36^th Congressional District Candidates Sound Off in San Pedro Forum

Five Republicans and a Green Party candidate turned out for the Harbor Association of Industry and Commerce "meet the candidates" breakfast at the Harbor Sheraton in San Pedro on May 15. Janice Hahn, one of two Democrats on the open primary ballot, was expected, but unable to attend. In keeping with the interests of the hosting organization, much of the discussion addressed economic matters, particularly means of paving the way for the unfettered growth of big business in the area. As councilman Rudy Svornich Jr. put it "We need to make sure that our economy remains humming". It is believed that he was actually referring to the Harbor Area with this comment. Outside of specifically economic considerations, the Republicans seemed to be most intent on demonstrating their commitment to education, although the uncomfortable proposition 227 was not addressed. Welfare, and in general, the plight of the urban poor were conspicuously absent from all discussion. The closest the panel came to any consideration of workers rights or union issues was Republican candidate and business owner Bob Klein's complaints about the excesses of workman's compensation. Green Party candidate Robin Barrett provided the lone outsider's voice in the forum. Although she spent the large part of her personal speaking time in the relatively safe territories of her personal experiences as an educator and the general approach of the Greens as a "value-based party", Barrett later made the gutsy assertion that tobacco companies might be encouraged to switch over to growing hemp for paper. While this drew a chuckle from the well-to-do audience, it resounded heavily as the lone implication in a two-hour span that not all industry is inherently good.

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