LaMalfa, Denney square off in online forum
Incumbent, challenger find some common ground while discussing wide range of issues
GRASS VALLEY » From issues on ag subsidies and forestmanagement to systemic racism and rural broadband, U. S. Representative Doug LaMalfa and challenger Audrey Denney brought their positions to viewers online Wednesday.
Hosted by the League of Women Voters of Nevada County and Nevada County Media, the incumbent Republican from Richvale and challenger Democrat from Chico provided the clearest vision of how the two differed, although each found a way to compliment the other, while actually in one very large studio.
Questions from constituents, the league and local media ranged from climate change, forest management, the economy, jobs, health care, the environment and more.
Denney pummeled LaMalfa on subsidies his ricegrowing family has taken, on how climate change is real and needs to be challenged globally, his stance on health care and the effort to dismantle the Affordable Care Act.
LaMalfa countered that his family had taken what was rightfully available; that climate change has a lot to do with drought; and that a substitute health care proposal was under construction.
Agreement came on support for more water storage, such as proposed Sites Reservoir in Colusa County, and that better forest management could provide for healthier forests, better air quality, and more jobs, and that regulations have caused problems.
“We need to streamline the environmental process, streamline EIRs, and limit frivolous lawsuits,” Denney said.
Wildfires
Wildfire prevention took a role in both candidates' statements, with Denney pointing out that more carbon had been emitted by the fires than the state had cut from regulations.
Common ground on forest management included more thinning, and Denney likes the idea of conservation stewardship agreements, for which stakeholders like government agencies, tribes and local governments create a plan to treat a forest, and then hand the plan to the private sector for delivery.
“But they have to extract the marketable timber but also the unmarketable brush,” she said.
With more than 50 percent of the forests in the 1st District under federal ownership, more needs to be done at the Congressional level, they agreed.
Both talked about use of wood, after a fire as well as in forests, from biomass — burning for electricity— to wood pellets to harvestable timber.
LaMalfa indicated the federal government needed to “work on the pace and scale” of forest management. LaMalfa supported creating defensible space around communities, but said he didn't want to tell people what to make their homes of. He also said “thinning” was not what environmentalists call “clear cutting.”
Wildfires had a predominant theme in the forum, including Denney's assertion that PG&E had to “be held accountable” for utility- caused wildfires. She said the public safety power shutoffs were “lowcost insurance” for the utility, rather than fixing the issues.
On the other hand, LaMalfa saw the forcing of PG&E to purchase a percentage of its power from renewal sources, rather than concentrating on clearing lines and delivering power, as the bigger problem.
Broadband
Broadband was a common ground for the north state need. Denney said large providers found the cost too expensive in the rural areas, but that smaller providers should not be blocked from smaller markets. She indicated broadband providers should be considered utilities and so regulated.
LaMalfa said improving broadband would come from incentives and streamlining business regulations, and pointing out the Farm Bill includes grants for rural areas.
The evening concluded with questions about systemic racism that LaMalfa said was improving with awareness, but is linked to human nature qualities such as greed and jealousy. Denney noted there were ways with data points to prove it, through poverty, education, housing standards, violence and other gauges.
In concluding statements, LaMalfa said he was proud of the work he had done on veterans' issues, and with Social Security. Earlier he had mentioned the Farm Bill, along with small business assistance under COVID-19.
“It's good to see bipartisan or nonpartisan things happening,” he said.
Denney said she believed in treating everyone equally, guided by Christian faith and humane rights beliefs.
“You're not hiring me based onmy opinion on issues, butb ased onmy decision-making framework,” said Denney in conclusion.
The program is available on the Nevada County Media website https://nevadacountymedia.org/ programming as well as League of Women Voters of Butte County. lwvbuttecounty.org
Also on the Butte County LWV website were candidates forums and events the league has hosted. Past forums on the Butte County league's website include the Chico City Council, Chico Area Recreation and Park District, Oroville City Council, California Assembly 3rd District, Chico Unified School District, Durham Unified School District, ballot measures, and Oroville Unified Elementary School District and Paradise Irrigation District.