WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:07.839 Seems like Jerry Dyer's starting to learn the harsh, cold, cruel realities of 2 00:00:07.879 --> 00:00:16.039 supporting different massive California infrastructure things, trying to sort of position himself in the 3 00:00:16.079 --> 00:00:21.679 middle be buddy buddies with Gavin Newsom story in The Bee That's kind of funny, 4 00:00:22.640 --> 00:00:27.559 which is about the high speed rail construction work that's been going on in 5 00:00:27.600 --> 00:00:35.439 downtown Fresno for a gazillion for a very long time, basically for the last 6 00:00:35.479 --> 00:00:40.799 seven years. Traffic between the story and Fresno Bee by Tim Shechean. For 7 00:00:40.880 --> 00:00:45.960 going on seven years, traffic between downtown Fresno and its nearby historic Chinatown district 8 00:00:46.280 --> 00:00:51.200 has been disrupted by work on a high speed rail underpass on to Larry Street. 9 00:00:51.960 --> 00:00:56.320 It was a project that was initially expected to take about two years. 10 00:00:57.520 --> 00:01:02.119 A few blocks to the south, a similar construction project at Ventura Street is 11 00:01:02.159 --> 00:01:06.640 running months behind schedule after getting started in May of twenty twenty one. The 12 00:01:06.680 --> 00:01:10.400 delays are becoming a major point of contention for Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer, despite 13 00:01:10.439 --> 00:01:15.680 counting himself as a supporter of California High Speed Rail Authority's controversial Bullet train project. 14 00:01:15.719 --> 00:01:19.840 In recent comments to the rail Authorities Board of Directors. Dyer said that 15 00:01:19.959 --> 00:01:23.959 he, along with residents and businesses in Chinatown and Downtown are concerned quote about 16 00:01:23.959 --> 00:01:27.079 the length of time and some of the road closures that we've had some for 17 00:01:27.200 --> 00:01:33.599 eight years. And at Church Avenue, which crosses three sets of railroad tracks 18 00:01:33.599 --> 00:01:37.879 south of Downtown, work on a major new overpass is also fine, falling 19 00:01:37.920 --> 00:01:45.200 behind schedule since the road was closed April twenty twenty three. So then Dyer 20 00:01:46.599 --> 00:01:51.959 makes it sort of gives the game away, says, what's been bothering him? 21 00:01:52.519 --> 00:01:57.159 Quote quite frankly, I stuck my neck out as mayor to give authorization 22 00:01:57.319 --> 00:02:01.599 to have that street closed Church Avenue with the assurance that we would not have 23 00:02:01.719 --> 00:02:06.840 delays, Dyer told the REIL Agency board. And now we're months behind, 24 00:02:06.959 --> 00:02:15.319 so that is definitely a concern now. Shean then goes on in the article 25 00:02:15.360 --> 00:02:23.439 to talk about what is actually taking all of this so long. So he 26 00:02:23.479 --> 00:02:30.000 goes into it and talks more and more and more about the different reasons behind 27 00:02:30.080 --> 00:02:35.879 why it's taking so long. He interviews a guy from the Central Valley, 28 00:02:35.919 --> 00:02:39.080 the Garth Fernandez, the Central Valley Regional director for the California High Speed Rail 29 00:02:39.120 --> 00:02:45.080 Authority, who acknowledges the frustration over the delays in downtown, but he added 30 00:02:45.080 --> 00:02:49.680 the challenges that the agency and its prime contractor, Tutor Parini Zachary Parsons have 31 00:02:49.759 --> 00:02:53.159 run into at Tilari Inventuris Streets have proven to be a cautionary tale and it's 32 00:02:53.199 --> 00:02:57.719 offered valuable lessons. Oh good, well, as long as we're all learning 33 00:02:57.759 --> 00:03:02.560 together. As long as we're all learning together while still making Downtown Fresno completely 34 00:03:02.599 --> 00:03:07.919 impossible to navigate, already already not exactly the easiest thing to navigate downtown Fresno. 35 00:03:14.199 --> 00:03:16.560 And then the article goes on and on and on to talk about the 36 00:03:16.599 --> 00:03:22.719 delays and the plan and how it's gonna get resolved and what it's gonna look 37 00:03:22.759 --> 00:03:27.879 like blah blah blah blah blah. By the way, for some of this 38 00:03:28.120 --> 00:03:31.360 the hand ringing that's been going on about, you know, attendance at Grizzlies 39 00:03:31.439 --> 00:03:39.800 games and you know, the long term viability of the Grizzlies and stuff like 40 00:03:39.800 --> 00:03:49.000 that. It obviously and the lack of success relatively speaking over its first twenty 41 00:03:49.080 --> 00:03:55.879 years of Grizzly Stadium being able to revitalize the downtown area. It definitely isn't 42 00:03:55.919 --> 00:04:03.680 helping that we've been working on the high speed rail station right next to Grizzly 43 00:04:03.759 --> 00:04:11.400 Stadium for like seven years, that it's got all this construction that's been going 44 00:04:11.439 --> 00:04:17.800 on for years and years and years right next to Grizzly Stadium that isn't complete. 45 00:04:17.959 --> 00:04:23.240 Like yeah, I mean, it's all this stuff that's immediately southwest of 46 00:04:23.279 --> 00:04:29.360 the stadium along to Larry Street, all this construction that comes up traffic there 47 00:04:30.360 --> 00:04:36.160 in which you know, given that construction is still ongoing, still not completed, 48 00:04:36.519 --> 00:04:40.120 who's gonna want to buy up properties in that area? And by the 49 00:04:40.160 --> 00:04:44.800 way, when you drive down there, and I've driven down there quite a 50 00:04:44.800 --> 00:04:50.079 bit, there's a bank I go to not infrequently. Down there, it's 51 00:04:50.120 --> 00:04:56.199 a ghost town. Like there are parts of it where you're driving through where 52 00:04:56.639 --> 00:05:01.000 there's like nothing down there. There's some industrial stuff, but then there's like 53 00:05:01.079 --> 00:05:06.079 these big, why various kind of semi vacant lots that have a bunch of 54 00:05:06.120 --> 00:05:15.680 homeless people encamped on them, and it's it's a weird almost ghost town experience 55 00:05:15.000 --> 00:05:23.439 driving through some parts of that sort of area sort of to the southwest of 56 00:05:23.480 --> 00:05:27.519 the stadium, around where all this new construction is taking place. But what 57 00:05:27.639 --> 00:05:31.279 developers are going to want to buy up properties around there when this construction is 58 00:05:31.399 --> 00:05:34.360 still ongo Well, I don't know, maybe now's the time to buy. 59 00:05:34.600 --> 00:05:46.879 You can buy low. Probably now. This brings us to our good friend 60 00:05:46.959 --> 00:05:56.000 Jerry Dyer. Jerry Dyer is sort of representative of this whole class of Fresno 61 00:05:56.160 --> 00:06:08.160 area politicians, this sort of softly kind of conservative class of politicians, Ashley, 62 00:06:08.600 --> 00:06:12.279 basically all of our mayors, Ashley, Swearingein, Liebrand, et cetera, 63 00:06:13.199 --> 00:06:23.519 who were obviously deceived by the promise of high speed rail because I think 64 00:06:23.560 --> 00:06:26.480 they sort of look at their job as maraor Fresno. They look at it 65 00:06:26.639 --> 00:06:30.480 through the lens of how do we get funding for the city, how do 66 00:06:30.600 --> 00:06:36.000 we bring business to the city, And that's sort of the lens they look 67 00:06:36.079 --> 00:06:39.959 at it through. And when presented with high speed rail, what do they 68 00:06:40.000 --> 00:06:50.519 see, Well, they see state investment, state money flowing in new construction, 69 00:06:51.079 --> 00:07:00.680 new opportunities for growth. Local government people love infusions about side money. 70 00:07:00.759 --> 00:07:03.959 Okay, if you can get money from the state, if you can get 71 00:07:04.040 --> 00:07:11.360 money from the federal government. Local government officials are always acquisitive, greedy for 72 00:07:11.480 --> 00:07:15.279 outside sources of funding. Where they don't have to increase your taxes. Why 73 00:07:15.160 --> 00:07:20.000 local governments have to operate in the black. They cannot go into the red. 74 00:07:20.120 --> 00:07:26.920 They can't do deficit and debt spending the way that the federal government can. 75 00:07:27.360 --> 00:07:32.480 So when you dangle to in front of a city a pot of state 76 00:07:32.600 --> 00:07:35.600 money that's available to them, if you dangle in front of a city a 77 00:07:35.639 --> 00:07:41.399 pot of federal money that's available to them, they will move heaven and earth 78 00:07:41.519 --> 00:07:50.040 to go get it. And sometimes they will make, you know, uh, 79 00:07:50.360 --> 00:07:57.480 decisions, or support positions that are look that are a little too sunny 80 00:07:57.600 --> 00:08:01.439 and rosy and optimistic too much, look at sort of the short term benefit 81 00:08:01.519 --> 00:08:05.399 without thinking about the long term risks. I think that's kind of what every 82 00:08:07.720 --> 00:08:13.519 mayor of Fresno for the last however many years. That's how they all thought 83 00:08:13.560 --> 00:08:20.560 of things. When it came to high speed rail, Ashley Swearingen bought it 84 00:08:20.839 --> 00:08:26.519 hook line and sinker. Didn't want to listen to all the people saying this 85 00:08:26.680 --> 00:08:28.920 is going to be way more expensive, this is going to take way longer 86 00:08:30.279 --> 00:08:33.360 than people say. Well, she didn't care. She saw that it would 87 00:08:33.360 --> 00:08:39.720 involve state money coming into Fresno for development of a fairly depressed part of the 88 00:08:39.799 --> 00:08:43.720 city. She thought it could spur new investment. She was all on board, 89 00:08:43.279 --> 00:08:50.480 Brand Dire all think the same thing. But this is the problem. 90 00:08:52.120 --> 00:08:56.879 All the objections people had to high speed rail are just being played out right 91 00:08:56.960 --> 00:09:09.240 now. Everything takes longer to do everything. Everything takes longer to do everything, 92 00:09:09.360 --> 00:09:16.639 is more expensive to do than originally estimated. Everything is more complex engineering 93 00:09:16.720 --> 00:09:22.080 wise than originally estimated. And it's sort of a thing of like, on 94 00:09:22.159 --> 00:09:26.039 the one hand, I sort of feel bad for Jerry Dyer, but at 95 00:09:26.039 --> 00:09:31.480 the same time, it's not like before he came into office, people didn't 96 00:09:31.639 --> 00:09:39.440 know that the high speed rail was a fraud proposition that was taking way longer 97 00:09:39.559 --> 00:09:50.639 to accomplish than everyone said it would and also with questionable benefits. So you 98 00:09:50.720 --> 00:09:54.960 know, to Larry Street was first closed in twenty seventeen, still closed, 99 00:09:56.440 --> 00:10:01.159 Venturas Street was closed in twenty twenty one, still closed. Avenue was closed 100 00:10:01.159 --> 00:10:05.159 a year ago. It's supposed to be done September twenty twenty five. I 101 00:10:05.240 --> 00:10:09.840 guess I'm not holding my breath. And now Dyer has to live with all 102 00:10:09.879 --> 00:10:13.480 of this now. I mean, the high speed rail was started before him, 103 00:10:13.600 --> 00:10:16.240 and the wheels of that were set in motion before he came into office, 104 00:10:16.320 --> 00:10:24.240 so you can't necessarily blame him for any of this. But this isn't 105 00:10:24.279 --> 00:10:31.519 the only sort of place where Dyer is sort of again begging for state investment 106 00:10:31.120 --> 00:10:37.519 because again, what what does he want? He wants He wants outside sources 107 00:10:37.559 --> 00:10:43.919 of revenue to help out the city. City can't. The city only has 108 00:10:43.120 --> 00:10:46.600 so much tax revenue available to it, It only has so much money to 109 00:10:46.639 --> 00:10:50.519 spend. So we've had the story over the last you know, sort of 110 00:10:50.600 --> 00:10:56.399 year or two about the I think it's about two hundred million dollars worth of 111 00:10:56.639 --> 00:11:00.679 state funding that's supposed to come to the City of Fresno for various kinds of 112 00:11:00.720 --> 00:11:05.279 infrastructure things, plumbing things, et cetera. And of course Gavin Newsom late 113 00:11:05.360 --> 00:11:09.440 last year says, ah, sorry, we're gonna push that all back by 114 00:11:09.440 --> 00:11:18.320 one year. And Dyer, who has bent over backwards to be nice to 115 00:11:18.399 --> 00:11:24.559 Gavin Newsom, Dyer who has bent over backwards to be chummy and nice and 116 00:11:24.759 --> 00:11:30.840 friendly and accommodating to Joe Biden, to Gavin Newsom, never says an ill 117 00:11:30.879 --> 00:11:35.559 word about the guy, just doing everything in his power to be supportive of 118 00:11:37.000 --> 00:11:43.639 him. He's getting screwed. He gets Gavin Newsom saying in the budgetary process, 119 00:11:43.759 --> 00:11:46.360 Eh, we're strapped. Sorry, Fresno, you got to wait a 120 00:11:46.440 --> 00:11:54.200 year. Oh it'll just be a year. Sure, And you know, 121 00:11:54.320 --> 00:12:03.080 again, it's hard to fault dire too much given his priorities. But given 122 00:12:03.120 --> 00:12:05.480 his priorities, given the position Fresno that's in, we only have so much 123 00:12:05.559 --> 00:12:09.679 tax revenue. If we want to do if there's a pot of state money 124 00:12:09.679 --> 00:12:16.159 available, then let's go for it. I think it's more the fault really 125 00:12:16.360 --> 00:12:24.159 more here lies with the voters of California who initially bought this whole thing back 126 00:12:24.240 --> 00:12:28.559 in two thousand and four. It was the two thousand and four two thousand 127 00:12:28.559 --> 00:12:35.840 and eight basically this premise that a high speed rail system was going to radically 128 00:12:35.919 --> 00:12:39.519 transform the state of California. It was only going to cost forty billion dollars, 129 00:12:39.600 --> 00:12:45.039 it'd be done in just a couple of years. And again, where 130 00:12:45.120 --> 00:12:50.600 are we with high speed rail? Look, not a single track is operative. 131 00:12:52.480 --> 00:12:56.080 And this is the thing. If we're having such a hard time getting 132 00:12:56.120 --> 00:13:01.600 the construction work done in Fresno, and not, by the way, in 133 00:13:01.679 --> 00:13:05.399 the most bustling part of the city, like this part of the city's been 134 00:13:05.519 --> 00:13:13.600 dead for a long time. If we can't get a construction project like this 135 00:13:13.840 --> 00:13:16.720 done in Fresno, how are we gonna get it done ever in San Francisco? 136 00:13:16.879 --> 00:13:26.600 How is it ever gonna go through Southern California. This project is so 137 00:13:26.519 --> 00:13:33.639 obviously not Like, I just do not understand how this thing is ever gonna 138 00:13:33.639 --> 00:13:39.240 get accomplished. And maybe they just accept we're just gonna triangle through it, 139 00:13:39.320 --> 00:13:45.279 and it's gonna cost way more, and we'll just push through it and eventually 140 00:13:45.399 --> 00:13:52.279 someday some portion of it will get accomplished. But I think my real fear 141 00:13:52.360 --> 00:13:56.320 is they're gonna complete Mer said to Bakersfield, they won't have the money or 142 00:13:56.360 --> 00:14:01.639 the will to finish anything else, and it's going to because people are almost 143 00:14:01.840 --> 00:14:07.480 barely are almost never going to use it. We'll dig more into this after 144 00:14:07.519 --> 00:14:13.639 the break. This is the John Girardi Show on Power Talk. Story in 145 00:14:13.679 --> 00:14:18.159 the Bee about the massive delays that have continued to gum up construction and gum 146 00:14:18.279 --> 00:14:22.799 up traffic along to Larry Street, sort of southwest of Grizzly Stadium in downtown 147 00:14:22.840 --> 00:14:28.519 Fresno. Jerry Dyer's getting mad and this big interview with the sort of Fresno, 148 00:14:28.600 --> 00:14:33.000 Regional Director of the High Speed Reil Authority. So I'm going through this. 149 00:14:33.799 --> 00:14:39.600 Here's the basic real Why is it taking so long? Jerry Dyer's mad, 150 00:14:41.480 --> 00:14:50.879 everyone's frustrated. They had all of these sort of rosy assessments for how 151 00:14:50.240 --> 00:14:58.759 quickly this construction would get done. But why has it taken so much longer? 152 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:05.919 Okay, here's why. The High Speed Rail Authority gives all of these, 153 00:15:07.399 --> 00:15:15.080 uh, these grand predictions about these sections of rail that are going to 154 00:15:15.120 --> 00:15:18.679 get completely these you know, the sections of rail that are coming up traffic, 155 00:15:18.720 --> 00:15:22.759 all this construction that has to take place. They give all these rosy 156 00:15:22.759 --> 00:15:26.600 assessments. Okay, it's going to be done by time. The problem is 157 00:15:28.399 --> 00:15:33.799 a lot of the renovations that are happening are happening near and along and to 158 00:15:35.000 --> 00:15:45.240 existing Amtrak rail which is owned by Union Pacific. Okay, it includes like 159 00:15:45.480 --> 00:15:52.879 renovating the existing you know train depot, the existing you know train station that 160 00:15:52.000 --> 00:15:56.519 already exists there in downtown Fresno. Okay, we have this twenty million dollar 161 00:15:56.639 --> 00:16:00.159 grant from the federal government, Hell pay for it. So the High Speed 162 00:16:00.240 --> 00:16:03.720 Rail gave this whole plan for how it was gonna get done and by that 163 00:16:03.879 --> 00:16:07.639 plan, we should have been done by now. The problem is the High 164 00:16:07.639 --> 00:16:14.480 Speed Rail Authority can't work on Union Pacific's rail. Union Pacific has to work 165 00:16:14.519 --> 00:16:17.639 on it. They're not just gonna let Union Pacific is not just gonna let 166 00:16:17.639 --> 00:16:22.279 the High Speed Rail Authority do all this construction work like or to just follow 167 00:16:22.440 --> 00:16:30.399 their plan. Union Pacific has to do it. So the uh So, 168 00:16:30.600 --> 00:16:34.639 basically the rail authority head for Fresno is describing that they had to have like 169 00:16:36.080 --> 00:16:42.159 nine or so back and forth plan designs going back and forth between Union Pacific 170 00:16:42.559 --> 00:16:47.000 and the rail authority, and each back and forth was like a forty five 171 00:16:47.159 --> 00:16:53.919 day wait in between these dueling, competing design ideas. So what effect essentially 172 00:16:55.080 --> 00:16:57.480 was happening was the High Speed Rail Authority was telling everyone in Fresno, oh, 173 00:16:57.559 --> 00:17:04.279 yes, this will be done by this without having actually confirmed anything with 174 00:17:04.480 --> 00:17:17.079 Union Pacific, who actually has to okay whatever the construction plan is. So 175 00:17:17.240 --> 00:17:23.839 they were full of it, like they were giving these assessments but didn't actually 176 00:17:25.519 --> 00:17:30.599 know how long it was going to take. So yeah, the original plans 177 00:17:30.839 --> 00:17:37.079 in twenty sixteen and twenty seventeen, they were great, but Union Pacific didn't 178 00:17:37.079 --> 00:17:41.200 agree with them. So what were we even talking about? What were they 179 00:17:41.240 --> 00:17:47.359 even selling? So they were selling to Jerry Dyer this whole idea that everything 180 00:17:47.400 --> 00:17:51.119 would be done by a certain point, and they weren't. So yeah, 181 00:17:51.160 --> 00:17:56.039 I think Jerry Dyer after reading this, Jerry Dyer has a right to be 182 00:17:56.200 --> 00:18:04.920 ticked off because basically it seems like the high Speed Rail authority just didn't actually 183 00:18:06.119 --> 00:18:11.799 communicate the anything that was actually approved by the relevant people who needed to approve 184 00:18:11.839 --> 00:18:21.319 it. Construction with the Church Avenue overpass, which was they also needed to 185 00:18:21.359 --> 00:18:26.759 construct an overpass to carry traffic up and over a confluence of the various rail 186 00:18:26.839 --> 00:18:32.440 lines has similarly proven more complex than the rail authorities, engineers, and contractor 187 00:18:32.519 --> 00:18:37.680 originally anticipated. Why do these guys keep anticipating that things won't be hard or 188 00:18:37.759 --> 00:18:44.160 that things won't be harder than they anticipate. The whole history of the California 189 00:18:44.200 --> 00:18:48.920 High Speed Rail has been one long sequence of this was more complicated than we 190 00:18:49.039 --> 00:18:57.559 thought. Everything's been more complicated than they thought. And that's the thing. 191 00:18:57.680 --> 00:19:06.000 Like as as long as, if anything, it feels to me like the 192 00:19:06.160 --> 00:19:14.799 development of downtown, which politicians have been talking about wanting to revitalize downtown Fresno 193 00:19:15.519 --> 00:19:22.720 for I don't know as long as I have been alive, the desire to 194 00:19:22.799 --> 00:19:27.440 revitalize in downtown. We need something to revitalize downtown. What about downtown revitalization 195 00:19:27.480 --> 00:19:40.880 blah blah blah blah. Pretty much everything southwest of Grizzly Stadium, where you 196 00:19:40.960 --> 00:19:45.000 know the rail the railroad lines go sort of that they kind of run, 197 00:19:45.920 --> 00:19:51.359 uh, you know, northwest to southeast. So everything southwest of the stadium 198 00:19:52.880 --> 00:19:59.960 is just being held up and in suspense while we wait for the high speed 199 00:20:00.200 --> 00:20:07.200 rail. How can we revitalize anything when we've got this permanent construction project going 200 00:20:07.279 --> 00:20:11.400 on where we're permanently sort of waiting for the high speed rail to show up. 201 00:20:11.920 --> 00:20:18.960 And then I guess the big fear is, let's wave a magic wand, 202 00:20:19.720 --> 00:20:23.880 we wave a magic wand and we successfully complete the high speed rail station. 203 00:20:23.960 --> 00:20:30.160 We have a beautiful, big, shining glass high speed rail station that 204 00:20:30.519 --> 00:20:37.640 looks terrible and looks like terrible modern architecture that has no connection to the history 205 00:20:37.759 --> 00:20:41.039 or architecture or culture of the San Joaquin Valley. It just looks like a 206 00:20:41.119 --> 00:20:45.960 big modernist glass tube, looks like one of the sandworms from Dune Okay, 207 00:20:45.119 --> 00:20:49.240 great, great job. Let's say it's all complete and it's all shiny and 208 00:20:49.319 --> 00:20:57.839 new. Is that gonna spur downtown revitalization? Are people going to want to 209 00:20:57.920 --> 00:21:04.680 build a bunch of restaurants, hotels, whatever, all around that station? 210 00:21:06.319 --> 00:21:11.240 Are people really gonna use it for a rail line that will basically only be 211 00:21:12.160 --> 00:21:18.079 or said, to Bakersfield. I guess my fear is that no one's gonna 212 00:21:18.119 --> 00:21:22.319 ride this train. No one is gonna pay the extra money to take a 213 00:21:22.440 --> 00:21:26.559 train to Bakersfield, where presumably they'll need either someone to pick them up or 214 00:21:26.599 --> 00:21:33.640 they'll need to get an uber or rent a car, when they can just 215 00:21:33.079 --> 00:21:42.079 get in their car and drive down the ninety nine. So, even if 216 00:21:42.960 --> 00:21:47.319 we complete this high speed rail system, the whole premise of why we were 217 00:21:47.359 --> 00:21:51.759 doing high speed rail was to connect us to La. It was to connect 218 00:21:51.880 --> 00:21:55.920 us to San Francisco. And at this point, if it's not gonna connect 219 00:21:56.000 --> 00:21:59.839 us to LA or San Francisco, what economic boon is this thing gonna be? 220 00:22:00.319 --> 00:22:03.240 How is this really going to revitalize downtown? Who's going to want to 221 00:22:03.359 --> 00:22:08.240 build a bunch of restaurants, hotels, et cetera for a train where the 222 00:22:08.480 --> 00:22:15.799 only utility is if you want to take it to Bakersfield or merced I just 223 00:22:15.880 --> 00:22:21.599 feel like we're pinning so many of our hopes and aspirations for downtown Fresno over 224 00:22:21.680 --> 00:22:25.720 this huge construction project which is gumming things up all over the place in downtown, 225 00:22:26.279 --> 00:22:30.240 holding everything in suspended animation for a project that I don't think is really 226 00:22:30.319 --> 00:22:38.200 gonna spur that much investment. Boy, it's kind of trite for a talk 227 00:22:38.319 --> 00:22:42.000 radio person locally to say the high speed rail is a disaster, But man, 228 00:22:45.480 --> 00:22:51.279 I don't even know. Even if this thing does get completed, I 229 00:22:51.480 --> 00:22:53.759 just don't know that it's gonna do any of the crap that they were, 230 00:22:53.960 --> 00:22:57.319 you know, that they were promising back when they first sold this thing, 231 00:22:59.400 --> 00:23:03.000 when we were earn some of the trickle down effects of President Trump's statement about 232 00:23:03.000 --> 00:23:10.240 abortion earlier this week. Where does it leave individual local Republican politicians. That's 233 00:23:10.319 --> 00:23:15.759 next on the John Girardi Show. Obviously, I've been talking a lot about 234 00:23:15.000 --> 00:23:21.799 President Trump's statement about abortion that he made earlier this week, and I think 235 00:23:22.480 --> 00:23:26.279 the more I'm listening to it and the more I'm thinking about it, the 236 00:23:26.359 --> 00:23:32.519 more disturbed I kind of get about it. There's some real trickle down effects 237 00:23:32.599 --> 00:23:36.680 of it that I don't think we've fully comprehended, and sort of what it 238 00:23:36.759 --> 00:23:42.519 means for the Republican Party for its presidential nominee for a year saying all this 239 00:23:42.680 --> 00:23:45.839 about saying the kinds of stuff Trump has said about abortion. So let me 240 00:23:45.960 --> 00:23:49.759 just kind of reiterate. Trump's position is that he's not going to pursue any 241 00:23:49.920 --> 00:24:00.359 federal limits on abortion. He has also now criticized openly and he's basically said 242 00:24:00.400 --> 00:24:07.400 abortion is an issue for states to decide, And he's basically said he's not 243 00:24:07.799 --> 00:24:15.160 endorsing any particular state position for or against abortion. Well sort of. He 244 00:24:15.279 --> 00:24:22.119 has actually openly opposed several pro life laws now in various states. So he 245 00:24:22.319 --> 00:24:30.720 opposed the bill Rond De Santis signed in Florida which has limited abortion to feudal 246 00:24:30.759 --> 00:24:37.119 heartbeat, so no abortions after six weeks into a pregnancy when field heartbeat can 247 00:24:37.160 --> 00:24:45.200 be detected. By the way, when Trump stated his opposition to that bill, 248 00:24:45.680 --> 00:24:49.680 which I think frankly was chiefly motivated by the fact that he was in 249 00:24:49.759 --> 00:24:53.480 a primary contest against Rond De Santis. So if Ronda Santis said that the 250 00:24:53.519 --> 00:24:57.480 sky was blue, Trump would have said it was fake news and corrupt. 251 00:24:57.599 --> 00:25:03.920 You know, little Rond sanctimonious was giving the fake news that the sky was 252 00:25:03.960 --> 00:25:11.000 blue. By the way, when Trump said his opposition stated his opposition to 253 00:25:11.240 --> 00:25:17.000 that law, that was the precise kind of law that was at issue in 254 00:25:17.240 --> 00:25:22.279 Ohio. Ohio had a statewide ballot initiative it voted on in November twenty twenty 255 00:25:22.359 --> 00:25:27.000 three to get rid of their law, which was precisely the same law that 256 00:25:27.240 --> 00:25:32.759 was there in Florida, or more or less, the exact same statute had 257 00:25:32.759 --> 00:25:34.519 been passed both in Florida and in Ohio. Well, guess what. Here's 258 00:25:34.559 --> 00:25:38.440 Donald Trump out saying that that law is terrible, and a whole bunch of 259 00:25:38.480 --> 00:25:45.359 Republicans voted to reinstate legal abortion in Ohio. There is a trickle down effect 260 00:25:45.440 --> 00:25:52.119 here to President Trump, who's sort of claiming that he is neutral on abortion, 261 00:25:52.319 --> 00:26:00.279 but he's actually actively opposing various kinds of state abortion law. Now this 262 00:26:00.440 --> 00:26:04.799 focus is shifting to Arizona, all right, So let me explain what's going 263 00:26:04.799 --> 00:26:11.680 on in Arizona. Arizona, like most states in the Union, passed a 264 00:26:11.799 --> 00:26:18.319 law in the sort of around the time of the Civil War. I think 265 00:26:18.359 --> 00:26:23.200 it must have been around the time that Arizona became a state that outlawed abortion 266 00:26:23.400 --> 00:26:27.599 except to save the mother's life. Most states in the Union had a law 267 00:26:27.880 --> 00:26:32.160 like that on the books about abortion, and most of those laws got passed 268 00:26:32.279 --> 00:26:37.519 around the time of the Civil War. This law, though in Arizona, 269 00:26:37.920 --> 00:26:48.759 was repeatedly reaffirmed by the Arizona State legislature and at different points between its original 270 00:26:48.839 --> 00:26:56.599 adoption and the issuing of Roe v. Wade. So it's not just an 271 00:26:56.680 --> 00:27:00.880 eighteen sixty law. It was a law that was repeatedly reaffirm by the Arizona 272 00:27:00.920 --> 00:27:06.240 State legislature, you know, when they were you know, reforming various legal 273 00:27:06.319 --> 00:27:10.279 codes and things like that, they kept reissuing it. In fact, the 274 00:27:10.359 --> 00:27:18.119 Arizona Legislature re asserted it reissued it in nineteen seventy seven, four years after 275 00:27:18.279 --> 00:27:22.160 Roe v. Wade. In spite of the fact that they couldn't enforce it. 276 00:27:22.200 --> 00:27:23.440 The Arizona legislature said, hey, this is the law of the land 277 00:27:23.480 --> 00:27:27.240 here in Arizona. Anyway, we can't enforce it because we've got this rov. 278 00:27:27.319 --> 00:27:32.559 Wade decision on the books, but this is our state law. The 279 00:27:32.720 --> 00:27:40.960 Arizona State Supreme Court ruled that that law Yes, originally passed in the nineteenth 280 00:27:41.000 --> 00:27:45.880 century but repeatedly reaffirmed by the Arizona legislature as recently as nineteen seventy seven, 281 00:27:48.920 --> 00:27:56.039 was still in effect and could be enforced that because Roe v. Wade was 282 00:27:56.119 --> 00:28:00.200 now overturned, that law is still on the books. It's still valid law, 283 00:28:00.960 --> 00:28:06.000 and it's a pretty comprehensive abortion law. No abortion except to save the 284 00:28:06.119 --> 00:28:14.079 life of the mother. Donald Trump and his Arizona lapdog, Carrie Lake have 285 00:28:14.240 --> 00:28:18.359 now openly come out opposing that law, which, let me just remind you 286 00:28:18.480 --> 00:28:26.240 all the platform Republican position is that to ban abortion except for cases to save 287 00:28:26.279 --> 00:28:37.160 the mom's life. Donald Trump is opposing it, and again it makes you 288 00:28:37.240 --> 00:28:41.839 think, well, he just had this video statement saying abortion is going to 289 00:28:41.880 --> 00:28:48.279 be left to the states, refusing to tell people how to vote when it 290 00:28:48.359 --> 00:28:51.279 came to various state abortion references, telling people repeat it, you got to 291 00:28:51.279 --> 00:28:59.519 follow your heart. But then he's jumping into these controversies in individual states to 292 00:28:59.640 --> 00:29:04.599 say, yeah, this is bad and they got to fix that. So 293 00:29:06.000 --> 00:29:08.240 I guess this is my problem is that a lot of people are trying to 294 00:29:08.319 --> 00:29:11.920 defend Trump and say, look, Trump's just trying to be pragmatic here, 295 00:29:12.839 --> 00:29:17.920 like he's just trying to be politically smart. He's trying not to not to 296 00:29:18.400 --> 00:29:22.680 tie himself to an unpopular political position. He'll still do what he can as 297 00:29:22.240 --> 00:29:26.279 a president, but he's not gonna commit himself to doing things that are politically 298 00:29:26.079 --> 00:29:34.079 unfeasible anyway, just to play cap pro lifers. But he's gonna, you 299 00:29:34.119 --> 00:29:37.799 know, try and stay neutral on the abortion question. Just let states duke 300 00:29:37.839 --> 00:29:41.559 it out. That's the appropriate venue for duking it out. The problem is 301 00:29:41.599 --> 00:29:47.640 he's not really doing that. He's actively undercutting pro lifers in the States. 302 00:29:48.079 --> 00:29:52.559 He's actively undercutting them in Florida, he's actively undercutting them in Ohio. He's 303 00:29:52.680 --> 00:30:02.720 actively undercutting them in Arizona. Now, and the thing that's scaring me is 304 00:30:02.799 --> 00:30:08.559 actually Carrie Lake. Let me describe this all right. Carrie Lake is running 305 00:30:08.759 --> 00:30:14.799 for the US Senate seat in Arizona this year. She unsuccessfully ran for governor 306 00:30:15.160 --> 00:30:23.680 two years ago. Carry Lake is maybe one of the most Trump aligned people 307 00:30:25.640 --> 00:30:30.839 running for Senate. She's constantly at mar A Lago. She says what Trump 308 00:30:30.960 --> 00:30:40.160 says. She follows the Trump line scrupulously. Okay, She's now come out 309 00:30:40.279 --> 00:30:45.559 and pledged she is not going to vote for any national pro life legislation. 310 00:30:48.559 --> 00:30:55.000 I just want to remind all of you any national pro life regulation. I 311 00:30:55.119 --> 00:30:57.240 just want to remind all of you. Republicans in the House and Senate have 312 00:30:57.319 --> 00:31:04.480 been voting on federal abortion restrictions for I don't know, the last forty years, 313 00:31:04.559 --> 00:31:10.640 the last excuse me, the last fifty years. Republicans in the House 314 00:31:11.000 --> 00:31:15.240 in the Senate have been voting for those things. Your elected Republican representatives have 315 00:31:15.400 --> 00:31:22.880 voted for these things multiple multiple, multiple times from the most and Donald Trump 316 00:31:22.079 --> 00:31:33.359 when he was president, supported them repeatedly. Okay, the idea that the 317 00:31:33.440 --> 00:31:40.480 federal government doesn't have a role regulating abortion is all of a sudden now completely 318 00:31:40.519 --> 00:31:42.640 in vogue among Republicans. And why did you pro lifers ever think that we 319 00:31:42.720 --> 00:31:48.880 would want to support a federal restriction on abortion because Republicans voted for those things 320 00:31:48.039 --> 00:31:59.519 multiple times. Donald Trump supported such initiatives multiple multiple times Congress. And also, 321 00:31:59.880 --> 00:32:09.240 there's a sort of a kind of lack of precision in saying this that 322 00:32:09.440 --> 00:32:13.519 really gives me concern. What do you mean you're not gonna vote for any 323 00:32:13.640 --> 00:32:19.400 federal abortion restriction. You're not going to vote to cut off federal funding for 324 00:32:19.440 --> 00:32:25.680 planned parenthood. You're not going to vote to limit federal funding for abortion via 325 00:32:25.759 --> 00:32:32.680 the High Amendment. That's a federal restriction on abortion. Now, Lake did 326 00:32:32.759 --> 00:32:37.480 say she wouldn't vote for any federal funding for abortion. Okay, that's good, 327 00:32:37.519 --> 00:32:45.440 I guess. I am concerned though, that if this is what Carrie 328 00:32:45.480 --> 00:32:49.440 Lake's doing, how many other people running for the House, how many other 329 00:32:49.480 --> 00:32:57.160 people running for the Senate are going to start to contour their positions on abortion 330 00:32:57.359 --> 00:33:00.440 to perfectly align with what Trump's saying? Is this going to what's going to 331 00:33:00.480 --> 00:33:07.079 happen to the Republican Party platform this year at the Republican convention? Assuming we 332 00:33:07.240 --> 00:33:14.480 have a platform which we declined to write in the last election, which was 333 00:33:15.119 --> 00:33:21.160 I think idiotic, what's the platform position going to be on abortion? Now? 334 00:33:21.200 --> 00:33:24.400 Do we actually support restricting abortion? Now? It seems like we're not 335 00:33:24.519 --> 00:33:30.799 gonna it's not a federal job. Now when we return, I want to 336 00:33:30.839 --> 00:33:37.720 talk about the selective federalism and the selective pragmatism of the Trump side when it 337 00:33:37.799 --> 00:33:40.359 comes to abortion. I'll explain what I mean after the break. This is 338 00:33:40.400 --> 00:33:47.640 the John's Already show on Power Talk. There's a selective pragmatism to this new 339 00:33:47.839 --> 00:33:55.160 sort of Trump party line about not supporting federal restrictions on abortion. There's selective 340 00:33:55.240 --> 00:34:01.640 pragmatism and a selective adherence to Tenth Amendment style federalism. So let me start 341 00:34:01.680 --> 00:34:06.319 with the federalism idea. The federalism idea is all these people trying to advance 342 00:34:06.400 --> 00:34:10.000 this sort of constitutional argument for why Congress shouldn't pass some kind of law to 343 00:34:10.079 --> 00:34:15.400 try to limit abortion at say, fifteen weeks or twenty weeks. The argument 344 00:34:15.559 --> 00:34:19.559 is, hey, the federal government regulates way more stuff than they should. 345 00:34:19.719 --> 00:34:23.400 We've expanded the Commerce clause part of the Constitution that says Congress can pass laws 346 00:34:23.440 --> 00:34:30.239 to regulate interstate commerce, which the massive expansion of what constitutes interstate commerce has 347 00:34:30.280 --> 00:34:37.679 allowed Congress to really grow in its power to the detriment of states Congress regulates 348 00:34:37.719 --> 00:34:40.920 too much. Abortion is one of these things that shouldn't be regulated as commerce, 349 00:34:43.360 --> 00:34:49.199 in spite of the fact that abortion is a major, major international industry 350 00:34:49.320 --> 00:34:53.960 with huge corporate entities that provide abortions across state lines. And it seems actually 351 00:34:54.119 --> 00:34:58.239 like perfectly the kind of thing that is interstate commerce that would be reasonable for 352 00:34:58.280 --> 00:35:00.559 Congress to regulate, but no, Congress shouldn't it. It's a matter for 353 00:35:00.639 --> 00:35:12.599 the states. All these Republicans who have voted for years to regulate other kinds 354 00:35:12.599 --> 00:35:19.440 of industries that are no more or less interstate than the abortion industry is all 355 00:35:19.440 --> 00:35:24.480 of a sudden they're putting on their Thomas Jefferson hats or and all the tenth 356 00:35:24.519 --> 00:35:28.599 Amendment federalism. Okay, well, we got to be really careful that we 357 00:35:28.679 --> 00:35:31.400 don't have Congress regulate abortion. Meanwhile, out of the other side of the 358 00:35:31.440 --> 00:35:36.639 mouth, you're saying, yes, let's support federal legislation to support IVF clinics. 359 00:35:37.960 --> 00:35:43.360 Oh, supporting IVF clinics, that is interstate commerce. But abortion is 360 00:35:43.440 --> 00:35:49.199 not. Supporting IVF much more popular position. Yes, that's interstate commerce. 361 00:35:49.639 --> 00:35:53.079 Opposing abortion not as popular a position. Oh oh the tenth Amendment totally. 362 00:35:53.239 --> 00:35:58.440 Well that's not what the commerce closes. But that's is that interesting? Oh? 363 00:35:58.559 --> 00:36:01.280 Should we really? I just know it's a constitutional scholar. I just 364 00:36:01.320 --> 00:36:08.320 don't know if that's something Congress should regulate. So we have this selective adherence 365 00:36:08.400 --> 00:36:17.199 to federalism when it comes to abortion, and also selective pragmatism. So this 366 00:36:17.400 --> 00:36:30.239 is what I can't stand. I understand the Trump camps strong adherence to the 367 00:36:30.360 --> 00:36:37.320 position that the twenty twenty election was stolen. They have made no bones about 368 00:36:37.360 --> 00:36:42.079 the fact that they're still gonna keep carrying and waving that flag. In fact 369 00:36:42.079 --> 00:36:45.119 that there's some reporting that the RNC was like vetting people based on do you 370 00:36:45.239 --> 00:36:47.639 think the election in twenty twenty was stolen? And if you didn't think it 371 00:36:47.719 --> 00:36:52.400 was stolen, then they weren't gonna hire you. Like we are firmly committed 372 00:36:52.400 --> 00:36:57.880 to this proposition because Trump is still bitter and angry over losing the election, 373 00:36:58.000 --> 00:37:00.280 and he's still carrying that flag. And by the way, I would say, 374 00:37:00.400 --> 00:37:05.400 even if you do think that the election was flat out stolen, I 375 00:37:05.559 --> 00:37:10.159 e. There was provable fraud that changed the outcome, which I do think 376 00:37:10.199 --> 00:37:15.199 there was fraud. I'm open to discussions of whether it's fraud. It is 377 00:37:15.480 --> 00:37:23.480 clearly a wildly unpopular position to hold. How many candidates lost in twenty twenty 378 00:37:23.519 --> 00:37:28.440 two because they kept going on and on about the twenty twenty election. The 379 00:37:28.519 --> 00:37:31.639 guy, the guy ran for governor in Pennsylvania, Carrie Lake in Arizona. 380 00:37:32.639 --> 00:37:37.079 So we lose all these races in twenty twenty two because people are going on 381 00:37:37.199 --> 00:37:42.719 and on about the twenty election being stolen. Stop telling me that abortion is 382 00:37:42.840 --> 00:37:46.280 unpopular and that's why we need to not talk about it. If you're just 383 00:37:46.880 --> 00:37:53.239 not letting go of the twenty twenty election fraud line of talking, even if 384 00:37:53.280 --> 00:37:59.559 you're right, and you might be, most of the country doesn't want to 385 00:37:59.599 --> 00:38:02.800 hear it, So pleased, I don't want to get lectures in pragmatism for 386 00:38:02.920 --> 00:38:07.639 people taking the most unpragmatic position possible on that. That'll do it for John 387 00:38:07.679 --> 00:38:09.440 Girardi Show. See you next time on Power Talk.