When he was introduced, Hayden Rogers, the 11th District Democratic candidate for U.S. Congress, received light applause from members of the Council of Independent Business Owners during its July 13 meeting in West Asheville.

“I really appreciate what your organization does in creating a dialogue between (the) private and public” sectors, Rogers told about 60 attendees of the breakfast issues meeting in the food court at Biltmore Square Mall.

Noting that he most recently has served as U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler’s chief of staff and, before, his campaign manager. Rogers said that when Shuler decided not to seek re-election, he decided to seek his party’s nomination for the seat.

With a note of irony, Rogers said “the district has changed a little bit,” in an obvious reference to the GOP-dominated state General Assembly’s redistricting, which — some political observers have said — has made the 11th District more favorable to a Republican getting elected.

Rogers noted that he grew up in Graham County and received a bachelor’s degree in political science from Princeton University. He ran a small business for a while and, after that, “I had the good fortune of running the campaigns for Heath Shuler ... I was his chief of staff until February 2012,” when he announced his candidacy to succeed Shuler.

“The question I hear most often is: ‘Why are you running? You know how messed up things are?’”

Rogers said he tells the cynics that he has learned much — and “I had the good fortune to work for a consensus-builder (Shuler), who was willing to cross aisles” to hammer out compromises with Republicans.

“With those challenges (mentioned by the naysayers) come tremendous opportunities,” he said.

Morever, Rogers is seeking the office becaise he wants to be in a position to “help our people,” with health care, defense and other issues.

“I want to be part of that ... To seize the opportunity to find common goals ... If we know what our goals are, we can get there together ... If you can’t agree where you’re going, hell, any path will take you there.

“I truly believe to be a successful candidate for either party, you’ve got to be willing” to work out compromises. “For the politicos in the room, I’m willing to be independent.”

During a question-and-answer session, someone asked, “I know what Mr. Shuler’s positions are on unionism. What are your positions on unionism and health-care reform?”

“I do support North Carolina’s status as a Right-to-Work state,” Rogers replied. “I also support the right of workers to organize.”

Further, he said, “We (North Carolina) have the lowest rate of union participation in the United States ... As for health care, Heath Shuler voted against it twice ... I would not have voted for that (Obamacare),” either, he said in a reference to Obamacare. However, Rogers said that “I think we (both political parties) need to work together” to devise a better health care bill.

A man asked, “Small business is the backbone of the American economy — what iniatives do you have” to spark the private sector, particularly in regard to banks’ unwillingness to make loans to small businesses?”

“I think from an education and training standpoint,” much can be done to upgrade America’s workforce to make the businesses more competitive and successful,” Rogers said.

“We have to be able to follow the needs” of the private sector and “our process (in government) is messier, primarily because it’s public.”

Rogers added, “As far as the lending of capital ... I’ll admit I don’t know all of the answers.” However, he said that, in such cases, he would promise to study the issue further and return with an answer.

He also cautioned the CIBO members to be wary of anyone who claims to have all of the answers. “Frankly, we’ve got so many problems,” anyone claiming to have answers for everything would be suspect.

CIBO member Mac Swicegood queried, “How do you perceive the discharge of all the troops being absorbed back into society?”

“Most of those jobs (for returning veterans) are public-service jobs,” Rogers answered. “But those programs can only do so much” when so many veterans are returning and seeking jobs.

“So,” Swicegood persisted, “they (the government) really don’t have a plan?”

“As you’re well aware,” Rogers told Swicegood, “we’ve got lots of federal and state jobs,” but ““we have to rebuild this ... I don’t think there’s a silver bullet.”

Another questioner asked, “Would you be in favor of extending the Bush tax cuts? What’s your position on how to deal with Social Security?”

Regarding the Bush tax cuts, Rogers said, “I do not support increasing taxes in a recession. I just think that’s something that’s counter-intuitive.”

However, he noted, “The last two decades, we’ve let things get out of hand” with the government running into the red.

Regarding Social Security, Rogers said it is running at a $47 billion deficit. He attributed the system’s problems to a combination of aging baby-boomers and other factors.

He said that Social Security was launched with a five workers to one retiree ratio, and now that ration is about 4:1.

To solve Social Security’s huge budget deficit, Rogers spoke of looking at changing the $800,000 income cap and increasing the age of recipients “by six or seven months.”

Afterward, Rogers told the Daily Planet in a brief interview that one of his role models in politics is former U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Ga.

So what is Rogers’ view of economic reality?

“I believc everyone deserves an opportunity, through education, primarily,” Rogers replied. “It (education) is the equalizer. It’s an access issue ....”

In a separate interview afterward, Swicegood, who has built a reputation for asking some of the toughest questions of CIBO’s guest speakers, said of Rogers to the Daily Planet, “He was as honest as he could be ... I think he’s a consevative Democrat.”

Meanwhile, Rogers said earlier in July that he would skip the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte and would not be endorsing President Barack Obama. He will face Republican runoff winner Mark Meadows.