James Harris: L.A. mayoral candidate

With the March 3 primary election drawing near, The Times asked all candidates for Los Angeles mayor to respond to questions about key issues facing the nation’s second-largest city. Here are the responses from candidate James Harris:

1) What distinguishes you from the other candidates in the race?

As a socialist, my campaign is a revolutionary alternative to the politics of the capitalist class. The Socialist Workers Party, which supports my campaign, presents a working-class explanation of the devastating economic crisis that is ravaging the working class.

We say that working people must take political power out of the hands of the capitalist class and organize a workers and farmers government that can fight in the interest of working people. The fight that we have before us cannot be limited to Los Angeles -- it’s national and international.

This is the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression in the 1930s, and it is getting worse. The capitalist class is reacting to the crisis by increasing unemployment, cutbacks in healthcare and education, and attacks on the social wage. City and state governments around the country are leading the charge. These policies will only worsen conditions for workers. This is why working people need to build a labor party based on fighting trade unions that can defend our interests.

2. Los Angeles likely will face a deficit of $400 million to $500 million in 2009-2010 fiscal year, as well as steep shortfalls in the years that follow. If elected, how would you balance the city budget? Specifically, what programs or services would you cut, what taxes or fees would you increase, and what other measures would you take?

Balancing the city budget is simply a set of code words for making working people bear the weight of the economic crisis. There is no equality of sacrifice under capitalism. The real question is do we prioritize the welfare of the working class or the profits of the wealthy. The city and state government have made it abundantly clear that they put the payment of wealthy bondholders first.

If elected my priority will be advancing the interests of working people, the vast majority in this city, not balancing the budget. They are not the same goal. The ruling rich blackmail us with claims that we must bail out their system to prevent catastrophe, but the catastrophe has already begun. The ruling rich have already handed out hundreds of billions, and the crisis has not abated. This is because the problem is not temporary and will not be solved by a quick fix. The crisis comes from the fundamental workings of the capitalist system itself and its inevitable march toward depression and war.

My campaign will fight for a massive public works program to put millions of workers to work at union scale building affordable housing, schools, and more hospitals. Instead of cuts, if elected I will use my office to demand that the federal government guarantee lifetime medical care and retirement pensions for all. No cuts in Social Security, Medicare or workers compensation payments.

3. To cut costs, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is considering layoffs or offering early retirement to city employees. Do you support either or both of those alternatives? Given the increased need for government assistance in these bad economic times, is now the right time to reduce the number of city employees or cut hours at libraries and city parks?

I am against Mayor Villaraigosa’s budget cuts. Layoffs, early retirements and cutbacks in city services will only worsen the conditions of working people. I say no cuts to libraries, schools and parks. In fact the use of these facilities should be greatly expanded, not cut.

If elected I would fight for cost-of-living increases in all wages and benefits, as well as federal legislation to shorten the workweek, with no cut in take-home pay, to spread the available work to all.

4. Do you support Measure B, the city’s proposed solar power initiative? Why? How do you believe it will affect Department of Water and Power rates?

My campaign does not support Measure B.

5. Should the city controller have authority to perform both financial audits and performance audits on programs run by the mayor or city attorney?

This is an issue that will have absolutely no effect on the living conditions of this city’s working class. My campaign is for opening the books of the capitalists who plead poverty to justify cutting wages, pensions, and health and safety. Let workers committees inspect the books and reorganize production.

6. In June, the city’s contracts with police and firefighters unions will expire. Should police officers and firefighters be given raises or increased benefits? If so, how would you pay for those, given the city’s current financial condition?

My campaign is against any raise for the police. The capitalist police are a brutal repressive force that function solely to protect the interests of the capitalist class. In Los Angeles County alone, the police have killed over 40 people in the last year, many of them unarmed. Recently the city was forced to pay the victims of the MacArthur Park May Day police riot $13 million. These are only a few examples of the anti-working class function of the Police Department.