By RYAN CHRISTNER

rchristner@dailynews.net

Jim Slattery, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, was in town during the weekend for an informal question-and-answer with Hays residents.

Saturday evening, the former 12-year U.S. House of Representatives member appeared at Coffee Rules, 1011 Elm, for about an hour to field questions from those in attendance.

Part of a circle of people huddled around a large coffee table, sitting casually on a leather sofa, Slattery spoke about his roots in rural eastern Kansas, growing up in a farming community in Atchison County.

"It helps me stay connected to the issues around agriculture," he said. "I think it's important for somebody who wants to be in the United States Senate to understand agriculture."

Slattery also expressed his views on "intergenerational robbery" -- a term he used to describe the passage of accumulated debt onto younger generations -- and the poor state of the economy.

"I believe very strongly that the federal government has to restore fiscal responsibility," he said. "We have done a miserable job of managing our nation's financial affairs."

The majority of the evening was spent discussing the war in Iraq and the state of health care in the U.S.

The choice to go to war in Iraq was a poor one, Slattery said, based on faulty information. He said it was the responsibility of Sen. Pat Roberts, who in 2001 was the chairman of the Select Intelligence Committee in the Senate, to provide truthful information to the public.

"Had Sen. Roberts, and other senators, told the American public that Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9/11, I don't believe we would have gone to war in Iraq," he said. "We should have stayed completely focused on going after Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan."

Slattery said healthcare is an important topic to rural Kansas. He told of his experience in the House, helping co-found the Rural Health Care Coalition, a bi-partisan group for the advancement of rural priorities in health care policy.

"I did that because I wanted to build political support for dealing with these unique Medicare problems as they affect rural communities," he said.

Slattery said he thinks Medicare programs should be able to buy drugs at discount prices from drug manufacturers and said Medicare reimbursement formulas "have directly discriminated providers in rural communities" by compensating rural doctors 20 percent to 30 percent less than those in larger cities.

Because of what he sees as a myriad of failed policies, Slattery said the bottom line is that new leadership needs to be placed in government.

"Frankly, I believe those political leaders that are responsible for these choices, they may be nice people, they may be good people, but they've made horrible choices for the people of this country and we should not rehire them," he said.

Slattery faces Lee Jones, Overland Park, in the primary.

Polls open at 7 a.m. Aug. 5.