Heads nodded and applause occasionally broke out during Thursday’s hour-long candidates forum, but there were few surprises as the four men vying to fill the recently vacated seat of Abel Maldonado exchanged views before a crowd of 200 or so at Cabrillo College’s Music Recital Hall. The event, hosted by Cabrillo and co-sponsored by Santa Cruz Weekly and the League of Women Voters, was broadcast live on KION-TV Channel 46 and on KUSP 88.9-FM. KUSP will rebroadcast the forum on Sunday night, Aug. 15, at 7pm. A video of the forum is found here.
On education funding, Republican candidate and Assemblymember Sam Blakeslee brought the question back to jobs, Democrat and termed-out Assemblymember John Laird noted that putting a spending cap on the budget would “lock [California’s students] in the basement” by leaving education shorted by billions from cuts in the last two years, Independent Jim Fitzgerald advocated combining school districts to eliminate administrative redundancies and Libertarian Mark Hinkle advocated competition against public schools. On higher education, which has been subject to massive tuition increases, all but Laird said students should “pay their own way” to college. Story continues below slide show. All photos by Curtis Cartier.
On AB 32, California’s global warming law, which would implement the most progressive carbon reduction goals in the nation, Blakeslee, Fitzgerald and Hinkle advocated delaying or suspending it, with Hinkle voicing doubts about anthropogenic climate change. Laird, an author of the original bill, compared California to Detroit and exhorted the state not to miss an opportunity to get ahead of the curve on green trends, as Detroit unfortunately did.
A question on ways to raise revenue for California in the short term brought suggestions of an oil severance tax from Fitzgerald and Laird. Blakeslee suggested jobs creation and hinted at the regressive notion of a flatter tax code for Californians. Hinkle vowed never to support new revenue sources. Blakeslee said he would oppose repealing a $1.3 billion corporate tax break and said politicians like to take money from unpopular places. Hinkle and Fitzgerald supported repealing it and Laird said he hoped the legislature would delay implementing the break for several years, as it has not actually gone into effect.
