“It’s about time” to have California’s first female lieutenant governor, Hahn said. Governor Schwarzenegger “has not been good for California for eight years,” she added. “I’m counting the days until the Governor is gone.” The two-thirds rule (for passing tax increases) “has got to go.” She supports the “Local Taxpayer Protection Initiative” to shelter cities from funding raids by state government. “California ought to move forward with out own single-payer (health care) plan.” ”We need Democrats who have courage. We are the party of the people; we have the solutions. We just need to have courage.”

Seeks to “bring my diverse experience to bear on California’s toughest problems.” Supports a constitutional convention to revise two-third majority vote requirement. “We need to have a serious discussion” about how to implement the compassionate use marijuana law. He noted that there are more than 2,000 marijuana dispensaries in the Los Angeles area, “more than there are Starbucks (locations).” Pledged to focus on identity theft, elder abuse, prescription drug fraud and financial practices. Would fight (Republican governor candidate) Meg Whitman’s effort to gut environmental protections.

He focused on prisons, noting that California spends more on prisons than on higher education. He would make rehabilitation mandatory in prisons. He sponsored AB 656 to levy an oil extraction tax and provide more revenue to education, including a “safe school” initiative and “universal pre-school.” He noted that efforts to prevent kids from committing crimes are generally “too late” when they start in middle or high school. He supports medical marijuana, but says “It’s totally unregulated.” Laws must be enforced and improved to keep the product safe and clean. “We have to gain control.” He is against legalization of marijuana. “Not yet,” he said. He pledged an active administration, with work on air and water quality, corporate accountability, toy safety and legal representation for the poor.

Nava distinguished his candidacy by promising “I’m never running for Governor — ever.” He noted that raising $40 million to fund a campaign for governor might weaken the enforcement efforts of other candidates with higher aspirations, since they would need to seek donations from industries and individuals they had prosecuted while AG. “This is the last elected office I want,” he pledged. He supports strong enforcement of pollution laws and wants a moratorium on off-shore oil drilling. He said California “has got to address the underground economy” where workers are without protections (and the state gains no revenues). He likes the Elliott Spitzer approach — an aggressive, activist enforcement style demonstrated by the former New York State AG. He opposes privatization of prisons and predicts that effort “is the camel’s nose under the tent” to privatize everything. He criticized the medical marijuana law as “poorly written” and hard to enforce and said “I’m an agnostic on legalization” of marijuana.

Described his family history and said he’s running “to keep these opportunities free for people.” He emphasized how important it is for Democrats to keep the AG office, mentioning that the AG staff writes ballot proposition language and more. He noted that he authored the California Foreclosure Prevention Act and had been at the forefront of efforts to prevent the mortgage “bubble” and resulting crash. He said he strongly support environmental protections, noting that in his philosophy “We don’t inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.”  He pledged an active effort to reform the underground economy. He said he opposes legalization of marijuana and supports medical marijuana if regulated as a drug. Like many of the other candidates, he supported more funding for education as a means of  reducing youth crime. He opposes privatizing prisons, in part because “there is a fundamental conflict between injecting profit into a prison and doing rehabilitation.” Privatization is “a totally insane concept to me — I think the Governor is out of his mind to try it in California.”