Time for a Change. Kevin Faulconer Talks to Armstrong & Getty

Published Jun 15, 2021, 11:11 AM

Former San Diego mayor and current CA gubernatorial candidate Kevin Faulconer talks to A&G about his plans to resurrect the Golden State.

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Time for Gavin to go, and we're gonna talk to one of the fellows who wants to replace him. It's Armstrong and Getty extra large because four hours, simply enough, this is Armstrong and Getty extra Large. At the time that we're recording this, we're a day away from California reopening. Using my finger quotes reopening if it depends on where you live, how much opening will be happening? And why we wait until now? I have no freaking idea. Well, let's talk about that and other things with Kevin Faulkner. He was the two time mayor of San Diego, one of the few Republicans to be a Republican. I'm sorry to be a mayor in the last twenty years or so in California. Kevin, how are you, sir? Tell me what I'm doing? Great? Great to be back with you. Thank you. Listen. I see the polls and they say that people don't even want the recall to happen. Why does Gavin Newsom have to go? Let's talk about that first. I'll tell you, guys, we've talked about it before. The anger in the frustration. It's an absolute recall on his failures and we can go down the list, the fact that our public schools are still not fully reopened in California, in fact that we have the second highest unemployment, skyrockety homelessness, and of course the fact that our state was open and set five in six different times because of his conflicting metrics. And this just cuts across, you know, all parts of the state, all partnerisanship. Uh, folks are ready for a change at the top. And there's no doubt in my mind that when they go to the polls sometime in this fall, they're gonna absolutely support this recall. Well, and the way Gavin Newsom is holding onto his emergency powers has people in his own party upset. Well, yeah, and look we saw that last week and everybody's scratching their heads saying, well, wait, once again, Gavin Newsom says one thing and does another, um, particularly on the emergency powers, either we're gonna be open or not, and all these you know, extra caveats, I think has everybody rightfully concerned that. Good, look here we go again. Remember went back in February when the governor said schools were going to be it and they weren't. Private schools were open all all year in California. But because those schools report to parents. But yet our public schools that ultimately report to Gavin Newsom have remained closed for absolutely no reason. And you know, and talking to so many parents, you know that again that anger and frustration is real and rightfully so do you have any idea? I mean, like the school stuff, our theory wasn't I think it's right is it was an opportunity for teachers unions to get more money for the schools and if it can go in for whatever reason. But once they get it into a pot of money, they'll spend it however the hell they want overcoming years. But what what what motivates Gavin Newsome to want to keep us all in masks and restaurants closed for so long? What's his motivation? And there's no reason for it. And look, and I think you hit the nail on the head. And the fact that private schools teachers were safely teaching and kids were safely learning um and yet our public schools because Gavitt Knewsom wouldn't do the right thing for our kids, wouldn't do the right thing for our parents. And the fact that we are the slowest state in the nation to reopen our public schools. And as we are talking about this this morning, they're still not fully reopened. And and look, you know, in my frustration comes not just as a candidate for governor, but as a dad with two kids in public school. And I think when you add all of this on top of the fact that you know, things continue to go in the wrong direction here in California, one party rule has not been working. It is time for that competition of ideas. And it's you know, time for somebody you know who can roll up their sleeves get to work stop the rampant homelessness that we have in in California, like we did in San Diego. So I think you add all those things together, people are ready for that change. Just as you're talking, a TV commercial for you came up on the TV Man. I like that slow motion walking down the sidewalk. You look like the manager. Good stuff. Good stuff. Hey listen, I want to get to the bums and junkies in a minute, But before we get to it, let's talk about emergency powers in general and the way they've been exercised during the COVID flap. Should the constitution change, Should the court step in I mean Plaster County for instance. I don't remember if they suit or just threatened to sue. They excited the specific wording in the state constitution as to what an emergency is. And there's not an emergency, and yet the governor's emergency powers continue. What needs to change? Well, and I absolutely agree, and I'll add one more. We've had a legislature that has absolutely not put any checks and balances on this governor, and I think it's been shameful. And the fact that so many California's have had to go to court guys to actually get some of these things overturned, like religious gatherings in our churches. Um, how do we change it? We change it at the top. You know, Gavin Knewson loved this power that that he's been able to do, and and he cannot use it judiciously. He's been wrong and in time and time again. And so look, I think that that's you know, it's time for the courts to step into. The legislator is not going to do anything. But I think what's more important is we vote yes on this recall, um, and we get our state back on track. All right to the bums and junkies. You have folks who are down on their luck, they're trying to get things turned around. Maybe they're staying in the shelter. Uh, they're they're doing all the right things. God bless those people. I understand that some of my tax dollars might go to help them in some way. But so many of the so called homeless are bums and junkies living in the tent cities. What does Kevin Faulkner do or or try to get going to deal with that problem. Well, I did not allow ten encampments on the sidewalk in San Diego, which we've you know, we've we've talked about. And then we have to take this state wide. And this is an issue that I feel so strongly about and so passionately about. Uh. And and look, you have to have the political will. You can throw all the money in the world as this gentleman, but if you do not have the political wild that says it's not okay to let somebody live in a tent encambinet do heroin and methomphetamine without any consequences, you're not going to have that change. We had a change in San Diego, and we put up a shelter system. I picked the locations, but I made a deal with the neighborhood. I said it's gonna be cleaner and safer with the shelter than before it was there. And to back that up, I created a new division within the San Diego Police Department, Neighborhood Policing Division. I enforced quality of life in San Diego. And guess what, it made a huge difference because we care about people enough not to let him die intent encampments on our sidewalk. We reduced homelessness, the only big city in California where we actually reduced it by double digits. I am going to take that exact same approach and philosophy statewide because what we are seeing in our great state is an explosion of homelessness and nobody with the political will to actually do anything about it. I personally, this is anecdote. Evidence is not proof of anything, but I personally no more pool in the last year that moved out of California then got COVID. Well, I'm not surprised to hear that, and and and and again back to we're losing population because it's just flat out too expensive. Some of the highest gas taxes, you know, in the country, and and the fact that people can look around and guys, you name the state right, it's it's Texas, It's in Nevada, Florida, Utah, Tennessee, on on down the list where people look at what the price of housing can be in others. And yet we have a governor now who doesn't seem to think that there's even a problem. And when all of these companies and jobs are leading, it's it's the spot. Well, you know, we'll just kind of replace them with who knows what, No it It's time to make that change. It's time to have a governor that says it's not about raising taxes like Newsome wants to do. It's about reducing real taxes in California so families can afford to actually stay here. What about the spectacular cost of housing? Does the government have any role in dealing with that? It does. You have to have common sense and that's the that's the approach that I took, is mayor, which is to say, here's where we want the housing, and you know, you have to have more of it in the areas that it makes sense along our major transportation quarters, and then make it actually easier to build it. Uh, so you don't have to take you over a year and a half just to get a permit. And so look, I think there's a lot of things that the governor can do should do. This governor isn't doing. Again, I think it falls into a pattern of Newson will get up and talk for an hour on a particular topic and rhetoric, and then at the end of the day, you'll say, what did he just say? It's time for some common sense. It's time for somebody like that who has rolled up their sleeves got it done in the second largest city in California. And yes, is a proud Republican who worked my entire tenure as mayor with a majority Democrat city council. Very good about going out and winning the argument publicly and then winning the vote. That's what's been missing in Sacramento, and I think that's why people across the state, across the political spectrum, want to change at the top to actually get us back on track. Kevin Falkoner, great to note to end on, well said, good to talk to you, will stay in touch, Thank you, look forward to next time. Thank you. Ye. Sam went to a pool party for one of his best friends over the weekend. They're moving to Texas. And I got to believe that a lot of people that haven't considered moving because they don't you know, I hate to say it this way. You don't know any better. You've never lived anywhere else, or you don't like you know, have friends that live somewhere else, because if you knew, well, if you've spent your whole life in California, you might not know that gas is half as much everywhere else what a house costs other places, that there aren't bums freaking everywhere in most other states, right right. You know what troubles me though, and it was what I was trying to express in my very first question to Kevin was poles show you know, pretty substantial numbers of California say, why would do we recall Kevin Newsom? They just have no idea how crappy he is and how awful at leadership has been. See you gotta informed. Look around crappy. I ate an early dinner, but I'm still crappy. Extra large

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