California State Assemblyman
Democratic Assemblyman representing the 55th District (Carson, West and North Long Beach, Wilmington) and Chair of the Public Employees, Retirement and Social Security Committee; candidate for Los Angeles City Council and long-time resident of Harbor Gateway, which is part of the 15th District
Can a New Member Shake Up the LA City Council? The LA City Council has been described as "ideologically homogenous," where members who disagree don't vote "no" but call in sick to protect the image of tranquility. In 2009, the members voted unanimously 99.3 percent of the time. Last year it was 97.5 percent. Janice Hahn left the 15th Council District when she was elected to Congress and the runoff to replace her will be held next Tuesday. The district includes Watts, South Los Angeles and a four-block wide, eight-mile long strip of neighborhoods called Harbor Gateway stretching south to San Pedro, Wilmington and Harbor City. The runoff candidates are LA Policeman Joe Buscaino , a San Pedro native who's never run for elected office, and Warren Furutani , who was born in San Pedro but lives in Harbor Gateway. He was an elected LA School Board member for eight years and is currently a Democratic state Assemblyman. Council offices are technically nonpartisan.
The State Budget and Public Pension Reform Governor Brown has declared a stalemate on closing the $25 billion gap between state spending and revenue. He wants roughly half made up by spending cuts and the other half to be an extension of tax increases approved by the voters. Republicans won't give him the two-thirds vote required to put that on the ballot, but there might be a deal on public pension reform. The state's bipartisan Little Hoover Commission has concluded that underfunded pensions threaten both state and local governments. The Legislative Analyst , also bipartisan, agrees.
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.
Trump's new look at civil rights and global warming President Trump is reportedly ready to pull the US out of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. We look at the possible consequences. On the second half of the program, we hear about cuts in Obama-Era civil rights programs called for by the Trump Administration's first budget plan.
Is the threat from Russia missing from the Russia meddling probe? There's much being made about the Trump administration's possible ties with Russia. But the bottom line is Russia's effort to influence American democracy. Do the President and his aides care enough to take action before voters go back to the polls?
The Trump agenda: where's the beef? President Trump says big things are happening. After celebrating a House bill on health care, he doesn’t yet have Senate agreement. With James Comey’s public testimony scheduled tomorrow, the President today tweeted his selection of a new FBI Director. Is the Chief Executive all style and no substance? Later, terror attacks in Iran and conflicting claims about who’s behind them.