Letters to the Editor

As Aggie students, we believe that our fellow students deserve and want to hear from both candidates seeking to represent us in Congress, so we can’t help but notice that Colusa County supervisor Kim Vann has mostly avoided our campus.

Earlier this month, thousands of UC Davis students saw Congressman John Garamendi join President Bill Clinton at a rally on the Quad. It was a great to hear from the Congressman, but the day before, Garamendi went out of his way to hear from UC Davis students at a candidate forum hosted by ASUCD.

Kim Vann was invited to the event, but she declined to participate. ASUCD made repeated attempts to reschedule the event, but Vann said her schedule was completely booked until Election Day. Apparently her busy schedule opened up, because last Wednesday Vann was on campus, not talking to the student body but rather attending a scarcely publicized meeting with the Davis College Republicans. Why is Vann afraid to reach out to everyone in our campus community? There are thousands of votes here, after all.

Perhaps Vann wants to avoid discussion of the fact that she supports cutting Pell Grants, while John Garamendi voted to expand Pell Grants.

Perhaps Vann wants to prevent students from asking her why she opposed the more than $100 million UC Davis received from the Recovery Act, legislation she derisively calls “failed stimulus” in her attack ads.

Perhaps Vann wants to avoid explaining why she’s opposed to Proposition 30, which would boost UC funding by hundreds of millions of dollars.

Garamendi was the only UC Regent and CSU Trustee to consistently vote against tuition hikes and excessive executive compensation. Congressman Garamendi voted to stop the interest rate on the Stafford Loan from doubling. He even hosted a student aid financial aid workshop on our campus earlier this year.

John Garamendi’s commitment to students is unambiguous, and his accessibility to students is remarkable. It’s disappointing that we cannot say the same about Kim Vann. Why is Kim Vann MIA at UC Davis?— Jessica Penny
Vice President of Communications for Davis College Democrats