January 24, 2025 • 34 mins
The John Kobylt Show Hour 2 (01/24) - Owen Brennan comes on the show to talk about LA's lackluster response to the recent fires. More on Trump's visit to SoCal. Rick Caruso comes on the show to talk about rebuilding Pacific Palisades. Newsom is such a phony.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Can't.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
I am six forty.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
You're listening to the John Cobelt Podcast on the iHeartRadio app.
We're on from one until four after four o'clock John
Cobelt's show on.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Demand on the iHeart app.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
And this is one of those days where you want
to listen to the whole thing. So if you can't
later on the iHeart app, listen to the podcast because
we're gonna have Rick Crusoe on in a half an hour.
Donald Trump is going to land at about three point
thirty to tour the Pacific Palisades. He's landing at lax
and then taking a helicopter over to the Palisades. And
we got two rounds of the Moistline coming up next
(00:33):
hour two. You could follow us at John Cobelt Radio
at John Cobelt Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
On social media.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Now, let's get to this poll that came out this
morning from Madison McQueen's. That's the company that did the polling.
We're going to talk to Owen Brennan in just a moment.
They have done a poll over if LA voters would
choose today who the next mayor would be, would it
(00:59):
be Caruso or would it be Karen Bass? And what
is Karen Bass's approval rating right now? H on the wildfires?
And would the voters of La County or city ever
consider a Republican to lead the city or the county ever,
(01:25):
just once.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Just to see what happens. Well, we have these.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Answers and and other questions as well with Owen Brennan
and Owen welcome, How are you?
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Hey? Thank you so much for having me. John. I've
been a number of the heads on his stick brigade
since I moved to La in two thousand and eight.
Speaker 4 (01:42):
Ah.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Yes, that was the head on a stick era. Now
you're the president of this company. Did somebody commission this
poll or you decided to do it?
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Or is it an anonymous request?
Speaker 3 (01:57):
We did. We had a in twenty twenty four. We
saw forty four thousand Angelinos forty four thousand more entering
those vote for Trump than in twenty twenty. So something's
happening out there. And with the really poor performance of
Bass and Newsome after the palis Aves and Alfaduna fires,
(02:17):
we really thought there was an opportunity to see, Hey,
what we're where are the voter's opinions on local leadership
and what kind of opportunities are for this sort of
growing desire for different ideas than new opportunities.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
So the first question, do you approve or disapprove of
how Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is handling the wired
wildfires in Los Angeles? What did you get as a
as a result?
Speaker 3 (02:44):
Fifty four percent of our respondence disapproved of Karen Bass
and her actions after the wildfires, but the approval rating
of only thirty seven percent, So it doesn't look very
good for Karen Bass. People are like really being champions
for her today.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Now she's seventeen points under water. There disapproval fifty four
percent on how she handled the fires. Yeah, I think
that's obvious. I don't know what the thirty seven percent
would prove are exactly smoking, but.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
That's paid staffers, family and lunatics, so yeah, exactly how
many they're in LA County now?
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Yeah, we got a disproportion lunatics. Thank you, you pulled
eleven hundred people. What was the methodology?
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Text to web? So we would text people and then
they click through, they go to web, they're screened, and
then they answer all the questions after that.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Okay, all right, second question, we'll look at here is
if the twenty twenty six election for La City mayor
were held today, for whom would you most likely cast
your vote or are you undecided?
Speaker 2 (03:45):
What was the result here?
Speaker 3 (03:47):
These are some interesting numbers. Rick Cruso that forty three
percent that would vote for him today, Karen Bass at
thirty six percent, and the undecideds you're at twenty one percent. Now,
that undecided numbers really interesting because you rarely see that
undecided number break for the incumbent. So while Recruiso now
enjoys a nine point lead over Karen Bass, there's twenty
(04:09):
one more points out there available to him to scoop
up and really just you know, when or a victory
exact think they can't take away from them.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
I think she won by about ten points and now
she's down by seven. Here, all right, let's do a
third question here, given everything you know now, would you
consider Republican leadership in La County or the City of
Los Angeles?
Speaker 2 (04:32):
What was the answer here?
Speaker 3 (04:34):
Forty two percent of the people we talked to said
they would consider Republican leadership of the county. And what's
really interesting about that number is that the registered voter
rate in La County for Republican is less than twenty percent,
So two times the number of registered and Republicans would
consider a Republican through a leadership position in LA County.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
Yeah, it looks like from the chart, about eighteen percent
of the county is republic and UH registered, and you
have forty three percent willing to consider Republican leadership, forty
six percent said no, forty three percent said yes, eleven
percent don't know. Uh, let's talk. Let's talk here about
(05:16):
Newsom's approval rating on the fires. Do you approve or
disapprove how Gavin Newsom is handling the wildfires?
Speaker 2 (05:23):
What did you find here?
Speaker 3 (05:25):
So this is a really insane number, fifty approval rating
for Gavin Newsom's handling of the fires in LA County.
And you know, we look at this, we say, how
can people do that? And it's you know, he is
sort of the incompetent gin to uh, Donald Trump's Golden Yang.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
He has a do some wait, I gotta say this slower.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
I don't want fifty of those polled approved of Newsom's
handling of the wildfires.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
We all have thirty four strongly approving, now strongly approving.
To the polster about this and he said, listen, you're
gonna get some left of theirs in these polls right
their screen. We have to have a certain amount of
representative of Democrats, and they're just gonna sort of give
the finger to the polsters. So strongly approving is one
of the ways that they would demonstrate that act.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
And I guess they're pro fire. Huh yeah, they're in
favor of the destructive fires. Let's see what else here?
Whether should Newsom should resign or be recalled?
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Yes? Thirty six, no, fifty five.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
After all this, more than half of the states still
still supports this.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Ninny, that's that's La County. So it is La County.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Yeah, yeah, that's that's unbelievable considering what happened. I mean,
there's absolutely nothing that would get these people, and not
just Democrats.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
But Kevin Newsome, Kevin Newsom.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
Right, his supporters just stick with it. It's h it's
very It's the same similar phenomenon that you see with
Donald Trump. The people just stick with him.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Is it is?
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Have you done a poll on whether it's the hair
of the jawline.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
It's the attractions? Actually, people really loved the look.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Yeah, you got another question here, do you think the
president Democratic leaders in California are to blame for this
disaster due to their water forest and brush management policies
in the state, And almost fifty percent said no, Well yeah,
well they they didn't have enough water, the hydrants were dry.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
The uh so, actually when you phrase the when you
phrase the question, or the hydrants dry? Right? There another
question and they said, if you knew that the fire
hydrants you dry early on due to mismanagement, would that
you know? Would you call for electively? It's the resign
if you recalled forty four almost forty five percent say recall,
(08:04):
No is forty one percent.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
So if you if you bring up something specific that
they can easily understand, then they're more likely to agree
that they're to be blamed for this.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
Correct.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
I mean the hydrant said that that water reservoir is unforgivable.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
Absolutely, I mean absolutely, And for her, for her not
when she got off the airplane and stood there in
front of a reporter who was asking their very simple
questions and to not even react is unbelievable. I don't know.
Part of my background was a speechwriter for Mayo Giuliani.
I was with him on nine to eleven I rose
the speeches after nine to eleven, And that is how
(08:42):
you lead a city after disaster. You don't take a
step off an airplane coming back from the cocktail party
in Africa and not have some answers, not have something
inspirational to say to your audience. Not you know, there
are a lot of Angelinos who are hurting, and she
had no message for them.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Yeah, how long is a flight from Ghana? She had
all that time to think about what she would say,
the first things she would say, But she landed at
the airport and she had zero.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Wow. All right, this is.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
A fascinating stuff on how resistant people are to considering
other choices competent people. Oh yeah, yeah, But I mean
there's some hope, there's some hope. The Caruso numbers are
are very promising, even if you know and he's he's
registered as a Democrat.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Now so man, But if we.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
Get through Cruso, who was on real time with Bill
Martin last week, of the wick Cruso, who was out
there doing the press conferences after the wildfires, that's the
wick Cruso can get elected in the city of Los Angeles.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Oh, I agree, So just joining us this poll from
Madison McQueen disapprove of Karen Bass's handling the wildfires fifty
four percent, thirty seven percent approve. And as far as
who would you vote for if the election were held
now forty three percent Caruso, thirty six percent for Bass,
the rest undecided. Thank you for coming on with us.
(10:01):
Owen Brennan, thank job. All right, President of Madison the Queen.
All right, more coming up.
Speaker 4 (10:08):
You're listening to John Cobelt on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Coming up in about ten twelve minutes.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Rick Caruso is going to be on the phone to
talk about the Palisades. And he has donated five million
dollars and set up a nonprofit which I believe has
raised twenty million dollars to help people quickly navigate the
complicated world of government and get things on track.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
To rebuild as quickly as possible.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
And we just told you about the poll that a
group called a company called Madison McQueen did, and it
looks like people would rather have him as mayor in
the city of Los Angeles by a forty three to
thirty six margin. And the disapproval rating on Karen Bass
regarding the fire is up to fifty four percent. And
(11:04):
I have no idea why thirty seven percent of the
city would approve of her handling of the fire. That
is shocking, stunning, overwhelming. Do I have to explain what
she should have done? First of all, she should have
been here. She got the extreme dangerous deadly fire warnings
from the National Weather Service on that Thursday, and on Saturday,
(11:28):
she left and she didn't even get on the plane
until the fires broke out. She was drinking at a
cocktail party in Ghana. She'd gone to see the inauguration
of the new president of Ghana, and then after the
fires broke out, she got on a plane and came
back and then refused to speak to anyone about what happened.
(11:51):
And her performances at the press conferences have been dreadful
because she's often silent. She often is the sixth or
seventh or eighth person to speak, and it's platitudes and cliches.
And I've seen this up close. I was on a
zoom meeting with hundreds of people in my section of
town and she was the lead voice on the zoom
(12:12):
meeting and had absolutely nothing useful to say. It was short,
and then she said, Oh, I got to go talk
to my staff and we got the back of her hand.
I I this is after several weeks where she could
get her you know, bearings and start. It's just talk
to people normally. I think that's what frustrates most normal people.
(12:33):
I have no idea why you would support her.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
I really don't.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
You know, there's so much difficult work to be done,
and Karen Bass has absolutely no background in construction, rebuilding cities,
rebuilding the infrastructure of Los Angeles. I'm just overwhelmed how
people are locked into like what what is it she
(12:57):
has to offer for this? Like what what's what's the
upside of this? Anyway, Rick cruseel on in just a
few minutes, Trump is coming to the Palisades and he
is going to land in about an hour, and then
after that he's going to take a helicopter to the
(13:19):
Palisades and look over things, and he's Bass is going
to be there, and then some of some of Trump's people,
Rick Renell, who's an envoy for special missions, somebody from
the Forest Service, Catherine Barger from the Bard of Supervisors,
Ed Ring, the director of Water and Policy for the
(13:41):
California Policy Center, he's really smart. He writes great stuff.
We've had him on and there'll be some Congress people there.
Newsome was given the stiff arm by Trump up until
just a couple of hours ago. Alex Stone came on
and said, finally the trumpe relented and said that little
Gavin could welcome Trump at the airport. But last we heard,
(14:07):
Trump was not inviting Newsom to follow him around. And
it sounds like Newsom is like this little puppy dog
trying to get attention, trying to get approval from his
own He's.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
The governor of California, and the President doesn't want him
to uh to be around when they're surveying the biggest
damage of ever ever.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Yeah, one of the worst disasters in American history for
a city, and uh.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
So Newsom is reduced to it.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
Please please, can I can I just stand at the airport?
Speaker 5 (14:40):
Can I?
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Can I just wave as you're coming down at air
Force when? I won't make it.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
I won't make any noise, I won't create any problems.
I could you mentioned what Trump really thinks of Newsom?
I mean, really, I think we know. Yeah, I just
I always like to think about what private conversations must
be like, because.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Newsom is a twig.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
There's some but I mean the polling we had from
Owen Brennant a few minutes ago. He still has He
still has half the state supporting him. What does he
have to do after that, after that COVID debacle?
Speaker 2 (15:15):
He disfigured.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
Yeah, you're right, he'd have to be ugly and then
people would stop voting for him.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
That is the best answer.
Speaker 4 (15:29):
All right, you're listening to John Cobel's on Demand from
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Speaker 1 (15:37):
We're on from one until four and then after four
o'clock if you missed anything, that's what the podcast is for.
John cobelt Show on demand on the iHeart app, and
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Speaker 2 (15:46):
Whatever whatever you missed. It's very easy.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Now, let's get to Rick Carroso Uh the developer behind
the grove behind the Palisades Village in Pacific Palisades, and
he's put together a nonprofit. He donated five million dollars
to try to make it easier for residents in the
Palisades to get on track and rebuild their homes their
(16:10):
properties more quickly.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
We'll start with him and talk about that. Rick, how
are you.
Speaker 5 (16:16):
I'm great, John, thanks for having me on the show.
How are you.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
I'm doing very well.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
Tell me what this nonprofit, with this organization you've set
up to help people rebuild, How does it work.
Speaker 5 (16:29):
Well, we're doing a couple of things. One is we're
setting up a nonprofit that's going to be an advocate
for people that need to rebuild their homes and also
rebuild their businesses and get their life back together. And
what we want to do is we want to help
people not only in the Palisades, but an Altadena. You know,
be the advocate so that the city, the county, the state,
(16:50):
the fedral government is getting rid of a lot of
the red tape so we can actually get people under construction.
We've got infrastructure that needs to be built, that needs
to be done right. Yeah. The other thing we did
is TENA and I started a campaign to support the
fire department. As we all know so well, the fire
department was underfunded and then their funding was even cut more.
(17:15):
So we put up a challenge grant of twenty million
dollars and we put in the first five million, and John,
it was great because in less than a week we
raised twenty million dollars for the fire Department to go
into their foundation so they can buy the equipment they
need and hopefully have enough equipment and enough resources so
something like this can't happen again. So we're trying to
(17:37):
do as much as we can in a bunch of
different ways.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
How did we get to this place in Los Angeles?
When I saw the recommendation from a national fire council
that we're supposed to have two firefighters for every thousand
people and a thousand population and we only have less
than one. We literally have had half a fire department
by personnel, and you know, we're way short of engines.
(18:01):
There's one hundred engines in the garage. There's not enough mechanics.
How did we get here? I had no idea. I
bet most people had no idea that the fire department
was so underfunded because the police can be controversial. I
don't know anybody who wants to defund the fire department.
Speaker 5 (18:18):
But that's what's happened, you know, And I rang the bill.
I hate to say it, I was ringing the bill
on this during the campaign, and I did a whole
commercial about it, that it's been underfunded for the last
fifteen years. I mean we have over two times as
many people living in Los Angeles now, and we have
about one hundred times the amount of calls that we
(18:40):
did in nineteen sixty, but we have less firefighters leus stations.
It's actually just ass backwards. And we got here because
for a long time, we've been electing an incompetent people,
and those incompetent people have been appointing incompetent people in
running some of these departments. The fire department I think
(19:01):
is run by competent people. I'm not saying that, but
look what happened at DWP. You know, Karen Bass appoints
this person as they had a Department of Water and
Power and during the peak fire season we got the
main reservoir that's supplying water to the fire hydrants closed
for repairs. I mean, that is just foolish and it's
(19:21):
really bordered negligence in my opinion. So we got to
get out of this cycle. And God bless finally, you
know the LA Times for coming out and saying they
made a mistake endorsing Karen Bass, and they just want
to have competent people take office. And I hope that
changes people's minds of how they're going to vote down
(19:42):
the road.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Well, the two stories they did on the reservoir, and
then they had another story today on all the water
infrastructure projects that have not been done for decades, dozens
of them going back many years, never funded, never built.
I mean the I remember when you came on with
me a few weeks ago. The first thing you said
(20:03):
was that the reservoir wasn't full, and I wasn't sure
what you were talking about because I didn't know there
was a reservoir that big. And then wouldn't you know what,
a couple of days later, the Time and the Times
had the story and I thought, oh, that's what he meant.
One hundred and seventeen million gallons and it was empty.
Speaker 5 (20:20):
Yeah, great, great time to have a repair.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
Right over a pool cover.
Speaker 5 (20:24):
Basically, yeah, exactly exactly. But this is what's happened. I mean,
leadership matters, competency matters, and the people that are paying
the price, just a terrible price. People lost their homes,
lost their jobs, We got thousands of people that are
affected by this. Ballasts in Altadena and the rebuilding effort
(20:48):
that's going to have to go into it, and I've
got serious concerns if we got here under this leadership,
can this leadership really rebuild this city the way it
should be rebuilt? And I think we've got a lot
of tough questions to ask and people need to be
held accountable for it.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
You were profiled in the Wall Street Journal today that
you've got a plan to rebuild the Pacific, to rebuild
Pacific Palisades, and it differs from Karen Bass and Steve
Soboros's vision, and that you don't think it's a good
idea to be building affordable housing in the city. Talk
more about that.
Speaker 5 (21:25):
Well, what Well, what I said was, we're going to
put together this nonprofit organization. I want to work with
the city. I want to support the city, of the state,
the federal government. But if we feel they're going down
a path that's going to cause people more pain and
aggravation to get their home rebuilt, or they're going to
start talking about rezoning the Palisades so it looks different
(21:46):
than what it did. That's not what the people in
the Palisades want. They want their town back, they want
their neighborhood back, but they need to have it back
where you're undergrounding the power lines. Let's take this as
an opportunity to bring the infrastructure into the twenty first century.
Upgrade the water mats, upgrade the fire hydrants, upgrade the reservoirs.
(22:07):
We're rebuilding in a fire zone again, so don't build
the same darn thing that doesn't make any sense. Of course,
we want to do it quickly, but you want to
do it smartly. And so that's what this organization's going
to do, is to be a voice, not to just
go beat people up for the sake of beating people up.
It's not about politics. These problems are too big for politics.
(22:28):
It's about the speed the recovery and the rebuilding that
we need to get done, and get it done in
the right way. So I'm excited about leaning into that.
We're staffing it up, We're going to use all our
resources at my company at Caruso to support it. I've
been on the phone with Steve sober Off and I said,
I'm here to work with you anything we can do
(22:48):
to help. But he also said, if I'm going down
the wrong path, please let me know, and I said,
trust me, I will because I'm fed up with the
incompetency that we've had at city.
Speaker 1 (22:59):
Hall, the lack of interest in building infrastructure in the
city and county is stunning. I mean, I mean, they
just they haven't done anything in decades of the basic stuff,
you know, getting us water, getting us power.
Speaker 5 (23:14):
You go ahead, yeah, well, getting us water, getting his power,
getting a safety, getting us a paramedic, getting us a
fire truck. Those are all the things the city. That's
the number one priority. That's what the government is supposed
to do. Keep you safe, allow you to live your
life and grow your family and make a living. But
I tell you I worked for Tom Bradley, as you know, John,
(23:37):
and I worked for Dicklear, and I worked for Jim Hunton.
I was the president of DWP for ten years. For
a decade under two mayors, there was an intense focus
on making sure the infrastructure was best in class. I
don't know when the hell it fell off the rails,
but it just fell off the rails. But part of that,
you know, again comes down to leadership and who you're
(23:59):
putting in ahead of that department. And it seems like
that position became more of a political appointment to sort
of quote unquote do the right things. We've we've all
seen now this new general manager and the interview she
was doing rather than saying, we're going to be the
best engineered department in the country to deliver water and
(24:21):
power at the lowest possible cost. And that used to
be the driving force when I was there under Bradley
and under Reardon's totally we didn't have these problems. No,
we didn't have these problems then.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
I mean, I mean, you know, government at its very basic,
it's it's it's what are power, fire, police roads, That's
what we're paying the taxes for. And we're getting none
of that right now.
Speaker 5 (24:48):
You're getting none of it right now. But you know what,
it can change. So the good thing is out of
this crisis. I think it's going to change because I
think people have really seen unfortunately too heavy over a
price to pay that You've got to have the right
people in office so we can change it and we
can turn it around in this city, can get back
to where it needs to be. Did you see what
(25:11):
I believe?
Speaker 1 (25:11):
Did you see the poll that came out today, there's
a lot of people looking at you good to be
mayor forty three thirty six over Karen Bass according to
this poll.
Speaker 5 (25:20):
I did see it. I'm honored by that but now's
not the time for politics in my opinion. Now's the
time to get the rebuilding started. And I hope that
Trump and Gavin Newsom, you know, work out a deal.
I'm confident they will. I think they want to do
the right thing. Let's get the federal services in here.
It's been two weeks. We've got to get FEMA and
(25:42):
they're cleaning all of this toxic waste job. I mean,
I don't know if you've been through the Palisades. I'm
going to go out to Altadena next week because they
have the same exact problems out there. You got to
start cleaning this place up. It's all toxic, I know.
And that's eema, you know. So we need the federal govern.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Well, anytime you need to come on and talk about
this further. If you want people to become aware of
all the challenges ahead, just let us know.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
You always have a form here.
Speaker 5 (26:12):
I love it. I appreciate it very much. We share
all the best, which all the people that are victims
in all toa data and the Palisades, all the best start. Yeah,
the Crusoe family's hard is with them because we you know,
my daughter lost her house, my son house is completely damaged,
probably can't be moved into. So we understand the pain
of that, and it's tough.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
All right, Rick Caruso, thank you for coming on. We'll
talk again soon.
Speaker 5 (26:37):
Thanks, John, Take care.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
Rick Caruso. Let's continue at three o'clock. We've got we're
going to talk with the former State Guard Commanding General
Jay Hogan about a state wildfire fighting team that Gavin
Newsom disbanded last year that could have helped fighting the
(27:02):
Palisades Fire the Altadena fire. We will talk with Jay
Coggan coming up after three o'clock.
Speaker 4 (27:09):
You're listening to John Cobels on demand from KFI.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
It'll be amusing to see how much attention Trump pays
to Gavin Newsom, who's supposed to be landing in Los Angeles. Well,
Trump is landing in Los Angeles at about three point thirty,
that was the schedule anyway, and Newsom has been trying
to finagel away to meet him. Trump was giving him
(27:37):
the stiff arm. Trump's staff not inviting Newsom to greet
Trump when he lands here, and not inviting Newsom to
tag along at the various stops Trump is going to make. Finally,
(27:57):
the Trump crowd agreed to let news greet him at
the airport. I guess when Trump comes off the plane.
So Trump really clearly thinks Newsom is a boob. And
I remember there's one thing about about Newsom, he's he's
(28:18):
he's a dishonest character. And I think that was born
out when he ran off to the French laundry when
he told that Pacific Palisades woman that he was on
the phone, literally on the phone with Joe Biden at
that moment, that he was lying. He wasn't on the phone,
he wasn't trying to call him. And he often makes pronouncements.
(28:41):
He announces commissions and Blue ribbon panels and special sessions
for funding and nothing comes of it. And going through
the stories on Newsom and how he's managed the forests here,
there's a story in Politico that and you know, usually
(29:03):
they're very pro Democratic, but they do admit that California
Democrats would not thin the forests, they would not clear
the overgrown brush and the trees, because the Democrats have
been aligned with all these environmental groups and they're against
(29:24):
forest thinning, and they're against anything being touched, even dead
debris at the bottom of the forest.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
It's true.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
I tell this to people and they don't want to
believe it, but it's true. They have like a zero
tolerance policy these environmental groups, and I guess they give
a lot of money to new them and the Democrats.
And only now in recent years has been Newsome reluctantly
been cleaning the forests.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
And as I'm.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
Going through looking for more information on that particular angle
of the story, I found a link to this.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
Do you remember this?
Speaker 1 (29:55):
This is June of twenty twenty one, and it says
when Newsom had his first full day in office in
twenty nineteen, first thing he did he declared war on wildfires.
He was wearing jeans and sneakers. I bet you're very
(30:15):
tight jeans, and he had emergency responders around him, and
he said everyone has had enough, and he'd signed a
sweeping executive order overhauling the state's approach to wildfire prevention,
and we have to confront these fires year round now
because of climate change. Well, in twenty twenty one, CAP
(30:40):
Radio it's a radio group and NPR's California Newsroom found
that the governor had really grossly misrepresented his accomplishments. The
investigation found that Newsom overstated by an astounding six hundred
and ninety percent the number of acres treated with few
(31:00):
breaks and prescribed burns. He had claimed that they had
enacted fire prevention work on ninety thousand acres. It was
eleven thousand acres. He exaggerated by almost seven hundred percent.
(31:23):
Just flat out lied because who would know, right, You
don't know if they've done work on eleven thousand acres
or ninety thousand acres. How would you find that out?
He flat out lied because he didn't follow through, never
did the work, and after an.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
Initial jump.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
In clearing brush in the forests, CAP Radio on NPR
investigated and showed that Calfire's fuel reduction had dropped by
half in twenty twenty. It was lower than Jerry Brown's
final year in office, and Newsom slashed one hundred and
fifty million dollars from cal Fire's wildfire prevention budget. And
(32:11):
that is why when I see, like the poll we
talked about earlier, that Newsom gets good, good grades for
handling the wildfire, he gets an he should get an
F for the rest of his life. He's a liar
and he's a defunder. He actually defunds wildfire projects. I
(32:34):
may he defunded one hundred million dollars from fire projects
around the state just in the last year. That's the truth,
but that's not the kind of Hey, you've been listening
to the John Cobalt Show podcast. You can always hear
the show live on KFI Am six forty from one
to four pm every Monday through Friday, and of course
(32:55):
anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app. Informational nugget that
gets widely distributed. They'd rather vote on his hair and jawline.
All right, we come back. Another aspect of this is
(33:15):
Governor Gavin Newsom has an Office of Emergency Services and
they had something called the State Guard Emergency Response Command
and it was supposed to fight wildfires one hundred and
fifty volunteer members. And we're going to talk to the
commanding General, Jay Coggan, who started the command in twenty
(33:38):
twenty one, and it looks like it's been disbanded, not
just defunded, disbanded. It was called Team Blaze. We'll discuss
that with Jay Coggan coming up. Deborah Mark live in
the KFI twenty four hour newsroom.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
Hey, you've been listening to the John Cobalt Show podcast.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
You can always hear the show live on KFI Am
six forty from one to four pm every Monday through Friday,
and of course, anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app
Can't.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
I am six forty.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
You're listening to the John Cobelt Podcast on the iHeartRadio app.
We're on from one until four after four o'clock John
Cobelt's show on.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Demand on the iHeart app.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
And this is one of those days where you want
to listen to the whole thing. So if you can't
later on the iHeart app, listen to the podcast because
we're gonna have Rick Crusoe on in a half an hour.
Donald Trump is going to land at about three point
thirty to tour the Pacific Palisades. He's landing at lax
and then taking a helicopter over to the Palisades. And
we got two rounds of the Moistline coming up next
(00:33):
hour two. You could follow us at John Cobelt Radio
at John Cobelt Radio.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
On social media.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Now, let's get to this poll that came out this
morning from Madison McQueen's. That's the company that did the polling.
We're going to talk to Owen Brennan in just a moment.
They have done a poll over if LA voters would
choose today who the next mayor would be, would it
(00:59):
be Caruso or would it be Karen Bass? And what
is Karen Bass's approval rating right now? H on the wildfires?
And would the voters of La County or city ever
consider a Republican to lead the city or the county ever,
(01:25):
just once.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Just to see what happens. Well, we have these.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
Answers and and other questions as well with Owen Brennan
and Owen welcome, How are you?
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Hey? Thank you so much for having me. John. I've
been a number of the heads on his stick brigade
since I moved to La in two thousand and eight.
Speaker 4 (01:42):
Ah.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Yes, that was the head on a stick era. Now
you're the president of this company. Did somebody commission this
poll or you decided to do it?
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Or is it an anonymous request?
Speaker 3 (01:57):
We did. We had a in twenty twenty four. We
saw forty four thousand Angelinos forty four thousand more entering
those vote for Trump than in twenty twenty. So something's
happening out there. And with the really poor performance of
Bass and Newsome after the palis Aves and Alfaduna fires,
(02:17):
we really thought there was an opportunity to see, Hey,
what we're where are the voter's opinions on local leadership
and what kind of opportunities are for this sort of
growing desire for different ideas than new opportunities.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
So the first question, do you approve or disapprove of
how Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is handling the wired
wildfires in Los Angeles? What did you get as a
as a result?
Speaker 3 (02:44):
Fifty four percent of our respondence disapproved of Karen Bass
and her actions after the wildfires, but the approval rating
of only thirty seven percent, So it doesn't look very
good for Karen Bass. People are like really being champions
for her today.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
Now she's seventeen points under water. There disapproval fifty four
percent on how she handled the fires. Yeah, I think
that's obvious. I don't know what the thirty seven percent
would prove are exactly smoking, but.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
That's paid staffers, family and lunatics, so yeah, exactly how
many they're in LA County now?
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Yeah, we got a disproportion lunatics. Thank you, you pulled
eleven hundred people. What was the methodology?
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Text to web? So we would text people and then
they click through, they go to web, they're screened, and
then they answer all the questions after that.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
Okay, all right, second question, we'll look at here is
if the twenty twenty six election for La City mayor
were held today, for whom would you most likely cast
your vote or are you undecided?
Speaker 2 (03:45):
What was the result here?
Speaker 3 (03:47):
These are some interesting numbers. Rick Cruso that forty three
percent that would vote for him today, Karen Bass at
thirty six percent, and the undecideds you're at twenty one percent. Now,
that undecided numbers really interesting because you rarely see that
undecided number break for the incumbent. So while Recruiso now
enjoys a nine point lead over Karen Bass, there's twenty
(04:09):
one more points out there available to him to scoop
up and really just you know, when or a victory
exact think they can't take away from them.
Speaker 1 (04:16):
I think she won by about ten points and now
she's down by seven. Here, all right, let's do a
third question here, given everything you know now, would you
consider Republican leadership in La County or the City of
Los Angeles?
Speaker 2 (04:32):
What was the answer here?
Speaker 3 (04:34):
Forty two percent of the people we talked to said
they would consider Republican leadership of the county. And what's
really interesting about that number is that the registered voter
rate in La County for Republican is less than twenty percent,
So two times the number of registered and Republicans would
consider a Republican through a leadership position in LA County.
Speaker 1 (04:56):
Yeah, it looks like from the chart, about eighteen percent
of the county is republic and UH registered, and you
have forty three percent willing to consider Republican leadership, forty
six percent said no, forty three percent said yes, eleven
percent don't know. Uh, let's talk. Let's talk here about
(05:16):
Newsom's approval rating on the fires. Do you approve or
disapprove how Gavin Newsom is handling the wildfires?
Speaker 2 (05:23):
What did you find here?
Speaker 3 (05:25):
So this is a really insane number, fifty approval rating
for Gavin Newsom's handling of the fires in LA County.
And you know, we look at this, we say, how
can people do that? And it's you know, he is
sort of the incompetent gin to uh, Donald Trump's Golden Yang.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
He has a do some wait, I gotta say this slower.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
I don't want fifty of those polled approved of Newsom's
handling of the wildfires.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
We all have thirty four strongly approving, now strongly approving.
To the polster about this and he said, listen, you're
gonna get some left of theirs in these polls right
their screen. We have to have a certain amount of
representative of Democrats, and they're just gonna sort of give
the finger to the polsters. So strongly approving is one
of the ways that they would demonstrate that act.
Speaker 1 (06:16):
And I guess they're pro fire. Huh yeah, they're in
favor of the destructive fires. Let's see what else here?
Whether should Newsom should resign or be recalled?
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Yes? Thirty six, no, fifty five.
Speaker 1 (06:32):
After all this, more than half of the states still
still supports this.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Ninny, that's that's La County. So it is La County.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Yeah, yeah, that's that's unbelievable considering what happened. I mean,
there's absolutely nothing that would get these people, and not
just Democrats.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
But Kevin Newsome, Kevin Newsom.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
Right, his supporters just stick with it. It's h it's
very It's the same similar phenomenon that you see with
Donald Trump. The people just stick with him.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Is it is?
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Have you done a poll on whether it's the hair
of the jawline.
Speaker 3 (07:16):
It's the attractions? Actually, people really loved the look.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Yeah, you got another question here, do you think the
president Democratic leaders in California are to blame for this
disaster due to their water forest and brush management policies
in the state, And almost fifty percent said no, Well yeah,
well they they didn't have enough water, the hydrants were dry.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
The uh so, actually when you phrase the when you
phrase the question, or the hydrants dry? Right? There another
question and they said, if you knew that the fire
hydrants you dry early on due to mismanagement, would that
you know? Would you call for electively? It's the resign
if you recalled forty four almost forty five percent say recall,
(08:04):
No is forty one percent.
Speaker 1 (08:06):
So if you if you bring up something specific that
they can easily understand, then they're more likely to agree
that they're to be blamed for this.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
Correct.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
I mean the hydrant said that that water reservoir is unforgivable.
Speaker 3 (08:21):
Absolutely, I mean absolutely, And for her, for her not
when she got off the airplane and stood there in
front of a reporter who was asking their very simple
questions and to not even react is unbelievable. I don't know.
Part of my background was a speechwriter for Mayo Giuliani.
I was with him on nine to eleven I rose
the speeches after nine to eleven, And that is how
(08:42):
you lead a city after disaster. You don't take a
step off an airplane coming back from the cocktail party
in Africa and not have some answers, not have something
inspirational to say to your audience. Not you know, there
are a lot of Angelinos who are hurting, and she
had no message for them.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
Yeah, how long is a flight from Ghana? She had
all that time to think about what she would say,
the first things she would say, But she landed at
the airport and she had zero.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
Wow. All right, this is.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
A fascinating stuff on how resistant people are to considering
other choices competent people. Oh yeah, yeah, But I mean
there's some hope, there's some hope. The Caruso numbers are
are very promising, even if you know and he's he's
registered as a Democrat.
Speaker 2 (09:25):
Now so man, But if we.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
Get through Cruso, who was on real time with Bill
Martin last week, of the wick Cruso, who was out
there doing the press conferences after the wildfires, that's the
wick Cruso can get elected in the city of Los Angeles.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Oh, I agree, So just joining us this poll from
Madison McQueen disapprove of Karen Bass's handling the wildfires fifty
four percent, thirty seven percent approve. And as far as
who would you vote for if the election were held
now forty three percent Caruso, thirty six percent for Bass,
the rest undecided. Thank you for coming on with us.
(10:01):
Owen Brennan, thank job. All right, President of Madison the Queen.
All right, more coming up.
Speaker 4 (10:08):
You're listening to John Cobelt on demand from KFI AM
six forty.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Coming up in about ten twelve minutes.
Speaker 1 (10:18):
Rick Caruso is going to be on the phone to
talk about the Palisades. And he has donated five million
dollars and set up a nonprofit which I believe has
raised twenty million dollars to help people quickly navigate the
complicated world of government and get things on track.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
To rebuild as quickly as possible.
Speaker 1 (10:43):
And we just told you about the poll that a
group called a company called Madison McQueen did, and it
looks like people would rather have him as mayor in
the city of Los Angeles by a forty three to
thirty six margin. And the disapproval rating on Karen Bass
regarding the fire is up to fifty four percent. And
(11:04):
I have no idea why thirty seven percent of the
city would approve of her handling of the fire. That
is shocking, stunning, overwhelming. Do I have to explain what
she should have done? First of all, she should have
been here. She got the extreme dangerous deadly fire warnings
from the National Weather Service on that Thursday, and on Saturday,
(11:28):
she left and she didn't even get on the plane
until the fires broke out. She was drinking at a
cocktail party in Ghana. She'd gone to see the inauguration
of the new president of Ghana, and then after the
fires broke out, she got on a plane and came
back and then refused to speak to anyone about what happened.
(11:51):
And her performances at the press conferences have been dreadful
because she's often silent. She often is the sixth or
seventh or eighth person to speak, and it's platitudes and cliches.
And I've seen this up close. I was on a
zoom meeting with hundreds of people in my section of
town and she was the lead voice on the zoom
(12:12):
meeting and had absolutely nothing useful to say. It was short,
and then she said, Oh, I got to go talk
to my staff and we got the back of her hand.
I I this is after several weeks where she could
get her you know, bearings and start. It's just talk
to people normally. I think that's what frustrates most normal people.
(12:33):
I have no idea why you would support her.
Speaker 2 (12:35):
I really don't.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
You know, there's so much difficult work to be done,
and Karen Bass has absolutely no background in construction, rebuilding cities,
rebuilding the infrastructure of Los Angeles. I'm just overwhelmed how
people are locked into like what what is it she
(12:57):
has to offer for this? Like what what's what's the
upside of this? Anyway, Rick cruseel on in just a
few minutes, Trump is coming to the Palisades and he
is going to land in about an hour, and then
after that he's going to take a helicopter to the
(13:19):
Palisades and look over things, and he's Bass is going
to be there, and then some of some of Trump's people,
Rick Renell, who's an envoy for special missions, somebody from
the Forest Service, Catherine Barger from the Bard of Supervisors,
Ed Ring, the director of Water and Policy for the
(13:41):
California Policy Center, he's really smart. He writes great stuff.
We've had him on and there'll be some Congress people there.
Newsome was given the stiff arm by Trump up until
just a couple of hours ago. Alex Stone came on
and said, finally the trumpe relented and said that little
Gavin could welcome Trump at the airport. But last we heard,
(14:07):
Trump was not inviting Newsom to follow him around. And
it sounds like Newsom is like this little puppy dog
trying to get attention, trying to get approval from his
own He's.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
The governor of California, and the President doesn't want him
to uh to be around when they're surveying the biggest
damage of ever ever.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
Yeah, one of the worst disasters in American history for
a city, and uh.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
So Newsom is reduced to it.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
Please please, can I can I just stand at the airport?
Speaker 5 (14:40):
Can I?
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Can I just wave as you're coming down at air
Force when? I won't make it.
Speaker 1 (14:44):
I won't make any noise, I won't create any problems.
I could you mentioned what Trump really thinks of Newsom?
I mean, really, I think we know. Yeah, I just
I always like to think about what private conversations must
be like, because.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
Newsom is a twig.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
There's some but I mean the polling we had from
Owen Brennant a few minutes ago. He still has He
still has half the state supporting him. What does he
have to do after that, after that COVID debacle?
Speaker 2 (15:15):
He disfigured.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
Yeah, you're right, he'd have to be ugly and then
people would stop voting for him.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
That is the best answer.
Speaker 4 (15:29):
All right, you're listening to John Cobel's on Demand from
kf I Am six forty every day.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
We're on from one until four and then after four
o'clock if you missed anything, that's what the podcast is for.
John cobelt Show on demand on the iHeart app, and
you could listen to.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Whatever whatever you missed. It's very easy.
Speaker 1 (15:49):
Now, let's get to Rick Carroso Uh the developer behind
the grove behind the Palisades Village in Pacific Palisades, and
he's put together a nonprofit. He donated five million dollars
to try to make it easier for residents in the
Palisades to get on track and rebuild their homes their
(16:10):
properties more quickly.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
We'll start with him and talk about that. Rick, how
are you.
Speaker 5 (16:16):
I'm great, John, thanks for having me on the show.
How are you.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
I'm doing very well.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
Tell me what this nonprofit, with this organization you've set
up to help people rebuild, How does it work.
Speaker 5 (16:29):
Well, we're doing a couple of things. One is we're
setting up a nonprofit that's going to be an advocate
for people that need to rebuild their homes and also
rebuild their businesses and get their life back together. And
what we want to do is we want to help
people not only in the Palisades, but an Altadena. You know,
be the advocate so that the city, the county, the state,
(16:50):
the fedral government is getting rid of a lot of
the red tape so we can actually get people under construction.
We've got infrastructure that needs to be built, that needs
to be done right. Yeah. The other thing we did
is TENA and I started a campaign to support the
fire department. As we all know so well, the fire
department was underfunded and then their funding was even cut more.
(17:15):
So we put up a challenge grant of twenty million
dollars and we put in the first five million, and John,
it was great because in less than a week we
raised twenty million dollars for the fire Department to go
into their foundation so they can buy the equipment they
need and hopefully have enough equipment and enough resources so
something like this can't happen again. So we're trying to
(17:37):
do as much as we can in a bunch of
different ways.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
How did we get to this place in Los Angeles?
When I saw the recommendation from a national fire council
that we're supposed to have two firefighters for every thousand
people and a thousand population and we only have less
than one. We literally have had half a fire department
by personnel, and you know, we're way short of engines.
(18:01):
There's one hundred engines in the garage. There's not enough mechanics.
How did we get here? I had no idea. I
bet most people had no idea that the fire department
was so underfunded because the police can be controversial. I
don't know anybody who wants to defund the fire department.
Speaker 5 (18:18):
But that's what's happened, you know, And I rang the bill.
I hate to say it, I was ringing the bill
on this during the campaign, and I did a whole
commercial about it, that it's been underfunded for the last
fifteen years. I mean we have over two times as
many people living in Los Angeles now, and we have
about one hundred times the amount of calls that we
(18:40):
did in nineteen sixty, but we have less firefighters leus stations.
It's actually just ass backwards. And we got here because
for a long time, we've been electing an incompetent people,
and those incompetent people have been appointing incompetent people in
running some of these departments. The fire department I think
(19:01):
is run by competent people. I'm not saying that, but
look what happened at DWP. You know, Karen Bass appoints
this person as they had a Department of Water and
Power and during the peak fire season we got the
main reservoir that's supplying water to the fire hydrants closed
for repairs. I mean, that is just foolish and it's
(19:21):
really bordered negligence in my opinion. So we got to
get out of this cycle. And God bless finally, you
know the LA Times for coming out and saying they
made a mistake endorsing Karen Bass, and they just want
to have competent people take office. And I hope that
changes people's minds of how they're going to vote down
(19:42):
the road.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Well, the two stories they did on the reservoir, and
then they had another story today on all the water
infrastructure projects that have not been done for decades, dozens
of them going back many years, never funded, never built.
I mean the I remember when you came on with
me a few weeks ago. The first thing you said
(20:03):
was that the reservoir wasn't full, and I wasn't sure
what you were talking about because I didn't know there
was a reservoir that big. And then wouldn't you know what,
a couple of days later, the Time and the Times
had the story and I thought, oh, that's what he meant.
One hundred and seventeen million gallons and it was empty.
Speaker 5 (20:20):
Yeah, great, great time to have a repair.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
Right over a pool cover.
Speaker 5 (20:24):
Basically, yeah, exactly exactly. But this is what's happened. I mean,
leadership matters, competency matters, and the people that are paying
the price, just a terrible price. People lost their homes,
lost their jobs, We got thousands of people that are
affected by this. Ballasts in Altadena and the rebuilding effort
(20:48):
that's going to have to go into it, and I've
got serious concerns if we got here under this leadership,
can this leadership really rebuild this city the way it
should be rebuilt? And I think we've got a lot
of tough questions to ask and people need to be
held accountable for it.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
You were profiled in the Wall Street Journal today that
you've got a plan to rebuild the Pacific, to rebuild
Pacific Palisades, and it differs from Karen Bass and Steve
Soboros's vision, and that you don't think it's a good
idea to be building affordable housing in the city. Talk
more about that.
Speaker 5 (21:25):
Well, what Well, what I said was, we're going to
put together this nonprofit organization. I want to work with
the city. I want to support the city, of the state,
the federal government. But if we feel they're going down
a path that's going to cause people more pain and
aggravation to get their home rebuilt, or they're going to
start talking about rezoning the Palisades so it looks different
(21:46):
than what it did. That's not what the people in
the Palisades want. They want their town back, they want
their neighborhood back, but they need to have it back
where you're undergrounding the power lines. Let's take this as
an opportunity to bring the infrastructure into the twenty first century.
Upgrade the water mats, upgrade the fire hydrants, upgrade the reservoirs.
(22:07):
We're rebuilding in a fire zone again, so don't build
the same darn thing that doesn't make any sense. Of course,
we want to do it quickly, but you want to
do it smartly. And so that's what this organization's going
to do, is to be a voice, not to just
go beat people up for the sake of beating people up.
It's not about politics. These problems are too big for politics.
(22:28):
It's about the speed the recovery and the rebuilding that
we need to get done, and get it done in
the right way. So I'm excited about leaning into that.
We're staffing it up, We're going to use all our
resources at my company at Caruso to support it. I've
been on the phone with Steve sober Off and I said,
I'm here to work with you anything we can do
(22:48):
to help. But he also said, if I'm going down
the wrong path, please let me know, and I said,
trust me, I will because I'm fed up with the
incompetency that we've had at city.
Speaker 1 (22:59):
Hall, the lack of interest in building infrastructure in the
city and county is stunning. I mean, I mean, they
just they haven't done anything in decades of the basic stuff,
you know, getting us water, getting us power.
Speaker 5 (23:14):
You go ahead, yeah, well, getting us water, getting his power,
getting a safety, getting us a paramedic, getting us a
fire truck. Those are all the things the city. That's
the number one priority. That's what the government is supposed
to do. Keep you safe, allow you to live your
life and grow your family and make a living. But
I tell you I worked for Tom Bradley, as you know, John,
(23:37):
and I worked for Dicklear, and I worked for Jim Hunton.
I was the president of DWP for ten years. For
a decade under two mayors, there was an intense focus
on making sure the infrastructure was best in class. I
don't know when the hell it fell off the rails,
but it just fell off the rails. But part of that,
you know, again comes down to leadership and who you're
(23:59):
putting in ahead of that department. And it seems like
that position became more of a political appointment to sort
of quote unquote do the right things. We've we've all
seen now this new general manager and the interview she
was doing rather than saying, we're going to be the
best engineered department in the country to deliver water and
(24:21):
power at the lowest possible cost. And that used to
be the driving force when I was there under Bradley
and under Reardon's totally we didn't have these problems. No,
we didn't have these problems then.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
I mean, I mean, you know, government at its very basic,
it's it's it's what are power, fire, police roads, That's
what we're paying the taxes for. And we're getting none
of that right now.
Speaker 5 (24:48):
You're getting none of it right now. But you know what,
it can change. So the good thing is out of
this crisis. I think it's going to change because I
think people have really seen unfortunately too heavy over a
price to pay that You've got to have the right
people in office so we can change it and we
can turn it around in this city, can get back
to where it needs to be. Did you see what
(25:11):
I believe?
Speaker 1 (25:11):
Did you see the poll that came out today, there's
a lot of people looking at you good to be
mayor forty three thirty six over Karen Bass according to
this poll.
Speaker 5 (25:20):
I did see it. I'm honored by that but now's
not the time for politics in my opinion. Now's the
time to get the rebuilding started. And I hope that
Trump and Gavin Newsom, you know, work out a deal.
I'm confident they will. I think they want to do
the right thing. Let's get the federal services in here.
It's been two weeks. We've got to get FEMA and
(25:42):
they're cleaning all of this toxic waste job. I mean,
I don't know if you've been through the Palisades. I'm
going to go out to Altadena next week because they
have the same exact problems out there. You got to
start cleaning this place up. It's all toxic, I know.
And that's eema, you know. So we need the federal govern.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
Well, anytime you need to come on and talk about
this further. If you want people to become aware of
all the challenges ahead, just let us know.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
You always have a form here.
Speaker 5 (26:12):
I love it. I appreciate it very much. We share
all the best, which all the people that are victims
in all toa data and the Palisades, all the best start. Yeah,
the Crusoe family's hard is with them because we you know,
my daughter lost her house, my son house is completely damaged,
probably can't be moved into. So we understand the pain
of that, and it's tough.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
All right, Rick Caruso, thank you for coming on. We'll
talk again soon.
Speaker 5 (26:37):
Thanks, John, Take care.
Speaker 1 (26:38):
Rick Caruso. Let's continue at three o'clock. We've got we're
going to talk with the former State Guard Commanding General
Jay Hogan about a state wildfire fighting team that Gavin
Newsom disbanded last year that could have helped fighting the
(27:02):
Palisades Fire the Altadena fire. We will talk with Jay
Coggan coming up after three o'clock.
Speaker 4 (27:09):
You're listening to John Cobels on demand from KFI.
Speaker 1 (27:14):
It'll be amusing to see how much attention Trump pays
to Gavin Newsom, who's supposed to be landing in Los Angeles. Well,
Trump is landing in Los Angeles at about three point thirty,
that was the schedule anyway, and Newsom has been trying
to finagel away to meet him. Trump was giving him
(27:37):
the stiff arm. Trump's staff not inviting Newsom to greet
Trump when he lands here, and not inviting Newsom to
tag along at the various stops Trump is going to make. Finally,
(27:57):
the Trump crowd agreed to let news greet him at
the airport. I guess when Trump comes off the plane.
So Trump really clearly thinks Newsom is a boob. And
I remember there's one thing about about Newsom, he's he's
(28:18):
he's a dishonest character. And I think that was born
out when he ran off to the French laundry when
he told that Pacific Palisades woman that he was on
the phone, literally on the phone with Joe Biden at
that moment, that he was lying. He wasn't on the phone,
he wasn't trying to call him. And he often makes pronouncements.
(28:41):
He announces commissions and Blue ribbon panels and special sessions
for funding and nothing comes of it. And going through
the stories on Newsom and how he's managed the forests here,
there's a story in Politico that and you know, usually
(29:03):
they're very pro Democratic, but they do admit that California
Democrats would not thin the forests, they would not clear
the overgrown brush and the trees, because the Democrats have
been aligned with all these environmental groups and they're against
(29:24):
forest thinning, and they're against anything being touched, even dead
debris at the bottom of the forest.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
It's true.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
I tell this to people and they don't want to
believe it, but it's true. They have like a zero
tolerance policy these environmental groups, and I guess they give
a lot of money to new them and the Democrats.
And only now in recent years has been Newsome reluctantly
been cleaning the forests.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
And as I'm.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
Going through looking for more information on that particular angle
of the story, I found a link to this.
Speaker 2 (29:53):
Do you remember this?
Speaker 1 (29:55):
This is June of twenty twenty one, and it says
when Newsom had his first full day in office in
twenty nineteen, first thing he did he declared war on wildfires.
He was wearing jeans and sneakers. I bet you're very
(30:15):
tight jeans, and he had emergency responders around him, and
he said everyone has had enough, and he'd signed a
sweeping executive order overhauling the state's approach to wildfire prevention,
and we have to confront these fires year round now
because of climate change. Well, in twenty twenty one, CAP
(30:40):
Radio it's a radio group and NPR's California Newsroom found
that the governor had really grossly misrepresented his accomplishments. The
investigation found that Newsom overstated by an astounding six hundred
and ninety percent the number of acres treated with few
(31:00):
breaks and prescribed burns. He had claimed that they had
enacted fire prevention work on ninety thousand acres. It was
eleven thousand acres. He exaggerated by almost seven hundred percent.
(31:23):
Just flat out lied because who would know, right, You
don't know if they've done work on eleven thousand acres
or ninety thousand acres. How would you find that out?
He flat out lied because he didn't follow through, never
did the work, and after an.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
Initial jump.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
In clearing brush in the forests, CAP Radio on NPR
investigated and showed that Calfire's fuel reduction had dropped by
half in twenty twenty. It was lower than Jerry Brown's
final year in office, and Newsom slashed one hundred and
fifty million dollars from cal Fire's wildfire prevention budget. And
(32:11):
that is why when I see, like the poll we
talked about earlier, that Newsom gets good, good grades for
handling the wildfire, he gets an he should get an
F for the rest of his life. He's a liar
and he's a defunder. He actually defunds wildfire projects. I
(32:34):
may he defunded one hundred million dollars from fire projects
around the state just in the last year. That's the truth,
but that's not the kind of Hey, you've been listening
to the John Cobalt Show podcast. You can always hear
the show live on KFI Am six forty from one
to four pm every Monday through Friday, and of course
(32:55):
anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app. Informational nugget that
gets widely distributed. They'd rather vote on his hair and jawline.
All right, we come back. Another aspect of this is
(33:15):
Governor Gavin Newsom has an Office of Emergency Services and
they had something called the State Guard Emergency Response Command
and it was supposed to fight wildfires one hundred and
fifty volunteer members. And we're going to talk to the
commanding General, Jay Coggan, who started the command in twenty
(33:38):
twenty one, and it looks like it's been disbanded, not
just defunded, disbanded. It was called Team Blaze. We'll discuss
that with Jay Coggan coming up. Deborah Mark live in
the KFI twenty four hour newsroom.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
Hey, you've been listening to the John Cobalt Show podcast.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
You can always hear the show live on KFI Am
six forty from one to four pm every Monday through Friday,
and of course, anytime on demand on the iHeartRadio app
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