Republican Rep. Tom McClintock battles two challengers in primary

Longtime Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Elk Grove, has two challengers in the March 5 primary for California’s 7th Congressional District.

The 5th runs from Placerville down into Fresno County, covering Yosemite National Park and parts of Kings Canyon National Park. It grabs Amador, Calaveras, Tuolumne and Mariposa counties as well as western El Dorado County and eastern Stanislaus, Madera and Fresno counties.

The top two vote-getters will advance from the March 5 primary to the Nov. 5 general election.

Tom McClintock

Party: Republican

Age: 67

Birthplace: White Plains, New York

Residence: Elk Grove, California

Occupation: U.S. Representative

Education: UCLA (BA in Political Science)

Offices held: U.S. Representative, 2009-present; California State Senator, 2000-2008; California State Assemblyman, 1996-2000

Campaign website address: tommcclintock.com

Q. What steps will you urge to help reduce federal deficits?

Stop admitting millions of impoverished illegal migrants; restore the ban on earmarks; rescind the hundreds of billions of dollars of green energy subsidies; stop funding unauthorized programs and require able bodied welfare recipients to work.

To avoid the impending bankruptcy of Social Security and Medicare, we need to shift new workers to sustainable investment and premium support programs.

Long term, we need to amend the Constitution to require a balanced budget and to give the president line-item veto authority. I have introduced or advocated for these reforms in Congress and have been consistently rated one of the best votes in Congress by both the National Taxpayers Union and Citizens Against Government Waste.

Q. What is your view on abortion rights? What would you want Congress to do now, if anything?

I agree with the Dobbs decision, that this is an issue best left to the states.

Q. What changes, if any, do you support for immigration and border policy?

We don’t need new laws — we need to enforce our existing laws, as Donald Trump proved. He instituted the “Remain in Mexico” policy, constructed the border wall and enforced court ordered deportations. Joe Biden reversed these policies his first day in office and produced the biggest illegal mass migration in recorded history that is now overwhelming our schools, hospitals, social services and law enforcement.

As chairman of the Subcommittee on Immigration, I led the drafting and passage of HR 2, which tightens asylum eligibility, requires illegal immigrants to be detained or returned and mandates e-Verify to show proof of work eligibility.

But this crisis won’t be solved by new laws or more funding. It can only be fixed by electing an administration determined to secure our borders and enforce our laws.

Q. What should Congress’ next steps be in dealing with climate issues?

We should first repeal the draconian laws that have cost consumers and taxpayers trillions of dollars in higher energy prices over the years, while utterly failing to make any difference in the climate. Earth has been warming — on and off — since the last Ice Age and it has experienced epochs where the earth was much warmer and carbon dioxide levels much higher than today.

Nevertheless, there are many policies that are desirable in their own right but that also dramatically reduce carbon dioxide emissions — including nuclear energy, hydroelectricity, co-generation and natural gas production which offer cheaper, more reliable and more abundant electricity generation than wind and solar. For this, the government needs to get out of the way as the House passed in HR 1 last year.

Mike Barkley

Party: Democratic

Age: 78

Birthplace: Oakland, California

Residence: Manteca, California

Occupation: Lawyer, small business owner, rancher

Education: Armstrong College Law School (JD)

Offices held: Elected representative to the California Democratic Central Committee, several times

Campaign website address: mikebarkley4congress.com

Q. What steps will you urge to help reduce federal deficits?

Start with reversing the Trump Tax cut. On my website are links to federal budget outlines I drafted — they balance — which I stopped when Trump got elected since I could not rely on his budget numbers.

Q. What is your view on abortion rights? What would you want Congress to do now, if anything?

Women have fought for 200 years in this country to stop being treated like property. The Dobbs decision is a step backwards, and Justice Clarence Thomas is threatening other recognized constitutional rights as well such as the right to birth control. Ignored in all this is the fact that nowhere in the Constitution is the Supreme Court empowered to revoke recognized constitutional rights, but they did it anyway in violation of their oath of office.

Amendment: “A woman’s right to terminate her pregnancy shall not be infringed.”

And add 10 justices to the U.S. Supreme Court, as urged by Elie Mystal, to smooth out the mischief.

Q. What changes, if any, do you support for immigration and border policy?

Adopt the program from Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign, which was and is the fairest for all.

Q. What should Congress’ next steps be in dealing with climate issues?

1. Increase the money in Joe Biden’s climate change funding; 2. plan for a dam across the Golden Gate plus dikes at Allemany, Colma and Petaluma; 3. build this 43 million acre-foot reservoir and conveyance project to reduce the risk from the California historical floods described at here, replace the lost snow packs and solve the drought problem for the entire southwest U.S. and northern Mexico.

Steve Wozniak

Party: No Party Preference

Age: 50

Birthplace: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Residence: Modesto, California

Occupation: Business owner, writer

Education: University of Notre Dame (BA in Communications)

Campaign website address: wozforcongress.com

Q. What steps will you urge to help reduce federal deficits?

I would push for a balanced budget amendment as most Americans support, yet that would only stall the deficit — not reduce it. A small percentage of a balanced budget allocated to paying down the debt would take decades if not centuries.

More efficient options include a full audit of the Federal Reserve to ascertain the full scope of the debt, liquidating surplus or redundant government lands, increasing licensing and leasing rates and a decentralization and streamlining of the administrative state to curb operating costs.

Q. What is your view on abortion rights? What would you want Congress to do now, if anything?

As a Catholic who raised six of my own kids and fostered 20 more, I think my anti-abortion view is evident.

As a pragmatist, I believe the Supreme Court set a correct precedent by establishing it as a states’ right. And as with any other states’ rights, Congress should not meddle at all.

Q. What changes, if any, do you support for immigration and border policy?

This question presupposes there is a coherent immigration and border policy currently in place. This country cannot supply infrastructure and resources fast enough to cope with large influxes of immigrants. Thus, there must be an annual cap that must be ENFORCED, not tossed out as a ideal or target.

Sanctuary cities need to be reminded that it’s more cost-efficient for them to turn criminals over to ICE rather than cycling them through their local judicial systems.

Q. What should Congress’ next steps be in dealing with climate issues?

We’re past the point of prevention or mitigation. Henceforth, any resources need to be spent on adaptation — raising sea walls at harbors and ports, spending on more inland infrastructure and building more dams to prevent salinazation of freshwater rivers.

Changing the climate? Last I checked, that’s above all our pay grades.