Contenders face off in House race

Opponents for the local congressional election next week offered their views on issues facing the area and the nation, from bipartisanship to gun control.

Both political parties are beholden to special interests and well-funded industry lobbyists, said Los Angeles resident Steve Stokes, who is challenging Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) in the race for the 28th Congressional District, which includes Glendale and Burbank.

Stokes says he has “absolutely no party affiliation,” and registered in March 2014 with no party preference.

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FOR THE RECORD: A previous version of this post incorrectly stated that independent candidate Steve Stokes is registered to vote as a Republican. He is not. Stokes registered in March 2014 with no party preference. He had been registered as a Republican in May 2012, which he said he did to vote in the party’s primary that year.

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Though no polling information was available in the race, Stokes is clearly at a disadvantage in the strongly Democratic district. In addition, recent finance records show Schiff has raised more than $800,000 for the race, while Stokes has less than $7,000 in his campaign chest.

“I believe our future is individuals running as independents,” Stokes said, explaining that he thinks the parties “ignore the views and interests” of individuals in favor of corporate interests.

However, Schiff said he sees his job as primarily about helping everyday Americans, whether it’s constituents who contact his office for help with immigration issues, tax issues or accessing their veterans benefits. The job isn’t just about passing legislation, he said, “it’s a customer service job at the end of the day.”

“That’s the bread and butter part of the job that I think we really excel at,” Schiff said. “We have a very hands-on approach to helping our constituents one family at a time.”

Schiff said his priority is on “getting our economy moving again” by helping small businesses access capital and working to bring manufacturing back to the United States. He said he’s also focused on quality-of-life issues such as preserving open spaces and addressing noise at Bob Hope Airport.

On the issues, Schiff said he and Stokes “were strangely in agreement on most issues” at their Oct. 10 debate in Burbank City Hall, which was sponsored by the League of Women Voters. He said he thought there were only two substantive things they disagree about.

The first is gun control. Schiff said he supports banning automatic weapons and renewing an assault weapons ban as Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has proposed. He said he also supports limits on magazine capacity and a universal background checks system.

Stokes said he supports a universal background check system, so long as it is not used as a backdoor to a gun registry that would track gun owners nationwide.

“If someone is dangerous to themselves or others, they shouldn’t own guns,” Stokes said.

Stokes said he also feels that there should be no restrictions on the types of weapons or magazines that law-abiding Americans can own.

But Schiff said that would be “a step in the wrong direction.”

Schiff said he also disagreed with Stokes on repealing the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which was passed in 2010 to regulate the financial industry in the wake of the Great Recession.

“We’re still not even out of the woods” after the Wall Street meltdown, Schiff said, adding that it’s too early to go back to a “complete laissez-faire” approach to the financial industry.

Stokes, a real estate and mortgage broker, said he supports regulating Wall Street. However, he said Dodd-Frank was “Congress’ dance to show that they were getting tough,” while doing little to rein in big banks and financial institutions and wreaking havoc on small businesses that don’t have the same lobbying clout.

Stokes said he is passionate about another area where he said since 2001, Schiff has voted “item-by-item” the wrong way, beginning with his support of the Patriot Act and including several other bills that Stokes said have infringed on Americans’ civil liberties.

Schiff focused on a different track record, one of bipartisanship and customer service.

“I think we have to place a premium on people [who] can get things done…and have a track record of doing that,” Schiff said. “Others with no track record offer only a roll of the dice.”