Antioch Cd 10 Forum July 2 2009

CALIFORNIA CD-10 FORUMS: ANTIOCH CITY HALL, JULY 2, 2009 by Edi Birsan Continuing in the series of Forums within the 10th Congressional District, the East Country Democrats for Action hosted the Democratic candidates at Antioch City Council Chambers the evening of July 2. Part of the tone of the crowd that was just short of 100 was noted at the end of the starting Pledge of Allegiance when someone added rather loudly after “…liberty and justice for all.” “Some day.” The Format was significantly different from previous forums in that the moderator (Cherice Gillian) was an active participant in not only delivering questioning to the candidates, but in trying to redirect follow up questions to various candidates and at one point being critical directly of one of them stepping totally out of the moderator role and into an interviewer. After explaining the format, the moderator thanked the three elected officials for taking time out from Sacramento to address the group this evening. To which Mark DeSaulnier scored the first laugh of the night when he added in his opening: “We prefer to be here than in Sacramento.” Joan Buchanan, Mark DeSaulnier, John Garamendi, Adriel Hampton and Anthony Woods were the speakers arranged in alphabetic order with Anthony Bothwell absent fueling speculation that he would withdraw from the race. Ms. Atwood who recently announced interest in joining in the race, stayed low keyed in the audience. Buchanan, DeSaulnier and Garamendi held close to their standard introductions seen in other forums. Adriel Hampton set a combative tone when in his opening he mentioned that the three people to his right were all involved in Sacramento Politics and the people can judge them on ‘that mess’. He also denounced the interplay of money in the campaign noting he had only $25,000 for the campaign, and was critical of Mark DeSaulnier’s recent mailing throughout the district talking about health care issues in Sacramento and local support but not directly mentioning the CD 10 campaign that still does not have an official election date. Anthony Woods’s introduction, for the first time excluded any reference to the Military’s Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and concentrated on trying to reach out to the audience with a theme of “I spent time in your shoes...” as someone without health care insurance, without great local education etc. This was a welcomed elevation of his approach and a reminder that within the Democratic Party in Contra Costa, unlike its opposite, no one cares about your sexual orientation.

The differences between the candidates: Question 1 Medicare “What do we do when Medicare runs out of Money?” Buchanan: Did not have a specific answer. She put an emphasis on bringing down costs. DeSaulnier and Woods went after the idea of increasing the pool of participants with younger people so as to spread the costs. Garamendi kept to a Single payer approach and Medicare for all by removing the age limit on Medicare. Question 2 Playing with Trains Dealt with a choice between Electric or Diesel engines for a Bart extension and while everyone went for Electric, Woods brought up that if the Electric was generated by fossil fuels it may not be the best approach. Question 3 Illegal Workers/Immigrants The hot button issue of Undocumented Workers and increased Border Security brought some revealing differences. While all of them supported the McCain Kennedy bill and an eventual path to citizenship there was: Garamendi who brought up the idea of a fine for illegal workers, DeSaulnier put an emphasis on enforcement of existing laws on employers to stop exploitation, Hampton put an emphasis on American Trade policy that he felt was destroying Mexico and was inequitable. Question 4 Comparative Failures in Education Education- why is Antioch and Pittsburgh having a 20-30% failure rate on statewide tests but San Ramon has 1%. Buchanan used the opportunity to declare that No Child Left Behind was a failure, whereas Garamendi used the more politically nuanced phrase that “it is an empty promise”, but did not answer the question. Hampton put the cause on funding. DeSaulnier said that there is a direct correlation between school results and poverty. That poverty needs to be addressed.

Question 5 Iran Iran- should we resume full diplomatic relations with them if Ahmadinajad is confirmed as victor in the elections? Hampton was in favor of restoring full relations saying we needed to be able to tell them what we want. While the others were opposed to full diplomatic relations Garamendi

went further indicating that we should impose sanctions/embargoes on the import into Iran of the refined light crude, a positioned echoed by Buchanan at the prior forum. There was no discussion as to how would causing wide spread economic hardship directly identified to US action was suppose to secure some positive reaction from the Iranian people or its government. I found it ironic that here, just before our Independence Day, where we defied the economic embargoes of then strongest Empire on the world, that someone would advocate that in dealing with a theocracy that is looking to unite the populace by having an outside demon, would somehow make the people want to do things our way. DeSaulnier noted that it was important to support Obama and his Cairo approaches and that ‘hard power was not the solution.’ Question 6 Committees in Congress Asked about what committees they would want to go on, gathered the expected answers of Education, Transportation, Armed Services and Commerce with a smattering of Energy. This only provided both Garamendi and DeSaulnier with opportunities to display their experience with prior committees in legislative bodies. Question 7 Ways and Meanies The moderator asked why none picked the Ways and Means Committee? Hampton went on the anti-establishment response saying: the lobbyists and political types he is fighting against control it. Wood said it was overrun with pork and the other committees were more fundamental to the district. The others kept to their experience in the committee’s field as a means to distinguish them from the two younger members of the panel. Question 8 Committee assignment and district jobs. How would their committee choices help benefit jobs in the district? While each of them provided various ideas such as generating Green Energy production (DeSaulnier), mass transit (Buchanan) and expanding Livermore and Travis research (Garamendi), Hampton went with a national approach calling for reform of our trade policies without giving specifics other than calling it unfair, and called for the creation of a small business website where all government forms would be combined so that there could be a single point of reference for all compliance issues. Question 9 Born in the USA The issue of Born in America of non American parents (presumed illegal residents) and what do you do about that was framed as a choice of three options: A. Leave current laws alone such that the parents are deported but not the child B. Grant mother and father resident status C. Amend the Law (Constitution ) to disallow citizenship if parents were illegal.

Woods was up first and came in with a strong ‘D-none of the above’ that earned the ire of the moderator who insisted on a choice. While the whole panel would eventually agree that under those circumstances the choice would be B there was a range of additional comments trying to get across that in reality things are not that simple. Woods spoke of the problem as an example of a broken system that was echoed by most of the panel. Hampton went on about the problem is a distraction and that blaming the illegals has become a bogeyman approach to politics. DeSaulnier made the most declarative statement that: “we must have a fair and just policy …” Expelling and separating families “is fundamentally un-American.” Question 10 What Projects are in CD 10? The question was asked how many projects were ‘shovel ready’ in the district? This fell first upon Mark DeSaulnier who rattled off some of the projects and added that there was 300-400 in the district. The question was then enhanced and thrown at the others with Garamendi and Woods slipping past the details and Buchanan bringing up Project Labor Agreements (PLA) as a way to make sure that local employment is used. However, when it came to Hampton he became flustered admitting that he did not know the details of the projects. This triggered the moderator who stepped totally out of the role of a moderator and unloaded on him along the lines of ‘how are you to be expected to lead the district if you did not know what is going on.’ It took a long moment for Hampton to recover and go on about his support for small business rather than the banks and the Employee Free Choice act. What was most interesting in displaying differences here was that DeSaulnier answered the question straight up and had the details, both Garamendi and Buchanan were able to deflect the question to other areas: all three displaying the value of experience in such a situation. Hampton was caught and nailed more for being flustered than any real substance since the others were able to skate on the issue. Question 11 Medicare compensation woes. What do we do if the Dr. will not accept Medicare/Medical payments because it is too low? Garamendi returned to his basic position that we need to have Medicare for all ages, adding that reimbursement levels should be reviewed every two years. He also stated that MediCal is a disaster of a system and when Medicare is set to age limit of -0- it should go away. There was no discussion or details forthcoming on what happens to the existing insurance structure when everyone goes to Medicare. Everyone else echoed that there was waste in the overall current patchwork of private and government systems noting that in this particular field, government has less administration as a % than private providers.

Question 12 Bush Tax Cuts and General Revenue The Bush tax cuts are running out should there be changes? DeSaulnier advocated bringing in tax increases in creating categories of $250K-500K and then $500K+. He said he is a strong believer in a progressive income tax and that when 40% of the wealth of the nation is owned by 1% of the people that situation is UnAmerican. Garamendi said that the Bush Tax Cuts should not have been done in the first place, and that the Middle Class has stood still. He supports the Obama tax plan. Hampton went beyond just letting the tax cuts expire, but added that he wanted to have a Transaction tax on stock sales since he felt the constant churning of accounts was more akin to gambling than investing. Question 13 Marijuana There was a question read from one of the audience submitted cards that was poorly constructed but related to legalization of medical marijuana and was expanded to legalization of marijuana period. DeSaulnier continued his dominance on the more comedic relaxed responses by quipping: “Is this one of those I never inhaled questions.” Everyone on the panel agreed that for medical purposes it should be legal. Only Hampton called for out right legalization, with Woods saying there should be a discussion in the public about decriminalization. DeSaulnier and Buchanan both took a position that more control is needed over medical application and that there is abuse now on prescriptions and use for non medical or ‘traditional applications.’ Question 14 Employee Free Choice Act Support for the Employee Free Choice act was universal. Woods made the comment that Top Executives know how to protect themselves and get what they want, while the workers need to be able to organize so that their needs can also be protected. Question 15 Manufacturing Jobs and Globalization The question was manufacturing jobs in the district and the global market, what do they see as the approach. Buchanan spoke of Free Trade in a global economy and wanting to even the playing field, without detailing what makes it uneven now. DeSaulnier while supporting Globalization wants us to be more aggressive in protecting American jobs and sees high wage industrial jobs in a Green Economy and warned against going to a Financial Services type of economy which is what he described as the case in Great Britain. Garamendi echoed Free Trade but called for more support for Education and research breakthrough transfers from Livermore Labs and Travis Research.

Hampton spoke about Global Empathy and that we have to stop outsourcing what has amounted to slavery/slave labor in other countries. He wants to repeal of the Taft Hartley act that restricts union actions. Woods said we have to remove incentives for people to ship jobs overseas and called for more local Green and new Technology Energy jobs that he felt could not be shipped overseas. Question 16 Recidivism in prisons Recidivism in prisons was the final question and while there was common ground on treating drug addictions and giving education in prison the distinctions between them were: Buchanan made an emphasis on keeping people out in the first place and going to a very local rather than central prison structure getting the communities involved directly on a Missouri model that has reduced repeat offenders from 70% (Californian currently) down to 10+%. DeSaulnier called California an example of what should not be done, and sited New York approaches which has an in prison training program that has been successful. The Closings: Hampton returned to a more combative approach describing himself as accessible to the people and having vigor and passion; that he was not a politician and was outside the ‘political class’. This triggered a response from Garamendi that no one was going to tell him that he did not have vigor and passion and that: “I am a politician and I am proud of it.” This was the first time that Garamendi came off a standard focused forum closing reminding people of his 35 years in public service. Woods made fun of his own youth saying that he feels like he is 28 and ¾ and that he has no regrets on the decisions he has made so far in the campaign. Buchanan repeated her theme of the opening starting with “These are extraordinary times…” that she turned around the San Ramon School district and Delta Dental and that Education is her priority and that she did her homework. DeSaulnier had the best closing reminding people that he was from the community directly, was supported by local elected leaders and tied it in with his witnessing and echoing of Obama’s inaugural phrase. “We are the change we have been waiting for” as why he wanted to be in Congress. In Summary If I was to judge it as a debate, the marginal points would go to DeSaulnier over Garamendi with Buchanan still remaining a distant third never having made a clear victory in any of the questions. Between Woods and Hampton, Woods has started to gain some traction winning a few of the questions on points and trying to make that connection between feeling the effect of the times in his own story and then tying it to the audience while Hampton had his worst outing and is being more isolated in his further

left/progressive almost libertarian approaches to the campaign that may resonate with some of the audience.