become more expensive. an atlanta we start out with a low payroll because we had a young kids that they grew up together and became expensive together and we kept them together because we were winning and i can assure you that is what will happen here as soon as we get this put together. >> who will succeed manny and when? >> you know, i can't explain. this has come up there were media reports last week and i never comment on media reports can every day since the first week of the season when we got off to the small start and i never comment on the status of some one. i support everyone we have every day and always will manny's case i think he has the demeanor to be a long-term solution as a manager. the demeanor of bobby cox and

others who've been successful. i had this great talk around the batting cage last night with the young possibly genius manager of the boston red sox, and we were talking -- i said terry, i remember when you were a dunce as the manager of the phillips and he said i promise you and still it daunts i just have better players. [laughter] it's so true and i have always been and continue to support manny. i can't predict whether it's going to work but i think it will and i think he's going to -- he has the potential to be a long-term manager here and that's my hope. >> you're first round pick in the draft this year stephen strous-berg has been called the one, the savior of the nationals. >> mostly by his agent. [laughter] >> and less dramatically, one of the greatest college prospects in the history of baseball.

his agent, scott boras, is well aware of this. the largest contract ever given an amateur player is 10.5 million to mark pryor of the cubs in 2001. now people are throwing around numbers like 20, 30 and even 50 million for strous-berg. how are negotiations going and more important is there a limit how much you can invest in one player especially someone who's never played a professional game? >> well, obviously i never negotiate in the press and by not going to today. i will talk about stephen. one of the cool things, and again something i discussed, steve mckelvie and johnny cox and bob stultz, one of the cool things about the rotation we are putting together is for rookies and 124-year-old is that we are developing the same kind of atmosphere that we had an atlanta. a great closeness, a great friendship, but also the other side of that great

competitiveness where they want to help do the other. but the also want to pick the other one up. that kind of cohesion really bodes well for the future. it's what we had in atlanta and other places as i said steve had it in oakland. it's what we are developing here and what is very cool about this is what a perfect environment for stephen strasberg. he couldn't have a better place in which to grow and contribute no quicker path to a major league rotation than here in washington and he will be a very good addition to this crop we have here and the other side is they will be a great environment for him to drive as well. >> according to boswell's column in this morning's "washington post," dollars have little equity in the team and no incentive to raise payroll. how much equity do you and they have and will the kilby increase and how much? >> i forgot to bring my w-2 with

me today. [laughter] ownership is tricky. i will tell you sports reporters have a tough time on business stories. that's all i going to say and i am not being critical as any of you cover business it's more complicated than it can fit into a sports story and so i don't want to go into that too much. i will say this there's no one more competitive and the lerner family were more successful let long-range building projects which is what we are not only on but close to the finish line with right now. no one wants to win more than, i assure you as i assured tom when i spoke to him yesterday that we make a lot more money if we win. just trust me on that no matter how you want to run the members. we are going to make a lot more money if we win so we are trying to do that just as fast as we can. >> compare the braves in the late 80's to the map now.

>> it's a fair comparison. the circumstances were different. the braves were amateur organization that made complete reforming in the mid 80's and here in washington it really was a kind of new thing that had to be started by the themes are the same. the themes of working on player development and scouting, being aggressive in signing talent and waiting until the moment was right to strike. let's remember, we have made an effort in 1990 the year before we started winning to sign a free agent that didn't work out well because of injuries but we didn't sign our first real agent until '93 when we had been to two world series and we did that without free agents so i feel we are on course again through a young pitching to achieve the same kind of success. >> can you give some thoughts what could be done to improve and underperforming defense?

>> yeah, we need a better defensive players. [laughter] you know, that's the story. i assure you we have as many quality coaches as any team does specifically for the positions on the field and i will tell you how fact we work more with players on defense of charles than anything. i will tell you that as a fact. that is a particular focus to us but still there are some players who are not very good and never will be good and so if you really want to get to the top echelon you have to figure out how you makes the players who might be good offensive sleepless good defensively. there is room and everyone in franchise has players who are not good defensively but there are parts of the club that has to be good defensively. we think we can do that, we can achieve a good defense while still being effective offensively. it may mean additions and name changes whether this season or

next that it can be done and we intend to do it. >> what happened to the apparent promise to acquire at least top-rated agents each season. is adam dunn of there is to show after two years? willson key available because nobody else wanted him? that's not nice. [laughter] >> what happened to my softball questions? [laughter] i know of no such promise in fact it is contrary to everything i believe, so i know that promise was never made but it was an even worth questioning any way. all we can do is look at the holes we have and try to fill them. again the preference is to fill them internally not because our organization until now in the scout and employers alike has been oriented towards pitching we are pitching but we apples and other areas so for those holes you fill them either through trade. that's the more efficient of the next alternatives and the next

we would be through a free agency and that's what we look to do this off season and we did with some success and will continue. >> when you spoke a few years ago you talked about working with foreign embassies to identify good talent overseas. what is your assessment of how that has worked out? >> well, working with the embassies worked out great, we just still have not developed the pipeline that we need to have and this i will tell you on the player development for not this has been my biggest disappointment so far. we had a stumbling and this is something i think people ought to recognize and give the lerner family more credit than they get. three years ago when we came in, we almost right away before we were even given the franchise formally in july, in june general manager came to us and said we have an opportunity to sign this young female and, you know, we sat down with the owners and they said if that's

what you think we should do let's do it and so they plunged ahead and spend $1.4 million on a female and had the right instincts. they did the exact right thing and still got burned. that is a tragedy they didn't deserve that happening to them and sell that story has yet to unfold. there are so many people looking into it and again on just us but team after team after team that has been subject to the problems we have in the dominican republic and internationally in general so to sum up we have great relationships with all the embassies in d.c. play baseball in their countries. we really do. i've become personal friends with a number of these investors. we need to step up efforts which are set back by the missteps of the first couple of years but we know it is still a critical part of success in baseball. players not just from dominican republic but all through latin america and increasing the pacific.

it is of critical importance to us because this year we are heavily weighted in the draft and with the draft expenses are going to be. we know we want people to make our next international push until ten but it's a job that remains to be done and is important. >> speaking of the pacific the world baseball classic is played major league talent from several countries especially japan and korea. are they pursuing players from korea and japan and if not, why not? >> well, we are now pursuing players i can identify particularly but we are scouting. we are all over the place. not everybody's got to deal olympics but we did and we have to people that make trips annually to stay on top of things happening in the pacific rim. it is becoming more and more important. seven years ago we didn't know that position players could succeed here and then one came and everyone realized the kind of talent that was there. at the braves re-signed lower

level guys that never panned out like he did and he kind of broke the log jam so yes we are aware of it and there's no players in particular i can identify. we did draft a japanese national last week out of a u.s. college. but so far that is the closest we've got into an international player. >> you see the same replay's we do. do teams have a mechanism to call terrible calls to the attention of league officials? >> you know, we do but let me -- i have enough time to tell you this story. i was once a gm and m.b.a. and i was one of those crazy people always you know, criticizing the refs and questioning every call just like all of us have been taught. there is the oldest baseball tradition is to go to a ballpark and yell kildee umpire. as far as i know that is what baseball is all about so we all grew up thinking that's how you should act and that and did for me, again, when i was a yondah

gm twice i was involved and on core arguments with referee. both were initiated by them, both times they called me out and in one case the referee was fine. but yes, i didn't need to be out there. so that's the kind of -- thus the kind of attitude i had back then. that all changed for me and let me tell you this quick story. one time the harlem globetrotters were playing the washington generals at the omni in atlanta and it was an january and their legendary coach, the generals legendary club coach was snowed in rochester and couldn't get to the game. my god, who was going to coach the generals that they? they picked their veteran oldest player to be the coach that day and so because i was young and a pain in the neck i went to the kid and i said you know, you could get into the history books. the generals have lost 10,000 consecutive games to the globetrotters. and, you know, you call a couple

plays, exhort your troops come out and win this game and you will be in the record books for ever and you could see him getting fired up. this was his opportunities and he said deride, i can do it so the first half goes on and he's screaming and calling out please and the globe trotters to the sweet georgia brown and they did the confetti and all that and have time comes and they are up by 70-point so as the team is looking out for the second half and in the corner and again i go to the coach you are right in this thing. you can do it. he says your right, i know i can say he's out there the second half screaming and yelling and doing all this stuff and, you know, the globe's dribbled the ball and throw the flat basket and have the rubber band and throw the bucket of water, they do all their stuff and and the game sitting on someone's shoulder with a dunk and a win for the 10,001st consecutive time by 15, 16 points and so

they walk off the court and the generals will of the court and the last player to walk off the court is this player manager, this player coach and i say to him way to go, coach, good job and he looks at me and says diem referees. [laughter] that's a true story but i said to myself when that happened you know what, i've got to stop. we are all not on the subject of referees, umpires and so i just stopped. >> what should happen to all of the players who did steroids specifically should mark mcgwire, barry bonds, sammy sosa, roger clemens and a lot be kept out of the hall-of-fame? >> that is a question i can address all of you today because it is the writers who decide who goes into the hall-of-fame. can we get opinions? i have strong opinions if any of you would like to hear them someday i would be happy to share but that is all of your responsibility and i await a

responsible answer. [laughter] >> why don't you share your opinion with us now? >> i'm waiting for you guys. >> okay. the nats nerve emerged from the steroid scandal unscathed. what's your secret? >> i don't want to make jokes about steroids because it is not a funny subject and it never has been. forget its impact on the game. it has such a far-reaching impact on society particularly kids, so we don't have any secret. we don't know that we haven't been touched. i do know the most telling thing about the mitchell report was senator mitchell's declaration that i don't represent at all the names in this report are all of the names in baseball. i'm not telling you we got them all. as a manager what am i supposed to do with that knowledge? and so, we don't have -- we haven't had any particular answer. it's something all of us in

baseball or working hard to get through. i do think now we have the most stringent affective testing and enforcement program and all of professional sports. i think we finally have a handle on it and i think the steroid pilat is by and large behind us but i don't take it lightly. i think that by selig worked for years to get the solution and finally now we have the commendable cooperation of the union. i feel we've gotten a handle on it but it's nothing we take lightly and we also have to be vigilant for the next surge, the next designer drug that comes along. we are trying to stay ahead of the miscreance but it's a tough full-time job. >> any thoughts of suiting up rob dibble any time soon? [laughter] >> is, but you don't know what kind of suit i had in mind. [laughter] i was with a broadcaster the other day, i will say this for some other broadcaster.

at least he has fewer tattoos than double and i go do you know that for sure? how do you know that? that's all i have. >> what is your season-ticket base, above or below 12,000 this year? >> it's a number we just haven't publicized this year as all of the industry strolls with the economic it is down from last year and we understand all the reasons. the first reason of course is coming off the 102 loss season that is going to happen. another reason as we all experienced second year in a new ballpark there's going to be a drop-off and clearly that's factored but the biggest reason is a factor here and everywhere and that is what the economy did. all three of these things happening at the same time gave us quite a hit and i am pleased to say we are still far above what teams and our position get but we need to get it back up and as we do i know we will because one thing i say for sure

about this mark, i was certain when i moved here but how great it was, how great the fans are, how much support there would be. i've had that reinforced every day since i've been here so as soon as we do however job which we haven't done well enough yet, as soon as we do our job on the field we are going to be a one of those teams that can sell at the stadium might and might out and i feel firmly about that. >> the natural losing and tickets are plentiful why should i renew my season tickets? >> well, that is a good question and i mean this sincerely because i had these conversations 20 years ago with people in atlanta and i think the people who listened to me than never regretted it. i'm going through this building process with young kids and i talked before about how fans identify and appreciate more homegrown kids they can grow up with. that's what is going on. i feel like part of the building process and i hope all of our fans buy into this and feel part of the process and that these kids are part of their team, their hometown team we are

growing up with together. so come on board, be part of this. it is your team and the seats you get today, the seats you can keep for a generation and beyond as the team gets good you will not regret growing up with this young team. >> what is happening with the naming rights? has the recession deled eddy o? >> clearly the recession has delayed a deal. we have had serious conversations up until maybe last summer with a variety of things we were very good about not giving away any of our prime real estate within the ballpark in terms of sponsorship of course we wanted to hold that in key areas for the eventual naming rights sponsor and we didn't just want to give it to anyone. this naming rights partner has to be strategic and has to do something on just for the ball park but also for our fans as well as the exposure we give the companies, yes, that's very much on the back burner as much as everyone in the media knows. your ad pages are down across

the media. radio tv guys are down. we are experiencing the same thing for the big-ticket items. obviously those things are going to take longer than ever before. >> okay. we are almost out of time but before asking the last question we have a couple of important matters to take care of. first let me remind the members of the future speakers. june 26 robert hirsh, chairman of the financial accounting standards board will address regulatory reform in the financial markets. on july 1st, secretary of the smithsonian institution will be here and finally on july 8, admiral mike mullan, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. second i would like to present the guest with the traditional npc mug. [applause] >> i now have a matching set. this is awesome. thank you. >> for the final question we have someone asking didn't your parents teach you not to play outside in the range?

what's with the playing outside during the downpour? >> did i tell you how great the national park is to come to? we have games and stuff going on on the board. it's so great but it doesn't have a roof. we didn't think we would need a roof in washington. it's always a tough thing and as you saw last week in the yankee stadium when they made us sit six hours in a rain delay these things are difficult in every city. we have an ethic and baseball if there's any way to play the game we are going to play the game and that's because of all the workers prepared to be there and all the people who did buy tickets and a plan to travel. those people should do so with expectation if there is any way we are going to play the game. now this often inconveniences' other people and that's also because we try to do our best in those circumstances there is no good alternative to playing the game if there's any way that you can't and so i think what is rain or shine if you have tickets or are planning you

should, because we are going to be playing the game. thank you very much. [applause] >> i would like to thank you all for coming today and also thank the national press club staff members, melinda cooke, pat nelson, john andrews and hard roffman for organizing today's lunch and also thanks to the npc library for its research. video archive of today's luncheon is provided by the national press club broadcast operations center. out ravens are available for free download on itunes as well as on our website. non-members might make purchase transcripts, audio and videotapes by calling 202-662-7598 or e-mail at archives.pregg.org. for more information please go to our website at www.press.org.

thank you very much and we are adjourned. coming up shortly we will bring you live coverage of today's white house briefing with spokesman robert gibbs set to begin to p.m. eastern. we will have that live on c-span2. until then remarks from the governor of puerto rico on health care for citizens of puerto rico postcode joining now is republican and i represent and what is needed for austal vendors including in puerto rico. secondly there are so many regions we normally have at meeting of justice secretary sebelius from hhs, but also secretary napolitano. we have issues with the airport and tsa as any other governor

and i have plenty of things to do and wednesday morning i was testifying before the committee on the bill h.r. 2499 regarding providing for a congressional mandate in the status and so i have a myriad of issues i'm dealing with. >> host: let's talk about health care how is puerto rico fearing an disk eight? >> guest: puerto rico has never farewell even though i represent some 4 million u.s. citizens, even though per-capita we contribute more men and women in uniform to every one except one state. we still do not participate fully in the major programs that encompass health care. that's medicaid, medicare, colburn and schip even though we pay for medicare taxes we still don't participate. >> host: why is that? >> guest: we are a territory. when you come from territory things are different and i certainly want that to change and we are willing to carry the burden as any other state and

certainly we want to partake in the process as well. >> host: and in terms of health care what are you advocating. what does puerto rico need? >> guest: certainly us governors want flexibility in the process but in terms of puerto rico specifically, i want to make sure in terms of medicaid we participate fully. right now we are capped at recently 17% federal contribution, whereas the minimum with states is 50%, and for states with our demographics its 83%. so we are putting up for the rest of the state level and that affects the health care of my constituents. secondly on medicare, again, our medical providers of physicians, hospitals and so on are not treated equally in many ways and i want to make sure that even though we are paying for medicare taxes on the payroll taxes that we get the same treatment. same thing with schip.

a lot of small children that require that need to medical services. i want to ensure we cover them and we have the same aspirations as any other but we don't have the tools to do it. >> host: to that end to use part public option? >> guest: not necessarily. we believe as a government to take care of everybody. but if there is a private option that is working i shouldn't undo that private option. i believe that we should go out into the marketplace and provide in the case of border region between eight and 10% of my constituents are not covered by any insurance. we should provide for some sort of insurance for them. perhaps the state will have to pay part of the cover. perhaps they can put up some of the money depended on their income. the federal government could help in that process. but i believe we should do it by going to the marketplace.

>> host: we are talking with governor luis fortuno border wikipedia if you want to call the republican line, it's 202-737-0001. on the democratic line its 202-737-0002. and of the independent mine, 202-628-0205. let's talk about another issue you said you were in town for this week. the territory's status of puerto rico. why is puerto rico stila territory? >> guest: after 111 years of being part of this great nation and after 90 years of u.s. citizens because we are all u.s. citizens we are still a territory. to has to be a political will and puerto rico and congress to move this issue. we've never been asked what is our preference and h.r. 2499 ask first whether we want to change ever territorial status or not. it may be we don't want to

change it. >> host: how do you ask, buy ballot initiative? >> guest: yes, it should be a question posed to the voters like anywhere else in the world. >> host: do you need congressional approval to a ballot? >> guest: if we have congressional approval of voters will know everyone means business and number two for the second round of questions if we want to change the second round of questions than what status do you want? do you want to become states, d want to become independent republic or be a sovereign nation with the united states which the other three options are acceptable under the u.s. constitution and international law. the voters know no one tinkers with those definitions. if congress does that the voters will know that and that congress means business, otherwise if we do it locally, each party will actually could tinker with the definitions and then the voters may be turned off by the

process. >> host: which do you support? >> guest: i support statehood but respect if the voters decide something else for something else i will support whatever they decide. i believe most voters will favor statehood but then again in a democracy we have to hear what the voters have to say and i would go along with whenever the voters decide. >> host: what kind of reception have you gotten in the democrats in congress, do they support this legislation? >> guest: this bill right now is supported by 100 democrats and 50 republicans roughly so we have widespread support i must say. actually, there was a hearing on wednesday morning by the national resource committee with jurisdiction over territory and that went well. the chairman from west virginia stated that he will have a markup session pretty soon. so i'm hopeful that the bill will be taken after that to the floor for a vote and by then hopefully we will