California State Senator (D-Oakland)
Democratic State Senator from Oakland and chair of the Elections, Reapportionment & Constitutional Amendments Committee
PROFILE
Loni Hancock
Guest
FROM Loni Hancock
Which Way, L.A.?
Governor Brown Says, 'Thanks, but No Thanks' Governor Brown today vetoed the budget passed yesterday by the Democratic majority in Sacramento, issuing an explanation on YouTube. Last year, voters passed Proposition 25 , providing that legislators would not get paid if they failed to meet the constitutional budget deadline of midnight last night. For the first time in 25 years, they made it. But what happens now that Brown has cast his veto? State Controller John Chiang, a Democrat, signs the checks.
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Would Public Funding Push Private Money Out of Politics? California voters prohibited the public financing of political campaigns in 1988. In 2000 and again in 2006, they refused to lift the ban by margins of 65 and 74 percent. But, in less that two weeks, they'll be asked to vote again, this time on a pilot program for just one statewide office. We get the details of Proposition 15 and hear a debate on the California Fair Elections Act.
Which Way, L.A.?
Party Time: Money and Politics in Sacramento In the latest survey by the Public Policy Institute of California, approval of the California state legislature dropped to a record low. Just 14% of registered voters thought the Assembly and Senate were doing a good job. But that hasn't prevented lobbyists from showing up at 250 fundraisers in this year alone. By one count, 19 are scheduled today in Sacramento and another 18 tomorrow. We hear more from Shane Goldmacher of the Los Angeles Times, Democratic State Senator Loni Hancock and former Republican State Senator Ross Johnson, chair of the Fair Political Practices Commission.
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To the Point
Ex-FBI Director Comey tells his side of the story Today, former FBI Director James Comey came close to calling the President who fired him a liar. The White House denied the claim and called it insulting, but Republican Senators did not challenge Comey’s truthfulness. Many questions remain: did the President try to obstruct a federal investigation? Later, we’ll go behind the “velvet rope” for a look at 5-Star health care for the richest Americans.
To the Point
Human Rights in the era of Donald Trump President Trump’s UN Ambassador, Nikki Haley, said today the US might pull out of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council. Serious violators of human rights are members of the Council itself–and a US resignation could make things worse. Later on today’s show, now that he’s into his second term, comedian turned US Senator Al Franken is telling jokes again.
To the Point
What happens when America retreats from the world? Is President Trump taking his "America First" agenda to extremes, withdrawing the country from the international stage on trade and climate change, distancing America from its traditional allies across the Atlantic and even threatening to physically isolate the country through the building of a wall along its southern border? León Krauze guest hosts.
To the Point
Trump plays scolder-in-chief with NATO allies At the opening of NATO’s dramatic new headquarters in Brussels today, President Trump acknowledged that Article 5 — promising that “an attack on one nation is an attack on all” -- has only been invoked one time: in the aftermath of September 11. But the President failed to provide what 27 other Alliance members have been waiting for: a re-commitment by America’s new leader to Article 5. Instead, they got a scolding.