Oakland Tribune: Low-profile candidates hit the airwaves

WALNUT CREEK -- We're not big league players -- but wouldn't it be awesome if we could change the rules of the game?

Such was the Ralph Nader-esque common ground bridged Friday by five diverse, lesser-known gubernatorial recall candidates at the Embassy Suites Hotel -- where a 90-minute debate and discussion forum for the election's underdogs was held.

The sparsely attended event was organized by Family Digest -- an East Bay magazine headed by an independent candidate from Danville, Darryl Mobley.

Along with Mobley, other participants included Republican Jon Zellhoefer of San Jose, Democrat Jonathon Miller of San Mateo, Democrat Cheryl Bly-Chester of Roseville and Ned Roscoe, the Libertarian candidate from Napa.

While organizers say the debate was open to all recall candidates, only the lesser-knowns turned out for Friday's event -- whose audience and media coverage paled in comparison to the debate between higher-profile candidates Wednesday in Walnut Creek.

Friday's attendees presented their diverse strategies on how to fix economic, energy, and government-related problems in California.

Despite varying opinions, some unifying ideologies emerged.

"This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to vote politics out of government and start taking care of business," said Bly-Chester.I am not influenced by big business or locked into any political party. I can make my own decisions.

While most of the candidates conceded they didn't have much of a chance at victory in the recall election, they all expressed hope for change in the future.

"Frankly I'd like to see one of the lesser-known candidates win. But if Davis doesn't get booted, he'll have six months to turn himself into the perfect guy. And if he doesn't we'll be right back on his tail," re.

"I'll be back. It may take five or six times to do this, but voters are going to figure it out."

The candidates expressed mutual disdain for waste of state funds and party politics they say have gotten in the way of progress.

"I don't need lawyers to tell me that taking huge campaign contributions from companies is wrong," said Mobley, co-founder and president of Family Digest, a magazine that addresses African- American social issues.

"If (the state) spent money on the right things, we'd be swimming in glory right now, and we're not."

As governor, Mobley says he would give up half his salary until the economy improved.

Like Zellhoefer, he advocates promoting California to outside businesses as a possible economic strategy and sending out feelers to educational systems in other parts of the country.

"If you're a losing football team, you look to the winning teams to find a play that works," Mobley remarked.

Roscoe, the self-proclaimed Smokers Party candidate who endorses ending "abusive and restricted taxation of cigarette smokers" said his key attributes -- optimism, trustworthiness, and practicality -- set him apart from most of the leaders in Sacramento.

"Californians all pay too much in taxes. They want no new, stupid laws. They want somebody to get the work done."

Of all the candidates, only software company owner Jonathan Miller, said he favored keeping Gov. Davis in office.

"The truth is California's problems aren't going to be fixed by a few sound bytes...The last thing we need is to rock the boat at this time," said Miller, who pointed out that strong "ideologies" would not be enough to address the state's complex issues.

But Miller did criticize candidate Arianna Huffington for "sticking it to businesses" by suggesting tax increases on commercial properties.

As governor, Miller said he would stimulate the economy by proposing a six month reprieve on state income taxes for all rehired workers who are currently receiving unexmployment benefits.

Doing so would encourage businesses to hire more people, he argued.

Along with Bly-Chester -- who favors reducing "regulatory overburdens" on businesses, Miller advocates promotion of solar power and limited dependence on foreign oil.

The candidates criticized candidate Cruz Bustamante for failing to improve California's business climate as Lieutenant Governor, and charged participants in Wednesday's debate with addressing "irrelevant, soft" issues, such as the death penalty.

"We're going to continue to try and stage as many forums like this as possible from now until the election," remarked Zellhoefer, who says he hopes to organize a debate at UCLA before Oct. 7.

"Lesser known candidates get more press as a group," he added.

The candidates said they hoped more members of the public would seek out their individual Web sites -- a lesser known candidate's primary means of communicating his strategies on "real issues," Zellhoefer said.

Rejecting Miller's argument that Gov. Davis should remain in office, Mobley -- who advocates encouraging factories and other businesses to set up shop in inner cities to stimulate the economy there -- said in his closing speech, "(Retaining Davis) would be like going to the blackjack table and losing again and again and saying, I won't go to that other table because I'll get cheated. We're already being cheated."