many months and many hundreds of hours and analysis and through some complicated issues so the mayor spinks is extended to the comptroller's office. -- the mayor's thanks is extended to the comptroller's office. i also largely on behalf of the mayor agree with most of what supervisor avalos said. he accurately characterized both measures, the importance for business tax reform and the differences are subtle but important between our measure and a measure that he and his co-sponsors put forward. before i talk about what makes them different, i want to reemphasize and underlined the -- this is about removing a tax on jobs and there is no group of commissioners or people more conversant in the importance of doing that which is removing the tax on jobs. we have as has been stated the only kind of tax on payrolls. in the state. we need to move away from that system and i appreciate the leadership over the last several years on moving the conversation for. it is not easy conversation. it is complicated. we're still finding new questions. underlining that this is about removing the tax on jobs and

many months and many hundreds of hours and analysis and through some complicated issues so the mayor spinks is extended to the comptroller's office. -- the mayor's thanks is extended to the comptroller's office. i also largely on behalf of the mayor agree with most of what supervisor avalos said. he accurately characterized both measures, the importance for business tax reform and the differences are subtle but important between our measure and a measure that he and his co-sponsors put forward.

what percentage of your staff is a bilingual or spinks another language besides english, and how you provide language services when you need them -- or speak another language? >> we have a significant number of staff who are bilingual. primarily spanish thus speaking or mandarin and cantonese- speaking. we also translated lot of our information. part of our website assigned janice -- trainees or spanish. we have letters the got to taxpayers in spanish and chinese. and we can also use that phone to help with immediate, on the spot translations. supervisor kim: i saw that. you think what you have existing on staff meets the needs of your office? >> one challenging thing is, you know, stuff are sometimes reticent about not reticent to help, but they do not necessarily get compensated for it. we have been encouraging more staff to get certified to t

[laughter] spink and here we thought the guy was disengaged. >> i had to put a plug in here for newspapersi was a newspaper man for 42 years, and i worry about the resources available with the diminishing number of newspapers and clinical correspondence, who's going to be able to write as detailed a biography as christie greg moore, or whoever comes after the i would think with all ought to treasure p5.com, history link, crosscut and the like the electorate washington legislature in 1966, there were more than 30 credentials reporters there, small papers included, wall-to-wall you know, the aberdeen world cup we covered it. it's a much thinner, a much thinner resource out there today than it was when joe and i started all those years ago. so support your local newspaper. we need them. >> thank you, john. please join me in thanking -- [applause] >> visit booktv.org to watch any of the programs you see here online. type the author or book titled in the search bar on the upper left side of the page and click search. you can also share anything you see on booktv.org easily by clicking share on

spinks and no, that was not taken out of context. >> just wanted to be clear. mr. rakowich, to your knowledge, before you got the loan guarantee conditional or final, did the d.o.e. share in the intro documents with you or your company or representative of your company's? >> i'm not sure i follow. what types of documents would you be referring to? >> any document. i put up to one e-mail where you guys got to edit a drew torbin -- does drew torbin work for you? >> yes, he does. he works for our company. >> i understand. and as jonathan plaut work for your coming? >> no, he doesn't work for our candidate i believe he works for bank of america. >> okay. but drew torbin does. >> yes. >> you got to edit an internal memo. i want t know, division or any other other internal documents? >> i don't know. i was not involved in negotiations. .. >> let me just show you another e-mail because we've got another one here that just astounds me. this is from mr. peter o'rourke at department of energy to jonathan plouffe who works for bank of america, drew to have bin who -- torbin w

he said he recanted his statements spinks and he denied saying them what he didn't say them and takethem back? >> i heard both. but hopefully the oig is going to interview him. >> so you're relying on the office of the inspector general to investigate his statement and whether or not it is true that agents working under him were unaware of the fact that government was taking place. so, in fact, we know it was taking place, so it's not all that surprising that some dea agents might know what's going on with regard to atf activity, in the same region. but at the same time, our greater concern is why supervisors might have told the agents to quote, back off when they raised concerns about the wisdom of sending guns to drug dealers and others in mexico that ultimately resulted in the death of a border patrol agent. so you will report back to this committee once year from the oig, and let us know what actions have been taken to make sure that when people find out that wrongdoing is taking place, that they're free able to report it to their superiors, and then have some interagency discuss

spink might it have been more than one or not? >> i don't think so. the process was george, we both met him before. i met andy coulson when he was editor of "news of the world." we both got the impression he was very effective, very effective individual. george mason after he had resigned as editor of the "news of the world." i made the decision to employ him. i asked for these assurances, just be clear, in my evidence. >> in your discussions with mrs. brooks, were you seeking some sort of reference from her or was it far more informal? >> i wasn't seeking a reference. i mean, when you're employing some, like this within an editor of a newspaper, you can't seek sort of formal references. i'm sure i would have asked, you know, how effective he would be. but it may well have been, this conversation may well have taken place after i made the decision. i can't recall exactly when the conversation took place but in the end it was my decision. i was satisfied this was the right thing to have a former tabloid editor to help us with our media and communicatio

spink might it have been more than one or not? >> i don't think so. the process was george, we both met him before. i met andy coulson when he was editor of "news of the world." we both got the impression he was very effective, very effective individual. george mason after he had resigned as editor of the "news of the world." i made the decision to employ him. i asked for these assurances, just be clear, in my evidence. >> in your discussions with mrs. brooks, were you seeking some sort of reference from her or was it far more informal? >> i wasn't seeking a reference. i mean, when you're employing some, like this within an editor of a newspaper, you can't seek sort of formal references. i'm sure i would have asked, you know, how effective he would be. but it may well have been, this conversation may well have taken place after i made the decision. i can't recall exactly when the conversation took place but in the end it was my decision. i was satisfied this was the right thing to have a former tabloid editor to help us with our media and communicatio

. spink might it have been more than one or not? >> i don't think so. the process was, george, we both met him before. i met andy coulson when he was editor of "news of the world." we both got the impression he was very effective, very effective individual. george mason after he had resigned as editor of the "news of the world." i made the decision to employ him. i asked for these assurances, just be clear, in my evidence. >> in your discussions with mrs. brooks, were you seeking some sort of reference from her or was it far more informal? >> i wasn't seeking a reference i mean, when you're employing some, like this within an edito of a newspaper, you can't seek sort of formal references. i'm sure i would have asked, yo know, how effective he would be. but it may well have been, this conversation may well have ta place after i made the decision. i can't recall exactly when the conversation took place, but in e end it

spink yes, sir. i would like to ask him if future grants are going to be out there for homeland secured efforts, surface transportation, dedicate more money for surface transportation. >> excellent. i will do that. mr. blankenship? >> i would have the same response with inner-city bus grant program. also, better coordination on viprs when they do coming to the terminals. coordination on time and and so forth. we don't need them come in when we don't have passengers. >> excellent. mr. byrd. >> trucking industry would like to know when our wic readers will be available to us. >> get you an answer. >> mr. elliott? >> mr. chairman, i think it has to do with better coordination perhaps consolidation of the organizational construct, tsa as a focus on freight rail security. they shouldn't be separate. they should all be one single focused effort that focuses on surface transportation. >> why don't you do this for me? why did you fashion the question you want tended in writing, and i will read it verbatim fo