Rep. Lois Capps and Abel Maldonado head to head in public forum

Posted: Sep 24, 2012 11:54 PM by Christina Jensen, KSBY News
Updated: Sep 25, 2012 10:12 AM

Democratic incumbent Congresswoman Lois Capps faced off with her Republican challenger, Former Lt. Governor Abel Maldonado Monday.

The two debated at a forum in Lompoc on everything from health care, immigration reform, the economy, to what their top priorities are should they get the nod from voters. Here is what both candidates had to say on the economy and what their number one priority will be if elected.

"For the first two years, I'm going to focus on everything that I can within my power to create jobs and put the economy back on track, and if the Democrats have a good idea then I'm going to vote for that idea, if they have a bad idea then I will vote no on that idea," said Maldonado.

"And the policies that will stimulate the economy are what put people back to work, that's what people are telling me, so those are targeted investments in infrastructure, and getting clean energy to the forefront, finding jobs in that area and high-tech research and development so we can get the high-skilled jobs in this area that can put our best minds to work again," said Representative Capps.

"Jobs, jobs, jobs. That is my number one priority, growing the economy and if there's a piece of legislation that creates jobs, Maldonado will be voting aye and if there's a piece of legislation that hurts the economy, I will be voting no, and we need to stop some of these regulations that are so costly to businesses. They just push them out of there. 41,000 pages. 1.7 trillion dollars worth of regulations coming out of Washington," said Maldonado.

"We need to get small businesses the kind of support that is needed now in this tough time. As my opponent said, it's tough to hire when you're a small business in this kind of economy so I voted 18 times to tax cuts for small businesses to make it more affordable for them to get out there and do that hiring," said Capps.

The 24th Congressional District covers all of San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties and a small portion of Ventura County.

The election will be held Tuesday November 6, 2012.