Candidates Air Views in Hard-Fought Race

Clashing over issues of school reform, gay marriage and the loss of film productions, Republican Craig Missakian faced Democrat Dario Frommer on Thursday in their first debate for the hotly contested 43rd Assembly District seat.

Missakian, an Armenian American attorney and former county prosecutor, and Frommer, a Latino attorney who is former appointments secretary for Gov. Gray Davis, are vying for a district that includes parts of Glendale, Burbank, Toluca Lake, Los Feliz and Hollywood.

The seat is open because incumbent Scott Wildman decided to run for the state Senate.

Appearing on Bill Rosendahl’s cable television show “Week in Review,” the two candidates generally agreed that Sacramento needs to do more to address school overcrowding, crime and the loss of film production to other states and countries. But they often clashed during the debate over how best to solve the problems.

Frommer said he supports Proposition 39, a ballot initiative that would make it easier for school districts to pass bonds, reducing the margin of approval from a two-thirds vote to 55%.

Noting that one of the biggest crises facing public education is school overcrowding, Frommer said Proposition 39 “is a common-sense, reasonable approach to a very great crisis.”

However, Missakian said school districts have shown they can achieve two-thirds voter approval if they make a good case to voters.

“I think it’s unfair to ask homeowners to shoulder the entire burden of tax increases without requiring a two-thirds vote,” Missakian said.

Both said they would work in Sacramento to streamline the state process for approving new schools. Frommer said the six- to nine-month approval process by the state architect is “unconscionable.”

Missakian said it should not take 16 different actions by the state to approve a new school. “That is a recipe for disaster.”

Both candidates said they oppose a school voucher initiative. Frommer voiced the fear that it does not provide for accountability and a guarantee that children will be provided with adequate classrooms. Missakian said he instead supports creating charter schools “giving parents more control of the schools their children attend.”

Competing in an Assembly district that contains many of the region’s entertainment firms, the two candidates had some differences over how to prevent film production from leaving the state.

Missakian supported the state providing tax credits to “make it a little more enticing” for film companies to produce their projects in California.

Frommer called for streamlining the local permitting process for filmmakers, saying it is a “damper” on local productions.

Frommer also said he is interested in the creation of a film development bank at the state level that would provide funding for independent productions that film in California and hire workers in the state.

Missakian, who has worked as an entertainment attorney, said the idea is flawed.

“I would like to see how Dario’s investment bank is going to go about deciding which movies to fund and which not to fund,” Missakian said. He said he is uncomfortable with taxpayers paying for such risky ventures as films and he worries about the government getting involved in decisions on creative content.

The men also disagreed over whether the state should legally recognize marriages between gay couples.

Missakian said he supported a ballot measure earlier this year that recognized marriage as the union between a man and a woman.

Responded Frommer: “I think it’s very important not to discriminate against anyone.”

The candidates will get another chance to square off tonight during a forum at Flintridge Preparatory School hosted by a coalition of area chambers of commerce.

Although the district’s voters are 44% Democratic and 34% Republican, Missakian hopes to appeal to cross-over voters in the Armenian community as well as the 17% of the voters who declined to state their party affiliation.