Transcripts For WPVI Inside Story 20160703 : vimarsana.com

And, you know, we want to be relevant to the moment, to the time that were in, where the country is, and what kinds of tools we have. We have tools now, in terms of technology, that we didnt have in 08. People think differently now than they did just eight years ago. So all of that will be reflected in the moment. Mostly, we want to be a reflection of whats happening now so that people can see themselves in the podium, the show, and whats represented on television. For people who say, oh, conventions are boring. Politics are boring, why should they Pay Attention to your show . Well, because, a, its not boring. And, b, what youll see, especially now that the conventions are back to back, youll be able to see a real contrast in what we plan to offer the nation as a Vision Forward and what the republicans plan to offer as a vision going backward. And so everything on our program, from the folks who are gonna entertain, the folks who are gonna speak, will be a reflection of our forwardmoving vision. Its gonna be exciting. And you got to remember, weve got all the great talent on our side. All right. Well, you also have had a longrunning primary. Senator sanders has still not endorsed senator clinton. Whats his role going to be at the convention . Well, and thats being worked out and being determined between the two campaigns, what specific role senator sanders will play. But, you know, look. Senator sanders has energized millions of people across the country who have flocked to his message and to his person. And so hes a Brilliant Star in our party apparatus, and were looking forward to having him do what he said hes going to do, which is support secretary clinton in her bid, vote for her in november, and to do everything he can to make sure that donald trump is not president. Speaking of trump, this has been a very disruptive political year. Yeah. Who knows what could happen . Donald trump could show up. Certainly, people who support him maybe want to be very aggressive about things, could show up. Are you prepared for that . We are prepared for that. This has been a season where anything can happen. And so we have to be prepared for any eventuality, and so we are. And, you know, we hope that the timehonored traditions of each party allowing the other to have their week of Convention Planning and Convention Show will stand. But in the event that mr. Trump decides to break with tradition, then well be ready for that. Youll be ready . Well be ready. You said something interesting. Speaking about sanders supporters and Trump Supporters, you said, its a mistake to ignore them. These are people who want to be heard. Is your Convention Going to do something to make those people feel heard . What are you doing . You know, it is my contention that that is the hope and the need of every human being, the desire to be heard and respected. And i think what weve seen throughout this Campaign Season is voters who feel left out and who want to make sure their voices are heard. And theyve found outlets in the various candidates. And so our Convention Program we are the bigtent party. Were a party of diverse opinions, differing opinions. But we hold at our base a core foundational value that we have a responsibility to each other as citizens and that government has a responsibility to us. And so you will see that reflected on the stage. Its already started in the platform process, where many of the things that senator sanders was fighting for are now part of the platform. And that will continue to grow. We recognize that there are large swaths of the party who supported senator sanders. Thats great. Theyre still voting for Democratic Values and democratic principles. And we think that will continue going into november. Speaking of your platform, something that we havent seen in previous platforms saying you want to abolish the death penalty. Are there other things in the platform that you think are points to be highlighted as points of difference with previous conventions and with the other party . You know, i think there are some points where weve made tremendous progress over the last eight years. And so there was no need to address it in the platform this time, such as samesex marriage. Marriage equality was a huge deal for us, but of course, now its the law of the land. And were celebrating that, and we dont have to debate that anymore. Its not a point of contention about what the partys gonna do, because its done, and thats wonderful. Things like abolishing the death penalty, around the minimum wage being 15 and that being part of the platform, around the equal rights amendment being part of the platform, with family and medical leave being part of the platform, affirmatively stated these things are things that we have added this cycle and that were looking forward to implementing once we become president. A lot of people, this will be an event, if youre not a delegate or youre not invited, you dont get to participate. If im in that crowd, how do i get to feel a part of this in philadelphia . Well, you know, weve made arrangements. Were having all of our daytime activities at the Pennsylvania Convention center downtown. They are free and open to the public. Any resident can just show up and go in, and youll be able to participate in our caucus and council meetings, where we discuss policy, where the democratic partys glitterati, for lack of a better word, is there. You can interact with them, talk with people, meet other democrats, and be part of the action. Theres also politicalfest, which is a traveling exhibit of white house memorabilia, from across the years. Theres a small oval office, a mock air force one. Come down. Be part of that. So, you can bring your children. Dont miss the moment. Theres plenty for you to do to help you feel engaged and involved in whats happening. And you can see the hall on the sunday and monday going into the convention. Yes, we are making arrangements for local residents to be able to access and view the podium. Well have more to say about what those days are. It will be before the convention starts. And you should watch our website for details on how you can participate. And, quickly, if im saying, oh, no, the traffic, youve actually thought about this. We have. You know, our schedule really allows us not to interfere with daytoday life. So, our delegates are at their breakfast meetings from 7 00 to 9 00. We dont start moving them till 9 00. Youre already at work. And they are downtown. Youll see some folks wandering around, maybe in your neighborhoods. They may look a little lost. Help them out. Then at night, we go into session at 5 00. We start moving people at 3 00. So we are in the hall by the time your rush hour starts. And were there until 11 00, so we wont mess up your dinner reservations. All right. Well, we cant wait for them to spend a lot of money in philadelphia. Welcome to the city. Well, reverend Leah Daughtry, thank you for joining us. And when we come back, our inside story panel. Inside story is presented by temple university. Remarkable change isnt easy, but for those who take charge, it comes naturally. Explore temples impact. Visit temple. Edu impact. Fios is not cable. Were wired differently. So we wired the wagners house with 100 meg internet. Which means that in the time it takes mr. Wagners to pour a 20 oz. Cup of coffee, tommy can download 30 songs, and jan can upload 120 photos. 12 seconds. Thats the power of fiber optics. And right now you can get 100 meg internet with equal upload and download speeds, tv and phone for just 69. 99 per month online. Cable cant offer internet speeds this fast at a price this good. Only fios can. Welcome back to inside story. Im tamala edwards. Lets introduce you to the panel. First up, pollster terry madonna. Good morning. Morning, tam. Columnist christine flowers. Good morning. Good morning. Attorney nelson diaz. Good morning. Good morning. And documentarian sam katz. We just heard from Leah Daughtry talking about the democratic convention, making it sound as though theyve thought of every contingency, everything is ready to go. How concerned, though, should we be about aggression, about violence, about the two sides mixing it up in a way that may create images that are very disturbing . How likely do we think this is . If i was concerned about anything today in the world, it would not be about domestic protest. It would be more about foreign terrorism. Both of these conventions are fabulous targets of opportunity. And today, you know, you see the aftermath of istanbul, of orlando, of riverside. And the fact that even in the last several days, the success that the United States has had in supporting iraq and eradicating forces within isil, isis i dont know which one to call them half the time. This is, to me, a much bigger problem, because this is an international story. This is a place you can get a lot of attention. As they are diminished in the middle east, prospects of finding other opportunities, even by sole practitioners, is a much bigger concern for me. All right. Yeah, sam is exactly right. I mean, but you cant rule out the possibility that there will be the kind of Domestic Violence that we saw in chicago in 1968 and even here in the city of philadelphia for the Republican Convention in 2000. Both of those are distinct possibilities. As they say, this is unpredictable, and youve got to be ready to go with all the defenses and all the security right from the getgo. She says theyre ready. I do think, though, that theres more of a risk in cleveland than there is in philadelphia. Theres more uncertainty. Theres more unrest. I mean, although there may be some pushback from Trump Supporters here in philadelphia and clearly from Bernie Sanders supporters, i think that the real focus should be domestic, from the domestic perspective, in cleveland. Lets talk a little bit about the polling thats come out, as we look ahead to the convention, which has really been good for hillary clinton. Lets throw up the numbers if we can on some of the National Polls and the numbers and what they tell us. Shes doing a lot better in pennsylvania, ohio, and new hampshire, the ppp poll coming out, putting her up by 4 points, 2 points in iowa, 8 points in wisconsin. Nate silver from fivethirtyeight saying that she this is an incredible number. Hes got her up in the 80s, compared to trump. You do polls for a living, terry. What do you make of all this . I mean, i think theyre accurate. If you go back, trump has led in only one poll in the last month. And, now, the polls, the size of them in most of the polls are 5 and 6 and even 4 and 3 percentage points. Were not talking about huge numbers. And heres the fundamental reason why. It got close a month ago because after trump wrapped up the republican nomination, he brought onboard a lot of republicans. Hillary was not able to do that until the last several weeks with the democrats. Shes now 85 , 88 of democrats who say they will vote for her. Trump is 75 , 77 of republicans who say they will vote for him. So the reason its stretched is hillary is doing better among democrats. She has gone a long way towards unifying her party. Trump still has a way to go. I believe that there is an undercurrent that we really dont realize, and a backlash to obamas presidency. As a result, i think it will be a lot closer than it seems at this point. And its all about turnout. If the africanamericans, latinos, women come out to vote, then hillary should do well. But if theres a Large Population that essentially appeals to the trump side people didnt expect in england, for example, what occurred, the exit of the british. I believe that we have to be vigilant, because we may expect a large turnout on the other side. Sam, christine, you guys watch elections. When you look at some of these current numbers, there is a breakdown. Shes up by 7 points with women. Theyre about even on men, but huge racial disparity, whites tending to go for him, blacks tending to go for her. Is that just where we are at this moment, or is that what we should expect down the stretch . Thats where the campaign that trump has run has put us. The problem with talking about polling on a National Basis is thats not how we elect a president. Thats right. We elect a president in 50 separate elections, each of which send electors to the electoral college. So these number are really not the relevant numbers. When you start to look at these swing states, as terry mentioned. Its close. Theyre a lot closer. And theres so much yet to happen. And these new cycles that were under you know, something happens. He tweets about it. Its news. Like, who could think 140 characters could become news . [ laughter ] depends on what you put in those 140 characters. You had to write a press release and have a press conference to make news. Exactly. And sam is absolutely right. I also think although, and i trust the polls, especially this particular pollster here, i think that the media has a way not of manipulating necessarily, but of skewing the reality, the message with respect to women, for example. Ive spoken to so many women who will not be voting for hillary clinton. And you dont get that when you listen to the polls. I mean, i think a lot of people say things to pollsters that they wouldnt necessarily say to their neighbor or they wouldnt do when they walk into the actual polling booth. And i think that there are a lot of people out there who dont care about what color or what gender a person is. They dont have jobs. Theyre worried about whats gonna happen to their pensions. Are their children gonna be able to go to college . So i think that as trump has run a very, very divisive campaign, so has hillary in many ways. And im hearing dog whistles as a woman from hillary saying, vote for me, for all the reasons that i would not vote for her. Lets turn and talk about another big race in pennsylvania, toomey versus mcginty. This sucker is getting tight. It is 40 to 39 in the latest polling that ive seen. Both parties pouring in a lot of money. The gop saying theyre gonna put in 6 million three weeks in october. The dnc saying theyre gonna put in 9 million from september till the end of the election. What do those numbers tell you, 40 to 39 . First of all, its gonna be close. Lets start with the fundamental. Pennsylvania, the senate race, is one of the top five senate races in the country. Its gonna be one of the races that determines which Party Controls the senate. If the democrats lose and toomey is reelected, they will not win the senate. I think you can say that categorically. Having said that, heres pat toomeys greatest fear. In 1984, one out of every two of us split our tickets. Now were down to 20 , one out of every five. The greatest fear running down ballot, particularly for senator toomey, is he gets caught in a clinton wave. Im not predicting that. It could be a trump wave that goes the other way, which in 2012, we had a democratic wave in our state. They won every single statewide office. The democrats hadnt done that since the 1970s. I dont think that trump helps toomey in any way, cause he has not in any way appealed to his relationship at all. So toomeys out there all alone. It is my prediction that mcginty will probably win this election. Why . Because of hillary, because of ticketsplitting, and because women have had a difficult time in terms of pennsylvania, getting elected. And i believe this one has the best shot. And so women are really coalescing behind her in a large way that i havent seen before. Youre shaking your head, christine. I mean, this is what youve been saying. Is it better for her . Shes this close. Shes very, very close. But i think, for all the reasons that the judge and i respect you a great deal. He pinpoints the clinton wave. He pinpoints the sense that a lot of people say, well, she would be the first woman. But she is an extremely weak candidate. And i see a lot of what i dont like is, the attacks on pat toomey are on the good things that hes actually done, his bipartisanship, for example, on gun control. He worked with manchin. Im not gonna go through his whole history. But its ironic for someone who has no history on gun control. You know, mcginty has absolutely no footprint in this area to be attacking someone who has been out there and risked his public reputation for the past five years. But 9 million is a lot of money. Youve run campaigns. Thats a lot of money to run ads. Look, 9 million is nice to have, as is 6 million. But this is about two people who are actually candidates. And Katie Mcginty was literally dragged to the win in the primary by the Democratic National committee and the rendell operation. Would not have won but for that. Thats right. Shes doesnt connect well. Pat toomey has been very skillful. He came on the scene as sort of a conservative, and you see him constantly taking positions that are moderate and being attacked by liberals for doing so. So this is very goofy to me. You got to give the guy credit for working across the aisle. Yeah, one other point. Look. Lets not get all excited about the money. This is one of the most important races in the country. It will exceed the 40 million plus. Im hearing 50 million. The record that bob casey and tom smith, his republican opponent, spent in 2012. Both of them are gonna have all the money they need to flood the airwaves because of the importance, from outside to super pacs, the dark money. Theyre gonna be here in full force. Television stations will be the big winner in this election. Somebodys got to run those ads. Lets turn and talk about new jersey, where voters are gonna have a very different time at the gas pump here soon. A 23cent per gallon hike in the gas tax, going from being. I was shocked that christie went for a tax raise. The secondlowest state to the seventhhighest state. But he said, look at it this way. Youll p ss in sales tax every year. Was that a good deal for the voters of new jersey . I was shocked that christie, whos mr. Notaxincrease, agreed to a major tax increase in his time. And the 1 never makes up for that 23 cents per gallon. Obviously, hes pressed for highway needs and highway money. For roads and bridges. Its the typical, you know, read my lips kind of promises that they never keep. Americas infrastructure is falling apart. And everybody wants their highway fixed, their bridge fixed, their water system fixed, their schools and libraries fixed, but nobody wants to pay for it. And this whole idea that you can have a country thats successful internally and internationally without infrastructure, without quality infrastructure youre stealing my inside story, but keep going. I stop. Okay. [ laughter ] but do you think people are gonna go more for the sales tax, like, well, at least that balances it out, or this is gonna come back to bite republicans later . I dont know. Everybody drives. I dont drive, but everybody else drives in the world. And i think theyre gonna be really upset about the hike. But its a user fee. I mean, it is. It is. We lifted the wholesale gasoline tax in this state, and virtually nobody complained about it. They did at the time. Nobody complained about it because the price of gasoline. Now, if all of a sudden, it shoots up, then youre probably gonna see a lot more complaints than you would if it stays low. Lets quickly talk about the pennsylvania budget, which looks like it is going to go through. About half of what Governor Wolf wanted, but they got something compared to last year. Is this the right thing to do, to say, well take what we can get . Thats what one democrat said. Its better to take steps than to fight about it. Well, its gone back to the house because of the shortfall in the college reimbursement process. And so they increased the college grants. And as a result, now you have a budget i think that both house and senate can pass and acceptable also to the governor. I think theyve learned a lot since last time, and they dont want that to happen again, because theyre up for reelection. Well, the governor learned a lot, because he wanted a 10 hike in the budget. He wanted to spend 2 billion. The current proposal between the house and the senate is about 200 million difference. Hes right more money for the appropriation for the public colleges and the staterelateds, and also more money to handle the drug abuse, the opioid problem. The governor has become more realistic, and so have democrats and republicans. But heres the deal. Theyre gonna approve a budget, but they havent yet agreed on how to pay for it. And the things theyre putting out there raising taxes on cigarettes some of the other things, already people are sniping at them. Gambling. State stores, you name it. Are they gonna get the revenue they need . Well, theyre gonna get the revenue that they need. Its not clear where it will come from, but this is what we have government to do. Its supposed to function. Its not supposed to disfunction. So, both sides learned that the extreme positions that they were each taking Governor Wolf and particularly the House Republicans had no consensus for getting a budget passed. This year, they said, lets come together. Its an election year. And both conventions are coming. They dont want to get into very quickly weve got like 30 seconds will we see the gambling expansion . Do you think the gambling expansion will go through . Well, thats sort of the big one thats on the table. Theyre talking about slot machines at the international airports, not the little ones. Things on your phone. And internet gaming that will be run by the casinos. And theyre talking about some sort of offtrack sites where theyre gonna put some gaming. All this in texas. People are already gambling online. We might as well get some money for it. You got it. Speaking of getting some money, we got to get some money for this show. Well be right back with more inside stories. [ laughter ] inside story is presented by temple university. Remarkable change isnt easy, but for those who take charge, it comes naturally. Explore temples impact. Visit temple. Edu impact. Welcome back. Time for our inside stories. Terry, well start with you. Sam was talking about roads and bridges. Pennsylvania pays 2. 8 billion for roads and bridges every year, construction, from a variety of fees and taxes. But 700 million plus goes to the state police, not to roads and bridges. The state police cover 70 of the municipalities. They provide part or fulltime police service. They need to be paid, but not from the roads and bridge money. All right. Christine. Tam, last month, the Pennsylvania House passed hb 1947. Good intent, flawed bill. It was one that was gonna allow retroactive filing of lawsuits against sex abusers. Well, Senate Judiciary committee, in a vote of 9 to 4, has decided to strip the retroactivity out of the bill. Still a good bill, but now it will be constitutionally sound. All right. Nelson. Puerto rico is under a 72 billion debt. And as a result, Congress Just passed a bill called promesa, which the president will be signing this week. That bill will essentially create a sevenperson board that will control all of puerto ricos budget and all of its government. And there is always controversy over what puerto rico is. Everybody and i know that its a colony. Sam. Were gonna celebrate july 4th tomorrow on the signing of the declaration of independence, but it was actually signed july 2nd. And very few people know that. There was a little bit of concern about the risk that the signers were taking. And at the morning of july 4th, on a big podium right outside of independence hall, they read the declaration of independence to hundreds of people who had absolutely no interest in it. [ laughter ] so hopefully tomorrow will be a different story. All right. Thank you for joining us. And we hope you have a great 4th of july. Im nydia han along with gray hall. Coming up on action news, septas Regional Rails take a hit as a third of its trains go out of the service for defects. Great weather brings out the crowds at the shore for holiday r and r. Two big jackpots are up for grabs, well have the fireworks forecast and more on action news at noon. Good afternoon, it is sunday, july 3, im nydia han along with gray hall. Heres some of the stories were following on action news, a third of septas Regional Rail cars are out of service for major defects. Well tell you what it means for commuters. A father and