The views expressed in this section represent a majority vote of the editorial board. The editorial board consists of Vincent Gragnani, Editor in Chief; Bill Burger and Alison Norris, Managing Editors; Jeffey White, Copy Editor; Tom Vu, Opinion Editor; Lauren I. Coartney, News Editor and Robert Fulton, Sports Editor. The endorsements are not necessarily those of the UC Board of Regents, the ASUCSD, nor the entire Guardian staff.
The Guardian endorses Rep. Tom Campbell for the U.S. Senate. Completing his term in the House as a representative of California’s traditionally moderate Silicon Valley, Campbell is a socially liberal, fiscally conservative Republican who is not afraid to buck the party line.
Campbell, like his opponent Sen. Dianne Feinstein, is a committed advocate for women. He completed his doctoral dissertation at the University of Chicago, writing on how women earn less than men in the federal government, and he served on the White House Task Force on Women.
Campbell advocates abortion rights. He firmly supports the Roe v. Wade decision and opposes its reversal in the Supreme Court or by means of a constitutional amendment.
Campbell also has always been a supporter of clean air and water. He voted to protect the Land and Water Conservation Fund, opposes oil exploration and drilling off California’s coast, and was ranked No. 1 in Congress by Green Scissors for cutting the budget in ways that helped the environment. He supports research of cleaner burning fuels and less dependence on crude oil.
Campbell is for local control of education and for giving vouchers to the 10 percent of California’s students in the worst-performing schools to attend nondiscriminating private schools. He is also in favor of the expansion of California’s charter school system.
In contrast with Feinstein, Campbell has taken great care in spending taxpayers’ money.
In the most recent ratings by the Citizens Against Government Waste, Campbell was awarded the status “”Taxpayer Hero,”” its highest category. The same organization rated Feinstein as “”Taxpayer Hostile,”” its lowest category.
The National Taxpayers’ Union rated Campbell the member of Congress least willing to spend taxpayers’ money in 1992, 1997 and 1999. Last year, Feinstein was No. 2 in the Senate in willingness to spend money.
Campbell supports an amendment to the U.S. Constitution mandating that the federal government maintain a balanced budget.
During her 1992 Senate campaign, Feinstein promised she would vote for a balanced-budget amendment — and did, when Democrats controlled the Senate and the amendment had no chance of passage.
When Republicans took over in 1995, Feinstein switched her vote on the amendment, claiming it needed language to “”protect Social Security,”” even though the version for which she had previously voted had no such language.
Campbell opposes partisanship and has voted for a balanced-budget amendment every time it has come up in Congress, no matter which party happened to be in control.
Campbell wants drastic reform of the bloated, unfair and loophole-laden income tax system.
He recommends immediately cutting the capital gains tax in half. By nature, the capital gains tax discourages the selling of assets that have appreciated in value such as homes, real estate and stock. Historically, every capital gains tax cut has resulted in increased economic activity that has more than paid for the cost of the tax cut itself.
Campbell voted to repeal the unfair marriage penalty and death tax. He supports permanent research and development tax credits that allow companies to write off a certain amount of their research and development expenditures. This gives American companies incentive to continue to develop new technologies that will keep the United States at the forefront of innovation, keeping our economy rolling in the future.
The Guardian feels that Campbell is the kind of thoughtful, no-nonsense representation California deserves in the Senate.
Although Feinstein has long been an admirable fighter for women, her wildly exorbitant spending tendencies and partisan behavior, and Campbell’s own commitment to women, make Campbell, in the opinion of the Guardian, the correct choice.
