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CONCORD — Charlton Heston, actor and National Rifle Association president, told a crowd of almost 200 Cabarrus County residents Saturday morning to forget the “promises and posturings, the clamor and chatter” of politicians over gun control.
But Heston — speaking in the same deep voice as he did when he played Moses 44 years ago in The Ten Commandments — also told his audience that U.S. Rep. Robin Hayes’ re-election is critical for Second Amendment rights.
“This election is the most important for freedom since the Civil War,” he said from notes during a poetic, 10-minute speech inside a warehouse at the Cabarrus County Fairgrounds. “Freedom has never been in greater peril since her founding with this country ... This year, freedom needs you more than ever before.”
“ ... This is one of the genuine good guys,” Heston, during the second visit of his life to Concord, said of Hayes. “This is one of the men you need in Congress.”
Hayes’ press secretary, Andrew Duke, said Heston’s visit contrasts Hayes from his Democratic opponent, Albemarle attorney Mike Taylor. In the past week, Hayes has appeared with Heston and Salisbury native and former presidential candidate Elizabeth Dole.
Taylor spoke Saturday with House Democrat Nancy Pelosi of California in Fayetteville; today he was scheduled to appear in Greensboro with Democrat Jan Shakowsky of Illinois.
“The bottom line is, look who Taylor’s spending his week with: two of the most notorious liberals in Washington,” Duke said. “You’re known by the company you keep.”
But while the National Rifle Association has endorsed Hayes, Taylor — a Vietnam veteran and NRA member — said the organization gave him an A rating during his 1998 bid against Hayes for the same Congressional seat.
“Gun owners need health care, too, so my focus this Saturday is on prescription drug relief for seniors and women’s health issues,” Taylor said in a prepared statement.
In his own speech, Hayes listed education, national defense and health care as the most important topics in his bid for re-election. He elaborated little on how he has promoted them since entering Congress two years ago, or how he would promote them if re-elected.
Hayes backs a plan along with most other Republicans that would allow private insurance companies to compete to provide prescription drugs for seniors, with Medicare providing a subsidy for those who need it. No one would pay more than $6,000 a year for drugs.
Hayes says Taylor’s plan to pay for prescription drugs through Medicare would bankrupt the government program, created in 1965 without such a benefit. The Democratic plan would pay 50 percent of prescription drug costs and pay all costs after $4,000 per year. Hayes also said the Democratic plan would “put senior citizens in a massive government-run HMO and raid Social Security.”
Hayes said Taylor has benefited from labor unions and trial lawyers who have paid for misleading ads against Hayes’ voting record on health care. “They have spent more than a million telling absolute lies,” he said.
Hayes also took time Saturday to chastise President Clinton for vetoing the recent attempt by Congress to repeal the inheritance tax and reform income tax codes that can penalize married couples who file jointly. The House failed to override the veto.
“We’ve tried to get rid of the marriage tax and the death tax and give you back some of your money, but the president won’t let us do that,” he said.
Immediately after his speech, Heston left for California. Hayes, who rode in with Heston from a rally in Albemarle just an hour earlier, left for Richmond County, where he was to be grand marshall in a drag race.
Republicans hold a six-seat advantage over Democrats in the U.S.House of Representatives this election year. With control of the House so close, both political parties have funneled money toward the nation’s tightest races.
Two years ago, Hayes beat Taylor with 50.7 percent of the vote to Taylor’s 48.2 percent — a difference of about 3,400 votes.
“I’m here to take that common sense to Washington,” Hayes said. “This is an election that is so important to the future of the country.”
Hayes took the 8th District House seat two years ago, after Democrat Bill Hefner retired. Hefner had held the seat for 24 years.
Hayes is the grandson of the founder of Cannon Mills, the textile business for which Kannapolis is known, now owned by Pillowtex Corp. He earned a degree in history from Duke University and is currently owner of Mt. Pleasant Hosiery Mill, and has been involved with many other businesses.
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