Street CEOs that everything will be okay. Instead, we should be demanding accountability and reforms to insure that this can’t happen again – that consumers be protected from the predatory lenders that precipitated this and that we reverse the banking deregulation that allowed the problems to spread into a worldwide crisis. Only in Washington do they think that you can just write a check and make this financial crisis go away.

— Jim Martin is a former state lawmaker and former chief of the state Department of Human Resources.