CIVILITY

asked during a 50-minute matchup Friday of the 15th Congressional District candidates hosted by the Columbus Metropolitan Club.

And Neal pointed to Stivers’ role as head of the National Republican Congressional Committee, which he said is bankrolling “divisive, nasty attack ads all over the country” in an attempt to preserve the GOP’s House majority in the face of what some predict will be a wave of Democratic victories next month.

“So you yourself are a source of the incivility that is creating the problems in this country,” Neal charged.

Stivers replied that the claim about the ads “is simply not true,” that his instructions were everything must be true and fair.

And the four-term Republican from Upper Arlington said he has spoken out several times against Trump, whether it was about his statements after a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, raising tariffs that affect farmers and others in Ohio or separating families at the Mexican border.

“I’ve stood up to him when

I feel like the things he says are not fair or right or don’t reflect my values,” Stivers said.

“If you want someone who’s going to be part of the resistance, vote for my opponent,” the congressman said. “But if you want someone who’s able to deliver results, vote for me.”

Neal returned to the topic later during a discussion about immigration. Solving the problem means the U.S. must “get rid of fear-mongering ... that involves standing up to the president and saying no, and that has to come from you,” he said, looking directly at the congressman seated next to him.

Unlike many debates, the audience of some 350 was allowed to react, and they did: with cheers, groans, laughter, applause and even a few catcalls.

The latter came when Stivers responded to Neal’s proposal to rid political campaigns of corporate political action committee money.

Stivers said PAC money is not from a corporation, but from its employees who have banded together.

When that remark didn’t sit well with some in the crowd, he Democrat Rick Neal, left, and Republican Rep. Steve Stivers debate during a Columbus Metropolitan Club luncheon Friday at The Boat House at Confluence Park.

added, “I don’t have $300,000 to put in my race the way my opponent does. We cannot let rich people buy seats.”

That only made the protests louder.

Stivers got in a shot in response to Neal’s proposal to make those as young as 55 eligible for Medicare.

The Republicans said that would cost $1 trillion a year.

“It would bankrupt Medicare on Day One. We cannot bankrupt Medicare that our senior citizens depend on. That’s a very dangerous proposal.”

But Stivers also said lawmakers must tackle the fiscal realities of Medicare and Social Security because “they both will go broke if we don’t do anything.”

He expressed support for raising the income cap from the current $128,000 on which the Social Security tax is collected.

“It’s a social safety net, it’s not really a retirement program,” Stivers said.

Neal said the shortfall of federal revenue stems from the GOP’s massive tax revamp late last year.

“They’re going to come after the benefits,” the Columbus Democrat said. “It’s unconscionable.”

Already, a GOP congressional leader is pushing to abolish Obamacare — which mandates coverage for pre-existing health conditions and allows Medicaid expansion — in the lame-duck session after Election Day, Neal said.

“This is what is they’re coming after. Everybody here today enjoys coverage for preexisting conditions — every single one of us. And if the congressman and his party had their way, you would not.”

Again Stivers objected: “That’s not true. I haven’t gone after pre-existing conditions before.”

After the debate, Stivers said that while he has supported repealing Obamacare, he has signed onto alternatives that preserve coverage of preexisting conditions.

The debate wasn’t all confrontational. Both Neal and Stivers agreed that climate change is real.

And when the congressman said “I think raising the gas tax is a legitimate means of paying for infrastructure,” Neal agreed — although he questioned why a GOP-controlled federal government hasn’t gotten anything done yet.

One odd point came when Stivers contended it’s a “popular myth” that Russia tried to influence the outcome of the 2016 election.

“What the Russians wanted to do is to divide us as a country,” he said.

And they have succeeded, Stivers added.