Chris Chocola, Republican candidate for U.S. Representative in the Third District, visited Warsaw Thursday to attend the Republican Hall of Fame banquet and discuss his campaign.

One of Chocola's biggest issues is how important it is for congressmen to live, work and raise their families in the district they are elected to represent.

Chocola has been critical of his opponent, Congressman Tim Roemer, for not raising his family or paying property taxes in Indiana. Chocola said if Roemer isn't a member of this community, he can't understand what life is like here.

He said Roemer has used the argument that Congress is in session 11 months out of the year and he can't live and raise his family in this community.

"That's not true," said Chocola, adding that Congress is in session only six months of the year and out of session 25 weeks.

"Roemer's clearly a Washington guy," said Chocola. "That doesn't make him a bad guy. It just makes him ineffective as a representative.

"That's a very important issue, I think," he said. "It's very misleading to say Congress is in session 11 months when it's not."

Chocola also spoke on education, credibility issues concerning Roemer, Social Security and health care.

"I believe in school choice," said Chocola. "We have to provide the best education for our children, wherever that is."

He said his children go to public school in the Third District. Chocola believes parents should be able to choose where their children go to school and competition should push schools into working harder to educate children.

"I think competition has helped everything that's ever existed," he said.

Chocola said there are serious credibility issues concerning Roemer. Although Roemer voted to repeal the marriage penalty and the death tax, Chocola said, he still supports President Bill Clinton, who vetoed those repeals.

"He (Roemer) voted the right way, but he supports the wrong leadership," said Chocola. "He votes for Dick Gephardt as Speaker of the House - he (Gephardt) doesn't believe in those things. We can't give Roemer credit for voting for the marriage penalty tax repeal when it never happens. It's very ineffective representation."

Chocola said he believes Roemer doesn't want to be associated with the Democratic party because he can't get re-elected and believe the same things as Gephardt and presidential candidate Al Gore.

"If he doesn't believe the leaders of his party share the same values as the people of the Third District," said Chocola, "then we need to elect somebody that believes that the leader of their party does."

Other credibility issues, according to Chocola, include Roemer saying he never voted to raise taxes and voting both sides of issues.

"What side is he on?" Chocola asked, and then said if he is elected, he will not say one thing and do another.

Chocola also doesn't believe in career politicians. He said they aren't good for citizens.

"I believe that very strongly. It doesn't make you a bad person. It just makes you less effective as a congressman."

Chocola said Social Security was never intended to be the sole source of income for retired citizens. He believes people should be allowed the option to invest money in their own retirement accounts. He also believes people should have more control over their health care coverage. These are things he plans to work on if elected, he said.

Chocola said he and Roemer are scheduled for two debates. The first one will be at the Century Center in South Bend Oct. 11 and the second one will be at Memorial High School in Elkhart Oct. 12.

Two Hall of Fame awards were bestowed at the banquet to Kosciusko County Clerk Marsha McSherry and County Sheriff Aaron Rovenstine. [[In-content Ad]]