The Paul M. Hebert Law Center panel on presidential election issues Tuesday started with a couple jokes, but panelists also spoke about issues such as healthcare and taxes, that are affecting the nation and Louisiana specifically.
Panelist and Sen. Karen Carter Peterson, D-La., poked fun at fellow debaters, saying the two Republicans would agree with everything she and fellow Rep. John Bel Edwards, D-La., said.
However, Republican Agriculture and Forestry Commissioner Mike Strain delineated the differences between the parties. While discussing the issue of religious institutions paying for employee contraception, he said the bill “stymies freedom.”
Peterson responded with the argument that contraception allows women the choice to plan for their lives and families.
After the back-and-forth proceeded for a few minutes, Edwards joined the discourse.
He said while the Roman Catholic Church is against contraception, he believes more than 90 percent of women in his church use it.
“If we did a little better job preaching and getting people to be faithful, we would not have a problem,” Edwards said.
Alongside this discussion, Sen. Dan Claitor, R-La., said in Louisiana, Democrats and Republicans treat each other with more civility than on the national level.
“The national scene might have something to learn from us,” Claitor said.
Law School Chancellor Jack Weiss introduced the panelists as “discussants,” in order to make the difference clear between the law school panel and the national debates.
While discussing the healthcare budget, an issue that affects Louisiana, the discussants again drew solid lines between their parties.
Claitor boiled the Republican view down to a mantra — “Government at the state level: good. Federal government: bad.”
He also conceded that healthcare is “not a perfect system.”
Peterson took the Democratic side, saying citizens do not know what Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney will cut from Obamacare, but programs on the chopping block, such as Planned Parenthood, are “big deals.”
She said what is happening under Gov. Bobby Jindal in Louisiana with the healthcare system is what could happen on a national scale if Romney is elected into office.
State politics came into play near the end of the discussion, causing it to run 20 minutes past the slated end time.
Peterson and Strain went back and forth on hospital funding through cigarette taxes and how to proceed without post-Katrina-level federal funding. Eventually, moderator and Director of the Reilly Center for Media & Public Affairs Bob Mann ended the discussion.
Weiss said he wants the Law Center to become a forum for more of these types of discussions, especially those addressing the University and state issues.
After the discussion, law student Dani Borel said she came to see how national policies would affect politics on a statewide level, and said she thought the panel accomplished that.
Borel also said Peterson had a strong showing, even though she said she doesn’t agree with Peterson’s policies.
Political science freshman Adam Beyer agreed that Peterson did well, and said he thought the debate was fascinating.
