Ten of the 18 candidates vying to replace Randy “Duke” Cunningham as the 50th District congressional representative attended a March 15 candidate forum at Standley Middle School in University City. The debate opened up discussion on many contentious issues, among them abortion and the Iraq war.
Seven Republicans, two Democrats and one Libertarian grappled with seven audience questions, each carefully selected by the event’s sponsor, the University City Community Association (UCCA).
In attendance were former Congressman Brian Bilbray, sales director Bill Boyer, former Del Mar Mayor Richard Earnest, private defense contractor Scott Oren, and businessmen Bill Hauf, Eric Roach and Alan Uke, all Republicans. Cardiff school board member Francine Busby and retired bank executive Chris Young were the only Democrats and females present. Small business owner Paul King, Libertarian, provided the night’s sarcasm and exposed the similarities among Republican and Democratic attendees struggling to distinguish themselves from one another.
After two-minute introductions, candidates were asked if they favored a joint-use airport at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar. A clear majority adamantly opposed the idea, while Bilbray and King leaned toward indifference. The favored answer, offered with varying shades of ardor, was that the military is important to San Diego and deserves the community’s support.
“It absolutely will not work. We have to have another solution,” Earnest said.
Among the reasons cited were claims that joint-use would be a logistical nightmare and national security concern. Busby proposed revisiting Lindbergh Field’s capability and Orren, who spent 25 years in the Navy, warned that a closure of Miramar would likely mean a closure of Camp Pendleton.
When asked about their top priority, six candidates mentioned border control. Other answers ranged from being responsive to constituents (Busby), to quality of life (Uke) and eliminating special interests (Roach).
Again, the candidates shared similar views on domestic wiretapping authorized by President George W. Bush and his subsequent congressional censure. Six candidates thought the president was within his rights and that the censure was out of line (Hauf, Boyer, Bilbray, Young, Roach and Orren). Many struggled with the term “domestic” when the calls in question were made to overseas recipients.
“It’s only domestic when you are an American calling another American in America,” Bilbray said of the “domestic” label.
Only Busby agreed with the censure, saying Congress was right to “investigate and represent the liberties of the people.” King trumped them all by exclaiming, “We have the phone numbers of the terrorists!”
How to secure energy independence was another audience concern. Everyone seemed to agree that the current policy of unrestricted oil consumption would not suffice for future generations. Some called for drilling in Alaska to secure a domestic oil supply (Bilbray and Hauf), while others favored investment in new technologies, such as nuclear plants, solar, ethanol and hybrid technologies (Uke, Young, Roach, Orren and Earnest). Busby targeted the energy bill, saying it should better discourage consumption, while Boyer recommended cutting tax subsidies for oil companies. King said energy independence is a myth and the most promising alternative is nuclear fusion, still 30 years away.
The audience also wanted to know how each candidate would cut spending. All agreed that there was too much waste in Congress. Young would not commit to specific cuts, Uke identified farm subsidies, Roach said the highway appropriations bill had too many earmarks, Orren called for a balanced budget amendment, Hauf and Earnest committed to cutting the pork, and Busby said she would eliminate anonymous earmarks. Bilbray said that candidates must have the “intestinal fortitude” to make large and small cuts.
Catching the audience’s attention, Boyer blamed them for reelecting incumbents who take tax dollars to Congress with the promise of bringing them back. King, keeping the crowd entertained with refreshingly apolitical answers, said, “What would I save?”
The litmus test of the night was abortion. Some candidates answered with conviction, while others awkwardly avoided aligning themselves to either viewpoint. Roach and Hauf answered pro-life without hesitation, while Orren, Boyer and Young faltered somewhere in the middle, claiming that their personal pro-life beliefs do not interfere with their support of the Roe v. Wade decision.
“This is the biggest fund-raising issue in politics,” King said. “Politicians should stay out of it.”
Earnest and Busby agreed that the decision belongs to a woman and not her government, while Uke and Bilbray simply said that they support Roe v. Wade from a legal standpoint.
Finally, candidates were asked if they would support ending the war and bringing the troops home. They replied with a resounding “no,” modified by the need for an exit strategy. While Boyer called for the infrastructure to be returned to better than its original state before leaving, Young said a two-year timeframe might be feasible. Bilbray implied that Congress should have also declared war on Afghanistan, citing, again, a lack of “intestinal fortitude.”
In contrast, King called the war an example of utopian social planning, saying the U.S. is incapable of solving problems domestically, let alone overseas.
“Bin Laden’s real plan is to bankrupt us,” King said.
Absent from the forum were Republicans Bill Morrow, Delecia Holt, Milton Gale, Howard Kaloogian, Scott Turner, Jeff Newsome and Victor Ramirez. Political independent William Griffith was also unable to attend.
The candidates will face off in an April 11 election to fill the remaining six months of Cunningham’s term. If no one receives a majority, a runoff will take place on June 6, with the District 50 primary for the subsequent two-year term.