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With just days remaining before California voters head to the polls, Mark Simon and Bob Marks break down the increasingly unpredictable race for governor, the latest polling trends, and what could determine who advances to November. They examine the campaigns of Antonio Villaraigosa, Tom Steyer, Katie Porter, and other contenders, along with the impact of money, endorsements, and voter turnout.
The conversation also explores California’s biggest challenges facing the next governor—including AI regulation, insurance markets, wildfire policy, water resources, and the state’s ongoing relationship with the Trump administration.
Mark and Bob then shift to national politics, discussing President Trump’s declining approval ratings, congressional tensions, the Iran conflict, inflation, gas prices, and what the early signs suggest for the upcoming midterm elections.
Closer to home, they analyze several important San Mateo County races, including contests for Board of Supervisors, Assessor-Clerk-Recorder-Elections Chief, Superintendent of Schools, and Board of Equalization. They also discuss the proposed billionaire tax, transit funding challenges, local tax measures, housing development debates, and what voters should watch heading into November.
Chapters
- (00:00) - Welcome to The Game
- (00:30) - California governor’s race enters final stretch
- (01:41) - Polling, campaign spending, and Tom Steyer’s challenge
- (05:18) - Why the next governor may face unexpected issues
- (06:15) - AI regulation, insurance, wildfires, and California’s future
- (07:27) - California Democrats and dealing with the Trump administration
- (08:05) - Trump, Congress, Iran, and growing Republican divisions
- (09:35) - Could California’s next governor serve only one term?
- (11:21) - Debate over California’s Top-Two Primary system
- (12:38) - Billionaire tax and regional transit tax proposals
- (13:27) - BART, Caltrain, and the politics of transit funding
- (15:17) - Will California voters support a billionaire tax?
- (16:20) - Tax measures, inflation, and voter frustration
- (19:33) - Board of Equalization race: Sally Lieber vs. John Pimentel
- (22:10) - Trump’s approval ratings and the 2026 midterms
- (24:05) - Iran, inflation, gas prices, and economic pressures
- (26:07) - Redistricting and the battle for Congress
- (28:14) - San Mateo County Supervisor races examined
- (31:19) - Noelia Corzo and the write-in challenge
- (34:08) - Superintendent of Schools race: Camacho vs. Bonini
- (34:45) - Assessor-Clerk-Recorder-Elections Chief race analysis
- (38:10) - Endorsements, campaign spending, and voter awareness
- (42:01) - Looking ahead to November’s local elections
- (43:23) - The importance of local political coverage
- (44:20) - Final thoughts and election preview next week
- (45:19) - Closing remarks
The Game is hosted by Mark Simon and Bob Marks and produced by Frank Bravo, BravoITC.com and YourTechMakeover.com. Watch or listen to every episode at TheGamePeninsula.com.
Creators and Guests
BM
Host
Bob Marks
Bob Marks is a longtime Peninsula television producer and executive. He led Peninsula TV (Pen-TV), San Mateo County's public affairs cable channel, and was executive producer of its high school quiz show, Quiz Kids. He has co-hosted public affairs programs with Mark Simon since at least 1999, and the two revived The Game as a podcast and video show in 2024.
Host
Mark Simon
Mark Simon is a veteran Peninsula journalist who writes a weekly column on local news and politics for the San Mateo Daily Journal. He was a political reporter and columnist for the Redwood City Tribune and the Peninsula Times Tribune, then a daily columnist and political writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. He later spent about 15 years at SamTrans and Caltrain, retiring in 2017 as chief of staff. He lives in San Carlos.
Producer
What is The Game?
Mark Simon and Bob Marks revive their long-running cable TV show The Game, where they interview local leaders and talk widely about politics, business and sports.
Produced by Frank Bravo, BravoITC.com
00:00:26:02 - 00:00:28:01
Speaker 1
Welcome to the game. I'm Mark Simon.
00:00:28:01 - 00:00:30:19
Speaker 2
And I'm Bob marks. It is.
00:00:30:21 - 00:00:53:03
Speaker 1
May 22nd, which means it's about 12 days until Election Day. A lot of people, not a lot of people, actually feel. If you look at the data in San Mateo County, turnout is still relatively low. But I think that's because a lot of people are waiting to figure out what they want to do with the race. We have been talking about seemingly forever, Bob, and that's the governor's race, which really does take on that.
00:00:53:05 - 00:01:26:11
Speaker 2
Well, it's it's still fluid. It's really a three person race. Hilton and have been in the low 20s pretty consistently. Steyer, you know, has been in the 12 to 15 range, although there was one poll that showed him in 19. The big question is if you're a Mehan or a porter or any one of the the other candidates on the ballot, including Swalwell, are you going to switch when you realize your candidate doesn't have a chance?
00:01:26:11 - 00:01:41:07
Speaker 2
And you know, how much will that shake up the race? So that's kind of where we are. And it's it's kind of interesting when you have a situation where you're not 100% sure what the outcome is going to be.
00:01:41:13 - 00:02:04:11
Speaker 1
Yeah, it's pretty unusual, actually. It's kind of kind of interesting, as you said, if you had to pick today. I mean, it looks like Sarah and a lot of it has to do with, yeah, I'm not crazy about him, but I'm less crazy about the others. Steyer, astonishingly, I'm sure by now he has spent $150 million of his own money.
00:02:04:13 - 00:02:05:01
Speaker 1
And I've.
00:02:05:01 - 00:02:07:04
Speaker 2
Only 200 million.
00:02:07:05 - 00:02:25:27
Speaker 1
Yeah. For that kind of money, you can buy the entire legislature. You don't need to be covering you. Just pick them up one at a time. I don't it's not a good use of his money that doesn't speak well for his fiscal strategies. But, you know, the fact is, for all the money he has spent, he hasn't really closed the deal.
00:02:25:27 - 00:02:47:21
Speaker 1
He hasn't made himself more interesting or more appealing. And that's the key is it isn't just, you know, it isn't just, you know, do I agree with his policies? It's like, do I do I want to hear from the guy year after year, day after day over the next four years. And I think a lot of people just aren't turned on by the guy other than his political positions.
00:02:47:23 - 00:03:03:05
Speaker 1
Yeah. Porter has never really seemed to get beyond where she is, and Mehan has gone nowhere. It's amazing. Yeah, I don't think it helps that he's never he's never served a full term in either of the two offices he's had. That doesn't happen.
00:03:03:08 - 00:03:31:13
Speaker 2
So his campaign has had problems from the beginning. They he fired his campaign manager at one point. There's a story yesterday about one of his mega donors wanting a refund. Yeah. And so yeah, you could say, well, he's you know, he ran for mayor of San Jose, but he's never been in this kind of situation. Perhaps you'll learn in the future.
00:03:31:19 - 00:04:06:22
Speaker 2
But you know, it's Steyer. It would be, you know, very interesting if he's able to somehow pull this out. I know that there's an independent expenditure effort that's being run by a consulting firm called Bear Star, which has pretty much dominated Democratic policy politics for the last decade or more. And so, you know, and apparently they are trying to boost Hilton.
00:04:06:25 - 00:04:27:13
Speaker 2
They are apparently doing some things, you know, I don't know whether they're sending out stuff to Republicans touting Trump's endorsement. But, you know, obviously they want to face Hilton and they don't want to go, you know, into a general facing Stier and who knows how much money.
00:04:27:20 - 00:04:49:28
Speaker 1
You know, the early turnout numbers suggest that there is a genuine surge toward Hilton that turn out on the Republican side, you know, percentage wise is double that of what it is among the Democrats. The trouble is, the number of Democrats who turned out is double that of the number of Republicans. And that problem only gets worse the more people vote.
00:04:49:28 - 00:05:17:25
Speaker 1
So I guess Hilton has energized people. I cannot imagine there's a chance he would win unless whoever they nominate, something disastrous happens along the lines of what's happened to Swalwell and Porter. Even, I think irresponsibly tried to say that about Becerra. Well, there may be something in your past that will sink your candidacy without saying what that might be, or having any other evidence.
00:05:17:27 - 00:05:41:11
Speaker 1
One of the more interesting, desperate things people would say is like, well, you know, you could end up being brought down by scandal too well. And so say all of us, you know, I mean, you know, the sad thing about Swalwell is that it's not unique. So it looks like it might be because he's sort of the caretaker, as it were.
00:05:41:13 - 00:06:01:14
Speaker 1
He he's been very cautious not to say much of anything. And maybe in this environment that's the right thing to do. Normally it's an out in a primary like this is going to heavily wait toward the liberal side. But and the fact is in in that context, he's a mainstream liberal. There's no question about it. But he's just very cautious.
00:06:01:14 - 00:06:10:13
Speaker 1
And that, you know, you look at other elections where that's are doing well. And the last thing they want is somebody who's cautious. Yeah.
00:06:10:15 - 00:06:12:27
Speaker 2
Yeah yeah. So go ahead.
00:06:13:04 - 00:06:13:28
Speaker 1
Go ahead.
00:06:14:05 - 00:06:15:27
Speaker 2
No you go ahead.
00:06:15:28 - 00:06:41:21
Speaker 1
So the big issues it looks looks to me that they'll be facing our insurance regulation and regulating AI tech and social media. Any other thoughts about you know, you and I both know that the issues that candidates run on are rarely the ones they end up having to deal with once they get elected, because something comes up and nobody's really been talking much about either one of those topics.
00:06:41:26 - 00:07:00:01
Speaker 1
But given the amount of money that's gushing toward AI in particular, and people who are eager and aggressively seeking the chance to make lots and lots of money, I can't. I can't think that that won't be something they'll end up dealing with no matter what happens.
00:07:00:03 - 00:07:27:01
Speaker 2
Yeah. And I think, you know, obviously issues that have been around for a while budget concerns, wildfires, water issues, they're all they're all still there on hand. But you're right. You know, something will come up that we're not thinking about right now and will probably dominate for a while. Also, you know how they deal with the Trump administration.
00:07:27:04 - 00:07:37:21
Speaker 2
They still have a few years left. And that really seems to be what the Democrats in California are all about, is how to maneuver and how to deal with him.
00:07:37:28 - 00:08:05:29
Speaker 1
Yeah. Let's veer off for a second to talk about Trump and the Senate. In the House as we speak, some Republicans have indicated they would vote for the Democrats to end the war in Iran, and also not grant Trump that $1.8 billion IRS slush fund he wants to set up, and also not fund his ballroom. Is this sort of the turning of the tide?
00:08:06:01 - 00:08:20:05
Speaker 1
I mean, he campaigns against these guys, beats them in the primary, and they're still around until January, and they got no reason now to say, well, I'm going to get along with the guy, since he's never made an effort to get along with them.
00:08:20:08 - 00:08:50:01
Speaker 2
As far as the War Powers Act, even if they do vote, it's likely to end up in the courts. How quickly the Supreme Court would make a decision on that, I think, remains to be seen. The ballroom and the fund that would pay him back for weaponization of of government against him. And I guess some others are interested in getting in on that, on that money.
00:08:50:03 - 00:09:12:04
Speaker 2
But I think there is slippage. I think you've got a lot of people in the House and the Senate that are looking at a stark reality come November. They're starting to panic. And so they, you know, they may be at this point willing to to kind of take him on in their own way.
00:09:12:07 - 00:09:35:13
Speaker 1
Yeah. They may actually have to go get a job. Yeah. Heaven forbid. Is the is the next governor. I have the sense that there's a good chance that governor is going to be a one term governor, that there are other people waiting to, to run, some of whom should have run or could have run this time. If you look at the rest of the ballot, you've got Fiona mar.
00:09:35:15 - 00:09:55:21
Speaker 1
Elena likes 2 or 3 other Rob Bonta, who are already statewide established figures who may think that the next governor, especially if it's Steyer and he can't get done what he wants to get done or says he's going to do. I could see them thinking, well, I'll take a shot at running against somebody.
00:09:55:23 - 00:10:28:26
Speaker 2
They could. Although certainly the past history in California says governors will be around for two terms. So it depends on, you know, obviously what happens. You know, AI is having a huge impact on California revenue. And so and has offset some of the budget concerns that were there. But, you know, four years is such a long way away.
00:10:28:28 - 00:11:09:03
Speaker 2
There's so much is going to happen. And beyond those that you mentioned, I mean, Malia Cohen is another one that's a statewide office holder. But people will emerge during this time period whether the billionaires will continue to run and try to have message. I think, you know, one of the things that Stier is dealing with is Democrats obviously want to go after billionaires, want to, you know, get more money into to be able to spend on issues and feel like they need to pay their fair share.
00:11:09:05 - 00:11:20:28
Speaker 2
So I think there's a distrust of Steyer despite the positions that he's taking, which I think may be appealing to certainly most of the Democrats out there.
00:11:21:00 - 00:11:31:00
Speaker 1
There's talk about repealing the two top two jungle primary. Do you think it's dead on arrival? This mess certainly pointed up all of his flaws.
00:11:31:03 - 00:12:11:11
Speaker 2
Yeah. It's you know, that if you look at it right now, the Democrats have a 61% unfavorable view in California. The Republicans have a 70% unfavorable view. In 2024, the Public Policy Institute did a survey and the jungle primary was 68% favorable amongst voters. But clearly they weren't thinking about what could have happened in this particular time. There is a measure that has been submitted.
00:12:11:11 - 00:12:17:10
Speaker 2
It's called Undo the two and I'm sorry, undo the top two. Okay.
00:12:17:11 - 00:12:20:00
Speaker 1
And under the two might be a little.
00:12:20:03 - 00:12:38:08
Speaker 2
Yes. Yeah. Exactly. So I would expect it's going to go going to go forward. So we'll, we'll see that that could be a initiative that we see on the ballot some point in the near future.
00:12:38:10 - 00:13:04:24
Speaker 1
Looking not too far ahead. We're going to have at least one. One. I'm confident that the billionaire tax will qualify for the ballot. The regional transit tax is in trouble. It submitted some signatures. It's not even halfway to where it needs to be and only has like a couple more weeks, I think, before they have to get everything in and that doesn't bode well for it.
00:13:04:24 - 00:13:27:18
Speaker 1
They've done a terrible job of selling that by, you know, you know, Bart announcing and Caltrain announcing, here's the way we're going to devastate our transit system. If you don't vote for this, right. And, you know, the way to do that would have been, I'm sure you could have come up with a better strategy. Given your background. The way to do that would have been, say, here's the value we provide, right?
00:13:27:20 - 00:13:37:20
Speaker 1
Don't let's not put that at risk. And here's how we'll continue to add value. If you support us, instead of saying we're going to close everything, which is a crazy way to do it, it seems to me.
00:13:37:24 - 00:14:06:20
Speaker 2
Yeah, it certainly is. You know, I think there are a lot of people in San Mateo County and in other places that are very uncomfortable with Bart and how they've been managed, and, you know, they've been fraught with problems. But realistically, Bart, Caltrain, Muni, I mean, they're moving a lot of people, not as much as they were before the pandemic, but they those will probably those numbers will probably grow.
00:14:06:22 - 00:14:38:27
Speaker 2
So we're stuck with it. You know, you can't really compare Caltrain and Bart. I think Caltrain, most of their financial problems are strictly related to the pandemic. But I think the large number that Bart is deficit that they're facing, it's more than just a reduction in ridership. It's poor management over a long period of time. And, you know, it sounds like from what you're saying, it may not even get to the ballot.
00:14:38:28 - 00:15:13:24
Speaker 1
Well, and given our background, it's also just bad politics. The way they have conducted themselves, they haven't won any friends. And in you ought to start by having some and, you know, one more Bart rant. When they announced what state, you know, the ten stations they were going to close and four of them were in San Mateo County is you know, it will be interesting to see if there's ever a breakdown of the numbers where the signatures came from, because I cannot believe people in San Mateo County are thinking, oh yeah, I can't wait to support Bart.
00:15:13:27 - 00:15:17:20
Speaker 1
Yeah. What's your take on the billionaire tax?
00:15:17:22 - 00:15:53:02
Speaker 2
I think it's likely to pass. I think there's going to be obviously some significant opposition to it. And there are some, you know, officials that have come out against it. You know, I look at billionaire tax here and millionaire tax and the state of Washington, the issues that New York is having, losing business and losing companies. I mean, Starbucks is moving out of Seattle, moving to Nashville.
00:15:53:03 - 00:16:19:28
Speaker 2
California has lost a lot of businesses. So we'll see. I don't know how much energy there's going to become the November ballot, assuming that, say, it's viscera against Hilton. You know, the the outcome of that, I think we know ahead of time. So we'll just have to see how it plays out.
00:16:20:05 - 00:16:45:17
Speaker 1
What's the general atmosphere now? My my feeling is this is not normally a June primary. Democratic primary is a good time to put a tax measure on the ballot. And in November, you're seeing you'll see quite a few school districts and cities putting on parcel tax or bonds. Bonds only require a 55% approval, a parcel tax, it requires two thirds.
00:16:45:17 - 00:17:12:05
Speaker 1
And it's always schools. In particular, it's easier to approve the building of a school than it is to approve the money to pay people to work in it. Right. Which has always struck me as odd. But the same people who hate taxes tend to hate paying school teachers. But it seems like this may be an atmosphere where putting forward a tax measure may not be as easy as it historically is, especially in San Mateo County.
00:17:12:08 - 00:17:40:27
Speaker 2
Yeah. I mean, and there's some potential ones, San Mateo and a few others that may be looking at at doing that. I think when you get a cluster of sales tax measures on the ballot, I think it really hurts. It hurts all of them. Yeah. At some point, people are going to start to reject these measures, but we'll see.
00:17:40:28 - 00:18:27:10
Speaker 2
San Mateo County has traditionally passed them. I mean, as you know, the sales tax that that you were involved with back in in 2018 passed by the narrowest margin possible. So, you know, we'll see. I think people right now are very frustrated with the cost of living with inflation, their pocketbook. And even though California is a fairly wealthy state with a lot of wealthy areas, including San Mateo County, there are a lot of people that are struggling and it's all starting to mount up.
00:18:27:12 - 00:18:33:24
Speaker 2
So we'll see if the voters step up and start saying no to some of these.
00:18:33:27 - 00:18:59:23
Speaker 1
You have to be in an unusually high income bracket not to notice and be stunned by the price of gas. Yeah, you have to be somebody who doesn't fill their own gas tank, and that isn't most of us. And and even if it's something you can generally afford, you know, you see the amount of money that's being spent on, you know, five and a half, five, 75, something like that for a gallon of gas is just crazy.
00:18:59:23 - 00:19:33:06
Speaker 1
And it's it's a jarring thing that never quite gets around. It goes away. Let's let's jump a little farther down the ballot. There's a one race in particular that's interesting to me is the race for a seat on the Board of Equalization for by former Assemblywoman Sally Lieber versus Community College District Trustee John Pimentel. This is a weird office because most of its authority was stripped away over years by the legislature.
00:19:33:09 - 00:19:56:24
Speaker 1
It turns out it's a pretty good launching pad. Both Fiona ma and Malia Canan started. Cohen started off there, but Sally Lieber seems to be one of the few I've ever known on there who satisfied with staying put. She's an incumbent running again. When she ran against Jerry Hill for the state Senate, she came pretty close. She didn't come close to beating him, but she got close.
00:19:56:27 - 00:20:21:28
Speaker 1
And I know when she was up in the legislature, a lot of a lot of people there didn't like her because she was too difficult to work with. And I would get phone calls during that Senate race. Do you think there's any chance that she can win? I said, well, yeah. Oh, boy. And the next thing you know, a surge of money would show up behalf of Jerry Hill because the, the, the third house up there really doesn't care for her at all.
00:20:22:00 - 00:20:28:01
Speaker 1
Any thoughts about that race? I mean, Pimentel, I think is one of those guys who wants to use it as a springboard for something else.
00:20:28:05 - 00:21:02:23
Speaker 2
No question. You know, he I guess it was back in 2020. He thought about running for the Board of Supervisors in the fourth district. Came very close, I think, to entering that race against Warren Slocum backed off. He's the son in law of Tom Stevenson, who was the ambassador to Portugal under Bush and Obama. He's a very wealthy man, very active in politics.
00:21:02:25 - 00:21:33:00
Speaker 2
He's very active in Republican politics. Pimentel is a Democrat. So, yeah, he seems to be somebody that's looking for a spot where he can move forward and perhaps run for for something larger. The Board of Equalization, you know, my guess is most people have no idea what they do. And but I would think they both have raised about the same amount of money.
00:21:33:00 - 00:21:42:28
Speaker 2
Although Pimentel most of it has come from his his alone to his campaign. So I would expect that Lieber will probably win that race.
00:21:43:03 - 00:22:10:13
Speaker 1
Yeah. Let's shift gears a little bit. Talk about the midterms. Trump's numbers are now the lowest they've been in his second term. Has he hit bottom or is there room for him to go down some of the $1.8 billion slush fund and the money he's spending on on the ballroom, which all he wants to talk about is the ballroom and the war and the outlandish statement.
00:22:10:15 - 00:22:26:25
Speaker 1
He said, do you worry about how this is the war is affecting people financially? Said, no, I don't think about that. He will have to eat that for the next several months. What do you think he's hit bottom or can he go down further and people with him?
00:22:26:27 - 00:22:56:12
Speaker 2
The Real Clear Politics average has his favorite at 39% the first time it's under 40. What's perhaps more interesting is that the some of the Republican polls that are out there go him in the low 40s. And that's a real indication that, you know, that there's there's a problem there. Has he hit rock bottom? I don't think so.
00:22:56:18 - 00:23:23:07
Speaker 2
I think that, you know, I think Biden at one point dropped down to in the low 30s. And I think if where we are today continues into the fall, he's going to continue to drop. You can if you watch his numbers, it's kind of a drip, drip, drip. Every week there's another point or two points that he drops.
00:23:23:10 - 00:24:05:09
Speaker 2
You know, obviously the gas prices will begin to affect other things that you want to buy, because everything in this country is really and most of the world is about and gas. So, you know, it's hard to say how this is going to turn around. And, you know, I was thinking, I read a book many years ago, a Hamilton Jordan, who was Jimmy Carter's chief of staff during the Arabian crisis in the late 70s, and it was a book that chronicled kind of week for week what happened.
00:24:05:09 - 00:24:30:10
Speaker 2
And it's very similar to today. You would have, you know, some of the intermediaries who were all over the world would step in and and there would be hope, and Carter would say something positive and then it would be dashed. And there Iran is very good at this kind of merry go round to keep you kind of off balance.
00:24:30:12 - 00:24:58:11
Speaker 2
And so people are beginning to when Trump says, oh, it's going to be solved in a couple of weeks. I think they're beginning to to say, you know, it's the boy who cried wolf. Yeah. So, you know, whether the pressure will grow and we'll have to find some way to, to just completely back out of that weather here, ultimately get a deal, which seems unlikely based on the terms that he's looking for.
00:24:58:17 - 00:25:13:27
Speaker 2
Yeah. But, you know, it's not a not a good situation. And in place you went up to 3.8%. But you've got to expect that number is going to grow in coming months unless something changes quickly.
00:25:13:29 - 00:25:40:10
Speaker 1
And the problem with both gas prices and the inflation number is they go up rapidly. They're very, very slow to come down. So those are going to linger. Even if he solved the Iranian war tomorrow and the Strait of Hormuz opened. Yeah, it'll be October November before we see any move and maybe not even then. And if you're around, what's your incentive to settle whatever he's going to do to you?
00:25:40:11 - 00:26:07:07
Speaker 1
They've done. Yeah, he's been done. So I don't know. Now here's the question. We all read all the fuss over redistricting and trying to trying to rig the elections, to coin a phrase. But I wonder if at some point some of these numbers overwhelm whatever you do with redistricting is redistricting fate? I don't tend to think so. I think that there tends to be there still tends to be swing voters.
00:26:07:09 - 00:26:28:15
Speaker 1
There still tends to be independent voters. And and they will swing where they're going to swing almost, you know, disregarding registration. So, you know, the sense I get is that there's a really big wave coming the Democrats way and that there may not be much they can do to stop it.
00:26:28:17 - 00:27:06:12
Speaker 2
Yeah. You know, it's right now it's hard to gauge because a lot of the primaries have not even taken place. So we don't know who the candidates are going to be. It's an interesting situation because you look at at polling, both Trump and the Republicans are more popular than the Democrats by a fairly narrow margin now. But if you look at the generic vote for Congress, which is always the best indication at this stage, the Democrats are up by an average of about 5 or 6 points.
00:27:06:15 - 00:27:40:04
Speaker 2
That may not seem like a lot, but in that generic thing that will play out to probably 20 to 40 seats. Well, the Republicans, if you take the advantage that they have at this point and you add in the the ten or so new seats that they're going to gain, still the Democrats are going to win the election, whether we're going to have a massive, you know, turn against against the Republicans, it's certainly possible, but we have to kind of see how that plays out there.
00:27:40:04 - 00:27:47:09
Speaker 2
Only so many competitive races out there, and they're going to get fewer and fewer as we move forward.
00:27:47:10 - 00:28:14:11
Speaker 1
Yeah, yeah. So let's shift to local stuff, if you will. We start with a couple of races on the Board of Supervisors. Ray Mueller, seeking his second term, is being challenged by Joaquin Jimenez, former mayor of Half Moon Bay, who was actually defeated for reelection two years ago in his own town, is not doing much. Basically all these doing.
00:28:14:13 - 00:28:42:10
Speaker 1
He is actually the only remaining public figure who is saying that Sheriff Christina Corpus got a raw deal and that she should she still be sheriff. There is nobody else who's saying that. And I guess you have to admire that. He's willing to take an unpopular stance. What he's doing is driving Mueller crazy, is him, has not filed any of the paperwork you're supposed to file for candidacy.
00:28:42:12 - 00:29:03:24
Speaker 1
Now, if you raise less than $2,000, you don't have to file what's known as a 4 or 60 a campaign finance report. But to raise any money at all, even to ask people for money, you have to file a motion of committee paperwork. He hasn't done that either. And I asked him about it and he said, oh, you're right, I should do that.
00:29:03:27 - 00:29:12:07
Speaker 1
And that was three weeks ago. He still hasn't done it. But the only interesting thing about that is that apparently it irritates the hell out of Mueller.
00:29:12:10 - 00:29:15:11
Speaker 2
Which is not hard to do. No, he's.
00:29:15:13 - 00:29:38:25
Speaker 1
To worry. He tends to worry. That's crazy uses about him. But the thing is, he's going to kill, you know, not kill. He's going to clobber this guy. And it's like, you know, just go run your own campaign. I mean, it's got him. He's got like five signs up in Half Moon Bay and that's it. He's done nothing other than put up a website and he's like, yeah, yeah.
00:29:38:25 - 00:29:41:29
Speaker 1
It's just it's amusing to watch his all. Yeah.
00:29:42:01 - 00:30:16:01
Speaker 2
Ray Mueller reminds me of my former father in law who ran who who ran for the school board. He was a principal and in the area. And then he decided to run for the school board, and he got 80% of the vote. And when I talked to him after the election, all he could talk about were the 20% of people who voted against him and who they are and kind of saying, maybe, you know, Joe down the street, he may have voted against me and all of this.
00:30:16:01 - 00:30:19:22
Speaker 2
So, you know, Mueller is going to win comfortably.
00:30:19:26 - 00:30:51:16
Speaker 1
It reminds me of a scene in the documentary about Clinton winning the election the first time, and a scene of George Stephanopoulos walking across the the plaza in front of the governor's mansion in Arkansas, and Clinton's on the phone demanding why they didn't do better in Rhode Island. Stephanopoulos says to him, governor, you've won. But maybe that's, you know, in Clinton's case, you know, he wouldn't leave a room unless he unless he thought he'd one everybody over the other race is not much of a race and wasn't expected to be.
00:30:51:17 - 00:31:19:22
Speaker 1
That's Noelia Corzo, who was running unopposed. But quite recently, San Mateo City activist named Tasos has filed to run as a write in candidate. There was a huge controversy over an organization called horizon that runs a rehab, drug and alcohol rehab facilities. They're very, very well regarded and there are usually no problems anywhere in the vicinity of where they put these facilities.
00:31:19:22 - 00:31:40:17
Speaker 1
And by state law, they can they could go ahead and put one up somewhere in San Mateo, right on El Camino, and not have to get the city's permission. And Tasso was the one who led the the community uprising against that. It resulted in, frankly, a pretty ugly public meeting. But he's actually a pretty nice guy. He's just this is one of those guys.
00:31:40:23 - 00:32:04:00
Speaker 1
But the most interesting thing is, if you run as a write in, you're allowed to submit ten different ways. Your name can be spelled or misspelled and have it count towards you. And one of the ways he has gotten approval is if you just write Tasso, Tasso. You don't have to write anything else, which shows that he's got some smarts, at least about his name.
00:32:04:05 - 00:32:30:28
Speaker 2
Yeah. You know, in my experience over 50 years, writing candidates don't do very well, right? You know, he may get support from people that were involved in the effort that he put together, but that's going to be a small number compared to, you know, the numbers of people who are voting who may not even be aware of, of any, any of that.
00:32:31:03 - 00:32:45:14
Speaker 2
Yeah. Cortisol like Mueller I think will be reelected. And really they've kind of been the standout figures on the board, mostly because of the whole sheriff's tabaco over the last several years.
00:32:45:14 - 00:33:14:06
Speaker 1
So and since then there has been some grumbling that's been growing. Corso is very, very progressive and she is not afraid to assert those positions. She's also very sensitive that she's the first Latina on the board, and she clearly feels an obligation to speak up for people she thinks have not been represented well, especially as they interact with the system, especially as they interact with the law enforcement.
00:33:14:06 - 00:33:40:14
Speaker 1
So she has begun to get some people who are reminded of why they didn't support her the first time. But you're right, she's writing a a tide of success with the sheriff thing that, you know, you're right, the writing candidate. It's not going to get anywhere. If he gets 5% of the vote, it'll be amazing. And it might even be noteworthy because otherwise.
00:33:40:16 - 00:34:07:28
Speaker 1
I mean, the fact is, you have to stop what you're doing and write the guy's name in, and that's extraordinary. There are some other big issues, some interesting races. There's a race between Hector Camacho and Chelsea Bonini for superintendent of schools. This is a job that supervises and overseas a lot of the programs that every school has, programs that accommodate the disabled, that accommodate people with learning issues.
00:34:08:00 - 00:34:45:14
Speaker 1
So it's an important job, and it gets a lot of state and federal funding to do those things. Right now, the establishment is solidly behind. Camacho Bonini. I haven't checked the spending reports lately. There's a new wave due out, but I'd be very surprised if she's been able to keep with him, keep up with him in terms of raising money for the race that everybody is talking about is the race for assessor of all things, assessor, clerk, recorder and elections chief between David Canopy, the supervisor, and the Assistant assessor, clerk, recorder Alexis Chief.
00:34:45:17 - 00:35:20:25
Speaker 1
And it's an interesting race because, you know, you can put three of his colleagues have endorsed Irizarry. They don't like him. They don't think he's easy to work with. They find them difficult to work with. And he has a well-established interest in getting his name and face everywhere he can put it and get it put. Irizarry, on the other hand, is part of the Mark church regime, and there are some really unhappy people working in that office who think that Irizarry has actually been the guy who's made their lives a little more difficult and their jobs a little more unpleasant.
00:35:20:28 - 00:35:45:16
Speaker 1
So that's a tough one to call because of that. And the question is, and given your political background, can canopy canopy has really spent years all over the county raising his profile, getting tons of media. I like to joke it. I don't know if it's a joke. If you haven't personally met David Canopy is because you chose not to walk across the room and say hello to him.
00:35:45:17 - 00:36:09:24
Speaker 1
Yeah, he is everywhere. But the question is, is that enough? Does that come anywhere near reaching the number of people who might put you in a shoo in position, as it were? Plus, he's run well, he hasn't run countywide for quite a while now. And then you have Irizarry, whose title on the ballot, his ballot designation is assistant clerk, recorder, assessor, elections chief.
00:36:09:26 - 00:36:18:25
Speaker 1
And I tend to think on these down ballot seats. That's a pretty good thing to have on your ballot. So what's your take on on that particular set of circumstances?
00:36:18:26 - 00:36:48:06
Speaker 2
Yeah. You know, I thought you had an interesting column yesterday about this race and it sounded like and I wasn't aware of this. It's hard to see where cannabis spending a lot of money on the race. My take has been all along. That canopy is probably going to win. What's interesting is it's really going to test that question of the ballot designation and how important that is.
00:36:48:08 - 00:37:19:06
Speaker 2
A lot of times on on in these areas, the county people are looking for somebody that they think knows the job. And if they don't have something in mind, a huge problem with the department and so forth, they'll they'll vote for that. So, you know, canopy could win the race and Irizarry may get a substantial number of votes, much more than than I thought that he would get going in.
00:37:19:08 - 00:37:49:01
Speaker 2
So we'll see. The reality is, though, for county offices, you've got so many people that are going out to vote because they're focused on the governor's race and other things. And so you're going to have a pretty significant under vote. People who vote for governor but don't vote in these races because they don't really have a clue. So, you know, I'm interested to see how this plays out.
00:37:49:02 - 00:38:10:23
Speaker 2
But I've got to believe with the labor endorsement, with the newspaper endorsement, with his name I.D., not only from his county wide races, but his congressional race and, as you say, you know, showing up everywhere all the time that that's, you know, going to work in his favor.
00:38:10:25 - 00:38:34:05
Speaker 1
Yeah. Irizarry has endorsements from Jackie Speier, Ray Mueller, Jerry Hill, every anticipate. And they've cut spots for him. Right. Jackie Speier historically has always been if you had to get one endorsement for a race, it was that one. I don't know if that's as much true as it was when she was in Congress, but I imagine she's still formidable.
00:38:34:05 - 00:38:51:25
Speaker 1
I've been out at public events and even go to have lunch with her, and everybody knows who she is, and they fuss over her. She's still a big deal. Assuming that Irizarry has the resources to get that out. How much of a difference? Because something like that make.
00:38:51:26 - 00:39:03:16
Speaker 2
Well, it could certainly make a difference. I don't think, you know, let's say I think he's put in 150,000. You said in your column.
00:39:03:19 - 00:39:06:08
Speaker 1
Yeah, he's probably going to be more than that by the time he's done it.
00:39:06:10 - 00:39:18:13
Speaker 2
Okay. I still think that's kind of thin. You know, to to be able to get that out there, the spots that you talk about, where where are they showing up.
00:39:18:16 - 00:39:28:01
Speaker 1
On his website sometimes sometimes on social media, but not really. Mostly on his website. That's where I saw that. So yeah, he has to get them out.
00:39:28:02 - 00:39:56:25
Speaker 2
Yeah, he's got to get them out. And ideally you would need to run a race of 500 to 700,000 to be able to maybe get on some local cable television and so forth, and be able to do a number of mailers out into the community touting those endorsements. So, you know, we'll see. We'll we'll see, as we used to say, time will tell.
00:39:57:00 - 00:40:02:12
Speaker 2
Yeah. And the time is like 12 days. So it's.
00:40:02:14 - 00:40:16:28
Speaker 1
There's an argument you could make if you were canopy, which you never make, which is I know a lot of people don't like me on the board because I'm an outlier. So elect me and you can solve that problem. Yeah, exactly.
00:40:16:29 - 00:40:43:00
Speaker 2
You know, it reminds me a little bit of Katie Porter, who, you know, I read the Chronicle endorsement of her. She's obviously very good on issues. She's very progressive. But if you put ten people in a room together, including her, the one thing they agree on after an hour is they all don't like her. Yeah. And so that's that's an indication.
00:40:43:01 - 00:40:50:29
Speaker 2
I mean, I think there's something to that that voters a lot of times it's inside baseball they don't see.
00:40:51:06 - 00:41:14:11
Speaker 1
Yeah. Well and the fact is, you know, I have had more than my share of fun with David Canepa over time. And in fairness to me, he's made it easy for me. He's done some astonishingly funny things that weren't intended to be funny, but people like him, you know, the people we talk about, he's been everywhere and met everybody.
00:41:14:13 - 00:41:41:03
Speaker 1
When he does that. He's very good at that retail level politics. He's very good at it. And also in the context of Irizarry and some of his staff don't care for him. Canopies staff likes him. They like working for the guy. So it'll be interesting. You know, I'll go back and forth because I think, you know, he'd do a good job of promoting voter registration and turnout because he'd be promoting himself.
00:41:41:06 - 00:42:01:03
Speaker 1
The trouble is, he'll wander into some issue he's got no business even talking about because he can get on TV to do it. And, you know, he'll come out against property taxes or something, you know, like. Yeah. So anyway, I don't know if we want to get into November too much. It's tough to look ahead a little bit.
00:42:01:06 - 00:42:34:26
Speaker 1
All the city council's races are all piled up in the November ballot, and so there's a good chance there'll be a lot of discussion about development. There's another strong push to require people to convert their gas kitchens to electric, even existing ones, rather than making it happen as development occurs. Others, there's some massive development projects that are in the pipeline, but at the same time, there's been a significant drop in local authority over development, especially when it comes to housing.
00:42:35:00 - 00:42:57:13
Speaker 1
So it'll be an interesting November. And the question is whether, I suppose the momentum by the Democrats toward toward Trump drives turn out to a new level here in California, where they're at the same. And it was not sort of the same issue of what's in the balance here, really.
00:42:57:15 - 00:43:23:17
Speaker 2
One thing for certain is John May is going to be very busy. Yeah. Interviewing all those candidates. And so and they do a good job. I mean, they, they cover those races, which is is a lot of work. And it's not easy to do, but not only with their editorials but with their reporters out there. They cover a lot of those races.
00:43:23:21 - 00:43:50:18
Speaker 1
As I hope everybody knows. We had John on the show last week or two weeks ago, whatever it was. And, you know, as you know, I work for him as a as a contract columnist, but he's really genuinely committed to to good news and to good coverage of news. And he's serious about it. And at one point somebody said, boy, it would have been nice if John enlightened up a little bit.
00:43:50:18 - 00:43:54:13
Speaker 1
I said, he takes his job seriously. He's serious.
00:43:54:14 - 00:43:55:03
Speaker 2
He does?
00:43:55:11 - 00:43:55:23
Speaker 1
Yeah.
00:43:55:27 - 00:44:20:08
Speaker 2
He's he's got integrity. You know, he believes in things that, you know, perhaps old solid values that are out there. And there aren't a lot of people like that that are left. And it's kind of refreshing to see somebody that that really does have principles and sticks by them, regardless of what people say.
00:44:20:12 - 00:44:36:26
Speaker 1
Yeah, well, I think that's enough for one day, Bob. I'm getting I'm getting tired of your opinions, that's for sure. So we'll be back in a week with our election preview. Try and get some people on here to talk about the very same issues we just talked about.
00:44:37:01 - 00:44:38:00
Speaker 2
Exactly.
00:44:38:03 - 00:44:56:02
Speaker 1
And maybe things will clarified by then. There are a lot of Democrats saying, well, there are a number of Democrats I know who think strategically. Wait till the last poll, see who's ahead and vote for that person. Yeah, some of that was spawned out of the fear that, you know, we'd end up with two Republicans. I don't think that's an issue anymore.
00:44:56:03 - 00:45:18:29
Speaker 1
I think no. Bianco was completely faded in the Trump endorsement of Hilton probably was a key difference maker there. But we'll see if a week from now, anybody has any better idea about this than than you and I, Bob. Time will tell. Marks and yes, Mark. It remains to be seen. Simon. What could be said? So that's it for now.
00:45:19:00 - 00:45:20:05
Speaker 1
I'm Mark Simon.
00:45:20:06 - 00:45:21:11
Speaker 2
And I'm Bob marks.
00:45:21:11 - 00:45:27:13
Speaker 1
And we thank always Frank Bravo, our producer. And thank you for being with us. That's the game this time.