Congressman, challenger clash

BURBANK — An otherwise civil forum hosted by a local civic group in Burbank on Thursday night erupted into a contentious back-and-forth between Democratic Rep. Brad Sherman and his rival, Republican Navraj Singh, who repeatedly lobbed corruption charges against the congressman, who vigorously denied the allegations.

During his opening statement at the Glendale/Burbank League of Women Voters forum, which also featured candidates from the neighboring 29th District, Singh alleged that he paid a campaign donor $5,000 two years ago to facilitate a meeting with Sherman.

Singh, 61, said he sought a meeting with Sherman to shore up the immigration status of his daughter-in-law, whose residency was tied to her husband, Singh’s son, who died in a car accident about two years ago.

Singh said he was rebuffed by Sherman’s office until he paid a consultant — Nadadur Vardhan — $5,000 to set up a meeting.

Sherman denied he took money from Vardhan — whom he called a “friend of 20 years” — to meet with Singh.

“To say that Nadadur was giving to my camp to help his daughter-in-law at a time when his daughter-in-law was in elementary school strikes me as bizarre,” Sherman said. “This man’s charges are absolutely baseless.”

Sherman, 54, did introduce a bill in 2006 that sought to establish residency for Tarveen Kaur Anand, Singh’s daughter-in-law, but it failed to progress beyond the House floor for lack of support, and Sherman said he had no idea the woman was Singh’s relative.

“He’s upset that somebody of the same ethnicity as him donated to his campaign,” Sherman said.

But Singh, of Northridge, kept up his attack, saying to Sherman: “You should be compelled to be expelled from the Congress.”

To which Sherman replied: “Because I tried to help your daughter?”

“No, because you took money,” Singh answered. “You received bribes.”

Singh’s allegation comes less than two weeks before the Nov. 4 election in a district that leans heavily to the left.

During his 2006 bid for reelection, Sherman defeated Republican challenger Peter Hankwitz by a more than 2-1 margin in the San Fernando Valley district that also includes Burbank.

“He’s trying to get headlines and doesn’t have a shred of evidence,” Sherman said.

The malaise followed an hourlong forum in the Burbank City Hall chambers that also featured Libertarian Tim Denton in the race for Sherman’s seat and Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, who is defending his seat in the 29th District against Republican Charles Hahn and Libertarian Alan Pyaett.

The broad range of topics included U.S. foreign policies in the Middle East and domestic issues of healthcare, the environment and education.

Schiff stressed the need to “get our economy moving again” and floated the idea of passing another economic stimulus package. He also said the nation needs to radically shift its energy policy away from its reliance on foreign sources of oil via an “Apollo-like project” — a reference to President John F. Kennedy’s unprecedented drive to land an astronaut on the moon — to include greater utilization of natural energy sources, such as wind.

Hahn, a financial planner from Burbank, said he would repeal President Bush’s education initiative No Child Left Behind, which he called a “failure,” and introduce a “Social Security Fairness Act to take care of [current] teachers and retired teachers.”

Pyaett flashed his Libertarian credentials in saying he would cut federal spending, in part by getting rid of the Federal Reserve, and would restore civil liberties he said have been severely curtailed.

Denton also said that less government was needed and called for a gas tax to fix roads and speed traffic along the region’s busy corridor.

For their part, Sherman and Singh did issue stark policy differences, with Singh calling for tax breaks to small businesses. He said he would drastically cut aid to foreign countries because, “we’re spending too much money on others. People will fix everything themselves.”

Sherman suggested a computerized database of all national healthcare records he said would eliminate duplicity and improve efficiency at the nation’s hospitals. He also called for a “modest” tax hike for those whose income is greater than $250,000, an idea being touted on the presidential campaign trail by Sen. Barack Obama.

The forum was also intended to showcase candidates for the state Senate seat in the 21st District and Assembly District 43, both of which include Burbank and Glendale.

But only one candidate from each race — state Senate Democratic contender Carol Liu and Republican Assembly hopeful Jane Barnett — accepted the league’s invitation, said the organization’s president, Monica Marquez.