Episode 245 - Convo with Denise Aguilar | The Most Trusted Podcast for All Things California Politics

Are you a Californian who feels like your views on politics in California are not popular? Do you feel like no one will agree with you? Feels like when you meet someone who does agree you are part of a secret underground club of people who think like you? Then join us on the California Underground Podcast to hear others who share your views and solutions to save our beautiful state.

On this episode, we are joined by Denise Aguilar who is running for the California Assembly in District 13. We discuss her time fighting vaccine mandates, her stance on reducing crime in California, and the challenge of running in a deep blue district.

This episode was recorded on 2.6.23

*The California Underground Podcast is dedicated to discussing California politics from a place of sanity and rationality.*

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[00:00.000 --> 00:22.000] If you're a California conservative, a libertarian, a moderate Democrat, believe in common sense, or just the same person, this is the political podcast for you. It's the California Underground Podcast. [00:30.000 --> 00:35.000] What's going on, everybody? Thanks for tuning to another episode of the California Underground Podcast. I am your host Phil. [00:35.000 --> 00:39.000] As always with me, my trusty co-host, the best and fastest researcher in the West Camille. [00:39.000 --> 00:47.000] And tonight we have a special guest on tonight, Denise Aguilar, who is taking on the 13th District for State Assembly. [00:47.000 --> 00:54.000] Love our people running for state assembly and local office because, you know what? That's where the change happens in California. [00:54.000 --> 00:59.000] So if you want something to change in California, you got to go for state assembly or state center or something like that. [00:59.000 --> 01:04.000] Denise, welcome to the show. How are you tonight? I'm doing good. Thanks for having me. [01:04.000 --> 01:11.000] So I'm going to just start off by saying I have a special place in my heart for District 13. [01:11.000 --> 01:17.000] I'm a former UOP alum, so I spent four years of my life in Stockton. [01:17.000 --> 01:23.000] There's a lot of good stuff about Stockton. I think there's a lot of good character in Stockton. [01:23.000 --> 01:32.000] I'm very, very familiar with Stockton and have fond memories of it. [01:32.000 --> 01:38.000] I love it here. Stockton gets a bad rap. We have so many great things here. [01:38.000 --> 01:43.000] We're just not utilizing it and we don't have a lot of resources. [01:43.000 --> 01:47.000] So why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself? Why don't you introduce yourself? [01:47.000 --> 01:52.000] Who you are, where you came from, why you got into politics right now? [01:52.000 --> 01:59.000] Sure. So I've been involved in politics since 2015 when SB277 was introduced. [01:59.000 --> 02:05.000] That was kind of the thing that pushed me into this political game. [02:05.000 --> 02:11.000] But before that, I grew up in Summockin County. I'm a former gang member. [02:11.000 --> 02:16.000] I had a really, really rough childhood and it's a teen mom. [02:16.000 --> 02:20.000] So no involvement in any of this stuff. [02:20.000 --> 02:27.000] And then, you know, one day I met my husband and he introduced me to the whole vaccine program. [02:27.000 --> 02:32.000] And that was just like the beginning of my involvement in everything politics. [02:32.000 --> 02:36.000] This is like, I live and breathe this. [02:36.000 --> 02:43.000] For a long time, you know, working at the Capitol, I've seen some really horrific bills being passed. [02:43.000 --> 02:47.000] And there would be thousands and thousands of people there. [02:48.000 --> 02:53.000] And the legislators would still vote down party line for the special interest groups. [02:53.000 --> 02:58.000] And I was just like shocked like, well, there's really no representation in California. [02:58.000 --> 03:02.000] And in 2019, I co-founded Freedom Angels. [03:02.000 --> 03:08.000] We kicked off civil disobedience after SB276 was introduced and passed. [03:08.000 --> 03:15.000] We knew that this was the beginning of a new civil rights movement and then COVID happened. [03:15.000 --> 03:21.000] So I've been very much involved in California politics at a state level. [03:21.000 --> 03:28.000] I also work at a local level with my county board of supervisors to put in place protections against the vaccine passport. [03:28.000 --> 03:42.000] So it's been a very interesting journey going from not having any kind of political background to now working on a national level to try to stop extreme laws being passed. [03:43.000 --> 03:48.000] So at what point did you just kind of wake up a morning and go, you know what, screw it. [03:48.000 --> 03:51.000] I'm going to run for this district. Let's do this. [03:51.000 --> 03:55.000] The very last minute. I actually had absolutely no intention of running. [03:55.000 --> 03:58.000] My representative is Carlos. [03:58.000 --> 04:04.000] And he took his and he was running for assembly unopposed. [04:04.000 --> 04:11.000] And I was not considering running and then the last minute he pulled his name from the assembly run and put it into the Senate. [04:11.000 --> 04:21.000] And then put his wife in the assembly unopposed. So I had people calling me left and right saying, you need to run. You can't let this happen. [04:21.000 --> 04:30.000] And I was like, no, I don't want to do politics. I'm a homeschooling mom. Like I do not want to get involved in this in that way. [04:30.000 --> 04:37.000] And then I told the people who are calling me, I said, let me prey on it. I'll get back to you. I don't want to answer any anybody right now. [04:37.000 --> 04:46.000] I have to prey on it. And the next day, that's when Carlos pulled his name out and I was like, all right, that's a message. This is where I have to be. [04:46.000 --> 04:55.000] And I put my paperwork in and it was honestly the most terrifying experience. Like, you can hear me doing my oath and my voice is shaking. [04:55.000 --> 04:59.000] So I'm like, I do not. I don't know if I'm ready for this. [05:00.000 --> 05:06.000] Well, you're in it now. So how many months have you been campaigning so far? [05:06.000 --> 05:15.000] It's only been a couple of months. It was the deadline to run. So I have been hitting the ground running though, and I have a lot of support. [05:15.000 --> 05:24.000] It's pretty cool to see both political parties. I'm having both Democrats and Republicans and independents supporting this campaign. [05:25.000 --> 05:33.000] Even though we started a little later than I would like, we have been canvassing every single day. We're hitting thousands of houses a week. [05:33.000 --> 05:38.000] And we have a lot of support was in the community. So I'm really excited about this race. [05:38.000 --> 05:53.000] I was looking at your profile and it looks like you really got involved in 2019, which I would say a lot of people kind of woke up around 2020 when COVID happened. [05:53.000 --> 06:02.000] I think that that kind of chart or jolted a bunch of people into activity when it came to politics here in California, because they didn't really know. [06:02.000 --> 06:08.000] They didn't know like, Hey, what's a county supervisor? What's an assembly member? What's a senator or stuff like that? [06:08.000 --> 06:16.000] But you were you were kind of there before in 2019 fighting vaccine exemptions. [06:17.000 --> 06:28.000] This is something that you and Camille and co host have in common is sort of these vaccine mandates and exemptions. You both kind of share the same passion also homeschooling as well. So you can talk about that as well. [06:28.000 --> 06:29.000] Yeah. [06:29.000 --> 06:35.000] And that was really your start, right? Even before the COVID madness with all the vaccines, right? [06:35.000 --> 06:45.000] Yeah, that's when two seven six was being pushed through. And it was that moment. I knew that this is where I had to be. [06:45.000 --> 06:57.000] It was a picture that was captured and put on social media and I was on the ground in the middle of the Capitol and the rotunda and I was crying his I was sobbing because I share custody of my son. [06:57.000 --> 07:06.000] And I knew if we lost that and since we did lose it because it passed through the hearing, I know it lost the ability to protect him medically. [07:07.000 --> 07:19.000] And Tara came and she like kneeled down to me and she comforted me and she said something to me and I got back up and it was like, okay, I, this is where I have to be. [07:19.000 --> 07:32.000] I cannot allow the California governor or the government to start putting a place, these kinds of mandates that in California, our, our state was the roadmap to as what you saw for COVID. [07:32.000 --> 07:41.000] And so all of the lockdowns, the mandates, the no exemptions, the attack on our doctors, that all started here in California under those two bills. [07:41.000 --> 07:49.000] So when we were watching this unfold, we were in real time, like watching. [07:49.000 --> 07:56.000] And then we went to the legislature to strip us of our freedom if, you know, we don't comply and we knew where it was going to go. [07:56.000 --> 08:06.000] So that's why we went to such lengths to show that we weren't going to move. We, you know, chained our friends to the Capitol doors of the Capitol of the California Capitol. [08:07.000 --> 08:20.000] We were occupying the Capitol in a peaceful way for 11 days, because we knew that this was the beginning of something very terrible happening across the nation. [08:20.000 --> 08:32.000] And I just, I can't, I cannot engage in this. You know, they went too far and my children are involved. So that means that I'm fully involved in this. [08:33.000 --> 08:50.000] I really appreciate that. I just want to say, I was like one of the people passing out the petitions against two seven, seven, two, seven, six, and I couldn't go to the Capitol. I had four young kids. I also home school, stay at home mom. [08:50.000 --> 08:59.000] And I think it sounds like my computer is like having issues. I apologize if it's if you guys hear like some chirping. Anyway, I couldn't go to the Capitol. [08:59.000 --> 09:11.000] I was watching continuously like online watching all those. And I just really want to say that I very much appreciate all the parents that showed up and everyone else. And, you know, that was my oldest is 18 now. [09:11.000 --> 09:19.000] And but when I was like, when I first found I was pregnant, that was my number one thing is that I was like, no to the, no to the mandated vaccines. [09:19.000 --> 09:26.000] Now I'm kind of like no vaccines whatsoever. But at the time, I was like, no mandates. I'm going to do what I want when I want on my own schedule. [09:26.000 --> 09:30.000] And that was like my biggest thing that I researched during my pregnancy. [09:30.000 --> 09:44.000] So, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I mean, you were involved in two seven seven, which was that was like an eye opener for me, because I was never involved in politics. I had no idea what to even expect. [09:45.000 --> 09:55.000] And when I walk, but I would walk into the Capitol during the hearings, there were thousands, thousands of people who were there lined up speaking and constituent saying no. [09:55.000 --> 10:02.000] And then we knew, you know, we found out Pfizer was paying some of the legislators. So it was like, this is why they pushed it through. [10:03.000 --> 10:17.000] It was a warning to the whole nation and people call this anti-vaxxers. And they call this all of these trigger words. When we were really wanting transparency in what was happening in, you know, actual discussions. [10:17.000 --> 10:29.000] And at that time, we did not have access to legislators. It was, you know, you remember how it was that we were outside protesting. We didn't have access to them. It was really hard to get meetings. It was almost impossible. [10:30.000 --> 10:45.000] You know, the terrain has changed now. And, and I know it's changed because I've engaged in it these last few years and we've been successful at defeating, like bills historical defeats. We've never, we've never won anything in California before. [10:46.000 --> 11:05.000] And, you know, when SB 66 was introduced and we fought that to the very end, we showed the nation that we can find common ground building relationships with both parties because our kids shouldn't be politicized. This is, it's crazy what California has done to families. [11:06.000 --> 11:17.000] I kind of like the fact that you started in 2019 and not 2020 because you're kind of like a hipster in that sense that you were against vaccine mandates before it was cool to be. [11:17.000 --> 11:21.000] It's so I appreciate that. [11:21.000 --> 11:25.000] Same thing with Camille as well. She was hipster on the vaccine mandates and exemptions. [11:26.000 --> 11:29.000] We still use that word. I feel like that's such like a. [11:29.000 --> 11:31.000] Like, I like it. [11:31.000 --> 11:33.000] Like it. [11:33.000 --> 11:44.000] Does anyone use that word? So, and I'm not making fun of you. I just feel like we that was like us. Yes. That was our generation and now, like, having me having teenagers, like, I don't think they even use that. [11:44.000 --> 11:46.000] Hipsters aren't cool. [11:46.000 --> 11:53.000] It's that hipster mentality that you were doing something before it was all cool and everybody was, was, was on it. [11:53.000 --> 12:05.000] I mean, obviously really quick because for people who really don't know what was going on in 2015, all these thousands of parents quite literally lined up and kept saying no, and they were bringing their vaccine injured children. [12:05.000 --> 12:20.000] A lot of them and they were trying to tell their stories and then nobody, nobody went to the microphone and said, Oh, yes, but yeah, everyone was like, please oppose this please no, no, no, and then they literally, they finally, this is hours hours of this. [12:20.000 --> 12:32.000] And then at the end, they just, they're like, okay, Bo, and they all just voted against us like it was like they didn't even hear all of you who waited out there for days and then waited in line for hours and finally got up there. [12:32.000 --> 12:39.000] And the thousands of voices and Richard Pan, I think, was the one heading that up at the time, Senator Richard Pan. So glad he's gone. [12:40.000 --> 12:52.000] And it was disgusting. I mean, my heart dropped. Like, I just remember feeling so like it was so sad to watch and then just see them just dismiss everybody they did not care. [12:52.000 --> 13:05.000] I, first I just want to say my husband's going to get home at 630 and he drives the truck that makes my dog school wild so I'll go on mute as soon as that happens I have indoor two hours so it's always a problem. [13:05.000 --> 13:19.000] But, you know, what we, what we saw in in that time of fighting these bills was that the special interest groups have so much control over our legislators. [13:19.000 --> 13:34.000] They are literally paying them to represent to represent them while we have thousands of people we, you know, there was this one incident that I remember that really triggered me to a point where I got angry. [13:34.000 --> 13:45.000] We were at the Capitol and it was for 276 hearing and there were children and families lined up against the wall, because there were so many people there they had to sit down on the floor because we were there for hours. [13:45.000 --> 13:55.000] We had an incident of a staffer calling one of the kids a name and spitting on that child because they thought that that child was unvaccinated. [13:56.000 --> 14:04.000] And it was like this moment where I'm like, how dare you pretend that you're better than us and that you know better than us. [14:04.000 --> 14:07.000] Like we're not, we're not going to play that game anymore. [14:07.000 --> 14:23.000] And so when we go back to the Capitol, we make sure that we're building relationships with people in a way that they know we are, if we do a call to action right we're going to engage in politics we're watching it we're paying attention now. [14:24.000 --> 14:33.000] And that's what they fear. They don't want people paying attention to what's going on. They're very comfortable doing things in the dark and they expect people to not to get involved. [14:33.000 --> 14:41.000] And that's really a goal of what Freedom Angels does is to educate people of, you know, they do have power in their local districts. [14:41.000 --> 14:43.000] They do have power at the state. [14:43.000 --> 14:47.000] We need to start acting like we have a voice at the table and getting involved. [14:47.000 --> 14:52.000] Otherwise, this next coming year is going to be a really terrible year for families again. [14:53.000 --> 14:58.000] I think it might be perfect timing. You're getting some love in the chat. [14:58.000 --> 15:00.000] Let's see. [15:00.000 --> 15:06.000] Somebody has said Denise does a lot more than our state party has done. [15:06.000 --> 15:12.000] My mom met you recently Denise and she spoke highly of how humble and kind you are your work is important. [15:12.000 --> 15:13.000] So. [15:13.000 --> 15:14.000] Thank you. [15:15.000 --> 15:18.000] I want to give you that heads up from the chat. [15:18.000 --> 15:22.000] It seems Richard pain is also running for mayor of Sacramento, which. [15:22.000 --> 15:23.000] Yes. [15:23.000 --> 15:27.000] You know, Godspeed to Sacramento if that does if that happens. [15:27.000 --> 15:35.000] All right. So in 2020 all through through the COVID you continued your battle and kind of and stayed on top of it but. [15:35.000 --> 15:43.000] More than just your stances on the vaccine exemptions and stuff like that. [15:43.000 --> 15:51.000] As a legislator, you're going to have to tackle a lot of issues in California and there's certainly a lot of issues. [15:51.000 --> 15:58.000] What tell us about your platform overall and you start with like crime or I know. [15:58.000 --> 16:02.000] Again, personally, I know from Stockton crime was always an issue. [16:02.000 --> 16:06.000] Why don't we start there and talk about any plans to tackle that. [16:06.000 --> 16:13.000] Yeah, I mean, the crime issue affects everything in California affects our economy our employment opportunities. [16:13.000 --> 16:15.000] We have. [16:15.000 --> 16:20.000] Soft on crime policies we all know it. We all know this is a progressive agenda to. [16:20.000 --> 16:27.000] And there's an activist committee with the within the public safety committee at the Capitol that wants to empty prison safe. [16:27.000 --> 16:34.000] They're blocking fentanyl bills are blocking bills that would classify child human trafficking as a serious felony. [16:34.000 --> 16:45.000] They want to empty the jails and, you know, I think at any demographic, both Democrat and Republican can feel that we need to course correct about 47. [16:45.000 --> 16:52.000] It's not enough to just, you know, say we we tried it. We had a legislature and elected say, well, we tried it. [16:52.000 --> 16:55.000] It didn't work. So we have to try something else. [16:56.000 --> 16:58.000] That is showing how. [16:58.000 --> 17:04.000] And how I'd attach these people are. They're not experiencing the same kind of crime that we're experiencing. [17:04.000 --> 17:13.000] I'm working with some small businesses here in Stockton on the east side of Stockton Latino own businesses that are being constantly robbed. [17:13.000 --> 17:24.000] They're having issues with crime. They're having issues with prostitution in front of their stores and, you know, police officers feel like their hands are tied because there's nothing that that they can do about it. [17:24.000 --> 17:27.000] They're not going to be able to arrest them. They can't hold them. [17:27.000 --> 17:38.000] This is a huge opportunity for us in 2024 to really clean up these progressive policies that have put everything at risk or public safety at risk or economies at risk because of it. [17:38.000 --> 17:41.000] It needs to end. We need some balance in that. [17:41.000 --> 17:51.000] I don't know if you saw the video that was circulating with Gavin Newsom where he was on a zoom call and he was he was shocked. [17:51.000 --> 18:04.000] He didn't understand why people blamed him for crime and why people can just shoplift. So, I mean, if that gives you an idea of how out of touch, a lot of Democrats are in Sacramento that they just think everything's fine. [18:04.000 --> 18:07.000] I don't understand why people blame us for all the problems with crime. [18:07.000 --> 18:17.000] It's crazy. Right. Right in front of the Capitol. There's a huge homeless encampment with like people who are having mentally, you know, mental issues on the street. [18:17.000 --> 18:28.000] How can they ignore that? We have billions, $17 billion has been put into the homeless issue and not one viable source to help the homeless issue. [18:28.000 --> 18:39.000] It's all going to committees and nonprofits and people's salaries. We got to get realistic about this or people are going to be drowning. It is so hard to live in California. [18:39.000 --> 18:52.000] Like, I don't even know how we're making it right now. At the cost of, you know, not just the crime affecting everything, but like PG&E, my bill was $800 for a month. That is unsustainable. [18:52.000 --> 19:03.000] Where like, where's the accountability and transparency here? And this is, this is again why we all have found common ground in not wanting to be squeezed out of our state. [19:03.000 --> 19:06.000] We pay record high taxes and we have absolutely nothing to show for it. [19:07.000 --> 19:17.000] And how I am so curious how these things became political issues. How did, where along the way did we decide that politics should control our electricity. [19:17.000 --> 19:19.000] It's bizarre. [19:19.000 --> 19:28.000] So way out of hand, there's, I mean, there needs to, I know Kate Sanchez, she introduced a bill to cap how many bills a legislator can introduce. [19:29.000 --> 19:35.000] Like 2000 bills a year is extreme. We need to go to like a part-time legislature. That is, this is unnecessary. [19:35.000 --> 19:36.000] Yeah. [19:36.000 --> 19:51.000] I mean, that's music to my ears. I've always said that even in California, a part-time legislature is, is, is fine because there is no reason we need thousands of bills introduced because at that point you're just coming up with, with random stuff. [19:52.000 --> 20:03.000] Like, you know, and I do like our legislative updates every once in a while. We do like, we did our end of the year show and what was the new, what was the weird one? [20:03.000 --> 20:06.000] It was like, oh, we have a new state mushroom or something. Is that the one? [20:06.000 --> 20:07.000] Yes, we do. [20:07.000 --> 20:08.000] We do. [20:08.000 --> 20:10.000] This is, this is what we're paying legislation. [20:10.000 --> 20:18.000] Our taxes are taxes were used so that someone could use be paid for their time to come up with. We need a state mushroom. [20:19.000 --> 20:34.000] It's dumb at some point. Like, you can't even read those bills. And this is another problem that we face, like talking with legislators. If we're going to them saying, talking about 866 or 659 or 132, whatever bill we decide to talk about. [20:34.000 --> 20:42.000] They don't even know what we're talking about because there's too many bills. They can't read them. So they're having their staffers read the bills, tell them yes or no. [20:43.000 --> 20:56.000] And these are progressive young staffers coming out of college. Like, and they're the gatekeepers to the legislators. So they don't read the bills. They're not getting the proper download and there's thousands coming across their desk that they can't possibly even look at. [20:56.000 --> 21:09.000] And then they're being passed. And so these are restrictions on us. It's just, it's overwhelming when you start looking at it and getting involved. And like, I'm hoping that there's some kind of support for capping the bills that they can make. [21:10.000 --> 21:20.000] Well, there was another one two years ago that was a very important bill that tackled serious issues in California. We now have an official shake or no, it never passed someone introduced the bill. [21:21.000 --> 21:29.000] Someone tried to introduce a bill to make the date shake the official milkshake of California because that's just tackling the most important issues. [21:30.000 --> 21:36.000] Yeah. And I think there's, you know, I think that even though you're in a tough district. [21:37.000 --> 21:48.000] I think it's important to give people that choice and give people that voice with someone like you who's passionate where you say, look, I'm going to stand up and I'm going to talk about these issues because maybe no one's ever had a choice. [21:49.000 --> 22:02.000] Maybe no one's ever talked to a Republican like me. And people I think in California just need to see that and talk to someone, talk to them in person, shake their hand and be like, you know what, I do want lower crime. [22:02.000 --> 22:07.000] I do want to pay lower taxes. I want to be able to afford to live here in California. [22:09.000 --> 22:20.000] And it just, it hasn't been getting done with Democrats. So, yeah, I think it's great that you're getting out there. And even though it's an uphill battle, I mean, this is a tough district. [22:20.000 --> 22:27.000] I think it's great that you're getting out there and giving people that choice. Have you been seeing a good response from people, even as a Republican in a deep blue district? [22:28.000 --> 22:36.000] Yes. And yes, very much. And I'm smiling because I think for 2024 with everything that's happened, the terrain has changed a little bit. [22:37.000 --> 22:43.000] People are now crossing party lines. I'm getting a lot of support from Democrats, moderate Democrats. [22:44.000 --> 22:55.000] And they're fully aware of the vote of my legislator. Like they're upset with this name. And so, you know, they're supporting, they know the work that I've done. [22:55.000 --> 23:06.000] So, they're supporting the campaign. And so, it's going very well. I feel really good about it. You know, even though it's a Democrat district, we're really purple. [23:07.000 --> 23:14.000] And, you know, in time, I walk every single day. I talk to people every single day. I go to small businesses every week. [23:15.000 --> 23:22.000] So, in the conversations, people are sick of the crime. Small business owners, Democrat, Republican, they can't make it. [23:22.000 --> 23:30.000] The taxes are insane. People can't make it. And so, this election, we're in a very curious spot to where we can flip votes. [23:31.000 --> 23:39.000] And I'm getting the Democrat vote right now. People have already told me they voted for me. So, it's, I feel good about it. [23:40.000 --> 23:47.000] You know, I can't say if I'm in the winter or not, but I feel really good of the conversations that are being started in the district. [23:47.000 --> 23:59.000] And, you know, I made this map of all of the bills that have been passed within the past couple of years. So, SB 1-3-2, SB 1-4-5, you know, all of the bad bills that we fought. [24:00.000 --> 24:09.000] And I take it with me everywhere. I have little handouts. And I give these to people because where I'm campaigning, I'm not campaigning Republicans' houses. [24:10.000 --> 24:14.000] I know that they're going to vote for me. I'm campaigning Democrat houses. [24:14.000 --> 24:22.000] And so, when I go and I talk to them and I'm telling them, you know, here's my information. I had one guy say, what political party are you with? [24:23.000 --> 24:29.000] They said, I'm running as a Republican. He's like, oh, this is a Democrat house. I go, great. Just let me give this to you. [24:30.000 --> 24:38.000] Do these bills reflect what your values are? Oh, thank you. Cool. Do your bills reflect what your values are? [24:39.000 --> 24:43.000] Did you know about these bills? And they read it and they don't believe it. [24:44.000 --> 24:49.000] And so, we created a QR code so they can take some directly to Legiscan so they can read the bill. [24:50.000 --> 24:57.000] So, I read one of the bills with him and he was so upset about it. He was like, this isn't the Democrat that I am. [24:58.000 --> 25:03.000] I said, well, let's get some ballots in there. You know, you don't have to change your political party. You can still vote for me. [25:04.000 --> 25:14.000] And I have one of my art signs in front of us house now. So, it's about talking to people and raising awareness on what these legislators did because nobody knows about these bills. [25:15.000 --> 25:21.000] Legislators don't come into the community to tell you, hey, I have a bill that's going to let men transfer into women's prisons. [25:22.000 --> 25:25.000] How do you feel about it? They don't do that. They don't do polls. Nothing. [25:26.000 --> 25:33.000] And so, these laws are passing and people are realizing, wow, that's a little bit extreme. I can't get behind something like that. [25:34.000 --> 25:44.000] And so, as I tell them, I'm not asking you to change your political party, but just look at what the Democrats have supported and then look at what my stances are. [25:45.000 --> 25:46.000] And I'm getting I'm getting the support. [25:47.000 --> 25:52.000] Out of, well, first of all, we always come prepared on the show. We like to always have everything ready. [25:53.000 --> 25:57.000] I had a feeling you might reference this. I was like, I think I'm just going to get it ready just so people can see. [25:58.000 --> 26:07.000] So, what we're looking at is that card that you hand out to people. I think that's a great idea. You put QR code so people can go in and read that. [26:08.000 --> 26:14.000] Out of these bills, which one makes your blood boil the most? [26:17.000 --> 26:20.000] Probably the. [26:21.000 --> 26:28.000] It's really hard. I mean, these are all like evil, satanic bills. I would say SB 107. [26:29.000 --> 26:37.000] We shouldn't be a sanctuary state to sterilize children. You know, my, my stance has always been to protect kids and. [26:38.000 --> 26:55.000] This bill was sold as a law to, you know, protect children and all children and equity, but it really just allows children from all over the world to come here and start their gender affirming what they're calling gender affirming care and getting sterilized. [26:56.000 --> 27:02.000] Children can't consent. It's always been my position. So that one boiled my blood. [27:03.000 --> 27:11.000] Which one would you say when you hand this to people gets the biggest reaction that people say? [27:12.000 --> 27:20.000] I would say it would be one three twos. It's at the very top. That one allows men to transfer into women's prisons. [27:21.000 --> 27:23.000] If they self identify as a woman. [27:24.000 --> 27:32.000] Okay. And like we, we all know AB five, which was pushed by Lorena Gonzalez. [27:33.000 --> 27:37.000] That's a law that is now currently going to the federal level. So. [27:38.000 --> 27:43.000] What people say, you know, what happens in California does happen in the rest of the country. [27:44.000 --> 27:47.000] It absolutely is true. AB five is a perfect example of. [27:48.000 --> 27:53.000] They try it out here in California. And then if it works, they'll try it. They'll push it through on the federal level. [27:55.000 --> 28:02.000] Which is why again, it's so important that the insanity gets stopped here in the state assembly in the state legislature because. [28:03.000 --> 28:08.000] Once you start that, once you can slow that down, then that craziness doesn't go across the country. [28:09.000 --> 28:10.000] So. [28:11.000 --> 28:19.000] Well, and to be very clear for assembly in California in order to defeat any bills, anything we need the assembly. [28:20.000 --> 28:24.000] We don't have the Senate. The Senate is way too progressive and they do not. We do not. [28:25.000 --> 28:35.000] We can't flip that. They're set in stone, but we have a really great opportunity and assembly to defeat bills and to actually have bipartisan support. [28:36.000 --> 28:41.000] So being able to take those assembly seats are going to be crucial to being able to stop. [28:42.000 --> 28:47.000] Really bad legislation from being passed. So it is it assemblies of very important position. [28:50.000 --> 28:53.000] I have a question. I have a couple of questions. [28:54.000 --> 28:56.000] I had a thought and then I lost it because I was reading chat. [28:57.000 --> 29:02.000] Well, okay, I don't like if you don't, if you don't want to answer this, of course, don't, but can I ask how many children you have in their ages? [29:03.000 --> 29:07.000] Yes, I have three. I have a 25 year old, a 12 year old and a nine year old. [29:08.000 --> 29:11.000] Okay. So with your younger ones, you said you're homeschooling. [29:12.000 --> 29:25.000] Can you what issues regarding children in public schools, would you want to possible like bills that you would like to author or like in defensive children because obviously there's the vaccine is hugely on your heart. [29:26.000 --> 29:32.000] But what other things regarding like schoolchildren and things that they're doing to children or trying to anyway, why would you try to overturn or author? [29:33.000 --> 29:38.000] I personally wouldn't author anything for school school districts. [29:39.000 --> 29:45.000] I really believe in keeping local politics empowered, but we need to revisit AB 1078. [29:46.000 --> 29:54.000] I think that was a really bad bill that didn't get enough attention from the big microphones, but that was authored by assembly member Corey Jackson. [29:54.000 --> 29:59.000] He represents the Riverside area. He's a, he's a huge extremist. He's a big problem. [30:00.000 --> 30:09.000] He is like comparable to like Richard Pan. So he's going to be an issue, but his bill removed local control of school boards and gave the control to the state. [30:10.000 --> 30:21.000] So parents who are opposing, you know, inappropriate sexual material in their kids school were petitioning their school board to get those books out the state said no, we need to keep those to be inclusive. [30:21.000 --> 30:30.000] So we need to revisit that. Other than that, it would be really working with my local school boards to see what kind of support they would need. [30:31.000 --> 30:40.000] But we need to start getting the parents more involved instead of creating laws and policies that, you know, push parents out of the decision making with their kids. [30:42.000 --> 30:48.000] I feel like a lot of them, which is sad to me, are not aware. Like a lot of them say, Oh, I didn't know what was going on. [30:48.000 --> 30:57.000] I was talking to my mom about this recently where now I've always homeschooled, but a lot of people saying, Oh, you know, COVID woke me up and COVID woke me up. [30:57.000 --> 31:02.000] And this isn't like a pat myself on the shoulder, but I'm like, what did they wake up to? What did they not know? [31:02.000 --> 31:09.000] How did they not know? How grandparents are not involved with what's going on in their kids school? And that was always baffling to me. [31:10.000 --> 31:18.000] And I had many reasons for choosing to homeschool, but a lot of them were what I saw happening in the school system, and I knew it was only going to be a slippery slope from there. [31:18.000 --> 31:31.000] And so I was like, no, I'm just not going to go down that road. And I'm not trying to shame any parents, but it does amaze me that they just sent their kids off to school thinking, Oh, everything's going to be great. [31:31.000 --> 31:36.000] And their best interests are at heart at school. And it's just like, No, no, they're not. [31:37.000 --> 31:50.000] Well, you know, I think we're all just trying to survive, right? We're living in California where we're having it. They've really created a space where both parents need to work and then you have no choice but to send your kids to school. [31:50.000 --> 32:00.000] And if you don't comply with their rules and your kids aren't welcome. So then you can't work. I mean, it's this evil cycle, you know, just people aren't educated. [32:00.000 --> 32:13.000] People unfortunately feel like they can't homeschool their kids. Like they're not smart enough to or they can possibly teach their kids how to read because we've been fooled into believing that we can't take control of our kids' education. [32:13.000 --> 32:27.000] So I really my our style and freedom angels in this campaign is really going to be town hall, you know, town hall grassroots style where I'm talking about the kind of bills that got passed and why we're here. [32:28.000 --> 32:43.000] That's that's the main goal to show people what kind of legislation did pass because they don't know about it. No, when people see that chart, they are so they're shocked. And they're like, this can't possibly be true. Like, unfortunately, we're here. [32:43.000 --> 32:46.000] So we have to now engage and do something about it. [32:47.000 --> 32:51.000] I think your answer is a good answer where. [32:51.000 --> 32:58.000] Instead of writing a bill from Sacramento and trying to fit. I mean, the only time it may be to protect it more, but I think. [32:58.000 --> 33:03.000] Like you said, keep local power at the localities. [33:03.000 --> 33:09.000] And that's that's such a huge issue for people in Sacramento, like Democrats just can't get over the idea. [33:10.000 --> 33:25.000] Like Newsome and Bonta and all these these big name Democrats, they just can't get over the idea that like there are pockets of California that are very conservative and they elect conservative local representatives. [33:25.000 --> 33:38.000] And when those local representatives don't agree with them or pass their own ordinances, they don't like that. They like then they come down with the power of the state. So, yeah, I think that that's the best answer to say. [33:38.000 --> 33:43.000] That's not that's not my job to police the localities. I'd be hands off and let the localities do it. [33:43.000 --> 34:01.000] So, well, during the lockdowns, we were, you know, we had some of the protests at the Capitol. We had thousands of people there and we were training people in how to be involved in local politics because when this all happened, we were like, this is not a law that Gavin Newsome can implement. [34:02.000 --> 34:11.000] This is all your local public health officers. So, we started training people in how to participate and go to their public health officers and go to the meetings. [34:11.000 --> 34:16.000] And if they were locked out, just how to move and how to, you know, pivot from those things. [34:16.000 --> 34:23.000] Local control is so important. And during, you know, during these lockdowns, we actually worked with the mayor of Atwater. [34:23.000 --> 34:36.000] And he was one of the first, him and Placer were one of the first to lift their public health emergency and we were working alongside, you know, people in the community to try to get this protected. [34:36.000 --> 34:45.000] And so when Gavin sent a letter over to them and said, you know, you're going to pay back all the COVID money. If you don't participate, if you don't lock down, like, you know, we asked you to. [34:46.000 --> 34:53.000] And they said, that's fine. We have a surplus. We'll be able to survive. We're not going to, we're not going to bend to this. [34:53.000 --> 35:00.000] So they actually, they, so they lifted their public health emergency and businesses started relocating to, to Atwater. [35:00.000 --> 35:04.000] And so they ended up having another surplus in their tax in their revenue. [35:04.000 --> 35:14.000] And it showed in a sentence message that Gavin can't bully people like you, how he thought he could bully. And there's going to be people who understand how government works. [35:14.000 --> 35:24.000] And they're going to do everything they can to protect their constituents. That's what government's supposed to do is to protect us. It's not to overstep or into, you know, in proton or right. [35:25.000 --> 35:40.000] It was a really great opportunity for people to watch how localism is everything. Localism is going to decide what your terrain looks like. And so while work, you know, by the grace of God, I get to see it all being in Sacramento. [35:40.000 --> 35:45.000] But I have very little interest to being in Sacramento. I want to be in my county and my district. [35:45.000 --> 35:50.000] I don't need to be over there wasting my time when my constituents are here. [35:51.000 --> 35:54.000] Well, and lucky for you Stockton's right down the road. So that helps too. [35:54.000 --> 35:56.000] Yep. [35:56.000 --> 36:09.000] With the state doesn't have to pay for any plane flights or anything like that. Yeah, I, I've said this before and I preach this during COVID when people were starting to kind of figure out California politics. I was telling them. [36:09.000 --> 36:15.000] Your local politics are one way you can insulate yourself from Sacramento. [36:16.000 --> 36:27.000] And we saw it like you were just saying, there's so many stories during COVID where cities or counties were basically just giving the middle finger to Sacramento and Gavin Newsom and they're saying. [36:27.000 --> 36:35.000] Yeah, we're not going to listen to you. I mean, down here in San Diego, Bill Wells, the mayor of alcohol and said, I'm not enforcing lockdowns. [36:35.000 --> 36:44.000] I'm not going to enforce it. I'm not telling my police to do it. So if you want to, you can come and do it yourself, but I'm not wasting city resources. So. [36:45.000 --> 36:57.000] That's an important message that people have to realize is that localism will protect you from Sacramento. Oh, absolutely. Talk to your sheriff. Talk to your district attorney. All these people play key roles. [36:57.000 --> 37:09.000] Our sheriff here in with Rowan, so if you County, he didn't, he was like, we're not going to arrest people for not wearing a mask. That's ridiculous. You know, we're not going to participate in that. So, localism is key. You want change. You start participating. [37:09.000 --> 37:20.000] Make an appointment. It's so important. I don't, and you know, I don't, when we do events, I always ask, have you ever visited your district office and people are just like, no, right? Because we're all working. [37:20.000 --> 37:33.000] We're all just trying to like make it here, but people don't engage. We're all, we all have our issues. Why? And so when you do, it really kind of gets the legislator shook a little bit because people don't engage. [37:33.000 --> 37:44.000] And so when you are in the district or you are at the Capitol, they make some kind of aware that you're paying attention. So it's so important. Make appointments with your legislators and their districts. [37:44.000 --> 37:53.000] Get to know your board of supervisors or city councils. You know, we're in this mess for me. I fully believe we're in this mess because we stop paying attention to politics. [37:53.000 --> 38:02.000] We just vote people in and we hope they do their job because we're trying to do our job and we stop paying attention. And so this year, [38:02.000 --> 38:14.000] it's a really important election. As everybody knows, you know, pay attention to the candidates and look at their positions and who supports them, what kind of donations they're getting and who's endorsing them. That matters. [38:14.000 --> 38:23.000] All my adult life I have heard in California, your vote doesn't matter. Your vote doesn't matter. But all those people were always referring to presidential elections. [38:23.000 --> 38:33.000] And anyone that says that, again, not to shame you, but you're not paying attention. You don't understand local politics and I suggest you understand local politics like make that your priority. [38:33.000 --> 38:42.000] Fine. If you think your vote doesn't matter for president and you don't want to vote for president, please study up on your local politics and realize why they matter of why you need to vote. [38:43.000 --> 38:53.000] Yeah, absolutely get involved. If we lose the assembly this year because there's a lot of candidates, if we lose the assembly, then we have lost California. [38:53.000 --> 39:08.000] We're not going to be able to stop anything or to engage. And if you've ever been to the Capitol and had interactions with some of the progressives, you'll know how hard it is to get them to even like pay attention to you. [39:08.000 --> 39:25.000] They'll lock their door. They'll ignore you. Luckily, we've been able to build relationships with them. And so we have a little better access, but it shouldn't be that hard for just a regular constituent to have that conversation with their legislators. [39:25.000 --> 39:32.000] But if we get any more progressives in there, we're going to lose all ability to stop bills here. [39:32.000 --> 39:43.000] As we're coming up on the hour, I want to ask, is there anything when you when you win when you get into your seat. [39:43.000 --> 39:47.000] I'm a big fan of put it just put it out in the universe. [39:47.000 --> 39:57.000] Is there anything specific to your district that you feel like you could do from Sacramento that could help make a big impact and difference in your district. [39:57.000 --> 40:08.000] Oh, of course, I think there's a lot of, you know, here in San Joaquin County, we actually had such great programs for our youth and to get them out into the work world and get them experience. [40:08.000 --> 40:13.000] I really want to focus on creating opportunities here for, you know, our younger generation. [40:13.000 --> 40:22.000] I think it's missed here. We lost a lot within the last few years of access for for kids just to learn a skill and to learn how to work. [40:22.000 --> 40:32.000] Right now, people don't want to work. I am very, very focused on the small businesses here. We are community of small businesses. We do not have a lot of big box stores. [40:32.000 --> 40:44.000] So getting them to work, getting our economy back is going to be what what I'm hearing people want immediately is some kind of relief in that department. [40:44.000 --> 40:55.000] Excellent. So, um, I'm trying to see if there's any other questions for you right now, or if Camille had any other questions while I'm checking all of the chats. [40:55.000 --> 41:00.000] Um, no dogs barking. [41:00.000 --> 41:01.000] Sorry. [41:01.000 --> 41:06.000] My daughter, my daughter is coming from someone's computer, but I don't know what's going on. [41:07.000 --> 41:17.000] No, you know what, I have had my stinking fire alarm thing has been going off for years. I can't reach it because it's a million miles high. [41:17.000 --> 41:23.000] And my landlord doesn't fix it. So I just have to live with it. It's very annoying. Okay. So it's not me. [41:23.000 --> 41:25.000] All right. [41:25.000 --> 41:28.000] Question all the way. [41:28.000 --> 41:35.000] I don't fill the, it seems like the Instagram chat has been kind of going crazy. I don't know if you've been checking that at all. [41:35.000 --> 41:44.000] I have been just more love. People say I highly recommend going to the Capitol on a lobby day with Denise and Tara you'll learn so much. [41:44.000 --> 41:55.000] Some other people to, to, I'm going to butcher this name to, choppy California to, to, California state open and mastery as well. [41:55.000 --> 41:59.000] Greetings to all three of you great Americans. [41:59.000 --> 42:04.000] I guess the final discussion that we can kind of end on. [42:05.000 --> 42:12.000] Moving forward in your campaign getting to know more people kind of getting out there with your message and stuff like that. [42:12.000 --> 42:19.000] If you are unsuccessful this time around, but you see a good response to what you're saying. [42:19.000 --> 42:24.000] Would you be, would you be open to running in two years from now? [42:24.000 --> 42:31.000] I don't know. I didn't want to run initially. So I, I honestly couldn't tell you. [42:31.000 --> 42:39.000] I would have been closed off to it, but I would just have to figure out where I'm at at that point. I honestly don't even want to deal with politics anymore. [42:39.000 --> 42:49.000] I, I hope I win so I can do a term and get out, but I am, like I said, I'm a homeschooling mom. I really just, I want to do what I can to help the state and then get out. [42:49.000 --> 42:51.000] So we'll see, we'll see. [42:51.000 --> 42:54.000] That's, that's far in the future anyway. [42:55.000 --> 43:03.000] Um, yeah, I always say that to myself as well. I'm like, I don't want to deal with politics anymore yet. Here I am with a weekly podcast. [43:03.000 --> 43:10.000] No, I text at least once a week. I hate politics anyway. What are we talking about this week? [43:10.000 --> 43:11.000] Yeah. [43:11.000 --> 43:13.000] Hey, politics who's on the show this week. [43:13.000 --> 43:21.000] Final comment has nothing to do with politics. I had a friend in college who grew up in Tracy. [43:22.000 --> 43:27.000] And he swore, and he used to argue with people. He would say that Tracy was part of the Bay Area. [43:27.000 --> 43:30.000] I don't think so. [43:30.000 --> 43:45.000] And for those of you who are listening on audio, Denise basically just said it all. Like, are you kidding me? Tracy is nowhere near the Bay Area, but some people just, they, they thought that they wanted to be part of the Bay Area. [43:46.000 --> 43:49.000] Um, all right. [43:49.000 --> 43:52.000] Question someone just asked on Instagram. [43:52.000 --> 43:59.000] They wanted to know about your filing says nonprofit director. They wanted to know about your nonprofit experience. [43:59.000 --> 44:01.000] Or what you're involved. [44:01.000 --> 44:03.000] Freedom Angels is a nonprofit. [44:03.000 --> 44:14.000] So we've been operating in the same capacity since 2019. We engage the community, do town halls, show people how to be effective in politics. [44:15.000 --> 44:16.000] Okay. [44:16.000 --> 44:20.000] Somebody said Tracy, not the Bay. Yeah, definitely not the Bay Area. [44:20.000 --> 44:21.000] All caps. [44:21.000 --> 44:23.000] All caps, not the Bay. [44:23.000 --> 44:26.000] Uh, Denise, the Sacramento's the Bay too, which was weird. [44:26.000 --> 44:30.000] Sacramento's not even close to that. That's now you're just pretending like you. [44:30.000 --> 44:34.000] I'm in Orange County. So I'm, you know, way south. [44:34.000 --> 44:40.000] But I don't, so I don't know how it is up there, but I know here the city of Anaheim. [44:41.000 --> 44:44.000] Has the nickname Anna crime. [44:44.000 --> 44:52.000] And, but Anaheim is kind of a big city in the eastern part. People like to say that they're, if they live there, they're like, Oh, I'm an Anaheim Hills, even though. [44:52.000 --> 44:55.000] Anaheim Hill was actually a tiny, tiny little section. [44:55.000 --> 45:05.000] Like, because they don't want to be associated with the West end of Anaheim. So is that what's going on up there? Is that why people like, Oh, I'm in the Bay Area because they're trying to avoid saying they're a part of another area. [45:05.000 --> 45:10.000] It's not, I don't know. I don't know what the thing is. It's not true, though. Okay. [45:12.000 --> 45:18.000] We went to a comedy show and we got a, there was a huge like pushback. [45:18.000 --> 45:22.000] There was like almost people blowing because it was in Orange County. [45:22.000 --> 45:31.000] And the comedian gets up there and he's like, Hey guys, how's it going? How here? It's great to see all you people out here in Hollywood and people are like. [45:32.000 --> 45:41.000] No, we are not. Oh, wait, we are not. We are Orange County. [45:41.000 --> 45:51.000] All right, Denise, thank you so much for coming on to the show. If you want to come back on during your campaign later on, the door is always open. Let us know. [45:51.000 --> 45:55.000] But why don't you, before we sign off for the night, tell people where they can find you and go support you. [45:55.000 --> 46:06.000] Sure. Thank you. Yes, you can go. I'm on X under and for MoMA 209. That's kind of where I put all my new stuff out. And on Instagram, Denise. [46:06.000 --> 46:13.000] Dot four dot assembly 13. And you can see my campaign at Denise, the number four assembly 13.com. [46:13.000 --> 46:20.000] So I'm really excited I got to talk to you guys. Thank you for having me on. And let's see what happens after primaries. [46:20.000 --> 46:22.000] Yeah, excellent. Best of luck to you. [46:22.000 --> 46:27.000] And everyone who joined in on the chat and who's been watching. [46:27.000 --> 46:36.000] Everyone who's been watching live. Thanks for tuning in. As always, make sure to like, share, subscribe, review all of that stuff. [46:36.000 --> 46:45.000] And if you can, the best thing you can do to support the show is send it to a friend. It's absolutely free. Maybe they'll be interested in this podcast. [46:45.000 --> 46:51.000] And with that, we'll see you on the next one. Have a good night, everybody. [46:51.000 --> 47:14.000] Thank you for listening to another episode of California Underground. If you like what you heard, remember to subscribe, like and review it and follow California Underground on social media for updates as to when new episodes are available. Transcription results written to '/home/forge/transcribe3.sonicengage.com/releases/20240207165123' directory