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Republicans Rally Supporters at Opening of New Headquarters
The Santa Barbara Republican Party kicked off its official campaign season Thursday at its new digs on upper State Street, with speeches from four candidates vying for spots at all levels, from the U.S. House to the local school board.
The event began with a somber moment of silence in remembrance of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that toppled the twin towers of the World Trade Center seven years ago, but soon after gave way to some high-spirited stumping for the Nov. 4 contest.
Prepping the roughly 70 audience members snacking on hors d’oeuvres in the parking lot of the office building at 3887 State St. was Mike Stoker, a Santa Barbara County delegate, who attended last week’s Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn.
“Don’t tell me this ticket with (Republican vice presidential candidate) Sarah Palin isn’t changing the dynamics completely,” he said, to hearty applause.
McCain, Stoker said, is getting serious about winning this traditionally left-leaning state, and soon will begin to dedicate some serious money to campaigning here if the gap continues to close.
“(McCain) is looking as well as any Republican has looked (in California) since the first George Bush in 1988,” he said.
Stoker, along with most of the other speakers, urged those in attendance to knock on as many doors and make as many telephone calls as possible to campaign for the Republicans on this year’s ticket.
Matt Kokkonen, the Republican challenger trying to prevent U.S. Rep. Lois Capps from beginning her sixth two-year term as a congresswoman, chided Capps for making a pledge when she took office in 1998 that she would serve only three terms.
“I will try to make an honest woman out of her and help her keep her promise,” he said.
Kokkonen, who noted that he immigrated to the United States from Finland at age 16, vowed to crack down on illegal immigration.
“If we’re bleeding on the border, what do we have to do? Stop the bleeding,” he said.
As for children born to illegal immigrants, he added, “the 14th Amendment does not give them citizenship by right of birth.”
Kokkonen, a financial planner by trade and a graduate of Westmont College, said he believes that drilling for oil off California’s shores and in Alaska is necessary, but should be just part of a more comprehensive energy plan.
Gregory Gandrud, the Republican challenger to 35th District Assemblyman Pedro Nava, charged that the Democrat has refused to debate him.
“He’s hiding in Sacramento,” said Gandrud, who was elected to the Carpinteria City Council in 2002 but ousted in 2006.
“Democrats want to raise our income taxes, our sales taxes and our property taxes,” he said. “Republicans have a better idea.”
Tony Strickland, who is duking it out with Democrat Hannah-Beth Jackson for a 19th District state Senate seat, sought to underscore the linchpin importance of this particular race to California Republicans. A victory by Jackson, he said, would mean the Democrats in the 40-member House would be one member shy of the two-thirds majority needed to pass certain bills.
“Some pundits are saying this is going to be the most expensive race in the California Legislature’s history,” he said.
Arguably the most out-of-place candidate of the evening was Santa Barbara school board hopeful Ed Heron, immediate past president of the nonprofit Partners in Education. To the chagrin of some in the crowd, Heron touted his bipartisan endorsements — mentioning, for instance, the support of certain Santa Barbara City Council members, who include prominent Democrats Mayor Marty Blum and Councilwoman Helen Schneider. (His list of endorsements also include Councilman Dale Francisco, a Republican, who attended Thursday’s event.)
His mention of the Democratic endorsements prompted one heckler to interrupt Heron’s speech with the question: “Why, Ed?” Heron responded by saying his ties to the community run deep, and mentioned his long career in real estate, as well as his success in managing Partners in Education, which collects and refurbishes used computers and places them in the homes of financially disadvantaged fourth-graders. The nonprofit recently met its goal to raise the $3.8 million necessary to run the program in perpetuity.
“My whole business has been building relationships between the business community and nonprofits,” he said.
Heron also didn’t shy away from endorsing the two parcel taxes placed on the ballot by the K-12 Santa Barbara School Districts. This, too, drew criticism from the crowd.
During a question-and-answer session, one member of the crowd challenged Heron by citing a figure he had heard somewhere stating that taxpayers pay the schools $12,000 per student, which, by his reckoning, amounts to $300,000 per classroom. The man said it seemed to him that way too much of that money was feeding a bureaucracy.
“And you just stood up and said you’re going to solve this problem by asking the citizens of Santa Barbara for more money?” he said. “Can you explain this?”
Heron responded that, as a champion of fiscal prudence, he’d be remiss to comment on such figures before being able to see them firsthand. He added that without the parcel taxes, elementary schools may lose music education and high schools would lose math teachers.
Heron said his main platform would be technology, which is said is woefully outdated in the schools.
Noozhawk staff writer Rob Kuznia can be reached at rkuznia@noozhawk.com.
» wrote on 09.11.08 @ 11:39 PM
Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.
No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
» wrote on 09.12.08 @ 02:25 PM
Illegal aliens and thier achor babies has Bankrupt California. The democrats want them for votes, not because its good for our country…. SAD
» wrote on 09.14.08 @ 03:35 PM
Nice article, but where is it? Upper State Street is pretty vague.
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