Transcripts For WRC Viewpoint 20140824 : vimarsana.com

To do through my years of Public Service. And i tried to retire gracefully. But, i just couldnt do it. I missed serving. And as the years went on, and i did my traveling, and i did my volunteer work, and all the things to keep myself very busy, and not feel too bad about losing, because i didnt choose to retire, as you remember right. I gave sick leave to workers and they came after me and i lost in the primary, and then i ran a writein. I did beat the person that beat me in the primary but it was not enough to beat Michael Brown who had number one on the ballot. Of course we know what happened to him. Hes serving in jail right now. So i dont think getting rid of me was necessarily the best thing that ever happened for the city, or me. But i did try to retire gracefully, and then i just found my leisure skills were not that good, and i missed impacting on peoples lives in a positive way. And then when i saw the primary, and what the choices were in the general election, i for the first im in my life i was thinking of not voting. Ive always voted. And people all over town were passing me every time id be out of the house and saying, please run. We miss you. Run for mayor. And a combination of people saying they needed me, and my not having anybody to vote for, i decided to just jump out there and throw my hat in the ring. And most of my best friends were surprised. It really was something i not a spur of the moment decision, i mulled it over a long time, but i didnt share it because if i wasnt going to do it, i didnt want people to know i had been thinking about it. And then i just jumped out there and here i am two months later. And this time, as an independent. Which i want to ask you about later on. But you bring out choices. You didnt feel like you had choices. So lets take them individually, Muriel Bowser the democratic candidate who beat the incumbent. Why would she not make a strong mayor . Well, listen, i think people rallied around her because she had the few Percentage Points up from the other democratic nominees. And also she got the Washington Post endorsement in the primary. So i think she kind of became the goto gal for those people that didnt want to see our incumbent mayor return to office. You know, to that office. And so, im not sure how much of it was real support for her, and how much was antiincumbent. Do you think she has the skills, the qualifications, the experience . Well, listen, i like muriel, we served together on the council. She supported my reelection. I supported her reelection. I think shes a fine council member. I think if you look at her record its awfully thin. And i think we need a mayor that has a tremendous amount of experience, as well as legislative record. I think thats very important. Another former republican david catannia why would he not make a good mayor or strong mayor in your view . Listen, i think hes got some personality traits that not just that i saw loud and clear, because he was also part of that get rid of me after the sick leave issue. But i think, i think thats very important. I think you got to make friends, not enemies, and i think he goes out of his way if he doesnt get his way to make enemies, and i think that could be very difficult for the city, as we advance forward. We need a lot of friends. We need to get voting rights, and i would work on that as something i worked on for years. I itch to work on it, and actually deliver it. Do you think its a temperament thing with him i dont want to keep talking about my you know, this is the first thing you asked me about so i want to be candid. Right. Because a lot of people i dont want to go into any more than i did, jim. But a lot of people have said that youre in this to be a spoiler. No. And particularly i am in it to be a spoiler for both of them. Okay. I want to spoil both of their chances of winning. I want to siphon off votes from both of them, and be the winner on november the 4th. What do you think the Biggest Challenges are . And we can talk more about this, too, for the district . And what would you like to tackle headon, first . Your top two issues perhaps . Well, education. And thats been a turnon to me forever. I didnt just chair a committee for a year and a half and show some interests. I had been a lifetime educator, basically. I i went to university of texas and i got educated in elementary and special education. I was a special education teacher. And also, i my children went nowhere but to d. C. Public schools, a three of them, from prek or k through grade 12. I was on the board of education 40 years ago i got elected and the first election my name was on the ballot and i ran in the for the board of education and got elected. I served as Vice President three unprecedented terms in those days. And i one of the first things i did on the board of education was bring back standardized tests. Theyd been done away with. So we didnt even know how badly our children were doing and i brought them back and people said but carol theyre racist, some people said that, including that that superintendent at the time. And i said well listen, its a racist world out there. Were talking 40 years ago, and i said and i want our children to be prepared and get prepared to be president of the united states. And so i brought back standardized tests. Got rid of the part of the majority of the board that got rid of the superintendent then barbara sizemore. Did hire vincent reed and floret to mckenzie, both of whom did outstanding jobs. Brought back a basic curriculum. I personally got baniccer Academic High School up and running. That was an idea of dr. Reeds and myself. And we didnt succeed the first year because several people called it elitist. Dr. Reed left. And i delivered it the following year. And you know, its the one school that year in and year out excuse me, jim year in and year out makes the Time Magazine list of the top 100 schools in the country. So im very proud of that creation. Wow, thats good. All right, weve got a lot more to get to with Carol Schwartz, independent candidate for mayor in dpk right after this short break. Break. Stay with us on viewpoint. Go go wow go power. Oats go made from oats cheerios cheerios go, go, go go power oats go cheerios go power go. Power yayyyy and welcome back. Our guest this morning, and we should say off the top that we have extend the the invitation to Muriel Bowser and also to David Catania, too, the two other contenders in the race for mayor but Carol Schwartz is with us again, independent candidate for mayor. We mentioned off the top you have been in office as a republican always throughout your career. Now, an independent. Why the switch . Well, i became an independent back in 2013. The party that i belong to al those years just started veering too much to the right for me. So i decided that i felt more comfortable being an independent. I hope it willerve me well. Now that im running for reelection. I made that decision before id even thought of running. Not for reelection, but running for to get elected mayor. And i hope it will serve me well. But a decision was made before having nothing to do with running. I also wanted to mention when you asked me about running for mayor, and i said, you know, i spoke a little about it, but i wanted to be mayor for a long time. I ran the first time 28 years ago, in 1986 to be mayor. And its a job ive wanted to do for a very, very long time. And im certainly ready, willing and able to do it now. So i hope the voters will elect me. What do you think is going to be the difference . Because you had a lot of success in an overwhelmingly democratic city, as a republican. You got hefty numbers. Yes. Several times in your council races, too. Amazing numbers, jim. When you consider that the Voter Registration in those days was 71. 77 democratic to 7 republican. So it was 11 to 1 just amazing disparity. And the fact that when i ran for mayor the lowest percentage i ever got was 30 of the vote. The highest was 42 . So it was really quite extraordinary. Im hoping now that i am an independent, and those that just couldnt cross that line will be able to do it now. Lets talk about money. I mentioned when i first saw you and hadnt seen you in ages that ive seen a lot of your signs up around the area. But it does take money to win a race in this city, as we know. And more money than ever before. Your opponents, Muriel Bowser i think has about a million. Over a million. And David Catania about half a million dollars. And thats left. Theyve already spent huge amounts of money. How much do you have. Because were hearing in the neighborhood of about 35,000. Well, i had 50, a little over 50,000. And i now that weve paid some bills, its its down to like 30 some odd thousand dollars. But thats okay. Because were were doing an amazing job with volunteers. They have a lot of paid workers, they can afford them. I cant. But a huge number of volunteers have come forward. Weve got 6500 petitions, signatures for our petitions. And we did that with all volunteers. Not one person was paid one penny to circulate our petitions. 75 people helped me circulate petitions. I actually got over 2,000 myself. So, i think were doing it with volunteers. Now were going to need more money because the posters cost money. Theyre not made by the volunteers. And so were going to, in fact, right now theres a fundraising letter going out. I have volunteers over helping stuff envelopes to do a fundraiser do you or will you have a press secretary, a finance chairman, a Campaign Chair . Yeah, well, i weve got all the accoutrements of a campaign. I think our 6500 signatures show that we have the accoutrements. You see our signs going up. Theyre going up with volunteers all over the city are putting them up. So you can run with volunteers. And and were excited that weve got that number. We have about 350 volunteers now that are working all the time. So thats exciting. I think the fact hes been raising the money should be a worry to us. I dont think we should brag about it like you look at moorial bowser, shes getting all these corporations and all the same corporations have all these llcs which are actually just part of that corporation. Its kind of a loophole, an llc loophole and shes raising from Just One Company 20,000. And when youre the limit should be 2,000. In fact the council when the public got all upset about this whole loophole thing with corporations, they had the good sense to pass legislation that would close the loophole. But they also did not have the Effective Date until january 2015. After this election. Now, i have decided that i am closing the loophole now. Im not accepting llcs from corporate corporations. So, i think leaders have to lead. And if it was a good law to pass, then its a good law to implement now, and i am leading by not taking corporate llc money. I wish they would do it. They didnt. So they got a lot of money. I dont know if that should be applauded or condemned. All right. Got to take another quick break. Well be right back with Carol Schwartz. Independent candidate for mayor of d. C. Stay with us. Hey can you fix this . You bet thats our new interactive speaker wall. sup . Thinks its a speaking wall. This can even dim your lights. Your 3dprinted girlfriend will love that. Real mature. There you go. A laser drone for cats. I wish i had lasers. I dont. Pew pew pew. The new radioshack is finally here. The store of your past is now the store of your future. Come see one of our remodeled stores and save 50 percent off skullcandy headphones. Or get a 20dollar gift card with air raid speaker purchase. And welcome back to viewpoint our guest again once again Carol Schwartz, independent candidate for mayor of d. C. Lets go through some issues. Because its been, what, 2008 since youve held office and were acting on issues before you every day. Lets start with some that have come up of late. Marijuana, legalization, decriminalization. Where do you stand on that . Well, listen, i was all for the medicinal marijuana, in fact voted for it, and also helped get congress to finally let us implement it. Because they held it up for a long time. And im also for the decriminalization. I think what the council did in that area was very important. I thought there was too much disparity, and and who was getting arrested and who was going to jail related to that. So i was very much in favor of that. And would have voted for it had i been on the council. The Recreational Use im very concerned about. I think we have so many people already in our town that are either alcohol addicted or other kind of drugs addicted, and i dont want to put a stamp of approval on continuing that trend. So legalization no. But decriminalization, yes . Yes. Okay. Lets move on to another one, 37 mile street car system. Weve seen it taken off in h street area that corridor. Where do you come down on that . Well, i think streetcars are nice because i think they kind of open up avenues for like going across the river, and i like that. But i, as far as making a whole city of streetcars, i would not be in favor of that. Lets talk about crime. And weve seen the numbers go down. Your thoughts, first of all, most recent this week, David Catania got the endorsement of the police union. This is an organization that had backed you in previous campaigns, am i right . Yes, and this time they didnt even ask me to come in for an interview. I would have liked to have done so. But i didnt get that opportunity. I did have a lot of individual Police Officers approach me, and tell me they were glad i was running, and welcome back, and lots of good feedback. But then they would say to me, where are you with chief lanier, and i would say, i think shes done a good job, and i havent announced who i would appoint if i should be elected mayor. But i certainly have good feelings about her. And they were immediately, well we were not going to endorse anybody unless theyre going to get rid of her. And so, because i didnt jump on that band wagon, i got a feeling is why i didnt get an interview. Muriel bowser has come out and said she would endorse the chief or keep her on. Yes. Will you go that far as to say that . Well, no im not saying who i will keep on and keep off other than i have Kaya Henderson has said she wants another year or so to finish some of the things shes working on, and i have bought in to that. Because i think the were finally seeing our test scores go up in education, and i dont want to destabilize that system. I just told you i have very favorable feelings about chief lanier. And ive got a feeling thats why i was passed up from even coming in for an interview with them. Well you mentioned Kaya Henderson. Lets talk more about schools, and not your deep background but whats happening now in the first boundary changes since the 70s. What do you think about that . What are your thoughts on that . I know some boundary changes are needed because thereve been some School Closings and you have to accommodate those children whose schools got closed. And you need to do it in some formal way. So some boundary changes are needed. So it needs tweaking. But i think some of the changes that were originally thought about were awfully dramatic. I think this second viewing of the new changes are better than the first. But there are also some areas of concern there. I think that i like having an integrated Public School system. My children, as i said, went nowhere but the Public Schools, and i like the integration of the schools. And so i dont want to see that change, and i think that some of the proposal might end up with a more segregated system, and that concerns me, so i have asked that since we are going to have a new mayor, the incumbents not on the ballot, that maybe they delay the boundary changes until the until that happens . Until the new mayor comes in. I certainly would want to have input on it. Okay. Got to take another quick break here. Were back with Carol Schwartz after the break. And welcome back to viewpoint. Our guest for the full half hour, Carol Schwartz, independent for mayor of d. C. Lets talk about one more issue thats come up of late, and were talking about the soccer stadium. A new soccer stadium. Your thoughts on that, and how it could come to be, and the rebuilding so forth . Well, listen, id like to see the soccer stadium be in towns, and theyre certainly going to pay for it for themselves, which is good. But i dont like the exchange of land. The land swap that and thats what were talking about with the what they negotiated. Were going to give for a small parcel of land in a deserd area at buzzard point, were going to give the developer acreage, were going to buy it from him for 21 million, and then were going to give him the resenter for 55 million which is less than a third of what the former cfo said its worth. I would not buy in to that. Lets talk about how and we mentioned issues that have come up since your 5 1 2 years but youre a longtime d. C. Resident. Nearly 50 years. The demographics in this city have changed, and we talk about within really the last six to eight years. How do you see that . Do you see that as a plus for your campaign . Or something that may be a challenge . Well, listen, i went and got 2,000 signatures signed myself. And so ive introduced myself to the new population, and i hope theyll look at me favorably. But it has concerned me. I mean in our boom town, which i have loved to see and i helped lay the groundwork to have this boom town, but that our glorious diversity is being threatened. And i am concerned about that. So i want to have Affordable Housing so that people are not driven from the city and not only diversity when it comes to race, but also economic diversity, i mean thats been one of the beauties of d. C. , and i want to keep that. And it is truly an expensive city. And become more and more so. Thats right. And thats why we need a huge Affordable Housing component, including new rental housing that is affordable. We need additional Public Housing for those at the lower levels, and also im concerned also that now that weve got all this money coming in, and thank goodness for that, thats certainly a good day for all of us, but we should take care of our vulnerable population, and thats not happening, whether it be the hopeless, and, dnd, and i talked about the addictions, i want to see drug treatment on demand. And i think weve got the money now to take care of our vulnerable populations, and i find one of the reasons why i want to run is to be able to make sure and ensure that we do that. All right. Weve got just 45 seconds left. Have to ask you about the corruption scandals that we saw of late, and how would things be different under a Schwartz Administration . Well, listen, i always lead by example. I never did earmarks, i never did anything in all my decades of Public Service that in any way was anything but ethical. And i think we saw what happened in the council after i left it. I was kind of a place person down there, and a lot of those things didnt happen when i was there. You saw what happened when i left. And the other people that are running were sitting there. All right, Carol Schwartz, we thank you for coming in on viewpoint. Great to see you as always. The election, november 4th. Carol is going to be an independent on the ballot. First time for you as an independent. Absolutely. Thank you so much for coming in. We appreciate it. Well, thank you, jim. The invitation is also out to your two opponents, as well. Now back to news 4 today. How can i avoid maintenance fees . Why would you want to avoid them . Because i dont want to. You know what . Im gonna bring my maintenance guy in here to tell you all about it. Roddy so, uh, without your fee, your checking chamber cant run smoothly. Every time you put money in, it causes, uh. Deposit friction. Gotta get some fiscal lube on there. [ male announcer ] its time to bank human again. [ defeated] okay. [ male announcer ] avoid monthly maintenance fees at td bank with a minimum checking balance of just 100. Td bank. Americas most convenient bank. News 4 today starts now. As we speak, roads are shutting down as d. C. Tries to get the new street car project on track. Well tell you just how long youll want to avoid this scene. And more clouds or sunny skies . Look at that picture on this final day of summer break. Good morning. And welcome to news 4 today. Im adam tuss. Im molette green. The morning routine is about to change for many of you as you get the kids ready to go back to school. Its one more day of summer