the first debate . she joined the campaign late after john walsh quit as of allegations of plagiarism. you can watch the entire debate >> here are a few of the comments we received on our ebola coverage. >> i think it is overhyped by the media. it,amount of time they give 10-12 minutes every morning. when it first came out. they are still talking about it. there are other things that are important to talk about, too. like to see c-span to

a question about is this ebola arus the proof we need national one payer health care system? we just saw what happened in texas with this capitalistic health care system. us it's going to cost millions and millions to clean that mess up. andt: regarding ebola hospitals not being ready, you had a guest on 8-9 years ago. i forget the author's name. she wrote a book called "pandemic." -- how areto our hospitals were unprepared. we had a shortage of doctors and nurses. all.ook said it we were not ready then and we are not ready now. you should have her back on

again. >> continue to let us know what you think about the programs you are watching. or send us ail us tweet. the c-span conversation. like us on facebook, follow us on twitter. an article today in the national journal. charlie cook reporting on how kansas and georgia could change the equation in the u.s. senate with computer models that show republicans with a big advantage in georgia, except in the senate race which is looking like a tossup between david purdue and michelle nunn. c-span covered a recent debate in georgia in the governor's race where the incumbent debated jason carter. and independent candidate andrew hunt. this race is listed as leans republican.

senator jason carter claims he will put education first. but don't it against the largest increase in education funding in seven years. against. >> over the last five years, you have seen the worst contraction of public education in the history of our state. you have 9000 fewer teachers and 45,000 people leaving technical schools. this year, there will be fewer. i worry that we will reap what we sow from that destruction of our education system. we'll have a separate budget for education. we will protect it. not just in good times, but all the times. cut billions in waste and spending and voted against

obamacare. liberals won't like it when i empower local law enforcement to help the poor -- deport illegal aliens, but it must be done. the federal government has failed to secure our borders. aliens are costing us billions of dollars every year. my concern is you. >> false, negative ads. jason carter is a fiscal conservative who has never voted for a tax increase. he will fund our schools first. he underfunded our schools by billions of dollars. today, we have 9000 fewer teachers, 80,000 fewer recipients and 45,000 fewer technical college students. our kids are paying the price. >> the 2014 atlanta press club loudermilk young debate series brought to you live from georgia public broadcasting.

the race for governor. >> good evening, i am brenda wood. we would like to welcome you and our live studio audience to the atlanta press club loudermilk young debate series, originating from the studios of georgia public broadcasting in atlanta. this is the debate between the candidates for georgia's governor. let's meet the candidates. they are in alphabetical order, jason carter, who has represented the 42nd senate district in the georgia state legislature since 2010. incumbent nathan deal has been the governor since 2011 and andrew hunt is the founder and former ceo of a nano technology company. let's meet our analysts. jim galloway writes "political insider," a political column for the "atlanta-journal constitution." christopher king is a reporter with cbs 46 in atlanta. sandra parrish is a reporter

covering political and legislative news. this debate will consist of three rounds and for more information on the rules, please visit atlantapressclub.org. let's get started. in the first round, each panelist will pose a question to one candidate. >> mr. deal, with marie university and the cdc putting georgia in the spotlight and the outbreak of ebola, you signed an executive order for an ebola response team. tell others what it will intel and does georgia have a network in place to handle ebola outbreak. >> i did issue an executive order and we will be having the first meeting, an ebola response team and it will be old public and private individuals -- both public and private individuals

including emory university. it might be associated with responding and identifying someone who is potentially infected with the virus. i believe we have the resources available and if we need additional, we will try to make sure those are available. we take this seriously. it is something we want to be prepared for. we do not have control over travel restrictions and we have identified the counties where residents from the three primary countries are located and we are making preparations to identify people such as students who may be going home to their home countries and we believe we will be prepared. >> christopher king, your turn. >> mr. hunt, you said you do not want to increase the minimum wage. you want to establish a plan for the state to reimburse on every

higher paid more than $11 per hour, will it cost more money and why not just raise the minimum wage? >> you need to have a system of freedom and that is what we need to have. a free enterprise system where the way that people do business is regulated and directed toward the way maximum productivity. we needed to have more jobs to bring people out of poverty. we have one of the highest poverty levels in the nation. we need higher-paying jobs. too many people are heading to part-time jobs. with had a decrease of $1500 and at the last four years, the -- we have had a decrease of $1500 in the last four years in middle-class families. we will go for one of the highest unemployment states in the nation.

we have to stop at this. we have to correct and we need a strong plan. mine is a strong and aggressive plan. >> jim galloway, you may ask jason carter. >> mr. carter, when you first arrived in the senate each championed an eligibility cap for the hope scholarship. j he wearing you told a magazine you were backing away and an income tax was too blunt an instrument. my question simply, should any kind of means testing be applied to the hope scholarship and if so, how would it work? >> thank you for your question. before we began, i want to take one moment and say added by the cool has ever worked on a campaign knows how quickly it becomes a family. i recognize that the deal campaign suffered a loss and

want to take a moment to acknowledge matt burgess and send condolences to his family and my prayers are with both his family and governor deal's team. with respect to the hope scholarship, i have fought every day against the governor and the cuts were deep and they impacted the middle class and there are 80,000 less recipients. i believe those cuts were wrong. i believe we must make sure we maximize the number of students who were able to afford college and that is how we get the kind of economy we want and that kind of people that are prosperous in moving forward. >> it concludes the first round. the candidates will ask one question to each of their opponents. each will have 30 seconds to ask a question and 60 seconds to respond and 30 seconds for a rebuttal.

we begin with andrew hunt and your question of four jason carter. >> i get to choose? >> you get to ask a question of jason carter. i have been told, you do get to choose. [laughter] >> mr. deal, sadly, a bottom 10 list. we have the highest unemployment rate in the highest poverty and poor education, expensive health care, night highest income tax you promised to cut. high incarceration rates, $1500 decrease in of the income, terrible atlanta traffic. you promised limited government. you beautifully glossed over this, but can you acknowledging these facts? >> i reject your facts. family income, household income

has increased in the state every year since i have been governor. we have been in the top 10 states in terms of job creation. last year, we were number six in terms of total new jobs. we are seeing our state to grow and we have grown and population of a about 180,000 people. we have gone to the eighth largest state and we have been recognized for the first time in our history as the best state in the nation in which to do business. we are coming out of this great recession and we have team revenues grow. -- seen revenues grow. they have grown every year under my administration and we believe we set the course in the right direction.

we have emphasized education and made reforms both at k-12 and technical levels and colleges and universities. we believe we have set a pattern. >> mr. hunt, your rebuttal? >> that was very, very smooth at how you would expect a lawyer to answer. we need to take georgia out of bad policies and build them back up again. we needed to end the reign of career politicians because this is what we get. we get the smooth over. we need to and we have to make a change this year. we need to do it. you can do it. hunt for hunt on the ballot. >> you have to have a question for jason carter. >> well, ok. mr. carter, once again, i will come to the education policy and back to the realm where we have the issue where you want to bring back our employment and state through education.

it takes many years for those people to graduate and a changeup that teachers and quality teachers. i like some of your things but it will not get us back to the job creation, we are the highest unemployment. we have to turn this around. >> thank you, dr. hunt. i believe to build a foundation of war and economy and vibrant job creation system we have to begin with education and it allows us to have prosperous people and our state has every ingredient in these to be an absolute powerhouse. now the educational institutions and global access and we are going to have the biggest report on the east coast. with all of those dynamics and people, not just in atlanta but rural georgia and food -- and the route of the agricultural economy, we have the ingredients to be a powerhouse. we are dead last in unemployment

and how fast the recovery from the recession. i believe if we invest in our people and create jobs through small businesses, innovative and dynamic entrepreneurs and ensuring we can build durable jobs including an agricultural economy, we would drive this date forward. >> 30 seconds for your rebuttal. >> i heard you address the state of georgia and how we need to turn things around. you did not point out in any way how you will create jobs through better education in the near term. i would like to see this plan put out that is so important that we must, must turn this around and get rid of the poverty cycle. education is one of the ways to do it, i agree. >> mr. deal, you may ask your question. >> dr. hunt, libertarians are fears opponents of government spending.

in our last debate, you indicated you would expand medicare under obamacare. i understand you took a $37 million in private-sector grants funded by the taxpayers of this country to make sure your business did not go into bankruptcy. how do you reconcile those positions with your party's positions? >> we need to clarify and make sure everybody understands. first of all, the georgians paid into the federal system and we are not getting the money back. one of the reasons we are hurting and so many ways. do i agree with obamacare? no. do i want state rights? yes. we need to get that to that. but as a republic, each state has the programs themselves. until we do that, we have to get our tax dollars back and bring them back into the system.

these grants my company receives are the same away. competitive grants, no lobbying, under scientific merit and review and are considered honor badges. my company received many honors badges of high technological capability and i have 50 patents. and have worked with antimicrobials. >> you know, dr. hunt wants to expand medicaid and an entitlement program. they are killing our country. you are wrong, we are not -- we are borrowing that money. i believe we have to be responsible by the way we spend

taxpayers dollars and i see you have benefited from taxpayer-funded grants and i understand your position on that, but it does not seem to reconcile itself with being a libertarian. >> senator carter, you have never had a leadership position in the legislature or leadership position in private business. you of never passed a bill, never offered an amendment. why should georgians vote for you with this absolute lack of leadership experience? >> governor, you and i both know what you said is not true. there are 21 bills that have my name on it that you signed into law. an attack on my leadership is frankly an attempt to pass of the buck. the bottom line of what we need in this state is a governor who will stand up and say, i take responsibility for the middle class. for the fact that $1400 has been taken out of the average person's pocket.

it is a number that is real. the facts will show out. the middle class is falling behind and our education system has been undermined. we have a 9000 fewer teachers. and a vision for the future is the most important thing we can provide and this state has languished enough. >> your rebuttal? >> senator carter has been in the legislature as long as i've been governor. his colleagues who have known him back have never given him a position and leadership -- best have never given him a position leadership. he has never been an author of a bill that has passed. he criticizes budget he voted for. he has never offered an amendment to anything that

funds the date. >> we are out of time. >> dr. hunt, you are a scientist and you have heard the governor's report of appointing a task force on ebola. what are your thoughts? >> that is a very good one. the governor actually quoted that water kills ebola. we cannot have our leaders making such statements and then not retracting them. i never saw a public retraction. that is bad. i have many years of working in antimicrobials and i find it very bad we have a leadership that will go in that way. he is assigning a task team but does not the capability or knowledge to know which people have the right ways of doing it.

i can be peer on peer with the people addressing these issues and we will put out the right safety measures for our state to be protected. >> mr. carter, care to rebut? >> i think he has put it out well. what we can do in respect to handling the ebola crisis is making sure our health care system and leaders have credibility. i've lived in africa in times of outbreak and is important that our top leadership is communicating effectively and our top leadership expert on appropriate information and i believe it was inappropriate last week for the governor to say water kills ebola. governor deal, we asked supporters on facebook what they would like to ask you. but this question comes from my friend, robert, who is here. here it is.

it is football season. we would not stand for it if our football team was getting beaten by tennessee, florida, mississippi, louisiana, south carolina, and the entire rest of the country. being dead last with respect to unemployment -- >> and you are out of time. please get your question. >> why shouldn't it cost you yours? >> unemployment numbers are outliers. the critical area is how many jobs are being created. we have created more jobs than all of the states you named. last year, we were sixth in the nation. we are on the right track. what you are saying is simply quoted statistics. the bureau of labour statistics is now saying that if are finally going to and just their

model. -- adjust their model. the only problem is they do not adjust it until they do in audit in february. i am confident they will come back and say our unemployment rate was not the figure as they quoted. it does not reconcile it at major economists are saying it does not make common sense. >> your rebuttal? >> i do not believe it is about statistics but the governor cannot blame the statisticians for the fact that the middle class is hurting. for the fact there are 380,000 georgians are being left behind. we cannot wait until february to generate jobs to bring our state back to where it should be. we have every ingredient we need to be a powerhouse and it is governor has led us to the

bottom in so many ways. it is inappropriate and i know with a true vision that supports the middle class, we can move our state forward. >> we will make one exception and i will give nathan deal an opportunity for a rebuttal on the ebola question and comment that was made. >> we have a competent individual, dr. brian fitzgerald, head of public health. she admitted she gave me misinformation. she has put together a comprehensive effort to fight ebola and she is talking with hospitals and making sure that first responders know exactly what they are working with. i believe i've shot responsible -- shown responsible leadership to bring all of the public to make sure our state is

protected. >> that is enough. we must move on. this is the debate between the candidates for georgia governor. we will go to our third and final round. in this round, i will ask a question submitted by the public and turn to our panelists for questions to follow. we will continue this cycle until we run out of time. i will ask all of the candidates if you would take a moment to answer the question. we will give you 60 seconds to answer each. i begin with mr. hunt and we can go down the line. a question for each of you. if elected, will you fight for marriage equality and medical cannabis or will you continue to support the status quo? mr. hunt? >> i will be a strong proponent of medical cannabis. it can cure so many things. it is a natural remedy and has fewer side effects than the

expensive drugs we are putting people on the are so addictive. this a less addictive, better cure for many areas including our veterans who are suffering from ptsd and we need to take care of our veterans dearly. on the same-sex marriage area, this is an area that will be determined by the courts and is happening right now. i would not want to waste tax money on laws. each organization should decide who they believe is worthy of being married or not. that is how it was in the founding of our company. smaller government, less rules and regulations and that way we maximize our freedoms that we should have. >> mr. deal? >> in 2004 when the people voted for a constitutional amendment that said marriage was between a man and a woman, i took an old of office to support and uphold

the constitution and laws of the state and that is what i intend to do. in regards to medical cannabis, i entered an executive order which has put us far ahead of many other states. we are cooperating through our department with a private company that is doing clinical trials and we are going to be approved by the food and drug administration for georgia through our university to conduct clinical trials. i have sympathy for these families and individuals who are seeing children suffering from seizures and i will work with the general assembly as i have done to make sure we have a good, solid answer. i am not going to be in a position off seeing georgia be, -- become like colorado.

>> i have spent time with the parents of children, who suffer from seizure disorders. last year when we voted in the senate to allow those law-abiding citizens and folks who care so much about their children to have access to that cannabis oil treatment, i was proud. i was disappointed that the gridlock prevented it from taking place and would like to see better leadership at the time. i do support that and will 30 to to do so and would gladly signed legislation. with respect to marriage, i believe in religious liberty and personal freedom and i do not believe that anyone should tell a church or religious organization who can be married, but i do believe the government when it comes to doling out right should do it equally. i take an oath to the constitution and would certainly continue to apollo to the the constitution as

long as it remains valid under the law. >> during the report and primary, you agree to make your recent income tax available but you have yet to do so. do you still intend to do so and when? i believe mr. carter has made the same commitment and is not made his income tax available. >> i intend to make my tax returns available like i've done previously. let me just say, i've seen senator carter's ad about my business was done this a typical illustration of how some liberals look at private enterprise. we work with the business for over 2 decades, meeting weekly

payroll. i do not agree with the proposition that the government made our business successful. a national company wanted to buy our business and we agreed to sell. unlike the liberal context where georgia built businesses from scratch, i want to tell you, is not the government that made us successful but those of us who worked to make our companies successful. >> mr. carter, i will give you a chance for rebuttal. >> this the business governor deal was using to make better. it is a practice. the taxpayers have been on the hook. there are $3 million coming out of our pockets to deal with this governor's coverup of prior

issues. i'll tell you, when i think about these facts we see, i think we deserved more of a response than liberal name-calling. >> i am going to let you respond. yes. >> with regard to any taxes that may be owed by the copy that about our company, i have led a neutral judge make the call and we will collect every cent. the allegations about ethics charges is something senator carter has related to. the ethics know commission heard the charges against me and dismissed them as being of no merit whatsoever just as the charging against him has been dismissed as well.

>> sandra parrish, your question. >> two years ago, georgia ranked 50th in an ethics report. >> we have not only reformed the ethics rules, especially tightening them down, it is greatly improved our status in terms of ratings. we have in my administration put almost $250,000 into the ethics commission to update their computer system and give them the authority the promulgate rules. it should not take anybody 2 1/2 years to determine a case against a candidate as no valid merit whatsoever as was the case with me. i want to make sure that we have reforms and that is why i have recommended we make reforms fear to include all three branches of government making equal appointments.

the debate about the misfunctioning of that commission has been primarily the inability of staff to coordinate their activities. if we have independent members who do not vote on charges that come against individuals from the government that has appointed them, we will remove any doubt. >> another question from the public. this is from ashley mcdonald. this for all of you. in regards to the affordable health care act, how do you plan to help middle-class families who make too much money to qualify for assistance, yet who struggle trying to pay for health care? mr. carter? >> right now the federal government has $36 billion of our money and the governor has fought to keep that money. that does not make sense for our people and for the 600,000 georgians who would have health care it not for this governor's decision.

there are 35,000 jobs that would come in our health care sector if we took the federal dollars that are ours. that is what looking for solutions looks like. the governor has played washington politics repeatedly on this issue and decided to bring his experience in congress here and say the most important thing is partisanship. i believe we have to solve problems. our rural hospitals are in crisis. there are five that have closed. there are 16 more on the verge of bankruptcy. we must charge forward on this issue and as governor, i will do it, ensuring georgia gets its fair share. >> first of all, i think you should know the fact that georgia taxpayers support the current medicaid program at both

the state and federal level, and if we expand it, it would cost $2.5 billion over the next 10 years. i simply do not think we can afford to do that. it is not money where paid in post. most of it is money the federal government does not have. we have paid some $351 million and is much it to come into compliance with the affordable care act. that is $351 million we could put into things like education. i think we have to be responsible with taxpayer's money and make sure we do what idea with an executive order in regards to rural hospitals, allowing them to cut back to the services they can provide. >> mr. hunt? >> we have a major health care crisis where most people cannot

afford to get quality services. the problem is the rules and regulations there. we need tort reform. we must get down the legal costs that is costing our providers so much, and neither of the attorneys running against me will bring that. i will make sure we get toward reform and reduced 20% of our medical costs through this one avenue. we must have a free enterprise system where people are not forced to buy insurance but, can go into direct relationships with doctors through medical co-ops that have been proven other states to reduce the cost. that is what we need. free enterprise-based solutions, less regulation, and tighten down on the lawyers that are in your insurance policy. every time you pay your health insurance, you are paying a lawyer.

>> i skipped christopher king, so we will pick up. >> each of the candidates have mentioned and talked about a little bit before, job employment, and this question is for all of the candidates. as you mentioned, georgia ranks sixth in the nation for job growth. it still has the highest unemployment rate and the country. the same state labor department puts the jobless rate at 7.9%. it is much higher than the national average. what would you do to reduce unemployment and create not just low-paying jobs, but well-paying jobs? mr. hunt? \ >> i would definitely and both my job powerhouse program and we can drive within my term, drive unemployment less than 5% and that is what we need.

the better job environment, the the better the pay. it would be done in such a way that only full-time jobs paying $11 an hour or more are rewarded. it is for every town, every city. we have two of the highest poverty cities and the country. you can make a choice on what it want. do you want to give in to this, or do you want a system that will address jobs quickly, a free-enterprise ace system where the government does not choose winners or losers. you get to buy who you get your services from, and we will have great jobs. >> jim galloway? >> this question is for all three gentlemen. in 2003, the legislature passed a measure for public

damages.ies to pursue should the state of georgia take the next step and criminalize this activity, mr. hunt? >> that is an excellent question and what you have to look at is maybe we are doing too many regulations. maybe you should allow a little bit of money to come to these impoverished players that are suffering so much. let's rethink the whole thing and make that would have done liberty and opportunity for people. let's have it so they make it so that can make a reasonable amount of money. we need to clean up our sports, but we need to have every system that is fair to the player as well as to the college. the colleges are getting all of the money and everything else. the donors are putting a lot of money into the football program and i will like to see the donors put it in education.

that is where we need to put our money, and then have it so the players can get some money and wealth a much better system. >> first of all, maybe we should see more enforcement all the law that we have. i think more importantly than anything is we need to see some fairness in the ncaa, we need to see players being treated fairly for the same kinds of accusations. the state of georgia is trying to play by the rules, but we are seeing other stadiums across the country playing individuals who may be have done at the very same thing that one of our players is alleged to do. it is a serious problem and requires everybody be treated fairly and equitably, including the players and families and schools. this is certainly something i thing left to be cautious about legislating on. this has always been within the promise of the private sector, those who regulate athletic

activities in our colleges and universities, but i do believe with a enough public pressure we can change their attitude to make sure that our people are being treated with fairness. >> mr. carter? >> i think you have a lot of georgia fans up here. the short answer is, yes. i think the folks out here preying on these athletes and making money off them should be punished. i will to you what i think about would we look and consider what is happening at the university of georgia. we have undermined our public institutions of higher education that it is on believable. the cost of college in this day is rising faster than any state

but one. is another way that georgia has reached the bottom. we have to sure we are making education our first priority. i believe if we do that, we can control the cost of college and expand the hope scholarship to ensure middle-class families are able to maximize their access tp college, and right now, when the look at the university of georgia and how excited we are about our football team, we want to be excited about higher education and their ability to afford. >> sandra parrish? >> the mayor of houston asked pastors to turn over sermons in term of a case. do you support antidiscrimination laws over the right to free of speech? >> i believe freedom of speech is important and the government cannot legislate within that spectrum. i believe there are certain types of hate crimes their -- that rise to the level of

being more than speech. as a general matter, no, i will not support legislation that would restrict people's rights to freedom of speech. i believe we can strike appropriate balance. i think we have to allow people to move forward and be free to speak as they wish. >> would you want to hear response from the other candidates? >> sure. >> i think that is one thing that senator carter and i can agree on. you have to be careful when you intruding into free speech rights. you never know what the unintended consequences might be. but it is not the province of government to regulate and contain that, except when you

cry fire in a crowded theater. those extreme situations that jeopardize the health and safety of individuals and has generally been the guidelines in which we have allowed statutory intervention to occur. i believe that is a pretty good example of where we need to draw the line. we do not need to react to every popular opinion that comes along. >> mr. hunt? >> we have had two excellent answers so far. but what i will address is that i am a strong constitutionalist, the way it was written and not the way the living document they reinterpret over the year. i am very strong on the first amendment, but all of the amendments. we are having our liberties and rights taken from us. every law passed is taking a more freedoms away from us. oo many lawmakers. if i am governor, what i will like to see, if you pass a law,

i want to see where you have to scratch three or four off the book. yes, we do not want to hurt other people's desire that is the edge of liberty when you inflict harm on others. >> thank you. christopher king, your question. >> it is on k-12 education. the state budget is about $8 billion dollars on k-12 education. according to the budget institute, the state would need another $700 million to fund schools. would you increase funding for the schools and by how much? >> first of all, let me point out that the quality basic education formula that has been in place since 1985 has never been fully funded. what i have done is to appropriate a greater percentage

of general state revenue for k-12 education than any governor since carl sanders in the 1960's. this year, the largest single appropriation as our economy was rebounding was in this year's budget. my colleague here, senator carter, saw fit to vote against that. i have indicated i would put in place individuals who will come together and study our funding as well as our delivery mechanism. it is time we make it more appropriately allocated to the needs of today's education system. we have are ready brought on board one of the best local superintendents and he is working in the office of planning and budget. we will continue that. >> mr. carter? >> governor deal has to look back to the 1960's to justify his educational policy.

we need to fund our education for this century. what you have seen and our state is though worse underfunding and worse contraction in the history of our state. teachers are suffering as students are suffering and our state's economy, the very foundation, is crumbling. that is how we end up with the skills gaps we have now. there are 9000 fewer schoolteachers now than when the governor took over. 2/3 of our school districts have had to cut instructional days. we are not doing the job at the state level we need to. not only that, but when the governor's budgets have passed because of its cuts, 91 school districts have raised their property taxes just we are getting less education and more taxes and no one wants that. i have a plan to change the way we do the educational budget.

>> mr. deal, you have 30 seconds to rebut. you have 30. >> if you support public education, you should've voted for the largest increase in k-12 funding in seven years. the statistics you cite are inaccurate. i am not reaching back to the 1960's. i am saying a portion of state revenue, with have felt 4 four highest the years since any governor some 50 years ago. you say you support education but your votes a do not support that. you are in a distinct minority in voting against. every democrat in the house voted for it. 2/3 of your colleagues voted for this budget. >> mr. carter, your rebut? >> governor deal, you know and i know that my record is clear on public education funding. you have underfunded it this year by $750 million and i could

not vote that. the process is broken and i am the only candidate who has a plan to fix it. you can throw statistics out over and over again, but walk into your local schools, walk to the schools that have 26 kids in their kindergarten class and ask a teacher. no one and this state believes we are properly funding education. >> mr. hunt? >> our education system is completely broken. the u.s. spends more per student on education than any other nation in the world, yet we rank 25th. we need to look at how these better countries are doing it less expensively than us. we do not have to increase the budget. we have to do better. we need school choice. we need educatational savings accounts where the money follows of the child. take the money and let the parents choose what is best for the education of the child.

let's have whatever variety of school types and blended schools, stem schools, vocational schools. a range of different education. bring it into early childhood and support hope through the end. if there is one way to end the cycle of poverty, it is education. we are not taking it seriously. education. some people say they want a more charts schools in this year's budget family put a small increase versus hundreds of millions for other. >> a question from the public again, and it is picking up on a question previously asked by our panelist mr. king on employment. this is directed specifically to mr. deal from mrs. haywood. governor nathan deal, in the previous debate i was taken aback by your comments, people who work are better than people who do not work, because there are so many in our state still looking for jobs.

as a student, i worry about getting a job after graduation. while your ads parade georgia as being the number one state to do business, it is hard to ignore georgia leads the nation in unemployment. it is safe to say you inherited a failing economy, but so did the president and 49 other governors. why is georgia under your leadership lagging behind the rest of the nation in its rate of unemployment? >> first of all, unemployment rates are only good for political advertising as a general rule. economists and businesses do not pay attention to them. this a look at job growth. right there in athens, georgia, we have a great example of our economic development. caterpillar brought a plant and they came to the state of georgia and they are creating hundreds of jobs. that has been our focus.

with a eliminated the marriage tax on couples. we have focused on job creation. we eliminated the sales tax on energy so manufacturers could grow, and we have seen that the growth from the caterpillar plant to baxter, making a $1 billion investment capital so it would be the largest single investment in this state's history since kia came. we are making substantial strides. job creation is what is important for those in college. >> that question was directed specifically to you, so will pick up with our panel. >> i do not want to seem like i am beating up mr. deal. i would like to hit the other candidates on this. today for the first time and state history, voters cast ballots on a sunday. many will do so next sunday. mr. deal, you said you will be

open to legislation that would close down sunday voting. could you please explain your position. >> i think the voting policies of our state should be uniform. you should not have one county having a pattern that is different from other counties. i think that is what the generals assembly will look at. if all counties were allowed to have sunday voting, that is fine with me. as my wife says, republicans can vote on sunday too as long as they go to church first. i think all of us want to see as many people as possible who are registered and qualified to turn out and vote. i think we should do whatever is important to turn out the voters. i would encourage everyone who is watching to either early vote or vote on november 4. >> we have to open of voting as much as we can.

we are at historically low rates of voting. the majority of people are dissatisfied with the 2 major parties for. you have a choice. do not stay at home because you're acquiescing that government is ok. we want to make it easy for people to register, but we want valid voters and we want to notice a trail we can look at and see that your vote counted a can be recounted if it has to be. our current machines cannot provide that record. we need to have a printed, written record of every person's vote so we can go back and verify or some of the current electronic verifications like we have for our monetary transactions. these do not exist with our electronic voting machines, and it is a shame we do not have such an honorable system. >> jason carter? >> i am glad that governor deal

has changed his position on the fairness of sunday voting. right now, any county was to vote on sunday is allowed to do so. it is fantastic. it helps people get engaged and helps working people get to the polls because they do not have to take time off jobs. i've always been in favor of expanding the right to vote and ensuring we have a fair system. that both counts every vote and registers every voter. and i think of making it as convenient as possible helps us all. >> we have time for one more question from our panelists. it is either directed to one candidate for 60 seconds or all of the candidates who each will get 30 seconds. sandra, you get the last question. >> into directed to mr. deal.

when the legislature passed legislation allowing per meters to carry guns to church. do you support of allowing guns in churches on sundays as long as the churches opt in? >> we are going to give everyone 30 seconds to reply, and we will start with you, mr. deal, and go to jason carter and mr. hunt. >> i believe the beauty of the bill that passed was we gave churches the choice. that is always a better option rather than the stated dictating to them, and i trust congregations and the leaders of the churches to make those kind of judgment calls. i think we have given them that flexibility, and they will exercise it appropriately. >> mr. carter? >> i agree with the governor deal it is important to give local communities and

congregations a choice in this matter. i fought very hard in respect to this bill and brought people together to ensure the choice that the churches were given was a real one. that is the kind of leadership i provide, bringing people together on difficult issues. >> mr. hunt? >> i am a strong constitutionalist, so i support gun rights, and i also support the right of private land owners whether individual or organizations. each entity should be able to determine what is allowed on their property or not. government should not be saying you should allow it, it is your property, you get to decide. government should not say you cannot do this unless it is hurting other people. that is liberty. >> that is all the time we have for questions. the candidates will have 60 seconds for a closing statement. jason carter makes the first closing statement.

>> thank you so much for spending your time and watching this debate tonight. i believe this state has everything it needs to be an absolute powerhouse. if we put our minds to it in this state and educate our people and invest and them and open up the doors to our colleges to give people the skills they need for the future, and if we invest and pay attention to the middle class and to the small businesses of this state, we will have the ability to have a dynamic, growing, forward-looking economy that innovates and expands for the future. right now we are not getting that economy. people are getting left behind in our education system. but we can succeed. i ask for your vote. i ask for your vote for the future of this state, and i would be honored to serve as your governor. >> thank you for listening today and i am honored to have served

as your governor for these last 4 years and i ask for your votes i can do so for another 4 years. we have put in place many reforms that are putting our state forward. and we are going to continue to see that grow. we are putting money into our k-12 system, into technical colleges and colleges and universities, and we did so this era because our policies were working and our revenue was growing. we have also made reforms in our criminal justice system, something will not had a chance to talk about tonight is. it is revolutionary. we already lead the country. we have been recognized as such. we are saving millions of dollars and saving lives. we have seen our african-american population in our prison system and drop by 20% and we will break the cycle of crime by educating those who have no skill so when they get out, that will not commit crimes again. >> mr. hunt?

>> david pennington and many that will bringsed me because e cost-effective solutions and freedom of fairness for all of us. it is a nine day choice here. i am very different. i'm a small different man, a phd in engineering. i want to have about 50 patents, and i want to put that to work for you. i want to work for you, the people, bring government back to be for the people. that way we can have a better way forward. i have 1% or less than the money they do. you will see lots of ads by them. we have the views of who they have been supported by, the special interest groups that pay for the tens of millions of ads. if you want to support me, talk to other people. if you just vote for me, that's great. i'm asking for more. i'm asking you to get out and tell other people to hunt for

hunt on the ballots. >> thank you. and thanks to the candidates and our panel of journalists. we would also like to thank the atlanta press club for arranging this debate. onember the election is tuesday, november 4. early voting has already begun. we urge you to cast your ballot, and make sure your vote is carolyn -- counted. the series is made possible by a donation. i'm brenda wood, thank you for joining us. have a good evening. live now to the national press club in washington d.c., hosting a discussion on college athletics with scott blackmun. introductions underway by the and pcs -- npc president. >> crystal contact him a

athletic director at texas christian university. shan zynga are, guest of our speaker. mark camera, washington bureau chief, chairman of the npc broadcasting, and a former president of the national press club. of 99.1 fm. ursula larsen, capital standard magazine. and the health and wellness reporter for u.s. news & world report. [applause] a year ago, scott blackmun received a four-year contract

extension as ceo of the u.s. olympic committee, which he headed since 2010. this degree of stability is rare for the labor committee. his two predecessors lasted less than a year, and feel a bit committee has had seven ceos in the last 14 years. when blackmun took the reins, the committee had been embarrassed by chicago's failure to land the 2016 olympic games. in fact, chicago finished dead last among the competitors. the organization was criticized by not knowing how to deal with international olympic committees, and it was hit by layoffs and lowbrow. blackmun is credited with helping restore the financial health of the committee, usoc operates olympic training centers where aspiring competitors train for international optician. unlike what happens in many companies come up -- countries, the usoc is largely dependent on

corporate sponsorship. during his tenure, revenue has increased. but there have been a few bumps along the way. was silent in the wake of the arrest of hope solo. they did speak out against the abuse, causing -- calling these charges outstanding. blackmun refrained from any demonstrations or political speech during the winter olympics in sochi. many were upset by what they considered russia's anti-gay laws. today, mr. blackmun will discuss the state of college athletics, and how it impacts the u.s. a libertine. the usoc has a strong interest in college athletics because so many olympians are college athletes. at the london games, 65 american olympians had participated in college athletics.

ladies and gentlemen, scott blackmun here to tell us more about this . join me in welcoming him to the national press club. [applause] >> thank you. and thanks to all of you for being here today. it is an honor for us to be here. i know you all signed up to hear bob bowlsby. i would've loved to hear from him today, bob has been a member of the board of directors at usoc for eight years. i know what a great speaker who he is. bob, you are probably watching. i wish you a speedy recovery. the theme today is college athletics. you all know the stakes for the universities and for the athletes. also an incredibly

important topic, more important than you probably know for the success of the united states at the olympic games. before i talk about that, i want to start by giving a brief introduction about the usoc, who we are, what we do, how we came to be. we have been around in one form or another since the late 1800s. most of our history, things were relatively confusing. there was outright conflict for a long time between the usoc and the aau. while there was consensus that we didn't want to fund delivery teams with federal dollars, -- our olympic teams with federal dollars, there wasn't a way to bring altogether. that all changed with senator ted stevens, the author of the imager sports act -- and mature sports act. it may surprise you to learn that we are a 501(c)

organization. we are not a government organization. we were given complete responsibility for live export to the united states. and shortly thereafter, paralytic sport. sports.ympic we were certifying a national body for each sport. we have 48 national governing bodies, 39 of which are in olympic sports. each of those ngb's is a separate nonprofit organization responsible for their sport from the grassroots level all the way up to elite competition. what that means is we have to work hand in glove with each of those 48 or each of those 39 ngb's.s sport it is not such an easy task. tried to bethe usoc

too many things to too many people. we focused our mission in 2004. we used to have a board of directors of 120 five people. we now have 16 people. an executive committee of 25 people, now we have no executive committee at all. importantly, we also focused our mission. our mission was to help olympic and paralympic athletes. how do we help american athletes get medals put around their ne cks? we have a line of sight between every decision we make in the impact on how many americans will win medals. the act gives us exclusive control over trademarks. these cookies are a problem. they didn't ask us if they could put the olympic symbol on the cookies. [laughter]

we will have to confiscate those. hatcher, who is a former football player, will the what to do with them. we protect our trademarks. they are extremely valuable. senator stevens saw that before anybody else. he saw it as a way to give american athletes the same opportunities that athletes that we compete with around the world get. we don't have the same budget that other countries have. wordhe word olympic, the paralympic, the rings, are all things you can't use except under journalistic conditions without our consent. it is that consent that we provide to our sponsors and our licensees. and that is what drives our budget. our budget is about to enter million dollars -- $200 million. that really pales in comparison to the amount spent by our colleges and universities.

we, the united states of america, when it comes to olympic and paralympic athletes, e only as strong as the collegiate system today. 65% of the u.s. a libertine in london participated in college sports. students in the pac 12 had 88 medalists. we had 88 medals. we ended up with 104 medals in london, so as you can see, it was in a believable contribution to collegiate sports and collegiate athletes. one third of the team and so she this past winter, including 31 medalists, participated in college sports. if there is one primary message for today, it is this. there are countries like china and russia, who spend billions of dollars on their ethnic programs. and our government has chosen not to. we fully support that.

we cannot maintain our position at the top of the medal table unless we find a way to preserve a live export programs at colleges and universities -- olympic support programs at colleges and universities. the so-called nonrevenue programs are beginning to disappear. -- men'swe had 59 jim gymnastic programs. today there 16. women's gymnastic programs have dropped from 99 to 62 over the same timeframe. today we have 77 wrestling programs, down from 146 35 years ago. that list goes on. someone said to me no college athletic director has ever been fired for terminating and olympic sport program. our concern, stated very bluntly, is that the inevitable reallocation of resources in

college athletics will make it even more difficult for olympic sport programs to survive. the call to action today is urgent. it goes beyond eligibility rules, and focuses on the survival of olympic sport in our country. -- whenabout when jorgensen, she attended the university of wisconsin where she swam and ran for the badgers. she earned her master's degree in accounting. she passed her cpa exam. and went to work for a big accounting firm. way tos well on her using her education as a professional, in something other than sports, like so many of for peers. but she discovered the sport of triathlon. became usa triathlon's rookie of the year in 2010. madeay be a libertine --

the olympic team in 2012. in 2013, she placed first in four triathlon races, something no other female has done. the united states owes much of its olympic success to collegiate institutions, to the coaches i'm a programs, and facilities. to continueect them to support us out of the goodness of their hearts. we have to build partnerships that benefit them in addition to us. coachesto work with the and the donors. we want to work with the conference commissioners like bob. anyone interested in maintaining and strengthening collegiate sports programs to build partnerships that not only programs, butc help build strong athletic departments at institutions that believe in a balanced human being, and the power of sport to

enrich lives and enhance achievement. indeed, to make the world better place. it is not just about team usa. id whether we win or lose, know as well as anyone, the role of collegiate programs play as developing us as human beings. i went to dartmouth and long time ago. i played soccer, i grew up in chicago. i was a goalie. there was only one goalie on the team at a time it. i thought i was pretty hot stuff. it was 1974. i was allstate, the coach called me. i hadn't heard of dartmouth. he convinced me to go to dartmouth. about a week before i arrived, he told me he had recruited another goalie, my same age and year from the town next to me. i hadn't heard of, and i frankly

wasn't too worried about it. we arrived on campus, and this hada young man who tremendous athletic talent. upwhole identity was wrapped in being a soccer player. when i got to dartmouth, he ended up starting most of the four years, and i didn't. i started one year out of the four. and it had a huge impact on me. i kind of had to reframe what i wanted to do with my life. how i looked at myself. i knew i was never going to be a professional soccer player. aat four years going into situation thinking that is how you are defined, and then having to kind of retool and figure out what you are all about, had a huge impact on me. fast forward i joined the usoc as general counsel in 1999. runt promoted quickly to our sports group. we basically have a sports group and a marketing group. i ran the sports group for eight

months, and that got promoted to deputy executive director. and then i got promoted to interim executive director while we did a search. i was strongly encouraged to stay. i did stay. at the end of that search process, they picked somebody else. and for reasons that are probably too long to go into now, i decided not to stay. that experience in college really helped me think through -- what i was going to do. i was a recovering lawyer, i for 20 plus years, but had been out of the practice of law for five years. it is tough to go back. it is tough to find clients again. it ended up being the best thing that could have ever happened to me. i got to go to los angeles and be the chief operating officer of a company called an chief entertainment group. will -- six6% professional soccer teams. i learned so much. my experience in college athletics is not at all unique. there are thousands of young athletes who have life-changing

experiences, and you are better people, more successful people because of their participation in college sports. it is not just football players and basketball players. it is not just the gwen jorgensen's of the world who represent our country at the games. that is one of the reasons that americans love the olympic games so much. we love the americans. we love overcoming. we love seeing that american flag when we walk in to our schools and places of work. being american is a really important part of why we get so much support from the american public. the other reason we get so much support is because we are about much more than competition. we are about much more than winning and losing. it is about how we win, and how we lose. it is about being the best that we can be. , inof my greatest mentors the sense that i read what he

wrote and watched him speak, was john wood. he defines success as the peace of mind from knowing that you did the very best you could. it's about the joy found in efforts. it is that that makes us different from any other professional sport in the united states. but it is also that which makes us very similar to collegiate athletics. it is based on a value system. ofis based on a balance mind, body, and spirits. it is based on broadening's peoples experiences. it's why this relationship that we have with the ncaa institutions is so important to us. so what can we do to make that relationship better? usoc and ourhe national governing bodies have partnered with the national association of collegiate directors of f x -- athletics. to create the u.s. olympic

achievement award. that recognizes colleges and universities whose student athletes and coaches have won olympic medals. the u.s. olympic achievement award was a step in the right direction. we will continue to publicly recognize the importance of our success at the 11 games. but we need to do more. -- the olympic games. but we needed to do more. forwe do endowments olympics board coaches or scholarships. can we use the great olympic brand or the experience of our governing bodies to build revenue-generating properties ith conferences and schools? and we allow colleges and universities to use their olympic identities and success to recruit athletes and coaches, and perhaps to build facilities? can our national governing bodies work with the ncaa to

host conference championships and national championships in their sports? usa triathlon is already doing this. who knows, maybe she would have been number one much sooner if we had been able to do that. nbc to promotee the university backgrounds of our lipid teams -- our olympic teams? we believe that the united states needs to host the olympic games again. we haven't hosted the summer games since 1996. what that means is there is a whole generation of americans who haven't seen the olympic games on american soil. we believe that hosting be olympic games can inspire a whole generation of athletes who will attend the collegiate institutions. that doesn't mean we have made a final decision to bid, but we are very seriously considering it. we have four great cities, boston, los angeles, san francisco, and washington. we will make our decision

probably by the end of january. maybe earlier than that. met one-on-one with a number of athletic directors from some of the schools that we depend upon the most. we talked about many of the ideas i just mentioned, things that we can do for them, for their schools, and for their programs, for their athletes, for their coaches. we also want to form a working group to look at opportunities that can benefit college sports across the board, and to jump start the discussion, we have a $5 million donor that is prepared to invest in the preservation of a live exports at colleges. olympic sports at colleges. we need to have a conversation about the role we'd aged to play in creating a safe environment for sports. there is no agency, no commission today responsible for the safety and well-being of young athletes. our best estimates suggest that

one in four girls and one in six boys will be sexually abused the time they are 18. sports, it happens in if not more than in society at large. the usoc board of directors unanimously supported the establishment of a new independent entity to create and sustain safe environments for sports. investing $5 million for a pilot program in all of bees collectively -- ngb's collectively. we are trying to raise an additional $15 million to get this organization off the ground. peoplek there are enough and organizations who believe in us, believe what we are trying to achieve here, that we are going to get it done. this entity will have two primary functions -- education and awareness on the one hand,

and for olympic sports, investigation. one of the biggest challenges that we have is that some of our ngb's have limited budgets. , we this independent entity will have the ability to provide the ability to provide that resource to them, so that we can do this. program will sport help raise awareness about misconduct, will promote open dialogue, and will provide training and resources. it is a big problem that nobody is addressing on a national level. we will try and fill that vacuum, but it is not cheap, and we would very much like to partner with as many of our college and university partners as we can. sayingclose by simply that i am grateful for the opportunity to be here today, and to tell you a little bit about the u.s. olympic committee , about team usa, and about why college sports really matter to us. the state of college sports in this great nation is in a state

of great flux. i, know much more than what direction that is likely to head. but if athletes like when jorgensen arehen going to continue to read the benefits of college athletics, and our country will enjoy it spotted the top of the podium, both on and off the field of play, and in board rooms and availability games, we have to support all of our student athletes and the programs that support them. there are immense challenges facing colleges minister to us. we understand there is not a single college ministry during the country who wants -- administrator in the country that was to shut down analytic sport -- and olympic sport program. we much appreciate the opportunity. [applause]

>> you outlined the professional successes you had after not being elected to the ceo position of the usoc in 2001. what drove you to come back to the usoc after you lost that vote? >> i have to go back in time it. i joined the usoc in 1999, it was the fall of 1998 when i realized the thing i liked best was going home and mowing the lawn on friday afternoon. i get home, i would look over my shoulder, and i could see i made the world better place. it was a small piece of the world, but it made me feel really good about the fact i had done something that was tangible and had improved some state of affairs somewhere. as a lawyer, i didn't often feel that way. when i was back practicing law in colorado in 2009, and i got the phone call asking if i would be interested in coming back, it was a dream come true.

it was something i honestly never expected. i wasn't going to apply for the job. i had more or less assumed they had moved on from me. they had a lot of turnover. the more i got to see the impact of the 2004 reorganization on the usoc, the more i got to see the tremendous leadership that we get from our board of directors. we have a wonderful group of people. six people who are independent, and have no relationship to olympic sport. generally, three people elected by the national governing bodies, three people elected by active athletes. for the first time in the history of the usoc, coming to the table, trying to do what is in the best interest of the usoc and its athletes, as opposed to acting in the best interest of the constituency it happened to send them. i came back because i believe in the power of sport to make the world a better place. my lawn hadn't gotten any bigger, so i wasn't getting as much enjoyment from that as a used to. >> one more summit personal

question before we go into some steps instead of -- substanc tive questions. how is your life changed? >> lots of travel. it seems like a low-level to those of you who are directors of athletics. i'm an mg nester as of a year ago. the good news is, i can bring my wife. the most important change is the time i get to spend it training centers, seeing our young men and women, most of whom don't get the big dollars of professional athletes. they are there because they love competing. they really love are presenting their nation. it is just inspiring to be around them. -- representing their nation. you spoke about the importance of college boards programs. certain college athletes, specifically for ballplayers, generate millions of dollars for their schools. why shouldn't they receive a portion of that revenue?

>> this is one it would have been good to have bob here. [laughter] bob knows the answer to that question, i'm not sure that i do. createk our athletes great value, both monetarily and in terms of the inspiration in what they do. we also know that our colleges and universities have jobs that go way yonder athletics -- way beyond athletics. i'm probably being overly noncontroversial here, but it is a couple get a question. the people who should answer that question are the people who were involved in the business of college sport. we need college sport. we need to figure this out in a way that doesn't cause us to lose college sports on the olympic side. but i don't know what the answer is to that question. creately, those athletes a heck of a lot of value. i'm not sure that we have adequately answer the question

about why don't we give them all that money, but why haven't we done more for them. >> if there is one thing you could change about the olympics for the twice for century, what would it be? >> that is a great question. i think the ioc's meeting in europe to talk about that question. they are talking about what changes do we want to make is a part of a project they call agenda 2020. if you look at how we select cities for the london games, rightly or wrongly, -- for the olympic games, it is different from the way business would make that decision. it's a multibillion-dollar program, a multibillion dollar value. the selection is made on whatever cities sign up to be host of the olympic games, and then there is a competition in a vote among those cities. it would be great if we could find a way to strategically make

that selection in a way that helped build the olympic brand around the world. >> the united states has not hosted an olympics since the 2002 winter olympics in celtics city. what would it -- salt lake city. what would it take for the ioc prove? >> base in our discussions with the ioc, they are very open to coming back to the united states. we have made a sincere effort to become much more active and engaged in the global olympic movement. we have tried to be at the table when decisions get made and contributions have to be made to various projects. i think the time is right for the u.s. to compete to host the 11 games. for us -- the olympic games.

we want to make sure there is a compelling reason for the ioc to look at our bed and say that will make the world better. it will make the city that hosts the games better. it is so important that we not spend huge amounts of money that wouldn't otherwise be spent on the olympic games. it is one thing to spend it $10 billion on every structure, if you were going to spend $10 billion on infrastructure because it's in the city's best interest. because they need a new railroad, new streets, things like that. but we can't do is put ourselves in a situation with the citizens of any city are paying to host an event, and paying expenses that wouldn't otherwise be spent on their city anyways. for us, one of the greatest challenges is how do we make it affordable? and we make it a value-added proposition for the citizens of whichever city will host? washingtonare in d.c., and we have a few

questions related to washington. what do you think of the d.c. -- 2024 bid? >> i think russ ramsey is doing a great job. i think this is an iconic american city, a city that represents our nation. i think our other three cities are equally as good. [laughter] >> you have touched on this in your remarks to an earlier question. why should d.c. residents want and pay for the 2014 olympics? games are the olympic now,ially important to us as we as a nation seem especially divided. games acrosslympic all religious lines, all political lines, all economic lines. they are about coming together

to do something other than focus on your disagreements. it is something that focuses everybody's attention on what we have in common, as opposed to what makes us different. there is healthy competition, but is in the spirit of all of us, every country, every 204 countries that comes to compete, being the very best we can be and moving forward after that competition. i think the great benefit for any city hosting the games is that they can be a part, again come of making the world a better place. be a part of something that is much bigger than just a sport, titian or broadcast event. >> what are we doing to set ourselves apart as olympic hosts, compared to other countries? >> i think it is too early to be able to answer that one. we don't know if we are going to host 2024.d to

we don't know who we will be competing against. we are out of phase now where we are just evaluating if this is the right thing for the united states, and if so, who should our bid city partner b. for us, i think one of the things that any city we would is someld offer reliability. access to great technology, access to great infrastructure. i think the united states has historically done a fantastic job of hosting the games. salt lake city, los angeles, , we lasted, -- lake placid have a rich history of doing it well. i think the ioc would look at the united states and feel comfortable that we would be able to do it in a way that would create a great experience for the fans, the athletes, for the guests, for the sponsors. >> the recent article in the atlantic monthly asked what if democracies refused to pay for the olympic games again?

this was a response to the lack of enthusiasm in the parts of 2022rn nations to host the winter limits. can you comment on this, and what the ioc can do to encourage bids? >> that's a fantastic question. if a democracy were to spend as spent on the winter living names, i think it would be a problem. we, as a democracy, have a to be fiscally responsible to our citizens. if we can't look at a pll for the olympic games that doesn't have an adverse effect on whatever city is hosting, we will make the decision not to host. when russia spends $51 billion, that sends a message that the games are expensive. but you have to remember, most of that was for bridges and roads and railroads, and venues that didn't exist.

in most cases, associated with the united states bid, or a bid from a lot of other nations, those kind of expenditures won't be necessary. i think the ioc is headed in the right direction. by asking to focus everyone's attention to focus on the facts that it cost three or $4 billion, plus whatever you need in the way of infrastructure that is otherwise good for your city. >> some of our questionnaires anticipated the flow of your comments. this is coming along in the order i wanted to make this a good discussion. many countries that the u.s. competes against receive direct and generous support from their governments. the united states does not. should the united states olympic committee received government funding? on, weink as time goes

are going to have to increase the amount of resources that we can make available to our athletes if we are going to stay competitive with china, russia, and others. i'm not at all convinced that the best route to that is government support. in 2010, we were raising less than $1 million a year in major gift philanthropy. this year, we should be over $20 million in gross major gift philanthropy. that is the opportunity for us. we have to figure out a way to make americans realize that we are the only developed nation in the world that isn't funded by its government. that,t americans realize we could substantially increase not only the major gift philanthropy, but gifts from to gives who are able $25, to $100. that's the direction we want to go. we are not considering approaching the government to change the rule that has been in

place. it is hard to say that we should. in every summer games since 1996. we are ok now. but we need to keep laser focused on how we increased those resources, and we are not for the time being going to the government. >> what do you think of the balance between professional and amature olympics?n the should baseball bn olympics or sport?e an olympic >> the challenge that the ioc faced was that they wanted the athletes competing in the liver games to be the best athletes in the world. sense, themake much will be affected if the

best athletes aren't competing. i understand where the ioc is on baseball, because the best players in the world are more focused on winning a world series title in they are unwitting american metal. with that said, i think it is a great tragedy that women's softball that doesn't have a world series is not in the olympic games. to supportworking women's softball in getting into the olympic games. the ioc is not sure that is the move. they don't want to admin sports without women's sports, women's sports without men's sports. from the united states alone the committee standpoint, we would like to see women's softball in the games. they don't have the world series. they don't have that premier championship that young women athletes can aspire to after their ncaa championships.

i think that is a great question, but i think the ioc has decided for the time being they want the best athletes in the world coming to the olympic games, not something else. in basal, that wouldn't happened. >> a follow-up question. it points out you have been involved in the rescue of women's softball and wrestling as olympic sports. wrestling made it, softball did not. why do you think the olympics committee doesn't want to consider softball, and what are your thoughts about this? i realize you just touched on that, you may want to elaborate. >> i think the ioc does want to consider softball. in that context, they can only add one sport. they had to pick between wrestling and softball. and that was a difficult choice. i played squash for a long time. i would love to seize wash in the games. i would love to see women's softball. i can imagine the games without wrestling. whatneed to ask themselves can we do to continue to make

the olympic games relevant to younger audiences. inyou look at what happened the winter games, they did a beautiful job when they added snowboarding. the ratings went up, interest went up, snowboarding is a big part of the winter will let the games now. olympic gamester now. how do we get skateboarding in? there are kids all over the world were doing this. if we want to connect with the under generations, we have to find ways that the sports they are active in other sports that will be competed in the olympic games. >> after all the controversy over domestic violence and other issues plaguing the nfl, you spoke out last month about the domestic charges filed against hope solo, the u.s. soccer goalkeeper. still, she is on the team at no punishment levied against her as she awaits trial.

also, olympic swimmer michael phelps has pleaded guilty to dui and is suspended. other any specific rules about punishing olympians charged with a crime? do you see a culture shift in the sports world would it comes to addressing violent behavior against athletes? >> let me answer your last question first. i do see a culture shift. for whatever reason, it doesn't seem acceptable just to say wait and see what happens in the trial. there seems to be more and more pressure on sports to take action when an athlete is charged with a behavior as opposed to when an athlete is actually found to have committed the behavior. you probably know better than i do what is driving that. but i know that a lot of our governing bodies are feeling the pressure because in all truth, so many of them aren't equipped to do meaningful investigations when an allegation of misconduct

is made. and that's one of the reasons the safe sport initiative is so important, even though it only covers one small slice of abuse. it covers a really important part of abuse. one that needs to be addressed. we do need to bring that resource to bear. on the hope solo situation, and the michael phelps situation, both of those cases are pending. it would be an appropriate for us to comments on what may have happened, or what should happen until we have a version of the facts that either has been determined by a third party, or that all the parties have ignored are the case -- big knowledge are the case. clausesu expect morals in future contracts with athletes, in the wake of michael phelps's recent transgressions? >> this is my recovering lawyer self coming out.

i know morals clauses have been a part of those contracts for a long time. we have a code of conduct that we ask each of our athletes to sign. and they do sign. the truth is, if you look at our delegation in london, they were almost without exception. we had one tiny incident. , themost without exception american athletes comported themselves in a way that made us all proud. one of the things we're trying to do is focus the athletes attention on it in advance as opposed to after the fact. ask each of our athletes to participate in an ambassadors program. we gather them together for half a day with their team somewhere. we have famous athletes come in and explain what a great opportunity this is for them to sell american, to help themselves, and importantly, how easy it is in today's world to screw up and impair your long-term value. i honestly believe that that program, which is operated out

of the usoc, is invaluable in making our athletes think about consequences in advance. we really haven't had any significant issues in the last few games. i hope we can keep doing that. >> how often does your law background come into play when promoting olympic games or being ceo of the u.s. olympic committee? >> i have three kids, all of whom are either just out of college or in college. when you talk about law school, when i tell them is -- i think law school is tremendous. it teaches you critical thinking skills that are valuable to you throughout your life. skills, that way of thinking in everything that i do. being a lawyer is a different question than being able to take advantage of the great training that you get in law school.

i am grateful for that training. i do use it all the time. >> are the olympics now drug-free, and does the united states do a better job of testing and enforcing that than the rest of the world? >> i think our athletes get tested more, and more stringently than any other athletes in the world. they are certainly among the top 1% of athletes in the world. we externalized our drug testing. it was created in or around the year 2000. the usoc used to do its own drug testing and adjudication. what we realize that we were the fox guarding the hen house. our job was to win medals. we are also responsible for catching and adjudication dopers, that is a conflict of interest. we moved it outside of our $2 million budget, more than 3.5 million of that goes to support

the anti-doping agency. we have one of the strongest anti-doping agencies in the world. sport is not drug-free, by any means. the cheaters have an advantage, because they are thinking of new ways to cheat for we can think of new ways to test them for cheating. we have to continue to invest. we have to continue to do research. it is very important to us come in a context where we are not just about the outcome. we are not just about winning or losing. we've a value system that underlies everything we try to sell to sponsors, broadcast partners, and donors. if we don't invest in that, it will have a huge impact on the brand long-term. the 2022 world cup is being hosted in one of the hottest regions on earth, the middle east. causing concerns over the health of both the athletes, and construction workers building venues. how do you foresee global sporting events like the olympics being affected by

mobile climate change in extreme weather conditions? >> i think it is fantastic that we have a number of countries who are rising up and wanting to invest their substantial resources in sport. i think that is a wonderful thing. i think we have to rely on the ioc and the international sport federations to make sure those investments are appropriate. hopefully, through the oversight of the ioc and the international federations, when competitions are held in places that are hot, it won't be at the expense of our athletes. that is critically important. supportive of the and departing of places like qatar. we are looking to the ioc and international federations to make sure that those competitions are held under conditions and circumstances

that promote athletics, as opposed to the opposite. >> a couple of marketing questions. how has new media effected the marketing of the lithic movement? -- the olympic movement? >> the audience people are striving to connect with is not people my age. i think the average viewer for the sochi olympics was 50 years plus the average age. othersstion for nbc and is how we make the olympics relevance to those younger audiences. the answer is digital media. social media. we have made an investment, we are very engaged with facebook and twitter. we believe in it. i'm not on facebook, i don't do twitter. our communications person doesn't let me for very good reasons.

we have to be very relevant in that space. i know it is a priority for nbc. coming out of vancouver, they did some research. what they found was people watching on digital media actually enhance their viewership. it increased their numbers on television. it didn't hurt them. i think nbc is all in on this proposition. >> a related question. we are the press club, of course. the olympics have traditionally been a television only events. streaming on the internet is accelerating. what will be the media mix in the future? >> i think it will be incumbent on us and nbc to have the widest possible mix. at the end of the day, different people access through different platforms. any rightsnts, what holder would want, is the ability to exploit their rights

across all platforms. personally, i will continue to watch on television when i'm not on the games. but i guarantee, my three children will not. theave to make sure we have widest possible access across all platforms. >> how do you think social media engagement will drive the country's bid for hosting a future olympics? >> i think one of the most important factors that we look at as we select a city is what kind of support does the bid leadership have in their cities? if they want the support of young people, they are not going to be able to get it in the traditional way. air not going to be able to get it for newspapers and television as much. a lot of it will be driven by social media. all four of our bid cities are thinking through what is their social media plan going to be. that social media plan will have a great deal to do with their ability to demonstrate to us that their city really wants to host the games in the united states.

it will have an extremely important impact on our susman of what kind of public support -- our assessment of what kind of public support each of these cities has. >> when you walk into your office at the usoc, what is usually your main goal for the day? changed funny, that has since i first started in 1999. i started work three days after the salt lake city bid scandal erupted. i got to work on that commission with senator mitchell. it was a lot of crisis management. 2010, it wasd in all about vancouver for the first two weeks. i started about one week before the vancouver games. we had a glorious success there. when i got back, we were facing some really serious issues with the ioc. we began our revenue-sharing

negotiations. we began trying to rebuild those international relationships. we are on as like fairly stable course. we are headed in the right direction. we have the opportunity to be more opportunistic. and be more strategic, as opposed to trying to put our finger in the dike, we are trying to figure out how we can create more resources to support our assets. we are able to support one half of the national team athletes in the united states. if you take our 48 national governing bodies, their young men and women who are good enough to be on their sports national team, who are not receiving support from us. the athletes who get support for monthet less than $2000 a from us on average. it is not enough to live on. our job is to figure out how we can be creative and enhance the resources that we can make available to our athletes, so we

can fund all of our national team members. we are leading up to the conclusion of this. it has been an informative q&a session preceded by your remarks. what are the major priorities for the u.s. olympic committee through 2020, and how is the organization tackling them? have a handfulwe of overriding priorities. one is to continue to build out the major gift program. we started a new foundation last year called the united states olympic and paralympic foundation. we are raising $20 million the year in gross major gifts. we should be at $50 million plus at some point in the future. we have to continue building that out. that is clearly a priority. finding a way that we can host the olympic games on u.s. soil is a priority. we are not going to do it if it

doesn't make economic sense. but we are going to work really hard to try and find a way that it does make economic sense. safe sport is a priority for us. we have got to get this done. we have to launch this pilot program. our athletes careers in education, transition of their a fourths i would say priority for us. so many of our athletes leave the system in their mid-20's. because they want to get going with the rest of their lives. they are not actively engaged in considering what am i going to do after i compete? if we can create more meaningful programs for them, where they are looking at education and career decisions in their teens and 20's while they are still competing, so that they can compete with the confidence, so they have a much better sense of what they will be doing with the rest of their lives, i think it would help them immensely.

>> thank you. we are almost out of time. before asking the last question, we have a couple of housekeeping matters to take care of. first, i would like to remind you of an upcoming luncheon which is on november 7. with robert mcdonald, the secretary of veterans affairs. i would like to present our ug to oural mo guests. yesterday, this is light enough that you can easily packet in your bag when you travel around the world. it.show >> thank you. [applause] >> for our last question, what is your favorite olympic sport, and why? [laughter] >> i have so many. let me tell you about some great

olympic moments. one of my favorite moments, and my team and gets angry at me at times and i say this. but when derek redmond's father came out on the track, i think during the barcelona games, he was running a race and pulled a hamstring with 100 yards to go. he fell down, his dad came out of the stands and helped him ross the finish it is moments like that than make you realize that is not the winning, but the trying that matters. it think about lake placid, and the men that won the gold medal under unbelievable circumstances. you look at the great performances over time of our athletes, like carl lewis. there are so many things that cause me to be so grateful for having what i think is the best job in the united states of america. i get to see these young men and women almost everyday. i get to see them do what they do. they are very helpful.

mble. they are not in it for anything other than the best they can be. those moments are created for me every day on the job. i can't thank you all enough for being here. it was a real pleasure. [applause] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2014] all for coming today. i would like to thank the national press club staff for organizing and facilitate today's event. a final here's reminder. you can find more information about the national press club on her website. if you would like a copy of today's program, please check out our website at press.org. thank you. we are adjourned.

>> in about an hour, moral and athletics come a specifically as the big 12 conference hosts a forum on where the money goes. panel following that come on whether student athletes should get paid. first, new restrictions on travelers coming to america after president obama met with health officials earlier. usa today reporting they are going to be required to have their temperature taken an

answer health questions. those measures will be put into place by u.s. customs and border protection. they begin saturday at new york's jfk. the next weekend we work, washington dulles, and atlanta's hartville jackson. with greater scrutiny on travelers from sierra leone, nigeria, and chicago. this is from today's white house briefing. the department of homeland security just announced any travelers from west africa, from liberia, guinea, sierra leone or have to go to the five airports you have designated for enhanced screening measures. as you have said last week, that covered virtually everybody that was coming in