IOWA CAUCUSES

Iowa Speaks: Democratic candidates town hall questions

Des Moines Register Staff
Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley greet the audience before the Democratic presidential debate Saturday, Nov. 14, 2015, in Des Moines, Iowa, at Sheslow Auditorium on the campus of Drake University.

The Des Moines Register and Change Politics, a new elections platform launched by Change.org, organized an online town hall this month for Iowans to pose questions to presidential candidates ahead of next Monday's first-in-the-nation caucuses. The online town hall, called Iowa Speaks!, ran for seven days. More than 200 questions were asked, and more than 6,700 votes were cast. Editors then selected five of the most popular questions and one bonus question for the candidates to answer. All candidates were invited to participate.

Here are their answers in alphabetical order to two of those questions; some have been edited for length. Full answers are available on Change Politics.

Question: What can you achieve in the first 100 days as president to stop super PACs and special interest groups from hijacking our elections?

Hillary Clinton: Our democracy should belong to everyone — not just the wealthy and well-connected. We have to stop the endless flow of secret, unaccountable money that’s corrupting our politics. As president, I’ll fight for legislation requiring outside groups to disclose significant political spending — and until Congress acts, I’ll require federal contractors to do the same. And I’ll push for a constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court’s catastrophic Citizens United decision. We also have to make sure all Americans have their voices heard. I’ve proposed a small-donor matching system for presidential and congressional elections, because you shouldn't have to court huge donors to run for office, and you shouldn’t have to be a huge donor to make an impact. I’ll make it easier for every citizen to vote by enacting universal, automatic registration and expanding early voting. And I’ll fight back against Republican efforts to disempower voters, no matter their race, age or income.

Martin O’Malley: As president, I will make sure that any able jurist that I appoint to the Supreme Court will know the difference between a corporation and a person. We have to push back against the corrupting influence of big money in our elections, and in our politics, and in the halls of Congress, and we have to do that by overturning Citizens United. And instead of limiting debate, we should pass constitutional amendments in every state that enshrine the right to vote in our U.S. Constitution. Finally, I am advocating that we move to publicly financed congressional elections within the next five years. If you agree with these common sense approaches to winning back our democracy, I hope you will caucus for me, Martin O’Malley.

Bernie Sanders: As a result of the disastrous Supreme Court decision in the Citizens United case, the American political system has been totally corrupted and the foundations of American democracy have been undermined. By a 5-to-4 decision, what the Supreme Court essentially said to the wealthiest people in the country is they said, well you already own much of the economy, now we’re going to give you the opportunity to buy the United States government. That is not what America is supposed to be about. Now I have not made a whole lot of campaign promises during this campaign, but let me repeat to you ones that I have made. Any person who I nominate to the Supreme Court will have to say loudly and clearly that they will vote to overturn Citizens United. ... And here is what I will do in my first 100 days in office to address this issue. I will issue an executive order requiring government contractors to disclose their political spending. I will direct the SEC to require all public companies to disclose their political spending. I will direct the Federal Communications Commission to create rules on better disclosure on political ads. Over the long term, I believe we need to move toward public funding of elections where anyone regardless of their income, regardless of their ideas can go forward and try to represent their constituencies. ...

Question: What are you going to do to ensure women are valued the same as men — before 2059?

Hillary Clinton: According to researchers, at current rates, women may not see equal pay until 2059. We can’t wait that long. Issues that affect women’s lives are family issues, they’re economic issues, and they are crucial to our future competitiveness. That is why I’m fighting for equal pay for women, guaranteed paid leave, a higher minimum wage, affordable child care, and universal pre-K. And anyone who is serious about women’s equality had better be serious about reproductive health. As president, I’ll never stop fighting for women’s health, including access to safe, legal abortion. I’ll fight to repeal laws like the Hyde Amendment, and I’ll fight back against attempts to defund Planned Parenthood. When I talk about these issues, some Republicans accuse me of playing the “gender card.” If fighting for equal pay, paid leave, affordable child care, and women’s health care is playing the gender card, then deal me in.

Martin O’Malley: My wife, Katie, and I have two terrific daughters, Grace and Tara, and for their sake it is high time we deliver as a nation on the promise of equal pay for equal work for men and women. Because when women succeed, America succeeds. That’s why I will fight to pass, as president, the Paycheck Fairness Act that will protect women against retaliation by employers who are trying to pay them less than what they would pay a man in the same job, that will make pay data open and publicly available. Secondly, I will also work to pass the Family Act, so that every family in America has 12 weeks of paid family leave. There are better choices for us to make as a country. If you agree that we still have the ability to make them, then please caucus for me, Martin O’Malley, here in Iowa on caucus night. Together, we can change history and change it for the better.

Bernie Sanders: It is unacceptable that women in this country earn 79 cents on the dollar compared to men. That is the result of sexism, pure and simple. That has got to change. The gender pay gap is even worse for women of color. Today, African-American women earn just 64 cents for every dollar a white male earns, while the number for Hispanic women is just 54 cents. As president, I will sign the Paycheck Fairness Act into law to end wage discrimination based on gender. Furthermore, according to the most recent statistics, women make up two-thirds of all minimum wage workers; increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour would significantly boost the wages of more than 15 million women and help close the gender wage gap.

See their answers to more questions: