Campaign ‘94: Issues and Answers

Two candidates are running in the Nov. 8 election to represent the 70th Assembly District. They are Democrat Jim Toledano of Costa Mesa and Republican Marilyn C. Brewer of Newport Beach. Here’s how the candidates stand on four issues.

“Three-Strikes” Crime Law

Toledano: “The ‘three-strikes’ law is more political showboating about crime. It wastes prison space on nonviolent felons, limits the amount of prison time given to violent first-time felons, and requires billions of tax dollars we do not have. Real reform means allowing courts to sentence first offenders according to the seriousness and violence of their crimes; long-term imprisonment of violent felons; adequate parole supervision, not unsupervised release; elimination of expensive multiple court hearings; permanent hospitalization of sex offenders, not the prison revolving door; and an end to our failed and appallingly expensive ‘war on drugs,’ which drives up the price of addictive drugs, the major cause of violent and property crimes today. Real reform is crime prevention, which is far cheaper than reacting to crime. Quality public education, leading to better jobs and community involvement, will prevent crime; clever slogans and billions more tax dollars spent after crime has been committed will not.”

Brewer: “I support California’s ‘three-strikes’ law. I also support ‘one-strike’ for rapists. But while these reforms will keep hardened criminals off the streets, we also must look to our neighborhood community groups, schools and churches to ensure that our youth develop a strong sense of right and wrong. And if they cannot get the message at home, I support expanded use of ‘boot camps’ that teach discipline, responsibility and job skills to troubled youth. Despite what the ACLU might say, I believe that tough intervention early on is the most compassionate way to deal with crime.”

Proposition 187, to Curtail Benefits to Illegal Immigrants

Toledano: “Whatever the cost may be to California from illegal immigrants, this initiative is badly written and will be tied up in the courts and not accomplish any legitimate goals. I reject the racist assumption that illegal immigrants can be distinguished by sight from those here legally. I oppose putting thousands of children out of school and on the streets to commit crimes. I oppose requiring legal residents to carry Soviet-style identification cards. I oppose refusing treatment to potential carriers of epidemic disease because of their status. I oppose turning teachers and health-care workers into police. I support negotiating with the Clinton Administration for reimbursement of the cost of illegal immigrants, and I wonder why Republican governors never asked Reagan and Bush to pay these costs.”

Brewer: “I support SOS. And while the day after the election might find SOS in the courts, I think that process will bring about an important dialogue within the federal government as to how our nation deals with illegal immigration. California can’t shoulder the financial or social burden of this kind of influx. I believe, too, that we need to revisit the idea of automatic birth citizenship for a child of non-resident aliens. California’s financial welcome mat is too worn to even fund its own citizens’ needs.”

Single-Payer Health Initiative

Toledano: “I favor a system of universal basic health care to supplement the present system. Whether health services are provided by a public or private entity, or a combination, is of little importance so long as those services are provided efficiently and fully, and so long as health-care decisions are made for medical reasons, not financial considerations. There are serious problems inherent in enacting major legislation by initiative, and this initiative is not perfect, but today the special interests and partisan politics have stalemated legislative reform. If this initiative passes, I will work to make it better. If it does not, I will work for a legislative solution.”

Brewer: “Single-payer will be the final nail in the coffin for California’s economy. It’s economic suicide to adopt a costly employer mandate if California is alone in the proposal’s enactment. With such a drastic increase in taxes (some believe that it will increase our taxes by $40 billion per year), any business that may have wanted to move or expand here will quickly be on the phone to Nevada or North Carolina. I will be active in my opposition to the initiative and will only support health care reform that protects small businesses and jobs, provides tort reform, and preserves medical choices.”

Future Uses For El Toro Marine Corps Air Station

Toledano: “I oppose bringing the present airport-related noise, pollution and traffic problems which plague one part of Orange County to another. There is no room in urbanized Orange County for any major airport facility. El Toro is in the wrong place for a major commercial airport, and to bring the present facility to acceptable standards will be as expensive as building an airport from scratch. I will work with the federal government to find a site for a regional international airport which will replace inadequate and unsafe airports here and in San Diego. Meanwhile, if El Toro does shut down, we must work together to put 21,000 new jobs, and more, in a 21st-Century industrial facility to be built on that site.”

Brewer: “Anyone who gives a quick ‘yes’ or ‘no’ on a commercial airport at El Toro is doing so without all the facts at hand. We don’t even know if a commercial airport is physically or economically feasible at the site. We haven’t even discussed the alternatives to an airport that might make a lot more economic sense. To answer all our questions, we don’t need an initiative--instead, we need to let the existing planning process run its course. Only then should any public official take a solid stand for or against an airport at El Toro.”

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Source: Individual candidates; Researched by ERIC BAILEY / Los Angeles Times