The $45 I spent to eat lunch at a WiFi-free zone inside the Hyatt while watching Buck McKeon and Lee Rogers debate was probably the best money I've spent all year.
Yes it was that good- from the food, the company, the moderator the panelists and the performance of the candidates themselves, this was high quality political infotainment.
I feel VIA & the Chamber pulled off a great event, and aside from the fact that the Hyatt has no public wifi (in 2012!), the criticism leading up to this event was in retrospect, unfair. On the panel we had Gary Horton, left-leaning Signal columnist and friend of McKeon, Timm Herdt, noted VeCo Star Sacramento columnist, and Dennis Anderson, a bald gruff-voiced newspaperman from the Antelope Valley. Each questioner got 20 minutes to ask questions; Horton led with some wide-ranging questions that let the candidates warm up, while Herdt zeroed in on Simi & National issues. Anderson asked the toughest questions, even interrupting the candidates while they were delivering answers and pushing them to deliver specifics.
So who won? In my view, Lee Rogers delivered several solid shots while McKeon's defenses were feeble. It was no contest; Rogers walked away with this one and got under McKeon's skin to boot.
It was clear from the start of the debate that McKeon was on defense and Rogers on offense. McKeon opened with a statement saying how proud he was to represent the 25th District, listing off his accomplishments in the SCV and closing by saying that his opponent had engaged in "mudslinging."
But Rogers punched back early and hard, saying in his opening statement that "It's not mudslinging. It's your record. And if you don't want to talk about it, maybe you shouldn't give me so much material."
At this at least half the crowd erupted in laughter & applause, which clearly flustered McKeon. I've seen the man several times in public but never seen him turn so red or twitch his mouth in such a way. Clearly Rogers got under his skin several times during the debate.
McKeon's only real attacks came in response to Rogers' criticisms that McKeon was an ineffective legislator for the 25th. McKeon repeated several times that Rogers was just ignorant about how bills are made and deals negotiated, that if he really knew how Congress worked, he, and the rest of us, would be more understanding about why he couldn't get a Cemex bill passed and why he voted for Sequestration.
Rogers parried this attack into a strength, making his lack of government experience a positive. "If I appear angry, it's because I am," he said. "I feel we are not being represented well in Washington." Essentially Rogers played the outsider card, saying he had to run because our representation in Washington was so poor.
On the Countrywide scandal, which Timm Herdt queried the candidates on, McKeon had no real answer other than to point to the analysis of a local SCV mortgage banker that said McKeon received no special deals. You'll recall this article; GOP stalwart Steve Petzold even lent his name to an op/ed refuting it saying McKeon wasn't being totally honest.
On Cemex, Horton asked what McKeon's ideal outcome from the dispute would be. McKeon said he'd just like to see the Soledad gravel mine "go away." At this, Rogers pounced, asking why McKeon 1) had ever voted for rules to end earmarks in the House, and 2) had never tried to get a real bill passed during the years when Republicans controlled the House, Senate, and White House.
Late in the debate, Dennis Anderson asked the candidates to summarize their positions on the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare. McKeon pushed the GOP line that Obamacare amounts to a Government takeover of healthcare, and that it would add $1 trillion to the debt and result in the government getting between patients and their doctors.
Rogers, an actual physician, responded by saying he agreed that the government shouldn't get between patients and doctors, but that in reality, it's insurance companies and device makers that get between patients and their doctors. And besides, Rogers said, if you don't want the government to get between patients and their doctors, you shouldn't vote for a guy who wants to insert the government between women and their physicians on so many issues like birth control and reproductive rights.
Rogers had a sharp and even witty answer for every one of McKeon's attacks and claims. When the debate moved towards defense spending, Rogers tagged McKeon on his vote for the sequestration bill.
And all throughout, Rogers kept reminding the audience of McKeon's ethical and judgment lapses, saying he has better judgment than our 9 Term Congressman.
By the close of the debate, Rogers was citing example after example of McKeon's tendency to self-enrich (including the thousands in campaign contributions he pays to family members), to the point where McKeon accused Rogers' wife of receiving unemployment benefits. The accusation fell flat with the crowd, and the debate ended soon after.
This was one for the ages. We haven't seen a competitor like Rogers in at least a decade in Santa Clarita and he clearly made McKeon sweat today.
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