Bianco

“You’re not a businessman, you’re a government employee,” she said to Bianco.

Bianco countered that Kounalakis and the other Democrat gubernatorial candidates are directly responsible for the economic woes facing Californians because they have an “unquenchable thirst” for money to fund their liberal agenda.

It was also the first time GOP candidates Bianco and Hilton have appeared together.

Although the state’s leftward electoral tilt makes it challenging for a Republican to win the race – Californians last elected GOP politicians to statewide office in 2006 — Bianco and Hilton are battling to win one of the top two spots in next year’s primary election.

The sharpest exchange of the evening was between Kounalakis, a Democrat, and Bianco, a Republican.