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Incumbent, opponent vary widely on views
| Monday, Oct 9 2006 10:05 PM
Last Updated: Monday, Oct 9 2006 10:09 PM
He's a Democrat who supports universal health care, campaign finance reform, gay rights and stem cell research in the heavily Republican 18th Senate District.
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So "progressive" in his thinking, as Fred Davis calls himself, and yet this challenger to state Sen. Roy Ashburn is 75 years old, has no cell phone or Web site and rents out rooms in his house to boarders to make a little extra money.
"I don't expect to win but there's a real value to getting out and talking about the kind of issues that are there to be talked about," the retired probation officer and social worker from Visalia said.
"The record on my opponent is almost 100 percent negative on anything progressive," Davis said. "He's a very, very conservative Republican."
Ashburn, who is seeking a second four-year term, said his voting record reflects the point of view of his constituents.
The district was 51 percent Republican and 31 percent Democratic in registration as of last month, according to the California Secretary of State's office.
"I vote against higher taxes," Ashburn said. "I vote against big government. And I vote against laws that take away our personal freedoms."
Davis said the state Democratic Party asked him to run as it did not want Ashburn to run unopposed.
"He's very active here and the local Democrats are so behind him," said Barbara Waldron, chairwoman of the Democratic Central Committee in Tulare County. "And the state knows he is a hard-working Democrat and they have a lot of respect for him."
She also spoke of Davis' down-to-earth character.
"He's very homespun," Waldron said about the Arkansas native who, she said, is tall, lanky and likes to play bridge and tennis.
On the other side, Jack Duncan, executive director of the Kern County Republican Party, said Ashburn deserves another term.
"From what I've watched over the years, he's been very supportive of agricultural interests, which create many jobs for many, many people plus a tax base for our civil service employees such as police and firefighters."
Davis said he has never met the incumbent but has talked to him briefly on the phone.
These are some of the issues Davis and Ashburn differ on:
Universal health care
Davis: "We spend about $4,800 per year per person on health care. The countries that have universal health care spend about $2,500 a year per person. We are spending almost twice as much as countries with universal health care per person and we don't have everybody covered. I support (government-funded) universal health care for all Californians.I would like it for the whole United States, but right now I'm dealing with California."
Ashburn: "I don't favor a government-run health care plan...It would restrict the number of health services that are available and it would drive up the costs. I am very much in favor of expanding health care, specifically health insurance. The way I would do it is by giving a tax credit to employers who would do the right thing and offer health insurance to their workers."
Gay rights
Davis: "I support gay marriage and the same rights for gay couples as for heterosexual couples. The next big civil rights battle that's ahead for this country is gay rights -- getting people treated right regardless of sexual orientation. The rhetoric from the right on gay rights is hurtful to gays. Their rhetoric helps feed and helps fuel people like the skinheads who will go out and attack and kill gay people."
Ashburn: "I don't support laws that divide people into categories or groups and then give to those groups special privileges. I believe in equal rights under the law and I believe that the laws should not discriminate. I do not support redefining marriage."
Underprivileged and working-class Americans
Davis: "On almost any kind of legislation that is progressive or involves poor people and working people, (Ashburn) opposes them. He's opposed any increase in the minimum wage. He's opposed legislation dealing with maternity benefits, housing for the homeless and creating a California healthy kids fund which would help to expand children's health insurance. Those are all issues that affect poor and working-class people."
Ashburn: "I'm happy to defend my vote that benefits working people. For example, I'm one of the authors of the repeal of the car tax ... I voted in favor of reform of the workers' compensation system...I'm the author of California's welfare reform, which provides a helping hand for people to get a job and to end the dependence on welfare."
Top issues
Davis: In addition to state-funded, universal health care for all Californians per Senate Bill 840 which Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed recently, Davis would like to see campaign-finance reform, such as Proposition 89 on the ballot this year.
He believes campaign finance irregularities could be alleviated if free television and radio time for political candidates, similar to the system in place in England, were allowed in this country.
Ashburn: He'd like to see improvements in roads, highways and bridges per the infrastructure package that is on the November ballot; formation of an independent commission to draw district boundaries; creating a system of criminal background checks for state-paid caregivers to children, the elderly and the disabled.