Can a Candidate Win Without Endorsements? | Sandra Van Scotter on Independence, and CD-20

WEBVTT
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You're listening to Flor Unmuted. I'm Flor, and
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every week we're talking power, politics, cultura,
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and the people getting left behind. Let's get
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into it. Before we jump into today's conversation,
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I want to share a little context. One of the
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goals of Flor Unmuted has always been to create
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a space for longer conversations with the people
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asking for your vote. not just soundbites or
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campaign ads, but thoughtful discussions about
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how they think, how they lead, and how they would
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govern. Today's guest is Sandra Van Scotter,
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Democratic candidate for California's 20th congressional
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district. What interested me most about this
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conversation wasn't simply her policy positions,
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it was her campaign philosophies. Sandra has
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made the unusual decision not to seek political
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endorsements, saying she doesn't want to be beholden
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to organizations or special interests. That raises
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some interesting questions. What does political
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independence really look like? How do candidates
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build trust with voters? And once elected, how
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do they balance independence with the relationships
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and coalition building that governing requires?
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We're hearing a lot of this messaging. These
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are some of the questions that we explore in
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this episode, along with healthcare, immigration,
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social security, and the unique challenges facing
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the Central Valley. As always, my goal isn't
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to tell you what to think. It's to help you better
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understand the people who want to represent our
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communities so you can make an informed decision
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for yourself. Here's my conversation with Sandra
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Vanscutter. Thank you for joining me on Floor
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Unmuted. I'm so honored to have this time with
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you and talk about your campaign, who you are
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and why you're running. So I'm Sandra Van Scotter
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and I'm a Chicago girl. I was born in Chicago,
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grew up in the suburbs and moved here to California
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in 2014. I went to college to be a respiratory
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therapist and I worked in several hospitals in
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Illinois and it's finishing up at Northwestern.
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before I moved here to California. And, you know,
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before, clearly before I did that, I come from
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a huge working -class family. I'm one of eight
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siblings. My dad is a member of Teamsters, and
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my stepmom, she was Carol in accounting, you
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know, with Teamsters. And so we all learned how
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to take care of ourselves, had good work ethic,
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and it was in school. My early education was
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in Chicago Public Schools. which at the time
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in the 1970s, they were not a good school district.
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And so I got to help kids that needed to need
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a tutoring with learning how to read and stuff
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like that. And that was my first kind of like
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taste of advocacy and helping people. And, you
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know, we both got a lot out of it. And so I've
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always been driven to service. And when I moved
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here to California, I learned about the the regional
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center system. My middle child, my older son,
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he's autistic, and there were no services in
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Illinois where we lived. We lived pretty rural,
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about five hours south of Chicago, and so no
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services. So when I came here and I was hearing
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other families talking about regional center,
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I was like, oh, this is a very interesting thing.
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But we were able to get my son's services, you
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know, met through school with his individual
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education plan. And I didn't really get involved
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in the regional center system until my son graduated
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from high school. And he needed more support
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than I could provide for him on my own. So that
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was my introduction into what I do now. I'm one
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of those parents when... When it, when a child
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has a need, I fully immersed myself into learning
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all about that need and you know, all the resources
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kind of leads feeds into being a respiratory
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therapist. I like to know a lot about one thing.
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So, so yeah, so that kind of to what made me
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decide to run. is the work I do now with intellectually
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and developmentally disabled adults. I help them
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maintain their independence. When that bill was
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passed last year, now they're calling it the
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Working Families Tax Relief Act instead of the
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one big beautiful bill. But when that was passed
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last year, the people I already serve are blowing
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up my phone. Oh my goodness, we're gonna lose
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our benefits, we're gonna be homeless. They were
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really scared. Yet I knew that I had already,
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they had let me help them lay the foundation
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to be able to maintain their, their benefits
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with ABLE account, which is a nationwide program
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to allow people who receive disability or other
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means tested services to save more money than
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the $2 ,000, the $2 ,000 asset limit. And so
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I knew that if I could help a few people, I could
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help a lot of people. And that was initially
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why I decided to run. Because I believed the
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pie chart that you know this you almost 50 %
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registered Republican only 25 % registered Democrat
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You know the pie chart the other 25 % is minor
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parties and no party preference But then as I
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started going around and talking to people I
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realized that there was a path to win and so
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this has been a trajectory of you know Growing
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into we're not just running to help people. We're
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running to win this election. Yeah Absolutely.
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And you have tremendous firsthand experience
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navigating health care, both as a mom and somebody,
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you know, working in the industry. You know,
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Congress, though, and you know, this is something
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that your opponent, Vince Fong, it, you know,
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campaigns on, you know, it's about legislating,
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negotiating and building, building coalitions.
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How do you convince voters that lived experience
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prepares you for those responsibilities as well?
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We're talking with them by demonstrating that
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I've been able to do that in the work that I
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do. The, the, the committee that I serve on now
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for the Kern Regional Center, it's the self -determination
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program at local advisory committee. We definitely
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guide the regional center system with how to
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deliver services. I manage my clients' budgets.
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You know, it's like half million, half million
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dollar budget for four people is a budget. I
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rely back on my policy making and healthcare.
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And really, the feedback that I get from people
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as I'm campaigning is, you know, Vince Fong has,
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you know, been able to build those coalitions,
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but he hasn't been able to demonstrate that he
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understands what the people living in this congressional
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district are experiencing. And so at this point,
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the feedback that I'm getting is this other stuff
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isn't done in a vacuum. Legislating is not done
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in a vacuum. You're doing it as a whole house.
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the lived experience and the people skills and
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the understanding what other people's lived experiences
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and can relate to them are, that's just something
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that comes with living. And our congressional
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district and this geographic space have been
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not paid attention to for a really, really long
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time. And so people aren't, you know, there are
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some people that are like, you know, why didn't
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you run for a more local office? Because I didn't
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feel like what I can bring to the table would
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be best utilized in a local office setting. Yeah.
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And you touched on this here a little bit in
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your introduction in terms of the makeup of Congressional
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District 20. And, you know, in the June primary,
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you received 29 % of the vote, of the votership
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in that primary. And, you know, that's not insignificant.
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I think there were four people on the ballot
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and you were in the top two. You know, one of
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the things by looking at those numbers, you know,
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that kind of tells us that you might have to
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persuade moderate, independent, you know, no
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party preference voters, Republicans even, and
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maybe even some lower propensity voters that
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probably have become a little disillusioned with
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the voting system. And I guess my question is,
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what is your plan to consolidate those votes?
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in your favor. The plan is to continue showing
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up. I put well well over 30 ,000 miles on my
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car now. Showing up in person and door knocking
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and phone calling and you know that's what I've
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been doing a lot the last month or so is calling
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people just to introduce myself because I know
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that I'm not going to be able to meet everybody
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in person. We have people postcarding. Already
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and we are fully aware of the burnout that people
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are experiencing with our almost continuous election
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cycle And so we're we're pretty sensitive to
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that that we don't want to be all like in people's
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faces But we definitely don't want people to
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forget that there's an election coming in November
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So with the timing of you know, let's let's not
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fully disappear, but let's give people a little
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bit of a break Come the end of August, early
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September, it's just going to be continuous nonstop,
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making sure we're contacting as many people as
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we can and as many avenues as we can to, of course,
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get them to come out and vote for me, but to
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get them to come out and vote at all. People
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have been very disillusioned and disenfranchised
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in our congressional district because even before
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Prop 50, we were pretty safely Republican. For
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you know, whoever was running in that seat and
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so a lot of Democrats just feel like my vote
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doesn't matter and that's the consequence of
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gerrymandering and so getting people to come
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out and you know speak up and and The really
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the only way you can tell your government that
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you want change is if you come out and vote Yeah,
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and I I want to switch switch up here to endorsements.
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Have you have you received any particular endorsements
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from any coalitions or organizations? I there
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have been a few unsolicited endorsements from
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like progressive groups encouraging people to
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vote for me. There are some Democratic clubs
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now that we're through the primary there. they're
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allowed to um give endorsement because of the
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makeup of the congressional district and in talking
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to people about how do you decide who to vote
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for well you look at who they're endorsed by
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well what do you do if you don't like who endorsed
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the candidate well then i don't vote for the
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candidate and i hear that pretty consistently
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over and over again and because of the the votes
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that I need to, the people that I need to have
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vote for me, who would probably not vote for
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me if I was endorsed by somebody or an organization
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that they don't agree with or is very polar opposite
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of how they might be registered to vote. In my
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strategy, the endorsements are more of a handicap.
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The other thing that my mindset about endorsements
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is What makes people so angry about money in
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politics is if you're taking money from somebody,
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you're held to upholding their agenda, whatever
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it is. There's no money in politics without strings
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attached, and I didn't want to play that either.
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So I have chosen a very difficult path of fully
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individual donations. And when I have this conversation
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with people, they totally resonate with it and
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they understand that doesn't necessarily mean
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that they are able to donate, but they understand
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that, you know, when I'm elected and even in
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my process of campaigning, I'm only accountable
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to them and not to anybody who's given me, you
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know, a big endorsement. And then we see what
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happened. You know, even out East in Maine, this
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is pretty fresh as of this recording, that, you
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know, Mr. Platner wouldn't would not have been
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able to stay on the ticket because the endorsements
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he received had been pulled, which means the
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money was also pulled. So, you know, so it's
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made pretty clear that, you know, that money
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had strings attached. Are you, I guess, you know,
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many voters view endorsements as a signal that
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a candidate has earned trust from organizations
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or leaders who have worked on issues for years.
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Because organizations really at the end of the
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day are a collection of people. For example,
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you've got like a nurses association, veterans
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organizations, farm bureaus even, disability
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rights groups, teachers associations. sorts of
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organizations are not just institutions, they're
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communities of constituents. So my question is,
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is without endorsements, what should voters look
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to as evidence that you're prepared to be effective
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or that you're doing everything you can to reach
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them? First thing that comes to my mind is basically
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faith in that, you know, I'm acknowledging what
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they're angry about, money and politics. I'm
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acknowledging that they feel powerless with the
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money in politics and no matter what has come
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my way or not come my way as far as donations
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that I'm continuing to run to represent them.
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And because, you know, honestly, you know, let's
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let's look at, you know, just historically, you
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know, people who candidates who have been endorsed
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by people who, you know, really wound up, you
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know, we found out, you know, different things
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about them, you know, the the The endorsement,
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the endorsement process is part of how we got
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here as a country. And if we're going to like
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do different and be different and actually represent
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the people, we need to start shifting away from
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that. And a follow up question to that, if elected,
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you know, in Congress, there's a lot of caucusing
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that you have to do, you have to build support,
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you have to talk to your allies and sometimes
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work across the aisle to garner votership, to
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pass legislation or accomplish, you know, the
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very initiatives that you campaign on. What is
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your plan or how do you build those relationships
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in Congress while also remaining independent,
00:15:05.769 --> 00:15:08.990
you know, keeping money out of the equation,
00:15:09.029 --> 00:15:12.090
right? In those situations, it's more of a relationship
00:15:12.090 --> 00:15:15.720
building. Right. But I guess in politics, that
00:15:15.720 --> 00:15:18.980
is also transactional, regardless if it involves
00:15:18.980 --> 00:15:22.460
money. So what's your plan there to accomplish
00:15:22.460 --> 00:15:26.440
your platform if elected? So my plan, my plan
00:15:26.440 --> 00:15:29.580
there is to do what I've done previously my whole
00:15:29.580 --> 00:15:34.340
career as a respiratory therapist. In most hospitals,
00:15:34.379 --> 00:15:36.720
the respiratory therapy department is pretty
00:15:36.720 --> 00:15:39.480
small compared to the amount of work that they
00:15:39.480 --> 00:15:44.779
do and to gain the The trust and respect of the
00:15:44.779 --> 00:15:47.340
professionals around you, the doctors, the nurses,
00:15:47.639 --> 00:15:50.480
the, you know, everyone else is you have to cross
00:15:50.480 --> 00:15:53.200
the aisle. You must, otherwise you can't do your
00:15:53.200 --> 00:15:55.840
job. And crossing the aisle and finding a common
00:15:55.840 --> 00:15:58.840
goal and understanding what each other's needs
00:15:58.840 --> 00:16:02.159
are and working together to become individually
00:16:02.159 --> 00:16:06.440
better legislators and work better together to
00:16:06.440 --> 00:16:08.600
serve the people that have elected to serve you.
00:16:08.899 --> 00:16:10.940
That's what, that's what my whole life and career
00:16:10.940 --> 00:16:13.840
has been. is working with others crossing the
00:16:13.840 --> 00:16:17.559
aisle to get the end result that the people who
00:16:17.559 --> 00:16:22.500
elected us into the space want to see. Now, I
00:16:22.500 --> 00:16:25.340
want to switch up here and talk about healthcare
00:16:25.340 --> 00:16:29.860
and policy, which you already pretty much touched
00:16:29.860 --> 00:16:33.710
on in terms of the big, beautiful bill. So I
00:16:33.710 --> 00:16:36.649
want to ask you if you could realistically accomplish
00:16:36.649 --> 00:16:39.870
one health care reform during your first term,
00:16:40.070 --> 00:16:43.529
what would it be and why? So what I think we
00:16:43.529 --> 00:16:47.809
can realistically do is to stop implementation
00:16:47.809 --> 00:16:51.389
of the one big beautiful bill. That is what I
00:16:51.389 --> 00:16:53.789
believe we can realistically do with a majority
00:16:53.789 --> 00:16:56.809
in the House. I don't think we will get cooperation
00:16:56.809 --> 00:17:00.669
from the administration. If we don't have a majority
00:17:00.669 --> 00:17:04.289
in the Senate, that's realistically what we're
00:17:04.289 --> 00:17:06.509
going to be able to do in the first term. And
00:17:06.509 --> 00:17:09.190
it's pretty urgent that we do that. We are already
00:17:09.190 --> 00:17:11.950
seeing layoffs across two hospital systems in
00:17:11.950 --> 00:17:16.809
Kern County. As I said earlier, people's access
00:17:16.809 --> 00:17:19.430
to services through Medi -Cal are being reduced.
00:17:20.130 --> 00:17:22.630
And starting in September, three of the four
00:17:22.630 --> 00:17:25.490
counties, some people will also lose their CalFresh
00:17:25.490 --> 00:17:27.410
if they're not able to keep up with the work
00:17:27.410 --> 00:17:31.750
requirements. which disproportionately affect
00:17:31.750 --> 00:17:35.950
our seasonal workers, our farm workers. Yeah,
00:17:36.170 --> 00:17:38.730
our farm workers. Of course, if they're not appropriately
00:17:38.730 --> 00:17:41.650
documented, they don't have access to those services.
00:17:41.809 --> 00:17:44.589
And I believe the state will step up like they
00:17:44.589 --> 00:17:47.750
did in November and help those families out through
00:17:47.750 --> 00:17:50.309
CAPK and other programs to make sure that people
00:17:50.309 --> 00:17:53.230
still have access to food. But yeah, we're gonna...
00:17:53.180 --> 00:17:55.859
start feeling collectively the pain pretty quickly.
00:17:56.279 --> 00:17:59.140
And looking ahead, campaigns often ask voters
00:17:59.140 --> 00:18:03.819
to believe in hope. And in your district, I think,
00:18:03.960 --> 00:18:07.119
you know, that's a huge piece of what we're seeing
00:18:07.119 --> 00:18:11.740
today politically. What's one promise that you're
00:18:11.740 --> 00:18:15.259
intentionally not making to voters because you
00:18:15.259 --> 00:18:19.000
believe it's actually unrealistic? I am intentionally
00:18:19.000 --> 00:18:21.980
not making promises about single single payer
00:18:21.980 --> 00:18:24.940
health care. I don't think it's fair to make
00:18:24.940 --> 00:18:27.519
a promise about something that I know, like I
00:18:27.519 --> 00:18:30.819
just said, we don't have cooperation from the
00:18:30.819 --> 00:18:33.500
administration and may not have enough of a majority
00:18:33.500 --> 00:18:36.660
in the Senate, if we have one at all, to make
00:18:36.660 --> 00:18:40.740
anything like that move. So I, what I do promise
00:18:40.740 --> 00:18:43.539
them though, is to use the tools we already have.
00:18:43.700 --> 00:18:45.640
We already have money that's been appropriated
00:18:45.640 --> 00:18:48.099
that hasn't been spent yet. We can guide how
00:18:48.099 --> 00:18:51.670
that is spent. to support the people in our congressional
00:18:51.670 --> 00:18:55.309
districts. I have the ability to promise them
00:18:55.309 --> 00:18:59.589
that I will be present. That if you call my office,
00:18:59.769 --> 00:19:02.430
somebody's going to answer the phone. I am already
00:19:02.430 --> 00:19:06.569
recruiting caseworkers for Veterans Administration
00:19:06.569 --> 00:19:10.490
and Social Security to help people navigate those
00:19:10.490 --> 00:19:14.250
systems. When they contact our office, if I'm
00:19:14.250 --> 00:19:16.250
elected, there will definitely be a link on my
00:19:16.250 --> 00:19:19.160
website to start that process. which right now
00:19:19.160 --> 00:19:21.779
our current representative does not have on his
00:19:21.779 --> 00:19:24.660
website. And if I don't win in November, I'm
00:19:24.660 --> 00:19:28.140
campaigning for 2028 and we will make sure that
00:19:28.140 --> 00:19:30.900
we are available in the community to do those
00:19:30.900 --> 00:19:34.299
things. And we're setting up to be able to help
00:19:34.299 --> 00:19:37.420
people access Veterans Administration benefits
00:19:37.420 --> 00:19:40.299
if they have come to a standstill on their own
00:19:40.299 --> 00:19:44.680
and building relationships with the VA and making
00:19:44.680 --> 00:19:48.700
sure we can get people to appropriate help with
00:19:48.700 --> 00:19:50.880
social security if they need to make appeals
00:19:50.880 --> 00:19:54.180
or you know various other things that that's
00:19:54.180 --> 00:19:57.579
probably one of the biggest questions or the
00:19:57.579 --> 00:20:00.000
subject matter of questions that I answer when
00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:02.980
I'm out and about is how do I access this? How
00:20:02.980 --> 00:20:06.759
do I do that? Who do I contact? And because you
00:20:06.759 --> 00:20:10.920
know people need help and they've gone to all
00:20:10.920 --> 00:20:12.799
the avenues that they know they can look and
00:20:12.799 --> 00:20:14.660
they still haven't gotten the relief they needed.
00:20:15.000 --> 00:20:17.359
And that's really going to be what we need over
00:20:17.359 --> 00:20:19.900
the next couple years is somebody who's going
00:20:19.900 --> 00:20:22.859
to, I hear you. I understand you. This is what
00:20:22.859 --> 00:20:26.319
I know how to do. You know, let's do this together.
00:20:26.640 --> 00:20:28.200
It's going to be a little bit more difficult
00:20:28.200 --> 00:20:30.640
if I'm not elected. And I'm definitely going
00:20:30.640 --> 00:20:33.539
to the office will have more pool when we are
00:20:33.539 --> 00:20:37.619
elected. That's really what people need now.
00:20:38.039 --> 00:20:41.339
Yeah. And in terms of your opponent, Vince Bong,
00:20:41.599 --> 00:20:45.369
have you heard Have you heard his platform on
00:20:45.369 --> 00:20:48.650
health care for the constituents of CD20? And
00:20:48.650 --> 00:20:52.410
if so, how do you agree or disagree with the
00:20:52.410 --> 00:20:55.849
way that he's, with his approach? His, what I
00:20:55.849 --> 00:20:58.150
understand his approach is he does not think
00:20:58.150 --> 00:21:01.289
that the Working Families Tax Relief Act or the
00:21:01.289 --> 00:21:04.089
one big beautiful bill is going to have the impact
00:21:04.089 --> 00:21:07.220
that we're already seeing. did come out with
00:21:07.220 --> 00:21:11.079
Dr. Oz out to Kern Memorial when they were quite
00:21:11.079 --> 00:21:14.160
in a crisis and was able to, they were able to
00:21:14.160 --> 00:21:17.059
pull together some funding to help them stay
00:21:17.059 --> 00:21:19.380
afloat. But they're also one of the hospitals
00:21:19.380 --> 00:21:21.960
that's doing some major layoffs right now. So
00:21:21.960 --> 00:21:25.759
I don't think he actually understood the human
00:21:25.759 --> 00:21:30.720
impact of the bill he voted for. I mean, like
00:21:30.720 --> 00:21:32.200
I said, there were some good things that came
00:21:32.200 --> 00:21:34.680
out of the bill, for example, with the ABLE account.
00:21:35.259 --> 00:21:39.599
program, the some one of the features of it that
00:21:39.599 --> 00:21:42.279
was supposed to some sunset is now permanent.
00:21:42.619 --> 00:21:44.900
So I think that was an accidental good thing.
00:21:45.220 --> 00:21:46.759
I think if they knew that it was a good thing,
00:21:46.759 --> 00:21:49.220
I'm not sure it would have survived staying in
00:21:49.220 --> 00:21:53.000
the bill. But yeah, I honestly my brain is struggling
00:21:53.000 --> 00:21:57.500
to understand how people with children made choices
00:21:57.500 --> 00:22:01.619
to vote for that bill. Mm hmm. Yeah. And the
00:22:01.619 --> 00:22:05.160
news broke on these hospital closures and employees
00:22:05.160 --> 00:22:07.640
going on layoffs. I think there was a report
00:22:07.640 --> 00:22:11.900
from EDD that came out about potential number
00:22:11.900 --> 00:22:13.960
of employees that, you know, that wouldn't be
00:22:13.960 --> 00:22:16.579
employed in the healthcare field specifically.
00:22:17.059 --> 00:22:20.700
Have you heard from your Congress member on comments
00:22:20.700 --> 00:22:25.059
about the result of that or has there been any?
00:22:25.259 --> 00:22:27.960
commentary from their office that you not that
00:22:27.960 --> 00:22:30.440
I've seen not that I've seen which kind of matches
00:22:30.440 --> 00:22:33.579
what we saw when the bill was passed so as I
00:22:33.579 --> 00:22:35.900
said in the beginning I think I said in the beginning
00:22:35.900 --> 00:22:38.720
nobody from either party came to explain to the
00:22:38.720 --> 00:22:40.339
people what happened last year when the bill
00:22:40.339 --> 00:22:44.680
was passed and signed and I guess there was this
00:22:44.680 --> 00:22:47.279
expectation in my brain that they should have
00:22:47.279 --> 00:22:50.440
so and that expectation was set back when I was
00:22:50.440 --> 00:22:52.539
a junior in high school our member of the house
00:22:52.759 --> 00:22:55.279
came to our high school, talked to the junior
00:22:55.279 --> 00:22:57.380
class because we were all taking U .S. history
00:22:57.380 --> 00:23:00.440
and talked to us about, you know, what a member
00:23:00.440 --> 00:23:02.759
of the house does. But one of the things I will
00:23:02.759 --> 00:23:06.500
never, ever forget is he said, don't count on
00:23:06.500 --> 00:23:09.200
Social Security for your retirement because it
00:23:09.200 --> 00:23:11.799
won't be there for you. And that was 40 years
00:23:11.799 --> 00:23:14.960
ago. And so I was like, you know, at first I
00:23:14.960 --> 00:23:17.460
thought like, wow, I'm never going to forget
00:23:17.460 --> 00:23:20.210
that he said that. because it was such like a
00:23:20.210 --> 00:23:23.109
huge thing like at 16 none of us knew what social
00:23:23.109 --> 00:23:26.069
security was none of our grandparents really
00:23:26.069 --> 00:23:29.349
were at retirement age you know it's just this
00:23:29.349 --> 00:23:32.190
term kind of thing but now that I'm going through
00:23:32.190 --> 00:23:34.150
the congressional district and talking to a bunch
00:23:34.150 --> 00:23:36.869
of people I have talked to a lot of people in
00:23:36.869 --> 00:23:39.230
my age group that also had that same experience
00:23:39.230 --> 00:23:41.210
with their representative coming to their school
00:23:41.210 --> 00:23:44.309
and talking to them and and we're we're not seeing
00:23:44.309 --> 00:23:46.990
that so much now where the representative is
00:23:46.990 --> 00:23:49.670
coming to them and giving them information, even
00:23:49.670 --> 00:23:52.130
if it's news that the people don't want to hear.
00:23:52.910 --> 00:23:57.410
You know, that it's a big change. So when I didn't
00:23:57.410 --> 00:24:01.609
see the representatives, you know, a trillion
00:24:01.609 --> 00:24:03.710
dollars, there's no way you can make a trillion
00:24:03.710 --> 00:24:07.369
dollar cut painless. Yeah. And for the listeners
00:24:07.369 --> 00:24:11.130
who are not familiar with that conversation of
00:24:11.130 --> 00:24:14.150
social security going away and things of that
00:24:14.150 --> 00:24:17.660
nature. Can you tell me just, from your perspective,
00:24:18.099 --> 00:24:20.519
maybe like two things that this administration
00:24:20.519 --> 00:24:25.539
and the House is currently doing to impact the
00:24:25.539 --> 00:24:27.779
ability for us to access our health care benefits,
00:24:27.880 --> 00:24:30.140
or sorry, our social security benefits? Yes.
00:24:30.519 --> 00:24:33.180
So what's going to happen toward the end of 2032
00:24:33.180 --> 00:24:36.740
is there's going to be a 22 -ish percent reduction
00:24:36.740 --> 00:24:39.759
in payments to people receiving social security.
00:24:40.399 --> 00:24:42.960
retirement. So there's social security disability,
00:24:43.299 --> 00:24:45.119
and then there's social security retirement.
00:24:45.599 --> 00:24:47.740
And those are two completely different buckets.
00:24:47.880 --> 00:24:51.059
So for, for years and years, I think a lot of
00:24:51.059 --> 00:24:53.220
us have, you know, been paying attention to we
00:24:53.220 --> 00:24:55.119
knew that this was going to come at some point.
00:24:55.369 --> 00:24:57.549
Because there aren't enough people currently
00:24:57.549 --> 00:25:00.430
working to keep the fund fully funded, but we
00:25:00.430 --> 00:25:02.470
thought it was going to come later, like closer
00:25:02.470 --> 00:25:06.910
to 2040. The office that made this announcement,
00:25:07.130 --> 00:25:10.150
I'm going to say last month, even in June, explained
00:25:10.150 --> 00:25:12.150
that the reason why we're going to see that cut
00:25:12.150 --> 00:25:16.849
is part of the reason why is people who are immigrants.
00:25:17.230 --> 00:25:20.329
who had been paying taxes into the system, into
00:25:20.329 --> 00:25:22.390
a system that they were never going to be able
00:25:22.390 --> 00:25:25.670
to use the benefits of that system, receive retirement
00:25:25.670 --> 00:25:31.829
or Medicare, when they hit 65. The mass deportation
00:25:31.829 --> 00:25:36.369
of that particular population brought the cuts
00:25:36.369 --> 00:25:40.130
much sooner. And the other thing that there has
00:25:40.130 --> 00:25:42.930
been no political will to do is raise what's
00:25:42.930 --> 00:25:46.359
called the employment tax. Right now, You're
00:25:46.359 --> 00:25:49.539
with your employer, my employer, I pay six and
00:25:49.539 --> 00:25:52.500
a quarter percent tax, my employer pays six and
00:25:52.500 --> 00:25:55.079
a quarter percent employment tax, and that goes
00:25:55.079 --> 00:25:58.299
into the social security bucket. All of us also
00:25:58.299 --> 00:26:00.920
pay what's called a Medicare tax. And Medicare
00:26:00.920 --> 00:26:04.579
pay, that Medicare tax pays for the ability to
00:26:04.579 --> 00:26:07.119
access Medicare for people who are already receiving
00:26:07.119 --> 00:26:10.720
benefits from Medicare. So that keeps that program
00:26:10.720 --> 00:26:14.420
solvent is the word that they use. that reduction
00:26:14.420 --> 00:26:16.880
in social security by 22 % is going to hit us
00:26:16.880 --> 00:26:19.839
much sooner. And like I said right now, there's
00:26:19.839 --> 00:26:24.980
no political will to resolve that. I want to
00:26:24.980 --> 00:26:28.579
ask you a follow -up to that. I think, or maybe
00:26:28.579 --> 00:26:31.859
it's just a comment, but there are a lot of benefits
00:26:31.859 --> 00:26:34.720
to social security. Like, I think people hear
00:26:34.720 --> 00:26:37.500
social security and you hear like, oh, when I
00:26:37.500 --> 00:26:40.539
retire, when I'm like 60, and you know, but...
00:26:40.539 --> 00:26:43.700
You know, you talk about social security disability,
00:26:43.880 --> 00:26:48.339
right? And so I think it also involved youth
00:26:48.339 --> 00:26:52.420
and minor children who lose their parents, right?
00:26:53.059 --> 00:26:57.259
So it could be our nephew, it could be our cousin,
00:26:57.339 --> 00:27:01.500
it could be anybody that we know that would be
00:27:01.500 --> 00:27:04.680
directly impacted that, you know, likely we would
00:27:04.680 --> 00:27:08.619
have to take in and support a minor child in
00:27:08.619 --> 00:27:10.940
our family who lost their parents. You know,
00:27:11.079 --> 00:27:13.880
and so it's kind of like as a working family
00:27:13.880 --> 00:27:15.980
or a working constituent, right? It's kind of
00:27:15.980 --> 00:27:18.299
like, what do you mean that all of this money
00:27:18.299 --> 00:27:21.880
that their parents paid into is now like not
00:27:21.880 --> 00:27:24.500
available, right? Raising the retirement age
00:27:24.500 --> 00:27:28.420
is also a way to kind of maneuver that because
00:27:28.420 --> 00:27:31.829
if you can't access your benefits until... You
00:27:31.829 --> 00:27:34.569
know, you're older, then that also means that
00:27:34.569 --> 00:27:36.710
you're receiving the benefits closer to when
00:27:36.710 --> 00:27:39.789
you die. So they're also, so they're not paying
00:27:39.789 --> 00:27:43.029
it out, you know, as quickly. Which brings me
00:27:43.029 --> 00:27:46.650
to my next point, you know, and I'm gonna tie
00:27:46.650 --> 00:27:50.289
the gubernatorial endorsement of Steve Hilton
00:27:50.289 --> 00:27:53.910
by Donald Trump. It didn't move the needle for
00:27:53.910 --> 00:27:57.819
Steve Hilton at the last... At the last campaign
00:27:57.819 --> 00:28:00.920
for Vince Fong, Donald Trump actually endorsed
00:28:00.920 --> 00:28:05.140
Vince Fong in that election. Have you heard of
00:28:05.140 --> 00:28:08.740
whether or not your opponent has accepted an
00:28:08.740 --> 00:28:12.019
endorsement from Donald Trump? And if not, is
00:28:12.019 --> 00:28:14.960
that something your campaign is going to be tracking?
00:28:15.279 --> 00:28:18.539
Not that it'll make a difference. So Donald Trump
00:28:18.539 --> 00:28:20.940
did endorse Vince Fong for this election cycle.
00:28:21.460 --> 00:28:25.000
Okay. And Vince Fong wholeheartedly accepted
00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:29.980
and embraced the endorsement. I'm not sure that
00:28:29.980 --> 00:28:33.599
it made, like, the term you use move the needle
00:28:33.599 --> 00:28:36.619
for him, that he was going to receive any more
00:28:36.619 --> 00:28:38.740
votes than he was going to get already kind of
00:28:38.740 --> 00:28:42.839
thing, you know, the very loyal base. They were
00:28:42.839 --> 00:28:45.240
going to vote for Vince regardless. And so, you
00:28:45.240 --> 00:28:49.519
know, that is what it is. I am very intentionally
00:28:49.519 --> 00:28:53.150
not pointing these things out. When I do point
00:28:53.150 --> 00:28:55.950
things out about, you know, what Representative
00:28:55.950 --> 00:28:58.430
Fong talks about, for example, when he was like
00:28:58.430 --> 00:29:01.230
talking about the Cal Repayment Act and he thought
00:29:01.230 --> 00:29:03.470
it was going to be this, you know, how it was
00:29:03.470 --> 00:29:07.390
described was it was going to be a relief to
00:29:07.390 --> 00:29:10.029
small business owners and various other things
00:29:10.029 --> 00:29:15.720
because of the money that was loaned to the state
00:29:15.720 --> 00:29:18.819
to pay for people's unemployment while they were
00:29:18.819 --> 00:29:21.660
off of work during COVID. So the state owes the
00:29:21.660 --> 00:29:24.160
government you know 21 billion dollars that they've
00:29:24.160 --> 00:29:26.920
only made interest payments on and maybe like
00:29:26.920 --> 00:29:30.960
a single 225 million dollar payment on the principal.
00:29:31.180 --> 00:29:34.839
But what the Cal repayment really does is if
00:29:34.839 --> 00:29:37.759
California gets any federal like disaster relief
00:29:37.759 --> 00:29:41.880
funding or funding that they had federal funding
00:29:41.880 --> 00:29:45.289
that they kind of have a choice and how to spend
00:29:45.289 --> 00:29:47.990
it within the category, they actually have to
00:29:47.990 --> 00:29:51.210
use that funding to pay back the government the
00:29:51.210 --> 00:29:54.349
21 million dollars billion dollars first. And
00:29:54.349 --> 00:29:57.130
so we wouldn't be able to get people relief from
00:29:57.130 --> 00:29:59.509
yet another fire. If we got that kind of money
00:29:59.509 --> 00:30:01.670
from the government, we'd have to use that money
00:30:01.670 --> 00:30:05.829
to pay back the 21 billion dollars from COVID
00:30:05.829 --> 00:30:09.150
from unemployment. And so it really doesn't help
00:30:09.150 --> 00:30:12.880
anybody. And so how it's being touted the The
00:30:12.880 --> 00:30:15.039
other, so I respond to that and I'm like, no,
00:30:15.039 --> 00:30:17.599
this is what it really does. And this is, this
00:30:17.599 --> 00:30:20.339
is what the mechanisms are and this is who benefits
00:30:20.339 --> 00:30:23.059
from it. And I make sure to point that out and
00:30:23.059 --> 00:30:27.339
everything that I have a rebuttal for. Same thing
00:30:27.339 --> 00:30:31.440
with the, those thousand dollar Trump baby accounts.
00:30:31.559 --> 00:30:34.039
And, you know, they're being touted as, you know,
00:30:34.059 --> 00:30:36.019
oh, when your kid's 18, they can use it to go
00:30:36.019 --> 00:30:38.400
to school and all that, but they cannot. The
00:30:38.400 --> 00:30:41.619
type of account it becomes when the the beneficiary
00:30:41.619 --> 00:30:45.220
turns 18 is a traditional IRA. So if they try
00:30:45.220 --> 00:30:47.079
to cash it out, they're going to have the taxes
00:30:47.079 --> 00:30:49.619
and penalties and it's not going to be worth
00:30:49.619 --> 00:30:52.960
nearly what they thought it might be on paper.
00:30:53.339 --> 00:30:57.700
And so, so, you know, I, I try to, I try to be
00:30:57.700 --> 00:31:03.230
accurate in what's going on versus Trying to
00:31:03.230 --> 00:31:06.049
know he's wrong. You know what? I mean, I really
00:31:06.049 --> 00:31:08.269
want to stay away from the rhetoric I really
00:31:08.269 --> 00:31:11.829
want to stay away from you know, just just the
00:31:11.829 --> 00:31:15.390
quick snippets of Inflammatory. I really want
00:31:15.390 --> 00:31:18.829
to keep the family down and help people make
00:31:18.829 --> 00:31:22.170
informed choices about how to proceed I see and
00:31:22.170 --> 00:31:24.849
you know, you know, you know your Votership and
00:31:24.849 --> 00:31:27.210
your you know your district and you know your
00:31:27.210 --> 00:31:30.950
strategy you know, for your campaign, you're
00:31:30.950 --> 00:31:33.029
the one on the ground and talking to voters.
00:31:33.250 --> 00:31:36.869
I do have a question on that. With what we're
00:31:36.869 --> 00:31:41.509
seeing on a national scale with Democrats overwhelmingly
00:31:41.509 --> 00:31:44.670
turning out to vote, your campaign isn't accepting
00:31:44.670 --> 00:31:48.109
endorsements to avoid these factions of being,
00:31:48.109 --> 00:31:51.769
you know, technically like beholden to... certain
00:31:51.769 --> 00:31:55.150
priorities and not others and you know persuading
00:31:55.150 --> 00:31:57.970
voters this way or that way. It's been said that
00:31:57.970 --> 00:32:01.150
some voters are voting for these progressive
00:32:01.150 --> 00:32:05.349
candidates because they seem to know where they
00:32:05.349 --> 00:32:09.630
stand on certain topics. So for now, where is
00:32:09.630 --> 00:32:14.359
your, where does your platform land? on immigration.
00:32:15.019 --> 00:32:17.859
So we'll start with immigration. So I'm old enough
00:32:17.859 --> 00:32:20.940
to remember before 9 -11 and when we had the
00:32:20.940 --> 00:32:24.019
immigration and naturalization services and it
00:32:24.019 --> 00:32:27.660
was an agency that talked to all of the moving
00:32:27.660 --> 00:32:30.900
parts of the agency. It was definitely immigration
00:32:30.900 --> 00:32:34.869
enforcement. I remember I had just started working
00:32:34.869 --> 00:32:38.250
and the restaurant industry started. My experience
00:32:38.250 --> 00:32:40.950
with my coworkers was a lot of them have the
00:32:40.950 --> 00:32:44.509
same fears that our, our immigrant neighbors
00:32:44.509 --> 00:32:47.329
do now that, you know, they could, you know,
00:32:47.769 --> 00:32:50.210
be picked up and deported anytime I program.
00:32:50.930 --> 00:32:52.990
Almost 2 million people took advantage of the
00:32:52.990 --> 00:32:55.869
amnesty program as a path to citizenship. And
00:32:55.869 --> 00:32:59.519
the, the My coworkers were pretty split. Some
00:32:59.519 --> 00:33:00.900
of them were just like, yeah, I'm going to go
00:33:00.900 --> 00:33:02.700
through the process. And some of them like, no,
00:33:02.779 --> 00:33:05.420
no, it's a trap. It's a trap to capture us and
00:33:05.420 --> 00:33:09.180
deport us and send us out. So the unfortunate
00:33:09.180 --> 00:33:12.380
thing about how the United States handles immigration,
00:33:13.140 --> 00:33:15.920
all of those, they're siloed and they don't communicate
00:33:15.920 --> 00:33:19.440
with each other, or at least don't seem to. Dang.
00:33:19.579 --> 00:33:22.420
It seems like the structure now is really meant
00:33:22.420 --> 00:33:26.079
to intimidate, bully, scare people, and it's
00:33:26.079 --> 00:33:29.069
working. Unfortunately, I would like to see that
00:33:29.069 --> 00:33:32.289
whole structure go back to what we had before.
00:33:32.470 --> 00:33:36.690
A one agency. I would like to see sanctuary cities
00:33:36.690 --> 00:33:41.230
and sanctuary states be hubs of immigration of
00:33:41.230 --> 00:33:44.589
that extent. But I don't think the inhumane way
00:33:44.589 --> 00:33:49.309
of what our current administration is utilizing
00:33:49.309 --> 00:33:52.390
the ICE for. I don't think it was ever intended
00:33:52.390 --> 00:33:54.930
to be used this way. The other thing attached
00:33:54.930 --> 00:33:57.849
to that is we you know, this whole birthright
00:33:57.849 --> 00:34:00.250
citizenship thing that just got decided again
00:34:00.250 --> 00:34:02.650
by the Supreme Court. I believe this is the third
00:34:02.650 --> 00:34:04.450
time in its history, if not the fourth, that
00:34:04.450 --> 00:34:06.869
the Supreme Court has looked at it. A lot of
00:34:06.869 --> 00:34:10.449
babies who are born here are deported with their
00:34:10.449 --> 00:34:13.090
parents, even though they're citizens, and they're
00:34:13.090 --> 00:34:16.590
deported without proper documentation. So I would
00:34:16.590 --> 00:34:21.530
be very much an advocate for making sure that
00:34:21.530 --> 00:34:23.969
these United States citizens that are born here,
00:34:24.389 --> 00:34:27.110
to parents that are not citizens, have at least
00:34:27.110 --> 00:34:30.829
an appropriate birth certificate that can be
00:34:30.829 --> 00:34:33.550
taken with them if they're deported to their
00:34:33.550 --> 00:34:37.030
parents country of origin so that they can receive
00:34:37.030 --> 00:34:40.050
services in the parents country of origin because
00:34:40.050 --> 00:34:43.050
right now there's hundreds of thousands of babies
00:34:43.050 --> 00:34:46.699
that have been deported over the last few years
00:34:46.699 --> 00:34:48.780
that are living in their parents' country of
00:34:48.780 --> 00:34:51.260
origin that can't go to school, that can't receive
00:34:51.260 --> 00:34:54.380
medical care, because they don't have any identification
00:34:54.380 --> 00:34:57.559
documentation to allow them to be brought into
00:34:57.559 --> 00:35:00.360
their parents' country of origin's social system.
00:35:00.480 --> 00:35:02.840
So that would be something that I would advocate
00:35:02.840 --> 00:35:05.340
pretty strongly for. And I realize that is a
00:35:05.340 --> 00:35:07.679
state -level thing that's handled through the
00:35:07.679 --> 00:35:09.880
counties and through the Secretary of State to
00:35:09.880 --> 00:35:13.159
get The appropriate, I'm not sure I'm pronouncing
00:35:13.159 --> 00:35:15.619
it right. Do you think that we're still upholding
00:35:15.619 --> 00:35:19.300
a pathway to citizenship? We just saw some local
00:35:19.300 --> 00:35:23.059
detention centers that were privately owned have
00:35:23.059 --> 00:35:27.480
sold to the federal government. One of the biggest
00:35:27.480 --> 00:35:30.840
issues with having these detention centers in
00:35:30.840 --> 00:35:34.139
these local areas, rural communities, you know,
00:35:34.280 --> 00:35:37.019
the makeup of Kern County, is that they do take
00:35:37.019 --> 00:35:41.110
up a lot of different services. you know, like
00:35:41.110 --> 00:35:44.090
emergency services, hospital services, things
00:35:44.090 --> 00:35:48.429
of that nature. If you are elected to Congress,
00:35:48.670 --> 00:35:53.090
what is your plan for these contracts that they
00:35:53.090 --> 00:35:57.409
just acquired? So my understanding is two facilities
00:35:57.409 --> 00:36:00.489
were sold to the federal government by CoreCivic.
00:36:00.570 --> 00:36:03.510
including one in California City which is in
00:36:03.510 --> 00:36:06.530
Kern County. And CoreCivic still maintains the
00:36:06.530 --> 00:36:10.510
contract of providing the services in these detention
00:36:10.510 --> 00:36:13.969
facilities. I think honestly there's a process
00:36:13.969 --> 00:36:16.110
that's broken somewhere in the middle where the
00:36:16.110 --> 00:36:18.090
federal government doesn't feel like they have
00:36:18.090 --> 00:36:21.309
responsibility to maintain humane conditions
00:36:21.309 --> 00:36:23.949
in the facilities and neither does the county.
00:36:24.090 --> 00:36:28.949
So as a person Like in my role as a representative
00:36:28.949 --> 00:36:32.010
of the, you know, on the federal level, I think
00:36:32.010 --> 00:36:33.750
the first thing to do is figure out where the
00:36:33.750 --> 00:36:35.909
break is and how did it happen and how do we
00:36:35.909 --> 00:36:39.690
repair it on the federal level. And to have the
00:36:39.690 --> 00:36:42.789
county, you know, do its due diligence about,
00:36:42.829 --> 00:36:45.829
you know, the Kern County Board of Supervisors,
00:36:45.969 --> 00:36:49.190
a lot of their argument was there's other agencies
00:36:49.190 --> 00:36:51.889
that are supposed to be doing this that the people
00:36:51.889 --> 00:36:55.179
are asking us to do. They don't want to overlap
00:36:55.179 --> 00:36:58.380
services, but at the same time, the other services
00:36:58.380 --> 00:37:00.679
that they don't want to overlap also are not
00:37:00.679 --> 00:37:03.940
happening. From the inside the facilities, I
00:37:03.940 --> 00:37:07.260
don't know how we're taking up like services
00:37:07.260 --> 00:37:09.559
like ambulance service and stuff like that because
00:37:09.559 --> 00:37:11.380
people are reporting they're not getting medical
00:37:11.380 --> 00:37:13.880
care. So I'm not, I'm not sure where, you know.
00:37:14.059 --> 00:37:16.179
Which, if I'm going to believe reports, I'm going
00:37:16.179 --> 00:37:17.960
to believe the reports from the people inside
00:37:17.960 --> 00:37:20.760
the facilities before I believe, you know, yeah,
00:37:20.820 --> 00:37:23.539
you know, there's so much more ambulance calls
00:37:23.539 --> 00:37:26.360
than there ever were before. I don't think we're
00:37:26.360 --> 00:37:29.760
seeing that. I don't believe that the federal
00:37:29.760 --> 00:37:32.420
government belongs anywhere in women's right
00:37:32.420 --> 00:37:35.440
to choose with health care and access to health
00:37:35.440 --> 00:37:40.039
care. In my experience in the health care system,
00:37:40.340 --> 00:37:43.760
ranging from, you know, just Planned Parenthood,
00:37:43.960 --> 00:37:46.440
you know, this is all observation, you know,
00:37:46.519 --> 00:37:48.519
Planned Parenthood, you know, going in to get
00:37:48.519 --> 00:37:53.139
birth control pills and, you know, a Plan B pill
00:37:53.139 --> 00:37:57.599
to hospital care and reproductive care. There's
00:37:57.599 --> 00:38:02.239
no, no decision is made without lots of consideration
00:38:02.239 --> 00:38:05.179
and thought. No, I really don't think anybody
00:38:05.179 --> 00:38:08.340
walks into a reproductive health situation and
00:38:08.340 --> 00:38:11.079
says, oh, it's whatevs. And I really don't think
00:38:11.079 --> 00:38:15.679
that the government has any space in the relationship
00:38:15.679 --> 00:38:18.619
between the doctor and the patient. So I believe
00:38:18.619 --> 00:38:21.059
that, you know, whatever regulation there is
00:38:21.059 --> 00:38:23.260
on the medical side, of course, you know, for
00:38:23.260 --> 00:38:27.260
example, you know, we definitely have to regulate
00:38:27.260 --> 00:38:29.940
and govern and make sure that facilities are
00:38:29.940 --> 00:38:33.280
appropriately licensed in various things to provide
00:38:33.280 --> 00:38:36.539
various services. Religious -based hospital systems
00:38:36.539 --> 00:38:38.739
definitely have their freedom of religion to
00:38:38.739 --> 00:38:41.119
provide certain services, but people don't have
00:38:41.119 --> 00:38:44.260
to go there for those services. But beyond that,
00:38:44.940 --> 00:38:48.219
if something's going on where you and your doctor
00:38:48.219 --> 00:38:51.179
decide that this is a certain... path to take
00:38:51.179 --> 00:38:53.199
that should be between the patient and their
00:38:53.199 --> 00:38:55.800
doctor, the woman and their doctor, and the government
00:38:55.800 --> 00:38:59.800
should not be involved. Same with LGBTQ rights
00:38:59.800 --> 00:39:03.679
and gender affirming care. I also believe that
00:39:03.679 --> 00:39:07.039
the rhetoric that we're being fed is all gender
00:39:07.039 --> 00:39:09.920
-affirming care is give them drugs and do surgery
00:39:09.920 --> 00:39:12.360
and nothing can be further from the truth. You
00:39:12.360 --> 00:39:14.440
know, gender -affirming care for minors starts
00:39:14.440 --> 00:39:17.380
with talk therapy, starts with supporting the
00:39:17.380 --> 00:39:19.360
parents and the families as the person figures
00:39:19.360 --> 00:39:22.659
out who they are. Any other type of medication
00:39:22.659 --> 00:39:25.420
or surgery is definitely, those decisions are
00:39:25.420 --> 00:39:27.900
definitely made after the person is an adult.
00:39:28.179 --> 00:39:31.449
The concern about gender -affirming care for
00:39:31.449 --> 00:39:35.130
minors is that there are definitely legitimate
00:39:35.130 --> 00:39:38.349
medical reasons for minors to be administered
00:39:38.349 --> 00:39:41.610
hormone therapy for what's usually expected to
00:39:41.610 --> 00:39:45.750
be the opposite gender. And so those minors aren't
00:39:45.750 --> 00:39:48.289
also aren't able to get the therapy and the care
00:39:48.289 --> 00:39:52.710
that they need because of the fear of being defunded
00:39:52.710 --> 00:39:55.829
because gender affirming care was provided to
00:39:55.829 --> 00:40:00.829
a minor. And so I also think that the government
00:40:00.829 --> 00:40:04.969
and especially the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
00:40:04.969 --> 00:40:08.969
Services need to trust that the guidelines that
00:40:08.969 --> 00:40:12.090
were given to the doctors in those environments
00:40:12.090 --> 00:40:15.469
are being followed and the funding shouldn't
00:40:15.469 --> 00:40:18.610
be cut because it looks like gender -affirming
00:40:18.610 --> 00:40:22.059
care. I think it's absolutely horrible. One of
00:40:22.059 --> 00:40:24.039
the things that I think a lot of people don't
00:40:24.039 --> 00:40:27.820
realize is that our LGBTQ community virtually
00:40:27.820 --> 00:40:30.980
encompasses every single other community. So
00:40:30.980 --> 00:40:33.719
when we're infringing on LGBTQ rights, we are
00:40:33.719 --> 00:40:36.920
quite literally infringing on everyone's rights.
00:40:37.280 --> 00:40:41.159
And so we need to look at what the Constitution
00:40:41.159 --> 00:40:44.980
says and follow the Constitution regardless of
00:40:44.980 --> 00:40:48.940
how you personally feel about things. The rhetoric
00:40:48.940 --> 00:40:55.219
about LGBTQ being people like choosing that lifestyle
00:40:55.219 --> 00:40:59.860
and people assuming that gender identity is equal
00:40:59.860 --> 00:41:03.260
to sexual preference is absolutely wrong and
00:41:03.260 --> 00:41:05.780
inflammatory and when you have that in the space
00:41:05.780 --> 00:41:09.179
there's no discussing around it. They're firmly
00:41:09.179 --> 00:41:11.460
in their position and they're firmly in their
00:41:11.460 --> 00:41:14.139
position and I think the role of government in
00:41:14.139 --> 00:41:17.369
the middle is to protect. our human rights. Interesting.
00:41:17.650 --> 00:41:20.510
Thank you Sandra. What's your stance on how private
00:41:20.510 --> 00:41:23.710
companies might take advantage of this system
00:41:23.710 --> 00:41:26.510
and increase things like health care costs? So
00:41:26.510 --> 00:41:29.769
when I worked in a hospital there was a lot of
00:41:29.769 --> 00:41:32.730
training that we did to make sure that we weren't
00:41:32.730 --> 00:41:35.110
over billing and we were only billing for what
00:41:35.110 --> 00:41:37.349
we actually did and we were only billing for
00:41:37.349 --> 00:41:39.909
the equipment that we used and all of this stuff.
00:41:40.409 --> 00:41:44.320
This fraud that we see is happening above the
00:41:44.320 --> 00:41:47.719
employee level and there's a whole undercurrent
00:41:47.719 --> 00:41:54.780
sub industry of selling data that has people's
00:41:54.780 --> 00:41:58.320
Medicaid and Medicare numbers that these doctors
00:41:58.320 --> 00:42:01.519
and clinics and you know these people committing
00:42:01.519 --> 00:42:06.400
all of this fraud utilize to get away with what
00:42:06.400 --> 00:42:09.920
they can in making as much money as they can.
00:42:10.119 --> 00:42:12.900
before they get caught. They know they're going
00:42:12.900 --> 00:42:16.420
to get caught because of how the Medicare system
00:42:16.420 --> 00:42:19.920
especially works. And there does probably need
00:42:19.920 --> 00:42:24.219
to be a shifting more from trust and verify,
00:42:24.320 --> 00:42:26.360
which is kind of how Medicare functions now.
00:42:26.739 --> 00:42:29.679
And then they look for patterns of fraud before
00:42:29.679 --> 00:42:32.860
they, you know, which basically patterns of fraud
00:42:32.860 --> 00:42:36.579
is is this person making more money than their
00:42:36.579 --> 00:42:39.860
practice could actually allow them to see this
00:42:39.860 --> 00:42:43.639
many people or write this many prescriptions
00:42:43.639 --> 00:42:46.179
kind of thing. They've tried to put a little
00:42:46.179 --> 00:42:49.219
bit of a crunch on that by minimizing like being
00:42:49.219 --> 00:42:52.920
able to order stuff over the phone from the doctor
00:42:52.920 --> 00:42:55.519
that they have on staff. So they've tried to
00:42:55.519 --> 00:42:58.659
minimize some of that. So the the two types of
00:42:58.659 --> 00:43:02.210
fraud are completely separate. On the Medicaid
00:43:02.210 --> 00:43:06.409
side, the big sources of fraud are delivery systems
00:43:06.409 --> 00:43:09.289
for disabled people. And this is where we're
00:43:09.289 --> 00:43:11.849
running into stuff with our own Department of
00:43:11.849 --> 00:43:13.710
Developmental Services in the regional center
00:43:13.710 --> 00:43:18.449
system, and the centers of CMS, I'll just abbreviate
00:43:18.449 --> 00:43:20.570
it, there's two M's in there, but CMS looking
00:43:20.570 --> 00:43:24.429
at applied behavioral analysis therapy, ABA therapy
00:43:24.429 --> 00:43:27.730
for autistic people. A lot of those agencies,
00:43:27.889 --> 00:43:30.429
not necessarily working through our regional
00:43:30.429 --> 00:43:33.670
center system, but a lot of those agencies that
00:43:33.670 --> 00:43:37.170
have contracts with Medi -Cal are billing ridiculous
00:43:37.170 --> 00:43:39.989
amounts of money for the service and definitely
00:43:39.989 --> 00:43:43.590
more than the market average is. And they, again,
00:43:43.730 --> 00:43:47.090
they take advantage of how the checks and balances
00:43:47.090 --> 00:43:50.570
are performed to make as much money as they can
00:43:50.570 --> 00:43:54.849
before they're caught. So those third party organizations,
00:43:54.849 --> 00:43:58.199
I know like for For all the counties in California,
00:43:58.420 --> 00:44:02.340
we all have our managed Medi -Cal, which has
00:44:02.340 --> 00:44:05.619
been around in most of the country since 2014,
00:44:06.019 --> 00:44:08.820
moving from straight Medicaid or Medi -Cal to
00:44:08.820 --> 00:44:11.099
a managed Medi -Cal system to try and control
00:44:11.099 --> 00:44:15.239
how much money is spent. And the referral system
00:44:15.239 --> 00:44:19.599
from a primary does help reduce some testing
00:44:19.599 --> 00:44:24.090
that may not be medically necessary. It also
00:44:24.090 --> 00:44:26.610
creates more of a barrier to accessing care.
00:44:27.210 --> 00:44:30.309
So finding the balance of how do we do both and
00:44:30.309 --> 00:44:35.309
how do we catch fraud and patterns of fraud before
00:44:35.309 --> 00:44:38.090
somebody is walking around walking away with
00:44:38.090 --> 00:44:40.389
hundreds of billions of dollars or millions of
00:44:40.389 --> 00:44:44.250
dollars anyway, that's hard to recoup. So, but
00:44:44.250 --> 00:44:46.889
yeah, I'll go back to with the CalFresh and Medi
00:44:46.889 --> 00:44:49.329
-Cal, if you truly believe that somebody you
00:44:49.329 --> 00:44:52.449
know is not eligible, you know, call the fraud
00:44:52.449 --> 00:44:56.590
hotline. It's, you know, let the process, let
00:44:56.590 --> 00:44:58.769
due process happen instead of walking around
00:44:58.769 --> 00:45:01.070
saying, oh, they, you know, they shouldn't have
00:45:01.070 --> 00:45:04.250
had that kind of thing. Because you know what?
00:45:04.480 --> 00:45:07.099
When you go through that process and you present
00:45:07.099 --> 00:45:09.460
this is how much money I made, I haven't worked
00:45:09.460 --> 00:45:12.000
in this long, you know, here in California, we
00:45:12.000 --> 00:45:14.360
definitely have a way to electronically verify
00:45:14.360 --> 00:45:17.380
that. Sandra, thank you so much for answering
00:45:17.380 --> 00:45:21.280
my questions. Anything that you want to tell
00:45:21.280 --> 00:45:25.360
your voters and our listeners that they probably
00:45:25.360 --> 00:45:28.079
can't find on your website or can, but you want
00:45:28.079 --> 00:45:30.860
to highlight anyway? So the first thing I want
00:45:30.860 --> 00:45:35.079
people to know is I am running to represent everyone.
00:45:35.840 --> 00:45:39.119
The people's needs will always come first. I
00:45:39.119 --> 00:45:42.360
promise to show up and that's that's the most
00:45:42.360 --> 00:45:46.099
important thing that I can do. My website is
00:45:46.099 --> 00:45:58.500
electsandravanscotter .com. I'm on all the socials
00:45:58.500 --> 00:46:01.730
Instagram, Facebook, Threads. Threads is an amazing
00:46:01.730 --> 00:46:03.789
place, by the way, if you haven't been there.
00:46:04.010 --> 00:46:06.289
TikTok. We're experimenting with TikTok. I have
00:46:06.289 --> 00:46:08.710
a sub stack and that's where a lot of my long
00:46:08.710 --> 00:46:12.250
form stuff is. I've been told that my stuff about
00:46:12.250 --> 00:46:16.170
my positions on women's rights and various things
00:46:16.170 --> 00:46:18.409
haven't made it to my website yet and they should
00:46:18.409 --> 00:46:20.849
very quickly. I don't want to be doom and gloom,
00:46:20.869 --> 00:46:24.429
but it's really, really important that at least
00:46:24.429 --> 00:46:27.690
the house gets flipped in November so that we
00:46:27.690 --> 00:46:30.949
can kind of put a pause on the crazy and figure
00:46:30.949 --> 00:46:35.150
out how to take care of people and navigate the
00:46:35.150 --> 00:46:38.030
rest of what's coming and hopefully we can at
00:46:38.030 --> 00:46:40.969
least put a stop to the implementation of that
00:46:40.969 --> 00:46:42.369
almost trillion dollars in cuts.