Today on AirTalk we'll take a look at some upcoming California ballot initiatives including the different tax incentives proposed by Governor Jerry Brown and Pasadena's own Molly Munger, an investigation into LA County jail misconduct points towards Sheriff Lee Baca, what burrito purveyor Chipotle is doing with your change and why some are crying foul, a new report by the Institute of Medicine finds our healthcare system wastes $750 billion annually and a conversation with the creators of South Park, Trey Parker and Matt Stone about their Broadway hit 'The Book of Mormon.' Plus, the latest news.
California initiatives, Gov. Brown’s tax measure vs Molly Munger’s
Selling higher taxes in today’s economic climate is tough, and no one knows it like California Governor Jerry Brown. In an attempt to make up the state’s huge budget gap, and after failing to garner any Republican votes in the legislature for his tax proposal, he has taken his plan to the people via Proposition 30, which will be appearing on the November ballot.
But Brown’s plan won’t be alone come voting time, as civil rights attorney Molly Munger has put forth Proposition 38, which is her unique vision for raising taxes. Basically, Brown’s plan would raise taxes on couples making over $500,000 and increase the sales tax by a quarter cent. Under Munger’s plan, taxes for everyone who makes above $7,316 would go up, and the wealthiest would be hit the hardest. Right now, the polls show that Brown’s proposal is more popular than Munger’s, but attack ads could diminish this lead.
What are the ins and outs of each tax plan? How are voters reacting to the chronically perilous political issue of raising taxes? What happens if both tax plans pass? Or what if voters reject both of them?
Guests:
Julie Small, KPCC's State Capitol Reporter
Pamela Behrsin, Vice President of Communications, Maplight - a nonpartisan political money tracker
Investigators blame jail misconduct on Sheriff Baca
A blue-ribbon panel of investigators, acting at the behest of the newly-formed Citizen’s Commission on Jail Violence, has listened to months of testimony by sheriff’s supervisors about the use of excessive force towards inmates in county jails.
Now they’re pointing the finger at the highest level: Sheriff Lee Baca and Undersheriff Paul Tanaka.
According to their report, Baca failed to adequately monitor deputies’ abuse of inmates. Tanaka, they say, encouraged a “disturbing mindset” that valued aggressive force over other disciplinary methods. The commission met Friday to discuss the findings, and will issue their recommendations on September 28th.
The commission's executive director, Miriam Aroni Krinsky, said that their investigatory teams pored over 30,000 pages of documents and interviewed over 150 witnesses, many of whom were current or former members of the sheriff's department.
"The conclusions they formed based on that wealth of information and the consistent messages and themes that they heard was that there has been a problem over time, in terms of lack of awareness by the sheriff of problems that are a foot, of breakdowns in communication and a failure to keep him fully apprised of what's been going on in the jails," she said.
According to Krinsky, they've seen Baca become more involved in recent months as reports of inmate abuse surfaced and media picked them up, and his engagement is a positive. "We've seen force go down, but that again has led us to conclude ... that what that reflects is that when the sheriff does pay attention and engages, there's an ability to reduce force, which calls into question the reasonableness of force that was used in prior years," she said.
Steve Whitmore, spokesman for Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, told AirTalk that "there's more to this story," and that the commission's allegations are not true. He could not stay on the show to explain due to a sudden matter he needed to address.
The American Liberties Union released a statement regarding Friday's gathering:
"Over the past two years, we've spoken with hundreds of inmates, as well as prisoner chaplains and other civilians, who all tell eerily similar accounts of deputy on inmate violence. Today they can feel vindicated in their courage to step forward and tell the truth. We look forward to the commission's full report and to hearing its recommendation."
Peter, an ACLU legal director, called AirTalk to stress the importance of holding the two officials accountable. He added that the ACLU had been issuing four years of reports, overlooked and denied by Baca.
"Undersheriff Tanaka testified in front of the jail commission that he never once, in the 2.5 years that he was the assistant sheriff over the custody division, never once looked at use of force statistics in the jails. ... Why was Sheriff Baca trusting him?" he asked. "You would think that you would ask a question when there are all these reports of violence in the jails and you say that you're trusting your command staff – well why didn't he say to his command staff: 'What are you doing? What investigation are you doing that you're asking me to rely on what you're telling me, that there's not a problem in the jails?'"
According to KPCC reporter Frank Stoltze, the late-September recommendations can be used to put political pressure on Baca and incite reform. He said that the commission could also look at possibly taking the jails out of the sheriff's hands and creating a separate corrections department, as well as suggest a separate track for deputies who serve their career in the jails.
Guests:
Steve Whitmore, spokesman for Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department
Miriam Aroni Krinsky, executive director of the Citizens Commission on Jail Violence
Frank Stoltze KPCC reporter
Customers get shortchanged on pennies
Burrito purveyor Chipotle landed in the fryer with its New Jersey and New York customers for rounding bills down — or up — to the nearest five-cent increment.
The chain wanted to save the time and hassle of handling pennies. The logic was, some customers would lose a little, but some would gain a little, creating no extra profit for the stores. When consumers filed a class-action lawsuit, Chipotle conceded to only rounding bills down. But their war on pennies in the cash drawer continues.
Can extra pennies really add up for businesses? Would you be upset to find an extra two or three cents on your bill? Or do you also hate carrying and handling all those pennies?
Guest:
Doug Hanks covers South Florida’s economy for the Miami Herald; has reported on small businesses in Miami that banned pennies
$750 billion wasted in the American health care industry every year...
There hasn’t been much argument that the United States health care system is in serious need of help. But a report recently released by the Institute of Medicine found $750 billion in our current system is wasted every year.
The extra spending falls into six major areas: unnecessary services, inefficient delivery of care, excessive administrative costs, price inflation, prevention failure, and fraud. Though the findings may be infuriating, they also offer some hope. The report sends a message to government that quality care can be maintained at less of a cost and offers ten recommendations to trim the fat out of the industry.
Could there be some fairly simple fixes to America’s health care woes? If there are, what will it take to get them implemented? And how does this all relate to the Affordable Care Act and health insurance mandates? Mitt Romney recently said he’d keep portions of the ACA, such as coverage for preexisting conditions and insurance for adult children up to the age of 26, but do away with others. How feasible is it to maintain these provisions without an individual mandate?
Guests:
Dr. Bruce Ferguson, Jr., M.D., member of the Institute of Medicine’s Committee on the Learning Health Care System in America, which conducted the study and published the report, Best Care at Lower Cost; Professor and Inaugural Chair, Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, East Carolina Heart Institute in Greenville, North Carolina
Shana Alex Lavarreda, Director of Health Insurance Studies, UCLA Center for Health Policy Research
Robert Zirkelbach, Press Secretary, America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), a national trade association representing nearly 1,300 health insurance companies
'South Park' creators bring their hit musical 'The Book of Mormon' to LA
Who’s it more fun to write songs for: puppets, cartoon characters or Mormons? Ask Trey Parker and Matt Stone, co-creators of the "South Park" animated TV series, the epic superhero/puppet saga "Team America" and the musical Broadway smash "The Book of Mormon."
Why drum up a musical about an obscure minority religion founded by a 19th century self-proclaimed prophet? Both Stone and Parker grew up in Colorado, where many of the friends belonged to the Church of Latter-Day Saints, and have long shared a fascination with the culture.
"It's the fact that it's the American religion, and it's such a young religion. You had all these great stories of Joe Smith and the big exodus from New York to Utah, instead of from these lands so far away," Parker said on AirTalk. "For Matt and I, who are both so into storytelling, it's part of why we've just always been so fascinated by Mormon writings and Mormon things — it's such an American story."
According to Stone, the campy, cheesy qualities they felt were in Mormon stories were begging to appear in a script. "We moved to L.A. out of college and we'd start telling people about Mormons, and they were just like, 'Really?' And we were like, 'Yeah, they're just over there, just over in Utah, near here!' It was just always something that seemed to be right there at the tips of our tongues, a musical using their stories and the story of the birth of their religion," he continued.
The duo found creative synergy with Avenue Q’s lyricist/composer Robert Lopez, who recalls that the seed of the project was planted the night they all met, and is meant to speak to broader themes about faith. “I think it all came from our interest in religion,” he said, “that was the point we always wanted to make about religion being a lie and yet ultimately true.”
Somehow, the trio tapped into the zeitgeist — who could have guessed that a year after the show’s premiere, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney would inspire nationwide scrutinization of all things LDS? And how do Mormons feel about their beliefs being made fodder for song and dance? They love it, says Parker. Stone adds, “We actually have a lot of Mormon fans… [who] see it as their Fiddler on the Roof.”
"Their response to 'The Book of Mormon' sort of encapsulates why [Robert], I and Trey have always said from the beginning that the show doesn't really rip on Mormons," Stone said. "The church's response is exactly the way you want a religion to respond to someone joking around with them. I think they've gained even more respect from people, the fact that they can take a joke."
Parker added that not all the funnies are cheap or slapstick, something he credits the British comedy group Monty Python for. "It's doing what we learn with comedy ... which is that it's never supposed to be a line that's funny. Very rarely. It's not about hamming up a part as much as you can, and it's not about how many times can you have the guy run into a wall and hit his head," he said.
It may be hard to imagine any seriousness within the musical, but Parker said breaks help fuel the comedy.
"The setting is funny, what's going on is funny, and the story is always way more important than the joke," he continued. "That's really the thing with the actors, just getting them to realize hey, you can get a bigger reaction with this line if you say it in a bigger, funnier way, but that's going to hurt the seriousness of the rest of it. There are parts of it that really have to be taken seriously to make it so funny," he continued.
With religion-themed show-stoppers like “All-American Prophet” and “I Believe,” "The Book of Mormon" may not be every theater-goer’s cup of tea. But if singing, dancing and proselytizing is your idea of jolly entertainment, you might want to make it your mission to see this production.
Guests:
Trey Parker, co-creator of "The Book of Mormon," "South Park" and "Team America"; actor, director, screenwriter, animator and producer
Matt Stone, co-creator of "The Book of Mormon," "South Park" and "Team America"; actor, director, screenwriter, animator and producer