Speaker 1: And very happy Friday to you.
Speaker 2: At twelve oh seven in the West, it's the Giane
Speaker 2: at Phillips Show, broadcasting live from Las Vegas, Nevada. Mister
Speaker 2: Randy Weggs in Culver City, John.
Speaker 3: We have some breaking news involving a lot of cheap
Speaker 3: flights from La to Las Vegas. Spirit Airlines may be
Speaker 3: ceasing operations as of this weekend.
Speaker 2: Okay, who ends up with the Spirit Airlines passengers?
Speaker 1: Because hear me out for a second.
Speaker 2: If all of the Spirit Airlines passengers who live in
Speaker 2: California could then get stranded in some other city and
Speaker 2: we just leave them there, we might be able to
Speaker 2: fix the state just from doing that.
Speaker 3: Apparently, the government bailout of Spirit is not going to happen,
Speaker 3: and they run out of money this weekend, so Spirit
Speaker 3: might be gonzo.
Speaker 1: Have you ever flown Spirit Airlines before?
Speaker 3: No, because I have class.
Speaker 2: I'm not sure how much class I have, but I'm
Speaker 2: six foot four and the idea of trying to cram
Speaker 2: myself into one of those seats without the assistance of
Speaker 2: a stick of butter and being charged for literally everything,
Speaker 2: including trips to the bathroom, maybe not bad, but everything
Speaker 2: else just has zero appeal to me.
Speaker 3: There's always that chart that goes around like what the
Speaker 3: legroom is on all the major airlines, and Spirit is
Speaker 3: by far the worst.
Speaker 2: Remember when we sat down at the debate, they put
Speaker 2: us in the front row, and everyone around us was
Speaker 2: concerned because we had tons of legroom. There was no
Speaker 2: one in front of us. I could stretch my legs
Speaker 2: all the way out and not touch anyone or anything.
Speaker 2: And the people around us were like, wait a minute,
Speaker 2: these aren't EIGHTYA seats, are they? If these are eighty
Speaker 2: A seats, we can't sit here. Don't put us in
Speaker 2: eighty A seats. And then the docent was like, oh no,
Speaker 2: I thought so too, but they're not. These are regular seats.
Speaker 2: They're not eighty A seats. And they had a little chuckle.
Speaker 2: How both of them were on the same page. And
Speaker 2: you and I were sitting there with our heads down, thinking,
Speaker 2: who cares, let's just enjoy the leg room.
Speaker 3: At no point were we concerned that we were sitting
Speaker 3: in seats that had handicap signs on them.
Speaker 1: Not at all.
Speaker 2: And you know what, being six foot four in a
Speaker 2: theater that was built in the nineteen twenties, that's handicapped
Speaker 2: as far as I'm concerned.
Speaker 4: Eight hundred two two two five two two two East
Speaker 4: telephone number one eight hundred two two two five two
Speaker 4: two two.
Speaker 2: So Javier Bacaria is seeing the Bakaia bump right now
Speaker 2: in the polls to determine who will be California's next governor. However,
Speaker 2: there are now storm clouds on the horizon as his
Speaker 2: former top aide, Sean McClusky, who has pleaded guilty to
Speaker 2: federal charges related to corruption, and Dana Williamson, who is
Speaker 2: the woman that was Gavin Newsom's top aid for some
Speaker 2: time and did some work for Javier Bachariea, who was
Speaker 2: accused by the FEDS of stealing.
Speaker 1: From some of his bank accounts.
Speaker 2: She has not decided if she's going to plead guilty
Speaker 2: and cut a deal with the Feds quite yet, or
Speaker 2: put her innocence out there and say that she is
Speaker 2: not guilty and try to beat the charges in court.
Speaker 2: What we do know is that all of this is
Speaker 2: a great, big problem for Javier Bakariea due to the timing.
Speaker 3: And the timing gets worse for the new possible front
Speaker 3: runner in the race because the political consulting firm that
Speaker 3: is connected to McCluskey and Williams. Well, they're spending a
Speaker 3: whole bunch of money to prop up Bakaria, which means
Speaker 3: the Dana Williamson story is back in the news.
Speaker 1: Scrub it now, listen to this.
Speaker 2: This is a tweet that was put out by Michael Trehillo,
Speaker 2: who is a Democratic political consultant based in Los Angeles
Speaker 2: who has worked with Antonio via Rigosa over the years.
Speaker 2: Here's what he put out this morning five hours ago
Speaker 2: on X quote. Let's be absolutely clear, the FBI has
Speaker 2: a file on Javier Bakaria in their wire taps of
Speaker 2: Bakaria's campaign manager, Dana Williamson and Javier's chief of staff.
Speaker 2: How many times does Bakaia's name appear in their evidence
Speaker 2: collection process? Five thousand times the higher or lower.
Speaker 3: But when you do the scrub, is he going to
Speaker 3: go put that one on Calshi?
Speaker 2: Maybe only the Biden DOJ since that's who launched the
Speaker 2: investigation on Bakaria's political operation. Javier Bakaria getting into the
Speaker 2: runoff hands the Trump administration the power to release Bakaria's
Speaker 2: FBI file and make Hilton our next California governor. Buyer
Speaker 2: Beware end quote.
Speaker 3: And there could be something there, but it's also very
Speaker 3: possible that Bessera's name is in the file because it
Speaker 3: was his account they were stealing from.
Speaker 2: Now we have more information on Dana Williamson and all
Speaker 2: of her trouble and how it's going to impact Javier Bakaria.
Speaker 3: Here is Casey A three and Ashley Zavalla.
Speaker 5: There are some questions tonight's surrounding Democratic candidate for governor Javier.
Speaker 6: Pasera, A political firm with close ties to the people
Speaker 6: accused of stealing money from his campaign account, is now
Speaker 6: running a campaign to support him. Case Are three's political director,
Speaker 6: Ashley Zavala, joins US Now to explain what's going on.
Speaker 7: Adian Gulston. Federal prosecutors have said a business called The
Speaker 7: Collaborative was part of the scheme ran by Dana Williamson
Speaker 7: and Greg Campbell used to steal a quarter of a
Speaker 7: million dollars from one of Javier Bessea's campaign accounts. Williamson
Speaker 7: was Bassa's advisor and former campaign manager. Her case is
Speaker 7: still ongoing and she's in talks for a possible plea deal.
Speaker 7: Campbell was a Sacramento lobbyist and consultant who has already
Speaker 7: pleaded guilty. In this case, a powerful political firm called
Speaker 7: bear Star was associated.
Speaker 2: Hey, that's a smith, this firm, and that's also Gavin's firm.
Speaker 3: It's all connected.
Speaker 7: A powerful political firm called Bear Star was associated with
Speaker 7: the two at the time of the alleged crime and
Speaker 7: were members of the collaborative. Bear Star has not been
Speaker 7: implicated in this case, but tonight we're learning Bear Star
Speaker 7: is now running a new campaign to support Javier Bessea's
Speaker 7: run for governor, a situation that's.
Speaker 3: Reason that's funny because wasn't ace miss people trying to
Speaker 3: figure out trying to figure out who was going to
Speaker 3: be a viable candidate. They wanted to put their money
Speaker 3: behind Banta, but that didn't happen. They wanted to put
Speaker 3: their money behind Padilla, but that didn't happen. Of course,
Speaker 3: Rick Caruso hired them for La Mayor, but then he
Speaker 3: didn't run for governor. So now they're getting behind Bisera.
Speaker 1: Oh.
Speaker 2: They are a blue chip firm looking for a horse
Speaker 2: to ride, and now they've settled on baker Ria.
Speaker 3: They were the firm that ran Adam Schiff's campaign when
Speaker 3: he ran for Senate, and they helped devise the strategy
Speaker 3: to elevate Steve Garvey, which Katie Porter called.
Speaker 1: I call it the shift gift, and she's still mad
Speaker 1: about that.
Speaker 7: A situation that's raising more questions about this case. It's Williamson.
Speaker 7: Do you have anything to say to Javiata Bassetta?
Speaker 8: Right now?
Speaker 7: Nearly six months since Javier Massea's former campaign manager.
Speaker 3: Wait a second, that was when she talked to Dana
Speaker 3: after the initial court appearance, right and all the reporters
Speaker 3: had this scrun, and she's trying to walk to her
Speaker 3: car and the car is blocking the bike lane, and
Speaker 3: then this happened.
Speaker 2: I do want to correct you on one point that
Speaker 2: you made. I don't think she was walking. I think
Speaker 2: she was waddling. I stand corrected.
Speaker 7: Nearly six months since Javier Bessera's former campaign manager was
Speaker 7: accused of stealing his money. The business she allegedly used
Speaker 7: to do it is in the process of shutting down.
Speaker 7: Federal prosecutors say Dana Williamson and Sacramento lobbyist Greg Campbell
Speaker 7: used their LLC, The Collaborative, to help funnel nearly a
Speaker 7: quarter of a million dollars from Javier Beascera's campaign funds
Speaker 7: to the personal bank account of his longtime chief of staff,
Speaker 7: Sean mclusky, and then.
Speaker 3: They all went to Mexico.
Speaker 2: Everyone around this guy who was in the inner circle
Speaker 2: was robbing him blind.
Speaker 1: Yep.
Speaker 7: Court records say McCluskey was taking a pay cut to
Speaker 7: follow Bassera from California to Washington, d C. To work
Speaker 7: in the Biden administration.
Speaker 3: Oh oh, oh wait, there might be something else here.
Speaker 3: Is it at all possible that what this scheme really
Speaker 3: was supposed to be about was as the secretary of HHS,
Speaker 3: he could only pay this guy so much money, but
Speaker 3: he was accustomed to those California campaign salaries, and they
Speaker 3: figured out a way to even.
Speaker 1: That out one hundred percent. That's what this is.
Speaker 9: This is him augmenting his income, augmenting his top eight income,
Speaker 9: so the aid would leave the high paying job in
Speaker 9: California for the lower paying job in Washington, d C.
Speaker 2: To work for Besara at HHS. Because let's not forget
Speaker 2: Basarah had very few friends in Washington, d C.
Speaker 1: Pelosi hated him, the Biden.
Speaker 2: Administration regarded him as the worst pick for the cabinet,
Speaker 2: that the Republicans certainly had no love for him. Bassara
Speaker 2: was on an island in DC. He needed to bring
Speaker 2: someone with him that he trusted so that someone had
Speaker 2: his back. My opinion is that what he did was
Speaker 2: he brought that guy with him to Washington, d C.
Speaker 2: Augmented the income by whatever it was that they negotiated.
Speaker 2: And my guess is that Dana wasn't stealing either. That
Speaker 2: what she was doing was she was being paid a
Speaker 2: retainer to stay out of the governor's race so when
Speaker 2: Bessara got out of the Biden administration, he could come
Speaker 2: back and run for governor and have the campaign manager
Speaker 2: he wanted.
Speaker 3: That's all very very possible.
Speaker 7: Court records say McCluskey was taking a pay cut to
Speaker 7: follow Bassera from California to Washington, d C. To work
Speaker 7: in the Biden administration. McCluskey pleaded guilty in the case.
Speaker 7: In my sit down conversation with Vessea earlier this month,
Speaker 7: he said he was truly misled and thought he was
Speaker 7: paying for account management that didn't raise any flags for you,
Speaker 7: that those payments.
Speaker 10: So we were paying for management of a dormant account,
Speaker 10: making sure that nothing was no to laws were violated.
Speaker 3: And that costs ten thousand dollars a month, you.
Speaker 2: Know, It's funny is that this sort of thing goes
Speaker 2: on in the private sector all the time. I know,
Speaker 2: for example, and I'm not going to reveal any names,
Speaker 2: but a host who went from being a local host
Speaker 2: on a local station in a big market to a
Speaker 2: nationally syndicated host. And what happened sometimes is you go
Speaker 2: from working for an affiliate to working for a syndication service. Well,
Speaker 2: sometimes it's not what you think. Sometimes the money isn't
Speaker 2: better in syndicated radio. Sometimes the money's better in big
Speaker 2: market radio. So this guy wanted to bring his producer
Speaker 2: with them, and the producer decided that they would go
Speaker 2: along with the host because they had a good working relationship. Well,
Speaker 2: the producer would have to take a pay cut to
Speaker 2: go from working in the big market to working for
Speaker 2: the syndicated show. So the producer goes, why in the
Speaker 2: world would I ever agree to do that? More responsibility,
Speaker 2: more tasks, less pay. And so what the host did
Speaker 2: was the host figured out a way to augment the
Speaker 2: producer's income, so the producer would make more money, not
Speaker 2: less money. But the money didn't come from the syndication service.
Speaker 2: The money came from the host. In the private sector,
Speaker 2: you can do these sorts of things provided everyone pays
Speaker 2: taxes and you know it's all declared and kosher. But
Speaker 2: you can't do that in the public sector. You're not
Speaker 2: supposed to be able to do that. And what Besarah did,
Speaker 2: in my opinion, is he did with that host did
Speaker 2: when the producer was asked to take a pay cut.
Speaker 2: In this case, it was McCluskey who was asked to
Speaker 2: take a pay cut to work for the federal government.
Speaker 2: Now he knows where his bread is buttered. He didn't
Speaker 2: rat his boss out. He took a plea deal and
Speaker 2: he expects, I guess, the process to take care of him.
Speaker 2: I don't know if he's going to get a pardon
Speaker 2: at some point in the future. I don't know if
Speaker 2: he's got a job waiting for him on the other side.
Speaker 2: I don't know what kind of deal has worked out
Speaker 2: on he worked out on his behalf. But Dana Williamson
Speaker 2: is kind of a wild card at this point because
Speaker 2: she appears to be the target of this investigation. She's
Speaker 2: the big fish. She was the big name that was
Speaker 2: involved here, so you can go after her for many years.
Speaker 2: She's an old, fat, sick woman who just got a
Speaker 2: new liver. You can squeeze her. She's probably of retirement age,
Speaker 2: So what motivation does she have to protect Psara at
Speaker 2: this point? Her motivation, to my eye, is to save
Speaker 2: herself and to keep some of those handbags.
Speaker 10: That too, because I was Secretary of Healthy Human Service
Speaker 10: as a cabinet member, I had to distance myself from
Speaker 10: anything that looked political or campaign related.
Speaker 3: But I wanted to make sure I took those people
Speaker 3: with me, and we had to figure out how to
Speaker 3: pay them and put them on retainers.
Speaker 7: An attorney for the collaboratives, manager Jim Deboo, told us
Speaker 7: in a statement quote the Collaborative is non operative, inactive,
Speaker 7: and is in the process of being dissolved. It has
Speaker 7: no material assets, no business activities, no revenue, nor will it.
Speaker 7: The only item remaining for the final dissolution is to
Speaker 7: file a certificate of cancelation. The Collaborative was an alliance
Speaker 7: of political consultants including Bear Star Strategies.
Speaker 3: It's the Avengers for hacks.
Speaker 7: The homepage of the Collaborative's website featured this proverb call
Speaker 7: one wolf. You invite the.
Speaker 1: Pack sounds like a prison gang.
Speaker 7: The homepage of the Collaborative's website featured this proverb, call
Speaker 7: one wolf, you invite the pack. Bear Star was not
Speaker 7: part of the pack of people indicted for the federal crimes,
Speaker 7: and a spokesman told Ksey three on Thursday, Bearstar has
Speaker 7: had no involvement, interest, or stake in the collaborative since
Speaker 7: twenty twenty two, but they were still listed on the
Speaker 7: website when Williamson was indicted in November. This week, Bearstar
Speaker 7: launched a new independent expenditure campaign to support Besserra in
Speaker 7: his bid for governor. We're asking experts if the optics
Speaker 7: of this are problematic.
Speaker 11: And the fact is that this Dana Williamson individual is
Speaker 11: part of Bear Stars and their collaborative. It's title voters
Speaker 11: across the state that something sinks.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's a little more complicated than Swallowell accused racest,
Speaker 3: but there might be something here.
Speaker 2: No, what it is when you distill it down, is
Speaker 2: it's money laundering. Mike true Heeal money laundering.
Speaker 7: Mike true Hee. You is a democratic strategist based in
Speaker 7: Los Angeles. With Bear Star running this ie, does it
Speaker 7: make Javier's claim that he's a victim in this harder
Speaker 7: to believe for the public?
Speaker 1: It should the answer is yes.
Speaker 12: It should remind people though that you know, this scandal
Speaker 12: is not completely resolved.
Speaker 7: Republican strategist Rob Stutzman used to lead the communications team
Speaker 7: for former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Speaker 12: No, there is this unspecter of these unknowns, a swirl
Speaker 12: around Javier but Sarah, whether he did anything wrong or not,
Speaker 12: he just can't escape it. And now when the same
Speaker 12: consultants that are tangential to all this, not directly involved,
Speaker 12: no evidence of that, but tangentially involved, we're in business
Speaker 12: with the people.
Speaker 2: That were involved.
Speaker 12: It's going to be hard to kind of get away
Speaker 12: from the question.
Speaker 7: Bear Star is seen as a political consulting powerhouse in California,
Speaker 7: with clients and successful campaigns that include Governor's Gavin Newsom,
Speaker 7: Jerry Brown, former Attorney General Kamala Harris, and US Senator
Speaker 7: Alex Padilla. Bear Star has already.
Speaker 3: They really wanted Padia to run.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, they want all the boldface names.
Speaker 7: Bear Star has already tried to back several possible candidates
Speaker 7: for governor, including Lieutenant Governor Elenni Kunolakis, who dropped out
Speaker 7: of the race last year.
Speaker 3: And by the way, that just mentioned all of Bear
Speaker 3: star's successful campaigns. Their most profitent full campaign was the
Speaker 3: Rick Caruso campaign, and it was not successful at all.
Speaker 1: Oh, that one's putting their great grandchildren through college.
Speaker 3: There you go. That is the latest on the scandal
Speaker 3: that isn't going away surrounding the consultants tied to this guy.
Speaker 10: Scrub it.
Speaker 2: Okay, Republicans. Most desirable outcome number one is Helton versus
Speaker 2: Bianco in the general. Most desirable outcome number two is
Speaker 2: Hilton versus Besera in the general. Because I think the
Speaker 2: odds are over fifty to fifty. This guy gets indicted
Speaker 2: before the election. Seems pretty easy to understand too, which
Speaker 2: makes it an even bigger problem for him. Eight hundred
Speaker 2: two two two five two two two is the telephone
Speaker 2: number one eight hundred two two two five two two two.
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Speaker 2: Just would you think that fire victims can't get disrespected anymore?
Speaker 2: They find a way to do it.
Speaker 3: Residents in Alta, Dina are getting hit with two years
Speaker 3: worth of property tax bills because Gavin Newsom put an
Speaker 3: executive order not to waive the property tax fees for
Speaker 3: all the people whose homes burned down, but just to
Speaker 3: delay them for a year. And now there's a push
Speaker 3: to get them to delay them even longer. But why,
Speaker 3: oh why are we charging fire victims for property taxes
Speaker 3: when they cannot live on their property?
Speaker 1: Because that's what we do.
Speaker 3: From more on this here is CBSLA. That's their fire
Speaker 3: theme music.
Speaker 13: For thousands of homeowners still reeling from devastating wild buyers.
Speaker 5: The recovery isn't just emotional.
Speaker 13: Financial, Yes, property owners and burn zones are facing a
Speaker 13: new kind of burden, a tax bill. Those bills, those
Speaker 13: bills do tonight or residents' risk penalties unless yeah.
Speaker 3: So last night was when all property taxes were due
Speaker 3: at the end of April, including for people whose homes
Speaker 3: are burned down so that I got to pay taxes
Speaker 3: on their empty lot.
Speaker 2: And this is not an administrative oversight. They're doing this
Speaker 2: on purpose.
Speaker 14: Unless they take action. And cbsla's Jasmin Vial is live
Speaker 14: and Alta Dana with how these fire survivors can still
Speaker 14: get some tax relief Jasmine.
Speaker 15: Yeah, and much needed pat as we all well know. Right,
Speaker 15: So basically it's now in these individual property owners to
Speaker 15: seek out that tax relief and take action, like you said,
Speaker 15: if they don't, I mean, it is the depth.
Speaker 3: It's we're not talking about that many people here. You're
Speaker 3: talking about you know, ten total between the Palisades and Altadena,
Speaker 3: Like how hard would it be to all right, we're
Speaker 3: waving those fees. We're waving the property taxes obviously because
Speaker 3: you're still trying to rebuild your home.
Speaker 2: Well, and especially when you know that you've failed them
Speaker 2: time and time again. I mean, think about it. The
Speaker 2: government has fallen down on getting those permits issued quickly.
Speaker 2: The government has fallen down on holding the insurance company's
Speaker 2: feet to the fire, so they are obligated to fulfill
Speaker 2: the contractual obligations related to the policies. And then I
Speaker 2: mean you can go down the list of every other
Speaker 2: complaint that the fire victims have that the government has
Speaker 2: not performed at an acceptable level on and instead of
Speaker 2: cutting them a brake for all of the trauma that
Speaker 2: they've been through. The government is there and they want
Speaker 2: their shekels.
Speaker 15: That tax relief and take action, like you said, if
Speaker 15: they don't, I mean, it is the deadline for these
Speaker 15: fire survivors to pay up in terms of these property taxes.
Speaker 15: I mean, look behind me, even though we see some progress,
Speaker 15: I mean you just see these empty lots still right,
Speaker 15: many homeowners.
Speaker 3: A year and a half later, and not a whole
Speaker 3: lot has changed.
Speaker 2: No. No, these people are living a nightmare that's never ending.
Speaker 2: I don't know what you do. If you are a
Speaker 2: homeowner who's home burned down in the fire and you
Speaker 2: want to move back, and we're now two years after
Speaker 2: the fires and you're no closer to moving in than
Speaker 2: you were the day after the fires hit, I'm telling you,
Speaker 2: I know it's not the answer that people want to hear.
Speaker 2: I would cut bait and move on. I would move
Speaker 2: to Orange County. I would move to a different part
Speaker 2: of Los Angeles County. I would find some other place
Speaker 2: to live. Because this process is not going to get easier.
Speaker 2: You're going to be dealing with the same bureaucrats forever.
Speaker 15: Facing mortgage payments on top of rent payments as they
Speaker 15: try to rebuild. So this seemed like another blow.
Speaker 3: Remember how they issued for barons on the mortgages for
Speaker 3: one year because oh, you'll be back in your homes
Speaker 3: in a year.
Speaker 2: Nope, no, but everything was based on one year being
Speaker 2: the length of time that it would take to get back.
Speaker 2: In the insurance policies, many of them only provided temporary
Speaker 2: housing for a year because in other parts of the
Speaker 2: country it's possible to rebuild in that length of time.
Speaker 16: Come on in Welcome to the Dirt Farm.
Speaker 15: Altadena resident Seanna Dawson Beer holds her property tax bills.
Speaker 15: She just paid on her burned out lot Thursday.
Speaker 16: I still paid Jashia four grand.
Speaker 15: Like many, she had her property reassessed after the fire,
Speaker 15: but still has to pay thousands and taxes for the land.
Speaker 4: It felt like.
Speaker 3: So they reassessed the properties because there's no home on
Speaker 3: them anymore, but instead of waiving the fees, they're still
Speaker 3: going to charge them for burned out lots and it's.
Speaker 2: Not even safe to be there for a long time.
Speaker 2: You couldn't drink water, You had different specialists come in
Speaker 2: to take the charred remains. You had the electric vehicles
Speaker 2: that burn. Those batteries when they burn, that's a pollution
Speaker 2: that can make you sick. So they can't even sit
Speaker 2: on their empty lot for a period of time, and
Speaker 2: you're still going to charge them.
Speaker 16: Oh, it felt like my property tax barely went down.
Speaker 16: Because it did, it only went down twenty percent.
Speaker 3: Governor, Okay, what does that say if when the state
Speaker 3: decides we're going to reassess your property taxes because you
Speaker 3: just lost your home in the fire, and we've decided
Speaker 3: that now that your home is just a dirt lot,
Speaker 3: the property taxes only go down by a fifth.
Speaker 1: It's really wild to think about.
Speaker 15: Governor Gavin Newsom's executive order had deferred taxes for people
Speaker 15: in the fire zones for one year, which meant for
Speaker 15: many two years worth of taxes came do Thursday.
Speaker 3: Yeah, people who are still recovering now have a double
Speaker 3: property tax bill to pay because they're expected to pay
Speaker 3: twenty twenty five and twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2: I don't understand how Gavin expects them to be able
Speaker 2: to pay it, because when you think about it, they
Speaker 2: have to live somewhere, and if the insurance companies all
Speaker 2: cut them off after a year, that means they have
Speaker 2: another mortgage someplace else, or they have rent, or they're
Speaker 2: living on someone's couch, whatever situation it is that they
Speaker 2: found for themselves. They're paying something somewhere else. So now
Speaker 2: their costs are increase from where they were when they
Speaker 2: had their house, and you still want them to pay
Speaker 2: for the taxes on the house that no longer exists
Speaker 2: in addition to all this other stuff.
Speaker 15: But a hail Mary from the La County Treasurer and
Speaker 15: tax collector after community advocates say they fought for extra time.
Speaker 5: For the last six weeks, we at the Every Fire
Speaker 5: Survivors Network have been being Governor Newsom to please amend
Speaker 5: his executive order.
Speaker 3: This is why you need to have a governor that
Speaker 3: pays attention. Gavin so out to lunch, I don't even
Speaker 3: know if this is on his radar.
Speaker 2: No, if there was a governor who was fully engaged
Speaker 2: in California politics and government, this is something that would
Speaker 2: be front and center and these are people who would
Speaker 2: get a fair hearing. But because he's running for president,
Speaker 2: and he's going on all the podcasts and he's trolling
Speaker 2: Donald Trump on Twitter. He probably isn't even aware of
Speaker 2: any of this.
Speaker 5: So that there can be further deferral of property taxes.
Speaker 15: Joy Chen with the Every Fire Survivor's Network says they
Speaker 15: worked with elected officials to get a four year property
Speaker 15: tax deferment for Eaton and Palisades fire survivors.
Speaker 5: You just have a lot of fire survivors who are
Speaker 5: in financial hardship, and now is not the time for
Speaker 5: a balloon payment.
Speaker 15: The County Collector's office says, fire survivors can submit a
Speaker 15: penalty cancelation request starting Friday that will extend the payment windows.
Speaker 3: So instead of the county doing this on their own,
Speaker 3: they need you to file some paperwork to ask for
Speaker 3: an extension again, not to get your property taxes forgiven,
Speaker 3: but to have them deferred for another three years, so
Speaker 3: you have to pay four years worth in twenty thirty.
Speaker 1: Well, it's stupid that we're even playing this game.
Speaker 2: All of these property taxes should be forgiven until these
Speaker 2: people are made.
Speaker 15: Whole penalty cancelation request starting Friday that will extend the
Speaker 15: payment window to twenty thirty.
Speaker 16: We don't even have a community.
Speaker 15: But Dawson Beer, who has been advocating for her community
Speaker 15: since they eaten fire with a group called Beautiful Altadena,
Speaker 15: says they shouldn't be pain at all.
Speaker 3: You're damn right.
Speaker 1: The woman speaks the truth.
Speaker 16: Why are we not suspending, not deferring, suspending property tax
Speaker 16: until people have a certificate of occupancy.
Speaker 15: The county's treasure and tax collector says it does not
Speaker 15: have the authority to cancel property taxes. Statement the TTC see.
Speaker 2: Then go to someone in the legislature. It's a one
Speaker 2: party state. The treasurer tax collector is a Democrat. La
Speaker 2: County has more members in the Assembly and the Senate
Speaker 2: than any other county in the state of California. Go
Speaker 2: to one of your members and ask them to offer legislation.
Speaker 15: In a statement, the TTC said no bills in the
Speaker 15: fire impacted zip codes are delinquent and tel may first.
Speaker 15: According to an April ninth, twenty twenty six report, there
Speaker 15: were more than thirty four thousand parcels and fire impacted
Speaker 15: zip codes as listed in the Governor's executive Order, for
Speaker 15: which taxes had not yet been paid. The county Assessor's
Speaker 15: office says more than eighty percent of the fire impacted
Speaker 15: properties had been reassessed, lowering those property tax bills.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but not by much.
Speaker 2: It's just it's literally comical, comical that this is even
Speaker 2: being discussed, That this isn't something that someone in the
Speaker 2: legislature or Gavin Newsome could take one look at and
Speaker 2: say no, no, no, no, no, we're not doing.
Speaker 3: This well and it's an election year. How what a
Speaker 3: political win. We worked to forgive the property taxes for
Speaker 3: the fire victims, but no, these people continue to get
Speaker 3: victimized by the state and local government every single day.
Speaker 2: Well, this is what happens when you have an absentee
Speaker 2: landlord who's totally checked out.
Speaker 16: How can someone who can't afford to make that payment
Speaker 16: now make a balloon payment in four years? They can't,
Speaker 16: which means it's just another setup for foreclosure and for
Speaker 16: people to be forced out of this community.
Speaker 3: And is that the point here? I'd hate to think
Speaker 3: about this. You either have completely incompetent government, which we
Speaker 3: see every single day, or the idea is they want
Speaker 3: these people to sell their land. They wanted to get
Speaker 3: bought up by developers. They don't want Altadena to come
Speaker 3: back the same way it was. They want to turn
Speaker 3: it all into apartments.
Speaker 2: Well, the conspiratorial part of me believes that entirely.
Speaker 15: So again, county officials, though encouraging residents fire survivors to
Speaker 15: take action to seek out that relief, and you can
Speaker 15: find that penalty cancelation form that request on our website.
Speaker 15: We have all the information there at CBSLA dot com
Speaker 15: slash scene on Hi.
Speaker 3: You're a fire victim, you still want to have a house,
Speaker 3: and we're gonna need you to fill out this form. Well,
Speaker 3: how do I print it out? I don't have a house.
Speaker 3: There's the latest insult to injury that's going on with
Speaker 3: the fire victims in Altadena where if you can't afford
Speaker 3: your property tax bill on your non existent home, well
Speaker 3: you can get it deferred for another three years and
Speaker 3: then have to pay a massive payment. In twenty thirty,
Speaker 3: eight hundred two two two five two two two is
Speaker 3: telephone number one eight hundred two two two five two two.
Speaker 2: Two coming up after the news in one it's the
Speaker 2: fixed California Hour, and we're going to check in with
Speaker 2: one of the candidate who's running to replace Nancy Pelosi
Speaker 2: as the member of Congress representing San Francisco. But first,
Speaker 2: Hugo Soto Martinez, who is a member of the Los
Speaker 2: Angeles City Council part of the remedial block, has decided
Speaker 2: that he wants to make it legal for illegal aliens
Speaker 2: to vote in Los Angeles.
Speaker 1: Clap that up.
Speaker 3: Hugo Soto Martinez wants non citizens to be able to
Speaker 3: vote in local elections. The same Hugo Soto Martinez that
Speaker 3: does not want to criminalize catalystic converters.
Speaker 8: Yeah, let's criminalize catalystic converters. Let's criminalize copper for more.
Speaker 17: Here's NBCLA meantime, Now to our other top story. Here
Speaker 17: at three local leaders pushing a proposal that would allow
Speaker 17: non citizens to vote in LA city elections. Good afternoon, everyone,
Speaker 17: thank you for joining us. I'm Annabel Sudano, Li mayor.
Speaker 17: Old candidates are now weigh in on that plan. Let's
Speaker 17: go to NBC fors comer Dickerson. She's live in downtown
Speaker 17: LA outside City Hall with the breakdown of this propose.
Speaker 18: Karma, Well, Annabel, and we do want to reiterate the
Speaker 18: conversation surrounds voting in local elections. It would not apply
Speaker 18: to federal elections.
Speaker 3: In it because that's illegal.
Speaker 1: And if it's illegal for federal elections, why would you
Speaker 1: ask would they assume it's legal and local electionstions?
Speaker 18: And it still has a long way to go. Nevertheless,
Speaker 18: even though it was just introduced yesterday, it is already
Speaker 18: getting a lot of attention. People have many questions. So
Speaker 18: here's what you need to know. Currently, the city charter
Speaker 18: requires people voting in city elections to meet the voter
Speaker 18: eligibility requirements of the state of California, which is to
Speaker 18: be a US citizen. However, council member who goes Ober Martinez,
Speaker 18: whose district includes Hollywood, Silver Lake, and Echo Park, introduce
Speaker 18: a motion to change the charter. The motion calls for
Speaker 18: amending the charter to allow the city Council to expand
Speaker 18: voting to non citizens for local elections like mayor and
Speaker 18: city council.
Speaker 3: How would that even work, Like, could you just come
Speaker 3: here for the week can vote in LA's elections.
Speaker 2: Well, okay, let's just think about this for a second.
Speaker 2: The census is what we use to determine how we
Speaker 2: draw congressional districts, how we draw state legislative districts, how
Speaker 2: we draw city council districts.
Speaker 1: Correct, Yes, Okay, So it's.
Speaker 2: Federal information that's coming that we use to draw up
Speaker 2: these lines. If we draw up the lines based on
Speaker 2: that federal information, and let's say the Feds, because Donald
Speaker 2: Trump is trying to make it so that we do
Speaker 2: not count illegal aliens in the census. That is something
Speaker 2: that is part of his platform. Let's just say he
Speaker 2: were to be successful and that were to be enacted,
Speaker 2: then you're drawing these districts up, or you would be
Speaker 2: drawing these districts up in ways that are not equal
Speaker 2: in population, because some parts of town have more illegal
Speaker 2: aliens than others, you know, East LA, probably Korea Town,
Speaker 2: other portions of Los Angeles are going to have more
Speaker 2: people who are here illegally than other parts of LA,
Speaker 2: than bel Air or Pacific Palisades or fill in the blank.
Speaker 2: So you're going to draw up a bunch of districts,
Speaker 2: assuming the President at some point gets his way, that
Speaker 2: are not equal in terms of population.
Speaker 1: How is that allowed?
Speaker 18: He says it's too early to know if the proposal
Speaker 18: would include undocumented people as well as green card holders.
Speaker 18: He also says this proposal is about representation, but some
Speaker 18: opponents say voting is a right fundamentally reserved for Americans.
Speaker 8: I certainly recognize that we have folks living in this country,
Speaker 8: have been or twenty years if started a family. They
Speaker 8: pay their taxes, many of them are homeowners, but they
Speaker 8: don't have a say over the policies that affect their
Speaker 8: children and their families on any given day. The motion
Speaker 8: only asked to seek to explore whether we want to
Speaker 8: head in that direction.
Speaker 3: We're just going to study this issue. That's what they
Speaker 3: always say, Hugo.
Speaker 2: Well, why not let everyone in Guatemala vote in our
Speaker 2: elections because they all want to come here.
Speaker 8: I think the details of who's going to be involved,
Speaker 8: how we're going to do it, all that needs to
Speaker 8: get sussed out.
Speaker 3: Generally, it is an indictment of every resident of Hollywood
Speaker 3: and Echo Park and Silver Lake if they give this
Speaker 3: jackass another four years.
Speaker 2: It's unreal that he was allowed to get elected in
Speaker 2: the first place. You can get a mulligan on that one.
Speaker 2: He was an unknown entity. Then this guy is a
Speaker 2: known nut.
Speaker 19: Generally speaking, though, most people still have this concept that
Speaker 19: the franchise ought to be limited to people who are
Speaker 19: full fledged members of American society, and that certainly should
Speaker 19: not be extended to people who are in the country illegally.
Speaker 18: And this proposal is far from a done deal. It
Speaker 18: now goes to the City Council Rules Committee.
Speaker 3: This is the kind of stuff the City Council is
Speaker 3: going to waste their time on instead of, I don't know,
Speaker 3: cleaning up the damn streets.
Speaker 1: LA is always going to La