Democratic candidates for governor disagree on charter schools, single-payer health care

Oct. 25--SAN FRANCISCO -- The four Democrats running to be the next governor of California disagreed about whether the state needs more charter schools and how to achieve single-payer health care in a debate on Tuesday.

But Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, former Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, state Treasurer John Chiang and former state Superintendent of Public Education Delaine Eastin seemed to agree on many issues -- from affordable housing construction to climate change -- at a forum at the City Club sponsored by the San Francisco Chronicle.

The candidates also voiced support for some reforms to Proposition 13, the landmark 1978 ballot measure that limits property taxes and requires a two-thirds vote in the Legislature to raise taxes. But while all the candidates in the debate -- the second in three days -- agreed on universal health care as a concept, they disagreed on the specifics.

Newsom and Eastin said they supported moving forward with a single-payer health care plan passed this year by the state Senate, while Villaraigosa and Chiang voiced concerns about how realistic that proposal is.

"It's the most cost-effective way to deliver completely universal health care to all the uninsured," Newsom said of a single-payer system, while acknowledging that Senate Bill 562 is "imperfect."

But Villaraigosa argued that it would be unrealistic for Californians to expect President Donald Trump's administration to grant a waiver to the state to allow it to pursue its own single-payer system.

"Pie in the sky doesn't put food on the table," Villaraigosa said. "It's snake oil."

Chiang focused on the high cost of the single-payer plan, saying that the state budget couldn't support it and a more incremental system would make more sense. "It's very underdeveloped," he said of the proposal championed by the California Nurses Association, noting that he backs Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders' "Medicare-for-all" proposal nationally.

Another of the few dividing lines on Tuesday were the issues of charter schools and teacher tenure. Eastin supports a moratorium on charters, and Newsom -- who has been endorsed by California Teachers Association -- called for hiring more teachers, while Villaraigosa characterized the state education system as broken and Chiang called for more accountability.

"The biggest crisis we have is the demoralization of our teachers," Newsom said, arguing that the state was facing a severe teacher shortage.

Eastin agreed, while calling for universal pre-kindergarten education and making kindergarten mandatory.

"We ought to be looking our teachers in the eye and say, 'Thank you for taking the most important job in America,"' she said.

Villaraigosa, who stressed his record in Los Angeles fighting for more charters, said he supported an effort to make it more difficult for teachers to get tenure.

"I didn't get the teachers union's support because their number one issue is stopping charters," Villaraigosa said, saying he thought parents deserved more choice in their kids' schools.

The candidates had different ideas for how to address homelessness in the state.

Newsom said he would appoint a new "secretary of homelessness" who would report directly to the governor, while Eastin stressed the need for more mental health care. Villaraigosa urged new policies allowing affordable housing and homeless shelters to be built with exemptions from strict state environmental reviews, like other development projects receive.

"If you can get (an exemption) for a football stadium, why not housing for the homeless?" he asked.

All the candidates also said they supported California's recently passed "sanctuary state" bill, which in many cases will prevent police and sheriff's deputies from cooperating with federal immigration authorities. "We need to make sure we protect those who are doing the right thing," Chiang said.

All four candidates supported funding for the state's high-speed rail project, although Eastin qualified her support.

"I don't think we should build it until we have Cadillac schools," she said.

The bullet train, she added, is "going to be for the richest people to travel on."

While the debate was friendly, Villaraigosa did take a few muted shots at Newsom, his fellow former big-city mayor.

After Newsom said he wasn't "attaching himself" to a tax reform proposal, Villaraigosa said: "When you run for governor, that's what you have to do."

And when Newsom described his own proposal to build 3.5 million new units of housing as "audacious," Villaraigosa said that the number "isn't audacious -- it came from the McKinsey Institute just a few months ago."

Newsom is the clear frontrunner in the race -- he's led every statewide poll, is ahead in fundraising, and has won the endorsement of four major state unions.

Two Republicans, businessman John Cox and state Assemblyman Travis Allen, are also running for governor, but they weren't invited to the forum on Tuesday because the Chronicle hopes to have a separate forum for the GOP candidates.

The top two candidates in the June 2018 primary will advance to the November general election regardless of party.

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