With no answers forthcoming, we decided to stop by one of candidate Gonzalez's "meet Lena" events. At a March 9 event at a Lakewood business, a woman representing the campaign intercepted us at the business' front door and told us the event wasn't for press; a person speaking for the business added that we could come inside as a community member but not as press. (We had a visible press tag on.)

LBREPORT.com photo

Rather than push things, we informed the Gonzalez campaign staffer that we want to ask the candidate three questions that other candidates faced at the Beer and Politics event; the staffer nodded and we waited for the event to end outside the business' front door, which opened onto a parking lot. Candidate Gonzalez left via the business' back door that opened onto an alley with no parking.

Here are three questions that LBREPORT.com composed that were asked (with only a few words changed) of other candidates at the Feb. 27 forum that candidate Gonzalez hasn't answered.

• Will you vote Yes or No on SB 246 for an oil severance tax?
  Background: SB 246 would create a CA oil severance tax. This is likely an anathema to big oil. As separately reported by LBREPORT.com, an independent political committee recently spent over $1 million in an independent campaign (not run by the Gonzalez) to support electing Gonzalez to Sacramento office.

• Will you vote Yes or No on SB 50 that would offer housing developers incentives that override local zoning on density, height and parking to promote building low income housing along transit routes and in "job rich" more affluent areas?
  Background: SB 50 is authored by state Senator Scott Wiener (D, SF) who's endorsed Gonzalez. SB 50 is a re-introduced version (with some tweaks) of Wiener's SB 827 that stalled last year in a state Senate committee. It was opposed by (among others) the City of Long Beach, with Gonzalez joining the LB City Council in voting to oppose SB 827.

• Can you name votes by Senator Lara with which you disagree [and if so, which ones]?
  Background: Ricardo Lara (now Insurance Commissioner) is the immediate past state Senator for the district and has endorsed Gonzalez.

When someone seeking public office chooses not answer straightforward questions like this, they're not snubbing us; they're snubbing you.

State Senate candidate Gonzalez could answer have answered these questions days ago. She could answer them in the next few minutes or never. The fact that she hasn't done so (coupled with her clumsy backdoor exit) in our view makes her silence on these matters increasingly newsworthy.

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