Clash in Ventura
[ From: Assembly Candidates Clash in Ventura By Tony Biasotti, Ventura County Star, September 17, 2009 - please view original posting for full text, podcast and comments ]
... two of the three candidates for California’s 35th District Assembly seat tangled in a lively debate in Ventura.
Democrat Das Williams, a Santa Barbara city councilman, and Republican Mike Stoker, a former Santa Barbara County supervisor, focused on the state government’s fiscal problems and the best way to balance the budget and restore the quality of public schools...
... Williams and Stoker took turns speaking before a small breakfast crowd, and then faced off in a question-and-answer session in which they frequently talked over each other and challenged each other’s answers. When it was nearly over, Williams joked, “Next time we’ll put on some gloves.”
Williams and Stoker are both Ventura County natives and veterans of Santa Barbara County politics, and both pointed to their records in local government as signs of how they would vote in the Legislature. Both claimed credit for streamlining local government and balancing budgets in tough times — Williams during the current recession and Stoker in the early 1990s.
When the talk turned to the problems that plague the state, though, their differences were clear. Stoker said the state’s budget crisis is a spending issue, and could be solved with a return to the policy in effect in the 1980s, which tied increases in state spending to inflation and population growth. He also advocated cutting the work force of all state agencies by 10 percent.
State spending, Stoker pointed out, is about 40 percent more than it was when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger took office in 2003.
“Did you see a 40 percent increase in California in your state getting better, in your schools getting better, in your roads getting better?” Stoker asked.
Williams said he doesn’t support a spending cap, and said the state needs some spending cuts but also more revenue. Higher taxes on tobacco and alcohol would raise billions of dollars that could offset the deficit and reverse some of the recent cuts to schools, he said.
The most important thing, Williams said, is funding public schools well enough to return California to the top of the nation in education.
“I believe the state has made a significant error in cutting public education,” he said. “It’s short-sighted. ... It’s not just something for kids, it’s an investment in our business climate in the long run.”
...
Das with Nephew, 2008, reading a family favorite: "Frog and Toad Are Friends"
... two of the three candidates for California’s 35th District Assembly seat tangled in a lively debate in Ventura.
Democrat Das Williams, a Santa Barbara city councilman, and Republican Mike Stoker, a former Santa Barbara County supervisor, focused on the state government’s fiscal problems and the best way to balance the budget and restore the quality of public schools...
... Williams and Stoker took turns speaking before a small breakfast crowd, and then faced off in a question-and-answer session in which they frequently talked over each other and challenged each other’s answers. When it was nearly over, Williams joked, “Next time we’ll put on some gloves.”
Williams and Stoker are both Ventura County natives and veterans of Santa Barbara County politics, and both pointed to their records in local government as signs of how they would vote in the Legislature. Both claimed credit for streamlining local government and balancing budgets in tough times — Williams during the current recession and Stoker in the early 1990s.
When the talk turned to the problems that plague the state, though, their differences were clear. Stoker said the state’s budget crisis is a spending issue, and could be solved with a return to the policy in effect in the 1980s, which tied increases in state spending to inflation and population growth. He also advocated cutting the work force of all state agencies by 10 percent.
State spending, Stoker pointed out, is about 40 percent more than it was when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger took office in 2003.
“Did you see a 40 percent increase in California in your state getting better, in your schools getting better, in your roads getting better?” Stoker asked.
Williams said he doesn’t support a spending cap, and said the state needs some spending cuts but also more revenue. Higher taxes on tobacco and alcohol would raise billions of dollars that could offset the deficit and reverse some of the recent cuts to schools, he said.
The most important thing, Williams said, is funding public schools well enough to return California to the top of the nation in education.
“I believe the state has made a significant error in cutting public education,” he said. “It’s short-sighted. ... It’s not just something for kids, it’s an investment in our business climate in the long run.”
...
Labels: 35th Assembly District, public education
posted by Malcolm
at
9/18/2009
Share on Facebook
0 Comments :
Post a Comment
Thank you for your comment!
Links to this post
Create a Link