The 2016 president ial campaign will likely go down in history as one of the most unpredictable, most volatile, and divisive races ever. With less than 80 days to go until election day, its joining us today to take a closer look at the race so far is basil smikle, the executive director of the new york state Democratic Party, and political commentator tiffany shorter. Welcome back to both of you. Its good to be here. So, were gonna get this rollin. Tiffany, i want to start with you. There has been a shakeup this week in the trump campaign, so a lot of people are talking about what that may or may not mean. Your take on it . The base riled up, to transforming himself as a president ial candidate. I think the controversy around the khan family really taught him that he needs to be more decisive and thoughtful in what he responds to to the public. He realizes that he needs to reorganize because his Campaign Fundraising is just a fraction of hillary clintons. So, hes gathering up and reshaping his framework of how he wants to move forward. But hes also it a lot in the last week that, look, im not gonna change. My base doesnt want me to change. Im not changing. But i hear you saying, well, hes recognizing hes now shifting into the role of being a real candidate for president instead of just somebody going after being a candidate. Hes not going to change. His core message will stay the same. I think hell change the way he says it, and hell think about the repercussions. Well still get the same donald trump, who doesnt hold world, so he of course will have to adjust. Okay. So, were gonna get back to that, but i want to bring you in here, basil, because we want to talk about the release of these emails to congress and some of the emails to congress and to the clinton and to the public. Theyre gonna release some of them, make some of them public. This is not going away for hillary clinton. Do you think this will have a negative impact or any impact at all on the race . I mn, and i think, to me, the timing of this is a little suspect because were less than 80 days out and congress has asked for these interview notes from the fbi, which the fbi is going to give over. But theres nothing untoward in them, and, in fact, hillary has said herself, you know, release them to the public, because there are certain elements of the notes that cannot be released to the public because theyre confidential. There, there, and weve been talking about these emails for over a year now. If you look at how voters have responded in this primary cycle up until now, shes got more votes than Anyone Running for president this cycle. She is leading in the polls as we speak. We cant rest on our haunches, certainly. We still need to stay vigilant and keep campaigning hard. But i think voters have have moved on. Now, you talked about her leading in some of these key states. There are key swing states in the race. She is doing very well, leading donald trump in several really important states, but you still this is just a poll. You still have to get people out to actually vote, and she look, the one thing where they are neck and neck is in terms of their unfavorability. How can she overcome that and get people to actually come out and vote . Well, theres a couple of things. This unfavorability, this unlikability, is somewhat nebulous to me because a lot of people cant quite put their finger on where it started, where it came from. Ive known them for a long time, the clintons, and i remember back in 1993 her coming out and saying she wasnt going to be the typical first lady. Talking about healthcare even back then made her unpopular in the eyes of many republicans, Newt Gingrich in particular, and thats where a lot of is so i go back to my earlier point, which is that a lot of this sentiment about her has been baked in for a very long time, but if, in talking about the things that shes done in new york and investigate party building, which, you know, as the head of the state party here in new york, is very important to me because it impacts all of our downballot races, being able to really engage the party and engage the elected officials throughout the ballot, i think, will help turnout in the end, previously red states that may be purple, may be going blue this cycle. Tiffany, i want to ask you you know, theres a lot of talk this week about the fact that mr. Trump received his first briefing on security issues, and theres a big question and debate about whether or not he can be trusted with that information. An unfair characterization, or do you think voters are listening to that . Trump is open, hes honest, security at risk, and thats actually one of his advantages during this campaign season. If something were to happen, if we have another mishap across the world with terrorism, people will turn to trump as the trusted National Adviser someone who can make hard decisions. Hillary clinton, unfortunately, made the wrong call with the iraq war, and i think thats going to be one of his advantages. Well, you know, i would i would i would be concerned i think that, from a foreignpolicy perspective, hes just not fit to lead in that regard. I mean, when you call the sitting president of the United States a founder of isis, to me, thats just reckless. And others around the world have picked up on that and are using it against us. But its about perception, though. Hillary hillary kind of you know, she made the wrong call. Then, well, if we talk about sort of the if were talking about the iraq war vote, there are a lot of people that voted f iraq war, and, afterwards, we see the trouble that that war has caused. And it actually lost her the last election. Well, no, i wouldnt say that. What i would say that is george w. Bush not really implementing a sort of plan or strategy after the iraq war is really what created isis. This predates president obama. So to call the sitting president and the nominee of the Democratic Party cofounders of a terrorist organization would agree that donald trump has a message that has impacted sort of a lot of predominantly white middleclass voters who are really anxious about the economy, i and national security. But i think his response to that has just been all wrong. Okay. We know were gonna have both of you back, but weve run out of time here, cause weve got at least 80 days. Yes. A little bit less. Theres a long way to go. And well continue to have this conversation. Community working together to mentor young people affected by Gang Violence on long island. Stay with us. I know you [laughs] neighbors. We live across the street. Thanks for this. I see youve got Time Warner Cable like the rest of the hood. Genius. Yeah, they offer tons of free hd channels. And you can record six shows at the same time. And with the super fast internet, entertainment nirvana wow. Nirvana. Switch to Time Warner Cable for 89. 99 per month, youll get free hd channels, 100 meg internet with no data cap, and unlimited calling. Call now. Looks like youre all hooked up. Games about to start. Lets do it. Were watching here . Oh yeah. Show . Switching is easy. Youll get our exclusive onehour arrival window, a moneyback guarantee, and theres no contract to sign. Oh youve got the twc phone. Its unlimited calling to like half the world. Including mexico, canada, india, european union. Yeah. This will work as a coffee table. Dont ah it says. Fragile. Get tv, internet and phone for 89. 99 per month. Plus free installation, tv equipment, and epix included. Lawenforcement agencies and communities across the country are working hard to put an end to the vicious cycle of crime and violence that claims too many young lives. In Suffolk County, the council of thought and action is a communitybased program that reaches out to young people caught up in Gang Violence with nowhere else to turn. It is the brainchild of Suffolk CountyDeputy Police commissioner risco mentionlewis, who is joining us today. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for having me. What a pleasure to meet you. You have been thats right. And first black first black female. First black and first female. Yes, i am. So, you covered a lot of firsts there. Yes, i have. [ chuckles ] what prepared you for this job . You have an impressive r . Sum . Just give us a little bit of the background. Well, i was assistant d. A. For 19 years in nassau county. Of course, i went to law school at hofstra law school. Ive been working in the streets a long time. Since 99, i started working in the streets as a prosecutor, doing intervention, and the funny thing about that is i didnt know anythi working in the streets, so i just used to go and knock on gang members doors and say, hi. [ both laugh ] yeah, but you know what . You figured out a way to learn it and sort of get acquainted with thugs. Absolutely. And you have to be in the street, i guess, sometimes to know whats going on there. Absolutely. A lot of people you want to you know, you cant find out whats going on on the ground if youre in the clouds. Mmhmm. You got to walk the streets and be on the ground. Yeah. And this program i really want to get to it, and you hear people talk about, you know, working with gang members and keeping people from going in to the gang members. Sometimes you get the feeling that, well, you know, if theyve been there, then were gonna kind of throw those away. Were just gonna pretend that theyre not there. But from what im reading about your organization, you really wanted to take those forgotten people and say, no, no. We just got to figure out where you fit, how you fit in here, and wer together. Right. The first thing is cota members would kill me if i dont correct you and say we dont say were a program. Okay. cause a program only lasts as long as the money. We call ourselves a movement. A movement. Okay. Of change. And we are actually in chicago, so we actually are moving. Mmhmm. But, yes, the one thing ive learned about, when i walked those streets, knocked on the doors, stood around parks talking to kids, went to the corners and talked to them the gang members, guys selling drugs the numberone thing i learned is they wanted better. Yeah. How to get there, you know . And so being an africanamerican female, mother my father died when my mother was 27 and he was 30something, with five kids. My mother had to teach us, you know, how to do the next right thing. Mmhmm. And so i passed on some of those lessons i learned from living in the projects of massachusetts and my mother taking us and moving us to a house. I took some of those lessons i learned about how to think through life, how to organize the concepts of the council of thought and action. It all started just conversations on the corner and realizing which conversations worked and which ones didnt. And was it a difficult sell to get Community Members to sign on to, look, you know, yeah, these kids have made some bad choices these young people, i should say but thats no reason for us to count them out, and if we want them to continue to be or, rather, to be productive members of the community and not to go back to first place, we all have to Work Together on this . Well, cota members the youngest one that ever walked in the door was 9 years old. Got kicked out of school and had been out of school for months 9. The oldest was 65. So, cota runs the range. But, yes, it is a hard sell to people, because lets face it United States, we are 5 of the worlds population, and we incarcerate 25 of the worlds population, so we believe in locking people up. Uhhuh. But were not looking at the cost not only Economic Cost 200,000 to lock a kid up in new york state or over 60,000 for an adult, were not looking at the human cost. And so a part of that sell is making people understand that no matter how many times you lock a person up, theyre always coming back home. Mmhmm. And so isnt it better to stop them from going in the first place or, you know, even when theyre about to come home, which we do, reach out to them and say, youre coming home. Out cause when you come back, were gonna figure out what else you can do. Right. How do you do that . What you know, if i say you said cota deals from 9 years old to 65. What is it that cota is able to offer these folks . So, in Suffolk County, what we have is cotas in two Resource Centers. The county executive, Steve Bellone he established the Resource Centers where you have department of labor, department of social services. Cota also has a case manager whos a former cota member, dorothy henderson, own sober home, right . So she meets with them. She does a corporate plan, which is a written plan for your life, cause one thing i discovered young guys on the corner, even older guys they want to think of themselves as businessmen, so all the language of cota is business language. Youre a corporation. You have a board of advisers. And thats the language we use. And so you do this 45day plan. The first day, the first moment, you do that 45day plan. And then we have these weekly to do. Yeah, and how youre gonna make that plan work for you. Exactly. One of the things i read that was really interesting and, honestly, whether youre cota or not, you should give it some thought the people that you listen to, the five people that you listen to, talk to the most thats your board of directors. Thats right. When you start thinking about that in your life. Yes. Who is around you and who youre listening to, that really gives you pause if you really want to, you know, make a change or to put your p the other thing we ask is so we say, oh, the five people you speak to the most do you want their economic level . Do you want their life . Do you want their family . Do you want their structure . Do you want their relationships . And if the answers no, pick a new five. And so thats a part of the board of advisers and your circle of growth. Are you in a circle of growth . That goes for all of us. You and i right now could look at our board of advisers and ask, whos advising us in our career . Whos advising us for our marriage . And so these things are just the basics right . That we never really put to paper. Yeah. But if we think about it, this is what kind of good families, good, successful people, do every day. But now its put the paper so that people who a lot of their life has been a lot of these peoples lives has been on survival mode. Yeah. Theyve not had any any advice or any family, really. Theyre just survivors. As i said before, your r . Sum . Is impressive and your expertise. Th it. Youre on a president ial council. I know youve been to the white house. Talk to me a little bit about that. The Brennan Center for justice started the lawenforcement leaders to reduce incarceration and crime. As a matter of fact, commissioner bratton is a member. And so you have leaders across the country, lawenforcement leaders across the country, saying, you need two trains leaving at the station. You cant just do suppression. You got to do intervention handinhand. You also have the National Network for safe communities, Jeremy Travis here at john jay, and they are Teaching Police departments across the country and municipalities, how do we do two trains leaving the station suppression intervention . So, theres a National Movement to change this policy weve had of just arresting people. And let me tell you something. Locally, ill tell you how it works. In wyandanch, we got the resource center. The youth center was beefed up. Weve been doing intervention in the neighborhood. Two outreach workers. We have a case manager. And one of the things weve been doing with community and police when theres the shootings that go on we dont wait to see, can we catch em . Can we not catch em . We knock on the doors and say, look, we know what youre doing. We know who you are. You need to stop. And then we give them a piece of paper that says, this is the state time youll get if you continue. This is the federal time youre gonna get. But just know were here to save your life. The police and the community are saying, we need you to stop. in one area we worked in, a 39 reduction in violent crime, a 46 reduction in overall crime in property crime and a 44 reduction overall. And thats between suppression and intervention together. When we do this across the country and it makes complete sense only 2 to 5 of any neighborhood is committing crimes. Yeah. So, what if we focus and knock on their doors . On those yeah. On their doors. We dont need to stop every kid walking down the street. We dont need to stop every kid we know who they are. Were gonna knock on their doors, were gonna visit them in jail, were gonna write letters to them upstate, and say, when you come home, be different, and well show you how. And do you think more and more Police Departments are listening . Absolutely. I mean, its going across the its across the country. Everyone we cannot keep going on as we are because its not working. It is reducing crime, and crimes been reducing, but not to the extent when you do intervention and suppression on the ones that are doing the wrong things. And were doing that in Suffolk County. And it sounds like you are doing a great job. We would love to have you back on the show. I hope you will come back and talk to us a little bit more about the work that youre doing. Thank you. Nice to meet you. You, too. Still to come, tackling Childhood Obesity in when it comes to childhood begins in a school cafeteria. Thanks to the wellness in the schools program, thousands of new york city publicschool students are eating healthier meals. Eyewitness News ReporterLauren Glassberg has more. Some of you are gonna make a Honey Mustard vinaigrette. Victoria baluk is a chef who works for wellness in the schools, or wits, a nonprofit aimed at empowering schools to provide students with healthier experiences. We come in with our chefs. We come in with our coach. To set their own goals with how they want to work with our chef and with our coach to create healthier places to learn