The GOP needs strong leadership to stand tall in California and the United States again, Republican hopefuls for the 4th District state Senate nomination said Tuesday.

Both Doug LaMalfa of Richvale and Rick Keene of Chico said Republican inroads against the Obama administration by the Tea Party movement and Massachusetts voters — who elected a Republican senator to replace the late liberal Sen. Ted Kennedy — showed the tide already could be turning.

Both men want to replace state Sen. Sam Aanestad, R-Grass Valley, who has announced a run for lieutenant governor.

LaMalfa and Keene are former state assemblymen from Butte County who left office in 2008 because of term limits.

“The country is coming to us, not so much for our leadership, but because Democrats are being themselves,” LaMalfa told the Nevada County Republican Women's Federated Club at an Alta Sierra luncheon.

“When you have Republicans acting like Democrats, people say ‘No' to all of the above,” Keene said. “What we need now is vision.”

As a rice farmer, LaMalfa said water is one of his major concerns because “our economy is spurred by it.”

Recent moves to shift water away from agriculture “for the species of the day that is endangered,” led by “extreme environmentalism,” is pushing people out of work.

The timber industry should also be allowed to rebound, LaMalfa said. New emission laws need to be repealed, as well, because they have cut into the trucking and construction business and threaten agriculture, he added.

The state needs to simply stop spending more than it takes in, LaMalfa said.

“I can't do that in my business, and it's not working” at the state level, he said.

LaMalfa also said three of his four children attend charter schools, and parents should be able to decide where they want to send their children to school.

Asked how to arrest California's now-annual budget deficits, former Chico mayor Keene said Democrats need to heed Republicans' words of years past to save money during good years for reserve funds to be tapped during poor years.

“We could cut our government in half and be just fine,” Keene said.

LaMalfa said the Legislature shouldn't vote for deficit budgets in the first place.

“And justify every line item in the budget,” he added.

Keene also called for political reforms and two-year legislative sessions of four months each, in which the state budget would be dealt with one year and bills the next. He also would work to limit how many bills one legislator could introduce.

Educational choices need to be opened up with charter schools that parents control, not administrators, Keene said. He also wants to see each child graduate from high school with a marketable skill.

California needs to become energy independent, Keene said.

“We have plenty of oil offshore, and we need to go get it,” Keene said.

The state also needs to build more power plants to meet demands, he added.

The GOP in California needs to be “the unapologetic water storage party” to meet water demands, Keene said. He also said the state's forests need to be thinned to create jobs and avert wildfires.

Asked how the state can become a business and jobs leader again, LaMalfa said rolling back excessive regulations would be a start. He also suggested a water storage bond be passed for water to stimulate the state economy.

Keene said stopping regulations sounds great, but will not happen until Republicans switch the 60-40 majority in the Legislature currently held by Democrats.

To contact Senior Staff Writer Dave Moller, e-mail dmoller@theunion.com or call (530) 477-4237.