THE CHOICE FOR SENATOR
One became a national icon six years ago but today finds herself on the defensive. The other was a relative unknown whom party leaders considered too extreme to carry the Republican banner. But perhaps surprisingly, there is some common ground between U.S. Senator Carol Moseley-Braun, 51, and her challenger, state Sen. Peter Fitzgerald, 37.
5 KEY ISSUES
How the candidates stand on guns and crime, abortion, the budget, education and health care
GUNS AND CRIME
Fitzgerald: Supported a state measure to let citizens carry concealed weapons. In 1996, changed positions to support both the Brady Law’s waiting period for handgun purchases and a ban on assault weapons.
Moseley-Braun: Favored the Brady Bill, which created a waiting period for those purchasing handguns. Also supported the assault weapons ban. Opposed mandatory minimum sentences for criminals who commit crimes with guns.
ABORTION
Fitzgerald: Opposes abortion in all cases except to save the life of the mother. Supports a ban on late-term abortions. Also backs parental notification and consent laws. Would vote to restrict the use of federal money to pay for abortions. Supports constitutional amendment that would provide protections for the fetus.
Moseley-Braun: Has said she “personally (does) not support abortion,” but that the procedure “should be a personal decision not dictated by Washington or any other group of politicians.” Voted to uphold Clinton’s veto of a bill to ban certain late-term procedures.
THE BUDGET
Fitzgerald: Wants to re-establish a “National Surplus Policy” that would require surpluses to be returned to taxpayers in the form of tax cuts or to be used to reduce the national debt. Wants the Social Security trust fund taken off the federal budget so that it cannot be used by Congress to pay for other programs.
Would back a flat tax if it were levied on interest and dividend income in addition to salary. (Has not specified a level for such a tax.) Would vote to abolish the “marriage tax penalty,” which taxes couples more than if they filed individually, for couples earning less than $50,000 a year.
Moseley-Braun: Supported the 1993 budget bill that helped produce the current federal surpluses. Agrees with President Clinton that those surpluses should first go to shore up the nations Social Security system.
EDUCATION
Fitzgerald: Believes it should be primarily a state and local function. Sponsored charter school legislation. Supports educational savings accounts that provide tax credits to those saving for private school and college tuition. Also supports vouchers that would allow students to use public money to attend private schools.
Moseley-Braun: Chief Senate sponsor of a bill that would pump billions of dollars into repairing public schools. Supports increasing what she calls “the minimal federal involvement in elementary and secondary education,” including adding teachers to shrink class sizes. Also backs making student-loan interest expenses deductible and a new tax credit for the first two years of college and “lifelong learning tax incentives.” Opposed a Republican proposal for education tax-savings accounts because she said the wealthiest 20 percent of Americans would have benefited the most.
HEALTH CARE
Fitzgerald: Would allow people to sue their health maintenance organization and insurance company. In exchange for allowing such lawsuits, he would place unspecified “reasonable caps on liability for non-economic damages.” Self-insured corporations should be given special consideration so employees are not allowed to sue employers for decisions made by a health-care administrator.
Moseley-Braun: Believes patients should be able to sue their HMOs for negligence. Supports adjudicating such issues in federal, rather than state, courts in order to “ensure greater consistency, and more quickly develop a body of law interpreting the balance of rights between patients and their HMOs.”
