For over two weeks with an election approaching in just over a week, LBREPORT.com (now in our 19th year of providing independent news in Long Beach) has offered candidate Gonzalez the opportunity to answer three substantive questions in writing that we composed and were posed at a Feb. 27 candidate forum. When the Gonzalez campaign cited a conflicting event for her absence, we immediately offered her the opportunity to answer the questions in writing, which she hasn't done since Feb. 28.

We then sought to ask her the questions at two "Meet Lena" events, one at last week (March 9) at a Lakewood business, and another yesterday (March 16) held at a Long Beach home in an affluent neighborhood. On both occasions, the property owners politely recited the same robotic answer: the event was "closed" to the press (showing to our satisfaction that it likely wasn't an individual property owner's decision but rather an intentional blockade by the Gonzalez campaign.)

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For us, this isn't a matter of campaign optics; it's a matter of policy substance. When someone seeking or holding public office, whether a President or a Council member, tries to avoid answering substantive questions, they're not snubbing the person asking; they're snubbing your right to hear their answers.

Others haven't asked the type of pointed questions LBREPORT.com asks; they apparently prefer softball "questions" that let candidates regurgitate favored campaign narratives and buzz-word cliches. When others don't ask, candidates don't tell. LBREPORT.com believes you have a right to know, among other things, whether someone seeking Sacramento office supports or opposes now pending legislation on which they might vote in just weeks if elected.

Here's what LBREPORT.com asked that state Senate candidate Lena Gonzalez that to our knowledge others haven't asked and she hasn't answered and why we ask it.

• LBREPORT.com "follow the money" coverage shows oil industry interests have spent over $1 million thus far in an independent campaign to elect her to Sacramento office, so does candidate Gonzalez support or oppose SB 246 that would create CA's first-ever oil severance tax (that oil companies would pay on oil extracted in CA)? A number of other states have done this for years and it would provide CA with billions in new revenue. Historically, CA's oil industry has blocked oil severance measures using friendly Sac'to lawmakers. So what's Gonzalez's response on SB 246 or any other oil severance tax measure? (And no, her City Council vote to ban Styrofoam straws obviously shouldn't give her a pass on this.)

• Does candidate Gonzalez support or oppose SB 50, a tweaked version of last year's SB 827 by state Senator Scott Wiener (D, SF)? His SB 50 would among other things override city-enacted density and building height controls and provide developers with Sacramento decreed zoning incentives to build multi-story multi-unit housing along what SB 50 calls "transit rich" corridors and in "job rich" (medium or high income) neighborhoods. In 2018, Gonzalez joined the LB City Council in opposing SB 827...so now that Senator Wiener has endorsed her and given her a campaign contribution, what's her position on his SB 50?

• With what votes by exited state Senator Lara does Gonzalez disagree? Lara has endorsed Gonzalez. On what specific items and in what specific ways would voters receive anything different from Gonzalez than what they've received from Lara?

To these three questions LBREPORT.com also offers candidate Gonzalez the opportunity to share with us in conversation her responses to questions about her voting record on the Long Beach City Council (which include matters beyond banning Styrofoam straws.) When an incumbent seeks higher office, their record in their current is always relevant. No incumbent officeholder deserves a privilege to avoid accountability for votes they cast in their current office in seeking promotion to a higher office.

Accordingly, this morning (Mar. 17) LBREPORT.com informed candidate Gonzalez, her campaign manager and campaign consultant that our Feb. 28 offer is rescinded and we now offer her an opportunity to share with us in conversation by phone her answers to our questions on pending state legislation and her City Council record and to make her responses available to our readers for on-demand audio access (podcast) and in transcribed text.

Candidate Gonzalez and her campaign reps know how to reach us.

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