Senate candidates Boxer, Fiorina spar in debate

Republican Senate candidate Carly Fiorina and Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer sought to draw contrasts between each other during a lively one-hour debate at St. Mary’s College in Moraga Wednesday evening, with the candidates sparring on the economy, global warming, social issues, and national security.

Fiorina painted her opponent as ineffective and excessively partisan in nearly three decades in Washington, while Boxer attacked Fiorina’s record as CEO of tech giant Hewlett-Packard.

Candidates disagree on how to fix economy

“Recovery summer has become the summer of despair in California,” Fiorina said, saying the stimulus bill has “manifestly failed” at bringing the high unemployment rate down.

Boxer, however, defended the stimulus, pointing to stimulus-funded projects such as the Doyle Drive retrofit in San Francisco, which she said had created 2,000 jobs.

Boxer touted Democratic-backed legislation, such as a $26 billion measure to help states retain teachers and a package of loans and tax breaks for small businesses currently pending in the Senate, and blasted Fiorina for opposing those measures.

“What’s more important than our children?” Boxer asked, pointing to the more than 16,000 teachers who have received pink slips in California.

But Fiorina called the school aid measure “political football with taxpayers’ money,” saying that its impact was unlikely to be felt until 2012.

Fiorina argued that high taxes and excessive regulation were “strangling” business, and promoted tax credits for businesses to create jobs and an extension of the Bush tax cuts, which are set to expire at the end of this year. “We have to fight for every job,” Fiorina said, saying that China and other countries are creating economic growth by giving companies “huge tax credits” and reducing red tape.

Fiorina refuses to take a stand on measure to suspend global warming legislation

Asked about global warming, Fiorina said her goal was “a national and comprehensive energy bill.” She said cap-and-trade legislation written by Boxer and Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) was on “completely the wrong track,” saying that it “punish[es] excessively” industries such as farming and manufacturing. She argued that the focus of energy legislation should be on funding clean energy research and “taking advantage” of every energy source available — including nuclear power.

Fiorina criticized AB 32, California’s law limiting greenhouse gas emissions, calling it “in the short term, a job killer” and saying a “global” solution to global warming was needed.

But when pressed by debate moderator Randy Shandobil of KTVU television on whether she would support Proposition 23, a measure on the November ballot which would suspend AB 32 until the state’s unemployment rate drops to 5.5%, she said she had no position on the measure.

Boxer pounced on Fiorina’s indecision. “If you can’t take a stand on Prop 23, I don’t know what you’ll take a stand on,” she told Fiorina. Boxer strongly backed AB 32, saying California risked giving away the technological lead on clean energy to other countries if the measure were to be overturned.

Boxer, Fiorina attack each others’ records

Boxer attacked Fiorina’s tenure as CEO of Hewlett-Packard, saying that she “laid off 30,000 employees and shipped jobs to China” while making more than $100 million. “I don’t think we need those Wall Street values right now,” she said.

But Fiorina defended her record as HP CEO, saying that business leaders “sometimes have to make the agonizing choice to lose some jobs to save more.” She said that she doubled the size of the company during the “worst technology recession” in 25 years.

Fiorina said Boxer’s record “is long and talk and very short on achievement,” and called her one of the “most bitterly partisan members” of the Senate. She claimed Boxer had written only four bills in three terms as a senator, and said that the Democratic leadership had taken global warming legislation out of her control and given it to Kerry because they felt she was too partisan to manage the bill.

Boxer, however, countered by saying that “a thousand Boxer provisions” had become law and that she had co-sponsored more than “500 Republican bills.”

Candidates questioned on gay rights, guns, and abortion

Fiorina criticized the recent ruling by a federal judge overturning Proposition 8, California’s voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage. “The voters were quite clear,” she said. “For that decision to be overturned by a single judge perhaps seems not appropriate.”

Fiorina pointed out that she supports same-sex civil unions and the repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy prohibiting gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military, calling her positions “consistent” with those taken by President Obama and many other senators.

Boxer defended the ruling overturning Proposition 8. “We do have courts that check the legislature [...] that’s what our Constitution says,” she said. Boxer said that she thought that “people are coming around” to support same-sex marriage.

When asked directly whether she would choose to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision prohibiting the banning of abortion, Fiorina said she would, though she said she wasn’t “running” on the issue. Boxer said Fiorina’s stance would turn women into “criminals.”

Asked about a debate during the Republican primary in which she said she would support allowing those on the no-fly list to acquire guns, Fiorina said she stood by those remarks. “My sister-in-law was on the no-fly list,” Fiorina said, arguing that the list is poorly managed. “We should not be taking away constitutional rights from citizens.”

Fiorina also supported the lifting of the ban on assault weapons, calling the classification of weapons as assault weapons arbitrary. “Most of the time, criminals are breaking [existing gun control] laws” when acquiring weapons, she said, calling for enforcement of existing gun laws.

Boxer called Fiorina “out of step” with California voters on the issue.

Wednesday’s debate, sponsored by KTVU, the San Francisco Chronicle, and KQED, could be the only one of the campaign, though both candidates say they would like to have more debates. California voters go to the polls November 2.

Contact Steven Luo at sluo@californiabeat.org.