Tom Steyer's effort to mobilize young voters in key states, the importance of the Rams' NFL draft picks, movies and shows that cover the work and family balance.
Businessman Tom Steyer spends $25M on the youth vote
Young voters have a terrible record for actually going out to the polls, but billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer thinks spending $25 million will change that.
The 58-year-old California philanthropist and his advocacy group, NextGen Climate, are launching an effort to get out the youth vote, using environmental issues to galvanize them.
Steyer joined Take Two to talk about the effort and why millennial voters could turn the tide in the presidential and congressional elections.
The following transcript has been edited slightly for length.
You have pledged $25 million toward mobilizing young voters. Why spend your money this way?
I feel as if we are faced, as Americans, with the starkest choice between likely presidential candidates. And what I’m really trying to do is empower democracy, to try and give voice to young people, to register them, to educate them, because I believe that the broader the participation in the democratic process, the more people who go to the ballot box and vote, the better the decisions will be, and the stronger our democracy, and that’s what I’m trying to push for.
How specifically do you see this money being spent?
We’re going to be on over 203 campuses in seven battleground states — setting up tables, doing door-to-door, setting up phone banks. But a big part of it will also be online — contacting young people through digital communications — and also we’ll try and do some fun things. You know, this is the biggest cohort in American politics now, the millennials, and they are people who care a great deal about climate justice, environmental justice, and so it’s important that their voice be heard.
You mentioned these battleground states: Pennsylvania, Iowa, Ohio, New Hampshire, Nevada, Illinois and Colorado. Not California, where you live. Why not?
We will be doing more in California than in any other state. But when we talked about this specific program, we were talking about the battleground states in the presidential election, and those actually don’t include California, because California is generally thought to be a state which tends to support the Democratic candidate.
How much will the environmental message be part of this campaign to lure younger voters out to vote? And why that specific issue?
We need to succeed at that issue in order to succeed as a society. But it will never be disconnected from people’s needs to succeed economically and to have a safe, secure environment to live in and raise their kids in.
Many young voters are looking at the economy right now and saying, “I’ll never be able to afford a house of my own. I don’t have a job.” How do you get them to see that connection when they might have some very real, very practical issues that might come first for them?
So this is an issue where overwhelming numbers of millennials agree with us. Secondly, if we were to move to predominantly clean energy over the next 14 years, that is going to produce over a million new jobs — and good-paying jobs. So when we think about this, this is going to be a broad-based infrastructure project around the United States of America, paying good wages.
Your advocacy group, NextGen Climate, put out a video aimed at getting out the youth vote. I played this video for some millennials we have in house, and they said, “Yeah, this isn’t really speaking to me.” How do you know that your money is being well-spent with this campaign?
Well, let me put it this way, the people who are going to run this program are millennials. We are going to try a lot of creative approaches, and some of them are going to work, and some of them aren’t. And that’s just the nature of the beast. The fact of the matter is, we are going to relentlessly try to engage people in that generation to make sure that they are educated and understand the importance of these issues.
Earlier this year you told the Washington Post that you plan to spend even more in this election cycle than you did in 2014, and back then you put in $70 million. How much do you think you might spend, and how do you think you might spend it?
We are going to do several other things that, like this, are specific programs that are organized around a specific group of people and methods. And we’re going to roll those out over time. I believe, last I checked, it will add up to more than we spent last time, but we’d like to do it piece by piece, and we want to do it when we’re completely organized, the way that we did around this campus program.
You are at the top of the list of individual contributors to super PACs so far. A lot of people in this country right now are worried about the effect that a very small handful of people — people with a lot of money, people such as yourself — can have on this country. How do you address some of those concerns?
What we’re trying to do is we’re trying to do as much voter-to-voter contact, to enable voters’ voices to be heard. That’s what we believe in. And lastly, I have no self-interest in what we’re doing. We are simply trying to make the American people have a stronger, better-articulated voice. I’m not going to profit in any way from what we’re doing. In fact, what we’re really trying to do, is make the system work better and have the things that we think are most important for our society in general be well-known and let the people decide.
The LA Rams pick first in the 2016 NFL draft
The 2016 NFL draft kicks off today and all eyes are on the LA Rams who gave up a lot to secure the top overall pick.
Who will make the cut? We'll know in a few hours, but today's decision will shape the franchaise as it begins a new life in Southern California
Sam Farmer reports on the NFL for the LA Times and he joins Deepa Fernandez to talk about the important decision that LA's newest NFL team has to make.
The Wheel Thing: Self-driving cars and the law
The National Highway Traffic Safety Adminstration, or NHTSA, held a meeting yesterday in Silicon Valley, and invited representatives from most of the stakeholders in the development of self-driving cars. Auto companies were there, including Ford, GM and Toyota. Tech firms like Google. And officials from disability advocate groups attended, along with consumer watch dogs.
The meeting was held to discuss how self-driving cars should be regulated. It also marked the debut of a new, and powerful alliance of interests in that question. They include Ford, Google, Volvo, Uber and Lyft, plus the former NHTSA chief, David Strickland.
This group wants clarity around laws and regulations regarding self-driving cars, and they are adamantly opposed to regulations proposed by California's DMV that would require such cars to always be occupied by a licensed, human driver and be equipped with steering wheels and brake pedals.
NHTSA's position, so far, has been more friendly to the developers of autonomous cars. The agency has indicated it might consider the car's artificial intelligence system to be considered the official 'driver.'
Everyone agrees that the worst possible outcome would be a patchwork of conflicting state and federal regulations. The pro-autonomous forces argue that self-driving cars will soon be a reality. They believe they will result in vast improvements in traffic safety and a resulting dramatic decline in fatalities and injuries. They also point to the benefits autonomous cars will bring to specific groups, such as people with disabilities and the elderly.
Regulators continue to try to hammer out some sort of of code of conduct for these self-driving cars. The key question now - can they up with rules before the tech and car companies have autonomous vehicles ready to sell to the public?
Poll: California voters think childcare workers are underpaid
Governor Brown has proposed freezing the state's education budget at its current level
But a recent Field Poll from the L.A. Partnership for Early Childhood Investment suggests a majority of Californians disagree.
Most of those polled want more investment in early years education
There's also a concern that child care workers are not being paid enough
So, how can the gap between policy and what people want be closed?
To talk us through it, Take Two contributor Deepa Fernandes spoke with Marcy Whitebook, Director for the Center of Childcare Employment at U-C Berkley.
Willie Williams’ tumultuous tenure at the helm of the LAPD
Former LAPD Chief Willie L. Williams has died at the age of 72.
Williams was LA’s first African-American police chief. He began his tenure in the wake of the Rodney King riots in 1992 when tensions between law enforcement and communities color had reached a boiling point.
For five years Williams would try to bring the LAPD the reforms it needed, but he faced a deluge of criticism and rancor until 1997 when the Police Commission rejected his bid for a second term.
For more on the life and legacy of Chief Williams, Take Two spoke to journalist Joe Domanick, author of the book, "Blue: The LAPD and the Battle to Redeem American Policing."
In terms of people to succeed Daryl Gates, there were all sorts of up-and-coming LAPD insiders. Instead, they chose Willie Williams, who was an outsider from Philadelphia. Why him?
First of all, they wanted an African-American chief, because the African-American community had borne the brunt of the brutality of the LAPD and the arrogance of the LAPD all these years and had been at the forefront of trying to get the LAPD reformed. And they wanted an outsider because the felt that anybody who was in the LAPD was tarnished by Daryl Gates, and they wanted someone who was the un-Daryl Gates, and Willie Williams fit that bill.
You include in your book that the first impression that one LAPD officer had when Willie Williams shows up at the police academy — it was not a great first impression. What happened?
The LAPD was extremely unhappy that an outsider had been chosen, they weren’t happy that he was an African-American, and they particularly despised the fact that Willie Williams was a big, ample guy … He was not in their estimation anything near what an LAPD officer should be. Secondly, his chief rival for the job was Bernard Parks, who would succeed him. And Bernard Parks wanted very much to become the first African-American chief. [He] felt he deserved it and had no respect for Willie Williams … He started immediately to undermine him.
Looking back at the tenure of Willie Williams, what do you see as his greatest strengths? His biggest accomplishments?
Well, it’s hard to say what his accomplishments were because they were so few. One of the things that he did do — when he came to Los Angeles — he was treated as a conquering hero, come to save Los Angeles and the LAPD from themselves. He participated in over 200 meetings with various groups from around the city, said all of the right things and was enormously popular, but it quickly became apparent that he was totally — Peter principle — out of the job. [It] was way beyond his capacity to do a thorough reform of the Los Angeles Police Department — an extremely difficult job at that time, and the department just kind of drifted along ...
Press the blue play button above to hear the full interview.
State of Affairs: Cruz picks Fiorina, Trump rallies in OC, and Sanders looks to CA
On this week's State of Affairs, Carly Fiorina is back in the race, the Republican presidential candidates come to the CA GOP convention, and Bernie Sanders sets his sights on a California win.
Joining Take Two to discuss:
- Christina Bellantoni, Los Angeles Times assistant managing editor for politics
- Joe Garofoli, senior political writer at the San Francisco Chronicle
Thousands of Latino children in California were uncounted in 2010 census
More than 100,000 young Latinos in California were not counted in the 2010 Census.
A new report from the Child Trends Hispanic Institute shows that over 40,000 Latino children were not counted in the last 2010 census.
"Of all the demographic groups, this demographic had the highest undercount of any other," says Arturo Vargas. He's executive director of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials Educational Fund, which co-authored of the study.
"It's time now to start preparing for the 2020 census, which is why we want to bring attention to this issue."
Vargas believes there could be several reasons for the undercount, among them the distrust some community members have toward the federal government.
"This is the greatest challenge that the Census Bureau has," says Vargas. "To convince the American public to fill out their census forms every 10 years and to trust them that the information will not be used against them."
Undercounting could impact public services coming into the Golden State, such as early education and the Special Supplemental Insurance Program for Women, Infants and Children which benefit children.
'Cuba was a character in the movie': 'Papa' tells story of Ernest Hemingway and protege amid revolution
Last summer, the decades-long cold war between the U.S. and Cuba officially came to an end. The two countries restored diplomatic relations and re-opened embassies in each other's capitals.
Since then we've seen a number of ways the two countries can work together, including cinematically. This week marks the debut of the first Hollywood film to shoot on location in Cuba since the 1959 revolution. It's called "Papa: Hemingway in Cuba."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EC130UBgtfk
The film is based on the true story of Denne Bart Petitclerc, and the friendship he came to develop with Hemingway and his fourth wife, Mary. Producer Amanda Harvey and director Bob Yari joined host Alex Cohen to tell more about the film.
Interview Highlights
On how much creative license was taken with the story:
Bob Yari: "The story is a very kind of first-hand recounting of Denne's tale of his experience with the Hemingways. And there's very, very little license taken. We really wanted to do honor to Denne's very personal story and his very intricate insight into the nuanced person that Hemingway was."
On deciding where the film would be made:
Bob Yari: "Well when I first read the script, one of the things that struck me was that Cuba was a character in the movie. It was much more than just a location, a backdrop of where the story happens. The Cuban people that Hemingway loved so much, the people, everything was so integral to the story. I couldn't see shooting this somewhere other than Cuba, and everyone told me it was impossible to shoot in Cuba. So it became a passion, so to speak, to get that permission from our government, and it was a two-year journey with the state department, the treasury department, for them to ultimately allow us to go there. And they initially turned us down."
On Amanda Harvey's reaction to filming in Cuba:
Amanda Harvey: "I really didn't know what I was getting myself into, and I have always had the gung-ho attitude of, 'Yes, let's just go do it and we'll make it happen.' So it presented many challenges, even from the get-go, of even just communicating with the crew down in Cuba for pre- production. It's a challenge to talk to them and get things organized, and once we were down there, you leave a hotel and you have no internet. So you have no communication with the outside world.
Bob Yari: "In fact, she's being a little humble, but it was a massive challenge. I mean, there's no infrastructure down there, and I think if it wasn't for Amanda's tenacity, we wouldn't have gotten this done."
To listen to the full interview, click on the blue audio player above.
The Binge: work and family ... the struggle is real
Thanks to services like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime and others - there are thousands of movies and television shows available at any given time. But how do you decide?
Take Two contributor - and also writer & film historian Mark Jordan Legan stops by with this month's Binge offering ... and because today is Take your Daughters and Sons to Work Day, we thought it'd be a perfect time to look a options that feature the struggles of work/life balance.
From 2005 is the delightful Nanny McPhee. Oscar-winning screenwriter Emma Thompson adapted the popular books, and she also plays the title role of the wise, mysterious and magical nanny who suddenly appears one day to help Mr. Brown, played by Colin Firth, the overwhelmed widower with seven rebellious children.
The film is a bit like "Mary Poppins" with more of a brash and fun streak running through it and with some wonderful life lessons. Perfect for ages six and up.
Next is the Amazon Original Series, Catastrophe. The show is based and filmed in London and in true British fashion, twelve episodes are spread over two seasons. American comedian Rob Delaney and British actress Sharon Horgan star in this hilarious and terrifically raunchy series. After a boozy one night stand leads to an accidental pregnancy, Delaney decides to move to London and marry the woman. So they have a marriage and a baby in a blink of an eye.
Next is The Kids are Alright. Full of superb performances, Annette Benning and Julianne Moore play a gay married couple who have happily raised two children through a sperm donor. But their son and daughter become curious about who the sperm-donor dad was and after tracking him down invite him over for a family dinner, which needless to say is rather awkward. The sperm donor is wonderfully played by Mark Ruffalo.
And we close with the outstanding 2002 film About a Boy. Hugh Grant gives a charming, first-rate performance as a spoiled man-child with family money. He’s only ever had to think of himself and is perfectly fine doing that until he meets an unusual boy being raised by a struggling single mom. But Hugh Grant learns he can do well with hot single moms if they think he’s a hot single Dad, so he starts asking the kid to pose as his son. But in many ways, this kid is more mature than Grant and becomes his moral compass.