Collins, Hice clash in 10th District House race

On the campaign trail Mike Collins and Jody Hice routinely draw sharp contrasts between each other in what is becoming an increasingly bitter Republican primary runoff to replace U.S. Rep. Paul Broun.

Collins, a trucking company executive from Jackson, often describes himself as an experienced businessman with a detailed plan to boost the economy. A conservative radio talk show host and tea party-endorsed candidate from Monroe, Hice casts himself as a cultural warrior who will fight for strict adherence to the Constitution.

Since surviving the seven-way Republican primary in May, the two have collided over everything from gays to women serving in politics to First Amendment rights for Muslims to raising the nation’s debt ceiling.

Hice and Collins were forced into a runoff when neither captured more than 50 percent of the vote in the May 20 primary. Hice narrowly edged his opponent in that race, capturing 33.50 percent to Collins’ 32.99 percent. Whoever prevails in the July 22 runoff will face Democrat Ken Dious, an Athens attorney, in November in the solidly Republican 10th District. The vast district stretches from eastern Gwinnett County to the South Carolina border.

The Republican competitors have staked out similar positions on several policy issues. Both want to scrap the federal health care overhaul and revamp the tax code, and both oppose granting amnesty to immigrants living illegally in the U.S. At the same time, they are emphasizing different priorities.

Collins — the son of former U.S. Rep. Mac Collins — is highlighting his experience running Collins Industries, a freight-hauling company. His “Overhaul D.C.” plan calls for revamping entitlement spending, slashing corporate tax rates, and scaling down the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Food and Drug Administration. Collins has collected endorsements from former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel.

In an interview after speaking last month at a candidates forum in Athens, Collins said voters know he is “a common-sense businessman who understands that, yes, this election is about jobs. It is about feeding your family — making a living.”

“You have got two people sitting by the fire,” he said of himself and Hice. “We both know that fire is hot. But the guy that has the scars — he can prove it. It gives him a little more in-depth authority.”

Collins has gone on the offensive in recent weeks, blasting Hice for writing in his 2012 book — “It’s Now or Never: A Call to Reclaim America” — that some Muslims should be stripped of First Amendment rights. Collins has also attacked Hice for telling the Athens Banner-Herald in 2004 that he doesn’t see a problem with women serving in positions of political power “if the woman’s within the authority of her husband.”

Injecting some levity in the race, a video on YouTube parodies Vanilla Ice's 1989 hit song "Ice Ice Baby" and pokes fun at Hice's position on women as well as those he expressed in the book about gays. The Collins campaign said it had nothing to do with Shing Productions' "Hice Hice Crazy" video, which features dancing men wearing dresses.

Hice said his words have been taken out of context and that he meant married people should consult each other before running for public office since political campaigns can be time-consuming, expensive and stressful. Hice said he was focusing strictly on jihadists when he wrote about stripping some Muslims of constitutional protections.

A former Baptists minister, Hice is known for battling with the Internal Revenue Service over regulations that say clergy can risk the tax-exempt status of their churches by making public endorsements. He has also attracted attention for clashing with the American Civil Liberties Union in favor of a Ten Commandments display in the Barrow County Courthouse.

Hice has drawn the endorsement of Broun and several tea party groups. Hice said he would apply the four-part litmus test Broun has used to judge legislative proposals, including that they must meet the original intent of the Constitution’s Framers, fit the “Judeo-Christian biblical principles” that form the nation’s foundation, are necessary and affordable.

At the forum last month in Athens, Hice criticized the Obama administration’s vision for the nation and said he favored limited government, declaring: “We are literally in the fight of our life to claim our country. And who we send to Washington right now is absolutely critical.”

“The bottom line is that I have been heavily, heavily involved in what’s happening in our country for most of my adult life,” he said. “I don’t come to you as a candidate who says, ‘Vote for me and I will tell you what I will do.’ We have been on the front line for years.”

In a testy exchange in a televised debate Sunday, Hice criticized Collins for speaking in favor of raising the debt ceiling. In a December interview with Roll Call, Collins said: “I think we need to raise the debt ceiling at a certain point so that we can get business done and start working on a budget to start paying that down and get this economy back rolling.”

“The issue at hand is that we have got to cut spending,” Hice said. “We have unconstitutional spending habits that are destroying our nation and taking us into economic disaster.”

Collins, who has been campaigning on cutting federal spending, dismissed Hice’s attack as “political gamesmanship.” Collins added the Constitution requires Congress to pay the nation’s debts.

“And you as a constitutional expert should realize that,” Collins shot back at Hice. “If we had more business people in Congress that understood that concept and quit running this country off the seat of their pants, we wouldn’t be in this mess.”