Edmond Democrats learned more about their candidates for House District 96 Thursday night at a Democratic forum in Edmond.

Jon-Paul Ammirata of Arcadia and Dianne Hunter of Edmond answered questions and addressed issues of importance to a crowd of about 50 attendants.

Questions from the group ranged from tax reform, energy and health care.

Hunter and Ammirata will compete in the July 29 statewide primary election and the winner will compete in the Nov. 4 general election. Republican primary voters will choose between candidate Mike Idleman of Choctaw and Lewis Moore of Edmond.

Ammirata is emphatic about reforming property tax, the sales tax on groceries and state income tax. If elected, his first priority would be to eliminate the state’s grocery sales tax.

“I think that’s one of the most onorous taxes there are,” said Ammirata, a rancher and a retired air traffic controller. “Everybody has to eat — rich or poor — but the burden is highest on those least able to afford it.”

Pat Hervey asked Ammirata how he would make up for the loss of sales tax revenue and organize a sales tax break on groceries.

His proposed solution would be to exempt the same necessities as are on the WIC system list that every grocery store in the state has on file.

“Where would the state find it? At this point I really don’t care where the state finds it,” Ammirata said. “My issue is to eliminate that onorous tax.”

But, Ammirata said he would study alternate revenue plans based on successful outcomes in other states.

A 3 percent cap on property tax is doable in Oklahoma, he said. In addition, state taxpayers should be able to itemize more than the $1,000 standard deduction for single individuals. He said the state deduction should mirror the federal form at $5,350 for the single individual.

Ammirata said school teachers should not have to pay for supplies out of their own pocket in order to teach. The average teacher salary in Oklahoma is $42,000, according to the Oklahoma Education Association.

“I see administrators in our bloated school administration system with six-figure salaries,” he said. Administrative functions in Oklahoma should be streamlined, he said.

Ammirata and Hunter would support repealing Oklahoma’s Right to Work law. The AFL-CIO endorsed Hunter this week.

Health care is a major focus of Hunter’s campaign. Hunter wants to reform health care in the state and create an environment in which physicians are more assessible for children who depend on SoonerCare benefits. Hunter and her husband, Dr. David Hunter, run the largest SoonerCare clinic in the state for indigent children with ear, nose and throat problems, she said.

“It’s our personal philosophy that children should never be punished for the circumstances that bring them to us,” she said. “We see a tremendous amount of referrals from the University of Oklahoma. Their pediatric clinic and their family practice sends us the majority of those SoonerCare children because those physicians can’t see them there.”

Hunter conducted an independent survey of 32 ENT clinics in Oklahoma City. Fifty percent of those clinics polled do not accept Medicaid or Medicare patients, she learned.

Also, Hunter said she doesn’t support the $300,000 cap on pain and suffering that some politicians would impose on patients suing physicians. “I know I’m going to have to fight with doctors around and around on that,” she said.

Both candidates hope Democrats will vote heavily in the general election. Edmond has 20,000 Democrats and 45,000 Republicans, said Walter Jenny, vice chairman of the Edmond Democrats.