The Governor's race is about to get scandalous

00:00:00
Speaker 1: And very happy Monday to you.

00:00:01
Speaker 2: At twelve oh six in the West, it's the Giant Phillip Show, mister Randy Wangs in Culver City.

00:00:07
Speaker 3: Well, first we had people living in the sewer, then we had people living in the river, and now jan Nala, the clean La with Me guy, has discovered people living inside a bridge pillar.

00:00:22
Speaker 1: What's next?

00:00:23
Speaker 2: People are going to be living inside Ben Shapiro's eyebrows. Eight hundred two two two five two two two is the telephone number? What eight hundred two two two five two two two. Well, there is breaking news today regarding the race for governor here in the state of California, a lot of breaking news. In fact, President Trump has come out and endorsed Steve Hilton for governor. Hilton one of two Republicans who have been leading in the polls recently. This could be fire on Republicans. If Hilton were to sert and Bianca were to fall off, then it would be a Republican and a Democrat on the November ballot, and that would be a huge advantage for the Democrats as they've won all the recent gubernatorial elections and landslides.

00:01:17
Speaker 3: That has been the conventional wisdom from everybody responding to this endorsement on Twitter from all sides of the aisle. This does not help the cause of two Republicans getting on the ballots.

00:01:28
Speaker 2: No, and it leads to the question is this it or is he going to put out an endorsement of Bianco at some point in the future too, because he's done that before where he's endorsed both of the candidates and the race. So who knows what's going to go on there. We'll explore that topic in just a few minutes. But first, there are new allegations against congressmen and candidate for Governor Eric Swallwell of a sexual nature, involving former employees and interns in his office who are now claimed I mean that he was very inappropriate in his relations with the staff.

00:02:05
Speaker 3: To quote former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger when he was running in the recall, he's been a very bad boy. Allegedly. This comes from a woman named Cheyenne Hunt, who was a candidate for Congress in the past and has worked with different organizations. She has put out a thread that is going everywhere today, and I guess we'll go ahead and read you some of these allegations. Congrats everyone. The campaign for governor officially started today. I have been working with a number of women who are in the process of coming forward and sharing their stories of sexual harassment and even alleged abuse at the hands of Eric Swalwell. Here's why we're talking about it before the mainstream media. And then she did a little threat emoji. I got involved with the first victim who approached me as a close friend, but when I saw that there were others who experiences fit the same pattern of the manipulation and abuse of power, I knew I couldn't stay silent. Targeting employees, interns and fans. Fans, Well, he's a regular at cable News. Yeah, but the demo of cable News. What fans was he going after? Well, maybe he's into the cougars acting as a mentor, just to exploit that power. Dms and snapchat messages. Allegations ranging from uncomfortable comments to potentially criminal conduct. Other women needed to know that they were not alone and that someone had their backs if they came forward. After I spoke about my friend's experience, many brave women came forward and shared their stories with me. We have secured pro bono legal representation for them and there in the process of sharing information with reporters and ensuring that they are physically and legally safe. That process takes time because of the allegation, as all these women signed NDAs at some point. The number of credible women who have come forward since I posted my video is pretty shocking and connecting with them. The investigative reporting teams, who have been working on breaking this for years has greatly expedited this process. I am confident this story will break soon. I understand that people want as much information as possible regarding these women, their stories, and their identities. The problem is most of these women stayed silent because they believe that they are alone in their experience and that coming forward could ruin their careers. It appears that others have stayed quiet due to a belief that non disclosure agreements required them to keep this secret. While it is true the most undas would be unenforceable under these circumstances, most people don't know that until they speak to a lawyer. I spoke about this before the story broke to courage other women to come forward and help ensure the story breaks as soon as possible. Because I am not blind to the fact that this will obviously have implications on the California governor's race. One more key point I want to share. I am an attorney, I am well aware of the risk I am taking by speaking up publicly, and that if I were to lie about a public figure of a platform in my size, I could easily be subject to a defamation lawsuit. That being said, Swalwell follows me. I know his team is aware of my video and the other creators talking about this, yet I have not been served with legal paperwork and I have not received a cease and desist. The truth is an absolute defense, and they know that. But I also work in politics. Having this conversation publicly makes me a liability. But I do not believe in holding Republicans to a different standard than we are willing to uphold ourselves. No more predators and power from either party, period. So if you or anyone you know who has a story you'd like to share or what resources we have available for you, please reach out. That is the thread from Cheyenne Hunt alleging all kinds of misdeeds at the hands of Eric Swalwell.

00:06:14
Speaker 2: Now after that thread went out, there's a Democratic strategist by the name of bobvic Lothia, who responded to it and said, quote, Hey, I just got off the phone with a trusted friend. This is real. Take it seriously. Eric Swalwell cannot be our nominee. There's going to be a lot more coming out soon. I can't say more right now, but stay tuned. And this isn't some partisan witch hunt. These are real Democratic women coming forward. A lot of this bleep is going to shock you all.

00:06:47
Speaker 3: Oh boy.

00:06:50
Speaker 2: Now here's the backstory to this. One of the reasons I have been emphatic that the debate should include all of the candidates, all the major candidates, is because the top three Democrats in the race are extremely problematic. Extremely problematic. We know, for example, when Katie Porter was asked if there are any more videos that exist if her telling a staffer to f off, she couldn't say no to that, You're out of my shop, which means there are more videos that are out there. And as we get closer to election day, I suspect we're going to see them.

00:07:40
Speaker 3: Oh boy.

00:07:43
Speaker 2: And then you have Eric Swallwell, where Randy, you and I have been aware of these specific rumors for quite some time. We know that this is out there. The other candidates in the race know that these rumors are out there. I would imagine that the people who would know the most or the Democratic candidates, because in the case of Swalwell, the victims would be individuals who work in Democratic politics. Well, they talk to one another. You move from office to office. If you have a bad experience, you tell your co workers, and word gets around. So the people who know the most about Eric Swalwell's transgressions are Democratic politicians and Democratic staffers. Part of the reason that the people in single digits haven't dropped out of the race is they all know this.

00:08:45
Speaker 1: They all knew this was going to come.

00:08:47
Speaker 2: Out, and if the rumors are true, oh my gosh, there's more and oh my gosh, this is just the beginning of it.

00:08:57
Speaker 3: And that's why you don't want to drop out, because you might be one of the only candidates left.

00:09:03
Speaker 1: I think that might happen here.

00:09:05
Speaker 2: I think we might enter a scenario where it's just last man standing, because if we have another nasty Katie Porter video and we have more allegations that become substantiated against Eric Swalwell, Tom Steyer has limited appeal because he's trying to buy the election. And historically in California, even though money is something that determines a lot of fates in politics, the really rich candidates haven't done that well recently. Look at Rick Caruso, look at Meg Whitman, look at Alcheckie. All three of them tried to buy elections. It didn't work out. So now that the filing deadline has come and gone, if Swallwell and Porter blow up and you look at Steyer as someone who's trying to buy the election, well, that's when you give Tony v a second look. That's when you give Matt Mayhan a second look. That's when you give Javier Bakaria a second look. We have Tony Thurman who's also running on the show later today. He might get a second look. I'm telling you, this deck might be shuffled.

00:10:27
Speaker 3: It definitely makes sense as to why some of these candidates who have been polling in the one in two percent for quite some time are like, no, we're staying with this thing, and.

00:10:38
Speaker 2: The party tried to push them out. Think about the awful advice the Democratic Party was giving their candidates get out of the race, so we have no more options and we're stuck with someone who could become an unelectable pariah because the party is starting to coalesce around Swallwell. We saw with the SCIU, we saw that with the California Teachers Association, we saw that with Adam Schiff. A number of members of Congress have come out and endorse him. I forget what the count is, but I think he has more Congressional endorsements than any other candidate in the race, and it's not even close. So the Democratic Party is starting to circle the wagons around this guy. Judgment is something they're not known for. But it'll be real interesting to see how they handle this. What do they do if these allegations keep coming and again, if the rumor mill is true, oh boy, are they coming.

00:11:46
Speaker 3: Well, if they're going to come this week, you're going to see a lot of people cut and run real fast.

00:11:53
Speaker 2: Right from the point of view of the Democratic Party, if this guy is going to be too toxic to get elect you're better off knowing it today as opposed to when the ballots are out.

00:12:05
Speaker 1: Because here's the problem.

00:12:07
Speaker 2: If the ballots go out and right now they defend them and they go these women are being propped up by Donald Trump, which I don't know how Donald Trump would have any control over women in Democratic Party politics. But whatever, Trump derangement syndrome is real, and I'm sure that's going to be the excuse that these are politically motivated attacks. Okay, fine, you better hope there's something that's not a whole lot worse that comes out after the ballots are distributed, because if there's something that happens that you can't defend two weeks after he banks a ton of votes, I don't know what you do, because if the rumors are true, they're going to have to cut bait with this guy. I don't even think they can stand with them. Maybe some of them will, but who knows. I'm not surprised that often. But right now we're in uncharted waters because of the screwy top two primary. We could still despite Donald Trump's endorsement of Steve Hilton, we could still be looking at a scenario where we get two Republicans.

00:13:28
Speaker 1: Because here's what's going to happen.

00:13:30
Speaker 2: Let's say Swallwell blows up and they have to find a different candidate. Well, you know that they hate Katie Porter, and you know that they don't like Tom Steyer trying to buy the election. Well, suddenly you now have the five also Rans who are now going to be fighting for.

00:13:51
Speaker 1: A piece of the pie.

00:13:53
Speaker 2: And unless one of them runs away with it, where they just all decide, okay, we're with Betty, it's probably gonna be split up between them, which means the pie which is essentially three Democrats at the top, and then you have the rest of them fighting over the crumbs. You could have five of them that all see a jump in support.

00:14:23
Speaker 1: And they split it up even more. So.

00:14:28
Speaker 2: I don't know what's gonna happen here. I don't know how they're going to react to these allegations against Eric Swallwell, sometimes they'll just tear their face off, like they did to Caesar Javez, and sometimes they'll just defend them all the way to the end, like they did with Bill Clinton. It's hard to tell how they're going to respond to it. I can't predict that. I don't come from that world. I don't know how they think, and they're inconsistent with when they they decide to push them under the bus and when they decide to stand by them. But if you look at these allegations and you go, okay, that's not enough to offend me. You better hope there's nothing else there, and I have a feeling there is, oh boy, But who knows. You don't really know these things until they happen, for sure. There's a lot of rumors that swirl around. Some end up being true, some end up being false. But we did hear this rumor, and oh boy, is it now public today? Eight hundred two two two five two two two. Easy telephone number, what eight hundred two two two five two two two. If you'd like to email the show, you can do so at Johnny don't like show at gmail dot com. That's Johnny don't like show at gmail dot com.

00:15:56
Speaker 1: And Randy. If you tuned into the radio.

00:15:59
Speaker 2: On Saturday or so on Easter and you were expecting to hear us, well you're not going to hear us because we only do the show Monday through Friday. But if you want to enjoy us on the weekends, that's easy to do.

00:16:12
Speaker 3: Although it is very possible that you tune into us on a Saturday or Sunday and did hear us, because they use us as fill on the weekends. I think on Saturday night there was a five hour block of us. Oh really, Oh yeah, but hey, you want more of this garbage radio, you can have as much of it as you want. Search for the John Phillips Show. Wherever you get your podcast, whether it's the Apple podcast app, iHeart Spotify, search for the John Phillip Show. Hit subscribe you get download all the episodes. You can do a Google on the YouTube. You can get the free KABC app, the free KSFO app, get the KMJ now app because we're on that station Saturdays at noon. There are so many different ways to listen live to this noon to three radio show whereever you are because of streaming, and you can listen to this new U to three show whenever you want, thanks to the power of podcasting.

00:17:07
Speaker 2: In the meantime, what do you say we make a couple of listeners very happy.

00:17:10
Speaker 3: Let's do that right now. Seven ninety KABC welcomes you B forty featuring Ali Campbell with special guests The Legendary Whalers featuring Junior Marvin. It's all going down at the Pacific Amphitheater on May fourteenth. Tickets are on sale now at pacamp dot com. But right now Colling number nine at one eight a' eight seven ninety five two to two two gets a pair of tickets to the show, and all concert tickets are good for one time admission to the OC Fair on Wednesday or Thursdays. Tickets furnished by the Pacific Amphitheater. Good luck dialing. Yeah, look at this. On Saturday from seven pm till midnight, it was a NonStop marathon of US.

00:17:52
Speaker 1: Sounds like a Saturday night party to me.

00:17:55
Speaker 3: And also on Sunday from one till five o'clock, it was a four our marathon of US. And it was the same programming because I only put together one best of per day.

00:18:08
Speaker 2: Eight hundred two two two five two two two is telphone number what eight hundred two two two five two to two As we told you at the top of the hour. Late last night, President Donald Trump weighed in on the California governor's race and endorsed for Fox News host Steve Hilton, and that has a lot of people thinking that, well, the idea of a top two Republicans going into the runoff is much less likely.

00:18:37
Speaker 1: Now, I think that's fair to say.

00:18:42
Speaker 3: For more, here is KTVU Fox two as they react to the news that broke this.

00:18:48
Speaker 4: Morning, Republican Steve Hilton to be California's next governor. That endorsement was posted on social media late last night. This could shake up the Republican field right now. There's no clear front runner, but Hilton and Chad Bianco, the Riverside County sheriff, another Republican, are among the top candidates so far. President Trump praised Steve Hilton, and he also took aim at Governor Gavin Newsom, who was in.

00:19:15
Speaker 3: His Well, well, of course you're going to do.

00:19:16
Speaker 4: That final year in office.

00:19:22
Speaker 3: It's been a long eight years, that is true.

00:19:29
Speaker 4: And to talk more about this race, we're joined now by David McEwan, political science professor. It's an Oma State University. All right, David, thank you for joining us. You've learned that what's your reaction to the endorsement by President Trump in the California governor's race.

00:19:45
Speaker 5: Well, you kind of have to pan out from this a little bit.

00:19:48
Speaker 6: Republicans have not been elected to the governor's seat since Arnold Schwarzenegger was in there, so you've got to go back to about a little more than twenty years. And one reason for that is that the Republicans that have been put forward, have been out of the mainstream, more conservative than the average California voter.

00:20:04
Speaker 5: So there's a both.

00:20:05
Speaker 3: Are you saying that Neil cash Karai was too conservative?

00:20:10
Speaker 2: Didn't he split town the moment he lost He's living in Minnesota now?

00:20:14
Speaker 3: Yes? John Cox too conservative?

00:20:18
Speaker 1: How about the Bear?

00:20:20
Speaker 3: Hey, there's another billionaire that didn't work out.

00:20:24
Speaker 6: Have been out of the mainstream, more conservative than the average California voter.

00:20:28
Speaker 5: So there's both a good.

00:20:30
Speaker 6: Part of this for Steve Hilton and a little bit of a challenge. The good part is it separates him from Chad Bianco. There's been this kind of bunching up for three Democrats and these two Republicans, and we're about a month.

00:20:42
Speaker 5: Out until absentee ballots go out.

00:20:44
Speaker 6: The downside is that, look, many California voters are registered as no party preference, so they're purple people.

00:20:50
Speaker 3: They're in the middle, and they usually turn out the least.

00:20:54
Speaker 2: Okay, I want to correct something here because I think this is something that is a common misnomer. People think that decline the state voters or no party preference voters are straight down the middle. They're moderates, they're people who are Republican on some things and Democrat on others. That is, for the most part, not true. Here is typically what happens. You are a no party preference voter because you are to the left of the Democratic Party and you think they're too conservative.

00:21:33
Speaker 1: So even though you might vote.

00:21:35
Speaker 2: For the Democratic candidates or democratic issues, you don't feel comfortable aligning yourself with that party because you still regard them as a pro capitalist party or a right wing party or whatever. You also have people on the other side of the spectrum, people who are so right wing they think that the Republican Party is a liberal party, and.

00:21:57
Speaker 1: They feel like they don't want to associate.

00:22:00
Speaker 2: With the Republicans, But when they vote, they vote a straight party ticket.

00:22:05
Speaker 1: For the most part, most of the.

00:22:07
Speaker 2: No party preference voters are liberals, They are left wing. They don't feel comfortable describing themselves as Democrats for one reason or another. But I would say something like two thirds of them are pretty reliably democratic when it comes to voting. And this idea that there are all of these moderates right down the middle that just exist out there is something that's a fantasy.

00:22:37
Speaker 6: Those voters become really important in November and Donald Trump is.

00:22:41
Speaker 3: If they show up, as we have seen through campaign after campaign after campaign, when Paul Mitchell starts putting up the ballot tracker and you see that. You look at Prop fifty as a special election, you had a certain percentage of Democrats that turned out, a certain percentage Ofublicans that turned out, and those were pretty similar. No party preferences is always double digits below those two.

00:23:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, because let's just say you don't have an allegiance with the party. Well, if the party tells you you need to show up and vote because this is the most important election and forever, it doesn't resonate with them because they're not Democrats or Republicans to begin with. And if you are one of those people that is straight down the middle and you have no ideology, well then you probably don't spend a lot of your time thinking about politics, and you're probably the most likely type of voter to not vote.

00:23:39
Speaker 6: Those voters become really important in November, and Donald Trump is not as popular with those voters. So it may help Steve Hilton in the near term for June, it's a problem for November as.

00:23:50
Speaker 5: He pivots back to the middle. If he gets out of the top two interesting.

00:23:53
Speaker 1: So what kind of chances?

00:23:55
Speaker 4: So are we seeing right now two Republicans making it through the primaries? How would you how would you handicap that?

00:24:02
Speaker 6: Well, the state is bluer than it has been since that recall of Great Davis and the election of Arnold Schwarzenegger in two thousand and three. California voters that are no blue party preference voters, those middle of the road voters, they tend to vote more blue than red.

00:24:17
Speaker 3: I wonder how many people reregistered as no party preference because they thought they would get less mail that way.

00:24:24
Speaker 1: Okay, you're no party preference, correct?

00:24:26
Speaker 3: I am. I have been registered no party preference since the beginning.

00:24:30
Speaker 2: Okay, do you believe you get less mail than a Democrat or a Republican would get?

00:24:40
Speaker 3: No? I get more. I think. I think I get harassed by everybody. And I know because I'm registered no party preference. I get candidates from all sides of the political spectrum asking me for money, and the answer to all of them is no. Actually the answer is stop, and then they don't stop. Eric Swalwell is asking me for money today, not for his campaign but for his legal defense fund. Oh my, my decision. Eric Swellwell, folks, It's Rep. Eric Swellwell. After the insurrection on January sixth, I made a decision to take Trump to court, and my trial is going forward, and of course the FBI is now trying to get me indicted. So legal bills are mounting left and right, which is why I'm texting you today. Can you chip in any amount to help me keep fighting?

00:25:39
Speaker 1: He needs to make sure that Larry H. Parker is getting his bills paid.

00:25:43
Speaker 6: And so that presents Republicans with a lot of challenges for November. While Democrats have a number of people running this for this primary, voters are just starting to turn their attention to what's happening for that June election. Again, it's less than sixty days absentee ballot's going out in about four weeks.

00:26:01
Speaker 3: Yeah, because the election actually starts in May. When the ballots go out and the voting begins. All the interesting, juicy stuff's going to happen right now in April, right after spring break.

00:26:13
Speaker 6: Thank god, we're not on vacation, So voters just turning their attention there. It's still a Democratic state, still a blue state, but these two Republicans jockeying for position This does give a boost to Steve Hilton. It will further kind of move down if you will, Chad Bianca. While those three Democrats that are when.

00:26:30
Speaker 3: They're sending out these polls, especially now that we know who's on the ballot, we know what their ballot designations are going to be when they send out the poll. Are they pulling all sixty one candidates?

00:26:43
Speaker 1: If so, those calls are going to last forever.

00:26:48
Speaker 6: Moved down, if you will, Chad Bianca, while those three Democrats that are bunched at the top trying to break out and move forward.

00:26:54
Speaker 4: Hey, David, before you go, Steve Hilton and Bianco have been leading among big candidates for governor for some time. Now.

00:27:03
Speaker 1: What does that tell you, Well.

00:27:05
Speaker 5: Tell us that Republicans are paying attention to the race.

00:27:07
Speaker 6: There's been a lot of attention that was focused on Proposition fifty and redistrict team and Republicans stay closer to party.

00:27:13
Speaker 1: But remember, for your.

00:27:15
Speaker 6: Viewers, they are only about one in four voters in California, so you got to look at the numbers. This is helpful in terms of attention for the June primary with these two going.

00:27:22
Speaker 1: Back and forth.

00:27:23
Speaker 6: It's less helpful with Donald Trump's endorsement as we move to November.

00:27:27
Speaker 5: That's one of the big elements here later in the year.

00:27:30
Speaker 4: Always good to hear from you, David McEwan, our political science professor from Sonoma State, Thank you for being with us on Mornings on two.

00:27:38
Speaker 3: There you go. So that's what we know right now about the implications of Steve Hilton getting the Trump endorsement as we are weeks away from people being able to vote in this gubernatorial primary.

00:27:52
Speaker 1: Let's go to John and San Jose.

00:27:54
Speaker 7: John, Hello, Oh, good ass for doud John. Hey, I have a question about Swallwell.

00:28:01
Speaker 1: Ye.

00:28:01
Speaker 7: That is what is going on with his court case where he is supposedly to be deterbined if he's even eligible to even run for governor.

00:28:13
Speaker 2: Well, I think that they had one round of that case in Swallwell one. It's one of these things where it's clear that he doesn't live in that house and liver More where he claims to be living.

00:28:25
Speaker 1: He lives in Maryland.

00:28:26
Speaker 2: That's where he's raising his family, that's where his kids go to school, that's where on the bank forms. He said it was his primary residence. But the question is does he do enough to satisfy a judge in California to legally appear on the ballot, and it looks like the judges do not want to take him off.

00:28:47
Speaker 7: Okay, it's too bad. Oh, the guy is a clown anyway.

00:28:53
Speaker 2: So I think right now he has bigger problems than his residency.

00:29:00
Speaker 7: I think so. So I was like, hey, your ages are five and five.

00:29:04
Speaker 1: There you go. Flat is the new up. Ok. I appreciate it. Let's go to Dan and Sonoma. Dan.

00:29:16
Speaker 8: Hello, hey, John, Randy. I watched the sixty minutes piece that you recommended last night, and I want to get your feedback on it, because what I've seen was sort of what I call a soft propaganda piece. And here's what I mean. The media, whenever there's a problem locally or statewide, will report on the problem, but they will never ever point the finger of blame to anyone, especially a Democrat, if they're responsible. What John Wertheim did last night on his piece was he started as the high speed rail issue was a national issue, not a state issue, and they said that other you know, rails were up and running in Japan and other nations and so forth. They brought in gavenusom they never blamed him they never met mentioned the California Democrat legislature, who's been screwing this whole thing up since Jerry Brown. And this is the typical reporting where again the Democrats are never ever blamed for whatever goes wrong. What's your take on this.

00:30:13
Speaker 2: Well, we're going to have more on that later on in the program. We're going to play that piece on sixty minutes about the bullet train, because there is no way to tell that story without telling the story of the failure of the state of California. And when you have a one party state as California is, if something like that is gets screwed up, it's the party in power that's the one that screwed it up, because they're the only ones that get to call the shots.

00:30:41
Speaker 1: Thank you for the call, sir.

00:30:43
Speaker 2: If you'd like to email the show, you can do so at Johnny Don't Like Show at gmail dot com. That's Johnny Don't Like Show at gmail dot com. And Randy Eremonitor in the mailbag.

00:30:53
Speaker 3: Bob Wright's in Listening Online in You at Arizona about voter registration, John is correct. I was registered as no party preference from my last fifteen years in California, but voted very conservative. I just thought the Republican Party was very weak.

00:31:07
Speaker 1: There you go.

00:31:09
Speaker 2: That's the type of person typically speaking, who registers as no party preference.

00:31:16
Speaker 3: We had that no party preference candidate on the other day. Oh yeah, that was an interesting one.

00:31:24
Speaker 1: That was a Friday, wasn't it. Yes, it was all right.

00:31:29
Speaker 2: So we know that there are any number of tax increases that are going to be on the ballot this particular cycle. Some of them if the SCIU one qualifies, for example, that would be a wealth confiscation tax. But there are other taxes that would raise the sales tax in different parts of California. And of course, Randy, it wouldn't be an election season if the people wanting a tax increase didn't put a properbial gun to our head.

00:31:56
Speaker 3: So we've told you about this Bay Area sales taxing. So it'll be a half cent in four out of the five Bay Area counties, but a full scent in San Francisco County because they want to fund MUNI and BART and caltrain and AC Transit, and all of these systems are going belly up. And this is why you're seeing story after story of something like Caltrain, which is seen an explosion in ridership since they electrified that rail, saying that if they don't get the tax increase, they're going to massively cut their service. For more on this, We've got a kron.

00:32:30
Speaker 4: For getting around on Coltrain might get a little more difficult now if the transit agency can't find a way to fix its budget.

00:32:37
Speaker 9: Yeah, we've seen this before with BART. If they can't raise more money, we could be looking at reduced service and even station closures. Crown Force Michael Thomas reports on what this could mean for writers.

00:32:48
Speaker 10: Hey there, if Caltrain's does make these cuts, they would be significant. We would be looking at multiple stations closing down across the region, service lines being cut, and weekend service gone completely.

00:33:00
Speaker 3: No Caltrain on Saturday or Sunday.

00:33:03
Speaker 1: How could anyone rely on that? Then?

00:33:08
Speaker 3: This is what they call the doom loop.

00:33:10
Speaker 1: Don't drink and drive kids unless it's Saturday or Sunday.

00:33:14
Speaker 10: Caltrain's officials say without a new reliable funding source, it could be forced to close more than a third of its stations across the Bay Area. It would also end weekend service and reduce trains to just once an hour, with overall service possibly stopping as early as nine pm, leaving commuters worry.

00:33:30
Speaker 6: I've been commuting on Caltrain since nineteen ninety seven, and without Caltrain, I.

00:33:35
Speaker 10: Would not have kept my job at Stanford because of the traffic, and.

00:33:40
Speaker 3: She would have ripped all her hair out sitting on the freeway. Traffic in that part of California is miserable. Yep, the cost of.

00:33:49
Speaker 1: Keeping a car on the road.

00:33:51
Speaker 10: The potential fix could come as voters head to the booth this November on a regional funding measure Centerbill sixty three. The proposal would be a sales tax across several bit area counties and would help fund transit systems like Caltrains, MUNI, and BART, preventing major service cuts across the region. But how do residents feel.

00:34:08
Speaker 3: I don't understand how all of these services they were solvent for many, many, many years. Then COVID happens, But not only does ridership go down, but they get this huge explosion in cash from all the bailouts that happened during COVID, both under Trump and under Biden, and then all of a sudden, their budgets exploded and they can't afford to do this job anymore.

00:34:30
Speaker 2: How much waste, fraud and abuse do you think is going on over at public.

00:34:34
Speaker 10: Transit preventing major service cuts across the region. But how do residents feel about paying more in sales tax?

00:34:42
Speaker 11: Well, it's a bit regressive, I think, because it affects poor people and rich people equally, So I think it should be more progressive in the sense of, like, the more money or wealth you have, you should be.

00:34:55
Speaker 3: If you're got a revenue problem, which again is interesting for Caltrain because they are seeing a forty two percent increase in ridership in the last year. But at what point do you just increase the cost of the fairs.

00:35:07
Speaker 1: It seems reasonable to me.

00:35:10
Speaker 11: You should be charged a little bit more.

00:35:11
Speaker 3: It seems the thing we want to keep doing is increase the burden on the people who don't ride the system.

00:35:18
Speaker 1: Isn't that what user fees are for.

00:35:21
Speaker 2: If you use a municipally owned golf course, you like to go play golf on the weekends or in the morning or whatever, you're supposed to pay a fee because yes, well the public does own the course. You're the one that's using it, You're the one that's enjoying it, so you should be the one that incurs more of the cost than the person that doesn't play golf. If you go to the beach, when you pay to park your car at the beach, you're paying in part to keep the beach up. It's a user fee. You're using the service. You should have to pay more. That's the way it works. You go to a cal State university or University of California, you pay your tuition fees. You are benefiting from that service, so you should incur more of the cost than the average person. I don't understand why it's out of bounds to ask the writers to pay more. If they're really going broke, you.

00:36:17
Speaker 11: Should be charged a little bit more. So sales tax is not the best way, but it's better than nothing.

00:36:21
Speaker 10: The agency says it's facing a projected seventy five million dollar annual budget deficits starting next year. That's despite ridership jumping forty seven percent last year after introducing its new electric trade. Official say if closures do happen, it could add more than thirty five thousand car trips a day, increasing traffic and pollution across the Bay Area. As we get more details as to if Senate sixty three makes it onto the ballot this year, or if officials decide to move forward with those closures. We'll keep you updated. That's the very latest year in San Francisco, and Michael Thomas, I'll send it back to you live in the studio.

00:36:54
Speaker 3: So there you go. Yet another Bay Area transit agency is saying, if they don't get this sales tax high, you're not going to have a train.