Tubbs, Miller square off during a Vallejo debate Thursday in District 7 race

Amid a noisy, sometimes, raucous crowd, 7th Congressional District candidates George Miller and Rick Tubbs faced off Thursday at the Vallejo Naval and Historical Museum.

Candidates for state Senate District 2, incumbent Noreen Evans and challenger Lawrence Wiesner; and District 7 Assembly candidates newcomers Michael Allen and Doris Gentry also spoke and answered questions during the four-hour event.

But the Miller-Tubbs debate, by far, drew the most heat as candidates answered questions on job creation, the war in Afghanistan, Social Security, and dismantling Mothball Fleet ships, among other issues.

While Miller said he strongly supports the recent health care reform package, Tubbs said he would work to repeal it, and branded it as too expensive and bureaucratic.

Tubbs also criticized Congress for not doing more to ensure Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet ships are dismantled locally rather than being shipped to Texas.

But Miller said the ships went to Texas because no private local company, up until now, was interested in bidding on them. Recently, Allied Defense Recycling said it was close to securing clearance to bid on two recycling contracts with work to be done on Mare Island.

Teacher Voting For Tubbs said:

I watched the debate yesterday between Rick Tubbs and George Miller. I was APPALLED to hear George Miller laugh and belittle the military on multiple occassions. I was grieved to hear that Mr. Miller only supports those SEIU members who are voting for him. It was clear the iron workers who are supporting Mr. Tubbs were hurt to hear their congressman discredit their hard work and hard efforts.

I sat on Mr. Miller’s side, still thinking at some point my congressman, that the teacher’s union supports will show me in some way that he is something more than an arrogant, out of touch, angry man. Instead, when asked why the voters should vote for him, he began with “I deserve to be re-elected”. I am sorry, Mr. Miller, no one on this earth DESERVES anything. We, as Americans, work every day to earn respect, honor and the positions we work for. We do not DESERVE to hold our jobs. Mr. Miller has done nothing to DESERVE to hold his job except pander to the big unions.

The 8 people sitting on either side of me and in front and in back of me were NOT EVEN FROM DISTRICT 7. They were people who were from a union hall in San Fransisco that George Miller told to come and take the seats to show he has support! So, those cheering will not even be able to vote for Miller.

I watched as Rick Tubbs walked over to our Miller side of the room. People were clearly rude to him, including the head of the SEIU who refused to shake his hand. George Miller COMPLETELY IGNORED the Tubbs side of the room, not acknowledging them or reaching out to them at all!

I was impressed to see so many people on the Miller side after the debate stand up and say they were voting for Rick Tubbs. I must count myself in as one who is solidly voting for Rick Tubbs. The teacher’s union is wrong on this one. They should be supporting the man who cares for the children and who will support the teacher’s ideas to fix the public school system.

Never again will I sit on the Miller side unless I am wearing one of those neat Team Tubbs t-shirts to let Rick Tubbs know I fully support his leadership and to let George Miller know it is time for him to retire since he believes no one should be working after 65-—um, hello, time to retire, George!

Congressional District 7 has the shape of a “Bonsai” tree. This shape has been created by Mr. Miller and his political potentate's to keep him in office.
He has served for 35+ years and we have no energy policy to get us off foreign oil even though he was elected when there was an oil shortage. He came to Benicia and several teachers were questioning him on “No Child Left Behind”. He blew them off and did not want to address it. He only wanted to talk about the Iraq War. He voted for it and then he was against it. Sounds a little like John Kerry doesn't it. He came to Vallejo to talk about Social Security and the newspaper said if we wanted to know more about his plan, we could go to an email address which was posted. I sent an email to the posted address and the only response I received was in reference to a press release which only contained a bunch of talking points. Any third grader could have written these on 3X5 cards. I was very disappointed his staff's response to this matter. As a retired school teacher and a retired Marine Corps Officer, I know what a plan is. It is a detailed approach to how you are going to solve a problem or carry on an operation. It is usually written in such detail as not to leave out anything and then it is checked by a group called staff. He does not have a staff, just a bunch of morons like himself.
He was in office when Jimmy Carter destroyed social security by enacting SSI. This allowed all of the immigrates at the time to be eligible for social security benefits even though they never paid into it.
He was there when Jimmy Carter established the Department of Education with 55,000 people in it. This is a department which was never need. Education worked better when money was distribute to the states under the National Defense Education Act. After all we put man on the moon under this act and improved the teaching of math and science. Ever since this act was passed, education has gone to hell in a hat bag. Why, because the federal government forces the states to come up with worthless programs like multicultural education which has destroyed the teaching of the social sciences. It has come with the Title One program which has been a rob Peter to pay Paul disaster. Any child who is behind is not going to get ahead by being pulled out of the classroom to go play games with a reading specialist or math specialist. Most children serviced by this program continued in this program throughout their entire educational experience. This program was a disaster from the start. It did not address over placement of a child in the educational system. It did not address the maturity of the child for material being taught. Once a child entered the program, many stayed in it during all of their public school years. The money should have been just given to the states along with the money to create a bureaucracy with 55,000 employees in it. After all, education is a states rights issue not a federal issue.
Oh, and don't we love the California Teachers Association and their political endorsements. This organization in Burlinggame gets anywhere from $800 to $1,000 a year to represent the teachers. Maybe teachers should start a tea party against this group. They are surely not getting the representation in which they are paying for. If one calls them, they usually get “Hi, I am away from my phone or on another line at the moment”. My interpretation of this is “I am on a coffee break”. The CTA is nothing but a money eater upper which has provided job justification for its staff.
Yes, Mr. Miller needs to go. We cannot continue his 35+ years in the Washington, DC cocktail party at tax payer expense,

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