good morning, everybody, i'm jim handly. welcome to "viewpoint." our guest this sunday morning is a familiar face and name to d.c. voters, carol schwartz, former longtime council member and former school board member in d.c. now running for mayor for a fifth time, as an independent. welcome to "viewpoint." great to see you again. >> thank you, jim. it's great to be here. >> so, why did you decide to throw your hat into the race, again? >> well, listen, it was a -- i had to think about it a long time. but i missed impacting on people's lives that i was able

to do through my years of public service. and i tried to retire gracefully. but, i just couldn't do it. i missed serving. and as the years went on, and i did my traveling, and i did my volunteer work, and all the things to keep myself very busy, and not feel too bad about losing, because i didn't choose to retire, as you remember -- >> right. >> i gave sick leave to workers and they came after me and i lost in the primary, and then i ran a write-in. i did beat the person that beat me in the primary but it was not enough to beat michael brown who had number one on the ballot. of course we know what happened to him. he's serving in jail right now. so i don't think getting rid of me was necessarily the best thing that ever happened for the city, or me. but i did try to retire gracefully, and then i just found my leisure skills were not that good, and i missed impacting on people's lives in a positive way. and then when i saw the primary, and what the choices were in the

general election, i -- for the first i'm in my life i was thinking of not voting. i've always voted. and people all over town were passing me every time i'd be out of the house and saying, please run. we miss you. run for mayor. and a combination of people saying they needed me, and my not having anybody to vote for, i decided to just jump out there and throw my hat in the ring. and most of my best friends were surprised. it really was something i -- not a spur of the moment decision, i mulled it over a long time, but i didn't share it because if i wasn't going to do it, i didn't want people to know i had been thinking about it. and then i just jumped out there and here i am two months later. >> and this time, as an independent. which i want to ask you about later on. but you bring out choices. you didn't feel like you had choices. so let's take them individually, muriel bowser the democratic candidate who beat the incumbent. why would she not make a strong mayor? >> well, listen, i think people

rallied around her because she had the few percentage points up from the other democratic nominees. and also she got "the washington post" endorsement in the primary. so i think she kind of became the go-to gal for those people that didn't want to see our incumbent mayor return to office. you know, to that office. and so, i'm not sure how much of it was real support for her, and how much was anti-incumbent. >> do you think she has the skills, the qualifications, the experience? >> well, listen, i like muriel, we served together on the council. she supported my re-election. i supported her re-election. i think she's a fine council member. i think if you look at her record it's awfully thin. and i think we need a mayor that has a tremendous amount of experience, as well as legislative record. i think that's very important. >> another former republican david catannia why would he not make a good mayor or strong mayor in your view? >> listen, i think he's got some personality traits that not just that i saw loud and clear,

because he was also part of that get rid of me after the sick leave issue. but i think, i think that's very important. i think you got to make friends, not enemies, and i think he goes out of his way if he doesn't get his way to make enemies, and i think that could be very difficult for the city, as we advance forward. we need a lot of friends. we need to get voting rights, and i would work on that as something i worked on for years. i itch to work on it, and actually deliver it. >> do you think it's a temperament thing with him -- >> i don't want to keep talking about my -- you know, this is the first thing you asked me about so i want to be candid. >> right. because a lot of people -- >> i don't want to go into any more than i did, jim. >> but a lot of people have said that you're in this to be a spoiler. >> no. >> and particularly -- >> i am in it to be a spoiler for both of them. >> okay. >> i want to spoil both of their chances of winning. i want to siphon off votes from both of them, and be the winner on november the 4th. >> what do you think the biggest challenges are?

and we can talk more about this, too, for the district? and what would you like to tackle head-on, first? your top two issues perhaps? >> well, education. and that's been a turn-on to me forever. i didn't just chair a committee for a year and a half and show some interests. i had been a lifetime educator, basically. i -- i went to university of texas and i got educated in elementary and special education. i was a special education teacher. and also, i -- my children went nowhere but to d.c. public schools, a three of them, from pre-k or "k" through grade 12. i was on the board of education 40 years ago i got elected and the first election my name was on the ballot and i ran in the -- for the board of education and got elected. i served as vice president three unprecedented terms in those days. and i -- one of the first things i did on the board of education

was bring back standardized tests. they'd been done away with. so we didn't even know how badly our children were doing and i brought them back and people said but carol they're racist, some people said that, including that -- that superintendent at the time. and i said well listen, it's a racist world out there. we're talking 40 years ago, and i said and i want our children to be prepared and get prepared to be president of the united states. and so i brought back standardized tests. got rid of the -- part of the majority of the board that got rid of the superintendent then barbara sizemore. did hire vincent reed and floret to mckenzie, both of whom did outstanding jobs. brought back a basic curriculum. i personally got baniccer academic high school up and running. that was an idea of dr. reed's and myself. and we didn't succeed the first year because several people called it elitist.

dr. reed left. and i delivered it the following year. and you know, it's the one school that year in and year out -- excuse me, jim -- year in and year out makes the "time" magazine list of the top 100 schools in the country. so i'm very proud of that creation. >> wow, that's good. all right, we've got a lot more to get to with carol schwartz, independent candidate for mayor in dpk right after this short break. break. stay with us on "viewpoint." go! go! wow! go power...oats! go! made from oats cheerios! cheerios! go, go, go! go power oats! go! cheerios! go power! go...power! yayyyy!

and welcome back. our guest this morning, and we should say off the top that we have extend the the invitation to muriel bowser and also to david catania, too, the two other contenders in the race for mayor but carol schwartz is with us again, independent candidate for mayor. we mentioned off the top you have been in office as a republican always throughout your career. now, an independent. why the switch? >> well, i became an independent back in 2013. the party that i belong to al those years just started veering too much to the right for me. so i decided that i felt more

comfortable being an independent. i hope it willerve me well. now that i'm running for reelection. i made that decision before i'd even thought of running. not for re-election, but running for to get elected mayor. and i hope it will serve me well. but a decision was made before having nothing to do with running. i also wanted to mention when you asked me about running for mayor, and i said, you know, i spoke a little about it, but i wanted to be mayor for a long time. i ran the first time 28 years ago, in 1986 to be mayor. and it's a job i've wanted to do for a very, very long time. and i'm certainly ready, willing and able to do it now. so i hope the voters will elect me. >> what do you think is going to be the difference? because you had a lot of success in an overwhelmingly democratic city, as a republican. you got hefty numbers. >> yes. >> several times in your council races, too. >> amazing numbers, jim.

when you consider that the voter registration in those days was 7-1. 77% democratic to 7% republican. so it was 11 to 1 just amazing disparity. and the fact that when i ran for mayor the lowest percentage i ever got was 30% of the vote. the highest was 42%. so it was really quite extraordinary. i'm hoping now that i am an independent, and those that just couldn't cross that line will be able to do it now. >> let's talk about money. i mentioned when i first saw you and hadn't seen you in ages that i've seen a lot of your signs up around the area. but it does take money to win a race in this city, as we know. and more money than ever before. your opponents, muriel bowser i think has about a million. >> over a million. >> and david catania about half a million dollars. >> and that's left. they've already spent huge amounts of money. >> how much do you have. because we're hearing in the neighborhood of about $35,000. >> well, i had 50, a little over $50,000.

and i now that we've paid some bills, it's -- it's down to like 30 some odd thousand dollars. but that's okay. because we're -- we're doing an amazing job with volunteers. they have a lot of paid workers, they can afford them. i can't. but a huge number of volunteers have come forward. we've got 6500 petitions, signatures for our petitions. and we did that with all volunteers. not one person was paid one penny to circulate our petitions. 75 people helped me circulate petitions. i actually got over 2,000 myself. so, i think we're doing it with volunteers. now we're going to need more money because the posters cost money. they're not made by the volunteers. and so we're going to, in fact, right now there's a fund-raising letter going out. i have volunteers over helping stuff envelopes to do a fund-raiser -- >> do you or will you have a press secretary, a finance

chairman, a campaign chair? >> yeah, well, i -- we've got all the accoutrements of a campaign. i think our 6500 signatures show that we have the accoutrements. you see our signs going up. they're going up with volunteers all over the city are putting them up. so you can run with volunteers. and -- and we're excited that we've got that number. we have about 350 volunteers now that are working all the time. so that's exciting. i think the fact he's been raising the money should be a worry to us. i don't think we should brag about it like you look at moorial bowser, she's getting all these corporations and all the same corporations have all these llcs which are actually just part of that corporation. it's kind of a loophole, an llc loophole and she's raising from just one company $20,000. and when you're -- the limit should be $2,000. in fact the council when the public got all upset about this

whole loophole thing with corporations, they had the good sense to pass legislation that would close the loophole. but they also did not have the effective date until january 2015. after this election. now, i have decided that i am closing the loophole now. i'm not accepting llcs from corporate -- corporations. so, i think leaders have to lead. and if it was a good law to pass, then it's a good law to implement now, and i am leading by not taking corporate llc money. i wish they would do it. they didn't. so they got a lot of money. i don't know if that should be applauded or condemned. >> all right. got to take another quick break. we'll be right back with carol schwartz. independent candidate for mayor of d.c. stay with us.

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and welcome back to "viewpoint" our guest again once again carol schwartz, independent candidate for mayor of d.c.

let's go through some issues. because it's been, what, 2008 since you've held office and were acting on issues before you every day. let's start with some that have come up of late. marijuana, legalization, decriminalization. where do you stand on that? >> well, listen, i was all for the medicinal marijuana, in fact voted for it, and also helped get congress to finally let us implement it. because they held it up for a long time. and i'm also for the decriminalization. i think what the council did in that area was very important. i thought there was too much disparity, and -- and who was getting arrested and who was going to jail related to that. so i was very much in favor of that. and would have voted for it had i been on the council. the recreational use i'm very concerned about. i think we have so many people already in our town that are either alcohol addicted or other kind of drugs addicted, and i don't want to put a stamp of approval on continuing that trend. >> so legalization no.

but decriminalization, yes? >> yes. >> okay. let's move on to another one, 37 mile street car system. we've seen it taken off in "h" street area that corridor. where do you come down on that? >> well, i think streetcars are nice because i think they kind of open up avenues for like going across the river, and i like that. but i, as far as making a whole city of streetcars, i would not be in favor of that. >> let's talk about crime. and we've seen the numbers go down. your thoughts, first of all, most recent this week, david catania got the endorsement of the police union. this is an organization that had backed you in previous campaigns, am i right? >> yes, and this time they didn't even ask me to come in for an interview. i would have liked to have done so. but i didn't get that opportunity. i did have a lot of individual police officers approach me, and tell me they were glad i was running, and welcome back, and lots of good feedback. but then they would say to me,

where are you with chief lanier, and i would say, i think she's done a good job, and i haven't announced who i would appoint if i should be elected mayor. but i certainly have good feelings about her. and they were immediately, well we were not going to endorse anybody unless they're going to get rid of her. and so, because i didn't jump on that band wagon, i got a feeling is why i didn't get an interview. >> muriel bowser has come out and said she would endorse the chief or keep her on. >> yes. >> will you go that far as to say that? >> well, no i'm not saying who i will keep on and keep off other than i have kaya henderson has said she wants another year or so to finish some of the things she's working on, and i have bought in to that. because i think the -- we're finally seeing our test scores go up in education, and i don't want to destabilize that system. i just told you i have very favorable feelings about chief lanier. and i've got a feeling that's why i was passed up from even

coming in for an interview with them. >> well you mentioned kaya henderson. let's talk more about schools, and not your deep background but what's happening now in the first boundary changes since the '70s. what do you think about that? what are your thoughts on that? >> i know some boundary changes are needed because there've been some school closings and you have to accommodate those children whose schools got closed. and you need to do it in some formal way. so some boundary changes are needed. so it needs tweaking. but i think some of the changes that were originally thought about were awfully dramatic. i think this second viewing of the new changes are better than the first. but there are also some areas of concern there. i think that i like having an integrated public school system. my children, as i said, went nowhere but the public schools, and i like the integration of the schools. and so i don't want to see that change, and i think that some of

the proposal might end up with a more segregated system, and that concerns me, so i have asked that since we are going to have a new mayor, the incumbent's not on the ballot, that maybe they delay the boundary changes until the -- >> until that happens? >> until the new mayor comes in. i certainly would want to have input on it. >> okay. got to take another quick break here. we're back with carol schwartz after the break.

and welcome back to "viewpoint." our guest for the full half hour, carol schwartz, independent for mayor of d.c. let's talk about one more issue that's come up of late, and we're talking about the soccer stadium. a new soccer stadium. your thoughts on that, and how it could come to be, and the rebuilding so forth? >> well, listen, i'd like to see the soccer stadium be in towns, and they're certainly going to pay for it for themselves, which is good. but i don't like the exchange of land. the land swap that --

>> and that's what we're talking about with the -- >> what they negotiated. we're going to give for a small parcel of land in a deserd area at buzzard point, we're going to give the developer acreage, we're going to buy it from him for $21 million, and then we're going to give him the resenter for $55 million which is less than a third of what the former cfo said it's worth. i would not buy in to that. >> let's talk about how and we mentioned issues that have come up since your 5 1/2 years but you're a longtime d.c. resident. >> nearly 50 years. >> the demographics in this city have changed, and we talk about within really the last six to eight years. how do you see that? do you see that as a plus for your campaign? or something that may be a challenge? >> well, listen, i went and got 2,000 signatures signed myself. and so i've introduced myself to the new population, and i hope they'll look at me favorably. but it has concerned me.

i mean in our boom town, which i have loved to see and i helped lay the groundwork to have this boom town, but that our glorious diversity is being threatened. and i am concerned about that. so i want to have affordable housing so that people are not driven from the city and not only diversity when it comes to race, but also economic diversity, i mean that's been one of the beauties of d.c., and i want to keep that. >> and it is truly an expensive city. and become more and more so. >> that's right. and that's why we need a huge affordable housing component, including new rental housing that is affordable. we need additional public housing for those at the lower levels, and also i'm concerned also that now that we've got all this money coming in, and thank goodness for that, that's certainly a good day for all of us, but we should take care of our vulnerable population, and that's not happening, whether it be the hopeless, and, dnd, and i talked about the addictions, i

want to see drug treatment on demand. and i think we've got the money now to take care of our vulnerable populations, and i find one of the reasons why i want to run is to be able to make sure and ensure that we do that. >> all right. we've got just 45 seconds left. have to ask you about the corruption scandals that we saw of late, and how would things be different under a schwartz administration? >> well, listen, i always lead by example. i never did earmarks, i never did anything in all my decades of public service that in any way was anything but ethical. and i think we saw what happened in the council after i left it. i was kind of a place person down there, and a lot of those things didn't happen when i was there. you saw what happened when i left. and the other people that are running were sitting there. >> all right, carol schwartz, we thank you for coming in on "viewpoint." great to see you as always. the election, november 4th. carol is going to be an

independent on the ballot. first time for you as an independent. >> absolutely. >> thank you so much for coming in. we appreciate it. >> well, thank you, jim. >> the invitation is also out to your two opponents, as well. now back to "news 4 today." how can i avoid maintenance fees?

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. "news 4 today" starts now. as we speak, roads are shutting down as d.c. tries to get the new street car project on track. we'll tell you just how long you'll want to avoid this scene. >> and more clouds or sunny skies? look at that picture on this final day of summer break. good morning. and welcome to "news 4 today." i'm adam tuss. >> i'm molette green. the morning routine is about to change for many of you as you get the kids ready to go back to school. >> it's one more day of summer