Patrick TrautfieldCongressional candidates Lois Capps and Victor Tognazzini debated in a forum Wednesday afternoon in Chumash Auditorium as part of a lineup of events in the CP Next campaign.
Higher education, immigration reform, healthcare and the war in Iraq were some of the emphasized issues.
Capps, a Democrat, serves on the House Budget Committee and said the 2007 Federal Budget cuts of approximately $12 million from federal student aid would be restored if she is re-elected.
“That’s the best thing about democracy . when we make mistakes, which I clearly think this was, that we can restore them. We can do something about it,” she said.
Tognazzini, a Republican, said he disagrees with Capps in that the U.S. cannot afford to give the same rights of education to those who are in the country illegally.
Another area of difference lies with the war in Iraq. Capps said that the U.S. should leave as soon as it is safe to do so, while Tognazzini wants to avoid a “cut and run” situation.
The candidates are running for the House of Representatives’ 23rd District which runs along the Central Coast from Monterey County to Port Hueneme south of Oxnard. The shape of the district, 200 miles long and never more than five miles wide according to the Wall Street Journal, is somewhat controversial.
“It was gerrymandered to protect the incumbent. Some might contend that it’s only contiguous at low tide,” Tognazzini said.
He also asserts that he would be a better leader than Capps, as evi-