Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
>> DWANE BROWN: I'm Dwane Brown, tonight on KPBS Evening Edition, one San Diego Congressman
suspect supporting U.S. military action in Syria, coming up where the rest of our congressional
delegation stands. >> PEGGY PICO: I'm Peggy Pico, the race to
replace San Diego's Mayor is underway, who is in, who is out and how this election will
be different than the last, plus a closer look at California's dueling plans to reduce
the state's prison population by nearly 10,000 inmates by the end of the year.
>> DWANE BROWN: Miramar is going on with or without the blew angels blue angels.
KPBS Evening Edition starts now. >> DWANE BROWN: Good evening, thanks for joining
us. San Diego's five congressional members are
weighing the consequences of military action in Syria as Susan Murphy tells us, so far
Juan Vargas is the only one fully backing President Obama's call for a military response.
>>> Speaking from the steps of San Diego's downtown hall of justice Juan Vargas urged
his constituents and congressional colleagues to join him in supporting military action
against the Syrian regime. He sits on the house committee of foreign
affairs. He returned last night where he was attending
briefings. Vargas said the evidence is clear that the
Syrian regime killed hundreds of innocent children with gas.
>>> It was unfortunately very successful. >>> Before his latest trip Vargas says he
met with a small San Diego's veterans group and he says the veterans asked him to ask
this question: "Do you promise that what you've told us is true, that the information you've
given to us in a classified form, that it's true?"
And both secretary Keary and Hagel promised that it is true and the reason that was important
is because last time we were lied to and I think San Diegans understand that.
>>> San Diego's other congressional representatives remain undecided.
Darrel Issa says to earn his vote for military action the president must present a clear
plan focused on humanitarian intervention and national security interests.
Democrat Susan Davis says making her decision will take carb deliberation and Scott Peters
says he looks forward to attending classified brieflies.
Duncan hunter says he's uncertain about Obama's strategy.
He recently visited the Syrian border. Congress is scheduled to reconvene in Washington
on September 9th. >> DWANE BROWN: The list of candidates for
San Diego Mayor keeps growing, David Alvarez the latest.
He made his commitment known by Twitter. There are at least 20 people vying for the
job of Mayor. Peggy Pico find out how the special election
is shaping up. >> PEGGY PICO: On November 19th, San Diegans
will vote in a special election to decide who will replace Mayor Filner.
Candidates have until September 20th to file their intent to run.
Here to talk about the race are Brian Adams and Carl Luna, welcome back.
Brian tell us about the essentials for a candidate in a short race like this?
>> First you need to raise a lot of money in a short period of time.
You need that money to increase them recognition, get an early start, get their name out there
for facial recognition and line up support and interest groups and work on a get out
the vote drive because it's a short period of time and in particular the Democrat candidates
in special elections, democratic turnout is lower.
>> PEGGY PICO: When it comes to following the scandal, what do you think, Carl, voters
will be looking for in a candidate? >> They would like to see a candidate on the
TV for the next five years who is not prone to scandal, they are not going to want another
hugger, someone who seems competent in the job and the personality that you bring to
the table will be the one you're measured on.
>> PEGGY PICO: And following up on that, David Alvarez tossed his name in the hat to run.
What is this going to do the race? >> It changes the dynamic entirely, Mike Aguirre
threw his hat into the ring but David Alvarez could cut into Nathan's Fletcher's vote.
David Alvarez could win and end up going into the run off campaign and give the Republicans
a major advantage. >> PEGGY PICO: And Nathan Fletcher was the
first to announce his intentions. What do you think his advantages are?
>> He's lining up a lot of support, he's going to be well fund and had he's going to have
a problem trying to convince voters that he's not an opportunist.
He was a Republican, he became an independent and now he's become a Democrat.
He has to convince voters that he did that because he changed his thought, not that he's an opportunist.
>> PEGGY PICO: And what do you see the strengths in the race for the Republicans?
>> Carl DeMaio decided not to run, the voter turnout is important, and David Alvarez got
name recognition with the mayoral debacle but he's going to have to introduce himself
into the election and in the short period of time that's a challenge.
>> PEGGY PICO: There is one woman so far who has her name, she filed papers, she is a CPA
who works from home but so far not a lot of women.
Are you surprised by that? >> I'm actually very surprised, given the
complex of this election you would think they have an advantage in terms of what happened
with Filner. There are a number of potential Democrats
who could run and they have decide not to >> PEGGY PICO: Laurie Saldagna, and who else?
>> People were wondering if Donna Frye was going to run, Toni Atkins, she has a great
deal going in Sacramento, you don't come back to local dinner theater when you're looking
at a state wide or national venue. >> PEGGY PICO: Let's talk about who is not
running and going with this, Carl DeMaio, that surprised a lot of people, what's your
take on that? >> I think he was weighing whether it would
be better to run for Congress or to run for mayor again.
I think he decided after consulting with the Republican party and his political supporters
that it makes more sense for him to run for Congress.
I think he has a better shot at winning the congressional seat than he does running for
mayor. >> PEGGY PICO: And he lost a race already
if that's not an indicator.
>>> And losing the same race twice isn't particularly good for your career.
>> PEGGY PICO: And what about Todd Gloria? He decide not to run.
>>> Council president Gloria likes where he is sitting, he will be able to pursue an agenda
and he's a candidate for the next mayor's race and other statewide offices.
>> PEGGY PICO: Last year at this time not even quite last year at this time voters were
inundated with campaign flyers and robo calls and intense TV adds.
Do you think that's going to happen again? >> It might depending on whether everyone
is willing to put in the money to make this to spend money on this race.
It's unclear whether they will or not, clearly they did last time and I'm not sure if they've
decide they will put in a ton of money or wait for three years and make that the big
election. >> PEGGY PICO: We will be talking to you both
about this again, Brian Adams and Carl Luna thank you so much.
>>> Thank you. >> DWANE BROWN: An illegal fire is to blame
for a massive wildfire burning in and around Yosemite national park, a hunter set the fire
and allowed it to burn, there is no evidence he was involved with marijuana growing, the
rim fire now 80% contained. California inmates protesting prison conditions
ended a hunger strike and it ended after democratic law makers promised to hold hearings on their
complaints. California might speed up transition to new
online exams to public school students. Kyla Calvert joins us from the news center
with more details. These online exams are different than what
students have been taking all along. >>> Instead of filling in the answer bubbles
on the scantron sheets these are Internet based.
They include open answer questions and use evidence from passages they have read or videos
they have watched as part of the test. These are based on the common core standards
schools are phasing in this year. The overwhelmed standards are more focused
on students knowing facts and figures and teachers will spend less time on "deep" topics.
>> DWANE BROWN: Common core standards we will hear that quite a bit.
How does the state want to roll out these tests?
>> The state's original plan was to try out these new exams in about 20% of schools this
coming spring and to suspend some of those multiple choice tests that aren't required
under federal law. A new bill sponsored by the state's school
superintendent would end nearly all the multiple tests this year and let all schools opt into
field testing online exams this spring and he says this change would help teachers and
students be prepared when the new tests start to count in 2015 for school accountability
but the earlier shift means that will be two years where the states and school districts
won't have comparable test scores to look at to see how schools are progressing.
>> DWANE BROWN: KPBS education reporter, Kyla Calvert.
Bob Filner is gone from the Mayor's office and we no longer are hearing about a new accuser
coming forward every day or week but what about the women who did.
KPBS Metro reporter, Sandhya Dirks complains what it meant to speak out.
>>> The women who stepped forward to accuse Mayor Filner of unwanted advances stepped
into a spotlight, they were targets of a hungry media anxious for details.
They were targets in other ways as well with people accusing them of ulterior motives or
political leanings, the indication was clear they were selling their story as a media frenzy.
Let's start with the day Filner resigned where Filner backers spoke up for him.
>>> [Speaking in Spanish].
>>> If we know that the laws are delicate for *** harassments, why did they wait
so long and make these accusations? >> I was brought up to be a strong woman and
put a man in check if he was getting out of hand to not wait and jump on a political bandwagon.
>>> Here is Filner accuser Peggy Shannon responding to the credit particulars.
>>> I made a conscious decision not to talk, I just wanted to step back here and listen.
They've heard me, they know what I have to say.
I didn't want to, be perfectly honest I didn't want to be boo'd.
>>> Someone did speak at that meeting. >>> This is rep rehence I believe.
>>> I asked women who had all gone public why they didn't come forward sooner and I
wanted to find out what actually happened after they did.
>>> Why women don't come forward is because they understand the disparity in power, because
they won't be believed and all of those things happened to me.
>>> You can be crucified by people who have never spent a minute with you, and that happened,
that's okay. >>> There were reporters yelling into my apartment,
yelling my name, bothering my neighbors, banging on the door.
It was almost it was like it was frightening, I just didn't realize how intense the coverage
was going to be and how immediate. >>> One of the main reasons I didn't come
forward when this happened in 2009, he was a Congressman he had my home phone number,
he'd called me at home, he requested that private meeting.
He could get my Social Security No. My home address, my place of work, so, no, I was not
going to come forward at that point. >>> We look at the situation and there is
strength in numbers. I imagine what it would be like if I was the
only one coming out and people ask the question why didn't you come out sooner or during the
campaign? You as an individual, as a person have to
do a calculus as to whether you're coming forward will be effective and impactful and
believed and in those situations I feel that I probably would have been really my motives
would have been questioned far more than they were in this situation.
>>> Any woman in this kind of position and drama, we're in a lose lose situation, often,
but with us all coming forward, that theme, that pattern became so evident, that people
that might not have believed our stories initially or thought it was for political reasons had
to start admitting, no, maybe we have something here.
>>> You lose a part of yourself because you have to be so serious.
I traffic in gallows humor and I'm nut at this and sarcastic and I enjoy talking about
you have one side of you that is constantly sort of shown and it would be inappropriate
to laugh or smile during these things but it's a part of you that you're not you don't
get to exhibit. >>> I didn't every want something like this
to be part of my "story" but by coming out it's now my story, it's part of my life.
So there was that sacrifice I made but I wouldn't go back or recant anything I said.
The more we speak out the more power we have. >>> The response of women coming forward was
universal. Reporters, people in public, people who I
didn't know, people who I did know all told me stories of *** harassment, it was frightening
how pervasive this behavior is across the board.
So this wasn't just because you can abuse power when you have less of it.
It took me aback because I thought, is this the world we're leaving to our daughters where
*** harassments is a rite of passage, where it's rare if it doesn't happen to you?
It's extraordinarily upsetting. We hope we can change that.
>>> The women who came forward say it isn't so much about them, it's about the woman who
couldn't come forward. They say it isn't about Bob Filner, it's about
a culture that permeates every sector of our society, a culture that can only be stopped
by speaking out. Speaking out can carry a heavy price.
But these women say that not speaking out costs a lot more.
Sandhya Dirks, KPBS news. >> DWANE BROWN: California faces another court
ordered deadline to reduce its prison population, Peggy Pico explains the debate over dueling
plans to reduce overcrowding. >> PEGGY PICO: California is under a Federal
Court order to reduce its prison population by nearly 10,000 inmates by the end of this
year but state law makers are at odds about how to do that.
Joining me are Mack Jenkins and Margaret Dooley Sammuli with the A CLU.
Mack, let's start with you and you support the governor's plan, tell us how that plan
could reach this mandate? >> The plan allows the state to reduce its
prison population without any early releases, in essence, what it does is finds another
vocation for these inmates to be housed, other jail beds in the state, out of state beds
and also with private beds. >> PEGGY PICO: Okay but Margaret, the A CLU
is a critic of Governor Brown's plan, why? >> It proposes spending a billion dollars
over the next three years to continue warehousing people rather than making the really important
choices about how we are going to solve this prison overcrowding crisis in the long run.
That means long term, durable solutions not just good money after bad.
>> PEGGY PICO: I want to address this to MacK because already under realignment 20,000 low
offender procedure prisoners have been transferred in the county's care through jails in the
state why not use that for the 10,000 inmates? >> Right now the state has to meet the deadline
to get to the prison population by December 31st so this plan does so in a way that doesn't
compromise community safety and doesn't sacrifice the on going efforts to put in place steps
to continue to improve outcomes for the people that are going to prison in the first place,
things like $100 million from the SB 678 plan goes to probation departments up and down
the states to continue what has been successful efforts in helping people who are on probation.
>> PEGGY PICO: Margaret, this money that you're talking about tell us why and how that money
could be better spent? >> We're talking about a billion dollars over
three years potentially on prison beds. Every dollar we spend there we're not spending
to rehabilitate inmates, to prevent crimes in the first place or to invest in other priorities
of the community like education and healthcare. So there is no shortage of other ideas and
other needs for these dollars. So the question is how can we effectively
and cost effectively reduce solve the prison overcrowding crisis in a way that's safe for
the community and the answer is, it's framed that it's either that there is a dangerous
option or an expensive option, that's simply not true.
>> PEGGY PICO: You think there is an alternative. I want to talk about state president pro tem,
Darryl Steinberg who offered a bill that would give counties hundreds of millions to reduce
recidivism. What do you think about that plan?
>> There is a lot to commend about his proposal, he is acknowledging and proposing long term
solutions and it takes investment but at least it's investment in crime prevention.
Those are all positive suggestions. That plan doesn't go far enough so we support
those proposals, but we urge the state to continue to implement the kind of safe reductions
in the prison population that it has committed to already and knows that it can implement
safely. >> PEGGY PICO: Mack what do you think of Steinberg's
plan? >> The question is we don't know its cost
because it involves us entering into an agreement with the plaintiffs who have been suing the
state. We don't know what that involves.
In addition the money that the senator makes available I applaud and appreciate the efforts
to come up with a solution but the money he talks about making available does not come
to the probation department. It's not like the funds that the probation
department has earned where we have proven success with, we don't know how those funds
will go to the same types of things that have been successful under the SB 678 plan.
There are too many unanswered questions with the senator's plan.
>> PEGGY PICO: MacK the realignment, how has the affect that's happened so far, how has
that affected anything in San Diego? What has the situation been?
Would you say it's successful? >> I won't necessarily use the word "successful"
but the criminal justice community in San Diego and that includes the DA, the sheriff,
the local law enforcement have continued their collaboration in the implementation of the
San Diego county's realignment plan. We have been focused on safety and we are
doing everything we can to keep the community safe while at the same time trying to improve
the outcomes of the offenders that have been shipped to the county so we're making good
progress. >> PEGGY PICO: Thank you and Margaret, what
would you like to see happen in order to meet this mandate?
Has to be met by the end of December, what would you like to see happen?
>> The state of California submitted a plan to the Court for meeting the target population
by December 31st, that plan has been vetted by experts, it would allow for a case by case
review of inmates who are eligible and appropriate for parole, it would incentivise and allow
some inmates to earn their release by good behavior and rehabilitation.
That's the kind of solution that's going to get us safer communities, get us to the target
that the Court imposed and already the state has agreed to do this, it should do it.
>> PEGGY PICO: We will continue to follow the story, Margaret Dooley Sammuli and Mack
Jenkins, thank you so much. >>> Thank you.
>> DWANE BROWN: San Diego civic leaders are trying to alley support for a stripped down
version of the Miramar air show next month. Erik Anderson has the story.
>>> No blue angels, and Todd Gloria says that shouldn't ground enthusiasm for the event.
>>> By coming out to the ar show not only are you going to have a great time but you're
making a statement that you want the air show to continue and I know our friends in Washington,
D.C. will hear that message loud and clear. >>> He says the air show gives us a chance
to focus on the good things that are happening in San Diego.
>>> Airplanes are the big draw for people, but what economists look at during an event
like this is the dollars, how much money is generated.
>>> The air show is one of those things where the community is proud of it and they gather
around it but people travel to see that, they come to San Diego and they want to be part
of it. They're veterans, they served at Miramar at
one point in time. >>> Once they come to town they spend time
and money to experience other parts of the city, Cafferty says it helps to drive growth
in San Diego's economy, the air show brings two of those things together.
Erik Anderson, KPBS news. >> DWANE BROWN: You can find all of our stories
at KPBS.org/eveningedition. Thanks for joining us, good night.
"Captions provided by eCaptions"