i'll see you tomorrow on "gma." >> this is "eyewitness news upclose." >> call it a traffic jam on the campaign trail. ahead are the next series of primaries. hillary clinton and donald trump trying to take their momentum from last week's new york

connecticut, pennsylvania, and other states holding primaries on tuesday. our guests this morning include connecticut governor dan malloy. and the look back at the controversy over the new york primary. tens of thousands of voters suddenly finding out they had been dropped from voter rolls. we're gonna talk to new york city controller scott stringer, who is leading an investigation. good morning, everyone. i'm bill ritter. welcome to "upclose." the political slugfest for votes remains in the northeast for another weekend. voters in pennsylvania, maryland, delaware, rhode island, and connecticut going to the polls on tuesday. bernie sanders promising to push on, even though hillary clinton has taken a delegate lead of more than 700, if you include the delegates elected and pledged. we're gonna talk to new york city councilman jumaane williams, one of only three council members who supports senator sanders. but we begin this morning with connecticut governor dan malloy, who supports secretary clinton. the governor joins us this morning from hartford. governor, good morning to you. >> good morning, bill. great to be with you.

connecticut primary on tuesday? mrs. clinton right now holding, according to the latest poll, a 51% to 42% lead over senator sanders. but there's a lot of wiggle room. 18% said they may change their mind. >> well, i think it's gonna be close. certainly, i want all of our clinton voters to get out. our demographics are a little bit different than new york or the other states that are voting. but i think she is -- she's got a great closing argument, particularly in my state, where we take gun safety very seriously. after all, we were the state that had to suffer through the sandy hook school shooting. and there is a distinct difference between senator sanders and hillary clinton on the gun issue. i mean, he's voted against the brady bill five times. he's voted to give immunity to the whole gun industry, an immunity that doesn't apply to any other industry in the united states. and that's not the most popular position to take in connecticut.

now before our courts brought by the parents of the sandy hook children who lost their lives. and i think that case should be heard. i think it's the way we make guns safer. you know, right now, we have the technology to make a gun that can't be fired by a 2- or 3- or 4-year-old, and we've had incidences where that's happened in a walmart, where a child found a gun in the mom's pocketbook, didn't know what it was, fired a shot, killed her mother. we have the technology that would prevent that from happening. the gun marketplace doesn't offer that, because i think the nra is against anything that makes guns safer because they're afraid that it will look like they're caving in. we got to change this law. >> let me talk about senator sanders a little bit, because he's not bowing out. he says he's gonna push on to the convention, even though the road to the nomination seems steep and challenging and improbable at best. he needs something like 63% of all the delegates that are left in the primary season. is his campaign hurting

mayor de blasio, of new york, last week on this show, told us he thinks it's making clinton a stronger candidate. where do you stand on that? >> i think it has made her a stronger candidate. we've had her in connecticut this week, and she's doing a great job in town-hall-style meetings and conversations and the like. i think she is a better candidate. on the other hand, you know, what happened in new york, where this got a little out of hand, in my humble opinion, and the week before, where senator sanders was saying senator clinton -- or secretary clinton was unqualified. i think that was out of hand or underhand, perhaps. and i would urge both candidates not to do that sort of thing. we don't want to hurt the party. every democrat that i know wants to see a democratic president. so let's not make it harder to do. everyone tone it back a little bit, talk about issues, and let's have a good conversation. i believe in issues and i think there is a real difference between the two of these people. i mean, listen, senator sanders couldn't explain what he wanted

interview with a newspaper in your town. >> the daily news, yeah. >> that's a substantial weakness. after all, every speech he talks about, he's gonna do something, right? but not knowing how to get it done, not knowing the apparatus, not knowing what you would end up with -- that's a dangerous situation, particularly in an industry that's so important in connecticut and in new york. >> well, to be fair, senator sanders did sort of a pivot, make a big pivot and took back his comments about secretary clinton being unqualified. he took that back. and, in fact, did it on abc in "the view." and i think the vitriol there has calmed down. but, in general, governor, this has been a vitriolic campaign, especially for the republicans. donald trump in your state right now, according to the latest poll, 48% of the votes, in the opinion poll, for your upcoming primary. john kasich with 28%. ted cruz with 19%. what do you see for the republican primary in your state? >> i think trump's gonna get 55%.

people know him. in connecticut, the republican party has a hard time, by itself, electing anybody. but if you, then, look at the republican party, along with a percentage of independent voters that they normally get or unaffiliated voters that they normally get -- that's where we have our real two-party system. but this is a candidate, in donald trump, who has turned off independent voters or unaffiliated voters to a very great extent, turned off women to a very great extent, turned off our asian population, our hispanic population, our black population. he can't get elected president, i don't believe, but i think he's gonna do very well in the republican primary. >> what do you think, governor, about the level of vitriol, the level of discourse, the lack of discourse in this campaign? and what do you tell people? what do you tell children who are watching this and thinking, "you know, is this what the country's all about?" >> parents, don't let your

that's what i would say. none of us want our children to grow up using the language to describe other individuals, women, hispanics, black people, asian people -- no one in america should want their children to watch someone who is clearly discriminatory or prepared to discriminate against people based on their religion. after all, in the united states, that's unconstitutional, and, yet, it is a regular talking point for donald trump. >> all right. connecticut governor dan malloy, whose state has a primary this tuesday. thank you so much for joining us. your support of hillary clinton -- you made the case for her. and we're now gonna get the sanders point of view. governor, thank you. >> thank you. >> and joining us now in the studio is the new york city council member jumaane williams of brooklyn. he endorsed bernie sanders a week ago, calling his campaign -- sanders' campaign -- "a political revolutionary moon shot." councilman williams, thanks for joining us. >> thanks for having me. >> what did you mean by that -- "a political revolutionary moon

>> well, first, i want to council member rafael espinal, who was the first councilman to endorse and councilman ritchie torres, who endorsed right after me. i think it was important to say that because we kept hearing about what can't be done and why we shouldn't support. and everything in this country that's been good has actually heard the same thing -- "you can't do it. you can't do this." and we talk about taking a moon shot all the time, to aim high. and so that's what i was referring to. we just have to aim high, as we do with everything else in this country that we want to get accomplished. >> you are only one of three of the 51 city council members of new york who have endorsed bernie sanders. everyone else endorsed hillary clinton. >> sure. >> you feel like a political minority there? >> well, absolutely. it took me a while before i actually endorsed. >> why'd you wait so long? >> well, there was some issues that i needed clarity on, and i wasn't getting that clarity. and i did get it that weekend. i finally met -- i had spoken to him on the phone before, bernie sanders, and i got to meet with him with the president of brooklyn, eric adams, face-to-face, ask him

questions. and his answers i liked. and i asked for him to please clarify in public -- it was around gun control -- clarify in public what he said to me. and he said he would. and then we toured, with ritchie torres, in brownsville, a nature facility. and i felt more comfortable then. not exactly what i wanted, but it was more comfortable. and on the demand side of gun-violence, he's been excellent, talking about the root causes of it. and, so, i felt comfortable that this message had to be the message that was pushed forward. >> hillary clinton won by a pretty large margin, but bernie sanders got 42% of the vote. that is not insignificant. >> i mean, i was surprised at all of the coverage pooh-poohing his performance. and i was excited that night. of course, you want your candidate to win. i hoped that he would. but in the back of my head, i thought, "if he doesn't, my hope is that he cracked 40%." >> and he did. >> he actually did better than president obama did a few years back. and, so, i was excited that that message caught fire. i felt that if he caught fire a little sooner, if folks like me had kind of heard some of the

little sooner, we would have pushed that up even a little bit more. but his message is still, i think right now, the better message, and it has had the effect of pulling secretary clinton to talk about a lot of issues that probably would not have gotten the same amount of airtime. >> very briefly, if you do the math, it's hard to argue with the numbers. his path to the nomination seems very, very difficult, if not impossible. why is he still in the race? >> well, one, the most important thing is that it's not impossible, although we do agree that it's difficult. and, two, as i said, the message is extremely important. i worry about the people who are telling him to drop out. secretary clinton herself went to the end last time. and, again, that message -- without his presence being there, we're not gonna talk about the issues that we need to talk about. >> we have 30 seconds left. quick question -- if hillary clinton, who appears to be headed towards the nomination, gets that nomination, will the sanders supporters support her? >> well, i have said that any one of the democratic candidates are better than the ones on the republican side, so we all have

but my hope is that bernie sanders will be that candidate. >> okay, representing the sanders campaign, city councilman jumaane williams. thank you, councilman. >> thank you. >> good to see you. when we come back, from looking at next week's election to looking at last week's election. why were so many thousands of new yorkers unable vote? because their registrations were improperly dumped. the new york city controller scott stringer joins us with his

>> welcome back to "upclose." the high-octane campaign in the new york primary now gone, but a big mess has been left behind. it involves how people voted -- or didn't vote, in this case -- in the new york primary. how did so many tens of thousands of people get turned away? told they weren't even registered, when, in fact, they were registered. several investigations now under way. so, what really went wrong? new york city comptroller scott stringer joins us. he is leading one of those investigations. welcome, mr. stringer. >> good to be here. >> so, tell me -- is this a clerical error, ineptitude, scandal? somewhere in between? you don't know? >> well, that's the purpose of our audit and investigation -- to make sure that we finally find out what went wrong on this primary day. this is not the first time we've had these issues with the board of elections. our democracy depends on a system that allows people to vote. voting should not be a chore.

hoops and hurdles. and it seems that, year after year, the situation at the board of elections is just getting worse and worse. so i'm gonna take a hard look. we're gonna spend time at the board, looking at the problems, assessing where we have to do better. we have an election coming up this november where we are expecting huge turnout. and i think new yorkers have had enough. they want to know why 125,000 people were purged from the rolls. they want to know why polling places didn't open on time, why they are told to go to certain locations. the board of elections sent out a mailing telling people the wrong date of the primary. >> mm-hmm. >> so, this has got to stop. >> any evidence that one candidate, in any party, was, you know, disproportionately affected by this? >> well, we're not looking at doing a recount. we're looking at the management and operations of the board of elections. but, look, a lot of people who are for bernie sanders feel burned by this process. a woman came up to me on the street and said, "look, my daughter in college wanted an

she wanted to cast her vote for hillary clinton. and that ballot never came." so, my sense is that everybody's impacted -- democrats, republicans, hillary people, bernie people. but we have to get to the bottom of the operations of the board of elections. >> the board -- we're all learning a lot about the board, which, i guess, you knew. but a lot of new yorkers did not understand. this is not -- it's sort of an elected job, the board of election officers, but not elected by the people. elected by the parties, right? >> well, the party bosses run the board of elections. you have republicans and democrats. they split up the jobs. they split everything up. >> not civil-service jobs. >> no, these are real political appointees. now, we have to look at why these political appointees can't seem to run an election, and that's something we're gonna look at. and we should really look to professionalize the voting in new york. we should institute some legislative reforms. we need same-day voter registration so people can get excited about an election, go to a polling place, and say, "i want to vote for the first time."

everyone who works there -- i know that a lot of people work hard at this. but it sound a little like the old chicago daley school, you know, the original mayor daley, where the bosses were in charge. why doesn't the city run this? >> well, it's time for us to have a discussion about how to professionalize, modernize the electoral system, and that starts with creating a structure at the board that is not from the old days but is more 21st century, more thinking about the future of our political process and voting. our democracy depends on a strong electoral system that is never called into question. and when you think about what went on on primary day, in a national election that had so much importance -- we probably picked the next president of the united states last week during these primaries. and we should make sure that this system has integrity. and i'm gonna get to the bottom of this. we're gonna use the power of our audit and investigation to go in and root out what these problems

>> will your investigation, mr. stringer, include suggestions, recommendations, proposals to broaden out the registration system, make it same-day registration, or at least not make it six months before the primary, allow independents to somehow get involved with it. there's been a lot of calls for that. is that part of your charge? >> a week or two ago, issued a 16-point plan with good government groups and progressive elected officials, demanding legislative action on a number of proposals to make voting easier and more inclusive -- same-day voter registration, as i mentioned, early voting so that people have more time to plan out how they can get to the polls, if you have kids or you have to work a job. we talked about having a system that made it easier for people to engage in the process. and that was before primary day. so i believe very strongly that every elected official has to go to albany and say, "look, let's make the voting easier." let me tell you something that i

we had a primary, right? we now have a june election for congress. >> right. >> we're now gonna have a september election for state offices and a november election. at the very least, we should combine the june and september primaries, but politics in albany won't allow that to happen. the republicans don't want an early june primary. so, let me tell you -- you know what that cost taxpayers? >> how much? >> $50 million. >> see? so that's a -- >> $50 million. >> well, and i think the taxpayers would be ready to move on that and take action, at least demand some action on that, 'cause that's a lot of money. >> imagine what $50 million can do if we then rededicated that money for technology and making it easier to make voting more accessible. >> will this be done -- we don't have much time left, mr. stringer, but will this be done in time, do you think, some of these reforms? >> the audit won't be completed by november, so that should not be an excuse not to act. there's a lot that we can do before the november election to ensure better participation. >> will you keep us posted? >> absolutely. >> i'm sure you will, but come back again. >> good to see you. >> all right, thanks, mr. stringer. scott stringer, the comptroller of new york city. just ahead on "upclose," talk

we'll explain what that means. and some of the most famous and richest people in new york have at the four seasons grill room. a nostalgic look back coming up, as it closes its doors. that's next. i've just arrived in atlanta and i can't wait to start telling people how switching to geico could save them hundreds of dollars on car insurance.

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a new york institution is about to shut down. the four seasons grill room, in midtown, manhattan, home to movers and shakers, titans of business, celebrities, brilliant writers. in the current issue of town & country magazine, a look back at this hallowed eatery. pictures of the famous and infamous who have dined there. a story titled "you'll never eat lunch in this place again," written by former abc news producer and book author holly peterson. i started off by asking her why people should care about the four seasons grill. >> we care about all institutions in this wonderful city. and new york is such a conglomeration of different people and different industries, and it all explodes in this one room, if you're talking about a pantheon to power, which it is, the great accomplishers from publishing, media, business, the arts, philanthropy, journalists. all kind of people converge on that room every day at noon. and the currency in that room is literally, "what have you done lately?", not how much money you have. it's really, "what have you accomplished?" and that's what makes that room so electric and exciting.

something that a lot of people these days have lost sight of. we think about money. you know, people strive for money, to be part of the 1% or the .0001%. >> yes. >> and it's really, "what have you done?" that is meaningful that makes the difference, right? >> you know, i study these people a lot and i like to write about them a lot. and i think that there's different groupings of accomplished and wealthy people in america. there are some people that inherited a lot of money and inherited a company, but a lot of those people ran that company into the ground. so they're kind of a laughingstock among their peers. >> so, that doesn't count in terms of accomplishments, right? >> that doesn't count in that room. i mean, that counts in certain country clubs and that may count on park avenue and fifth avenue, if you inherited a nice, big apartment. but in this room, that doesn't count at all. in fact, that's a huge notch against you. what matters in that room is, "what did you do?" and i really believe it's a meritocracy in that room. "what company did you create? what article did you write? what did you say on the news over the weekend that got everybody talking? what ballet did you produce? what movie did you produce?

that's what matters in that room and that's what makes the room so exciting and, indeed, that's what makes the city we live in so enjoyable and exciting. >> i'll ask you about, you know, the reasons why this leaving us, this room, and going out of business and reforming in a different way next year. but does it say something other than just maybe the least couldn't be redone and re-thought-out? and does it say something about we care less about what people have accomplished and more about what they may be wearing these days? >> no. i think the reason the restaurant is closing is clearly it's a real-estate issue. there's a new owner of the seagram building over the past few years, and i think the terms of the lease have changed and i think the current people who have the lease just can't afford the new lease. they might have had a little bit of a favorable lease in the past. i mean, i haven't been privy to all the exact finances, but i think it's merely a tenant-landlord situation. >> so, what happens to this -- >> everyone who goes to that room is devastated. most people are devastated.

change and will come back to that room in its new incarnation, but i think most of the people that have been going there for 30 or 40 years -- these people have lunch in that room every day. it is a cafeteria of c.e.o.s and publishers and executives and journalists and authors and book agents and artists and museum curators. it's an absolute cafeteria to those people, and they've been going for decades and sitting at the same table and having the same entr\e. >> you have some great celebrities and famous people that you quoted. what were some of your favorite observations? >> some of my favorite observations -- barry diller, who runs the iac corp that -- you know, he owns tinder. he owns all kinds of apps. >> a media mogul. >> a major, major media mogul. married to diane von furstenberg. said the only time he has seen this peer group of his be quiet in that room was when lady diana spencer walked in the room with anna wintour, the editor of vogue, and the entire room went completely silent. he said it was the only time all

were dropped and could not speak they were so awed by her beauty and stature and celebrity, i guess. >> full disclosure -- you have been there a lot, as a little girl and as a grown woman and mother. your father, pete peterson, has a table there. >> yes. >> and i've had the pleasure and honor of dining there with you. >> we've been honored to have you there. >> and, so, you grew up in this environment, watching it unfold. >> you know, i grew up with a self-made man. i grew up with a man who was a greek immigrant, who came to this country, and worked in a coffee shop that stayed open, for 27 years, 24 hours a day. that's who i grew up with as a father. and he went on to have some major achievements in wall street and government. and he is this person. he's someone who, at 90, still goes to the office every day and he shuffles into the grill room and sits at his table and is working like mad every day. and he loves it. >> holly peterson on the closing of the four seasons grill room. we thank her for joining us. now we're gonna switch topics and talk about the bronx zoo, the largest metropolitan zoo in

in the world, in fact, attracting more than 2 million visitors a year. but the reason we bring it up now is because the wildlife conservation society is gonna hold its eighth-annual run for the wild -- that's what it's called -- this saturday, april 30th. wabc-tv, not by coincidence, one of the sponsors. joining us this morning, executive vice president john calvelli. john, thanks for joining us. >> thank you. thanks for having me. >> so, you're having this run because... and a clever title with the "wild" and everything. what's the purpose? >> well, you know, just to step back for a second, the bronx zoo is the headquarters of the wildlife conservation society. and wcs works in 60 countries around the world. and when the bronx zoo was founded, back with the help of teddy roosevelt, it had two missions. one was to educate people about nature, and the other one was to really go out and help save the planet. so, you know, fast-forward 120 years, and this run becomes an opportunity for all of us to take a role and to help. so, it's a fundraiser. i mean, pure and simple, it's an opportunity for people to show their support through running.

it is a 5k literally through the park. and then we've created a bit of an eco-village. and i don't know how "eco" it is. you know, we have a beer garden there. >> no, it's very ecological. >> it's very ecological. but it's going to be a fun time. and i think there's so much that we worry about when you read the papers -- and, you know, earth day, and it's earth month, actually, right now -- and we start to think about, "what can we do to help our planet?" and organizations like the wildlife conservation society are literally there on the front lines helping to save these iconic species. >> and you're clearly passionate about this. >> i love it. you know, i was born three blocks away from the zoo. so, you know, i was born 180th and hughes. so, for me, i guess i didn't get very far in life, but i feel like every day i go to the zoo and i can travel the world. >> not very far in life. how many millions of people would love to have your job and get to do what you're doing? >> i know. and, you know, the good thing is that we're trying to make a difference. and one of the things that we feel is very important is -- when you come to our facilities, when you come to the zoo, and

really an act of conservation. you're really making a statement. >> let's talk about animals for a second, because anyone who's been to this incredible zoo walks away saying, "wow. these guys are really taking care of these animals." there is a lot of controversy about animals in captivity. you obviously are aware of it. you have to address it all the time. we've had it in the news this year. seaworld cutting back its orca-breeding program. no more elephants for the barnum & bailey circus. that's a big deal. animal-rights activists have long protested that. how does this affect you? how does this whole movement affect you? >> well, i think, first of all, one of our basics tenets is animal welfare. i mean, we are committed to the welfare of the animals. and the fact is that you look at our standards, we pass our standards every year, flying colors. but it's more than that. it's not about a standard. it's about the ethos. it's who we are as an organization. and i'd just share one story from our past that tells it in a nutshell. you know, there were 30 million buffalo on this planet, in north america. we had hunted them down to 21.

in what were called gentlemen herds. the bronx zoo actually bred them and then released them back into the wild. we would not have buffalo but for the bronx zoo. that's the role of a zoo. a zoo educates people. we have some of the greatest people doing research now on helping to save endangered species. the term, at one time, used to be noah's ark. there are places where the only place you can see those species are at the bronx zoo, at the zoo. and the fact is -- we have a responsibility to those animals and to ourselves. >> and anyone who participates that. we're gonna throw the full-screen up on the screen that. the run for the wild, saturday, april -- through the zoo. and if you're over 21, there's a beer garden. if not, there's a club-soda garden and maybe some soda. >> and silent disco. >> there you go. silent disco. anyway, john calvelli, with the wildlife conservation society, thanks a lot. >> thanks. good seeing you. >> good luck. and that will do it for this edition of "upclose." next. if you happened to miss any of today's programs, no worries.

thank you all for watching. i'm bill ritter. and for all of us here at channel 7, enjoy the rest of your day. >> buenos d^as y bienvenidos. good morning. welcome once again to "tiempo." i'm joe torres. the community schools model has