Speaker 1: Time for Gavin to go, and we're gonna talk to
Speaker 1: one of the fellows who wants to replace him. It's
Speaker 1: Armstrong and Getty extra large because four hours, simply enough,
Speaker 1: this is Armstrong and Getty extra Large. At the time
Speaker 1: that we're recording this, we're a day away from California reopening.
Speaker 1: Using my finger quotes reopening if it depends on where
Speaker 1: you live, how much opening will be happening? And why
Speaker 1: we wait until now? I have no freaking idea. Well,
Speaker 1: let's talk about that and other things with Kevin Faulkner.
Speaker 1: He was the two time mayor of San Diego, one
Speaker 1: of the few Republicans to be a Republican. I'm sorry
Speaker 1: to be a mayor in the last twenty years or
Speaker 1: so in California. Kevin, how are you, sir? Tell me
Speaker 1: what I'm doing? Great? Great to be back with you.
Speaker 1: Thank you. Listen. I see the polls and they say
Speaker 1: that people don't even want the recall to happen. Why
Speaker 1: does Gavin Newsom have to go? Let's talk about that first.
Speaker 1: I'll tell you, guys, we've talked about it before. The
Speaker 1: anger in the frustration. It's an absolute recall on his
Speaker 1: failures and we can go down the list, the fact
Speaker 1: that our public schools are still not fully reopened in California,
Speaker 1: in fact that we have the second highest unemployment, skyrockety homelessness,
Speaker 1: and of course the fact that our state was open
Speaker 1: and set five in six different times because of his
Speaker 1: conflicting metrics. And this just cuts across, you know, all
Speaker 1: parts of the state, all partnerisanship. Uh, folks are ready
Speaker 1: for a change at the top. And there's no doubt
Speaker 1: in my mind that when they go to the polls
Speaker 1: sometime in this fall, they're gonna absolutely support this recall. Well,
Speaker 1: and the way Gavin Newsom is holding onto his emergency
Speaker 1: powers has people in his own party upset. Well, yeah,
Speaker 1: and look we saw that last week and everybody's scratching
Speaker 1: their heads saying, well, wait, once again, Gavin Newsom says
Speaker 1: one thing and does another, um, particularly on the emergency powers,
Speaker 1: either we're gonna be open or not, and all these
Speaker 1: you know, extra caveats, I think has everybody rightfully concerned that. Good,
Speaker 1: look here we go again. Remember went back in February
Speaker 1: when the governor said schools were going to be it
Speaker 1: and they weren't. Private schools were open all all year
Speaker 1: in California. But because those schools report to parents. But
Speaker 1: yet our public schools that ultimately report to Gavin Newsom
Speaker 1: have remained closed for absolutely no reason. And you know,
Speaker 1: and talking to so many parents, you know that again
Speaker 1: that anger and frustration is real and rightfully so do
Speaker 1: you have any idea? I mean, like the school stuff,
Speaker 1: our theory wasn't I think it's right is it was
Speaker 1: an opportunity for teachers unions to get more money for
Speaker 1: the schools and if it can go in for whatever reason.
Speaker 1: But once they get it into a pot of money,
Speaker 1: they'll spend it however the hell they want overcoming years.
Speaker 1: But what what what motivates Gavin Newsome to want to
Speaker 1: keep us all in masks and restaurants closed for so long?
Speaker 1: What's his motivation? And there's no reason for it. And look,
Speaker 1: and I think you hit the nail on the head.
Speaker 1: And the fact that private schools teachers were safely teaching
Speaker 1: and kids were safely learning um and yet our public
Speaker 1: schools because Gavitt Knewsom wouldn't do the right thing for
Speaker 1: our kids, wouldn't do the right thing for our parents.
Speaker 1: And the fact that we are the slowest state in
Speaker 1: the nation to reopen our public schools. And as we
Speaker 1: are talking about this this morning, they're still not fully reopened.
Speaker 1: And and look, you know, in my frustration comes not
Speaker 1: just as a candidate for governor, but as a dad
Speaker 1: with two kids in public school. And I think when
Speaker 1: you add all of this on top of the fact
Speaker 1: that you know, things continue to go in the wrong
Speaker 1: direction here in California, one party rule has not been working.
Speaker 1: It is time for that competition of ideas. And it's
Speaker 1: you know, time for somebody you know who can roll
Speaker 1: up their sleeves get to work stop the rampant homelessness
Speaker 1: that we have in in California, like we did in
Speaker 1: San Diego. So I think you add all those things together,
Speaker 1: people are ready for that change. Just as you're talking,
Speaker 1: a TV commercial for you came up on the TV Man.
Speaker 1: I like that slow motion walking down the sidewalk. You
Speaker 1: look like the manager. Good stuff. Good stuff. Hey listen,
Speaker 1: I want to get to the bums and junkies in
Speaker 1: a minute, But before we get to it, let's talk
Speaker 1: about emergency powers in general and the way they've been
Speaker 1: exercised during the COVID flap. Should the constitution change, Should
Speaker 1: the court step in I mean Plaster County for instance.
Speaker 1: I don't remember if they suit or just threatened to sue.
Speaker 1: They excited the specific wording in the state constitution as
Speaker 1: to what an emergency is. And there's not an emergency,
Speaker 1: and yet the governor's emergency powers continue. What needs to change? Well,
Speaker 1: and I absolutely agree, and I'll add one more. We've
Speaker 1: had a legislature that has absolutely not put any checks
Speaker 1: and balances on this governor, and I think it's been shameful.
Speaker 1: And the fact that so many California's have had to
Speaker 1: go to court guys to actually get some of these
Speaker 1: things overturned, like religious gatherings in our churches. Um, how
Speaker 1: do we change it? We change it at the top.
Speaker 1: You know, Gavin Knewson loved this power that that he's
Speaker 1: been able to do, and and he cannot use it judiciously.
Speaker 1: He's been wrong and in time and time again. And
Speaker 1: so look, I think that that's you know, it's time
Speaker 1: for the courts to step into. The legislator is not
Speaker 1: going to do anything. But I think what's more important
Speaker 1: is we vote yes on this recall, um, and we
Speaker 1: get our state back on track. All right to the
Speaker 1: bums and junkies. You have folks who are down on
Speaker 1: their luck, they're trying to get things turned around. Maybe
Speaker 1: they're staying in the shelter. Uh, they're they're doing all
Speaker 1: the right things. God bless those people. I understand that
Speaker 1: some of my tax dollars might go to help them
Speaker 1: in some way. But so many of the so called
Speaker 1: homeless are bums and junkies living in the tent cities.
Speaker 1: What does Kevin Faulkner do or or try to get
Speaker 1: going to deal with that problem. Well, I did not
Speaker 1: allow ten encampments on the sidewalk in San Diego, which
Speaker 1: we've you know, we've we've talked about. And then we
Speaker 1: have to take this state wide. And this is an
Speaker 1: issue that I feel so strongly about and so passionately about. Uh.
Speaker 1: And and look, you have to have the political will.
Speaker 1: You can throw all the money in the world as
Speaker 1: this gentleman, but if you do not have the political
Speaker 1: wild that says it's not okay to let somebody live
Speaker 1: in a tent encambinet do heroin and methomphetamine without any consequences,
Speaker 1: you're not going to have that change. We had a
Speaker 1: change in San Diego, and we put up a shelter system.
Speaker 1: I picked the locations, but I made a deal with
Speaker 1: the neighborhood. I said it's gonna be cleaner and safer
Speaker 1: with the shelter than before it was there. And to
Speaker 1: back that up, I created a new division within the
Speaker 1: San Diego Police Department, Neighborhood Policing Division. I enforced quality
Speaker 1: of life in San Diego. And guess what, it made
Speaker 1: a huge difference because we care about people enough not
Speaker 1: to let him die intent encampments on our sidewalk. We
Speaker 1: reduced homelessness, the only big city in California where we
Speaker 1: actually reduced it by double digits. I am going to
Speaker 1: take that exact same approach and philosophy statewide because what
Speaker 1: we are seeing in our great state is an explosion
Speaker 1: of homelessness and nobody with the political will to actually
Speaker 1: do anything about it. I personally, this is anecdote. Evidence
Speaker 1: is not proof of anything, but I personally no more
Speaker 1: pool in the last year that moved out of California
Speaker 1: then got COVID. Well, I'm not surprised to hear that,
Speaker 1: and and and and again back to we're losing population
Speaker 1: because it's just flat out too expensive. Some of the
Speaker 1: highest gas taxes, you know, in the country, and and
Speaker 1: the fact that people can look around and guys, you
Speaker 1: name the state right, it's it's Texas, It's in Nevada, Florida, Utah, Tennessee,
Speaker 1: on on down the list where people look at what
Speaker 1: the price of housing can be in others. And yet
Speaker 1: we have a governor now who doesn't seem to think
Speaker 1: that there's even a problem. And when all of these
Speaker 1: companies and jobs are leading, it's it's the spot. Well,
Speaker 1: you know, we'll just kind of replace them with who
Speaker 1: knows what, No it It's time to make that change.
Speaker 1: It's time to have a governor that says it's not
Speaker 1: about raising taxes like Newsome wants to do. It's about
Speaker 1: reducing real taxes in California so families can afford to
Speaker 1: actually stay here. What about the spectacular cost of housing?
Speaker 1: Does the government have any role in dealing with that?
Speaker 1: It does. You have to have common sense and that's
Speaker 1: the that's the approach that I took, is mayor, which
Speaker 1: is to say, here's where we want the housing, and
Speaker 1: you know, you have to have more of it in
Speaker 1: the areas that it makes sense along our major transportation quarters,
Speaker 1: and then make it actually easier to build it. Uh,
Speaker 1: so you don't have to take you over a year
Speaker 1: and a half just to get a permit. And so look,
Speaker 1: I think there's a lot of things that the governor
Speaker 1: can do should do. This governor isn't doing. Again, I
Speaker 1: think it falls into a pattern of Newson will get
Speaker 1: up and talk for an hour on a particular topic
Speaker 1: and rhetoric, and then at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: you'll say, what did he just say? It's time for
Speaker 1: some common sense. It's time for somebody like that who
Speaker 1: has rolled up their sleeves got it done in the
Speaker 1: second largest city in California. And yes, is a proud
Speaker 1: Republican who worked my entire tenure as mayor with a
Speaker 1: majority Democrat city council. Very good about going out and
Speaker 1: winning the argument publicly and then winning the vote. That's
Speaker 1: what's been missing in Sacramento, and I think that's why
Speaker 1: people across the state, across the political spectrum, want to
Speaker 1: change at the top to actually get us back on track.
Speaker 1: Kevin Falkoner, great to note to end on, well said,
Speaker 1: good to talk to you, will stay in touch, Thank you,
Speaker 1: look forward to next time. Thank you. Ye. Sam went
Speaker 1: to a pool party for one of his best friends
Speaker 1: over the weekend. They're moving to Texas. And I got
Speaker 1: to believe that a lot of people that haven't considered
Speaker 1: moving because they don't you know, I hate to say
Speaker 1: it this way. You don't know any better. You've never
Speaker 1: lived anywhere else, or you don't like you know, have
Speaker 1: friends that live somewhere else, because if you knew, well,
Speaker 1: if you've spent your whole life in California, you might
Speaker 1: not know that gas is half as much everywhere else
Speaker 1: what a house costs other places, that there aren't bums
Speaker 1: freaking everywhere in most other states, right right. You know
Speaker 1: what troubles me though, and it was what I was
Speaker 1: trying to express in my very first question to Kevin
Speaker 1: was poles show you know, pretty substantial numbers of California say,
Speaker 1: why would do we recall Kevin Newsom? They just have
Speaker 1: no idea how crappy he is and how awful at
Speaker 1: leadership has been. See you gotta informed. Look around crappy.
Speaker 1: I ate an early dinner, but I'm still crappy. Extra
Speaker 1: large