Their names will be next to Sen. John Kerry and Sen. John
Edwards’ on the ballot in March, but they are not running for
president.
The seven candidates for 47th Assembly District representative
took part in a candidate forum at UCLA on Thursday.
Education, health care and the state budget were debated as
Karen Bass, David Cooper, Peter “Pedro” De Baets, Dale
Everett, Richard Groper, Nate Holden and Ricky Ivie jockeyed for
political positioning.
Many of the candidates began the debate describing their UCLA
ties to connect with the smattering of students in the audience and
to set up a platform on which to discuss education.
The education debate quickly turned partisan, as the candidates
took the opportunity either to support or criticize Gov. Arnold
Schwarzenegger’s budget cuts for education.
“It’s unthinkable to cut education the way
he’s trying to do it,” Holden said.
“If the governor’s wrong, then tell him,” he
added.
Everett, the only Republican on the panel, expressed support for
the governor, saying he “inherited a mess.”
Everett shifted the focus to the redundancy of government
bureaucracy that causes waste in education. He believes no cuts
should be made to education and that revenue should be sent
directly to school districts.
The issue of where to get state revenue again split the
candidates.
“The funding is there. The problem is it’s all
getting wasted,” said De Baets, the only Libertarian
candidate.
Many of the candidates supported raising taxes to generate
additional revenue.
Cooper stopped just short of advocating a tax on the wealthy,
instead citing a study showing the benefits of taxing those who
earn more than $200,000 per year.
Groper called for a tax on Indian casinos.
“We need to aggressively get to those people who
don’t pay their fair share of taxes,” Groper said.
When asked for their top campaign priority, a common thread wove
through the responses. Four of the seven candidates cited
education.
Bass wants to raise the standards of high schools to increase
the number of eligible students for the University of California
and California State University. She also spoke at length about the
importance of outreach programs at colleges and the UC.
Although much of the discussion centered on education, the
candidates also spoke of their positions on health care.
“We must find a way to insure the uninsured,” Ivie
said. He believes uninsured people create a burden on emergency
room staff, which carries over to insured people.
During the debate, the candidates took several opportunities to
throw out one-liners to get a few chuckles.
When asked about the current political climate in Sacramento,
Holden responded, “I don’t know what kind of cigarettes
they’re smoking up there.”
The candidates are vying for the seat occupied by Assemblyman
Herb J. Wesson Jr. (D-Los Angeles), who was elected to represent
the 47th Assembly District in 1998. Wesson was elected the speaker
of the California Assembly in 2002.
The 47th Assembly District, which extends from Westwood to Hyde
Park, includes most of Los Angeles.
The election will be held March 2.