Democratic congressional candidate Ed Perlmutter on Tuesday lambasted as “a mandatory draft” his opponent’s 2004 suggestion that boys forgo their last semester of high school for a national service program.
“He wants to pull them out of high school and put them on what he considers the No. 1 national security issue in this country, put them on the borders,” Perlmutter said in a debate with his Republican opponent Rick O’Donnell and the third-party candidates.
O’Donnell quickly argued that Perlmutter was distorting his views.
The clash occurred over an opinion piece by O’Donnell that appeared Jan. 3, 2004, in the opinion section of The Denver Post.
Perlmutter read from the column during the debate, scheduled to run tonight at 8 on KBDI-Channel 12.
“No one would be exempt,” O’Donnell wrote. “Rich kids couldn’t buy their way out of service, and it wouldn’t involve the informality of AmeriCorps.”
“After a basic training-type orientation, they would be given various duties in sore need of attention: securing our border with Mexico; thinning our national forests to reduce fire risk; providing homeland security at ports and other vulnerable locations.”
After reading from the essay, Perlmutter said: “That is one of the craziest …”
Before Perlmutter could finish, O’Donnell labeled Perlmutter’s attack as a distortion. O’Donnell has not been campaigning on the issue.
“I think we need to address the serious problem of the senior year of high school,” O’Donnell said. “Education experts across the country will tell you most students and most educators believe it’s the wasted senior year.”
O’Donnell also said: “I did say it would be good for all young men to do this, but we live in a democracy and that means not all of them are going to do it.”
Tuesday’s televised debate, hosted by the Rocky Mountain News, CBS4 and KBDI, included the third-party candidates in the race for the first time, giving it a more wide-ranging raucous flavor than past exchanges.
Roger McCarville, the American Constitution Party candidate, said he wants to abolish the U.S. Department of Education.
“How many billions do they spend a year?” McCarville said. “Those are just lazy bureaucrats.”
Meanwhile, Dave Chandler, the Green Party candidate, called for public financing of campaigns, an increase in taxes and the elimination of the Strategic Defense Initiative, which would create a defense system for nuclear missiles.
Perlmutter added that he thinks the nation may have to consider raising the age when someone can collect Social Security benefits to 68 as well as raising the earnings ceiling on Social Security taxes from the current $90,000 to $100,000 to keep the program solvent.
“We cannot cut benefits to those currently receiving them,” O’Donnell said. “My opponent has reaffirmed, and he said it live on TV. He wants to increase the retirement age.”
Staff writer Christopher N. Osher can be reached at 303-954-1747 or cosher@denverpost.com.
