Republican U.S. Senate candidate Elizabeth Emken speaks during a Townhall Patriot meeting about the upcoming election and her opponent Dianne Feinstein on Thursday at the American Legion Hall Post 106 in Redlands (John Valenzuela/Staff Photographer)
REDLANDS - Republican Senate candidate Elizabeth Emken is making her way around the state to introduce herself to voters looking for change in November.On Thursday, Emken brought her campaign and message to Redlands, where she spoke to a room full of people at a special Redlands Townhall Patriots meeting at the American Legion Hall off Colton Avenue.
The not-so-well-known candidate was not afraid to pull punches when it came to explaining why she was running. The reason: to get long-time Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., out of office and repeal President Barack Obama's health care reforms.
"Health care is my area of expertise," Emken said. "We have a huge problem (now and) we had a huge problem before Obama came to town with health care delivery and health insurance," she said. "Somehow this new team took a bad problem and now they're making it worse. And folks, that was quite a trick. Obamacare is the end of our health care system as we know it if it is not repealed.
"It's a political tool now for Obama," she said. "And (we need) to get a new president or a new Senate and we can get this thing repealed."
Emken graduated from UCLA in 1984 where she earned dual degrees in economics and political science.
For several years, she worked as an efficiency cost cutting expert for IBM, and most recently worked as vice president for government relations at Autism Speaks, the nation's largest science and advocacy organization devoted to fighting autism.
During her time with the non-profit organization, Emken said, she has worked with former Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum to create new legislation for those suffering from autism, and launched a multi-state campaign to secure insurance coverage for autism-related services.
Emken said if she's elected to the Senate, she plans to roll up her sleeves and take care of business.
"I'm committed to going back (to Washington) and making the tough decisions that we have to make to balance the budget to reduce our debt and to make our economy competitive again, and to get it growing," she said. "I'm going to lower corporate taxes. I'm going to look at every agency, every piece of the budget - nothing's off limits, especially entitlements.
"I'm going to stand next to my friend Paul Ryan," she also said, referring to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's running mate, "and we are going to deal with entitlements in an authentic way."
Emken said Feinstein has not come up with solutions to help California.
"She's got a lot of people fooled because she's been very good about giving the presence of someone who is going to be (open) to what you want," she said. "Let me tell you folks, after 42 years in political office ... if she hasn't done it by now, she is not going to do it any time soon.
"Who would imagine that somehow - in the next six years - she's going to get something done? She's a big talker."
Emken said Feinstein is also out of touch with what Californians are going through, especially when it comes to unemployment and foreclosures.
"She has no idea what your families are going through," Emken said, adding that she is very different from her opponent. "People want somebody who is authentic. They want to know that they aren't just looking for another line on their resume."
Emken said her campaign is truly grassroots. And while she said she does not have millions to spend on campaign ads, she said, she is working her way around that using social media and providing commentary on CNN and conservative commentator Dennis Prager`s radio show.
To learn more about Emken, visit her website at www.emken2012.com or follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/elizabethemken.
Reach Kristina via email, or call her at 909-793-3221, or find her on Twitter @TheFactsKris.
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