Santa Ana – Three of the eight candidates seeking a soon-to-be vacant central county congressional seat had plenty of time to distinguish themselves at a hour-long forum Thursday night, thanks to the other five not showing up.

Garden Grove Mayor Bao Nguyen continued to define himself a Bernie Sanders progressive railing against corporate influence in Washington, while Irvine Councilwoman Lynn Schott and sheriff’s Commander Bob Peterson explained how they arrived at their similarly moderate Republican positions.

The candidates are vying to replace Democrat Rep. Loretta Sanchez, who is running for U.S. Senate. Absent from the Santa Ana College event were Democratic former state Sens. Lou Correa and Joe Dunn, Republicans Rodolfo “Rudy” Gaona and Louie Contreras, and independent Nancy Trinidad Marin.

In one of the more definitive exchanges at the hour-long forum, Schott and Peterson sided against Proposition 47, the 2014 measure passed by 60 percent of voters that reduced some non-violent felonies to misdemeanors and results in some jail terms being shortened or eliminated.

“There are more criminals walking on our street,” said Schott, linking the measure to an increase in crime.

However, Peterson alluded to the absence of definitive studies on the link.

“It’s an anecdotal situation,” the longtime sheriff’s employee told an audience of about 60. But he’d seen enough to know his position on voters approving the measure. “I think we made a mistake.”

Meanwhile, Nguyen applauded the measure as a step in the right direction, adding, “We’re a modern country and we’re incarcerating more people (per capita) than communist China.”

Nguyen repeatedly referred to his early life, in which his parents fled communist Vietnam. He was born in a refugee camp and grew up in Garden Grove. He called for the legalization of recreational marijuana, legalized status for those in the country without documents, an end to deportations and stricter controls on the prices charged by pharmaceutical companies.

Peterson mentioned that he had spent time being homeless as a teenager, living in a warehouse with his father and eventually pursuing a law-enforcement career after being encouraged to do so by a policeman. He endorsed the “war against drugs” and credited it with keeping him away from dope, said that the federal Common Core educational curriculum and the EPA “need attention” and expressed dissatisfaction with the current presidential candidates.

Schott currently lives outside the district, but grew up in the district and said she would put the congressional district “on the right track again.” She called for a middle ground in terms of drug policy reform, repeatedly said she wanted to keep more tax dollars in taxpayers’ wallets and called for a review of regulatory policies to eliminate those whose costs outweighed their benefits.

Correa said he couldn’t make the event because he was out of town. Dunn’s campaign said he had a conflicting event. Gaona said he had a family emergency. Contreras and Marin have not responded to several Register inquiries in recent weeks, including why they missed the forum.

Contact the writer: mwisckol@ocregister.com