How to get young people in California to turn out and vote

00:00:00
Speaker 1: It is the Fix California Hour on the John Phillips Show. Johnny is on vacation. He will be back on Monday. The phone number if you'd like to join us We're a live radio show is eight hundred two two two five two two two one eight hundred two two two five two two two. You could email us at Johnny Don't Like show at gmail dot com. My personal email is Randy Wang Radio at gmail dot com. Make sure to subscribe to our podcast. Search for the John Phillipshow wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe to the KABC Newsplitz wherever you get your podcast. That's my solo show that I do at five o'clock every day on seven ninety KABC. And last thing, but it's really my most passionate thing. The substack randywangradio dot substack dot com is where I post something I call the California Report, every story that we're talking about today. I have the YouTube video where it came from, so you can watch them on your own time, or you can share them with your friends, your family, your social network. You can subscribe for free. It'll get emailed to you when I posted around ten thirty every morning at Randywangradio dot substack dot com. Our next guest is the vice chair of the Los Angeles County Young Republicans. You can follow them at LAC underscore Y are on Twitter. Arianna austen Macher, Welcome to the John Phillips Show.

00:01:25
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for having me today.

00:01:27
Speaker 1: So, Ariana, why don't we start off introduce yourself to the audience. Tell us about your organization.

00:01:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I'm I'm actually the political director now, but I've held every role within the organization. The Young Republicans is a national organization. We have state chapters and then we have local chapters, and our local chapters are organized by county, so we're fortunate enough to have the largest county in the entire United States with Los Angeles. We are an organization for youngs who are between the ages of eighteen to forty who are looking to get involved politically. So, whether that's looking to meet like minded individuals and connect with them on a social level, you're looking to support businesses owned by Young Republicans, or you're looking to get your business in front of like minded shared values. You're looking to get a foot in the door in some of these industries that have really kind of pushed out conservatives. And then, obviously the biggest aspect is the political engagement. So whether you want to go knockdoors, you want to volunteer on a campaign, you want to run for office yourself, we help train and engage the next generation of conservative leaders in California in Los Angeles.

00:02:47
Speaker 1: You know, one of the things that has been true for every election since I have been of age to vote is that there is always these huge pushes to get young people to pay attention to politics, to vote in local elections. And we always see even though young people make up a huge portion of the electorate, they either vote at the last possible minute or they don't vote at all. How do you buck that trend?

00:03:15
Speaker 2: Well, I think it starts with engagement, and we've seen some candidates like Spencer Pratt who really steps up and kind of change the way they've engaged with the local voters that are young. And that really stems from social media. It stems from explaining to them and encouraging them why voting matters, how it actually impacts your day to day life. Most young people are struggling in Los Angeles to keep their job, to put a roof over their head to pay their bills, and so voting is something that comes last to your mind because most people don't see the direct correlation from voting and how it affects all of those things that you're worried about day to day.

00:04:02
Speaker 1: Well, and not only that, but in this world where everyone lives online and you're totally right, Spencer Pratt has broken through in a way where whether it's the AI videos that the friends of his are making that are going viral, or it's just him out there talking about before he even ran for office, what was really going on When it comes to the Palisades fire, he is connecting to voters directly, but what's going on with that campaign is so interesting because I can't remember a situation where people are this engaged on a local race. This is just a one city mayor's race, and it is getting national attention. Now.

00:04:42
Speaker 2: I couldn't agree more. I think it really seems from the fact that to what we were discussing, Spencer is not a politician. He's right, he is a reality TV star under one hat, but he's an everyday person. He was fi for the things that he cares about, writ his home burnt down, he's bringing attention to that, he's protecting his family, he's fighting for his job, he's fighting for all of these things, and that's what people care about. I think we've done the business as usual. We've heard politicians give their pitches. And the reason Spencer Pratt is so appealing to a wide range of people, not just young Republicans but young Democrats too, is because he's not talking about the same things you've heard everybody else talk about, and he's not talking about them in political speak. He is calling things out, he's addressing issues, and he's very candid and he's honest, and that's what people want. I think people are tired, especially young people, of this perfect politician idea. We want real we want people who've made mistakes. We want people who own up to those mistakes. We want people who are going to be authentic. And that's why Spencer Pratt is going viral.

00:06:02
Speaker 1: Well, you know, I love that you said the word authentic, because this is something you know as somebody that covers all kinds of political campaigns, including the mayor's race and the governor's race. I have listened to so many interviews where your candidate of choice has the same can't answer no matter who they're talking to, they've got their talking points. To his credit, when Spencer Pratt does an interview, and he's been interviewed on this show, he is not speaking on talking points. He is just answering the question. And I think that does cut through because it is so different from what we see on the political stage.

00:06:37
Speaker 2: I couldn't agree more. And I think that's what young people are hungry for. They're hungry for something that's different.

00:06:44
Speaker 1: We're speaking with Arianna Austenmacher. She is the political director of the LA County Young Republicans. You can follow them on the socials at LAC Underscore Y are now your organization not only helps get out the vote and gets people interested in voting, but you're also, you know, trying to build community and you guys are doing all kinds of events. What do you have coming up?

00:07:09
Speaker 2: Yes, we have a jam packed May so we have two deployments coming up this coming weekend. Obviously Los Angeles City is extremely important, but I think people forget that LA County comprises of eighty eight other cities. So we're going to be knocking doors on Saturday in Glendale at nine thirty Am for some city council candidates in the school board candidate. And then on Sunday we're going to be knocking doors in Beverly Hill for Russell Stewart who is running for Beverly Hills City Council. So we're very excited for that. You can find both of those events on our Instagram or on our website. And then we have our general Mixer, which is the fourth Thursday of every month. That is going to be on Thursday, May twenty eighth in Pasadena at Congregation and Brewery. People are welcome to join us if you still have your ballot, which hopefully you don't. Hopefully everybody's gotten out and voted early, but if you do still have your ballot, people can bring them to that event. It's a happy hour. It's a chance for young Conservatives and young Republicans and even young Independents to come across and get together and meet each other and talk about the election and then to your point about community, something that we do every year. This is our fourth year running. We actually host a Mother's Day drive, so from Mother's Day to Father's Day, so may tend to June twenty first, we are actually collecting items and monetary donations for care Net Women's Resource Center, which is a pro life pregnancy center in the Antelote Valley, and we every year we raise a couple thousand dollars for them, We present them with a check and it's just a chance for us to give back and something that people who may may not want to be so political, can I identify with us as coming out and doing these community service events. And so we're really excited to be launching our fourth one this year, or force events over the last couple of years and supporting moms who choose life even in difficult circumstances. So we've got a lot going on this month and everything's available on our social media and our website.

00:09:21
Speaker 1: And that is LAC underscore Y are on Instagram and on Twitter. Now, California is an interesting place when it comes to elections because of our all male voting system. It is currently voting month. Everyone got their ballots last week. They have until June second to turn them in, and at least for the latest returns, most people are still having them sitting on their kitchen counter or sitting at the bottom of the stack of mail, where two percent of ballots have been returned to the state of California. It is early, But what would you say to people that like to wait or they want to go do it in person? What is the importance of voting early and why do you want to encourage that?

00:10:03
Speaker 2: I think the best person who explains this and breaks it down as Elizabeth Barkohonna. She explains that voting early gives us a chance to get ahead. So for people that don't know, the registrar counts all of the early return the ballots from the day ballots get mailed out and they get start coming back into the register of voters until the day early voting opens, and so for La County that's May twenty third. So everything coming in from into the registrars until May twenty third is an early vote, and that gives Republicans a chance to see how far ahead they are, how much they need to catch up. Same on the Democrat side. It gives you a number of Okay, this percentage of votes have been returned by the Republicans, this percentage of votes have been returned by the Democrats. Once early voting in person starts, they stop counting the vote by mail returns and they only count in person voting and that goes into election day and then once the vote centers close at eight PM and all of those votes come in, then they start counting early voting, mail ballot returns. And so the thing that people have talked about for the last couple of years with ballot harvesting and you know, you can turn in your ballot on election day and all of these things that voters are worried about, it's something that Republicans need to get in front of. We need to learn how to play their game. And so that's why the messaging has been so strong on vote by mail, vote early if you can, because we need to get ahead. We can't, you know, have to play catch up the entire voting onund You know, if you look at how things were before COVID, Republicans used to vote by absent te vallot and used to have a higher voter turnout, and the last couple elections since COVID have actually flipped those numbers where Republicans are now voting more in person and they're waiting until election day and our turnout is actually lower. And so we need to reverse all of those things. We need to play the games that the Democrats are playing, and we need to make sure that people are showing up. If your friend has a ballot, take it to the registrars, or convince them to mill it in, or if they must vote in person, have them go vote early when voting centers open on May twenty third.

00:12:33
Speaker 1: I'm sure a lot of people, especially in a city and accounting like Los Angeles, they just look at the registration numbers and they say it looks so overwhelming. I mean, Democrats outwigh Republicans in the city of Los Angeles by four to one. But turnout can be so low in these off your elections because so many people are just not paying attention or they're only paying attention as to what happens in November, what happens now nationally that really you can make a big difference by being the person that does pay attention and turns in the ballot early.

00:13:09
Speaker 2: Agreed voter turnout is what makes or breaks elections, and unfortunately the apathy in Los Angeles has been oh, my vote doesn't matter. But if people looked at the numbers, if Los Angeles just voted a little more conservative, meaning just a few more Republicans turned out to vote, then so would go the rest of California, and so would go the rest of the nation. Los Angeles determines how elections are made at the state level and at the national level. And so if more Republicans and even independents who want change, who don't want to vote for the status quo, are tired of one party rule in this county, city, and state, if they just voted a little bit more and showed up to vote, the rest of the nation would see that. Sway.

00:14:02
Speaker 1: We're speaking with Arianna Austenmacher. She is the political director of the La County Young Republicans. You can follow them on socials at LAC underscore Why are now When you look at the demographics in the city of Los Angeles, the largest voting block is actually now young people. I mean they don't all vote, but when you look at the registration you have six hundred and thirty six thousand voters in the city that are between eighteen and thirty four. It is a huge, huge portion of the electorate. But as we know, young people famously, politics is the last thing that they're going to care about. You can have people you go up to them on the street and you ask them what's on June second, and they'll tell you it's the premiere of Love Island. So how do you break through to people that are just so disengaged, they're consumed with what's going on in their life to pay attention to local politics.

00:14:56
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think again, it all comes back from community and from word of mouth, so social media, right, you know, I think it's great when people are putting ads out there and reminding them to go vote. I will give applause to the Registrar's office for, you know, the ballot tracks and everything the Secretary State has done to make sure that tracking your vote has been easy. It is. It is very easy. It's very easy. There are tons of voter guides out there. LAGOP, the Los Angeles County Republican Party has a voter guide where you type in your address and it spits out every race that will be on your ballot. And so we've tried to make it very simple. So I think as long as you get it in front of those people and remind them, remind your friends, say hey, have you voted yet? Do you need help getting your ballot? And I'm happy to help. That's really what it comes down to there are tons of ballot events. We're hosting one on the West Side this evening at a Iranian Persian restaurant. We've got our event in Pasadena on the twenty eighth. So at the end of the day, it really just comes down to those that are politically active or in tune with civic engagement just needs to remind their friends, Hey, it's time to vote. How can I help you vote? Let me help you vote. Let me what can I do to get your ballot turned in for you?

00:16:20
Speaker 1: If every single person listening was able to get one or two people in their circle that wasn't going to vote to vote, things could change pretty darn quickly. Ariana oustid Macher from the La County Young Republicans. You can follow them on Instagram and on Twitter at LAC Underscore. Why are Ariana. It's always a pleasure to talk to you.

00:16:41
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it and we're definitely keeping our fingers crossed and working hard for good turnout come.

00:16:49
Speaker 1: June second, Ariana acid Macher. Everybody Johnny is on vacation on this Woo Wednesday. Woo Wednesday. Yeah, whoo whoa who? Johnny'll be back on Monday. The phone number is eight hundred two two two five two two two one eight hundred two two two five two two two. You can email us at Johnny Don't Like Show at gmail dot com, or my personal email is Randy Wang Radio at gmail dot com. I'd appreciate if you can subscribe to my substack to see the California Report, where I have all the stories that we want to get to today. We can't get to all of them, but I do have them all posted, you know, I put together like so, let me tell you how my day works. I get up at six am, maybe five. I go through all of my channels on YouTube, which are all the local news channels in southern California, the Bay Area, Sacramento, San Diego, and the Central Valley. I'm trying to add in the Central Coast as well in the North State. And I flag everything that might be something we want to talk about. And then throughout the morning, whether I'm walking my dogs, putting the dishes away, I'm listening to all of these stories. I put together a YouTube playlist and then I whittle those down to the ones that I think are the best ones, the ones that I think really would resonate with this audience and the audience of the five o'clock show. So I usually start with like thirty to forty things and end up with about fifteen to twenty five things. And the thing is, we don't have time on this three hour show or my one hour show to cover all fifteen things. So that is why I decided to post all the videos of all the stuff that I already researched at Randywangradio dot substack dot com, and at five o'clock every single day on the top of the news blitz, I go through every single one of them. We don't have time to play all the sound, but I give a pretty detailed recap of every single story that you may have missed going on in the state of California. So check it out at Randywangradio dot substack dot com. Eight hundred two two two five two two two is the telephone number. Let's go to David Whittier.

00:19:07
Speaker 3: Dave, Hello, Hey, Randy, love your fish taco recipe. I did try that when you put that up there, very good, that was well back. But here you go. I want to talk about this half cent sales tax that the La County Board of Supervisors put on the primary ballot this election two seconds so here's video. They claim it's going to be temporary. They want it for medical clinics because of the cuts that Trump did for Medicaid, and anyone can google La County Medicaid fraud. They want to tax us another half percent in in the face of their their, their their their lack of keeping track of Medicaid fraud. No, say no, because it's not temporary. You're not going to benefit it, and you're going and who's going to benefit illegal alience. It's measure er both tell your friends, sell pon your friends. This is outrageous. We're already taxed too high sales taxing Elly County. You go to Orange County, you have what two percent left three percent left of a sales tax and Oie County w to shock there.

00:20:19
Speaker 1: Oh, you're totally right about that in Orange County at seven point seventy five. I believe in San Bordino and Riverside, this would increase the sales tax in La County. The base sales tax before you even get to city taxes from nine to three quarters to ten and a quarter, which means a lot of the cities will have over eleven percent and this is true. If this measure passes, Palmdale and Lancaster will have the highest sales tax in the country.

00:20:50
Speaker 3: Yeah, and look at all the waste of money on homeless on top of that that we're paying. This is outragious, folks. We can't allow this.

00:20:58
Speaker 1: Well, and I'm so glad you brought up, Dave, because at two o'clock Susan Shelley from the Howard Jarvis Taxpayer Association will be joining us, and I think she's going to have a thing or do to say about measure e R. Thank you so much for the call. Appreciate it. We do have some I wouldn't call this breaking news because it's not really news. It's just kind of interesting in the governor's race. But Tom Steyer just picked up an interesting endorsement from DSA La City councilman Hugo Sote Martinez. Clap that up. That's right, the socialist member of the city council is endorsing the billionaire.

00:21:43
Speaker 2: You know, let's criminalize kind of list of converters.

00:21:45
Speaker 1: Let's criminalize copper. Hugo says in his official endorsement that I just saw on the instagrams. Working people built this state, and for too long they've been told to wait for their fair share of California's prosperity. Tom Stei is the one candidate is going to change that. He's not beholden to corporations, and he understands that real progress means putting working families first. I'm proud to endorse Tom Steyer we alongside other progressive organizations and leaders, because he is the candidate best position to deliver for working people. Yet another socialist who doesn't believe billionaires should exist, who is endorsing the billionaire. We live in interesting times, my friends. Let's go to Daryl in Kenyon Lake. Darryl, Hello, oh sir, how are you doing great?

00:22:40
Speaker 4: I just had a quick comment, if I may relate it to the young lady you just had an interview with from the Young Republicans group. I found her presentation and representation a simple thing like voting to be so on toy, so accurate, so well presented and represented. It was clear what party of preference she's with, but her entire presentation was related to get out the vote for all, and she presented her commentary with integrity and with a personality and a persona that just resonated with me and I wanted to just call and make that comment. She was terrific, and even in moments when she could have been an aggressive voice to get out and vote for the public header or whatever, that she didn't do that. She presented so many sides of the issue and what was important, and there was a message there not only for Republicans, but certainly for Democrats and independence as well. I think she is a shining example of someone who knows what they're doing, is prepared, and just did a terrific job with her presentation and representation.

00:23:54
Speaker 3: That's all I got.

00:23:55
Speaker 1: Randy Well, I couldn't agree more. Thank you so much for the call, Daryl. I think it is so it's so important at the ground level, and that's one of these people who's at the ground level getting people to do the hardest thing, which in California is pay attention to what's going on locally. Because if you pay attention to what's going on locally and you become engaged locally, you will immediately realize that the people that we have in charge need to be replaced. You know. Spencer Pratt talked about this in the interview he did with Conan Noan when he was asked about his political affiliation and his interest in politics before his home burned down, and he openly said, I wasn't paying attention at all to any of it. I was just paying my taxes and thinking that the people in charge were doing a fine job. And then government failed him in every possible way. But it doesn't need to be that kind of an awakening for people to just pay attention and see what's going on. That is why this show, Oh almost exclusively focuses on local news, whether it's in the Southern California or the Bay Area. And I think it's important for Southern Californians to hear about what's going on in the Bay Area and vice versa, because for a lot of situations, San Francisco did something stupid two years ago and they're changing their ways, and la is doubling down on stupid. So it's interesting to see these laboratories of democracy, but it's still how politics is run at the local level. Local elections matter so much more than what happens at the national level. We all care so much about who's in Washington and who's the president, but those day to day decisions of what really goes on on your street, if your street lights are working, if your streets are being paved, if you're worried about your homes going to get broken into. These are things that are really important at the local level, and that is why we pay so much attention to it, and we advise anybody like figure out. You know, you know what's going on in your city, know who your representatives are. And if you're not satisfied, you have the power. You have the power to deny a Hugo Soto Martinez another four year contract at two hundred and twenty five thousand dollars a year. I clap that up. You have the power to say no, go to the unemployment line, Unices Hernandez, because we are the defund of the police people. Right and by the way, both of those people are on the ballot and both of them became members of the city council. Because turnout in the city of la is so low in local elections, especially non presidential year elections, that the fringes are able to get their people in. That's how the DSA now has four candidates, although I don't think they'll be having a candidate and the Mayor's office anytime soon, as Nitia is looking like she's in a distant third. Now, we did have new polling in the LA mayors race from Emerson College at Inside California Politics that I'd love to share with you. There hasn't been a lot of polling on the LA Mayor's race, but the latest numbers are pretty darn encouraging for mister Spencer Pratt. He's not coming in first place. Buddy is nipping at Karen Bass's heels. So in the Inside California Politics poll, Karen Bass was at twenty percent in March of twenty twenty six. Now she's at thirty percent. Spencer Pratt was at ten percent, but now he is at twenty two percent. He has had a twelve point gain in the last two months and now voting as starting. We had that debate, which, by the way, that debate was such a disaster for Karen Bass and for Nitia. They both made themselves unavailable for any other big forums going on because karens doesn't look good. Nythia not only doesn't look good, but she doesn't want to share the stage with the other DSA candidate, Ray Huang, which by the way, also in this poll, Nythia was pulling at nine she's pulling at nineteen percent. Still that is third place. I don't if this trend holds, it's gonna be Bass and Pratt, not Bass and Ramen. I don't think there's any way Karen Bass wins this thing outright with fifty one percent coming in fourth place. Adam Miller, he was from four percent to seven percent, and then Ray Huang, the socialist Reverend, she went from three percent to four percent. So those two it doesn't really matter. But Spencer Pratt is showing some momentum here and he is getting a lot of people who don't usually pay attention to these elections to pay attention to them. Now, the question is does social media reflect real life? Because those AI videos, which they keep calling them ads, I don't think you can call them an ad of there's no ad buy so they're just videos. And he doesn't even he's not the one producing them. I think it's a friend of his. You know, his campaign has spent almost no money, and I think it's almost raised no money. It is just authentic. One thing I'll say that he's doing that's really smart. Pratt's doing a lot of earned media. He's doing a lot of interviews in a lot of different places. He's been here, he's been on the other big radio station in Los Angeles. He's been doing a whole bunch of podcasts. Now, a lot of people that watch podcasts, they might not be voters in the city of Los Angeles. In fact, there are people that live in La County, like, wait, I can't vote for Spencer Pratt. Yes, you don't live in the city of Los Angeles. It can be confusing. We're not like San Francisco, where the city and the county is the same entity. There are eighty eight cities in Los Angeles. Unless you're in the city of La you cannot vote in this election. So we'll see what turnout has to be. But I'm not seeing the same kind of earned media presence. I'm Karen Bass, who just started doing interviews this week, including one with Alex Michaelson will probably feature tomorrow, and she sat down with Brian Tyler Cohen, who is a left wing podcast host has a big national presence. I think he's in one of the top ten podcasts. But I'd say national audience. I don't know how many people live in Los Angeles. But what's funny about his show or Pod Save America is all these hosts are based in Los Angeles, and even though they are very left leaning, they all have a lot of gripes on how our local officials run the city because they can tell it's being run into the ground. So I'll be giving that one a listen today. Nithia Rahman, She's done a few podcasts, but they are all the same nonsense from her. I sat down and listened to her with John Lovett of Pod Save America, and it was well, I would be more focused than Karen bass As the answer to every single question not a great look. And that is why I don't think you're gonna see any more debates in the LA mayors race. Eight hundred two two two five two two two is the telephone number one eight hundred two to two two five two two two. We're gonna be talking to Susan Shelley in just a bit, and one of the things we're going to be talking about is what David Whittier called in measure er in the County of Los Angeles is yet another sales tag syke. And if you're thinking, wait a minute. Didn't we just have one of those in twenty twenty four. Yep, and it's time for another one. Here is what you need to know about measure er. Here is NBC LA. That's a lot of letters.

00:31:48
Speaker 5: LA City firefighters are taking funding concerns into their own hands. They arrived at the city clerks.

00:31:54
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, before we get to that, that little update on the firefighters.

00:31:56
Speaker 5: They arrived at the city Clerk's office today with more than two one hundred and twenty five thousand signatures. The goal is to qualify a funding measure for the November ballot. It would increase hiring of great equipment and build new fire stations. Voters would decide whether to approve a sales tax hike in order to pay for it.

00:32:15
Speaker 1: There's going to be so many sales tax hikes on the November ballot. And I support the firefighters a lot. I live near a fire station. I see how active they are. I try. I donated a rowing machine to an LAFD fire station to give them something to do. Also so I could get rid of it and my wife could stop making fun of me for never using the rowing machine that I bought during COVID. But I don't like the idea of this tax hike. I think with the City of LA's fourteen billion dollar budget, they should be able to properly fund the fire department. Stop with all the homeless spending the seven hundred million dollars a year that doesn't do anything or I always like this idea. Bill every single time that LAFD has to respond to another homeless call, whether it's a homeless OD or a homeless fire, they should bill those hours to the homeless budget. LAPD should do the exact same thing. I don't think we should have to pay for an individual tax hike to properly fund the fire department. And my fear is if this tax hike passes, the City of La is going to take the money that they were going to spend on the fire department and say, well, they have their own dedicated fund and they're going to rob that to go fund some other nonsense.

00:33:36
Speaker 6: And coming up on the June primary ballot, voters in La County would have to consider yet another increase of the sales tax. It's called measure er of this half cent tax would help support healthcare services. NBC forrest ConA Nolan Live on I'm newsom with more on this measure force content that's right.

00:33:50
Speaker 7: So the goal is to backfill it cuts to healthcare and what is the nation's most populous county, an LA County sales tax height of a half cent from er point nine seven percent to ten point twenty five percent, which would even be higher based on where you live.

00:34:06
Speaker 8: It's part of the fallout from the Trump Administration's Big Beautiful Bill, which dramatically cut federal aid for state run healthcare programs. Los Angeles County officials say as a result, they're facing a two billion dollars shortfall over the next three years.

00:34:21
Speaker 9: This motion gives the voters a choice given the stark realities that our county is facing.

00:34:27
Speaker 1: Oh, Holly Mitchell, you know how much money this city, this county, in this state has thrown down the toilet because Holly Mitchell, the fairy godmother of housing, first put that policy into state law. We have to be mindful of that.

00:34:44
Speaker 9: This motion gives the voters a choice given the stark realities that our county is facing.

00:34:49
Speaker 8: In February, led by Supervisor Holly Mitchell, the only county Board of Supervisors, in a four to one vote, agreed to put on the June ballot a sales tax hike of one half percent for the next five years. Health officials say, without the.

00:35:02
Speaker 1: I guarantee you if this passes in five years, that tax is not they'll do exactly what they did with Measure H. So in twenty sixteen, the county said, hey, we want to reduce homelessness in ten years, so let's increase your sales taxes to pay for it. They also did a city measure called Measure Triple H. And Measure H was supposed to expire at the end of this year. So what do they do In the twenty twenty four election, They wrote a change to Measure H, doubling the sales tax and putting no end date on it. They called it Measure A, and it passed.

00:35:37
Speaker 8: Health officials say, without the increased revenue in Measure ER, a half million low income resident.

00:35:43
Speaker 1: Boy, someone thinks they're really clever calling this thing Measure ER, a.

00:35:47
Speaker 8: Half million low income residents of the county will lose health care with reverberations to the entire hospital system.

00:35:54
Speaker 9: Clinic closures, hospital closures. We run some of the biggest emergency rooms in the country. People who experience car accidents, trauma, they come to our two level one trauma centers for services. If those hospitals don't have continued access to care, that will touch everybody.

00:36:10
Speaker 1: It supports So if all if we need to raise our tex is to keep the emergency room open, does that mean nobody who goes to that emergency room is paying the bill.

00:36:20
Speaker 10: It supports health programming that.

00:36:22
Speaker 1: Oh no, really, as we try to sell measure er on the voters, you're bringing out Babs. Thank you, Barbara for rare six hundred and fifty thousand dollars a year director of public Health.

00:36:38
Speaker 10: Next side, it supports health programming that allows us to track and mitigate against outbreaks.

00:36:46
Speaker 1: Yeah, because you did a great job in mitigating COVID.

00:36:49
Speaker 10: And communicable diseases.

00:36:50
Speaker 1: Don't forget about monkey pocks. It's almost that time of year where she's going to send out a flyer that's so explicit we can't even tell you what it says.

00:36:58
Speaker 10: It allows us to respond to environmental threats.

00:37:02
Speaker 1: You mean, like the illegal street vendors that are dumping grease. You don't seem to care about that. All the homeless tents that are dumping pope into our waterways. You don't seem to care about that.

00:37:13
Speaker 10: Both threats that happen during the fire.

00:37:16
Speaker 1: Honestly putting out in this piece that measure Er is going to give more money to Barber for rare might be the one thing that defeats it.

00:37:25
Speaker 10: Threats that happen in on to our water and our air and our soil.

00:37:29
Speaker 1: But a pope, our water, our air, and our soil are trash. Well, if you were undecided about measure Er, now you know where the money would be going if it passes.

00:37:40
Speaker 10: The evidence is like crystal clear on that.

00:37:43
Speaker 1: We'll discuss this and much much more about the tax measures on your ballot in southern California and the Bay Area and beyond with Susan Shelley from the Howard Jarvis Taxpay Association. Next, it's Randy Wang here on the John Phillips Show.

00:38:00
Speaker 7: Yeah,