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Speaker 1: Now, US states are warning of significant revenue losses due
Speaker 1: to President Trump's administrations government cuts and trade policies. The
Speaker 1: cuts coming out of time when states are already facing
Speaker 1: flat revenue growth, rising costs from inflation, and the end
Speaker 1: of pandemic aid, with governors and lawmakers debating how indeed
Speaker 1: to make up for those losses. So what might any
Speaker 1: or all of this mean for the US state that
Speaker 1: is the biggest in the United States the economy and
Speaker 1: it is now.
Speaker 3: The fourth largest economy in the world.
Speaker 1: I was corrected before where we came on air and
Speaker 1: next year, of course, is host to a governor's race.
Speaker 1: We're talking about California and we want to talk to
Speaker 1: someone who's looking to be the next governor in the
Speaker 1: state of California. Joining us is Steven j. Klubec He
Speaker 1: is twenty twenty six Democratic candidate for governor of California.
Speaker 1: Founder and former CEO of Diamond Resorts International. He's an
Speaker 1: investor in the publicly held microcap and online gaming company
Speaker 1: Plays Studios. He's been on Undercover Boss. He's rumored at
Speaker 1: one time to maybe run for governor of Nevada. This
Speaker 1: is what happens when you do a little bit of
Speaker 1: a search. He also served as a Nevada State Athletic
Speaker 1: Commission and he's got a new book out. It is
Speaker 1: entitled Facing Hard Truths, How Americans Can get real, pulled
Speaker 1: together and turn our country around. It's published just earlier
Speaker 1: this month. He joins au Center Bloomberg Interactive Broker Studio.
Speaker 1: A long lead up, but I want people to know
Speaker 1: kind of a little bit about who you are.
Speaker 4: Well, you forgot about something.
Speaker 3: Very important, Which did I leave out?
Speaker 4: The first chairman up Brand USA, the head of tourism
Speaker 4: and travel of the United States from America under President Obama.
Speaker 3: I don't know how I let that.
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 3: Okay, maybe my editors got in there.
Speaker 5: How's the US brand looking right now?
Speaker 4: You know, that's a very good that's a very good
Speaker 4: point because I was at I was at a meeting
Speaker 4: with the Treasury secretary and he was explaining what the
Speaker 4: philosophy was of the president, who I know very well.
Speaker 4: I was going to do a deal with him in
Speaker 4: Las Vegas. Yeah, the Trump Tower, and I passed. We
Speaker 4: had the same architect because I have values, I have
Speaker 4: integrity and he doesn't have that. And I pay my
Speaker 4: contractors and he doesn't. But look for a brand guy
Speaker 4: who licenses his brand, you know it takes decades to
Speaker 4: build a brand. He sure killed ours within minutes. And
Speaker 4: I asked the Secretary of Treasury, I'm like, how could
Speaker 4: you upset the largest buyers of our bonds, the Chinese
Speaker 4: and Japanese? How could you have them lose face the
Speaker 4: concept of face? And he says, well, you know, the
Speaker 4: guy likes to live in chaos and he likes to
Speaker 4: play game crazy Ivan. I said, did you just say
Speaker 4: crazy Ivan?
Speaker 5: You're killing me, right, I said, look, and Scott Besson
Speaker 5: said that to you.
Speaker 4: Of course he did in front of me in two
Speaker 4: hundred and it was reported by Puck and I got
Speaker 4: to tell you dropping the bomb in the bar and
Speaker 4: playing reality TV with the best brand in the world,
Speaker 4: the United States of America is beyond any comprehension of
Speaker 4: anyone that understands brand marketing sales. I don't get it.
Speaker 3: What do you make of a.
Speaker 1: Treasury secretary who understands financial markets considering his background, right,
Speaker 1: he understood that works, and that the understanding of having
Speaker 1: kind of full faith in the US government, right, and
Speaker 1: there needs to be some calmon consistency rather than volatility, stability,
Speaker 1: stability exactly. So what do you make of what some
Speaker 1: might say is a US Treasury secretary who should know better?
Speaker 6: Well?
Speaker 4: You know, I know very well because my first partner
Speaker 4: at Diamond Resorts was Sorrows, Your Sorrows brah a minute.
Speaker 4: And then you know, Guggenheim became my my equity partner
Speaker 4: because the Sorrows at that time too was betting against
Speaker 4: the consumer. And I said, I can't have you know
Speaker 4: that philosophy at that time. And I said I And
Speaker 4: so I know Scott, he was the CEO. And I'm like, what,
Speaker 4: what what's going on here? I don't know why everyone
Speaker 4: around President Trump sells their soul? Why they sell their soul?
Speaker 4: Because I've been involved in power and politics, you know,
Speaker 4: trained by by by Bill Clinton and my adopted father,
Speaker 4: Harry Reid. Look, we all have a soul and conscious conscience,
Speaker 4: and I just would never sell my soul, never pander,
Speaker 4: and these folks they get sucked into the vortex and
Speaker 4: I don't get it.
Speaker 1: But to play Devil's advocate, maybe a little bit here
Speaker 1: is that some would say, listen, President Trump is dealing
Speaker 1: with some issues that need to be dealt with, and
Speaker 1: whether it's immigration and leading illegal immigration, not even when
Speaker 1: President Biden came in, a lot of this tire of
Speaker 1: stayed in place, right, So there are issues that he
Speaker 1: is tackling and some I love this and forgive me,
Speaker 1: I repeat it, and I haven't quite meant.
Speaker 3: I don't remember the story. So there was somebody at
Speaker 3: the Times, but it was like.
Speaker 1: Donald Trump being the right question, He's just not the
Speaker 1: right answer meaning and that's not my view. It's just
Speaker 1: how some say that he's asking the right questions.
Speaker 3: But maybe I ask the.
Speaker 4: Right questions too. I have warmth and compassion. Okay, I
Speaker 4: am also a guy of performance and results in California.
Speaker 4: I'm going to create the Department of California Performance and Results,
Speaker 4: known as CPR, which the state needs.
Speaker 1: Well talk well let's talk about California because you know
Speaker 1: it's a crowded field. It is a crowded field, and
Speaker 1: you know there's some veteran politicians too, So how do you,
Speaker 1: how do you stand out? How do you how do
Speaker 1: you maybe take California to the next you know, it's
Speaker 1: next ten, twenty thirty years.
Speaker 3: Well, the goodness, if.
Speaker 4: They were good at what they did, we wouldn't have
Speaker 4: the problems with California that we do. Okay, they have
Speaker 4: failed well, affordability number one, homelessness number two, the lack
Speaker 4: of transparency, the lack of execution, the lack of enforcement,
Speaker 4: will take me to.
Speaker 1: Affordability because Matt and I have been around the block
Speaker 1: a few times, and I think it's safe to say
Speaker 1: I'm not looking to age you because you never age
Speaker 1: minus there.
Speaker 5: Oh my god, I'm pretty old.
Speaker 1: No. But I think my point is that we've been
Speaker 1: talking about housing affordability, particularly to California, for decades, and
Speaker 1: yet here we are.
Speaker 3: So how do we fix.
Speaker 5: And we have the same issue here, that's.
Speaker 3: Right, right, So how would you fix that?
Speaker 4: Great question? So I was a builder in the eighties
Speaker 4: and nineties in California, and I seemed to was able
Speaker 4: to pull my approvals without the onset of Sequea sequas,
Speaker 4: a highly regulated regulation in California, and the Species Act
Speaker 4: and the Coastal Commission. Okay, So, California has over three
Speaker 4: hundred and eighty thousand regulations onto its and over the
Speaker 4: last ten years, the FTEs the full time employees and
Speaker 4: government have increased by forty five thousand. Because these laws
Speaker 4: beget regulations which we get FTEs. California is not open
Speaker 4: for business. It's not affordable, leveable, or workable. Okay. And
Speaker 4: I just as as a builder, tried to get something
Speaker 4: permitted over last year and a half and it is almost.
Speaker 1: Impossible saying if those regulations are rolled back that that
Speaker 1: that will.
Speaker 3: Lead to affordable housing.
Speaker 4: Yes, so let me kay, let me let me finish,
Speaker 4: because I'm about solutions for the other career.
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Speaker 1: two la fives.
Speaker 4: The laws sequel and the coast Book Commission and the
Speaker 4: Species Act. So I'm going to declare an affordability emergency
Speaker 4: in the state of California until the legislature creates new
Speaker 4: laws for affordability that will allow housing to be constructed properly, Okay,
Speaker 4: without having Nimby or Nimby not in my backyard weaponized
Speaker 4: along with the unions weaponized to hold up permits, because
Speaker 4: that seems to be the major issue.
Speaker 6: Steven, I want to ask about this because I've also
Speaker 6: have been frustrated by red tape, and clearly it's a problem,
Speaker 6: especially in a place like California. On the other hand,
Speaker 6: without regulations, you will have disasters like the wildfires that
Speaker 6: end up burning down. You know, so much of residential
Speaker 6: la so well, A very good question.
Speaker 4: Yeah, And you know what's great about this campaign that
Speaker 4: I'm running is I've got solutions where the other candidates don't. Now,
Speaker 4: if you did your homework, you know I was a
Speaker 4: regulator with indictment power, and you know I was also
Speaker 4: a judge, and I've changed laws in many states too,
Speaker 4: So I understand not only how to fix broken broken businesses,
Speaker 4: broken institutions, but I know how to create laws, regulate,
Speaker 4: and adjudicate. So I bring this full to the table
Speaker 4: and I'll tell you this, regulations are good to keep
Speaker 4: bad actors out, But too many regulations inhibit good business
Speaker 4: from doing good business.
Speaker 1: But what's the guarantee that that good business means that
Speaker 1: you are building affordable housing in the places that are needed.
Speaker 1: A lot of folks will say, especially where there's major cities,
Speaker 1: it's not that we need affordable housing out in the
Speaker 1: suburbs where people have to commute another hour and a
Speaker 1: half to get in for workers who maybe can't afford
Speaker 1: to even do that, that you need to do it
Speaker 1: in the cities where the jobs are.
Speaker 3: And where they have those jobs. How do we get
Speaker 3: that done?
Speaker 4: So you really have to have three types of regulations
Speaker 4: with regard to affordability and housing. You need rural, suburban,
Speaker 4: and urban. Okay, And that's the way it was done
Speaker 4: decades ago, and there is something to be looked at
Speaker 4: with regard to going back to what worked before. So
Speaker 4: it's almost as if California has been putting band aids
Speaker 4: on band aids on band aids and they're all bleeding
Speaker 4: and they need to be repaired. So the only way
Speaker 4: to repair a wound is to rip the band aid
Speaker 4: off and get to the heart of the issue. And
Speaker 4: in the interim pause, these regulations, okay, still making sure
Speaker 4: bad actors don't exist and get to a solution that
Speaker 4: allows us to grow and have aspiration in California. I
Speaker 4: remember I grew up in the aspiration in California, and
Speaker 4: today there is no aspiration because we're closed for business.
Speaker 1: It has the affordability your key policy platform or what is.
Speaker 5: Oh one of benny and the others Insurance Okay, what's
Speaker 5: your key?
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's affordable, livable, workable, and all the subcomponent parts
Speaker 4: of that. So insurance, for example, I have a fix
Speaker 4: for the insurance crisis in California. If you go to
Speaker 4: my website you'll see it. You've got to really talk
Speaker 4: about the great exports of California. Okay, we have five
Speaker 4: great exports, not in any order. Innovation, manufacturing, agriculture, tourism
Speaker 4: and travel. Okay, you've got entertainment, and you've got education.
Speaker 4: Education used to be an export in the state also,
Speaker 4: okay when I was growing up there. So you've got
Speaker 4: our uc system and our cal state system, and our
Speaker 4: cal state system needs to be reinvented. Okay, to talk
Speaker 4: about allowing people to do good work in the real world,
Speaker 4: so people are prepared for the real world and more
Speaker 4: trade oriented you know behavior, So there's it's as if
Speaker 4: California has not been run by an executive in many decades,
Speaker 4: and that's what we need to look forward to. And
Speaker 4: I'm the only candidate that has that experience. I'm qualified
Speaker 4: where the others are not qualified.
Speaker 5: Stephen, how do you though, run against someone like Gavin
Speaker 5: Newsom who is a nationally recognized name and has been
Speaker 5: for manal election cycles.
Speaker 4: You know, that's a good question because Gavin Newsom has
Speaker 4: an expiration date and that's my birth date.
Speaker 6: It's it's expensive, though. I imagine how much Gvins.
Speaker 4: Turned out to win with the joke, but yeah, it
Speaker 4: turned out.
Speaker 5: Okay.
Speaker 6: How do you how do you run against other candidates though?
Speaker 6: Then with real name recognition? It without putting down millions
Speaker 6: of dollars or how much are you prepared to spend
Speaker 6: to win the race?
Speaker 4: I guess is what I'm assing. So you didn't see
Speaker 4: my Undercover Boss episodes, I'm the number one Undercover Boss
Speaker 4: in the history of that television show, sixteen million plus ratings.
Speaker 4: So when you say I don't have name recognition, I
Speaker 4: beg to differ.
Speaker 5: I guess I don't watch Undercover Boss. You should.
Speaker 4: It's a good show.
Speaker 6: I'm sure it's fantastic. But do you do you have
Speaker 6: to spend? How much do you have to spend to win? Well,
Speaker 6: I'll be a lot more efficient than the other candidates.
Speaker 6: So you know, we just did a lunch Sextant poll
Speaker 6: and my bio has twenty seven percent already, Name recognition
Speaker 6: and interest.
Speaker 1: One thing I want to ask because one of the
Speaker 1: things that any governor, the next governor of California will
Speaker 1: have to deal with is you have.
Speaker 3: To deal with President Trump. So how would you.
Speaker 1: Deal with him as governor of the largest state, because
Speaker 1: we know it's tricky.
Speaker 4: Well, I've sat across the table from him numerous times.
Speaker 1: Many people have sat Elon Musk has sat across the
Speaker 1: table several times. I understand that their relationship has.
Speaker 4: Evolved, no question about it. And I do have respect
Speaker 4: for him, and I believe he has respect for me.
Speaker 4: We know each other pretty well. I have his cell
Speaker 4: phone number, he's got mine. And there's no other candidate
Speaker 4: that will fight for California, nor has California values like me.
Speaker 4: Kindergarten through first year of college, and I'm not afraid.
Speaker 4: I mean, I come from the rough and tumble business world,
Speaker 4: that also has been trained in ledge rag and adjudication
Speaker 4: by some very very good talents. And if you want
Speaker 4: to underestimate me, God bless you at your own risk.
Speaker 1: Well, we look forward to watching the race. We go
Speaker 1: from race to race. I'me today, Yes, Stephen, thank you
Speaker 1: so much for your time. I'm Stephen Kuschek. He's twenty
Speaker 1: twenty six Democratic candidate for Governor of California and as
Speaker 1: we mentioned, founder, former CE of Diamond Resorts International, and
Speaker 1: so much more.
Speaker 6: As we later recover Boss, I'm going to go back
Speaker 6: and watch apparently the most explosive Boss in series.
Speaker 5: History and most generous.
Speaker 3: That's which is nice.
Speaker 5: That's what I want to do.
Speaker 4: Is actually really important, apologetically authentic and warm and compassionate.
Speaker 3: All right, come back soon, Stephen. Good luck