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Amador Progressives Host Congressional Candidate Bera |
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Friday, 05 February 2010 |
 Amador County – Ami Bera asked people in Jackson Thursday what he could do to win his first-time run for office in the California’s Third Congressional District, looking to unseat Dan Lungren in the U.S. House of Representatives. Bera, speaking to the Progressive Women’s Club in Jackson, thanked Amador County Democrats “for creating space” for him to talk about the race, and asked what the group can do to help. He said his backers “have to own” the race. He plans to talk, listen and engage people, the way Alyson Huber and Scott Brown were elected. Huber won the 10th California Assembly seat in 2008, and Brown this year took Ted Kennedy’s seat in Massachusetts. Bera also pointed to Bill Durston for showing him that Lungren was vulnerable, when Durston took 44.5 percent of the vote in 2008. Bera said Brown went directly to the voters, unlike his opponent. Huber did the same thing, “outworked her opponent and her message reflected what she was hearing.” Bera said: “I don’t know all the answers to all the issues,” but no one really does. He did not think “floating bonds is the answer” to the state’s nearly last-place ranking in education. He was not sure about increased parent participation in schools, either. Bera said “parents and neighborhoods need to take back schools,” and politicians should look at where the money is going. “No Child Left Behind” program “put money into testing.” Bera said “education is dear” to him, and he would also try to create “real jobs that pay real wages,” probably though trying to “recreate the manufacturing sector” in the district. Asked how he would reform the health care system, he said, again, you must follow the money. He said in the health care industry, people “pay more and get less,” and 50 million Americans are uninsured. He said the United States annually spends $2.4 trillion on health care, or about $4,000 per person. He said that money could be pooled to set up an insurance system: It could be done through an “external agency appointed by the president,” which could “design a policy that got everyone covered.” Bera said riders on bills were the reality of Congress, which he likely would use, but he would “not just vote the party line.” Bera asked for donations (or hosts for “house party” fundraisers) but said he has outgained Lungren in fundraising the last 3 quarters, and Bera has “$740,000 cash on hand” in his campaign. Bera criticized Lungren for not letting people speak at his “town hall” meetings, and said the Congressman “thinks he is a delegate,” and works too much on the national level. Bera said he would listen to District residents, find out what they want and go out and fight for them. He said Lungren’s “signature piece of legislation is the Three Strikes Law.” Story by Jim Reece
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 11 February 2010 )
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