Some strong opinions were expressed on such issues as the Affordable Care Act and the economy during a forum Monday in Frederick.

To applause from the audience, incumbent US Senator Ben Cardin (D) said he is a strong supporter of the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, which passed Congress in 2010, and was recently upheld by the US Supreme Court. "We've already seen a slowing down of the growth rate of health care costs as a result of the Affordable Care Act," he said. "And millions of Americans are getting rebate checks from their insurance companies today as a result of the enactment of the Affordable Care Act." He also said it will eliminate the pre-existing condition which insurance carriers used to deny coverage.

But his Republican opponent, Dan Bongino, made an "ironclad promise" to vote to repeal "Obamacare"  if he's elected. He says it means too much government interference with the delivery of health care. "Why are you so eager to trade the bad insurance company practices we can escape," he asked. "To make them fiercely compete against each other for a government you can never, ever escape from. Never!"

Also addressing the issue of the Affordable Care Act were Republican 8th District candidate Ken Timmerman, and Bill Parsons, who was representing incumbent Democrat Chris Van Hollen. Timmerman also made a promise to vote to repeal "Obamacare" if he's elected. "This is big government gone wild," he said. "It's 159 new government programs. It's 21 new taxes."

Parsons said the Affordable Health Care Act has a lot of benefits for Americans. "Because of the improvements made to the Medicare program, they're going to fill in the 'donut hole' on prescription drugs, and we're going to have free preventive services for mammograms, and colonoscopies and the like," he said. "This is pro-family legislation. This is good for women and children and the families they are part of."

Also at the forum were, George Cluck, the Green Party's 8th District candidate, and Libertarian Party candidate Mark Grannis.

Another topic which generated a lot of strong opinions was President Obama's handling of the economy. Parsons defended the president. "We actually now, as inconvenient as it may be, have seen 965,000 private sector jobs net created since this president took office, which I will tell is greater in four years than President Bush accomplished in eight," he said, to the applause of several people in the audience.

"Mr. Parsons, I don't know what country you're living in, but the one you just described does not seem to the one I have been living in the past four years," Timmerman responded. "Employment is not growing. People are still losing their jobs. The economy is not growing. It's going downhill. 7.8% unemployment is a disgrace."

Senator Cardin and Bongino also expressed disagreements over the economy. Both were asked if the deficit can be reduced without raising taxes on the middle class. Cardin said what's needed is the creation of more jobs, a reduction in spending, and more revenue. "We've got to close loopholes. We've got to stop giving businesses tax breaks for sending jobs overseas. And, yes, it's fair for high income people for {tax} rates to go back to where it was when President Clinton was President of the United States."

But Bongino had a different point of view, especially regarding higher taxes for high income people. "Why would a big government, top down driven, so-called investment, tax and spend plan work to save your business," he asked. "When they talk about investment and sharing prosperity, they're only talking about sharing your prosperity, not theirs," he said to applause. "These are your business. This is your life."

The forum also included  Board of Education candidates. The contenders were asked about one issue that's been in the news recently: bullying. Board of Ed incumbent Katie Groth said the school system has a policy against bullying. "I think we need to pay attention to how we handle it, and make sure it's consistent across our county, through all of our schools, and all of our classrooms," she said.

The other candidates said it's good to have a policy, but it must be enforced, and students must be reminded of the consequences. "We have a zero tolerance policy, but we need to give it some teeth," said Tony Chmelik. "What I'd like to see is the policy written so that the children know the consequences. If you do A, you get X. It's too easy to say you have a zero-tolerance policy if you don't follow through with it."

Joy Schaefer and Colleen Cusimano said parents need to get more involved in their children's education. "I think we're doing a great job educating students as to what bullying is, what the role of the bystander is, how to report. But we're missing that education of parents and bringing the parents in," Schaefer said. "Information needs to be much more accessible to parents, easier to find."

Cusimano said parents also need to set boundaries. "It shouldn't be surprising that kids have gotten out of control. We've stopped paying attention. They're pushing the boundaries," she said. "The adult's job is to set the boundaries and hold it firm."

Zakir Bengali also said students also need to know how far they can go before they're punished. "And the children, when they do this, they're not aware of the consequences. And That's because a lot of our school policies do not entail consequences," he said.

The forum was held at Jekyll and Hyde Tavern in Frederick, and was sponsored by the Frederick County Commission for Women.