Debate sparks battle

BURBANK — An otherwise civil forum hosted by a local civic group in Burbank on Thursday night erupted into a contentious back-and-forth between Democratic Rep. Brad Sherman and his rival, Republican Navraj Singh, who repeatedly lobbed corruption charges against the congressman, who vigorously denied the allegations.

During his opening statement at the Glendale/Burbank League of Women Voters forum, which also featured candidates from the neighboring 29th District, Singh alleged that he paid a campaign donor $5,000 two years ago to facilitate a meeting with Sherman.

Singh, 61, said he sought a meeting with Sherman to shore up the immigration status of his daughter-in-law, whose residency was tied to her husband, Singh’s son, who died in a car accident about two years ago.

Singh said he was rebuffed by Sherman’s office until he paid a consultant — Nadadur Vardhan — $5,000 to set up a meeting.

Sherman denied he took money from Vardhan — whom he called a “friend of 20 years” — to meet with Singh.

“To say that Nadadur was giving to my camp to help his daughter-in-law at a time when his daughter-in-law was in elementary school strikes me as bizarre,” Sherman said. “This man’s charges are absolutely baseless.”

Sherman, 54, did introduce a bill in 2006 that sought to establish residency for Tarveen Kaur Anand, Singh’s daughter-in-law, but it failed to progress beyond the House floor for lack of support. Sherman said he had no idea the woman was Singh’s relative.

“He’s upset that somebody of the same ethnicity as him donated to his campaign,” Sherman said.

But Singh, of Northridge, kept up his attack, saying to Sherman: “You should be compelled to be expelled from the Congress.”

To which Sherman replied: “Because I tried to help your daughter?”

“No, because you took money,” Singh answered. “You received bribes.”

Singh’s allegation comes less than two weeks before the Nov. 4 election in a district that leans heavily to the left.

During his 2006 bid for reelection, Sherman defeated Republican challenger Peter Hankwitz by a more than 2-1 margin in the San Fernando Valley district that also includes Burbank.

“He’s trying to get headlines and doesn’t have a shred of evidence,” Sherman said.