“To the Point” host Alex Bell sat down with California’s candidates for governor to hear directly from them about their priorities and what they’d bring to the job.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — This June, Californians will head to the polls to help decide who could become the state’s next governor. While the final decision comes in November — for now, nine leading Democratic hopefuls and several Republicans are in the race.
To help you get to know them and what they say they’d bring to the job — Alex Bell sat down with the candidates at this past weekend’s Democratic convention and will do the same with the Republican Party.
To keep things fair, names were drawn at random for these interviews. Interview responses have been cleaned up and slightly condensed for easier reading, while keeping the candidates’ words intact.
Ian Calderon
Q: For people that are meeting you for the first time, why are you deciding to run for governor of California?
Ian Calderon: “It all comes down to my kids and my family. A lot of families like mine in this state just don’t believe that we have a future here and that our kids don’t have a future here. So it’s important for me to know that I am a part of the solution — being able to create a pathway to home ownership, work on affordability, work on accountability — so that our kids and our future here are going to be bright and that everybody feels like if they do the right thing, they keep working hard, there’s a place for them here in this state.”
Q: If elected, what would be your top three priorities your first year in office?
Ian Calderon: “Housing — creating a pathway to housing. Affordability, specifically around childcare. I have four kids, and when my wife and I were paying for childcare for all four kids, we were paying more in childcare payments a month than we were in our rent. So, I’m going to cap childcare costs at $500 a month for every family across the state for 95% of the kids 0 to 5.
And then accountability. People want to know that we’re being responsible with the money that we already have, so I’m going to make sure that we have forensic audits day one of my administration. From those forensic audits, we’re going to learn, we’re going to create policy, and then I want to install an independent prosecutor within my administration that will prosecute fraud and anybody taking advantage of our state.”
Q: California has spent billions of dollars addressing homelessness, yet the problem persists. What would you do differently?
Ian Calderon: “I think we need to reimagine our approach to homelessness. The independent state auditor said we can’t really account for $24 billion of spending that the state has sent out over the last decade and what kind of return we got on that investment. There are a lot of people making money off of homelessness right now. So, we need to understand exactly where that money is going and who these middlemen are.
I want those forensic audits and that accountability because these dollars are critical and they have to be yielding a positive result. And then we have to reimagine how we’re setting people up for success. Just getting someone sheltered isn’t enough — that’s managing decline, not solving the problem.
What we need is a system where you come in, detox, and there’s an assessment of what your actual needs are. Then you move to the next stage — mental health services, counseling, resources to diagnose and work through the challenges that led to homelessness. Then the third step is re-entering you into society, placing you with a job, and providing wraparound services to make sure you’re protected long term, so you’re not just released without support.
We’ve spent a lot of money, and we’re not seeing enough progress for the amount we’re spending. We can fix it, but we have to be certain that what we’re doing is actually making a difference.”
Q: Do you think California has gone too far, not far enough, or struck the right balance on criminal justice reform?
Ian Calderon: “I was in the legislature under Jerry Brown. His number one focus was criminal justice reform. You cannot have progress on policy unless you’re willing to try something different. At the time, it was clear that ‘lock them up and throw away the key’ policies were not making a difference in keeping us safer or rehabilitating people so they could reenter society and be contributing members of our communities. So, I believe in reform, but it has to start and be rooted in safety.
When I was in the legislature, you could start to feel the perception shifting. You could show people all the data in the world, but if they don’t feel safe, the data doesn’t matter. My wife does not feel comfortable going out in public alone with our four kids because she believes she’s a target. That concerns me as a parent and as a husband.
We have to make sure public safety officers have the resources they need and proper training to handle different situations. At the same time, we don’t want policies that just punitively punish people long term without understanding what contributed to their offense.
At the end of CDCR and rehabilitation, we really need to focus on rehabilitation — but we have to fund it and be accountable to results. I think reform went very far during my tenure. We tried a lot of things. Some things didn’t work, like needle exchange programs and safe injection sites. I don’t think they worked, but it was important to try and learn from it. We need to admit when policies don’t work, move on, and focus on what actually delivers results.”
More interviews with the candidates for governor will be posted as they air on ABC10.
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