Beyond yachts and socialism: Vern Buchanan and David Shapiro on the issues

Oct. 18--On one side, it's all about the opponent's yacht.

On the other, stock purchases have been held up as a symbol of hypocrisy and socialism is the latest bogeyman.

Far from simply debating policy, the District 16 congressional candidates and their allies have launched a series of increasingly negative attacks that often are only tangentially related to the important issues facing Southwest Florida residents.

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Read more: Complete Election 2018 coverage

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The ads occasionally have been misleading and often are less about highlighting key policy differences than trying to paint the opposition as self-serving, sleazy or hypocritical.

With Florida and the nation facing big challenges, from environmental degradation to school security and affordable health care, the Herald-Tribune asked Republican U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan and his Democratic challenger, David Shapiro, to answer questions on a handful of important issues.

While yachts and socialism dominate the airwaves, Shapiro and Buchanan have plenty of big policy differences that have not been fully explored. Here is a summary of their views on some of the most pressing issues:

School safety and guns

Following the February school shooting in Parkland that killed 17 people, there has been a renewed focus on better protecting schoolchildren, including instituting gun control measures and investing in school safety programs. Shapiro wants to ban assault rifles and require universal background checks.

"There's absolutely no reason why weapons of war should make their way into the hands of terrorists, the mentally ill, or domestic abusers in this country. Period," Shapiro said.

Buchanan also is open to additional gun control measures. He wants to ban bump stocks, which are used to turn semiautomatic weapons into fully automatic and establish universal background checks.

"Our laws cannot be effective if there are gaping loopholes that allow criminals and deranged individuals to purchase firearms at gun shows or over the internet without being subject to background checks," Buchanan said. But he does not support an assault weapons ban.

Both candidates are calling for additional investments in school security and mental health programs. Buchanan has called Shapiro hypocritical because he owns stock in gun companies. Meanwhile, Shapiro has criticized Buchanan for voting to repeal a regulation advanced by President Barack Obama's administration after the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting that claimed the lives of 20 students and six teachers. The rule was designed to stop mentally ill people from getting guns by requiring the Social Security Administration to share information on some mentally ill beneficiaries -- those considered incapable of managing their own finances -- with the FBI's National instant Criminal Background Check System. Buchanan's campaign said the rule violated due process rights and noted that the American Civil Liberties Union and disability rights groups opposed it. However, Buchanan said he believes Congress should consider a "red flag" law like the one approved in Florida recently. The Florida law allows police to seek a court order to confiscate someone's guns if there is there is a threat of violence.

Taxes and spending

Republicans passed a big tax cut bill through Congress last year and Buchanan was one of the key players involved with the measure because of his position on the House Ways and Means Committee, which crafted the legislation. The bill slashed corporate and individual tax rates. Buchanan has touted the legislation as a crowning achievement that will help boost the economy, make U.S. businesses more competitive and put more money into the pockets of average people. Critics note that the tax cuts have caused the federal deficit to explode, and that the bill -- which will reduce taxes for the vast majority of taxpayers over the next decade -- is tilted more to the wealthy, who receive a great tax reduction on a percentage basis.

The bill has become the centerpiece of attacks against Buchanan, but the focus has been less on the merits of the legislation and more on whether Buchanan personally benefited. Shapiro's allies have run a series of ads noting that Buchanan bought an expensive yacht on the same day he voted for the tax bill. Buchanan is one of the wealthiest members of Congress -- his net worth was estimated to be at least $80 million before the tax cut -- and has long owned big boats. He didn't need the tax cut to buy a new yacht, but Shapiro's allies have seized on the issue as a visceral way to try to drive home criticism of the tax bill. Yet when asked if he would vote to repeal the bill and raise taxes, Shapiro avoided a direct answer. "I would be in favor of voting for a tax bill that focuses on economic relief for Florida families and small businesses, without increasing the debt or endangering Social Security and Medicare," Shapiro said.

Buchanan came into Congress talking about the need to reduce budget deficits and the federal debt. But when asked about a July forecast from the U.S. Office of Management and Budget that the debt will increase by more than $1 trillion over the next decade because of the tax cuts, Buchanan defended the legislation. "Tax cuts, deregulation and a favorable climate for businesses to invest have all contributed to a 4.2 percent growth in the economy," Buchanan said, adding that the tax cuts "generated billions of dollars in new revenue." Buchanan went on to blame both parties for failing to control spending and said "One of my top legislative priorities is a constitutional amendment to balance the federal budget."

Environment

The environment is top of mind for many voters as Southwest Florida continues to grapple with one of the worst red tide events in years. Both Buchanan and Shapiro say they want to do more to address the problem, but neither is offering much in the way of concrete proposals.

Instead, they're trying to undermine each other's environmental credentials, with Buchanan criticizing Shapiro's investments in fossil fuel companies and Shapiro pointing to Buchanan's campaign contributions from sugar companies. The Herald-Tribune asked both candidates "What should be done to try and limit the intensity and duration of red tide blooms going forward?" and whether they support "any water quality regulations to limit pollution from septic tanks, fertilizer or other sources of nutrients? If so, please be specific."

Shapiro said that "Instead of taking a hatchet to the EPA, we need to strengthen our water quality regulations" but did not offer any specifics.

Buchanan ignored the second part of the question and instead pointed to his efforts to obtain funding to combat red tide, including an additional $8 million this year for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to study harmful algae blooms. On other environmental issues, both candidates oppose oil drilling off the coast of Florida and both say climate change is an important issue that needs to be addressed.

Immigration

It hasn't been discussed much in the race, but immigration is a major concern for many voters.

A poll of District 16 residents that was released last month by the University of North Florida found that 17 percent believe immigration is the biggest problem facing the district, ranking it third behind health care and the environment on the list of top concerns.

Asked if he wants to fully fund President Donald Trump's proposed border wall -- something Congress has yet to do despite GOP control -- Buchanan said "In addition to building a border wall, Congress should cut off funding to 'sanctuary cities' that refuse to enforce federal immigration laws and eliminate the so-called diversity visa lottery." While Buchanan says "amnesty encourages more illegal immigration and is unfair" to those following the normal citizenship process, he supports allowing so-called "Dreamers" -- young people who came to the country illegally as children and qualified for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program -- to stay in the country legally on a three-year renewable basis and "apply for citizenship like everyone else." The DACA program has expired, putting these people at risk of deportation.

Shapiro also wants to help Dreamers, saying "I would support a clean Dream Act, and the protection of Dreamers." Shapiro would go further, saying he believes that "undocumented workers who live here, work here, and contribute to our economy" should have a "reasonable pathway to citizenship" as part of a comprehensive immigration reform bill that includes border security. Shapiro did not respond to a question about whether the state or federal government would be justified in taking action against so-called "sanctuary" cities and counties that do not fully cooperate with federal immigration enforcement efforts. He does not agree with Democrats who are calling for the abolition of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency.

Health care

The question of how to ensure access to affordable health care is a big divide between Shapiro and Buchanan.

Buchanan put out an ad recently that says Shapiro supports "government health care" and a "socialist agenda." Shapiro does not support a single-payer health care system, saying he would not back efforts to expand Medicare to cover all Americans. Instead, Shapiro wants to preserve the Affordable Care Act, which authorized the expansion of Medicaid to more lower income people and offers subsidies to help people buy private insurance.

Buchanan repeatedly voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act. He says the ACA is "collapsing" and instead wants to focus on health care proposals championed by conservatives such as "competition across state lines, association health plans, and tort reform." Democrats accuse the GOP of undermining the ACA through various actions, including repealing the individual mandate that forced people to buy insurance or face a penalty.

Shapiro is running an ad saying Buchanan wants to let "insurance companies deny coverage for pre-existing conditions and drop people who get sick." But Buchanan said he supports "continuing coverage for pre-existing conditions and allowing young adults to stay on their parent's health insurance plan." Buchanan's campaign notes that the replacement plan Republicans offered for the ACA -- the American Health Care Act -- "guarantees coverage for people with pre-existing condition." The AHCA stated that "Nothing in this Act shall be construed as permitting health insurance issuers to limit access to health coverage for individuals with preexisting conditions." But Politifact determined that it is "mostly false" to argue the GOP health care law "does not eliminate protections for pre-existing condtions." Politifact wrote that the AHCA only required insurers "to provide access to coverage for people with pre-existing conditions. It says nothing about the rates of that coverage. That means if the the AHCA passes, it would allow for people with pre-existing conditions to be charged more per year for their insurance coverage -- possibly to the tune of thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars more per year, some studies have found."

Trump

To a large degree, the 2018 midterm election is a referendum on President Donald Trump. Some Democrats are even talking about impeaching Trump if their party wins control of Congress. But Shapiro said it is "premature to talk about impeachment" and added that "we need to allow Robert Mueller to continue his investigation, unimpeded by the administration." Buchanan also supports the Mueller probe, saying: "we need a thorough inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and we need to take significant steps to prevent such interference in the future."

Asked to offer his thoughts on Trump's presidency in general, Buchanan said "I agree with our president when his policies are good for our district, state and country, and disagree with him when they are not." Buchanan listed five different areas where he disagreed with Trump, including his administration's decisions to back out of the Paris Climate Accord and roll back offshore oil drilling regulations. Shapiro said Trump "promised to shake up the system ... unfortunately, I think what we are seeing from Washington these days is just more of the same."

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