A New Poll shows Eric Swalwell taking the lead

00:00:00
Speaker 1: And very happy Thursday too with twelve oh six. In the West, It's the John Phillips Show. Mister Randy Weggs in Culver City, John, why do we never promote a guest ahead of time? Because every time I do that they bone us.

00:00:17
Speaker 2: You on Friday were like, hey, next Friday and Tonio Viragoso will be here.

00:00:23
Speaker 1: He pushed to next week.

00:00:25
Speaker 2: Yesterday you told everyone that you'd be driving in studio to sit down in person with Spencer Pratt, and he moved to next week.

00:00:36
Speaker 1: Okay, let me try a trick and see if this works. Hey, everyone, your taxes are due on April to fifteenth. Do you think that means we get to pay in September?

00:00:51
Speaker 2: We will no longer be promoting any guests on this show until they are on the line or in the studio because we get boned all the time.

00:01:04
Speaker 1: Well, not as frequent as others, but we'll just leave that there. Eight hundred two two two five two two two. He is the telephone number one eight hundred two two two five to two two two. A new poll that was just released has Bay Area Congressman Eric Swalwell now in the lead for governor in the latest Berkeley IGS poll that was done in collaboration with Inside California Politics. Eric Swallwell is the leader at seventeen percent, followed by Hilton, followed by Bianco, followed by Stier and Katie Porter, at least in this poll is in the single digits in fifth place. She is not gonna like that, you know. The more I think about this, the more I think we have to be real strategic with how we vote, because the only way to get an improvement the way I see it in Sacramento is with three different scenarios. Scenario one is to get both Republicans on the ballot to shut the Democrats out of the November election. Then we'd get a Republican governor and you would have Republicans in charge of the executive branch, Democrats in charge of the legislative branch. And at an absolute minimum, we could block some of the really bad stuff, hopefully it would result in improvement. At a minimum, we could block the awful stuff. The other scenario that would be okay is if it's Steve Hilton and Matt Mayhon. Matt Mayhan is far and away the best Democrat in the race. No one's close to him. Scenario is Chad Bianco and Matt Mayhon Republican Democrat, Saine Democrat, Saine Republican. The problem as I see it right now is that Matt Mayhan has yet to gain any traction. This poll has him at three percent. I know he has access to a lot of Silicon Valley money and he plans on spending it. But he better start soon because if he keeps pulling in the three percent range, people are gonna forget that he exists, which leaves us with the only viable option, which is Steve Hilton versus Chad Bianco. Well, here's the problem with that. Right now, Steve Hilton has pretty consistently pulled away from Chad Bianco as the top performing Republican. He shows up to all the debates, he shows up to all of his interviews. He puts out an impressive performance, and he is being rewarded in the polls. When we first booked Chad Bianco on this program, he didn't show up and we offered to reschedule him. He rescheduled for I think it was a week later we put him on. He did find when he was on the show, some time goes by. We book him again to come on the show. He doesn't show up, we offer him later that day. He can't do later that day. He wants to book it at some point in the future. And apparently they were upset that we mentioned on the air that he was booked and didn't show up. What are we supposed to do not mention that, especially when we promote that a guest is about to be on the air, and without getting into the details, it's unbelievably disruptive to our operation to book someone and then not have them show up. And then they go, well, just put me on two day. What does it matter, Well, it matters because we put a lot of time and effort into trying to get this show together and then you just not showing up throws everything in a disarray. But it's not a blow to my ego that caused the red flag to pop up. When he did that, that let me know that that's how they run shop. And then we would get emails from people saying, oh, yeah, he was supposed to speak to our group and he showed up way late, or he didn't show up at all, and then the debate start, and then he doesn't show up to the first debate because I guess one of his kids gave birth to a grandkid and he said he wanted to be there for the birth, so he didn't show up. Then you see these other forums that we discussed on this program, and usually Chad Bianco is not participating. He can't be there for one reason or another. Well, when you do that enough times, it ends up hurting you. And because of that, I believe because the politics they're very similar. His politics are very similar to Steve Hilton. It's not like one is a Conservative Republican and one's a Rockefeller Republican. They're both pretty much the same thing. So it's just which personality do you like. Do you want an English accent or do you want a guy from Riverside County who wears boots. And because Steve Hilton is showing up, he's being rewarded in the polls. Now, if I were to cast a ballot strictly based on who I think is the better performing candidate at this point in the race, no question about it. At Steve Hilton, and clearly a lot of other people in the state are making that same decision, which is why he is beating Bianco in most polls. Therefore, I think the strategic vote at this point is for those of us who are paying attention to vote for Bianco, because if Steve Hilton runs away of it, what you're going to end up with is Steve Hilton and a Democrat and Bionco. His support is going to collapse because Hilton is going to poach whatever support Bianco has, and that is going to leave Bianco in the single digits, and you're gonna end up with a Republican versus a Democrat in November. What Republicans should try to do, and I don't know how you do this scientifically, is we want our vote split fifty to fifty between Bianco and Hilton. If we could split our vote fifty to fifty between Bianco and Hilton, that is the best case scenario for November, because then we have the best shot at getting two Republicans on the ballot, assuming that Matt Mayhon stays at three percent. If Matt Mayhon stays at three percent, he's not a viable option. If he starts to gain some traction and he starts to do well, well, then we can look at this a little bit differently. But the way I see it right now what Republicans who are paying attention should do is give their vote to the weaker Republican to lift them up, and that right now is Chad Bianco. If he's not going to show up to the events and he's not going to do the work that he needs to do to lift himself up, I guess the rest of us have to do that for him. And if we give our vote to Chad Bianco, then he'll start to pall better in future polls, and then we have an opportunity to have two Republicans on the November ballot. But the way I see things is as this race continues to progress, what you're going to see is Hilton's lead over Bianco is going to widen because I don't see Hilton changing what he's doing and I don't see Bianco changing what he's doing. And if neither one of them changes what they're doing, Beyond is going to get his clock cleaned. So the rest of us have to vote for Bianco at this point to make sure that he doesn't get left behind, because this new poll that we're about to talk about is a real problem.

00:09:18
Speaker 2: For more on the latest poll in the governor's race, here is KTLA. Although I could have also pulled the exact same story from cranfur or Fox forty, I picked the KTLA one because it also has a mayor's race poll in it.

00:09:35
Speaker 3: This morning, there is a new exclusive poll from Inside California Politics and Emerson College. It shows Democrat Eric Swalwell is gaining momentum in the crowded twenty twenty six race for governor and in the race for LA mayor. The contest is wide open, one out of every two Angelinos still undecided. KTLA's Aton Wallace is live at the state Capitol with a closer look at the results.

00:09:56
Speaker 4: Aton, Good morning, Hey Eric, Good morning to you and everybody in southern California. And indeed, the analysts I spoke to for this report say this is not the news the Basque campaign wanted to see. But those analysts also make clear there is still time in the race for mayor and in the race for governor for candidates to reach those key undecided voters.

00:10:19
Speaker 1: Let us start today, Thank you.

00:10:22
Speaker 4: Democrat Eric Swalwell, restore that California dreams and Republicans Steve Hilton. As it stands today, those two are in the top two in the race for California governor. That is according to this exclusive Inside California Politics and Emerson College pool surveying one thousand registered California voters. The survey results showing Swawell leads with just over seventeen percent, with Hilton behind him at just over thirteen percent. Riverside County Sheriff Republican Chad Bianco is in third with just over eleven percent, and about half a point behind him Democrat Tom.

00:10:58
Speaker 1: Steyer thirty million dollars can buy you a fourth place. He's just unlikable and he sounds like super Dave Osborne, so we should like him.

00:11:10
Speaker 4: Meantime, Democratic former Orange County congress Member Katie Porter rounds out the top five with nearly.

00:11:15
Speaker 2: Really Aton rounds out She's not gonna like that either, Get out of my shot. I don't think he meant to do that intentionally.

00:11:26
Speaker 1: In my mind, he did.

00:11:28
Speaker 4: Meantime, Democratic former Orange County congress Member Katie Porter rounds out the top five with nearly eight and a half percent.

00:11:35
Speaker 1: Oh Katie, how the mighty have fallen? Can you imagine what she must be like to travel with right now around the state?

00:11:44
Speaker 5: Please?

00:11:45
Speaker 2: I get to imagine she's quite angry most of the time, and most of that anger, even though it's about Tom Steyer, is probably directed at her staffers.

00:11:56
Speaker 1: Oh, I think it's directed at anyone in her orbit.

00:12:00
Speaker 4: All of the other candidates are pulling at about three percent or lower.

00:12:04
Speaker 2: Yeah, mister Peanut three percent, Matt Mayhon three percent. Uh, Javier Bakaria, the scrub a dub dub at three percent. That pack. Nobody's breaking out. And even though you saw that Betty Ye bump at the Democrat National the Democrat Convention in California, Betty Ye was at two percent in this poll, I think Thurman was at one percent. The one caveat I would add is that Matt Mayhan, unlike the others, has been able to raise a ton of money from Silicon Valley, and sometimes money results in a shift in the poll numbers, and sometimes it doesn't. Time will tell. There's also a lot of experts that say this polling is going to be way different once the actual ballot designations are on these polls, because right now we don't know what's going to be listed next to the person when it says who are you picking for governor? Like for Katie Porter, is it going to say former congresswoman. Is it going to say U s I professor? Or is he gonna say home chef?

00:13:07
Speaker 1: You never know? Well, how about Tony V. Is it gonna be former La mayor? Or is it gonna be herbal life salesman or.

00:13:14
Speaker 2: Father time and just show a picture of him during the COVID days, Peanut Farmer.

00:13:19
Speaker 6: The one thing you can say right now is you'd rather be Eric Swalwell than anybody else in this race.

00:13:25
Speaker 1: The first time anyone's ever said that, by the way, And I'm gonna jinx this too. Later on in the program, we're gonna have the man who's suing Eric Swalwell saying that he is not a legal California resident. Tune in at two o'clock to see if John just jinx us again.

00:13:44
Speaker 4: Even so, Claremont McKenna College Professor of Government Jack Pitney makes clear this race is still an open one, with the survey showing nearly twenty five percent of voters are still undecided roughly eighty days out from the June second primary.

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Speaker 2: I mean, there's still plenty of people who haven't paid any attention to this race whatsoever.

00:14:04
Speaker 1: I would say the majority of people.

00:14:06
Speaker 2: Including Gavin who didn't pay any attention to it until Rusty Hicks called him and said, dude, you're sucking up all the air.

00:14:13
Speaker 1: In the room. Well he's different, he doesn't care.

00:14:16
Speaker 6: This is all far from over. It's early yet, it's March. Most Californians aren't political junkies. They're not thinking too hard about the governor's race.

00:14:25
Speaker 1: Yet, he says, let's check in with those average California voters.

00:14:29
Speaker 7: No, I don't know enough to give you any good information, but good luck finding someone who does.

00:14:36
Speaker 4: He says that's especially true because this race lacks candidates with the same amount of name recognition seen in previous scubernatorial contests.

00:14:45
Speaker 6: We had an election not that long ago that featured the biggest name in the world, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

00:14:50
Speaker 1: Oh those are the days, oh yes, where he was blowing up the boxes.

00:14:55
Speaker 2: Well, and he wasn't the only big name at that election. Don't forget about Gary Culeman and Mary Carey.

00:15:04
Speaker 6: And it's no disrespect to any of the candidates to say you're no Arnold Schwarzenegger.

00:15:08
Speaker 4: It all comes just over a week since California Democratic Party Chair Rusty Hicks wrote this open letter urging lower pulling Democratic candidates not to run for governor amid concerns the crowded field of Democrats could split the vote.

00:15:22
Speaker 1: And the only one that said yes to that was Ian Calderon, and he was at less than one percent. He threw his zero percent support behind Eric.

00:15:32
Speaker 4: Swalwell, resulting in the top two Republicans, Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco, advancing to the November general election.

00:15:40
Speaker 6: Not the likeliest outcome, but it is probable enough so that Democrats are a little nervous and they should be.

00:15:48
Speaker 4: In the race for La mayor. The poll find's incumbent Mayor Karen Vass leading with nineteen and a half percent.

00:15:55
Speaker 1: That is so pathetic on so many levels. I mean, it's not surprise.

00:16:01
Speaker 2: She has been a complete disaster on every single front. I can't tell you one success story with the Karen Bass administration.

00:16:13
Speaker 4: Not one in the race for La mayor, and for the most.

00:16:16
Speaker 2: Part, LA voters are like California voters, but it's exponentially more disinterested in what's going on. That being said, it's really hard to ignore an entire neighborhood burning down, and she did.

00:16:31
Speaker 4: In the race for La mayor, The poll finds incumbent Mayor Karen Vass leading with nineteen and a half percent.

00:16:36
Speaker 2: Let's also not forget early in her mayordom when the ten Freeway melted and they still never caught that guy, and that was on videotape.

00:16:45
Speaker 4: Followed by actor Spencer Pratt at just over ten percent.

00:16:48
Speaker 1: Actor. I don't know if you can call reality show stars actors. I mean there is some acting involved, but are actor are they part of the union.

00:17:03
Speaker 4: Followed by actor Spencer Pratt at just over ten percent, and Los Angeles City Council member Nythia Rahman rounding out the top three at just over.

00:17:11
Speaker 1: Nine PERCENTNITHEO, why did you get in this race? Well, all she asked to do is leapfrog Spencer Pratt, and she's in second place, and then she's in. She's got a shot most striking.

00:17:24
Speaker 4: Though more than half of Angelino say they are still undecided.

00:17:28
Speaker 8: This is not what I would want to see if I am the incumbent.

00:17:32
Speaker 7: Mayor Bass here twenty percent on the initial ballot.

00:17:36
Speaker 6: This is a referendum on Karen Bass. And if you're only polling one hundred twenty percent, you've got a problem.

00:17:41
Speaker 1: Yes, she does a big problem.

00:17:44
Speaker 4: And important to note this poll looked into other matters as well, including Governor Gavin Newsom's approval rating and how many Californians say the state is headed in the right direction. All those results can be found on our website KTLA dot com. We're life here at the state capital, Aton Wallace, KTLA five News.

00:18:01
Speaker 2: There you go, there's the latest on the California governor's race. Eight hundred two two two five two two two is the 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.

00:18:22
Speaker 1: And Randy. You can listen to us on Saturdays on KMJ and Fresno.

00:18:27
Speaker 2: You know, Gavin Newsom constantly when he's defending the high speed rail, says, well, we need to be building the high speed rail because so many Californians ignore the Central Valley. They don't pay attention to the Central Valley. Well, we spend precious time on this show every single day promoting a weekend best of in the Central Valley. So take that, Gavin. The fixed California our replay air Saturdays at noon on our sister station Kmjanfresno. You can hear KMJ on A five on the AM dial, and that signal is big. It goes all the way to Ventura County in the south, it goes to parts of the Bay Area in the north, and of course it covers the entire Central Valley one A five point nine FM and kmjnow dot com The Fix California. Our replay the most promoted weekend best of in radio history. In the meantime, what do you say we make a couple of listeners very happy. Seven ninety KABC welcomes Oh wait, let me make sure we're still giving this away?

00:19:28
Speaker 1: And it was in the notes, okay, and sometimes they got a double check.

00:19:31
Speaker 2: I don't want to ever give away something that we don't have. It'd be like promoting a guest that doesn't show up. Seven ninety KABC welcomes Gypsy Kings at the Canyon at the Oxnar Performing Arts Center on March fifteenth. Tickets are on sale now at AXS dot com, but right now, colling number nine at one eight eight eight seven ninety five two to two two gets a pair of tickets to the show tickets furnished by the Canyon where music meets the soul good luck dialing.

00:20:01
Speaker 1: Well, not only do we have new polls out on the governor's race in the LA Mayor's race, we also have one out on the wealth tax.

00:20:10
Speaker 2: Let's listen to what California voters think about the proposed wealth tax, which, by the way, has not made the ballot yet. It is still in the signature collection phase. But let's see what Californians think about it. Here is a report from ABC seven in the Bay.

00:20:28
Speaker 9: Are California voters on board with a billionaires tax? A new Berkeley Citron Center poll suggests the union backed proposal has a slight advantage.

00:20:36
Speaker 10: And the messages are out there.

00:20:37
Speaker 9: About forty one percent of voters strongly feel they'd vote yes on a one time five percent tax on billionaire's assets.

00:20:44
Speaker 2: You know what it probably is. And I don't think the SEIU Healthcare Union that put this forth ever thought about this when this campaign was coming out. How many average California voters that don't really pay attention to politics keep seeing those Tom Styles ads and are like, I want to take his money away?

00:21:03
Speaker 1: Well, I'll tell you you look at what's going on in Washington State, where they're doing something similar. You look at what the SCIU is trying to do with this particular initiative, You look at the policies that Mayor Mom Donnie is supporting in New York City. And what you're seeing going on right now in real time is you're seeing wealth, you're seeing jobs, You're seeing innovation move from the Blue states to the Red states. And what's going to happen is these idiots aren't going to figure out how much damage they're doing until they can't fix it anymore.

00:21:39
Speaker 9: About twenty seven percent feels strong about voting no.

00:21:43
Speaker 2: Maybe the thought is that some of those billionaires were moved back after one summer in Florida.

00:21:48
Speaker 1: Well, when you're a billionaire, you can vacation wherever you want. Just because your residency is in Florida, as we've learned from Eric Swallwell, it doesn't mean you actually have to live there. Twenty four you can travel wherever you want.

00:22:02
Speaker 9: About twenty seven percent feels strong about voting no. Overall, twenty three percent are not sure in ballot initiatives.

00:22:10
Speaker 10: In California, you really want to start the in the sixties.

00:22:13
Speaker 9: Roger Salazar is a veteran of California ballot measure campaigns. He says ballot language, messaging and endorsements are keys to success.

00:22:22
Speaker 1: Also paying homeless people to forge signatures, which makes it real easy to make sure your initiative qualifies for the ballot.

00:22:31
Speaker 2: I guarantee if somebody had the time to do a deep dive into these signature collections for all those kidney bills that we have to vote on every cycle, that is homeless people, Because seriously, who's signing those.

00:22:46
Speaker 1: I have literally not met one person who gets worked up over the laws governed and kidneys.

00:22:52
Speaker 2: Well, they're not even the laws governing kidneys. They're the laws governing the healthcare pay of the workers at the kidney centers.

00:22:59
Speaker 1: It's bill.

00:23:01
Speaker 10: Anytime you sort of have raised doubt in a voter's mind that they're going to tend to want to vote no Salazar.

00:23:06
Speaker 2: By the way, one of the things that was on that table trying to be signed by the forge signatures was an anti wealth tax measure that's meant to confuse the voters that is backed by billionaires. But I guess they firmed that they hired is crooked as hell.

00:23:25
Speaker 1: Well, when you're doing business in California, I guess that's what you gotta do.

00:23:30
Speaker 9: Salazar is also working with the Golden State Promise pack, formed solely to defeat the wealth tax, which if passed, would fund California's healthcare system.

00:23:39
Speaker 2: That is the interesting thing about this tax. It's even when like Bernie Sanders, who's been campaigning up and down the state for it, he's asked, like, do you even understand where this goes? Because it's not going into the general fund. The majority of the money raised by this tax, which is kind of like an asset seizure because it's going to tax your theoretical wealth, not the money that you have in your bank, but the money that you have invested, is that most of it goes towards the healthcare union that put this on the balant.

00:24:09
Speaker 1: No, what this is very similar to are the sports gaming initiatives that we voted on some years ago, where instead of writing a clean bill, if they just wanted to jack taxes up so there was more money for the general fund, my guess is they would have broader support. But because they want the money strictly to go to their membership, you're going to lose some people along the lines who would otherwise support something like.

00:24:34
Speaker 2: This, And that is why we still don't have legalized sports betting in California, and you have Bobby going after fantasy sports, Bob Bonta, Well, it's probably why Gavin Newsom isn't supporting the wealth tax too.

00:24:51
Speaker 10: It's not ideally written for you for helping the overall budget.

00:24:55
Speaker 8: If you don't have a lot of information about a proposition and you're not really sure if it's a good idea or not, it can feel safer to vote no.

00:25:03
Speaker 1: Unlikely that is good advice.

00:25:05
Speaker 2: Yes, if you don't know what something does, don't vote for it.

00:25:11
Speaker 1: That's how we get in trouble because idiots don't understand what they're reading. And by the way, I guess it's not entirely the idiot's fault because they purposely write it to be deceiving, but they then go ahead and vote yes, and then the rest of us have to live with those consequences.

00:25:28
Speaker 9: Unlike Prop fifty, which had unified democratic support, the Wealth Tax faces opposition from Governor Gavin Newsom and other party leaders.

00:25:36
Speaker 8: As an elected official or a candidate, you might also be concerned about, well, who am I going to ask for donations next time around if I've annoyed all of the billionaires.

00:25:51
Speaker 1: Especially if you're a politician in the Silicon Valley.

00:25:56
Speaker 9: Observers say, political and public support are complicated here.

00:26:00
Speaker 8: On first glance. Maybe they've heard a little bit of the pushback against it, the claims that the billionaire tax will hurt California.

00:26:09
Speaker 9: Noting it's just too early, it's not.

00:26:11
Speaker 8: Even qualified for the ballot yet, and all of that adds up to a little bit of trepidation about overtaxing the wealthy.

00:26:21
Speaker 9: So today's numbers are just a snapshot in time. Polling hasn't even firmed up for the governor's race yet, and that's actually on the ballot with the June primary coming up around the corner. So if this wealth tax moves forward, expect these numbers to change as the messaging kicks in.

00:26:36
Speaker 2: So it still hasn't qualified for the ballot. I think they have till mid April to turn in those signatures. But this thing is starting off at fifty one percent support according to this poll. So if the election were today, this thing could pass.

00:26:52
Speaker 1: And keep in mind Gavin Newsom is opposed to it. But the next governor may not be. And the s CiU and the CTA, the California Teachers Association, they have not picked a horse yet in the gubernatorial race. My guess is, and I'm only speaking on behalf of the s CiU here, they won't support a candidate who doesn't get behind this initiative.

00:27:21
Speaker 2: Well, and Katie Porter might be that candidate, and she might do it to specifically take Tom Steyer's money away from him.

00:27:29
Speaker 1: Well, she is bitter.

00:27:33
Speaker 2: The one thing that Californians have in common with Katie Porter nobody likes Tom Steyer.

00:27:39
Speaker 1: No, that is very true. Eight hundred two two two five two two two is the telephone number one 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 and be your monitor. In the mailbag, Sean.

00:28:02
Speaker 2: Has written in with an email that I don't think I can read whatsoever. I can describe it in very vague details.

00:28:10
Speaker 1: No you can't.

00:28:12
Speaker 2: All right, I'm not just read it. I'll just play this drop and you guys can guess what the email was about.

00:28:19
Speaker 1: You can just leave it at that.

00:28:26
Speaker 2: She wasn't even part of the story. But you say the word and the bat signal comes out.

00:28:32
Speaker 1: Let's go to Pete and Santa Cruz. Pete, Hello, Hey, thanks you guys.

00:28:37
Speaker 11: I listened to you all the time, and thank It's an incredible great show. And whether it's cap and trade or whether it's just billionaires text. Last week I heard a statistic forty million people in California and seventeen million pay tex come on and now they want more from the people who are being what do you guys say?

00:29:00
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean people look at the state and they go, oh, it's a rich state because there's Beverly Hills in Malibu and Los Gatos and Atherton and you know, all of these enclaves that have a lot of money. But that's true. We also lead the country in poverty. We have more poverty in California than in Mississippi or Alabama or West Virginia or any of the states that one would associate with poverty. And what we have in California is we have the haves and we have the have nots. And we used to have a robust middle class where people could afford to buy homes and raise their kids here and run a small business here. And we're pushing all of those people out of state. And so what you're left with is you're left with the billionaires and you're left with the poor people. And now what they're doing with things like this wealth confiscation tax is they're trying to push the billionaires out. Well, okay, go ahead, push them out. Put every rich person in the United States, in Florida or Texas. What do you think you're gonna be left with. You're gonna be left with people who are living in poverty, and then you're gonna have no one else to tax. And their attitude is the weather is better here that it is in Texas, so we can tax you however it is that we want to, and you're never actually gonna leave. But the problem is is that wealthy people can leave and that doesn't mean they have to spend the summer in Austin. It means they can get on their private jet and they can go to some Caribbean islander, they can go to, I don't know, Idaho, wherever they want to go. And the people in Sacramento can't wrap their head around that they think they have a monopoly on good weather and that rich people just have to put up with bad government, and that's just not reality.

00:30:55
Speaker 11: Thanks for bringing to the forefront and your show every day. I appreciate it.

00:30:58
Speaker 1: Well, thank you for the call. Start. Let's go to Dan in West Hills.

00:31:02
Speaker 8: Dan.

00:31:03
Speaker 12: Hello, Hi, John Boy. That segue into what I'm going to talk about is absolutely brilliant. I'm trying to help Randy out. He's the number one griller in America, and he was worried about, you know, the summers in Florida, how hot they were, And you said, all billionaires can go anywhere. Actually, just about anybody can go to where the weather is best in the United States every summer, And to be surprised, best summer weather in the United States is in Buffalo, New York. That's right, Buffalo, New York. They have summers where the temperature does not go over ninety degrees even one day, and the rest of the time, the days are usually in the seventies or the low eighties. Man, it's the place to go. And properties in Buffalo are much cheaper than about anywhere you can imagine. So boost Buffalo, that's where you need to go.

00:31:53
Speaker 1: How about it, Randy.

00:31:55
Speaker 2: Do you know how fat I would get eating wings every day?

00:32:00
Speaker 12: But they're darn good that they are. And you know, there are other things you can enjoy in Buffalo too, Besides besides the wings, they have some wonderful Polish food and they have a Taste of Buffalo event which is just magnificent, where they also feature the Buffalo Jills, the cheerleaders from the Buffalo Bills team. Oh it's a great afternoon. I recommend it, all right.

00:32:23
Speaker 1: Thank you for the call, sir. You sold Brandy. I think I'm going to pass all right. Speaking of taxes being jacked up all over the state, they're trying to do it again in Sacramento.

00:32:37
Speaker 2: In Sacramento, there is an organization that wants to put a sales tax hig for safety improvements to the roads, which you would think aren't there already taxes that pay for that. For more, here's ABC ten in Sacramento.

00:32:51
Speaker 7: A group of Sacramentos is fighting for safer roads. Thanks for joining us on Alex Bell. They're doing it in the form of a ballot initiative that would raise the local sales tax by.

00:33:01
Speaker 1: Half a percent.

00:33:01
Speaker 7: Maybe, sends Mecahobaker. Joins us Now in Studio with more on this effort Alex.

00:33:07
Speaker 13: Sacramento ranks worst among the state's fifteen largest cities for speed related crashes. That's according to the latest data from the California Office of Traffic Safety. A group of Sacramento, how do you.

00:33:17
Speaker 1: Get to that statistic? I have no idea.

00:33:21
Speaker 13: A group of Sacramentos wants to do something about it, but that takes money.

00:33:26
Speaker 5: It's unacceptable to be the worst sitting in California, which is typically worse than other parts of the country because we have so many people.

00:33:36
Speaker 1: He's right.

00:33:36
Speaker 2: It could be that Sacramento has the worst drivers in the world. And here I thought it was La. But traffic is so bad in LA that nobody can go over five miles an hour. So how bad of a driver can you really have to be?

00:33:49
Speaker 1: Well, it's Sacramento, don't they have both Servante's sisters.

00:33:53
Speaker 13: Steve Cone is co chair of the Safer Sack Streets campaign, which submitted the City of Sacramento.

00:33:58
Speaker 2: Safety Wait a second, Wait a second, Wait a second. You're telling me the guy who is spearheading a traffic safety campaign's name is Cone.

00:34:10
Speaker 1: Sometimes your name is your destiny.

00:34:15
Speaker 13: Steve Cone is co chair of the Safer Sack Streets campaign, which submitted the City of Sacramento Safe Streets and Affordable Transit Measure of twenty twenty six.

00:34:24
Speaker 1: The co chair is Becky Ballard. Well, how about the biggest contributor, Bob Sig Alert.

00:34:33
Speaker 13: To the city Clerk, which has approved it for signature gathering.

00:34:37
Speaker 5: This measure would help fund safety improvements.

00:34:40
Speaker 13: Sacramento sales tax is currently eight point seventy five percent.

00:34:43
Speaker 1: That must be nice.

00:34:48
Speaker 2: We're about to become over ten here in Los Angeles.

00:34:53
Speaker 1: What is it in the Antelope Valley.

00:34:55
Speaker 2: It is the highest in the nation, and I think it's going to be over eleven after voters will inevitably pass even more sales tax hikes in the county.

00:35:05
Speaker 13: That's below the statewide average across all cities of eight point ninety six percent. It was last raised seven years ago by a half cent after voters passed an update to measure.

00:35:15
Speaker 11: You.

00:35:15
Speaker 13: If the Safer Sack Streets measure qualifies for the ballot and passes, Sacramento's sales tax would increase to nine point two five percent. About forty percent of cities in California already have sales tax rates at or above that level, with two cities in La County reaching as high as eleven point two five percent.

00:35:32
Speaker 1: Okay is Palmdale and Lancaster. If they actually passed this, do you think the roads are going to improve at Sacramento or do you think they're just going to fund more hospices in the San Fernando Valley and Somali schools in Minnesota. That's the thing, you know.

00:35:48
Speaker 2: You look at the sales tax hike for Measure M in Los Angeles and they said, hey, if you pass this thing in twenty eighteen, we're going to build that subway under the Subpulvita Pass. And well they haven't even started planning building it yet.

00:36:04
Speaker 1: Nope. And then if you question them on it, they say, well, we need more money and more time.

00:36:08
Speaker 13: The state required minimum sales tax in California is seven point twenty five percent.

00:36:12
Speaker 5: It's about seventy to seventy five million a year to start, and it probably go up if the economy gets better. But that's a lot of money just for the city of Sacramento.

00:36:23
Speaker 2: As He and the campaign, thus people start doing all their shopping in Stockton.

00:36:28
Speaker 1: That's what I'd do.

00:36:29
Speaker 13: As He and the campaign's website explain about half the funds will be spent on safer streets like pothole repair, sidewalk and bike lane improvements. About half will fund safer faster transit.

00:36:40
Speaker 1: That means replacing copper wire for sac RT and then replacing it again after it gets stolen.

00:36:47
Speaker 13: It again, ensuring more frequent and reliable bus and light rail service within city limits. And the rest will fund independent oversight and transit oriented housing infrastructure. The measure says, the fun.

00:36:59
Speaker 1: What does that have to do with road safety? Nothing?

00:37:02
Speaker 13: The measure says the funds cannot be used for other purposes, but would voters have the appetite to approve a half cent sales tax increase? I spoke with John coopoul of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. He says he doesn't think so.

00:37:14
Speaker 8: Any discussion of additional taxes in California is going to run into some strong headwinds.

00:37:21
Speaker 2: Us and John Coupoula is so fiscally responsible that that laptop is about fifty years old.

00:37:26
Speaker 1: Okay, what was this guy's name? Cone? Well, you know where he should stick that cone