Mountain Community voters, including those of the Western Antelope Valley (east to Lancaster) are all in the new U.S. Congressional District 23. Community groups invite voters to meet candidates for U.S. Congress on Sunday, Oct. 28 at Cuddy Hall, 2-3 p.m. (335 Lakewood Place in Lake of the Woods).
“Subjects of concern are Healthcare and the ‘Big E’s: Education, the Economy and the Environment,” coordinating groups announced.
The candidates are incumbent Kevin McCarthy (Republican, Bakersfield), and challenger Terry Phillips, (Independent, Bakersfield).
Hosts for the event are AARP, Rotary Club of Frazier Park and the Mountain Communities, Mountain Communities Chamber of Commerce, Sierra Club and TriCounty Watchdogs.
Kevin McCarthy is currently House Majority Whip, groomed by Bill Thomas, the retired Republican chairman of the House Ways & Means Committee who worked with President George W. Bush to pass three major tax cuts and Big Pharma’s medicare drug plan.
McCarthy is a former state assemblyman and now has six years in Congress. He is known for helping to craft the “Young Guns” tactics of the Tea Party Freshman Congress in 2010 to block passage of the debt ceiling, to bargain for major spending cuts. He vows to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
Challenger Phillips is a broadcast journalist and business owner who has not run for elective office before. He worked with CBS and NPR, reporting about the fall of the USSR and hosting the current affairs program “Quality of Life” on Valley Public Radio from 2005 to 2011. Phillips says he is running as an independent voice. In a debate on KGET-TV this month he said, “for too long career politicians have run unopposed” in this area. He claims McCarthy is “part of the problem” in the gridlock of Washington, D.C. and that the district needs focus on local concerns.
Incumbent McCarthy is reported by The Bakersfield Californian to have a “100 to 1” advantage over Phillips in raising campaign funds. Both candidates have been invited.
Phillips has confirmed he will be there. McCarthy’s staff has had seven contacts with the hosts but has not yet given a firm reply. The public is encouraged to come join in the event and welcome the candidates who come to meet our community.
—P. Hedlund
This is part of the October 26, 2012 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.
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