Politicians and candidates addressed education, health care reform and under-representation of Asian Pacific Islanders in the political arena at the 8th Annual Voters Education & Candidates Forum held from noon to 4 p.m. on Sunday in the University Union.

The event was hosted by the Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs Association (APAPA). The keynote speaker was former Assembly Speaker and former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown.

“If you’re 14 percent of the population of the state of California, you are to be a member of 14 percent of the decision-making process existing in this state,” Brown told a room of about 600 people, many of them Asians from Sacramento, the Central Valley and the Bay Area.

Also present were Lt. Gov. John Garamendi, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, Sen. Jeff Denham, R-Merced, Assemblyman Paul Fong, D-Cupertino, Assemblyman Jim Nielsen, R-Gerber and Sacramento County Supervisor Roger Dickinson. State Assembly candidates and Sacramento City Council candidates also attended.

One of the candidates is Ryan Chin, director of strategic communications at Sacramento State. Chin is running for City Council to represent District 7. “I’ve been doing community activism for 10 years,” Chin said. “I’m one of the few candidates with an MBA, and I can bring that kind of experience to make sure that Sacramento grows.”

When asked about cuts on higher education, Denham said he would “fight to make sure higher education doesn’t get cut anymore.”

“Right now, in a time that we have such huge unemployment, we should be putting more money on higher education and actually using our higher education system to bring businesses back to California and train our students within those fields that are coming here,” Denham said.

Dickinson, a Democratic candidate for the 9th State Assembly District, said that access and funding for higher education, support for low-income students and re-training of qualified faculty members are issues he will address if elected.

“We need to maintain the historic access to higher education that has been a hallmark in the state of California, whether it’s community colleges, state university system or UC,” Dickinson said. “Secondly, when we have reached the stage that we have now where we’re spending more on keeping people in prison than we are on students in higher education, it’s time to rethink our priorities.”

Also running for City Council to represent District 1 is Lisa Kaplan, board member of the Natomas School District.

“Not every child is ready to go to college,” Kaplan said. “But I also think we need to look at our workforce. We need to make sure that we’re addressing the skills they (students) need to have so that they can come out and be productive and actually find jobs.”

The event consisted of panel discussions on education and health care reforms. There were also debates on the strong mayor initiative, which would make Mayor Kevin Johnson Sacramento’s chief executive.

The education reform panel discussion focused on the “Race to the Top” initiative, a competition among states for $4.35 billion education grants and is created through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Senior government major Dominic Campos said that events like this should’ve been promoted at Sac State.

“This is where you actually are able to engage and know the politicians and their agenda, which affects our everyday society,” Campos said.

Kristine Guerra can be reached at [email protected].