Rescue California

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Transcript of gubernatorial recall debate

September 24, 2003

Page 15

of government classifying us according to different ethnic groups, different racial categories, that is foreign to the whole concept of one great American people.

MODERATOR: Mr. Camejo, go ahead.

CAMEJO: Well, you know, the issue here is this is a proposition that promotes ignorance. It says we will not know. Look, if you made a poll right now and asked people what you're income level is between right- and left-handed, we all know it would be about the same, or education level. But it isn't on race. If you ask the Latinos, do they have the same education? They have less. They have less income and they pay a higher tax rate. Do you know that? Latinos in California pay a higher tax rate than European Americans. But Prop. 54 doesn't allow us to know that. We're not allowed to ask the questions. So how can we correct problems that exist in our society, which are complex? And I welcome what Tom says and Arnold says that they are for equality, but if you're for equality you have to be willing to have the information so we can take the necessary action to change this. And Prop. 54 is a very dangerous bill because what it does is leads the people to begin to think that these problems are behind us. They are far from behind us. We still have enormous problems to solve in our society.

CITIZEN'S QUESTION: Leaders in the business community are convinced that this state is losing jobs and unable to attract new businesses. If you agree, what are two things you would change to make this a more business-friendly state? If you disagree, what are the misconceptions you would like to correct?

MODERATOR: Candidates, if you would be so kind as to keep your answers short on this because we rather hit this subject earlier in this one-hour debate, so far in this 90-minute program. This question does go to the lieutenant governor first, Cruz Bustamante.

BUSTAMANTE: Absolutely. I think the very first thing we need to do is continue to invest in higher education. It is essential if we're going to stay on the cutting edge of a global economy. We have to be able to invest in our children. We must have access of every qualified student to our universities and our colleges. The kind of creativity and the talent that comes from those universities is what created the boom in our economy. In fact, the boom in California's economy led the way for the nation's boom in their economy. We can do this again, but only if we invest in our higher education system and not allow 123,000 community college students to be left out of the system this year. The second thing is we need to absolutely fix this workers' comp issue. There's absolutely no doubt about it. I've already talked about how we need to find an incentive for good workplaces and have a disincentive for bad ones. I think that's the way we should go with workers' comp fixes.

MODERATOR: Next.

HUFFINGTON: Absolutely, I agree with fixing the workers' comp system and going beyond the bill that already passed the Legislature, which was insufficient. But also, you know, Cruz, when you talk about the fact that we have increased tuition fees and the fact that...

BUSTAMANTE: I opposed them.

HUFFINGTON: ...there are many college kids who can't go to college.

BUSTAMANTE: I opposed them.

HUFFINGTON: I know you opposed them.

BUSTAMANTE: I opposed them all.

HUFFINGTON: But your party, Governor Davis, you know, supported them.