hello and welcome to "kqed newsroom." i'm marisa lagos filling in for thuy vu. coming up on our program, yesterday lawmakers in sacramento narrowly approved a plan to repair the state's aging roads and bridges. and we talked to steve lee, the first to be elected to mayor of a u.s. city. plus musician chuck prophet joins us in studio to perform a song from his latest album which he describes as california noir. but first as part of our ongoing coverage of the first 100 days of the trump administration, yesterday president trump authorized a missile strike against syria in retaliation for its alleged use of chemical weapons against civilians. and today the u.s. senate confirmed neil gorsuch as the

next supreme court justice with a simple majority vote. republican senators invoked the so-called nuclear option to lower the vote threshold and defeat a filibuster mounted by senate democrats. joining me now to discuss these legal issues and more is john yu, a uc berkeley law professor. thanks for being here. so the president ordered a missile strike thursday on syria, and he did it without clearing it through the u.n. security council or through congress. we've seen a lot of response in the last day. house minority leader nancy pelosi called the attack proportional, but she also joined more liberal and conservative members of congress, including congressman barbara lee, in calling for a congressional vote. you're a constitutional scholar. is what the president did legal under u.s. or international law? >> let's take the constitution first. so presidents have long used force abroad without getting a declaration of war from congress. in fact, we haven't declared war since world war ii. but there have been wars like

afghanistan, iraq, vietnam, where congress passed a law supporting the president. that said, a lot of these kinds of strikes which don't involve a full, big commitment of troops have often been done by presidents before for a long time without any kind of congressional permission. however, a lot of presidents, i think, want to have a show of political support. >> mm-hmm. >> from congress. so it may behoove trump to go back and ask congress to show some kind of support for the action. the other thing worth pointing out is this is an odd place where the far left and the part right meet. so you have rand paul and barbara lee both calling for a congressional vote. >> it sounds like there's not going to be any impact on trump whether or not it's technically legal under the constitution. what about under the u.n. and the rules and under international law? >> so this is an area that's developing in international law. there's a big argument about whether you can use force to try to stop the proliferation or use

of weapons of mass destruction. it's been a big project for many american administrations in many countries around the world to enforce a ban against the use of chemical weapons, particularly kinds like the sarin nerve gas, one of the most dangerous agents known to man. >> horrific. >> on the other hand, there are countries like china, russia, and a lot of other countries that say countries cannot use force against the sovereign independence of another nation without an actual declaration by the u.n. security council. but, again, presidents and countries have commonly used force. think about all the strikes we had against iraq before the iraq invasion to try to stop countries from acquiring and using weapons of mass destruction. >> so you mentioned china and russia, and i know you've been pretty concerned watching this russian election story unfold. do you think this changes anything in your mind with that or, you know, with our relationship with russia? >> well, the interesting thing is -- we talked about this a few

weeks ago. the idea that russia is trying to influence our elections, i think, is the story of the trump administration so far. the interesting thing about syria is that's introducing a divide between russia and trump or the united states. this is an area where we just attacked with cruise missiles, 59 tomahawk cruise missiles, the ally of russia, an air base and a target where there were russian personnel, and we had to call them ahead of time and say, you might want to move your people off the base. as the russians just declared, they're no longer cooperating with us in syria to make sure our forces don't come into conflict. so despite all the things we're hearing about trump and the russians, when it comes down to real politics, you're seeing a split now between us and russia. >> things probably look a little different in the oval office than they do on the campaign trail. >> trump's no longer using the rosetta stone to practice russian. >> the other news had there not been this attack is we have this

new supreme court justice after about a year of an empty seat. justice neil gorsuch was approved this morning on a nearly party-line vote. i'm curious what you think his appointment will do to the court, particularly with cases like, say, the california teachers association case that's been pending and that they couldn't come to a resolution last year because of antonin scalia's death. >> as you know, the nuclear option -- we're talking about gorsuch, not syria. but as you know, gorsuch was confirmed today because republicans got rid of the filibuster in the senate for supreme court nominees. i think gorsuch will not change the court at all because he's only replacing another conservative, justice scalia. you mentioned the friedrich case, the case about can unions take money from employees and use it for political speech? if scalia had been on the court, i think the california teachers union would have lost. i think most observers agree with that. i think gorsuch isn't going to change that outcome very much.

it's really the next seat. i think that's kind of what you saw with the big controversy and the fighting over the filibuster. both sides are flexing their muscles to show when the next seat comes open, which really will determine the court's course on abortion, gay marriage, things like that, they're both showing we're really going to the mat and here's what we're willing to do. you saw kind of a test run of what's going to happen for the next vacant seat. but gorsuch just replacing scalia is not going to change that much. >> do you think trump will get another appointment to the supreme court? >> it depends whether he gets reelected. several of the justices we've discussed are quite elderly, and they would be -- if trump were to win, i can't imagine he wouldn't get two more appointments. if trump is going to be a one-term president, he may still get one more, and that will be the crucial seat for the future of the court. >> it will be interesting. well, before i let you go, i know that what you are known for is being author of what's known sort of the torture memos under the george bush administration. >> i didn't put those at the top

of the memo, believe it or not. >> i know you did it. it struck me how much it was a dispassionate legal argument. i'm curious being in berkeley, hot bed of liberalism. what do you think people most misunderstand about your role or position in that. >> i think a lot of people think that when lawyers give their advice about what the law says, that they are telling you to do it. >> right. >> or not do it. i think what we were doing in the justice department -- and it's the same questions that are coming up, i'm sure, today with the trump administration and syria and a lot of things we talked about, is the law, to me, sets the boundaries of the playing field. it doesn't tell you what plays that you have to call. that's why we elect presidents, and that's why we -- you know, they pick secretaries of state and secretaries of defense. i think the hard question is the law may tell you what you can do. you still have to decide the policy. i think people often misunderstand that when lawyers -- say gorsuch says, you know, i'm not telling you what

i'm for, abortion or not for abortion. i'm just telling you what the law permits decision makers to decide. on the other hand, it would be really strange if i lived in berkeley and people were not upset about the things that i did or even that i'm a republican. i always say, don't worry, the other 99.9% of the berkeley faculty have got the democratic party covered. you don't have to get upset there's one more republican on the campus. >> do you think torture is ethical or just legally justifiable? >> i think what we're doing is saying that the federal statutes on torture said that you can't do certain things in interrogation of al qaeda suspects, al qaeda leaders, three of them is what we're talking about. and in that playing field, you still have to decide what you want to do. so we're saying you can't go cross these lines, then you will be torturing people. but what is not torture is undefined in the law. >> thank you so much more coming in. >> thanks, marisa. yesterday, state lawmakers narrowly passed a massive and costly transportation bill to

fix the state's aging roads and bridges. governor jerry brown championed the legislation to raise more than $50 billion through new vehicle registration fees and higher fuel taxes. because of the tax hikes, a two-thirds majority was needed in both the california senate and assembly. i'm joined by kqed's dan brekke. before we get into the details of this legislation, lay out the need here. why are we in this situation? >> well, california, like most of the rest of the 50 states, has underinvested in infrastructure it already has. and this is familiar to anybody who has been driving on bay area or california roads this winter. potholes are the norm. big potholes are even more the norm. and so the state has what it estimates is a $59 billion unmet need for just repairing what it has now and investing in new stuff that will strengthen the

current road and highway and bridge network. and that's just the tip of the iceberg. local governments are supposed to have $78 billion shortfall that they're looking for ways to pay for too. >> this is not going to get to all of that, but it is a start. tell me what this giant bill does and how it's split among locals and the state. >> well, it's a 50/50 split between local governments and the state. so that $52 million is split evenly down the middle. a total of $30 billion of that money is going to go toward what they call fix it first projects, which means get to those potholes, get to the bad pavement. when there are bridges that are in dire need of repair, go and get those right away. the rest of the money is going to a variety of sort of incentive projects and corridors where there's a dire need for, you know, for work right away or where projects are under way. so there's one provision in here

where there's a -- because work is already ongoing for the caltrain project on the peninsula to electrify it, some of this money actually that the legislature just passed could go to help them. >> interesting. so let's get into the politics here. the governor had to cut some deals to get all the votes. some of it was to appease outside, and some of it was to get lawmakers on board. tell us about this behind the scenes politicking. >> listen, i just read a little piece on this you can find online called, how they made the sausage. and it's not -- i mean some of it is just old-fashioned politics. the trucking industry is going to have to pay a lot of money. diesel fuel taxes are going to go up 20 cents a gallon. their sales tax is applied on ton of the regular state sales tax is going to go up a lot. so to sweeten the pot, they did something that's very unpopular

with environmentalists, the legislature did something that's unpopular with environmentalists. they basically cut a deal that ensures that trucks that currently meet the state air pollution regulations can stay on the road for the next 18 years. >> wow. >> and so that's a big deal in that sector. for the legislators, i mean they had people who are in a tough position. the republicans were united against this, but there was one who was on the fence and was willing to go along if he got a little something. that was senator anthony canel la, who is from stannis slaus county in the san joaquin valley. and what the governor and the legislative leaders did for him was give him $400 million to extend the at mont corridor express train commuting service, which goes from the central valley into san jose. so that's a big win for him. he's also getting $100 million to build a new road from uc merced to highway 99.

and then for a couple of on the fence democrats down in riverside county, there was a similar deal to provide funds in the range of $427 million to fund a bunch of big projects they have down there. >> so these are all transportation projects but unrelated. >> exactly. they didn't say, you know -- they didn't create a jelly belly research facility. >> so when we start seeing smoother roads, and when will this hit our pocket books? >> well, the money is going to start being collected by the 1st of july, i believe, and you always want to know when the roads are going to be smoother. you know, unfortunately, there is so much work to be done. i think the effect is going to be very gradual. but the promise is that work -- you know, $5 billion a year is going to be coming in, and the work is promised to begin immediately. >> great. and we'll see gas hikes, i

think, starting in december? >> the -- you know what? >> i think by the end of the year. >> by the end of the year? >> yeah. before i let you go, i want to ask you about another story you've been covering. we got some big news this morning on the draft. tell me about that. >> the governor lifted his drought emergency order that was imposed about three years ago. i don't think it's a surprise to anybody that we're not in a drought. i have a rain gauge at home in berkeley. we're pushing 40 inches right now, which is 16 inches over normal. but i think this is an acknowledgement that the situation has changed, and although there's also an acknowledgement that the crisis could come back, and it's not really over. there's drinking water provisions still in place through several counties in central california. >> thank you so much for coming in. >> you're welcome. roughly 20 miles south of sacramento is the city of elk grove. last november, it made history by electing as mayor the first mung american to lead a u.s. city.

thuy vu is out today, but earlier she spoke with elk grove mayor steve lee. >> mayor steve lee, thank you so much for joining us. >> it's my pleasure to be here. >> your campaign for mayor was followed by mung worldwide. have you heard from them since you were elected? >> i have. you know, folks from all over the world were sending me e-mails, phone calls. i had correspondence from australia, france, canada. >> tell us a little bit about elk grove. >> it is a bedroom community. we have a nice breakdown. in fact, our school district has 88 different languages that are spoken in it. it's heavy asian-pacific islander, latino, african-american. >> the elk grove mayor's job pays a whopping $9,500 a year. >> it's very lucrative, yes. >> i can see why you went after that. your day job is a juvenile hall counselor. what made you want to become mayor? >> you know, i started out in this business as an activist,

and i remember going straight out of college and i looked in sacramento, and i saw that there was a tremendous need for advocates in the community. when i started organizing the mung community and the southeast asian community in general, i learned something and that is if you keep organizing, they'll keep calling on you to organize. i hit a sort of a barrier as an activist, and that's when i realized i really had to run for public office is we went before the sacramento city council, asked for police officers that can actually speak multiple languages to make that a priority. the answer that i got from that city council at that time wasn't supportive, and that was the moment in which i thought, you know, i've been organizing the community long enough. what would it be like if i was in the position where i made the decisions prior to seeing the

policies? and so that was it. >> and you're one of six children in your family. you're the only one who went into politics. how did that come about? >> you know, it came about -- my father, being a strong asian father, forced me to watch news. i remember arguing with him and said, dad, this doesn't make any sense. i am a sixth grader. i don't know why i'm watching this. but that sort of rubbed off onto me, and i remember it was important that robert matsui at that time was our congressman, and he had a hand in it as well. so that really is inspiring. to see an asian-american be a congressman and to see him step up to help other asian-americans so they could become citizens, it was profound and made an impression. >> and your family history, speaking of your father, is rather interesting. your father fought in the cia secret war. >> yes. >> against communism. >> my father's job was to rescue pilots in northern laos. what happened during the bombing runs, if a pilot was shot down,

they'll fly over to northern laos and parachute out. that's at the point where my father and his team goes in and try to recover that body. the sad part is at the end of the war, we were on a must-kill list. so we had no choice but to flee laos. >> what role do you think your personal narrative plays in how you can perform your role as mayor? >> the theme yesterday at the state of the city was about diversity. what i wanted to do is i wanted to remind people that every american has a story, and we all come to america, and we add to it. during the campaign, there was a lot of negative campaigning, and when i was won, i was sent letters that told me to go home, refugee. i took that, and i thought about it, and i said, you know, part of my job is to remind everyone that we are a nation of immigrants. we all came from somewhere else. and to stand by those that are being victimized, i think that that's my role not only in the

city of elk grove, but in the entire state and in the entire nation, wherever there may be trouble, i will be happy to stand by those who are victimizes. >> does that include having sanctuary status. is elk grove a sanctuary city? >> we haven't explored that. >> are you planning to as mayor? >> that's a conversation that we probably need to have because i would love to make rules by myself as the mayor, but i work with a team of counsel members. >> regarding local politicians in elk grove, the native american tribe is proposing a casino resort in your area as you know. you have been accused of flip-flopping on it. >> i moved into elk grove because i love the community, love the safe neighborhoods. i didn't move because i knew that 18 years down the line there was going to be a casino possibly coming to elk grove. that being the case, as a father, i don't support gambling. i don't want my boys growing up around casinos and gambling.

but as a member of the council, as the mayor, this is an opportunity to bring 2,000 permanent jobs, 2,000 construction jobs. this is a project that can probably jump start the abandoned mall that we have in elk grove. it's 6,000 jobs all together. >> what are you saying? now as mayor you do support it or you do not. >> i set my personal feelings aside. and, yes, i did support the development. >> well, we appreciate your spending some time with us. >> thank you, ma'am. pleasure to be here. san francisco rock and roll musician chuck prophet has been entertaining audiences for decades. he's been on the road recently to promote a new album, bobby fuller died for your sins, which he describes as california noir. the new song spans a range of themes from pop culture to religion to gun violence. joining me now is singer, songwriter chuck prophet. thanks so much for coming in. >> thanks for having me. >> well, you've described this

album as california noir. tell me a little bit about that. what's the story you're telling here? >> jim thompson actually, the great noir writer, said that, you know, when they asked him how he wrote so many books, he said, well, it's easy. there's a million stories to tell, but there's only one plot. that's that things are never what they seem. i think that california being the golden state is a place that people come from all over the world, and sometimes, you know, the reality they find is totally out of joint with the dream. and if you're a songwriter, that's just raw meat for me. >> well, you're a san franciscan. you grew up here, right? you have lived here for decades. i mean how did the city sort of help influence this album? >> well, it's a city at war with itself in many ways. i mean we're going through a lot of changes, and it's become kind of startup city, let's say, and you can't help but take that in. >> yeah. have you seen, i mean, changes

that have really impacted you in sort of the way you interact with the city? >> well, i live in the castro, and i've always kept a little office space, i mean, more like a kind of an overpriced shoebox in the south market area, and i walk through civic center every day. i've seen since twitter came in and i've seen the changes. you know, we're lucky there isn't a sacks fifth avenue down there at the moment. i'd like to see more mid-level retail and stuff that serves the community a little more. >> well, on this album, you end with a song about alex nieto, who was shot and killed by police a few years back. i read you talking about how you're not sort of a political person. but i feel like that's an inherently political issue. >> well, i wasn't really that aware until the civil trial, and then i got really -- that's when i got wound up, and i did co-write the song with my friend, and we didn't really have any plans. this is a song that we wish we

didn't have to write, but we just got fired up one day and started talking about the civil case where a jury of non-san franciscan s decided that these four cops didn't use excessive force after firing at him like 50-some-odd times. so it was a song that, like i said, i wish we didn't have to write. for those that don't know, alex nieto was a 28-year-old guy that grew up in the neighborhood. he had a job as a bouncer at a club. he was wearing a taser that he wore for his job, got into some kind of altercation with somebody who knew the neighborhood, somebody in the tech industry. that led to a misunderstanding and, you know, attacks that said there's a guy up there. he's a gang member, i guess, because if you're not sensitive to san francisco and you don't know what's going on, you might profile somebody in a 49ers jacket as being in a gang. and cops came on the scene and whatever happened happened.

but, you know, he's a guy that didn't deserve to die. and some people would build a case, rebecca saul net built a very strong case that his death was a direct result of gentrification. >> do you feel like it's been hard for people you know to stay in the city because of all these changes? >> yeah. well, the money's come to town. these things happen. i mean it's become like london or new york where only the rich need apply. >> is that good for music or bad, though? >> i think it's bad for music because for me, running a band, you know, i've always been able to work with musicians that sort of operate on the fringes. a lot of these guys have been pushed out of the city, but we're still living in a place where people are incredibly inventive, and they've got 17 roommates, and they've got an eight-track tape recorder in the closet, and they're making records. so i'm still encouraged and inspired by things that go on as well. >> thanks so much for joining us, chuck prophet. a quick note about next week's show. instead of a regular programming, we'll be airing a

special about bay area art. to take us out tonight, here's "a bad year for rock and roll" from chuck prophet. i'm marisa lagos. good night. take it away, chuck. ♪ ♪ well, the thin white duke took a final fall ♪ ♪ there's one more stop in the heavies now ♪ ♪ the moon won't rise, the sun won't set ♪ ♪ there's so many things i would rather forget ♪ ♪ but i'm all dressed up in my mohair suit, watching peter sellers, i'm thinking of you ♪ ♪ i'm wondering where it's all going to end ♪ ♪ it's been a bad year for rock

and roll ♪ ♪ it's been a bad year ♪ a bad year for rock and roll ♪ i want to go out, but i'll probably stay home ♪ ♪ now, what you gonna do when you're bird won't sing ♪ ♪ you tried and you tried everything ♪ ♪ what you gonna do when your last friend's gone ♪ ♪ you're still at the bar, but it's all moved on ♪ ♪ i can see in your eyes it's not too late ♪ ♪ we have to reach a better place ♪ ♪ man, i really hope that's true ♪ ♪ it's been a bad year for rock and roll ♪ ♪ it's been a bad year

♪ a bad year for rock and roll ♪ i want to go out, but i'll probably stay home ♪ ♪ ♪ it's been a bad year for rock and roll ♪ ♪ it's been a bad year ♪ a bad year for rock and roll ♪ it's been a bad year

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