At campaign events in Norco and San Clemente with Democracy for America Chair Jim Dean on Thursday, Democratic congressional candidate Bill Hedrick pledged to fight any attempts to privatize Social Security and called on Congress to keep its “hands off” the successful program.

Hedrick, in a tight race with U.S. Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Corona) for California’s 44th Congressional District, also reiterated his opposition to raising the retirement age, cutting benefits to retirees and spending surplus Social Security funds.

“Social Security isn’t some sort of lab specimen for career politicians in Washington to experiment with,” Hedrick said. “My opponent voted to implement President Bush’s privatization plan, but I stand with the people in telling Congress and Ken Calvert to keep their hands off Social Security.”

Hedrick cited a vote Calvert cast to advance the implementation of a Social Security privatization plan developed by President Bush’s Social Security commission [HR 2590, Vote #273, 7/25/01]. The commission was criticized for being stacked with pro-privatization members and the plan was never implemented.

“When you’re Ken Calvert, profiting hundreds of thousands of dollars on land deals subsidized by taxpayer-funded earmarks, then of course you will never realize how important Social Security is to the nearly 90,000 people in our district who rely on it,” Hedrick said.

Bill Hedrick has dedicated 35 years to teaching our children and advocating for educators in our public schools. He currently serves on the Corona-Norco Unified School District Board of Education, overseeing the 8th largest school district in California, serving 53,000 students. Bill is the board’s longest serving member at 22 years and has served five terms as president. In 2008, he came within 3,100 votes of unseating Congressman Ken Calvert, making the 2010 rematch for California’s 44th Congressional District one of the most competitive in the state.