My First Live Debate for Governor [Full Video].

[Music]

now the issues facing california

homelessness the economy serious climate

change challenges the candidates

the politicians are mucking it up this

crisis exceeds the current governor's

ability to deal with it we shouldn't

have career politicians in politics i

think the most important job of our next

governor is to make it less important

who the governor is tonight information

voters across california need to make

informed decisions

live from california's capitol

kcra and the san francisco chronicle

present the california recall debate

good evening and welcome i'm gulstan

dart right now voters across california

are deciding two questions first should

governor gavin newsom be recalled and

second if he is recalled who should

replace him which is why we are here

tonight we invited governor newsom and

six leading candidates looking to

replace him the governor's campaign said

that he's not taking part in debates

larry elder and caitlyn jenner said that

they will only debate the governor

tonight we're joined by four candidates

who did accept kevin kiley is a

republican he graduated valedictorian

from granite bay high school he's

currently a member of the state assembly

representing the sixth district kevin

paffreth is a democrat he appears on the

ballot as a financial educator analyst

and he may be better known by his

youtube channel meet kevin he has also

worked as a real estate broker kevin

faulconer is a republican he appears on

the ballot as a businessman and an

educator he's a former city council

member and mayor of san diego and john

cox is a republican he appears on the

ballot as a businessman accountant and

father he ran for governor in 2018 and

lost to gavin newsom

those are the candidates now to the

questions and we want to hear from you

so scan the qr code you see on your

screen to send us questions for the

candidates our moderators tonight are

alexi kossef san francisco chronicle

capital correspondent and kcra 3's

deirdre fitzpatrick and based on a

random drawing our first question goes

to kevin faulconer deirdre all right

gulstan thank you so by agreement you

gentlemen have agreed to have one minute

to answer these questions and for our

viewers at home they will know that

their minute is up because on the floor

which you cannot see is a red light

green light system so when the light is

green you're free to talk you'll see a

yellow which means start wrapping it up

when you get to red you're supposed to

be done talking and if you get past that

lexi and i

will find a nice way to try to start

cutting you off so let's get to our

first questions we did ask people all

over california to submit questions we

had well over 400 questions come in we

won't ask all of them

no surprise one of the top things people

want to talk about is something that

affects every single person on the

planet everybody in this room right now

and that is coronavirus so we'll talk

about the pandemic and vaccine mandates

to start us off today so this week the

fda gave full authorization to the

pfizer vaccine for those who are 16 and

older so now that it's no longer under

the emergency use status authorization

what is your position on vaccine

mandates both in the private sector and

in the public sector and it is worth

pointing out that all four of our

candidates tonight are vaccinated so we

will as gulstan said start with kevin

faulconer i said thank you i am vaccine

that vaccine number one way that we can

get over covet 19 is to have

everyone get the vaccine as i said my

family's vaccinated my wife my kids

i think it's incredibly important and

particularly in this now that we're

seeing fda approval

that we continue to educate and educate

the benefits of getting that vaccine and

that's something that i've been strongly

advocating for

all of these many months ever since

obviously the vaccines came out

and i feel really strongly that our best

opportunity is indeed to educate we're

not going to mandate our way out of

covent 19. while i was mayor of san

diego i really stood up against you know

the statewide mandates that we saw from

governor newsom one size fits all policy

we want everybody to be healthy we want

everybody to be safe but the best way to

do that is to educate folks to get that

vaccine and that is the best way that we

are all going to get over this together

as californians so to be clear you're

against mandates both in the pub for the

public and then also the private sector

as well no man our best opportunity

again is to get everybody vaccinated

we're not going to do it by mandating

you need to educate okay next up is

kevin paffrost same question thank you

very much

albert einstein once said the definition

of insanity is doing the same thing and

expecting different results the reality

is

the vaccine is very important however

oxford university just told us last week

that transmission still occurs in

vaccinated individuals now i encourage

everyone to get vaccinated my family is

vaccinated but my three and

five-year-old are not because they can't

yet get the vaccine and so we need to do

something different if we want to end

this pandemic

we need to also include an emphasis on

hepa filtration in our schools there's a

reason our planes are still flying we

don't need lockdowns to end this

pandemic what we need is proper

education like mr faulkner has said

potentially even incentives of up to 250

for a new

vaccinated adult but if we still spread

coven from vaccinated individuals we

must also make sure we lessen the burden

on our hospitals by ensuring that every

building in our state has a proper hepa

filtration and we use proper masking to

end this pandemic okay so i'm gonna ask

the same follow-up question just to be

clear

no mandates private sector or public

sector i do agree with mandates i agree

with mandates at a local level though

not from the governor's office i'm gonna

be very clear about this i believe every

individual business has the

constitutional right and every

individual building has the right to

determine their own mandate rules that

means every individual school hospital

can determine vaccine mandates

themselves thank you kevin kiley your

turn

well as i was uh watching your station

kcra before the debate started i saw a

commercial from gavin newsom against the

recall and he had this dire warning that

if the recall succeeds then these

mandates are going to go away and

cobit's going to spread which is kind of

an odd thing to say because the mandates

didn't exist until a week or two ago

we're the only state that has them and

they haven't even gone into effect yet

so it's clearly a campaign issue and

that's the way that gavin newsom has

treated kovitt from the beginning he's

politicized it i'll give you a very

clear example of that

last year in october when newsome

thought it was good politics he cast

doubt on the vaccine he said that we

couldn't take the fda's word for whether

it was safe the chair of the united

states senate health committee had to

write him a letter telling him to cut it

out he said that newsome was attacking

the career scientist at the fda that he

was discouraging americans from taking

the vaccine and he was costing lives and

then when it came time to actually roll

out the vaccine we had the slowest

rollout of any say the governor didn't

prioritize seniors and when they were

did become eligible they'd spend all day

on the phone trying to get an

appointment and couldn't get one it's

been exactly the opposite of the way the

approach should have been and john cox

i agree with mr kiley i won't call him

kevin because we have too many cabins

here

but

listen the the politicians will

politicize this and that's what they've

done and i'm a businessman i want to

solve the problem and mandates aren't

going to solve the problem uh i've been

vaccinated my family's been vaccinated i

believe in the vaccine it comes from the

private sector it's well tested and i

believe it's good i'd like to see the

vaccine approved not only for adults but

i'd like to see the proof for children

as well and i think that's going to

happen very soon but i think the

reticence of people to get vaccinated is

all about the lack of trust in

government and gavin newsom is exhibit a

in that

situation this not just his hypocritical

dinner at the french laundry which

demonstrated that he doesn't think the

rules apply to him but it's also the

no-bid contracts the no bid contract the

blue cross to botch up the vaccine

distribution that mr kylie referred to

uh the note the raising of money for his

wife's foundation uh from pg e uh which

literally has killed people

this erodes trust and when people don't

have trust in their leadership they

don't listen to leaders when the leaders

tell them that they should do something

i don't believe in mandates i don't

believe in mass mandates i am not

interested in having that i believe in

freedom i believe in the constitution

thank you john cox appreciate let's move

on to the second viewer question

regarding coronavirus several of you

have expressed opposition to mass

mandates in schools as well as other

public health measures that governor

newsom has adopted to combat the

pandemic

now that we're in the middle of another

surge what steps would you take to slow

the spread of the virus moving forward

kevin paffraff we'll start with you

thank you very much well first and

foremost we need better masks facial

coverings are a failure dr scott goblins

tells us that facial coverings

themselves are no better than 20 to 30

percent effective the reality is we need

n95

masking the cdc in government has failed

us in providing science-based evidence

that we should not use these if you go

to the cdc's website right now they say

don't use n95s they should be reserved

for healthcare workers i believe that is

a mistake and as governor i will provide

n95 respirators these masks to

individuals who need them in our state

who cannot afford them i will make sure

we have an appropriate supply of masks

that are well fitted for our children

and the people of our state so with

proper ventilation we can actually end

covet and again i'm for vaccination but

what you just heard from the other three

candidates on the stage and what you

hear from the other candidates who are

too afraid to be here tonight to stand

in front of the california people

is nothing about ventilation and new

ideas it's more of the same and that's

why we're failing with covid i will

change that as government

thank you very much kevin kiley what

steps would you take i would follow the

approach that other states have taken

which is to have a balanced approach and

to place trust in citizens and when you

look at the issue of masks we're in the

minority of states that has a statewide

mandate and you look at other countries

like the united kingdom they've said

we're not going to do mass for

elementary school students or we're not

going to require it because the harms to

a child's development far outweigh any

benefits and those benefits aren't even

very clearly established and it's almost

certainly the case that the effect on a

child of wearing a mask all day varies a

lot from child to child which is why

this should be this decision should be

in the hands of parents but we need to

we're talking about mask right now but

let's not forget the fact that

california shut down its schools longer

than any other state in the country we

were 50th out of 50 in getting our kids

back to school was that because that was

the safe thing to do no gavin newsom

knew it wasn't the safer thing to do he

sent his own kids to in-person private

school it was rather that we have a

special interest in this state the

teachers unions that gives more money to

political uh office holders than any

other group and has given more money to

gavin newsom than anyone and so that's

why i think there's a level of distrust

that exists in a lot of what the

government is doing because clearly

neither public health nor the interest

of our kids has been guiding policy

making so you've spoken for the past

minute about

something you're opposed to which is

mass mandates but what steps would you

take moving forward to slow the spread

of the virus i would rebuild the trust

that gavin newsom has lost through the

steps i've just outlined the way that

he's politicized the vaccine the way

he's politicized things like mass the

way that he shut down our schools for no

good reason i would say i'm going to

start serving the people of california i

think when we rebuild that trust people

are more than able to take the measures

they need thank you thank you very much

john cox what steps would you take well

i agree with rebuilding the trust

people should trust in the vaccine they

don't because they don't trust gavin

newsom they don't trust the politicians

and you know we need to be honest with

people about this disease this is an

awful disease i got it early on

the chinese should certainly be held

accountable for failure to warn us about

it as well as possibly developing it

themselves but we have to deal with it

and that's the problem see the

politicians never consider the costs of

any activity they they engender they

whipped up a whole lot of fear among

people and and certainly this disease is

certainly not a great disease but but

it's 99.9 survivable uh certainly we

should protect the vulnerable certainly

we should protect people with

pre-existing conditions but what we

should do is be honest with people this

disease has animal reservoirs smallpox

didn't we're not going to get rid of

this disease

so we've got to encourage people to

trust the vaccine get the vaccine so if

they do get the disease it's not going

to be as serious and that's the best

that that's the best way so are there

any specific

steps that you had in mind beyond

rebuilding trust with the public again

i'm not i look at the costs you know we

can eliminate all highway deaths if we

all drove at 10 miles an hour well we're

not about to do that

governor newsom shut down small

businesses he shut our kids out of

school

places like florida kept their

businesses open disney world was open in

july thank you disneyland just opened in

april so i you know the destruction of

saint paul's destruction to our

children's psyche is also serious too

thank you for your answer and and kevin

faulconer are there any steps that you

would take moving forward to slow the

spirit of the virus the most important

thing is to let our local school

districts working with parents

make the right decisions based upon the

facts of the ground in that community i

think one of the things that you've

heard very clearly is that gavin newsom

always his first step is to say let's

have a statewide mandate our state's

very big it's very diverse that's the

wrong approach again we need to have

parents school district members working

together

i'll tell you our schools should have

been open this past semester

the fact that this governor shut down

our schools for as long as he did i mean

i kicked off my campaign in los angeles

in front of a closed public school and

right across the street was an open

private school where teachers were

safely teaching and kids were safely

learning why

because that school reported to parents

but yet the public school where i was at

with ultimately reports to gavin newsom

was closed

my daughter should have been in school

this past semester just like everybody

else's kids across california in the

classroom safely learning with great

teachers doing it zoom was no substitute

we had a governor that didn't understand

that we're still dealing with those

consequences now

thank you and just quickly again are

there any specific steps that you would

take to slow the spread of the virus in

california all the great steps that we

have seen we have seen our local

districts with our great teachers

working with our parents in terms of

social distancing in terms of all the

hygiene things that you have to do make

those decisions locally not again a

statewide mandate coming from the

governor to shut our schools down thank

you very much

it is not a surprise we're in a severe

drought and that many of california's

water reservoirs are at record low

levels would you mandate restrictions on

water use to get california through this

season if so how would you actually

enforce them and if not

what would you do to address the very

dry months that we have ahead of us and

we'll start this time with kevin kylie i

would not do so rationing should not be

an option and you mentioned the

reservoirs are low they were overflowing

just a few years ago so if we had

political leaders who were exercising

any semblance of political leadership we

would have figured this out a long time

ago maybe we should find a way to save

the water in the wet years so that we

can use it in the dry years what i've

proposed is a constitutional amendment

that will say that from this point

forward a fixed amount of our state

budget is going to go towards projects

to increase our water supply towards

dams towards reservoirs towards

conveyance to reuse towards desalination

until we add 5 million acre feet to our

annual water supply and by the way there

will be protections from litigation as

well and it would make sure the funding

is actually used for that purpose you

know we haven't significantly expanded

our water capacity here in california

since the state water project we have

more than enough water that comes to us

by the grace of god we just need to

manage it responsibly you know and

scarcity and rationing and cutbacks are

political choices and if we make

different choices then we'll end this

era of shorter showers and fallow fields

in california those are long-term ideas

what do you do for the next six months

until the rain is back well i point you

to for example a letter that a democrat

in the assembly adam gray wrote to the

water board telling them not to impose

these cutbacks on farmers and pointing

to other solutions like a lot of the

environmental regulations that cause us

to divert water from productive use

right john cox

yeah this is another one of the

management problems that the politicians

and the celebrities and the insiders who

have run this state for too long

have cost i mean this is a management

issue this is not a political issue if

you need water which we do we need water

to live we need water to farm we need

water for every use

you make sure that you have the water

available you don't just sit and blame

climate change and not do anything about

it i'm a businessman i'm going to solve

the problem and of course what that

means is that we have to do things like

desalination recycling programs and

reservoirs and i agree right now uh we

are in a problem because of the lack of

management skill

and the politicians are to blame for it

you know we've passed two water bonds in

the last 10 years and they've yet to

spend most of the money from those water

bonds this is the voters have spoken

they said we we want uh water stored and

you know another constitutional

amendment isn't going to do the job we

need to get just better leadership kevin

faulconer

the only solution we get from gavin

newsom every time we're in a drought is

take a shorter shower

that's not going to cut it

we have to build more storage we have to

increase the supply in california in

fact just last week i had the pleasure

to be up in maxwell about an hour north

meeting with folks on the site's

reservoir we have to turn that into

reality

we have the ability to do not only that

but temperance flat down further south

and about we have to increase our supply

and for a governor to just give lip

service to that but not actually take

the steps and the emergency steps

necessary to get these reservoirs going

i think is unconscionable and it has to

be an all-of-the-above approach and i

have a lot of experience with that as

when i was mayor of san diego we moved

forward on one of the biggest water

recycling programs right now going on in

the state of california

we have desalinization in san diego

county strong proponent and supporter of

that and so instead of what we see from

gavin newsom

every single year take a shorter shower

cut back we have to get smart increase

the supply we know what needs to be done

i will have the experience and the

political will to get it done but what

do you do the day after you become

governor when people don't have water

because reservoirs take years to build

what do you do for those months in

between i will move immediately on

building reservoirs day one slat night

told not only that insights reservoir as

well these have been on the books

forever we have funding in the water

bonds but we haven't had the political

will to move forward we have to start i

will start on my first day as governor

kevin pathrav pafras same question thank

you very much well much of what we've

heard here about solving our water

crisis is the same old that we've heard

a lot of complaining the same thing that

we heard with our covet plans the folks

on the stage with me did not have strong

plans and they each had to be asked

follow-up questions for what their

actual plans would be we need emergency

action when it comes to our water crisis

on day one i will declare a state of

emergency

to begin the construction

as soon as feasibly possible of a

pipeline to the mississippi river we

will build an interstate pipeline by

coordinating with joe biden in the

federal government now this sounds

outlandish but we have a massive problem

researchers and phds have come up with a

solution it would take just 14 power

plants to pump water here we can buy

cheaper cleaner water there's enough

federal land between here and there with

the exception of texas where we're going

to rent land we're going to double the

flow of water to the mississippi river

we need strong ideas and that's why i'm

polling better than all three candidates

on the stage combined in august both

polls in august i poll better than all

three combined by a four to nine percent

margin because my plans will work have

you explored cooperation with these

other states to do something like that

absolutely here's the thing we have

spoken with a lot of folks about our

plans but what i want to be very clear

about first is i stand for win-win

negotiations i recognize that we're not

just going to take water but we also do

desal conservation wells we're going to

do everything all hands on deck but we

need more water we need to double the

flow of water to the colorado river it

would only take four percent of the

water from the mississippi well from

water we're going to go to fire now yes

we're in the middle of another

record-breaking wildfire season which

has leveled towns and

a destroyed property all over the state

do you favor restricting new development

in high fire risk zones john cox will

come to you first

no i don't i do i

favor

better management to deal with the fires

this is again another problem of the

politicians and the celebrities who have

run the state into the ground

uh we solve the problem and how do we do

that we manage the forest we go in and

we get rid of the tinling the uh

the

dead trees and all these things that are

going to cause fires to be you know

become infernos

we also revive the timber industry which

has been run out of this state they did

a lot of the fire forest management uh

before they were run out of the state

and then we need to have

new ideas like a

air force i saw today there's a new fire

in grass valley i mean if we had decent

air force if we weren't spending four

million dollars a day on that train to

nowhere in the central valley i propose

taking that money and buying or leasing

a whole bunch of jets there's never been

more jets available than any time in

history outfit them with tanks and make

sure you go after these fires and put

them out before they become infernos

that money for the train was set aside

by a constitutional amendment passed by

voters do you favor going back to the

ballot to

to redirect that money toward wildfires

that yeah if necessary but i'll tell you

what that project is way over budget way

behind schedule it's a honey pot for all

kinds of interest groups that are making

money out of it and the taxpayers are

footing the bill it's wrong okay thank

you kevin faulconer do you favor

restricting development in high fire

risk zones i favor putting our state on

a war footing when it comes to wildfire

and what we see from gavin newsom year

after year is rhetoric he'll go out and

talk about climate change but he won't

take action he won't take action what we

need to here in california to do it

and so that's why i believe we have to

and i will declare a state of emergency

as governor to move forward immediately

on the fuel reduction that hasn't been

occurring in our forests that need to on

the brush management on all of the

emergency ingress in the aggressive fire

exits that haven't been constructed

because this governor won't do it and

what did he do

he cut the funding from cal fire last

year and then he also went out and tried

to take credit

for treating acres of force that never

actually happened

i'm going to treat this as the emergency

that it is because lives are literally

at stake

and if we do not actually get in and

reduce those fuels do that brush

measurement by providing a tax credit

for home hardening

that's the only way we're actually going

to make a difference on this in

california and again it starts by saying

we have to change it immediately put our

state on a war footing for wildfire

prevention so just quickly yes or no do

you favor restrictions on development

i favor giving the increases that we

want for folks to do their home

hardening and we need to do that and all

the legislation that's out there

it works okay thank you um

kevin paphrath same question to you i'll

answer the question no i do not favor

restrictions i favor doing what our

governor said he was going to do now i

understand i'm running as a democrat and

i encourage people to vote yes on that

second question for kevin paffreth as a

backup but here's the reality have a

bone to pick with governor newsom he

overstated fire prevention by 690

percent he was exposed by npr for doing

that the day he was exposed

we had governor newsome's administration

try to cover up that they ever made that

promise which is news that came out last

week

but look here's the reality

the economist told us that in 2017

portugal had devastating wildfires then

conducted controlled burns at a cost of

just 35 an acre versus the 1500 an acre

it cost to fight wildfires

and then they didn't have a devastating

wildfire since and that's what we need

we need a governor who's actually going

to do what he says he's going to do

but i don't think that could be a

republican

that's because we have a 75 percent

democratic control in congress and

democrats in congress will sandbag a

republican governor through the 2022

election by overriding vetoes from a

republican governor by overriding

emergency action and overriding or

delaying appointments this is why we

need a jfk style democrat vote kevin

paffroth thank you uh kevin kiley do you

favor restricting new development in

high fire risk zones uh i will agree

with my namesake and uh i want to thank

him for underlining something that is

abundantly clear to any everyone except

gavin newsom which is that this is not a

partisan recall this has been bipartisan

multi-partisan from the beginning it's

about the failures of our government to

do the most basic things like manage our

forests and the result of course is that

our communities are at risk and we keep

having these catastrophic events so i

don't think it's necessary to restrict

development there alexi i think that in

the areas where there's an unavoidably

high risk people are not going to be

eager to build and there are plenty of

places to build but i will say this it's

an entirely different story for folks

who already live in areas that have

become high risk thanks to the state's

negligence we have many many people in

this state whose fire insurance rates

have doubled have tripled more they've

lost their coverage they've had to go to

the california fare plan and it's

imposed a real economic hardship their

homes have become unsalable and i do

think those folks need tax relief it

should come in the form of a tax credit

which i actually proposed in the

legislature but the larger issue is that

we need to actually start prioritizing

forest management we have 15 to 20

million acres of overgrown forests in

this state and we're seeing the tragic

results of it year after year thank you

very much our next question is another

one that viewers submitted and it has to

do with housing affordability spoiler

alert they think it's really expensive

to live in our state so

some democrats have pushed to make it

more affordable and easier to build

small apartment buildings in residential

areas and neighborhoods or to turn

unused commercial property into

residential housing so would you sign a

package of bills to allow those kinds of

changes to happen and we start this time

with kevin faulconer

our state is too expensive first and

foremost and people are voting with

their feet they're leaving our state

because they can't raise their family

they can't afford a home gavin newsom

appointed himself as the homeless are

the housings are right everything under

the sun but yet doesn't take the action

necessary to actually construct the

units

a lot of experience in that

as mayor of san diego i brought together

democrats and republicans to pass one of

the most significant reforms to help

increase housing in san diego increase

the supply where we want it along our

transit quarters we called it complete

communities it's going to make a huge

difference i eliminated the regulatory

burdens to construct that eliminating

things like parking requirements to make

it easier so you can get more units

i have the experience in actually not

only getting these plans there but

getting them across the finish line in

this case the super majority democrat

city council

we have to make housing more affordable

in california and i will take the same

types of steps that i took as mayor

those immediate steps that says we're

going to cut through the bureaucracy

we're going to build more homes we're

going to build them where we want them

to be which is along our transit

corridors and we can actually do it

all right we'll go to uh kevin paffrath

you certainly have a lot of youtube

videos on topics like this where do you

stand on

it california currently builds just 80

000 housing units per year to break even

with our housing disaster we need to be

building 300 000 homes per year that's

to break even

kevin faulconer mentions that we should

build along our transit coordinator

quarters that's not enough that's not

enough it's not that it will create a

drop in the bucket for our housing

crisis

it doesn't help that when you had a real

estate deal in san diego 101 ash you

understated repairs and ended up costing

115 million dollars then you stated they

would 115 million dollars more here's

what we need to do

we need to build hundreds of thousands

of homes throughout california ideally

half a million homes per year there are

482 cities in this state

we build them outside of our large

cities we'll average them out we will

have affordable housing again that way

we're not affecting housing prices

within our city but instead we're

providing an affordable option outside

of our cities and then we can have

better infrastructure to connect these

homes

we will also make these communities net

negative by building them near and

around solar and wind farms but we must

build more houses fast by streamlining

the permitting process and enabling

californians to build

yeah you can no you have 30 seconds to

respond i'm happy to it's not the time

for on-the-job training

for youtube somebody that's never

actually had to get legislation across

actually had to get the units

constructed and built and actually take

the stance to get housing constructed in

california i think that's a clear

difference between you and me my friend

and that's why it's important that we

elect a governor that can actually get

hit the ground on day one

who has success working with democrats

and republicans to actually get housing

across the finish line like we did in

san diego that will help a hundred

thousand new units to make it more

affordable for our families it's not

time to test drive it's time to actually

have somebody who has the experience to

do it all right it's kevin kylie's turn

i'll remind you i'm sorry i should

respond to that the ques we're going to

move to kevin colley the question to

remind you is would you sign a package

of bills to make changes including

building small apartment buildings

within existing residential

neighborhoods or turning unused

commercial properties into housing well

it's hard to commit to signing or not

signing a bill in the abstract there's a

lot of things we need to be doing about

housing

and you know some of the ideas you

mentioned may have merit but uh

fundamentally this is the issue uh more

than any other that is the reason the

american dream is falling apart in

california this used to be the state

where anyone could get ahead it's now

the state that so many people can't wait

to leave behind last year for the first

time in california history our

population declined by 182 thousand

people we just lost a seat in congress

based upon the last census now gavin

newsom came into office he ran for the

governorship claiming that he'd do a

marshall plan for housing but he's

produced nothing of the short as a

matter of fact he's delivered one-fifth

of the units that he promised now you'll

get other states they can get projects

off the ground in weeks and for

thousands of dollars that in california

take years and cost millions of dollars

that's the reason we don't have the

housing supply that we need and there

are very simple reforms we can make to

get the results that other states do

reforming sequa rolling back the costs

that add 150 000 to the price of a home

before the project even gets off the

ground certainly streamlining the

approval process okay the last person to

answer these questions john cox well

i've been in the housing business for

over 40 years so i have the experience

and i'm not a politician and the

politicians have jawbone about this for

years you know this isn't just a supply

issue that's certainly part of the issue

but it's the cost of building and mr

kylie referred to it uh i build for a

living most my building is done in

indiana uh i can build there for 125

dollars a square foot here in california

it's 450 500 a foot you can build 300

000 units all you want but you're never

going to make it affordable when it's

that expensive and it's driven up as mr

kylie said by sql by the impact fees by

the lawsuits i can get approvals in six

to 12 months in indiana and i assure you

that people in indiana care about the

environment they care about traffic they

care about building standards and it's

not the cost of the land that's the

difference because when you're building

multi-family the cost of the land isn't

significant we need to get somebody as

experienced can bring down the cost of

housing because it is killing families

and their ability to live in this state

it's all about families but many of the

regulations that you refer to are in

place to protect things like air water

and labor is there one regulation you

would look to end first

like i said the people of indiana care

about the air water and labor as well

they managed to approve

property building in six to 12 months

not 12 years like here

they certainly have high standards as

well but they managed to get the and

it's done like that all across the

country california is the outlier here

and i think we all need to understand

that it's because of the politicians and

the celebrities that we've had running

the state

uh we're going to move on to the next

question um one of the biggest debates

to emerge from the recent racial justice

protests is whether the state should be

able to strip law enforcement officers

of their badges when they break the law

california is one of only four states in

the country where there is no statewide

process to do this but there is a bill

moving through the legislature right now

that would make that change

would you sign it kevin paffraff first

to you well first live three thousand

hours of experience in law enforcement

and i support our law enforcement

community but i also understand there

are problems in law enforcement we need

a massive community style policing

package in our legislature to make sure

we can reform law enforcement and i

would consider exactly what you've just

asked me

crime proposition 4757 we've got

problems we need to enforce the law we

don't need to defund the police we need

to properly fund the police not over

fund the police and that's what i stand

for now i'd like to respond to the claim

of experience i have 11 years working in

real estate and my experience doesn't

include ripping off my city

it also doesn't include a display a

disdain for transparency or such a

disdain for california that you prefer

to invest in real estate outside of

california

all the properties i own are in

california i respect the experience i

have in real estate here the reality is

i am a jfk style democrat who can work

with our democratic legislature

a vote for any republican including the

ones who are not here is a wasted vote

and whether you are yes or no on recall

you should vote for kevin paffraff and

see my full plan at meetcavin.com okay

thank you um kevin kiley would you sign

a police or decertification bill well i

will answer that question alexa let me

just say first that you know i believe

there is room for criminal justice

reform and police reform where

appropriate i authored a bill brought

together the aclu uh and law enforcement

to provide transparency in for grand

jury proceedings and officer involved

shooting cases and for example in the

brianna taylor case after there was the

decision not to move forward there the

family wanted to see the transcript if

that had taken place in california they

could have because of my bill now with

respect to the specific bill that you're

talking about i think everyone agrees

there needs to be a fair process but i

can't just commit to whatever the the

bill may be at this point in time in my

years in the legislature i've spent five

years in the legislature i can tell you

that these things are sort of a moving

target a lot of times as they won their

way through the legislature but the

larger issue is this that we have had a

a policy towards our law enforcement in

california that has been

incredibly disrespectful i mean the

slogan defund the police is one of the

most defensive political slogans ever

concocted and i think that at the end of

the day we need to restore the reverence

and respect for law enforcement that

they deserve and also put public safety

first in our communities again at a time

when crime rates are rising okay thank

you very much john cox would you sign a

police decertification bill we need to

get the politics out of this we need to

make sure that we have the most

professional law enforcement force that

we can muster and that means we need to

get the politicians out of the picture

we need to make sure certainly that we

have a transparent process that weaves

out people that abuse their badge that's

a very rare occurrence by the way and i

think it stains a lot of the people that

already serve i mean

my law partner has a son in in the

police and and he says he doesn't

understand how his son continues to

serve because of all the abuse that

they're getting

the politics gets into this and we don't

have the leadership that stands up and

defends the police

99.9 percent of whom do a good job they

deserve our respect

they certainly we certainly have to have

body cameras and make sure that we go

after police who abuse their power but

that is such a rare occurrence i agree

defund the police is not the way that we

should go we need to get rid of 47 and

57 we need to enforce the law make sure

that crime

is is punished that's the first role of

government so this question was about a

process to strip law enforcement

officers of their badges when they break

the law just to be clear do you support

that concept or not i i certainly think

that

a police officer was found in a

professional hearing that's not

politicized

found to have committed a crime or

abused his power certainly should be

stripped i don't believe it should be

run from the state down i don't believe

in top down so that's a no no on a

statewide process okay thank you kevin

faulconer same question

i stood up during a very difficult time

in our city i had hundreds of protesters

out in front of my house yelling at me

my family defund the police i stood up

and said no

i hired the first female police chief in

the history of san diego we were

selected as the nation's safest big city

in america why because i understand that

balance and what you have to do to

protect your city and actually bring

people together in a safe way it takes

character and judgment i'm going to take

this opportunity because one of the

people that is not here tonight larry

elder does not have the character the

judgment the skill set or the experience

to be governor and i've been very

outspoken this week and i'm going to

take one more opportunity to do so

his attack

on working women is unconscionable to

all the working moms out there know that

with kevin faulconer as your governor

i'm going to support your right to raise

a family to have a career

unlike what larry elder's talking about

i'm going to make sure that california's

daughters

have the same opportunities as

california's sons we need a governor

that's going to stand up for working

women and knows that every woman in this

state

can have a career can raise a family and

to all the working moms out there right

now i want to say one thing thank you

thank you for what you're doing we value

you we can't wait to work with you is

there is there a specific policy uh

promoting gender equality that you would

try to pursue as governor

it is and talk a lot about the

opportunity for equal pay that's

incredibly important i promoted some

women into the top management positions

in our city was i was mayor i understand

how important that what about as

governor rather than exactly

okay it's going to be a strong point

i'll be talking more about that later

okay thank you

our next question has to deal with tax

cuts many californians believe the cost

of living is too high in the state i'm

sure that is not a surprise to you

what would you do to make california

more affordable and for those of you who

have proposed tax cuts please be

specific about how you would make up for

the loss in revenue and this time we

start with kevin kiley

well we do need lower taxes and you

don't need to make up for the loss in

revenue i mean i talk to people who who

hate the taxes but they say look if i

was at least getting something in return

for it in terms of the quality of

government service then i'd be okay with

it i mean you know we just gavin newsome

just signed a 267 billion dollar budget

by far the largest in state history the

budget has more than doubled in just the

last decade yet do you look around and

say wow look at these beautiful

reservoirs and dams we have look at our

perfectly paved roads look at our

sterling public schools no of course not

everything has continued to get worse

the quality of life in california has

continued to decline that is the story

of modern california as epitomized by

gavin newsom that we sacrifice the most

and get the least in return and why is

that it's because i've seen this in my

five years in the legislature that our

state government is fundamentally broken

and what has broken it is political

corruption we have a state capital that

is entirely run by lobbyists and special

interests which is why i'm the only

elected official at the state level in

california that refuses all special

interest funding because we need to get

back to the idea of government by the

people john cox yes or no on tax cuts i

propose the largest tax cut in the

history of california across the board

25 percent this state taxes its people

way too much it's not just the income

tax it's the corporate tax the sales tax

is one of the highest in the country the

gas tax is one of the highest in the

country our gasoline prices are now

approaching six dollars a gallon in most

of california the cost of living is way

too high it's literally killing families

and forcing them to break up and move to

other states and you know the parents

then have to move themselves

the real problem is spending i'm a cpa

and i can't wait to get my hands on this

budget i practice zero based budgeting

in my own businesses i've done that for

40 years you start at zero you don't

just take last year's budget and add

money to it you know when i'm the

governor i'm gonna have to appoint three

thousand political appointees that's

ridiculous we shouldn't have that many

appointees we shouldn't have most of the

boards and commissions we have we're

going to have an audit of every single

agency starting with the edd and we just

learned of a homeless

audit that was blistering in terms of

its criticism of governor newsom that

was just released today they have no

idea what they're spending the money on

it takes too long to get done and they

have no idea if it's even helping

homelessness this has got to change we

moved to kevin faulconer where do you

stand on tax cuts

we have to give californians the relief

that they deserve

yet our state is too expensive people

are leaving and everyone is listening to

us tonight understands we need to let

you keep more of your hard-earned tax

dollars in your own pocket not send it

to sacramento

and that's the same thing that we get

from gavin newsom in the legislature

year after year send more money

the fact that we're at a 70 billion

dollar surplus

i've proposed the largest middle class

tax cut in california history

one reason to make sure folks have been

able to keep that so they can afford to

live here in our great state

and it's significant what do we have we

have kevin newsom going around

giving out a stimulus check six hundred

dollars and thinking that that's the be

all end all it's not it's not even close

we need permanent lasting tax relief and

my plan is real dollars in people's

pockets enough for eight months of

grocery eight months of utility bills 92

tanks of gas and that's just for

starters we've got to stop being the

highest taxing state

in this nation and understand that we're

going to create good quality jobs help

california families by letting you keep

more of what you earn that is a huge

difference between what we're seeing

from this governor who only wants to tax

and we'll end this question with the

democrat on stage thank you very much

well i've heard a lot of complaining

from my fellow candidates here but the

reality is i have not heard a plan as a

jfk style candidate i have a plan

step one no homeless on our streets

within 60 days we have a very thorough

plan for making sure homeless can

finally get the dignity and services

they deserve homelessness costs

california eighty thousand dollars per

year per homeless person

is very expensive then step two we need

to solve the causes of homelessness

we can't be the fifth largest economy in

the world with schools in the bottom

twenty percent we need to teach

financial education in our schools we

need to teach mental education in our

schools provide drug treatment services

one dollar into drug treatment services

saves us three dollars in crime and with

the legislature i will pass a very

comprehensive package to address housing

transportation and traffic and busing we

will address homelessness and the causes

with drugs and mental health and we will

also make sure we have future schools in

the state now my full plan is at meet

kevin.com but the reality is once we

invest in californians then we can lower

taxes and we can make california

competitive by cutting taxes on anyone

making less than 250 000

to zero once we properly invest in

california okay we need to move into

round two of our questioning tonight and

this shrinks your answers to 30 seconds

okay

so good luck governor newsom i think

everybody would agree has been dealt a

unique set of challenges

everything from the pandemic to the

recession wildfires drought civil rights

unrest

in your view

what has he done well

and what would you continue

and we'll start this time with

john cox

this state is a mismanaged mess i mean

you can't really name anything that this

governor has done well uh i might have

agreed with in the first couple weeks of

covid where he you know cautioned us to

slow down for two weeks to stop the

spread but beyond that his pandemic

management was an inconsistent disaster

and listen we don't have electricity we

don't have water we have live in fear of

fires crime is rising

housing prices are out of sight taxes

are out of sight the homeless problem

has only gotten worse when in the the

audit today said that we don't even know

what the money was spent for we got to

stop with these politicians

the question is

name something he's done well and what

could you seek at the very beginning of

covet we all pulled together as a state

those are very difficult days for all of

us i was mayor of san diego and i had

one goal keeping us all healthy and safe

and communicating but i think the

problem we saw from this governor is

again he went into lockdown mode he went

into a one-size-fits-all policy that's

that just caused all of the shutdowns

that caused our school closures that is

not the right way to do it we have to

bring people together as i did when i

was mayor republicans democrats

independents and i will make sure that

we put the facts forward first and move

forward in one direction not

a top down policy to kevin paffraff now

something the governor has done well

that you could see continuing

the governor's done a great job at

branding this election as a republican

recall unfortunately he's wrong

i'm a democrat running against the

governor that's one thing he's done well

but here's the problem we have a big

threat and that threat isn't here to

defend himself that's larry elder that's

because larry elders with his

disinformation friends tucker carlson

and laura ingram right before this

debate aired he went on laura ingram's

show

it's time to end the big threat and make

sure that larry elder does not become

the next governor by voting for kevin

paffraff

kevin kiley can you name something the

governor has done well that you could

see continuing so the governor actually

is my constituent i should say he lives

in my assembly district and one thing

that he's done well is he does these big

splashy announcements like he did uh

with fire mitigation efforts which my

friend over here uh said uh pointed out

has was exaggerated by 690 percent

there's never any follow-through but

what's worse is you know kind of the

image that should stay with people about

gavin newsom is the one of the french

laundry not because of the hypocrisy but

because of who he was there with a table

full of lobbyists that is who this

governor listens to and what we need in

our next governor is someone who will

actually serve the people of california

thank you

all right this is our final question the

integrity of our elections was

challenged last year and one of the

candidates in this race larry elder has

promoted unfounded theories that the

recall election is rigged against him do

you believe this election is fair and

will you accept the results of the

recall

kevin faulconer first to you said larry

elder's unfit to serve as governor of

this state doesn't have the character of

the judgment today we just found out by

the way that he supports legalizing some

of the most dangerous drugs on our

streets in california

that's crazy it's not just dangerous

it's crazy

not only will what will that will mean

for our homeless encampments and it'll

grow beyond exponential belief but think

of all of our families and our kids what

those dangerous drugs opioids are if you

legalize all the heroin methamphetamine

that's big no that's terrible there's no

place for that for a candidate who's

running for governor accept the results

of this election dramatically worse will

you accept the results of this election

just yes or no

uh yeah i'm planning on winning and i

and i can't wait great kevin pafras same

question to you i don't know about the

plans to win right now i'm beating all

three of you in the polls combined but i

will accept the results of this election

i do understand the secretary of state

needs a lot of work i have a bone to

pick with the secretary of state but we

have to remember nothing's going to get

done and i'm so worried about california

for the future of my children i have

three i'm sorry i have two children

one's three once five i'm so worried

about the future of california

and a republican governor will sandbag

california for a year as democrats take

complete control until 2022 to win the

governorship back okay thank you kevin

kiley do you believe this is a fair

election and will you accept the results

well it should be pointed out first that

actually there is a lawsuit right now to

try to cancel the election and there are

people in gavin newsom's inner circle

who seem to be supportive of this effort

they have tried every step of the way to

delegitimize the recall they called it

the california coup and indeed gavin

newsom himself signed a bill to change

california law a couple months ago in

order to allow the date of the election

to be moved when went to the date where

he thought he had the best chance of

winning and so there is no doubt that

this election has

the scales have been tilted uh in favor

of the incumbent here and i think that's

why a lot of people distrust our

election process will you accept the

results of this recall election we won't

even know when the results will begin

once that's certified it's certified so

yes you will accept certified it is

thank you and john cox finally to you i

will accept the uh results and uh but

i'll make it clear that i don't want all

mail ballots uh

south korea did an in-person election in

april of 2020 in the middle of the

pandemic because they wanted people to

trust you know that's what we need

people we need to get away from the

politicians and the media types and all

the attacks going on here from the

politicians the media we need to get a

business person that's actually going to

solve the problem maryland massachusetts

have republican businessmen as governors

and they're the most popular governors

in the country because they solve

problems that's what we need to go to we

need to get away from this partisan

policy thank you very much for your time

round two of our questioning take a

breath we'll toss it back over to

gulstan dartmouth all right thanks dear

to great exchange there we're going to

take a quick break right now when we

come back tonight the candidates will be

making their final statements

[Music]

welcome back we're wrapping up our

debate for the gubernatorial recall

election four candidates are ready to

make their final statements they each

have one minute and we're going to start

tonight with john cox

imagine a california where you can buy

an affordable home where you don't have

to see homeless all over parks and

beaches where you have enough water we

have enough electricity imagine a

california where you don't have to worry

about rising crime or wildfires

threatening you where the taxes don't

tax you to death where you can you can

actually have a decent sense of life

you know let's stop electing the

politicians and media celebrities who

are all talk

i've built a business over 40 years by

solving problems and delivering results

i'm not doing this to get a job i'm not

doing this to move up the rung of

political ladder i'm doing this to save

this state because it needs to have that

done we need to fix this state we need

to get away from the mismanagement these

aren't political issues these are

management issues and they can be solved

that's the good news we just have to

have a leader who is interested in

solving

the problems and not practicing politics

kevin kiley you're next

well this election is happening because

many many californians have demanded it

more than ever have signed a petition in

united states history you know and

people of all partisan affiliations all

backgrounds who look around and see that

we have the highest poverty that we have

the most homelessness that we have the

greatest level of inequality that we

have failing public schools that we have

crumbling infrastructure and they ask

how is it that our beautiful state

became last in everything and as i've

seen as a member of the legislature for

five years the answer is that we have a

broken state government so if you're

someone who is frustrated with the

direction of our state you want to stay

here you want to raise your family here

you want to retire here but maybe you're

reluctant to cross party lines what i

would say is this take a chance on

change the recall is for you you're not

signing on for four years you're signing

on for one year so you can see if things

improve and then if not you can vote for

a return to the way things are next year

but if i'm elected i think you will see

things improve because my administration

will be about back to basics pave our

roads manage our forests store our water

maintain our grid fund our police do the

things government is supposed to do all

right kevin patharoth your turn thank

you very much we've heard a lot of

vision from other candidates but no real

plans i understand my plans are bold

so are jfk's

my plans are

to end our homeless crisis to solve our

housing crisis to solve our school

crisis our crime crisis our water crisis

and our fire crisis

all the details of which of course are

at meatkevin.com but we have to remember

one thing

we've got to go out with the old and win

in with the bold and that's what i bring

bold plans because we need this in

california otherwise in 20 years my

children i fear will ask me why i raise

them in a state that's now bankrupt that

is what i fear

but i also fear

a governor who can't get anything done

over this next year lame duck governor

and since i am polling the best of the

candidates on this debate stage

i would ask them to drop out of the race

and endorse me kevin paffrath on the

second part of the ballot so we can

defeat larry elder and bring bold change

to california

and kevin faulconer you will have the

last word tonight well thank you

it's time to stop the circus

this is very serious times for our state

we don't want to replace one

dysfunctional governor with another

i'm going to bring

the experience the judgment

somebody who can bring our state

together it's exactly what i did when i

was mayor of san diego in a very

difficult time

when we had a mayor that needed to be

replaced and i stepped in and we made a

huge difference somebody who can bring

together democrats

republicans and independents who will

provide the real solutions and the

leadership

on day one

that's the serious stakes that are

involved here it's no time to test drive

a governor

and to all of you who are listening out

tonight whether you're a democrat

independent or republican i ask for your

help

and your support

and your vote

i'm running because i believe that i

strongly believe that california's best

days are ahead of us

i'm ready to lead on the issues that

matter to you and with your help and

support i can't wait to be the next

governor of the great state of

california

all right with that gentlemen we want to

thank you for being here with us tonight

and sharing your views on what you think

the future of california should look

like that is all the time we have again

we want to thank all of our candidates

for joining us remember voters can vote

on one or both parts of this recall and

you can mail back your ballot anytime as

long as it is postmarked by september

14th and you can also drop off your

ballot at a secure ballot drop box or a

voting location or your county's

election office by 8 pm september 14th

we want to thank you for joining us

tonight for this special debate i'm

gulstan dart on behalf of kcra 3 and the

san francisco chronicle we say get out

and vote have a good night

[Music]