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A UC Berkeley School of Law student spoke to students on campus Wednesday about his campaign for U.S. Congress, touching on issues of unemployment, taxation and the need for local representation.Ricky Gill was the weekly guest speaker for Political Science 179 — a class that focuses on special and current topics in politics — taught by campus political science lecturer Alan Ross.Gill — whose past positions have included a seat on the California State Board of Education — will meet the congressional age requirement of 25 during his campaign this year, and immediately addressed the issue of his young candidacy.

“My opponent is going to make an issue of my age,” Gill said. “But young people should not be deterred from making a difference in their communities. Young people do have a role to play.”

Gill said he is running as a Republican to represent San Joaquin County, where he was raised.

“Local representation matters, and my opponent doesn’t just live down the road,” Gill said in the lecture. “It’s a metaphor for being out of touch.”

Gill spoke of the unemployment he’s seen in the county, a place he called an area of “economic pain” with “no economic opportunity.” Gill proposed a plan of lowering taxes for residents of “specific regions that are hard-hit” to help stimulate the economy.

“It’s a way of stimulating the economy without putting people on the government payroll,” Gill said. “I think we need to still encourage people to move from welfare to work — I’ve never seen poverty so up close and personal as I have in the past two years.”

Gill concluded the lecture with a question-and-answer session, when students were given an opportunity to ask Gill about his stances on various political issues.

When one student asked about Gill’s stance on immigration, he mentioned that he’s a first generation American himself, and believes that the government should not make it too difficult for immigrants to stay in the state.

“My view is that (immigrants) are going to create a new generation of jobs in a place where we desperately need them, like Stockton,” Gill said.