The John Phillips Show

Chuck Devore on The LA Election Results

38 min
Jun 11, 2026about 1 month ago
Listen to Episode
Summary

Host John Phillips and guest Chuck DeVore, former California Assemblyman and Chief National Initiatives Officer at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, discuss California's controversial 2022 LA mayoral election results, focusing on ballot harvesting practices, mail-in voting laws, and the state's leftward political shift. DeVore contrasts California's permissive ballot handling laws with Texas's stricter voting requirements, arguing California's system enables fraud and treats voters as bodies rather than informed citizens.

Insights
  • California and Texas reversed their mail-in ballot policies simultaneously in 2016-2017: California legalized ballot harvesting while Texas criminalized it, creating opposite regulatory environments for the same practice
  • The distinction between legal and illegal ballot handling in California is ambiguous enough to enable unethical practices that are technically legal, making fraud detection nearly impossible once ballots enter the general stream
  • California's political shift from aerospace/defense industry Republicans to service-sector DSA supporters represents a fundamental demographic change that will accelerate as Hollywood continues relocating
  • Silicon Valley's AI and data center industries are California's last major tax base, but the state's progressive movement actively opposes their expansion, creating an unsustainable fiscal trajectory
  • Signature verification processes for mail-in ballots are insufficient safeguards when ballots are harvested from buildings with high resident turnover and unclaimed mail accumulation
Trends
Ballot harvesting as a political organizing tool becoming normalized in Democratic-controlled states despite fraud concernsAccelerating industry exodus from California (aerospace, defense, entertainment, tech) due to regulatory and tax environmentService sector and renter-class voters replacing homeowner-class voters as California's political base, shifting priorities leftwardMail-in voting expansion creating infrastructure vulnerabilities in states with weak signature verification and ballot trackingData center and AI infrastructure becoming critical state revenue source while facing political opposition from progressive movementsCopper theft targeting public infrastructure (HVAC, electrical systems) becoming endemic in California municipalitiesPhishing scams targeting government permit processes as scammers exploit public distrust of government agenciesLibrary systems serving dual role as cooling centers and social services hubs in underserved communitiesVoter roll maintenance failures creating persistent inventory of unclaimed ballots in multi-unit residential buildingsTexas positioning itself as alternative jurisdiction for businesses and residents fleeing California regulatory environment
Topics
California Mail-in Voting Laws and Ballot Harvesting2022 LA Mayoral Election Results and Ballot IrregularitiesVoter Roll Maintenance and Unclaimed Ballot ManagementSignature Verification Processes in Mail-in ElectionsTexas vs California Voting System ComparisonDemocratic Socialists of America (DSA) Political OrganizingCalifornia Industry Exodus and Economic SustainabilitySilicon Valley AI and Data Center Tax RevenueCopper Theft from Public InfrastructureGovernment Permit Phishing ScamsPublic Library Infrastructure and Cooling CentersCalifornia Political Demographic ShiftsElection Fraud Detection and PreventionHomelessness and Public Service AccessState Regulatory Environment and Business Migration
Companies
Texas Public Policy Foundation
Chuck DeVore's current employer where he serves as Chief National Initiatives Officer
California Department of Public Health
Mentioned as holding World Cup health seminars; Barbara Ferrer's agency
Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)
Discussed as organization allegedly conducting ballot harvesting in LA election
SoFi Stadium
Mentioned as venue for World Cup matches in Southern California
Best Buy
Referenced as retailer selling affordable air conditioning units
Costco
Referenced as retailer selling affordable air conditioning units
Walmart
Referenced as retailer selling affordable air conditioning units
Marin County Community Development Agency
Targeted by phishing scam impersonating county officials requesting wire transfers
People
Chuck DeVore
Guest discussing California election irregularities and comparing voting systems between California and Texas
John Phillips
Podcast host conducting interview and moderating discussion on California politics and elections
Randy Wangs
Co-host providing commentary and managing show segments
Karen Bass
Discussed as moderate candidate in LA mayoral race with union support
Nithya Raman
Discussed as DSA-backed candidate who won primary with alleged ballot harvesting assistance
Barbara Ferrer
LA County Department of Public Health official presenting World Cup health and safety seminar
Sarah Jones
Discussed phishing scam impersonating her identity to request fraudulent wire transfers
Quotes
"California passed two laws in 2016 and 2017 that made it legal to pay people to touch ballots, to traffic ballots, to be ballot brokers...and to do so while not being a relative, while not being the husband or the sister or the nephew of the person whose ballot that you're helping with."
Chuck DeVoreEarly in interview
"I've called California elections in recent years, not elections, but merely census operations. And that goes to how Democrats view people and elections. They don't see citizens casting individual ballots based on enlightened self-interest."
Chuck DeVoreMid-interview
"California has built a system designed to allow for this sort of thing. In Texas, we have significantly restricted mail-in ballots. We prefer people to vote in person often or early."
Chuck DeVoreMid-interview
"When that industry left the state after the Cold War ended, that was the beginning of the end for California Republicans. The industry that employed Republicans, that brought families here, that was politically active, just stopped existing."
John PhillipsLate interview
"At some point, something has to give. And right now, the industry that is allowing the state of California to pay its bills is the high tech industry is Silicon Valley. And the population of people that you and I have been talking about, they want to go to war with Silicon Valley."
Chuck DeVoreLate interview
Full Transcript
And we continue at one oh five in the afternoon on the John Phillips show. Mr. Randy Wangs and Culver City. Well, it's finally here, John. The world cup has come, not just to Northern California, but Southern California as well. The first big match is going to be tomorrow at Sofi stadium and that has inspired the LA County Department of Public Health to hold a very special seminar on how you can stay safe and healthy during the world cup. And guess who's on the stage? You gotta be kidding me. I'm just going to give you a little sample and then everyone needs to tune in at 205 as we get Barbara Ferrer's world cup health tips. But here's just, here's just a little amuse bouche. One of the most important health messages for people is that heat can be dangerous. Like PTSD, it's all coming back to me now. Well, we wanted to do this with her Pride month instructions, but they were so sexually explicit the FCC wouldn't allow us. And you know, this is especially true for people who may be more vulnerable to heat-related illness. That includes older adults, young children, people with disabilities, outdoor workers, pregnant people. Pregnant people? Oh yes, because you know that men can get pregnant. Follow the science. Pregnant people and people experiencing homelessness. She spoke for seven minutes and we're going to play you every second of it because I am so confused as to why oh why oh why Barbara Ferrer is inserting herself and presenting to the entire county safety tips for the world cup. Barbara Ferrer presenting. I'm thinking of a baboon now and I have to wash that from my brain. But at the end of the day, she's back. 800-222-5222 is telephone number 1-800-222-5222. It is our pleasure to welcome our next guest to the program. He is a former member of the California Assembly. He is now the Chief National Initiatives Officer at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. You can get him online at texaspolicy.com and you can follow him on X at Chuck DeVore, Assemblyman Chuck DeVore. Welcome. Hey, great to be back on the show. Now I have a feeling and I don't have a crystal ball and I'm not clairvoyant. But I have a feeling that as you watch the third world debacle that is our election process here in California unfold over the last week and a half, you thought to yourself, I made a great decision to move to Texas. Yeah, pretty much. I think a lot of your listeners would be really interested to know that the two most popular states literally exchanged their laws on mail-in ballots right at the same time. California passed two laws in 2016 and 2017 that made it legal to pay people to touch ballots, to traffic ballots, to be ballot brokers I think is another term I've heard recent, and to do so while not being a relative, while not being the husband or the sister or the nephew of the person who's ballot that you're helping with. In Texas, I testified for it in 2017 during a special session, we passed a law adopting California's rules prior to 2016-17 because we had a particular problem down in the Rio Grande Valley with people we call politic arrows, people who were paid to gather mail-in ballots, help people air quotes, help people fill them out properly for money. And we thought that that practice was corrupted so we outlawed it just at the exact same time that California legalized it. What do you make of what happened particularly in the Pratt election? Because when I look at the liberal laws that we have when it comes to voting here in California, to my mind what probably happened is something that the average person would say is certainly unethical and shouldn't happen, but could technically be legal under California's really weird way of writing the laws and enforcing the laws. What do you think happened? Well I've talked to a few folks back in California, some of my old network, and the most benign explanation is that your high information voters who understand how the process works with this new jungle primer, I say new, I mean it was adopted just as I was leaving, so it was in place for the 2012 election. The last election I voted in California was 2010. And so these new laws with the jungle primary that essentially allow you to wait until the last minute, see how the dynamics of the race are turning out, and then vote accordingly. Now I don't necessarily think that explains if your Romans come from behind win because why would that dynamic come into play at all, wouldn't you just vote for her to begin with? Now another benign explanation is that younger voters seem to vote late and that Pratt made a particularly strong effort to try to get people to vote early. Again, that may explain some of it, but you also see these, you know, the data that seems to be coming out of Skid Row where there were a lot of people who were registered to vote from places, you know, like shelters and things like that, but who were air quote, helped to vote the right way by paid people. So these are not American citizens casting a well-informed vote of their own volition. These are people who are simply bodies who represent potential votes who are being helped to vote a certain way by people who are filling out the ballots for them. Okay, let's go through a couple of different scenarios here because I think people have a hard time understanding what's legal and what's not. So I think the DSA certainly went in to a lot of these areas with a lot of renters in high density parts of Los Angeles where everyone has a ballot that is mailed to them and in theory everyone has at least one ballot in their possession. So if they go into these buildings and they knock on your door and they go, okay, here's the deal, you haven't voted yet, we highly recommend that you vote for X, Y and Z. Why don't you go ahead and do it and give it to me and we'll turn it in for you. That would be legal, correct? Correct. It is after the law changes in California in 2016 and 17 that was made legal. Okay, if they were to say, why don't you fill it out here in front of me and I'll point to the one that you should vote for in real time, that would be legal. Yep. Okay, what if they say, sign the outside of the envelope, give it to me, I will fill it out on your behalf and turn it in. Yeah, so now we're getting into some problematic areas, right? Because there are signature blocks on that envelope for, you know, make your mark if you're not literate and then for the witness to make a mark. The person who fills it out should be the voter. Now, if you're, let's say you are a blind individual and you know, the mail-in ballot doesn't have braille on it, you're the one then telling someone, here's who I want you to vote for and then you're counting on that person to fill it in properly for you. I don't believe under any circumstance it should be allowed or legal for a third party to essentially vote for you, right, and without your consent, without you telling that person how to vote. And this is why I've called California elections in recent years, not elections, but merely census operations. And that goes to how Democrats view people and elections. They don't see citizens casting individual ballots based on enlightened self-interest. They think that if you're a person of color, if you are a sexual minority, if you are disabled, if you're elderly, you must vote for the socialist Democratic line, period, full stop. And any laws that prevent 100% of those people from voting the right way are clearly election suppression, voter suppression, right, as opposed to what we should think of as elections where, gee, if you're an enlightened voter and you have an opinion about propositions or politicians to vote for, you should have the right to cast a secret ballot to get the sort of representative government that you want. What worries a lot of people, and I experienced this when I lived in Los Angeles County in an apartment building that had a lot of turnover, every election there would be a stack of ballots in the mailroom that belonged to people who had lived there and died, people who had lived there and moved to someplace else and presumably registered to vote in a different city or a different state, or whatever reason, they're not picking up their ballot, filling it out and returning it. And there would be a stack of those ballots in the mailroom every time. And then one day they just disappear. And I don't know who picked them up. I don't know what they did with them after they picked them up, but they were just there and then they weren't. Because of the state of California is really slow to clean up the voter rolls, you have a lot of these ballots floating around. I know at my last house, I received the ballot for the person who lived there before me for the entire seven years that I owned it. Prior to that, I got two ballots delivered to my house, to my apartment in Los Angeles. For people who lived there before me, I got those ballots for like 10 years and they never turned those off. There are a lot of ballots that are floating around. And I think people are worried that if the DSA gets their hands on it, they'll just fill them out and turn them in. And the signature verification process won't catch it. That's absolutely correct. I mean, that is a valid concern. Now, that also then goes to the next stage, which is, well, you know, there's no widespread fraud, prove it. Well, you don't find what you don't look for. And furthermore, if the rules are vague enough and confusing enough and built to allow this sort of thing, then fraud is going to be very difficult to detect because those ballots in the carrier envelopes, once they are opened, they go right into the general stream of ballots and they cannot be challenged. And so, you know, California has built a system designed to allow for this sort of thing. In Texas, we have significantly restricted mail-in ballots. We prefer people to vote in person often or early. We give two weeks of early voting and display an ID to vote. Our high for mail-in ballots was right around 10% during the COVID year of 2020. We've gotten it back down to below 4%. Historically, it's usually, you know, one and a half to 2%. And we limit it in Texas to people 65 and older. And if they ask for a mail-in, they only get it for one year. You have to reapply every year if you want to have a mail-in ballot. Or if you're disabled, and by disabled, if it's difficult or dangerous for you to leave your house, again, you can get it for one year. Lastly, if you're out of your home county, whether because of military service or you've got an extended business trip or something, you can vote by mail that way. And then there's probably a dozen people in the whole state who vote from jail who are not otherwise ineligible to vote because they have a felony. So, you know, if you're in jail awaiting some crime, you know, you're not yet disenfranchised because you haven't been convicted, but only about a dozen people, you know, vote from jail. So those are the three major exceptions in Texas because we want people to vote in person. If we're right, and if the DSA is the organization that was harvesting the ballots in this particular election that really swung things towards Nithya Raman, then that means Karen Bass is going to be in trouble when she faces off with Nithya Raman in the general election. I think Bass is likely to lose. What about you? Yeah, see, that's a really interesting question. And of course, I'm a little bit prejudiced because I served with Mayor Bass when we were both in the legislature together and she was speaker for a time. And of course, I'm very much aware of her connections with Communist Cuba. And I can only imagine for gosh sakes, is Karen Bass the moderate in this situation? I mean, are you kidding me? So, my, how far to the left LA has gone. So Bass, of course, has the union support and the union machine behind her. And so I would have to think that it's probably almost a draw between the union machine and the DSA because the unions certainly aren't above, you know, taking those live ballots from apartment blocks and doing the right thing with them, quote unquote. You know, so I guess it all depends on who gets a hold of all those stray ballots sitting around in the mailrooms and the apartments around Los Angeles as we go into the final weeks of the general. I also have to say that I do believe that Los Angeles is a much more left wing city than it used to be and certainly much more left wing than we even think it is right now. And I say that because you were here and you worked in the aerospace industry, the defense industry, when that was a dominant industry here in California. When that industry left the state after the Cold War ended, that was the beginning of the end for California Republicans, the industry that employed Republicans, that brought families here, that was politically active, just stopped existing. And they were replaced by Hollywood and other industries that were certainly more left leaning. Well, we're now going through a time in Los Angeles and California, when Hollywood is leaving, I think that they've lost like 30 or 40 percent of the jobs just over the last two or three years. Only 20 percent of the television programs shot and movies shot or shot here in the state of California. And those people are all leaving. And even though they're politically and socially liberal, a lot of those people were homeowners. A lot of those people had kids. A lot of those people raised families here, so they didn't want to burn the system down. They were the system. And it seems like the people who are replacing them are people who work in the service industry, people who are renters, a lot of people with the purple hair and the piercings on their face. And those people politically are very, very, very different than the people that they're replacing. They are much farther to the left and they are much more likely to buy into the DSA worldview. Yeah, I can't disagree. And I think the only nuance I would have to your argument about Hollywood is that probably the plurality, if not the majority of people who actually work in Hollywood, are the behind the behind the camera talent, right? Your tradespeople. And a lot of those folks are actually pretty common sense, you know, like your stunt actors and your carpenters and things like that. So I would agree when it comes to the actors and the writers, they're pretty left. So yeah, I think you're onto something there. The question becomes, when does this all become unsustainable? You know, California has this massive economy. A lot of it is, you know, buoyed by the venture capital and Silicon Valley synergism that still produces an enormous amount of value at the high end, not that a lot of it is still made in California, right? It's either made in Texas or made in China. But the challenge is, where do you get the value from people who are simply grievance actors or working in the service industry? You certainly can't support this massive infrastructure of government that's been erected over the years. So at some point, something has to give. And right now, the industry that is allowing the state of California to pay its bills is the high tech industry is Silicon Valley. And the population of people that you and I have been talking about, they want to go to war with Silicon Valley. They don't want AI at all. They want to tax them out of existence, and they want to chase them all out of the state. Well, yeah, that's going to be problematic because those folks are going to pay a lot of property tax. You know, these AI centers, these data centers, they do consume a lot of electricity, although you have to put it into perspective, right? Typical data center will consume about as much water, for example, as I think about three or four golf courses. So, you know, you put things like that into perspective. It doesn't sound like so much, certainly a lot less than a steel factory or an aluminum factory. But nevertheless, a fair amount of water, fair amount of electricity, but they pay a lot of property tax. And some of the people that they employ, they don't employ a lot of people, but the people they do employ make decent wages. And so, if you don't have that sort of activity in California, you're going to have higher latency. You won't be as efficient in your use of artificial intelligence, and you're going to lose your advantage to states that welcome that new technology. So, yeah, it's going to be fascinating to continue to watch California and its kind of long, slow burn. Again, it's got tremendous assets, tremendous physical assets, enormous beauty, still a huge tax base, but it's been hemorrhaging for decades. 800-222-5222 is telephone number 1-800-222-5222. If you'd like to email the show, you can do so. And Randy, now that we've crossed the halfway point of today's show, if you want to continue listening after we sign off at three, that's easy to do because I'm sure 15 hours a week isn't enough for you. Boy, can I not wait till Monday. Search for the John Phillips show wherever you get your podcast, whether it's the Apple podcast app, I heart Spotify, search for the John Phillips show, hit subscribe. You can download all the episodes you could. Everyone's doing YouTube these days. Search for us by going to the Cumulus News Talk page, youtube.com slash at Cumulus News Talk. We're like the number one show in the whole company and we'd like to keep it that way. So many different ways to listen live to what we're doing here every single day from noon to three in Southern California and the Bay Area and streaming all around the world. And you can download all the podcasts and listen to them whenever you'd like. And right now it's time to open up the California Crime Blotter. It's happened yet again. I see time for the California Crime Blotter. And Randy, correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe this is the first time that Sutter County has ever made the blotter. Well, might not be the last a library in Sutter County has to shut down because copper wire thieves ripped out the HVAC. Oh God. And there's no AC in Sutter County in summertime. Good luck with all that for more. Here is KCRA three in Sacramento. And just as temperatures start to get close to the triple digits, a popular community resource is facing a costly setback. Yeah, it's really bad timing. Investigators say thieves severely damaged the air conditioning system at the Sutter County library, leaving behind more than $100,000 in repairs. It could be worse. Could happen. What happened to the Oakland DMV? Johnny, you remember that one? Oh yeah, when they flooded it and turned it into the lost city of Atlanta. I still don't know if that DMV is open. If you live in Oakland, please email us and let us know if that DMV ever opened. But yes, the DMV flooded and was unusable for months and months and months because you know what they say about Oakland? You can't have nice things, but it's a nice place to be. You know, in Sutter County, if they're left without the AC for a long period of time, they could be like Albundian just move into the grocery store. That was a good one. More than $100,000 in repairs. KCRA 3's Denzel Cortez has more on how officials are racing to fix it with hot temperatures on the way. For many in Sutter County, the library is more than a place to check out a book. It's a quiet place. It's also a place for the homeless to bother people. Well, in Los Angeles, it's also a place for the homeless to look at porn. It's a quiet place where you could just go to Pomona and get one of those parks and rec guides. It's a quiet place to study, find a story, and on a hot summer day, find relief from the heat. It's a huge resource for our community. It's, you know, just calling it a library is probably not appropriate. It's more than that. It's a cooling center. I wonder if in small towns, people still go to the library all the time. Well, I will say, you know, I have a jaded view of the library because I live in Los Angeles and the libraries attract the homeless. The Santa Fe library is very nice. I've taken my three-year-old niece there. It's very good time. The library, not far from my house, is supposed to be pretty impressive where they have an observatory and they bring in authors to give speeches about their books. There's a lot of donors that make sure it's nice, but I've never been. With that community resource now facing a major challenge, county officials say copper thieves targeted the library's HVAC system twice in May, damaging twice. Okay, this has to be the same people. Damaging nearly every air conditioning unit on site. We're estimating on a low end about $100,000 of damage that was occurred. How exactly do our public agencies like libraries, which already are usually the first thing on the chopping block when we go into deficit years, how do you have the budget to repair $100,000 worth of air conditioners? My guess is they probably are going to have to lay someone off because of it. A hefty repair bill that officials estimate was only about $50 to $60 worth of copper. I don't think your little grok bot can figure this out, but I would love to know how much collectively the state of California has had to spend on copper wire theft in the last five years. Oh, tens of millions of dollars easily. I would say way higher than that. Just the sixth street bridge alone is tens of millions of dollars. This is probably the worst time for something like this to happen. With triple digit temperatures arriving this week, county officials say they may have to close the library early or even entirely if indoor temperatures exceed 82 degrees. Because then all the computers are going to melt. Do they still use the Dewey decimal system? I'm proud to say that I still don't know what that is. I wonder if they have drag queen story hour in Sutter County. You know, maybe here's an idea because, you know, one of the reasons you need the library open in the summertime is because of heat. Maybe we start sending all the people that are overheated to those data centers because the data centers have nonstop air conditioning to power the AI chat bots. Now you're thinking outside the box, then we could do drag queen story hour there. Just looking up Sutter County. So like Yuba city, very, very, very northern California. Yeah, that's going to get hot. All right. Let's see how many drag queens are in Sutter County. Is there a registry? I don't know. Let me ask rock. Are there any drag queens in Sutter County, California? Now, John, just remember, based on the story we did last hour, if ever you are caught up in the legal system, all of your search history on these AI chat bots is going to become public domain. Okay. Yes. There are drag queens and drag events connected to Sutter County drag bingo drag brunch adult queer prom. I'm going to guess they do a lot of it in Marysville, but they don't list the names of the drag queens. That's what I was hoping for. All right. If anybody, because our signal on eight 10 goes all the way up there. If anybody in Sutter County has a registry of where all the drag queens are at, please email us at johnny. Don't like show at gmail.com because we're going to need some story time. Maybe that's where Kasey deal lives. It's hot for him too. He's a Husky and it's not fair. Desiree Billingsley says she often comes here with her service dog and she was talking about a dog. Not a fat guy. I was a little confused there for a moment. Desiree Billingsley says she often comes here with her service dog to cool off, but worries others have even fewer options. It's a good place for dogs, humans, no matter what, you know, I never understand. Like I understand that not everybody can afford central air. I get that, but you go to places like Best Buy or Costco or Walmart right now. They've got window units or even standing units for like 200 bucks. Okay. Do you think that that's a legit service dog? Because I don't know many blind people reading books. They got a Braille section. Look, as somebody that, uh, games the system so I don't have to pay for my dogs to get on a plane, I'm fine with anybody faking a service dog. But the homeless people are the ones that truly use it. If you're looking for books on air conditioning, you have plenty to choose from, but this one gets as close to scripture as it gets the HVAC Bible. But officials say it isn't the contents inside that matters, but the HVAC system itself outside the building. Some of the wiring. So wait, what are you saying that the homeless are reading up on how to dismantle an HVAC in the library and then putting that knowledge to practice right outside of the library? Come on. Some of the wiring has been stripped. So all of this needs to be repaired. And all the piping needs to be reconnected. I'm going to tell you right now, as we're all in this age of worrying about what jobs are going to go away, what's going to get replaced, what industries is AI going to wipe out entirely. HVAC repair going to be around for a very, very, very, very, very long time. Oh yeah. Those guys have job security. County official state repairs are complicated due to the library being a government building and it using an older HVAC system with parts no longer readily available. Oh no. Although I will issue this warning to the HVAC people. I have been wrong in the past. There have been jobs where I thought, okay, at no point will anyone in this industry ever get laid off. Like for example, being the crime reporter in Oakland or, and this is the one I was wrong about, being the translator on the big spin. I thought that guy would have a job for life and it never occurred to me that they'd cancel the show. We'll get this fixed. No problem. It's just gonna, we just got to find the right equipment. Definitely not the summer you guys are anticipating. No, not at all. Denson Cortez, KCRI, 3 News. The UBISCITY Police Department is asking for the public's help identifying those responsible for the thefts. Investigators say no arrests have been made and the case is still an active investigator. There you go. The library is going to get shut down in Sutter County because someone stole all the copper wire powering all the air conditioners. Yeah. Well, this one doesn't need MATLOK to figure out what happened. It was the homeless. The same people showering in the bathroom in the sink. This is in your average podcast. We threw like a spontaneous party out of nowhere. It was crazy. This is full send. Drake weekend in Toronto. That's like, imagine telling me that like 10 years ago. That's like, you know, you're going to rip with Drake for his album launch release party in Toronto. Like I'm not passing that up for anything. Join the party. She went to the Mech Allo. He went to the game. What is the Mech Allo? Ridiculous. I think it's an excuse to dress up like an idiot and go to a ball. The full send podcast. Oh, we're ready. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. 800 222 5222 is telephone number 1-800-222-5222. If you'd like to email the show, you can do so at Johnny, don't like show at gmail.com. That's Johnny, don't like show at gmail.com. And Randy, you're monitoring the mail bag. Well, we asked a question and we got the answer. Jessica and Oakland writes in at Johnny, don't like show at gmail.com. Yes. The Oakland Coliseum DNV has reopened. You can't have nice things, but it's a nice place to be. I wonder how they got all the water out. Well, it'll be like all the times this building flooded. What are you going to do? You have giant fans that are pointed with the doors open. Oh, you missed all that because you've worked remotely the last six years. Can't say that I'm sad to miss it, but I'm not jealous. Not at all. Well, as it so happens, I don't own a snorkel. All right. Let's reopen the blotter. It's happened yet again. It's the California crime blotter with John and Randy. And this one takes us to Marin, where someone was trying to pull a permit scam. What's going on here? Here's ABC seven in the Bay. Seven on your set has a warning from Marin County leaders to anyone applying for a building permit. Beware of a scam. Some applicants have received an invoice, which appears to be from the county planning department requesting a wire transfer of cash. 867 eyewitness news reporter Cornel Bernard and people just assume that the county's out to screw them so they pay it. Well, the county is definitely shady. So if you get something that looks shady, that's on brand. 867 eyewitness news reporter Cornel Bernard has more on the so-called fishing scheme. I was surprised. It's not something that has happened to us before. Marin County planner Easton Eilers Chang did a double take when this email was forwarded to him, flagged by someone applying for a building permit asking if it was legit. It was not. I knew I had to take quick action and kind of inform management. The email looks official enough from Marin County's Community Development Agency director, Sarah Jones. Posing as me, actually the emails went out with over my name. Jones says, yeah, they can do a lot of things nowadays. They can make it look as official as possible, but because we have to take this stupid training every three months, there's a lot of signs that it's fraudulent. AI is really tricky though. Remember when that listener sent us those AI pictures of me and Katie Porter? Well, yes. Yes, I do. That was scary. You can smell it right here. You know that AI has only gotten better since we did that. And if you just putting that out there inspires the listeners to do more, John Phillips and Katie Porter AI pictures, you're not prepared. No, I'm not. You put it out there. Jones says it's a phishing scheme. Even the email address is phony ending in USA.com. It tells the, yeah, there, there's your flag right there. Yeah, that popped up in some of our cybersecurity training that corporate said. USA. You mean the one we took this month or the one we took last month or the one we took the month before that? The month before that. Corporate America, everybody. USA.com. It tells the applicant, county staff have recommended the application for approval subject to completion of the remaining administrative requirements and final processing procedures and attached invoice request $7,500 be wired to the county for processing fees. Is that something you guys do? Absolutely not. Oh, so I guess they do that in, uh, in Marin County as well. I wonder if Shane can give her an assist. Is that something you guys do? Absolutely not. Jones says her department will never ask for wire transfers or other forms of payment like Zell Venmo or PayPal. That would be super shady. Uh, we're going to need you to Venmo the rest of this permit application. Yeah, we'd love to green light your project, but what you need to do is you need to bring a suitcase full of money behind the target. It's absolutely disturbing. Oh boy. We got another one. Shang help a girl out. It's absolutely disturbing. You know, Johnny, sometimes I kind of forget why I put a story on the rundown. Now I remember. I know what piqued your interest. I'm absolutely disturbing. Then people are getting scammed for money. Um, and it's, it, it's, it feels like a violation. Jones says at least two people received the phishing scam emails, but luckily did not pay. We work real Marin County is a little smarter than that. You think LA would be no, we work really, really hard here at the county and in all those people that got their cars towed in the LA river, those are the kinds of people that would fall for this scam. And in fact, here's what you do right now. If there's any fishers that are out there, any scammers that are out there, find all the people that got their cars towed and say, Hey, if you want your car back, send me a Zell. You're going to get some money. I shouldn't be advising people on how to commit crime. Should I know you shouldn't. We work really, really hard here at the county and in this department to, um, to operate with integrity to, um, come from a place of trust. Warning signs are posted about the scam inside the county's building permit office. Jones asking anyone who gets the phony in. How much anger do you think is there on a daily basis at the permit office in Marin? Oh, that job has to be miserable. It has to be like being a flight attendant on spirit airlines where all you do is tell your customers there's going to be an additional charge and all they do is scream. I wonder why they went out of business. Jones asking anyone who gets the phony invoice to ignore it and report it to her office. We can't stop bad things from happening, but what we can control is what we do about it. And so what we can do here is get the word out. For seven on your side, Cornell Bernard, ABC seven eyewitness news. Seven on your side is here for you. You can get in touch. See what a difference they've made to ABC seven eyewitness news viewers by going to ABC seven news.com. There you go. That's what's going on in Marin County. Shangy. Absolutely. All right. Coming up next, I kind of feel like we're doing the Lucy Desi comedy hour here where each week we bring back a different guest star. Coming up next, the guest star is going to be someone who is a star of stage and screen, who you're all very familiar with, but has been on hiatus for a while. Yeah. But now she's back and she's battered than ever. I have a hard time understanding. Square up. What's going on, man? It's Andre Burkto. Two-time world champion. Today's guest. NFL legend, media mogul. What's up? Ocho. What's good, baby? We call them gym fighters. Yeah. Who's guys are in the gym? They can probably beat the hell out of any world champion. They could think of. Yeah. When that bell rang. Yeah. And then lights on, you got 10, 15,000 watching. When I stepped in that ring, I think boxing would be coming great again. Square up. Follow and listen on your favorite platform. Let's go.