When Regen Wilson recounts his evolution from a young news aficionado in Atlanta to a seasoned Air Force veteran, it's not just his personal history he's unfolding. It's the story of a man impassioned to serve his community, now channeling his dedication into a run for the 44th Assembly District County Central Committee. His tale weaves through the fabric of American military and political landscapes, offering a unique lens on how these experiences have armed him with the resolve to tackle local issues head-on.
We also meet his running mate, Sparky, who was one of the main reasons for him to delve into politics.
This episode is where the rubber meets the road in discussing the homelessness crisis in Los Angeles, a subject close to Reagan's heart—especially the plight of homeless veterans. His insights shed light on the critical partnerships between state and county to manage public funds effectively and the need for pinpointed solutions that address the diverse needs within the homeless community. Through Reagan's eyes, we see the multifaceted nature of this societal challenge and the promise of targeted interventions, including his involvement in initiatives like the Mundy Meal and the Veteran Peer Access Network.
Lastly, Hollywood's allure can be as deceptive as it is magnetic, particularly for the countless actors chasing dreams that often don't materialize. Reagan doesn't shy away from the industry's harsh realities and advocates for a more structured approach to support actors, much like the solid support systems he envisions for veterans transitioning to civilian life. The episode wraps up with a focus on public-private partnerships, the kind that could forge a new stability for performers and veterans alike, ensuring that those who serve our country and those who captivate our imaginations are afforded the backing they deserve. Join us as we navigate these poignant topics with Reagan Wilson, a candidate with a mission to make a tangible difference in his local sphere.
Website: https://regenandsparky4la.com/
FB/IG/TikTok: @RegenAndSparky4LA
Twitter: @RegenSparky4LA
When Regen Wilson recounts his evolution from a young news aficionado in Atlanta to a seasoned Air Force veteran, it's not just his personal history he's unfolding. It's the story of a man impassioned to serve his community, now channeling his dedication into a run for the 44th Assembly District County Central Committee. His tale weaves through the fabric of American military and political landscapes, offering a unique lens on how these experiences have armed him with the resolve to tackle local issues head-on.
We also meet his running mate, Sparky, who was one of the main reasons for him to delve into politics.
This episode is where the rubber meets the road in discussing the homelessness crisis in Los Angeles, a subject close to Reagan's heart—especially the plight of homeless veterans. His insights shed light on the critical partnerships between state and county to manage public funds effectively and the need for pinpointed solutions that address the diverse needs within the homeless community. Through Reagan's eyes, we see the multifaceted nature of this societal challenge and the promise of targeted interventions, including his involvement in initiatives like the Mundy Meal and the Veteran Peer Access Network.
Lastly, Hollywood's allure can be as deceptive as it is magnetic, particularly for the countless actors chasing dreams that often don't materialize. Reagan doesn't shy away from the industry's harsh realities and advocates for a more structured approach to support actors, much like the solid support systems he envisions for veterans transitioning to civilian life. The episode wraps up with a focus on public-private partnerships, the kind that could forge a new stability for performers and veterans alike, ensuring that those who serve our country and those who captivate our imaginations are afforded the backing they deserve. Join us as we navigate these poignant topics with Reagan Wilson, a candidate with a mission to make a tangible difference in his local sphere.
Website: https://regenandsparky4la.com/
FB/IG/TikTok: @RegenAndSparky4LA
Twitter: @RegenSparky4LA
My Burbank Talks presents another episode of Meet the Candidate, the show where we invite anyone appearing on the Burbank ballot in the 2024 election to join us here and give our listeners a chance to learn about their background and the issues important to them. Now let's join our podcast.
Speaker 2:Hello Burbank, greg Sherwood, here with you once again and we're doing another edition of Meet the Candidate and we invite any candidate who is going to appear on the ballot in Burbank, no matter what party, no matter what race, come in and talk to our viewers and our listeners and introduce themselves a little bit and tell them who they are and kind of what they stand for. Today we have somebody who is you know, we had somebody before running for this and now our second candidate running for the same seat, the 44th Assembly, district County Central Committee. It's such a mouthful, but today we have with us Reagan Wilson. Reagan, good to have you with us, good to be here. Thank you for having me. Great.
Speaker 2:So what I always do is I like to start off with background. I like to start off with you know what got you to where you are today. So let's go back to young Reagan Wilson, just a couple of years old. What was your first thoughts of you know at first? What do you want to do in your life Back in 10, 12 years old? What do you want to do in the early years?
Speaker 3:Sure. Well, the first thing I want to do is when I was four years old, I want to be a garbage man and that didn't work out. But I think I liked the idea that garbage men you could see the job getting done. There was garbage there and then there was no longer any garbage there because I picked it up and took it away. So I liked the completion of that. You know most of what we do in life. The work never really ends.
Speaker 3:Oh, where'd you grow up? I grew up in Atlanta, georgia, and I lived there until I was 16 years old and I said I've always been interested in current events and politics. We watched the evening news when I was a kid, growing up back when there was just you know three channels and we watched Dan Rather, peter Jennings or Tom Brokaw and that got me interested in current events. And then I started getting interested in politics. Really in fourth grade I was putting up yard signs for Reagan Bush 84. We were a Republican family at that time in the mid 80s and so that's I just got very interested.
Speaker 3:And then when the 88 election came out, I was in junior high school and I kept a running tally of the primary and who was where and who was winning what primary and caucus, and it just sort of cascaded, or I guess it kept going from there until I, in high school, I became a chairman of the younger Republicans for my county in Kentucky. I moved to Kentucky when I was 16, to a small town called Danville, just south of Lexington, and I remained involved in student government. He was president of the class and so on and so forth. So this proceeded until I got to the Air Force Academy, where I went to college in Colorado Springs in the mid 90s.
Speaker 2:So let's talk about it for a second. You are an eight year veteran of the Air Force. What did you do in the Air Force? Because no one thank you for your service, because people like you are the reason people like me can have shows like this and talk freely about what are we going to talk about. So you know it is appreciated. When people say Thank you, I mean we really do mean that, because you know you fought. You fought for our freedom and to maintain our freedom. So what did you do in the Air Force?
Speaker 3:I didn't actually fight, so I will say I'm not a combat veteran, I didn't care.
Speaker 2:You don't have to fly. You don't have to fight, though you should be part of the system.
Speaker 3:Right. Well, I just have to make that because that there's a definite delineation between the two. No, I attended the Air Force Academy, graduated 98, and then I served as a what they call public affairs officer for eight years and active duty. So my job was to deal with the press. Primarily I dealt with the media.
Speaker 2:And we thank you for that too.
Speaker 3:That's a little battle. The press guy yes, I always liked the fourth estate. I've always gotten along with reporters because I recognize their function and the value of their oversight and the job they're trying to do. So I always got along with reporters and also I love public speaking and writing and just communications in general. So that's what I did in the Air Force I deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2002, 2003. And I served the majority of my career and at Andrews Air Force, based outside of Washington.
Speaker 2:Okay, well, that must have been interesting. You kind of your politics and everything else in that way too, right? So eight years goes by and you say you know what Done my thing and I got an interest now and what was next for you.
Speaker 3:Well, I sort of say, way into the defense industry doing the same public affairs and defense contracts, whatnot. But it also freed me up to get back into politics. And so I, in the summer of 2007, the McCain's 2008 campaign had a big meltdown and I literally just walked in and I volunteered and I always admired John McCain and my dad was a Naval Academy graduate, class of 64 and, of course, mccain was class of 58 and both were Vietnam veterans. And so I walked in and they just had a major meltdown. The campaign was in the toilet. They are bankrupt, they had no money and I walked in and I didn't know who I was and I just volunteered my services and they were the campaign headquarters right across the Potomac in Virginia and they signed me up and I worked there for the next year and a half, largely a volunteer basis, to the last six months, and then I was paid staff and that was an exciting, very exciting time.
Speaker 2:Did you have a chance to meet John McCain?
Speaker 3:I spent a lot of time around John McCain and his family and especially around the prisoners of war. They served with the Hanoi. I was the. I held many jobs, but the last one was I was director of surrogates for the Veterans Coalition. So these are Medal of Honor recipients, prisoners of war, astronauts, flag officers who were sent out on the campaign trail on behalf of the candidate. That's a surrogate. And so I got to know his best friend, his cellmate and these real heroes. They say if you served, your hero. That's not necessarily true, but if you were in combat or if you were a prisoner of war, that's a hero. And so I got to know these, these gentlemen, and it was one of the high points in my life in terms of experience operating at that level with those kinds of people. But it was also incredibly frustrating and it was the end of the beginning, of the end of my relationship with the Republican Party, because here you have we would have been at the time the oldest man inaugurated president and he basically delegated the selection as vice president.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's only stumble. I got to tell you the truth. People don't realize what a hero John McCain really was and what he went through as a prisoner of war, sustained injuries, he had the of rest of his life and he never well, I did, you know. Look at me, look what happened. He never brought that up. He never used that as a crutch or a reason or anything, which I respect for. Plus, he was not scared to work the other side of the table to a Democrats and in fact there was that historic vote where he walked in and said no and yeah, yeah, and I mean I saved Obama.
Speaker 2:Where is that kind of leadership nowadays, on either party? You know, I just think that it was a tremendous. We lost a tremendous man when we lost him.
Speaker 3:So I can only imagine what he would be thinking right now with the Ukraine bill, you know, and seeing his friends like Lindsey Graham cave and I just, you know, I. So it's been publicized. You know what happened. He wanted Tom Redd. They said no, he's pro choice. Joe Lieberman no, he's pro choice. He said okay, who? And they said Sarah Palin. He said who's that? And you know, she came down to flag staff. They met for 30 minutes and said, okay, great. Well, of course, she turned out to be a disaster.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I believe there's a real through line from Sarah Palin through the Tea Party to Trump, and I don't think want, I don't think the end is possible without the beginning. And so I realized the party was turning, making a turn to the for the worst, embracing ignorance, you know, denying science and I said, you know what, I don't want to be a part of this anymore. So I left the party in 2010. I became first and independent a year later became a Democrat, and I'm not afraid to say on a Democratic primary that I used to be a Republican, because I think everybody recognizes McCain was a very special kind of Republican. Absolutely. That doesn't really exist anymore. And also, after the 2008 election I went to work for Obama, and so I worked in the 2012 Obama reelect. I worked on a second inaugural.
Speaker 2:Did you have a chance to meet him and spend time with him?
Speaker 3:No, I did not. I had an end a little bit with the McCain's because of the Navy connection and I knew McCain's younger brother, joe McCain, who lived there in outside DC, and so I had an end with them. I don't anybody in the Obama camp, but I was just happy to be part of it. And you know, I'm not afraid to say that I was a Republican, it's. It wouldn't be hard to find out in a Democratic primary because, again, I didn't work for extremists. And secondly, they say you know, converts are the worst right, converts are the most, the most intensely rabid. I won't say I'm rabid, but I am a Democrat to the core now and that's because I see what the other side has done to our country and where they will take our country if they get in power again. So I'm happy to bring that perspective to this race because I think it's helpful to see both sides of the aisle, to have experience in both sides, because you get the full picture that way.
Speaker 2:Okay, well, that's you know, you got through. So you went through a whole COVID campaigns. I know you have experience, you have time with Stone Mountain Enterprises as a veteran-only communications and management consulting firm. Is that your next step after that and what do you do with them and what are they up to?
Speaker 3:Sure, so I moved out to LA in 2014 from DC. I'm also a member of the entertainment industry, and so this was a natural step for me to go.
Speaker 2:You gotta ask her, though, have we?
Speaker 3:seen anything. Of course, you always ask that, as you should. I'm a proud member of a card-caught member of SAG, after it, and I'm a working actor. I will appear where I need to to remain working, you know. So I've done commercials, television, film voiceovers, graphic audio books, I mean, you name it, I've done it.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's right, yeah absolutely so.
Speaker 3:That's always been a passion of mine, in addition to politics, and certainly it's one of the planks of my platform, and one of the reasons for running is rebuilding Hollywood's middle class. We can get into that later, but anyway, that was part of the impetus for me coming out here. Also, I was really tired of working in the federal contracting defense industry space and he was either moved to New York or LA and having lived briefly in both, I knew it was gonna be LA, a big hiker. I like the outdoors, so came out here in 2014. And then, after COVID hit, everything just stopped and so I was like well, you know, I've never used my VA benefits. I had to go back to school. I got my master's in public policy at Pepperdine and then that sort of led between that and my volunteering with the homeless, which I've done almost since the time I moved here. That led to me starting my own company, stone Mountain Enterprises.
Speaker 2:It's your company, then okay.
Speaker 3:It's my company. That's why on the ballot you'll see I'm number two on the ballot for the 44th Assembly District Central Committee and it says underneath the name Small Business Owner, because that is one of the things that I am and I started a business here in the Valley. We have a communications team in Washington DC, but our clients are here for now, focused with two county departments, the Department of Mental Health and the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, and that experience over the last three years has certainly informed my candidacy.
Speaker 2:And I saw something about Mundy Meal.
Speaker 3:You've done your research.
Speaker 2:Well, you know, I wanna find out about you. You know, that's why we're here. We wanna find out about you, what you're all about.
Speaker 3:Right. Well, I've longed in Episcopal Parish. They did have, before COVID, a thing called the Mundy Meal, all Saints, beverly Hills. I used to live in West Hollywood when I first moved here. I'm a proud resident of the Valley now, and have been for three years, I guess. So I was. You know. I'd never seen homelessness like I'd seen it here in LA, and this was in 2014, 2015.
Speaker 3:And look at it today, and look at it today, I think it's getting better and after a year I said I do not wanna go, tired of driving by this abject misery, surrounded by all this affluence, the psychotomy here we pass on our streets every day. I live right off Sunset Boulevard and you know I drive down Sunset and then go into Beverly Hills and go to this parish and after about a year somebody gave a sermon about this thing called the Mundy Meal. It's where they serve this luncheon, not just like a soup kitchen, it was a luncheon where they go through a buffet. It was catered, it was very good food, it sit down and we were waiting on them and it was the only time during the week where they were actually paid attention to like human beings. For some of them and you know, all this was clothes and toiletries and whatnot. So I got to know people who were experiencing homelessness and that was a real eye-opener for me and that was part of my evolution.
Speaker 3:And then, when I went back to school and got my public policy master's, I had an opportunity opened up to work with the Department of Mental Health on this program called Veteran Peer Access Network or VPAN, and that works with homeless veterans and their families, as well as those who are in crisis through PTSD or substance abuse or chronic unemployment, you name it and it connects those veterans and their families to the services available to them. It's a pilot program. It's been highly successful three years. They renewed it for another three years and you know they reduced homelessness. This whole effort there's a lot of players in that space, but Veteran homelessness was reduced by 38% last year, you know. Meanwhile we've seen, since I moved here, homelessness increased by 50%. You know the last count, january of last year 75,000 people experiencing homelessness at one time or another in this county.
Speaker 2:And anywhere I would expect to see it go up a little more, with the rent subsidizing all ending now and they're just saying, hey, now you owe me my rent and then they can't. And how do you get another apartment when you can't hardly afford the one you're in? So I think it's even gonna grow from now.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it does. It keeps growing, it keeps growing. And you know, Veteran homelessness is a tiny fraction, it's about 3,500 to 4,000 people. But we have been this department, my clients. We have been successful in reducing that by 38% last year, to the extent that the Board of Supervisors on just February 6th passed a motion giving $1.9 million to another client of mine, the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, to stand up a homeless services division. And the entire point of that is to just end Veteran homelessness once and for all. And that has informed my candidacy in a big way. And that's the fact. You cannot attack this problem writ large. It's too big and it just gets bigger and bigger. Absolutely. You deal with one vulnerable subpopulation by another. So you're dealing with veterans and that's getting solved literally. So where do you go next? Well, maybe foster youth, Maybe those in reentry coming out of prison. You deal with one bite-sized piece at a time and that's the only way you're gonna solve this problem.
Speaker 2:I have to give you credit, because I'm, unfortunately, one of those people who would drive by and say, wow, can somebody do something about this? Look at all these people here. Why doesn't somebody do something? Well, you drove by and said, well, what can I do to help solve this problem, which I give you a lot of credit for that, because it's a huge undertaking. But, like you say, starting with one piece at a time is probably the way to go. How do you feel about the governor's new Prop 1, which is, I guess, geared toward the homeless veterans predominantly? So you think that's the right direction to go.
Speaker 3:Well, you know it's interesting. I was just at a meeting this morning with some voters and somebody brought Prop 1. There's two sides to it. One is, yes, it is designed to help veterans experiencing homelessness. That's one part of it. But it also takes some funding away from the counties and reprograms it back at the state level. In other words, the state is going to be telling the counties how to spend some of this money, as opposed to the counties deciding how to spend 100% of the money. But part of the reason for that is, and part of the reason voters are so upset, is that the county they pass these measures and the state passes these bond measures, one after another, after another, these referendums and like Prop HHH and so on and so forth, and the problem just gets worse.
Speaker 2:Well, I'll give you a little background. In years ago I think it was called Measure H and it was passed and it was for homeless and there was a committee on LA County and it was tax money. I can sell tax money at one quarter, one percent, whatever it is. I remember.
Speaker 3:I voted for it.
Speaker 2:And it goes into a fund and Burbank is I can't remember the number. Burbank is spending $7 million or $5 million a year into this fund and we're receiving about $50,000, $100,000 back every. So it's not equitable. In the cities that pay into it are not getting that amount of money back in services, so our homeless services here are lacking because we're not getting the financing for it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, because it's not cost effective. There's a lot. One of the reasons, many reasons running for the county central committee is, I really think it should be an increase in accountability and transparency. And for those, the county central committee doesn't make policy, but it researches and endorses policy. It also endorses candidates and I don't think candidates should be endorsed just because they have a D after their name. I think that we should look at the candidates and see what are they doing about transparency and accountability as stewards of the public tax dollar. And when you have motel owners making far more for the rooms by putting up those experiencing homelessness, that's not an effective use of tax dollars. If the room would normally go for 300 and they're getting $500, that's tax dollars. That's not accountability that I think voters can appreciate. When you're building a studio apartment and so-called affordable housing to create more housing for the homeless and it's costing over a million dollars, that's corruption, that's kickbacks, that's somebody making money on the public dime and I think voters are sick of it.
Speaker 2:I agree, let's talk. Well, let's talk about. You're running for the it's a mouthful the 44th Assembly District, LA County Central Committee. So number one, okay, and let's let's talk about the most important thing here your running mate. Now you brought your running mate with you and we've actually got ourselves the sparky cam and we're gonna go to Sparky cam right now and Sparky is saying you know what? I'm gonna just take it easy right here. Let's talk about Sparky and let's talk about because he's your running mate basically, and you cannot mention me earlier that he's one of the reasons you got into the race and everything else. So let's talk about Sparky. We're how'd you, how'd you get Sparky Right and what does he mean to you?
Speaker 3:Well, I got Sparky just actually 18 months ago. I've known Sparky since he was a puppy. I was living in DC, his humans living in New York and he was a rescue from puppy in Indiana, and so I've known Sparky ever since he was a puppy. But a year and a half ago they're moving from San Francisco to London and they got a couple of small children and it was just a lot and they couldn't fly Sparky directly into the UK for some reason. So I ended up inheriting Sparky and we've been inseparable every since.
Speaker 3:One of the reasons I decided now was the time to run for office was we walked outside of our apartment building onto a street here in the valley since Studio City, noho area and I realized there's no place to walk because there was so much trash and feces and litter human feces on One side of us all the way down to the corner. We couldn't walk that way and we couldn't walk the other way because there was a string of encampments and also a lot of trash and I didn't know who's having. Some guy was screaming down there. I was having a mental health episode. It's like this is insane. We spend too much to live here for it not to be livable, and that goes not just for humans, but for canines.
Speaker 3:You know, when it's not livable for a dog, it's not livable for a human and it's not getting any better. There's no accountability. I have a friend who's in the work for the fire department. He says 90% of the calls to go out on when you hear the sirens are for a response to somebody who's like having a mental health episode on the street or somebody they think may be dead because he's passed out from whatever drugs he was on.
Speaker 3:You know we're not doing the many favors by letting them die in the street and I know the ACLU took Newsom to court, you know, over these involuntary Conservatorship when you got the care courts tied up. You know. But he's right, we're not doing them any favors by letting them live under the overpasses or live in the parks or live at the bus stops. We've got to get them off the streets and into care, but that means not just into a room with four walls and a roof over their head. They're not gonna stay there.
Speaker 3:If, if, if, most of over half of them are having a mental health issue, whether it's substance abuse or some kind of illness, there has to be wraparound services is something we learned at the county with veterans who are experiencing the same issues. You can't put them into a space and expect them to stay there if you're not gonna give them the care they need to get better. So the wraparound care is very, very important getting them detox, getting them sober, getting them on the medication they need so that they can start functioning as human beings again. So, and that's see, I got spark you that got sparky up there.
Speaker 2:Hey, spark, how you doing there talking about you.
Speaker 3:Yes, yes, it's quiet dog and he's always his chair there.
Speaker 3:Oh, he's looking around he's very curious. So anyway, that's yeah. That was the moment sparking. I had the sort of the epiphany, were like we gotta do something about this. So I had I knew about the county central committee most. I can't say I knew a lot. Most voters know nothing about the county central committee. I chair a committee, organization development committee for the veterans caucus at the California Democratic Party and the party secretary told me about the county central committee Because I told her I really wanted to get involved at an accountable level as an elected official and she she said you know, you really should run for the triple C. The county central committee it's basically the LA Democratic Party triple C, I like there's a great nickname.
Speaker 3:That's the insider term I like that much.
Speaker 3:You just think all that you know every time what sounds like something out of the Soviet Union the county central committee you know the chairman of the central committee, the five-year plan. Maybe we'll call each other comrade After I get elected, but but yeah, so that that sounded like a good entryway for me to get involved and to be held accountable for what I'm talking about, and I want people to do that. And, as I said this morning, when I was talking to group of in nice, I Said you know, I Don't want to go there just to mark time or to be part of a networking event or something. I want to work, I want to get on these committees, I want to make something happen, I want to really dig my teeth into some policy issues and then find some elected officials or candidates who will then push those.
Speaker 2:So exactly what the triple C does, what exactly is the role of the triple C and and what do you think your role on it will be?
Speaker 3:The triple C is not a policymaking or an organization. It's not a full-time organization that meets at night once a month and Apparently pretty long meetings and they discuss basically Policy, proposed policy and candidates. But then there's these, all these committees of the legislative committee, the policy committee, the organizational development committee. I'm really interested in the legislative committee because I really want to get into some of these policy initiatives I've been talking about and there's others have we haven't talked about yet. That that I can't push as a committee member. But I can certainly get the policy, the research, the analysis of data and the policy proposal out there and then try to find someone, a champion, whether a candidate, a challenger, an incumbent, and Then try to push the committee to endorse that policy into, to endorse that candidate. The other function of the central committee is to send delegates to the state national conventions.
Speaker 2:What happens, as I imagine you have to stay with the Democratic platform and all that, and what if there's a part of that platform that you don't agree with? I mean, do you guys discuss that? And I mean, do you rubber stamp everything or you just not already leave that out? Or how do you, or do you ever go against the National Democratic Committee?
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, so you have an, either the DNC, a Democratic National Committee, you have the, the state Democratic Committee and, of course, in the empty County Committee, and so our committees, a lot of committees, and then there's all these subcommittees. Everybody's on a committee and so, yeah, what I think we should get away from is rubber stamping. You know, now, if the you can't, as an official on the Democratic Party, you can't stray too far from the, the established platform of that party. But there's opportunities within the committee for I, I believe, holding people accountable for their stewardship of tax dollars and also finding creative policy solutions for problems that exists, that are in the community, and I think that's where you can have the biggest, the biggest influence. You know, and there's sure there'll be an opportunity like an, a Democratic institution, small d, for debate. You know, when people don't agree, at the end of the day we're all Democrats right and we want to see Democrats elected.
Speaker 3:And now California is a super, super majority Democratic state, and so I appreciate the fact that a committee members to Hear them talk. A lot of candidates that you know. We got to get Democrats elected. Up and down the ballot, we got to get them. Well, that's not as much of a problem in California and certainly in LA. Okay, so it would be some swing state areas and and and more perhaps orange County, but I think here maybe we should start focusing more on the policy side of things. This is a lot of pissed off people out there and and and they blame Democrats because Democrats are the ones who've been in charge for so long so what?
Speaker 2:what does the committee do? Do you do candidates come in and Talk with the committee and give their views and the committee says what work. You know they're the platform and they endorse the candidates, or just how does that work?
Speaker 3:Yeah, the committee's free to endorse her, but they want? Okay so.
Speaker 2:But, yeah so, as long as they're a registered Democrat right, but it they want to make sure that they're in line with the, the committee's values, correct?
Speaker 3:Sure, but within that committee are individuals, and if I'm elected I'll be one of those individuals, and so I have you know. I know what the platform is. I know what the policy priorities are. I also know what my life experience is in my background. That will inform Uh what my endorsement decisions are. Well, how I vote, Because I don't tend to be a rubber stamp for anybody.
Speaker 2:And that's and I gotta say that's what we're looking for, um, so how many people are on the committee and how often are they elected?
Speaker 3:Oh, so there's. Every assembly district gets seven committee members, all right, and uh, so I'm running for representatives. The 44th assembly district, which is basically runs from the 405 over to glendale.
Speaker 3:Very large yes, and, uh, the bottom half of no ho, down to the the hills. So, uh, that that's the, that's the area that I would be representing, and every assembly district and gets, uh, it's seven members and they're elected every four years and, um, the way it is now, it hasn't always been this way, but, uh, every presidential primary is when you're going to have your election. So for me, the general election is the primary. It's march 5th. So, of course, voting has already started with the absentee ballots that went out february 5th and people have until march 5th to vote, either by absentee or they can vote in person on march 5th.
Speaker 2:Uh, and then those are four-year terms, and so if you add up all the assembly districts in LA, there's well over 100 people on this committee so Laura freedman is the um, the assembly member, represented district and she's now running for congress, but there's a lot of candidates out there running now for the that seat. Do you work with the, the sitting assembly member, during those four years to come up with things? I mean you are they included in your discussions and meetings and things like that and it you work together on things.
Speaker 3:Yeah, my understanding is that you know, as the basic building block of the party, the triple c, the county central committee, the LA democratic party, the republicans have the same thing is elected officials will look through the, that building block for guidance on, on issues of the day, because it still reflects, when you have seven people from every assembly district, that's that reflects a lot of grassroots opinion in energy and uh and and trends, if you will. So, uh, elected officials would be smart to stay in and close contact with the central committee, because the central committee of all Of all elected officials are going to have their fingers in the pulse of the party in the base.
Speaker 2:Okay, Look at your website. I saw you have three major bullet points that are important to you. Right Number one cleaning up LA. So why don't you get into what your view is on how you would clean up LA?
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, I think it goes back to dealing with the vulnerable sub-populations that are homeless, because the number one problem with LA is the homeless crisis.
Speaker 2:Let me ask you this One of the problems we're always hearing the new buzzword, of course, is mental health. Mental health, you know, and having mental health episode and those kind of. You know, we're trying to be always politically correct, but one of the problems is what happens when these people say I don't want the help, get away from me. I have a right to be here, you can't make me leave. How does that problem get solved, right?
Speaker 3:Well, it's complicated Absolutely. That's a tough question. Some of it, like I said, is tied up in the courts right now and you know, it's sort of funny when somebody as progressive as Newsom is taken to court by the ACLU over his one of his proposed solutions to this crisis. But something has to be done and, as I said before, you know we're not doing them any favors, but letting them stay where they are. They're not getting the care they need and if they're not capable of taking care of themselves because of a substance abuse or mental health issue, then I believe it's in their best centers, as well as ours, to get them off the streets.
Speaker 2:Well, there's been a lot of people you know the big thing lately, you know celebrities being taken to court by relatives for conservatives, you know, to take care of their, their well-being and their finances. Why is it that we can't recognize these people on the streets who refuse to be helped and say you know what we're going to, you know, bring you to court and get you on a conservative issue, where we can kind of not kind of force the help on them, because I think if they get the help and they get in after a month or two they might see, hey, there is a solution, there is a better way, you know. So I mean, is that one of the possible solutions to have the courts intervene? You think?
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's the care court concept that Newsom has pushed. Is the care courts, not a judicial courts, a ministry?
Speaker 2:I gotta be honest, I hadn't heard about that, but I, yeah, I agree 100% right.
Speaker 3:So the care court is all about involuntary conservatorship on a temporary basis, about getting people who are not capable of making decisions for themselves off the streets and to a facility where they can get sober, where they can get medicated, so they can get in the right mind and start thinking for themselves. That's how you, that's. The biggest chunk of the homeless problem is the over well over 50% who are having a mental health episode of some kind. And then for the rest of the you know there is, you know you say nobody wants to be homeless, but some people have. They've been homeless for so long and become sort of a culture and identity and they don't want to have to answer anybody. The fact of the matter is we have to take back our parks, we have to take back our sidewalks. There can't be anarchy, so we have to create housing for people to go into. And then you have, then you, you have to pass laws and make it or enforce the laws around the books, then make it illegal to, to set up your, to live in the park.
Speaker 2:Well, that's a that's a big thing. I know we had a problem on Forest on Drive for a long time of people parking their trailers. I'm going for, I'm going for like 50, 60 trailers, even though there's a sign that said no parking allowed during these certain hours, but they were not being enforced. So people more and more kept moving in and the strike ended and the studio said we don't want these people near our studios and all of a sudden they're all gone. So I think that was a little bit of pressure from Hollywood coming in and you know, which is interesting, how you know they have that power to do it where in other areas, you know that doesn't seem to happen, right, but I would think 75% of the people really do want the help and you might have, you know, single mothers with a child or families that are living out of their car and really do need this help. I think they want this help. So I think, I think, I think 25%, that's the tough 25% to get off the streets.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and one thing I noticed when Sparky and I were going around to Luca Lake gathering signatures to get on the ballot was that all these you know Democrats, progressive Democrats they are all in agreement that they're sick of this situation that we're in as a community and they want something done about it. Excuse me and it doesn't matter, it's really, it's no longer a Republican or a Democratic issue and Republicans are too hard on folks and that, you know, the Democrats are too soft. Everybody wants this solution. They want this to be solved. They're sick of you know we pay too much to live here, for it not to be livable, and so that's why, you know, the first issue, the biggest issue on which I'm running, is just let's make LA home again, you know. Let's make LA, let's clean it up, and that means taking care of the folks who are experiencing homelessness by getting the care they need and finding housing solutions for them that don't involve a bus stop or a park bench or the beach. So that's that's. It's a very complicated problem.
Speaker 3:I think a big part of the answer is public private partnerships. All three of my policy, main policy initiatives rely on public private partnerships, because we've seen that work at the county. There are a variety of these groups called change reaction, the April Parker Foundation, the Salvation Army, habitat for Humanity. There's a lot of different organizations out there that are not veteran specific, that are looking for ways to partner with government to find solutions for those who are in need. And that's how you solve this problem is through again targeting vulnerable subpopulations one at a time, through pilot programs that are administered by public private partnerships, because it's not government can't do it on their own They've shown that and the private sector can't do it on their own. That was, you know, one of the things that Governor Reagan shut down the asylums in the 60s, and they were horrible places.
Speaker 2:Because they don't make money.
Speaker 3:That's why? Well, because there's no money in it.
Speaker 2:That's why corporate you know the public sector doesn't want to do it Right. No money in it.
Speaker 3:And they said well, you know, churches and the private sector will pick up the, you know, help the. And that question never happened and 60 years later we're living with the results, the consequences of that decision. So it has to be a high rate relationship between both sectors for this problem to be solved.
Speaker 2:Okay, let's move on to bullet point number two, that is, restoring Hollywood's middle class. Now, what's that all about?
Speaker 3:Well, I mean, there's a lot of people who are in the industry. Here in the valley we got three major studios. We've got Disney, warner Brothers, universal right here, right around the corner, and the knock on the industry has been for a long time. That you know. It's just like sort of the society you know. You got the fraction of 1% who really making a living doing what they came here to do, as performing artists, and then you have everybody else and the most common theme unfortunately, people come out to pursue creative, creative pursuits in Hollywood is failure. That's the common denominator. Most of them do not make it.
Speaker 3:There are many reasons for that. Part of the reason is that we have no apprenticeship or guild system. Now, if you're a plumber, if you're an electrician, there is a guild system for you. There's an apprenticeship mentorship program for you. If you are a writer, there is a pathway for you to go through to becoming a showrunner and then a director. You know if that's where you want to go. But actors don't have anything. There's no framework. The union doesn't really offer it. So back in the you know, up until the 60s, there was this thing called the contract player system. So you come out the LA, you do a screen test. If they liked you, they would hire you and they teach you how to act, how to sing, how to dance, how to look, how to groom, how to talk, how to spend everything. And they would put you on contract and you'd play a sailor one week, a cowboy, the next a gangster. The week after the play.
Speaker 2:I know on many shows that Universal used to do, because growing up in this area we used to always see it. But you'd be on, you know, I don't know if they're Universal shows, but Mannix one week, the Barnaby Jones next week, and then you always need to be extra on Hogan's Heroes, and then you move over to you know, some other play. It was the same actors, Basically, you know, coming in just for a shot here and there, and they would just do show after show on a different series and because they were contracted to that studio, so all their productions they would move around. They were, but they were working. But they were working Absolutely.
Speaker 3:They were working and there was a vibrant middle class to Hollywood and you know, the studio system went away. But there was still a middle class actor, you know, up until this century, up until the last 20 some years, and that went away, unfortunately, with one of the actors strikes when the studios realized, especially in commercials, that well, I can get this guy to do, I can't somebody do this commercial for a couple of grand when he used to cost me 25 or 50 grand. And so that's when commercials became a 70% non-union exercise. And you know, I don't know how the union expects to claw that back. Every three years we vote in these contracts but the work doesn't come back to the union in terms of these jobs. Because why would it? The production companies, the ad agencies realize that hey, get somebody to do this for, you know, 15,000, $2,000.
Speaker 2:I've heard in the past that it was basically if you got a national commercial you were set for life because every time it showed you'd get out, you know, residual. But then I've heard the studios now that said you know, we're just going to hire you for one time fee of this and they don't have to pay that residual anymore. So the long run they're saving a lot of money and the actor is not getting that. You know that money because we wouldn't commercial, or two commercials a year, could sustain an actor for the entire year.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, I booked a national years ago, and, you know, on top of some others, and you know my agent said you know, this should have been a, you know, 20, 15 years ago. You'd be set Right, but anymore it's just the way they've got everything structured. The fee schedule, it's just. It just doesn't make sense for actors. So that's, you know. That's one part of it. The other part is, though, is how do you prepare actors for success? And so the public?
Speaker 3:Again, a public private partnership that I'm proposing is a publicly administered, privately financed framework, if you will. So, basically, the state would accredit acting studios. For example, there's a lot of acting studios in this area NoHo, in particular, burbank and so they would accredit a studio with being an authorized place of apprenticeship or mentorship for an actor coming out to LA. The actors coming out to LA would have to audition for these various studios, and, if they were accepted, they would still have to work hard and have talent and the rest of it, but these studios would mentor them and how to run their careers. You know the things that you learn the hard way about picking headshots, picking representation, about where, what you should and should not do, what workshops you should and should not go to acting coaches, that kind of thing. Once you book a job, what's it like to be on set? How do you behave? You know knowing your lines, hitting your mark, finding your light and camera all these things that actors are supposed to know when they get to a set, and so often they do not.
Speaker 2:Especially not from Hollywood. They have no experience with all that.
Speaker 3:Right, you know you're coming from Oklahoma. You know maybe you do have some talent, but you have no idea how to run yourself as a business. And it's a business. You know it's a show business. So, and this goes up for all the you know the dancers, singers, stunt performers.
Speaker 2:And you also look at the fact that how many people come out from Indiana or Idaho or somewhere like that and they're taking advantage of. They get, they bring in somebody's door and they are taking advantage of. Or you know casting couch, you know type stories, nightmares you've heard, but there's no. If they had a credible list of places that they knew that were above the board, I think that would would help a lot, especially, you know, exploiting people.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it was. In fact there was a big lawsuit a few years ago with the casting workshops advertising themselves hey, come here and get, get noticed and you'll get a job. But really it was some casting directors who were just making money off these poor actors who didn't know any better, didn't realize there was no job at the end of that process. And so you know. And then the financing, the private financing of it, comes in, where the studios and production companies, I think, would have a vested interest in financing this program.
Speaker 3:Because A it just makes sense, because it enlarges the talent pool and it creates a more informed talent pool of of of actors who show up on set and know how to behave, they know their craft, they also know their business and then the profession. So it makes for a more professional core of talent that is prepared to take on the work that is offered to them. So you know, a casting director could know that okay, if they go out to this studio it's created by the state that pull somebody to audition that if they get the gig they're going to be prepared for the for the job and they're not going to embarrass them. So it just makes sense. It creates a broader range of talent that's more prepared for work. It's also great PR for anybody. It could be financed by an individual, a celebrity, or it could be financed again by studio production company and it's also and then finally be a tax write off for so but it'd be publicly administered. So you have the transparency and the accountability of those private.
Speaker 2:The licensing and all that. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3:Right, exactly so that's how that would work. It's ambitious, no one's talking about it, but I am a biographical candidate, so I am a veteran. I am also an actor and I am a business person. So these inform my, my, my issues.
Speaker 2:Well, that's a good transition into our next and final bullet point, which is transitioning veterans back into society. Now, you are a veteran and you work with the homeless, so this is the thing that probably touches you immensely and something that you're probably, you know, really, really important to you. So what is your, what's your vision there?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so when I got out of the, out of the Air Force, I was an Air Force officer. So I had a college degree, I had management experience and I was part of the officer corps which sort of you know that runs the military. And I and I got out in DC. I had no problem getting a job, you know. They came to me, employers came to me and I had a seamless transition from service to civilian status. What I have learned since working with veterans in LA County, with with my clients these last few years, is if you get out of the Army or if you get out of the Marines and you're enlisted, you may not have a college degree or real management experience, especially if you only two or four years and if you were like artillery or infantry or armor or a warfighting career field. How do you translate that?
Speaker 2:Not all the guns to fire in Hollywood, unless you, you know. Yeah, we do a lot of bombing around here, do we?
Speaker 3:No, I mean and there's only so many of those spots available Right as technical advisors. So veterans find it very easy. If you're coming out in those circumstances especially if you came from a lower socioeconomic background into the service, and you're returning that after the service, you know you have the skill set, but you don't know how to translate it into something a civilian employer can understand. You're coming out of an environment where you are fed three meals a day of a roof of your head. They even tell you what to wear. You know where to show up.
Speaker 2:But there is discipline. They come up with a foundation of discipline where they understand. You know, that's all about.
Speaker 3:They understand discipline, they understand meeting the mission, they understand professionalism, but they need and teamwork, and teamwork exactly. But they may lack the ability to have a seamless transition or a successful transition into civilian life. And we see this manifest itself again with homelessness, with substance abuse. It can spiral into mental health issues and, of course, the ultimate failure of a successful transition is suicide and veteran suicide and you know that can lead to homeless. Veterans are far more likely to die by suicide than housed veterans, veterans involved in the justice system. You know 151 per 100,000 is the rate right now who will die by suicide.
Speaker 3:So we have a vested interest in a society by helping those who have served to continue serving as civilians but as contributing members of society. And that's another public private partnership for the government teams with industry and with local government to identify veterans as they're coming out of the service. So they're coming from Texas to LA County. We know they're coming. We team them up with a sponsor. The sponsor help gets them connected to education benefits, health care, unemployment benefits that they need for the near term, as well as just getting acquainted with the community, and they're putting a glide path to mentor with either a local government agency or a private employer who, at the end of that pipeline, they have a job and they're a contribute. You know they're part of the tax base. The same thing with the actor and with the performing artists initiative rebuilding Hollywood's class, middle class. You're talking about broadening the tax base by lifting everybody up. That benefits society as a whole. So that's where I think the public private partnership of these three issues is where the solution is going to occur. And you know we have things in place that are working, that can be replicated, but they need to be codified into public law for that to happen, and so that's the kind of policy change that I'm pushing for.
Speaker 3:Then, if I'm honored to be elected the central committee, that's what I will be advocating for. I'll be advocating for those kinds of policy initiatives that really are creative. I mean, the low hanging fruit as a Democrat is on control, abortion, the environment we're all for, we're all pro choice, we're, as Democrats, we're all for gun control, but we're all pro environment. That's easy. That's the easy stuff. What I'm talking about is really complicated, nuanced policy challenges that people don't talk about. They don't put up in their websites because they don't really know what to do about them. But I've had, I've been fortunate now to have some professional experience and a background that informs issues like these and helps me think maybe he's outside of the box. So if I can get a platform for that kind of, for that kind of thinking, for that kind of advocacy, I think that benefits everybody.
Speaker 2:Excellent, we're just about done here. What I always like to do at the end is give you a minute or two. You know where your camera is, right here, so I'll let you look into that camera. And why don't you? Why don't you tell everybody in that minute or two? Why is it they should put their little pen mark or their or dots your, your name or whatever it's going to be? Why should they vote for you in in the coming? Uh, uh, but you want to.
Speaker 3:You want to show your sign there, I have a point to make, okay.
Speaker 2:I can say I'm going to give you a wide camera. When you put it up, just put it toward the camera up there.
Speaker 3:But so you may have seen these signs around LA. Uh, sparky and I, uh, we put my own, my own, up ourselves and we came across one in front of the uh post office of studio city and, um, this one had a lot of graffiti on it. You know, we've looked better perhaps than than what they have, but the one, the one issue, we took right.
Speaker 2:I'm going to put it on the on. There's close up camera here, Okay.
Speaker 3:The issue we had with this was I will eat my dog. I will eat my dog to get elected. Now that's pushing it just a bit too far, sparky, and I don't appreciate that. But the point of me bringing that up is people are upset, people are pissed off and they have a right to be angry because they see their tax dollars just going down the drain. And year after year after year, this problem with homelessness and with the, the, the, the livability of LA just keeps getting worse. You know, a 50% increase over 10 years, 10% year over year. This last count went from 44 to 66 to 75,000 people experiencing homelessness.
Speaker 3:We can conquer this, we can beat this policy challenge and I I've we've proven it. The county we've been doing with the veterans, so why can't we do with other at risk populations? It just requires a, a partnership between those on the outside and those the inside the public, the private and thinking outside of the box and just dealing with invite size pieces and ensuring this accountability and transparency for the process, because that will give people buy in. They can see that the work's being done, is being done correctly and it's being done with an eye towards the stewardship of the tax dollar. So I don't think we need a lot more money. I just think we need to spend the money we have in a better, more equitable fashion. So I hope I appreciate you having me here, craig, and Sparky does too. Sparky has gotten a great nap time out of this because he's been there we go, there we go, sparky again yeah.
Speaker 3:He's, he's, all he's. He's pooped from canvassing.
Speaker 2:I can imagine who and who wouldn't be huh.
Speaker 3:Who wouldn't be, but you know it's only two weeks left in this election, so if you haven't voted already, I I ask, I ask for your vote. Sparky and I both ask for your vote. If you'd like to learn more about us and our our policy issues, please visit Reagan and Sparky for LAcom that's a number four, reagan and Sparky for LAcom and on social media you can follow us at at Reagan and Sparky for LA. Thank you for your time. Have me here. I know Sparky as appreciative as well.
Speaker 2:Well, we appreciate you coming in that's another of our series and meet the candidates, which I always think are very fascinating. To understand what the candidates all about. Just not a name on a ballot and, reagan Wilson, you are number two in the ballot and I think we want to be number one in people's hearts, so we appreciate you coming in and once again, it's Craig Sherwood. Thank you for for listening and watching and we will talk to you next time.
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