McCain Turns Tables at Economic Summit: He Asks the Questions at Executive Gathering

By Greg J. Borowski, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Apr. 17–SOUTH MILWAUKEE — Joined by a who’s who of area business executives, Republican John McCain launched his general election effort in the state Wednesday by spending nearly three hours as questioner-in-chief.

The topic: the economy.

McCain, the certain GOP presidential nominee, spent considerable time asking the executives questions at the “economic summit.” The event was held a day after unveiling a plan to boost the nation’s sluggish economy that is based largely on a variety of tax cuts, including a summer “gas tax holiday.”

While the invited audience inside Bucyrus International, a manufacturer of mining equipment, liked many pieces of McCain’s plan, critics said it favored big business over beleaguered workers and amounted to a replay of the policies advocated by President Bush.

McCain’s early visit, and the swift response by his critics, underlined the importance of Wisconsin as a battleground state this fall.

Nevertheless, the visit carried few of the trappings of a campaign event. There was no pitch for a vote in November, no mention of Democrats Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton, and no speechifying from the candidate himself.

Instead, the Arizona senator settled in for two panel discussions with the top executives from A.O. Smith, We Energies, Northwestern Mutual Life, Froedtert Hospital and others — and asked as many questions as he answered.

In that regard, the event was meant to give McCain a statesmanlike role on a day in which Obama and Clinton met for a debate in Pennsylvania, the latest stop in their increasingly testy fight for the Democratic nomination.

It also amounted to a comfortable platform for McCain on the economy, an issue he has acknowledged is not his strong suit — but one that increasingly is defining the 2008 election.

“We know that America is facing challenges today,” said McCain, who cited the problems with mortgages, layoffs and too-high taxes.

“These are tough times now and (people) are hurting. I believe it’s the responsibility of government to act quickly and decisively.”

In his plan, McCain called for a summer suspension of the federal gas tax, doubling the tax exemption for dependent children and assuring college loans won’t be at risk in the nation’s credit crunch.

On Wednesday, McCain said eliminating congressional “earmarks” for specific projects in the budget could mean $100 billion in savings — $35 billion in recent spending bills, $65 billion still in the budget from earlier projects.

He also pledged to suspend spending increases for a year for most departments, another measure that could carry middle-class appeal.

Critics lash out

McCain’s plans to cut business taxes and extend the tax cuts enacted under Bush — ones he voted against in the Senate — drew the most criticism Wednesday.

In a conference call with reporters, state Democratic Party Chairman Joe Wineke said McCain amounts to “a clone of the president” and referred to him at one point as “McBush.”

Of McCain’s plan, Wineke said that “58% of it benefits the top 1% of society.” He also cautioned the “gas tax holiday” could put thousands of construction workers out of jobs if the money for highway repairs is not replaced.

Meanwhile, Gov. Jim Doyle told reporters in Madison the plan was “just a big gift to the oil companies.” The companies, he argued, would simply raise their prices to eat up the savings intended for drivers.

And the group One Wisconsin Now held its own conference call, where James Kvaal, a policy adviser with the Center for American Progress Action Fund, said the tax cuts would “deliver very little to regular people.”

The Center for American Progress is headed by John D. Podesta, who served as chief of staff to former President Clinton.

Inside the factory, with a giant American flag as a backdrop, it was largely a case of McCain preaching to the choir, and the choir — in the form of 12 executives and academic leaders — preaching to the converted, a crowd of about 300 invited guests.

At one point, after speakers talked of the need to improve education for all, McCain said, “Well, obviously we all agree.”

He went on to make a brief pitch for his views on creating competition in education, such as through charter schools and private-school voucher programs.

Mostly, the discussion centered on McCain’s economic proposals, with the executives providing a real-world perspective on them.

It was reminiscent of a 2005 visit to Milwaukee by Bush, in which he led a discussion on Social Security reform with pre-selected residents at the Milwaukee Art Museum.

McCain said it was the opening of an ongoing dialogue about the economy — and his questions seemed aimed at gathering information, not simply amplifying a point he wanted to make.

Take health care costs.

Noting that technological advancements in other industries typically mean reduced costs, McCain asked William Petasnik, the top official at Froedtert, why it doesn’t happen in medicine.

“We’re not dealing with widgets, we’re dealing with patients,” Petasnik replied, noting the training level required of doctors and others.

“But in other sectors, you need highly trained workers,” McCain replied.

In response, Petasnik noted the industry needs “a better process to evaluate the application of technology.”

Other topics that got a heavy dose of discussion included McCain’s push for alternative forms of energy, including nuclear power, and his call to simplify the tax code, allowing taxpayers a choice to use the current system or a “flatter, fairer” one.

Ed Zore, president and chief executive officer of Northwestern Mutual, said his own tax form tallied 69 pages: “I tried to read through it and understand it and I couldn’t, with my background, understand the taxes I was paying and why I was paying it.”

McCain tore a piece of paper from a notebook, held it up and declared, “You could do it on one sheet of paper.”

Journal Sentinel reporters Stacy Forster, Patrick Marley and Steven Walters in Madison contributed to this report.

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