By Nick Diamantides
Staff Writer
About 250 people attended the candidate forum sponsored by the Long Beach League of Women Voters last Friday afternoon. The event, which took place at the CSULB Pyramid, featured candidates running for two offices: California’s 54th Assembly District seat and California’s 37th Congressional District seat. (Because the Signal Tribune covered a forum with the 37th Congressional District candidates the next day, their comments are not included in this article.)
The candidates for the 54th Assembly District seat are incumbent Democrat Bonnie Lowenthal and challenger Republican Martha Flores-Gibson.
Flores-Gibson, who spoke first, began by mentioning that she immigrated to the United States from El Salvador when she was 6 years old, learned English and considered herself to be an American from her earliest years. “I knew even then that this was a great land of opportunity,” she said, adding that after graduating from high school she completed college and earned a master’s in social work, among other degrees, and has worked for the Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD) for 20 years.
Flores-Gibson noted that 10 years ago, then LBUSD Superintendent Carl Cohn asked her to serve as a liaison to the state legislature for the school district, but at that time she was not interested in the position. “But guess what, ten years fast forward, I am ready,” she said, adding that she has been involved in the school district, at CSULB, in programs to help the homeless and in a women’s business development program. “I am an activist for the community, and I am happy to be where I am at now,” she said.
Flores-Gibson also explained that, because she has served on many task forces in the past 20 years, she is keenly aware of the problems faced by the people of the 54th District. “I am here to tell you that I am ready to take this challenge because our district needs a tough leader in these tough economic times, and I am a strong leader,” she said.
Flores-Gibson said that, if elected, she would work to provide state tax cuts to businesses in order to stimulate the state’s economy and create more jobs. “We don’t just need jobs for the special-interest groups, we need jobs for all Americans,” she said. “We need jobs for the elderly, for the veterans and for the youth, and we need to have those jobs now. I am a job creator. I am not a job killer. Being in office, I will create those jobs.”
In her opening statements, Lowenthal asserted that she has served in the state assembly for two years in a respectful, bipartisan way. “I have authored bills that will bring jobs to California, economic activity to our community and make government more accountable to the people it serves,” she said. “I have voted for a very difficult budget, which brought the praise of some and the condemnation of others. This job is not for the faint of heart. This job requires difficult choices that go beyond campaign promises. I have created bipartisan consensus to get things done.”
As an example of that, Lowenthal explained that she teamed up with Assemblywoman Audra Strickland (R—37th District) to pass a bill that is aimed at ensuring protection for “whistle blowers” among the 20,000 state employees in the state court system. Lowenthal also noted that she partnered with Jeff Miller, a Republican Assemblyman (71st District) to pass a bill that cleared the way for a $1.3 road improvement to the 91 Freeway. “We had to navigate the conflict between public unions and local governments,” she said. “The result will be 18,000 private-sector jobs on a project that is funded with existing local taxes and toll fees “
Lowenthal also talked about a bill she authored that will keep the $300 million courthouse project on track in Long Beach. “We are using an innovative public-private partnership to get this much needed courthouse built years earlier than many thought possible,” she said. “And doing it now, when construction costs are down, means not only a lot of good jobs in Long Beach, but it also means we are getting good value for your money and delivering a public asset that should last for generations.”
Lowenthal told the audience that California’s economic crisis is part of the ongoing global economic crisis. “We can’t wish it away. We can’t blame it away. We have to work through it,” she said. “I am willing to do that.”
After their opening statements, moderator Bea Antenore asked the candidates what they would do to get back the many jobs that have left the state in recent years.
“If we can cut the payroll taxes of the businesses by at least 50 percent, then they can employ more people,” Flores-Gibson said, adding that doing so would in turn produce more state revenues.
“Economic development is critical for us in California,” Lowenthal said. She noted that she has worked on economic-development programs since her days as a Long Beach Councilmember, and she is currently working on legislation that will spur the economy, bring new businesses to the state and create jobs.
Antenore then asked, “What would you do to encourage business in the state?”
Flores-Gibson said: “If you cut the payroll taxes, they can hire another person, and I am talking about all Americans, the elderly, the vets, and the youth.”
Lowenthal said that she has voted for some tax breaks for businesses. “I have voted to cut budgets over the past two years. In so doing, we had a balance of tax breaks for businesses,” she asserted. “We are very sensitive to the needs of small businesses.”
Flores-Gibson rebutted by saying, “My opponent in the past two years has voted for the highest tax increase in the history of California. She has also voted to raid our local schools by taking close to $200,000.” (After the forum, Flores-Gibson said that she meant to say close to $200 million.) She explained that the raid on LBUSD revenues led to the layoffs of many teachers and staff.
Lowenthal partly acknowledged that Flores-Gibson’s accusation was true, but she strongly defended the legislature’s actions. “This year we passed a budget without any new taxes,” she said. “Last year we had to have a strategic temporary tax in order to keep our schools open, out universities open, hospitals open, and to be able to hire firefighters. It is temporary, and it was strategic.”
Later, Antenore brought up the subject of the impact of public employee retirement pensions on governmental budgets. Both candidates agreed that pension reform was absolutely necessary, but neither offered a specific plan for how the state could reduce its pension expenditures in the present. Lowenthal noted that she voted for several pension reform bills this year, including one that extended the retirement age and one that requires more transparency from the California Public Employee Retirement System.
In many of her answers, Flores-Gibson either seemed to be groping for the right words to say or had a tendency to veer off of the subject that was being discussed. “I know I didn’t do a very good job of presenting my case at this particular forum,” she acknowledged afterwards. “I knew the answers to the questions, but for some reason, I just froze up, but that does not mean that I do not have very clear ideas about how I would go about changing how things are done in Sacramento.”
In their closing remarks, the two women echoed some of their opening statements and described their education, background and community activism. Lowenthal said that her many years as an elected official make her the candidate best qualified to serve the constituents of the 54th Assembly District. Flores-Gibson countered that she herself would provide the residents of this region with a fresh start and that it is time to change the failed policies of state legislature.
