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KBLA Talk 1580. Good morning. Good morning and God bless.
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I'm Dominique DiPrima. This show is called First Things First.
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And my very first thing every day is prayer, giving thanks,
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giving praises and asking for blessings from God, asking for
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the blessings of the ancestors and the elders. And let's go.
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Let's go for real today. We got a lot to do,
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a lot to talk about. It is a Talking Point Tuesday.
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This is when we debunk and undermine the things we
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say that do not serve us. And many times there
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are a lot of those. But today is Election Day,
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today and every day until Tuesday. So we are focused,
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laser focused. Hour two, we'll have Jared Hill in the
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studio to unpack this ballot with me. Hour three, one
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of my favorite, not favorite, Republican frenemies, Chairwoman Corinne Rankin
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will be with me. And we're going to talk about
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election issues from the GOP perspective. But right now, I'm
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going to get right into it instead of doing all
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the millions of other housekeeping items that I often do.
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because we have a candidate sitting in the studio. He
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is running for LA city attorney. And this is, you know,
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these are timed. We want to make sure everybody gets
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equal time and plenty of space to answer the questions
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and make their case to you, the voter. Uh, John
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McKinney is a prosecutor. He works in the, uh, district
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attorney's office at the moment. Last time I talked to you,
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you were running for, um, attorney general. And at this
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moment you're running for city attorney. Um, good morning.
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Good morning. Last time we talked, I was running for
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district attorney, a.
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District attorney, right? District attorney, attorney general. That'll be another election.
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Another year. Yeah, you're right. Um, And this time, obviously,
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in a very crowded field, you've made it to the
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final two, the runoff here, to be city attorney. You
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wanted to be district attorney, and you've spent many
Load full transcript
years
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as a prosecutor. Why city attorney?
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Well, I believe that it's time for me to take
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everything I've learned across my life and across my professional
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career to another level. to a place where I can
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fight for more people in more contexts than just a
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criminal context. As a district attorney, I've been fighting to
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protect communities and victims from crime over 28 years. And
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now I want to continue to do that as city attorney,
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albeit with misdemeanor crimes. But I also am more intrigued
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by The city attorney's ability to fight for workers, to
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fight for renters, to fight for home providers, too, who
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are often victimized by scam artists, to fight any intrusion
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into L.A. space, whether it be from the Trump administration
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or the state government.
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Including ICE, I assume.
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Absolutely. ICE, Trump. even when the state intrudes upon the
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interests of Los Angeles.
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So does that mean that law enforcement shouldn't be cooperating
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with ICE in your view?
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Under our sanctuary city laws, that's absolutely correct. LAPD should
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not be cooperating with ICE when it comes to immigration enforcement.
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And you're good with those sanctuary city laws?
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Absolutely. I would have to be as city attorney. My
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job is not to impose laws. You know, my feelings,
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whatever they might be, it's to defend the city and
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enforce the city's laws.
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But city attorneys do get to prioritize. You might not say, oh, well,
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I don't like that law, so I won't enforce it.
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But what you can do is say, you know, I'm
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going to spend more time, say, jailing homeless people and
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protesters and less time going after, you know, crooked landlords
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and scamsters, for example.
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That's true. So-called prosecutorial discretion.
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Right.
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I've been a big critic of that political use or
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personal use of prosecutorial discretion in the past. I know
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you and I didn't agree, but I thought that George
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Gascon used prosecutorial discretion in that way. I will not
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do that.
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Well, since you went there, you were a DA, you
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were a prosecutor under Gascon and now under Hockman. And
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at the time you said when running for his job,
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that you would be the anti-Gascon. What did you mean
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by that?
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Well, George Gascon instituted a lot of blanket policies, like
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we're always going to do this and we're never going
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to do that. I was a big critic of that
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way of running the DA's office because every incident, every crime,
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if you will, is unique and should be judged on
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the merits of of the particular facts and circumstances of
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that case. That was my biggest problem with George Gascon,
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were the blanket policies that he instituted.
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But some of it, I mean, from our last conversation,
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was really about the, not just the blanket, but the
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spirit behind it. You know, the progressive prosecutor movement in
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this country, if you will, because of things like removing
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gang enhancements. and really focusing on alternatives to incarceration?
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No, I've always been a proponent of having a fuller
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toolbox and having more options for people who run afoul
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of the law, if you will. And incarceration has been
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used by me because I've been prosecuting murder cases, so
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there really is no alternative to incarceration when you're prosecuting
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a murderer. But I'm a big proponent of a lot
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of progressive ideas that My problem with George Gascon is,
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what did he say? He said, we're never going to
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use gang enhancements, not that we're going to use them
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in the appropriate cases. That's where it may have appeared
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that I was against limiting the use of certain enhancements.
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I was against the blanket policies of always doing something
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or never doing something.
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And where are you on the death penalty, for example?
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I mean, we're talking about blanket policies.
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Well, I'll tell you where I'm not as city attorney
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is enforcing or seeking the death penalty.
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Well, of course, because misdemeanors don't carry that. Nevertheless, it
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speaks to a philosophical standpoint.
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Well, I'll tell you philosophically and professionally, my job is
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to enforce the law. The death penalty is the law
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of California. Voters have still not voted it away. We
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keep waiting for it. I keep expecting it to happen.
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And when it happens, and I think it will happen,
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I won't be out in the street jumping up and
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down complaining about it. But as a prosecutor, you commit
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to enforcing the law as it's written, and there's no
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way around it. So I think the current DA has
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a process by which he evaluates cases for the death penalty,
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but he has never sought a death penalty so far
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in his nearly two years in office. I do think
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that the standard for seeking death should be extraordinarily high.
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and only in cases where there is no dispute about
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the identity of the perpetrator. But again, as city attorney,
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that wouldn't be something I would ever have to consider.
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I mean, but we're looking at, you know, where you
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are on the spectrum of law enforcement, on the spectrum
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of prosecutors, and in terms of enforcing not just the
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letter of the law, but the spirit of what voters
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here in L.A. County and in the city have said
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time and time again, which is that we want to
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care first.
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Right.
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And I believe in care first. If you look over
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the course of my career, for example, when I first
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started in a DA's office in the 90s, I was
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a full-time misdemeanor prosecutor. Virtually never sought jail for any misdemeanors,
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you know, because what's the point of that? I always
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sought community service or community labor. I thought that was
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always a better use of a person's time and a
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better way to hold a person accountable for a misdemeanor
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violation than going to jail. Jail is not an option
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for misdemeanors unless the person is truly dangerous. There's just
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no room left in our jails for anybody other than
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a serious or violent offender.
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But they do it to protesters all the time in
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this city.
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Well, I've never done it to a protester.
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And you don't plan to?
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And I've said publicly, I will not prosecute a protester.
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Well, what you said at the California Voices Town Hall
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was that you wouldn't prosecute them unless they were breaking
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the law. You can't prosecute anyone unless they're breaking the law.
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So where is the line? You know what I mean?
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Because am I standing on a median and that's against
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the law? I mean, we know that sometimes cops and
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sometimes prosecutors use any little thing to go after protesters.
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So what do you mean by that? Unless they're breaking
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the law.
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Well, I'll tell you, for me, protesters are not breaking
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the law unless they're engaged in acts of violence or
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threats of violence. Or some obstructions that really threaten large
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groups of people. For example, walking out onto the freeway
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and shutting down a freeway for thousands of people, many
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of whom may be rushing to get kids or go
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to a hospital or whatever it might be. Throwing rocks
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at police officers, setting things on fire, spray painting public buildings,
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things like that, like crimes.
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So spray painting buildings goes in the category of violence?
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No, but it goes into the category of crime and
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not protesting. I don't believe protesters are out there to
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destroy public property. I think there are people that use
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protests as a pretext or a guise for committing crimes.
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For sure that happens.
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And we can separate the wheat from the chaff when
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it comes to protesters versus people who are out there
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being provocative to the point of committing crimes.
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I think the freeway example is a good example because
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there is a line, like protests is not supposed to
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necessarily fit into the box of what the cops or
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the prosecutors or even the politicians.
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Civil disobedience is part of politics.
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Right. So when John Lewis walks onto a bridge where
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someone may be trying to drive, you know, is that
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a crime?
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Well, I wouldn't prosecute anyone of John Lewis's stature.
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Of course, but when John Lewis started doing that, he was,
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you know, he was a young person just like these
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college kids that are doing it now.
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Yeah.
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When I look at the historic protests. I think they
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were very effective. They were very well organized. And oftentimes,
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when people engaged in an act of civil disobedience, it
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didn't threaten the welfare of other people. They didn't shut
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down whole freeways. I've never seen that historically. They did
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sit in the streets, and oftentimes those were very orchestrated.
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They called the police chief ahead of time and say, look,
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we're going to do a protest. We want our people arrested.
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You're talking about like maybe NAACP, but not the Black Panthers.
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I mean, you know, it depends which protesters we're talking about.
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I mean, I think they did shut down. I mean,
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you know, I'm the daughter of two protesters. So I've
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seen the spectrum and they did do things that were
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considered so-called illegal because they were trying to change unjust laws.
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The test isn't whether a protester does something illegal. It's
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whether or not The illegality is serious, it's threatening, it's violent,
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it's destructive. That category of cases I will prosecute. If
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it's sitting in, if it's minor disturbances, minor trespasses, that's
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all part of the protest culture.
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So if you're protesting
like it's 1952, it's okay, but
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not like it's 2027.
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1952, 2027. 2022, if it's violent, threatening, or destructive, it
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will be prosecuted under me. I just can't see any
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other way forward as a city attorney.
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We're talking with John McKinney. He is an attorney now
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in the district attorney's office here in Los Angeles, and
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he's running for city attorney, which is a whole different department.
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We don't track it enough. It's super important, has to
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do with a lot of things that may touch you
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in your everyday life. Anything misdemeanor, anything city policy, advising
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the mayor, advising the city council. We'll continue this conversation
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when we come forward, only right here. He is an
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LA County deputy district attorney with almost three decades on
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the job. John McKinney is here. He wants your vote
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for city attorney. You have the endorsement of your current boss,
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Nathan Hockman, and a lot of former DAs, right? Steve Cooley,
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I believe, Jackie Lacey. And for those of us who
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are progressives, Jackie Lacey, I mean, there was a whole
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campaign to remove her from office because she refused to
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hold police accountable, because she liberally utilized the death penalty,
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and it was all of the people she was sending
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up were black and Latino. So How can you reassure
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progressives that those endorsements do not signal a return to
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the bad old days of policing and prosecution?
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Well, I'd like to think that I have those three
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endorsements because those are people that I worked for collectively
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now 22 years. So they actually know me. They know
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my work ethic, my dedication, my intelligence, how I deal
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with people. And I think they've endorsed me because of
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who I am, not because of who they were. I
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will not be Steve Cooley. I will not be Jackie Lacey.
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I will not be Nathan Hockman. Although I respect all
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three of them and I enjoyed working for all three
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of them, the work that I did was my own
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and the work that I'll do as city attorney will
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be me, not any of them.
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You've said on the campaign trail repeatedly that you are
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a lifelong Democrat.
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Yes.
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And I know that's a pushback because there's... there is
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an understanding or it's reported that you're getting a lot
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of money from conservatives.
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It's a smear campaign, Dominique. They're spending a million dollars.
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If you go to L.A. City Ethics and look at
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the amount of money that's been spent pushing this lie,
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it's close to a million dollars at this point.
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Well, I mean, so you're saying you're not getting any
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money from or you're not being supported by PACs that
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are Republican or MAGA-oriented?
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I have one IE that I know of that's supporting
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me in the general and the major contributor to that IE,
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from what I understand, because, you know, we.
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Can't coordinate with them. You're not supposed to coordinate.
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I get that.
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But you can see the public filings. They have to
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say who they are. It's led by Rick Caruso. And
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Rick Caruso is also supporting the mayor as of yesterday.
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Well, he said he'd vote for her. I don't think
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he endorsed her, did he?
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Right.
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He said he would vote for it. I think that's
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pretty close.
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That's close enough for you.
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But, you know, no one thinks of someone like Rick
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Caruso as MAGA. OK, I think he's actually a registered
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Democrat at this point.
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Yeah, but he's a recent Democrat. I mean, so when
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you say lifelong Democrat. I'm lifelong.
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I joined the party at 19. I voted for Dukakis
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versus George Bush Sr.
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Right. But a lot of people that are lifelong Democrats
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are leaning conservative now, leaning MAGA now. I mean, Donald
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Trump was
a lifelong Democrat until he became president.
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Yeah, well, I'm not that. And I tell you, I
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grew up in New Jersey. A lot of people have
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heard my story. And Donald Trump made his bones in
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New Jersey and Manhattan. And I first developed a strong
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dislike of Donald Trump back when I was a very
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young man because of the promises he made to Atlantic
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City to help develop that city if they had allowed
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him to build casinos. Well, they allowed him to build
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his casinos. But he never came through for the people
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in the way that he said he was going to
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help some of the impoverished areas of that city. And
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so long before most people in this country had ever
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heard of Donald Trump before his television show, I already
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believed he was a phony. His casinos failed. He bought
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an airline that failed. A lot of his properties were
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in distress. And that was before he got the TV show.
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So I've never been a fan of Donald Trump. So
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it's really ironic that at this point I'm being called MAGA.
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Well, I mean... Yeah, I can see why you would
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say that. You know, my family's from New Jersey. A
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lot of people from New Jersey and New York don't
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love Trump. Doesn't mean you don't love some of the
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conservative agenda that's coming out. And you've been endorsed by
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John Lee, Tracy Park, Monica Rodriguez. I mean, that is
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the conservative block of the L.A. City Council. But they're Democrats.
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Well, John Lee is an independent, but everybody else is
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a Democrat. And I've only ever sought Democratic support. The
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only non-democratic support that I asked for was Steve Cooley,
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my former boss, and Nathan Hockman, who's my current boss,
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and John Lee. So you have two independents and one
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former Republican. I have not sought any other Republican endorsement
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in either this race or my former race.
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You are endorsed by the Police Protective League, the union.
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police officers. And that suggests a certain agenda unto itself
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in terms of a more conservative approach.
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Can I address that?
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Yes, please.
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Well, look, it's a binary choice. You either are going
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to support Marissa Roy, who's a member of the DSA,
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not just supported by or recommended by, she's a car
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carrying member of the DSA. And part of their stated
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platform is to defund the police and abolish jails. Then
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you have John McKinney, who is a prosecutor and has
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been a prosecutor for 28 years, has some real signature accomplishments,
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and has worked well with law enforcement agencies across the county.
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If you are a member of that union, which one
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of those candidates are you going to endorse? You're not
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going to endorse the person who wants to defund your
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organization and abolish it. You're more likely going to support
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the prosecutor who understands the nature of your work, and
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has a good working relationship with your individual members. So again,
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when a person endorses another person, they're validating you and
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your values. That endorsement doesn't mean you adopt the values
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of the endorser.
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Well, many times it means you owe the endorser favors.
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Well, not in this case. I've never been a rubber
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stamp for anybody in the office. I'm actually known as
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the person who pushes back in meetings in the DA's office.
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And I'm not going to start now at 58 years old,
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given the career that I have. I have no interest
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in rubber stamping anybody. I can't be bought or paid
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for at this point.
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Well, let's talk about police accountability then, because that's been
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a real problem in the way that the LAPD has
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handled protesters. As recently as our ICE protests where, you know,
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a young man lost his eye to the pepper spraying
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and projectiles being aimed at the press, even press wearing
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clear and large media credentials, the fact that we have
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to get our media credentials from the LAPD, which we
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are then tasked with covering, who can withhold those credentials.
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How do you plan to hold LAPD accountable for the
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way they treat protesters and the press?
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Well, we need major reform when it comes to how
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LAPD polices large gatherings, protests, and what have you. And
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you're right. I know what you're talking about. I've also...
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been concerned about the way a lot of these protests
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come to an end. There doesn't seem to be a clear,
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coherent plan by law enforcement in how to wrap these
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things up. I will hold LAPD accountable. Now, you know,
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as city attorney, there's a little bit of an apparent
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conflict in that the city attorney has to defend the city,
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even in cases where LAPD is accused of overreach, excessive force,
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violating rights. But I believe that accountability and defending the
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city are not at odds. They actually go hand in hand.
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But we have to be proactive and not wait for
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something to happen before we start the accountability process. It
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has to start right now. We have to really pressure
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because city attorney can't control the chief and can't control
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the department. And I'm not an expert on policing. I
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don't purport to be. But I am an expert on liability.
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And I know what looks fair and just. And so
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I will use the power of the city attorney's office
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to insist on the adoption of best practices in the
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way the police department conducts its business.
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Oh, man. Time flies when you're on the radio. Arresting
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the homeless. You know, we've got the Olympics. We've got,
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you know, we've got the Super Bowl. You've said cleaning
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up the neighborhoods is your top priority. Does that mean
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arresting the homeless and enforcement of anti-camping?
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What it means is I have a great deal of
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compassion for people who are living on our sidewalks. To me,
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it's unconscionable and it should not continue. I don't see
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this problem in a lot of places, including places that
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don't have the resources that we have here in Los Angeles.
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I don't blame the people who are living on the
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street for being on the street. I blame the political
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structure and the decisions that have been made that accommodate
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it and allow it. So as city attorney, what I've
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said is I'll use the power of the city attorney's
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office to help get people into the treatment that they need.
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Because I do, I look around, I've been to Skid
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Row many times. I've been a prosecutor here for 28 years.
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I worked in a drug court and I've seen severe
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drug addiction lead to people living outside. And the only
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way to deal with it, you can give them an
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apartment and That's not going to solve the addiction problem.
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They have to get the treatment. That's what I'm for.
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We have to leave it there. John McKinney, thank you
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so much for coming in. It is McKinney4LA. com. It's the
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number for McKinney4LA. com. Thanks for coming in.
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Thank you very much.
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I thank you indeed. So now you heard it with
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your own ears. And actually, there's a lot of John
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McKinney in case you're concerned or confused about city attorney.
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There's the interview he did with James Farr is on
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our YouTube and wherever you get your pods, that was
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in the primary. And the really in-depth one that I
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did with him for a whole hour when he was
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running for DA. So all of that is there. There's
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so many, so many pieces of broadcast information that you
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can get if you're still undecided about a lot of
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things we've talked about Every state proposition, we've talked about
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the city measures. We have spoken on most candidates. Yesterday
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we did school board, I mean, excuse me, community college board.
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There are no LAUSD school board races because the folks
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all won outright in the primary. But there are
community
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college board. We've talked some about the judges, but we're
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going to do a whole deep dive on the judges
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with Attorney Kerry Harper on Thursday. That's something we do
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every every time. And actually, thanks to her really pushing
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me and saying, look, we need to do better, a
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better job about informing people on the judges. And this
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time you have not just LA County judges, you also
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have state judges. So it's a lot on this ballot.
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We've gone over most of it. You can find it
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wherever you get your podcasts. You could also find it
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at YouTube at KBLA 1580. That's our YouTube channel. And yeah,
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so there's a lot of info there in case you
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need it. Or you could just call me right now
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at 809-20-1580, 809-20-1580. I would love to talk with you
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about the election or whatever else is on your mind.
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And yeah, that's what I'm here for. That's what I love.
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That's the job that gets me up at 4 a.m.
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every day saying, let's do this. Whew, he has a
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lot to process today. Let's go to Pope calling us
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from L.A. Good morning, Pope.
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Good morning, Dominique.
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What's on your mind today?
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Hello?
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Yeah, what's on your mind?
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Well, you know what, Dominique? I'm at L.A. Federation of Labor.
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I work with them. Member? And, you know, and I've
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been in the presence of the mayor, Mayor Bass. And,
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you know, when you're in the presence of a person,
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you know, many, many times, you know, you know their spirit,
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you know. Yeah. And I've listened to ramen soup. That's
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what I call it. You know, no disrespect. That's what
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I feel. And when she talked about when she lifted up.
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The Captain Gates, when he was over the police department,
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he was the first person that hated people of color
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in L.A., okay? And then I listened to her, what
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was it, the other day, and she lifted up Reagan.
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Reagan was the first drug dealer... Okay? In the United States.
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And I remember him with North... What was his name?
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He was over the army.
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Oliver North.
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And they were bringing drugs... Yeah. They were bringing drugs in.
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And I fact-checked this with Goffrey, who's very smart. Okay?
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The comedian.
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And they first went to New York with drugs. You know, so...
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She is not who she says she is. And people
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are going to recognize that, you know, the ones that think, oh, yeah,
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you know. Listen, that woman, okay, she has two faces.
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She has two faces. And she will learn, you know,
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it's unfortunate that L.A. residents will have to learn through
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her that she is not who she says she is.
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She smiles and she, you know, I tell you, I
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am just, I'm just too outdone right now, okay? I'm
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just too outdone. Anyway, that's what I wanted to, you know,
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put out there.
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I appreciate the call. I mean, that's one of the
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reasons why we do the California Voices Town Hall, right?
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So you can see the candidates, feel their spirits, see
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how they walk, how they talk, how they treat people.
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There is a different energy to it when you get
480
00:26:57.359 --> 00:27:02.569
a chance to meet people in person. And this race,
481
00:27:02.970 --> 00:27:05.819
the good news is either way it goes, we don't
482
00:27:05.859 --> 00:27:08.180
get Spencer Pratt, right? Either way it goes, we don't
483
00:27:08.240 --> 00:27:12.039
have Eric Adams. That's the good news. The bad news
484
00:27:12.339 --> 00:27:16.980
is that right now we're being asked to take someone's
485
00:27:17.079 --> 00:27:22.410
word for something. And when you talk about Nithya Raman,
486
00:27:22.430 --> 00:27:25.190
I mean, she's a college graduate. She's a member of
487
00:27:25.430 --> 00:27:30.980
a sort of a an Indian family, East Indian, that
488
00:27:31.039 --> 00:27:35.170
comes out of a privileged class. She is a progressive,
489
00:27:35.230 --> 00:27:39.109
or she has been a progressive her whole political career.
490
00:27:39.170 --> 00:27:43.269
She's not a switching sides type person. But what you're
491
00:27:43.289 --> 00:27:47.019
being asked to do, she's been in the city council
492
00:27:47.079 --> 00:27:50.640
for six years. And what we're being
asked to do
493
00:27:51.180 --> 00:27:57.220
is believe what she's telling you she's going to do,
494
00:27:58.299 --> 00:28:01.299
rather than going based on just what's happened over the
495
00:28:01.339 --> 00:28:04.940
past six years, what she's actually done. And then, you know,
496
00:28:05.140 --> 00:28:09.140
with Mayor Bass, she kind of has the opposite situation
497
00:28:09.160 --> 00:28:13.609
in that she's been fighting for, you know, the vulnerable,
498
00:28:14.109 --> 00:28:19.269
the poor, the under-resourced, foster kids, elders, black people, Latinos
499
00:28:19.549 --> 00:28:25.259
for four decades. But what she's dealing with is the
500
00:28:25.299 --> 00:28:28.240
last four years, some folks feel like she hasn't been
501
00:28:28.319 --> 00:28:30.529
as boldly progressive as they would like.
502
00:28:30.700 --> 00:28:30.960
Right.
503
00:28:32.119 --> 00:28:35.450
And so particularly when it comes to the endorsement of
504
00:28:35.490 --> 00:28:40.609
the Police Protective League and her stance on Israel. But
505
00:28:40.970 --> 00:28:44.930
I also think you've got to look at not just
506
00:28:45.569 --> 00:28:47.910
you have to look at someone's total track record. You
507
00:28:47.950 --> 00:28:50.250
have to look what they've done for you lately. But
508
00:28:50.289 --> 00:28:53.319
you do have to look at that. their entire body
509
00:28:53.359 --> 00:28:58.779
of work, their entire body of consciousness, and their ability
510
00:28:58.880 --> 00:29:01.819
to deliver what they say they are going to do.
511
00:29:02.180 --> 00:29:04.910
That is also important. And that's what Willie Brown was
512
00:29:04.950 --> 00:29:08.250
talking about in the primary with the governor's race. It's
513
00:29:08.309 --> 00:29:10.910
not just what title do they have, what job have
514
00:29:10.930 --> 00:29:14.329
they held, what have they gotten done, what do they
515
00:29:14.369 --> 00:29:19.380
have the ability to get done. And so While it's
516
00:29:19.460 --> 00:29:22.279
true that the mayor has not magically solved the homeless
517
00:29:22.299 --> 00:29:26.559
problem overnight, has she improved the situation? Yes. Has she
518
00:29:27.180 --> 00:29:33.089
delivered on that promise, which was a major promise of
519
00:29:33.250 --> 00:29:39.250
her campaign to attack the crisis of houselessness, which has
520
00:29:39.289 --> 00:29:42.480
been building up? up in this city for decades. And no,
521
00:29:42.519 --> 00:29:44.400
you're not going to solve it in four years. I
522
00:29:44.440 --> 00:29:46.720
don't care if you're Superman with an S on your chest.
523
00:29:46.980 --> 00:29:49.339
You're not solving it in four years. Has she made
524
00:29:49.400 --> 00:29:51.779
progress in what she said she was going to do?
525
00:29:51.799 --> 00:29:52.220
No.
526
00:29:52.730 --> 00:29:56.509
Does she have the ability to deliver what she's saying
527
00:29:56.569 --> 00:29:58.329
she's going to deliver? I think you've got
to ask
528
00:29:58.369 --> 00:30:02.390
that question of both candidates in the mayor's race and
529
00:30:02.430 --> 00:30:06.480
in any other race for that matter. But I get
530
00:30:06.539 --> 00:30:08.619
what you're saying because what you're talking about is a
531
00:30:08.720 --> 00:30:16.200
trust factor and we are being asked to trust. That's
532
00:30:16.240 --> 00:30:19.609
what Council Member Rahman is saying. I will fix the
533
00:30:19.660 --> 00:30:23.119
homeless crisis. I will fix the housing crisis. I will
534
00:30:23.160 --> 00:30:25.910
have black people in my administration, even though I don't now.
535
00:30:26.730 --> 00:30:30.650
I will have a black agenda, even though that black
536
00:30:30.690 --> 00:30:33.210
agenda that came out yesterday, I so far haven't been
537
00:30:33.269 --> 00:30:36.009
able to find any black people that worked on it
538
00:30:36.369 --> 00:30:39.839
or consulted on it, even though it appears to be,
539
00:30:39.950 --> 00:30:44.839
in some cases, almost line by line, the Black Workers Center,
540
00:30:44.900 --> 00:30:48.259
at least with a jobs piece, the Black Workers Center
541
00:30:48.299 --> 00:30:53.650
plan that they put out during the city charter reform. Um,
542
00:30:54.950 --> 00:30:57.230
that's where the thing about how does a person walk?
543
00:30:57.490 --> 00:31:00.549
What vibe are they giving you? Um, and what, and
544
00:31:00.690 --> 00:31:03.529
what do you believe they have the capacity to do?
545
00:31:04.369 --> 00:31:07.130
Because anybody can say they're going to do a thing,
546
00:31:07.680 --> 00:31:10.700
but what do you believe they have the capacity to do?
547
00:31:11.079 --> 00:31:14.759
And do you think they'll stand firm in what they're saying?
548
00:31:16.200 --> 00:31:18.759
And I think that's what you're, um, that's what you're
549
00:31:18.779 --> 00:31:22.220
underlining Pope as far as the standing firm part. Um,
550
00:31:22.339 --> 00:31:25.500
you know, are you gonna, you gonna fire the police
551
00:31:25.539 --> 00:31:27.160
chief or you're not going to fire the police chief?
552
00:31:27.220 --> 00:31:30.029
Now you are, now you're not. Now you don't think
553
00:31:30.069 --> 00:31:31.950
you have the ability. Now you think it's going to
554
00:31:31.990 --> 00:31:35.490
take a really long time. Now you're back to, so it's, um,
555
00:31:36.470 --> 00:31:39.430
you know, it's fair to ask, is this, if this
556
00:31:39.509 --> 00:31:43.359
is what you're saying you're going to do, how, what
557
00:31:43.440 --> 00:31:48.009
makes us, uh, feel, uh, secure that that's actually what
558
00:31:48.049 --> 00:31:51.049
you're going to do, what you intend to do, and
559
00:31:51.069 --> 00:31:53.390
that you have the capacity to make it happen?
560
00:31:54.970 --> 00:31:55.619
You know what?
561
00:31:55.859 --> 00:32:01.980
Black and brown people in L.A., all over the United States, actually,
562
00:32:02.619 --> 00:32:08.200
all right, listen to this administration, the president, and they
563
00:32:08.279 --> 00:32:13.589
thought it wasn't about them, all right? Oh, well, you know,
564
00:32:13.650 --> 00:32:17.700
it's not about me. It's about them. Well, this woman, okay,
565
00:32:17.740 --> 00:32:20.000
everything she says, oh, I'm going to do this and
566
00:32:20.039 --> 00:32:22.869
I'm going to do that. Oh, please give me a break.
567
00:32:23.329 --> 00:32:28.569
All right. Yeah, she's been, you know, six years. Six
568
00:32:28.630 --> 00:32:33.410
years does not make 30. I ride around L.A. all
569
00:32:33.450 --> 00:32:35.609
the time, and I see all the buildings come up.
570
00:32:35.950 --> 00:32:38.269
And just yesterday I said, you know what? There are
571
00:32:38.369 --> 00:32:41.069
buildings all over, and it's not enough. It will never
572
00:32:41.130 --> 00:32:46.049
be enough because this didn't just happen overnight. It didn't
573
00:32:46.109 --> 00:32:52.779
happen overnight. Okay? Yeah, no, it didn't. I lived in Hawaii.
574
00:32:52.880 --> 00:32:55.759
I lived in Hawaii. I moved to Hawaii in 1978,
575
00:32:55.759 --> 00:32:58.660
and there was one homeless man. Now it looks like
576
00:32:58.720 --> 00:33:03.400
Skid Row because everybody that Reagan let out of the
577
00:33:03.559 --> 00:33:08.769
crazy house and people, you know, their family that they
578
00:33:08.809 --> 00:33:13.130
didn't want moved to Hawaii with no jobs.
579
00:33:13.150 --> 00:33:15.369
Yeah, well.
580
00:33:16.369 --> 00:33:20.470
You know, what I'm hearing, Pope, is that this is
581
00:33:20.529 --> 00:33:22.710
a tight race. I think there's a number of very
582
00:33:22.750 --> 00:33:27.019
tight races on the ballot. But this is one I
583
00:33:27.059 --> 00:33:32.819
know for sure when it comes to Black LA. Whatever
584
00:33:32.880 --> 00:33:37.220
candidate wins for governor and whatever candidate wins for mayor,
585
00:33:37.660 --> 00:33:39.559
we've got our work cut out for us. We are
586
00:33:39.599 --> 00:33:42.559
going to have to make sure that we are not
587
00:33:43.859 --> 00:33:49.109
an afterthought, an asterisk. stepped over, looked over, and that
588
00:33:49.210 --> 00:33:52.880
the calculation is now being made. I can win without them.
589
00:33:53.519 --> 00:33:57.420
I don't need to serve them. Or that they supported
590
00:33:57.460 --> 00:34:01.700
me even though I didn't do enough for them. And
591
00:34:01.740 --> 00:34:04.220
that's why this whole conversation about a black agenda is
592
00:34:04.259 --> 00:34:07.039
coming out now at this stage in the mayor's race.
593
00:34:07.799 --> 00:34:13.630
Because even though, yes, there are some alleged activists that
594
00:34:13.670 --> 00:34:16.309
are calling for that, But it's not just that. It's
595
00:34:16.369 --> 00:34:20.389
also because we see the way that people are being
596
00:34:20.650 --> 00:34:24.050
pushed out, priced out, and policied out of our neighborhoods
597
00:34:24.110 -->
00:34:31.019
that engenders gentrification. We see that we are not going
598
00:34:31.059 --> 00:34:36.059
to be representing the 9th District anymore and that there's
599
00:34:36.079 --> 00:34:48.469
no black candidate in the governor's race. not super unusual there,
600
00:34:48.510 --> 00:34:51.460
but as you look in terms of the leverage of
601
00:34:52.079 --> 00:34:55.940
black Californians and black Angelenos, there is some concern and
602
00:34:56.000 --> 00:34:59.199
that's understandable. So that means that we've got to show
603
00:34:59.340 --> 00:35:02.480
up and vote in big numbers. And it also means
604
00:35:02.760 --> 00:35:05.940
that we're going to have to keep our foot on
605
00:35:05.980 --> 00:35:11.000
the gas after election day and demand accountability and demand
606
00:35:11.059 --> 00:35:14.429
real results. You know, all this talk and All this
607
00:35:14.510 --> 00:35:18.269
black agenda, all this chicken in every potting, you know,
608
00:35:18.570 --> 00:35:20.269
I need the how, I need the why, and I
609
00:35:20.309 --> 00:35:22.409
need the when. And then we're going to have to
610
00:35:23.949 --> 00:35:28.820
keep that timeline and that accountability in the forefront from
611
00:35:28.880 --> 00:35:32.219
November 4th on. Appreciate the call, Pope. Pope called me
612
00:35:32.239 --> 00:35:35.920
at 800-920-1580. I invite you to do the same. I'm
613
00:35:35.960 --> 00:35:41.030
Dominique DiPrima for KBLA Talk 1580. It's Election Day in L.A.,
614
00:35:41.110 --> 00:35:46.389
and every day until November 3rd and November 4th starts
615
00:35:47.369 --> 00:35:51.539
too late to vote, but not too late to seek accountability.
616
00:35:52.300 --> 00:35:54.780
Israelis are going to the polls today to see if
617
00:35:54.800 --> 00:36:00.699
they're going to keep Netanyahu. And that, of course, is
618
00:36:00.980 --> 00:36:05.050
consequential not just for them, but for the whole wide world.
619
00:36:05.570 --> 00:36:09.469
But look... Jarrett Hill is joining me next hour. We'll
620
00:36:09.489 --> 00:36:12.050
go through some of this ballot. Um, we're doing it,
621
00:36:12.340 --> 00:36:15.440
you know, Thursday, we're doing the judges again with, uh,
622
00:36:15.579 --> 00:36:18.360
attorney Kerry Harper. And I may have to do, try
623
00:36:18.380 --> 00:36:20.179
to do a speed round. I tried it before, but
624
00:36:20.199 --> 00:36:22.840
I wasn't fast enough. I didn't get through the entire ballot.
625
00:36:23.260 --> 00:36:27.079
I may try to do a speed round on the ballot, um, uh,
626
00:36:27.179 --> 00:36:30.480
tomorrow as well. But Also joining me this week, Pastor
627
00:36:30.519 --> 00:36:33.219
Edward Anderson will be on with us tomorrow. He always
628
00:36:33.280 --> 00:36:36.920
has a lot of knowledge and inside scoop on what's
629
00:36:36.940 --> 00:36:40.300
going on in the city and the county. And then Dr.
630
00:36:40.320 --> 00:36:43.320
Melina Abdullah will be joining me. We'll go through, again,
631
00:36:43.360 --> 00:36:48.280
through some of these education-related pieces. In case you are confused,
632
00:36:48.860 --> 00:36:53.579
we've got a great week ahead. And so Attorney Carrie
633
00:36:53.659 --> 00:36:58.750
Harper will be joining us, as I said, on Thursday
634
00:36:58.769 --> 00:37:01.710
to talk about judges. And she actually knows a lot
635
00:37:01.750 --> 00:37:06.110
of these people. She's been not just an attorney, but
636
00:37:08.150 --> 00:37:13.530
you know, working with them in court, but also she is,
637
00:37:14.650 --> 00:37:17.090
she ran for judge one time, so she knows where
638
00:37:17.130 --> 00:37:21.090
the bodies are buried. Let's go to J.W. calling us
639
00:37:21.130 --> 00:37:22.780
from L.A. Good morning, J.W.
640
00:37:24.679 --> 00:37:28.079
Hey, good morning, Dominique. Thank you. I want to address
641
00:37:28.099 --> 00:37:31.460
the last caller's comment when she made a reference to
642
00:37:32.320 --> 00:37:37.820
this with the homeless folks and having them guess overnight.
643
00:37:38.280 --> 00:37:43.489
This was a plan. I can recall back in 83,
644
00:37:43.489 --> 00:37:48.550
it was called Rockefeller's Banking. And at that time, they
645
00:37:48.610 --> 00:37:52.250
made a term called projection.
646
00:37:52.269 --> 00:37:55.070
A term called what? I didn't get that last, the
647
00:37:55.110 --> 00:37:55.960
last thing you said.
648
00:37:56.179 --> 00:37:57.840
Oh, projection.
649
00:37:58.780 --> 00:37:59.159
Got you.
650
00:37:59.480 --> 00:38:00.059
Uh-huh.
651
00:38:00.079 --> 00:38:00.639
Uh-huh.
652
00:38:00.840 --> 00:38:05.360
Okay, so the point is, from all the major cities
653
00:38:05.480 --> 00:38:10.639
or black cities or you know, like Chicago, L.A.
654
00:38:10.679 --> 00:38:14.739
Detroit, and they were saying how they were going to
655
00:38:14.880 --> 00:38:18.340
change the infrastructure and move all the poor people out,
656
00:38:18.579 --> 00:38:25.690
like in the suburbs, and bring up, you know, gentrification
657
00:38:25.750 --> 00:38:26.409
at that time.
658
00:38:27.170 --> 00:38:29.510
Well, yeah, I mean, those are the same issues we're
659
00:38:29.530 --> 00:38:33.570
facing now, gentrification, the push out of the lower-income folks.
660
00:38:34.590 --> 00:38:38.420
It seems to have accelerated now because now a lot
661
00:38:38.460 --> 00:38:46.579
of the richer people, right, the upper class folks, the
662
00:38:46.719 --> 00:38:50.829
high income earners, they want to come back to the cities. At,
663
00:38:50.929 --> 00:38:54.949
you know, 70s, 80s, even 90s, they wanted to flee
664
00:38:55.050 --> 00:38:58.389
to the suburbs where it was supposedly safe. But the
665
00:38:58.429 --> 00:39:03.280
younger generations that are, you know, high income earners, they
666
00:39:03.440 --> 00:39:06.389
want to live in the cities. And they want swanky condos,
667
00:39:06.429 --> 00:39:09.610
they want city life, they want that
infrastructure, they want
668
00:39:09.650 --> 00:39:12.550
that nightlife. And so as a result, now the lower
669
00:39:12.590 --> 00:39:15.960
income people are being pushed out to the suburbs and
670
00:39:16.019 --> 00:39:19.940
the gentrification has accelerated. What does that mean for the unhoused? Well,
671
00:39:19.980 --> 00:39:24.789
now the unhoused are competing with these high six-figure earners,
672
00:39:25.869 --> 00:39:28.730
maybe not at the top of the housing scale, but
673
00:39:28.769 --> 00:39:31.619
it does move all the way down through every layer.
674
00:39:32.119 --> 00:39:35.739
So there's that, plus you've got these developers who are
675
00:39:35.800 --> 00:39:39.079
catering to the very wealthy. And as you see in
676
00:39:39.119 --> 00:39:43.170
here in LA, there's tons of apartments for rent if
677
00:39:43.230 --> 00:39:47.190
you can pay five, six, seven, eight thousand dollars a month.
678
00:39:47.869 --> 00:39:52.929
A $ 9, 000, $ 10, 000, $ 15, 000 a month. But for a person
679
00:39:52.969 --> 00:39:57.590
working a minimum wage job or a working class resident
680
00:39:57.750 --> 00:40:01.769
of LA, there are much fewer choices and they're not
681
00:40:01.829 --> 00:40:03.969
being catered to. So is that a plan? Was it
682
00:40:03.989 --> 00:40:07.929
a conspiracy? Does it even matter? Because the impact is
683
00:40:08.289 --> 00:40:11.989
that we are where we are now with a housing crisis,
684
00:40:12.309 --> 00:40:16.440
despite the fact that you and I are watching nice
685
00:40:16.579 --> 00:40:20.420
brand new apartment buildings going up all along Crenshaw, going
686
00:40:20.480 --> 00:40:23.030
up in Watts. I'm sure this is happening in cities
687
00:40:23.639 --> 00:40:27.309
all over the country, but they're not for you. They're
688
00:40:27.349 --> 00:40:32.389
not for me. And I saw an influencer yesterday saying that,
689
00:40:32.829 --> 00:40:36.550
you know, older people are supporting Bass because They're wealthy
690
00:40:36.989 --> 00:40:40.159
and they don't feel the affordability crisis. Well, that may
691
00:40:40.199 --> 00:40:43.119
be true of some older people. But if you look
692
00:40:43.159 --> 00:40:47.199
at what's happening with the unhoused, a huge proportion of
693
00:40:47.239 --> 00:40:50.960
those people are older people who can no longer afford
694
00:40:51.179 --> 00:40:55.019
their rent because they can no longer work, right? And
695
00:40:55.059 --> 00:40:58.409
the social security or the disability is not enough to
696
00:40:58.469 --> 00:41:03.730
cover an apartment. So I don't think that's really an
697
00:41:03.869 --> 00:41:08.320
accurate assessment. Because at both ends, the young people coming
698
00:41:08.389 --> 00:41:11.510
out of college and the old people, older people, seasoned
699
00:41:11.590 --> 00:41:16.130
folks coming out of the workforce, housing is highly problematic
700
00:41:16.449 --> 00:41:22.989
and affordability is an existential crisis. Jared Hill joins me next.
701
00:41:23.050 --> 00:41:26.719
He's always got insights for you. And well, it's election day,
702
00:41:26.900 --> 00:41:29.840
so we need them more than ever. He's an award-winning
703
00:41:30.019 --> 00:41:33.989
journalist and an author. You're always invited in. All that's
704
00:41:34.030 --> 00:41:35.800
coming up on KBLA Talk 1580.