May 30, 2018

Jewish Journal: What do you believe are the top two issues facing the state and how would you address them?

Gavin Newsom: Tackling our affordability crisis head on will be the first issue I tackle. That includes my commitment to universal health care, building the 3.5 million housing units we need by 2025, and rethinking about education as a lifelong pursuit.

I’m a firm believer in universal preschool but also believe that intervening at 3 years old is already too late. We need to double-down on the readiness gap by emphasizing prenatal care and the first three years of a child’s life, when nearly 85 percent of brain development occurs. 

We’ll couple our robust early-childhood system with college savings accounts for every incoming kindergartener, linking the next generation to the promise of higher education. We’ll create full-service K-12 community schools with wellness centers, arts education, computer science and after-school programs. We’ll guarantee two years of free community college tuition, create pathways to quality jobs and reduce debt for students pursuing a bachelor’s degree, and reinvest in public higher education.

JJ: As a proponent for a single-payer health-care option for California, how would you go about implementing this?

GN: The phrase “health care is a human right” is more than a political cliché. It’s a sacred promise we must keep, which is why I’ll ensure California leads the way on a plan to guarantee quality health care for everyone financed through a single-payer model like Medicare. We can create a more efficient, effective and comprehensive health-care system that works for patients and providers alike, available regardless of one’s ability to pay, pre-existing medical conditions or immigration status, and including coverage not only for physical, but also mental and behavioral health issues. 

The status quo isn’t working. A UCLA study determined that Californians are already spending $367.5 billion annually on health care — and that number continues to escalate. We must end the costly conveyor belt of paperwork and co-pays and allow providers to focus on patient care. 

As mayor [of San Francisco], I created Healthy SF, which even today remains the only citywide and countywide universal health program in the nation. The program has paid for itself many times over in the form of preventative care and healthier outcomes. It’s time to do the same for the state.

JJ: How would you address the massive sinkhole that has become the construction of the bullet train?

GN: I was one of the original supporters of high-speed rail and supported it then for the same reasons I support it today: It holds the promise to create thousands of jobs, improve mobility for Californians, generate tens of millions  [of dollars] in economic development, improve air quality and help us reduce greenhouse gas emissions. 

But I have also consistently expressed concerns with the long-term funding plan — particularly that projected federal and private funding hasn’t materialized — and the updated business plan underscores those profound challenges. I have confidence in the new leadership of the Authority appointed by Gov. Brown and, with this project underway, our focus must now be on vigilant oversight — learning from prior mistakes, demanding the project stay on time and on budget and attracting and retaining private-sector partners.

JJ: Earlier this year, your Republican opponents vowed to maintain attacks against you over your 2007 affair with Ruby Rippey-Tourk. How do you deal with these attacks — especially in light of the #MeToo movement?

GN: Those are deeply misleading attacks, and it’s the height of hypocrisy from unabashed Donald Trump loyalists.

JJ: Would you continue current Gov. Jerry Brown’s stance to stand up to the Trump administration and Republican leadership in areas where Californians don’t agree with the current administration’s agenda? 

GN: California’s values aren’t just a point of pride, they are the very fabric of the state’s history, identity and future. At a time when actions by the Trump administration are further disenfranchising the poor, women and people of color, California must step up and defend its residents — advancing policies grounded in both compassion and innovation.

California is the fifth largest economy in the world, and continues to show the world that an economy can thrive when it protects workers’ rights, environmental protections, civil rights and vulnerable communities. 

I believe we have an economic and moral imperative to protect our state’s immigrants and help them thrive, particularly our students, who are the future of our state’s workforce and economic growth. That’s why I’ve defended California’s status as a sanctuary state, called for the state’s public colleges and universities to be sanctuary campuses, and added my voice calling on Congress to pass a clean DREAM Act.

It is outrageous that the Trump administration has proposed removing protections for public lands, opening up the Arctic and our coastlines to oil drilling, and pulling out of the Paris climate agreement. Despite these challenges, California will continue to lead the nation and the world in clean energy, conservation and the fight against climate change.

I have boldly led the charge for major social change campaigns my whole life. I believe that the state government ought to reflect the values of its people, not the other way around. More than ever, America needs California’s example to prove that old fears and prejudices need not be the new normal, and to match resistance with results.

Jewish Journal: What is the first thing you would tackle if elected? 

Delaine Eastin: I would declare a state of emergency as it relates to homelessness in California. It isn’t just in San Diego or Oakland or San Francisco. It’s everywhere. We have a winter rotating homeless shelter in Davis where I live, which is a college town. We have 12 percent of the nation’s population in California but 25 percent of the homeless are here. 

Longer term, I’m obviously very focused on education, and I believe California needs to make a full-court press to improve education, starting with better child development for working moms, universal preschool and mandatory full-day kindergarten. Kindergarten is not mandatory in California, which is shocking.

JJ: You are the only candidate advocating for the repeal of the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act. Does this tie in with your homeless initiative?  

DE: Costa-Hawkins came about because it was believed it would mean more apartments would be built, but quite the opposite has happened. We’ve built almost no rental housing over the last 10 years. We’re not building enough housing generally, but certainly not enough rental housing.

JJ: You’re a proponent for single-payer health care. How would you go about implementing that?

DE: About 70 percent of the money that would be needed is already on the table. It’s Medicare, it’s Medicaid; public employee retirees all have public access to health care. Then you could do something like a gross receipts tax on businesses that have received over $2 million, let’s say. And with those additional resources, you could pay for that. It’s the ounce of prevention that’s worth the pound of cure. There are lots of people who want to talk about the costs of single-payer, but I want to talk about avoided costs, like emergency room visits that cost a fortune. 

JJ: How would you deal with the increasing problems associated with the high-speed rail project? 

DE: Other countries are doing some amazing things with high-speed rail and, in general, I think it’s a good thing. But I do think, a) there hasn’t been enough honesty with the public about the true cost; b) that the management needs to be a lot more nimble and we need to do a better job of holding costs down; and c) we need to identify a better revenue stream to pay for it. If you borrow the money to build something, it costs three times as much. If you did something like an oil severance tax — 33 states produce oil. Only one doesn’t have an oil severance tax and that’s California. Instead of running up costs by borrowing money, we’re going to ask voters to vote for this tax. We’re going to dedicate it first to build high-speed rail and then to transportation improvements generally.

JJ: Do you think it’s important that you’re the only woman running? Is it something you feel you should highlight?

DE: We have great research institutions in this country, and the research shows when you get a critical mass of women, that the values fundamentally change. More is invested in families, education, in health care and in senior care. Guess what? Those are my values. That’s where I think we should be increasing our investment. Budgets are statements of values. At the end of the day, California needs to get its values straight. That means we’ve got to find a way to put our children first and women tend to be more likely to do that. I worked hard all my life. I was a women’s studies coordinator back in the late ’70s. I was a founding member of the National Women’s Political Caucus. I was on the Rutgers Project 2012 to elect more women. I’m not just a woman. I’m a woman whose been fighting to elect women for my most of my adult life.

JJ: In light of the #MeToo movement, what would you do to ensure that your administration has a transparent reporting system?

DE: When I was superintendent of public instruction, over half of the leadership of the department was female. I will do that as governor. We will make sure there is more diversity, not only in terms of gender but in terms of race. We will make sure that we end the pay inequities in California state government and we’ll put pressure on the private sector to close those gaps in pay. One of the things I will do is have a leadership that looks like California in ethnicity and gender in every way, and we will have people who are more nimble and ready to change things that need to be changed. 

JJ: While other candidates have launched attack ads, you have an ad that shows clips of your competitors praising your ideas. What was the impetus behind that ad? 

DE: I think it reflects that people think I make sense and that I have good ideas and they echo what I say. Also, it would be good to have a governor that makes sense. I would govern by seeking the opinions of the people that work for me and with me. 

JJ: You’re running against some pretty high profile candidates and some people know little about you. Does that concern you? 

DE: Of course, that’s why I’m working so hard. That’s why I’m out and about talking to people all over the state. I’ve been in Folsom, Mount Shasta, El Centro, San Luis Obispo — a lot of places where mainstream candidates aren’t going. They’re counting on using television to reach those voters. It’s hard to have been off the stage for some years and try to re-enter, but if I can get in front of enough people, they like what I have to say. The question is: Can I get in front of enough people? If I can be heard, and I’m working very hard to be heard, I can win.

JJ: Would you continue current Gov. Jerry Brown’s stance to stand up to the Trump administration and Republican leadership in areas where Californians don’t agree with the current administration’s agenda? 

DE: I do think one of the nice things of having been a political science professor is that I do understand the history of our country and the Constitution. For many years, I watched as many people used the 10th Amendment to argue for discriminatory policies. I think now it’s exciting to use the 10th Amendment as a way to protect the people who live here and protect the values we hold. When Trump pulled us out of the Paris climate accord, the world looked at us as if we were stepping back into the Dark Ages. When you hear people who support Trump argue that the sea rise is because more rocks are falling into the ocean, you have to think, “Oh my God.” One out of every eight Americans lives in California. I think it is important that a leader with a brass backbone is going to stand up for the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the state of California.

Jewish Journal: The latest polls show you trailing your more well-known opponents, including Gavin Newsom and Antonio Villaraigosa. Does that concern you? 

John Chiang: It does not. The fact that millions of dollars of attack [ads] have been waged against us by Gavin Newsom shows that we are moving up in the polls. I think we’re making strong progress.

JJ: You’ve also launched attacks on your opponents. Do you feel this detracts from campaigning, when most voters just want to know what your policies are?

JC: It’s important to provide your vision for California and also to point out a clear picture of what people say and what people do. That’s an important aspect of campaigns and it’s part of our democracy. We’re happy to engage in putting up my record of fiscal responsibility and getting California through difficult times.

JJ: What is the first thing you would tackle if elected?

JC: Education. Education is the key to the American dream. It’s why my parents came to this country. They made extraordinary sacrifices. But America has and always will be the most aspirational place on earth, and it starts with education. We have too many communities in the state of California where kids aren’t getting the best opportunities, and I want to close that gap. I want to make sure that kids can grow up and pursue their dreams, and that can only be possible in a global economy if they get a very wide, very deep and diverse education.

JJ: You’re a proponent of single-payer health care. How would you implement that? 

JC: That’s a good mountain to climb. I’m the candidate who has a history of overcoming legal, logistical and financial hurdles. I helped create Secure Choice [now CalSavers Board] — a retirement savings plan. I would take that history and experience of successfully moving tough projects and bring it along with single-payer by trying to move it through a Trump administration, trying to overcome financial challenges and trying to overcome the legal challenges. 

JJ: How would you deal with the ever-increasing problems associated with the high-speed rail project? 

JC: Part of that contemplation is making sure you go out and find private-sector funding. I’m the one who has a record of reaching out and meeting and trying to introduce private-sector investors to the high-speed rail authority. I’d lead international delegations, which I think are important. We celebrated recently that California became the world’s fifth largest economy. Part of that is understanding international investment, international trade and extraordinary diversity, whether it comes from Israel, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, Africa. There are massive investors all across the globe. We’re going to have to go out, reach out to them, and package this in a manner that creates incentives in the private-sector to invest in high-speed rail.

JJ: How important would it be to become the first Asian-American governor?

JC: This is just evidence of the brilliance of America. Despite all the high hurdles and the friction, America is a country that welcomes immigrants. If elected, I would just continue the promise of what America is about. When people come from other countries, they struggle, overcome ugly bigotry and discrimination, and yet their child has an opportunity to wake up every morning like I do, to do what I am passionate about and serving others to make sure that every Californian can live in a place that gives them the best opportunities to succeed, which is the American dream.

JJ: Would you continue current Gov. Jerry Brown’s stance to stand up to the Trump administration and Republican leadership in areas where Californians don’t agree with the current administration’s agenda? 

JC: If you ask my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, I am a person of goodwill who acts responsibly in trying to fight for Californian values. I will work with the administration and President Trump to fight for who Californians are; fight for building an economic ladder that is open to all; fight for social inclusion. But I will stand up to President Trump when he acts contrary to what’s in the best interest of California, and I’ve had to do so in a number of areas. 

I will continue the battle if the president tries to act irresponsibly on climate change. Climate change has a dramatic impact on California’s economic prosperity, of physical health from sea level rise to clean air, to environmental justice issues. That’s why, as a member of the State Lands Commission, I voted against offshore drilling. 

On gun reform, we can’t continue to have our kids getting shot and losing their lives in school. Kids are our most precious resource. We have to make sure they’re safe. If it requires leadership that challenges the gun lobby and the NRA, then so be it. 

On health care, we want everybody to get accessible, affordable health care. When President Trump and the Republican Congress started action against Obamacare, as the state’s treasurer I came up with the idea of emergency lifeline grants to try and keep the doors open for California’s 1,200 community clinics. We don’t want Californians to have to make decisions between paying rent or taking care of a sick child.

I will fight for Californians. That’s a fundamental difference between me and the other [candidates]. While others are tweeting or making bold statements, we need leaders who are taking real action. 

JJ: In light of the #MeToo movement, what would you do to ensure your administration has a transparent reporting system?

JC: This issue has fallen off the map in this campaign. It means we’re not listening and seeing people. You need leadership so that victims and survivors know that there is somebody they can trust. What separates me from the others in this race is I see them, I hear them, and I am the only candidate who has a specific plan to stop sexual harassment. If that plan is not in place on Day One [of my tenure], I will push to ensure that it is. It’s tragic that this conversation has been lost over the past few months. 

Jewish Journal: What’s the first thing you will tackle if elected?

Travis Allen: Job No. 1 is to cut taxes and repeal the gas tax. We’re actually going to do that on election night in November. In my first 100 days in office, I’m going to reverse the illegal sanctuary state [status] by gathering the signatures to call a special election so the people of California can reverse this illegal and unconstitutional law. In my very first budget, I’m going to defund Gov. Jerry Brown’s high-speed rail and refund the money back to California taxpayers.

JJ: How would you do that without violating federal grant agreements, and what would you do with the infrastructure that’s already in place?

TA: Whatever money has been spent is nothing compared to the potential cost of the high-speed rail. The current estimate is $77 [billion] to $100 billion, and it’s over a decade behind schedule. Californians don’t want the high-speed rail and we certainly don’t need it. There’s one section we’re going to leave standing. It looks like a bridge. I’m going to leave it with a sign on it that says “Jerry Brown’s Legacy” so that Californians will always remember that’s all he ever gave us.

JJ: Does it concern you that President Trump endorsed your Republican rival John Cox? 

TA: I’m the only candidate that voted for and supported the Republican candidate for president, Donald Trump. John Cox is a failed politician for starters. He’s previously run for U.S. president, U.S. Congress, U.S. Senate, even county [Recorder of Deeds] in Illinois and lost every single time. We were a little bit surprised by [Trump endorsing Cox]. This is Republican establishment politics at its very worst. [Congressman] Kevin McCarthy convinced Trump that because of Cox’s money, he’d be able to make it to the [California gubernatorial runoff]. Unfortunately, everyone knows there’s no way John Cox could ever be elected or could ever beat Gavin Newsom. So once again, the establishment Republicans have sold out the Californian people. 

JJ: California was just named the world’s fifth largest growing economy. How would you protect DACA recipients and the thousands of undocumented workers who contribute to that economy?

TA: That’s not a correct statement. Immigration is the responsibility of the federal government. As the next governor of California, I will ensure we will enforce federal immigration law. We’re going to secure our border. It’s not legal to hire people in this country illegally. 

JJ: Do you support President Trump’s proposals to loosen EPA regulations in California?

TA: Every Californian wants a clean environment, whether you’re Republican or Democrat. The president understands clearly that this country belongs to the citizens, not unelected bureaucrats in government agencies. I will ensure that we once again have a thriving timber industry and healthy forests in the north of the state. We’ll have a thriving, driving industry in gold country. We are, after all, the Gold Rush state. We will once again have the ability to utilize our own domestic energy and become energy self-sufficient. 

JJ: You’ve also said you want to reform the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). What is your plan for doing that?

TA: CEQA has been used as a weapon by organized labor groups to stop development across the state of California. We’ll dramatically shorten the time needed to not only get approval for projects in California but also streamline the regulatory and court process so we can actually build once again in California.

JJ: What will you do to protect Californians from increasing gun violence, especially in schools?

TA: I have an A and an A+ [rating] from the NRA [National Rifle Association] and the Firearms Policy Coalition, because the Second Amendment is our right, not a privilege. I introduced legislation to make California a shall-issue CCW [concealed- carry weapon] state, giving every Californian the ability and the right to protect themselves, whether you’re old or young, rich or poor, man or woman. Furthermore, we’ll get rid of the handgun roster of the California Democrats. And lastly, we’ll get rid of the ammunition registry of Gavin Newsom. We will allow our children to be protected while in school by licensed and trained individuals. No longer will little old ladies have to walk in fear. Criminals will now think twice because that little old lady and everyone else in California will have the ability to protect themselves.