Ep. 277: Political Corruption Rampant in California

[00:00:06] [SPEAKER_04]: If you're a California conservative, a libertarian, a moderate Democrat, believe in common sense

[00:00:11] [SPEAKER_04]: or just the sane person, this is the political podcast for you. It's the California Underground

[00:00:17] [SPEAKER_04]: Podcast.

[00:00:27] [SPEAKER_00]: What's going on everybody? Thanks for tuning in to another episode of the California Underground

[00:00:31] [SPEAKER_00]: Podcast. I am your host Phil as always with me is my trusty co-host, the best, the

[00:00:35] [SPEAKER_00]: fastest researcher in the West Camille who was doing some pretty good research before

[00:00:39] [SPEAKER_00]: the show because tonight's show is all about political corruption. Now we couldn't cover

[00:00:46] [SPEAKER_00]: all the political corruption in California. That would take us many, many shows. Yeah,

[00:00:51] [SPEAKER_00]: it would not fit within one hour if we wanted to do all the political corruption. But before

[00:00:57] [SPEAKER_00]: we start, how are you doing tonight Camille?

[00:00:59] [SPEAKER_10]: Well, you know, I'm alive. I'm here.

[00:01:02] [SPEAKER_00]: Well, that's always a good start. We're competing with the vice presidential debate

[00:01:09] [SPEAKER_00]: right now. I don't know how many people are tuned into it right now. But if you're tuned

[00:01:14] [SPEAKER_00]: into us, we appreciate you. Thank you for showing up and watching us talk about political

[00:01:20] [SPEAKER_00]: corruption in California. So I don't know if it's super consequential in terms of

[00:01:26] [SPEAKER_00]: how much people will vote for one person over the other. Is this the last debate

[00:01:31] [SPEAKER_00]: that we're going to see? I don't, I think so. I don't think Trump wants to

[00:01:35] [SPEAKER_00]: debate Kamala anymore. So this might be it. Get your debate licks in now.

[00:01:39] [SPEAKER_10]: I can't watch the highlights later. Like, I suppose if I weren't here, I would be watching it. But

[00:01:44] [SPEAKER_10]: I don't know that I care. The debates have been boring recently.

[00:01:51] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, they're just, you know, people tune in like political nerds tune in like us or

[00:01:56] [SPEAKER_00]: political nerds will watch I'll watch it later. But in terms of

[00:02:02] [SPEAKER_00]: like the move the needle. I don't think so. I think people aren't going to vote for someone.

[00:02:08] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know. I don't know anybody who's like, I'm going to vote for that presidential candidate

[00:02:11] [SPEAKER_00]: because of their VP like their VP is so fantastic. I have to vote for this person. So

[00:02:19] [SPEAKER_10]: I don't know. I think the minds are made up already.

[00:02:22] [SPEAKER_10]: Yeah, like, I don't know anyone who's like, I don't know who I'm going to vote for.

[00:02:27] [SPEAKER_00]: Yeah. I think most people know. I mean, at this point it's October. You got almost a month until

[00:02:33] [SPEAKER_00]: election. You know, we have the workers at the ports going on strike which should cripple the economy.

[00:02:42] [SPEAKER_00]: We have a World War Three popping off with Iran and Israel and

[00:02:47] [SPEAKER_00]: most of the southeast is devastated by Hurricane Helena. So things are going great here in the

[00:02:53] [SPEAKER_00]: United States. Yeah. Yeah. And that's only been like three days. It hasn't even been a full week yet.

[00:03:00] [SPEAKER_00]: So great things happening here in the United States. I'm sure our sitting president is all over it.

[00:03:06] [SPEAKER_10]: Anyway, we have a president like I seriously haven't seen him. You would think you'd hear like

[00:03:14] [SPEAKER_00]: well, you know, he's checked out but you would think you would hear something

[00:03:19] [SPEAKER_00]: from the president United States about like what's going on with Iran and Israel because Israel is

[00:03:23] [SPEAKER_00]: one of our biggest allies. And Iran has been threatening Israel for so many years and now

[00:03:29] [SPEAKER_00]: they finally did it. You'd think you'd hear something from the actual president United States,

[00:03:35] [SPEAKER_00]: not Kamala who's running for president United States. But you know, I don't want to get too

[00:03:41] [SPEAKER_00]: far off track with the presidential stuff but I was thinking this morning how like if you

[00:03:45] [SPEAKER_00]: were on team Kamala, right? Optics are everything. And you have a great opportunity now because you

[00:03:54] [SPEAKER_00]: are legitimately the vice president like your second in command in the White House to look very

[00:04:00] [SPEAKER_00]: presidential by handling a lot of these things and being like look I'm handling this Iran-Israel

[00:04:06] [SPEAKER_00]: thing. I'm handling the hurricane thing. Like I'm going to step in with the port thing.

[00:04:12] [SPEAKER_00]: Even though I think the Teamsters Union told Biden to like stay the f out of it. But anyway,

[00:04:17] [SPEAKER_00]: there's like an opportunity and optics matter like if you want to look presidential,

[00:04:23] [SPEAKER_00]: you could do this stuff and make it look presidential and people be like oh she looks

[00:04:29] [SPEAKER_00]: like she knows what she's doing but not for me to give free advice to go ahead.

[00:04:34] [SPEAKER_10]: But all the flip side of that, I do know people who are voting for her

[00:04:40] [SPEAKER_10]: and some of them are voting just because they're Democrats but I know people who

[00:04:44] [SPEAKER_10]: were former Republicans even lifelong Republicans and they're voting for her

[00:04:48] [SPEAKER_10]: because she's not Trump. So it doesn't matter if she looks presidential or not,

[00:04:52] [SPEAKER_00]: she's not Trump. That's all that matters. Yeah, that's all it comes down to a lot

[00:05:02] [SPEAKER_00]: quote from Mrs. Underground's now super ultra viral tweet. Explain why you're voting for Kamala

[00:05:12] [SPEAKER_00]: without mentioning woman, minority or Trump and like most Kamala people I don't think can answer

[00:05:18] [SPEAKER_00]: why they're voting for Kamala outside of those reasons. Didn't add abortion though. Abortions

[00:05:24] [SPEAKER_00]: I think the other thing that a lot of people mentioned because that's the big deciding

[00:05:28] [SPEAKER_00]: factor. Anyway, I saw it okay one more thing before we get into the topic of today's show and I know

[00:05:35] [SPEAKER_00]: the people who hate when we talk and we jibber jabber. I was watching I don't know if you've seen

[00:05:40] [SPEAKER_00]: a lot of the Matt Gunderson he's running for Congress he did run for assembly Matt Gunderson.

[00:05:47] [SPEAKER_00]: This may be an interesting episode before the election like how to determine campaign ads

[00:05:54] [SPEAKER_00]: are lying to you because Matt Gunderson had an ad and he's really pushing that he's a pro-choice

[00:06:05] [SPEAKER_00]: Republican which you know in California more power to him probably works to kind of take that

[00:06:10] [SPEAKER_00]: that card away from somebody and say like I'm pro-choice and I want to lower taxes and inflation

[00:06:16] [SPEAKER_00]: because one of his ads was not conservative. Yeah, he's just like fiscal I want to

[00:06:22] [SPEAKER_00]: you know make things more affordable. One of his ads was basically I'm better on inflation and taxes

[00:06:29] [SPEAKER_00]: and we're both pro-choice so if you put us next to each other then take the pro-choice thing out

[00:06:34] [SPEAKER_00]: of it. It may work I don't know maybe it's a model for how to win in California but there

[00:06:40] [SPEAKER_00]: were some things he said like he was going to as a congressman stop the gas tax or repeal

[00:06:48] [SPEAKER_00]: the gas tax here in California. Okay. What was the other thing he said repeal the gas tax.

[00:06:56] [SPEAKER_00]: Gosh there was something else that he said I gotta think about now but it might be a good

[00:07:00] [SPEAKER_00]: topic to kind of break down campaign ads and be like congressmen have nothing to do with

[00:07:06] [SPEAKER_00]: the California State gas tax so anybody who tells you that is full of crap. So anyway

[00:07:14] [SPEAKER_00]: that's not the point of today's episode. Point of today's episode is there's been a lot of stuff brewing

[00:07:21] [SPEAKER_00]: about political corruption in California. I know shocker that a one-party state with nobody

[00:07:28] [SPEAKER_00]: with no oversight because everyone's on the same side can get away with so much political corruption

[00:07:33] [SPEAKER_00]: but thankfully to Ashley Zavala at KCRA she has uncovered this huge story which is one

[00:07:40] [SPEAKER_00]: story we're going to discuss tonight on top of several other stories and we're finally going

[00:07:45] [SPEAKER_00]: to get to that story about Newsome and his whale watching tour in Mexico it's we're going to cover

[00:07:51] [SPEAKER_00]: everything tonight. It's going to be a lot so there's this video talking about the capital

[00:07:56] [SPEAKER_00]: annex if you don't know they're they're building an annex onto the capital building

[00:08:01] [SPEAKER_00]: Sacramento and shocker they're spending a ton of money on it so with that said

[00:08:08] [SPEAKER_00]: uh we're going to watch this and if you want me to pause any point let me know and we'll discuss

[00:08:13] [SPEAKER_00]: so this is KCRA reporting on the capital annex and how much money they are spending on it so

[00:08:51] [SPEAKER_07]: the capital annex has been going on for years now but public updates they've been hard to come

[00:08:55] [SPEAKER_01]: by thanks for being with us I'm gulsten dark and I'm Edie Lambert KCRA 3's Ashley Zavala

[00:09:00] [SPEAKER_01]: joins us with her latest efforts to find out how your tax dollars are being spent

[00:09:04] [SPEAKER_08]: Edie and gulsten this is a story you will only see here on kcra 3 and we spent three months

[00:09:10] [SPEAKER_08]: digging into this issue we've learned thousands of people have signed non-disclosure agreements to

[00:09:16] [SPEAKER_08]: keep the details of that project secret the annex will eventually serve as a new office building

[00:09:22] [SPEAKER_08]: for state lawmakers the governor and the lieutenant governor experts we talk to say the

[00:09:27] [SPEAKER_08]: public deserves to know how their money is being spent

[00:09:35] [SPEAKER_08]: gosh what is going on over here now again it's the question those walking by the state capital

[00:09:40] [SPEAKER_06]: have been wondering for years very mysterious yeah it's I mean it's an eight-foot barrier I

[00:09:45] [SPEAKER_08]: can't even see what's in there and that's because they're not meant to see or really know

[00:09:50] [SPEAKER_08]: anything about what will someday be a new office building for lawmakers and the governor

[00:09:54] [SPEAKER_08]: through a series of open records requests kcra 3 found the state legislature's joint rules committee

[00:10:00] [SPEAKER_08]: required many of those involved in the project to sign non-disclosure agreements to keep information

[00:10:06] [SPEAKER_08]: under lock and key over the past six years everyone who has signed the nda has been ordered to

[00:10:12] [SPEAKER_08]: maintain strict confidence any documents diagrams information and data in connection to the

[00:10:17] [SPEAKER_03]: otherwise they could face legal action every consultant every employee working on the project

[00:10:25] [SPEAKER_03]: was required to sign this non-disclosure agreement dick gowan is the former chairman of the historic

[00:10:30] [SPEAKER_08]: state capital commission he resigned and joined a group that sued the state over the project

[00:10:34] [SPEAKER_08]: partly because access to information about it is nearly impossible is it normal to have a

[00:10:40] [SPEAKER_08]: non-disclosure agreement so broadly blanketing a project like this absolutely not normal

[00:10:46] [SPEAKER_03]: the project would be planned designed and constructed with no sharing of information to the

[00:10:53] [SPEAKER_03]: public in the dark in the dark is a good way to say it thousands of people have promised to keep it

[00:10:59] [SPEAKER_08]: in the dark according to the list provided to kcra 3 in a legislative records request

[00:11:04] [SPEAKER_08]: among the 2093 people who signed the nda's five state lawmakers two people in the governor's

[00:11:11] [SPEAKER_08]: office and 89 other state employees three of those lawmakers are still in office including the

[00:11:17] [SPEAKER_08]: leaders of the joint rules committee overseeing the project secretary please call the rule

[00:11:21] [SPEAKER_08]: democratic assembly member blanca pacheco and state senator john layered in a statement to kcr

[00:11:27] [SPEAKER_08]: a3 pacheco said in part while i believe transparency is critical to maintaining public trust and

[00:11:33] [SPEAKER_08]: did not sign this agreement lightly it was necessary in this instance to protect sensitive

[00:11:38] [SPEAKER_13]: information related to the project security why is there an nda that has basically blanketed

[00:11:45] [SPEAKER_08]: this whole project long time capital observer and mc george school of law professor chris

[00:11:50] [SPEAKER_08]: mckaylee said if lawmakers wanted to protect security and other sensitive information they

[00:11:56] [SPEAKER_00]: could have specifically spelled that out in the agreement but they did not this so that's the

[00:12:08] [SPEAKER_00]: you could you could draft an nda that is specific to security like this uh professor from george

[00:12:15] [SPEAKER_00]: is saying and you could say like any sensitive information related to the security of the

[00:12:20] [SPEAKER_00]: building any information that would harm the security you know so people don't figure out like

[00:12:26] [SPEAKER_00]: how they're building the building maybe has to do with security um but to just blanket it and

[00:12:32] [SPEAKER_00]: say well we're not going to tell you anything because of security reasons but does that include

[00:12:38] [SPEAKER_00]: how much you're spending on it uh what the project was originally supposed to cost where you

[00:12:46] [SPEAKER_00]: bind the materials from like that's the stuff that that doesn't really have anything to do with

[00:12:50] [SPEAKER_00]: security like shouldn't the public have a right to know about what how much is spending right

[00:12:58] [SPEAKER_10]: i absolutely i understand security that there's certain things that is the capital building

[00:13:03] [SPEAKER_10]: offices and we want to protect the people working there we want to protect information maybe you

[00:13:11] [SPEAKER_10]: know california u.s whatever i i totally understand that part but absolutely this is being done

[00:13:19] [SPEAKER_10]: with taxpayer dollars we should have transparency in every single cent on this like even if it's you

[00:13:28] [SPEAKER_10]: know x amount of dollars in drywall x amount of dollars in consultants architects whatever like

[00:13:36] [SPEAKER_10]: we should we should know we should have a list and as it changes whatever like we should always

[00:13:42] [SPEAKER_10]: and which is funny because that's i know something that's part of the cala public and platform

[00:13:46] [SPEAKER_10]: that you made years ago where there should be like a website that we can open up at any time

[00:13:51] [SPEAKER_10]: and be tracking california spending any of our tax dollars and this included we were funding this

[00:13:58] [SPEAKER_13]: we should absolutely get to know what's going on it's broad sweeping non-disclosure doesn't

[00:14:05] [SPEAKER_12]: really make much sense to me at this stage we're not talking national security we're not

[00:14:10] [SPEAKER_12]: talking nuclear codes we're not talking you know orders to troops in wartime david loy is the

[00:14:16] [SPEAKER_08]: legal director for the first amendment coalition this is public money on a public building this

[00:14:21] [SPEAKER_12]: is exactly the kind of thing the public has a right to know i don't remember signing it but nothing

[00:14:25] [SPEAKER_08]: seems odd to me former state senator bob herzberg among the list of those who signed the nda where

[00:14:31] [SPEAKER_02]: does this come from i guarantee you this was not driven by political people or staff people

[00:14:37] [SPEAKER_02]: it's driven by the lawyers who want to make sure that everything all the t's were crossed

[00:14:41] [SPEAKER_02]: the eyes are dotted and that the legislature was appropriately protected well do you have any

[00:14:45] [SPEAKER_03]: sense of who wanted them my sense is that mr. cooly the former chairman of the joint rules committee

[00:14:51] [SPEAKER_08]: wanted them mr. cooly also known as former assemblyman ken cooly led and was the face of the project

[00:14:58] [SPEAKER_08]: from 2017 until 2022 he also signed the nda under his watch and with the nda's in place

[00:15:05] [SPEAKER_08]: the estimated price tag for the project ballooned from 440 million to 1.2 billion dollars you have

[00:15:15] [SPEAKER_08]: california state assemblymember ken over the last few weeks i repeatedly tried calling him

[00:15:21] [SPEAKER_08]: emailing him we even went to his house to get answers is ken cooly here cooly last month spotted

[00:15:28] [SPEAKER_08]: beyond the project gates where lawmakers signed one of the first beams that will be part of the

[00:15:32] [SPEAKER_05]: new building he certainly has a strong passion for this project sacramento county assemblyman

[00:15:37] [SPEAKER_05]: josh huver who voters elected over cooly was there he was there to answer questions he was

[00:15:45] [SPEAKER_05]: conversations with different members that day talking about different aspects of the project

[00:15:49] [SPEAKER_08]: what it's going to look like it's not clear what cooly's role is now in the project whether it's him

[00:15:55] [SPEAKER_05]: or whether it's dgs or whether it's the legislature uh that we get to the bottom of these questions

[00:16:01] [SPEAKER_08]: and actually get some answers and we've been trying last week we told you project leaders

[00:16:06] [SPEAKER_08]: refused to prove the millions they secretly spent on italian stonework was the cheapest way to go

[00:16:12] [SPEAKER_08]: this week we approached california department of justice attorneys who have been defending the

[00:16:16] [SPEAKER_08]: legislature and the project in court they did not want to talk so you can't talk to us at all

[00:16:21] [SPEAKER_08]: about this project even though not not the two of us thank you you're a busy because you signed

[00:16:26] [SPEAKER_08]: nondisclosure agreements you're reading way too much into it we are counsel of record you can speak

[00:16:32] [SPEAKER_08]: with the jrc meanwhile those walking around the capital disturbed by the nda's i believe that

[00:16:38] [SPEAKER_12]: nondisclosure agreements um lead to shady dealings i think that the public should be aware i think

[00:16:43] [SPEAKER_06]: that's completely inappropriate for a public institution especially as at state capitol on

[00:16:48] [SPEAKER_06]: public grounds to have not full transparency of what's going on absolutely wrong we reached out

[00:16:57] [SPEAKER_08]: to former governor jerry brown who was the governor when the nda's were established a spokesman

[00:17:03] [SPEAKER_08]: for him told us he had no recollection and was not aware of any direct involvement in this

[00:17:07] [SPEAKER_08]: we also reached out to governor newson's office for just reaction to the story

[00:17:11] [SPEAKER_00]: and they referred us to the joint rules committee would all right so that's the video um it was an

[00:17:19] [SPEAKER_00]: interesting article i mean there's more in the article that i read about it regarding

[00:17:25] [SPEAKER_00]: i think i was caught off because it's something about the italian marvel that they had to go get

[00:17:31] [SPEAKER_00]: it um so they what they did was they took they like bought italian marvel or they and then they

[00:17:40] [SPEAKER_00]: shipped it to italy to refurbish and then italy shipped it back it was like and they had to

[00:17:49] [SPEAKER_00]: do this for like a ton of granite and marble that's going into the building even though

[00:17:54] [SPEAKER_00]: there was they have someone in the article who said we're like we're a foundry here in

[00:17:59] [SPEAKER_00]: california you can buy granite and marble from us here in california we have it and you can buy

[00:18:04] [SPEAKER_00]: it from us and build your capital with california granite and they said no it's actually it's it's

[00:18:10] [SPEAKER_00]: cheaper um to go to italy because the regulations and the taxes and the fees and everything like

[00:18:17] [SPEAKER_00]: make it more expensive to get the granite done here than it is to ship it all the way to italy

[00:18:24] [SPEAKER_00]: which to me is an outstanding admission by anybody in sacramento that it is cheaper to send

[00:18:32] [SPEAKER_00]: stone from california to italy because there's so much taxes and regulations and fees

[00:18:39] [SPEAKER_00]: here in california that that's just mind boggling but that's just an example of like the kind of

[00:18:44] [SPEAKER_00]: waste i mean you heard from the video they ballooned it from 400 million dollars was the

[00:18:50] [SPEAKER_00]: original estimate is now 1.2 billion dollars which is way more than you know doubling it

[00:18:56] [SPEAKER_00]: and nobody can talk about it no one can talk about it everyone signed to an nda where's the money

[00:19:03] [SPEAKER_00]: going who's the contractor's like it's this is stuff that like should get people really riled up

[00:19:09] [SPEAKER_00]: in california when it comes to they're signing these nda's they're not going to tell you

[00:19:14] [SPEAKER_00]: where the tax dollars are going but they'll they'll be more than happy to spend more than double

[00:19:19] [SPEAKER_00]: of your tax dollars on this capital annex so what are your thoughts this is for the gas tax is going

[00:19:29] [SPEAKER_00]: yeah the gas tax is going to build a nicer capital for all those legislators i think

[00:19:34] [SPEAKER_10]: well i mean they keep raising our taxes and not fixing our roads and so this this makes sense

[00:19:40] [SPEAKER_10]: my voice is all just scratching um this is ridiculous there should be nothing

[00:19:49] [SPEAKER_10]: nothing that's using our tax dollars should require an nda i mean like someone said in the video

[00:19:57] [SPEAKER_10]: we're not talking about like codes at national security no no we're not talking about like

[00:20:05] [SPEAKER_00]: you know you could narrowly draft an nda to protect what you're saying you need to protect

[00:20:13] [SPEAKER_00]: but to broadly say you can't talk about anything related to it does raise a lot of suspicion like

[00:20:18] [SPEAKER_00]: that one resident said it it does lead to well if we're doing these nda's and you know sorry we

[00:20:25] [SPEAKER_00]: can't talk about it uh we won't tell you what's going on behind the scenes and how much we're

[00:20:30] [SPEAKER_00]: dealing and pain and like all this stuff look i want an all this gig because i want to be sent to

[00:20:36] [SPEAKER_10]: a foreign country to choose stone or textiles or something and like yay for me for getting a trip

[00:20:42] [SPEAKER_10]: to italy or wherever i would absolutely appreciate that to help design this building yeah and it's

[00:20:50] [SPEAKER_00]: obviously still not done um it's still taking a lot longer than shocker so is that like the

[00:20:57] [SPEAKER_10]: this is off topic but the cal access site that you know they've been promising for years and years

[00:21:04] [SPEAKER_10]: is supposed to be redone that's something that should probably take less than a year and somehow

[00:21:09] [SPEAKER_10]: that one's ballooning and the cost and the time that it's taking to do when they keep extending

[00:21:15] [SPEAKER_10]: the like you know it was supposed to be done years ago and now it's not looking like it's going

[00:21:20] [SPEAKER_10]: to be done for another five years and what i'm referring to is you know we often talk about

[00:21:24] [SPEAKER_10]: the financials of of our candidates of our politicians and stuff and that's you would you

[00:21:31] [SPEAKER_10]: would look that up on cal access it's not the most user friendly site and they've been redoing it for

[00:21:36] [SPEAKER_10]: years to website there's a lot of data but it shouldn't take that long and i'd love to know who's

[00:21:43] [SPEAKER_00]: got it i love to get the idea of who the who the contract is going to to rebuild this site

[00:21:48] [SPEAKER_10]: because i'm sure they're making a ton of money right i was like my my husband does stuff like

[00:21:54] [SPEAKER_10]: that and i'm like they could hired you paid you 100k and you would have to do less than a year

[00:21:58] [SPEAKER_10]: like i know he would have to do less than a year i see the kind of data he deals with

[00:22:02] [SPEAKER_10]: and it's crazy and it's probably more than what cal access has and he does it in a few months

[00:22:08] [SPEAKER_10]: so this is i'm just looking at this like this is unacceptable because again we're paying for this

[00:22:14] [SPEAKER_10]: and the longer it drags out the more we're paying and it's just also showing you how the

[00:22:19] [SPEAKER_10]: government is there actually all that capable of getting stuff done no speaking of behind closed

[00:22:29] [SPEAKER_00]: doors this is an article from sfgate this is california legislatures unwritten rule negotiate

[00:22:37] [SPEAKER_00]: in secret with lobbyists not in public so going along with this theme of nda's and doing things

[00:22:43] [SPEAKER_00]: behind closed doors is from the article says state senator david min who was arrested for drunk driving

[00:22:51] [SPEAKER_00]: a fellow legislator recently for talking about his bill during an open hearing saying lawmakers

[00:22:57] [SPEAKER_00]: were forbidden from negotiating amendments to legislation in public view quote we have a policy

[00:23:03] [SPEAKER_00]: in the senate we don't negotiate amendments from the dais min told his democrat colleague assembly

[00:23:08] [SPEAKER_00]: member david alvarez this summer quote we are happy to continue discussing this offline but i just

[00:23:14] [SPEAKER_00]: don't think it's appropriate nor is it in the interest of our time to be negotiating discussing

[00:23:19] [SPEAKER_00]: particular provisions from the dais now what are you saying is david alvarez was talking about

[00:23:27] [SPEAKER_00]: amendments to a bill on the public so like in the capital where it is public so people can go in

[00:23:35] [SPEAKER_00]: and they can watch the legislature in action and david min goes no no no hold on hold on we're not

[00:23:40] [SPEAKER_00]: talking about amendments here we're going to talk about it offline not here on the public for

[00:23:46] [SPEAKER_00]: we're going to talk about it offline uh the article goes on to say the exchange between alvarez

[00:23:52] [SPEAKER_00]: and min highlights an unwritten rule in the capital one that points to a culture of backroom

[00:23:56] [SPEAKER_00]: dealing where secret negotiations between lobbyist capital staff and legislators are what really

[00:24:01] [SPEAKER_00]: decide the fate of laws who impacts will be felt by millions of californians uh leaving the process

[00:24:08] [SPEAKER_00]: almost entirely up to secret negotiations has critics calling the process a little more than a

[00:24:13] [SPEAKER_00]: rubber stamp for deals made behind closed doors as cow matters has reported an analysis of every

[00:24:19] [SPEAKER_00]: vote cast in the past five years shows that democrats who control the legislature vote no

[00:24:25] [SPEAKER_00]: on average less than one percent of the time suggesting the fates of most bills are decided

[00:24:29] [SPEAKER_00]: before votes are even cast assembly member bill assailate is an outspoken vote outspoken republican

[00:24:36] [SPEAKER_00]: from corona was even more critical uh it's very hard to figure out if there's corruption involved

[00:24:42] [SPEAKER_00]: when you don't know who the drafters are and how language gets in the bill which is an excellent

[00:24:47] [SPEAKER_00]: point amendments can only be added by an elected legislator but the amendments produced by

[00:24:52] [SPEAKER_00]: negotiations usually have no names attached and they're often presented to a bill author

[00:24:56] [SPEAKER_00]: as a take it or leave it ultimatum um going on do do do do do do this year alone california's

[00:25:06] [SPEAKER_00]: 120 lawmakers consider 2522 bills sending just under half of them to the governor before the 2023

[00:25:14] [SPEAKER_00]: 2024 session ended according to digital democracy database rules allow state senators to introduce

[00:25:21] [SPEAKER_00]: up to 40 bills per year or per two-year session and assembly members to introduce 50

[00:25:27] [SPEAKER_00]: mean lawmakers potentially could introduce five five thousand six hundred bills every two years so

[00:25:34] [SPEAKER_00]: something we've talked about is that i don't think they should be able to introduce 40 or 50

[00:25:41] [SPEAKER_00]: bills each year i think they should be like five five i think i was way more conservative i

[00:25:46] [SPEAKER_00]: said i think you should get like five bills per these per session like there should there's no reason

[00:25:53] [SPEAKER_00]: you need to be introducing 40 bills or 50 bills every session um clearly it's not doing anything

[00:26:01] [SPEAKER_00]: besides coming up the works in the legislature and you know we've we did an episode a couple

[00:26:07] [SPEAKER_00]: weeks back about the types of bills that have gotten passed and so many of them are just like

[00:26:12] [SPEAKER_00]: nanny state bills of like okay you can't use plastic bags grocery stores anymore and oh you

[00:26:18] [SPEAKER_00]: can't go do this anymore oh what was the one that scott weiner got passed which was vetoed thankfully

[00:26:26] [SPEAKER_00]: the speed yeah the speed governor he thought that like we should all have speed governor so that if

[00:26:31] [SPEAKER_00]: you go over a certain speed he wanted it so that your car would actually slow down if you

[00:26:42] [SPEAKER_00]: buy gavin nuesome so rare w by gavin nuesome sometimes he shocks you with what he vetoes

[00:26:49] [SPEAKER_00]: but again i think it's because he's running for president in 2028 um but yeah the the moral

[00:26:54] [SPEAKER_00]: of this story is that a lot of this stuff is done behind closed doors and we've talked about this

[00:27:00] [SPEAKER_00]: a lot in terms of how much lobbyists have control over what's going on in sacramento

[00:27:05] [SPEAKER_00]: and uh negotiating stuff behind closed doors and encouraging legislators not to talk about

[00:27:12] [SPEAKER_00]: amendments and bills on the floor again you know not to be hyperbolic uh but this stuff

[00:27:19] [SPEAKER_00]: should get people riled up like this the last story should get you riled up the fact that

[00:27:25] [SPEAKER_00]: legislators are absolutely fine with doing this all in secret and they don't want to talk about

[00:27:30] [SPEAKER_00]: these bills and these amendments on the floor um bill osaley if you follow him at all he is often cut

[00:27:38] [SPEAKER_00]: off by the speaker of the assembly for calling out amendments or talking about stuff he he's often

[00:27:46] [SPEAKER_00]: cut off his mics like cut off almost immediately all the time um because like this isn't proper to

[00:27:51] [SPEAKER_00]: car i mean i'm supposed to talk about this stuff and it's like he's just talking about bills

[00:27:54] [SPEAKER_00]: and what's going on which you would think your legislators should be allowed to talk about right

[00:28:00] [SPEAKER_10]: just but we're pederigate there was nDAs involved with that

[00:28:06] [SPEAKER_00]: weird so um quickly there's this little article from the orange county register which i thought

[00:28:12] [SPEAKER_00]: was really interesting talking about like how many bills they do pass and um i've advocated it for

[00:28:20] [SPEAKER_00]: it i think we really need to try it out here in california because it's gotten ridiculous

[00:28:26] [SPEAKER_00]: i don't need bills telling me i can't buy or bring get a plastic bag from the grocery store

[00:28:31] [SPEAKER_00]: or i'm going too fast in my car um so i have suggested in the past we need to bring back

[00:28:40] [SPEAKER_00]: a part-time legislature here in california i think they need to be limited on bills and

[00:28:45] [SPEAKER_00]: i think they need to be part-time i'm sorry yeah there's no reason for you to spend an entire

[00:28:51] [SPEAKER_00]: year drafting crazy nanny state bills that try and govern every single aspect of our lives and get

[00:28:59] [SPEAKER_00]: rubber stamped by the super majority um and i didn't know this but prior to 1966 we used to actually

[00:29:09] [SPEAKER_00]: have a part-time legislature in california did you know that i didn't and i didn't read this

[00:29:15] [SPEAKER_00]: article well you put it in the notes and i forgot to read it so i'm gonna it's a good thing i'm gonna

[00:29:22] [SPEAKER_00]: read it okay uh before the passage of prop 1a in 1966 california had a part-time legislature

[00:29:31] [SPEAKER_00]: according to the legislative analyst office the legislature met in a general session at which

[00:29:37] [SPEAKER_00]: all subjects could be considered in odd numbered years and in budget session at which only state

[00:29:44] [SPEAKER_00]: budget matters were considered in even numbered years most states sorry go ahead i do i just said

[00:29:51] [SPEAKER_00]: huh i i didn't know that it's interesting right yeah get in get take care of business and get out

[00:29:57] [SPEAKER_00]: no reason for you to be you know keeping the lights on and wasting air conditioning

[00:30:02] [SPEAKER_00]: most states do not have full-time legislators in fact only 10 states do and i didn't know this

[00:30:07] [SPEAKER_00]: as as well uh california michigan new york pennsylvania alaska hawaii illinois and massachusetts

[00:30:14] [SPEAKER_00]: ohio and wisconsin are the only ones who have full-time legislators the rest of the states meet

[00:30:19] [SPEAKER_00]: part-time in some states montana nevada texas and north cuda only meet in odd numbered years i like

[00:30:25] [SPEAKER_10]: it yeah i like it because we have to like take a year to really think about what what do we

[00:30:31] [SPEAKER_10]: really need to be doing then they go meet they're not just like we need a date shake and we need an

[00:30:38] [SPEAKER_10]: estate slug and we need to tell the people they can't have grocery bags plastic they can't

[00:30:43] [SPEAKER_00]: apply the grocery bags and the chickens have to have a certain square footage of romain and

[00:30:50] [SPEAKER_10]: you can't go over this part of it you have to have folic acid and

[00:30:55] [SPEAKER_00]: we should be allowed to drink until 4am because that's really important to us as a state

[00:31:00] [SPEAKER_00]: only one yeah only one spot uh gabbyerson did sign off on a bill that allows drinking till 4am

[00:31:08] [SPEAKER_00]: only in one spot in california it's at sofi stadium right it's the exclusive with the stadium i don't

[00:31:14] [SPEAKER_00]: remember which one i think it was sofi stadium but it's like the exclusive club which i'm pretty

[00:31:19] [SPEAKER_00]: sure he was attending during that championship football game where he got caught with no mask

[00:31:26] [SPEAKER_10]: so you know just it's like only that in the french laundry there is not really there's more

[00:31:32] [SPEAKER_00]: french laundry is actually on there but um ironically the argument for a full-time legislator

[00:31:38] [SPEAKER_00]: is that they more time to deliberate make better informed decisions and their higher compensation

[00:31:43] [SPEAKER_00]: allows them to focus solely on the job of governing see i'm just going to go ahead and say i don't

[00:31:48] [SPEAKER_00]: think like you should be paid that highly as a state legislature i think you should be paid

[00:31:52] [SPEAKER_00]: like peanuts you're a public servant you choose this um you you sacrifice you want to be a legislator

[00:32:00] [SPEAKER_00]: cool great sign up for it do it it should really be a service to the rest of us and we appreciate

[00:32:06] [SPEAKER_10]: your service going along with it being part time because of course people need a they need a fair

[00:32:11] [SPEAKER_10]: cost of living yes for the job but this this should be like we had um tara campo on here who is

[00:32:20] [SPEAKER_10]: um the urabalinda mayor she was on the show like a year and a half ago and she was like this is a part

[00:32:27] [SPEAKER_10]: time job like keep that in mind this is a part time job yeah and now i feel like she probably spends a

[00:32:34] [SPEAKER_10]: lot of her off time like going and visiting all the businesses and and you know doing things for

[00:32:40] [SPEAKER_10]: the city that aren't necessarily being paid for but um yeah like make this part time make it

[00:32:48] [SPEAKER_10]: you know lower lower the salary and then they can have their day jobs their businesses their

[00:32:54] [SPEAKER_10]: careers because a lot of them are lawyers a lot of them do other things they have family businesses

[00:32:59] [SPEAKER_10]: whatever and it's just like we don't we don't need to pay them to to do things that cost us

[00:33:07] [SPEAKER_00]: even more money right um our code goes on to say uh based on this argument why they need a

[00:33:17] [SPEAKER_00]: full-time legislature but six of the states that have full-time legislators california new york

[00:33:22] [SPEAKER_00]: illinois pennsylvania ohio and michigan are among the seven states that lost congressional seats in

[00:33:28] [SPEAKER_00]: the 2020 census if those states truly govern more effectively people would flock to them instead they

[00:33:33] [SPEAKER_00]: are fleeing um because we have a one-party super majority rule apparently there is no need

[00:33:38] [SPEAKER_00]: for deliberation whether a bill lives or dies is decided enclosed door caucus meetings not

[00:33:44] [SPEAKER_00]: legislative hearings as for being a full-time legislator recall the observation of william

[00:33:50] [SPEAKER_00]: f buckley about preferring to be governed by the first 200 000 names in the boston telephone

[00:33:55] [SPEAKER_00]: directory and by 200 uh 2000 faculty members of harvard university citizens with real jobs who

[00:34:02] [SPEAKER_00]: have skin in the game and will share in the consequences of their actions are preferable to

[00:34:06] [SPEAKER_00]: professional politicians or is the argument against prop 1a ends prescribing laws which other

[00:34:12] [SPEAKER_00]: people are forced to obey can never be a primary occupation for any man who loves liberty so uh repeal

[00:34:20] [SPEAKER_00]: prop 1a i'm just going to throw it out there add that to the list repeal prop 1a part-time

[00:34:25] [SPEAKER_00]: legislature there is no reason for you guys to be yeah i you know congress i i can understand

[00:34:31] [SPEAKER_00]: congress congress it's federal national security we got all sorts of stuff you're running a huge

[00:34:36] [SPEAKER_00]: country states i don't know i don't think we need you to be coming up with 2500 bills every month

[00:34:42] [SPEAKER_00]: or every year call me crazy all right any final thoughts now we're going to move into some stories

[00:34:52] [SPEAKER_00]: about corruption with nonprofits um and i know you did some research on that

[00:34:58] [SPEAKER_00]: but this first one and actually both of them are from the san francisco standard which

[00:35:03] [SPEAKER_00]: um i had not uh i hadn't really heard of the san francisco standard but now we have two articles

[00:35:10] [SPEAKER_00]: from them on one show so i may have to start reading from them more often this one is called

[00:35:15] [SPEAKER_00]: steak houses liquor first-class flights nonprofit expenses quote difficult to defend

[00:35:20] [SPEAKER_00]: a nonprofit tied to an evolving city hall scandal failed to inform state officials

[00:35:25] [SPEAKER_00]: about close ties to a former san francisco department head and sponsored a separate

[00:35:29] [SPEAKER_00]: organization that spent money on steakhouse dinners liquor and first-class flights the standard has

[00:35:35] [SPEAKER_00]: learned james spingola's collective impact an organization that has received 7.5 million dollars

[00:35:43] [SPEAKER_00]: from mayor london breed's flagship dream keeper initiative has said since 2021 in

[00:35:49] [SPEAKER_00]: nonprofit renewal forms required by the california attorney general's office

[00:35:53] [SPEAKER_00]: had no conflicts of interest however records show that spingola i hope i'm saying all right

[00:36:00] [SPEAKER_00]: spingola shared a home with the dream keeper initiative's key decision maker sharyl davis

[00:36:06] [SPEAKER_00]: since at least 2021 davis who resigned last week as head of the city's human rights commission

[00:36:13] [SPEAKER_00]: and personally signed off on 1.5 million in contracts to spingola's organization also did

[00:36:18] [SPEAKER_00]: not disclose a relationship with the nonprofit executive to city hall officials a standard

[00:36:24] [SPEAKER_00]: investigation found after auditing a random sample of transactions from the human rights

[00:36:30] [SPEAKER_00]: commission the city count controller's office concluded in july that collective impact is

[00:36:35] [SPEAKER_00]: not properly monitored by davis department in a statement to the standard the mayor's office

[00:36:40] [SPEAKER_00]: said that dream keeper initiative is actively under independent review by the controller

[00:36:45] [SPEAKER_00]: and new program spending has been paused so that's the lay of the land right now

[00:36:52] [SPEAKER_00]: there's this nonprofit called dream keeper initiative and then sharyl davis because i thought

[00:36:59] [SPEAKER_10]: so i thought that was like london breed started that and she was allocating expenses taking

[00:37:05] [SPEAKER_10]: it taking expenses from uh sorry just lost my turn i'm sorry it's an initiative yeah like it

[00:37:13] [SPEAKER_10]: was like 60 million dollars that would have gone to uh you know police services they're trying to

[00:37:19] [SPEAKER_10]: send to nonprofits that are helping the city i thought that was that what was initially the

[00:37:27] [SPEAKER_00]: plan yeah sorry it's a it's an initiative which they can start yeah okay no it's important

[00:37:33] [SPEAKER_00]: because it's it's it's kind of murky and it's important for the listeners to understand like

[00:37:38] [SPEAKER_00]: what's going on here so politicians like it can start initiatives and then they can raise money

[00:37:45] [SPEAKER_00]: for those initiatives um and that's sort of what where this dream keeper initiative started

[00:37:52] [SPEAKER_00]: so it started with london breed um is the article that is like a city of san francisco

[00:37:59] [SPEAKER_00]: initiative right and it's it's it's overseen by the attorney general's office and the city

[00:38:08] [SPEAKER_10]: by the controller this woman sharyl davis was one of the with the overseer the commissioner or

[00:38:17] [SPEAKER_10]: something who was actually like making sure that these nonprofits got their money

[00:38:24] [SPEAKER_10]: yeah she was living with james sping spingola spingola and he has a nonprofit

[00:38:35] [SPEAKER_10]: that has received seven million dollars in funding from the dream keeper initiative

[00:38:40] [SPEAKER_00]: correct okay so just to kind of map it out james singola james spingola is the head of collective

[00:38:48] [SPEAKER_00]: impact that is that's a nonprofit that received funds from mayor london breed's dream keeper

[00:38:56] [SPEAKER_00]: initiative and sharyl davis is the head of this mayor london breed's dream keeper initiative

[00:39:04] [SPEAKER_00]: she is living with james spingola spingola um who is the head of this nonprofit so

[00:39:13] [SPEAKER_00]: there's a little conflict of interest of well if you're living with this guy

[00:39:17] [SPEAKER_10]: and then they're giving money because london breed admits she was aware that they're in a relationship

[00:39:25] [SPEAKER_00]: right um so even that is the implication of like there's a conflict of interest

[00:39:30] [SPEAKER_00]: because they're living together they're in a relationship so sharyl davis is like

[00:39:34] [SPEAKER_00]: hey i'm the head of this dream keeper initiative hey you have a nonprofit

[00:39:38] [SPEAKER_00]: there's a whole bunch of money here that we're getting from the city

[00:39:42] [SPEAKER_00]: maybe you could use it in your nonprofit and like here you go here's 1.5 million dollars in contracts so

[00:39:50] [SPEAKER_00]: so that's okay so to lay that out that's sort of what's going on here

[00:39:54] [SPEAKER_10]: put a circle pack what we've been saying we need to be in the nonprofit business

[00:39:59] [SPEAKER_00]: we need to come up with some nonprofit because clearly we are doing whatever

[00:40:05] [SPEAKER_00]: hell you want and make a ton of money um so uh let's see after auditing ran a sample of transactions

[00:40:12] [SPEAKER_00]: from the human rights commission um the city controller's office concluded in july that collective

[00:40:18] [SPEAKER_00]: impact is not properly monitored by davis department so again here's what we have

[00:40:24] [SPEAKER_00]: they they did an audit of all these transactions and they found that the

[00:40:31] [SPEAKER_00]: transactions james spignol's nonprofit collective impact is getting are not being properly

[00:40:38] [SPEAKER_00]: monitored by shell davis shocker because they live together and have a relationship right

[00:40:44] [SPEAKER_00]: in a statement to the standard the mayor's office said the dream keeper initiative is actively

[00:40:48] [SPEAKER_00]: under independent review by the controller and knew oh we already talked about that so this was

[00:40:51] [SPEAKER_00]: conceived in 2020 after the murder of george george floyd breed and supervisor shaman walton

[00:40:58] [SPEAKER_00]: pushed for the dream keeper initiative as a way to boost economic opportunities among the city's

[00:41:03] [SPEAKER_00]: black community whose population has dwindled for decades the city has budgeted nearly 300

[00:41:08] [SPEAKER_00]: million dollars for the program that's a lot of money a big old pot of money advocates say is

[00:41:14] [SPEAKER_00]: increased black home ownership helps small businesses and create opportunities for students

[00:41:18] [SPEAKER_00]: and historically black colleges and universities yet there were signs that some dream keeper

[00:41:23] [SPEAKER_00]: funds have not been managed effectively in february san francisco moved to bar dream keeper

[00:41:30] [SPEAKER_00]: recipient j and j community resource center from doing business with the city after officials

[00:41:35] [SPEAKER_00]: accused the nonprofit of trying to fraudulently bill some 100 000 in charges including

[00:41:41] [SPEAKER_00]: ineligible expenses like alcohol cigars and motorcycle rentals i mean i know that's

[00:41:47] [SPEAKER_09]: right the reason for things but i suddenly just like fixtures so many running on profit

[00:41:51] [SPEAKER_09]: jumping on a motorcycle smoking a cigar like having a flask with a high bar whiskey just like

[00:41:57] [SPEAKER_00]: there's a smoke and they're just doing it all at once and they're like yeh jon pzh you know

[00:42:01] [SPEAKER_00]: thank you for that that sweet sweet city money let's go um i as a former guy who rode motorcycles

[00:42:11] [SPEAKER_00]: i do not suggest smoking a cigar and riding a motorcycle with a drink in your hand it's

[00:42:17] [SPEAKER_00]: probably not going to end well for you um so there's this other there's this new nonprofit

[00:42:22] [SPEAKER_00]: called both sides of the conversation um they had submitted invoices for dream keeper initiative

[00:42:28] [SPEAKER_00]: funds spent on expensive meals liquor and travel led by john hennery both sides of

[00:42:33] [SPEAKER_00]: conversation says its mission is to quote increase mobilization of advancement in black and brown

[00:42:39] [SPEAKER_00]: communities by providing a safe space for conscious dialogue concerning the needs systemic

[00:42:43] [SPEAKER_00]: barriers resources and remedies formed also in 2020 they have a podcast if you ever want to tune in

[00:42:52] [SPEAKER_00]: so you want to hear some of the uh invoices that were submitted to the dream keeper initiative

[00:42:57] [SPEAKER_00]: by both sides of flame and yon on there um i think there is um there's a little bit

[00:43:05] [SPEAKER_00]: everything there's there's cigars there's alcohol like you said we got to get in the

[00:43:11] [SPEAKER_00]: nonprofit game because whoo there is a lot of money in the nonprofit game i mean i'm just being

[00:43:17] [SPEAKER_00]: a sucker working for a paycheck i could be in the nonprofit game i have to come uh the city

[00:43:23] [SPEAKER_00]: signing $900,000 contract for the project using fiscal sponsorship model with money flowing from

[00:43:29] [SPEAKER_00]: dream keeper to both sides of the conversation the invoices submitted by both sides of the

[00:43:35] [SPEAKER_00]: conversation include $3443 for first class flights a round trip ticket from chicago to san francisco

[00:43:43] [SPEAKER_00]: a one-way ticket from chicago to san francisco and a flight from san francisco to washington dc

[00:43:49] [SPEAKER_00]: 200 dollars for a black lane luxury chauffeur service in washington dc 281 dollars at san

[00:43:57] [SPEAKER_00]: francisco's old clam house for crab cakes pan roasted salmon and wine only one person

[00:44:03] [SPEAKER_00]: is noted on the receipt 1420 at kalawah a southeast asian restaurant in washington dc tequila bourbon

[00:44:12] [SPEAKER_00]: and wine account for 108 dollars of the bill 532 dollars at ruth's christ steakhouse come on if

[00:44:21] [SPEAKER_00]: you're getting city funds and you're gonna live lavishly ruth's christ steakhouse is not

[00:44:29] [SPEAKER_00]: but i'm really gonna go to outback steakhouse like i'm gonna really i'm gonna live life i'm

[00:44:34] [SPEAKER_09]: gonna go out back steakhouse try it and we were like nope yeah we tried it with a bunch of friends

[00:44:39] [SPEAKER_00]: and i was like uh they don't go to chain steakhouses just don't just don't go to chain steakhouses

[00:44:46] [SPEAKER_00]: uh 532 dollars at ruth's christ steakhouse in walnut creek for three guests ordering

[00:44:50] [SPEAKER_00]: 50 plates of sea bass lobster macaroni and cheese crab cakes and barbecue shrimp the bill includes

[00:44:57] [SPEAKER_00]: 74 for cognac the invoice is labeled as an event consultant dinner but the physical receipt says

[00:45:05] [SPEAKER_00]: buoyed birthday 307 dollars at chicago based steakhouse stk again another chain steak place

[00:45:13] [SPEAKER_00]: okay 88 for one person at afro-caribbean restaurant salamander in washington the bill includes

[00:45:20] [SPEAKER_00]: tequila 256 dollars for tickets to soul train in san francisco a facebook photo of henry that was

[00:45:28] [SPEAKER_00]: reviewed by the standard shows he attended the event don't you feel bad for people who eat at

[00:45:33] [SPEAKER_09]: mediocre places okay i mean that's what it sounds i mean like you said if you're gonna go spend

[00:45:40] [SPEAKER_00]: this money yeah i mean if you're gonna spend work good i mean if you're gonna spend like you

[00:45:47] [SPEAKER_00]: tax dollar money that you fraudulently stole from the people

[00:45:51] [SPEAKER_10]: i mean live it up enjoy it like you gotta submit these invoices don't go to these don't go to ruth's

[00:45:58] [SPEAKER_00]: chris i mean at least if i saw like you know okay we spent a thousand dollars at like haviers i'd

[00:46:05] [SPEAKER_00]: be like okay like yeah it's a good restaurant like i'd have a little respect for you or like

[00:46:11] [SPEAKER_00]: you know cowboy star down here in san diego i'd be like okay it's good it's a good taste i mean

[00:46:18] [SPEAKER_00]: you're unethical and you're robbing our money but at least he got good taste

[00:46:23] [SPEAKER_00]: so to the point back to the point so uh this dream keeper initiative is supposed to help they

[00:46:34] [SPEAKER_10]: are talking about the dwindling black and brown population in san francisco and there

[00:46:38] [SPEAKER_10]: they want to help the communities thrive and if you go to the website which i have closed this tab

[00:46:44] [SPEAKER_10]: now i shouldn't have of both sides of the conversation the nonprofit if you go to that website

[00:46:49] [SPEAKER_10]: and it talks about john henry the founder and he sounds like this decent guy like whether or not

[00:46:54] [SPEAKER_10]: you believe in what he's doing he sounds like this really decent guy who wanted to do something

[00:46:58] [SPEAKER_10]: for his community and you're like yeah good for him like this is somebody he's talking about how

[00:47:03] [SPEAKER_10]: you know he was raised in such a way but he found his way out of it he went to um what do you call it

[00:47:11] [SPEAKER_10]: well he went like school wise he didn't he didn't go through that college like he learned um hvac

[00:47:17] [SPEAKER_10]: repair and stuff and like did stuff for himself and like he started a business and and went places

[00:47:22] [SPEAKER_10]: and was like i'm gonna help the community okay so that all sounds great and fine but he's in

[00:47:28] [SPEAKER_10]: chicago and washington dc doing all these things that are not helping the black and brown population in

[00:47:35] [SPEAKER_10]: san francisco and i can understand if he has this thriving nonprofit and he maybe flies in like he has

[00:47:43] [SPEAKER_10]: an event and he flies in some big people or something or throws a couple like a gala here

[00:47:49] [SPEAKER_10]: in there like i cool i get that but that's not what's happening here he's eating at mediocre

[00:47:56] [SPEAKER_10]: expensive places for his birthday right and he's flying to places that have nothing to do

[00:48:02] [SPEAKER_10]: with helping the community that he's saying he wants to help and so that's where that makes me mad

[00:48:10] [SPEAKER_00]: yeah i mean uh for all intents of purposes like if you want to wrap up london breed in this i don't

[00:48:16] [SPEAKER_00]: think you can because she started it with good intentions of what she was doing um obviously

[00:48:24] [SPEAKER_00]: the people overseeing it took advantage of all this money um that was coming into it and then

[00:48:31] [SPEAKER_00]: the people who were in charge of handing out contracts didn't make the best decisions probably

[00:48:36] [SPEAKER_00]: didn't do their due diligence um so they're yeah i mean it's it's not necessarily london breed i

[00:48:43] [SPEAKER_00]: guess you could say well you know buck stops third she's the mayor um but a lot of people see it

[00:48:48] [SPEAKER_00]: and that's kind of that's this is not abnormal for politicians and especially not abnormal

[00:48:56] [SPEAKER_00]: here in california to like take advantage of the fact that nobody's who's gonna call you out like

[00:49:04] [SPEAKER_00]: you know who's investigating if someone does something wrong in california who's gonna investigate

[00:49:12] [SPEAKER_00]: like rob bonta you think rob bonta as attorney general is going to investigate fellow democrats

[00:49:19] [SPEAKER_00]: or like powerful fellow democrats like like no like of course they're not gonna like you know it's

[00:49:26] [SPEAKER_00]: it's like what do they say when the inmates run the inmates run the prison like that's what's

[00:49:31] [SPEAKER_00]: going on here is like they're not going to investigate themselves um even in san francisco

[00:49:38] [SPEAKER_10]: necessarily blame london breed for this i mean it's happening under her nose so to say but

[00:49:44] [SPEAKER_10]: i i don't agree with her starting this initiative because it was like a part of the defund police

[00:49:50] [SPEAKER_10]: movement and so in her head it was like defund police but let's put money into our community

[00:49:57] [SPEAKER_10]: and like get them off the streets get them out of trouble get them doing other things and so

[00:50:02] [SPEAKER_10]: yes that makes sense like if she's like you know i would rather that these resources go to

[00:50:07] [SPEAKER_10]: less trouble versus more police like and so so i follow the logic of that and whether or not

[00:50:15] [SPEAKER_10]: agree with that like i think she had good intentions there yes but then it was just as with everything

[00:50:23] [SPEAKER_10]: in california it seems there's no oversight as to where the money's really going a good idea

[00:50:28] [SPEAKER_10]: but then the money just is and and of course we've since seen that she upped the budget

[00:50:35] [SPEAKER_10]: and like brought back more police and so that didn't work out so do you want to hear uh what

[00:50:43] [SPEAKER_00]: this head of the nonprofit said when approached for comment on all of his spending at mediocre

[00:50:50] [SPEAKER_00]: chainstake houses yes this is this is john henry correct yeah i said when reached for comment

[00:50:56] [SPEAKER_00]: henry told the standard quote i don't need to answer any questions quote and hung up after being

[00:51:01] [SPEAKER_00]: asked about the restaurant charges in a facebook post saturday henry wrote quote we stand united

[00:51:08] [SPEAKER_00]: against the nazi media outlets that perpetuate hatred and political mudslinging targeted at our

[00:51:15] [SPEAKER_00]: community in leaders this coordinated attack on black people is both real and prevalent causing

[00:51:21] [SPEAKER_00]: our community to suffer even more from marginalization lack of access and equity and quote so

[00:51:28] [SPEAKER_00]: when you get caught misspending taxpayer money pull the race card that's the moral of the story so

[00:51:35] [SPEAKER_10]: can we talk about this a little bit more i'm sorry you say what yours no go ahead go ahead well

[00:51:42] [SPEAKER_10]: i this this one got me all curious yesterday so i started kind of going down the rabbit hole

[00:51:46] [SPEAKER_10]: and i didn't get very far i mean i went pretty far but there's there's lots there's lots of

[00:51:51] [SPEAKER_10]: trails here and i'm hoping that anyone else that's interested in investigating will go and do this

[00:51:57] [SPEAKER_10]: because what i found that was kind of interesting is that both john henry and james spingola are former

[00:52:06] [SPEAKER_10]: employees of the city of san francisco which john henry was actually paid a pretty decent salary

[00:52:12] [SPEAKER_10]: for 15 years and then suddenly started an on profit that then the city of san francisco

[00:52:17] [SPEAKER_10]: funded and then two years ago james spingola was allegedly beat up by two homeless people

[00:52:25] [SPEAKER_10]: and john henry started a go fund me for his recovery that's fine um they raised like $70,000

[00:52:35] [SPEAKER_10]: however john henry's nonprofit is both sides of the conversation and he started this go fund me and

[00:52:42] [SPEAKER_10]: says both sides of the conversation is donating $10,000 to this go fund me for james spingola's

[00:52:48] [SPEAKER_10]: recovery and now we know that both sides of the conversation is getting money from the city of

[00:52:53] [SPEAKER_10]: san francisco as is james spingola's collective impact nonprofit and so it's like city of san francisco

[00:53:02] [SPEAKER_10]: to go to both sides of the conversation send some money over to james spingola it's very

[00:53:08] [SPEAKER_00]: what is happening here it's a lot of uh inside our horse trading is what it seems like because

[00:53:17] [SPEAKER_00]: they're all former city employees right like they've all worked for the city and they're now

[00:53:22] [SPEAKER_00]: running nonprofits that get large contracts from the city um and you know charl davis who works for

[00:53:32] [SPEAKER_00]: this city is in a relationship with james spingola and now they're taking tax dollars and we're

[00:53:39] [SPEAKER_00]: you know we're not saying like it just looks odd that both sides of conversation got a $900,000

[00:53:47] [SPEAKER_00]: contract and then they also gave $10,000 to james spingola's go fund me so where did that that's a big

[00:53:55] [SPEAKER_00]: chunk of change so where did that money come from um you know it seems like it's sort of

[00:54:03] [SPEAKER_00]: you know usually when there's smoke there's fire and that's why it's exactly why it went down

[00:54:08] [SPEAKER_10]: that row i was like there's too much smoke here and i just started looking and i used the

[00:54:12] [SPEAKER_10]: transparent california website to just start plugging in these names and i'm like well looky here

[00:54:18] [SPEAKER_00]: yeah um usually when it kind of looks fishy you can start to dig a little bit and sooner or later

[00:54:24] [SPEAKER_00]: you'll find out a lot of these people are connected uh to round this out before we get to our final

[00:54:29] [SPEAKER_00]: story uh there was a protest outside the border super well we'll go over a little over because

[00:54:39] [SPEAKER_00]: we had the technical difficulties border supervisors meeting there was a protest karen clopton who

[00:54:45] [SPEAKER_00]: served as the chair of human rights commission until december shared a similar sentiment with

[00:54:50] [SPEAKER_00]: the standard quote i think what's going on is that an anti-black bias is very deep she said

[00:54:58] [SPEAKER_00]: adding that in her view there is an ongoing quote effort to malign the current mayoral

[00:55:03] [SPEAKER_00]: administration in this blanket underhanded way to impact the elections so there you go

[00:55:11] [SPEAKER_00]: great um and then a related story is city official on leave after signing off on 1.5 million dollars

[00:55:18] [SPEAKER_00]: in grants to man she shared home with so there you go chel davis is on leave i wonder why she's

[00:55:25] [SPEAKER_00]: on leave probably yeah probably paid leave um why would you be on leave if you're not doing

[00:55:31] [SPEAKER_00]: anything wrong interesting all right so final story involving nonprofits and shady dealings

[00:55:40] [SPEAKER_00]: this is the story we've talked about for several weeks and we haven't gotten to it but

[00:55:43] [SPEAKER_00]: we're going to get to it today by gum we're gonna we're gonna get through it another article from

[00:55:49] [SPEAKER_00]: the san francisco standard gavin newson changes his story on bahha trip after well-watching junket

[00:55:55] [SPEAKER_00]: disclosed um start in march 2023 the governor was taking heat from conservative media for

[00:56:02] [SPEAKER_00]: leaving california just after declaring a snowstorm related to state of emergency he was on a quote

[00:56:08] [SPEAKER_00]: personal trip in bahha california mexico newson staff told inquire reporters funny enough he's

[00:56:14] [SPEAKER_00]: also in mexico right now at the inauguration of the new mexican president and that was that

[00:56:21] [SPEAKER_00]: maybe maybe possibly my change in your sand maybe he's not really at the inauguration

[00:56:28] [SPEAKER_00]: which also not to get off topic he was all hot and bothered about calling the special session

[00:56:33] [SPEAKER_00]: about oil prices and then bailed on the special session like he's just like he's like peace out

[00:56:39] [SPEAKER_00]: honestly i'm unsure what's going on with that one too yeah he's like this is really important

[00:56:44] [SPEAKER_00]: guys we got to tackle these gas prices and then he's like oh look at the time i gotta go to

[00:56:49] [SPEAKER_00]: mexico and hobnob with the president there okay see you later you guys figure it out thanks

[00:56:54] [SPEAKER_00]: fast forward 17 months in newson's office says that personal trip wasn't a vacation rather it was

[00:57:00] [SPEAKER_00]: quote personal time that he chose to use on a job related educational excursion

[00:57:05] [SPEAKER_00]: with members of his administration and an undisclosed number of wales confused we are too

[00:57:13] [SPEAKER_00]: the retroactive reclassification peers have something to do newson's disclosure of $3,595

[00:57:19] [SPEAKER_00]: whale watching trip gifted to him by an obscure environmental nonprofit the gift was among those

[00:57:26] [SPEAKER_00]: listed on his most recent form 700 a financial disclosure required for elected officials

[00:57:31] [SPEAKER_00]: and government employees quote the governor participated in this educational trip on his

[00:57:37] [SPEAKER_00]: personal time accompanying by key members of his administration working on environmental

[00:57:42] [SPEAKER_00]: protections in conservation the trip was focused on conservation and understanding the challenges

[00:57:47] [SPEAKER_00]: facing marine ecosystems which are crucial to california's environment and economy

[00:57:54] [SPEAKER_00]: the nonprofit originally listed on newson's form 700 was one earth philanthropy a little

[00:57:59] [SPEAKER_00]: known los angeles-based group with political ties to the governor garden said this was a

[00:58:04] [SPEAKER_00]: clerical error and the gift actually came from re-earth initiative a new york-based

[00:58:08] [SPEAKER_00]: organization a major recipient of one earth philanthropy funding uh quote personal time

[00:58:16] [SPEAKER_00]: or educational trip the point is that a $3,000 gift was given to the governor from an entity

[00:58:22] [SPEAKER_00]: that would like to influence him i don't think anything illegal happened we have a system

[00:58:26] [SPEAKER_00]: that allows for this type of political gift giving which can buy access influence your

[00:58:30] [SPEAKER_00]: readers get to decide if that's good or bad uh the re-earth initiative launched in 2020

[00:58:36] [SPEAKER_00]: and funds like-minded organizations while creating storytelling content to help spread

[00:58:41] [SPEAKER_00]: messaging about climate change initiatives according to its website a group of teenagers

[00:58:45] [SPEAKER_00]: and 20 year olds run the organization led by i have no idea to pronounce his first name

[00:58:50] [SPEAKER_00]: gia bastida a mexican activist in the climate change movement bastida who has 85,000 followers

[00:58:57] [SPEAKER_00]: on instagram has spoken at the world economic forums conference in davos switzerland

[00:59:01] [SPEAKER_00]: and is seen in social media posts besides celebrity scientist bill nye who is also a

[00:59:07] [SPEAKER_00]: constitutional scholar as we talked about last week uh and singer billy eilish quote the

[00:59:14] [SPEAKER_00]: purpose of the tour was to facilitate a dialogue between mr. neusam local communities and scientists

[00:59:20] [SPEAKER_00]: to better understand the current status of gray whales okay so okay this is where it really

[00:59:27] [SPEAKER_00]: starts to get kind of confusing so we've changed the nonprofit to a small nonprofit that was i

[00:59:35] [SPEAKER_00]: guess an offshoot of re-earth initiative because they're receiving funds from re-earth initiative

[00:59:40] [SPEAKER_00]: first it was a personal it was vacation time now it's personal time then he was there

[00:59:47] [SPEAKER_00]: to learn about marine ecosystems um because it impacts california in some way bahav ecosystems

[00:59:57] [SPEAKER_00]: or marine ecosystems and now the reason is he was there to learn about the current status of gray

[01:00:06] [SPEAKER_00]: whales so the story continues to change which me thinks that there was something else going on

[01:00:14] [SPEAKER_10]: right if the story was like he took a vacation he's allowed to take a vacation i mean takes a lot of

[01:00:21] [SPEAKER_10]: him but he's a lot he's allowed to take a vacation right took a vacation and went whale watching i

[01:00:25] [SPEAKER_10]: i don't think we're gonna bat an eye at that like cool good for him you do what you want neusam

[01:00:32] [SPEAKER_10]: but the story just kept changing of why he was there who he was with who funded it

[01:00:38] [SPEAKER_10]: like all the things and it was like why do you guys keep like backpedaling on this and putting out

[01:00:44] [SPEAKER_10]: new statements on what's going on and changing the filing forms and that's where it's like okay

[01:00:49] [SPEAKER_10]: so something's actually going on because otherwise we like we wouldn't be talking about this

[01:00:56] [SPEAKER_10]: literally be like neusam whale watching a vacation okay right but the fact that it keeps

[01:01:01] [SPEAKER_00]: changing raises some eyebrows so like what was really going on now we know that so what

[01:01:06] [SPEAKER_10]: staff was there so like who was paying for this alleged personal trouble the arco goes on to say

[01:01:12] [SPEAKER_00]: however the list of attendees is private and we are not authorized by the film production company

[01:01:17] [SPEAKER_00]: to disclose further details we have chosen not to share extensive details about the film and its

[01:01:22] [SPEAKER_00]: production on social media due to the distinct privacy protocols in the film industry which

[01:01:27] [SPEAKER_00]: are beyond our control how convenient did they sign nda's they probably all signed nda's yeah

[01:01:33] [SPEAKER_00]: probably the same lawyers who drafted the nda's for the capital annexed uh Gina king a founding

[01:01:39] [SPEAKER_00]: board member at Warner philanthropic donated $30,000 to neusam for his 2018 gubernatorial race

[01:01:46] [SPEAKER_00]: shocker so that's basically where they are uh re-auth initiative has also received one million

[01:01:51] [SPEAKER_00]: dollars from billionaire philanthropist lauren powell jobs waverly street foundation yeah

[01:01:56] [SPEAKER_00]: so all these organizations that he has had connections to they went whale watching but

[01:02:05] [SPEAKER_00]: they didn't disclose whether they saw whales or not they just got it it's one of those things

[01:02:11] [SPEAKER_00]: where like yes there are protocols to supposedly monitor this stuff and make sure it's all in

[01:02:18] [SPEAKER_00]: the up and up but they have figured out how to get around a lot of it so um

[01:02:26] [SPEAKER_10]: I think it's partly audited as we've literally been discussing this in our episode yeah so uh

[01:02:33] [SPEAKER_00]: nonprofits can literally bribe politicians nonprofits can get paid huge contracts of uh

[01:02:40] [SPEAKER_00]: tax payer money um it's a symbiotic relationship between a lot of these nonprofits doesn't neusam's

[01:02:48] [SPEAKER_00]: wife also run like a huge nonprofit or something that makes what i was going down the rabbit

[01:02:52] [SPEAKER_10]: trail last night i was like oh i need to look her up again and see what's going on there

[01:02:55] [SPEAKER_00]: it's like a something to do with like film industry and i don't know but um yeah i mean it's

[01:03:04] [SPEAKER_00]: they have figured out how to move a lot of money around when it comes to politics and nonprofits

[01:03:09] [SPEAKER_00]: i mean look at the the clinton foundation how much money they made as a nonprofit as a

[01:03:14] [SPEAKER_00]: nonprofit um like you said get in the nonprofit game because it seems to be good good business

[01:03:20] [SPEAKER_00]: here in california if you can get the right city contracts you'll make a ton of money

[01:03:24] [SPEAKER_00]: um but that's about it that's the story and and think of it what you will it seems fishy to me

[01:03:31] [SPEAKER_00]: that he went down there the story changed several times it was personal vacation his personal time

[01:03:36] [SPEAKER_00]: then it was about ecosystems then it was about whales and then that was about it they were like

[01:03:43] [SPEAKER_00]: that's it that's all the information you're gonna get oh we can't tell you because it's

[01:03:46] [SPEAKER_00]: it's private oh we can't tell you who was on the boat because it was private um so no photos

[01:03:51] [SPEAKER_10]: were taken there was like no social media coverage whatsoever like and it's funny for someone who loves

[01:04:00] [SPEAKER_00]: the camera as much as Gavin Newsom if this was something that he could potentially use for a

[01:04:07] [SPEAKER_00]: presidential run for him to be like i travel to bahá california to study the marine ecosystems

[01:04:14] [SPEAKER_00]: and the effect global warming his head on like he would absolutely have a film crew down there

[01:04:19] [SPEAKER_00]: and blasting it all over social media but the fact that he didn't shows you

[01:04:25] [SPEAKER_00]: he did not want people to know what's going on on that boat and we may will probably never

[01:04:30] [SPEAKER_00]: find out what happened on that boat and we'll never find out whether they watched whales or not

[01:04:35] [SPEAKER_00]: um so was there even a boat i don't know what this was or even a boat maybe there wasn't even a boat

[01:04:40] [SPEAKER_00]: maybe they didn't go out on a boat maybe this is you know whale watching his code for something else

[01:04:46] [SPEAKER_00]: um but yeah so we tried to get through a couple stories just to give you a flavor of like all

[01:04:52] [SPEAKER_00]: the political corruption that's going on in california like we said we could do more but

[01:04:58] [SPEAKER_00]: then it would be like a huge long episode or just a whole series of corruption going on in

[01:05:03] [SPEAKER_00]: california but these are some of the most recent stories that we've been finding um

[01:05:07] [SPEAKER_00]: just to give you an idea of like this stuff's happening because there's a one-party rule and

[01:05:13] [SPEAKER_00]: nobody is auditing anybody and no one's investigating anybody

[01:05:18] [SPEAKER_00]: until voters start to come out and be like you're out like we're going to vote you out

[01:05:23] [SPEAKER_00]: you're out we're going to flip seats we're going to change things around in here

[01:05:28] [SPEAKER_00]: i think they take advantage of the apathy of a lot of californians who just don't show up to

[01:05:32] [SPEAKER_00]: vote anymore and think democrats will just run everything so pay attention there's a lot of

[01:05:38] [SPEAKER_00]: corruption going on it's a lot of waste with your tax dollars so any final thoughts before we sign off

[01:05:45] [SPEAKER_00]: for the night no i've done you're just upset about whale watching and whether newsom actually went

[01:05:52] [SPEAKER_00]: whale watching um all right so that's our episode for today uh we'll be we're coming up almost yeah

[01:06:00] [SPEAKER_00]: on a month before the election day uh we got one more prop episode i think and then we can

[01:06:07] [SPEAKER_00]: round out all of the proposition so if you're not sure about propositions coming up on your state

[01:06:12] [SPEAKER_00]: ballots we'll be doing one more episode we've already done two so go check those out if you

[01:06:16] [SPEAKER_00]: have any questions about what all these props are um i still think we might try and get in

[01:06:21] [SPEAKER_00]: like an instagram q and a live so people have any questions um we we probably we will do our best

[01:06:28] [SPEAKER_00]: but we can't answer everything like california is a big state and there's a lot of measures and

[01:06:34] [SPEAKER_00]: like county measures and city measures and stuff like that like we won't know everything

[01:06:39] [SPEAKER_00]: but we will do our best to at least answer as many questions as possible so with that said uh

[01:06:47] [SPEAKER_00]: thank you for tuning in tonight make sure you like share subscribe review helps with the algorithm

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[01:07:01] [SPEAKER_00]: about political corruption going on in california and with that we'll see you on the next one thank you

[01:07:17] [SPEAKER_04]: for listening to another episode of california underground if you like what you heard remember

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