March 16, 2026 • 9 mins
Paul Corvino sits down with Tom Steyer, Candidate for Governor of California.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Meet the Candidates with Division President of iHeartMedia,
Paul Corvino.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Today I'm joined by Tom Steier, Democrat, running for governor
of California.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Welcome Tom, Paul, thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
We'll learn a little bit about you today. But before
we get into any questions, I'd like to do a
quick Q and A. You've got to answer as quickly
as possible and we get the mouth moving, the brain working.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
You ready, Well, I guess one of those is going
to happen.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
We'll see. We'll see if you get them both going. Okay,
you're ready. Here we go, ski your beach vacation.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Beach Beatles are Stones Beatles, Tom Brady and Michael Jordan,
Michael Jordan, Sean Connery or Daniel Craig, Daniel Craig, Star
Wars or Godfather.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Ooh ooh ooh, Pat.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Both Dodgers are giants.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
I live in San Francisco here, I live in San Francisco,
and I love the Dodgers. That is just one hell
of a baseball team. You have to love that team.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Sorry, that was a great political answer.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
No, No, I'm from San fran But god, I watched
that World Series. It was unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
I'm a Yankee fan and I love the Dodgers.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Oh my god, there, that was such a great team
effort in the best way.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
My first question that I've been dying to ask you
successful businessman, made a lot of money, could be living
a good life, having fun every day.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Why the heck would you want.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
To do this job of being governor of the state
of California.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
You have to know something about my family to understand that,
because everyone asked me that question. But the truth is,
in my family, what people respect is what you give back.
That's you know. My grandfather was a research doctor who
never made more than twenty eight hundred bucks in a year,
and my grandmother hated him for it, but he felt
like he was pushing medical research and making people live longer,
(01:53):
and he thought it was the greatest life ever. My
mom was a teacher public schools in prison. My dad
was a Navy vet. My brother there has worked for
at risk kids his whole life. My wife has been
an advocate for economic and environmental justice for her whole life.
So for me to start a business that was the
weird thing. The weird thing is, why would you do
(02:13):
that when I left it fourteen years ago to give
back to the community, to push to be an advocate
for working people, to push for justice in both economically environment.
That wasn't strange in my family. It was sort of like, Oh,
he's finally come to his senses and decided to do
what's valuable.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
You were born in New York YEP. Group of New York.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
As a kid in the Upper East Side, not far
from where I grew up.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
YEP.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Our kids who were as I said, we went to
the schools that were competing at some of the schools
that you were in.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
When did you come out here? And you've been here
almost forty years now.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Came out here in eighty one to go to school.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
Where'd you go to school?
Speaker 1 (02:51):
I went to Stanford Business School and I came out
here and my brother had gone to Stanford and said,
you got to come out here. You're going to love it.
I did. Met my wife and it was kind of like, Okay,
you love the out of doors, you love sports, you
love optimism, you love the Pacific Ocean, Okay, you love opportunity.
(03:11):
What am I missing?
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Like? This is fantastic right now to talk some of
our friends back in New York with the weather's been
like the last few weeks.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
I don't want to rub it in, and we can't
have everybody move in here.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
I have fun rubbing it in.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Well, let me ask you, what would you say is
the most important issue facing the state of California right now?
Speaker 1 (03:31):
There's no question what the most important issues for California
is they can't afford to live here. The cost of living, affordability,
the cost starting with the cost of housing, including the
cost of electricity for most of the state, where three
electric monopolies charge twice as much as the national average
and provide worst service. The cost of healthcare is absolutely
eating people up. So there's no question what is facing
(03:55):
Californians every single month is how do I afford to
keep living here? Because this is the greatest place in
the world to live. But if you can't make rent,
you can't live here.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
How are you going to fix that?
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Well, in every one of those issues that I described,
I have a short term and a long term response,
because structural change takes a long time, and we don't
have people who are can't make rent or who can't
afford healthcare don't have a long time to say, oh,
we're making structural change, so if you can wait three
(04:26):
or four years, it's all good. So in the case
of housing, obviously, the real problem is we haven't built
houses for a very long time, and to solve that,
there's a whole bunch of things we need to do.
We've done some of them in terms of change, making
permitting faster and less expensive, making zoning more available in
the places we need to build, but there's a lot
(04:47):
more that needs to be done, and it's urgent. I
am also in favor of rent control because we have
had a governmental failure that has prevented us from building
houses that people can afford for decades, and people can
ford rent because everybody's competing for the same apartments and
the price just keeps going up to a place where
people can't make rent. So to a very large extent,
(05:08):
short term solution, rent control, long term solution, build a
lot of houses. And I said I'd be at least
a million houses in the first four years.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
You've got the I would say, well, the candidates set
of running, and it's a it's a very crowded field
right now. You've got the most business acumen, you've worked
in the private sector, you can read a balance sheet,
you know the difference between a balance sheet and an
income saving and you know how to manage money. How
do you think that's going to help you in governing
the state.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Well, I think that's part of the answer, honestly, Paul,
but very far from all the answer. I mean, what
you're saying is I have had to get tangible results
in my business career, absolutely, which means I have to
be down in the details making it happen and studying,
you know, the the what economics looks like, and what
(05:54):
costs look like, and what revenues look like. That's true,
but that's very far from the whole answer. For the
last fourteen years, I have been working as an advocate
for working people in this state, and I have also
gotten results there where. Three times I've taken on special
corporate interests and they're you know, the advantages that they
have at the expense of working Californians. I've taken them
(06:16):
on at the ballot box in propositions and I'm three
for three. Every time people said you'll never beat these people,
and we always beat these people. So yes, it's true.
I know how to analyze economics and business and I
feel like that's an important thing in a state, depending
on its economy. But more than that, I feel as
(06:36):
if I have the ability to manage public stuff too.
And I start with the props, but I've done a
lot of stuff in the public sector with measurable results
where you can say, Okay, this is a guy who
gets results in the real world, and that's what California
needs now, someone who's not just talking, somebody who's going
to get it done.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Well, what would you say is the low hanging fruit
for when you first get into office, where you could
affect change the most the quickest.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Well, I think in every one of these instances the
three that I mentioned, and there's more than three, but
which we're housing, healthcare, and electricity costs, there's a short
term answer and then there's a longer term structural solution.
And so in housing, what I would the first thing
I would go for is rent control because people absolutely
need relief in In healthcare, one of the things that
(07:24):
I'm talking about doing is calling a special election to
close a corporate real estate tax loophole that's been on
the books for more than forty years, because we need
the money. What is the loopholes. It's basically they are
using valuations from the nineteen seventies as the basis for
paying their tax every year, their real estate tax, when
(07:45):
the valuations are completely, you know, disconnected from the actual values,
and the difference is worth twenty two billion dollars a
year to the State of California. There's no reason for it.
It's just a loophole. And so in terms of that,
in order to meet the demands that the big Trump tax,
BILK is going to kick a million to three million
(08:07):
Californians off medical next year, and we're going to have
to provide their healthcare. And there's a shortfall, and this
is designed to meet. Part of it is designed to
meet that shortfall, and part of it is designed to
go directly to education at the local level. So that's
what I do in healthcare. In terms of electricity, the
first thing I would do is change the way the
PUC oversees these electric monopolies. They have weird incentives. They're
(08:29):
not to provide low cost, reliable power. They're to make
money for their bottom line, and it doesn't make sense
for Californians.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
I understand. Well, thank you so much for coming on.
I enjoy talking to you today and hopefully we'll get
you back again as the Paul.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
I hope this is the beginning of a long relationship.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Absolutely again, this is Paul Corvino, the division president of iHeartMedia,
saying thank you for listening to another episode of Meet
the Candidates.
This is Meet the Candidates with Division President of iHeartMedia,
Paul Corvino.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Today I'm joined by Tom Steier, Democrat, running for governor
of California.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
Welcome Tom, Paul, thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
We'll learn a little bit about you today. But before
we get into any questions, I'd like to do a
quick Q and A. You've got to answer as quickly
as possible and we get the mouth moving, the brain working.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
You ready, Well, I guess one of those is going
to happen.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
We'll see. We'll see if you get them both going. Okay,
you're ready. Here we go, ski your beach vacation.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Beach Beatles are Stones Beatles, Tom Brady and Michael Jordan,
Michael Jordan, Sean Connery or Daniel Craig, Daniel Craig, Star
Wars or Godfather.
Speaker 1 (00:47):
Ooh ooh ooh, Pat.
Speaker 3 (00:50):
Both Dodgers are giants.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
I live in San Francisco here, I live in San Francisco,
and I love the Dodgers. That is just one hell
of a baseball team. You have to love that team.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Sorry, that was a great political answer.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
No, No, I'm from San fran But god, I watched
that World Series. It was unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
I'm a Yankee fan and I love the Dodgers.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
Oh my god, there, that was such a great team
effort in the best way.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
My first question that I've been dying to ask you
successful businessman, made a lot of money, could be living
a good life, having fun every day.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Why the heck would you want.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
To do this job of being governor of the state
of California.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
You have to know something about my family to understand that,
because everyone asked me that question. But the truth is,
in my family, what people respect is what you give back.
That's you know. My grandfather was a research doctor who
never made more than twenty eight hundred bucks in a year,
and my grandmother hated him for it, but he felt
like he was pushing medical research and making people live longer,
(01:53):
and he thought it was the greatest life ever. My
mom was a teacher public schools in prison. My dad
was a Navy vet. My brother there has worked for
at risk kids his whole life. My wife has been
an advocate for economic and environmental justice for her whole life.
So for me to start a business that was the
weird thing. The weird thing is, why would you do
(02:13):
that when I left it fourteen years ago to give
back to the community, to push to be an advocate
for working people, to push for justice in both economically environment.
That wasn't strange in my family. It was sort of like, Oh,
he's finally come to his senses and decided to do
what's valuable.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
You were born in New York YEP. Group of New York.
Speaker 2 (02:35):
As a kid in the Upper East Side, not far
from where I grew up.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
YEP.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Our kids who were as I said, we went to
the schools that were competing at some of the schools
that you were in.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
When did you come out here? And you've been here
almost forty years now.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Came out here in eighty one to go to school.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
Where'd you go to school?
Speaker 1 (02:51):
I went to Stanford Business School and I came out
here and my brother had gone to Stanford and said,
you got to come out here. You're going to love it.
I did. Met my wife and it was kind of like, Okay,
you love the out of doors, you love sports, you
love optimism, you love the Pacific Ocean, Okay, you love opportunity.
(03:11):
What am I missing?
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Like? This is fantastic right now to talk some of
our friends back in New York with the weather's been
like the last few weeks.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
I don't want to rub it in, and we can't
have everybody move in here.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
I have fun rubbing it in.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Well, let me ask you, what would you say is
the most important issue facing the state of California right now?
Speaker 1 (03:31):
There's no question what the most important issues for California
is they can't afford to live here. The cost of living, affordability,
the cost starting with the cost of housing, including the
cost of electricity for most of the state, where three
electric monopolies charge twice as much as the national average
and provide worst service. The cost of healthcare is absolutely
eating people up. So there's no question what is facing
(03:55):
Californians every single month is how do I afford to
keep living here? Because this is the greatest place in
the world to live. But if you can't make rent,
you can't live here.
Speaker 3 (04:03):
How are you going to fix that?
Speaker 1 (04:05):
Well, in every one of those issues that I described,
I have a short term and a long term response,
because structural change takes a long time, and we don't
have people who are can't make rent or who can't
afford healthcare don't have a long time to say, oh,
we're making structural change, so if you can wait three
(04:26):
or four years, it's all good. So in the case
of housing, obviously, the real problem is we haven't built
houses for a very long time, and to solve that,
there's a whole bunch of things we need to do.
We've done some of them in terms of change, making
permitting faster and less expensive, making zoning more available in
the places we need to build, but there's a lot
(04:47):
more that needs to be done, and it's urgent. I
am also in favor of rent control because we have
had a governmental failure that has prevented us from building
houses that people can afford for decades, and people can
ford rent because everybody's competing for the same apartments and
the price just keeps going up to a place where
people can't make rent. So to a very large extent,
(05:08):
short term solution, rent control, long term solution, build a
lot of houses. And I said I'd be at least
a million houses in the first four years.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
You've got the I would say, well, the candidates set
of running, and it's a it's a very crowded field
right now. You've got the most business acumen, you've worked
in the private sector, you can read a balance sheet,
you know the difference between a balance sheet and an
income saving and you know how to manage money. How
do you think that's going to help you in governing
the state.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Well, I think that's part of the answer, honestly, Paul,
but very far from all the answer. I mean, what
you're saying is I have had to get tangible results
in my business career, absolutely, which means I have to
be down in the details making it happen and studying,
you know, the the what economics looks like, and what
(05:54):
costs look like, and what revenues look like. That's true,
but that's very far from the whole answer. For the
last fourteen years, I have been working as an advocate
for working people in this state, and I have also
gotten results there where. Three times I've taken on special
corporate interests and they're you know, the advantages that they
have at the expense of working Californians. I've taken them
(06:16):
on at the ballot box in propositions and I'm three
for three. Every time people said you'll never beat these people,
and we always beat these people. So yes, it's true.
I know how to analyze economics and business and I
feel like that's an important thing in a state, depending
on its economy. But more than that, I feel as
(06:36):
if I have the ability to manage public stuff too.
And I start with the props, but I've done a
lot of stuff in the public sector with measurable results
where you can say, Okay, this is a guy who
gets results in the real world, and that's what California
needs now, someone who's not just talking, somebody who's going
to get it done.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
Well, what would you say is the low hanging fruit
for when you first get into office, where you could
affect change the most the quickest.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Well, I think in every one of these instances the
three that I mentioned, and there's more than three, but
which we're housing, healthcare, and electricity costs, there's a short
term answer and then there's a longer term structural solution.
And so in housing, what I would the first thing
I would go for is rent control because people absolutely
need relief in In healthcare, one of the things that
(07:24):
I'm talking about doing is calling a special election to
close a corporate real estate tax loophole that's been on
the books for more than forty years, because we need
the money. What is the loopholes. It's basically they are
using valuations from the nineteen seventies as the basis for
paying their tax every year, their real estate tax, when
(07:45):
the valuations are completely, you know, disconnected from the actual values,
and the difference is worth twenty two billion dollars a
year to the State of California. There's no reason for it.
It's just a loophole. And so in terms of that,
in order to meet the demands that the big Trump tax,
BILK is going to kick a million to three million
(08:07):
Californians off medical next year, and we're going to have
to provide their healthcare. And there's a shortfall, and this
is designed to meet. Part of it is designed to
meet that shortfall, and part of it is designed to
go directly to education at the local level. So that's
what I do in healthcare. In terms of electricity, the
first thing I would do is change the way the
PUC oversees these electric monopolies. They have weird incentives. They're
(08:29):
not to provide low cost, reliable power. They're to make
money for their bottom line, and it doesn't make sense
for Californians.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
I understand. Well, thank you so much for coming on.
I enjoy talking to you today and hopefully we'll get
you back again as the Paul.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
I hope this is the beginning of a long relationship.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Absolutely again, this is Paul Corvino, the division president of iHeartMedia,
saying thank you for listening to another episode of Meet
the Candidates.
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