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Carr vs. Lieu: The Democrat and Republican vying to claim Waxman’s legacy

“Do you support boots-on-the-ground in Iraq?”
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October 29, 2014

“Do you support boots-on-the-ground in Iraq?” 

KPCC talk-show host Larry Mantle asked this question of Republican Elan Carr and Democrat Ted Lieu, opponents in the race to succeed longtime U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman in California’s 33rd Congressional District, a heavily Jewish region that encompasses West Los Angeles.  

The question came during the foreign policy segment of a debate on Oct. 22 at The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, moderated by Mantle and Dan Schnur, executive director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at the University of Southern California. Sponsored by Federation and the American Jewish Committee, it was broadcast in part on KPCC on Oct. 23. 

Mantle’s question highlighted the fact that both candidates have served in the military, and both have strong stances on issues related to the Middle East.   

Carr, now a Los Angeles County deputy district attorney, said his experience in Iraq serving in an anti-terrorist team in the U.S. Army during the Iraq War informs his belief that the best way handle the threat of ISIS is to engage the tribal chiefs of the region. 

Lieu, a member of the California State Senate and a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserves, served in the Air Force as a member of the legal entity known as the Judge Advocate General’s branch. Lieu responded to Mantle’s question by saying he would not support deployment of ground troops under any circumstances, even if ISIS were to expand and become an even more serious threat to U.S. national security than it is now. 

“We will never solve the problems in the Middle East as long as Iran, the chief threat to peace and security in the world today, continues to threaten the Arab World, Israel and the United States,” Carr said, garnering applause. 

Lieu echoed these remarks. “I will do everything I can to make sure Iran does not get nuclear weapons. I think that is one of the highest priorities that the U.S. foreign policy should have,” he said. Again, the audience applauded. 

Both candidates also expressed unequivocal support for the Jewish state. 

Carr denounced instances of the U.S. government criticizing Israel in the media and said support for Israel needs to be a “core principle of U.S. foreign policy” regardless of who is in power in Israel. 

As widely reported, the relationship between President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not always been smooth. 

Carr is Jewish and served as 71st supreme master of the Alpha Epsilon Pi Jewish college fraternity movement. At the debate he called the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement targeting Israel “anti-Semitism, plain and simple.”

Lieu, for his part, called BDS “offensive and factually wrong.”

The two men differed, however, with regard to Israeli settlements. Lieu, a supporter of a two-state solution, when pressed by Mantle agreed that construction of addtitional settlements make peace more difficult between Israelis and Palestinians, while Carr, whose Iraq-born mother immigrated to the U.S. from Israel, believes the Palestinians themselves are the greatest obstacle to achieving peace in the embattled region. 

At the debate, the candidates also discussed Los Angeles’ transportation issues and social service concerns, such as women’s reproductive health care.

The debate, which took place at Federation’s 6505 Wilshire Blvd. headquarters, lasted more than an hour and drew more than 100 attendees. 

Mantle asked from the beginning that the candidates respond to questions as directly and specifically as possible. The tone throughout was civil, with hardly any quips and no personal attacks between the two candidates. 

Carr, if elected, would become the only Jewish Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives, a status formerly held by Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, who was defeated in a primary in June. 

The candidates’ differences on domestic policies also came across in a discussion about the federal minimum wage. A question by Schnur kicked off the debate. 

“If elected to Congress, would you vote to increase the federal minimum wage of $7.50 an hour? [The figure is actually $7.25 an hour.] If so, what do you believe the minimum wage should be raised to? If not, what alternative plans do you have to improve the economic status of low-wage workers?” Schnur asked.

Lieu, a supporter of a federal minimum wage increase, said the country needs to address income inequality between the rich and the poor. He promised to “support the Obama administration’s [proposed] minimum wage increase [to] $10.10.”

“I absolutely support a minimum wage increase now,” the Democratic candidate said. 

Lieu also said that as a state senator he voted in support of California’s latest minimum wage increase, which raised the minimum from $8 to $9. The California minimum is set to rise to $10 in 2016, and Lieu supports this, as well, he said. 

Carr, who does not support a federal minimum wage increase, said he would focus on strengthening the private sector. 

“My fear is if we raise the minimum wage now, we will in effect prevent the growth of the opportunities to employ Americans and we will have greater unemployment. So I think it is critical that we grow our private sector — that is the way to employ more Americans and to lift the wages of all Americans,” the Republican candidate said. 

Regarding the environment, Lieu spoke out against the process of hydraulic fracturing, known as fracking, and the audience applauded his claim that he has supported a statewide moratorium in California on this practice of drilling into rocks and using explosive devices to release natural gas from the earth.

Carr’s said he supports fracking as long as it does not pose a threat to the environment.

“We [don’t] have to make a false choice between smart business decisions and the environment. I have yet to meet an environmentalist who doesn’t want a good job and good wage, and I have yet to meet a small-business owner who doesn’t want to breathe clean air and drink clear water,” Carr said.

Challenging Carr, Mantle said that fracking has led to water contamination and other “byproducts.” 

Mantle also said to Lieu that there have been instances of fracking in California, such as drilling that is happening in Baldwin Hills, that, studies show, have not caused any environmental damage. 

“There’s no 100 percent certainty in life,” Carr said concerning the various views of fracking’s environmental impact. 

Both candidates spoke of their support for comprehensive immigration reform.

Carr, calling for a “sensible and humane approach to the many undocumented residents who are here in this country,” also said border security is not an immigration issue, but a public safety concern. 

“I think there’s no better example of the broken hyper-partisanship in Washington than that this problem hasn’t been fixed,” said Carr, who describes himself as a moderate Republican.

Lieu placed some of the blame for the lack of the progress with immigration reform on House Speaker John Boehner.

“This [reform] package is now in the House of Representatives, and it will pass with bipartisan support. Unfortunately, Speaker Boehner has been captured by the Tea Party — he won’t put it up for a floor vote,” Lieu said. “As a member of Congress, I will keep fighting to make sure that he puts that to a floor vote, and once he does, we will have comprehensive immigration reform in America.”

Touting his experience in Sacramento, Lieu said that last year he supported California’s passage of the Trust Act, which limits local law enforcement from holding or deporting undocumented immigrants when arrested or convicted of minor crimes. 

More than once, Mantle asked Carr how he would pay for all the new programs and increased funding he supports, which includes increased housing for veterans. Carr responded that there isn’t money for everything, and that that is the problem. 

But while Carr occasionally seemed somewhat fumbling in his answers, Lieu lacked Carr’s animated disposition. Unlike Carr, who provided emotional, if not always fully developed responses to the moderators’ questions, Lieu appeared more rote in his responses.

On local issues, the candidates discussed the planned high-speed rail system from Los Angeles to San Francisco.

“The high-speed rail, we cannot afford it now. I hope we can afford it in the future,” Carr said. Lieu said he supports the use of federal dollars “to help upgrade mass transit all across California.” 

In a discussion of health care, Lieu also said he supports “full federal funding of abortions,” while Carr, who is pro-choice, said he is against taxpayer money going toward the medical practice.

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For the Record:

An incorrect reference to Ted Lieu's position on Israeli's settlements has been corrected.  The story should have said that Lieu agreed, when pressed by the moderator Larry Mantle, that the building of settlements make it more difficult to achieve peace.

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