Posted on 07/08/2011 11:36:09 AM PDT by Beaten Valve
Heading into its final weekend, an already nasty race for a South Bay congressional seat became uglier Thursday even before the candidates met in their only face-to-face discussion of the campaign.
Democratic Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn and Republican Craig Huey debated - and traded barbs - as they appeared on "AirTalk" on KPCC-FM 89.3.
Both mostly stuck to well-honed campaign messages; Hahn to her plan to bring government-subsidized "green" jobs to the district while tackling the deficit by bringing troops home from conflicts overseas and letting tax cuts expire for wealthy Americans, Huey to taking on federal spending, taxes and regulations he views as harmful to businesses.
Huey ridiculed Hahn's jobs ideas as "fantasy economics" and warned multiple times of a coming "economic catastrophe." Hahn accused Huey, a businessman who has pumped about $800,000 of his own money into his campaign, of protecting "millionaires and billionaires" to the detriment of seniors and the needy.
The contest's first debate came as the National Republican Congressional Committee pushed "new evidence" reported in a Wednesday night news broadcast rehashing a discredited Fox 11 report from 2008 that accused Hahn of using her influence to get a gang-connected criminal out of jail and funneling tax dollars to active gang members under the auspices of gang intervention programs. Hahn vigorously denied the allegations Thursday and said she did not help release the man in question.
"This person's wife was very distraught one day, and she came into my City Council office and was very concerned about why her husband was arrested," she said.
"The only call I ever made, was just to say, `What was the purpose of the arrest of this person?"'
Huey campaign consultant Dave Gilliard accused Hahn of not telling the truth.
"We think she's been lying about this program ever since the story broke," Gilliard said.
Huey himself took a more conciliatory approach, saying he takes what Hahn said at "face value."
Huey did reveal that his team was thinking of ways to use the 3-year-old report prior to the story being introduced into the race through a widely panned, third-party viral video.
Late last month, Huey canvassers began leaving DVDs of the Fox 11 report at residences.
The runoff election to replace former Democratic Rep. Jane Harman is July 12.
She panders to unions, illegals, and welfare recipients.
I'll never forget when she openly chided WALMART for only donating $10,000 to a community group after they opened a new store in her district.
Her district is right next door to Maxine Waters', so she'll fit right in if she gets elected...
With a few exceptions, California in general is a lost cause. Thats why I left 7 years ago.
She’s running some pretty ugly commercials here, all comparing Huey to Palin. But it worked for Boxer.
She is a lefty nutbag, who parrot the Axelrod-WH bullsh*t lines of green jobs, class envy and welfare/Mexican pandering for votes.
She is the problem. She hates responsibility and loves dependence, it’s what keeps her job, like every other Liberal.
Any polling?
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