WEBVTT - What The Hell is a Controller, Anyway? Lanhee Chen Talks to Armstrong & Getty 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:02.320 What the hell is it? Controller? Anyway, it's Armstrong and 0:00:02.360 --> 0:00:07.920 Getty extra large because four hours simply isn't enough. This 0:00:08.119 --> 0:00:12.239 is Armstrong and Getty extra large. When we found out 0:00:12.280 --> 0:00:15.600 a friend of ours is running for state controller in California, 0:00:15.640 --> 0:00:19.000 I thought, well, he'd be great at that. Whatever that is? 0:00:19.480 --> 0:00:23.639 Um is controller different than controllers? I believe it's the 0:00:23.680 --> 0:00:27.680 same thing, roughly, but perhaps lanh chen knows you know 0:00:27.800 --> 0:00:30.360 him from the Armstrong and Getty Show. Lani chenned David 0:00:30.360 --> 0:00:32.800 and Diane Stuffy fellow, an American public policy Studies at 0:00:32.800 --> 0:00:36.320 the Uver Institution, Director Domestic Policy Studies at Stanford University, 0:00:36.680 --> 0:00:39.639 frequent guest on cable TV, and now the officially announced 0:00:40.080 --> 0:00:44.800 candidate for controller in the state of California. Hello, Lon, Hey, 0:00:44.800 --> 0:00:47.400 how are you? It is great to be with you, gentlemen. 0:00:47.440 --> 0:00:49.720 Thank you. Can you answer the initial question of his 0:00:49.840 --> 0:00:52.199 controller and control are the same thing? And what is 0:00:52.240 --> 0:00:55.960 one of them? Yeah? So in California we call it 0:00:55.960 --> 0:00:59.160 a controller. In New York City they call it a comptroller. 0:01:00.160 --> 0:01:02.480 In different states they call it different things. I think 0:01:02.480 --> 0:01:05.200 the concept is basically the same, which is, you need 0:01:05.280 --> 0:01:08.720 to have somebody who watches over the money that a 0:01:08.959 --> 0:01:12.560 state or local entity is spending us very similar to 0:01:12.680 --> 0:01:16.800 a corporate context that the controller is responsible for essentially 0:01:16.840 --> 0:01:20.720 auditing outbound spending, is responsible for accounting for that. Um, 0:01:20.959 --> 0:01:22.480 we can get into this a little bit more. The 0:01:22.520 --> 0:01:26.920 California State controllers powers and responsibilities are actually even broader 0:01:26.920 --> 0:01:30.280 than that. But at base, this job is about accountability, 0:01:30.360 --> 0:01:33.880 it's about independence, it's about prudence, and those are all 0:01:33.920 --> 0:01:35.600 things that I think I can bring to this job, 0:01:35.640 --> 0:01:37.960 and that's why I'm really excited to take this step 0:01:38.040 --> 0:01:41.679 in in my in my journey. Can I ask you 0:01:41.720 --> 0:01:44.759 an unrelated question, just briefly, Do we get to talk 0:01:44.800 --> 0:01:47.319 to you anymore about the issues of the day or 0:01:47.319 --> 0:01:48.880 do you have to kind of keep your nose clean 0:01:48.920 --> 0:01:52.640 since you're running for office? Well, uh, you know, it's 0:01:52.680 --> 0:01:56.480 certainly in issues relating to California. You know, I'm I'd 0:01:56.560 --> 0:02:00.200 love to talk about those kinds of things and figure out, uh, 0:02:00.240 --> 0:02:02.240 you know, how I can weigh in, But I'm going 0:02:02.280 --> 0:02:05.080 to be pretty focused on this race and pretty focused 0:02:05.080 --> 0:02:08.600 on commenting on issues that have pertinence to this race 0:02:08.639 --> 0:02:12.120 in this office. So fair enough, so, would the controller 0:02:12.720 --> 0:02:14.680 be the one that says to the state, Hey, he's 0:02:14.680 --> 0:02:16.320 spending all this money on the bullet train is a 0:02:16.360 --> 0:02:20.160 bad idea, or like, like, what what issues might regular 0:02:20.760 --> 0:02:24.440 voters in California be aware of the controllers sticking their 0:02:24.440 --> 0:02:27.600 nose into. Yeah, so, so to back up for a second, 0:02:27.639 --> 0:02:31.320 we have a really interesting structure for accountability in California. 0:02:31.639 --> 0:02:34.840 We have someone called the California State Auditor, who is 0:02:34.880 --> 0:02:39.079 not actually the controller. The auditor can investigate items at 0:02:39.120 --> 0:02:42.400 the request of the legislature. So, for example, you know, 0:02:42.480 --> 0:02:45.680 many of of your listeners will have heard about this 0:02:45.840 --> 0:02:50.919 unemployment insurance fiasco we have in California where essentially fraudulent 0:02:51.040 --> 0:02:56.280 checks went out, the biggest, biggest fraud in California state history, 0:02:57.400 --> 0:03:01.960 thirty billion dollars with a b billion dollars. Yeah, so 0:03:02.080 --> 0:03:04.839 you know, the auditor has done some great reporting on 0:03:05.080 --> 0:03:07.880 you know, here's what went wrong, here's why it went wrong. 0:03:08.320 --> 0:03:09.920 So you may ask, well, if you've got an auditor, 0:03:09.960 --> 0:03:12.240 what do you need the controller for the answer is, 0:03:12.240 --> 0:03:17.560 the controller has independent authority to audit any state or 0:03:17.639 --> 0:03:21.280 local agency if they're spending state money for any reason 0:03:21.320 --> 0:03:24.359 at all, at any time. So the controller doesn't need 0:03:24.440 --> 0:03:26.680 someone else's permission to go in and look at a 0:03:26.720 --> 0:03:30.519 program life unemployment insurance, like the high speed Whale authority, 0:03:30.919 --> 0:03:34.880 like the state medical system, like in home supportive services, 0:03:35.280 --> 0:03:38.320 basically any system that you can think of, any state 0:03:38.360 --> 0:03:41.480 system or even localities. In fact, the controller has to 0:03:41.520 --> 0:03:44.520 conduct regular audits of school districts and how school districts 0:03:44.520 --> 0:03:47.360 are spending their money. So the great thing about the 0:03:47.400 --> 0:03:50.560 controller's office, the thing that excites me, is the ability 0:03:50.640 --> 0:03:55.040 to go in and essentially shed light on all sorts 0:03:55.080 --> 0:03:56.960 of different things that are going out in our state. 0:03:57.320 --> 0:04:00.360 And the controller can certainly say, listen, here's what's happening. 0:04:00.720 --> 0:04:03.000 Here are some recommendations on how we can fix it. 0:04:03.200 --> 0:04:06.680 Here's a timeline that we should use to hold people accountable. 0:04:07.000 --> 0:04:09.800 But fundamentally it's then up to the legislature and the 0:04:09.840 --> 0:04:12.680 governor to make those changes. That the controller is not 0:04:12.760 --> 0:04:16.159 a policy maker in the same way that the governor 0:04:16.279 --> 0:04:19.960 or legislators are, but the controller can sure be, you know, 0:04:20.320 --> 0:04:23.040 kind of a pain in everyone's we're in basically saying 0:04:23.080 --> 0:04:24.880 why aren't you doing this, Why aren't you doing that? 0:04:25.160 --> 0:04:27.360 You know, why are we spending so much money on this? 0:04:27.400 --> 0:04:29.400 Why are we spending so much money on that? I 0:04:29.520 --> 0:04:32.359 see it as the ultimate source of information for the 0:04:32.400 --> 0:04:34.800 people of the state of California. Well, it strikes me 0:04:34.920 --> 0:04:38.919 that that position could be an unbelievable watchdog for the people. 0:04:38.960 --> 0:04:42.599 I mean, really being a hawk or well, I guess 0:04:42.839 --> 0:04:44.839 being a dog one moment, a hawk the next. I 0:04:44.839 --> 0:04:47.120 don't know. But you could be a real hero for 0:04:47.160 --> 0:04:52.440 the taxpayers, because we all know, particularly in corrupt Defornia, 0:04:52.680 --> 0:04:55.560 there's an enormous amount of money thrown around and nobody 0:04:55.560 --> 0:04:59.120 knows where it's going. Well, I mean, let's talk about 0:04:59.120 --> 0:05:01.560 the homelessness Christis as an example of that, right, I mean, 0:05:01.640 --> 0:05:05.080 we're spending tens of billions of dollars a year trying 0:05:05.080 --> 0:05:07.359 to address this problem at the state level, at local 0:05:07.440 --> 0:05:10.960 levels l A. San Francisco, I think the problem is 0:05:11.000 --> 0:05:13.200 getting worse. I don't think it's getting better. I think 0:05:13.200 --> 0:05:15.560 the pandemic accentuated a lot of challenges that we have. 0:05:16.080 --> 0:05:18.360 On that account, it'd be very nice to hear how 0:05:18.440 --> 0:05:20.680 much we're paying for the tents that are going up 0:05:20.680 --> 0:05:22.599 in some of these can be very nice to hear, 0:05:23.080 --> 0:05:25.760 you know, how much we're spending on mental health services 0:05:25.800 --> 0:05:27.960 of anything at all. So part of this is about 0:05:28.000 --> 0:05:30.960 helping people understand priorities and helping people understand where their 0:05:31.000 --> 0:05:32.880 money is going. Yeah, I got the perfect good example 0:05:32.920 --> 0:05:35.680 out of the news of the day in that yesterday, 0:05:35.680 --> 0:05:38.360 Gavin Newsome, governor of California announced, I think it was 0:05:38.400 --> 0:05:41.880 one point one billion dollars to clean up our roadways, graffiti, trash, 0:05:41.880 --> 0:05:43.920 all that sort of stuff. He said, the state is dirty. 0:05:44.000 --> 0:05:46.240 I'm glad he finally noticed, because the state is very dirty. 0:05:46.520 --> 0:05:48.640 But but but when I read that on the air, 0:05:48.720 --> 0:05:52.040 I said, um, I love the idea of cleaning up 0:05:52.040 --> 0:05:54.640 all this garbage, but I have no belief that that 0:05:54.720 --> 0:05:56.760 one point one billion dollars, at the end of it 0:05:56.800 --> 0:05:59.280 being spent, will actually have cleaned up the roads. And 0:05:59.360 --> 0:06:02.320 so it's like someone like you were the controller. You 0:06:02.320 --> 0:06:05.640 could make sure that that spent properly well right, and 0:06:05.960 --> 0:06:09.640 we could we could demonstrate with an audit exactly where 0:06:09.640 --> 0:06:12.520 that one point one billion dollars went. And then what 0:06:12.560 --> 0:06:14.800 we can do is we can do something called performance 0:06:14.839 --> 0:06:18.360 based budgeting. We can say, based on what you're spending, 0:06:18.720 --> 0:06:21.360 here is the outcome you've gotten. We can almost give 0:06:21.400 --> 0:06:23.039 it a letter grade. We can say, look, you spent 0:06:23.120 --> 0:06:25.159 one point one billion taking up the trash, and that 0:06:25.279 --> 0:06:28.440 got a D minus. Maybe in the future, Let's figure 0:06:28.440 --> 0:06:30.640 out either a smarter way to spend that one point 0:06:30.680 --> 0:06:32.960 one billion dollars, or maybe we don't spend that at all, 0:06:33.000 --> 0:06:34.800 we spend it on something else and we'll actually get 0:06:34.839 --> 0:06:37.960 the trash picked up. Right, So you're calling for accountability 0:06:38.000 --> 0:06:41.320 and government spending. What kind of radical are you? Yeah, 0:06:41.400 --> 0:06:43.720 well that this this is gonna be in trouble with that. 0:06:43.960 --> 0:06:46.640 This is a very extreme position I'm taking. I realize that. Yeah, 0:06:46.640 --> 0:06:48.480 well that gets us to the really the next question, 0:06:48.560 --> 0:06:52.200 I think the big obvious question. There are virtually no 0:06:52.640 --> 0:06:57.440 elected Republicans in the state of California anywhere. How do 0:06:57.520 --> 0:06:59.280 you think you're going to get people to vote for 0:06:59.480 --> 0:07:05.040 you as controller? Well, you know that the challenge is significant. 0:07:05.080 --> 0:07:08.120 So Republican hasn't been elected statewide in California since two 0:07:08.120 --> 0:07:11.160 thousand six. There hasn't been a Republican in the Controller's 0:07:11.200 --> 0:07:13.560 office since the nineteen seventies, so it's been it's been 0:07:13.640 --> 0:07:16.880 quite a long time. Um here's here's I think the 0:07:16.880 --> 0:07:20.440 way I approached this when I talked to Californians about 0:07:20.480 --> 0:07:22.920 the things I'd like to do as controller. Uh, some 0:07:22.960 --> 0:07:26.520 of the stuff we've talked about, accountability, transparency, figuring out 0:07:26.520 --> 0:07:28.880 how to be an independent voice on all sorts of 0:07:28.920 --> 0:07:32.680 different issues. I get a lot of agreement from Democrats, 0:07:32.720 --> 0:07:35.880 from Republicans, from independence, and if I'm gonna win this race, 0:07:36.000 --> 0:07:38.160 it's going to have to be with the support of 0:07:38.200 --> 0:07:41.880 people across the political spectrum. And you know, my approach 0:07:41.920 --> 0:07:44.760 is not particularly ideological. That may be disappointing to some. 0:07:45.280 --> 0:07:50.760 It's not particularly partisan. It is essentially technocratic. It's someone 0:07:50.800 --> 0:07:53.080 who wants to come in and solve problems. And I 0:07:53.120 --> 0:07:56.800 think that vision for this office at this time when 0:07:56.840 --> 0:07:59.920 Californians are very frustrated with what's going on. You know, 0:08:00.280 --> 0:08:03.680 whether you agree with the recall or not of Governor 0:08:03.720 --> 0:08:07.760 Gavin Newsom, surely everyone agrees that California can be doing better. 0:08:08.240 --> 0:08:09.840 And the point I'm trying to make is, you know, 0:08:09.880 --> 0:08:12.280 I grew up in California, I live in California now. 0:08:12.400 --> 0:08:14.240 I do love this state, but I think we can 0:08:14.280 --> 0:08:16.960 do better. And that's a message that people say, yeah, 0:08:17.040 --> 0:08:20.800 you know what, I agree with that. You know, partisan Democrats, 0:08:21.040 --> 0:08:23.080 people who are independents. We're going to have to get 0:08:23.160 --> 0:08:25.880 support across the political spectrum. And that's why, you know, 0:08:26.120 --> 0:08:29.520 this may be disappointing to some, But I intend to 0:08:29.680 --> 0:08:32.960 approach these issues and talk about these issues and be 0:08:33.120 --> 0:08:35.920 laser focused on what I can do as controller to 0:08:36.000 --> 0:08:38.720 help make them better. Is controller and actual word? Or 0:08:38.760 --> 0:08:40.720 was that just a misprint? Nobody had the guts to 0:08:40.960 --> 0:08:46.480 correct them. So that sounds great. What you just said 0:08:46.520 --> 0:08:51.040 sounds fantastic. I mean, and you know, we unfortunately are 0:08:51.080 --> 0:08:53.040 a lot of preaching to the choir people that would 0:08:53.040 --> 0:08:55.360 already agree with you, you being the controller. I wish 0:08:55.400 --> 0:08:58.280 we could reach more ears of Democrats because I think 0:08:58.280 --> 0:09:00.240 a lot of Democrats if they heard that, Okay, he's 0:09:00.240 --> 0:09:02.280 not going to be he's not trying to, you know, 0:09:02.360 --> 0:09:04.600 be Trump or anything like that. He's just trying to 0:09:04.600 --> 0:09:06.400 make sure the money's not misspend. I think you can 0:09:06.440 --> 0:09:08.120 get a lot of people to vote for you. Yeah. 0:09:08.120 --> 0:09:11.439 I can't wait to hear what various other entities try 0:09:11.520 --> 0:09:13.719 to pin on you. But you know, and we're not 0:09:13.720 --> 0:09:15.240 gonna tell you how to do your job because you're 0:09:15.240 --> 0:09:18.040 way smarter than us and substantially better looking. But you know, 0:09:18.120 --> 0:09:22.280 I think we have decent we have decent instincts at 0:09:22.320 --> 0:09:25.880 least um and and one way I've tried to pitch 0:09:26.320 --> 0:09:32.880 you know, fiscal conservatism or fiscal responsibilitarianism, that's your word, 0:09:33.040 --> 0:09:36.360 because conservative comes loaded with a bunch of stuff, right, 0:09:36.440 --> 0:09:39.719 it's like thinking about abortion or whatever. No responsibility is 0:09:39.720 --> 0:09:41.679 a good word. But as I've said to my friends 0:09:41.679 --> 0:09:45.319 on the left, if your cause is mental health care, 0:09:45.960 --> 0:09:49.600 let's make sure every dime that's being wasted in government 0:09:49.920 --> 0:09:52.640 be found, rooted out and poured into mental healthcare. If 0:09:52.679 --> 0:09:55.559 you're concerned about the homeless, let's make sure the dollars 0:09:55.600 --> 0:09:58.480 we spend actually help the homeless. If you want to 0:09:58.520 --> 0:10:05.800 help pregnant illegal alien mother trans mothers, there's plenty of money. 0:10:06.280 --> 0:10:09.720 Let's root out to waste and redundancy, and we can 0:10:09.760 --> 0:10:12.640 find money to do what you think is it needs 0:10:12.679 --> 0:10:15.160 to be done. I think a message like that lone 0:10:15.240 --> 0:10:20.200 he might actually really catch democrats. Heres. Yeah, you know, 0:10:20.679 --> 0:10:23.160 you guys raise some really good points, which is that 0:10:23.559 --> 0:10:27.400 there's all sorts of political caricature and going on. And 0:10:27.440 --> 0:10:29.440 one of the things that I know opponents are going 0:10:29.480 --> 0:10:31.320 to come after me with they say, oh, he wants 0:10:31.320 --> 0:10:33.760 to cut spending on all these important priorities. You know, 0:10:33.800 --> 0:10:38.439 here's my point. Let's spend smarter. Let's spend smarter as 0:10:38.440 --> 0:10:40.560 you say, we've got some big problems, and I think 0:10:40.559 --> 0:10:43.880 people agree. We've got to spend our tax dollars wisely 0:10:44.320 --> 0:10:47.560 to address these problems. Mental health care is something maybe 0:10:47.600 --> 0:10:49.880 we should be investing more in, Maybe we should be 0:10:49.880 --> 0:10:52.520 doing more there, but gosh, let's figure out how we're 0:10:52.559 --> 0:10:55.880 spending it now and if it's effective. If it's effective, 0:10:56.280 --> 0:10:58.720 let's go and double down on things that are effective. 0:10:58.800 --> 0:11:01.320 Let's go and potentially and more on things that are affective. 0:11:01.360 --> 0:11:04.040 But that also means, at the same time, we have 0:11:04.160 --> 0:11:06.360 to be willing to make tough choices about things that 0:11:06.440 --> 0:11:10.160 aren't working, even things that sound good, that sound like 0:11:10.200 --> 0:11:13.240 they should produce good results. If we're not spending smarter, 0:11:13.720 --> 0:11:16.120 if we're not thinking about these problems and how to 0:11:16.160 --> 0:11:18.880 address them with a data driven approach, we are just 0:11:19.040 --> 0:11:21.880 literally lighting the money on fire. You might as well 0:11:21.920 --> 0:11:24.600 go outside, make a big pile of money and light 0:11:24.640 --> 0:11:27.160 it on fire, because that is essentially what we're doing 0:11:27.200 --> 0:11:30.640 now in so many programs. I'm seeing a TV ad 0:11:30.640 --> 0:11:32.520 with Lon hey Chin and a big pile of money 0:11:32.559 --> 0:11:35.319 being lit on fire. That's what we're doing every day, folks. 0:11:35.960 --> 0:11:41.120 How about a big bear But but I but I 0:11:41.280 --> 0:11:45.439 you know, I mean, I just, I really it pains 0:11:45.520 --> 0:11:48.320 me to see what we're doing now in our state. 0:11:48.400 --> 0:11:51.400 It is it's just dumb. We're better than this. We 0:11:51.440 --> 0:11:53.920 can do better than this. You know, we can't just 0:11:54.080 --> 0:11:56.840 keep throwing money out the window at problems that aren't 0:11:56.840 --> 0:12:00.000 getting better. If the problems we're getting better, then we say, yeah, 0:12:00.240 --> 0:12:02.400 go spend the money, go make the problem better. But 0:12:02.520 --> 0:12:05.120 that's not what's happening now. So this, to me is 0:12:05.160 --> 0:12:08.120 just it's just a very basic thing. Guys. It's like 0:12:08.400 --> 0:12:12.160 blocking and tackling in football, the basics. Right in baseball, 0:12:12.200 --> 0:12:14.000 you want to get down low and steal the baseball. 0:12:14.160 --> 0:12:17.080 This is we're just stuff we're not doing and it's 0:12:17.120 --> 0:12:20.600 so frustrating to me. And that's why I decided to 0:12:20.640 --> 0:12:23.680 get into this race, because it's like, at some point 0:12:23.679 --> 0:12:26.040 you just gotta go do it right. And I can 0:12:26.040 --> 0:12:28.560 talk about fixing these problems and I can write about them, 0:12:28.640 --> 0:12:29.920 but if you really want to make them better, you 0:12:30.000 --> 0:12:32.320 just gotta be willing to get an arena. Well, that's 0:12:32.360 --> 0:12:35.400 beautifully said. And if you do win the office of 0:12:35.440 --> 0:12:37.680 Controller of the State of California, can you get me 0:12:37.720 --> 0:12:41.720 on one of those phony boards because it seems like 0:12:41.760 --> 0:12:45.680 a great gig. You meet a few times a year, right, 0:12:46.040 --> 0:12:49.000 get a big chat, usually the golf course. Um, you 0:12:49.040 --> 0:12:50.959 would be amazed at how many of these boards and 0:12:51.000 --> 0:12:53.160 commissions there are, and and and and some of them. 0:12:53.200 --> 0:12:55.200 I read them. I read the title like four or 0:12:55.200 --> 0:12:57.840 five times. I'm still not sure what they do. I 0:12:57.840 --> 0:13:01.640 don't care. Just get me on one. So you know, 0:13:01.760 --> 0:13:03.959 one thing I think that you've got on your side 0:13:03.960 --> 0:13:06.959 here running as a Republican is I've been pretty surprised 0:13:07.400 --> 0:13:14.320 at how the completely blue run legislature has spanked Gavin 0:13:14.400 --> 0:13:16.760 Newsom a couple of times, at least verbally. I mean, 0:13:16.800 --> 0:13:18.640 the Sacramento b has been covered this quite a bit. 0:13:18.800 --> 0:13:21.120 One over the whole masks thing. They were really mad 0:13:21.200 --> 0:13:23.640 at the way he handled that, spending a billion dollars 0:13:24.120 --> 0:13:26.599 without a bid and the masks were not good and 0:13:26.640 --> 0:13:30.440 all that sort of. And then recently he seems pretty 0:13:30.440 --> 0:13:36.600 clearly lied about how many acres of fire control we're 0:13:36.640 --> 0:13:39.480 taking care of, and then the Democrat led the legislatures 0:13:39.480 --> 0:13:41.200 banked him on that again, calling him out for it. 0:13:41.240 --> 0:13:44.000 So they might be actually looking for somebody that's gonna, 0:13:44.360 --> 0:13:48.199 you know, speak the truth. Yeah, you know, I think 0:13:48.240 --> 0:13:51.720 there's This is frustration again. I think people they just 0:13:51.760 --> 0:13:54.679 don't want to be told problems are being solved when 0:13:54.679 --> 0:13:57.559 they're not actually being solved. And it's like who you're 0:13:57.559 --> 0:14:00.440 gonna believe, like this guy's words or your own lying eyes. Right, 0:14:00.440 --> 0:14:03.320 It's kind of like as you look at the homelessness problem, 0:14:03.320 --> 0:14:07.480 as you look at how we have had increasingly severe wildfires, 0:14:07.600 --> 0:14:10.240 how we are in drought but can't seem to have 0:14:10.400 --> 0:14:13.240 the storage to ensure that we've got proper water supply. 0:14:13.760 --> 0:14:15.760 People look at all these challenges and they say, listen, 0:14:15.920 --> 0:14:19.200 something is not right, something is not done as it's 0:14:19.200 --> 0:14:22.320 supposed to be done. And you know, people understand. They 0:14:22.400 --> 0:14:24.720 send a check to the Franchise Tax Board for their 0:14:24.760 --> 0:14:27.960 income taxes, they pay property taxes. I mean they people 0:14:28.040 --> 0:14:31.480 get it right. They sort of understand intuitively, I'm spending 0:14:31.520 --> 0:14:33.760 all this money, what the heck am I getting for? 0:14:34.080 --> 0:14:37.119 You know? And uh, you keep mentioning the homeless situation, 0:14:37.160 --> 0:14:39.000 and that's probably a good thing to do because that 0:14:39.080 --> 0:14:41.560 might be the number one because that's one Bill Maher, 0:14:41.680 --> 0:14:44.720 you know Bill Maher, lefty one of the leading liberals 0:14:44.760 --> 0:14:47.680 in the country, certainly in California. He keeps talking about 0:14:47.680 --> 0:14:50.000 the where's all this money going? Why does it cost 0:14:50.000 --> 0:14:52.520 a hundred thousand dollars for a tent for one person 0:14:52.560 --> 0:14:54.160 to being there? He might have you on his show 0:14:54.520 --> 0:14:56.280 to talk about this sort of thing. He'd be the 0:14:56.320 --> 0:14:58.440 kind of guy that would agree, this is ridiculous. All 0:14:58.440 --> 0:15:00.280 the money we spend on almost sism, we're gett no 0:15:00.400 --> 0:15:04.280 bang for a book. Yeah. I've actually done his show 0:15:04.320 --> 0:15:07.080 in the past. It's it's very entertaining, but it does 0:15:07.280 --> 0:15:10.720 tell you where people's heads are at, which is and 0:15:10.920 --> 0:15:12.920 and by the way, folks on the left approach from 0:15:12.920 --> 0:15:16.120 the perspective of you know, we're not helping people. We're 0:15:16.320 --> 0:15:18.720 you know, we need to be helping people more, and 0:15:18.960 --> 0:15:21.000 you know that's a policy debate we need to have, 0:15:21.080 --> 0:15:23.720 but we're not having it the facts right now. This 0:15:23.840 --> 0:15:26.040 is something that bothers me about our politics generally, guys, 0:15:26.080 --> 0:15:28.440 and we talked about this a lot. It's like we 0:15:28.480 --> 0:15:32.120 hear all these arguments and nothing really seems to be 0:15:32.200 --> 0:15:34.880 grounded in any kind of reality of what's actually going on. 0:15:35.400 --> 0:15:37.040 My point is, if you want to have a debate 0:15:37.120 --> 0:15:39.440 about the best way to solve homelessness, I am all 0:15:39.520 --> 0:15:42.320 for us having that debate, but let's have some facts 0:15:42.320 --> 0:15:44.160 from the table, you know, let's just say, look, here's 0:15:44.160 --> 0:15:47.040 what we're spending it on. Here are the forty three programs? 0:15:47.040 --> 0:15:49.320 Are the forty three things? And I'm making that number up. 0:15:49.320 --> 0:15:50.640 I'd have to go in and see what the exact 0:15:50.720 --> 0:15:52.760 number is. But some number of programs that we're that 0:15:52.800 --> 0:15:56.760 we're working on to address this problem. How's that actually 0:15:56.760 --> 0:15:59.680 working for you? How's that working for us? And then 0:15:59.720 --> 0:16:01.479 we can have it. Then we can have a discussion. 0:16:01.800 --> 0:16:05.760 And if the one party led legislature decide they want 0:16:05.760 --> 0:16:08.760 to keep doubling down on things that aren't working, then 0:16:08.800 --> 0:16:10.920 at least the public will know. The public will know 0:16:11.000 --> 0:16:13.800 exactly they chose to spend another four billion dollars of 0:16:14.200 --> 0:16:17.480 your tax dollars on a program that controller graded a 0:16:17.560 --> 0:16:21.400 D minus. How does that well? Well? I think if 0:16:21.600 --> 0:16:24.720 those words and thoughts reach the ears of voters, you 0:16:24.720 --> 0:16:27.240 will do very very well. But that's the great challenge, 0:16:27.320 --> 0:16:30.160 especially in so called down ticket race, is just getting 0:16:30.200 --> 0:16:33.320 any attention whatsoever. Uh, you know, we we wish you 0:16:33.400 --> 0:16:37.440 well in that endeavor. I'm I have despaired for the 0:16:37.520 --> 0:16:40.240 elector to California. Just don't think people are paying attention 0:16:40.360 --> 0:16:43.000 or digging into facts. All they know is, for instance, 0:16:43.040 --> 0:16:46.320 they hated Donald Trump, therefore they vote for days And 0:16:46.480 --> 0:16:48.080 it's as simple as that. But I hope I'm wrong. 0:16:49.440 --> 0:16:52.360 Well that's something I'm encouraging voters. You know. I think 0:16:52.440 --> 0:16:55.240 there's a tendency as as as this campaign has started, 0:16:55.240 --> 0:16:57.640 and I've done a number of interviews about it. You know, 0:16:57.640 --> 0:17:00.520 people want to put you into a box. The the 0:17:01.440 --> 0:17:03.240 the media and others. They want to put you into 0:17:03.280 --> 0:17:05.880 a box. Right. Are you a never Trumper? Are you 0:17:06.359 --> 0:17:11.439 uh maga type? Are you uh you know, conservative Republican? 0:17:11.480 --> 0:17:14.160 Are you progressive? Liberal? And you know what I say 0:17:14.200 --> 0:17:16.720 to people is I don't I don't want to be 0:17:16.760 --> 0:17:19.360 defined by someone else. I don't want to be defined 0:17:19.440 --> 0:17:23.000 by some you know, ideology. I'm going to be defined 0:17:23.040 --> 0:17:25.480 by my ideas, by the things I want to do. 0:17:25.680 --> 0:17:28.720 And if you find that answer insufficient, I'm sorry. But 0:17:29.160 --> 0:17:31.919 this campaign is about ideas, and it's about ideas for 0:17:31.960 --> 0:17:34.520 the future of California. And if you want to have 0:17:34.560 --> 0:17:36.840 a debate about my ideas, I will sit here and 0:17:36.880 --> 0:17:39.000 debate you all day long. We can have a day 0:17:39.000 --> 0:17:41.879 long conversation about it. I will answer every question you 0:17:41.920 --> 0:17:45.480 have about my ideas. But fundamentally, the problem we have 0:17:45.520 --> 0:17:49.400 in our politics is there's too many people chasing shiny objects. 0:17:49.640 --> 0:17:52.800 The media is partially responsible for this. The the explosion 0:17:52.840 --> 0:17:54.600 and social media and how we get our news as 0:17:54.640 --> 0:17:57.720 part of this as well. But but fundamentally my goal 0:17:57.840 --> 0:18:00.040 is let's have a conversation about what I can to 0:18:00.119 --> 0:18:02.840 a controller to make California better. If you disagree with 0:18:02.880 --> 0:18:05.639 some of those ideas, totally fine. I'm happy to have 0:18:05.680 --> 0:18:08.240 that conversation. But it is going to be hard to 0:18:08.240 --> 0:18:11.200 reach everybody, which is why it's important that I talked 0:18:11.200 --> 0:18:14.359 to folks like you, guys that have audiences and influence, 0:18:14.640 --> 0:18:16.240 and I do this all up and down the state, 0:18:16.240 --> 0:18:17.800 and that's why I intend to do I'm putting a 0:18:17.800 --> 0:18:19.960 bumper sticker on my car. Put an Asian in charge 0:18:19.960 --> 0:18:23.440 of math vote lanha Chen, come controller. I don't appreciate 0:18:23.480 --> 0:18:27.200 the stereotype, Lana. He I'm thinking California Board of Barbering 0:18:27.240 --> 0:18:30.400 and Cosmetology be a good place. There you go, I've 0:18:30.400 --> 0:18:35.840 gotten the haircuts my whole life, your whole life. Yeah, 0:18:35.880 --> 0:18:39.239 but it's the thing your your that that expertise may 0:18:39.280 --> 0:18:42.240 actually be more relevant than the expertise of some of 0:18:42.280 --> 0:18:44.480 the people that end up on these boards. I mean, 0:18:44.480 --> 0:18:47.119 it's it's anyway we can we can talk about boarding 0:18:47.119 --> 0:18:50.760 commisions another time, but there's there's a there's over seventy 0:18:50.840 --> 0:18:53.520 of them. The controller sits on, believe it or not, 0:18:53.640 --> 0:18:57.840 the controller sits on the California Coastal Commission in even 0:18:57.920 --> 0:19:02.480 numbered years. And that's a weird make sense, but it's like, 0:19:02.600 --> 0:19:04.440 it's like what happens in the odd number of years. 0:19:04.480 --> 0:19:05.960 It's like, in the odd number of years, there's no 0:19:06.040 --> 0:19:08.199 decisions that need to be made when the controllers involved 0:19:08.240 --> 0:19:09.880 in the even number of years, they've got to be there. 0:19:09.920 --> 0:19:13.560 It's like, who came up with our friends John and 0:19:13.640 --> 0:19:16.320 Ken in Los Angeles. You're probably on their show too, 0:19:16.320 --> 0:19:18.600 but they they've been doing this for years, looking at 0:19:18.600 --> 0:19:20.360 the boards and how often they meet and what they 0:19:20.359 --> 0:19:24.640 get paid and everything. I mean, well, Lon he good luck, 0:19:24.680 --> 0:19:27.879 go get them. Huh Hey, thanks guys. I appreciate the 0:19:28.600 --> 0:19:30.920 time on the show and the opportunity to talk about 0:19:30.960 --> 0:19:32.960 the campaign and these issues. So thank you very much. 0:19:33.800 --> 0:19:37.880 Thank you got it. I'll tell you what, um, we 0:19:37.960 --> 0:19:39.639 have had a lot of people on running for a 0:19:39.640 --> 0:19:43.080 lot of different offices. I don't think I've ever wanted 0:19:43.200 --> 0:19:46.840 somebody to win and believed in the more than this one. 0:19:47.920 --> 0:19:50.679 I think he could save to a large extent, the 0:19:50.680 --> 0:19:53.679 state of California. And I honestly think that the challenge 0:19:53.680 --> 0:19:55.760 is going to be what you said, getting getting his 0:19:55.920 --> 0:19:58.560 thoughts and face and name in front of enough people, 0:19:59.000 --> 0:20:02.680 enough Democrats. But I honestly think if he could get 0:20:02.760 --> 0:20:06.280 the attention of every voter in California, have him listening 0:20:06.320 --> 0:20:08.480 lo he from, they'd say, Yeah, I don't care if 0:20:08.480 --> 0:20:10.639 there's an R next to his name. We need somebody 0:20:10.640 --> 0:20:13.879 who's just gonna look at this stuff and figuring out, Okay, 0:20:13.920 --> 0:20:18.160 if we if we approve eighteen quintrillion dollars to fight 0:20:18.160 --> 0:20:22.120 homelessness in Los Angeles, where's the damn money go? Because 0:20:22.280 --> 0:20:24.400