District 1 Congressional candidates meet with east Chamber members

St. Tammany News

Four of the seven candidates running for the First District Congressional seat came to the East St. Tammany Chamber of Commerce breakfast meeting Friday morning to try and get votes for the March 8 primary.

Two Republican candidates, Slidell Mayor Ben Morris and state Sen. Steve Scalise both said they are running to return the country to "conservative values."

Both candidates are fiscal conservatives. Scalise said he wants to maintain President Bush's tax cuts that will provide incentives to boost the country's economy.

Morris said the U.S. should stay in Iraq until the job is finished. He also said we must secure our borders. As a 32-year career soldier, a former agent for the Drug Enforcement Agency and former Slidell Police Chief, Morris said he brings a lot of experience to the job.

"I'll never be politically correct," the feisty mayor said, "but I will do whatever is necessary to keep our state and country safe."

Scalise vowed to cut government spending and fight in Congress to get more relief to southern Louisiana in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. He stressed that he is very pro-business and wants to get more high-paying jobs in the area. He suggested the NASA facility at Michoud could use more high-tech companies having offices in the area that would create more jobs.

"Michoud needs more research and development companies to set up shop there," Scalise said.

Gilda Reed was the only Democratic candidate at the breakfast. A professor at the University of New Orleans, she said she is a "fighter," and that is what the area needs to rebuild after Katrina.

Despite her Democratic credentials, Reed said she is a fiscal conservative and vowed also to cut government spending.

"I believe in smart government, not big government," Reed said. As a mother of seven, she said she has a lot of experience in running finances.

She said she wants to get government out of "our bedroooms, our phones and computers, and to keep the right to bear arms."

"I don't take 'no' for an answer," Reed stated.

Finally, independent candidate Anthony Gentile took the podium.

Even though he will not be in the March 8 primary, he said his politics lean toward the conservative. Gentile works in the oil industry and said his biggest concern is immigration.

"Immigration has gotten out of hand," Gentile said. "We have to secure our borders."

A resident of St. Tammany Parish, Gentile said the parish has to keep improving the education.

He doesn't think being for or against one political philosophy is working for our country.

"We need all the ideas we can to move this country forward," Gentile said.