Dem hopefuls make case for top office
Unifying theme was the state’s income inequality and future economic health
ANAHEIM >> California’s four Democratic candidates for governor confronted the state’s burgeoning cost of living and stark economic divide as they gathered for the race’s first forum on Sunday morning.
Policy distinctions were largely a matter of emphasis and nuance, as the four all took staunchly prounion postures while calling for statewide universal healthcare and vowing to fight White Housebacked efforts to crackdown on those in the country illegally.
But the unifying theme of most issues tackled in the 90-minute event, hosted by the National Union of Healthcare Workers, was the state’s income inequality and future economic health.
“We can’t afford to live in this bifurcated hybrid economy where so many people are being left behind,” said Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, the frontrunner in early polling. “The issue of social mobility should apply to all other issues. In the richest and the poorest state in the nation, we have to mind that gap.”
Candidates joining Newsom on the podium were former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, state Treasurer John Chiang and former state Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin.
The forum was held at the Sheraton Park Hotel, a stone’s throw from the hotel where state Repub-
licans were hosting their fall convention throughout the weekend. Union organizers said the timing and location was a coincidence, but it had the benefit of attracting the state’s top political reporters already in town for the GOP gathering.
Former White House advisor Steve Bannon and other Republican convention speakers blamed Democrats‘ policies for what they described as the state’s dire downward economic spiral.
But the four Democratic candidates doubled down on many of those policies, describing them as the route to prosperity and economic equity. The two Republicans in the race, San Diego businessman John Cox and Huntington Beach Assemblyman Travis Allen, did not respond to invitations to participate in the NUHW forum, said union President Sal Rosselli.
The four on hand each supported some version of single-payer healthcare in the state and pointed out that much of the money currently being spent on healthcare would cover most of the cost of a more comprehensive plan. But none had a proposal for covering the additional costs — that’s the primary reason a single-payer proposal, SB 562, was tabled in the Legislature this year.
“I support covering everyone,” Villaraigosa told the audience of about 350 NUHW union stewards. “The truth of the matter is that SB 562 didn’t have funding sources. What I’ll never do is sell you snake oil. We all agree that we need to get there, but we need a plan to get there.”
Chiang came closest to directly address additional costs, tagging them at $106 billion annually to cover everyone. He said that when he was state controller, he identified $9.5 billion in waste, fraud, and abuse in the state budget and called for a similar approach in minimizing new healthcare costs of a singlepayer plan.
Regarding calls to deport those in the country illegally and to punish California for establishing sanctuary rules to help protect those immigrants, both Villaraigosa and Eastin pointed to the 10th Amendment’s provision guaranteeing state’s rights.
“The 10th amendment has been waved in our face for decades” by Republicans, Eastin said. “It’s time for us to wave it back.”
Villaraigosa and Newsom both called for the state to take a lead role on immigration, as Gov. Jerry Brown has done with climate change.
In terms of economic disparity, Eastin focused on the need for better education, ranging from universal pre-school to more affordable college tuition.
“Education is the key that unlocks all the golden doors,” she said.
Newsom underlined the need to rein in housing costs and control rents, while also pointing out that technology and automation would be changing the job landscape dramatically in the near future.
Villaraigosa called for more incentives for cities to build more housing and for a return of redevelopment districts. Chiang too wants more housing incentives — as well as more affordable college loans — to prepare for a brighter future.
Chiang also made one of the few references of the forum to the president, saying Donald Trump’s policies would hurt the same working people who helped him get elected.
“Since President Trump assumed office, nearly every single day I think, ‘Not on our watch,’” Chiang said. “Not on our watch are we going to allow Wall Street dictate our economic future. … We know that together, we stand for something better. Together, we can go on a road of prosperity that includes all of us.”