BY GUEST COLUMNIST MICHAEL CEREMELLO, FORMER VICE MAYOR AND COUNCILMAN OF THE CITY OF DIXON
The two candidates for the 3rd District Congressional Seat were greeted with a packed council chambers on October 8th hosted by the Dixon Chamber of Commerce. A normally subdued event was quite raucous after a delayed start due to John Garamendi’s admitted mistake about its starting time.
Questions were concentrated on the issues of immigration reform and the economy. Other areas addressed were water resources, the Benghazi coverup, and Obamacare. Even the case of U.S. Marine Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi and California’s Proposition 47 found its way into the debate.
There were plenty of cheers and applause for both, while Garamendi was jeered on several occasions by former military service men for some of his answers. Garamendi followed the liberal mantra of Obamacare’s success, no health problems related to illegal alien immigration, and belief that the economy is recovering. While Garamendi complained about Obama’s avoidance of Congress in declaring war, he gave no hint as to what action would be taken to address the situation.
Logue chastised Garamendi for calling for “comprehensive immigration reform” when the comprehensive immigration reform put in place under Ronald Reagan’s terms were not being enforced. Logue called Obamacare a “disaster” and pointed to an economy under Garamendi’s watch which has the highest rate of poverty and unemployment in US history.
There were a few topics which the two candidates agreed upon, one being arming the Syrian rebels. Both felt the arms provided could be used against the US or Israel rather than against Assad, the leader of Syria. Both also agreed that the Social Security system is necessary while there was a disagreement as to how solvent the fund is.
Logue chose to focus on the lack of citizen trust in government. He quoted Bono of the rock group U2 saying America is an idea and that is what makes it better than any other country.
Garamendi attacked Logue when Logue stated that opportunity is color blind. Garamendi claimed that discrimination is still rampant in America and voters are being deprived of the right to vote by those who would have voter ID.
The large crowd had participants from Fairfield and Vacaville. Dixon’s fire marshall Greg Lewis had to ask the audience to leave if they couldn’t find a seat because of the fire code.
