measures were proved approved just minutes ago. glp >> on mairkt, big salaries, bad -- on "america tonight," big salaries bad expense reports what do californians get? >> i'm trying to see about cash control. >> "america tonight's" michael okwu investigates where all that tax money goes and by the way it's not just a ripoff in clatch. >> and change at the top the new man in charge of the ferguson pd. >> i believe i'm the right

person for this particular job. >> how does someone from glendale california come and fit in? >> lori jane gliha is in ferguson with a question, will a new face bring real change on the streets? thanks for joining us. i'm joie chen. could a change in face signal the start of a bigger turn around for the flash point of america's reignited conversation about race? just days ahead of the anniversary of mike brown's death and months after federal investigators found clear evidence of racial disparity in its brand of justice the ferguson missouri police department named a new chief for the moment at least. "america tonight's" lori jane gliha has reported from ferguson a half a dozen times in the past tumultuous year. she reports on the changing of the guard. >> i believe i'm the right person for job.

>> first day on the job and andre anderson is already facing the cameras and plenty of questions. >> can you talk about your reaction from glen day arizona from last august 9th what you thought here? >> right now i'm not at liberty to discuss what happened on awgd 9th. >> a police department found to have a culture of racism, frustrations boiling over into nights of rioting last year. he was one of only two candidates the interim city manager personally interviewed for job. anderson a law enforcement veterans with 24 years experience most recently served as a commander over 80 detectives. >> you know obviously in the eyes of many people i guess it's a bonus that he's an african american. but truly we were looking for a person with the right mentality towards policing, the right

mentality towards policing. >> bo dean is an activist who was calling for change in ferguson. >> how important do you think they are bringing in a chief that's black? >> they're doing so the chief can relate, saying to him more but i'm pretty sure he's more understanding of you know what i'm saying our way of living and i'm pretty sure when he was growing up he dealt with being harassed by police and stuff. so him coming in will be helpful but at the same time, like, the officers that's on duty like they have to do their jobs correctly. it is going to be interesting to see what he does or how he handles you know what i'm saying st. louis compared to arizona. a whole different ballgame. >> sergeant domenica fuller is only one of a few black

officers. she was promoted to sergeant after the protest. >> what about the interim chief rycroft is he a good leader? >> yes he is. >> is he fair? >> as long as i have a good leader, so far i've been blessed to have good leaders. >> the philadelphia native, is yet another temporary leader. the mayor blamed delay on finding a permanent chief on the lack of resources. >> we believed that bringing in someone with a background in community policing would be an excellent choice to help us in that transformation to a more community-oriented policing model. >> changing the guy at the top i don't think that's going to change anything. because they already being trying to change. they had different interims coming in. it's a miscommunication between police officers and the black

community. >> reporter: a department of justice report found issues of systemic racial bias by the ferguson police force. now another face in ferguson is a step towards bringing together this community. >> there is a lot of work to be done. i'm ready to roll up my sleeves and get to work and i appreciate this opportunity. thank you. >> reporter: joie, this isn't even a permanent position. this chief is going to be here for a interim six months. he says he wants the permanent position but the community would be involved or at least aware of the final candidates they are considering but they haven't even come up with that process yet because in order to have a full time police chief they have to have the full time actual city manager and now they have just an interim city manager and not even a full time hr person.

you can understand the process is slow to find a actuality permanent chief. today they had this press conference. this happened very quickly we found out in very few minutes to get there. it was an interesting press conference. they called us out there they did the introduction of the new chief, we got to get to know him, and we asked a few questions and all of a sudden they decided the press conference was over, the city officials left the office and we were complaining amongst ourselves, they called this press conference and we can't even ask all the questions we want to. but then, the city manager and the mayor came back in and allowed us to ask more questions. i think everyone is getting a hang of all the changes happening in the city. >> "america tonight's" lori jane gliha reporting from ferguson. hot on our website now a former officer on the ferguson force speaks his mind.

at aljazeera.com/americatonight. next on the program a trail of tears. an apache community's long trek to demand justice for a sacred space. later taxpayers taken? "america tonight's" michael okwu investigates the long list and few duties of california's government committees.

>> al jazeera america primetime. get the real news you've been looking for. at 7:00, a thorough wrap-up of the day's events. then at 8:00, john seigenthaler digs deeper into the stories of the day. and at 9:00, get a global perspective. weeknights on al jazeera america. >> for native communities across

the united states, the long struggle to stand their ground and protect their rights to it has inspired generations of protest, the latest brought a trail of tears and determination directly to the door steps of the law makeers lawmakers. adam may joined the marchers at their journey's end. >> reporter: for nearly a month, naylan pike and other members of the carlos san carlos apache have been on a be journey to the nation's capital. >> what does oak flat meanwhile to you? >> the future of my people, as apache girl, what my sister had her family at was at oak flat.

that means so much to her and to me. >> oak flat sits on the top of the world's richest copper deposits. under the protection of mining since 1955. a company called resolution copper has been trying to break the protection order for a decade. after a dozen failed attempts in congress to acquire the land through special legislation and unexpected maneuver did the trick in december. buried in the 1600 page defense spending bill a special provision that gives resolution copper the land. wensley nosy has fought against the appropriation for years. >> we were not consulted at all. >> do you think the apache people will see any benefit from it? >> look at all the mines here already. look at all the things they took from us. 70% unemployment. that already tells you where it's going. it's not going to benefit

anybody here. >> imagine a few years from now they break ground at oak flat, you are standing there watching it, what's going to go through your mind? >> i'm probablyi'll probably cry. >> we asked refltion revolution mining's general manager what he thought. >> they don't want architecturally significant items wiped off the map. >> what's important is we sit down with the stakeholders and the neighboring tribes, how we can be dig the mine in a respectful manner. >> resolution copper has already started work on the mine. they granted us access to their new exploratory shaft.

it stretches nearly 1.5 miles under the earth. >> at the end of the day, i think the american people are getting short changed badly. >> reporter: scott wood is a professional archaeologist who worked for the tonto forest for many years. what bothers him and other groups is that resolution copper may be able to mine the land with little regard to the environmental impact. under the terms of the land-swap bill an environmental study is required. but the company is also guaranteed to get the land. no matter what that study shows. be. >> it's bypassed all the normal kinds of analysis that we would have done for this project. >> reporter: the company has announced it will use a type of mining called block cave pipelining, destroys the surface of oak flat.

what insurances can you assurances can you give the american public that this will not create environmental dangers glnl we've committed to the most environmentally safe mines. we are already working with the federal regulators to ensure we follow all their recommendations. >> environmental groups and more than 500 tribes have joined the fight. at a rally in front of the capital they found some congressional support for a new bill, a bill that would save okay flat and reverse the controversial land exchange. >> this is why i'm here to stand up for the people, for the voices that haven't been heard. as long as the prayers are here now that's what makes me happy. this generation is not afraid no more. if i just sit and let them do this they are going to keep doing this and keep doing this

until i can no longer say i'm apache. >> the apaches say they will keep fighting for a future that preserves their past. adam may, al jazeera. >> next, spending your money. "america tonight's" michael okwu in california's capital investigates whether taxpayer dollars are used to prop up do-nothing committees. and thursday on "america tonight," the disturbing video that's stirred up questions did sandra bland die in the most racist county in texas? our report on thursday on "america tonight."

>> it's as bad as you might expect. hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer money spent and what to show for it? for all the belt-tight 96 in the goldentightening inthe golden state

a lot of waste. "america"america tonight's" michael okwu okwu, what is your money. >> billions have been cut from services like education housing and healthcare. but millions have been spent on obscure commissions committees and boards. each packed with appointees. not surprising to doug johnson a fellow at the rose institute at claremont mckenna college. >> reporter: california is known for a great many things but is this also the state that should be known for you know government commissions committees gone wild? >> i think that's a fair characterization. we are one of the states with a full time paid legislature and they're looking for things to keep themselves busy. >> johnson is an expert on government and all those committees. >> we've got 31 standing

committees and multiple subcommittees in the assembly. and we have 40 select committees in the assembly. in the senate we've got 22 standing committees that are permanent and then multiple subcommittees, 16 select committees and then we get into the committees that report to committees and monitor other committees. >> you realize that this sounds like a saturday night live skit. >> yes it does. >> but what are they all doing? do you know what the commission on uniform state laws does? >> no, i have no idea. >> but what about the legislators? have they heard of some of these commissions committees and boards? i'm curious to find out if you know what the commission of the californias is? >> no. >> have you ever heard of the structural pest control board? >> no. >> there's also the bipartisan internet political practices commission. >> that one i honestly don't have an idea. >> there doesn't seem to be a

council in california that doesn't have its own commission or committee. >> you wonder what the hearing aid dispensary advisory committee for? a favorite is mexican memorial beautification and enhancement commission. >> right. would you think the money would be better spent on beautifying the mexican american statues than holding a committee on talk about beautifying the statues. there's plenty of fluff and somewhat silliness. >> take the senate commission on cost control likely the title suggests it's charged with cutting cost, but looking at the website, it doesn't show much of anything it has done in the past 12 years except posting a couple of reports. we couldn't even figure out when they meet. >> can you figure out what they do on a daily basis or weekly

basis, when they meet or exactly what they've achieved? >> no. classic example. there are no agendas no minutes, in the sacramento world, in a public policy world if there's no agenda you didn't meet. >> we tried to find out what they do or when they're in section. >> i'm trying to find the commission on cost control, do you know what that is? you sound like you don't know what that is. you don't know what they do. >> so we went to sacramento and asked. >> can you tell me anything about the senate advisory commission on cost control what they've achieved? >> and asked. >> thank you. >> but nothing. >> senator can i ask you a question? >> not even the senate president pro tem kevin de leon knew, and the commission is under his watch. it took filing a public records request to find out when the commission met. we got these two agendas from

2010 and 2013. one of their goals? make the legislature aware the commission exists. i think it's pretty clear evidence that you're not doing anything of value for the taxpayers when the legislators don't even know you exist. >> good lord. >> we also obtained four years' worth of expense reports. >> what am i even looking at? >> since 2010 the commission had $150,000 in expenses but we don't entirely know where the money was going because some records were redacted, blacked out, like this $70,000 bill to amex. >> you have got an amex bill of $70,000, does that strike you as a lot of money? >> yes indeed, that's a shocking amount of expense report, especially for a commission that isn't meeting. who is paying $2500 for rental cars? >> enterprise made a lot of money from this commission.

>> they did and i have no idea what those cars were used for. >> on top of the hundreds of thousands spent on staff salaries. >> i think it's a bogus sham commission. i'm embarrassed about it. >> those are strong words. >> i feel strongly about it. i do. i feel very strongly about government wasting money. >> former california inspector general laura chick wonders if this commission is worth the cost. >> to have a commission and someone running it who's earning an exceedingly high salary, $120,000, it's causing more than 120, there's contributions to the pension fund, travel meals et cetera, that's a lot of money, for nothing? there's nothing i can get my arms around. >> reporter: nor could mairnlt. so we called the"america tonight."

we called mel sas clugian. >> she blamed the legislature for not acting on the commission's recommendations. chick thinks the whole thing including clugian's salary has been a waste of taxpayer money. >> i know so many schools, so many senior meals programs, so many veteran crisis centers that would do 96 anything to have an extra $120,000 a year to do their good, hands-on direct-services work. but it's being wasted in sacramento. >> reporter: becky denison couldn't agree more. >> those amounts in skid row could be used ten times over for bus benches for restrooms to

help communities. >> helping l.a.'s homeless on skid row it recently lost $60,000 in funding that paid for a nutrition program that's now dead. >> it's incredibly frustrating. domestic violence providers where these committees continue to get funded no matter what they do. >> we're talking about a symptom of what's wrong with california in a bigger picture. we spend a lot of money. we say we're big. what does $100,000 matter? well 100,000 here, 100,000 there, soon you're talking millions and eventually you're talking about money that matters. >> reporter: california is not unique. there are committees galore on the federal level too. claim sid garner, who claimed there were veterans programs whether he was a white house advisor. >> it's what people sometimes do instead of putting serious

resources into solving the problem. let's have a commission, let's have an interagency body. >> reporter: or say an interagency commission on veterans which garner knows too well. >> that's too bad. >> garner a viet flam veteran happens to be a volunteer on the council created by governor jerry brown in 2011. gairn says it's all talk. >> it's been a place where agencies can tell each other what they're doing. it's not yet become a place where there's accountability for whether veterans are being helped. >> "america tonight" obtained this never released draft review of the council answer performance by an overtime board. in it one member is quoted as saying he hasn't seen one boots on the ground accomplishment. another one said, what's being

produced? criticism of the group as being slow when it comes to veteran suicide and homelessness. >> what do you think of this? >> it makes me angry as a veteran as a citizen as a former elected official. if it doesn't make you angry you don't understand the problem. >> there was a microphone in 2005 by then governor arnold schwarzenegger to eliminate dozens of commissions and committees but the plan went nowhere. >> he thought it would be an easy win. >> it didn't go that way. >> what happened? >> it was a very slow change. >> there has to be political will to change. >> these things are not obscure policy things, if governor firing friends of legislators. >> in political circles these commissions and councils are considered soft landings for

termed out legislators or places to put a friend who helped to get a bill passed. what's less known is how little they get done and that infuriates laura chick. >> it's criminally wrong to be wasting public dollars that are so desperately needed in other ways. >> this really makes you angry doesn't it? >> i get very upset. >> i can see you getting emotional. >> yes. >> why? >> it's wrong and when something's wrong it's upsetting to me. if you are not indignant you're not paying attention. >> and that's the problem with everyone we spoke to. nobody is paying attention. michael okwu, al jazeera sacramento. >> that's our taxpayers' money and that is "america tonight." tell us what you think at aljazeera.com/americatonight. talk to us on twitter and facebook and come back. we'll have more of "america tonight," tomorrow.

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that make a difference. that open your world. >> this... is what we do. >> america tonight. tuesday through friday 10:00 eastern. only on al jazeera america. >> i'm david schuster in for ali velshi. "on target" tonight. the invisible threat, how hackers could seize control of american infrastructure and do serious damage. and different kinds of cops, what could change police departments for good. living in an increasingly wired world comes at a cost that's both be impossible and dangerous to ignore. more dramatic evidence of that