Decision ’92 : VOTING IN THE VALLEY / AN ELECTION GUIDE : CONGRESS / 24th DISTRICT : Q and A

Questions were sent to candidates in September. Answers have been edited to fit the space.

Tax Cut

Q. Do you support President Bush’s proposal for an unspecified across-the-board tax cut and an increase in the personal exemption for individuals?

Beilenson: No. It was extremely irresponsible of the President to propose a general tax cut when the federal government is running budget deficits in the range of $300 billion to $400 billion.

Lindblad: No. Trickle-down economics has proven to devastate the working person for especially the last 12 years.

McClintock: Yes. Taxes are at their highest level since World War II, crippling the ability of families to make ends meet.

Gay Rights

Q. Do you support lifting the ban on gays serving in the military?

Beilenson: Yes.

Lindblad: Yes.

McClintock: No.

AIDS Research

Q. Do you support a proposal by the National Commission on AIDS to greatly increase the federal resources committed to combatting the disease?

Beilenson: Yes. We are not spending nearly enough for research on AIDS, a fatal and communicable disease--or for the other major diseases that afflict Americans.

Lindblad: Yes. The greater human cost of personal tragedies necessitates an all-out effort to cure AIDS.

McClintock: No. Federal spending now consumes a quarter of this nation’s income, and many diseases are taking a far greater toll than AIDS.

Trade Agreement

Q. Despite labor and environmental opposition, would you, in principle, vote to ratify the proposed North American Free Trade Agreement with Mexico and Canada, which proponents say will promote economic growth, lower prices of consumer goods and help stem illegal immigration?

Beilenson: We have not yet received enough details on the proposed agreement to determine whether it provides adequate safeguards for the environment and for displaced workers. If I am satisfied that it does, I shall support the agreement.

Lindblad: No. Mexico has one-seventh the hourly rate that the U.S. pays. Workplace safety and environmental protection must be maintained.

McClintock: Yes. High tariffs, taxes and restrictions have hurt the economies of all three nations. But we must recognize that our nation cannot compete while burdened with prohibitively expensive regulations and an excessively high tax rate.

Family Leave

Q. Do you support “family leave” legislation that would require large firms to grant employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for childbirth or family emergencies?

Beilenson: Yes.

Lindblad: Yes.

McClintock: No.

Rebuilding L.A.

Q. Do you believe the $1.1 billion in federal aid provided to Los Angeles after last spring’s civil unrest--much of it for summer jobs, business loans and emergency grants--was insufficient, about the right amount, or too much?

Beilenson: Although the amount of assistance provided was clearly insufficient to repair completely the devastation that occurred in Los Angeles, I believe that the compromise worked out last June and approved by both the Bush Administration and Congress was about right, given the existing budget constraints.

Lindblad: Money promised L.A. has been diverted to Hawaii and Florida. Congress and the President have ignored L.A.

McClintock: Too much. Los Angeles needs innovations like enterprise zones, where taxes and regulations are eased, to encourage genuine business development. Handouts and government programs have never produced prosperity.

Family Values

Q. Is a discussion of God, morality and family values appropriate for a political campaign?

Beilenson: Religious beliefs are not an appropriate campaign issue, but voters should examine a candidate’s character, which include his or her moral beliefs and family values.

Lindblad: No. Issues like “mom and apple pie” divert attention from the real issues like jobs, housing, transportation, the environment.

McClintock: God, morality and family values are among the most deeply personal of all individual rights and should be jealously guarded against government intrusion, interference or restriction.

Tax Increase

Q. Do you support spending more on job training, improvements to the educational system and rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure by raising the taxes of individuals making more than $140,000 a year and couples earning more than $200,000 a year?

Beilenson: Yes.

Lindblad: Yes.

McClintock: No.

Capital Gains

Q. Do you favor President Bush’s proposal for a capital gains tax cut as an economic stimulant?

Beilenson: No. The proposal is far too broad and would increase the disparity between rich and poor.

Lindblad: No. Capital gains do not help workers meet the rent, pay for food and transportation.

McClintock: Yes. Excessive taxation has badly damaged the economy. A capital gains tax cut would spur investment and job creation.

Balanced Budget

Q. Do you support a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced federal budget to be implemented within five years?

Beilenson: No. Adding such an amendment to our Constitution would do nothing in and of itself to balance the budget and would instead permit Congress and the President to put off for another five years the kinds of difficult decisions--decisions we should be making right now--that will be necessary to accomplish this goal.

Lindblad: No. The military and corporations wield too much lobbying strength, usurping the citizen’s rights to be felt.

McClintock: Yes. Congress has run up debt that has absorbed $13,000 of credit for every person in America--credit that would otherwise have gone to job expansion. A constitutional amendment is the next best thing to getting rid of free-spending congressmen.

Defense Reductions

Q. With the end of the Cold War, do you favor deep reductions in the $290 - billion annual defense budget? If so, how much could it be safely reduced in one year? Five years?

Beilenson: Yes. It is difficult to achieve very large reductions in just one year. Over the next five years, however, defense spending can and should be reduced by at least $100 billion. Lindblad: Yes. 40% in the first year, 20% in the second year, 10% in the third and fourth years.

McClintock: I favor manpower reductions in Europe as the situation stabilizes, while maintaining full funding for weapons system development. Our defense expenditures are dependent on world conditions and five-year projections would be foolish to try to make.

Medicare Benefits

Q. Should the government reduce Medicare benefits for the wealthy or ask wealthy beneficiaries to pay more premiums to help alleviate the federal budget deficit?

Beilenson: Medicare benefits should not be reduced, but the government should ask very wealthy beneficiaries to pay a modest amount more for the cost.

Lindblad: Yes. Those in the top 2% should help retire the national debt. After all, that’s what caused the problem--accumulation of our resources by the top 2%.

McClintock: Yes. Rampant entitlement programs are crushing our economy.

Welfare Benefits

Q. Do you support reducing welfare benefits of parents who do not go to school, attend training or find a job; do not make sure that their children attend school or get basic medical care, or who continue to have more children while on welfare?

Beilenson: Yes. I favor all of them. We have an obligation to require individual responsibility of welfare recipients, as well as an obligation to ensure that recipients have the means to help themselves, including access to family planning services and abortions, child care, education, job training and medical care.

Lindblad: Yes. But benefits should not be reduced for those who have up to three children--total. Incentives should be given those who practice birth control.

McClintock: Yes. All of the above.

Health Insurance

Q. Do you support requiring businesses either to provide health insurance to employees or contribute to a fund to provide health care for the uninsured?

Beilenson: No. It would pour more money into a health-care system that already costs too much, without doing anything to control skyrocketing health-care costs, ensure comprehensive coverage for all our citizens, and still allow patients to choose their own doctors and other health-care providers.

Lindblad: Yes. I’m in favor of a national single-payer health-care plan, modeled after Canada’s, which will provide health care for all.

McClintock: No. Such requirements would crush many small businesses. I support providing tax credits to encourage and enable businesses to offer--and families to afford--such insurance.

Illegal Immigration

Q. Do you support the adoption of new measures such as increased border patrols and physical barriers to try to stem the flow of illegal immigration from the south?

Beilenson: Yes.

Lindblad: No.

McClintock: Yes.

The Environment

Q. Should the United States move more rapidly to limit industrial emissions that may be depleting the ozone layer and contributing to global warming even though such steps may hurt some businesses and eliminate some jobs?

Beilenson: Yes. But I do not agree that such a policy would hurt American businesses. Since we know that substitutes for chlorofluorocarbons will eventually have to be found and that we must greatly reduce our reliance on fossil fuels which are contributing to global warning, any incentive we can give to industry now to develop and convert to such substitutes and become more energy-efficient will put us in a much more competitive position later.

Lindblad: Yes. The old thinking says you must sacrifice one for the other. The future is a strong economy led with environmental protection as the prime generator of new jobs.

McClintock: No. We are suffering from a severe recession, and now is not the time to add new impediments to job creation.

Santa Monica Mountains

Q. Do you support increasing the amount appropriated by Congress to buy public parkland in the Santa Monica Mountains, which is $14 million this year?

Beilenson: Yes. As the author of legislation that established the Santa Monica Mountains park, I am pushing to complete the land acquisition program before we lose more of this magnificent resource to development.

Lindblad: Yes. Developers control the (Santa Monica Mountains) conservancy too much via compromising density trade-offs and we are seeing wholesale destruction of significant ecological areas.

McClintock: No. While I would not recommend cuts in this particular program, this is not the time to be increasing any federal expenditures.

Campaign Financing

Q. Do you support the idea of full or partial public financing of election campaigns, along with a limit on spending?

Beilenson: Yes.

Lindblad: Yes.

McClintock: No!

Term Limits

Q. Do you support limiting the number of terms members of Congress can serve? If yes, what should the limits be for members of the House and Senate?

Beilenson: No.

Lindblad: Yes. Three terms for House, two for Senate.

McClintock: Yes. I support Proposition 164.

School Vouchers

Q. Do you support giving government vouchers to low- and middle-income parents to allow them to pay their children’s tuition in private or parochial schools?

Beilenson: No. The voucher plan would hurt public schools by accelerating the exodus of middle-class students and undermining community support for them. Public resources should be used to strengthen and improve the quality of our public schools.

Lindblad: No. Our social fabric and economy’s strength depend on a fully funded public educational system that is a microcosm of our larger society.

McClintock: Yes. By placing private school alternatives within reach of working families, we will relieve enrollment pressure on the public schools and introduce competitive incentives for their improvement.

Death Penalty

Q. Do you support capital punishment for any crimes? If so, what?

Beilenson: I have voted for imposing it in a number of cases, including punishment for persons convicted of being kingpins in illegal drug operations, for those found guilty of espionage against the United States, and for several other categories of particularly heinous crimes.

Lindblad: No. One wrong doesn’t deserve another. We need a correction system for offenders--not a punishment-based system that simply perpetuates itself.

McClintock: Yes. First-degree murder and treason. I have twice carried legislation to impose the death penalty for the murder of a child, and my legislation recently expanded and strengthened California’s law by adding lethal injection as a means of execution.

Gun Control

Q. Do you support any form of limit on the sales of guns to individuals?

Beilenson: Yes.

Lindblad: No.

McClintock: No.

Affirmative Action

Q. In general, do you think affirmative action in employment of women and members of minority groups has not gone far enough, or has gone too far, or is about right?

Beilenson: About right.

Lindblad: Not far enough.

McClintock: Too far.

Abortion Rights

Q. Do you support a woman’s unrestricted right to an abortion within the first three months of pregnancy?

Beilenson: Yes.

Lindblad: Yes.

McClintock: No. Certain restrictions, such as parental consent for minors, a 24-hour cooling-off period and informed consent, are appropriate.

Abortion Funding

Q. Do you support federal funding of abortions for women who cannot afford them?

Beilenson: Yes.

Lindblad: Yes.

McClintock: No.

Quality of Life

Q. What single change would most improve life in Southern California?

Beilenson: Substituting electrically-powered cars and adequate mass transit for internal combustion engines. It would create jobs, help clean our environment and relieve traffic congestion.

Lindblad: Conversion to an environmentally responsible economy which creates jobs, infrastructure, wildlife areas, parkland and recreation areas.

McClintock: Our government has imposed one of the highest tax rates in our nation’s history and is choking off our commerce with the most meddlesome bureaucratic regulations ever tolerated by a free people. Tax and regulatory relief is of paramount importance if there is to be any opportunity for families once again to prosper in this region.

24th District

Where: The district, which straddles Los Angeles and Ventura counties, includes the communities of Agoura, Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Encino, Hidden Hills, Malibu, Oak Park, Tarzana, Thousand Oaks, Topanga and Westlake Village, and portions of Chatsworth, Northridge, Reseda, West Hills and Woodland Hills. To find out if you live in the district, call the Los Angeles County registrar-recorder’s office at (213) 721-1100.

Candidates:

Anthony C. Beilenson, Democrat, congressman

Tom McClintock, Republican, assemblyman

John Paul Lindblad, Peace and Freedom, environmental health-care architect