Latest / The Chuck ToddCast / Interview Only w/ Matt Mahan - Good Democratic Governance Is The Best Resistance To Trumpism

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Interview Only w/ Matt Mahan - Good Democratic Governance Is The Best Resistance To Trumpism · The Chuck ToddCast

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  Speaker 1: constantly working on this for years myself, and here's an
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  Speaker 1: opportunity for you to take matters into your own hands
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  Speaker 1: as well. All right. As many of you know, I
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  Speaker 1: have spent a lot of time featuring candidates for California governor.
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  Speaker 1: I feature candidates for a lot of offices, but I've
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  Speaker 1: been especially in didn't you know when you have an
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  Speaker 1: open race for the fourth largest economy in the world.
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  Speaker 1: Now it's creeping up to number four. Maybe my next
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  Speaker 1: guest will confirm for me if it's moved from fifth
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  Speaker 1: to fourth. Now we we have an and there's an
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  Speaker 1: open contest and there's really no even in the previous years, right,
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  Speaker 1: you know, Gavin Newsom was sort of it was there
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  Speaker 1: in waiting. Jerry Brown before that was there in waiting.
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  Speaker 1: You know, really not since arguably nineteen ninety eight have
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  Speaker 1: we had an open race for the California governorship that
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  Speaker 1: looks truly open. And obviously with the with the all
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  Speaker 1: party primary, it makes everything kind of fascinating. And so
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  Speaker 1: the candidate that that's coming on today is the mayor
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  Speaker 1: of San Jose. He's a Democrat, Matt Man. He is
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  Speaker 1: somebody that I know a lot of a lot of
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  Speaker 1: folks or see as somebody that that that might be
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  Speaker 1: that might have the ability to unite the Democratic coalition
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  Speaker 1: in a way. It's a very fractured primary at the moment,
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  Speaker 1: a lot of expectations, a lot of interesting supporters that
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  Speaker 1: he has so wanted to get to know the mayor. Mayor, Mayhon,
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  Speaker 1: welcome to the podcast.
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  Speaker 2: Chuk, Thanks so much for having me on. I'm looking
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  Speaker 2: forward to our conversation.
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  Speaker 1: Well, let me start with this, So why'd you run
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  Speaker 1: for mayor when you decided to become mayor of San Jose.
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  Speaker 1: What got you into politics in general, and what made
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  Speaker 1: you want to run for mayor of Santase.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, Chuck. My interest in politics goes back
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  Speaker 2: to my childhood. I grew up in a little farming
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  Speaker 2: town in California called Watsonville for those who don't know it,
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  Speaker 2: it's where your strawberries come from. And like a lot
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  Speaker 2: of rural communities, we had we had big challenges, high unemployment,
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  Speaker 2: a lot of crime. Our local high school had a
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  Speaker 2: higher dropout rate than graduation rate, and it was a
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  Speaker 2: work study scholarship on literally on the other side of
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  Speaker 2: a mountain range in San Jose and the heart of
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  Speaker 2: Silicon Valley. That gave me a really big opportunity in
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  Speaker 2: my life to branch out and be able to go
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  Speaker 2: to a great college. And it really just changed the
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  Speaker 2: trajectory of my life. And I was always interested in
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  Speaker 2: the differences between my hometown with all of its challenges,
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  Speaker 2: in Silicon Valley, with all of its growth and opportunity.
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  Speaker 2: I started reading the local newspaper, went to a high
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  Speaker 2: school that was very into service and civic engagement. My
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  Speaker 2: parents were into civic engagement. My mom was a teacher,
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  Speaker 2: my dad was a maleman, and just from a young age,
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  Speaker 2: I came to this belief that politics and government is
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  Speaker 2: the area where we work out the big questions, solve
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  Speaker 2: the big problems, and it's kind of the only game
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  Speaker 2: in town for really tackling the big things that create
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  Speaker 2: opportunity for people, which is what I'm really interested in.
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  Speaker 2: So I ended up being a public school teacher for
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  Speaker 2: a while, worked in tech for a while, but ultimately
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  Speaker 2: found myself drawn back to the place where I was
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  Speaker 2: living and raising a family, San Jose, where it just
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  Speaker 2: felt like we kept asking people to raise their taxes,
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  Speaker 2: but the outcomes weren't getting any better, and I thought,
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  Speaker 2: I'm going to jump in and see if I can
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  Speaker 2: do this a little differently.
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  Speaker 1: So let's talk about your decision to run for governor.
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  Speaker 1: You were in some ways. I know a lot of
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  Speaker 1: people reached out to you, wanted you to run. There's
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  Speaker 1: a lot of candidates in this race you could have,
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  Speaker 1: you know. So I'm going to ask this, what about
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  Speaker 1: the other candidates in the race, particularly in your party
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  Speaker 1: on the Democratic side, what are they missing that you
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  Speaker 1: think you bring to this race.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I was watching the race closely, was not planning
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  Speaker 2: to run, sort of watched it all of last year
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  Speaker 2: and then early this year realized there was a big
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  Speaker 2: void in the conversation, particularly in the more moderate problem
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  Speaker 2: solver Lane to try to bring people together. And it's
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  Speaker 2: just I guess a few things felt missing. One, I'm
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  Speaker 2: the only current mayor and executive with both public and
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  Speaker 2: private sector executive experience in the race. I think we
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  Speaker 2: are in a moment where the next governor of California
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  Speaker 2: has to be very execution focused. We don't have a
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  Speaker 2: revenue problem. We have an execution and accountability problem, which
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  Speaker 2: I'm sure we'll talk more about. Number Two, I'm worried
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  Speaker 2: about the partisan divide in this country and rising populism
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  Speaker 2: on the right and the left, and people sort of
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  Speaker 2: just giving easy answers, and so in my party on
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  Speaker 2: the left. Right now in California, at least, it's in
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  Speaker 2: vogue to say, well, all of our problems in California
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  Speaker 2: are just because of Donald Trump or just because of
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  Speaker 2: the tech billionaires. And look, I've got plenty of critiques
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  Speaker 2: of both, but the truth is we've got a lot
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  Speaker 2: of resources, a lot of assets. We've increased spending in
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  Speaker 2: the state of California by seventy five percent, or one
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  Speaker 2: hundred and fifty billion dollars in just the last six years.
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  Speaker 2: And I'm the only Democrat in this race saying we
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  Speaker 2: need to demand that our state government do better before
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  Speaker 2: we ask people to pay more. And I've got a
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  Speaker 2: track record as mayor of the largest city in northern
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  Speaker 2: California of doing that. We didn't raise taxes, but we
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  Speaker 2: dramatically changed the level of crime. We reduced it and
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  Speaker 2: became the safest big city in the country. Same with
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  Speaker 2: reducing homelessness, getting housing built. And I just I think
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  Speaker 2: accountability is what the state needs. And I didn't hear
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  Speaker 2: anybody else talking about it.
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  Speaker 1: You know, it's interesting. I know that I spent a
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  Speaker 1: little bit of time in San Jose and one of
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  Speaker 1: the there are times when you're in the city that
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  Speaker 1: you you can't you're you're unaware that Silicon Valley's right there.
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  Speaker 1: And I'll be honest, I the first, you know, I
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  Speaker 1: expected more of a presence in a positive way, and
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  Speaker 1: it isn't there. It's it's interesting suburban yeah, that that
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  Speaker 1: that the Silicon Valley workers don't really live in San Jose.
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  Speaker 2: It was actually the opposite. It's the opposite. We we
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  Speaker 2: housed the workforce. San Jose was built as the bedroom community.
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  Speaker 1: There's a lot of people that seemed to commute, that
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  Speaker 1: seemed to commute right all the way closer to the
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  Speaker 1: San Francisco.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. So historically what happened was the defense industry invested early,
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  Speaker 2: and out of that became the semiconductor industry, and the
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  Speaker 2: jobs were actually closer to Stanford or Palo Alto, which
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  Speaker 2: is almost the midpoint between San Jose and San Francisco.
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  Speaker 2: San Jose was all agriculture up until the World War
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  Speaker 2: two boom, but in the sixties and seventies, all of
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  Speaker 2: that that valley would used to be called the Valley
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  Speaker 2: of Hearts delay, all of those orchards got turned into
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  Speaker 2: single family home neighborhoods. And so San Jose is one
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  Speaker 2: million people in the heart of Silicon Valley. But it
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  Speaker 2: is the it is the residential center of the valley.
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  Speaker 2: It's where tech's workforce lives. It's where their kids go
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  Speaker 2: to school, they go to the park, the library. But
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  Speaker 2: what we've been doing in recent years that I'm really
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  Speaker 2: excited about is we're building an urban center in our
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  Speaker 2: downtown and it's starting to grow. We're getting housing built.
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  Speaker 2: Silicon Valley has always lacked a proper downtown or urban center,
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  Speaker 2: and that's now becoming that's San Jose's downtown. But you're right,
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  Speaker 2: it's more sprawling. It's not like New York or Chicago
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  Speaker 2: or one of our you know.
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  Speaker 1: What would you attribute this to?
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  Speaker 2: Though? Why?
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  Speaker 1: Why hasn't Because I looked at it. It's like, I'm
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  Speaker 1: just surprised that the companies themselves, you know, I expected
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  Speaker 1: to see the Facebook Arena, the arts, the Apple Arts Center,
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  Speaker 1: you know, I mean, I'm you know, which is what
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  Speaker 1: you see in other cities where the industry is sort
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  Speaker 1: of connected to the community, and it always it has
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  Speaker 1: felt as if and I'm just curious if you believe
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  Speaker 1: this or maybe you've improved you feel like you can
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  Speaker 1: improve this, which is that the big companies of Silicon
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  Speaker 1: Valley haven't necessarily invested in San Jose and the way
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  Speaker 1: you might expect them to.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think that these I worked at the tech
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  Speaker 2: sector building civic tech tools, helping people essentially organize and
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  Speaker 2: be civically active and hold their elected officials accountable. And
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  Speaker 2: I can tell you from working in the space for
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  Speaker 2: quite a few years, that technology don't start from the
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  Speaker 2: perspective of politics or or the kind of presence that
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  Speaker 2: you're talking about, or even brand building. The I know,
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  Speaker 2: it's sort of the myth, although I think kind of
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: the reality of tech that it's much more people who
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: are tinkers, inventors who are literally starting in a garage
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  Speaker 2: and they're interested in creating something new and powerful that
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  Speaker 2: gives you a new capability that can solve a problem.
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  Speaker 2: And it's sort of like the all the rest, you know,
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  Speaker 2: the revenue profit, you know, sponsorships, marketing, politics is super secondary.
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  Speaker 2: For years, the tech sector had a mutual avoidance with
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  Speaker 2: government and just wanted to be left alone. It's actually
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: a very libertarian sector. And so whether you're in San
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: Francisco and.
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: Again still is a libertarian mindset. I mean, you know,
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  Speaker 1: I think.
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  Speaker 2: We do have some exceptions, though I have to give
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  Speaker 2: a huge shout out to Adobe, headquartered in down town
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  Speaker 2: San Jose, thousands of employees. They contribute a ton to
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  Speaker 2: the community. They're always sponsoring things, investing in arts and culture.
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  Speaker 1: But they are Why do you think they're the exception?
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  Speaker 1: Because they do. A minute you just said that, it
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  Speaker 1: dawned on me. I remember seeing a lot of the
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  Speaker 1: Adobe brand.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, although I've got to say same for Cisco, which
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  Speaker 2: is here in San Jose. I think it depends on
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  Speaker 2: the maturity of the company and the maturity of the
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  Speaker 2: sub industry. If it's a new robotics company or vertical
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  Speaker 2: takeoff and landing vehicle, they're just focused on trying to
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  Speaker 2: get the tech to work. They're trying to actually figure
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: out as they're a market for this thing, and does
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  Speaker 2: it work. Once a company has been around twenty thirty
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  Speaker 2: years as profitable, as more mature, they're a lot more
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  Speaker 2: likely to actually look around and say, Okay, how do
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  Speaker 2: we show up in the community. What are our responsibilities?
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  Speaker 2: But you're right, I mean, I think we're pointing out
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  Speaker 2: as an industry that until recently at least, has been
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: sort of being nascent. It just wasn't a totally.
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  Speaker 1: Mature I mean, I guess if you were to describe
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: them as a person, you'd say they're kind of introverted.
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  Speaker 1: They're just they don't and I don't, I don't, I
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  Speaker 1: don't write I don't buy that it's like some nefarious
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  Speaker 1: reason they don't want to contribute to a community. It's
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  Speaker 1: just this, it's not like you see with other industries.
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  Speaker 1: And I remember it. I guess I would it feels
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  Speaker 1: as if San Jose should be benefiting more than they are.
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  Speaker 2: I do you argue that, I mean feel that's my pitch. So,
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  Speaker 2: for example, we have a super Bowl World Cup coming
• 12:27
  Speaker 2: to San Jose this year. We just hosted Super Bowl
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: World Cups coming with six matches actually March Madness this week,
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: and I went around to our local employers and asked
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: them to contribute to a fan experience, to make it
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: open and accessible to all of our residents, so that
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: even residents who couldn't afford a ticket to one of
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: the big games could have a great experience. We raised
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: about five million dollars from local employers, mostly tech employers,
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  Speaker 2: but not all view that as being their sort of
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  Speaker 2: civic responsibility. I'll give you another example I'm really proud of.
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  Speaker 2: We've created something called AI for all. I am concerned,
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  Speaker 2: as I think most people are, that AI is coming quickly.
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  Speaker 2: It's very powerful. It could do a lot of good,
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  Speaker 2: it could also do a lot of harm. We worked with,
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: reached out to and convinced three of the leading AI companies, Google,
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  Speaker 2: Open Ai, and Anthropic to actually partner with our library
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: system to make their tools freely accessible. Along with tutorials,
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: in person trainings, and really try to open up this
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  Speaker 2: technology and make it accessible for all of our residents.
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  Speaker 2: We have seven hundred thousand people in San Jose with
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: a library card. City of a million people, seventy percent
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: of a library card. We want everybody in our city,
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: and ultimately everybody in the world needs to have access
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: to these tools and the training and tech that they
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: need to be able to participate and share in this
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  Speaker 2: new emerging economy. If we don't get ahead of this,
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  Speaker 2: it's there's real risk of harming harming people.
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  Speaker 1: To me, there's two challenges with AI. There's accessibility, you
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  Speaker 1: just outline that one. But there's also guardrails, and the
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  Speaker 1: industry doesn't want any you know, maybe anthropic is more
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  Speaker 1: open to guardrails and open AI, but ultimately, you know,
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: other than regulatory capture, I'm the political senate here. You
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: don't have to concur with that. I'm the Senate. I
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: will say it, you know, I think ultimately, usually in
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: one of these instances, there's somebody that is willing to
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: be pro regulation as long as they get to do
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: it on their terms, right, you know, and becomes a
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: bit of industry capture. So let me ask you this,
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: what should because the state of California here, you guys,
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: decide on some guardrails, it's going it potentially becomes the standard.
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: It potentially can have that kind of impact. Right, California
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: has that kind of ability that it can have outsized
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: impact on you know, we're seeing it now. New York
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: passed a law about surveillance pricing that you've got to
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: let people know about surveillance pricing. So because New York
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: has that law, you see companies even if they're they're
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: they're sending an offer to Oklahoma, they know it might
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: be seen in New York, so they have to abide
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: by the law. So the point being is certain states
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: can have outsized influence when it comes to guardrails. What
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: are the guardrails that you'd like to see state government?
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: If you're governor, what would you be proposing for the
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: AI industry?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's a really important question, and I
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: have the benefit of being the only candidate in this
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: race that has already had experience regulating AI. We use
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: technology throughout San Jose. In fact, we've been on the
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: leading edge of deploying AI to improve public services. We
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: created something called the gov AI coalition that has grown
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: from a handful of cities to over nine hundred public
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: agencies that are convening and setting policy around the responsible
• 15:51
  Speaker 2: and ethical use of AI. So what does that mean
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: in practice? When we deploy a new tool like automated
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: license plate readers, we have a responsibility for being totally
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: transparent with the public. What do we collect, where, when, why,
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: how's the data used? Is it shared with anyone? So
• 16:09
  Speaker 2: we publish all that on our website, and we're very restrictive.
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: We don't do facial recognition. That is an explicit regulation
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: and standard. We don't keep the data indefinitely. In fact,
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: with our automated license plate readers, we delete the data
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: after thirty days unless it is still actively needed in
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: a in a prosecution or investigation and it's it's been
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: you know, kept specifically for that purpose. Otherwise it's deleted
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: because we don't want to build long term profiles on.
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: Time that government is How do you guarantee that the
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: company that you've contracted with to do this isn't Well,
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: we make.
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: We make them sign a contract with us on we
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: do not. So in the case of just the license
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: plate readers we own that we make sure we own
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: the data so it can't be shared by the company.
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: They don't. They don't control it. We do. It's in
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: our it's in our sur and so I think the
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: importance of being out in front and testing and using
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: these tools in government is so that we don't get blindsided,
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: so that we learn and are in a position to
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: understand the tools so that we can effectively regulate them.
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  Speaker 2: And I think that the State of California over the
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: coming years is going to have to create the regulatory
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: framework around privacy, data security, protecting children, all in this
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: new context of AI. And I think the biggest thing
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: is what you referenced in your New York example. Transparency
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  Speaker 2: is what I think is the most important starting place.
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: There may be specific things that we need to stay
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: yes you can do this, and no you can't do that,
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  Speaker 2: but you need to know when AI is being used.
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: You want to know if a video is AI generated
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: or not. So I think that sort of transparency and
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: truth in labeling almost if you will to use an
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: analogy from a different different sector, I think that's really
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: really important.
• 18:00
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  Speaker 1: code podcast for thirty percent off. And yes, I too,
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  Speaker 1: am a customer. Let me ask you this, why do
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: you think a fairly large majority of the country is
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: essentially negative on AI?
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: Well, I think it's the unknown. I think it's it's scary. Two.
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: I think there are a couple of things that.
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: We're an outlier with other Western democracies. By the way,
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: on this, AI is more unpopular in the United States
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: and it is in other in other places where there's
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: been there's been some public opinion research. So it does
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: seem like we're a little bit more.
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: We're on the forefront of it, so we may just
• 20:10
  Speaker 2: be the leading indicator. Maybe that is other countries. I mean,
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: we have the world's leading AI companies right in the US.
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: So we're feeling it first.
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think we're feeling it. First. Yeah, I mean, look, people,
• 20:22
  Speaker 2: people are right to be concerned, and I think you know,
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: one area of concern is privacy, and that's where total
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: transparency around what you collect and how it's used and
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: whether or not it's stored, all of that.
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: All Right, you saying the right thing, but let me
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: I understand, let me page you, then let me podge
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: you there in privacy because this has been an issue
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: for twenty years with Silicon Valley and the development of
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: social media platforms, was we were supposed to have all
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: these concerns, and we'd hear plenty of people talking about
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: these concerns and then the company these themselves didn't behave
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: And you know, I personally, I think the reason why
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: there's no trust with AI and some is because the
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: same people that brought you social media, which has been
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: an utter disaster for our information ecosystem, are the ones
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: bringing you AI. And we're supposed to feel good about this,
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: Like I just that's what frustrates me is there we're
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: we're going through the same conversations we had at the
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: at the advent of social media, and and you know,
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: because at first it was awesome and then of course
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: after they are we realized, oh whoa, this this could
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: be weaponized and manipulated. Now we're and now we're now
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: it's already toothpaste out of the tube. There's nothing we
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: can do about it. And how do we ensure this
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: doesn't happen with AI?
• 21:45
  Speaker 2: Well, Chuck, I mean, look, I'm not I'm not here
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: to defend social media and when they're.
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: I'm not trying to make you, but I do want
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: I do want government to be more skeptical and put
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: these guys a bit through, a little bit more of
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: the ringer, if you will.
• 21:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, and I think there's okay. So there's a
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: couple of different things. When there's an actual violation of
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: people's privacy collecting their data, using it in ways that
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: they have not authorized, there needs to be strict accountability.
• 22:11
  Speaker 2: Cambridge Analytica being an example of a firm that scraped
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: a bunch of data, used it a ways people weren't
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: aware of, and I believe they were fined five billion
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: dollars and that's appropriate. There ought to be serious law
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: enforcement around the regulations we've put in place around personally
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: identifying information PII. There's a whole body of law around
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: that that needs to be enforced by regulators, and that
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: has to be done. When it comes to the echo
• 22:37
  Speaker 2: chambers of social media, you start to get into a
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: difficult place. And I think it's important to be skeptical
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: and to think about but you also don't want to
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: impose on people's free speech. One of the things that
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: is interesting is the crowdsourcing of community notes on x
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: where somebody can actually say, well, this is not the
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: whole story. Click here to learn more. And so I
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: think there's kind of this evolving space of how do
• 23:03
  Speaker 2: we actually deal with misinformation And that's a harder one
• 23:06
  Speaker 2: because you know, miss what you call misinformation maybe somebody
• 23:11
  Speaker 2: else saying well that's my opinion, and so it becomes
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: hard to police the truth. And I think there are
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: limits there to what government or technology can do and
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: ensuring that what people are saying is truthful and accurate.
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: At some point here you said a regulatory environment that
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: needs to be enforced. The Cambridge analyticals of the world
• 23:28
  Speaker 2: need to be sued and held accountable, maybe criminally liable,
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: But at some point it's also up to us to
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: think through our public education system about media literacy, critical thinking,
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: you know, training and teaching people so that they don't
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: just passively hear something and think, oh, that must be
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: that must be true. It is, it's on steroids. I'll
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: grant you this, but keep in mind when the country
• 23:52
  Speaker 2: was found and everybody was running off pamphlets in the basement,
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: say whatever the heck we wanted, and we always we've
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: always dealt with this issue information.
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: This is that I and I and I. It makes
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: me happy to hear you put it in those terms,
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: because that is something like to frequently remind people. You know,
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: people say our media is polarized. Our media has been
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: polarized for a majority of our country's history. We just
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: had a brief period called the Cold War where we
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: weren't it. We can we can have an entire debate
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: about why that was. For an outlaw period of sixteen years,
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: we had a we we were you know, we kept
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: our fringes at the side. All Right, I'm going to
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: get off social media, the Silicon Valley issues, uh, and
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: get to something that is you're doing in San Jose
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: to two issues that you're tackling in San Jose that
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: are also issues that this to deal with homelessness and
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: affordable housing and the things you're trying to do. Some
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: people love them, and you're some people are pushing back
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: at you. I mean, you know there's you get you
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: know in some ways that that means you're trying something.
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: If you don't, I have people on both sides that
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: out that it beats you're not mean. It means you're
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: not trying hard enough. In my opinion. So you're trying something,
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: Tell me about it, Tell me about homelessness. What do
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: you think you're getting right in San Jose that you
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: can take statewide?
• 25:13
  Speaker 2: Yeah? Well, first of all, the starting point on this
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: as I came into office was things just kept getting
• 25:18
  Speaker 2: worse year after year, even though we were spending more
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: and more. The state had spent over thirty billion dollars.
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: Even just in a city like San Jose, we were
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: spending one hundred million dollars a year. Our county had
• 25:27
  Speaker 2: passed a billion dollar bond. And I'm a I try
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: to be a data driven guy. It's important to have
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: a governing philosophy and some court and core values, but
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: then on top of that, you've got to actually look
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: at data on what works in practice, and everything was
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: going in the wrong direction. We had this community plan
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: to end homelessness in San Jose that didn't have any
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: math behind it, and as I did the back of
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: the envelope math, what I found was what we were
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: doing was never going to solve the problem. We would
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: have needed six billion dollars in twenty years just to
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: address the people on our streets at that moment. And
• 26:03
  Speaker 2: so we moved away from the slowest, most expensive solution,
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: which was using public dollars to build brand new apartments
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: for folks at a million dollars a door, which is
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: thirty percent higher than it costs the private marketplace to
• 26:16
  Speaker 2: build new housing and over six years to build, and
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: we pivoted to building basic dignified shelter. We converted old motels,
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: bought prefabricated modular units. What they all have in common
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: is we're giving people a safe, dignified place, a room
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: with a door that locks, access to services, case management,
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: on site security meals the basic things people need to
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: to be stabilized and start to turn their lives around.
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: And what we have found in the last few years
• 26:44
  Speaker 2: of scaling up safe and dignified shelter with services is
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: that we've been able to move thousands of people in
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: from these unmanaged tent encampments that have been just there
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: where people are just living in human misery and dying
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: at very high rates. We've reduced number of people who
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: were dying, we've reduced the amount of health issues, and
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: we've given people a real shot. In fact, twenty eight
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: percent of the people we've brought indoors over the last
• 27:10
  Speaker 2: few years have already graduated to permanent housing because they
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: were able to take advantage of the services we were offering.
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: So San Jose, by pivoting and looking at the data
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: and thinking differently, has led the state of California and
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: reducing the number of people living outside in tentingcampments by
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: about one third. And for the first time in our history,
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: a majority of people who are homeless in San Jose
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: will be living indoors, not outdoors. And you know, it's
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: very rich for folks to criticize this, but they're not
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: the ones living and dying in misery and attent encampment
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: without even access to a bathroom. And the truth is,
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: cities like New York and Boston and Chicago have similar
• 27:50
  Speaker 2: rates of homelessness, but the differences they build shelter capacity,
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: they don't leave people to die on the streets, because
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: you can't do that in a place with a cold winter.
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: But in California, we've been complacent. We never built the
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: shelter capacity to bring people indoors.
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: So we think this is an issue in San Francisco,
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: La San Diego, that they need more shelter capacity.
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: Well, look, yeah, I mean the data is so clear, Chuck.
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: I mean, we are twelve percent of the nation's population.
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: We have over forty percent of the people who live
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: outside in the country on our streets. We haven't built
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: enough shelter, we haven't built enough treatment capacity, and even
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: when we have those beds, we have been reticent to
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: hold people accountable for coming indoors. Now, I do want
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: to note something else here. We can get into all
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: the addiction and mental illness points, but a place where
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: I agree wholeheartedly with the advocates in this in this
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: case is that we have broken the housing market in
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: California and the rent is too damn expensive. So we
• 28:52
  Speaker 2: actually agree.
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: You're supposed to say the rant is too damn high.
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: Remember there was that political party that got.
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: That's what it is.
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: I missed that. I don't remember, but he was the rent.
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: It's too damn high. Guy, I think you ran for
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: mayor of New York City about ten years ago. But
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: it's that's I think people feel that way in a
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: lot of places. Yeah.
• 29:10
  Speaker 2: So, I mean, look, that's part of the overarching problem
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: here is that we don't have enough housing that is affordable.
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: But I would also say that's largely a public policy failure.
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: We have the slowest permitting times, the most aggressive environmental laws,
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: the highest impact fees. I mean, we just we've made
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: it so slow and expensive to build that the housing
• 29:31
  Speaker 2: market isn't keeping up with demand and actually building housing
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: affordably for people.
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: Let me ask this, because you know, I can we
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: have environmental regulation that's just faster, Like you know, I
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: hate that the choice becomes, well we just won't do
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: this environmental impact statement because it slows things down. Well
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: why does it have to slow things down? Why can't
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: we Why can't you both have those things but in
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: a timely capacity? What is the And maybe you don't
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: know the answer to this, and I would understand if
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: you didn't, but that's always been one of my head
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: you know, it's always presented as a choice. Well, either
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: you can have an environmental impact. You know that, or
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: that slows things down? No, well, why does it have
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: to Why does it slow things down?
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: Yeah? No, I agree with you. I don't think it
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: needs to be either or at all. Now. I do
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: think there's a big difference between wanting to build out
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: in greenfield open space outside of a growth boundary. If
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: you want to build out in the in the valleys
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: in the hills of California, that probably should take an
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: environmental review process that is quite a bit more robust
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: and takes more time than if you want to do
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: infill development. My big complaint has been even in our
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: urbanized areas where we have roads and sewers and we're
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: talking about building on a surface parking lot or a
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: place that is adjacent to a bunch of urbanized development,
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: we will still take at least up until very recent on,
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: almost all projects have taken over a year to go
• 31:04
  Speaker 2: through environmental and our definition of environmental, just to be clear,
• 31:07
  Speaker 2: with California's Environmental Quality Act sequel is so much broader
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: than what you might imagine is the environment. It's not
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: clean air, clean water, it goes far beyond that. It
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: is noise impacts, traffic impacts, shadows, historic registries, Native American
• 31:29
  Speaker 2: remains in the ground. I mean, just a endless list
• 31:32
  Speaker 2: of potential impacts with a lot of discretion or debate
• 31:37
  Speaker 2: over what are the right mitigations. And I think we've
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: got to simplify that now. It's not to say we shouldn't,
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: you know, check if you're destroying a historic building, and
• 31:46
  Speaker 2: sure that's valid, but it can't take as long as
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: it does. And this is where I actually think technology
• 31:52
  Speaker 2: can be really helpful. It ought to be that we
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: have inventory things in advance, and it doesn't take a
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: year to do a one off bespoke study. Where we
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: have this cottage industry of consultants who make millions of
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: dollars taking a year or more to study everything. We
• 32:08
  Speaker 2: ought to be able to run it against a database
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: and say, okay, here's here's how many people are living here,
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: here's the decibel level. You can't well hit memory and
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: nail after you know, nine to eight pm or whatever.
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: I'm going to make a really awkward comparison here, and
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: you could say I'm crazy, and I hope it doesn't
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: get you in trouble, but I sort of feel about
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: it the way I feel about there should be a
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: time because you're right, this stuff can be endless when
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: it comes to like waiting for a permit to be
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: approved and all this stuff. It's like, frankly, when I'm
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: watching a sporting event and there's instant replay. If it's
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: taking you so long to decide whether something is in
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: or out, then whatever the call was is the call,
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: and it's like you just time is up, you know.
• 32:49
  Speaker 2: There.
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: It's it's like I almost feel that way about instead
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: of an endless it being, it's almost like people want
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: to have more time so they can find something that's wrong,
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: versus is, look, you've got a finite amount of time.
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: This is a reasonable amount of time, and if it
• 33:04
  Speaker 1: doesn't you don't discover it within this amount of time,
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: then it's and it's probably not there. And if you
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: miss it, that's on you and eventually you're gonna be
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: held accountable for missing it.
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and that exactly, and actually that's part of my play.
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: I put up my my big housing plan on Mayhem
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: from California dot Com and it's my you know, fifteen
• 33:22
  Speaker 2: point plan for how we unbreak the housing market in California.
• 33:25
  Speaker 2: One of the fifteen points is to require that conforming
• 33:31
  Speaker 2: projects for infill, get that permit within the building permit
• 33:36
  Speaker 2: within thirty days.
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: And it just they're just going to get it. You
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: find out within thirty days, like you know, whatever it is,
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: so that you can move.
• 33:42
  Speaker 2: On, you know, Yeah, totally. I also think we're so
• 33:45
  Speaker 2: risk averse and worried about litigation. California is probably the
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: most litigious place on earth that we were scared of
• 33:53
  Speaker 2: ever making a mistake. I mean, I would rather that
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: we bias toward action when we have a crisis like
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: our shortage of housing and our affordability crisis that's pushing
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: working families to the brank, causing people to leave our state,
• 34:05
  Speaker 2: creating so much stress and heartache for folks. Let's buyas
• 34:09
  Speaker 2: toward action, particularly when you're in an urban area. Let's build.
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: Where are you look? One of the first places that
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: I learned about ad us Okay, these uh is San Jose,
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: I feel I guess you guys were on the cutting
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: edge of this. I'm of mixed minds on this. I
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: just think that that that I can see the I
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: could see the UH the immediate utility of it, and
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: the potential Like do we I think we need to
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: update our landlord laws. We need to update our There's
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: going to be some issues that come into play about Okay,
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: who's got access to a driveway, who's got access to
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: a yard?
• 34:50
  Speaker 2: Right?
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: Do you think we are we have enough up to
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: date laws to protect both tenants and owners here when
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: it comes to these ad us.
• 35:01
  Speaker 2: My sense is in California we do. I mean, I'm
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: always open to learning more and changing my opinion based
• 35:06
  Speaker 2: on real data. I mean, we have very strong renter
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: or tenant protections.
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: Some might argue though, that they're so strong that they're
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: anti owners, And yeah, you got to have a balance
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: here that that if you have a problem tenant and
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: you know it's going to take you three years to
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: deal with it, that's a big bols too far.
• 35:26
  Speaker 2: So then that's too much. Yeah, and I think particularly
• 35:29
  Speaker 2: so if it's a unit in your backyard. Now, a
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: lot of people who are a building a to use
• 35:32
  Speaker 2: or building them for family members. But I mean, I
• 35:35
  Speaker 2: hear you. I do think you know, just common sense wise,
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: we can go we can go look at the law
• 35:39
  Speaker 2: and the process and try to get better data on this.
• 35:43
  Speaker 2: But if you've built an accessory dwelling unit and an
• 35:46
  Speaker 2: in law unit, in your backyard and somebody's not paying
• 35:51
  Speaker 2: the rent or there being a bad actor, and this
• 35:54
  Speaker 2: is you know, your yard, your home, your primary residence.
• 35:57
  Speaker 2: I do think you need the ability to tell the
• 36:00
  Speaker 2: person that they that they've got to vacate the promise.
• 36:03
  Speaker 2: That being said, you need some kind of greatest period
• 36:05
  Speaker 2: for the person all to pack up and go. So,
• 36:07
  Speaker 2: you know, striking that balance again kind of what the
• 36:10
  Speaker 2: job of policymakers is. I will tell you though, in
• 36:13
  Speaker 2: a city like San Jose that is relatively suburban and sprawling,
• 36:17
  Speaker 2: and you've said, you've been here, it's it's you know,
• 36:21
  Speaker 2: a lot of single family home neighborhoods eighty years are
• 36:24
  Speaker 2: quite popular. In fact, twenty percent, yeah, twenty two percent
• 36:28
  Speaker 2: of the new housing built in San Jose every year
• 36:31
  Speaker 2: are as ad us. And they give people flexibility. They
• 36:36
  Speaker 2: can have a a family member, you have your grandparent
• 36:41
  Speaker 2: or your child returning from college who needs to save
• 36:44
  Speaker 2: up in order to be able to break into the
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: housing market. They can create income for folks. So that
• 36:49
  Speaker 2: flexibility has been really valuable to a lot of families,
• 36:51
  Speaker 2: and I think we should encourage it.
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: All right, let's talk about affordability, and I'm going to
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: ask probably a question that you may think as a gotcha,
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: it's not meant to be. Are taxes too high in California?
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: Are there too many taxes or taxes too high? Or
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: is hey it's California, welcome. You know, it's a privilege
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: to live here, and you know some things cost more.
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: Taxes are really are high. We have the second highest
• 37:19
  Speaker 2: taxes in the country. They are mostly very progressive, which
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: I support. Those who make more, earn more, do better
• 37:27
  Speaker 2: in society, should pay more back into the pot to
• 37:29
  Speaker 2: help everybody else. So I don't mind at all. In fact,
• 37:32
  Speaker 2: I very much support the fact that we have one
• 37:34
  Speaker 2: of the most progressive tax structures in the country. In fact,
• 37:39
  Speaker 2: the only I would say about that is it is
• 37:41
  Speaker 2: a bit of a risk and a vulnerability. Forty percent
• 37:43
  Speaker 2: of our inn we charge an income tax. It's a
• 37:45
  Speaker 2: major source of revenue for the state. Forty percent of
• 37:48
  Speaker 2: that revenue, sometimes up to fifty percent comes from the
• 37:51
  Speaker 2: top one percent of earners each year, so we are
• 37:54
  Speaker 2: very concentrated and vulnerable to capital flight because it's the
• 37:59
  Speaker 2: top earners who pay of the revenue. We also have
• 38:01
  Speaker 2: some of the oddly enough, some of the most regressive taxes,
• 38:05
  Speaker 2: and so if anything where I would look to maybe,
• 38:08
  Speaker 2: you know, modify things with something like our gas tax.
• 38:10
  Speaker 2: So wealthier folks are buying evs and are sort of
• 38:14
  Speaker 2: opting out of gas tax by doing that, and that's
• 38:16
  Speaker 2: a good thing. We want EV adoption, we want cleaner air,
• 38:18
  Speaker 2: I'm all for it. But what's happening by default is
• 38:22
  Speaker 2: those who can't afford evs and are still driving gas
• 38:26
  Speaker 2: powered vehicles and driving longer distances, which also happens to
• 38:29
  Speaker 2: correlate with lower income communities like the one I grew
• 38:33
  Speaker 2: up in. Rural communities in particular, are paying the disproportionate
• 38:37
  Speaker 2: share of the nation's highest gas taxes that go to
• 38:40
  Speaker 2: pay to maintaining the roads. So that needs to be
• 38:44
  Speaker 2: right sized. EV owners should be paying their fair share
• 38:47
  Speaker 2: to maintain the roads.
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: And what is the what is the calculation?
• 38:51
  Speaker 2: Now?
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: I remember, well, I remember about ten years fifteen years
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: ago now, the state of Oregon piloted a program that
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: would sort of get rid of that move from a
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: gas tax to a user basically road user fee. And
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: the idea was you would get charged per mile that
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: you used, and of course, the libertarian crowd went bonkers. Right,
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: what do you mean that's you know, privacy and all
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: this stuff. But I understood the the I understood the
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: the larger idea. Well, we've got to figure out not
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: everybody's going to be buying gas, So how do we
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: how do we do this? And I know you know
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: some states you get charged an annual fee if you're
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: an electric vehicle. That's this what what should what? What
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: is your plan to do this? How would you level
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: the playing field here?
• 39:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, my preference would be just when it comes to
• 39:44
  Speaker 2: the road maintenance revenue that we that we just do
• 39:47
  Speaker 2: a per vehicle fee because a mileage tax is also
• 39:50
  Speaker 2: regressive like a gas tax.
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: It really what you just mentioned when you you know,
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: a working class person may have to drive more because
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: they're a side hustle or whatever.
• 39:59
  Speaker 2: I had a drive. I had to go about two
• 40:01
  Speaker 2: hours to get to a really good high school from
• 40:03
  Speaker 2: my little town, and my parents drove an hour and
• 40:05
  Speaker 2: a half the other direction to get to their jobs.
• 40:07
  Speaker 2: So I just I think a flat fee. Now we
• 40:09
  Speaker 2: do have a fee, we have a flat fee for evs,
• 40:12
  Speaker 2: but when you look at what's actually paid, it is
• 40:15
  Speaker 2: set way too low. Our ev owners are paying on
• 40:18
  Speaker 2: the order of one hundred dollars a year, our working
• 40:21
  Speaker 2: class families driving a gas powered vehicle or contributing over
• 40:24
  Speaker 2: three hundred per year to the So I would just
• 40:27
  Speaker 2: write size that. But look overall, let me answer your
• 40:29
  Speaker 2: bigger question on.
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: Text about the tax bill. Yeah, the average talipoint is.
• 40:34
  Speaker 2: It's it's high. We've also locked in a lot of
• 40:38
  Speaker 2: expenditures and commitments we have, we have pension liabilities, we
• 40:42
  Speaker 2: have a lot of infrastructure to maintain. My goal right
• 40:46
  Speaker 2: now is and as governor, my goal would not be
• 40:49
  Speaker 2: too would be explicitly not to raise or lower. Maybe
• 40:53
  Speaker 2: we can write size to deal with some of the
• 40:55
  Speaker 2: regressive taxation. My goal is to make sure we spend better.
• 40:58
  Speaker 2: I think we can get thirty percent more impact in
• 41:02
  Speaker 2: terms of outcomes out of the dollars we're spending. And
• 41:06
  Speaker 2: what I worry about in California is a complacency that
• 41:09
  Speaker 2: has set in where Sacramento, our state government is basically
• 41:15
  Speaker 2: captured by highly organized interests. We have single party rule,
• 41:20
  Speaker 2: my party. We have controlled every statewide office for fifteen
• 41:24
  Speaker 2: years now, a super majority in the legislature, the governor's office,
• 41:29
  Speaker 2: and so forth. And every year revenue is going up
• 41:32
  Speaker 2: far faster than population growth or average income, and we're
• 41:36
  Speaker 2: not getting better outcomes. I mean, we are literally spending
• 41:39
  Speaker 2: seventy five percent more than six years ago, and not
• 41:42
  Speaker 2: one outcome that matters is better. The housing costs are
• 41:45
  Speaker 2: as unaffordable as ever, second hized energy costs, highest unemployment rate,
• 41:50
  Speaker 2: highest poverty rate. So of our public schools are lagging
• 41:54
  Speaker 2: behind Mississippi and Louisiana and educating low income students. So
• 42:00
  Speaker 2: we just we have got to demand better before we
• 42:04
  Speaker 2: even think about asking people to pay more.
• 42:10
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• 44:01
  Speaker 1: There's some great pilot projects that they're doing down there.
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: Kim Barksdale, former founder of Netscape, for what it's worth,
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: has done some innovative work down there with phonics, with
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: teacher training. It is the young early reader stuff has
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: been terrific in Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama. So definitely take a
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: look at that. Look there's I look again. I'm not
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: here to force a fight on the force a fight
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: on you and force you to criticize somebody. But that's
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: an iplicit criticism of the last two democratic governors a
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: little bit or certainly democratic governance. So let me ask
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: you this on Gaven Newsom, what's he gotten right and
• 44:39
  Speaker 1: what's he gotten wrong?
• 44:43
  Speaker 2: But I think what the governor has understood and been
• 44:46
  Speaker 2: willing to push on is in certain areas that we
• 44:51
  Speaker 2: need we need reform, and he's laid some of the groundwork.
• 44:53
  Speaker 2: And so let me tell you all, I want to
• 44:55
  Speaker 2: just be sure to give him give him credit on education.
• 44:58
  Speaker 2: There's a lack of accountability. He's proposed that we align
• 45:02
  Speaker 2: accountability all the way up to the governor's office. Right now,
• 45:04
  Speaker 2: we have a separate superintendent of schools statewide who's elected
• 45:08
  Speaker 2: and runs the Department of Education. The governor does not
• 45:11
  Speaker 2: have executive authority over the education department. Huge problem. We're
• 45:14
  Speaker 2: one of just a dozen states who has that structure.
• 45:17
  Speaker 1: Would you like to get rid of the elected state
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: public school instructor? Do you think that that's an office
• 45:21
  Speaker 1: that probably shouldn't be an elected position.
• 45:24
  Speaker 2: I don't know that it matters as long as basically
• 45:27
  Speaker 2: what Governor Newsom has proposed, which I agree with, is
• 45:30
  Speaker 2: keep the office, but have it be a sort of watchdog,
• 45:34
  Speaker 2: umbudsman and advocate for parents. Don't have it be the
• 45:38
  Speaker 2: executive authority over an entire or.
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: Like a comptroller, more like the way a comptroller works
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: with finances right here.
• 45:44
  Speaker 2: Monitor the spending, to be the advocate for the parents
• 45:47
  Speaker 2: and students. But the governor is the chief executive of
• 45:50
  Speaker 2: the state and the Department of Education on a report
• 45:52
  Speaker 2: directly up into the governor. So that's one I totally
• 45:55
  Speaker 2: agree with. He sees the need for reform there. On housing,
• 45:58
  Speaker 2: we talked earlier. The govern and I are completely aligned
• 46:01
  Speaker 2: on the importance of interim solutions. In fact, it's his
• 46:04
  Speaker 2: state budgets that have helped fund the solutions that we've
• 46:08
  Speaker 2: championed in San Jose. Now we've done it faster, better,
• 46:11
  Speaker 2: more cost effectively than any other city in the state.
• 46:14
  Speaker 2: But we're aligned there. He also recognizes the need for
• 46:18
  Speaker 2: an alternative on treatment for addiction for mental health, put
• 46:23
  Speaker 2: forward things like care Court Proposition one, which expands treatment beds.
• 46:30
  Speaker 2: The area where I think we differ is I am
• 46:33
  Speaker 2: very I'm very execution focused, and I have been willing
• 46:39
  Speaker 2: to take on members of my own party highly organized
• 46:43
  Speaker 2: interests in some cases disagree with the governor, the most
• 46:46
  Speaker 2: prominent example being Prop. Thirty six, where I believe that
• 46:49
  Speaker 2: if someone is repeatedly committing crime due to addiction, at
• 46:54
  Speaker 2: some point they should be given a clear choice between
• 46:57
  Speaker 2: treatment and jail. And that was an area where he
• 47:01
  Speaker 2: and I just just fundamentally disagreed. That's a philosophic difference.
• 47:05
  Speaker 2: I've had a family member who spent time on the
• 47:07
  Speaker 2: streets with addictions, so I maybe just have a different
• 47:09
  Speaker 2: perspective on the level of intervention that's needed to save
• 47:12
  Speaker 2: someone's life. But look, I think he's had a lot
• 47:17
  Speaker 2: of the right directionally, a lot of the right ideas
• 47:20
  Speaker 2: My focus, though, it will be on following through and
• 47:25
  Speaker 2: making sure people actually use care, court actually implement Prop
• 47:28
  Speaker 2: thirty six, build those beds and were when our execution
• 47:32
  Speaker 2: is bad, when we're too slow and too expensive to
• 47:35
  Speaker 2: execute a good idea, we have to be willing to
• 47:38
  Speaker 2: do something I haven't seen anyone in Sacramento do enough
• 47:40
  Speaker 2: of in recent years, which is take on the interest groups,
• 47:45
  Speaker 2: the highly organized interests, from trial lawyers to public sector
• 47:49
  Speaker 2: unions to corporate interests who have a veto right now
• 47:53
  Speaker 2: in Sacramento, and this is kind of becoming the case
• 47:55
  Speaker 2: in our democracy everywhere. Highly organized interests have a veto
• 47:59
  Speaker 2: overchange because they're so organized and they don't want anything
• 48:02
  Speaker 2: to change. They want to protect a status quo that
• 48:04
  Speaker 2: protects them. So it's it's the vetoocracy that I'm worried about,
• 48:08
  Speaker 2: and I just haven't seen anybody want to challenge that
• 48:10
  Speaker 2: because it's painful.
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: How much do you think the governor's been stifled by
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: a by the super majority in the legislature.
• 48:22
  Speaker 2: Well it doesn't help. But look, I'm as a as
• 48:27
  Speaker 2: you know, my own, my own person a different, everybody is,
• 48:30
  Speaker 2: everybody's different. I would be more active in putting legislators
• 48:35
  Speaker 2: on the spot and demanding results, and getting behind candidates
• 48:42
  Speaker 2: for the legislature who reflected a common sense problem solving mentality.
• 48:46
  Speaker 1: And so if you get elect the governor, you're going
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: to be a little more active in state legislative races,
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: both Assembly and Senate.
• 48:54
  Speaker 2: I think we need we need a significant change in
• 48:59
  Speaker 2: the political culture of California, one that is that is
• 49:03
  Speaker 2: really centered on accountability for outcomes. I say this because
• 49:06
  Speaker 2: this has been my experience as mayor of San Jose,
• 49:10
  Speaker 2: where I have had to overcome the objections of highly
• 49:14
  Speaker 2: organized interests who liked the city budget being spent the
• 49:17
  Speaker 2: way that it was spent. I've had to overcome the
• 49:19
  Speaker 2: opposition of colleagues on my city council who also were
• 49:25
  Speaker 2: wedded to the same old way of doing things. And
• 49:27
  Speaker 2: if you want to create change, it should always be
• 49:30
  Speaker 2: rooted in, you know, solid core values and a clear
• 49:34
  Speaker 2: sense of where you're trying to go. But you have
• 49:36
  Speaker 2: to be willing to take on the big fights. And
• 49:40
  Speaker 2: our inability to take on the big fights and solve
• 49:43
  Speaker 2: our problems despite spending more and more, is frankly giving
• 49:47
  Speaker 2: a lot of ammunition to the MAGA movement to a
• 49:52
  Speaker 2: president that thinks that might makes right. We are you know,
• 49:56
  Speaker 2: we talk about being the resistance and pushing back and
• 49:59
  Speaker 2: fighting against trump Ism, and yet we're not minding the
• 50:05
  Speaker 2: store here. If we don't fix our problems and show
• 50:07
  Speaker 2: that our values actually deliver results for working people in practice,
• 50:12
  Speaker 2: we don't have any credibility.
• 50:15
  Speaker 1: The best way, the best case against MAGA movement or
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: trump Ism is governance.
• 50:22
  Speaker 2: The best resistence, Yeah, the best resistance is results. Yeah.
• 50:25
  Speaker 1: No, I uh, as somebody who considers themselves an incrementalist
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: and a pragmatist. That's you know, I understand. I understand
• 50:34
  Speaker 1: the passionate frustration that's out there in in some forms
• 50:38
  Speaker 1: of MAGA movement, not every you know, there's some that
• 50:41
  Speaker 1: are there for their own reasons, but there are others
• 50:43
  Speaker 1: that are frustrated with the system. Hey, you know, there's
• 50:47
  Speaker 1: a lot of people that I think find themselves in
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: that camp. All right, I mean, let's land the plane here.
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: Let's talk about the elephant in the room or the
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: donkeys in the room, and the math problem that the
• 50:58
  Speaker 1: jungle primary is creating the pressure that I'm sure you're feeling.
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: Many Democratic candidates running for governor feeling because you've got
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: two Republicans who both have just enough traction that the
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: likelihood they could take the two slots be one two
• 51:15
  Speaker 1: and end up being you know, it's Steve Hilton and
• 51:18
  Speaker 1: Chad Biaco, right, and there's you know, this might be
• 51:21
  Speaker 1: only forty percent of the state once a Republican. Sixty
• 51:24
  Speaker 1: percent may want a Democrat, but their choice may not
• 51:26
  Speaker 1: be on the ballot because of so many Democrats splitting
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: the vote. How much of a concern is this to
• 51:34
  Speaker 1: you and how mindful of you are of this?
• 51:40
  Speaker 2: You know, Jeaque, to be honest with you, I am
• 51:42
  Speaker 2: not that concerned about I think there's been a lot
• 51:45
  Speaker 2: of inks filled on this. I think it is overblown.
• 51:47
  Speaker 2: Most voters are not paying attention to yet. People are
• 51:49
  Speaker 2: busy doing their jobs, paying their bills, raising their kids.
• 51:53
  Speaker 2: As voters start to tune in, you will see some consolidation.
• 51:57
  Speaker 2: Right now, undecided is beating everyone, and it's overwhelmingly Democratic
• 52:03
  Speaker 2: and independent voters who were undecided. When Republicans see name
• 52:09
  Speaker 2: the name on the ballot with Republican next to it
• 52:11
  Speaker 2: in a state where they haven't won statewide office in
• 52:13
  Speaker 2: fifteen years, they say, yeah, I like that guy. Who's
• 52:15
  Speaker 2: a Republican. So we have a lot of time for
• 52:20
  Speaker 2: this field to consolidate. And I jumped in because no
• 52:24
  Speaker 2: one was saying what's wrong with the state of California.
• 52:29
  Speaker 2: Everybody in my party wants to simply blame somebody else
• 52:32
  Speaker 2: for the problem. And I think as Democrats, we have
• 52:34
  Speaker 2: to remember that the best resistance is delivering results, and
• 52:37
  Speaker 2: we have to take ownership of our public policy shortcomings
• 52:42
  Speaker 2: and be really honest with voters that we can do better.
• 52:46
  Speaker 2: But it's going to mean taking on the interest within
• 52:48
  Speaker 2: our own party. It's going to mean changing things in
• 52:51
  Speaker 2: a way that won't always be popular. And so I
• 52:54
  Speaker 2: just I think I thought it was critically important to
• 52:57
  Speaker 2: get into this race to speak to all of those
• 52:59
  Speaker 2: undisc and disillusioned voters. There has been very low enthusiasm
• 53:04
  Speaker 2: for the field up until now. People are now starting
• 53:06
  Speaker 2: to tune in and I'm saying something very different, and
• 53:09
  Speaker 2: I think what you're going to see as we march
• 53:10
  Speaker 2: toward election day is people hear that message. I think
• 53:14
  Speaker 2: it's going to resonate. I'm seeing that as I travel
• 53:16
  Speaker 2: around the state. I was down on the border, you know,
• 53:18
  Speaker 2: looking at the crisis of Ross sewage flowing into the
• 53:21
  Speaker 2: country through the two on a river, I walked a
• 53:23
  Speaker 2: skid row and we talked about the failures on homelessness,
• 53:26
  Speaker 2: Alta Dina and the Palisades, and our issues with how
• 53:29
  Speaker 2: slow and expensive it is to build housing. As we
• 53:32
  Speaker 2: go around the state and talk to people about what's
• 53:34
  Speaker 2: broken and why and how to fix it, we're getting
• 53:36
  Speaker 2: an enthusiastic response. My biggest challenge is most California still
• 53:41
  Speaker 2: don't know who I am. So thank you for latering
• 53:42
  Speaker 2: me on the show.
• 53:43
  Speaker 1: Now I get it, But you're doing something that's quite difficult,
• 53:47
  Speaker 1: which is to run from a merit one, a singular
• 53:51
  Speaker 1: mayor seat right anytime. I mean, it's just only only
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: thing harder, I would argue is congressional is running from
• 53:57
  Speaker 1: a congressional seat. But let me let me ask it.
• 54:00
  Speaker 1: Let me ask you this. You know you're you're look
• 54:03
  Speaker 1: I'm somebody. I'm I'm I think both parties are broken.
• 54:08
  Speaker 1: I'm somebody who thinks that. Frankly, the only way they're
• 54:11
  Speaker 1: going to fix themselves is if they if an independent
• 54:16
  Speaker 1: of some sort or for a movement of some sort
• 54:18
  Speaker 1: of sort of you know, voters demand it. There's a
• 54:20
  Speaker 1: reason why the fastest growing party is no party? And
• 54:23
  Speaker 1: I don't care what state in the Union you go to.
• 54:25
  Speaker 1: California is no exception, particularly with voters under the age
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: of thirty, you know. And to me, it's pretty logical, right,
• 54:33
  Speaker 1: they've watched this, they've grown up in this polarized environment,
• 54:35
  Speaker 1: and they're like, neither party seems to want to solve
• 54:37
  Speaker 1: a problem. They're just reaction being They're just reactionary politics.
• 54:42
  Speaker 1: Why are you staying? Why did you stay as a Democrat?
• 54:44
  Speaker 1: You could have run a no party candidate, and in
• 54:46
  Speaker 1: some ways you are advocating for me. It sounds like
• 54:50
  Speaker 1: a sort of more independent you know. Maybe it's small
• 54:53
  Speaker 1: I capital D is what you're going for. But why
• 54:58
  Speaker 1: you know that the D next to your name? Some
• 55:01
  Speaker 1: people who want change will think, well, we've had democratic
• 55:05
  Speaker 1: governor sixteen years in a row now, which is I'm
• 55:08
  Speaker 1: trying to the last time California went longer than that.
• 55:12
  Speaker 1: I think you have to go back to the thirties.
• 55:18
  Speaker 1: Do you worry that the D next to your name
• 55:20
  Speaker 1: is not going to indicate to voters that you're a
• 55:22
  Speaker 1: change candidate.
• 55:24
  Speaker 2: Look, I'm a different kind of Democrat who reserves the
• 55:29
  Speaker 2: right to think. You think for myself, be independent in
• 55:34
  Speaker 2: my thinking about policy issues and solutions. But I still
• 55:38
  Speaker 2: believe the Democratic Party is fixable. I grew up in
• 55:42
  Speaker 2: a party whose core values I deeply identify with. I
• 55:48
  Speaker 2: grew up in a working class community where you know,
• 55:51
  Speaker 2: my folks and most people we lived around were generally
• 55:55
  Speaker 2: paycheck to paycheck. And when the party gets back to
• 55:58
  Speaker 2: its roots and gets back to sault problems, we expand
• 56:01
  Speaker 2: opportunity for people. We create better schools, we build infrastructure,
• 56:07
  Speaker 2: We make sure the economy is inclusive and that people
• 56:09
  Speaker 2: don't get left behind. We make sure people have access
• 56:12
  Speaker 2: to healthcare. But we need to upgrade the platform because
• 56:18
  Speaker 2: we're still trying to do things the way we did
• 56:20
  Speaker 2: in the twentieth century, where the answer to every problem
• 56:23
  Speaker 2: is if we just have more tax revenue and more programs,
• 56:26
  Speaker 2: we're going to fix it. And at some point we've
• 56:28
  Speaker 2: got to make government smarter, more responsive, more efficient. We're
• 56:32
  Speaker 2: the party that needs government to work. We believe in
• 56:35
  Speaker 2: government as a force for good. That's why I'm a Democrat.
• 56:39
  Speaker 2: My sense is, you know, many of the folks on
• 56:41
  Speaker 2: the other side of the aisle, if you will, are
• 56:45
  Speaker 2: more interested in just kind of hobbling and shrinking and
• 56:47
  Speaker 2: making government as fall as it can be. And that's
• 56:51
  Speaker 2: kind of an endless debate. But for where I'm at,
• 56:56
  Speaker 2: it's not about making government smaller or Bigger's especially in
• 56:59
  Speaker 2: a state with a very high tax burn we have
• 57:01
  Speaker 2: in California, Let's give people value for their dollars. Let's
• 57:05
  Speaker 2: make sure we're making people's lives better. So I just, yeah,
• 57:09
  Speaker 2: I grew up in the Democratic Party. I believe in
• 57:12
  Speaker 2: the core values. I think the party is salvageable. But
• 57:16
  Speaker 2: I'm running as a different kind of Democrat to try
• 57:18
  Speaker 2: to make the case for a different kind of politics,
• 57:21
  Speaker 2: whereas by opponents in the race are kind of offering
• 57:24
  Speaker 2: more of the same.
• 57:25
  Speaker 1: No, they only think, look, I get what you're trying
• 57:27
  Speaker 1: to do, And my skepticism is not about what you're
• 57:30
  Speaker 1: trying to do. My skepticism is in the voters. Meaning
• 57:33
  Speaker 1: voters right now are very in the moment, particularly Democratic voters,
• 57:38
  Speaker 1: and they're very frustrated with the current presidential administration, and
• 57:43
  Speaker 1: in many ways, right that's the you know, and they
• 57:47
  Speaker 1: gravitate towards the resistance warriors, particularly in a campaign. You know,
• 57:52
  Speaker 1: I think if you put them in a focus group.
• 57:54
  Speaker 1: A lot of them would agree with many of the
• 57:56
  Speaker 1: premises you're saying, But you know, sometimes this is more
• 57:59
  Speaker 1: emotional than intellectually. That's your challenge. Do you think you're
• 58:06
  Speaker 1: going to be Do you think that you're not that
• 58:10
  Speaker 1: you could come up short because you don't bash Trump enough.
• 58:16
  Speaker 2: I have a lot of faith in the common sense
• 58:19
  Speaker 2: of the voters of the people of California. I've knocked
• 58:22
  Speaker 2: on well over ten thousand doors. I have spoken with
• 58:26
  Speaker 2: tens of thousands of people over my six years now
• 58:30
  Speaker 2: in public life, and I think when people start to
• 58:35
  Speaker 2: tune into this race, hear what the candidates have to say.
• 58:38
  Speaker 2: I think people's common sense intuition on this is that, yes,
• 58:44
  Speaker 2: we want to elect a Democrat who's going to fight
• 58:47
  Speaker 2: for our values nationally, somebody who understands that Trump is
• 58:50
  Speaker 2: an existential threat to our values in our way of life,
• 58:53
  Speaker 2: and we need to fight through the courts and through
• 58:55
  Speaker 2: the bully pulpit and do everything we can to offer
• 58:58
  Speaker 2: an alternative think they understand. I think this is actually
• 59:02
  Speaker 2: true across Democrats, Independence and moderate Republicans that in California,
• 59:08
  Speaker 2: for most of our challenges around public schools, housing, costs,
• 59:11
  Speaker 2: energy costs. We can't blame anybody else. We need to
• 59:13
  Speaker 2: take ownership of our mistakes. We need to take control
• 59:17
  Speaker 2: of our own destiny, and we need to solve our
• 59:20
  Speaker 2: problems because that's actually the best counter to this populist,
• 59:24
  Speaker 2: authoritarian strain in our politics.
• 59:28
  Speaker 1: And I I'd be remiss if I didn't ask you
• 59:30
  Speaker 1: about the so called wealth tax. I'm given your answer
• 59:33
  Speaker 1: you gave to me earlier about how the income how
• 59:36
  Speaker 1: much of the income tax revenue comes from a very
• 59:40
  Speaker 1: tiny percentage of Californians. I'm guessing I have an idea
• 59:44
  Speaker 1: of where you are in the wealth taxt, but I'll
• 59:46
  Speaker 1: let you articulated.
• 59:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, my view of it is there are a number
• 59:51
  Speaker 2: of other things we should be doing to make the
• 59:53
  Speaker 2: tax code fairer and to make sure that the wealthiest
• 59:56
  Speaker 2: amongst us pay their fair share. And as you've heard
• 59:59
  Speaker 2: on about regressive taxation, income inequality, and opportunity gaps, that's
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 2: been kind of my whole career is thinking about those issues.
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 2: I am not supportive of the wealth tax specifically because
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 2: I don't think it'll work, and I think it will
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 2: actually ultimately burden middle class and working families in California
• 1:00:22
  Speaker 2: because billionaires aren't going to pay this tax. Half of
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 2: them have already left the state. Since it's been proposed,
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 2: we've seen over a trillion dollars in a capital flight.
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 2: I'm interested in what works, and what works in this
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 2: case is and I know it's harder, but if we're
• 1:00:37
  Speaker 2: going to be intellectually honest about this, we need to
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 2: fight at the federal level over things like what should
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 2: the capital gains tax rate be. I don't believe you
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 2: should be able to borrow endlessly against your appreciated assets
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 2: and never have to pay a capital gain. That's a
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 2: huge loophole. I don't believe Elon Mushold able to pass
• 1:00:55
  Speaker 2: five hundred billion dollars worth of appreciated stock onto his kids,
• 1:00:58
  Speaker 2: have it rebased market rate. The day that they inherit it,
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 2: they can turn around and sell it and pay no
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 2: capital gains. That's wrong. So there's a lot we can
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 2: do to deal with the wealth inequality in this country,
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 2: but a wealth tax targeting two hundred people in one
• 1:01:15
  Speaker 2: state is doomed to backfire and mean higher costs for
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 2: middle class families.
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 1: There are a lots of Democrats that are against this,
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 1: but it feels nobody wants to be on the side
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 1: of defending billionaires, but you're making I mean, there's there's
• 1:01:28
  Speaker 1: just a fiscal I get.
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 2: It about defending the billionaires, though, It's just like I mean,
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 2: you have to think about the second order effects things
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 2: and the truth is I mean again, we've got to
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 2: be honest with people and trust that people. You know,
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 2: people are smart. People will get it. They will if
• 1:01:41
  Speaker 2: you are if you respect them enough to tell them
• 1:01:44
  Speaker 2: the truth. I think you, over time breakthrough and people
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 2: get it. It won't be the billionaires who pay this tax,
• 1:01:50
  Speaker 2: if it's fast, It'll be the rest of us.
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 1: Do you worry that's going to be the litmus test
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 1: between you know, two of your leading opponents are pretty
• 1:01:58
  Speaker 1: pretty in favor of it, I believe.
• 1:02:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, they are. They're in favor of a lot
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 2: of things that don't make sense, frankly, and they'd rather
• 1:02:05
  Speaker 2: blame Donald Trump for all of our problems. And look,
• 1:02:07
  Speaker 2: I have deep concern about Donald Trump. We've sued them
• 1:02:10
  Speaker 2: a number of times in San Jose, and I'll fight
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 2: them as hard as anybody as governor. But again, if
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 2: the Democrat Party in California isn't willing to take ownership
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 2: of our public policy failures and start bringing down the
• 1:02:22
  Speaker 2: cost of housing, of the cost of energy, and improving
• 1:02:26
  Speaker 2: our public schools. We've got another thing common, We're going
• 1:02:30
  Speaker 2: to see a Maga movement in California, which is what
• 1:02:32
  Speaker 2: scares me. So let's actually start owning our problems and
• 1:02:35
  Speaker 2: take control of our destiny and make government work for people.
• 1:02:39
  Speaker 1: All right, Well, Mayor Matt Mahon, it's been good to
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 1: get to know you. I appreciate it. And you know,
• 1:02:49
  Speaker 1: as long as it's not been the best of years
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 1: for California basketball, has it for college basketball? I don't
• 1:02:56
  Speaker 1: feel like you got enough. You know, a lot of
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 1: years we will get University of San Francisco. You might
• 1:03:01
  Speaker 1: get others in there, you know. I mean, are you
• 1:03:05
  Speaker 1: going to do something about all this West coast flight
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 1: to these conferences in the Midwest and the East Coast.
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 2: Listen, Chuck, I gotta focus and prioritize. I can't solve
• 1:03:15
  Speaker 2: every problem. I'll leave that one to you.
• 1:03:17
  Speaker 1: Well, I know there's a lot of sports fans that
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 1: are frustrated that all those West Coast teams always have
• 1:03:22
  Speaker 1: to sit on an airplane. There is a there there
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 1: is a there's got to be a better way. But
• 1:03:28
  Speaker 1: you're right. Go worry about how homelessness and housing first,
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 1: and then we'll go. We'll get somewhere, be safe in
• 1:03:36
  Speaker 1: the campaign trail. Appreciate you coming on.
• 1:03:38
  Speaker 2: Thanks