UCI students hear a candidate of their own

Alicia Robinson

UC Irvine students turned out to see one of their peers make a stop

on the campaign trail on Wednesday night.

The UCI College Republicans held a forum for 70th District

Assembly candidates, and four of the six Republicans running came to

make their pitches.

Among those in attendance was history and political science major

Michael Abed, one of several students who came to support Chonchol

Gupta, who is an engineering student at UCI.

Gupta, 20, has worked hard on his campaign, and it’s impressive to

see a college student put something like that together, Abed said.

“I’m really, really -- I don’t want to say proud, but I guess

that’s a pretty good word,” he said.

Candidates Gupta, Chuck DeVore, Don Wagner and Marianne Zippi

talked about their views to an audience of about 20 students at the

student center. Cristi Cristich and Long Pham did not attend.

Gupta’s candidacy helps disprove the notion of college students’

political apathy, said Shawn Augsburger, who is majoring in history.

“It’s pretty amazing to see a college student going out and

running for a major office,” he said.

Candidates talked more about education than at previous forums,

and most of the candidates said they would work to solve the state’s

illegal immigration problems. Every candidate pledged to make state

laws friendlier to business.

Gupta proposed using tax identification numbers to ensure that

illegal immigrants pay taxes on their income, as an alternative to

giving them driver’s licenses.

Zippi suggested a review of regulations governing business, and

Wagner said no business legislation should be enacted without a

sunset provision or some other program of regular review.

When given the opportunity to ask a question of another candidate,

both Wagner and DeVore addressed questions to one who wasn’t there,

Cristich.

DeVore repeated a question: Why did Cristich supported Bill

Clinton in his presidential bid, something Cristich has since said

was a mistake.

“This isn’t fair that Cristi’s not here, but I’ve got a question

for her also,” Wagner said when his turn came.

While Cristich has touted herself as a businesswoman who has

created jobs, she was on the verge at one point of moving her

business out of state, Wagner said.

“I just wish she was here to tell us why she was going to

Arizona,” he said.

The event didn’t necessarily sway student voters one way or

another, they said.

Social science major Alexis Miller said she’s a friend of Gupta,

but she’s still deciding whether to vote Democrat or Republican.

“I feel like I did learn a lot coming here,” she said.

The candidates all discussed the budget and education issues,

which are important to her, she said.

Abed said he classifies himself as conservative but doesn’t

necessarily vote along party lines.

“I’m probably going to vote for Chonchol simply because he’s going

to have the best point of reference for any issue on education,” Abed

said.

Most college students are concerned about tuition hikes, jobs and

income taxes, said Bryan Zutel, who organized the forum.

Many of his fellow students are uninformed about politics, he

said, but he hoped events like the forum would help change that.

“Students are usually detached from the political process and

especially the primary process,” he said.