Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
I welcome to another show of hard Truths with myself
Stephen J. Klueck. Today, I'm honored, honored to have one
of my dearest dearest friends of thirty five years, Robert Shapiro,
with us today. So, Bob, thanks for coming today. Hey, Kooby,
great to be with you. And I love this. It's fantastic,
(00:21):
yeah hezick, huh yeah, really really cool. But you you, Bob,
you know you read the book originally and kind of
a ghost surrogate helper writer to make sure the tone
was proper when we originally did this. Why did you
do that? You needed some help. I always need a
(00:41):
lot of help, nou.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
And the book was really good. I thought that there
were parts of.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
It that didn't really come across as the way I
know you, and you know that it's important because I've
always reached out for help and matter of fact, even
in this campaign. I mean, Bob, you've known him for
a long time thirty five years, and you've been my
oldest and dearest friend. And I can say I'm grateful
(01:11):
to you because you sat down with me for four
hours on a Sunday. Why'd you do that? Well? I
love you dearly, and you know, you're very intimidating, and
there's things that people will not tell you that maybe
they would say to somebody else, but not to you.
(01:35):
And I had seen you.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Interact a couple of times with people in different situations
and explaining very complicated issues that you would be confronting
as governor of California. And I said, Stephen, you know
people number one are not as smart as you are,
and they don't need to know the real nuts and
(01:59):
bowl of what you're trying to say. And as I
always sat there for four hours, four hours, yeah, you're
beating me up a little bit, well, you know, in
a nice way with love. Yeah, And I appreciate that.
You Know, what I tried to do, Stephen, is what
I've learned in my career, and that is how do
you communicate with people in an easily understandable way without
(02:24):
being condescending, without being egotistical, just to get across a thought.
And so what I tried to do when I was
talking to you is the way I talked to jury.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
You know, I'm going to be honest. I'm going to
be straightforward, and I want you to understand it. I'm
not going to talk above you I'm not going to
talk below you. I'm going to talk to you. So
so important, are so grateful. But you know a lot
of people they've seen you on TV so many times.
You've been involved with the most famous legal cases in
(02:57):
the world, and I've been your dear friend. And I mean,
I never asked you about your cases, and you kind
of said that to me one night. How can you
never asked me about a case? It's not my business.
I'm going to tell me what I want to hear.
We've traveled the world together, We've had beautiful experiences. Actually
looking for the best duck in the world. I mean,
that's our favorite duck. But I don't think people really
(03:17):
know because I do. I mean, how you grew up
and really was I know, never planned on being a lawyer.
Well tell us about that. So it's interesting. I came
from a typical middle class family. I was born in Plainfield,
New Jersey, and at eleven months my parents came out
(03:38):
here to be with their parents, and my grandfather bought
a four unit apartment house on Pico in Los Sienica,
and the whole family grew up there together, went all
through public schools. My father had a lunch truck, even
though he was a very accomplished piano player. That was
really a sideline and you.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Know, got up at five in the morning and old
coffee and donuts around downtown LA to the business people.
My mother worked as a clothing sales person in a
clothing store, and so I had a you know, a
typical middle class upbringing. We knew everybody within ten blocks of.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
Where we lived.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
I went all through public schools and my mother was very,
very smart, even though she didn't have a college education.
And she told me two things. The number one, when
you go to college, take Spanish smart, and you should
be a dentist because people will always need dentists. So, okay,
(04:49):
here I am eighteen years old at UCLA as a freshman,
and I enroll as a pre dental major, and.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
My language is Spanish. No one knows this.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
I turned out to be the only non speaking Spanish
person in Spanish one and my first grade at UCLA
is a F in Spanish Classic. Okay, Now, I'm in
chemistry and physics, two things.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
That I'm not really very good at.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
And they tell all the pre dental majors we're going
into the conference room to do some dexterity.
Speaker 1 (05:29):
Pay fine.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
They give me a box of chalk with an exact
on knife. They say, carve a tooth. I have no preparation. I'm,
you know, kind of immature, really, And I said, are
you shitting me? I couldn't even put together a model airplane.
(05:52):
And after I broke every piece of chalk in that box,
I decided it was time to take a leave of
absence from UCLA and try to refocus on something else.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
So I came back in.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Nineteen sixty one and became a finance major and did
pretty well in finance, and I understood economics. And so
now it's nineteen sixty five. The Vietnam War is raging,
and I'm one, a fit and ready to go. The
(06:28):
same time Bruce Jenner is four f unfit to serve.
I'm five foot one, weigh one hundred and ten pounds
and could barely carry a gun, and I'm thinking, oh
my god, I'm going to be going to Vietnam. I
didn't favor the war anyway, So there was a couple
of ways to get out of the draft in nineteen
(06:50):
sixty five. One, you can go to Canada. I hadn't
been out of California, so there's no chance I'm going
to California. Two you could burn your draft card. That
didn't sound like a real smart idea at the time.
Three you could become a conscientious objector that I would
(07:12):
have to lie about. Or four go to graduate school.
So myself and three other fraternity brothers said, you know what,
let's all go to law school just like that, just
like that. Okay, So for fifty bucks we could send
out massive applications, and two of my fraternity brothers and
(07:33):
myself got accepted to the University of San Diego, very
nice campus, third rate law school went down there, and
I had no desire to be a lawyer anyway. And
the first day that law school starts, I get a
call from Loyola, which is a second right now first
rate law school, and they said one seat opened in
(07:55):
the night school. I said, guys, this is great. You
know I've got student debt, be able to work during
the day to school at night. I worked as a
clothing salesman. I'd always worked that'd work since I was
thirteen years old. I never never did not work on something,
whether it was selling pots and pans, going to door sales,
(08:17):
working at the post Office.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
I was a teller at the Bank of America when
you had to put interest calculated in your head in
these little.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Books that would come every three three months for and
so I said, I'm going to night school at Loyola.
They were not happy, but you know, things happened. First
day of night school, one seat opened in the day school.
I said, okay, I'll try the day school and turned
out I did pretty well. In law school. I won
(08:47):
the moot court competition. I became the chief justice of
the Mood Court. And one of the federal judges there said,
you know, you should be a trial lord, just like that.
Just like that, I said, okay. So I applied and
got a job in the DA's office in Los Angeles.
In Los Angeles and prosecuted cases for a little less
(09:11):
than two years.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
And then you go from a prosecutor. Did you ever
imagine become on the best, if not the best, defense
lawyer in the world. Well, I wouldn't say that you
are now you know, your credential speak volumes. But out
of the top three cases, what were the most interesting
cases you have dealt with?
Speaker 2 (09:30):
So the first one was from a place you were
at Las Vegas, before you decided to come to California
and pay real tax.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
Well, I started in California. I know your dad letting
the back back, and you came back with my wallet
leading and.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
I get a call. I pick up the phone and Hi,
this is lizam and Elli.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
It High Lives. Ellie.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Why are you calling me? Well, your friend David Winners
and his client, Linda Lovelace. This got arrested in Las Vegas.
The porn star, the porn star, and they need your help.
So I'm a very young lawyer, and I said, okay,
(10:18):
So I charted a small prop engine claim low to
Las Vegas and David Winners I knew because our kids
were going to the Sayings and he was a choreographer
for lizaman Elli and he was going to now choreograph
(10:40):
a show for Linda Lovelace, the porn star, who had
a movie called Deep Throat, which was the first porn
movie shown legitimately literally around the world, around the world.
Big deal, and the people in Las Vegas at the
time were not happy with a porn star coming for
(11:03):
a review done by Sammy Davis Junior featuring Linda Lovelace,
the porn.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
Star God knows what she was going to do, right.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
And so there was a sheriff there named Ralph Lamb,
very famous cowboy, controversial, tough I rule, a Las Vegas sheriff,
and they were set to go to the Dunes Hotel.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
The last minute they switched.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Him to the Riviera Hotel, which had some connections that
were probably.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
Not mop coally above boardsp Oscar Goodman would not say
that word, but I, okay, we tell Hartshers here exactly.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
And so I meet them and I said, you know,
I have to find a lawyer to help me in
Las Vegas because there's two people. And there were two.
One was a young lorier named Oscar Goodman who became
the mayor of Las Vegas, one of the best lawyers
in the country Olympic and the other was a senior
lawyer named Harry Claiborne Junior. And I said, well, you know,
(12:08):
Oscar is a little bit more experienced than I was,
but not a lot more. Claiborne was a gold standard.
So Claiborne and I represented Linda Lovelace and David Winners
or possession for sale of cocaine. The Metro squad came
in at midnight busted their doors down, came in with
(12:30):
literally with guns, put them on the floor, and found
a large amount of cocaine.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
Supposedly.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
When we had the cocaine analyzed, for some reason, it
seemed to have disappeared from the locker room. Interesting, and
we were able to win the case, and it was
the first nationally publicized case in a minute, so that
gave me some public exposure.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
And number two.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Number two would be representing Christian Brando, accused of murdering
his daughter's boyfriend, Tehuto, and so Marlon Brando hired me
to represent him. I literally lived with Marlon Brando for
six to eight months represented his son. The evidence was
(13:21):
he had shot Tahoodo at point blank range while he
was sleeping as a result of his sister saying Tehuto
was beating me up. That was a tragic case, obviously,
but we were able to get Christian a pleat of
manslaughter and he served five. So that was the second
(13:46):
and the third was one that I think most people
will remember, and that was oj Simpson. And those would
be the top three. Do you remember we ran into
somebody at six weeks ago and I introduced you to them.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
And they said oh, and I said, don't don't you
remember the OJ Cisy case? And the young man goes,
what's that? Who says, job me, you not know O. J.
Simpson and the case the Trial of the Century was
on TV every single day. But what it told us
was we're getting older or you know, it's oh, you know,
(14:29):
it's interesting.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
A while back, a couple of guys that started legal
Zoom with me in two thousand said, you know, why
don't you start doing some videos for Instagram and TikTok. Yeah,
So I sat down, I said I don't try it.
And one of the things I started talking about is
(14:55):
the Simpson case, and much to my surprise that it
has taken off and a lot of people are watching it.
Speaker 3 (15:02):
It's I've seen your tiktoks and Instagram and they're fantastic.
It's Robert Shapiro official. It's a little commercial. He even
all that have matal. Not that I get any money
for it, but it's interesting.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
Storry to Forguess what people don't know is you and
I have spent so much time together over thirty five years,
and the stories they don't stop. I mean, I've had
thirty five years of stories and I'm still learning new
things and it's just amazing. Your life has been so fascinating.
It's been filled with drama, tragedy, but you've always kept
(15:35):
it together. I mean, you and I've had some pretty
spiritual talks about some pretty serious things that have gone
in our lives. It looks fancy on the outside, but
we're just kind of normal guys. You know my dad
really well. I met you through my father, but I
love your father. Your father was an amazing, amazing, my
best friend. We start talking about him, I'll start I'll
(15:57):
start crying, right, I'll start crying it and start crying
about stuff. The show is going to be known as
the Cry Show. But I mean, it's life, and it's vulnerable,
and it's who we are, and we're not afraid of that.
I'm not afraid of that. We've met to I admit
to everything I've done in my life, good, bad, ugly,
and you've been there through a lot of it, and
(16:18):
I have been there with you. They're with and we've
helped each other. I mean, if there's anyone I know
to call it two am or three am at you
and I've.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
Learned something very unusual that a lot of younger people
don't know how to do. And that's I can answer
a cell phone. I just I go crazy when it
goes to voicemail and then voicemail says, we're not taking voicemail.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
We're all full well, right, isn't it? But so that
goes it drives me crazy. So that goes to character
and integrity, doesn't it. Yeah, I mean, how do we
bring that back to instill in future generations that character
and is really the root of who we are. I
don't know.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
It's very challenging. Look look at we grew up. I'll
give you a perfect example. I told you I came
out here when I was eleven months old and a
beat up model T forward with no air conditioning, with
my mother holding me in her hand. My grandson, who
was adorable four years of age, God so handsome, God forbid.
(17:28):
The seat that he sits in is not level perfectly,
the car doesn't go. Okay, your son's a helicopter parent,
exactly exactly. Yeah, I look, I love your son to death.
On the trustee at one of the trustees of his
trust and he and I get into it sometimes because
(17:50):
I'm like, would you pay attention? And you know, my
the way I raised my children. It's all about integrity,
don't lie. It's about of being financially responsible, being being
a good human.
Speaker 1 (18:08):
And just working hard and just having a responsibility.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
Yeah, well, you know, I mean, Grant has turned out
to be a remarkable young man.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
A plus, a plus in his heart, and he's such
a good dad and wants him and great value.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
Great, you know, he he is not spoiled. He's very grounded, hardworking.
And then, as you know, our first son, Brent, unfortunately
died when he was twenty.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Five from alcohol and drugs.
Speaker 4 (18:44):
And so I think that had a real effect on
gwant to begin with, but hopefully with people like you
who have helped us.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
When we started the Brent Shapiro Foundation for Droid Prevention,
we talked about that every because I absolutely that's good.
So I was living in Las Vegas at the time
and my phone rang at seven thirty am and was
the first phone call I got at seven thirty am
like that in my life. And I know it vividly
(19:18):
because I picked the phone and was you on the
phone and you're crying, and I was like, I didn't
even know what to say, and then you told me
what had happened in very specific terms, what happened to Brent,
what caused his death, And we talked immediately. We were like,
(19:43):
and we're going to set up this foundation. You said
that it was in the same breath when we were
talking about unfortunately your son's death of that night and
somebody didn't want to help resuscitate, and it was all
just such a blurb but so real, And we set
up this foundation instantly, And of course I was there,
(20:06):
along with some of your other great friends. Unfortunately some
of them not with us today, mister Gregory and mister
King myself, I think mister Purkle a little bit later,
a little bit later on got any of it. So
tell me about that. And that was just I didn't
even know what's saying.
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Well, it was Sunday morning and the back line in
her home phone rang and rang and rang, and rather
than ignore it, I picked it up. And here's the
(20:48):
words I heard. Brent's not breathing and he's turning blue.
Did you call the paramedics?
Speaker 1 (20:58):
Yes? Where are you? How close are you to sit
or sign a hospital? We're very close.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
I woke up Linelle, put on some sweats. Brent is
in the hospital. When we got to the hospital, we
got there before the paramedic, and I knew the news
would not be good because I know you have a
(21:28):
five hour a five minute window if you stop breathing.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
And we heard what.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
No parent ever wants to hear. We tried to process
that as best we could. Lenelle as a mother.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
Was uncontrollable.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
I was an emotional wreck, and we decided to see, well,
maybe a miracle could happen overnight.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
It didn't. It was a very vivacious young man. He
was very smart. He was on the Dean's list at USC,
very handsome, handsome, fun, smart, wanted.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
To go to law school. And two days later we
had to plan a memorial. Two thousand people came. I
was there to the memorial, and we decided to do
something that unfortunately I hadn't seen it at other tragedies
where young people had died, and that is deal with
(22:42):
his head on. Brent had been in rehabilitation a couple
of times. He had been sober for eighteen months. He
had broken his sobriety. He went to a use SC
football game, had a couple of beers because he always said,
you know, dad.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
I'm a drug addict. I'll never use drugs again.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
Prove to me that I can't have a glass of
wine or some beer. I said, I can't, but everybody
tells me that's the case. So he went with his
then girlfriend to a back to school party at the
Elks Clip of all places, and.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
For some reason he decided with her to.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Have a couple of Yagemeister shots, and then somebody gave
him an ecstasy.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
Bill there he took.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
And we don't know whether it was pure, whether there
was something in it, but he became immediately ill and
started to protect hile vomit. And rather than call the
paramedic because we would find out and he'd be back
(24:03):
in rehab, they decided to let him sleep.
Speaker 1 (24:08):
It off, so.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
His girlfriend took him to a friend's house where they
went to sleep, and he he never woke up. So
immediately after the internment, a friend of mine, friend of yours,
(24:33):
Michael King, came to me and said, you know, I
want to donate some money and your son's honor to
your favorite charity. And I said, Michael, you know, I'm
going to talk to you and a couple of friends,
but I want to start my own charity for drug
awareness because this is going back to two thousand and five.
(25:01):
People were not talking about Ruggs as being a disease,
and for the first six or seven years, we talked
about the idea that this was not a choice but
a disease, and people started talking about it, not giving
lip service to it, but really believing that, yes, there
(25:22):
is something that is a chemical dependency disorder.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
That you created this conversation from you this unfortunate tragedy.
And it's been twenty years now. I mean, I've watched
this since the beginning, and what started as a small
charity Frent's Honor, has become a real program. And I'd
(25:49):
like you to talk about it for a minute because
I'm so proud of being involved in this. I've seen
the results and the way you've handled this charity where
all the money goes to results, and now today you've
got that young adults going to college. They're getting these
great scholarships. So I'd like you to talk to us
about how this platform developed. And more importantly, it's because
(26:13):
my belief and when I become governor of California's state
platforms just like this and take these best practices public private,
partnership and make them all over fifty eight counties in
California because it's just so prolific and the results are tremendous.
So tell us about that. So thanks for asking that, Stephen.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
So after it became pretty clear that people are now
realizing that, you know, this is an epidemic of enormous
proportion that I talked to the head of addiction medicine
(26:54):
that cheeters signa doctor, Jeff Wilkin, and they said, Jeff,
is there any way to keep addicts off drugs? And
he said, yes, with rewards. You give an addict the reward,
they will not use drugs for a short period of time.
I said, what if we tried this with kids?
Speaker 1 (27:17):
Genius? He said, nobody's ever done it.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
So about twelve years ago we shut down four blocks
in Eastella, one of the toughest areas in the country's.
Speaker 5 (27:29):
Boil Heights, right Oil Heights, drug addicts, gangs and they
have a boys and girls club there, the Variety Boys
and Girls Club.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
We sent around vans.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
We put up a little carnival, Ferris wheels, games, food.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
And we had nine hundred people show up. And we
pitched the idea that if you allow your kids to
come to an after school program at the Boys and
Girls club that would test them randomly for alcohol and drugs,
(28:19):
will reward them. This was the beginning.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
The rewards were not monetary, but there were experiences going
to ballgames, going to college campuses, taking kids to the
beach that had never seen the beach. We got twenty
five kids and their families to sign up that after
(28:43):
school program now has expanded to twenty clubs, one.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
In New York amazing.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
We're going to open a couple in Florida, one in Texas,
majority in California, service ten thousand kids. The ultimate reward
now is a college scholarship. If you graduate as a
sober high school student, you're eligible.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
For college scholars.
Speaker 2 (29:12):
And right now we have thirty five kids in college amazing,
paid for completely on four year college scholarships.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
Brandeis one at.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Brandeis, one at NYU, a couple at UCLA, couple at Berkeley,
and one at USC happened to pick the most expensive
school in the.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
Country, of course, But what is fascinating to me is
number one. You watch the dollars. Your administrative costs are
virtually nothing, and everything goes down to performance and what's
also really incredible, what you've told me is the level
of children that fail. The participation is amazing, but the
(29:58):
success is even more amazing. Tell me about that. You
were kind enough to introduce me to Corey Booker last
week write and we talked about this, and he was really,
first of all, very fascinating young senator. And he said,
you know, I'd never heard of anybody attacking it from
(30:20):
the prevention side. Right.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
Everybody is dealing with interaction or interdiction of drugs, stopping
the flow. And I was always convinced that you can't
get rid of supply unless you get rid of demand. Right,
So let's focus on how do you get rid of demand?
Be smart, don't start. And so the Brent Shapiro Foundation
(30:46):
starts with kids from eleven to twelve. We have a
very extensive program, after school program, summer virtually summer school
in our twenty clubs with ten thousand, and they learn
not only about the danger of starting with drugs and
(31:08):
the likelihood of having a lifelong problem, they have now.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
Embraced the idea that they.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
Are doing something positive and that they have a chance
of a real life. Where the majority of these kids
probably wouldn't even graduate high school yet alone go to
call it. And the program has been tremendously successful. So
each club gets one hundred thousand dollars a year that
(31:41):
covers the director and assistant director and all the testing
and the reward, not the scholarship.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
Ninety two and a half percent of what we raise
goes directly to the program, Parkable. Let's relie well. We
have one full time paid employee and one part time secretary.
The rest is all volunteers.
Speaker 2 (32:07):
If we do an event, we do it ourselves, and
the statistics are overwhelming.
Speaker 1 (32:15):
We rarely have ever had a kid fail, and if
they do, it's generally for marrow. But this is what
I see as the essence of the new future of California,
the bully public the United States and taking great charities
like this that show performance and results. I mean, as
a philanthropist, I've been involved. I've watched the great work
(32:37):
you and Linnell have done, and it's remarkable. There's other
charities like this in California. People don't know this, but
maybe some do that you're a big boxing fan, but
you're a great boxer. I've never met anyone with more
discipline in my life. I mean, you're going to be
eighty three years old. No, don't know. Somebody lied on
(32:58):
my burchart. Okay, all I can. I'll tell you this
that all I know is one day we were going
somewhere and I was just being silly and kind of
tried to throw a punch at you, and all I
knew was a right hook was coming underneath my dust
so fast I would have been laid on the ground.
You would kick my ass. Yeah, I'm not gonna forget that.
So I'm not messing with you. I want you on
(33:19):
my side. I'm always on your selede You're still involved.
You go to the gym all the time, and you've
got this discipline. I'd keep the discipline up, you know.
I think that's something you do over the lifetime. You know.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
My father's I told you, got up at four in
the morning, ran his lunch struck, came back at who
in the afternoon, took a nap, packed up the lunch truck,
did get ready the next morning, and did that until
he was sixty five and retired, or when.
Speaker 1 (33:51):
He retired, he came to work for me.
Speaker 2 (33:54):
And was in my bookkeeping, did some of the filings
that we needed for court and actually drove me to court,
and so it was just natural that that I would
continue to be disciplined. He was a great athlete, much
(34:14):
better than I ever would be. But I, as a fluke,
just decided, you know, I don't like to lift weights.
I'm not a great runner.
Speaker 1 (34:27):
I'm small, and I just accidentally got into boxing to
learn how to hit the speedback because you're a huge fan,
and now I love I love the sport. I love
the athletes that are involved in it.
Speaker 2 (34:40):
And as you say, you know, if you don't do
it regularly, it's not going to work well.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
You have discipline, you've been well educated, and you definitely
have integrity. That's my DEI. When you get the trophy
for that, that's Dee. I knew de I. You see
my life bro in business from when we first met
thirty five years ago, and I'm in this new chair
(35:07):
on charted territory, unexpected to run for governor California, and
at the beginning of everyone was like, what are you doing?
But as everyone seen kind of this journey the last
sixteen seventeen months, I've created a couple of fans, you
being one of them, and you've been highly supportive through
(35:28):
this journey. Why should I become governor of California? You
know we were talking about this and number One, you're
extremely smart. Number Two, you don't need a job.
Speaker 2 (35:41):
You're not like a politician who is running to run
again for something else. This is the one thing you
want to do and you're committed to it. Also, you've
done so well in business that I think you need
something to do and you have what it takes to
(36:03):
make a change. Number One, you're very analytical.
Speaker 1 (36:08):
Number Two, you realize that there's a better way for
people to have a better life in California. Two and
you have.
Speaker 2 (36:20):
Focused on key issues that affect the majority of the
people or their Democrats, independence, Republicans, doesn't matter, no, doesn't.
Your message goes to everyone and everybody.
Speaker 1 (36:32):
As I said, everyone's a customer in California, and that's
not political. And that's how you've been.
Speaker 2 (36:39):
That's how you've run your businesses and that's the reason
for your success.
Speaker 1 (36:45):
And I think.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
That of the diligence you have put into this, the
amount of work, amount of study, and your understanding of
not only the political cli climate, but how what issues
are affecting the average person.
Speaker 1 (37:06):
Because I actually pulled everybody. I pulled everyone and asked
them the question. I found Bob that our leaders, unfortunately
we put an office. They got to a point where
they thought they were smarter than us, the people, and
they thought not thought. They believe it's their money, not
our money. They forgot that they're just stewards of the money.
(37:27):
And it's it's crazy. And they forgot to talk to
the best customers of California. They forgot to talk to
all the customers of California. So I'm having a ball
doing this. You've seeing that, Gaus, They're having a really
good time because there's hope in California is to make
us the bully pulpit that we were and ask your question.
I've asked other other folks. If you could have one
(37:50):
day with one person who's not alive, who would you
like to spend the day with? And why my father?
Without a question? Here is there to go here? Again? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (38:05):
No, no, really, I mean, it's tell me why why
nobody's asked me that question. I want to know why,
and because there are things that I wanted to say
that I never like. What thank you for buying me
a suit? When I graduated law, school.
Speaker 1 (38:25):
Do you afford that he could because he was a
very thrifty person.
Speaker 2 (38:34):
He learned a lesson that I have followed, and that
is live within your means number one. Number two save money.
Now here's a man who I don't think made more
than ten thousand dollars a year.
Speaker 1 (38:55):
Driving his lunch truck every day.
Speaker 2 (39:00):
My mother put aside a dollar a week from the
time I was born to afford my.
Speaker 1 (39:09):
Bar mitzvah right when I was thirteen.
Speaker 2 (39:13):
So when my father retired at age sixty five, he
had saved enough money to be self sufficient.
Speaker 1 (39:27):
The rest of his life.
Speaker 2 (39:28):
Pretty amazing, I said, how'd you do that? Compound interest?
And so you know, I just would love to have
expressed it in those terms. Second thing is also with
(39:50):
my mother. My mother was one who would embarrass me.
You tell a mop, yeah, and she'd embarrass.
Speaker 1 (40:04):
Me in ways that well, I'm the smartest kid in.
Speaker 2 (40:08):
School, and I'm doing this and I'm doing that, and
I hate the eyework. I just don't. I don't like
to talk about myself, as you know, and I probably
could have been much more thankful or the way she
(40:29):
raised me. You didn't drive. We took buses everywhere swimming
lessons to La High on.
Speaker 1 (40:40):
A bus, two buses actually to get there.
Speaker 2 (40:44):
So, uh, you know, but you can't look back, you
can't regret things. But the very provocative question, and you
know you can see this on one of the videos
I did on my Instagram. And I've got a case
I'm trying, the wrongful death case where the patriarch of
(41:08):
a beautiful family of a wife and.
Speaker 1 (41:14):
Five children.
Speaker 2 (41:16):
Died horrifically as a result of a helicopter crashing. And
he told me a little bit late, coming off and
sitting in a car minding his own business, and he
got decapitated. And I'm thinking, hell, am I going to
(41:37):
talk to a jury and say there's no economic damages here,
but there's an emotional.
Speaker 1 (41:46):
Loss to his widow and to his five children. What
is life?
Speaker 2 (41:55):
And that's pretty much where you're asking me what was
one more day worth what I spend with my family?
And I'm going to ask the jury what is one
more day like to spend with a loved one who
was decapitated because of a faulty product and a helicopter.
Speaker 1 (42:15):
I just helped your shop your case.
Speaker 2 (42:17):
You always knew, Stephen in anyway, look at it we had.
Speaker 1 (42:22):
A lit Make it a little light of this now,
because that was pretty heavy. It always is. When I
asked that question, I always tear up. You knew my
dad so well, and I miss him so much. And
if you saw this, well, if he saw me running
for governor of California, you'd be going like you're kidding me, right, No,
if I saw you.
Speaker 2 (42:41):
Doing an interview like this, I would not believe how
great you are doing. Honestly, No, this is look at
I've been interviewed by probably as many correspondents worldwide as anybody,
(43:01):
whether it be Barbara Walters, Larry King, the list can
go on forever. Your natural ability to communicate is coming
through so fantastically, And thank.
Speaker 1 (43:19):
You to baby.
Speaker 2 (43:19):
That's what and that's what's because you, brother, No, this
is what's going to make you a great governor because
you and communicate.
Speaker 1 (43:28):
You don't need a script, you don't need talking points.
You have it right here. Well, you know, you taught
me an important concept which is in my vernacular all
the time. It's we we and we together have to
fix California, and we together have to admit that we've
(43:50):
had enough of what was, and we together have to
just acknowledge what it is today and what we want
the future to be. We together, So with that, I
just want to thank you, my dearest friend, Bob. This
is good as always. I love you, I love.
Speaker 2 (44:05):
You more and California is going to love you as
being a great leader for the people.
Speaker 1 (44:13):
California, Jolifornia.
Speaker 5 (44:15):
Get a clue.
Speaker 1 (44:17):
Comack's the Jollimoria Semen comets