BETHLEHEM - The two candidates vying to represent the 17th Congressional District squared off Wednesday night, voicing opposing views on taxes and the role of the tea party in their first clash in front of Lehigh Valley voters.
The debate gave voters a glimpse of Democrat Matt Cartwright and Republican Laureen Cummings, two Lackawanna County residents.
Cummings, founder of the Scranton Tea Party, said she wants to abolish the earned income tax and replace it with the FairTax system, a 23 percent sales tax. She said it would ensure that drug dealers, illegal workers and under-the-table workers are paying into the system.
She also cited the FairTax throughout the debate as a method of boosting economic recovery and increasing the life span of Medicare.
"Not only does your employer have an increase in their revenue, but so does every single person that works in America today," Cummings said. "That will be one of the biggest boons to our economy."
Cartwright, a Scranton-based attorney who lives in Moosic, argued the FairTax would hurt middle-class Americans every time they bought groceries, gasoline or medicine. He called the plan an "unfair tax" that's unlikely to be passed because it lacks support from Republican leaders, including GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
Cartwright said he favors raising tax rates for those who make more than $1 million by about 4 percent, a return to a President Bill Clinton-era policy.
"There's no reason to drive this country deeper and deeper into debt to put that 3.5 to 4 percent more tax dollars into the pockets of people making $1 million or more," Cartwright said.
The debate was held at PBS39 studios at SteelStacks in south Bethlehem and hosted by The Morning Call, PBS39, the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce and Muhlenberg College.
Questions were posed by Colby Itkowitz, The Morning Call's Washington correspondent, and Chris Borick, a political scientist and director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion.
When asked about the legacy of the tea party, Cartwright called it the party of "No" and made reference to a statement from 2010 on Cummings' website in which she urged Republicans not to pass another piece of legislation proposed by President Barack Obama's administration.
"You have to have an open mind," Cartwright said. "You cannot go down to Washington with a viewpoint of: I'm going to say no to whatever the other side has to propose."
Cummings defended the statement on her website and said it was in response to Democrats' ignoring proposals from Republicans.
"It's not a party," said Cummings, a nurse and small business owner from Old Forge. "It's just people, individuals who decided that they were going to stand up and fight for what they believe in."
Neither candidate has held public office of any kind.
The reconfigured 17th District includes all of Schuylkill County and parts of Carbon, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Monroe and Northampton counties.
Cartwright took advantage of the 17th district's new Democratic base, including Scranton and Wilkes-Barre, to defeat moderate Democrat Tim Holden, a 10-term incumbent from Schuylkill County, in the primary. Cummings ran unopposed in the Republican race.
Before Wednesday's event, the candidates debated last week at Wilkes University in Luzerne County. Other debates are scheduled at 7 p.m. Oct. 31 at WVIA studios in Pittston and 7 p.m. Nov. 1 at the Penn State Schuylkill campus in Schuylkill Haven. The Nov. 1 debate will be broadcast by PCN.