The choice for the 24th District representative to Congress was made even more clear following the debate recently between Salud Carbajal and Justin Fareed at the Spanos Theater at Cal Poly. While Mr. Carbajal outlined coherent, meaningful plans to represent the Central Coast in Congress, Mr. Fareed followed in the footsteps of his party’s standard-bearer by evading answers to direct questions and demonstrating his disrespect for his fellow candidate.
When asked about their respective stances on a variety of issues including climate change, gun safety, water policy, women’s right to health care decisions, gender-neutral bathrooms, and the pending closure of Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant, Carbajal provided succinct answers that relayed his opinion and experience working with others, including those of other political parties. In most cases, Fareed skirted answering the questions—even when directly confronted by the moderator. While trying to distance himself from his party’s presidential nominee, Fareed refused to respond to whether or not humans have contributed to climate change; stonewalled on his stance on a woman’s right to govern her own body; and blamed mental health policy for gun proliferation in the same style as his party’s presidential nominee.
Perhaps the most telling moment of the debate was when asked to say something he admired about the other person, Carbajal stated he admired his opponent for taking on the task of running for Congress at a young age, and Fareed said he could say absolutely nothing good about Carbajal. The 24th District needs someone who can accept proven facts, hit issues straight on, and build relationships with other lawmakers. Carbajal is the clear choice for Congress.
This article appears in Nov 3-9, 2016.