First, please note that OC180NEWS is not endorsing Gary Delong, or any other candidate in the race for California’s 47th Congressional District.
Question: What’s worse than a weak response to an important question?
Answer: No response.
Certainly the financial crises facing the United States from the mounting federal deficit, and our government’s inability to do anything about it, must rank at or near the top of any serious national problem list.
Unless our government addresses the problem, the U.S. will become the next government in fiscal crisis. We need look no further than across the Atlantic Ocean, to see the grim future which awaits us.
If the turmoil which has already brought down governments in Italy and Greece , and threatens the continuation of the European Union is not close enough to home to make the problem tangible, just check out the value of your 401 K, or IRA – it isn’t a pretty picture. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost about 5% of its value during the last week. It doesn’t stretch the imagination to connect the market’s drop to the ever-widening EU fiscal crisis, plus, the complete failure of the so called Super Committee to make any progress towards solving the problem in the U.S.
So, given this context, OC180NEWS decided to ask a few relevant questions of the four candidates vying to represent California’s 47 Congressional District. In asking questions like this, we have two goals. First, as voters, we believe the more we understand the specific positions of the candidates, the better we will exercise our civic duties in next year’s elections.
Second, we are also testing the candidates’ responsiveness. In this regard, we will be entirely transparent – we want to do everything in our journalistic power to embarrass the candidates into giving us a meaningful response. Thus, to be sure we are getting their attention, we will rank the various responses. Our ranking is not in any way related to one or another political position, but rather the quality of their responses.
Frankly, we don’t care what their political position is, but we care very much that they respond to our questions. Thus, no response at all automatically goes to the bottom of the list. Conversely, a candidate who provides specific answers to our questions will be ranked highly.
Here’s how we rank the candidates to our questions:
1. Gary Delong – because he actually went through our questions and provided answers to each question.
2. Steven Kuykendall – while Kuykendall did not provide answers to our specific questions, he did address the issue with a reasonably thoughtful, although pretty generic, statement.
3. Troy Edgar – Like Kuykendall, Edgar did not answer our specific questions, and instead provided a very brief and essentially meaningless statement.
4. Alan Lowenthal – Lowenthal (the only Democrat in the field) could not be bothered to respond at all.
When Gary Delong answered our questions, he inserted his answers into our questionnaire. Thus, below is both a replica of the questions we sent to each candidate, plus Delong’s answers.
The questions were sent on Tuesday, November 22, 2011, at 1:52 PM. The candidates were asked to provide short answers.
OC180NEWS question:
1. Now that the Super committee has given up their effort to reduce the federal budget deficit, what do you think should be done?
Gary Delong answer:
Congress should significantly cut the Federal Budget. The cost of the federal government has doubled over the last 10 years, and we cannot and should not continue to deficit spend at over $1 trillion annually. It is immoral to spend now and then pass our debt on to our children and grandchildren.
OC180NEWS question:
2. Please identify what, if any, revenue increases you would support.
Gary Delong answer:
I support providing an environment where our private sector small businesses can grow, create jobs, and generate tax revenue.
OC180NEWS question:
3. Please identify what, if any, cuts in existing federal programs you would support.
Gary Delong answer:
Everything needs to be on the table. We have a huge budget problem and we will all experience some pain in order to make the difficult decisions that need to be made.
OC180NEWS question:
4. Do you believe the automatic cuts should be allowed to go into effect in 2013?
Gary Delong answer:
Yes. Additionally, the cuts need to be increased. Reducing the growth of government by only $1.2 trillion over the next 10 years will not bring financial stability to our country.
OC180NEWS question:
5. If not, what would you do to prevent it?
The second ranked response came from Republican candidate Steven Kuykendall:
“Our country is in crisis –– failure is therefore not an option. As a Member of Congress I would refuse to accept that a bi-partisan solution is impossible. Instead of pointing fingers, thumping partisan chests and posturing for the media, Members of Congress should redouble their efforts to end this stalemate with concrete, thoughtful choices, not automatic cuts. When I served in Congress we had a bi-partisan balanced budget. It’s time for Congress to do the same now.”
The third ranked response came from Republican Troy Edgar:
“I am obviously disappointed with the outcome of the Super Committee, but I am not surprised. This outcome and the continued inability to move our Country forward is exactly why I am running for Congress.”
Alan Lowenthal, Democrat, as indicated above was ranked fourth and last because he did not respond.
OC180NEWS also received a statement from Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez, who currently represents the 47th Congressional District. But, because of redistricting changes, the old 47th CD is not the new 47th CD. Consequently, Sanchez is not running against the four candidates discussed above. For that reason, her response was not ranked. Here’s her statement:
“I am deeply disappointed that the Super Committee failed to reach a deal on reducing our deficit,” said Sanchez. “The American people looked to Congress to provide a credible plan to deal with our national debt, and this committee was tasked with that responsibility. But the same old political obstacles derailed talks and have resulted in partisan stalemate.
“Americans are tired of a dysfunctional government and the Super Committee’s failure to compromise only reinforces the belief that Congress is broken. The automatic cuts scheduled to take effect will be particularly harmful to our seniors, military and children. It may be unpopular politically to reach a deal, but it is the right thing to do for our country. We must begin to make smart and strategic decisions immediately– before these automatic cuts devastate our nation’s most vulnerable.”
The current California 47th Congressional District which Sanchez represents includes the cities of Anaheim, Garden Grove, Santa Ana, and parts of Fullerton in Orange County.
The new 47th includes the Los Angeles County cities of Long Beach, Signal Hills and the Orange County cities and communities of Cypress, Garden Grove, Los Alamitos, Stanton, Rossmoor, and Westminster.
Finally, if more convincing about the importance of resolving the federal budget problem is still needed, next is a Statement by Secretary of Defense Leon E. Panetta on Supercommittee Negotiations.
“ The failure of the Congressional Supercommittee to reach an agreement on deficit reduction is a setback for the country’s efforts to achieve fiscal responsibility while protecting our national security. If Congress fails to act over the next year, the Department of Defense will face devastating, automatic, across-the-board cuts that will tear a seam in the nation’s defense.
“Despite the danger posed by sequestration, I join the President in his call for Congress to avoid an easy way out of this crisis. Congress cannot simply turn off the sequester mechanism, but instead must pass deficit reduction at least equal to the $1.2 trillion it was charged to pass under the Budget Control Act.
“In my four decades involved with public service, I have never been more concerned about the ability of Congress to forge common-sense solutions to the nation’s pressing problems. Since becoming Secretary of Defense, I have made it clear that the Department has a responsibility to help the country get its fiscal house in order — and we are doing that. I have been leading a strategy-driven effort to achieve the more than $450 billion in cuts over 10 years required by the Budget Control Act. We will move ahead with that plan.
“But as Secretary of Defense, my primary responsibility is to protect the security of the nation. The half-trillion in additional cuts demanded by sequester would lead to a hollow force incapable of sustaining the missions it is assigned. If implemented, sequester would also jeopardize our ability to provide our troops and their families with the benefits and the support they have been promised. Our troops deserve better, and our nation demands better.”
(No Ratings Yet)
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About Dolores Barr, Publisher
Dolores Barr has lived in Rossmoor since 1992 and has created this site to provide local news for the people of Los Alamitos, Seal Beach, Rossmoor, Leisure World, Sunset Beach, and Surfside, California. My husband and I have had two students graduate from the Los Alamitos Unified School District and currently our Grandson, Ricky Apodaca, grade 3 at Weaver Elementary, is actively involved in youth baseball through LAYB and youth football through FNL.
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