REED

YOUNG

Sen. Jack Reed is facing a challenge in Tuesday’s Democratic primary from Providence activist Christopher F. Young.

Reed is seeking his third six-year term in the Senate, saying, “I’d like to continue to serve the people of Rhode Island. I’ve worked hard to stay in touch and advocate for issues that are of concern to them: good jobs, access to affordable housing and support for health-care reform, particularly for children.”

Young — the unpaid director of a group he formed, the National Civil Rights Coalition — ran for both mayor of Providence and U.S. Senate in 2006, losing with 26 percent of the Democratic mayoral primary vote and 11 percent of the Senate primary vote.

Young makes his case for replacing Reed, saying, “Mr. Reed has been in Congress over 20 years. That’s not a democracy. That’s a monarchy. We don’t keep someone in 20 years, do we? Do you think Mr. Reed has had time to accomplish all of his goals in 20 years?”

Reed has a campaign war chest of nearly $3.8 million. Young does not accept campaign contributions, and he accuses Reed of being beholden to his contributors, saying, “I’m not owned by anyone.”

The winner of the Democratic contest will face Republican Robert G. Tingle, a pit boss at the Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut. In the 2000 election, Reed received 78 percent of the vote, crushing Tingle.

The Journal asked the Democratic candidates to address major issues ranging from the war in Iraq to high gas prices.

Reed, a former Army Ranger and a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, voted against the 2002 resolution authorizing the Iraq war.

Young said he, too, would have voted against the 2002 war resolution, and he said, “I’m the only candidate that is against the war.” He noted Reed voted to fund the war effort, saying, “How can you be against the war if you fund it?” He also noted Reed voted against a failed May 2007 amendment — proposed by Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis. — to bring troops home within a year and cut off funding by March 2008.

Reed said, “My record has been consistent in opposing the war and supporting our forces in the field.”

Reed and Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., proposed a failed September 2007 amendment that would have pulled most American troops out of Iraq within nine months. Young said, “He made up some dummy legislation that didn’t pass to make himself look like he’s against the war.”

Young said he would pull troops out of Iraq “immediately.” Reed said he supports a timetable favored by the Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., who would pull out combat troops within 16 months of his inauguration. That plan would “give the commanders time to adequately plan an orderly departure and transfer of duties so our forces would not be jeopardized,” Reed said.

Obama’s running mate, Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., D-Del., has called for partitioning Iraq into three semiautonomous regions: for Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds.

Reed said he has never supported that plan. “But the reality is the Iraqi constitution has provided for strong regional governments in a federal context,” he said.

Young said he would also oppose the Biden plan because he does not think it would stabilize the region. “The basic issue remains that they are an independent nation and they deserve to govern themselves,” Young said.

Last week, Young campaigned outside a Target store in Warwick, asking people, “You don’t support high gas prices, do you, sir? Time for a change, right? Time to get someone new elected into political office.”

Young called for the government to set rate controls on gasoline prices. “We had it in the 1970s under the Emergency Petroleum Allocation Act,” he said. “And the price was stabilized below $2 a gallon for over a decade after the act was passed.”

Reed said price controls don’t work over the long run because they quickly become difficult to administer. “People find ways to get around them and you need a big apparatus to enforce them,” he said.

Reed said he favors moving more aggressively toward alternative fuels. Also, he called for cracking down “on speculation in the oil markets and working with Senator Levin for legislation that would allow much more transparent trading with respect to energy contracts.”

Young said he supports new drilling offshore and in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Reed has voted against drilling in the wildlife refuge. “He has said oil companies already have 68-million acres leased to drill on,” spokesman Chip Unruh said. “He does favor more drilling, but they should begin with what they already have. After all the Bush administration giveaways to Enron and the oil companies, does anyone think it would be a good idea to allow the Bush administration to give one more parting gift to the energy companies on their way out?”

Reed played a key role in a sweeping housing bill — signed into law this summer — that aims to boost the sagging housing market and bolster the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Reed, a member of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, helped to swing the panel’s senior Republican behind the plan by crafting its revenue engine — a broad levy on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The plan aims to widen access to federally insured mortgages without tapping taxpayer money.

Young claims Reed is beholden to a banking industry that has provided him with substantial campaign contributions. Among other things, he cites Reed’s 1999 vote for a bill that repealed the Glass-Steagall Act. The measure allowed commercial and investment banks to consolidate, and some critics say it contributed to the subprime mortgage crisis.

“Jack Reed has taken money from and then voted to deregulate the same banks that are his campaign contributors,” Young’s Web site says. “The deregulation of the banks has caused the housing market collapse, costing every Rhode Islander about $100,000 in value of their property.”

Young also cites contributions Reed has received from Freddie Mac and Fanny Mae political action committees, saying, “I think we are bailing out Jack Reed’s top campaign contributors.”

In response, Reed said, “In the best interest of the people of the United States and Rhode Island, I have been working for years now to create an affordable-housing trust fund that was opposed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. They didn’t want resources devoted to affordable housing. They wanted it for their shareholders and executive salaries. And we won.”

As for the banking industry, Reed said, “I was one of the few that voted against the ‘bankruptcy reform legislation’ of a few years ago, which was the major initiative of the banking industry, because it wasn’t fair to consumers. I do what I think is in the best interest of the people.”

Unruh noted the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999, which repealed the Glass-Steagall Act, received bipartisan support and was signed into law by President Clinton. In supporting the bill, Reed emphasized the need for vigilant regulation, but Unruh said that vigilance was not maintained under the Bush administration.

When asked about the current immigration system, Young called for controlling the nation’s borders and reinstituting trade tariffs.

Young said he would support a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants who are already here — but only under certain conditions, including the establishment of trade tariffs on countries such as China, the payment of back taxes and fines, and the passing of a citizenship test.

Reed said, “I’ve supported comprehensive reform, which first means securing the borders, having workplace controls so it’s just not another cost to do business without effect.” Also, he said, “There should be a pathway to citizenship, recognizing there have been people here many years, some with children who are American citizens.”

Reed said he supports Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court opinion that legalized abortion. Young said he favors overturning Roe v. Wade. Democratic Senate primary candidates

John Francis Reed

Party: Democrat

Political office: U.S. Senate, since 1997; U.S. House of Representatives, 1991-97 Rhode Island Senate, 1985-1990

Previous occupations: U.S. Army officer and lawyer

Education: Bachelor’s degree from U.S. Military Academy at West Point, master’s degree from Harvard University; law degree from Harvard Law School

Age: 58

Home: Jamestown

Web site: http://reed.senate.gov/

Christopher Francis Young

Party: Democrat

Political office: None

Occupation: National director of National Civil Rights Coalition, a group he founded

Education: Bachelor’s degree from Boston University

Age: 39

Home: Providence

Web site: http://www.wheretovote.com/

efitzpat@projo.com