this week, self-made man, a handyman grows his business into a construction empire and then becomes one of the nation's most successful goer ins. gary johnson, possible candidate for the white house. and charles phan uses 20 credit cards to open his first restaurants. our reporters, from national public radio, laura seidel. this week on "press here." >> good morning. i'm scott mcgrew. my first guest has climbed mt. evere everest, self made man and may

have his eye on something even bigger. of course,s former new mexico governor gary johnson isn't a candidate. there are no candidates for the 2012 race yet, except for presumably barack obama. but lots of very conservative people would like to see the republican make a run for the presidency. as new mexico's governor johnson lowered taxes and cut spending, vetoing more bills than any governor. in fact, more vetoes than all the governors in all the other 49 states put to the. and yet he was still wildly popular. easily winning a second term even though new mexico ans usually vote democratic by 2-1. new mexican law said he couldn't run a third time, so instead johnson started a police call movement he calls our america. his politics put him far to the right of media darling sarah

palin. so far to the right, in fact, that johnson is hard to categorize. he supports legalization of marijuana, gays in the military, and calls for the immediate withdrawal from afghanistan. they call him a superstar of the tea party movement. "reason" magazine calls him the most dangerous politician in america. f gary johnson, former governor of new mexico, and bbr's laura side approximately i want to get ahide of time that this our america organization is something called a 501-c-4 charity which means it can talk a lot about you in glowing terms, it can raise a lot of money, but you're not permitted to say or express interest in being a candidate for politician. >> the 501-c-4, aim chai am a c,

which allows me to be a political activist, speak on issues of the day. >> at some point i could ask you a question you didn't like and you could say, i'm not running for anything. >> or speak hypothetically. >> hypothetically, it is theoretically possible you could be a republican candidate for president. >> well, somebody with a 501-c-4 could hypothetically become a presidential candidate. fred thompson was. >> i think everyone understands the groundwork. >> actually, so does that mean if you decide to run that the money raised in this organization can then go to be a political candidate? >> no, it would stay with our america initiative. >> could our america initiative support you as a candidate sm. >> no. no. our america nir tiinitiative is advoca advocacy, so no. >> does this allow you to play in a bigger circuit without

declari declaring yourself? seems like you're having your cake and eating it without being challenged, if you will. >> no, very challenged on the views. but two sides to it. it's also, you know, a lot of conjecture is being made over whether or not i'm going to run or not. i don't want to get side ways with my legal status. >> you know, one of the things when you were governor you were big on lowering taxes. and there's been talk now as we move forward, particularly here in the valley, about whether or not there should be an internet tax on goods that are sold across state lines. i have a feeling that's probably not something you think is a good idea. >> i never supported taxes. i really believe lower taxes generally create better economies. when it comes to the internet i think we really -- government needs to keep its hands off the internet. >> one of the problems with that that is certainly being played out here in california where there is a budget crisis, they're saying something like a billion dollars was lost last

year but not calling on the internet tax for 2009. it should say, and some people are saying that with let's take amazon, for example, which makes a lot of sales, big company, makes a lot of money. they're driving smaller businesses out of business because the small businesses in the state have to pay the taxes. but amazon doesn't. >> i would just argue that we are always concentrating on the revenue side and never really on the expenditure side. we've gotten to a point i think we need to cut 43% out of the federal budget right now. i think our biggest threat to the national security right now is the debt. the fact that we continue to spend more money than we take in. >> i'm going to observe that you didn't totally answer maggie's question. let's talk about 43%. you can't cut that out of the federal budget. >> i think you can. everyone has that notion that's not possible the medicare, medicaid, social security, defense. when it comes to medicaid and

medicare, i think the federal government could block grant money to the states, really cap tating what we spend on medicaid and medicare and leave the delivery of health care to the states, to those that are poor and those over 65. 50 laboratories of innovation. this whole notion that -- that it's top down from washington has got us to the point right now where we're bankrupt and we have to fix this. we absolutely have to fix this. social security is kind of a pale problem in comparison. but it's a matter of a system that takes in mormoe money thant pays out. i think it's a combination of raising the retirement age. maybe culli incutting the benef slightly, cutting the benefit rise, the rate of inflation growth, if you will, in years to come and then when it comes to social security. and then defense, we're spending more money than all the other countries in the worldcom bind and we're only 5% of the world

in population. i don't think we can continue to nation build worldwide when we have our own nation to build. i would advocate getting out of afghanistan and iraq tomorrow. i would have been opposed from iraq in the beginning. i thought that afghanistan was initially completely warranted. but here it is, ten years later, the issue we will have getting out of afghanistan tomorrow will be identical to those 25 years from now. >> on the medical front because i come from a country where the government does look after the care of its citizens. sometimes not as well as one would like. and you come to this country and the thing that surprises me, how bureaucratic the process is, that's where all the on any goes. >> completely agreeing. >> working on does this elbow mean it should be a clean x, y, or z. >> totally -- >> opposite, there are a lot of people who sell through the internet. i know people who don't have medical insurance. things happen to them. they go to the hop and they pay cash. >> they pay cash and are victim to a system where nobody pays

cash. >> what's your answer? >> free market approaches when it comes to health care. and by the way -- >> no government involvement whatsoever? >> if no government was involved whatsoever we would have an explosion of health care goods and services from entrepreneurs that would deliver products. >> i could go on, you know, about the health care and i think it might be questionable to some people whether or not the private industry can do it when you so wall street companies trying to cut and make as much profit. sometimes people feel like they're not going to make the best medical decisions. i guess that's one of the things people bring up. right? >> sure. that's where government involvement comes in, we have to make the it decision. the only entity capable of right decision is the government ooze opposed to individuals. you and i shopping our dollars -- and advertise. >> free market, insurance company would never pay out any money. they tried their best -- >> in a totally free market would you even have insurance coverage for your health care?

would you just pay as you go? or in the case of a totally free market i would have insurance to cover myself for catastrophic injury or illness but not as pay as you go because pay as you go, that's like -- that's like an open-ended ticket for the guy that fixes your car that's been crashed. you shop your car and the damage that's been done to your car and you you get the best possible price you can to fix your car as opposed to going in. it's carte blanche because -- >> it is -- contrast. we have to take a commercial break. we'll be back with governor johnson in just a minute.

governor gary johnson is former governor of mexico. >> i know that you're -- generally opposed to too much

government intervention. i always think here in the valley it was the government that created the internet. it put the research dollars there to make it happen. and now free enterprise is coming and help expand it. but there was a certain amount of i want to say infrastructure money which is something president barack obama talks about. just helps get the groundwork going and actually helps me vent the crisis. >> investment because there were -- taking a risk. taking a journey. >> i would argue that we would be -- that government involvement without exception really doesn't have the implication that it's supposed to. you know, ends up having unintended conversations squess th consequences and costs us a lot of money. >> there are situations like laura said, had the internet not been invented silicon valley would be a different place. >> to say that wouldn't have happened otherwise i think is not an accurate statement, either. to say that any innovation really comes out of government,

i would argue that that's not the case. when you look at space exploration right now, nasa, you know, is looking at the private sector to move forward, not within itself, because it just costs so much. >> i guess that's true. what i'd -- the point i was making is maybe there's also a place for government, incentive to then help push private industry forward. >> i think you're absolutely right. and i think that everything that government does should be a cost benefit analysis. what are we going to spend mob any on and what might the return be and might this be money -- yeah. >> you're not against the government spending. >> you can't categorically be against everything that government does. i think there are those in need in this country that perhaps government is the only entity that's going to be able to provide those services. but i think government goes way i don't that. so back to -- back to my ten years of governor of new mexico and benefit cost, benefit

analysis. what are we going to spend our money on? >> i think the american public is not frightened up. regardless of your politics of the you spend more money than you bring in, continuously for theest rest of -- $14 trillion is what they were talking about last week, as far as the deficit goes. that some of this becomes irrelevant if you haven't gotten the money to pay for it. >> as you all know, it isn't just the $14 trillion, it's the hundreds of trillions of dollars of entitlement liability. you know what the ramifications are going to be. the ramifications are, are you still going to receive your social security check? yes. but will it be worth anything? no. as a result of what we're doing right now by building up the dekt we're printing this money to cover the obligation we're going to drown in a tsunami of cash i think that's headed inland right new. >> where do you stand on the issue of neutrality, which is a very con ro verse shul issue,

especially here in the valuely, given where some companies have decided to stand on this. and obviously the situation that the fec has found itself in. where do you think we should be going with this? >> there's a great example of net neutrality, the notion that the government can step in and make eight levit a level playin field. >> overseeing everything, being a cop on the beat, making sure that everything plays by rules. what's wrong with that? >> nothing is wrong with that. the criticism is that it will actually have the opposite effect, that it will end up creating unnecessary burdens to the internet and will actually slow it down. it will make it less innovative the that's the criticism. >> there are some on the other side who say if you have those playing field, if you allow the next google to get started, whereas if you have people saying --

>> or there are those that criticize that that ensconces google in a role that they're not going to be oh we have competition that at one time they were the competition. well, now they want to protect -- i'm not saying that this is google's position. but this is the criticism of the whole net neutrality thing. government trying to create one thing but the reality is protect -- perhaps protecting interests that already interests. big business as opposed to entrepreneurship and competition. >> just about run out of time. i'm going to take the last question. this is my show. are you electable? let's say you were to run for president as a fiscal conservative, as some very reasonable policy that would appeal to a lot of americans. there are libertarian things in there that is going to drive the right crazy. >> well, you know, for me, i've been doing this for now for 14 months. i live in taos, new mexico. i live there because the skiing is as good as anywhere on the

planet and that's my passion. >> i didn't ask you about skiing. >> so when i started this whole process out, was i going to get egged and tomato'd, sent back to taos? well, i haven't been. i'm still being listened to. >> former governor of new mexico, we'll post these on your website as well. coming up, charles phan had seven rest rapts in the chapt tall of restaurant, san diego. busboy to dotcomer to restaurant tour when "press here" continues.

your parents will tell you you can be anything you wish. but if you want to be a restaurants owner there are a couple of things you should not do. do not put yourself in hock to get the doors open and do not be experienced in the restaurant business. in other words, do not be like

charles phan who took 20 of his family's credit cards to open his vietnamese restaurant, the slanted door, the one you're seeing here is actually the restaurant's second location in the newly renovated san francisco ferry building. there shouldn't have been a first location. >> nice an brown on both sides. >> while phan has always been a good cook, he had no restaurant experience beyond busboy. after his family left vietnam at the end of the war, phan studied architecture and became a clothing design and a sales wear salesman only to return to his first love of cooking. a strange course and good fortune for foodies whose eyes role at the spring rolls and savor every drop of soup. charles phan is the owner or slanted door and six other restaurants. he joins us before the lunar new

year joined by maggie shiels of the bbc and lauwyeura slydell. this is the year of the cat which represents determination. fits right in. was that a fair assessment, you knew little or nothing about the restaurant business, heck of a cook but little or nothing about the restaurant business? >> yeah. >> so we all know it worked out well, but what were you thinking? >> i'm saying my dad being an entrepreneur. i did start busing table when i was in eighth grade. so learning in an english pub and nightclub, got fired, you know, got yelled at. and -- but i really saw a niche in the marketplace. it was my passion of design. and when i was in school in berkeley -- >> studying architecture. >> and make fun of all the asian kids in the computer lab. i was just really interested in

design and i want to be a potter when i was in high school and my dad was having a fit so i studied architecture just to cover up that i really want to be a potter. >> how did you manage to persuade your family members, 20 credit cards, and you run them up to the hilt. how did you persuade them? >> not telling them a whole lot because i thought i can build a restaurant for $40,000. >> but they all seemed to have believed you as well? >> well, my dad started a beef jerky business which had nothing do do with it and he started that and things he shounts have sta shouldn't have started. my mom came to san francisco and wanted to do a grocery store in china town. spotted the store. funny. he spott eted porno book store he didn't have the money to do it so they started a sewing shop. they started things that

shouldn't have b. started. >> is it a family, is that the best pat of entrepreneurship, is it's in your family? >> yeah. what the thing is, you bet the whole house knowing that if the worst case scenario, you can live with the worst case scenario, then it's good. when i started, i remember looking at the space and there were three or four people ahead of me and somehow i just knew this guy was, you know, arm crossed, you know, he was the owner. and the agent was something else, you know. and i -- he was chinese and i talked to him in his language and i made a deal right there, lock it up right now. four months free rent. if i don't get my permit or money you can keep my first and last. sometimes you've got to make that deal on the fly, at like the flea market. >> you said you saw a niche. what made you sort of able to spot that particular niche. >> niche?

i was interested in design. really sick and tired of people stereotyping asian restaurant. and since i come from fine dining experience, i used to work at a place called mu manms the '80s, nightclub, and cafe royal. i saw the services but they weren't serving vietnamese food. >> but they weren't terribly familiar with vietnamese food. >> china town, if you get chinese food you don't have ambience, services to do with it. i saw that missing link, you know. i know i couldn't cook french food. >> but the other thing that's interesting is the slanted door, when you were in the first place down in the mission, reputation was amazing and it was a magnet for all these big name people, from president clinton to mick jagg jagger. how did you manage the get the word out to those kinds of people? how did they find out about it? that was a big part of your reputation. >> well, you know, we just had a sweet spot. i opened having a design

background, i had this poster of a noodle and people started talking about it. >> it was a buzz. >> it was all abuzz. we didn't get a review until three months after we opened. we started getting the buzz. but i was model, also, everything we do is different. we weren't like a traditional chinese restaurant. we have six items, sustainable. >> how much does yelp help you at this point or are you immune by yelp? >> they weren't around yet. >> i understand that. do anything for you now or are there some restaurants that now that -- you have a decent score on yelp and it's solid but it doesn't matter because everybody knows the slanted door. >> in the beginning yelp got offended saying that i could get this. >> do you read it? >> somehow you get those comments, yes, i could get this

for $2.99 somewhere else and misfounded. but at the same time, i think -- they have gone beyond that. i think if you look at online, like zaggot, people are taking yelp before zaggot as i notice. >> are you effected? if somebody says i could get that someplace at $2.99. do you think there'sing? you can do with the menu? >> the only thing i focus on is what i can control. i li it's like a broadway play every day, every minute. i could screw up 20 minutes later. one table could have a good time and another don't. the only thank you can do is control it at the root level of making sure the quality of food and service is up. we've been making beef for 15 years. how do you get better? >> talking about how you control from the kitchen. but in this day of twitter and

yelp and facebook where everybody is expressing their opinion and expressing it to their friends in a wider circle, you can't control that. >> yes. >> how do you internalize it? >> we have a saying in chinese, you can't fool the tongue. you can fool them with glitzes -- >> everything is food. >> and value, you know. we're a different company than 15 years ago. we're buying sus stainable gras fed beef. i found chief fillet tail that the airline didn't want and i was able to make that differ. now everybody is copying it. but we're different company today. we try to promote sustainable agriculture and food. we want to buy the best value. at the same time, i need to pay my people well. >> speaking of longevity, retrobusiness is one of the

toughest businesses. how do you, after a certain point people are on to the next new thing. how do you sustain a restaurant over many years and keep people coming back? >> well, you got a lot of examples like alice after 30 years you still water from shaping and still have hard time getting a reservation. i think certain ideas are god good bone. i think one of our couldn't sechts got good bones, slanted door, it's bringing that beast piece -- piece of vietnam to you in a modern setting shs good values. i continue to push that envelope by taking a step back to vietnam, bringing new food, at the same time i have to make shake and beef for the next 16 years. >> we just have a couple of seconds. what is your favorite restaurant in san francisco that you don't own. >> yet. >> that's a good question. >> 30 seconds until the commercial. give me something. >> great little thai place on larkon. it's between larkon and ellison.

>> go find it yours. act in jusmoa a ment.me

that's our show for this week. my thanks 230 governor johnson and charles phan of slanted door. we've put his entire cooking process on of his shaken beef on our website. happy lunar new year to his family and you. i'm scott mcgrew. thanks for making us a part of your sunday morning.