WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.120 --> 00:00:07.919 I'm reading a story about a proposed apartment complex on Herndon Avenue in Fresno, 2 00:00:08.480 --> 00:00:14.919 kind of a very way out west on Herndon, And basically the City of 3 00:00:14.960 --> 00:00:23.399 Fresno Planning Commission has shot down this idea for an apartment complex along Herndon Avenue. 4 00:00:24.079 --> 00:00:28.960 This is, by the way, that the idea here is the city 5 00:00:29.160 --> 00:00:37.079 is wanting to fund infill development. So stuff that's in the city when the 6 00:00:37.119 --> 00:00:44.600 city limits that has building, that has stuff built up surrounding vacant lots, 7 00:00:44.640 --> 00:00:51.280 but we want to build up vacant lots. And so this is long Herndon 8 00:00:51.439 --> 00:00:57.359 Avenue. It's just a little bit looks like it's a little bit west of 9 00:00:57.439 --> 00:01:04.680 Marx, between Mars and Valentine. And this idea, it was a proposal 10 00:01:06.640 --> 00:01:14.200 for an apartment complex. And by the way, this is on Herndon Avenue. 11 00:01:14.439 --> 00:01:19.719 This is probably gonna be a higher rent apartment complex. No one's going 12 00:01:19.760 --> 00:01:25.120 to be buying an apartment at Herndon and Marx. Who doesn't have a bit 13 00:01:25.159 --> 00:01:30.000 of money, I would guess, you know, what do I know? 14 00:01:30.560 --> 00:01:34.799 But that does seem to be the trend. The trend seems to be one 15 00:01:34.799 --> 00:01:42.040 of two things. You're either building luxury apartments for high end renters or you're 16 00:01:42.079 --> 00:01:49.879 building state assisted quote lower income housing. There's really not much room in between. 17 00:01:51.040 --> 00:01:55.040 Why, well, there's no other way you're going to make money. 18 00:01:56.760 --> 00:02:02.480 If you build for middle class renters, you can't make money. You're building 19 00:02:02.519 --> 00:02:07.280 for people who are too high income for you to receive any subsidization from the 20 00:02:07.319 --> 00:02:12.879 state, and you're not getting enough money from the renters on the back end 21 00:02:13.520 --> 00:02:16.039 because you're doing this for middle class people and try to have affordable rents. 22 00:02:19.680 --> 00:02:23.840 So basically that those are the only kinds of apartments that are being built nowadays, 23 00:02:24.360 --> 00:02:30.560 is high end stuff that like you know, a single nurse who's making 24 00:02:30.759 --> 00:02:35.400 you know, well into six figures that she can afford, or you know, 25 00:02:35.719 --> 00:02:40.360 a divorced lawyer can rent. Those are the kinds of projects that are 26 00:02:40.400 --> 00:02:50.840 being built right now. And this project doesn't seem like it is going to 27 00:02:50.919 --> 00:02:58.719 be like it's going to be eighty two units, and it doesn't seem like 28 00:02:58.759 --> 00:03:02.199 it's going to be lowering housing. The there's an article about this in gv 29 00:03:02.280 --> 00:03:08.199 wire, noting that there's an article about it in gv wire noting that like 30 00:03:08.240 --> 00:03:15.560 Section eight subsidies are not going to cover the cost of these rents. But 31 00:03:15.080 --> 00:03:23.719 I'm very interested in the mix of people who are lined up to support it 32 00:03:24.039 --> 00:03:29.240 versus oppose it. All right, so supporting it is obviously the real estate 33 00:03:29.280 --> 00:03:37.319 developer who is promoting it, plus Miguel Arius. Miguel Arius as a member 34 00:03:37.360 --> 00:03:40.240 of the President City Council. He's supportive of it. But it's not in 35 00:03:40.360 --> 00:03:50.759 his It's not in his district. This is in Mike Krbasi's district. But 36 00:03:51.479 --> 00:03:54.800 I want to just point out all the several of the people opposing it. 37 00:03:58.479 --> 00:04:03.080 This is in a story from gv wire discussing it, which you know not 38 00:04:03.199 --> 00:04:11.840 to be smirch. Every single person who writes for GV wire everything about gv 39 00:04:11.919 --> 00:04:16.199 wire. But gv wire is funded by Granville Holmes. Okay, that's what 40 00:04:16.319 --> 00:04:28.240 gv stands for. Okay, it's owned by Darius Assimi. Mike Carbassi does 41 00:04:28.639 --> 00:04:31.680 like a weekly radio show with Darius Assimi. Mike Carbossi, a member of 42 00:04:31.680 --> 00:04:35.079 the President City Council, does a weekly radio show with a real estate developer. 43 00:04:40.360 --> 00:04:50.560 Susan Wittrup, the president of the President Unified Board of Trustees. Now, 44 00:04:50.759 --> 00:05:00.240 Carbasi was not supportive of this apartment complex. He has opposed the project 45 00:05:00.240 --> 00:05:03.680 in the past. He said he had not received a request to appeal. 46 00:05:05.480 --> 00:05:10.680 Susan Wittrup, who's the president of the president Unified Board of Trustees, spoke 47 00:05:11.040 --> 00:05:16.639 at a hearing for the Planning Commission in opposition to this, saying that basically 48 00:05:16.959 --> 00:05:25.279 the purported objections to this project are that it would increase traffic along this stretch 49 00:05:25.879 --> 00:05:35.399 of Herndon Avenue and other sort of related problems. Relating to traffic. Wittrup 50 00:05:35.439 --> 00:05:41.439 testified and she said a multi unit housing complex of that size would obstruct emergency 51 00:05:41.439 --> 00:05:46.680 responders ability to respond to calls, including to that of Taitarian Elementary School. 52 00:05:48.079 --> 00:05:54.399 Safety and well being of our children must be our top priority. Witrup wrote, 53 00:05:54.680 --> 00:05:58.600 So, this is a story in GV wire. Mike Kerbot story in 54 00:05:58.720 --> 00:06:04.879 gv wire discussing the apartment complex. Mike Carbassi, who is on a gv 55 00:06:05.000 --> 00:06:10.920 wires show with Darius Assimi, is opposing this. Susan Wittrup, who is 56 00:06:11.439 --> 00:06:20.839 dating Darius Assimi, opposes this. Now Sheriff John Zanoni spoke out about it. 57 00:06:21.519 --> 00:06:27.720 I'm not sure why. I don't know if John Zanoni has any connection 58 00:06:27.839 --> 00:06:30.439 with Darius Assimi or not. I don't know. Maybe he lives in the 59 00:06:30.480 --> 00:06:34.199 area and just dislikes I don't know if there's any connection, but doesn't this 60 00:06:34.240 --> 00:06:40.160 seem weird? It's a lot of people who have connections to this one real 61 00:06:40.279 --> 00:06:45.000 estate developer, all talking about this apartment complex and what a bad idea it 62 00:06:45.160 --> 00:06:56.600 is. And I guess that this is one of the things about Fresno politics 63 00:06:56.600 --> 00:07:06.639 that makes me a little uncertain, is you know, what are what are 64 00:07:06.639 --> 00:07:12.959 we basing these decisions off of? I mean, I have no I have 65 00:07:13.000 --> 00:07:19.240 no actual hard evidence that anything is actually really bad here, But isn't this 66 00:07:19.319 --> 00:07:27.319 weird? Now? Beyond that, this is very much an example of not 67 00:07:27.439 --> 00:07:33.360 in my backyardism? Right, So, one of the many obstacles to building 68 00:07:34.160 --> 00:07:45.519 housing in California is basically a kind of the entrenched interests of people who are 69 00:07:45.560 --> 00:07:51.759 already living in an area and already have houses, And that entrenched interest is 70 00:07:53.000 --> 00:07:59.959 I don't want multi unit I don't want apartments near my house because people who 71 00:08:00.040 --> 00:08:03.800 live in apartments commit more crimes and it lowers the property value of my house. 72 00:08:07.399 --> 00:08:16.360 So not in my backyardism and not in my backyardism is something that infects 73 00:08:16.519 --> 00:08:20.399 conservatives, it infects liberals, and infects kind of everybody, all right, 74 00:08:22.600 --> 00:08:30.720 So it's not specific to anyone, it's not specific to anyone party, and 75 00:08:30.759 --> 00:08:35.159 that seems very much to be what's happening here, I think is that this 76 00:08:35.320 --> 00:08:43.720 is just classic nimbiism, that the real only objection to this is I don't 77 00:08:43.799 --> 00:08:52.960 want anything that could impact the value of my home. Even though we obviously 78 00:08:52.080 --> 00:08:58.559 need more housing in the city of Presdent, we need more multi unit dwellings, 79 00:08:58.600 --> 00:09:03.919 and we want to promote, you know, more dwellings within the city, 80 00:09:05.120 --> 00:09:09.399 like the infill development where we're trying to promote infill development, but not 81 00:09:09.559 --> 00:09:15.639 like this, not in this way where we think it could you know, 82 00:09:15.759 --> 00:09:20.720 adversely impact housing values. Now I see another story that apparently we're gonna try 83 00:09:20.759 --> 00:09:26.679 to renovate the Manchester Mall, that the owners and developers of Manchester Mall are 84 00:09:26.720 --> 00:09:33.960 gonna basically try to gut the whole thing and turn it into apartments. I'm 85 00:09:33.960 --> 00:09:39.320 not exactly sure how that's gonna work. That seems like a very ambitious project, 86 00:09:39.320 --> 00:09:45.159 Okay, but nobody cares about that. Why Because Manchester Mall is that 87 00:09:45.399 --> 00:09:50.360 you know, Blackstone and Shields. Nobody is gonna know there's gonna not gonna 88 00:09:50.360 --> 00:09:54.559 be any rich people saying, oh, well, I don't want any apartment 89 00:09:54.679 --> 00:10:00.919 dwellers living near me. And I'm not saying that that's such concern are totally 90 00:10:01.919 --> 00:10:07.120 meaningless, Like, look, you want especially if it's safety related. Yeah, 91 00:10:07.200 --> 00:10:13.919 you want your kids to grow up in a safe area. But I 92 00:10:13.559 --> 00:10:22.960 I guess I'm concerned when the Planning Commission is hearing from you know, this 93 00:10:22.080 --> 00:10:26.960 person supported by a big real estate developer, this person supported by a big 94 00:10:26.000 --> 00:10:30.600 real estate developer, all saying no, no, no, stop this separate 95 00:10:31.200 --> 00:10:39.000 real estate development. I find this nervous, Like why a Fresney Unified school 96 00:10:39.000 --> 00:10:48.440 board member is involved almost at all on the grounds of well, this will 97 00:10:48.519 --> 00:10:58.000 increase traffic, which will make emergency responders times getting to this elementary school within 98 00:10:58.200 --> 00:11:03.840 Fresno Unified make it more difficult. I mean a school board member could make 99 00:11:03.919 --> 00:11:11.799 that objection about any building site proposed anywhere in the city of Fresno, right, 100 00:11:13.240 --> 00:11:18.120 I mean they are anywhere within the boundaries of Presne Unified. I mean 101 00:11:18.120 --> 00:11:24.679 that there's a there're a gazillion President Unified elementary school scattered all over the city. 102 00:11:24.879 --> 00:11:31.720 So is Susan Wittrop gonna walk over with her concerns about traffic flow. 103 00:11:31.519 --> 00:11:39.840 Anytime someone wants to build an apartment complex, the whole thing just seems I'm 104 00:11:39.919 --> 00:11:45.399 just putting a bookmark on it. I sometimes have these things that I notice 105 00:11:45.440 --> 00:11:48.559 and I see and I wish I had put a bookmark on it so I 106 00:11:48.559 --> 00:11:50.720 could go back on the radio and say I told you so later on. 107 00:11:52.519 --> 00:11:56.000 This seems like a thing. I don't know why it's a thing. And 108 00:11:56.000 --> 00:12:01.759 I'd actually be really interested to talk to Miguel Arrius about all this, because 109 00:12:01.840 --> 00:12:07.440 Arius is you know, as much as I usually disagree with Arius on ninety 110 00:12:07.480 --> 00:12:11.480 nine percent of things, he's sort of making sense we need we're trying to 111 00:12:11.559 --> 00:12:20.159 encourage infield development. Arius thinks that the city is at risk here of losing 112 00:12:20.279 --> 00:12:26.799 if it comes to like a lawsuit. Arius is afraid that if the city 113 00:12:26.879 --> 00:12:28.639 is sued that the planning commit that if the Planning Commission is sued, that 114 00:12:28.720 --> 00:12:33.759 the city would lose. I'd be really interested to hear more what he has 115 00:12:33.840 --> 00:12:37.919 to say about that. You know, Arius is an interesting guy. As 116 00:12:37.000 --> 00:12:39.679 much as I disagree with him on stuff, he is kind of an independent 117 00:12:39.720 --> 00:12:48.960 thinker, and he he's an interesting thinker anyway. And I must say I'm 118 00:12:48.360 --> 00:12:52.679 i just find it. It's a methinks they doth protest too much sort of 119 00:12:52.799 --> 00:12:58.200 situation, to quote the Bard. Why do we have the sheriff of Fresno 120 00:12:58.320 --> 00:13:03.399 County, the president of the board of trustees, everyone, all these people 121 00:13:03.480 --> 00:13:13.879 testifying in opposition to someone trying to build an apartment complex. I find it 122 00:13:13.919 --> 00:13:20.919 odd. And the objections all seem it seems like the real estate developer tried 123 00:13:20.960 --> 00:13:24.159 to develop, tried to develop the project in response to criticisms, it gets 124 00:13:24.200 --> 00:13:35.440 thrown out. The whole thing seems a little suspicious to me. And you 125 00:13:35.480 --> 00:13:39.919 know, again, I understand the instinct people want to protect their property values 126 00:13:39.000 --> 00:13:45.559 if then and they have this this thought that if people build apartments, therefore 127 00:13:45.600 --> 00:13:50.200 your property values go down. I get that instinct. But at the same 128 00:13:50.240 --> 00:13:52.080 time, we got kind of need to do what's right for the city. 129 00:13:52.399 --> 00:13:56.320 The problem is everyone has these attitudes up and down the state, and then 130 00:13:56.360 --> 00:14:01.840 we don't build any new housing. And it's one aspect of many. Now, 131 00:14:03.159 --> 00:14:07.960 if the state were less crazy with building in a million other respects, 132 00:14:09.279 --> 00:14:13.679 if its environmental regulation was less crazy, if it let environmental wacko, if 133 00:14:13.720 --> 00:14:18.639 it didn't let environmental wackos sue to stall projects as easily if it didn't have 134 00:14:20.120 --> 00:14:24.879 all these other bad things that California does that make it so difficult and so 135 00:14:24.960 --> 00:14:30.080 expensive to build housing in the state. Maybe people could have their Nimbi attitudes, 136 00:14:30.120 --> 00:14:33.480 then we could still have more housing. But as it stands, like 137 00:14:35.519 --> 00:14:39.840 as it stands, it seems very silly for the city on the one hand 138 00:14:39.840 --> 00:14:45.399 to be spending all this money to encourage infield development and at the same time 139 00:14:45.759 --> 00:14:52.159 shutting down I don't know, seems like a fairly reasonable project. I can't 140 00:14:52.159 --> 00:14:56.600 say I've looked at every single detail, and I'm willing to by the way, 141 00:14:56.879 --> 00:14:58.279 I'm willing to be convinced of the other side. I'm willing to be 142 00:14:58.320 --> 00:15:03.759 convinced that I'm I'm a conspiracy theorist here, but seems odd to me. 143 00:15:03.879 --> 00:15:07.399 When we return, I want to just talk a little bit more about Susan 144 00:15:07.440 --> 00:15:13.879 Wittrup and her position on the Fresne Unified Board of Trustees that is next on 145 00:15:13.919 --> 00:15:20.960 the John Girardi Show. Not to belabor this point, but I thought this 146 00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:30.759 story was so odd being covered in gv wire owned by the Assimes, with 147 00:15:30.840 --> 00:15:39.639 Susan Wittrup testifying against it, connected to Darius Assimi with Miguel Aarius opposing it 148 00:15:39.440 --> 00:15:43.840 on Darius Sissime's radio show or not not a radio show, it's like an 149 00:15:43.879 --> 00:15:50.799 online show. And this leads me to want to talk a little bit more 150 00:15:50.799 --> 00:15:54.159 about Susan Wittrup, who's a member of the Fresdent Unified Board of Trustees now. 151 00:15:56.000 --> 00:16:03.639 Susan Wittrup ran for Board of Trustees a couple of years ago, and 152 00:16:03.720 --> 00:16:11.480 she was running for basically the Terry Slatic position to basically represent the Bullard region 153 00:16:12.600 --> 00:16:19.559 within the Fresny Unified Board of Trustees. She ran as a Republican, and 154 00:16:21.000 --> 00:16:26.639 I got to sort of see her speak at Republican stuff, and I was 155 00:16:26.720 --> 00:16:34.200 never super thrilled. I get the sense that if she is a Republican, 156 00:16:34.200 --> 00:16:45.320 it's in a very moderate sense. I just don't think she has much insight 157 00:16:45.559 --> 00:16:55.320 into the kinds of conservative leaning concerns with regards to, you know, all 158 00:16:55.360 --> 00:16:57.759 the various huge problems that we see in public schools. The conservatives have been 159 00:16:57.799 --> 00:17:06.279 pointing out things like the hyper sexualization of curricula. You know, the various 160 00:17:06.359 --> 00:17:11.279 kinds of those kinds of concerns are not first on her mind. And I've 161 00:17:11.319 --> 00:17:14.279 seen her from her Facebook page, you know, circulating stuff. Here's a 162 00:17:14.279 --> 00:17:18.160 list of the books that Ron DeSantis banned in Florida, like blithely sort of 163 00:17:18.160 --> 00:17:26.079 sharing these things as if book banning is even a thing, which is nonsense. 164 00:17:26.240 --> 00:17:37.359 It's like leftist librarians who want to equate parents objecting to sexually aggressive content 165 00:17:37.079 --> 00:17:42.759 in the children's section of public libraries or in libraries for elementary schools. They 166 00:17:42.759 --> 00:17:49.799 want to equate objecting to stuff like that with quote book banning, which is 167 00:17:49.839 --> 00:17:59.839 such a silly use of language. But she's connected to Darius Assimi and the 168 00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:07.960 semi funded her campaign to the tune of you know, he and affiliated businesses, 169 00:18:07.279 --> 00:18:17.440 entities, et cetera. Gave her campaign a ton of money. Now, 170 00:18:17.519 --> 00:18:22.599 I think a lot of people wound up begrudgingly supporting her because Terry Slatteck 171 00:18:22.960 --> 00:18:29.799 was in that position and Slatick sort of made things untenable for himself, even 172 00:18:30.000 --> 00:18:37.039 for most Republican voters who live in that kind of bullard area within Fresno Unified. 173 00:18:37.960 --> 00:18:41.279 He had just basically one or two incidents too many of either yelling at 174 00:18:41.319 --> 00:18:48.440 people or getting in shoving matches, et cetera. And I don't even know 175 00:18:48.519 --> 00:18:55.440 exactly how honest to god conservative, he really was, so wit Trup became 176 00:18:55.480 --> 00:18:57.160 basically, hey, here's a way to vote for someone who is in terry 177 00:18:57.200 --> 00:19:06.400 slateck. But I guess I'm how can you not be I mean, how 178 00:19:06.400 --> 00:19:11.519 can you not look at someone running for a school board race who has tons 179 00:19:11.000 --> 00:19:18.640 of campaign support and such a close connection to a major builder and real estate 180 00:19:18.680 --> 00:19:23.839 developer and not think why is he giving? You know, why is he 181 00:19:23.880 --> 00:19:33.160 supporting her campaigns so much? I mean what I mean, look, people 182 00:19:33.200 --> 00:19:38.720 don't rich people don't give I mean, maybe it's just their dating and he 183 00:19:38.839 --> 00:19:45.880 really supports what she's doing. But I guess I am nervous about real estate 184 00:19:45.960 --> 00:19:52.200 developers when they give tons and tons of money to political candidates and just the 185 00:19:52.279 --> 00:20:00.519 effect of well does that have some effect? Is he trying to He's trying 186 00:20:00.559 --> 00:20:04.039 to draw that person to do what he wants to do. And I'm not 187 00:20:04.079 --> 00:20:10.319 saying anything any of this is corrupt or illicit or against the law. I 188 00:20:10.559 --> 00:20:12.599 just want to be clear there. None of this is illegal, none of 189 00:20:12.640 --> 00:20:19.759 this is illicit, but within the bounds of what's legal, it's you know, 190 00:20:22.039 --> 00:20:30.640 it has to shade your opinion of these things, right, And so 191 00:20:30.799 --> 00:20:37.079 why is a president Unified school member of the board of trustees, popping off 192 00:20:37.720 --> 00:20:45.640 to go to the land the planning commission for a zoning a planning commission dispute 193 00:20:45.880 --> 00:20:48.079 over whether or not to put an apartment complex on Herndon Avenue. Oh, 194 00:20:48.119 --> 00:20:53.640 because it would slow down emergency responders times to this public to this one elementary 195 00:20:53.640 --> 00:20:59.400 school that happens to be nearby. I mean maybe, but that really feels 196 00:20:59.440 --> 00:21:07.079 like a bit of a stretch, if you ask me, I think, 197 00:21:07.279 --> 00:21:12.319 and I I guess, I feel almost impolite to raise it, But how 198 00:21:12.359 --> 00:21:18.759 can I not? And and I'm just not saying. Maybe there's very maybe 199 00:21:18.759 --> 00:21:22.000 there's totally great, wonderful, innocent answers. Wittroup wanted to run for this, 200 00:21:22.880 --> 00:21:26.880 Darius Seem supports her, gives her funding, and there's no quid pro 201 00:21:27.000 --> 00:21:30.400 quo. Okay, that's fine. And and by the way, when I 202 00:21:30.400 --> 00:21:33.519 say quid pro quo, I don't even mean an illegal quid pro quo. 203 00:21:38.920 --> 00:21:45.440 Maybe that's all totally fine and totally on the up and up. I'm not 204 00:21:45.599 --> 00:21:48.599 the jerk for asking about it, though, I'm not the jerk for saying, 205 00:21:49.079 --> 00:21:57.519 hmm, what what what's going on here? I'm sure she's addressed it 206 00:21:57.519 --> 00:22:00.000 before and she said, oh, no, no, there's nothing there, 207 00:22:00.400 --> 00:22:04.359 And Okay, I guess that's what you have to say. But I think 208 00:22:04.400 --> 00:22:11.480 people are always gonna look at this just a little hair skeptical. Now, 209 00:22:11.519 --> 00:22:18.960 when we return, we're gonna shift gears and talk about the looming building gubernatorial 210 00:22:19.039 --> 00:22:25.480 horse race, with Elenni Cunilacus joining the Fray to try to differentiate herself in 211 00:22:25.519 --> 00:22:27.799 some way, shape or form. Yeah, that's the lieutenant governor for those 212 00:22:27.839 --> 00:22:33.839 who don't know. That's next on the John Girardi Show. Elenni Cunilacus is 213 00:22:33.880 --> 00:22:38.720 trying to kind of position herself I think for a run for governor. And 214 00:22:38.759 --> 00:22:44.599 by the way, the run for governor in twenty twenty six. That's what 215 00:22:44.640 --> 00:22:47.759 people are gearing up for. So we'll have our twenty twenty four elections in 216 00:22:47.799 --> 00:22:53.519 November twenty twenty six, the California primaries in twenty twenty six. It's gonna 217 00:22:53.519 --> 00:23:02.039 be an absolute free for all, the mother of all battles. As you 218 00:23:02.119 --> 00:23:08.200 may see some real, real heavy hitters getting into the fray to try to 219 00:23:08.240 --> 00:23:12.200 become the next governor of California and succeed Gavin Newsom. Here's some of the 220 00:23:12.200 --> 00:23:18.640 people who might run. Now, Eleni Kunilacus, who's currently the lieutenant governor, 221 00:23:18.079 --> 00:23:22.480 you'd think someone who is the lieutenant governor would have a leg up on 222 00:23:22.559 --> 00:23:26.480 this would be sort of a a heavy favorite going into it. After all, 223 00:23:26.559 --> 00:23:30.880 that is what the lieutenant governorship is. It is basically worth a bucket 224 00:23:30.880 --> 00:23:36.400 of spit. They have basically no job. It is basically a holding pen 225 00:23:36.559 --> 00:23:40.400 for people waiting to run for governor. And that's how Gavin Newsom treated it 226 00:23:41.440 --> 00:23:47.920 for his eight years in that office. So you've got Eleni Kunilachus. But 227 00:23:48.039 --> 00:23:52.319 then you've got the possibility that Rob Bonta, the Attorney General, will run. 228 00:23:53.839 --> 00:24:00.759 Tony Atkins the Senate, the California State Senate Democrat Lee who used to 229 00:24:02.039 --> 00:24:07.480 actually run an abortion clinic or was an abortion executive, some kind of abortion 230 00:24:07.640 --> 00:24:18.119 business executive, she's gonna run. And then there's the looming possibility that I 231 00:24:18.160 --> 00:24:25.119 mentioned Rob Bonte, that Javier Bessera might come back to run. The word 232 00:24:25.200 --> 00:24:30.640 on the Street scuttle Bud is that Bessarah, who currently serves as the Obama 233 00:24:30.640 --> 00:24:37.039 administration's head of the Department of Health and Human Services. And let's not remember 234 00:24:37.079 --> 00:24:41.240 his let's not forget his illustrious past. He was California's attorney general throughout the 235 00:24:41.279 --> 00:24:45.359 Trump years and was constantly suing Trump for stuff. He was an aggressively, 236 00:24:45.359 --> 00:24:52.440 aggressively horrible, left wing California attorney general. Also the most maybe the most 237 00:24:52.480 --> 00:24:56.559 pro abortion person in the whole Biden administration, and Biden gave him Health and 238 00:24:56.640 --> 00:25:03.079 Human Services, which you don't often think of the Department of Health and Human 239 00:25:03.119 --> 00:25:07.440 Services as a particularly sexy appointment within a presidential administration. Maybe those of us 240 00:25:07.839 --> 00:25:11.640 normal folks, we don't necessarily think about Health and Human services that much. 241 00:25:12.680 --> 00:25:17.039 Maybe we'd think like, whoever's the Secretary of State or the attorney general, 242 00:25:17.160 --> 00:25:18.960 those are bigger things. No, no, No, Health and Human Services 243 00:25:19.200 --> 00:25:25.279 oversees like five hundred billion dollars every year. So if we're talking about money 244 00:25:25.359 --> 00:25:30.839 overseen, federal spending overseen, yeah, health and Human Services is maybe the 245 00:25:32.000 --> 00:25:40.839 single biggest position of all the cabinet positions that the president appoints. So Bissarah 246 00:25:41.079 --> 00:25:47.160 might leave the Biden administration win or lose after the twenty twenty four elections. 247 00:25:47.359 --> 00:25:52.519 Even if Biden wins, a lot of people are thinking Bsarah will leave and 248 00:25:52.559 --> 00:25:57.000 then he will run for governor of California in twenty twenty six. So this 249 00:25:57.079 --> 00:26:03.640 is an absolute murderer's row of just the absolute worst people. And to top 250 00:26:03.680 --> 00:26:12.680 it all off, the rumor I heard just floating around on the internet Kamala 251 00:26:12.759 --> 00:26:23.000 Harris. That's the rumor that if Biden loses in twenty twenty four, Harris 252 00:26:23.039 --> 00:26:33.160 would come back to California to run for governor in twenty twenty six. Lord 253 00:26:33.480 --> 00:26:41.599 have mercy and save us. So that's the lineup that you could be seeing. 254 00:26:42.640 --> 00:26:53.200 Kamala Harris, Jabier Bessera, Rob Bonta, Tony Atkins, all of 255 00:26:53.200 --> 00:27:00.359 them before you get all of whom possibly have higher name recognition than the current 256 00:27:00.400 --> 00:27:06.960 Lieutenant governor of California, Elenny Kunilacus. Now, how is Lieutenant Governor Kunelacus? 257 00:27:07.079 --> 00:27:10.319 How is she trying to differentiate herself? Well, it seems like she's 258 00:27:10.359 --> 00:27:17.359 differentiating herself as maybe trying to position herself as the more moderate Democrat in the 259 00:27:17.400 --> 00:27:25.480 group. The one thing that the lieutenant governor is actually supposed to do is 260 00:27:25.759 --> 00:27:30.079 lieutenant governor has some role sitting on I think it's either the Board of Regions 261 00:27:30.119 --> 00:27:34.359 or Board of Trustees, whatever it is for the CSU and UC systems they're 262 00:27:34.400 --> 00:27:41.519 sort of ex officio members, sort of helping govern and oversee the California State 263 00:27:41.599 --> 00:27:47.000 University the two California State University well, the California State University System and the 264 00:27:47.079 --> 00:27:55.920 University of California system. This was another amusing aspect of Governor Newsom's lieutenant governorship, 265 00:27:56.279 --> 00:28:03.319 where again it's really fascinating what exactly Gavin Newsom did for his eight years 266 00:28:03.960 --> 00:28:07.839 as lieutenant governor, because apparently he would blow off. He would regularly blow 267 00:28:07.880 --> 00:28:14.160 off these meetings for the CSUS and UC's So Kunlakas has some kind of nominal 268 00:28:14.200 --> 00:28:18.720 oversight for the universities. And she gave a speech to j PACK the Jewish 269 00:28:18.720 --> 00:28:26.680 Public Affairs Committee of California last week. So that's already a little bit of 270 00:28:26.720 --> 00:28:32.599 a bold move in California in the midst of student protests, etc. Palestine. 271 00:28:32.680 --> 00:28:37.440 She's sort of positioning herself as I'm standing with Israel here, I'm going 272 00:28:37.440 --> 00:28:45.039 to JPAK and I'm sounding a very pro Israel. Note she took the opportunity 273 00:28:45.079 --> 00:28:49.960 to slam how the UC and CSU systems were handling pro Palestinian campus protests. 274 00:28:51.160 --> 00:28:53.720 Now, there was a lot of ink spilled over the disaster that was happening 275 00:28:53.720 --> 00:29:02.880 at UCLA. Less ink was spilled over a bunch of csus and ucs had 276 00:29:02.960 --> 00:29:10.640 various kinds of disastrous interactions with student protesters. The president of Sonoma State, 277 00:29:10.720 --> 00:29:15.920 I think just got suspended because he was because of how he was not dealing 278 00:29:17.119 --> 00:29:22.039 with student protesters and need to pull that story up, and Kunilacus says, 279 00:29:22.079 --> 00:29:30.039 basically, nobody was prepared for this. She said, even as the encampments 280 00:29:30.039 --> 00:29:33.119 were building and the issues were building, and we had data of Jewish students 281 00:29:33.160 --> 00:29:38.319 not just feeling unsafe, but frankly being unsafe, the campuses were not equipped 282 00:29:38.440 --> 00:29:48.000 to quickly and swiftly move to handle the challenge in front of them. Said. 283 00:29:48.039 --> 00:29:52.440 The story goes on. Leaders at the UC campuses in Berkeley and Riverside 284 00:29:52.920 --> 00:30:00.759 negotiated with tent encampment protesters, a strategy that Cunilacus disagree with. Each campus 285 00:30:00.839 --> 00:30:06.759 is handling these situations in their own way, with inconsistencies and frankly sometimes coming 286 00:30:06.799 --> 00:30:10.400 up with agreements that they really don't have the authority to come up with. 287 00:30:10.599 --> 00:30:15.960 She said. So basically what happens is these student protesters, they protest some 288 00:30:15.359 --> 00:30:18.799 way, shape or form in which the university has some kind of connection with 289 00:30:18.960 --> 00:30:25.680 Israel or purported connection with Israel, and they try to say, We're going 290 00:30:25.759 --> 00:30:30.519 to keep sitting in until the university divests its investment in Israel, does this, 291 00:30:30.640 --> 00:30:36.000 does that, And some of these universities actually are sitting with these kids 292 00:30:36.000 --> 00:30:41.319 as if they are adults, and I mean they are legally adults, but 293 00:30:41.319 --> 00:30:45.799 they are behaving like children, and is like negotiating with them, and Kunlacus 294 00:30:45.880 --> 00:30:51.319 is pointing out, hey, you maybe don't have the authority as you know, 295 00:30:52.200 --> 00:30:59.920 the president of you know, cal State Fullerton can't kind of make decisions 296 00:31:00.799 --> 00:31:04.519 on certain things that impact the whole CSU system. When you're the president of 297 00:31:04.559 --> 00:31:11.839 CSU Fullerton. That's different from being the president of I don't know, name 298 00:31:11.880 --> 00:31:17.799 any private school of Notre Dame, Okay, the president of Notre Dame. 299 00:31:17.799 --> 00:31:21.720 Notre Dame is just Notre Dame. It's that's it. There's no chain of 300 00:31:21.759 --> 00:31:26.680 which Notre Dame is a seat. Okay, it is one location, right, 301 00:31:26.880 --> 00:31:30.720 president of Notre Dame runs the whole shell. The president of cal State 302 00:31:30.759 --> 00:31:33.920 Fullerton kind of can't make all the decisions on his own. He has to 303 00:31:33.960 --> 00:31:38.079 appeal to the people who run the CSU system. As a whole. So 304 00:31:38.119 --> 00:31:42.920 she's pointing out, hey, you can't make all these I don't know that 305 00:31:42.960 --> 00:31:48.200 Fullerton was the one she was talking about, but some of these university presidents 306 00:31:48.200 --> 00:31:55.319 are making these decisions. They don't have the authority to make the most important 307 00:31:55.359 --> 00:31:57.920 thing that we can be doing, she said. From the UC standpoint is 308 00:31:57.960 --> 00:32:01.880 clarifying where the lines are between freedom to assemble, freedom of speech, and 309 00:32:01.920 --> 00:32:06.519 crossing over into the territory of violations of state law, federal law, of 310 00:32:06.599 --> 00:32:14.079 course, but also violations of codes of conduct, Cunilocus said. Cunilacus mentioned 311 00:32:14.160 --> 00:32:17.960 anti Semitic tweets from a UC Davis professor shortly after the October seventh Thamas attacks 312 00:32:17.960 --> 00:32:25.319 in Israel. Gemma de Cristo, an assistant professor of American studies, American 313 00:32:25.400 --> 00:32:32.559 studies. Because history was just normal American history, wasn't, you know, 314 00:32:34.640 --> 00:32:39.000 radicalized enough. We have to have American quote American studies. Anytime you've got 315 00:32:39.039 --> 00:32:45.359 studies at the end of it, have your antenna up. Posted a message 316 00:32:45.400 --> 00:32:52.839 attacking Zionist journalist with threatening emojis. It is still under investigation now. If 317 00:32:52.839 --> 00:32:57.640 that does not cross a line of a code of conduct, my god, 318 00:32:57.720 --> 00:33:01.559 what does Kunlacus said Kulak has called for schools to clearly identify where the lines 319 00:33:01.559 --> 00:33:07.799 are to enact disciplinary measures. She also criticized Sonoma State There we Go for 320 00:33:07.839 --> 00:33:15.559 agreeing to demands of pro Palestinian protesters, including creating an advisory council with membership 321 00:33:15.799 --> 00:33:20.640 determined by the campus Students for Justice in Palestine group. As reported by the 322 00:33:20.680 --> 00:33:24.119 Press Democrat, they do not represent the majority of Jews here and it's really 323 00:33:24.200 --> 00:33:28.920 just devastating, Cunlacus said. She called students chanting from the river to the 324 00:33:28.960 --> 00:33:34.200 sea outrageous. We have to fight back and educate our students so they understand 325 00:33:34.440 --> 00:33:38.799 the very importance morally and from a national security standpoint of the existence, celebration, 326 00:33:38.920 --> 00:33:45.720 and empowerment of Israel in the region. Kunalacus said, So there you 327 00:33:45.759 --> 00:33:52.640 go. I it seems as though Kunilacus, and maybe this is smart. 328 00:33:52.599 --> 00:33:59.319 Maybe she wants to position herself as hey in this. Maybe she's trying to 329 00:33:59.319 --> 00:34:04.240 say, hey, republic Wilkins, you know you're going to have this see 330 00:34:05.039 --> 00:34:10.440 of absolute lunatic choices to vote for in twenty twenty six, Vote for me. 331 00:34:12.000 --> 00:34:15.760 I'm at least somewhat saying I at least don't think Jewish kids should be 332 00:34:15.960 --> 00:34:22.039 harassed on UC and CSU campuses. I mean, she seems somewhat engaged at 333 00:34:22.119 --> 00:34:29.440 least with these campuses in a way that maybe that was the accusation against Gavin 334 00:34:29.480 --> 00:34:32.480 Newsom anyway, was that in spite of the the only kind of job that 335 00:34:32.519 --> 00:34:37.920 the Lieutenant governor had was some kind of oversight for the CSU and u SEE 336 00:34:37.960 --> 00:34:40.280 systems, and even then he didn't really do it. He would blow off 337 00:34:40.320 --> 00:34:44.519 meetings and stuff like that. She seems to actually kind of be taking at 338 00:34:44.599 --> 00:34:50.800 least this aspect of the job somewhat seriously. When we return, just a 339 00:34:50.840 --> 00:34:54.719 closing thought about Israel and Palestine, do we sort of take for granted the 340 00:34:54.760 --> 00:34:59.960 fact that Israel can shoot down rockets and that rocket attacks aren't very effective? 341 00:35:00.079 --> 00:35:04.480 Of does that warp our thinking about this whole thing? Next on the John 342 00:35:04.519 --> 00:35:10.280 Girardi Show, So some big Iranian news over the weekend. The president and 343 00:35:10.679 --> 00:35:20.440 national security some other major government official from Iran died in a helicopter crash over 344 00:35:20.440 --> 00:35:29.159 the weekend, and it led me sort of think about the Iranian position and 345 00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:34.800 our sort of how we view the Israel Palestine conflict, how people tend to 346 00:35:34.840 --> 00:35:38.519 view it. One of the things that sort of I think has distorted our 347 00:35:38.519 --> 00:35:45.880 way of looking at it is how good Israel's defense systems are with our money 348 00:35:46.000 --> 00:35:58.639 funding it, but how that almost warps things into not taking seriously the threat 349 00:35:58.679 --> 00:36:06.119 that Israel faces. Explain what I mean. Hamas in the south, in 350 00:36:06.239 --> 00:36:14.719 Gaza, Hezbolah in the north, fire rockets at israelis all the time. 351 00:36:15.000 --> 00:36:22.079 The rockets are largely unsuccessful, largely don't work, and often Israel has this 352 00:36:22.199 --> 00:36:30.480 it's iron dome technology basically to take out incoming fire. About a month or 353 00:36:30.760 --> 00:36:35.760 about two months ago, I guess, there was a massive rocket strike, 354 00:36:37.119 --> 00:36:45.440 the Iranian funded strike against Israel, where it was complete, almost completely ineffective 355 00:36:45.519 --> 00:36:51.000 because of Israel's defensive mechanisms, and the Iranians clearly were behind it. Iranians 356 00:36:51.000 --> 00:36:55.719 attacked and people were afraid this is going to fan things into a regional war, 357 00:36:55.840 --> 00:37:02.599 blah blah blah, and Israel can't overreact. Excusrael can't overreact. I 358 00:37:02.639 --> 00:37:08.880 guess it's sort of like people almost have this sense of like, let's think 359 00:37:08.920 --> 00:37:17.119 about it this way. If someone fired a thousand rockets at Florida, at 360 00:37:17.320 --> 00:37:30.119 South Carolina, at Maine and let's suppose we either had or did not have 361 00:37:30.440 --> 00:37:38.000 the Iron Dome set up. Would America be something America can't overreact. No, 362 00:37:38.519 --> 00:37:45.880 we'd be like ready to freaking roll. And it just seems like Israel's 363 00:37:45.880 --> 00:37:50.039 like a victim of their own success, like because their defense systems work so 364 00:37:50.119 --> 00:37:53.840 well and the rocket attacks seems so ineffective. People seem to act like Israel 365 00:37:53.880 --> 00:38:00.719 should just be cool with it with people firing rockets at them in a way 366 00:38:00.719 --> 00:38:05.119 that America never would be. I don't think anyway. It's an interesting dynamic 367 00:38:05.199 --> 00:38:10.079 that I think people call for more restraint on Israel when we would never tolerate 368 00:38:10.159 --> 00:38:15.320 this in America. That'll do it for the John Gerrardy Show. We'll see 369 00:38:15.320 --> 00:38:15.679 you next time on Power Talk.