When and where was that photo taken?

Ms Lutness, have you solicited for or accepted donations directly from gambling interests? Would you do so during your campaign?

If elected would you support or oppose the concept of the extension of "tribal sovereignty" outside reservation lands and into cities and unincorporated portions of the state?

1. Do you have a Myspace or Facebook account? If you do please post the
links to them.
I use my website, www.Lutness4Assembly.com. It has my e-mail address if
people want to write to me.

2. Do you have any plans to work with the Hannah-Beth Jackson campaign
in the precincts that overlap between you two?
We walk/phone for all Democratic candidates. Hannah Beth Jackson will make an
outstanding State Senator from the 19SD. She and I share 35,000 voters.

3. I saw your pictures with Dennis Kucinich. Do you support his move to
start the impeachment process against the Bush Administration?
You might notice on my website that I have my picture with most of the
Democratic presidential hopefuls. (my picture with Hillary didn't turn
out) I really admire Dennis Kucinich's courage and integrity but I
understand Nancy Pelosi's argument as well - that we shouldn't be using up
our time in an impeachment proceeding like the Republicans did in their
senseless and futile attempt to destroy Bill Clinton. I really agree
with Kucinich (and millions of others) who believes that Bush & CO. have misrepresented many issues including the existence of weapons of mass destruction and the illegal disclosure of intelligence officer’s identity for political reasons (the Valerie Plame affair). His administration has taken us down a path that most Americas do not respect, including the use of torture and government surveillance of our citizens.. I think the impeachment hearing is
part of a "truth and reconciliation" effort to expose this administration's terrible abuse of power and betrayal of the American people. While I think impeachment should be an option, I don't think it is going to happen.

4. Who is more conservative, Tony Strickland or Cameron Smyth?
Cameron Smyth has the reputation of at least being a person with whom issues can be discussed, but his legislative record has been notably unremarkable these last two years. When it comes to real issues such as resolving the budget crisis in Sacramento, he consistently votes with Tony Strickland. His voting record report card is demonstrates lack of concern for the environment, schools, and health care and election reform. He gets an "F" from public interest watchdog groups such as the Consumer Federation of California, the League of Conservation Voters, CalPirg and the American Federation of Labor. His only passing grades are those so called public interest groups that purportedly evaluate his votes about taxes. Such “public
interest groups� are often funded by big corporations in order to persuade the public into thinking they are looking after their pocket book when in fact they only care about their own bottom line.

5. How do you think Cameron Smyth did when he was on the Santa Clarita
City Council? He has the reputation of "going along to get a long." I can't remember him ever championing any issue of substance and he certainly voted for the developer's interests while on City Council.

6. When is the next time you plan to attend or hold an event in Simi Valley?
I was out in Camarillo on Tuesday evening and plan to be at the Simi
Farmer's Market on Friday, August 8 in the evening. I have several
other events planned for the Simi area and will let folks know about
this. If anyone would like to host a "meet and greet" or have me speak
at an event I will be happy to do so.

7. Who did you support in the Democratic primaries?
My first choice was John Edward because he was the only candidate really
speaking out forthrightly about the hijacking of our political process
by big corporations and the unspeakable corruption of Big Money on our
system. Then on Jan 8, 2008 in the LA Times I read that the Chair of the
National Chamber of Commerce said that the Chamber would spend $65
million to defeat "any presidential candidate who speaks out against
corporate power." Within a week or so, John was gone and Hillary, Obama
and Huckabee backed off of their corporate corruption message. I then
stood back for a while assessing Obama and Hillary and decided to
support Obama because I believe he has a great capacity to heal our
wounded nation and provide inclusive leadership that really will unite
us as we tackle the perfect storm of environmental, social, political
and economic issue the corporate right is leaving us to clean up.

8. What do you think of the overall level of taxation in California?
Over the last 28 years the tax burden has been shifted from the super
wealthy and corporations to the middle and lower classes. We need to
expect more from those who profit so much from the labor of working people.
We have come to "privatize the profits and socialize the costs." (just
look at these bailouts - the banks and investments houses exploited the system
to the point of financial collapse and now the taxpayer is having to
bail them out - just like during the S&L scandals in the 80s and countless other
examples.)

9. What do you think about the role of faith in politics?
I believe that living a moral, honest and upright life that is grounded
in spiritual principles is vitally important for our leaders. I am
distressed by politicians of all ilks who say, "Well, it's legal so I
can do it." (such as taking money from large corporations - oil, big
pharma, HMO's developers, tobacco, etc.) and then voting their way. It
may be "legal" but is it moral or ethical? We must clean up government
with "Clean Money," public campaign financing, so that the voters know
their representative really represents them and not the special
interests that paid for all their campaign ads. This model is working very well in Arizona, Maine, Connecticut and many other places all over the country.

10. Do you support Same Sex Marriage?
When I was young this question would have read, "Do you support
interracial marriage?" Yes, I support same sex marriage. It is a civil
rights issue. The majority of people in California now believe that
this is a civil rights issue.

11. During the debate over our Constitution would you have been a
Federalist or Anti-Federalist. (Okay, fine, I am out of question) As I wrote the other night, I would have been a Jeffersonian Republican Democrat
(which evolved into the Democratic Party.) Some of their issues are
no longer germane today but the basic issue of who should govern, the
elite, wealthy banking/corporate class (Adams & Hamilton) or We the
People (Jefferson and his followers) is the same issue we have kept
fighting throughout our history. My vote is for "We the People." I
believe in democracy and trust the will of the people.

2 Comments
By Maxwell's Silver Hammer on July 24, 2008 3:30 PM

When and where was that photo taken?

Dear MSH - That photo was taken last year at the California Democratic Convention. Why do you ask?

Do you support higher taxes on gas?

You're being hit by a Denial Of Service effort, Brian. This seems like a trial run but it will get worse as 2010 approaches.