Gretchen Hoffman
Candidates for the 27th and 29th Congressional districts and the
43rd Assembly District tackled tough questions, including health care
and education, in a forum hosted by the League of Women Voters of
Glendale/Burbank.
The candidates faced off in front of about 30 spectators at
Burbank City Hall on Wednesday. The forum will be rebroadcast at 6
p.m. Saturday, 1 p.m. Sunday and 7 a.m. Monday on Charter
Communications Channel 6. Check BurbankUSA.com for viewing times.
Participants included Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Glendale) and the
challengers for his 29th District seat: Republican Jim Scileppi and
Libertarian Ted Brown. Also participating were 27th Congressional
District contenders Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Mission Hills) and
Republican Robert Levy.
Two candidates for the 43rd Assembly District -- Assemblyman
Dario Frommer (D-Glendale) and Libertarian Sandor J. Woren -- faced
off following the congressional forum. Republican candidate Ingrid
Geyer did not attend the event.
Health-care reform and the current Los Angeles County
health-clinic crisis were topics that resurfaced throughout both
forums, in addition to energy and water conversation and campaign and
election reform.
Schiff cited health-care legislation that had been introduced in
Congress and stressed the need for more coverage.
"We need a bipartisan patients' bill of rights," Sherman said.
"Medicare needs to provide prescription drugs, and then we need to
deal with those that are uninsured."
Schiff said he supports expanding the Healthy Families program,
which offers low-cost health insurance to low- to moderate-income
families, both through outreach programs and eventually extending the
coverage to parents.
Scileppi said he was against a nationalized health-care system,
and Brown said the federal government has no place in health care
whatsoever.
"There should be a free market in health care," Brown said. "I
think [the HMO system] is assuming incompetence on the part of the
elderly."
In regards to drilling for oil in offshore Alaska, Scileppi said
conservation was a better alternative; Brown said Alaskans should
have the final say.
Schiff also spoke of his support for a resolution giving President
Bush authority to use force against Iraq.
"I think it's very important that, through the United Nations, we
sent the weapons inspectors back into Iraq," he said.
In the Assembly candidate's forum, Frommer and Woren addressed
funding for the public-educational system.
"We've jumped dramatically in per-pupil spending, but we have a
long way to go," Frommer said. "We need to keep education as out
first priority in the budget. It's going to take more time to get us
where we need to be."
Woren said government has no place in education.
"It seems like every election we have a new bond measure on the
ballot to raise money for the schools, but they're never satisfied,"
Woren said. "We need to move toward privatizing the school system.
That's the only real solution."
Both Assembly candidates said they favored giving more control at
the local level over community colleges.
"I think we should give them the independence and the funding they
need to be independent," Frommer said.
Woren said he would take that one step further: "I would return
local control down to the level of the student himself."
