like to add? .. th effort. we think, again, it's a smll framewrk tat we are lking at ms of the number of ple. oncewe get additional ftion we'lleport out to and resulted in a number of secondary cases. but even then largo sent even with 19 secondary cases, they appear to have been able to stop the outbreak.

i have no doubt that we will stop this in its tracks in the u.s. i also have no doubt what this one is outbreak continues in africa, we need to be on our guard. other questions in the room? >> lauren graham w. xa. can you give us a number of scale how big this from the cdc will be entered that directly entails? doctors in the hospital or people who were standing in the community is? little more information on that. >> i can get back to you at the exact size of the team. we provide epidemiologists are deceived back his beard communications experts, hospital infection control laboratory experts as needed in a situation and the cdc staff bear or the 130 in africa are tied tightly to experts here who provide back up 24/7.

[inaudible] >> we defer to the local state departments. they are deleted where they are to support. [inaudible] and the room? on the phone? questioned had strawberry near guard. your line is open. >> thank you. do we know, can we say if this is an american or is this a visitor? and has the health department reached any of those contacts and has the contact tracing begun? >> what i can say is the individual was here to visit family who live in this country. the further detailed site inc. are to be identified in the coming days for relevant or not, will see. in terms of contact tracing, we are beginning the process and investigation and the department

has been forward leaning, so where the locating individual setback had begin immediately. on the phone. >> next question comes from maggie fox. your line is so thin. >> i know you have been extremely spurred by people not spread this by virus unless they have symptoms. i'm wondering what steps he might take to reassure people who fear they may have traveled on the same plane with this patient or pass through the same airport with this patient that they are not at risk. >> well, people can always call us at cdc info. they can also check out our website. the flights in question is a specific flight departed my of the night had then arriving in the u.s. in the 20th. a small number of people who would have that level of the

urn. really, i think it is important we understand a lot about ebola. ebola is a virus. it is a virus that is easy to kill by washing your hands. it is easy to stop by using gloves and precautions. the issue is not that ebola is highly infectious. the issue with the bullet is the stakes are so high and that is why at the hospital in texas there's taken all precautions you need to take to protect health care workers who are caring for this individual. people are infectious with ebola when they are sick. when we began doing testing on people as they become sick, even in the initial phases of illness when they've got a fever, the most sensitive test in the world sometimes don't detected because they're so little virus that they have. is only if it becomes thicker that they become more infectious.

if patients die from ebola, they can have large quantities of virus they are. so there is no risk from having contact with somebody who's either recovered from ebola and i went to the region myself and embrace people who lead recovered from ebola or people exposed but not yet sick from it. next question on the phone. >> next question is from "newsweek." your line is open. >> hayek, i know you can't give many details of application, but i want to confirm if there's anything you can give. i'm also just wondering if this is the first case and if not with their one with the previous case ever quiet to >> this is the first patient diagnosed outside of africa to our knowledge with this particular strain of ebola. as i mentioned earlier, we have

had other patients with hemorrhagic fever, including a patient in 2007 with marburg, a virus that is quite a bit like ebola. that individual in 2007 was hospitalized, went through surgery before being diagnosed and did not result in spread to many other individual. so this is the first case of ebola diagnosed in the u.s. and as far as we understand of this strain of ebola diagnosed outside of africa appeared i think we refer to the patient in any way that we can so far. next question on the phone. >> next question is from kelly go from from lindbergh news. your line is so thin. >> hi. >> high, chin impact. i wonder if you can tell me about the contact tracing process and how that's done and how you can assure you have reached all the people that person was in contact with. >> so, contact tracing at the core public health function and we do it by systematic manner.

we interview the patient if that is possible. we interview every family member. we identify all possible names. we outline all of the movements that could have occurred from the time of loss of the onset of symptoms until isolation. and in a cascading manner, we identify every other individual who can add to the information and with that we put together a map essentially that identifies time, place, level of contact and then we as a concentric circle approach to identify contacts who might have had the highest risk of exposure and those who had an intermediate risk and those who may possibly have added exposure, even though we think that may be unlikely. we always there on the side of identifying and tracking more contracts rather than less. i mentioned earlier today in lagos with 20 cases, we at cdc

and elsewhere working with nigerian authorities identify 900 contacts and monitor at all of them every day for 21 days. in senegal, we also identified a single patient who came in and had exposures are two different health care facilities and in the community. they monitored more than 60 contacts everyday. none of them became ill. this contact tracing really is core public health and that's what we do day in and day out and what will be doing here to identify any possible spread and ensure there were further chains of transmission. on the phone. tumor questions. >> next question is virtually of reuters. your line is open. >> i've two questions. i want to confirm the timeline. my understanding is the patient arrived in the united states on the 20 yeah and sought treatment on the 26th. i am assuming was then sent home but came back again on the

28th of september and was admitted. the second question is will you be offering this patient any experimental therapies? >> you are correct about the timeline. in terms of possible experimental therapies, that is something discussed at the hospital now and with the families and if appropriate would be provided to the extent available. the last question on the phone. >> the next question from denise grady of "the new york times" "new york times." remind us up in. >> thanks very much. i think you touched on this, but i would like to ask anyway in case we can get any more clarity on it. what is this -- can you tell us that this person is an american citizen? will you be releasing the flight information and is safe to assume he was saying a home at the family members rather than a

hotel? >> patient was visiting family members in staying with family members who live in this country. we will contact anyone who we think has any likelihood of having had an exposure to the individual while they were infectious. at that point -- at this point that does not include anyone who might've traveled with him because he was not infectious at that time. nus or third question, which i don't remember. >> i asked if he's an american citizen. >> he is visiting family who live in this country. do we have any other questions in the room? >> i'd like to follow-up on that. we've identified the flight information? >> we will identify any contacts where we think there is a risk of transmission. at this point there is your risk of transmission on the flight. the illness of ebola would not have gone on for 10 days before

diagnosis. he was checked for fever before getting on the flight and there's no reason to think anyone on the flight he was on with your risk. i want to add with just a bottom line before we start. the ebola is a scary disease because of the severity of illness that causes and we're really hoping for the recovery of this individual. at the same time, we are stopping it in its tracks in this country. we can do that because of that because of two things. a strong health care infection control that stops the spread of ebola and strong core public health functions that trace contacts, track contacts, isolate them if they have any symptoms and stop the chain of transmission. we are stopping this in its tracks. thank you very much.

>> a guy in a wheelchair can move faster than traffic on some roads in texas. i am greg i am greg abbott and my plan is billions for new road construction without raising taxes, fees or tolls. we pay for it by ensuring money

dedicated for rose will be spent only on roads. and no more taking highway funds by the legislature to pay for their projects. elect me and i will get texas movie. >> in the texas courtroom, greg abbott made the case against our children. he thought for $5 billion in cuts to education made by insider buddies and now added is proposing giving standardized tests do for your roll spirit heard enough? wendy davis will reduce the number of standard i'd pass caretaker cries the board and build an economy for all hard-working texans. you decide you will be best for texas. >> wendy davis is involved in scandal yet again. state senator davis used her lucrative taxpayer-funded contracts then voted not ill helped her law firm. davis profited from her day job

by voting and twisting arms in the senate. she crossed her potential to conflicts of interest. now davis is legal work is part of an open fbi investigation. unethical behavior, unfit to be governor. >> is a texas surgeon performing operations while reportedly using. two patients died, others were paralyzed. the house bill did nothing to stop them. families of victims to the hospital weeks after escaping a quarter million dollars campaign contribution from the hospital's chairman greg abbett got involved companies in his office to go to court against the victims. greg abbett, another insider not working for you. >> recent polls with this waste is leading republican. watch the final debate in the governor's race live tonight at 9:00 eastern on c-span.

>> and idaho governor's debate between a.j. balukoff of libertarian candidate, john bujak. republican incumbent governor declined to take part in this debate from twin falls, the recent polling a solid republican. this is an hour. >> moderator: good evening from the auditorium of the high school in twin falls. i am the editor of the times news.com. welcome to the second debate of the 2014 idaho general election season. tonight we'll hear from two candidates for idaho governor. we did invite governor on her to this debate. he turned us down, though we

decided that democracy is about more than the incumbent. so i'm looking forward to a good political discussion tonight between the democratic and libertarian candidates. please join me in welcoming them now. to my right is libertarian candidate john bujak. [cheers and applause] and to my last face democratic candidate, john a.j. balukoff. [applause] will begin the debate tonight with three minute opening remarks. aj won the clients house tonight and he chose john bujak to begin with opening remarks and then aj will take the first question. so, go ahead tiered >> thank you. i too think the times news for sponsoring this event.

it's good to be here. my name is john bujak. i'm libertarian candidate for governor. up to you about myself. i'm 45 years old. i am married, for children. i lived in ego, idaho. i grew up in the central idaho mountains. i went to the college at the college of idaho are afterwards i served in the united states navy. after my time in the navy i came back to idaho and went to law school. during that time after law school i worked as deputy worked as deputy prosecuting attorney then worked as deputy prosecuting attorney then as deputy worked as deputy prosecuting attorney dennis deputy attorney general and then i opened my own law firm where i had my own private practice for just over 10 years. after 10 years in private pratt is, i decided to run for the republican take a common defeat is the lack did county prosecutor dan camden county, idaho. i am running for governor because it's time to network a

rounded out of place is. i traveled around the state and heard the voice called a lot of things. everything from the mafia to authors grew. the bottom line is it's causing a lot of problems and idaho. in addition to the corruption and cronyism that exists within otters crew, governor otter because i don't want to seem old. there was a time when i respect good governor otter's position. i even voted for the man, but i can't vote anymore because he decided to implement liberal policies have democratic policies and idaho. idaho was the only republican state that has not had a health care exchange under obamacare. if governor otter stays in office come you can on medicaid expansion is around a quarter and that put idaho in a very precarious situation.

what we need is conservative leadership in idaho. i was elected to serve as prosecutor on the republican ticket and i understand the conservative government is about. i understand the value of small government, government debt respects the constitution of the people and allows the free market to determine economic destiny and that is exactly what idaho needs. during the course of the debates matter that forward to answering questions about proving to underrate conservative leader for the job. proving to you a third-party candidate can win the election for governor this time around. thank you. >> moderator: thank you. [applause] all right. you have three minutes. [inaudible] is an honor to be here.

i'd like to thank cambridge high school for organizing this event. i wish governor otter cared enough about the magic valley to be here to explain his poor record on education and jobs. we can understand why he doesn't want to be here. he would have to explain why idaho was winning the race for the bottom. then he tell you what i'm talking about. idaho in what we invest their child an education because we are also near the bottom in the rate of our graduates go into college. 95 school districts have supplemental leverage to raise their own taxes because the state has shirked his constitutional responsibility to support public education. read here in twin falls he had to raise your taxes to support your children's education.

voting school districts have cut back to a four-day school week. we are 50th in the nation of per capita income. that means we are behind every state except one, mississippi. that is not acceptable. it is the result of a career politician putting that politician putting the demands of special interests ahead of people. i am not a career politician. i'm a businessman. i started out as a cpa, build a successful cpa firm and then went on. today i'm part owner of the senator link arena and the hockey team. i've also served on many nonprofit boards of directors. i'm helping to turn around troubled as this is. in business, i learned the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. if we don't change without a

change in leadership, we will continue our spiral to the bottom. the stakes are high. we cannot afford four more years of moving in the wrong direction. idaho can do better, but it's going to take new leadership at the top. that is why i am running for governor. >> moderator: thank you. [applause] this first question appears to be yours. last night we hosted a debate between the two candidates. a major focus of the conversation as education funding. and last year's proposed budget, governor otter recommended $54.7 million to begin funding for 20 recommendations of the education task for us.

the task force requested 350 million. otter said his proposal is to buy recommendations over five years. if you were elected governor, would you continue the approach to funding and what other things would you do to restore funding for education and idaho? bujak: well, we have to take a look at governor otter's record with education. he did not have a good history of listening to the people. he signed on to the luna laws and then when the laws were repealed, he formed a task force that came up with 20 good recommendations on improving education. but he has disengaged in that process. he did not attend one task force meeting. and then he talks about implementing those recommendations over five years. his budget last year recommended

$100 billion for rainy day funds and unspecified tax relief. patches shows me that education is not his top priority. when i am governor, i am going to listen to teachers and principals, parents, taxpayers and education will be the top priority. we need to stop the waste going on in the government right now. pending lawsuits that should never of happened in the first place, having to fund investigations of wrongdoing out of the prisons. we need to stop the waste. and then we need to change our priorities. i would make education a top priority, more of a priority than a rainy day fund and more of a priority than tax relief. does however grand things differently. >> moderator: thank you. one minute rebuttal. bujak: thank you. this is complex because educating our children is one of

our most important duties and something the government not to take seriously. i've heard a lot of talk about to throw more money at the problem. the answer is education requires more funding. that may be true, but one thing we need to look at where we start throwing funding of education is how the education dollars are spent right now. when i talk to teachers from the state, the primary complaint to me, to mainly, they don't have enough training on how to implement common core and it doesn't make any sense into, not enough money makes it to the classroom. the number one priority would he do not blindly from recommendations of the committee, would rather take a hard look at education budget and make sure dollars get to the classroom as quickly and efficiently as possible. >> moderator: all right. a one minute response. balukoff: yes, that to clarify besides getting stable and reliable funding, it is important how we spend the money. i don't know if any business

that tries to hire the best employees by paying the lowest salary. idaho teachers are paid the lowest salary in the entire northwest is not the entire country. it's going to be very difficult to retain good teachers if we paid them lower than anyplace else. as i've traveled around the state visiting school districts and superintendents, they talk about how difficult it is to retain teachers. who's been to wyoming, montana, oregon, washington and utah. part of the funding i agree with john is important on how to spend the money, but you have to have adequate funding. >> moderator: all right. thank you. this goes to you. you both have reputations as the urban guys. that son of boise, but not the rest of the state. what would you do for herself about issues facing agriculture

in the magic valley and you have to take a stab at sharing what you the issues are? bujak: certainly. certainly i live in eagle and professionally worked in the traitor valley for a lot of years, i know i'm not going to sell you on the fact of agricultural guy. but the truth is i grew up looking task of changing type in the call. i worked at the jacklin treat company of programming for a while and so i know little bit about the day-to-day operations of agricultural goods are not an expert. for me, one thing i'm particularly worried about and goes hand-in-hand with goes hand-in-hand to probably have the federal government controlling too much idaho plans. we have to preserve and protect our rights and idaho. that is something that isn't given enough attention and has to be important when you think about continuing viability and agriculture. the snake river basin adjudication going on historically an important issue

in idaho's right to assert his son in a heap on the forefront of my mind as governor when i think about agriculture. the other thing that's important is the government act efficiently and quickly when a agricultural farmers need help. i seen in the past the government has not been quick enough to act on paperwork and declaring states of emergency for farmers and they've lost a lot of money because idaho farmers in the state. i would keep my eye on that wall also a priority when i service your governor. >> moderator: one minute. balukoff: i have not been waiting for the election to inform yourself on agricultural issues. i've been visiting people in the industry now appeared farmers, ranchers, association leaders come executive yours to inform myself of the issues facing agriculture around the state and

particularly here in the magic valley. in the magic valley the number one issue is water and there's been good progress made with the snake river adjudication that will work well. the issue is what happens in low-water years? a big issue is waters of the u.s. where they talk about redefining and maybe even irrigation canals and authority to the federal government, to the epa. we need to be very of that and take a proactive approach to the broader issues in north state. >> moderator: all right. take another minute. balukoff: no, let it go. >> moderator: the next question to you is about water. obviously the most important thing in the magic valley. so the governor's budget last

year said about $50 million for aquifer research project. would you do specifically as governor to shore up the future of the magic valley water? bujak: we have to be very concerned about the water. by definition you are going to have water shortages and we need to be prepared. the way i would approach that is get people together, the water users and there's lots of demand as our city prison population and have more demand on water. we need to get the cities together with the agricultural people, the water pumpers, service users and talk about a good approach to conserving water, to recharging the aquifer and whether or not we expand the capacity of the dams to hold water to recharge the aquifer. we need to be proactive again

about approaching the water of issues that we know we are going to have because we are there on the edge are there on the edge of the desert. >> moderator: all right. balukoff: water issues are complex. you have water masters here in the magic valley. as governor i need to defer to those experts here in the magic valley. people informed on water issues and how the water is being used. i'm also particularly concerned about preserving waterways because the federal government again is stepping in to control the land a mistake a greater claim on idaho's water resources and as governor i would take a firm stand and stand in the way the federal government to make sure they don't take additional control over idaho's waters. >> moderator: do you want to take another minute? bujak: know, pass. >> moderator: okay, let's talk about gay marriage. so i give you a little background.

not that you need it. the idaho constitution defense son was created in may 295 to defend the state liquor rights against federal government. last year as the idaho legislature set aside $1 million, the governor attorney general said money would not be used to defend idaho's ban on same-sex marriage come even though it was the biggest constitutional challenge the state faces right now. as governor, you'll be part of the council that oversees the fund. how should it be used and which you and the governor vote to use it to ban the same-sex marriage ban? bujak: regardless of what an individual's beliefs are about whether we should have same-sex marriage and idaho are meant to fight is not one idaho can currently win. i think the money used to fight the lawsuit is money thrown down the drain. even the republican governors in neighboring states like nevada saw the wisdom in not pursuing litigation any further.

i certainly would not have earmarked money for litigation on gay marriage. the writing is on the wall and there are certainly some things idaho cannot afford to do in these hard economic times. >> moderator: all right. balukoff: idaho's dan was found to violate the united states constitution. and again, however people feel personally about same-sex marriage, we also believe in honoring, obeying and sustaining the law. this issue is going to be decided in the court. there's been a think 18 judges around the united states that i found it pretty similar to what judge dale found in idaho. other states are fighting do not an appealing to the courts. we're a small state with limited funds and the money would be better used to support higher priorities like education or use it to build our economy.

i think we should wait and let the supreme court weigh in on that issue. >> moderator: you have one minute. bujak: i have nothing else to add. >> moderator: this one is for you. in idaho these days, another priority of the governor is as leader of the state republican party. a democrat or libertarian, which is frankly -- what else would you seek to influence? where else would you seek influence? balukoff: i think the paradigm we use here, if you're in the majority or the offense, minority is on defense and the offense tries to score, defense keeps the them from scoring. that's the wrong model.

the more appropriate metaphor is that of an orchestra. during elections we all compete, but once the election is over and we have our seat, we should be working together to create beautiful music. that's the way worked in business and on the school board and other nonprofit organizations is bringing people together. party should be a secondary concern. we should work together as representatives of the people of idaho and work towards solving problems as opposed to furthering or blocking a partisan agenda. bujak: this question illustrates the problem of the two-party system. i matter how much people have good intentions, when you have the republicans versus democrats , they cannot work together. in fact, they will oppose one another because the agendas are not just locally, but a national level. that's the advantage of having someone like me, libertarian, in

office. i have no dog in that fight. while the goal is to represent the people of the state of idaho and bring conservative values back to the statehouse. so i'll be able to work with whoever is in the legislature, whether it be democratic republic and because one thing is universal here in idaho. we believe in conservative values and with that guiding principle, we can take idaho in a positive direction and out of the quagmire we've been stuck in thanks to governor otter's liberal agenda. >> moderator: want to take a minute? balukoff: sure. in my years on the school board, i've been down to the legislature every year to testify on bills that affect the education. i've worked with democrats and republicans on school bills. i have relationships with a number of legislators already and i continue to maintain those relationships during this

campaign. i can work with republicans than i can work with democrats and i can even work with libertarians. i am pragmatic. we are looking at what do we need to do in the state of idaho? what do we need to do to make lives better and solve problems? if we make that as our priority, we will be successful and bring people together. >> moderator: all right. this one goes to you. so again, the governor's budget this year is to propose $2 million to control and manage idaho's goals. in the final budget, $400,000 was allocated for the creation. as governor, how great of a priority would you put on both control and your budget and what approach should idaho be taking towards management population? bujak: and needs to be addressed in idaho, but i don't enqueue need to drill all of this money

on this money added to address it. we have one of the greatest resources here in idaho that we can utilize in a cost effect way to deal with the wolf problem and that is idaho hunters. i don't see any reason why we can't have some of the best hunters in the united states, probably in the world out to control the wolf population. give some good idaho hunters and fish and game and i would need $400,000 of taxpayer money to control the wolf problem in idaho. balukoff: i agree but don't need to spend $2 million to eradicate wolves. if were not careful, it will be back on the federal protective list again, just like wyoming recently. fish and game manages and controls other predators. ask them about lions, coyotes. they're perfectly capable of managing walls. they've got the wildlife

managers that can adequately manage the rules in consultation with farmers and ranchers. i know there are ways to allow farmers and ranchers to protect their livestock without exterminating wolves. my approach would be to engage the fish and game and the cattlemen in those kinds of agencies to get together and get all the good wolf management plan for a state. >> moderator: all right. you want to say anything more? bujak: i think we can move on. >> moderator: were getting through topics pretty quickly. i'm going to review a letter that governor otter sent in july when hundreds of children were crossing the border illegally. he sent his letter to the federal government saying he wanted to poke him immediately eliminate the chance of the federal government using idaho as a destination for the influx

of unaccompanied and illegal immigrants entering the united states were seven borders. he wrote, should be understood it will not be actively involved in addressing the humanitarian crisis the federal government has created. as governor, here's the question. so as governor, he would have direct influence over immigration policy, but with this letter you could set the tone. immigration reform, what would your message be passed to the state federal government and the fourth congressional delegation? balukoff: first of all, governor otter sent the wrong tone. immigration is very important to our state. it's very important to the agricultural industry here, especially the dairy industry in the magic valley. we need to set the right tone and we need sensible immigration

reform that allows guest workers to come here and fill the jobs that need to be done in the agricultural industry and some other industries. that is done by congress. at the governor can urge our delegation in congress to work on it, to stop ignoring the problem, stop kicking the can down the road inducing meaningful immigration reform that would allow guest workers to come here and the bill the senate proposed actually has some pretty good provisions in it to allow people here that were undocumented aliens to come forward and submit themselves to a criminal background check and if they pass that, they have a clean background, and they can then have a five-year work permit. they would also agree to pay any back taxes at the time they were here and working. those kinds of sensible

solutions to immigration reform would be a great help to the farmers and ranches and idaho and the magical li. i think we need to encourage intelligent solutions and not grandstand with letters like with what governor otter said. >> moderator: all right. you want to take a minute? transferred governor otter's letter was inappropriate to use these children who are dumped on the united states doorsteps and i would've taken the same approach. that being said, i think there has to be a strong stance taken on the immigration issue. i don't know why even though the messages that repeatedly to washington d.c. they are unable and unwilling to secure borders and are unable and unwed to pass immigration policy that makes any sense. there needs to be a guestworker program. there's no doubt that people come from mexico to work add to the viability of idaho's

economy. no doubt about it. they have to come legally and they should be worded for come in illegally. i would also encourage local government to cooperate with federal bomb force made. i don't think we need to calm to the government. when people come within the purview of the criminal justice system their fingerprints are to be checked. they need to be removed. >> moderator: another minute if you want. balukoff: nope. >> moderator: john, you know this question is coming. there's a movement to take over management of public lands. is that an i.t. support and what would it look like? if you don't support the idea, what can idaho do to maximize funding for schools from the public determining management? bujak: i do support idaho taking

back his plans. there's two approaches and as a lawyer i recognize this. there is a judicial approach going through the board and many political approach where you approach congress. because of land in idaho that the years, is a difficult journey, but not an impossible one. i think idaho's governor needs to stand firm and lead the way of reclaiming lands. i personally would prefer and i think would be more successful and efficient to go to political route. as governor i work with our delegation in d.c. to help make that happen. >> moderator: all right. i minute. balukoff: idaho cannot financially afford those federal lands. right now we own in partnership with the rest of the said offense in the united states and may help pay for the management and fire protection. if we had owned the land buyers,

the beavercreek fire last year was bankrupting the state. we cannot financially afford them. we also can't legally take them. in the act that admitted idaho to the union, we agreed not to ask for the federal lands. i would prefer an approach that includes local communities with the voice in how the lands are managed as we work with the federal managers, the survey is that currently manages federal lands. there is a good model with the clearwater-based and collaborative getting diverse interests together to come to an agreement of how plants would be managed. i don't think any of the lancelot to and cut out of them. >> moderator: another minute if you want. bujak: i don't support becoming the federal government managing land in idaho. if we take back the land in a

responsible way, maybe a county out of time and use the land we take back and use the natural resources bear, we could manage the property number you don't end up with outrageous forest fires and can generate improved to the economy to allow us to be able as a state to afford to manage those plans. that is the key. take it back a piece at a time responsibly. if you don't, we'll see places like an awad county, turn into the silver valley where they can't find anymore and will replace the 90 jobs at minimum wage service jobs. that is not the way idaho wants to go. we need access to resource in the lands. >> moderator: all right. i'll go to you. you might not think this is a proposal. there's been a lot of talk over the years about reforming idaho's tax code. what exemptions would you support adding or them in a game on my taxes would you like to see cuts or increased?

balukoff: i am very much in favor of a comprehensive the violation of your entire tax code. that's a different approach than what governor otter has taken. he has allowed special interest to dictate exemptions that benefit certain industries and certain companies. over the years, that has gotten tax code out of balance and made it more and efficient. when we first moved here, people use to talk about stability of the three-legged stool of income tax, sales tax and property tax with the strength of one county offset the problems and weaknesses of another county tax. our tax code has been saddled with so much over the years that were out of balance. we need to take a good look at that to make sure the tax code is fair across all sectors of the economy, make sure

technology keeps the administrative burden to a minimum and that it collects the right amount of tax, not too much and not too little. that can be accomplished and as we look at and evaluate not just the accent tinged, but the whole way we find a different responsibilities of our government and decide whether it's appropriate to fund education in the sales tax or is it more appropriate to do some of the funding the property tax in a more stable and predictable way than we currently do it today. with that, you know, grocery credit is another good example where we are carrying out for a policy or procedure that is from the 1960s. we could exempt groceries with tax credit. >> moderator: all right. another response? bujak: i would support any read

about tax exemptions. it's another way we manipulate the free market. taxes need to be across the board and predictable and the way you get heiress to oppose a flat tax. that way everybody knows what they have to pay them everybody pays their fair share. they have tax exemptions and place the way it is currently in place allows the burden to be shifted in most cases are big business are given incentives to come to the state by the way providing minimum-wage jobs a lot of the time in pushing tax burden to the small business owners in the state who are paid more than their fair share. i would give flat tax is the way to go. in fact, they could see sales tax disappear. >> moderator: response to that? balukoff: sure, i'll point out one example of how taxes shifted from businesses to people and that is property tax in exempting certain business personal property helps

businesses, be shifted the tax to homeowners. the school district, for example, where every year the total tax we have levied and collect it has decreased with the exception of the year we pass the supplemental levy was 71% of the vote. every year the total tax decreased coming up attacks on home has gone up and that is because governor otter and the legislature exempted business proxy is shifted the burden to homeowners. >> moderator: all right. this is kind of along the same lame. so, some people would argue that large companies are attracted to invest in growing idaho because of our low wages. the state of idaho increases minimum wage. bujak: yeah, i saw statistics riesling idaho's minimum-wage is a livable wage as a family without any kids this half of what you need to have a livable wage and idaho.

even so, i don't think the answer to the problem is mandating an increase in the minimum wage. rather, we have to strengthen the economy and strengthen businesses with loyalty towards employees and those businesses are the small businesses and idaho. they are the lifeblood of idaho's economy. again, we need to stop giving exemptions and benefits to big business and economy are. they don't see employees as anything other than a commodity. their not generally loyal to their employees. small business on the other hand are connected with communities. they have a vested interest in doing the right thing by people who live in those communities. they tend to pay higher wages because they want people to stay in the businesses in the communities. so again, we need to change the structure and idaho and in particular rather the tax structure is so small businesses get the same benefit as big business benefit free market has

been allowed to develop coming we'll see the economy increase, wages will increase along the way. balukoff: because i've traveled around the state, i buy small business owners how to raise the minimum wage but affect this. i asked that at the bookstore on i asked if the minimum wage were raised to $10 an hour, how would that affect your business? he said it wouldn't. irony payment people $10 an hour. i asked the same question to the restaurant owner in boise and he gave the same answer. he says i pay my kitchen staff $10 an hour as a starting salary. if we raise minimum wage to $10 an hour, it would not affect my business. the real answer, i believe we should raise the minimum wage, but the really are is educating people so they are qualified for more than a minimum wage job. and if we do that and concentrate on helping those businesses already in the state paid more than the minimum wage, that will help the entire economy and will help workers in

those businesses. bujak: from my experience traveling around the state, they're people who have established long enough to pay higher wages, but their other small businesses struggling to get by. when i asked them the same question, the answer i got from them is do you make minimum wage and make me pay more at the station again and i will go out of business and we don't want to drive small businesses out of business here in idaho. >> moderator: all right. this goes to you. how do you plan to work with the legislature to address the continued backlog of transportation projects for safe and efficient roadways and idaho and how should those projects be funded? balukoff: this is another example where governor otter has not shown leadership. he tried to propose some funding to take care for these make a dent in the bridge is and they

resisted and didn't do what he needed to do to get people onboard. i would bring people together to talk about the deferred maintenance on our roads and bridges. that is costing our save a lot of money because when a bridge gets passed in useful life, they don't lock the bridge and it's not going to collapse and cause problems. that causes tracks to take products to market or bring products to market in your community to take a longer route. it increases the cost of doing business and that is passed on to the consumers that buy those products. we need to spend the money to keep our bridges in good repair and to keep our roads in good repair and that will help him be a good thing for business. when i ask people about roads

and bridges, most people, you know, the county commissioners are very concerned about that and they say we haven't raised the gas tax since 1996 i believe. if that is an indexed to inflation, the gas tax would be about 37 cents a gallon today. they are very low in idaho and maybe does need to increase. but we do need to find a way to increase the funding for maintenance on our roads and bridges. >> moderator: all right. bujak: i think maybe the pros and bridges are important. i don't think it is raising the gas tax, raising fees. that isn't the way to do it. there's a lot of that in the budget. i give you an example. first understanding the budget

has three huge components. education is about 65%. medical care is 20% and then corrections, which is about 10%. we spent entirely too much time locking up nonviolent offenders. last i look at the debate is about $42,000 be sent to warehouse somebody in prison over the course of the year. that his money is other places in the budget, including to fund road projects. so i take a look at the budget and we shuffle the money is spent and where it's going. ask the legislature rather to look at guidelines to give judges the direction about which people need to be incarcerated in which people don't. start saving money where you can and putting money to better use. >> moderator: okay. all right. i feel like a card dealer appeared. this is specifically about the magic alley, but affects the

whole state. item is a developing natural gas play in the canyon and jim county. new regulations are being drafted and we should see those in the next legislative session. as governor, you would have the power to veto or sign any legislation that comes forward. but environmental or bonding regulations would you want to see come across your desk if he were elected governor? balukoff: i would rely on the scientists and people in the industry to give me advice on what the state would say is the best way to make use of the natural resources that occur in our state. it's not the magic valley, but all over. my part this day, the western part of canyon county nfb jam county i believe, fayette county have believe there is potential for natural gas and people

attacked about drilling does as well. if the resources are there, we can do that in this state and environmentally friendly way than we are to take advantage of those resources. we need to rely on good, sound science and what we are doing so we are careful not to damage the environment and not to contaminate groundwater. so i would rely on our scientists and experts in the field to advise me on how to approach those issues. >> moderator: when you say in the field, you need the industry itself? balukoff: the industry as well as the environmental groups that may have an opposing viewpoint. but we need to hear people from all sides who have opinions and are knowledgeable about the issues involved in them. bujak: i'd be cautious about trusting data from the industry. first of all, it's important idaho realize the energy

exporter. when you look at state pulling out of this last recession, states like texas, north dakota are doing well because they are energy exporters. idaho needs to join the ranks and that is why it's important we get control of all the lands in our state. when it comes to being responsible about extracting those resources, we have to be careful because idaho has a lot of natural beauty and we need to protect the environment as well. for example, i would support funding so if there's any damage done to the environment or the adequate funding to clean it out. i would also support studies into the techniques people are using to harvest the resources here are for example, did they? in my mind about what makes sense. i've seen data suggest that is the wrong way to extract natural gas. but we do need to make sure the environment is protected, but still protect our ability to be an energy exporter.

.. bujak: the only thing government is serious process whatever it needs to do in order to be an administrator. if their permits that need to be issued, the government is to do that effectively and efficiently if they read the government should not be in the business of trying to recruit companies are should not be in the business of trying to promote one industry over another. that is the job of the free-market and private

industry, not the role of the government. balukoff: you know, the approach by governor butch otter is the wrong approach. we have been working across our borders to bank to bring big businesses tied l and hopefully bring jobs. we are competing with states and our competition is tough offer lower taxes or tax incentives. we have over 30,000 small businesses in our state. we need to find ways to help them thrive and grow. just think, if 10 percent of those businesses would add one employee, that is 4,000 new jobs all over the state. it was speaking with the mayor. he said the factory wants to expand because it -- but they can't because jerome water treatment facilities are at capacity if the state

could find a grant to help the city expand the water treatment facility drug that is the kind of thing that government can help businesses do. bujak: again, governments poll is not to help one business compete against another. they should only be involved in keeping and regulation low, taxes low and keeping taxes predictable and then getting out of the way and letting the free market do it's job. teefor all right. well, one of the main powers of the governor of idaho is his ability to make appointments. those appointments can drive the agenda of the administration. how would you go about selecting people for the various commissions, and what are you looking for in these appointments? bujak: i think a good model is what we use for appointing judges where we have some lawyers get together and review the applications and positions and then make their

recommendation to the governor perry and i think in the case of judges it is important to consult with the people in that particular industry or business so that we get the right kind of expertise. the people i appoint will be people of integrity, of competence that know their industry and business and are fair and not going to promote a policy agenda of promote and make sure that the state of ireland is being called it -- the state of tea hope -- the state of idaho is being all that we can beat. balukoff: i think it's important that they are not your best friends, not people who can be yes men. if you choose those type of people you end up in the situation governor otter is in where we have friends that get involved in scandals and then he has to look the other way and ignore the problem. that is what happened in our tax commission, the department of the administration over this

internet contract that is now costing $38 million because the federal government no longer pays because the contract was awarded illegally by the best friend of governor otter. i would take a look at people who are interested in a job, have them apply to much as luck would for any other job and choose the based on merit and experience and integrity and loyalty to my vision, which is giving it idaho back to the people. >> moderator: all right. i'm going to call this the last question. it's about money, but a philosophy as well. what should the relationship between the federal government and idaho b? bujak: effective use one word to describe the relationship it would be partnership. partnership between two equal entities. it idaho needs to recognize

and assert its sovereignty. it is not the servant of the federal government. so i would look to act in partnership with the federal government. and when you act in partnership, good things can happen. if you work with our ears to get back in control we can work with our delegation to put together an immigration policy that makes sense for qaeda of. we can work with the federal government on funding issues so that we don't become dependent upon federal dollars but can take advantage of federal dollars in a way that makes sense for idaho people and economy the idaho state and the federal government ought to act in partnership. balukoff: the best if it -- best decisions. but some decisions that the present governor has taken on himself, and we need to recognize that and work with in that framework. i think partnership as mr. john bujak describes it

is good. work together as partners serves the recognize that idaho has its proper role and the federal government has its proper role. and not in favor of taking over ownership of federal lands, but i am in favor of having a voice of how this gets managed. i think we should also to what i would send, work with our congressional delegation to help them pass the kind of laws under the purview of the federal government that can be of great benefit to the state of idaho. >> moderator: does partnership with the federal government involved medicare ? balukoff: i think it should. think we should extend medicaid coverage. we have somewhere in excess

of 70,000 people who are not currently insured. they show up at the emergency rooms when they have medical problems. uni pay for their costs because they cannot. we pay for it through our property taxes. each county has an indigent care fund. the hospital bill exceeds $11,000 from the state takes it into the catastrophic fund. but in the county in the state we are spending summer between 80 and $90 million a year to care for uninsured people. the federal government would pick up that cost and free up 80 to $90 million that we could use for higher priorities here in the state ic taking those medicaid payments as not much different than taking a rolls-royce subsidies, funding the i am now . >> moderator: a one minute rebuttal.

bujak: medicaid expansion is wrong for i know. if you expand medicaid your putting an additional burden on the primary care model that already cannot handle the medicaid patients out there currently. going to find and $0.90 of every dollar, idaho still has to come up with $0.10 of every dollar spent and pay for the cost of administering the program. that is a cost that idaho simply cannot afford. the answer is not throw money at of model that is broken. the answer is create a new model. there is one that is working. in the state of washington a direct primary care model where you pay at provider network privately talk to step $80 per month depending on your age and combine that with a wraparound catastrophic care model is cheaper and works better and you get to see your doctor. the doctors are happier. the number of patients this year limited to 600 dry and

it works beautifully. patients are happy conductors are happy. it is more cost-effective and does not involve adding additional financial burden to idaho by expanding medicare. it should be in the next legislative session. as governor i'll look forward to that being presented because i was signed into law. >> moderator: all right. we have two-minute closing remarks. @booktv thank you for being here tonight. you have an important choice to make. you will choose the next governor of idaho. you can choose governor otter. if you do you lock yourself into four more years of cronyism and corruption, medicaid expansion because even though he says it is not, i guarantee you it is coming down the pipe. digging deeper. you can vote for mr. a.j. balukoff, but you -- if you elect a democrat he would

rescind laws by a republican legislature. so a vote for mr. a.j. balukoff is a vote for stagnation, a vote for remaining in the status quo. the other choice is of vote for me, the only conservative candid on the ballot. before you say that you are a third party candid and cannot run, let me remind you, lincoln was a third-party candidate when he ran for president, and he won. jesse ventura was a third-party candid when he ran for governor of minnesota, and he run. great moments in history have been when people finally stand up and take a stand. and this every few standout the power to express in your hands. it will cost you a dime. you just need to go down to the polls and i will take it from there. thank you very much.

balukoff: think you all for being here. i appreciate the opportunity of introducing myself and telling you where i stand on the issues that have been brought up. as you have listened, you can see that sometimes mr. kd -- john bujak and i agree on issues, and there are instances where we disagree. the one thing we do agree on is to make it is time for change at the top. we need to change, and we need to change it now. if you are satisfied with going downhill and spiraling to the bottom, then vote for governor otter. that is what you are going to get. as i said before, the best predictor of future behavior is best behavior. for change, it is time. it is important that we make the change right now. i can work with the

republican legislature. if you elect me as governor it will be the first time in 20 years this state has elected a democratic governor. that will send an important message to the legislature. i have worked with many of those ladies and gentlemen of the years. i am confident that i can work with them. i have been talking with several of them during this campaign, and there will not be stagnation. we will make education a top priority. we will include the economy. we will make sure that we get rid of the cronyism that is currently in our state government. i will work hard, tell the truth, and put people first. thank you very much. >> moderator: thank-you. [applause]

[applause] >> moderator: i wanted thank both of these men are coming to magic valley, thinking it -- taking my question is for an hour. i think everybody fork coming to this debate. [applause] [inaudible conversations] >> tonight a house government reform committee hearing on concerns over u.s. secret service security protocol after a recent incident where an armed intruder accessed the white house. the committee heard testimony from secret service director julie a pearson. you can watch the hearing at 8:00 eastern time here on c-span2. also tonight, c-span

campaign 2014 coverage continues with texas governor's debate between republican greg abbott and democratic challenger wendy davis. they will meet in dallas and will be there final debate live at 9:00 p.m. eastern on c-span. >> was governor rick perry stepping down at the end of this year it is an open seat in texas. state senator wayne slater in the democratic nominee and republican greg abbott the texas attorney general. and joining us is wayne slater, senior political writer for the "dallas morning news." thank you for being with us. what to the polls tell you in this race? >> they're all over the place except in one regard, the republican is ahead. is it double digits, maybe as many as 15 or 16 points. some internal polls indicate that. there are some polls and a couple more recently that suggest the race may be in single digits. in every case, the

republican, greg abbott, is ahead, has held a durable lead and, frankly, and a state where every statewide official as a republican and where no democrat has won the governor's race since and richards in 1990, it would be a gargantuan and enormous feet if the democrats, wendy davis, one this year. >> of me ask you about the comparison because they're is a third party on the ballot. does that have impact on the overall palling thus far? >> probably not a significant one. that is not really what is happening here. a funny thing was with respect to 1990, the year richards did win, the people at least on the democratic side saw a year ago that there was some expectation that this could be the year that a new richards, wendy davis, this woman who stood up last year in a filibuster

against some abortion regulations became a national celebrity and the left. is this going to be the new person who could begin the process of turning the very red state of texas blue? that has not happened for a whole lot of reasons. it is not impossible for her to win, but she has been hobbled by questions about her personal story and real problems in her campaign. they have had two or three shakeups inside the campaign to try to beat the republican attorney general. again, it is a long shot. not a possible, but a long shot that she could do this in november. >> what is our message to voters? why do you think she has not resonated up until this point the way that you and many others thought she might have? >> part of the reason is she is not ann richards. she is very smart, a harvard

educated attorney. when you see her in the debate, and she comes across as script it, even when she is not. she is extraordinarily reserved, confident, but that does not make for good red meat politics. the strategy that she decided to push was to my first, a personal narratives she was up from the bootstraps woman who was living in a trailer with a child and sort of earned her way through harvard law school. that was going to be the secret of her success. some stories raised questions about not the fundamental legitimacy of that story, but some question as to whether some of the facts in this narrative were blurred a bit it took the shine off of that campaign. the campaign also has chosen fundamentally to offer up as a message that the

republican opponent is a political insider, part of the rick perry republican machine that has been in power for 15 years in texas. they helped themselves but not you. it is a message that kind of sounds good, at least the consultants thought it sounded good, but there is very little indication frankly in the polling or in my conversations with many texas voters up and down the state's that it has resonated successfully. >> in terms of a personal narrative greg abbott has been very open about his position, a paraplegic injured in 1984 in an accident when a tree fell on him while he was running. he has used that as part of the theme in his campaign ads. >> oh, he has very successfully. this is a case study in how you do something like this. a person in a wheelchair. to the extent that any of voter might wonder if he has the physical ability, the stamina, i guess the ability

to be the governor, he has demonstrated absolutely that he can. in one of his campaign ad seen not only showcases the fact that he is in a wheelchair, he is taking the wheelchair up, up, up in a parking garage as a kind of metaphor about how he has overcome obstacles and simply has not given up. one of the issues in the campaign -- and there are issues, education, transportation, and others. one of the issues is the overcrowding highways, especially interstates and major highways and texas. one of his most recent ads july in a wheelchair along a gridlocks section of highway going faster than the cars and making the promise that if he is elected governor he will fix all of this gridlock. that is a brilliant way of dealing with his personal issue and also an issue in the campaign. >> bottom line, based on

what you saw in his first debate, what do you expect to see in the second and final debate? >> there are only two things that will happen. one, greg abbott was successful in appearing likable, congenial. he will try to ignore at the ten as much as possible. he will try to talk about what he wants to do, fix education, do things for highways, make tax is great, continue the economic success. wendy davis has no choice but to go after greg abbott hard on issues, especially ethics issues, questions about money that he has gone from campaign contributors and the benefits that he has gotten in office. it is not the best route for wendy davis because when she does that she hurts her likability quotient, but she has no choice. she must attack. she must appear to be above the fray. >> wayne slater joining as

from austin, senior political writer for the "dallas morning news." thank you very much for joining this. >> to be with you. >> a guy in a wheelchair can move faster than traffic on some roads in texas. time greg abbott, and my plan adds billions for new road construction without raising taxes, fees, or tolls. we pay for it by ensuring that money is dedicated for roads and is bent only on roads. no more taking highway funds from the legislature to pay for their pet projects. let me in that will get tax is moving. >> in the texas court room greg abbott made its case against their children. he fought for $5 billion in cuts to education made by his insider buddies. now he is proposing giving standardized tests to four year olds. wendy davis will reduce the number of standardized tests our kids take across the

board, cut bureaucratic waste and davis will use education to build an economy for all hard-working texans. you decide to. he will be best for texas? >> wendy davis is embroiled in scandal yet again. as a state senator she used her influence to handle a lucrative contracts that helped her own law firm. she profited from her day job by twisting arms in the senate. she crossed from potential to real conflicts of interest. our legal work has caused an open fbi investigation. wendy davis unethical behavior, unfit to be governor. >> he was a texas surgeon performing operations well reportedly using cocaine. it did -- they did nothing to stop them. after excepting 1/4 million dollar campaign contribution from the hospital's chairman

, greg abbott got involved using his office to go to court against the victims. greg abbott, another insider, not working for you . >> recent polls listed this race as a leading republican you can watch the final debate in the texas governor's race live tonight at 9:00 eastern on c-span. >> campaign 2014 debate coverage continues. wednesday night at 8:00 live coverage of the minnesota governors' debate between incumbent governor democrat mark dayton and republican candidate jeff johnson and independents can it -- candidates and nicolette. live coverage of the oklahoma governor's debate between state representative and the incumbent governor also on thursday at 8:00 p.m. on c-span2 the nebraska governor's debate. and saturday night on that

c-span at 8:00 p.m. eastern live coverage of the montana u.s. house debate between democrat john lewis and former state senator. c-span campaign 2014, more than 100 debates where the control of congress. tomorrow on the washington journal recent security breaches at the white house and what the secret service should be doing to protect the first family. then the brookings institution on a new report about the 2014 congressional primary season. and feature editor talks about her recent interview with supreme court justice ruth pater ginsberg and why the justice says she cannot resign even though she has served on the high court for 21 years. your phone calls, facebook comments, and tweets. washington journal is live wednesday at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. >> here are just a few other

comments we recently received from our viewers. >> i am a c-span york. i really want to say that when you allow the republican representatives or senators on, unique to be more demanding of honesty and not done a very. they sit there and they just don't press the issues. i wish that you guys would say to them senator or congressman, the caller asked you a specific question. would you please answer it. >> my comment is a suggestion. i would like to see c-span morning call have a line set up especially when they're is a representative on, that line be set up for the

people in that representative's district so that they may be able to call indirectly to that person and ask questions. i thought that would be a good idea and a good way for their representatives to be accountable, to hear from their constituents. when you have it on, let them be questioned or commented on by their constituents. >> i think that c-span is a great show, but when you have a republican on or a democrat it should be both. they're for one side will just be saying what it is. we need another side. if a republican is on we need it democrat on. that where people can make their own decision. i think you're doing a disservice when you put a democrat on and let him speak what he wants to and then put a republican on later or vice versa. that would be much better. >> continue to let us know what you think about the

programs are watching. call us, e-mail us, or you can send us a tweet. join the conversation, like us on facebook, follows on twitter. >> the patient at a dallas, texas hospital is the first person diagnosed with ebola in the u.s. the centers for disease control confirmed that news earlier today at a press briefing from atlanta. exposed patients live into the country from liberia on a commercial flight. we heard more about that from cdc director during this half-hour briefing. >> good afternoon, everybody, and thank you for joining as you have been hearing from us, ebola is a serious disease. it is only spread by direct contact with someone who is sick with the virus. it is only spread through

body fluids. the incubation time frame is eight to ten days after exposure, can be as short as two or as long as 21 days. it is a severe disease which has a high case fatality rate even with the best of care, but there are court tried and true public health interventions. today we are providing the information that an individual travelling from liberia has been diagnosed with ebola in the united states. this individual left liberia on the 19th of september, arrived in the u.s. on the 20th of september, had no symptoms when departing liberia or entering this country, but for five days later around the 24th of september began to develop symptoms. on the 26 of september

initially sought care and, sunday, the 28 that september, was committed to a hospital in texas and place on isolation. we received in our laboratory today specimens from the individual, tested and commanded tested positive for ebola. .. tested positive r eblame. texas so operates a laboratory that fou the sme relts. stin for ebola is hi accurate. it's a crt ofbod. what does this an? thnex stepsre basically threefold. fit,to cre for the patient. we'll hearing fr the hospital shortly, to provide the most effective care possible saly as possible t keep to likelihood,he possibilityhat anyone would become infected. send, to maximizethe chances that t patientight recor.

second, weentify all people if anyone would become infected and second maximize the chances that the patient might recover. second, we identify all people who may have had contact with the patient while he could have been infectious and remember a bullet does not spread from someone who is not infected. it does not spread from someone who doesn't have a fever and other symptoms so it's only someone who is sick with ebola that can spread the disease. once those contacts are all identified they are all monitored for 21 days after exposure to see if they maximize their chances and to minimize or eliminate the chance that they would infect other people. the bottom line here is that i

have no doubt that we will control this importation or this case of ebola so it does not spread widely in this country. it is certainly possible that someone who had contact with this individual, a family member or other individual could develop ebola in the coming weeks but there is no doubt in my mind that we will stop it here. it does reflect the ongoing spread of ebola in liberia in west africa where there are large numbers of cases and while we do not currently know how this individual became infected, they undoubtedly had close contact with someone who was sick with ebola or who have died from it. in west africa, we are searching the response not only of cdc where we already have more than 130 people in the field but also throughout the u.s. government.

the president has leaned forward to make sure that we are acting proactively there and the defense department is on the ground strengthening the response. we are working with usaid and other parts of the u.s. government as u.s. government as well as a broad global coalition to confront the epidemic there. but ultimately we are all connected by the air we breathe and we are invested in ensuring that the disease is controlled in africa but also in ensuring where there are patients in this country who become ill they are immediately isolated and we do the tried and true public health interventions to stop the spread of ebola. >> thank you dr. frieden. i would like next to introduce her second speaker dr. david leahy commissioner of the texas department of state health services.

dr. leahy. >> good afternoon everyone and thank you dr. frieden, thank you for your support as we work through this current situation. as i start off i first want to say our thoughts and prayers are with the families, with the patient and the treatment team for this individual. our laboratory, the texas public health laboratory have an especially trained team to handle high-risk assessments such as this. we are certified to do a bullet. at 9:00 this morning we received a blood sample. all the controls were within expected ranges in the tbr was definitely positive for ebola. we got the results back at 1:22 this afternoon. i want to reiterate we have no other suspected cases in the state of texas at this time but we are closely monitoring the situation and ready to assist in

any way that is needed. we have been in contact with the hospital, with the local health department and the cdc and they have our full support as we work through this situation and we are committed to keeping texans say. i want to thank the cdc the local health department in dallas county in the hospitals for the work that they are doing and we are working to the situation together. thank you. >> thank you dr. lakey. our third speaker dr. edward goodman a hospital epidemiologist at the texas health presbyterian hospital dallas. dr. goodman. >> thank you, thank you dr. frieden, dr. lakey in the cdc. i want to correct one statement that may have been misinterpreted by dr. frieden when he commented on the air we breathe. evil is not transmitted by the air. it is not an airborne infection.

the texas health dallas is a large community hospital with a robust control system that works in close collaboration with the dallas county health department the centers for disease control as well as other epidemiologist in the system and in the community. we have had a plan in place for some time now in the event of a patient presenting with possible ebola. ironically enough in the week before this patient presented, we had a meeting of all the stakeholders that might be in vault in the care of such a patient and because of that we were well prepared to deal with this crisis. thank you. >> thank you dr. goodman. our final speaker is the dallas county health and human services director, zachary thompson. director thompson.

>> good afternoon. my prayers go out to the family as well. i want to thank dr. frieden cdc dr. lakey as well as texas health presbyterian for this case here in dallas county. i also want to commend our medical director health authority and our team for the work they been doing and conducting public health follow-up on the patient which includes contact investigation to gather information based on the patient's travel history, activity and close contacts. dallas county health and human services will proceed with the public health follow-up per cdc guidelines. dallas county health services wanted dallas county residents to be reassured that your public health is our number one priority. dallas county health and human services staff will continue to work hard to protect the health and welfare of the citizens of dallas county. thank you. >> thank you director thompson.

we will now take questions. >> thank you very much and for questions we will start in the ram and then go to the font. i thank you very much also for that comment dr. goodman. as emphasized, ebola only spreads by direct contact. it does not spread by any other route we have seen in any outbreak. i also want to thank texas and dallas county health department for their collaboration. the cdc has a team of epidemiologist epidemiologists on route to texas at the request of the texas department of health and we work hand-in-hand collaboratively to do what public-health does best which is protect people. we protect people in this case by making sure that we find the contact, identify them, make sure they are traced every day for 21 days and if they develop

a fever that they are immediately isolated in their contacts would be identified as well. the first question from the room. >> you were saying that they started showing symptoms, went to a hospital and then was released and sent home and was not admitted until a day or two later? >> the initial symptoms of ebola are often nonspecific. that means they are symptoms that may be associated with many other symptoms so it may not be immediately identified. that's why we have encouraged all emergency department physicians to take a history of travel within the last 21 days and to reiterate into rapid tes. dr. goodman is there anything more you'd like to say about a? >> i think you summarized it very well. see next question in the room. >> dr. frieden i know you're limited a little bit with patient privacy but can you tell us a little bit, with this person involved in -- the ebola

epidemic and did he travel on a commercial aircraft? >> from the information we have now it does not appear that the individual was involved in the response to ebola but that's something that we will investigate more. in terms of the airlines flight i really do want to emphasize the focus here over the next period is the patient and we are very focused on trying to get any assistance we can to the patient who we understand is his critically ill at this point and then identify contacts in the community, family members or others and any possible contacts through the health care setting and tracing those contacts. in terms of the flight i understand that people are curious about that i wonder about it but remember ebola doesn't spread before someone

gets sick and he didn't get sick until four days after he got off the airplane. we do not believe there's any risk to anyone who was on the flight at that time. he left on the 19th and arrived on the 20th. next question in the room. >> michelle from w. abd. how likely is this to continue to be a concern with people coming back from the region who are showing -- are not showing symptoms than that later in what is being done at airports and the first lines of people coming into the country to ensure nothing like this -- so it doesn't continue to be an issue. >> as long as there continue to be cases in west africa the reality is that patient's travel, individuals traveled and in this case individuals may travel before they have symptoms. one of the things that cdc has done in liberia, sierra leone and guinea and lagos is to work

with the airport authority so 100% of individuals getting on planes are screened for fever before they get on the plane. if they have a fever they are pulled out of line ss for ebola and the adult fly unless ebola is ruled out. this is one way to make sure the airplanes themselves are safe during transit and airlines are willing to be compliant but that doesn't rule out a situation like this one where someone was exposed exposed and nk men while they were incubated with the disease but not infectious with us. with it. >> can you tell us where he was indeed know why he was in the country? >> the details of individual i think we will investigate in some of that has to do with patient confidentiality so we would defer to the hospital in the family for any further information on the details. we have a question here and then shall we go to the phone?

>> do you expect the patient to remain in texas and to be treated there or transferred to facilities in an area to a place they have been treating them in the past? >> when do we want to recognize any hospital in the country that can do isolation can do isolation for ebola. although this is the first ebola patient in this country we have had five cases of other forms of very deadly viruses like viral hemorrhagic fevers. one of them lost a fever. none of those patients spread the disease to any that patient's even though they weren't properly diagnose because it was an unusual situation so we don't see a need for either medical or infectious standpoint to move the patient. dr. goodman is there anything more you would like to stay? >> no, think that summarizes it very well.

>> please press star one and the first question is from miriam. your line is open. >> hi. can you tell us a little bit more about how sick the patient is, how the patient is being treated and how many contacts you are trying to reach? that might be something for the folks in texas and also will this patient be staying at the hospital in dallas? >> let me turn first to dr. goodman and any information that you can share about the patient's status and treatment? >> well because of the patient privacy we are unable to share any information about the patient's symptoms or his treatment at this time. i can say he is ill and he's under intensive care and being seen by highly trained competent specialists in the health department is helping us and tracing any in a family members that might've been exposed.

>> and director thompson do you want to say anything further about contacts? >> our staff has been doing follow-ups since day one and we will continue that process and we will have more details in the days to come but right now everything is. >> as i mentioned earlier we have a team en route to texas now that will work hand-in-hand with state and local and hospital public health and epidemiologic staff to identify all possible contacts and monitor them every day for 21 days to see if they have fever. this is core public health work. this is what we do in public health and we are delighted to be in partnership with texas. we are concerned obviously about the status of the patient and very much hoping for his recovery. on the phone. >> the next question comes from betsy of "the wall street journal." your line is open. >> hi, thanks.

i wanted to ask for a little more detail about potential exposures. is there anything that any of you can say more about what the patient was doing between the 24th when he had symptoms and the 28th when he was admitted? was he at home and so only family members were potentially exposed or how many people -- are we talking about a handful of people that were potentially exposed for more than not or doesn't? >> i think a handful is the right characterization. we know there are several family members and maybe one,, two or three other community members. we are there to do additional investigations to identify any other possibilities. we will cast the net widely to make sure we are identifying even people that they have had direct contact so we are airing its if erring on the side of safety. mr. thompson anything else you

would like to add? >> our role is to look at suspected cases and we really appreciate you bringing your cdc team down to supporting this effort. it's a small framework we are looking at in terms of the number of people but once we get additional information we will report up to the public. >> this is a tried-and-true protocol. this is what we do in public health. it's what we do in this country for a variety of infectious diseases and it's what we do at cdc globally with ebola cases. in fact by coincidence today we released in the morbidity and mortality weekly bulletin a report of the nigeria case investigation where single patient came in. unlike this that patient was not cared for with infection control and it resulted in a number of secondary cases. even in lagos and even with 19 secondary cases they appear to have been able to stop the

outbreak. i have no doubt we will stop this in its tracks in the u.s. but i also have no doubt as long as the outbreak continues in africa we need to be on our guard. other questions in the room? >> lauren from wsa. can you give us a number to tell us how big the team from cdc is going to be and the doctors that are going to be in the hospital where people who are sent out to the community and can you give us more information on that? >> i can get back to you with the exact size of the team. we provide epidemiologists and communications experts. we provide hospital infection control and laboratory experts as needed in the situation and every cdc staff and a 130 in africa are tied tightly to experts here to provide a backup 24/7.

[inaudible] >> we deferred to the local and state health department and they are there on the ground. in the room? on the phone? >> the next question comes from nouri of ap. your line is open. >> thank you. can you even see if this is an american orifice as a visitor and has the health department already reached any of those contacts if contacting us began? >> what i can say is individual is here to visit family who live in this country. further details i think are to be identified in the coming da days, relevant or not. we will see. in terms of contact tracing we are just beginning the process

of investigation today that the health department has already then forward-leaning on that nrd has located information for individuals so that can begin immediately. on the phone. >> the next question from nbc news. your line is open. >> i know you have been extremely careful but people don't -- this virus unless they are showing symptoms nevertheless i think everyone knows they united states has been disbelieving of this so i wonder what steps you might take to reassure people who fear they may have traveled on the same plane with this patient or have been in the airport with his patient that they are not at risk. >> people can always call us at cdc and also check on our web site. the mining question is a flight departing liberia on the 19th and arriving in liberia. i would be a small number of people who would have that level of concern but really i think

it's important we understand a lot about ebola. evil is a virus. it's a virus that is -- by washing your hands. it's easy to stop by using gloves and barrier precautions. the issue is not a bullet is highly infectious. the issue of ebola is that the stakes are so high and that's why the hospital in texas they are taking all of the precautions they need to take to protect health care workers who are caring for this individual. people are infected with ebola when they are sick. think of it this way. when we begin doing testing on people as they become sick even in the initial phases of the illness when they have got a fever the most sensitive tests in the world sometimes don't detect it because there is so little virus that they have. it's it's only is it they become sick they become more infectious that the patient is dying from ebola they can have large

quantities of virus. so there is no risk from having contact with somebody who is either recovering from ebola. i went to the reason myself and embrace people who had recovered from ebola or people who are exposed but not get sick from it. next question on the phone. >> the next question is from "newsweek." your line is open. >> hi. thank you. i know you can give many details about the patient that this is a male and i don't know if there are any other details you can get. i was wondering is this the first ever case in the united states and if not with their previous case diagnosed? >> this is the first patient diagnosed outside of africa to our knowledge with this particular strain of ebola. as i mentioned earlier we have had other patients with

hemorrhagic fever including a patient in 2007 with a virus that's quite a bit like ebola. that individual in 2007 actually was hospitalized and went through surgery before being diagnosed and it did not result in spread to any other individual. this is the first case of ebola diagnosed in the u.s. and as far as we understand that this strain of ebola diagnosed outside of africa. i think we have referred to the patient in any way that we can so far. next question on the phone. >> the next question is from kelly of "bloomberg news." your line is open. >> hi, thank you. i'm just wondering if you can tell me a little bit more about the contact tracing process and how that's done and how you can assure that you have reached all the people that person was in contact with when they were sick. >> contact tracing is a core public health action.

we interview the patient if that's possible. we interview every family memb member. we identify all possible names. we outlined all of the movements that could have occurred from the time of the possible onset of symptoms until the isolation. then in a cascading manner we identify every other individual who can add to that information. we put together a map essentially that identifies the time, the place, the level of the contact and then we used a concentric circle approach to identify those contacts who might have had the highest risk of exposure those at intermediate risk and those who may possibly have had exposure even we think that maybe unlikely. we always err on the side of identifying tracking more context rather than less. i mentioned earlier today in lagos we had 20 cases at cdc and

elsewhere working with nigerian authorities identifying nearly 900 contacts and monitored all of them every day for 21 days. in senegal we identified a single patient who came in, had exposure to at two different health care facilities in the community. we monitored more than 60 contacts every day. none of them became ill so this contact tracing really is core public health and it's what we do day in and day out and what we will be doing here to identify any possible spread and to ensure there aren't further chains of transmission. on the phone. two more questions. >> the next question is from julie operators. your line is open. >> i have two questions. i want to confirm the timeline. my understanding is the patient arrived in the united states on the 20th initially sought treatment on the 26th. i'm assuming came back again on the 28th of september and was

admitted. the second question is will you be offering this patient any serum or -- [inaudible] >> you are correct about the timeline and in terms of experimental therapy that something is being discussed at the hospital now in the family and of appropriate would be provided to the extent available. the last question on the phone. >> the next question comes from denise of "the new york times." your line is open. >> thanks very much. i think people have touched on this but i would just like to to ask this anyway just in case we can get any more clarity on it. can you tell us if this person is an american citizen? will you be releasing information and is it correct to assume that he was staying at home with family members rather

than a hotel? >> the patient was visiting family members and staying with family members who live in this country. we will contact anyone who we think has any likelihood of having had exposure to the individual while they were infectious. at this point that does not include anyone who might have traveled with him because he was not infectious at that time. you asked a third question which i don't remember. >> i asked if he's an american citizen. >> he is visiting family who lives in this country. do we have any other questions in the room? >> to follow-up on that, we you identify the flight information? >> we will identify any contacts where we think there's a risk of transmission. at this point there is zero risk of transmission on the flight. the illness of ebola would not have gone on for 10 days before

diagnosis. he was checked for fever before getting on the flight and there's no reason to think that anyone on the flight that he was on would be at risk. i want to end with the bottom line before we start. ebola is a scary disease because of the severity of illness that causes and we are hoping for the recovery of this individual. at the same time we are stopping it in its tracks in this country. we can do that because of two things, strong health care and infection that stops the spread of ebola and strong core public health functions that trace contacts, track contacts and isolate them if they have any symptoms and stopped the chain of transmission. we are stopping this in its tracks. thank you very much.

before being tackled by a guard. a d.c. grand jury indicted 42-year-old army veteran omar gonzalez on a federal charge of unlawfully entering a restricted building while carrying a deadly or dangerous weapon. he also faces local charges for possessing a weapon and ammunition. the house oversight committee today looked into the in