WEBVTT - Jennifer Hawks and Daniel Guss 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:03.120 And we continue at one oh five in the afternoon. 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:06.080 On the John Phillips Show, mister Randy Wang has the 0:00:06.160 --> 0:00:09.840 day off. His flight was canceled and he's stuck in Dallas. 0:00:10.320 --> 0:00:13.720 So I assume he's eating barbecue and not paying attention 0:00:13.800 --> 0:00:16.960 to the Texas Rangers, and by that I mean the 0:00:17.000 --> 0:00:20.720 ball club, not the police. Eight hundred two two two 0:00:20.800 --> 0:00:24.120 five two two two is jellphone number one eight hundred 0:00:24.160 --> 0:00:26.800 two to two five two two two. If you're on 0:00:26.840 --> 0:00:30.200 holdsday there, we'll get to your calls later on in 0:00:30.240 --> 0:00:35.120 the program. But as I mentioned before, election day is 0:00:35.159 --> 0:00:39.199 a week from today, next Tuesday, June the second. If 0:00:39.240 --> 0:00:41.159 you plan to vote, you can vote in person at 0:00:41.159 --> 0:00:44.040 a voting center. You can vote on election day, or 0:00:44.920 --> 0:00:47.280 all of you have ballots that were mailed to you. 0:00:47.320 --> 0:00:51.519 As long as it's postmarked by June second, your vote 0:00:51.560 --> 0:00:54.600 will count. So if you plan on voting, make sure 0:00:54.640 --> 0:00:58.800 you get your vote in by next Tuesday, June second. 0:00:59.520 --> 0:01:02.040 One of the contest that'll be on your ballot is 0:01:02.080 --> 0:01:06.200 the contest to decide who will become California's next Treasurer. 0:01:06.680 --> 0:01:10.680 Fiona ma is California's current treasurer. She's termed out and 0:01:10.760 --> 0:01:13.920 running for a lieutenant governor, which means the seat is 0:01:14.080 --> 0:01:18.200 open and any number of candidates have a shot at 0:01:18.240 --> 0:01:22.200 becoming elected state treasurer. Joining us at right now is 0:01:22.200 --> 0:01:25.080 a candidate for that office. You can get her online 0:01:25.120 --> 0:01:30.560 at Hawks for us dot com. Candidate for California State Treasurer, 0:01:30.680 --> 0:01:32.080 Jennifer Hawks. Welcome. 0:01:33.560 --> 0:01:35.360 Thank you John for having me on today. 0:01:37.120 --> 0:01:40.280 So let's start with the obvious. Why should you be 0:01:40.360 --> 0:01:43.840 the next treasurer of the State of California. 0:01:44.000 --> 0:01:46.000 Well, John, to be very honest with you, this is 0:01:46.080 --> 0:01:48.320 not something that I had in my wheelhouse about a 0:01:48.360 --> 0:01:51.160 year ago, but as I have watched the state decline, 0:01:51.880 --> 0:01:54.680 it became apparent to me that somebody needed to step 0:01:54.720 --> 0:01:58.040 forward and say enough is enough. Twenty twenty one, I 0:01:58.160 --> 0:02:02.600 retired after forty five almost fifty years of employment and 0:02:03.240 --> 0:02:06.320 have been enjoying being retired, and I am willing to 0:02:06.360 --> 0:02:08.880 come out of retirement to put on the panty hose 0:02:08.919 --> 0:02:12.000 and the lipstick and go to Sacramento and see if 0:02:12.040 --> 0:02:14.360 we can't begin to get this ship turned around. 0:02:16.000 --> 0:02:19.600 As someone who has obviously been studying the books of 0:02:19.639 --> 0:02:23.400 the State of California, how we spend our money, where 0:02:23.440 --> 0:02:26.840 we spend our money. I'm sure you've been closely following 0:02:27.000 --> 0:02:30.880 all the stories regarding fraud, whether it be ed D 0:02:31.120 --> 0:02:34.680 fraud where the state of California was taken for something 0:02:34.720 --> 0:02:37.240 to the tune of thirty billion dollars, which is the 0:02:37.360 --> 0:02:41.480 largest theft in the history of the United States. We're 0:02:41.480 --> 0:02:46.080 currently seeing, courtesy of Nick Shirley and CBS News, a 0:02:46.120 --> 0:02:51.320 story involving fraud regarding hospice centers in the San Fernando Valley, 0:02:51.560 --> 0:02:54.640 where the state of California is on the hook to 0:02:54.760 --> 0:02:58.520 pay for services that are obviously not being rendered. The 0:02:58.600 --> 0:03:02.200 California Secretary is Date Shirley Weber, who is in charge 0:03:02.240 --> 0:03:06.680 of handing out business licenses to many of these fraudulent businesses, 0:03:07.160 --> 0:03:10.359 says it's not her job to determine which companies are 0:03:10.400 --> 0:03:14.200 fraudulent and which companies aren't, so the State of California 0:03:14.400 --> 0:03:17.400 has been mailing them money. And then, of course you 0:03:17.480 --> 0:03:20.440 have all of these NGOs who are making a king's 0:03:20.520 --> 0:03:24.280 ransom in the name of fighting homelessness or in the 0:03:24.360 --> 0:03:28.720 name of any other altruistic goals, where they're not doing 0:03:28.760 --> 0:03:32.120 anything to make the problem go away. They're enriching themselves 0:03:32.200 --> 0:03:35.040 in the process. Will all of us have to deal 0:03:35.080 --> 0:03:39.280 with the chaos that people living on the streets brings us. 0:03:40.080 --> 0:03:43.120 How much fraud do you think is actually going on 0:03:43.240 --> 0:03:44.520 in the state of California. 0:03:45.760 --> 0:03:47.760 I think a lot more than we have even begun 0:03:47.760 --> 0:03:51.880 to uncover, and that, unfortunately, is very sad, and you 0:03:51.920 --> 0:03:56.400 should make every tax paying California furious and wanted to 0:03:56.440 --> 0:04:00.520 see change up there. If it's not the Secretary State's 0:04:00.600 --> 0:04:05.960 job to oversee this, then who is in charge? And 0:04:06.040 --> 0:04:07.880 that seems to be a problem. There seems to be 0:04:07.960 --> 0:04:11.960 a lot of figure pointing. This person, that person, the 0:04:12.040 --> 0:04:15.920 controller actually really has a lot of oversight on this 0:04:16.040 --> 0:04:19.599 as well, and she's also been a little bit asleep 0:04:19.640 --> 0:04:22.200 at the switch. A lot of how this money goes 0:04:22.200 --> 0:04:25.960 out the door is so multi layered that nobody takes 0:04:26.000 --> 0:04:29.159 the blame. It's all a bunch of figure pointing, and 0:04:29.200 --> 0:04:31.960 I would imagine that. In fact, I'm gonna meet Nick 0:04:32.279 --> 0:04:34.880 Shirley on the ninth of June when I can't wait, 0:04:35.880 --> 0:04:39.040 and hoping that I can get his assistance on digging 0:04:39.080 --> 0:04:40.960 into a little bit more other areas that I'm kind 0:04:41.000 --> 0:04:44.039 of concerned about. Number one being some of these affordable 0:04:44.040 --> 0:04:47.960 housing projects that are that come up through the Treasure's 0:04:47.960 --> 0:04:50.919 office and get rubber stamped. There is so much money 0:04:50.920 --> 0:04:53.359 that is going out the door to not only the 0:04:53.400 --> 0:04:58.000 fraud piece of this, but also to to contractors and 0:04:58.800 --> 0:05:00.880 people that are on the bottom of this that are 0:05:00.960 --> 0:05:04.040 just getting filthy rich. And by the time this thing 0:05:04.120 --> 0:05:06.880 gets its way up the pipeline and gets rubber stamped, 0:05:07.320 --> 0:05:11.440 they've already a lot of them have already paid off 0:05:11.480 --> 0:05:15.560 other people. I mean, it is a who you know operation, 0:05:16.480 --> 0:05:18.159 which is one of the concerns that I have with 0:05:18.240 --> 0:05:21.760 the current Lieutenant governor who is also running for this position. 0:05:21.920 --> 0:05:26.839 She is a long term, longtime developer. She's worked for 0:05:26.839 --> 0:05:30.400 her dad for the last two decades, shown multiple buildings 0:05:30.440 --> 0:05:32.880 around the state capitol, all of which, by the way, 0:05:32.960 --> 0:05:35.840 are rented out to state agencies. That's a little bit 0:05:35.839 --> 0:05:39.479 of conflict of interest, I think. And she has already 0:05:39.480 --> 0:05:44.279 gotten the endorsement of almost every major low income housing 0:05:44.520 --> 0:05:48.479 developer and they have been pumping thousands and tens of 0:05:48.520 --> 0:05:52.200 thousands of dollars into her campaign. That should be enough 0:05:52.240 --> 0:05:56.239 to That's a red flag right there for every family 0:05:56.320 --> 0:05:58.880 in California that's just fighting to keep their head above water. 0:06:00.240 --> 0:06:03.040 If the waste fraud and abuse were to be identified 0:06:03.200 --> 0:06:06.239 and eliminated. How much do you think we could lower 0:06:06.279 --> 0:06:10.520 the tax burden in California, in a state where taxes 0:06:10.720 --> 0:06:13.880 are virtually higher than any other state in the Union, 0:06:14.360 --> 0:06:16.480 and now we're looking at taxes on the ballot for 0:06:16.560 --> 0:06:20.200 public transit. We're potentially looking at one on the November 0:06:20.240 --> 0:06:23.719 ballot that's a wealth confiscation tax that's already caused over 0:06:23.760 --> 0:06:26.600 a trillion dollars to move out of the state. In 0:06:26.680 --> 0:06:30.039 Los Angeles, the firefighters say they need a tax on 0:06:30.160 --> 0:06:34.440 the ballot so they're made whole. How much of the 0:06:34.480 --> 0:06:37.320 tax burden do you think is represented by the waye 0:06:37.400 --> 0:06:38.159 fraud and abuse. 0:06:39.680 --> 0:06:43.159 I think we could easily get our tax, our tax 0:06:43.200 --> 0:06:45.279 down to under five percent if we got all of 0:06:45.279 --> 0:06:48.040 this stuff cleaned up. And who knows, we might even 0:06:48.120 --> 0:06:50.839 be able to go as far as we're Florida and 0:06:50.880 --> 0:06:53.039 some of these others have gotten. But the fact that 0:06:53.080 --> 0:06:56.479 we have reached a point we don't have a we 0:06:56.520 --> 0:06:58.799 don't have a tax problem. We have a spending problem. 0:06:58.839 --> 0:07:03.400 That's the problem. Sacramento. Good is never good enough, you know. 0:07:03.520 --> 0:07:06.960 I've talked to families both husband and wife, both work, 0:07:07.520 --> 0:07:09.880 their kids are going to they're in public schools. The 0:07:09.920 --> 0:07:13.120 schools are failing. They can't even pick up and leave 0:07:13.160 --> 0:07:16.080 the state because their support system is here. They've got 0:07:16.400 --> 0:07:18.960 aunts or uncles or grandparents that are picking up the 0:07:19.040 --> 0:07:23.200 kids because they're both both working all day long and 0:07:23.440 --> 0:07:26.920 there's more months than money at the end of every month. 0:07:27.320 --> 0:07:30.000 I mean, something has got to give, and if not. 0:07:30.160 --> 0:07:33.240 Now when I think for the first time, I am 0:07:33.280 --> 0:07:39.800 seeing probably one of the most educated, sharp slate of 0:07:39.880 --> 0:07:43.320 candidates that are running to get to get this state 0:07:43.400 --> 0:07:47.920 turned around, I'm so impressed with the candidates, and I 0:07:47.920 --> 0:07:50.040 think if we can get a handful of us in, 0:07:51.160 --> 0:07:53.119 We're not going to get out of this overnight. John. 0:07:53.680 --> 0:07:55.880 This has been going on for sixteen years of one 0:07:55.960 --> 0:07:58.840 party rule. But we can start to make traction. Some 0:07:58.920 --> 0:08:00.280 of the things that I'm going to be able to 0:08:00.320 --> 0:08:02.400 do right off the bat is I'll be able to 0:08:02.440 --> 0:08:06.160 demand audits and I'm going to require additional reporting. I 0:08:06.160 --> 0:08:09.600 can replace weak managers or managers that have agendas that 0:08:09.640 --> 0:08:14.600 are pushing things along. I can hold questionable practices accountable. 0:08:14.920 --> 0:08:16.400 The other thing I can do is I can go 0:08:16.480 --> 0:08:18.520 to the press if I see something going on and 0:08:18.560 --> 0:08:21.040 I'm not getting any actions. I've got the ability to 0:08:21.040 --> 0:08:23.360 pick up the phone and call people like you and say, John, 0:08:23.760 --> 0:08:25.720 can you and I have a chat. I think the 0:08:25.760 --> 0:08:28.200 California people would like to know what's going on right now. 0:08:28.520 --> 0:08:30.160 These are some of the things that I can do. 0:08:30.960 --> 0:08:33.920 I can get some questions answered before approvals go out 0:08:33.920 --> 0:08:34.280 the door. 0:08:35.520 --> 0:08:38.640 The California State Auditor seems to be do a pretty 0:08:38.640 --> 0:08:41.840 good job of identifying a lot of the fraud, a 0:08:41.840 --> 0:08:43.520 lot of the waste, a lot of the abuse that's 0:08:43.559 --> 0:08:46.480 going on right now. They publish a report, they make 0:08:46.520 --> 0:08:49.800 it available to the legislature, they make it available to 0:08:49.840 --> 0:08:54.440 the governor and the other statewide constitutional officers, but it 0:08:54.480 --> 0:08:59.400 seems like they choose not to do anything with it. It's 0:08:58.440 --> 0:09:01.960 not that the information is something that's not available to them. 0:09:02.400 --> 0:09:05.120 It's not that this is some big secret. It's that 0:09:05.280 --> 0:09:07.880 they just don't have the will to act. Do you 0:09:07.960 --> 0:09:08.760 see it that way? 0:09:10.080 --> 0:09:12.400 I do see it that way, And just for your information, 0:09:12.480 --> 0:09:15.440 and also two for the public. The state Auditor, which 0:09:15.600 --> 0:09:20.880 should be an independent, freestanding position, is actually appointed by 0:09:20.880 --> 0:09:23.560 the governor. So if we can get a good governor in, 0:09:23.640 --> 0:09:25.040 we're going to assure that we're going to have a 0:09:25.040 --> 0:09:28.560 good state auditor, and he also is the one that 0:09:28.679 --> 0:09:30.840 would appoint or she would be the one would appoint 0:09:31.480 --> 0:09:34.439 the director of Finance if we had a good director 0:09:34.440 --> 0:09:37.760 of Finance and we had a good controller and a 0:09:37.800 --> 0:09:40.520 good treasure And I'm going to put myself in that position. 0:09:41.000 --> 0:09:42.960 I'm going to call that the three legged stool for 0:09:43.000 --> 0:09:47.240 a better choice of words. Those three have tremendous ability 0:09:47.280 --> 0:09:51.120 to shut the spickt off in Sacramento. And so I'm 0:09:51.200 --> 0:09:54.720 just asking every California that that has had enough of 0:09:54.760 --> 0:09:59.040 this to police, get out and vote. This particular election 0:09:59.320 --> 0:10:01.640 is probably I think one of the most important in 0:10:01.679 --> 0:10:05.120 our lifetime for the state. We cannot continue to go 0:10:05.200 --> 0:10:07.920 down the financial path that we are on. When you 0:10:08.000 --> 0:10:10.760 just look at the energy in the industry alone, they 0:10:10.760 --> 0:10:13.880 have just enough decimated our energy industry. And when you 0:10:14.480 --> 0:10:17.040 talked about the billionaires and how many have gone out, 0:10:17.880 --> 0:10:21.240 I just did a quick assessment. I picked the top 0:10:21.320 --> 0:10:23.200 six that had gone out the door, and then added 0:10:23.240 --> 0:10:30.760 Elon Musk into that mix. The one time amount of 0:10:30.880 --> 0:10:32.360 tacks that they would have been able to get off 0:10:32.360 --> 0:10:34.960 of these guys was just north of about seventy eight 0:10:35.000 --> 0:10:38.480 billion dollars. But it's backsired on them because they've not 0:10:38.520 --> 0:10:41.079 only lost the seventy eight billion they all left before 0:10:41.080 --> 0:10:44.400 twenty twenty five, in the twenty twenty five they've taken 0:10:44.440 --> 0:10:47.840 with them what they would be paying on an annual basis. 0:10:48.000 --> 0:10:51.760 They've also taken their companies and we've lost jobs. So 0:10:52.160 --> 0:10:56.120 what that number actually represents who knows. But when you 0:10:56.280 --> 0:10:59.280 just look at our debt bond alone for the state 0:10:59.280 --> 0:11:02.600 of Calcualt, we are we pump out more bonds on 0:11:02.679 --> 0:11:05.280 the backs of our people than any other states in 0:11:05.360 --> 0:11:09.400 the in the country. Our bond debt alone is just 0:11:09.520 --> 0:11:16.000 north of seventy eight billion dollars and our annual debt 0:11:16.040 --> 0:11:18.920 service on that is eight point two. I mean, we 0:11:19.080 --> 0:11:21.600 just can't keep running with the numbers that we're running. 0:11:22.559 --> 0:11:26.440 We are physically running. They're physically running this state into 0:11:26.480 --> 0:11:28.960 the ground. And what's amazing is he's going to be 0:11:29.000 --> 0:11:32.120 out at the end of the year and somebody else 0:11:32.200 --> 0:11:33.800 is going to have to clean up the mess. He 0:11:33.920 --> 0:11:36.480 just passed a new budget of three hundred and forty 0:11:36.559 --> 0:11:41.800 nine billion dollars and this is just not sustainable. It's 0:11:41.920 --> 0:11:45.360 just not sustainable. We can't keep all the entitlements plus 0:11:45.360 --> 0:11:48.359 the money that's going out the door with the frauds 0:11:47.400 --> 0:11:52.080 and our pensions. Our pensions are not even running fully 0:11:52.160 --> 0:11:56.800 fully funded. They're running between seventy one and seventy percent funded, 0:11:56.920 --> 0:12:00.640 So we've got a huge risk there as well. 0:12:00.720 --> 0:12:03.480 You mentioned your chief opponent in this race, the current 0:12:03.520 --> 0:12:08.280 lieutenant governor, a billionaire heiress, a lady Connell Louchus. When 0:12:08.320 --> 0:12:11.040 you look at how she campaigns, what she's putting on 0:12:11.080 --> 0:12:13.800 her website, what she's saying when she's interviewed, what she's 0:12:13.800 --> 0:12:17.840 saying at public forums that she's participating in, it seems 0:12:17.920 --> 0:12:21.040 like all she talks about is Donald Trump, how much 0:12:21.080 --> 0:12:23.600 she hates Donald Trump, what she's going to do to 0:12:23.600 --> 0:12:29.880 block the Trump administration, how much she dislikes what he 0:12:29.960 --> 0:12:33.600 puts out on social media, the basics. She seems like 0:12:33.679 --> 0:12:36.040 she's not even concerned with the duties that comes with 0:12:36.160 --> 0:12:38.680 the office. It seems like something that she's just not 0:12:38.880 --> 0:12:42.320 interested in. Is it frustrating to run for an office 0:12:42.360 --> 0:12:45.840 against people who aren't even talking about the subject matter 0:12:45.920 --> 0:12:48.679 that you would have to deal with should you be elected. 0:12:50.480 --> 0:12:52.440 She knows something. I think that's one of the reasons 0:12:52.480 --> 0:12:54.920 why I am trying to be as vocal as I can, 0:12:55.000 --> 0:12:58.480 and I'm talking to folks. The Lieutenant governor position is 0:12:58.520 --> 0:13:01.920 kind of also a figurehead. You kind of have a 0:13:01.920 --> 0:13:04.600 beautiful little title, but you really don't have to do 0:13:04.800 --> 0:13:07.880 much work unless you want to. The Treasurer's office can 0:13:07.920 --> 0:13:10.640 be the same can be the same way because the 0:13:10.720 --> 0:13:12.960 day to day work is actually done within the divisions 0:13:13.000 --> 0:13:16.439 of that office. There's four hundred employees, and within that 0:13:16.440 --> 0:13:19.040 there's about eight or nine major divisions, and they all 0:13:19.080 --> 0:13:22.319 have their own CEOs and experts within those. The day 0:13:22.360 --> 0:13:24.839 to day work is done in those divisions, and so 0:13:24.880 --> 0:13:28.319 she basically could take this position and continue on basically 0:13:28.360 --> 0:13:31.400 doing nothing and just being a figurehead. That's not why 0:13:31.440 --> 0:13:34.480 I'm running. I'm running. I'm coming out of retirement. I 0:13:34.520 --> 0:13:37.560 don't need this job. I don't need the salary off 0:13:37.600 --> 0:13:41.199 of this job. I'm going up there because my kids 0:13:41.200 --> 0:13:43.280 and my grandkids can barely afford to live in this 0:13:43.400 --> 0:13:46.520 state anymore. And as I talk to other people around, 0:13:46.720 --> 0:13:50.240 they're hurting, they're suffering, and you know something, maybe instead 0:13:50.240 --> 0:13:53.000 of fighting Trump, maybe you should start fighting for the 0:13:53.040 --> 0:13:56.000 people of California, because those are the people that you've 0:13:56.000 --> 0:13:59.960 been duly elected to represent. That's why I'm going to Sacramento. 0:14:01.760 --> 0:14:04.439 The state of California is expected to lose between three 0:14:04.520 --> 0:14:08.120 and five congressional seats and electoral votes after the next 0:14:08.160 --> 0:14:12.560 census because of our population decline. You go to states 0:14:12.600 --> 0:14:16.640 like Arizona, Nevada, now even places like Texas and Florida 0:14:16.679 --> 0:14:20.320 and Idaho and other states in the West, in the 0:14:20.400 --> 0:14:24.440 Rocky Mountain West, you find a former bunch of former Californians. 0:14:25.080 --> 0:14:27.800 If we don't write this ship, do you think we're 0:14:27.840 --> 0:14:31.120 going to continue to see a population decline over time? 0:14:32.280 --> 0:14:36.520 Absolutely? Absolutely, We're already seeing it. And matter of fact, 0:14:36.520 --> 0:14:38.400 I've got quite a few friends that have moved to 0:14:38.440 --> 0:14:41.280 Florida or have to move to Tennessee to get out 0:14:41.320 --> 0:14:45.320 from underneath the amount of tech tax debt that they've 0:14:45.360 --> 0:14:47.960 had to pay. And I mean I just recently bought 0:14:47.960 --> 0:14:51.760 a house in November and I had to still stock 0:14:51.840 --> 0:14:53.920 to be able to purchase the house. And were I say, 0:14:54.400 --> 0:14:58.000 California Franchise Tax Board was right there. They want their 0:14:58.040 --> 0:15:02.480 money immediately. Where the federal government, I mean, you can 0:15:02.560 --> 0:15:04.760 kind of push it out over time, but not the 0:15:04.760 --> 0:15:09.880 state of California. It's just the sense of the greed 0:15:09.920 --> 0:15:13.160 on that machine is just it's never ending. And I 0:15:13.200 --> 0:15:15.240 think if we can't get this ship turned around, we're 0:15:15.240 --> 0:15:16.800 going to continue to see people leave. 0:15:17.760 --> 0:15:20.560 And you talk to realtors and they say a lot 0:15:20.600 --> 0:15:22.440 of people are trying to sell their homes. We don't 0:15:22.440 --> 0:15:23.680 have many buyers right now. 0:15:25.560 --> 0:15:27.280 Well, the reason why we don't have a lot of 0:15:27.320 --> 0:15:30.840 buyers is number one. Now we've got a new fed 0:15:30.880 --> 0:15:33.080 share I think that's going to help. I think they've 0:15:33.160 --> 0:15:38.560 kept things boosted to hurt the current administration. So I 0:15:38.560 --> 0:15:41.160 think if we can get some interest rates down, and 0:15:41.680 --> 0:15:44.760 I think if we can get the tax burden lifted 0:15:44.760 --> 0:15:46.400 off the people. The other thing, too, is the amount 0:15:46.440 --> 0:15:49.760 of regulations that just continues to get cranked out by 0:15:49.760 --> 0:15:53.840 our legislators or by bureaucrats. We've got to get some 0:15:53.920 --> 0:15:56.880 of this stuff turned around and lift the weight off 0:15:56.920 --> 0:15:58.800 of the people of this state. If we can do that, 0:15:58.960 --> 0:16:01.600 I think, and make California golden again. 0:16:02.840 --> 0:16:05.880 And I'll tell you and we'll end with this right now, 0:16:06.000 --> 0:16:10.200 the tech industry and AI specifically, is driving not only 0:16:10.240 --> 0:16:12.880 the economy of the state, the economy of the country, 0:16:12.920 --> 0:16:16.120 the economy of the world. If we can't figure out 0:16:16.120 --> 0:16:19.080 how to make the state work, we're going to lose 0:16:19.160 --> 0:16:22.920 that industry to Texas or some other state that will 0:16:22.920 --> 0:16:26.040 welcome them with open arms. And all of those high 0:16:26.080 --> 0:16:29.800 paying jobs, all of the people that work for those companies, 0:16:30.200 --> 0:16:32.720 all of the wealth that they create, all the capital 0:16:32.760 --> 0:16:35.520 gains that's going to go with them, and it's going 0:16:35.560 --> 0:16:37.040 to be devastating for the state. 0:16:38.760 --> 0:16:39.240 That's right. 0:16:39.360 --> 0:16:41.680 And you know all these big AI data centers that 0:16:41.720 --> 0:16:43.200 are going to be needed to run all of these 0:16:43.200 --> 0:16:46.320 things have to have power and they have to have water, 0:16:46.920 --> 0:16:50.680 two other elements that this current administration has decimated in 0:16:50.720 --> 0:16:54.080 this state. So we need a new governor, We need 0:16:54.120 --> 0:16:58.160 a new lieutenant governor, we need a new controller, we 0:16:58.240 --> 0:17:00.600 need a new Secretary of state, and we in a 0:17:00.640 --> 0:17:04.520 new treasure I just want to urge your listeners please 0:17:04.720 --> 0:17:07.600 please get out and vote. And it's time for change. 0:17:07.680 --> 0:17:10.680 And the only way for change is if you don't 0:17:11.080 --> 0:17:15.359 follow a party line, but you follow policy, good old 0:17:15.440 --> 0:17:18.080 common sense. It's got to make a comeback in this state. 0:17:19.560 --> 0:17:23.240 Jennifer Hawks, candidate for State treasure certainly sounds like you've 0:17:23.280 --> 0:17:25.960 done your homework. You can get her online at hawksfor 0:17:26.040 --> 0:17:28.919 us dot com. Jennifer Hawks, thanks so much for stopping 0:17:28.960 --> 0:17:30.520 by and good luck on election day. 0:17:31.640 --> 0:17:33.800 John, thank you so very much. I've enjoyed my time 0:17:33.840 --> 0:17:34.040 with you. 0:17:35.160 --> 0:17:37.000 If you'd like to email the show, you can do 0:17:37.040 --> 0:17:39.960 so at Johnny don't like show at gmail dot com. 0:17:40.240 --> 0:17:44.199 That's Johnny don't like show at gmail dot com. And 0:17:44.359 --> 0:17:48.719 do not forget. On election night, which is Tuesday, June second, 0:17:49.320 --> 0:17:51.960 we're going to be doing double duty. We'll be back 0:17:52.040 --> 0:17:56.120 from seven to nine at night talking about the election results, 0:17:56.160 --> 0:17:58.159 assuming they come in. Although we do live in a 0:17:58.240 --> 0:18:00.680 state that seems to take a monk moth to count 0:18:00.720 --> 0:18:04.840 the ballots. But maybe we'll learn certain things on election night, 0:18:04.880 --> 0:18:06.760 and of course if we do, we'll bring that live 0:18:06.840 --> 0:18:10.960 to you. I'm KABC in La KSFO in the Bay 0:18:11.040 --> 0:18:15.440 Area and KMJ in Fresno. And right now it's time 0:18:15.480 --> 0:18:18.840 to make a couple of listeners very happy. Seven ninety 0:18:18.960 --> 0:18:23.520 KABC welcomes Nile, Rogers and Sheep to the Pacific Amphitheater 0:18:23.880 --> 0:18:27.440 at the OC Fair on July the thirty. First tickets 0:18:27.440 --> 0:18:32.240 are on sale right now at pacamp dot com. However, 0:18:32.560 --> 0:18:35.800 if you're caller number nine right now at eight eight 0:18:35.800 --> 0:18:39.680 eight seven nine ozho five two two two, that's eight 0:18:39.720 --> 0:18:43.080 eight eight seven nine oh five two two two you'll 0:18:43.080 --> 0:18:45.400 win a pair of tickets to the show, and all 0:18:45.480 --> 0:18:49.479 concert tickets include admission to the OC Fair. Tickets are 0:18:49.480 --> 0:18:54.119 furnished by the Pacific Amphitheater. Good luck dialing. It is 0:18:54.160 --> 0:18:56.320 our pleasure to welcome our next guest to the program. 0:18:56.560 --> 0:18:59.520 He is the editor of The Gus Report, who you 0:18:59.560 --> 0:19:02.240 can get on online at Daniel Gus dot substack dot 0:19:02.280 --> 0:19:07.639 com and follow on x at the Gus Report. Daniel Gus, Welcome. 0:19:08.200 --> 0:19:10.840 Hey John, Thanks for having me back. It never rans 0:19:11.000 --> 0:19:12.080 does it? 0:19:12.320 --> 0:19:14.639 Never? A dull moment in the insane asylum? 0:19:15.640 --> 0:19:15.840 Right? 0:19:16.600 --> 0:19:19.520 All right? You have a new peace out suggesting that 0:19:19.640 --> 0:19:23.280 the numbers regarding crimes that the City of Los Angeles 0:19:23.400 --> 0:19:27.840 is putting out may not necessarily reflect reality. 0:19:27.920 --> 0:19:32.040 Yeah, may not. You don't need to have a database 0:19:32.080 --> 0:19:36.160 from the LAPD, John to know that any claim by 0:19:36.240 --> 0:19:41.080 Karen Bass or the La Times about crime stats being down, 0:19:41.320 --> 0:19:47.480 let alone down to near historic lows is beyond offensive. 0:19:48.080 --> 0:19:50.800 And I wasn't going to write about this subject as 0:19:50.840 --> 0:19:54.119 I did this morning until the La Times came out 0:19:54.520 --> 0:19:58.359 with a propaganda piece over the weekend that just cut 0:19:58.480 --> 0:20:02.000 me to my core. It was so deeply offensive that 0:20:02.080 --> 0:20:03.960 I had to write about it today. 0:20:04.640 --> 0:20:08.240 And what did you write? Well? 0:20:08.840 --> 0:20:12.800 The LA Times published this story over the weekend saying 0:20:12.840 --> 0:20:18.520 that Karen Bass's you know, fight against crime is so low, 0:20:19.720 --> 0:20:23.800 that is so good, that the crime stats are near 0:20:24.200 --> 0:20:27.720 historic lows for violent crime in the city of Los Angeles, 0:20:28.240 --> 0:20:32.240 which anybody with one or two open eyes can see. 0:20:32.320 --> 0:20:37.520 Is patently false. And here's the problem. There is no 0:20:37.680 --> 0:20:41.679 way that the LA Times could know that because for 0:20:41.760 --> 0:20:46.359 the past year or two, the LAPD has prevented people 0:20:46.359 --> 0:20:52.320 from actually seeing real crime data, including what's called block 0:20:52.720 --> 0:20:57.399 crime data, where you can see what's happening on your 0:20:57.440 --> 0:21:01.960 street and the neighboring streets. So it's patently false. And 0:21:02.000 --> 0:21:04.399 I want to give a shout out to KCBS because 0:21:04.520 --> 0:21:09.000 their assignment editor, Mike Rogers, late last year submitted a 0:21:09.000 --> 0:21:12.719 public record's request to the LAPD and they've been dragging 0:21:12.760 --> 0:21:15.320 their feet. It's too expensive or they have too much 0:21:15.359 --> 0:21:19.280 to do, and it's not working. And essentially they kind 0:21:19.320 --> 0:21:23.439 of dropped the ball on that. And so we are 0:21:23.560 --> 0:21:27.960 being gas lit. What a surprise by Karen Bass the LAPD, 0:21:28.760 --> 0:21:33.400 but most offensively by the Los Angeles Times that's claiming 0:21:33.440 --> 0:21:37.720 to know things that it couldn't possibly know about crime 0:21:37.800 --> 0:21:39.400 statistics in Los Angeles. 0:21:40.920 --> 0:21:44.040 Here's the question that I would have for them. If 0:21:44.560 --> 0:21:48.359 crime as it historic lows, then why is it that 0:21:48.560 --> 0:21:52.520 businesses can't buy insurance or their rates are going through 0:21:52.560 --> 0:21:55.959 the roof and the insurance companies are specifically citing crime 0:21:56.400 --> 0:21:59.080 when these people call their agent to find out why 0:21:59.119 --> 0:22:02.399 their policies are going through the roof? Why is it 0:22:02.480 --> 0:22:06.000 that people are so frustrated with retail theft and with 0:22:06.119 --> 0:22:09.760 crimes being committed at their place of business that they 0:22:09.920 --> 0:22:12.359 just stop calling the police at the time when it 0:22:12.440 --> 0:22:14.520 happens because they know it's useless. 0:22:16.040 --> 0:22:19.320 Well, right, but you're assuming that if you ask that 0:22:19.560 --> 0:22:22.560 question of the Mayor's office or the l a p 0:22:22.760 --> 0:22:25.639 D or the LA Times, that they're going to speak 0:22:25.680 --> 0:22:29.800 to you man to man, that they're not agenda driven 0:22:30.400 --> 0:22:35.600 in terms of the LA Times, or or budget driven 0:22:35.760 --> 0:22:40.359 like the l a p D. Or politically driven like 0:22:40.400 --> 0:22:45.320 the Mayor's office. And this is even more the case. 0:22:45.359 --> 0:22:49.439 It's such a deeply offensive claim by the Times in 0:22:49.520 --> 0:22:51.919 Bass and the l a p D. That this is 0:22:52.119 --> 0:22:59.399 especially acutely dishonest when it comes to violent crimes. Aren't robbery, murder, 0:23:00.200 --> 0:23:04.399