California Capitol Review #602
September14, 2001
Terrorist attack
End of the legislative session
(( Melissa ))
Thank you for joining us.
Our hearts go out to the
victims of this week’s tragedy.
The events that stunned our
nation were closely watched here in California.
We’ll examine the long-term
impact, concerns about safety and the economy as well as the effects on
California.
Plus Jack will have the
pressing business facing the legislature in the final week of session.
We begin with reaction from
our state Capitol.
Capitol Package
(Assemblyman Tony
Strickland, [R] Thousand Oaks)
A lot of a confusion in
terms of, you know, how soon we’re going to get out of the building.
Outside the state Capitol, a flurry of
activity as workers were asked to leave…
The Capitol was closed,
tours cancelled, sadness and disbelief…
(Woman)
Oh, it reminds me of Pearl
Harbor.
(Assemblyman Tony
Strickland, [R] Thousand Oaks)
It’s hard to even put into
words.
Leaders were shaken as well…
(Robert Hertzberg, Assembly
Speaker)
All four of those planes
were headed to California. We don’t
know what else could be in store. It’s
surreal. It’s horrible.
(Dave Cox, Assembly
Minority Leader)
Well, this is just a
devastating event, and the legislative session has been cancelled for today.
(Robert Hertzberg,
Assembly Speaker)
For a bunch of reasons, out
of respect for this just extraordinary tragedy, and also out of an abundance of
caution, and to run through all the drills and make sure we sweep the building.
(Mike Flores, California
Secretary of Foreign Affairs)
It’s pretty surreal in terms
of what’s taking place. This morning, I
grabbed the kids, and we all sat in bed early on to watch it. It was unbelievable sitting there trying to
explain to a seven-year-old and an eight-year-old what was taking place.
Flores was part of an early morning meeting
to plan strategy…
Now he’s one of the last
to leave, and in place of lawmakers and staff at the Capitol, a bomb-sniffing
dog.
(Dave Brunell, California
Highway Patrol)
As of this morning, we’ve
decided to go with a heightened state of security.
(Melissa Crowley,
California Capitol Review)
It’s ten o’ clock on Tuesday
morning. What should be a very busy day
during this last week of session finds the halls completely deserted. Everyone here has been asked to leave.
The California Highway
Patrol chose to move Governor Gray Davis to another secure location. In West Sacramento, he monitored emergency
efforts and spoke later in the day…
(Governor Gray Davis)
We’ve taken measures to
control vital assets on the ground and in the air in California, including the
electrical grid, the state water project, and a number of our bridges.
And a command center was
set up at the Sacramento Airport. On
Tuesday, the FAA ordered all fights grounded on US airports closed…
Back in the heart of
California’s government, no chances were taken on suspicious cars or packages,
and inside it was striking what was not said…
A place normally bustling
now so quiet on a day when words seemed to fall short…
END CAPITOL PACKAGE
(Melissa)
Here’s the latest:
More then 2,000 victims have
been injured and at least 3,000 people are still unaccounted for…
Though most airports are
open, new security procedures have been put into place. One measure will eliminate
curb side check in, forcing travelers to go inside…
And the United Postal
Service is slowly resuming their services but a statement has been issued by
FedEx and UPS that they will no longer guarantee overnight deliveries until
further notice…
Joining us now to share more
on what this all means, specifically for California, are:
Colin Carter, an expert in
international trade issues and Professor of Agriculture and Resource Economics
at UC Davis,
Miki Vohryzek-Bolden a terrorism expert and California State
University professor,
and Robert Dugan, board
member of the American Red Cross.
BEGIN DISCUSSION #1
(Melissa)
We appreciate you all making
time for us, and Miki, we’ll start with you.
The horror of watching those pictures, I don’t think we’ll ever be the
same, but what we’re hearing is that there are going to be some major changes
about how we do business as far as even putting bulletproof plates in the
cockpit. How far will this go?
(Miki Vohryzek-Bolden,
CSU Terrorism Expert)
Well, I think Americans can
anticipate and will not be surprised with increased security measures. Airports, government buildings, courthouses,
and other areas in which there is a possibility of a terrorist act, but, you
know, there’s that balance between individual civil liberties and the extent to
which you go in order to protect the public generally, and I think that’s a
balance that the government authorities are aware of, individuals are aware
of. We are going to be willing to be
inconvenienced in terms of the airport, bus, travel, government buildings.
(Melissa)
When we were talking at the
Capitol after this happened, some of the lawmakers were saying the horror was
that it really hit home that they could be targets, that anyone is actually a
target, and we actually spoke to some folks that said it’s horrendous that this
is what had to take place for changes to happen. Should we have had better security in place?
(Miki Vohryzek-Bolden,
CSU Terrorism Expert)
Yeah, I mean, at our
airports, we thought we had had fairly good security. They talk here in the state now is to put a fence around the
Capitol, for example. I guess I have
difficulty with seeing how that would really stop anyone. The idea that they set up barriers and
structures that the CHP have talked about is fairly effective. You don’t want to create a fortress
situation. I think that that has a
psychological impact on the people, so you really balance the level of security
you need to protect a facility and the people within the facility and the notion
that you don’t want to put walls up around every building in order to protect
them.
(Colin Carter, UC Davis
International Trade Expert)
Miki, doesn’t it sort of
bring into question the quality of our intelligence if something on such a
large scale could actually happen on one single morning?
(Miki Vohryzek-Bolden,
CSU Terrorism Expert)
Well, I clearly think the
government authorities, the intelligence agencies, are sitting down and
reconstructing what happened and how it happened, but Americans are very aware
that governments, airlines, and government buildings get threats every day, and
we’ve seen—Robert, you’ve indicated the increase in the number of bomb threats—
(Melissa)
In California, Robert? You were mentioning that immediately after—
(Robert Dugan, American
Red Cross)
I know that there were
some. Right, there were some. In the wake of any disaster or terrorist
attack, we hear about an increase in bomb threats and building evacuations, and
fortunately none of them are borne out, but it happens.
(Melissa)
A very real threat that a
lot of people are talking about in the wake of this tragedy is the financial
one and the economic implications as to how far this will go, and we were
speaking, Colin, that the markets might not open until Monday. Specifically in California, what does that
mean? We know that a lot of people in
the tech sector, for instance, and agriculture are concerned about the
international implications about what this could do.
(Colin Carter, UC Davis
International Trade Expert)
Yes, for California, we are
closely tied to the Asian economies, of course, and the markets in Asia are
relatively stable. However, in the
aftermath, there will be a flight of so-called quality investments such as US
treasuries, which could mean less foreign investment in Asia, which would slow
the growth of the Asian economies, so there could be some long-term impacts
associated with that.
(Melissa)
What do you see immediately
as the biggest cloud on the horizon in terms of California?
(Colin Carter, UC Davis
International Trade Expert)
Immediately there is concern
about what happens when the stock market opens on Monday, and other than that,
the short-term impact on California is not large.
(Melissa)
People are so shaken;
they’re afraid to fly now. We hear that
vacation trips and tourism are suffering.
The mail is not running; businesses can’t get packages out. This is going to be a long time as the FBI
continues to sift through suspects and as we continue to see some of the
fallout from this tragedy.
(Colin Carter, UC Davis
International Trade Expert)
Yes, that’s right, and
clearly the costs of doing business.
You mentioned travel, but also the costs of conducting of international
transactions, the shipment of containers, etcetera will be more costly. There will be additional time delays for
many, many years to come.
(Melissa)
We know that the mail
service is saying that they’re doing a lot by ground now. If you live within six hundred miles, your
letter will probably make it. If not,
expect a delay, just one of the small inconveniences. Robert, is this changing how we respond to disasters of this
magnitude? The Red Cross is always
prepared, but how did this affect your organization.
(Robert Dugan, American
Red Cross)
You know, I probably need to
start by saying we have seen the greatest outpouring of support ever
experienced in the form of volunteer donations, blood donations, and financial
support, but, of course, there’s a lot more work to be done. We’ve never seen devastation like this in
America before. Our organization is
caught a little off-guard by the lack of air transportation. Traditionally, when there’s a large
magnitude disaster like this, we’re able to ship volunteers from all over
America and all the Red Cross chapters to the scene of the location; whereas,
here, there has been a little bit of a lag time there, and it has also affected
blood deliveries to the east coast as well, but, you know, as far as
mobilization of volunteers goes, we have done a great job setting up all of the
shelters for the victims, families of the victims, families of the rescue
workers, families of the police, the firemen, and the volunteers, so we’ve
actually been able to deploy as scripted out there to New York, but we’ve also
got a lot of chapters here in California that are mobilized and ready to go
when the call comes and when we can get them there.
(Melissa)
And the California response,
can you tell us a little bit about that?
(Robert Dugan, American
Red Cross)
Sure—
(Melissa)
And for the folks that are
at home watching this, can you tell us what is most needed at this point in
time?
(Robert Dugan, American
Red Cross)
Okay, I would say that
probably the most needed is financial support, and financial support through
the Red Cross to the Disaster Relief Fund, and that applies to anybody in
California, wherever you are. It will
go straight to disaster relief. That’s
what the Red Cross is chartered to do and mandated by the government to
do. Even though we’re not a government
agency, we’re purely voluntary-funded.
We do disaster relief for the country, and, really, worldwide, so
resources that go to the disaster relief fund are the number one need so that
they can be spent on the ground by the local decision makers where
necessary. Now, the rest of California,
they’ve mobilized support. Our disaster
volunteers have called in and volunteered their time, and we’ve just seen a
great outpouring, so continue with that local support. Watch for local blood needs. You’ll hear in your local media when there
is a need for more blood, or call now to your local blood shelter and make an
appointment for a future donation.
(Melissa)
If there is, at all, anything
good in this whole thing, it has been the outpouring of support, which has
been quite touching, those acts of kindness. The other toll that I think we’re looking at is the mental toll,
the anguish. What do we tell our children,
Miki, about what happened?
(Miki Vohryzek-Bolden,
CSU Terrorism Expert)
I think you need to talk.
I think you need to allow them to almost express themselves, to allow
them to describe it in their words and not in your words, to create
the venues for talking. I’m speaking at a high school tomorrow. I think we need to continue to dialogue and to begin to understand
because of the level of devastation. I have a 13-year-old, and we kept him home that day and just spent
some time with him to talk about it. Now,
Colin, you have a ten-year-old, and I think this if of a magnitude that they
will remember this, but we need to help them understand, and I guess the other
point that really concerns me is that we don’t begin, as a country or as a
people, to attribute characteristics to a class of people. We need to remember that this was an action
on the part of some individuals, and it did not represent them as a people.
(Melissa)
And I think that is an
important message. Robert?
(Robert Dugan, American
Red Cross)
If I could add onto the
mental health piece; that is so critical.
The Red Cross is designated by the federal government to provide mental
health services during aviation disasters.
We have an aviation incident response team that has been deployed to
both the disaster areas as well as to the airports affected, so I would encourage
anybody who is starting to feel those feelings that they’re not in control of
their emotions and that they’re really being swept up by the day, which is
probably all of us, seek help. Seek
help from your local Red Cross. They
can direct you to someone who is trained to help you deal with the mental
turmoil of what’s happened because we’ve all been affected, whether we know
someone on the east coast who we haven’t been able to reach or whether we just
sat at home and watched the images.
(Melissa)
And, Colin, this is not
going away. This has incredible
long-term implications; it’s basically changed the American way of life. A lot of folks wanted quick action when they
first hear about what happened, and many folks and the government has stressed
this is going to take a very long time to find out who is responsible and bring
them to justice. Meantime, what are the implications as we try to go on with
our lives, and in a business sense, try to get the economy going.
(Colin Carter, UC Davis
International Trade Expert)
Well some of the markets remained
closed, however the bond market opened today, and it was up strongly. To me
that indicates two things, first of all there is a continued domestic and
international faith in the U.S. government, people are buying U.S. securities.
And secondly it also suggests that the is a so called flight to quality so, as I mentioned going into the next few years, you will see investors
taking a more conservative path. Which will have implications for the growth of
foreign economies, that depend on foreign investment from the U.S.
(Melissa)
On that note, we are all out
of time. And we want to thank our guests very much for being with us.
In addition to potential
security changes, there are also pressing state business to attend to. As we
promised, we will get to that in a moment. But the horrific events did
spotlight, as we mentioned, some truly heroic efforts. And here in California
Jack Cavanaugh tells us how some tried to help ease the pain in any way they could.
END OF DISCUSSION # 1
VOLUNTEERISM PKG.
(Shannon Blasingame,
brought flowers)
Well, we thought that, you
know, if we were sent home it was kind of something that we should do. It
kind of tugged at our heart.
(Adrian Nunenkamp,
donated blood)
It’s something I personally
feel that everyone should do and needs to do because when you have something
this bad, it just emphases the point.
Three thousand miles
across the country, tragedy has struck, but hundreds of Californians were
pulling together in any way that they can…
(Brina Williams, donated
blood)
There is not a lot else I
can do, I’m not there, I can’t administer help to anyone. Besides praying, this
is one thing I can physically do.
The injury total still
unknown, the Sacramento blood bank reaching out to help, and many California
residents answering that call…
(Leslie Botos, Sacramento
Blood Center)
There has been a tremendous
response, but we are going to have to continue having people respond. Not only
today and tomorrow, but over the very long haul.
In search of people with universal type O
blood. One way to help victims not so close to home...
(Leslie Botos, Sacramento
Blood Center)
The turnout that we have
seen is absolutely incredible, its people who are feeling so helpless that they
have nothing else to do. But they know that they can donate blood.
And besides blood, the
Sacramento Urban Search and Rescue team donating their time and services. The
team left for New York City, to help find survivors and victims in the rubble,
of where the World Trade Center once stood…
(Captain
David Whitt, Sacramento Fire Department)
We are
very adept at and highly trained to heavy debris removal, shoring, access and
breaching. Anything you can think of this team can do.
Also back at the Capital,
Governor Davis lowered the flag at half staff. And is asking all Californians
to say a prayer for those on the east coast.
(Gray
Davis, Governor)
Our
hearts and prayers go out to all the victims, no matter where they reside.
(Jack
Kavanagh, California Capital Review)
It seems
as if every Californian is trying to help. If you are interested in donating
blood, please call 1-866-82-BLOOD for more information.
Meantime,
long hours and pressing issues face our state lawmakers who despite the tragic
events, find themselves with business
that they must attend to.
Approximately
100 bills were up for a vote in the final week of session. Adding to the
workload, the 10 year redistricting process, and the sheer volume of bills and
last minute amendments.
But
despite the loss of time by canceling session Tuesday, and the tragedy
overshadowing businesses, leaders say work must be done. One big bone of
contention, seems to be the Edison Bailout Bill…
(Jim
Brulte, Senate Minority Leader)
Well,
I’m not supporting it. The private sector has shown a willingness to purchase
all of part of Edison. Which would eliminate the need for the taxpayer or the
ratepayers to bail out Edison.
(Robert
Hertzberg, Assembly Speaker)
I think
we are closer than other, at least the ones I’ve been reading about in the
newspaper, there has been a couple of issues. But by in large, we try to use as
much of the framework of the senate, as we possibly could. And so I think there will be some changes,
but my sense is that we can reach consensuses.
The report of Democrat
tug-of-wills between senator John Burton, who is backing a higher rate for
workers compensation, the second lowest in the nation, and Governor Davis is
overblown according to Burton.
(John
Burton, Senate President Pro Tempore)
I’m
trying to do something that I think is right for injured workers, the
governor’s got a different point of view.
DISCUSSION
#2
(Jack
Kavanagh, California Capitol Review)
Joining
us to share more on the last week of session and what this week’s events mean
is Dan Schnur, Republican consultant and Gale Kaufman, Democratic consultant.
Of what happened in the legislature, or
what is about to happen in the legislature as we go into the last
session, what’s most important here? Is it the Edison Bailout, the energy issue? Is it the redistricting? What’s the most
important thing to come out?
(Gale
Kaufman, Democratic Consultant)
Well, if
you mean to members personally, I’m sure redistricting is, but if you are
talking about the state as a whole, I would have to come down on the Edison
Bailout. And whether or not there is going to be final closure on something
that gets to the Governor’s desk. I think all year, up until this week, the
energy issues and energy bills have been the most important, critical things
that the legislature has worked on. And they are close, I think, to an
agreement. We will have to see what
happens in the next 24 hours.
(Jack)
Do you
agree Dan? Will there be an Edison Bailout, or will this not happen and this
goes into bankruptcy court? What’s
going to happen?
(Dan
Schnur, Republican Consultant)
I don’t
know what’s going to happen with the Edison Bailout, Jack. I will say that
the events over the past week, to some degree, have overshadowed what is going
on in the state capitol. And obviously the legislatures need to keep working
because when life returns to normal, or what ever approximation of normal
it returns to, the ramifications of what they do this week are going to be
long standing. Having said that, the
terrorist act
ivity
has had a very significant affect on two of the most important things going
on in the capitol this week. Number 1, it appears now that the bond sale,
the 12 billion dollars of energy bonds that the state of California looking
to sell, may be delayed, because of the upheaval of the financial markets. Second, and more
interesting, at least for governor Davis, is it looks like there is going
to be a significant economic consequence to these terrorist activities. In
particular for California, which relies so much on trade and on tourism. The
ongoing delays on air travel and shipment of cargo can have a significant
affect on California’s economy. And for Gray Davis going into a reelection
year, this increases the pressure on him, not to sign John Burton’s workers
comp bill. Already, California’s business community is calling it a job killer,
but with the state already teetering on the brink of recession, and these
added impetus, which looks to have a downward affect of California’s economy,
it’s much, much harder for Davis to
sign a bill which California’s business community find so unacceptable.
(Jack)
And if
he did not sign the bill, that would leave California with what is has now, the
second lowest worker’s compensation in the country.
(Gale
Kaufman, Democratic Consultant)
Right. I was having trouble doing all that math so
quickly. I think what happened this week will have long term
ramifications. It’s way too early to
figure that out, but all the more reason to be very serious about what has been
in the works at this point. The Edison Bailout and even the worker’s comp bill,
which, yes, has economic ramifications
but is incredibly important to injured workers, and I think that you can’t lose
sight of that reality whether there is an economic situation that we have to
deal with down the line in the next couple of months.
(Jack)
Do
voters in California really care about redistricting? I know that there are minority groups that are threatening to
sue.
(Dan
Schnur, Republican Consultant)
Except
for communities that are just beginning to realize their political potential,
like the various minority and ethnic communities in California, redistricting
is really too much of an abstract for people to really engage with in too much
interest, but as Gale said earlier, for politicians, it is their lifeblood. Moving one line a block or two can mean the
difference between victory and defeat, and because, as we all know, the most
important thing to politicians is staying in office—Edison aside, worker’s comp
aside, nothing gets more intense interest from the members of the legislature,
from the members of the congressional delegation and their staffs and advisors
than how these lines are drawn.
(Jack)
Has the
political landscape totally changed now after the events of this week? We are taping this program on Thursday, and
we just saw President Bush and Laura Bush both on television, and President
Bush, frankly, was cool, candid, in command, in control, emotional at the right
time, absolutely everything you’d ever want in a President of the United
States. It was a wonderful, very
necessary performance today. Has that
changed politics in California, and if it has, what should we look for?
(Dan
Schnur, Republican Consultant)
I don’t
know that these events have a direct impact on the California political
landscape. If you remember back in
1990, only a few months before the election between Pete Wilson and Diane
Feinstein for Governor, Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, and there’s some
speculation that a Republican, male senator somehow benefited from that over a
female former mayor of San Francisco.
In next year’s Governor race, not only is it more than a year away, but
those sort of demographic wedges don’t exist, so, at least in terms of that
political impact, it’s hard to see the California landscape being tremendously
altered. Having said that, I do want to
come back to the point about California’s economy because if it does end up
going into a downturn because of the impact of the lack of air travel, the
increased cost of cargo flights, and all the other restrictions we’re facing,
it becomes much harder, not only for Governor Davis, but for any incumbent
member of the Legislature to run for reelection in an economic downturn when
you’re making very, very difficult budget and economic choices.
(Jack)
Do our
priorities change, though, as voters. For
example, during the election campaign, there was a lot of discussion about
social security and drug benefits. Do
all those issues now fall off the cliff?
(Gale
Kaufman, Democratic Consultant)
No, I
don’t think they fall off the cliff. In
the short run though, I think what is going on in the national arena and
security for people and things like that take precedence. I think people are looking for strong,
decisive leadership right now on the national and the state levels, and in the
simple view you could say that that bodes well for incumbents, but in the next
year, calm, cool, collected leadership—you said that this morning the president
looked like a leader on television, and I think that there’s discussion over
the last couple of days of just pulling the country together and a bipartisan
need for calm, and I think those things take priority over the locked box
discussion, social security issues, and anything else that’s on the table.
(Jack)
Not
since Franklin Roosevelt has a President faced something as serious as this,
and does this mean that the Bush Presidency restarts today?
(Dan
Schnur, Republican Consultant)
That’s
exactly right. Whether it turns out for
the better or the worse is something that’s impossible to predict right now,
but everything that has happened in the Bush Administration up until this point
will have long since been forgotten by voters by the time they go to the polls
in 2004. This not only defines the Bush
Presidency, but as you said, it starts the clock over. One other point on that, Jack because it
really is difficult to tell at this point what’s going to happen in terms of
the President’s future because this is an ongoing test. In times of national crisis, the people and
the leaders of both political parties rally around their leader, but if you
look back through recent history, certainly not through tragedies of this
scope, but other similar challenges that recent Presidents have faced, you can
see all sorts of outcomes. Bill Clinton
was able to redefine his Presidency in the aftermath of the Oklahoma City
bombing. Jimmy Carter never recovered
from the crisis in Iran, so I think the point you made about the President’s
remarks today was extremely acute, Jack.
I think as time passes, it’s going to be a continuing test for him.
(Jack)
In the
last few seconds, it means it could go either way?
(Gale
Kaufman, Democratic Consultant)
Absolutely. I think it could, and I think people are
giving Bush the benefit of the doubt right now and will for the foreseeable
future, but we are all looking for strong leadership and for a plan of action.
(Jack)
All
right. Gale Kaufman, thank you very
much. Dan Schnur, thank you very much.
We would
like to know what you think about this week’s events. Please send us an e-mail to capitolreview.org or a letter to the
address you see on the screen.
Melissa?
(Melissa)
Thanks
Jack. As a reminder, if you’d like to
help, contact your local Red Cross office.
As we
mentioned earlier, concerns about the economy had started long before this
tragedy, but recent events heightened those concerns. Next week, State Treasurer Phil Angelides and State Controller
Kathleen Connell about our economic health.
(Jack)
That’s
all we have for this week. Thank you
very much for joining us. We’ll see you
next time.
(Melissa)
Goodnight.