Two candidates are running to represent the California 20th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives in the Nov. 6 election, incumbent Jimmy Panetta and challenger Ronald Paul Kabat. California’s 20th congressional district includes Monterey and San Benito counties, and parts of Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties.

Jimmy Panetta grew up Monterey County. He is married and a father of two daughters. In addition to representing California's 20th Congressional District in Washington, D.C., he is also a member of the House Agriculture and House Armed Services committees.

BENITOLINK: How does your life outside of politics factor into what you bring to the table as a candidate?

PANETTA: When people get into politics they don’t understand what they are getting into. I make sure our constituents are served and the Central Coast is valued in Washington, D.C. I’m making sure we have infrastructure, proper funding, and that our environment is protected. We do our job for the people.

Why are you running for U.S. Representative, 20th District?

I have a lot of the skills as deputy district attorney for Monterey County that have benefited me in this position. As a deputy district attorney I learned to prove cases with evidence. Having a sense of service is ingrained in me and it’s my obligation to do the job for the people of the Central Coast.

What issues are most important to your district?

I’ve demonstrated a sense of service with legislation I put forward. Issues that our district faces are: agriculture, immigration, infrastructure, education, health care and veterans. I still have a lot more to learn and do for our district.

What obstacles and challenges does the district face?

I am a grandson of immigrants and was raised on the Central Coast. Immigration is important to the Central Coast. Women and men take the risk to be here and work in the agriculture industry. We are the No. 1 state with dreamers.

Many of our roads need to be looked at across the district and there needs to be funding available to help restore our infrastructure.

Protecting our agriculture industry is another issue. With the negotiation of the farm bill I will advocate for all involved in the district.

How do you plan to address them?

To work with all Republicans and Democrats to make sure immigration reform is a top priority in Congress, because it’s a vital piece of our agriculture industry. I have introduced many bills and co-sponsored them. Some include: the Keep Families Together Act, Vet-2-Farm Act, Organic Agriculture Research Act and the Agricultural Worker Program Act. Also, I will make sure to come up with a way to pay for the infrastructure. Along with the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus, I helped to develop a package of policy solutions to improve domestic infrastructure.

My job is protect our values on the Central Coast.

How do you intend to communicate and stay in touch with the constituents you’d represent?

I’m the bridge from the Central Coast to Washington, D.C. My job is to serve the people. 
 

Ronald Paul Kabat moved to the Monterey Peninsula in 1980. He is married, a father of two and owns his own tax firm. He also served in Vietnam and returned to college under the GI Bill to get his CPA license.

BENITOLINK: How does your life outside of politics factor into what you bring to the table as a candidate?

KABAT: My Bachelor of Science in Commerce, Master of Science in Taxation and business experience lends itself to problem-solving. The government needs a lot of problems solved right now.

Why are you running for U.S. Representative, 20th District?

I initially spoke to some individuals who were against the state government creating a California sanctuary state. Unfortunately, they could not speak their beliefs because others began calling them names when they brought up the topic. I later found that many people were not in favor of a sanctuary state. They also believed that there was a breakdown of law and order in this state. So, I did further research.

I read an article about a survey that was taken by the Institute of Governmental Studies at UC-Berkeley. The title is Californians Say that Cities Should Not Be Sanctuaries, by Kathleen Maclay. It broke down the survey results by gender, race, education, income, age and partisanship. In practically all of categories, 70 percent or more individuals responded against the sanctuary state status.

After reading the article, I agreed with others that I would run for office representing the “silent majority” of individuals who want law and order restored and the sanctuary state status removed from California.

What issues are most important to your district?

Representing the “silent majority” and restoring confidence and law and order back into the state government through a federal position. Addressing homeless and disabled veterans. Addressing the Social Security disability program which will go insolvent in three years and the Social Security retirement program which will go insolvent in 15 years. Congress has ignored these elephants in the room.

Are there issues you feel are important to your district that the public may not know about?

They are not aware of the physical, financial and verbal attacks on individuals running for office in this district.

What obstacles and challenges does the district face?

There is a breakdown of law and order. We have higher incidence of local crime and drug use. There is a need to break from the status quo.

How do you plan to address them?

Help coordinate requests for federal law enforcement personnel assistance with local crime and drug use. Help provide federal funding assistance with county and city law enforcement agencies.

How do you intend to communicate and stay in touch with the constituents you’d represent?

I would find a way to create smaller, less costly, local constituent offices that would be open on a steady basis and made available to voters in Hollister, King City, Monterey, Soledad, Santa Cruz and Watsonville.  Holding mobile office hours in Hollister, Watsonville, etc., gives me the feeling that voters in those towns are being treated as second-class citizens by the status quo. I would find the time to have more town hall meetings. Some meetings would physically be local, some transmitted over the internet and others transmitted over the radio. Since I do not have to seek large political campaign contributions for a party, I would have more time to do the work of the people.