Transcripts For WPVI Inside Story 20160320

What do you make of it . Well, i think that its very interesting, the fact that and dom, i know, knows this better than i do about the number of people on the republican side that are uncommitted as delegates, so the whole sort of election process itself seems really interesting, but i thought it was also interesting also that former Governor Dick thornburgh endorsed kasich. He likes governors. So the fact that the establishment, republican establishment in pennsylvania ultimately might go with kasich. And so 71 is the magic number for republicans. Some are uncommitted. Some are open. 54 of them are, and the thing thats driven my radio show this is how excited people are, which really turns me on. Theyre down to the minutia. They know they get to vote for individual delegates, and they want to know, well, which way do these delegates lean, monica. Would they be a trump supporter . I had a guy call me, identified himself as completely antitrump because hes prolife. I had then a slew of people calling in saying, that was good to know. I didnt know that. Definitely im a trump person. Im gonna avoid voting for him. So were actually down to looking at the delegates. Thats how intense people are that are paying attention to this. The big story that i think a lot of people are missing is republican turnout is enormous everywhere, and greatly exceeding republican turnout in previous years, whereas the democratic turnout is down, and thats got to be a concern, i think, going towards the general that theres a much greater level of interest in the republican race. The tide just might surge towards a republican winner. On john kasich, john kasich is what we used to call a favorite son. It would have been surprising if he, as a sitting governor and the head of the republican party, could not win the primary. So the fact that he won in ohio, not surprising. The fact that marco rubio lost by such an enormous number in florida and that donald trump ran so strong is a huge story. And the big followup to that is what may happen down the road, including if theres a brokered convention in ohio, and trump is already saying hes not trying to incite a riot, but he cant stop people. This was his wording, because there have been violent incidents as we know for several weeks now, and Police Called out. What do you make of that . Now theyre having to spend money on riot gear in cleveland. Yeah, we were talking about that a few minutes ago, and we feel bad for cleveland. They shouldnt have had to put out this additional money for security reasons as opposed to getting a profit from the convention, as i think philadelphias gonna get with the democrats. As jan was saying, theres been a huge increase in interest in the republican ranks, but i would say that the interesting thing is, theyre not all republicans. They are independents, they are democrats who changed registration in the primaries in their state to be able to make a difference, either vote for or against trump. So you have to say and i am far from a trump supporter. Look at my facebook page. [ laughs ] but he has galvanized the people who are disaffected. So its not entirely, uniquely a republican phenomenon. And whats happening within the party is interesting, where mitt romney will come out and day, i dont like that guy, and everybody who doesnt like that guy, vote for anybody else you know, in effect, really just a big chasm in the middle of the party. What is that gonna turn out to be . Is it just gonna be a mess in ohio . The passion is always when youre for someone. The passion is not anybody but, cause that spreads the dissenting vote out. Although there is a passion if youre against someone. That was the point that i was gonna make. Go ahead sharmain. But we are deepening the passion against trump is unbelievable. Yeah, it is deepening, the passion against him. Thats what im saying. I believe that, yes, were sort of seeing the people who can make a difference by voting, whether theyre republican, independent, or in some cases, extreme people who are very scary to me. But the idea that we arent also seeing a deepening of people who will do anything, republican, independents, and democrats to say, under no circumstances will donald trump win. Former pennsylvania governor ed rendell, by the way, said this week that trump will win the reagan democrats while Hillary Clinton will get the suburban republicans. So an interesting mixup there, in a way. I was just gonna say. I mean, the phenomenon that christine has described and that governor rendell has described, weve seen that before where a republican race draws in democrats and independents. You know, thats a good thing. Thats not a bad thing if youre a republican. Oh, no. It is a good thing. Its an exciting thing. Theres one caveat to that. The people that are coming in ive talked about this a lot. Trump likes to say this the first time they voted in their life. Theyre 60 or 70 years of age. I, frankly, dont think thats a good thing, and i dont see that as an informed voter, and the problem is, if they come in and they dont espouse conservative values, republican values, theyre bringing this in just because of trump. Thats where the tension is and where the party is having difficulty. I disagree. More voters is a greater democracy, right . We ought to encourage everyone to vote. If people havent voted, they ought to come out and vote. Thats what our democracy is all about. But is it a kneejerk reaction vote . Thats doms point. Is it just somebody whos sort of, without having done one and the negative nature. The vote because of anger as opposed to a vote because of specifics, and i subbed for one of the guys on the Radio Station last saturday, and i had a meltdown because i asked people i said, please explain to me one thing that you think trump will do specifically, proactively to change the immigration problem or the economy. And everybody kept saying, he is going to make America Great again. Just quoting that sort of slogan, campaignisms. Yeah, and i lost it. [ laughter ] lets move on and talk about an interesting couple of special elections, but why did we need them is the real bottom line. Philadelphia did have two democratic special house elections. It cost 350,000, by the way, in a time of tight budgets, and now we have an interesting outcome, of course, so the bottom line is that lynwood savage won in the 192nd district. Thats the area of wynnefield and overbrook, and Tonyelle Cook won in the 200th district. 200th. Yes, and so we have two new faces that will be going to harrisburg, but did we need to have it at this moment . Those seats have been open for 10 or 11 weeks. Couldnt we wait six more weeks . The answer is no, and you cant blame those two really good candidates. I know tonyelle, and i really congratulate her. She has worked really, really hard in the community for a long period of time, but this came from harrisburg. We couldnt wait till spring . This came from i absolutely agree. This came from speaker turzai, and the issue wasnt about the two philadelphia seats, it was the 57th district outside of pittsburgh that was the issue. This is a seat that had a republican representative, but has a majority democratic registration, and the concern was that if you dont run a special election outside of the normal voting process, you might have ended up with a democrat, which would have put another democrat in the pennsylvania house. I think there was also the thought that with these two philadelphia seats, there was an outside chance. The republicans did have a challenger in each of those races, and turnout was below 10 in each of the philadelphia districts. So i think the republicans were also thinking, theres an outside chance that in a lowturnout election, if it rains or snows, that the republicans could steal one or maybe even both seats in philadelphia. What would it take hailstones, locusts . The timing, the fact that state representative Louise Bishop did just plead no contest to a misdemeanor for public corruption, the timing of trying to quickly move ahead, did that have anything to do with it, dom . Oh, absolutely. But i like jans point. I think this is the ageold thing in philadelphia in our lifetime where we see competition, where we see this play out, but i think it would take all those things and more to actually see it. But, again, i think for us to remember that this was a state call. This was not a local call. The good thing is, at least when i checked in with jan, is that at least the state is gonna pay for this, but, again, its still our tax dollars. Right, and by the way, is anybody else seeing the irony that we have votes on the budget that hasnt passed yet . I do. Absolutely. And yet were paying 350,000 to get the people to vote. So you kind of wonder. The left and the right hand dont seem to really connect. Crazy. All right, lets move on and talk about senator pat toomey, who had some very harsh words about the possible Supreme Court seat being filled, and here are a couple of quotes. This is Merrick Garland, whom the president did nominate. He would like to have that quickly taken care of so we can fill the seat, but this is the quote from senator pat toomey, who said, with the u. S. Supreme courts balance at stake, and with the president ial election fewer than eight months away, he wants more of a voice to be heard, and heres our next graphic to tell you that he is asking, it is wise to give the American People a more direct voice in the selection and confirmation of the next justice, but should Merrick Garland be nominated again by the next president , i would be happy to carefully consider his nomination. So hes asking to upend the normal system that we have in place for a president , a sitting president nominating someone and having them go through the Senate Selection process and being confirmed or not. He just doesnt want to bother with all that and save the time and the money. Monica, i break with my fellow conservatives on this on the process, because i believe that the advise and consent of the senate is an important function you know, the three branches of the government. However, the ignore and consent is not part of it. They should give him a fair hearing, they should give him an upanddown vote. This was a function of this is what the founders established. I happen to agree that it is troubling to have a nomination made with only 8 or 9 months left in the administration of president obama. However, the people elected president obama. I did not vote for him. But the people elected president obama and its part of his job description. Until january of 2017. They didnt elect him until march of 2016. Everyone understands if the shoe were on the other foot, the democrats would be doing exactly the same thing. And they have. And its equally wrong. And theres video of Vice President biden advocating for doing that, exactly the same thing, and the second point is, i think Merrick Garland is not in a bad position, because i think a deal has been cut with the republicans that if the democrats win the presidency, they would be happy to confirm Merrick Garland in the lameduck session because they see im hearing the exact same thing, yes. They see it as far better than anyone that a democrat would appoint later on. Interestingly, president obama did pick, in some other selections that he had, younger people who would have a longer tenure, but in this case, he did pick someone whos 63 years old, older white man, more of an ivy league sort of standardlooking and acting justice. And very pro law and order. Right, and so it wouldnt be a controversial issue. Well, but there is a big issue here. Hes blogged against heller. Heller is the Second Amendment case, the big Second Amendment case. I think on that, hed be pretty weak, and i think hes much more moderate than sotomayor and the other judges that president obama has put in, but republicans are smarting, monica, because theyve lost. Theyve controlled the Selection Process for i dont know how many years, and they have blanked on the people they put on court that are not in the scalia alito mold, and thats why theres such anger. Theyre already orchestrating attack ads and petitions and a media blitz against Merrick Garland, so they are ready to go. Theyre not joking around here. But the democrats have the exact same thing. The democrats are going to be zeroing in very specifically on Senate Candidates that are in purple and blue states, including our own state senator, which we just saw i mean, our United States senator, senator toomey, to say, were gonna put our money in with the voters to say this is something that youre supposed to do. Youre at least supposed to give this person a review, give them an upordown vote, and if you dont, we dont think youre doing your job, and pew has already started polling on this question. At least at this point in pennsylvania, most pennsylvanians, both democrats primarily, but also independents believe we need to have a review and people need to vote. Its part of the constitutional process. The base of the party, if pat toomey blinks, in my estimation on this, and goes that way down this path, they will say, weve lost again. They will turn. They will not come out and vote. Thats what will happen. Pat toomeys also in a pretty strong position. I think hes in a much stronger position when you look at the potential opponents. Democrats are divided, and if you look at them, its not obvious whos gonna beat pat toomey, and so hes in a strong position. And the fact that Merrick Garland in 1997 was confirmed by both parties when he was running for the circuit ancient history. That was then, this is now . But i think the republicans are Wishful Thinking here. I think the democrats are gonna coalesce no matter who the candidate is for United States senate. They arent that far apart on the issues. Theyre gonna come together, theyre gonna be working on turnout from the top of the ticket down for key races. They think they have attractive candidates. If i were senator toomey, i would look very seriously at saying im not even going to talk to this gentleman. If he finds himself in a tight race and this becomes a big issue, you know what toomeys gonna do . Hes gonna have a photo op with Merrick Garland. Hes gonna invite him in. Were gonna have a picture on the front page of every paper, so. Which is very sad that and its always been this way, that politics has influenced so strongly the selection of these judges, who are there for a life term, but, again, i think it was very savvy of president obama to have picked Merrick Garland because he is not somebody who actually galvanizes the democratic liberal base. They kind of looked at it, and they said, a 63yearold white man. Um, okay. Hes not exactly what we would have hoped for, and at the same time, republicans are going to be against it conservatives as everybody said here because they do not want an obama pick to be on the court. So i think it was extremely savvy of him to sort of thread that needle the way he did with that timing. And meantime, pat toomey had issues with another obama nominee, and that was for the Third Circuit court of appeal Rebecca Ross Haywood here in philadelphia to fill a seat. He didnt think again that this should be happening at the end of the tenure for president obama. Well, this is an unusual appointment because usually in a state like pennsylvania with one republican and one democrat senator, i mean, they have a way of working these things out ahead of time. Normally, and thats the way i believe all the judgeships during their cosenatorship have occurred. So this looks like a deliberate political act on the part of the president to create a political issue that whoever the challenger is to senator toomey might be able to use to organize. And is it time for a little upheaval . I mean, are we due for that in philadelphia . Well, i dont know. I thought the system is working pretty well. What do you think . I have less of a problem with this judge, and the reason comes back to, again, the Supreme Court is dominating our lives. Thats the way that i see it, and scalia was the alleged fifth vote, even though it was 4 to 4, and Justice Kennedy runs the country, essentially. Right. Take away scalia, and that is a 25year potentially, even though this gentlemans older shot at control of things that conservatives object to. This judge i see more of giving the president some leeway. Right, but can i look at the road a little bit around mrs. Haywood, which is, one of the issues that came up in conversation was why did the president not choose an africanamerican woman, who has never been on the United States Supreme Court, and the way to begin that process is to begin to put some of the people on the federal bench on some of these appellate courts. If you looked at the list, it wasnt just mrs. Haywood in pennsylvania. He nominated six other judges around the country, many of them in texas and other places, to begin the process so that ultimately we can get some people who are gonna be ready, prepared, and supported to serve on the Supreme Court that represent the diversity of our country. Well have to leave it at that. Were gonna take a break. Inside story continues right after this. Inside story is presented by temple university. Temple fuels students with academics and opportunities to take charge. Plugged into the city, powered by the world. Temple. Edu takecharge. Welcome back to inside story. Just this week, Supreme Court Justice Michael eakin stepped down from the high court as part of the porngate investigation and scandal. Its now taken two Supreme Court justices off the bench, a real important twist in this case, and, jan, youre a law professor. Tell me what you make of it. I mean, at the beginning, the criticism by his own colleagues, even the board of review was that this was a small thing, a tempest in a teapot, if you will a teacup and now its taken down another justice. Its only one more stain on an already stained and corrupt judicial system here in pennsylvania. I have argued for the longest time that we need to stop electing judges. Judges should not be elected. Judges should be some sort of merit selection ought to be in place, and people push back and say, oh, no. That wont take politics out. Theres always politics. Well, yeah. Theres always politics, but you get better judges through merit selection. Its not a perfect system, but you get better judges, and all we have to do in pennsylvania is look at delaware, an adjacent state that uses merit selection. Both Political Parties support merit selection because they understand you get better judges. Better judges means a Better Business environment. People want to come to your state and do business because they know if they have problems, theyll get a fair shake. Well, interesting, because now the ethics board is asking that the worst charge against him be dropped and that the court case not go forward its still technically out there, but probably wont go forward now that hes resigned so that he can keep his pension. Is that fair, christine . Well. Hes got two pensions, actually, coming his way. Seamus mccaffery kept his pension Seamus Mccaffery, and Seamus Mccaffery actually sent many, many more pornographic emails than eakin did. Eakin received the majority. I wanted to Say Something to follow up with jan. And ive pushed for merit selection, as well. Politics should not be a part of the system when we have judges justices, but how interesting. Politics are the reason that those two justices, mccaffery and eakin, are gone politics from the end of Kathleen Kane. Its not because, yeah, they received pornographic emails. Its an issue of judgment. But that alone would never have been enough to unseat a sitting justice of the Supreme Court of pennsylvania. It was Kathleen Kane who took those two men down with her as she is leaving. She made her mark, you know . I mean, say what you will about her, Kathleen Kane marked, branded the Supreme Court of pennsylvania. But i think that they marked themselves initially by doing these emails, im sorry this sort of like chummy kind of club of racists, sexists misogynists. All kinds of things. I take it seriously. These people are supposed to be looking at each individual, looking at the facts of the case and having some sense that every person that comes before them has value. I dont know how you look at these kinds of emails and then separate that from being able to see a poor woman from north philadelphia or a person from mckeesport whatever it is and sort of seeing them labeled as opposed to seeing them here. But i do want to say one thing about elections, and ive been you know, i believe that merit works, but we just finished spending a lot of time talking about we have president s and governors that are going to ultimately select and make a recommendation, and we have then elected bodies who are saying, oh, by the way. Were just not gonna deal with that. Were not gonna put anybody on. Were seeing that at the federal level, at the appellate. There is no perfect system i think is what jan said. I agree. But im still a little nervous about diversity when we go to selection and then whether or not the political process itself just reinvents itself somewhere else. Monica, my big takeaway, though back to Kathleen Kane is and why i pay such attention to the attorney general race, and i think we have really quality people in there. The attorney general corbett and kane both have been involved in huge things, and we kind of forget that this is, other than governor, the real powerhouse in pennsylvania. And so we have to keep an eye on whos gonna be the next one with all that power. Right. And is it fair that he might not go to trial . Everybody all right with him now that hes resigned . Hes suffered enough, in their words . Yeah. All right. Were gonna take a break. Inside stories of the week coming your way right after this. Lemme get a mcpick 2. Check out the fresh new look on Mcdonalds Mcpick 2 menu lemme get a mcpick 2 now, choose any 2 delicious mcdonalds classics for just 5 bucks. Mix n match share n savor 2 for 5 name your flavor pick any 2 iconic tastes a big mac made with 100 beef, flaky filetofish, seared on the grill quarter pounder with cheese or crispy 10piece chicken mcnuggets for just 5 bucks. Grab a friend today and pick your faves lemme get a mcpick 2 bada ba ba ba inside story is presented by temple university. Temple fuels students with academics and opportunities to take charge. Plugged into the city, powered by the world. Temple. Edu takecharge. Time for inside stories of the week, and lets start with jan. This Week National review, the mouthpiece of the republican establishment, has started dismissing the problems with the White Working Class in the same way that theyve historically dismissed the problems of the black working class. They say that welfare dependency and drug and alcohol addiction and family dysfunction are things that the workingclass people did themselves, that nobody did this to them, says the national review. In reality, we all know its about jobs and the absence and the export of millions of goodpaying workingclass jobs by american corporations and the import of tens of millions of immigrant competitors for the remaining workingclass jobs. Christine. Monica, i used to love chris christie, but the engagement is off. Im giving back the ring. [ laughter ] he did not show up for the funeral of trooper sean cullen, who was killed in the line of duty last week, and he said, i wouldnt have gone anyway. He was at a trump event. He lowered the statehouse flag to halfmast when Whitney Houston died of a drug overdose, and he likes the dallas cowboys. Were done. All right. Lets go to dom. Monica, a shoutout to the d. A. Of Chester County hogan. On my radio show, he talked about this horrific physical assault alleged on a freshman there by senior Football Players and why the locker room was unattended, because this type of stuff was ongoing, by the coaches, and he called it the sandusky effect, meaning that Jerry Sandusky preying on kids. These guys didnt want to be seen with kids naked, halfdressed, et cetera. Its rather amazing its come to that, but thats what he told me, and thats the defense. Mm. All right, sharmain. Yesterday i had an opportunity and was invited by a consortium of blackowned businesses in philadelphia to talk about one of my favorite topics how do we make sure that teens get good jobs during the summer . They committed to joining the campaign, bringing kids into their jobs and to their businesses, so we are looking forward to a great partnership. And a few more would be nice, always. We would love anyone to sign up. Summer jobs, summer jobs, summer jobs. It makes a huge difference in a teens life. Thank you so much. Thanks to all our insiders. We appreciate your time and your thoughts, and thanks to you for watching. Have a great week ahead. Well see you right back here next sunday morning. Im nydia han along with gray hall. Coming up next on action news, march madness continues, st. Joes and villanova basketball teams have games today. Jeff skeverski will be live from brooklyn before the wildcats tip off. Police are looking for a suspect who stole a tractortrailer and got it stuck on a philadelphia street. Old man winter is hanging on, chris sowers has the exclusive accuweather sevenday forecast. Its chillier than christmas. Well be back with action news. Patients across the country have spoken. They recently rated their Care Experience at over 3,500 hospitals nationwide in a survey conducted for the centers for medicare and medicaid services. Fewer than 6 received 5 stars. Among them was Cancer Treatment centers of america in philadelphia. Learn more at cancercenter. Com slash eastern. Cancer Treatment Centers of america. Care that never quits. Appointments available now. Sunday, march 20, im nydia han along with gray hall disproof heres some of the stories were following on action news today, nova and vaint st