By Pat Sherman
SDUN Assistant Editor

Senator Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) pulled no punches during a campaign stop at the Birch North Park Theatre on July 6. Boxer, who was in San Diego as part of her two-day statewide “Jobs for California Tour,” used the opportunity to tout her record on jobs-creation and deliver a scathing assessment of her opponent’s record.

Boxer, who is seeking a fourth term in the Senate, faces former Hewlett-Packard CEO, Republican Carly Fiorina, in November’s general election.

Standing in front of a group that included Assemblywoman Lori Saldaña (D-San Diego) and Keith Berkley, the owner of a small San Diego construction company, Boxer attacked Fiorina’s performance at Hewlett-Packard, noting the loss of almost 30,000 domestic jobs on Fiorina’s watch.

“What she doesn’t tell you is that, during that period, when she caused all that heartache, (she was paid) $108 million,” Boxer said. “When she got fired not only did she get a $21 million severance check, but she got $50,000 for career counseling. I don’t know, maybe they told her to run for the Senate as a career?”

Boxer, whom Fiorina has criticized for supporting President Obama’s $787 billion economic stimulus package, defended the stimulus program, saying it has created thousands of jobs in California. The road to economic recovery, she said, is through providing small businesses with easier and more affordable access to credit, health insurance and other benefits.

“We need to take the funds that are being repaid by the big banks and make them available to the community banks on the condition that they lend them to small business,” Boxer said.

“People are shocked when I tell them 60 percent of all the new jobs are coming from small business,” she said. “If this country’s going to get out of this economic bad patch, small business is going to have the lead the way. Those are the folks who hire at times like these.”

Boxer touted California’s future as a hub of clean energy technology, as well as transportation jobs that she said have been created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

About five Fiorina supporters stood outside the theater protesting the event, including 20-year-old Palomar College student Diane Peabody, who said she liked Fiorina’s business experience, “spunk” and “fire.”

“Her record at Hewlett-Packard was tied in with a lot of people who were very corrupt and actually wound up going to prison after they ruined her,” Peabody said of Fiorina. “If you look at the records of those around her you can see that they were out to get her.”