Assembly Candidates Concur, Spar at Debate

In a mostly civil debate, the three candidates for the 35th Assembly District addressed issues Thursday night that have already surfaced in the campaign.

But the format of the debate largely kept them from focusing on those issues on which they say they differ most.

Balancing environmental protection and economic growth, welfare reform, reproductive rights, California’s often-confusing referendum process and youth crime were the night’s main issues, selected by the League of Women Voters of Ventura County, who organized the forum.

It was not until late in the debate, when the candidates could pose questions to each other, that any conflict arose on issues that major-party candidates--Republican Chris Mitchum and Democrat Hannah-Beth Jackson--have disagreed on most: HMO reform, offshore drilling and gun control.

Jackson and Mitchum have debated in campaign literature and in news reports about whether patients should be able to sue their HMOs--and for how much--and whether oil drilling off the Central Coast should end, stay at current levels or be allowed to expand. They also disagree on whether to ban the small handguns known as Saturday Night Specials.

On the environment, the panel, which included Natural Law Party candidate Eric Dahl, stressed the need to balance environmental protection with economic growth. All three seemed to advocate the preservation of open space and the county’s agricultural industry.

“We must protect our Central Coast, but at the same time we must ensure that people’s jobs and businesses are also protected,” Mitchum said.

In Ventura County, the 35th District contains the cities of Ventura, Ojai and Santa Paula, but 60% of the voters--like the candidates themselves--live in Santa Barbara County. The three first-time candidates are competing to succeed moderate Republican Brooks Firestone, a Los Olivos winemaker who decided not to seek reelection after losing a primary bid for Congress.

Mitchum, Dahl and Jackson applauded California’s welfare-to-work program. Jackson, a family law attorney, particularly worried that jobs for welfare recipients could disappear in an economic downturn. She and Mitchum, an actor and son of the late film star Robert Mitchum, both advocated child-care programs to allow welfare recipients to remain in the work force once their benefits expire.

Dahl, a corporate trainer, said he would push for education and other prevention programs to keep people off welfare in the first place.

To nods of agreement in the audience, Dahl expressed his confusion with California’s referendum and initiative process and said he sees its use as a sign of a “weak Legislature.” Jackson said that the state’s tradition of ballot initiatives began early in the century as a check on a Legislature perceived as being in the pockets of special interests.

“The irony is now big money interests are controlling the legislative process,” she said. “You wonder who’s running the asylum here. It’s not the people of California.”

Jackson advocates spending limits on initiative campaigns. Mitchum was more supportive of the existing referendum process.

Mitchum repeated his qualified support for abortion rights, saying that the government should pay for abortions only in cases of rape, incest and threat to a mother’s health. Instead, he favors preventive education.

“Women who choose to terminate their own pregnancies by choice should not ask me or the taxpayer to pay for it,” Mitchum said.

Jackson, who has represented and contributed to Planned Parenthood, criticized her Republican opponent, calling him “multiple-choice, not pro-choice.” Saying that access is key, she advocates government funding for abortion and contraception under all conditions.

On crime, the candidates focused on juvenile offenders. Again Dahl advocated prevention programs, holding adults at fault for young people’s offenses. Mitchum pushed for the tracking of juvenile criminals into their adult years. Jackson cited a Santa Barbara “teen court” program she participates in as the sort of prevention and intervention program she supports.

Other topics of the 90-minute debate included school vouchers, public services for illegal residents, health care and public transportation for the elderly, and campaign reform.

About 50 people, mainly senior voters, attended the debate, which was held at Anacapa Middle School. Many questions reflected the age of those attending.