Susan Shelley Live In Long Beach

0:00Help DEA keep our communities safe and healthy by participating in National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day Saturday October 24th. Take action right in your own home by cleaning out your medicine cabinet of unneeded medications. Keep them safe, clean them out, take them back. Find a collection site near you at DEATakeBack.com. Do your part to lower overdose deaths and prevent prescription drug misuse before it starts. That's DEATakeBack.com DEA's National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day helps remove opioids and other medicines from our medicine cabinets where they could be stolen or abused by family members or visitors, even children and teens. The next take-back day is Saturday October 24th, offering free and anonymous disposal of unneeded medications at local drop-off locations, including pills, patches, and other forms of prescription drugs, as well as liquids like cough medicine. To find a take-back day location near you, visit DEATakeBack.com. Something's not right here.

1:03Crime is up all over the state. The homelessness in the city is out of control. The economy is sick. Taxes are high. Housing is expensive and businesses are leaving. California and New England's fixing. And saving crop 13, restoring the two thirds vote to pass local special taxes, making it harder to raise your taxes and voting yes on 43. Well, that's a solid start. It's the fixed California hour, live from Gladstone's Long Beach. No, dream might ties deep and hoping not to get our FCC license revoked here. Our John Phillips and Randy Wang. And we continue live from Gladstone's in Long Beach. And oh boy, during the break, our host here, John Sangmeister, brought out the lobster deviled eggs I am in fish heaven right now. We're here until three o'clock at the lovely Gladstone's in Long Beach right off of Shoreline Drive in the Rainbow Harbor.

2:04It is a gorgeous day to be out here. There is a lively crowd, but there's room for you. So if you're not doing too much, get out of work early, pretend you're sick, and drive down the 7-10 or the 1-10. Get down here. We'd love to see you. We've got bumper stickers to pass out. We're taking selfies during the break, but Johnny, we're also here for a very, very, very important cause. And that cause is Proposition 43, the local taxpayer protection act. We're trying to get the word out, and that is what Debbie was about to get in my F and shot. We are trying to get the word out about this measure that if passed, we'll make it harder for them to raise your taxes. That's why we have Susan Shelley passing out yard signs and door hangers and all kinds of swag. Everybody who's watching us are listening right now over the weekend, try to tell two or three people about Prop 43. We've got four weeks, and we're going to get this thing over the finish line. And speaking of Susan Shelley, we're pleased to be joined by Susan herself, who's a columnist

3:07at the Southern California News Group, and host of the Howard Jarvis Radio Show, which airs Tuesday nights on K-ABC and K-SFO. You can follow her on X. It's Susan underscore Shelley. Susan Shelley, welcome. Thank you so much. What a great crowd. Thank you everybody. Great to be here. So you are working overtime to try to get Proposition 43 passed. Could you explain to us just exactly what that prop would do and why it's important that we pass it? This affects local taxes. The courts have made it easier to raise local special taxes. So when a special interest says, well, we want to pass a tax to fund our particular thing, it passes more easily if they put it on the ballot with signatures than if the City Council put it on the ballot. And this is made up by the courts. All special taxes are supposed to require a two-thirds vote. They have to go on the ballot and they're supposed to give a two-thirds vote. That's in Prop 13, and also in Prop 218 from 1996.

4:09But in 2017, the court said, we'll make an exception if people decide they're going to collect signatures to raise their own taxes. But who are these people who want to raise their own taxes? They're all the special interests. Prop 43 puts an end to that loophole. It says all special taxes require a two-thirds vote of the electorate, no matter how they get on the ballot. One of the criticisms that people have of living in California today is the cost of living. Living is more expensive now than it used to be. And one of the things that continues to go up in California, which contributes to the cost of living going up, are the taxes. This is a key part of the cost of living. Absolutely. Sales taxes have gone up in Los Angeles County twice in two years and they could go up in Los Angeles City a third time with something that's on the ballot in November for the fire department. So how much can you pay in sales taxes? Well, under this loophole, which we have to close by voting yes on 43, under this loophole,

5:14you could see one of these on your ballot every election, another half-sent and another half-sent. And the legislature keeps allowing it. They know, well, this is an emergency for the city, for the county. This year they did 15 exceptions for sales taxes to go over the cap. There's a state cap. You probably didn't even know that. I didn't know there was a cap because we're way past it. There's a cap in state law of 2% above the state sales tax rate, which is seven and a quarter. So no one in California should be paying more than nine and a quarter percent sales tax, which is quite enough. But they keep passing exceptions to it. And this is how you get to 10.75%, 11 and a quarter. This is how the regional transit tax in the Bay Area is going to push everybody higher over the cap. That's all well and good if it gets a 2-thirds vote. That's not well and good, but it has to get a 2-thirds vote. Creating a shortcut where it can pass with fewer votes. If it's with signatures, that's absolutely unacceptable.

6:15Yes, on Prop 43 puts an end to that scam. Well, and one of the weird loopholes here is that, as you mentioned, if the local government, if the county wanted to put a tax like on the ballot, they would need that 2-thirds majority. But if a citizen or a union or someone connected to the county puts it in, then it's a citizen's initiative. And then it's a 51% majority. And we've seen several devastating measures and taxes in Los Angeles City and County respectfully that pass with that simple majority that have been a disaster here. Exactly. Measure ULA, the real estate transfer tax on any kind of real estate that's worth more than $5 million. It's a huge 4% or 5.5% sales tax on real estate. And it was passed with a simple majority. And it shouldn't have been, but the courts have held it. So there are two justices who are on the ballot for retention, who just did that in the appellate courts, Justice Tamzerian and Justice Mori. You see them on your ballot, we're not too supportive of those two. There's also two things to think about as you look at potentially what can happen to

7:18taxes in California in the future. One is that the state of California received a lot of money from the federal government during COVID that was supposed to be used for one-time expenditures. And many layers of government used that money instead of for a one-time expenditure to hire more people. And we don't have the funds to pay for that. So we're going to have to figure out how to do it. The other thing is that we have pensions that aren't really whole at a variety of levels of government. So frequently they'll raise these taxes and they'll say, well, you need it for healthcare or you need it for fire or you need it for fill in the blank. And what you really need it for is to make sure that they don't default on the pensions. That's exactly right. And what they do is they take the general fund and they waste your money on all these other things and they use the general fund for pensions and then they want to raise taxes for whatever they think you'll vote for. So it's always an emergency for healthcare. It's an emergency for the fire department. It's an emergency for the police and they have to have this tax increase or everybody's

8:22going to die. And that's literally the advertising pitch, vote for this or you're going to die. And really, why are they wasting the money that you already pay when they should be using it for those priorities? Essential services first. Your local government can prioritize the current budget. And even though special taxes require a two-thirds vote, general taxes don't. So a general tax that goes to the general fund passes with a simple majority. Why don't they do that and prioritize the current budget? Because they want to waste your money and they want you to vote for more money for everything that's important. I mean, that's what happens when I'm looking at. I'm a voter in the city of Los Angeles, one of the things that's on my ballot. I believe it's called measure FD, the fire department tax. I'm a huge support of the fire department. I love firefighters. I have a fire station right around the corner for my house. But I feel like the insane amount of money that I already pay in taxes to the bloated budget of the city of Los Angeles should be more than enough to properly fund that department. And my fear is if this passes, what's to stop the city from then taking the money they were going to spend on the fire department and putting it towards more nonsense?

9:30Well, there's something in the measure that says they can't do it, but that and $6 will buy you a cup of coffee. There's always a way around that. They borrow out of it and they do different things. But you're absolutely right. They should be spending their money more wisely. They're spending, I think, a hundred. They're spending enough money on interest, on bonds to remodel the convention center to hire more firefighters. And they're spending more money buying motels under the Inselite Safe Homeless Program and rewalt papering the motel rooms. They're spending more on that than they are on the fire department. Maybe those priorities should be different. Maybe some of that homelessness budget should go to the fire department. My idea has always been because so many of the fires in Los Angeles are started in homeless in Kim. Once over 12,000 this year already, thanks for reporting from ABC7, the fire department should be billing the homeless budget for every single one of those. Absolutely. And so should Metro for all the money they have to spend on homeless services on the transit system. Let's talk about when these local measures go on the ballot.

10:32It's not really a fair fight, is it? Because you have vested interests. You have unions or whoever it is, it's going to benefit from the tax passing on one side. And who represents taxpayers besides you guys and Howard Jarvis? I mean, it's not like there's an equal amount of money that exists out there on behalf of California taxpayers to fight these things. It's usually a situation where one side, the yes side, outspends the other by a lot. Well, that's true. And they have the official organs of government to put out their statements and it looks very official. And it does take resources to come up against it. But I have found that when you tell people that someone's trying to raise your taxes, they hear it the first time. And you don't have to do a flyer every two days with a dog and a tree and leadership. People understand that if you're raising their taxes, they want to know about it and they want to vote against it. Because we are all squeezed by the cost of living in this state. The sales tax rate changes based on what city you're in, based on what county you're in.

11:35Right now, what is it? Landcaster has the highest in the state. Yes, landcaster, I believe it's now at 11 and three quarters. And if you drive over into Kern County or if you go up the 101 Indiventura County or you go down to Orange County, now you're back down to seven and three quarters. That's a huge difference. And it's a big difference for the businesses that sell big ticket items like cars and appliances, large appliances. They're going to see their customers just skate to another county with lower rates. Why wouldn't they? What do you think the ceiling is? Well, I thought it was well below 11 and three quarters, but I guess I was wrong. The trouble is that each of these special interest groups makes their case. And then under this screwy court created loophole, they only need a simple majority. They only need 50% plus one vote. And they can squeeze that out by scaring people and saying, if you don't vote for it, everybody's going to die. Well, that's what they did with Measure ER, which unfortunately passed in the primary. Where is that money even going? We have no idea.

12:35Well, right now it's going into an escrow account because somebody filed a lawsuit and said it was too deceptive to be legal. Because they're not supposed to name things Measure ER as an emergency room in alignment with the campaign messaging. That's not necessarily legal. So we'll see. The lawsuit has to resolve before they can spend the money, but it's supposed to go to health care providers. Interestingly, that was a general tax. But they lied to the voters and said, oh, we intend to spend it on all of these health care priorities here in great detail. None of that is obligatory. None of that is required. They can spend it on anything. Well, and you could define health care in a lot of different ways. You could define health care in Barbara Ferrer's Needle Exchange programs. Yeah, you could. Maybe they did. And the sky really is the limit for these things. Because look at the minimum wage, for example. You know, in Seattle, it's like $30 or $35 for Uber drivers. Which means if you're trying to get an Uber from the airport to your hotel in downtown, it'll cost you like $80 or $90.

13:36It's cheaper to get the DUI. Not in the long run. Just wait for the waymost to take over up there. Well, it's really important to vote yes on Prop 43. If you bump into anybody who says, oh, I just vote no on everything. Grab them by the neck and say, not this year you don't. Yes, on 43. How is it looking right now in terms of the polling? Well, we started out at a pretty good disadvantage. So I wasn't happy to see that. But that was before we started our campaign and getting our message out. So I'm optimistic, as I said, that voters will hear the message that this makes it harder to raise local taxes. And it's a good idea to protect local taxpayers from these special interests. How do measures, how do they get ordered when they get placed on the ballot? Because we do talk about ballot fatigue. This is towards the bottom of the ballot after several high-profile, different races, 39, 40, 41, 42, what have you. How does, who decides that, oh, this one's going to be at the bottom instead of like Prop 3? Well, the one through five, that was special legislation from the state legislature.

14:40They set the, like, they got top billing. They got top billing. They set there like a bunch of agents fighting over who was going to be one and who was going to be two. And they went all the way to one through five with the stuff they wanted to pass. No on all of those, by the way. And then it jumps down to 37, which is where we left off at the last election and the Secretary of State puts those numbers in. I was talking to a political consultant today. And he was telling me that the latest polling that he's seen, including polling conducted by his firm, is that the billionaire wealth confiscation tax is going to fail, and it's going to fail by a lot. Good. If that happens, I would assume that's good for you. Well, it absolutely is because anybody who thinks they're going to set up this whole system for people to report wealth, and for penalties if you don't do it correctly, and for what date they're going to do it, and how they're going to value this and that. And then collect it, and then have penalties if people don't pay. Anybody who thinks they're going to set up that bureaucracy and stop at 200 taxpayers has not been in California very long.

15:40Of course, the legislature is going to change it, or there will be a new measure that the legislature will pass. Once the Constitution is amended by Prop 40, the cap is off, and they can do whatever they want. And what they want is to take more of your money. The money is always in the middle, it's your retirement account, it's anything you've saved. That's wealth. And that's going to be taxed. Eventually, the way the income tax eventually got to everybody when it wasn't supposed to. Eventually, a wealth tax would hit all of us. Susan, we brought in in the state of California more money this last year than we ever have before. The budget is higher than it's ever been before. We brought in so much money, Prop 98 kicked in, and there's more money going to the schools. Yet you look at the November ballot, and we are looking to borrow so much money for so many different causes through all of these bond measures. I don't think anybody explains it more crystal clear than you about these bonds. How this is the state grabbing a giant credit card. And absolutely is, and bond money is the most expensive way to pay for anything.

16:43So if these are things that the legislature didn't want to fund in the budget, by putting them on the ballot as bonds, it sounds like free money, but it actually costs twice as much. And it costs for decades, because you have to pay it back with interest. And then you have bond underwriting costs and other things that go with that. So it's the most expensive way to pay for anything. And if you're using this to pay for housing programs, for down payment assistance, which is what Prop 1 does, then what do you have at the end of 25 years? You have nothing. You have more mouths to fee, because you haven't built anything that's going to last for long enough for the taxpayers of 25 years from now, they have any benefit from it. So you don't want to use bond funding for things like this. It's really just political, because they couldn't get what they wanted in the budget. And this is their, this is their consolation prize. You can be on the ballot as a bond, but it's a bad idea. I was having dinner last night in Whittier, and I was talking to a bunch of different people. And two things just kept coming up over and over and over again. Everyone was seeing their children moving out of state when they graduate.

17:46And they have no plans to stay here. They have no plans to build a business here. They have no plans to raise a family here. Once they get their in-state tuition, their bachelor's degree, boom, they're gone to some other place. And the other thing was that a lot of people who are getting ready to retire are leaving, because their pension will go so much farther in another state, and they just feel like they're being pushed out because of the cost to living. It's so sad that we've made it so expensive to live here, that people who would prefer to stay here, people who would prefer to live here, are moving out of state because we're forcing them out. You know, a lot of it is so needless. We have these silly regulations for so-called climate change. They don't do anything. They don't do anything. So even if climate change is real and it's happening and it's catastrophic and it's all our fault, what California is doing has no effect at all on the climate. Not these new tires I have to buy?

18:47It does not change the weather, not now, not in the future. But it's very expensive. So everything from the low carbon fuel standard and all of the cap and trade, now cap and invest. You can tell it's spending because it says invest. All of these extra fees that are coming through as energy costs, making your electricity bill higher, making the price of gas higher than in other states. All of these costs to quote stop greenhouse gas emissions are useless. We could stop them all tomorrow and do you know what happened to the climate? Nothing. Why don't we do that? It's like a tax break for the whole state. It would absolutely help the economy. Okay, I'm going to put you on the spot. If the election were today, what is your gut tell you? Tells you what's going to happen to prop 43. Does it pass? It passes. It absolutely passes. Thanks to everybody here who's getting door hangers and yard signs and buttons and telling all your friends and everybody who emails you and says, I just got my ballot and I don't know what any of this is. You tell them yes on 43. We're not going to act like it's a victory yet.

19:49We need to do the work. We've got a whole month, everybody. Tell your friends, tell your family, tell your co-workers, tell your neighbors. Yes on 43 makes it harder to raise your taxes. Susan Shelley, columnist for the Southern California News Group and host of the Howard Jarvis Radio Show, which is Tuesday nights on K-ABC and K-SFO. You can follow her on exit. Susan underscore Shelley. Susan Shelley, thanks so much for being here. Thank you, John. Thank you, Randy. It's the Jod Phillips Show, live from Long Beach. Books, I believe, the enemies of this country aren't just outside our borders. They're right here inside the gates. False peace, open borders, socialism, the deliberate destruction of the family and the sanctity of life, the persecution of the church, the rise of Islam, the ugly resurgence of anti-Semitism. And I think these six threats are real. They're accelerating. And they're aimed straight at the heart of America's freedom. Pastor Matt Hegey from Hegey Ministries, he doesn't solve Petal Enne of it. In his powerful new book, The Assault on Freedom, he takes the K-ABC of today's headlines

20:53and measures them against the unchanging truth of scripture. He shows you what's happening, why it's happening, and how people of faith and patriots must respond. This is not like reading. This is a game plan. Get the assault on freedom from Hegey Ministries right now. Go to jhm.org slash live in jhm.org slash levi n are called 856949647. That's 856949647. Don't wait until it's too late, folks. Grab that book. Let's stay in firm together. Help DEA keep our communities safe and healthy by participating in National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day Saturday, October 24th. Take action right in your own home by cleaning out your medicine cabinet of unneeded medications. Keep them safe. Clean them out. Take them back. Find a collection site near you at DEAtakeback.com. Do your part to lower overdose deaths and prevent prescription drug misuse before it starts.

21:54That's DEAtakeback.com. DEA's National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day helps remove opioids and other medicines from our medicine cabinets where they could be stolen or abused by family members or visitors, even children and teens. The next take-back day is Saturday, October 24th, offering free and anonymous disposal of unneeded medications at local drop-off locations, including pills, patches, and other forms of prescription drugs, as well as liquids like cough medicine. To find a take-back day location near you, visit DEAtakeback.com. We're off the air at 259.

22:56257. That's what we'll do. We're here in Tilt 3. We're here with our friends Susan Shelley from the Howard Jarvis Taxpayer Association for Yes On 43. The local taxpayer protection act, the SAVE Prop 13 act. Tell your friends, your family, your neighbors, everyone you know, your co-workers. Tell your enemies. A Yes On 43 makes it harder to raise your taxes. We're halfway done with today's show and have an hour and a half to go. Don't you go anywhere. And we continue live from Gladstone to Long Beach. Johnny we're broadcasting live from Gladstone's in Long Beach and one of our listeners just came up and offered me a $5 bill if we could bring John Stossel on the show today. I don't think that's going to happen, but I appreciate the inside joke. Hey, we do have a bar. We're broadcasting live on the radio on 790K ABC in Southern California, 810 KSFO in the Bay Area and live worldwide and on video at johnnydontlike.com. In fact, people here in person can grab a free bumper sticker that one of our listeners

23:56made for johnnydontlike.com. Huge shout out to everyone that's hanging out in the chat room. We've already got nearly 300 likes on today's show and you can see us. And what do you see? You see Johnny and his angels gear me and my flower shirt and signs for Yes On Prop 43. So we're here for the local taxpayer protection act. Tell everyone you know Yes On 43. I love the applause. Yes On 43 means it's harder to raise your taxes. A message everyone can get behind because it's expensive to live here. I think you're a little confused though. Why is that? Because the listener brought the bumper stickers. Didn't call them bumper stickers when they handed them to us. And what did they call them? Nipple pasties. Those would be some big bazanga's Johnny. All right. We are pleased to be joined now if the table here at Gladstone's by our pal Mike Metter who's a candidate for the state senate in eastern Los Angeles County.

24:58Metter hello. How you doing? I want to start off by saying you have to be careful with those bumper stickers. I use one on my car. Accidentally hit a guy and he jumped down and said, Johnny. Is that why you hit me? You don't like me? So my new bumper sticker says, I'm not Johnny. And we're also joined by the Mayor of Ranchos, Palace Verde's Mayor John Krueger. Hey welcome. Thank you. Former Mayor though. Let's make sure that we say that. Now the last time I saw you netter we were near a large body of water. It just happened to be the Tijuana River. Right. I'm going home. You're being the odors around me and the food's much better than the contaminated fish we had last time. That being said, the burgers of that place were fantastic. Amazing wasn't it? Yeah. We have a very special podcast coming up on Wednesday, October 21st. A few weeks ago John and I went, dragged Mike Metter down to Imperial Beach down to the

25:58Tijuana River Valley so we could smell it right here. And more importantly, talk to the locals including the Mayor down there and some very concerned citizens, a guy who started an organization called Stop the Poop. I'm not making it up because Mike, that area has been dealing with this problem for decades. It's been dealing with for almost 40 years. It just shows how when government puts its mind to it, they can't solve anything because apparently government has to put together and for everyone out there, when's that dropping? That is dropping Wednesday, October 21st at 3 p.m. So whatever you're doing, this is for anybody who hasn't been to Imperial Beach, it's an amazing, amazing part of California and it is literally, expletive deleted because we're on live radio, what the government hasn't done for those people down there. And you have to watch, it's the accountability podcast. You have to watch this because it shows how shows how really what can happen when government

27:02on both sides of the border and the state and the feds aren't doing their job. And that'll start off as a serious note because you really should take a look at that for people who have not been to IB checking out. One of the things that was the most shocking outside of, you know, the thing that John and I filmed down near the high school was the fact that you have this beautiful, almost a throwback beach town and nobody's out and about it was a very hot day and it was almost empty. Imperial Beach is one of those hidden gems. Again, way back in the 80s, they used to live there, these Deppasang Castle Festival, people can't go out there anymore and it's because, look, I took pictures of wildlife choking. Very, very sad. And I want to hand it to you, Randy and John, for taking the time and paying attention to it. People like Baron von Hartlow and the other folks that live down there have been screaming about this for years because they can't go out because the odor and the water literally

28:07looks like, well, I'll leave that alone. But if you ever been in the military, you'll know what I'm talking about. And Councilman, you're in Rancho Palace Verdez, which is a long way away from Imperial Beach. But the way the oceans work, if you dump a bunch of pollution directly into the ocean in San Diego County, the water doesn't stay there. The water can move up the coast and impact other cities and communities too. I mean, that's correct. And I think it's interesting. Local government is so important and I think what Mike just talked about is, you know, not solving problems with this sort of sewage issue. That sort of thing would never happen in a city like ours because even though you do have Republicans and Democrats, our city solves problems in a nonpartisan way because our problems are nonpartisan. And so, you know, let's just get to the heart of what the issue is and solve it instead of pointing fingers. I think that's a big part of our problems here in California. You know, the 800 pound gorilla in Los Angeles County is the city of Los Angeles where the

29:10government just doesn't function. It doesn't matter if it's the roads, if it's retail theft, if it's homelessness, whatever, that city is in a really, really dark place right now. But LA County is so much bigger than just one city. There are a number of other independent municipalities where things actually do function. And your city is one of those places where things do function. But it shows you, if you have the right people and you have the right motivations, you can get government that works. Well, it's a message that both of you talk about all the time is that people are failing to elect the right people. We're electing based on Ds and Rs after our name, which actually means nothing unless you have true problem solvers. And you're right, there's 88 cities in Los Angeles County. City of LA happens to have 4 million people, so it's the big gorilla as you describe it. But if you, it's actually one of our neighbors. San Pedro is a neighbor of ours. My business is in San Pedro. It's hard to do business in Los Angeles.

30:11It's much easier in our city. We don't have a 1% gross business tax like Los Angeles does. We actually have street trimming that will happen the next day versus 10 years from now. And so you get what you allow. And it's the people that vote that allow these things to happen. We can blame the politicians, but it's really us as voters not paying attention to the people that are running for office. And also in a small town, I would imagine that if people aren't getting the services they want, you'll hear about it at Starbucks because you have access to your mayor and council. That's right. I mean, that's our job. I mean, the only people that work for a city council are the city manager and the city attorney. Nobody else. And we work for everyone. We work for every single person that lives and works in our city. And so when someone contacts me, my first call if it needs to be solved today is as a city manager. And our city manager, we hire someone that's responsive to the residents and they take care of problems instantly. So anyone living in Rancho Palos Verdes knows that the quality of life in Rancho Palos Verdes is a thousand times better than it is in most cities in Los Angeles County.

31:13And NETA, even though you're not running in a coastal district, you told us on that podcast, if elected, cleaning up Imperial Beach and cleaning up the ocean in that portion of San Diego County would be a passion of yours. I guess because again, let's explain things like water and power. And I'll jump to power in one second. Don't know any boundaries. Electricity and the ocean doesn't say, oh, well, we're leaving Orange County. We better stop and retreat. And the problem is the bacteria that's carried in that water actually is glowing up to the people in my district. And although they don't see it because unlike that where the press has little pictures of COVID, knocking on your door, they should have a little pictures of that bacteria coming from Imperial Beach, swimming little surfboards right up your sink. But you might if we jumped to power for a second because that's another big passion of mine in the district here. Because water and power, well, when I grew up, there were two basic tenets of civilization.

32:14John, I know much of that seems to be lost to the Los Angeles area, but let's go back to the basics. Back to Imperial Beach, our water should be cleaned and we swim in it that we drink. And when we talk about power, which you don't want to buy on the air, give John Crook Shank a big shout out because when the big landslide or whatever was called, there's a landslide. Thank you. I'm just going to share what to call it. When the earth opened and almost swallowed in Rancho Palesburg, you actually contacted Elon Musk and talked about bringing Tesla power walls, correct? Well, that's correct. I mean, I think that government officials should not always just always look to government to solve our problems. And we know that Elon Musk is a problem solver, whether you like him politically or not. It doesn't matter. And so when we had Edison cut off the power over a long weekend, our resonance, my first thought was, well, maybe there's other people like Elon Musk and Tesla power that could actually help. And within three days, they responded to me. And then within a week, I was meeting with their executives on getting power out there.

33:17So we don't have to rely on government for everything. But it's also interesting that White Tesla's a responsible company, and it may be a shock to people, Elon knows what he's doing. We have an our district politicians, the future pollution that you see in my district are these things called ESS, which are these battery storage units. You may have seen them in the news last week because they caught fire and they couldn't put them out over in Sandy, Miss LeBern and Moss Landing up north. And we have politicians putting them in in districts unregulated and they're highly dangerous. Again, what you might call the future Imperial Beach because it's happening now. And I think I've even said on your show before, John and Randy, that I would be happy to authorize these by the utility companies and the politicians putting them in on one condition. And that condition is they live on top of it in a house with their family and friends

34:22and they've always turned me down because they don't want to live near them because they explode. So we're John's responsible company that was doing this Tesla. We have too many units being put in across our county that aren't. Do you feel like if there is a crisis, like the crisis that you face with the landslides and all of that? And the city competently responds to it and prevents the really bad thing from happening. It's almost like the dog that didn't bark. You don't get the credit for it, but you get the blame of everything goes to hell. I mean, that's probably true, but if you're in public service to get a pat on the back and get accolades all the time, you're in it for the wrong reason. That's why you get into radio. For probably true, Randy. So my profession, I'm actually a civil engineer by trade. I didn't become an elected official to always 50 years old. So I'm not a career politician. I love being in government though because problem solving is what our government officials

35:26should be doing and most of them do it so they can climb up to the next position. And that's not really the reason why you want to help your fellow residents and neighbors. You want to solve problems. And so I don't worry about the accolades. I worry about solving the problems and if we're not solving, we keep working till we do. Are you optimistic about California's future right now? Well, so I'm a third generation Los Angeles County resident. And so for me, I'm never giving up on California. And my optimistic, I'm always a glass half full. I'm cautiously optimistic. I haven't seen a Republican governor candidate like Steve Hilden for a long, long time. I think that he has a real shot. I think that if and when he wins, I think there's an opportunity to bring some balance back to the state of California. And I think him winning is really the key to all of this. I think when you go down to a grilled beach and look at the water and look at the beach.

36:27And when you go out to the San Gabriel Valley and look at the natural beauty of California, it's really hard not to be optimistic. Like Netter, candidate for the state Senate in Eastern Los Angeles County, Councilman John Fruixing from Rancho, Palace, Verde. You can get him online at johnfruixing.us and other dot. And another vote. X Netter, dot. Vony. It's the John Philip show live from Long Beach. The Dan Bonjino show. I think a lot of people are underestimating the Trump effect in this midterm. You've heard it yourself. Act like I'm on the ballot. Why is he saying that? You think he doesn't know what he's doing? That is the X factor. Folks, elections are a math issue. That is it. This is not a football game. If you vote, we will win. It is not complicated. The Dan Bonjino show. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.

37:34And right during the break, John Sangmeister brought out a plate of fish and chips that I would have loved to show the camera, but we demolished them in about 30 seconds. The fish and chips here are fantastic. In fact, I've got half a one in my hand right now. Johnny, we're broadcasting live on the radio on 790 K ABC in Southern California, 810 KSFO in the Bay area. And of course, streaming live on YouTube at johnnydontlike.com. That's Johnny with a Y. Johnny don't like.com. Thanks to everyone that's hanging out and keeping each other company in the chat room. We have some people who are watching us in person and still trolling us in the chat room. So we always love that. We're here until three and we're here for a very important cause.

38:35You see the sign right there. Yes on 43. Prop 43 is on the ballot. Everyone in the state of California has their ballot right now in the mail at home. Prop 43, if you vote, yes, it makes it harder to raise your taxes. I think we can all get behind that. And right now it's time to open up the California crime blotter. It's happened yet again. I know. I see time for the California crime blotter. And Johnny, for this California crime blotter, we're going to Oakland. You don't say somebody stole the camera of a wedding photographer that had wedding photos in it in Oakland. Bipping is back everybody. Now wait a minute. If the wedding photographer doesn't have a camera, he can't take pictures of the wedding or the divorce. For more on this, we got an NBC in the bay.

39:36We're like gold now our pictures of just us together at our venue. Like those are those are things that we can't recreate in the moment and things that we would like to have back. They want to back right now at 11 o'clock. The photographers plea for help. Wedding photos meant to last a lifetime are gone for this e-spade couple thieves broke into their photographers car in Oakland. Wow. They bipped a key and they didn't steal it. Yeah, usually those go right through the wall of the 7-11 too. Cameras, thousands of dollars in equipment stolen, but it is the photos on those memory cards that just can't be replaced. NBC bears Jossam around is with us now. I mean, you could use AI to try to fake them, but they might look a little weird. The chance they can get the photos back. That's what they're hoping for. Just this is devastating for the couple who was looking forward to seeing these pictures that captured very special moments from their wedding this past weekend. The photographer says he's out about $35,000 worth in equipment, but right now he's just hoping he can get those photos back for the couple.

40:37If I, my livelihood was being a photographer and you have $35,000 of camera equipment in your car. I don't know if I'd leave it in the car. Is it bipping supposed to be down in Oakland now? Well, it's supposed to be, but why don't we just check? Pammy, is it back? I've been bipped several times. Bipping is back. Bipping is back. Bipping is down in San Francisco and it's up in Oakland. Jenna and Nick got married this past weekend. A day spent with their kids and loved ones as they celebrated their love. They were hoping to look back on forever. Our family's coming together. It was just, it was just something special and then even like the photographer, he was a friend of the family that I don't think they'll be able to recreate this at a future date with her in the wedding dress because it won't match. I think she'll have more tattoos by that. He's known, you know, my wife's family for years.

41:38David Martin, Jr. is a photographer from Antioch, but now based out of Southern California. He traveled to the East Bay to photograph his friend, Jenna's wedding on Sunday. It was a beautiful wedding. You know, we got so many great photos. Those photos are now gone after he says thieves broke into his car. It happened Wednesday in the middle of the day. On the way to another job, he stopped by Jack London Square in Oakland. Big mistake. He wasn't even going to Oakland. He stopped in Oakland to get a snack and he learned his lesson or guy get food. I was over in Swan's market and that's the. I came back out to my car and they smashed my side window and my back window. David shared these photos of the car showing the broken windows. He says the thieves stole cameras lights, a drone, his computer and other gear. That is a whole lot of stuff. You'll have to replace it all tens of thousands of dollars worth. But what he cares most about right now, Nick and Jenna's wedding day photos. Tonight, David is hoping whoever has them now will realize what they took and return the memory cards.

42:39I really hope that happens. Unfortunately, we've seen this story before. All that equipment is already on its way to Vietnam. That's all I really care about. So if you're the people that did this, no questions asked. The cards aren't the photos aren't worth anything to you. There's no merely monetary value there for you. So you can keep all the other stuff for Nick and Jenna. These are photos that are irreplaceable. The pictures of our parents and grandparents and people that aren't always going to be around as well. We just hope and pray that you know, you just do the right thing and just be a good human being and give us back what we really would enjoy to have for the rest of our lives and for kids to see when they get older. It's very upsetting, but they're not getting those photos back. Nope, not even close. Really have a heart for me to say. Yeah, and that's really all they want. David, you heard him. No questions asked. He just wants those memory cards back.

43:40And Nick even said there was a moment where his dad was helping him get ready and he was helping his son get ready and the photographer was there. So those are the moments he just can't recreate. Yeah, no, you can get the cameras back and get. Unfortunately, this guy learned the hard way, Johnny. If you're drive around the Bay area, it's not a good idea to stop around Jaclynton Square right now bippin' his bag. All right, we've got one more hour coming up. Come from Long Beach and Gladstone. Don't you go anywhere. A snarrel in the woods, ancient for a spirit's nip at his heels. He can outrun a force of meter on foot. He needs an instant power machine built for the wild. The only escape is in the Toyota BZ Woodland off road handling all electric power. Leave evil in the dust. John Joe stars in camping. That's the wild. Test drive Toyota's new all-electric family atro local dealer. Toyota, let's go places.