John Roberts, the Republican councilman from Fontana running against incumbent Rep. Joe Baca in the 43rd District, issued a grim summary of his Democratic opponent's congressional record during a Tuesday interview.
"He takes a lot of credit for a lot of things he doesn't do," Roberts told The Sun's editorial board.
Roberts, 63, said local governments have lobbied Sacramento and Washington, D.C., for improvements along the the 10 Freeway corridor, with minimal support from Baca.
While the economy, energy and health care are critical concerns, homeland security remains the top issue for Roberts.
"I think we're very fortunate that we have not been hit again," he said.
Roberts said the war in Iraq has been handled well as of late, and that he would not support a timetable for troop withdrawal.
He supports a wall along the southern border to protect against terrorists and drug dealers.
Roberts, who was elected to Fontana's City Council in 1992, said personal health-care decisions must be taken out of the hands of insurance companies, and he supports policies that increase competition so that patients can have a wider variety of doctors from which to choose.
He opposes nationalizing health care but supports Republican presidential candidate John McCain's proposed $5,000 tax credit to families to offset the cost of insurance.
"In the economy we're in now, there's a lot of things that are not going to get funded because we don't have the resources to do it," he said. "Health care is a big issue. More of government bureaucracy is not he answer."
Roberts said he supports the economic bailout passed last week by Congress and signed by President Bush.
"Given all the expert advice that was available at the time, to prevent further damage to the economy, it was necessary," Roberts said. "Only time will tell if it was an accurate analysis or not."
Roberts said Baca should shoulder some of the blame for the economic crisis because he sits on the House Committee on Financial Services.
"Then you go down to the lenders who knew they were going to sell those loans to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, even though they knew it was risky," he said.
He supports a flat tax as an option for taxpayers who do not want to stick with the current system.
Energy exploration may be the stimulus the economy needs, Roberts said.
He supports offshore drilling, developing clean coal, natural gas and wind energy.
"The focus has to be, what do we have here, how do we get to it economically, and how do we not rely on foreign oil?" he said. "Nuclear is extremely safe. If we pursue that right now, it puts more people at work and gets the economy moving."
josh.dulaney@inlandnewspapers.com
(909) 386-3885
