Lively 24th District congressional debate heats up at UC Santa Barbara

With his fiery, Bernie Sanders-like rhetoric, Democrat William Ostrander’s calls for universal health care and willingness to challenge Republican Justin Fareed livened up a 24th Congressional District candidate forum Thursday night at UC Santa Barbara.

When Fareed attempted to blame Democrats for passing the Affordable Care Act without a single Republican supporter, Ostrander jumped in and threw down the gauntlet.

“Things like that drive me insane,” Ostrander said as he raised his voice and stood up. “That’s nonsense. Don’t give me that stuff.”

Ostrander said Republicans vowed from the start to fight President Barack Obama’s health care reform, and it was wrong to blame Democrats if they don’t like it.

“What we really should have is what almost every other industrial country in the world has: universal health care,” Ostrander shouted, prompting cheers from some members of the audience.

UCSB Lobby Corps hosted the forum for candidates of the 24th Congressional District, which encompasses all of San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties and part of Ventura County.

Seven of the nine candidates attended: Ostrander, a San Luis Obispo farmer; Fareed, a Santa Barbara business owner; Republican state Assemblyman Katcho Achadjian of San Luis Obispo; Democrat and Santa Barbara County Supervisor Salud Carbajal; Independent Steve Isakson of Atascadero, an engineer; Jeff Oshins, a Santa Barbara Democrat and defense industry consultant; and Democrat and Santa Barbara Mayor Helene Schneider.

Republican Matt Kokkonen and Democrat Benjamin Lucas did not attend.

Carbajal frequently stated that he is “proud of my broad base of support,” including being endorsed by retiring congresswoman Lois Capps. Carbajal attempted to paint himself as someone who understands working-class people and values.

Schneider cast herself as a mayor who knows how to get things done and a Washington D.C. outsider. She attempted to distance herself from Carbajal, who has racked up endorsements from the Democratic establishment locally, statewide and nationally.

Fareed mentioned he was proud that he played football at UCLA and consistently criticized Congress for a lack of bipartisanship.

Achadjian was the most subdued of the candidates, touting his business record and vowing to work across party lines.

Students were able to text questions to the moderator, who selected which ones to ask. One question asked candidates to identify one thing on which they agreed with Capps and one thing on which they disagreed.

Carbajal said he agreed with her support for the Iran nuclear deal but didn’t list any issues he disagreed with. Schneider and Achadjian said they disagreed with Capps on the Iran deal while agreeing with her opposition to the Iraq War.

“I’m not a yes man,” Schneider said. “I won’t just vote for something because someone tells me to vote a certain way.”

Ostrander said he agreed with much of Capps’ health care legislation but not her resolution in support of Larry King. Although Ostrander didn’t elaborate, the only Larry King-related resolution that Capps passed was in support of a 15-year-old who was shot dead in a reported Oxnard hate crime in 2008.

Fareed said members of Congress have their priorities wrong and tend to be more concerned about re-election than “the next generation.”

Achadjian attempted to speak to the students in the room.

“I feel your pain,” he said. “We need to make universities more affordable and accessible. You are the future. You are one-third of our population, but you are our entire future.”

Carbajal, who has thousands of dollars of personal debt on three credit cards and student loan debt, according to public records, said, “It’s a shame you can refinance your mortgage, but you can’t refinance your college debt.”

All of the candidates supported campaign-finance reform, but Carbajal made no apologies for having raised more than $1.2 million for his campaign.

“The rules are the rules, and we have to do everything we can to keep the seat blue,” he said, referring to efforts to elect another Democrat.

Schneider, who has raised about $440,000, grumbled that candidates have to raise at least $500,000 to be considered credible.

“It’s insane that I have had to raise as much money as I’ve had to get the vote out,” she said.

On immigration, Achadjian said he opposes amnesty for the 11 million immigrants in the country illegally, but he supports some sort of worker program.

Carbajal said he came to the U.S. when he was 5 years old. He said he supports the Dream Act, adding, “It’s a real travesty that Congress, in a bipartisan fashion, hasn’t reached immigration reform.”

Schneider said she doesn’t like the “hateful” speech directed at illegal immigrants and “demonization” of people based on their immigration status.

Ostrander said we have 1 million to 2 million fewer illegal immigrants in the country today than we did when President Obama took office.

“I have yet to see a Caucasian out there picking vegetables,” the farmer said.

This story was originally published March 4, 2016 at 2:36 PM with the headline "Lively 24th District congressional debate heats up at UC Santa Barbara."