we have to get the people back into power. let the people come out. i want to represent the people. the libertarian platform is about people, the constitution, doing what is right and fair. >> moderator: mr. astorino, thirty-second. astorino: and democratic consultant for andrew cuomo said he would say anything and do anything including y. to get elected. you have heard tonight and seen it on tv with $21 million of completely negative and false ads. there's only one person here that has a criminal defense team, it is not me. it is andrew cuomo. ..

they feel the curriculum and this whole package is a test and punish regime, not a support and improved version. it nears the curriculum, it ignores a lot of other things that are about education, inquiry, question, collaboration, i want local affairs, teachers and school boards to make the decision about assessment the in the with the kids need. they're the ones who care most about kids. mcdermott: , gore is an abomination virtually. i have a nine year old. we go through 3000 homework every night. i end up having to do most of it for her because she doesn't to be. unfortunately, i don't get it either. i read it i don't understand. listen, 8.6 is 14.

it's not eight plus two is 10, taken away from six to make for, take eight plus two, at four. eight plus six is 14. that maybe minimizing it. the problem is we have to do a lot to common core and we can do. astorino: it's been an an unmitigated disaster everyone admits that. the role it was terrible. emendation is terrible. this is the federal government guiding decisions of her own classrooms in new york. i would replace common core with understands, produce right here in new york by her own educators, our own teachers. teachers are like testing on the montrose. that's not what they got into fuel for. i am supposed to common core, and i do with it around the kitchen table with my wife and children to i stop at stop common core line because we will get rid of common core. cuomo: i understand desperate candidates but there's still some credibility almost common core. i have nothing to do with common core.

it was established by the board of regents which was established by the legislature. i don't appoint anyone to the board of regents. i have nothing to do with it. the only thing i did do with common core was i stopped degrading of common core. because i agree with mr. mcdermott. it was chaotic. it's caused anxiety is caused stress. there's too much testing, to learn. i stopped it with a five year moratorium before the grades would count. if it's not done then -- >> moderator: this is election 14, coming live from the w. in the wtf is to district let's begin a new round of questioning. bob mccarthy has a question for mr. astorino. >> yes. if you are governor can you assure through a motorist that will be no toll hike during your term? especially in light of the huge costs associated with building a new bridge? astorino: what i said is the settlements of over $4 billion should be used directly for

infrastructure. the governor here has put together the bridge. he gets credit for that. just a plan to pay for. we spoke to know what the tolls were which their apps will be going to double or triple but he will say anything ago after the election. is no financing plan. he tried to swipe $5 million from environmental clean water fund to pay for. that's a desperate he is. and yet the tolls are going to go. we know that because he won't admit it. the thruway authority needs work. so does the infrastructure. i said the $4 billion should go directly to infrastructure repairs underground roads. we been highest taxes in america we have third world roads in the state. it's unacceptably. i would develop a plan to make sure that buffalo and the thruway and all of new york get some of that money for necessary roads and bridges repairs. certainly some of it should be applied to the bridge so don't have exorbitant costs and

exorbitantly high tolls. >> moderator: mr. cuomo, one minute. cuomo: i don't think he entered the question. the answer for me to just. the bridge is a great story. it's what mr. mcdermott points out. they talk about placing the bridge for 20 years. all politicians. they were fighting, democrats and republicans but they couldn't get it done. we came in, brought them together, finally rebuilding the bridge after 20 years. everyone agrees it have to be done. we came up with a new way to do it, saving a billion dollars in the construction. it will take about another two or three years to build. we don't have the final cost of the bridge. we are a point for more federal funds. we are looking or state subsidies. we will figure out the tall one we know the final cost but you can't figure out the toll and we know the final bill. but it will be affordable for the commuters. we understand that and that's a commitment from the state which but we do with all of the bridges and all the tolls obviously. and it have to be balanced and

has to be a portal and it will turn for mr. hawkins. hawkins: i can assure you the tolls will be raise. we have infrastructure deficit. it's not just roads and bridges but it's also public transportation. i would have imposed a public transportation first before we get into private roads. we've got interested the guts to come down in my home city of cq's and the discussion from the dot is not how we get commuters in and out of the hospital and university in downtown, and middle-class jobs and suburbs. nothing about the people in the neighbors were have the people don't have cars, can't get to the suburbs for their jobs. target investments. one way to more economically finance infrastructure instead of going to wall street and thank huge finance charges we could have a state bank like north dakota does. then we get the interest and principal back in the public treasury. we put the state money there and we operate as a bank as the state of new york and we could lower the cost of financing

these long-term investments and infrastructure. >> moderator: mr. mcdermott, one minute traffic after listening to these guys i'm not quite sure what the question was. will you raise the poll? was added? i would not raise the toll. i also take the palisades because the capital across a tapestry bridge. it's crowded, busy. the gas is 30 cents cheaper. why is that? at gas stations 30 cents on but anyway, the problem is you can have independent commission, you can do lots of things to try to make it seem like we can raise money. a huge bloated government to we have to reduce taxes, get the government down to its constitutional size. as far as raising money you don't raise the tolls. the trucks that travel over the struts can barely afford it. we have people fleeing new york because they can afford to travel. let's get some sense back into this thing. i agree as far as we have to take a lot of these things.

let's do it in a responsible way with people of new york. i keep using the word empowerment because the people have to be empowered to make these decisions. these cannot be made by democrats and republicans fighting over who's going to fund what. >> mr. cuomo, you said in a public radio interview the people with extreme views such as antiabortion and anti-gun-control don't belong in new york. can you oppose abortion or gun control and still be welcome here? cuomo: of course. that's not what i said, care and. but that's not what i meant. i do the exact words you are referring to. this is my point. the ultraconservative philosophy that is being put forth by mr. astorino i think his respects women, because it takes away a woman's right to choose. i think it is respects minorities because he's being sued for discrimination by the federal government because minorities can't move into his county. i think it is respects

immigrants i being against the dream act. i think it is respects days by being against marriage equality, which is a question of equal rights and why would we discriminate against gays? that's not who new yorkers are. i don't believe there's political support for a politician who has that position. you want to have your own religious beliefs? god bless you. i respect them. i happened to be catholic. i put on the list. but i'm not imposing my release believes are the people of the state of new york. >> moderator: mr. hawkins, one minute. hawkins: i think new york is the place for everybody and nobody should be represented in the political system. we should switch to a system of proportional representation like most democracy in the world. if your party gets 10% or 20%, you get 10% or 20% of the seats in the legislature. then everybody is together and represented. we have these one party districts because of

gerrymandering. when you redistricting and there's no competition. i have six senate seats around syracuse, central new york where there's no opposition. i think that's one way to include everybody in the process so people are not feeling alienated. as far as the women's equality agenda goes, i'm upset that night of the items were held hostage. we could've had two years ago nine items referring to the equity and other discrimination and then focus the selection of the 10th item which is reproductive rights and put the pressure on the senators that are not for reproductive rights. we need to expand the women's equality agenda to do with the economic issues affecting working class women like the minimum wage, majority of workers, minimum-wage workers are women. >> moderator: is to mcdermott one minute. mcdermott: listen, i don't know governor cuomo personally. i know if that was said, he didn't mean that. that's ridiculous. to seize on something like that, you know he didn't mean to as a practicing catholic you know what his stance is personally on abortion and women's rights.

but here's the choice. the bigotry and platform really does work in a situation like this. i personally am opposed to abortion, forcibly everything life is sacred. sacred. if i get about all those children i would like to am i to propose that i have a right with the government has a right to insist what a woman should be able to do with her own body? delay between platform is one of individual freedom. you should decide what you should do, which need to do. it's not for me to to to women's equality party, nothing to do with women's equality but it has to do with another vote for andrew cuomo. same thing with stop, corporate nothing to do with stopping common core the another vote for rob astorino. we've got to get away from these tricks. say what it is. what it is that women are equal to they should have their own choice, decide what they want for the on parties and the government does not have right to decide for them. astorino: shame on governor cuomo for playing the race card including tonight. disrespecting women by supporting shelly silver, shelly

silver used a half million dollars in state money as a hush money, cover-up for sexual assault in the assembly, and as attorney general andrew cuomo signed up and defended silver's right to do that. he signed off on a hush money silencing women. where was the women's justice there? on abortion, come on, abortion is not going anywhere in new york. it was made legal way before roe v. wade. abortion issues as the bogeyman's we just have to talk about how bad this state is doing or why is under federal investigation for corruption. that's what he talks about that kind of stuff. and yes abortion, i will not expand abortion in this state through nine months, which is exactly what andrew cuomo's bill will do, and allow non-doctors to perform those risky surgeries. so if you want to talk about abortion, let's get the facts out about how radical you really are and out of step with new york, even pro-choicers.

>> mr. hawke is, public and school closings and the spread of charter schools have sparked consider controversy in many urban school district. charter schools activists, advocates have countered with multimillion dollar ad campaigns and protests are better for me. a1 albany to lift the current statewide cap a 460 charter schools but what is your position and what do you say to those who regard charters as a vital alternative to failing public schools? hawkins: public schools fail because we're the most segregated state in the united states and we have concentrated poverty in all those problems come to the school for not getting the resources they need. in their defined as failed by the testing and then turned over to charters where like on this excess academy board in new york city there are a bunch of hedge fund investor to take effect of tax credits and make money even in these charters are nominally

nonprofit. this is a cannibalization of our public school system. i am for a full and ecuador funding of public schools. we need to get rid of the cat elimination adjustment which is balance the state budget on the back of our school children to go back to the aid formula to provide every student like our state constitution said with a sound basic education. we need to fully fund our schools and been charters, i'm not for expanded the. i'm for letting those -- if they are good, good but it did not they should be shut down. mcdermott: i don't agree with it. i have to do. charter schools, you know what they are? their publicly funded schools that have no local control. the former u.s. education sector under ronald reagan said charter schools is the endgame. common core is a distraction to and about that for a minute. we cannot have charter schools expanded. we need to bring schools back to local control, local people,

local school for. there's no local school board with charter schools. i know mr. astorino has come through with the wants to stop, court and that might be true, however he seems to support charter schools which we will find out what he says next. charter schools is terrible. it takes away government, takes with the people's control over the education of their children. my little girl, she's not going to a charter school. we may be forced to do. i will home school before she goes to a charter school because i want local control. i and a pair. my wife is a parent. i want to control our children's education. i want local school boards and teachers to allow them to teach. that doesn't happen with charter schools kind of on a big believer in public education but on the product of public education. i was on a school board. my three kids go to public education and my wife is a special education teacher so i believe strongly. it was governor cuomo took way seven and a half billion dollars in school aid to public schools throughout new york state. we want to get the back as best

we can so don't have to of cuts in our schools with our teachers and our priorities put by the wayside. i want to go back to the litany of nonsense he just talked about. i'm proud to be county executive and a county of million people in westchester, to 20 progress but it's the fourth most diverse county in new york and i can only get elected twice by 13 points margins with the help of democrats, of women, of african-americans, and latinas. i won the latino vote in westchester county, and 25% of the afghan american vote. it's doing what i will win this election to ask for your support in this election because we can make new york great again but don't listen to his nonsense. when he throws out the race card is because he has no ideas. cuomo: the facts again as opposed to a rhetoric. mr. astorino's tax plan is very simple to tax cuts for the rich that would decimate public education because it would decimate the budget. as far as race relations, the

federal government -- for discrimination and its mr. astorino. they have taken $20 million from him. for discriminating in westchester county because african-americans and latinos cannot be in the county. it's gone on for five years. as far as a woman's right to choose, all my losses is codify roe v. wade which was a court case 40 years ago that gave implement the right to choose but it doesn't increase it at all. he is against it. he has said that i'm a catholic and the catholic church is against abortion and i won't let it happen. it's ghastly. i understand it. i'm a roman catholic too, but you uphold the law. you don't uphold your religion. i respect the woman's right to choose and i will defend it. >> moderator: we have another video questions submitted by a voter. >> i am gary walters. if you are elected to governor of new york, what type of

financial assistance will you provide the buffalo bills were a new domed stadium? >> moderator: you each have 30 seconds to respond and we will start with mr. mcdermott and i thought the miami dolphins were coming to buffalo? was i wrong? listen, the state has a role. the state has a very strong role in making things right but the buffalo bills sustained i would like to see a brand-new beautiful stadium and i think private enterprise should involve the not the big corporations. there's difference between corporation and government. let's get people involved back and work on donations and that sort of thing to build the stadium. i think the buffalo bills are great. i would like to see them win every civil and i would like to see them have a brand-new stadium to support them. let's face facts. people in your cap to be in part to make these decisions. we don't need the government to get in the way. astorino: i think the stadium got enough upgrades with county and state money, so i think the

stadium looks good. i don't think tax money should go for a billionaire, though i'm glad that the team by the way. but to answer his last question, the battle with hud, his old agency who is usually for by the way is the federal government wants to take over zoning in westchester in every neighborhood around this country and put apartment buildings any neighborhood. i'm going to fight that tooth and new. these reverse old agency. cuomo: the federal government is trying to enforce the civil rights laws that says you can't discriminate against people based on color of skin. the law was passed after martin luther king's death as a tribute to them. yes, the federal government enforces civil rights laws and they say your discriminating against african-americans and low-income people, and it's a disgrace that it should happen in this state. my opponent is also against the buffalo billion which is been a homerun for buffalo. it's coming back, coming back big time. i do want to deliver any more

money for buffalo. i spent billions and let's . hawkins: i think the new owner has enough money if he wants a new stadium. he's a smart businessman. he got out of the fracking industry at its peak. if he does needed, however, i think at the state goes and we ought to have ownership share. in other words, like any other owner we have to get our share of profits at able to look at the books. that might be better what to make sure the bills stay here permanently like the green bay packers have an ownership structure that anchors that came to little green bay. i would like to see it appear in upstate new york to our team will never leave. >> moderator: this is election 14 the race for governor coming to you live from wned wbfo studious. let's begin a new round of questioning. bob mccarthy is a question for mr. cuomo. >> yes, mr. cuomo, if elected to a second term will you pledge to serve a full four-year term

lacks. cuomo: if i drop dead of a heart attack and how does that count? does not violate the pledge? >> yes. >> moderator: we now go to mr. hawkins transit if elected i will serve a full term. you know, providing i'm alive and kicking. >> moderator: mr. mcdermott one minute. mcdermott: idea because it's a good question but i want to go to another question and yes, of course hosted for full four years. my daughter is already planning on moving to the governor's mansion. she's nine but okay, honey. i want to talk about this race card they keep talking about the the only race card accounts is the red and blue. that's it. i don't look at people as black, white, chinese, latino, all the other races there are. we are one people, new yorkers. we have to be empowered. it's the blue and the red that's the problem. the blue and red is not the answer. that's the problem and that's what we have to take care of. we had to come back and get people back in fall. anytime you come up with

something somebody said this or that, it's red and blue. that's why you cannot stop thinking like that. start thinking about like new yorkers and work on new york problems. work on what is best for new york. will we build a new stadium? no matter what we do, women's empowerment can stop common core, we are new yorkers. we have the right to do we have to do it with to get back to having the power and be empowered to do that. astorino: yes, i will. let's go back to the race stuff he's throwing out which is just despicable. i'm proud to have been endorsed by the president of united black clergy of westchester. the chairman of the national action network and the democrats are asked of you last year in my reelection. by many latino leaders and black leaders throughout westchester county. i never would've got their support if we were racist. in fact, this lawsuit he is referring to was by the democratic administration before i got there but, in fact, his chief of staff now was the

deputy county executive in who called it a garbage lawsuit, and he was right. this is all about the federal government overreaching, coming into westchester and coming into your community next. they are using this guys and trying to go after zoning and equating it with racism and segregation with offer no proof. i will defend my community and every community in new york from the federal government trying to put apartment buildings in any neighborhood that they choose. he says that he lives in which is what the clintons live is racist and segregated and discriminatory. i don't think that's right. >> mr. hawkins, i hope we can stick to the topic of this question. new york is in the process of setting up a limited medical marijuana program. how long do you think it will be before marijuana is completely legal in new york, and should it be? >> moderator: 60 seconds transit if i'm elected i will push hard for legalization,

revelation and taxation of marijuana like washington state and colorado are now doing. we have an enormous problem of tens of thousands of people going to prison for nonviolent offenses for holding and using marijuana. it's irrational. it has destroyed communities, families, and individuals opportunities in life. it's been particularly targeted at black and latino communities so that while whites, black soldiers used drugs at the same level, 94% of our prisoners in state hands are black or latino. i would provide clemency for nonviolent drug offenders as well as those of going through system so they would be granted when they go for housing, jobs and education. i also call for truth and justice and reconciliation commission took sam of the damages and make recommendations for how we can put these committees and families back together. >> moderator: mr. mcdermott, 60 seconds.

mcdermott: i think i can stay on this topic. the marijuana, the repeal of prohibition of marijuana has been a lived in platform for the last 42 years that we've been in existence in new york. mr. hawkins is right to our jails are overfilled the the war on drugs is a dismal failure. marijuana, if you want to go home and smoke a joint, that's your right. i don't care. i don't smoke because it makes me choke, just like cigarettes do. but you have a right to put what you want in your own body. i agree that, it's not a matter of legalization of marijuana, it's about nullifying and repealing all prohibition of marijuana. marijuana is not the problem. the problem is the war on drugs where we have jails filled with kids that were arrested and had the stigma. where did they come out? they can't get a job because of nfl and because they smoke marijuana. i'm not talking about children of course. i'm talking about adults. adults have a right to do what they want with their bodies.

astorino: faq support medical marijuana in limited circumstances. i think it's compassionate to do. i don't want the widespread recreation use of marijuana throughout the state i don't want a dispenser on every street corner. i want to go back to what he was talking about taxes before because i think he has become so tone deaf to what the average new yorker is dealing with right now. i have traveled all 62 counties, talk to a lot of people and they're hurting. people looking for jobs, people looking for a way out of new york and that shouldn't be. under governor cuomo, taxes keep go u up and up and up if you rer to westchester county. what he didn't tell you was in my five years i've got county taxes more than any county in new york state the my budget is smaller today than when i walked in the door, 1.8 billion, to 1.7 building. he can't say that as he the one. he should be thanking me. i miscount exactly. his county taxes went down to the other taxes went up because

you failed on your newborn issue back in this debate in 2010, the unfunded mandates. for all intents and purpose when your taxes go up to his because of a state property tax now under andrew cuomo. cuomo: i support medical marijuana. i don't support legalizing marijuana. as far as the important items we are discussing, discrimination is the purview of the federal government. the civil war was fought. it has authority over the state. you are one of 3000 account executives, the only one being sued, only one, only you. $20 million find. as far as taxes are concerned, that taxes didn't go down in westchester county. you are the highest taxed can industry, highest taxed county in united states of america. taxes went up 8% for westchester homeowners. you will say that was that sounds and the villages. it's a shell game. property taxes are killing this

day. i reduced estate taxes, income taxes, corporate taxes. the property taxes are killing the state. 400 governments in westchester, a county exec it should have called them together and said we have to find ways to save money because we're killing the taxpayer time for the candidates will now deliver closing statements, each candidate will have one minute and we will begin with mr. cuomo. cuomo: thank you very much. there is no doubt that the state has suffered for many decades, special in upstate new york the we saw young people leaving. we saw jobs leaving and frequent upstate new york was abandoned by albany. the there is a down statement on the took over and it would focus on downstate and upstate new frank we didn't get the attention they deserve. we have reversed that. that's what they both will do is all about. that's why when my opponent says he will stop, over my dead body. that would be saying dropdead to buffalo.

upstate new york is coming back. our taxes are at historic lows. our jobs are at historic highs. 7.6 million jobs, more than ever before in the history. and we respect people's rights. we have democrats and republicans working together again in albany. we've had for budgets on time in a row. hadn't happened in 40 years. there is more work to do to be certain, but the arrows are pointing in the right direction. i want to keep doing it, keep the state moving forward. i want to keep upstate moving forward together. mcdermott: we started this in my opening remarks. i ask you to please listen as new yorkers. now i want to speak it as a libertarian. democrats and republicans are the problem. you want to stop, core? vote libertarian one time. vote libertarian this one thing to do want to make a difference for new york? don't think that you can't vote and get to vote for democrat or

republican. just vote for libertarians one time. vote for michael mcdermott. to want to stop the safe act? repeal it. vote they became. you want to not have charter schools taking over our children? local control? vote libertarian one time. ..

do you feel your taxes have gone down they haven't. the taxes keep going up everywhere despite the fact that we cut tax and they went up because he failed to do what he said he was going to do and get rid of these mandates from albany. we can be a great state again. please check out my plan and donate money. come to the cause. we can do this in the turned the state around from my family and yours. [speaking in spanish] together we can make this state of great again. >> moderator: you have a minute for your closing statement. hawkins: we barely touched on the issues. that is the record for the independent progressive third-party candidate in new york history on the statewide election that we can go much higher.

i'm the only candidate on the ballot for governor but once full employment. we have a plan for it. who wants a minimum wage that is a age of $15 an hour as single-payer health plan. it planned for the public schools, for public campaign financing and the tax reform policy that would give tax cuts for 95% of us who are raising 25% more revenues and can share with the localities and cut the property taxes. who wants to ban fraking about cut or electric bills our electric bills in half. these new deal policies i think our policies the majority of the working-class and middle-class people support. if we get out the vote and vote for what we want we can win this election. >> moderator: thank you to the panelists and the league of women voters for helping to ninth program and we also think the candidates, rob astorino,

andrew cuomo, michael hawkins and michael mcdermott. [applause] we also thank you for watching and listening and now it is time to make your voice heard. please remember to vote on tuesday, november 4. i'm brian myer. good evening. [applause] ♪ ♪ support for election 14 the race for governor comes from verizon. >> with the technology networks we provide answers and communication solutions that will help create a better tomorrow for our community.

we are proud to support this broadcast of the 2014 gubernatorial debate. one of the states we will be focusing on the south carolina where republican senator tim scott is up against joyce dickerson and independent joe bossi. here is a look at one of their debates. >> one of the things on a lot of folks mind is great to be medicare and how we keep it going. how do we sustain it as of course again as some of you have mentioned for your children and grandchildren so how do we sustain medicare for the future.

scott: to look back at obamacare were results of an hundred $16 billion siphoned from medicare in order to encourage young people to buy insurance. i don't think the seniors should be subsidizing the cost. it's one of the most important things we can do but we have to take a look at medicare, the number for the waste, fraud and abuse around 9% the average of corporate america is closer to 2%, 1%. so to look for medicare and ways to reduce we would see a pathway forward. the healthcare costs -- >> moderator: thank you. bossi: we need to protect medicare. i had my two parents for 1915 my brother didn't go father was born in 1922.

they were dependent that it was a good and sound program and we need to strengthen it and keep going. but i think that we need to look at the holistic issue of health care in america. whether you call it to the aca were obamacare, we need to look at the end of the veterans. 80s or not to be homeless or to be hungry and to have the healthcare that they deserve. we need to look at it holistically and bring the entrance company to the table. the medical experts to the table and come up with a plan that provides the kind of insurance all of america needs. >> moderator: ms. speaking lebanon. dickerson: one of the things i'm hearing is this is something i don't think it's very much on my mind so we have to make sure that we protect our seniors. some people call that entitlement.

but i leave when i got my paycheck and senator scott got his paycheck we found that they deducted the cost in the paycheck. so how can you say that that is entitlement? you earned it and the servant and i will support medicare and make sure that we protect it cause it is viable tool of the citizens. >> as we head into the last few days we are continuing to show dates from around the country. join us tonight for more on our companion network c-span at eight eastern at the debate between the candidates for alaska senator in the democratic incumbent mark begish against republican dan sullivan. a couple hours later we go to virginia's second congressional district is represented by eric cantor before his primary loss earlier this year. the candidates in the race are republican dave brat and jack trammell.

more campaign 2014 coverage

now with a discussion among latinos and the midterm elections. according to the pew hispanic institute latinos make up 11% of the electorate and 17% of the general u.s. population. speakers at this event include the president of the congressional hispanic caucus institute and the director of hispanic media for the republican national committee. from earlier today this runs just over an hour. >> we would like to welcome you to the national press club. we have four very distinguished speakers. let me introduce each of them to you. mark hugo lopez is the director of hispanic research at the pew institute and he has his phd from princeton university. for the republican national committee who served as the

communications director for texas congressman sam johnson. esther aguilera is president and ceo of chci that assist hispanic students and was better actor of the congressional hispanic caucus and holds a degree from occidental college and is a native of mexico. peggy orchowskki is on the outlook magazine in washington and holds a phd from the university of california santa barbara. and with that, the program begins. >> think you will thank you" on everyone. one of the greatest pleasures i get covering hispanics is discovering and writing about the great diversity of

backgrounds in terms of the multiracial multinational, multigenerational, and in some cases multilingual. latinos are as diverse as america so in this newsmaker four days before the midterm election where there is a possibility of the senate switching from a dominant democratic leadership to republican we are going to focus on the hispanic latino electorate. that is in general those of a hispanic heritage who are eligible to vote because they are over the age of 18 and they are citizens of the united states. but we are going to go deeper into the information about this electorate than most journalists do. when most people talk about the

latino vote including most members of the press, they tend to be great but hispanic population with the electorate into those that actually vote. the director of research at the pew hispanic center and is a recognized expert on hispanic demographics is going to parse down those numbers for us and at the five parts of the vote that i think should be distinguished that is the part of the population and the electorate and those that are eligible to vote, the registration, those that register to vote, the turnout and i would like to go deeper into how those split by party and we can talk about issues and i also would like to percentage of hispanic voters

with the spanish at the polls. mark will also than talk about what his research has found. particularly the issue of immigration reform. that is the changing of immigration laws. then we will hear from the two directors of organizations that are heavily involved in the hispanic electorate. esther aguilera and outreach for the national republican party and they expanded the hispanic electorate and voter turnout are shaped and how they are developing. we are also interested in what issues they feel are important to turnout hispanic voters. i want to think the panelists were thank the panelists were coming and being flexible with

the changes and i want to thank susan for helped me very much with the context of this event. i would also like to request all the panels speak spanish and that since we don't have an official translator and in the interest of time that question will be made after the event. with let's start with mark thanks for the great introduction. i appreciate being here today it is a pleasure and i want to tell you a little bit about what has been happening in the hispanic vote. there are more than 25 million direct at least 18 that are eligible to vote but on the

americans are in that are in this age group and are u.s. citizens in the u.s. population overall they make 17% of all americans but only 11% of those that are eligible to vote. now when you start breaking it down by registered voters and then down to the voters and recent election cycles, hispanics start to reach about eight, nine come in nearly 10% of the voters overall. but as you can see one of my colleagues used to say given the presence of the general population. you wonder why that might be. there's a couple of reasons. many latinos about 18 million are under the age of 18 so they are not eligible to vote yes because they yet because they haven't quite aged into adult hood. the second big reason why you see many latinos that are in eligible to vote is that they may be adults. they may be in the country illegally but they are not u.s.

citizens get where they may be in the country illegally and therefore are not u.s. citizens. these groups meet at made up a significant portion of the adult population and that is part of the reason my overall latinos tend to punch below the weight. a couple of other things that i think are worth noting the hispanic vote, 25 million potential voters reside and the population has been growing over the last ten, 15, 20 years. but half of them are just into two states. in the two states. california and texas and if you include florida. all of the states that have just mentioned florida is the only one where we have eight close governor's race where the latinos are likely to play an important role shaping the outcome of that particular election. but the map for this year is one that emphasizes states like

alaska. in in cases like colorado they make nearly 15% of eligible voters in the state of colorado. however in the states like alaska they make 7% of eligible voters and in the states like georgia where the latinos make up nearly 10% of the state population among the registered voters in georgia and they make about 2% of the registered voters. succumb it interesting the weight of the vote is not what you would expect it to be given its relative population size and i think that this is an important point to note. who are latino voters? we did a survey and we asked the

hispanic voters voters in and and the questions including about the demographics. you will find that 70%, almost three quarters in fact are us-born. so the us-born make up the bulk of the hispanic voters among the hispanic adults overall. it is an important distinction to note that the registered voters tend to be more in the united states. the second thing is about language. you will find that. that is still about 17%. about 48% are bilingual and more

than a third are english dominant in other words they conduct most of their business and their daily lives. i think those are some important numbers to point to particularly because a lot of -- if you take a look at where the hispanic community goes able to does go to the spanish-language media but many of the voters don't necessarily want to spanish media especially those that were english dominant and us-born. the most recent survey shows those that identify their split in the recent years and in 2012 it was up 70% so 70% of the registered voters are in 2012 so they identify with or they lean towards the democratic party. today that number is that 63%. and as you might expect the republican party has made some gains from 20% back then to 27%

today. so there've been some changes and in addition when you look at the the congressional vote which is what we are interested in today it is interesting when you look at the congressional vote but there are the intentions but about two thirds of the hispanic registered voters said they are going to support the candidate and the congressional race. today that number is at 57%. so there's been a decline in the share of hispanics say they will support the local democratic candidate. i still want to point out that there is a wide advantage here on the part of democrats. democrats still have a very wide advantage among what he knows in terms of the party affiliation and the intention to vote and one other interesting thing to point out is when you ask which party has more concern to the community. 38% say there is no difference between the two parties but the

democratic share is down from 63% from just two years ago. so even in the perceptions the democratic party has lost some ground among latinos. partly that is because the issues. one reason is immigration and the surveys show any hispanics want it soon in fact more say this now than with the case to many latinos three quarters tell us they are very important issues to them personally. in education and and health care it's seen by many latinos as just as important or sometimes even more important than the issue of immigration. so immigration looms large and it's an important issue for the latino voters but other issues as well such as the economy and jobs also resignation with them and on these issues it's

interesting from our survey you will find that latinos to say that the democrats are generally the better party for the economy for example or dealing with immigration. despite some of the recent lack of progress on democratic republicans. that is a lot of data and that is a lot of information and i hope that that has been informative. but i do want to close by saying one other thing. so, when we talk about the latino vote in 2010 and some of the states where there are close races with look at colorado. about 144,000 hispanics voted in 2010. that is about a 31, 35% to 35% turnout rate in that state for that year. and in the state of florida, some 858,000 latinos voted in 2010 and that is a turnout rate of about 45%. now how does it compare to the general public tax in colorado there was a ten percentage point gap that is long hispanics voted

at the rate in 2010 but in florida hispanics were voting at a rate very similar to the white and black counterparts in the governor's race in 2010. we will see what happens this year. it remains to be seen but if there is an awful lot of interesting patterns and trends and potential impacts of the latino vote that we are going to see on tuesday. >> we will have plenty of time for questions and answers and. i am the communications director for the hispanic media and what i wanted to share with you today is back in 2012 after

republicans lost the white house be realized we need to make some changes and as many of you have heard, the grant opportunity project came out and under the leadership of chairman made significant efforts to engage hispanic communities across the u.s.. we are now in 11 different states where the house and governors races are. in the hispanic community as the chair man says you can't fully represent the american people unless you end age and build relationships with the hispanic community. succumb our efforts are not going to be year-round. we are involved in savanna martinez governor's race in colorado.

as mark pointed out in the republicans have seen progress in their numbers with the hispanic community and i think it has a legitimate or lot to do with our year-long presence in these communities. not only are we working with state parties but the candidates as well taking into these communities and in order to communicate our message and share the story because we know that if we are not doing that we know that the party is going to mischaracterize exactly who the republicans are and what they stand for. the phase that we implemented, the first is the data identification. it's going to the hispanic community and meeting with business leaders and community leaders in identifying what the events are in the community and getting the candidates together to go to those events on a daily

basis. having all of this data and identification process in one place either at the republican national committee and the state parties as well. we are -- once we have all that data and information, we are engaging. we are meeting with these pastors and having the candidates about and communicate and now we saw yesterday that he had a spanish debate with the governor in colorado yesterday that's the first that has taken place. so we are seeing all of these extraordinary efforts and i think that is why you see the republicans making in roads in the hispanic community. you also have the third phase of that is persuasion and get out the vote effort and white latinos are not getting out and voting. we have a strong presence however we are not using our power. so, we are engaging them and getting them to go out give up to vote and taking a spanish language website in order for them to have their information in the language that they

prefer. and so, we feel confident we are not seeking anything for granted. but we are seeing that we are making inroads in our message is resonating with the hispanic community. >> thank you to the national press club and good morning. i'm esther aguilera, ceo and president of the hispanic caucus institute at first to clarify who we are, chci is a private nonprofit organization established by congress to educate, empower and connect and we work with latino youth through providing paid internships, fellowships and getting young people ready for college. but our vision, the organization's vision is as is typically engaged in the and

intervening to all sectors of society. the stats that be had by mark obviously paint a large population where half are eligible to vote and up have a turnout as we saw in 2012 was 46%. so the civic engagement and the importance of participating to impact the welfare of your family, community and the nation are the type of work and things that we push for and do. in this election we know that overall the latino population at the voter is not a swing voter.

there is a significant portion that is up for grabs so it is not a population that can be taken for granted. they don't see either party so that again speaks to the issues. we also know that the latino population is more optimistic than the general population when you ask the question about how do you see the next generation and opportunities for the next generation in the american dream the latino population is there and it has higher rates of optimism over the country is that where the next generation has to go.

in terms of what is important to the community we know that immigration is one of those entry points to the heart to speak to the values of the community community cares about jobs and about economic well-being and about safety and health. so things like health and health insurance are very important. why do latinos need to participate to speak? told insurance is important because the hispanic population before the correct was 30% uninsured. more percentage of hispanics were not assured and the general in the general population of the ratio of one to three. so the population stands to gain the most by fixing our top insurance system and we've seen the numbers of hispanics who are

insured co-op so it is a good trend. it is considered a working poor population and tends to be very diverse. we have a growing entrepreneurial and business executive rank that the majority are still working hard in the multiple jobs and 43% of the latino workers earn poverty level wages although they work and so clearly anything that helps with the wage level is going to be imported into any part of the candidates to speak to the welfare and jobs on the health insurance and education as children are going to be what

is good to designate the community. as of again it is a population that swings democrat but there is a significant amount and it's about the issues that matter to the population and to the community. the other thing i wanted to mention is that overall, in the mainstream there is a huge misrepresentation of latinos and who they are. they are refusing to learn english and embracing the american values when in fact the opposite is true. it is a growing and a diverse population that is hard-working and building businesses to the jobs and in the small-business sector and in the executive positions. and it is a population that is

contributing at every level and very much we have higher rates of latinos serving in the armed forces, very patriotic and often times the story of the community is not. so it is misunderstood and is not spoken to for the issues the community cares about, that's where these matters and into the well-being of the families matter. their families matter. but the last thing i'm going to mention is this is about the growing instance of the latino community and we know that it's 54 million in the and the population today. 17% of the population but it's also already 25% of americans under 18 are latino and actually

i referred to some of mark's statistics. the growing number of percentages of hispanics growing our nativeborn us-born hispanics and if you look at the demographic of us-born hispanics , the median age is 18-years-old. this is a very young demographic and so we are seeing that is only going to grow. there is much more potential to turn out the vote and speak on the issues i community cares about and the growing numbers in the future. as it was mentioned in this particular election is going to be a handful of races where the population will have a significant impact as it was mentioned on the senate in

colorado with 15.4% eligible voters speaking hispanic on the governor's races. arizona has 22% hispanic eligible electorate. florida is important in the colorado. thank you for having me. >> it's important to distinguish between the population and the electorate in that for this election in the states you mentioned in arizona, and i'm wondering if you have statistics in arizona that the senate race is important as far as turning

and flipping but the governor's races interest me and i think that also martinez and mexico. that is also a high hispanic state. so could you talk about the hispanics in new mexico, colorado and in terms of the party affiliation and again talking about the electorate of color rather than to the mexico are interesting states. let's talk about new mexico which by the way is the ninth largest hispanic state. hispanics make up about 40% of all eligible voters and it's actually the highest hispanic voter% share of any one of the states. it's interesting that this is also a thing that has the to hispanics that have a long time to the state. his account of families have

been there for many generations. there parents are us-born and they traced the roots trace their roots back to spain in many cases. we think it's important to recognize that susanna martinez who is the current governor running for it every election this year she is republican. now, we don't have an exit poll from the 2010. and i know there are some others prior to the election election by doctor member of the figures for them. that susanna martinez i don't think won a significant share of the hispanic vote but compared to other candidates. the second thing is colorado. when you take a look at loreto, there are interesting results in colorado because of course colorado is similar to new mexico in the sense that there's a large hispanic population but they're hispanics take up 15% of

the eligible voters. in the this year's election i think that you will find they play an important role and they are leaning towards the democratic party in colorado. i'm going to stop there because i think that there are good questions to turn to. did you have something that you wanted to add? >> in the governor's race there is a lot of attention being paid to central florida in the orlando area where there is a huge number of puerto ricans and it's an area that has more than itself. within the past, florida has been pivoting on the vote as well and is another one to watch

it's important to note that republicans have rick scott was the first latino and we have carlos running as well and those are all tight races where we are seeing republicans being competitive with democrats even in the years past, they've leaned dave leaned towards the democratic party we are seeing republicans being competitive to many cases like susanna martinez winning in exactly the same way that's happened so we have plenty making inroads in their hispanic communities. so, that is an important note to me.

>> questions from all of you? please identify who you are with. speak of [inaudible] to speak about the republican leaders of washington that are already planning for taking over the united states senate and so it included in the front page article the republicans that are having here in washington for control of the united states

congress to what he said is to be affordable ^-caret providing affordable health care for millions of latinos and so my question is you mentioned people at the grassroots level. i wonder what did they say we know people that are benefiting from the affordable care act so what did you say to them and really get them to vote for republicans and not only that republican control but the house

voted some 50 times two appeal the act because the discrimination and the other question is about the gun issue knowing how many latino families are affected by gun violence and that are hurt by gun violence. [inaudible] to keep blocking that's why is it the grassroots on the minimum

wage [inaudible] >> told that to the latino families. >> to answer the first question on obamacare and while we have seen that obamacare has given access to people, we have also seen that it has canceled plans for millions of families and we have seen that it's not as affordable and as accessible as it claims to be. people are receiving cancellation notices. people are seeking -- doctors are not seeking new patients. so there is a way yes our healthcare system wasn't perfect but was obamacare the solution to fix it seems it has not and that's the story we hear each and every day do we want to make healthcare affordable? yes but we want to make the decision to portable between the

patient and the doctor. government shouldn't be involved and to tell you this is what you and your family need and those are the things that we are hearing from hispanic families they want to make those decisions between them and their doctors and not the bureaucrats so that's the issue that we have. it's not because we don't believe in affordable or acceptable healthcare that obamacare wasn't the solution and there's been plenty of republican efforts to fix certain parts of the healthcare system. >> name one. >> okay for example small businesses with now come hispanic small businesses are hurting because of the mandates obamacare has put in place. they are having to close their doors. workers that have 40 hours of work and no obamacare cut them down. that hurts wages as well so we are hearing these kind of stories and we want to provide solutions and republicans have the solutions to provide patient

centered reform for obamacare, to answer the first question. >> i would say that there have been efforts on both sides of the aisle and i would've me do more to the policy side. i'm here to talk about more of the political aspect of things. but i will leave that to the decisions made in a big building that's in the center of this. but on the minimum wage i will say that the fact that you say minimum wage is an important issue and it needs to be debated yes but it can't be only when it comes to election time and that's when it seems to come around every time for the talking point that democrats have had its winning election time rolls around you want to talk about that issue and if you -- increasing the minimum wage on the federal level it won't

necessarily work in california as it will in texas or nevada and it will hurt certain businesses and we have heard that from small businesses in the hispanic community so these are all things that yes we need to have a serious dialogue about it but you can't bring it up just for election time talking points. [inaudible] first where do latinos stand on gun control in a recent study we did 62% say we should have some form of gun control and 36% say you should protect the rights of americans to own guns. how does that compare to the general public, 45% want gun control and 53% say you should protect the rights of americans to own guns so definitely a difference in on the minimum wage 84% favor raising the federal minimum wage.

among the general public that number is 73%. so on some of these issues, latinos are of a different opinion than others and in terms of health care i healthcare i think one of the interesting things on healthcare is that obamacare doesn't cover some types of individuals so for example if you are in the country without authorization you are not going to be able to participate but hispanics have continued and it's largely because health insurance rates have been lower than they have been for the general public particularly for the foreign-born under the age of 18 that's where you've seen a lot of relatively low health insurance rates among hispanics.

this is a question for ruth. it shows all the although more people are driving the issue having said that i am wondering if your comments are on the fact that after the last midterm after the last election they are critical [inaudible] there is a lot of talk about about more enforcement.

so if you do have a message in the community how do you reconcile the discrepancy filled in the republican party. i'm wondering how do you plan to get in the discrepancy? >> that perception you pointed out is important and that is one of the perceptions that are in the engagement efforts in the community that we are focused on changing and revealing the truth about who we are as a republican party. so as far as immigration reform goes as you saw in the senate it was republicans like marco rubio and jeff flake and senator mccain who championed immigration reform and use all those efforts in the house as well with mario diaz-balart and

with -- sorry, mario diaz-balart and very conservative members as well like sam johnson and judge carter from texas so you saw in labrador as well use all the members from the republican party that had very different views on immigration coming together to try to solve the problem. and as the chairman has always said we are a nation of immigrants and our system is broken and we do need to address that. i think those feelings remain and have been pretty consistent since the 2012 evaluation that we did after he lost the white house. so it is yet to be seen what the legislators have in mind but i think that as a republican party platform stands we need to address immigration reform and it needs to secure the borders and we saw what happened when the borders are not secure. we saw that over the summer we saw more than 60,000 chopper and making a dangerous

life-threatening trip from ramallah and el salvador over to the u.s. going through and dealing with drug cartels and going through a different path just to make it to the u.s. there is nothing humane about that and we cannot encourage and give our neighboring countries the wrong signal that people can come here and be able to stay. we do welcome immigrants and we will always welcome immigrants. we are in nation of immigrants that has to be done the right way and people have waited a long time and we must continue to follow our laws. so as far as immigration goes, we're pretty confident we we are pretty confident we will take the senate this tuesday or maybe louisiana and georgia going to a runoff but we will see what happens. we feel confident we have the momentum on our side and we will see what the legislators had in mind but it remains immigration

is an issue that needs to be addressed and solved whether it is a step-by-step for ibb that is going to be a step-by-step but it's an issue that remains a top priority. >> let me add to that as a congressional journalist has been covering information for eight years and at the congressional journalist, i have to cover both sides. i talked equally with stephen king and timmy the big issue now between congress and the senate is a word that is always left out and that is comprehensive. i don't think the issue is immigration reform i think everyone agrees that there needs to be -- i am not sure that it's broke and i think it needs to be

tweaked to. there are a lot of changes that have happened and things that needed to be changed. but the democrats are completely committed to completing its present his immigration reform where is the talk about peace deal. there are a lot of pieces of immigration reform that both sides agree to and i think both sides are very interested in getting green cards to foreign students that have advanced degrees in stem fields. most sides agreed with the verify is something that should be made a requirement and not just volunteer. both sides are very much for increasing investments in the size. last july after july 2013 after the senate passed that

comprehensive immigration reform bill in june the hearing had impact on the dream act which is a bill to propose legalizing all dreamers and 100% of the democrats were against it. voted against it so adamantly that they got off the panel and went on to the witness stand to argue against to give legalization to a small segment of the population that's here illegally and that about in other words it had to be comprehensive. and ted cruz i think a couple of months ago said if the democrats are that the democrats are going to keep insisting on all or nothing they are going to get

nothing. i think probably the biggest thing that would have been on immigration reform if the republicans take the senate. it will be very interesting to ask a latino advocates particularly and house members if they would vote for a stand-alone dream act. i think that is a really interesting question and i think it is a possibility. that is a possibility. so, when we talk about immigration reform, just as when we are talking about the hispanic publishing versus the electorate, let's think in terms of comfort and said this is piecemeal. >> i wanted to clear the air on a couple things. one, we did see a lot of the

unaccompanied minors across the border but the important thing to remember because number one, i think that it was something that was sensationalized and most of the kids that came to the border -- it wasn't necessarily come it is that we had these borders but they were being caught. so i just want to clarify that part. these children were making it a treacherous journey from the very horrible situations in their home countries. in many cases the refugees. so, just wanted to make sure that issue that was initially is more in its true light and in terms of what kind of implications it has for immigration reform. the second is that we have a bipartisan bill in the senate site that got a partisan action

with a significant senate support and nothing was done in the house. so, i think that it was an opportunity, and as mentioned, if you take things piecemeal, the system has so many problems but it needs a comprehensive approach. we will see what happens. >> other questions? [inaudible] for americans generally there has been a decline in support for the president. so the presidential approval ratings have been down for the last two years. and it's not just latinos are

the ones that are seeing a decline in the presidential approval rating. as a come immigration reform is of course a part of that because when you take a look at how we asked hispanics immigration reform hasn't happened. who do you blame, no progress on immigration reform today. they blamed the republican party in congress, but 40% blame the president and democrats in congress. so each will blame. a year ago republicans were more likely to have been blamed and democrats when we last asked that question. would you take a look among registered voters however, the republicans do get more of the blame for not passing immigration reform recently than the democrats. at the democratic numbers are up as well. so, i think that immigration reform is one part of a larger story that are perhaps disapproving of the way that the president is handling the job as the president. so, i think that it's not just a

story of immigration although that is a big part of it for latinos and it's also a story about what has been happening broadly in the united states. and in a number of policy fronts and latinos like the general public are seeing their approval rating of the president decline. >> other questions? >> talking about the changing demographic there is a lot of talk about how they will remain in the democrat party. is there a possibility that the latino voters would eventually make the countries of? >> that is a good question. it depends an awful lot on the circumstances in the political environment of the future

elections. texas is one of the states where right now the state is red and has gone right in the recent presidential elections but what will happen when many of those that are us-born young latinos come of age in texas and start to enter the pool of eligible voters? is that going to happen overnight, but it could have been over the course of many election cycles. so 2020 might be somewhat of a change. 2024, perhaps a little bit more. ..

was more likely to be in the upper 50s, maybe low 60s. so there had them this movement back and forth depending on the candidates. that may very well either accentuate the ability of latinos to make some states, perhaps even the country more blue, but it also may make a candidate not be such a strong effect. i think it remains to be seen in a dependent on so many things, especially young latinos who were born here, come of age and really starts human pack the public opinion dated that we see for latinos, but also politics homolka places for the come of age. ivo mac --

[inaudible] but the younger generation in florida are always getting people to come out. >> that's a really good point. so what are latino voter participation rates so low at least relative to others? there are two regions. they are generally younger. the youth vote is important because it will increase the number of potential hispanic voters, but because they are first-time voters, they need to be encouraged and shown how to register zero. also, because they are young, they move around a lot. they are starting their lives, they have a new job in the mobility of course means that they can gauge meant her young latinos and young people generally is generally a little bit lower. later in life that will pick up. it just so happens when you look at the eligible voter pool, one

third are between the ages of 18 and 39. that really gives you some sense of the week of young latinos. nonetheless, one of the very interesting hints about the hispanic vote is we have seen record numbers of hispanic voters in recent elections. we have seen a growing potential potential electorate and electorate and we've also seen frankly the voter turnout they put the exception of 2012 in presidential years rising. so what has gone on 41st and in 1996 to 50% in 2008, came back down to 48%, but that is largely because of the surge and the new voters. i think there's a lot of possibilities. the second race at the vote numbers are generally lower is where they live. they haven't been important in presidential years. that is happen to hispanic voters. i think we would be a difference

dory around latino voter participation because there's a tension in the way there's not now and candidates, media, it better it does make a difference. so the low voter turnout rates are not acting cfo circumstances and also i think that for many latino voters in the last them after the election, why didn't you go, the census bureau has found it at the big reasons is they were too busy. i think that does reflect where they are. and it's not working. that makes you think depending on the circumstances of an election, that could change about how many turnout, and the relative importance of the vote moving forward. thank you. >> i have a question for the whole pml.

[inaudible] -- so you know, i just wonder about the republicans and the movement. so i wonder, the republican values have changed over the past decade. they just voted twice to win the program. [inaudible] [inaudible]

i just don't understand. [inaudible] >> we have to mark questions. >> yes, most certainly, gladly, gladly. you have a question. i have one more. >> sure, to touch on the program, which was implemented by president obama during an election year rate to about one months before november, and if i can remind you that it was a republican congressman from florida who authored the dream act, which is essentially a piece of legislation that does similar to a president obama

did, but goes to congress the way laws are written through the legislative branch and approved by the house to senate and pass on a forced senate. if you look at those efforts the way things are supposed to be done in our treachery and the republicans effort. the way our constitution gates and not through unilateral action, not through a pen and a phone, like the president has done often during election time. >> the house circuitry averse wife. [inaudible]

>> the program was an act by the president unilaterally, not legislatively. >> i've a question for all four of you. does the same marriage has any importance at all quick >> well, certainly we have seen it become more supportive -- [inaudible] >> i have a question because for these elections, what is it that latino voters have?

has it changed -- [inaudible] bill actually worry about it. >> is interesting, we have asked about the participation in the selection. we find no difference in their absolute certainty will vote this year compared with 2010. there's a lot of concerns that latinos were not going to turn out to vote. that maybe we don't see a change in the share of hispanics about and they get statistics in the spring. second income of one third say they've given us a lot of thought. overall, motivation seems to be the same as what it was four years ago. >> we want to thank all of you for coming, for these outstanding questions he laughed and we especially want to thank our panel here.

mr., paid me, marco and ruth. thank you so much. come next week because we are having two representatives from libra. their interpretation of the vote in 2014 and how it impacts on network innovation, which is not to increase entrepreneurship among latinos. thank you for coming. [inaudible conversations]

>> throughout campaign 2014, c-span has friday more than 130 candidate debates from across the country races that will determine control of the next congress. >> thursday, the atlantic magazine in the asp institute hosted the ideas forum. it brings together political leaders from administration officials, business entrepreneurs, journalists and science and technology experts. next come a discussion on cybersecurity issues. speakers include michigan

senator, debbie stabenow. this is just over 90 minutes. >> good morning, everybody. i am president of atlantic live and on behalf of the atlantic, i want to welcome you. we think of today's form as a way to bring thoughtful people together, top minds to explore the most pressing issues of our time with a kind of openness and curiosity. it is a place where ideas can collide and we can connect with one another to really understand the world beyond the beltway. my thanks to our partners at the aspen institute for joining us on this adventure. this is the six year. this is our biggest year yet. we have more people attending for the first time and this is the first year we had two stages running. this morning is filled with fascinating people from inside and outside of washington and

they all have sent in a comment. they are at the forefront of their fields, changing the world we live than in the way we see our lives. we have the secretary of state here this morning. we have ceos from all food and novelist scientist and so many others. you should know downstairs on our stage starting not 10:00, it is the more intimate room, perfect for conversation really think of it as an innovator stage an innovator stage and it was and life by creating programs in cities including right here in d.c. during the course of the morning, we would love you to check out the stage. none of this to be possible without the generous support of our underwriters. at the present a model, we have comcast-nbc universal, hitachi and the watson family foundation, the national council for behavioral health in google,

contributing level, and mckinsey is there knowledge partner. with that, i want to say their are two masterminds behind the washington ideas form and they are margaret carlson the program's editorial director at atlantic editor at large to lead us through the morning and margaret is here to get us started with a very special tribute. thank you all so much for coming. [applause] >> good morning. yesterday, washington mourns the passing of a towering presence, ben bradlee come a legendary editor and human with a zest for life. he dominated journalism for four decades. from the opening eulogy whose family owned the post to the playing of taps. vice president and secretary of state john kerry paid their respects. two of the journalists who work alongside proudly participated

in yesterday's ritual and they are here with us this morning. though jones, former publisher and president of the post and shall be coffee, who pioneered the same style section of the "washington post," which i usually pick up first and mentored its star writer and the wife of ben bradlee, sally quinn. thank you. [applause] >> delighted to be here. he transformed the post in the 26 years as editor and he's truly a role model for at least a generation or two of journalists who wanted to improve their communities. this community happens to be washington d.c. and he went right to work on improving the whole paper. he hired people like haynes johnson of politics and foreign

policies, which people don't talk about ichat much respect about then he brought in bob oberdorfer, a whole slew of reporters and in defense of national security. by the time the pentagon papers rolled around, then had already effect turned the post into an aggressive newspaper that try to do as much as he could. today the muslim call created this fashion. you may or mirror about that from shelby. in many ways he created the very secure man's and criticism. and i will have to be a council as one supreme court justice told me. you have a very busy job.

it was exciting. it was in some way easy that was always pushing for a good story. but he really is a very decent man appeared to try to be fair, cared a lot about people's privacy. he cared about national security and he wanted his stories to be in context. and when we got something wrong like janet hook, which was made up story we know about that have been, he trusted people and it can sometimes backfire. but there is never a single thing ever discovered about that story they didn't come either from his own editors or from the omnibus man who wrote about it later on another matter that took up a lot of our time, which i to do with the president bovo.

he never pass the buck on anything. he stood behind his reporters after years of litigation on the question of whether the stories he has set up and didn't disclose to the fcc. a lot of litigation over that, but it did straighten out the rules in the end. then said what made him successful, made him a successful editor was having a great owner, publisher. he did fully support him and left him in every way as people who work for him. he was so much fun, so energetic. he exuded such magnetism that she could help it deal inspired

and he really loved the people. we had a huge affection for all the people that work for him. he became the manager. he went out on the pacific in the middle of world war ii having graduated early from college and he was a junior lieutenant officer on a destroyer for three years. they had this easy management style. give people a lot of freedom. but he got the big things done and he was that way throughout his career at the post. what made it hard to be a lawyer for him if he didn't believe in public relations people and he didn't truly believe in marketing people either. so what's the story with great, we would answer calls from the press who would call up and in one case a president complained

them before i could even get downstairs, he said to a reporter, what am i supposed to do come around my bare assets and down pennsylvania avenue? >> let me interject from the standpoint of an editor or reporter, ben hired me into this business. one of the great things about working for him and coming up the ranks is you do you have the line for you and let there be somebody at the white house who was calling to complain, then would be conveyed not wonderful brawl to them. if you had one of our reporters in the style section one out, from a very prominent guy and win him and called him out in the presence of the editors instead you are on my list. don't you ever talk that way to

our reporters. this guy was a friend of his. so whether you were at the top of the heap or the bottom, then you don't wash and was in many ways essentially a theater town and he loved to puncture in some cases the hypocrisy of the people who had preached one and then were set in that cloaked in the car of another. what he asked us to do was to have an attack, impact. and he celebrated your great trees. i will give you one executive lesson from him called the executive use of pronouns. i was a year or editor for the magazine and called up one saturday relatively rare and he said we just won the national magazine award. that was great. three saturdays later, again

unusual role on a saturday he said you, you just got sued. $7 million. they just lost ever had and some of you may remember jeane dixon. gene had written a memoir and she had changed her vision between the manuscript on the published version. they sued for $7 million. the lawyers suppliants calmly picking up washington lawyers with our outside counsel are very excited because she sued us in monday. they were going to fly over london. this is pre-internet, so there were two copies of the "washington post" circulated there. and how did it get settled?

this is a wonderful washington ideas for an example. it turned out william colin they were being done by another part of the firm. she was down there on christmas eve. edward bennett williams comes out of his office, sees chinon says it's christmas eve. and so i had the biggest lawsuit that god southerland and the backorders of washington. then most and he pressed and one day that is overbooked now was the rebels started a band bradley in the early days. he is now a lionized figure for history. but he really pressed investigative reporting. he said that the watergate people. that's why he set up by the pentagon papers, but also what he wanted in the style section was impact of a different sort.

it was to show the private lives of people in our theater town and to explain non. and he also was a tough guy. i will tell you one anecdote. mary who followed name for a one, read a memo this weekend, which said dear mary, on my first day in my job at the "washington post," i miss spelled philip graham's first name. today, 104 years later we misspelled katharine graham's name, first name. two times in one career is enough. we will let you finish a. >> after he stepped down as editor, he was there almost as long as he had been executive editor over 20 years.

it was his magnetism in his ability to go right to the harder things that kept people wanting to keep in touch with him and learn from him. we really loved the guy. >> we loved the guy and i will leave you with one of his classic state and city at clock says zero and occasionally when we would be dealing with the press, he had a wonderful phrase. the wisdom of the ages cries out for silence. we are now silent. thank you all. [applause] >> tv back both very much. >> how's everybody doing this morning? all dressed up? let's see who we have to appear. >> i am up next. in this country large population of people living with serious mental health issues do not receive proper treatment. debbie stabenow, democrat from michigan take six short very seriously. her goal is to see mental health

evidence much attention and resources as fiscal health. the recent work on bipartisan legislation in the excellent for mental, which was signed by the president will expand access to community health services and provide more money for research and treatment. debbie stabenow joins me via skype to talk about this. great to have you, senator. i should also say it's always cool to have somebody in, but how many of your grandkids? raise your hands. i don't know if it is imminent. i really thank you for taking atenolol to join us. congratulations in advance of your forthcoming grandchild. >> thank you so much. you know i would be reviewed because i am very passionate about this subject. but when it comes to grandchildren, that trumps everything. so he's a little boy. he's not here yet, but it will be soon. >> that's great.

>> is, one of the things i feel is useful to highlight is now and then something is so comes out of congress. it is rare, but the idea is here is that it's great ideas outside of d.c. to show what is possible. do you cook up something with roy blunt. you cooperated and pass this mental health bill. why did you do it? what are the figures you want to share with us today about what the bill does? >> first of all, i'm very grateful to be a part of two things in a conference that's not getting much done. as you know, the five-year farm bill we got done at a very separate know what we are talking about today is this expansion of funding and services for mental health. my partner nsi have to say, i

passed this to a short-term funding for some and called the top six, people who follow congress know that funding for payments for doctors were temporarily extended. they said nothing new could be added. but because we have the support, for both majority leader harry b. and the speaker and the chairs and ranking members of the house in the senate, we're able to do that. and what we have done is a first step pilot project based on the mental health act that will designate eight states that will develop more comprehensive mental health and substance abuse services and get paid their cost for it. now i does not matter? right now we have something called community health center tickets paid for the services they provide. they get paid adequately. in that area community