“The Issue Is”: One month until the midterm elections

LOS ANGELES - With just one month to go until the midterm elections, this week, "The Issue Is" is focusing in on a series of statewide races in California.

First, the race for Governor.

Elex Michaelson is joined in studio by State Senator Brian Dahle (R-Bieber). Dahle, a farmer by trade, has served in the state legislature for a decade, and is now looking to unseat Governor Gavin Newsom (D).

Dahle discusses the state of the race, his scheduled radio debate against Newsom, and key election issues like homelessness and skyrocketing gas prices.

Next, Michaelson is joined by Lanhee Chen, candidate for State Controller. Chen, a Republican, has been endorsed by the LA Times, the LA Daily News, the OC Register and others, as he looks to become the first Republican to win statewide office in California since 2006.

Finally, a debate between proponents of Propositions 26 and 27, two dueling ballot initiatives that look to legalize sports betting in California. Kathy Fairbanks makes the case for Proposition 26 while Nathan Click argues in favor of Proposition 27.

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THE ISSUE IS: THE STATE OF THE CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR’S RACE

STATE SENATOR DAHLE’S CENTRAL TAKE: "We have the highest taxes and the highest crime. We have homelessness. We have education issues. We have wildfires, drought. Name one thing Gavin Newsom's actually fixed since he's been in office - he doesn't want to talk about that. He wants to talk about Ron DeSantis and he wants to talk about people, you know, that are leaving - he goes to other states and tells 'em 'come back to California or the California way,' which people there already left California, so I just believe that he doesn't want to talk about his failed policies…

"California is a blue state, but I'm hearing from people that are out on the campaign trail, Independents, Democrats, Republicans, that, you know, they can't afford to live in California. They're saying, 'I've been blue to the core, I'm going to vote for you, Brian, because I want a better school for my children.' I want change. We need balance. In California, we've had 25 years of one party control and what has it gotten 'em? So there is an opportunity we're giving that opportunity for balance in California…."

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THE ISSUE IS: SOLVING CALIFORNIA’S HOMELESSNESS CRISIS

STATE SENATOR DAHLE’S CENTRAL TAKE: "Homelessness is really three issues. It's drug addiction, which is a really big part of it, mental illness, and then housing, and there's a fourth one, too, which is, you know, Gavin Newsom let out 30,000 prisoners during COVID and those people had nowhere to go, so there are a lot of them are on our streets as well. So, number one, we need to stop the flow of drugs in here, we need to get these people rehabilitated off of drugs, and then you need to get more clinicians for mental health, and the third thing is ratchet down our permitting process for housing so we can actually get them in a house and that will help them get off the streets. And the other thing you should know is coming out of local government, which I served in a long time, they're the ones that are going to do the work, so we need to empower local governments, that means not from the top down like we've seen in California, we give the money to the cities in the county so they can actually rehabilitate these people in the jurisdictions throughout the state…"

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THE ISSUE IS: LANHEE CHEN MAKES HIS CASE FOR STATE CONTROLLER

CHEN’S CENTRAL TAKE: "The controller is the person who is supposed to give us accountability for every dollar we spend as a state -think of it as the fiscal watchdog of our state. I grew up in Southern California. I grew up in Rowland Heights, which is a suburb of LA. Dodger fan, Laker fan. My parents are immigrants from Taiwan. My wife and I have two kids and we live in the Bay Area now. As a native Californian and somebody who's seen what's happened in our state, I think I've grown frustrated with our inability to solve big problems, and I think the Controller can give us accountability and demand results for $300 billion in state spending a year. So for me, this is very personal. It's about how do we make California better for my kids and my grandkids…."

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THE ISSUE IS: BRINGING DOWN SKYROCKETING GAS PRICES

CHEN’S CENTRAL TAKE: "We need to audit the gas tax. That's something the comptroller can do - figure out where all of this gas tax money is going. We pay $0.54 a gallon in state excise taxes on every gallon of gas that's sold and purchased in California. Is that money going to what the state says it's actually going to? And this applies not just to gas taxes, by the way, this is to all the revenue the state is collecting, are we actually getting results for our spending? In the case of the gas tax, we've seen gas prices spiking here in L.A. across the state. Let's figure out where that money is going. One of the first things I want to do as Controller, that I have the power to do, is to audit the gas tax…."

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THE ISSUE IS: THE DEBATE OVER SPORTS BETTING

CLICK’S CENTRAL TAKE: "There's a real difference between Prop 26 and Prop 27. If you care about the state budget, about generating revenue to help solve homelessness, Prop 27 generates millions of dollars, hundreds of millions of dollars each year. Prop 26 offers very little for the state in terms of revenue. If you want a safe and responsible online sports betting marketplace, Prop 27 delivers that, puts the AG in charge of all the regulation. Prop 26 leaves every casino to regulate itself. And if you want to help small and non-gaming tribes, only 27 delivers real additional revenue for those small non-gaming tribes. So for all of those reasons, Prop 27 is by far the best solution for California…"

FAIRBANKS’ CENTRAL TAKE: "26 is the answer. Supported by tribes, written by tribes, will allow in-person sports betting in a responsible fashion in regulated tribal casinos and regulated horse tracks where sports betting is already happening. That gives people the ability to ensure that underage kids aren't going into the casino and gambling. It's a good way to introduce sports betting in California. In contrast, Proposition 27 is a massive expansion of gambling, it's opposed by 50-plus tribes, it was written by seven out-of-state corporations to benefit them - 90% of the revenues immediately go out of California, only 10% is left, and of that 10%, there are loopholes written into Prop 27, allowing them to whittle that down to pennies on the dollar…."

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The Issue Is: with Elex Michaelson is California's only statewide political show. For showtimes and more information, go to TheIssueIsShow.com.