Live Like a Girl with Dr. Mindy Pelz - Why we have so much lead in our environment - with Ann Ravel

Episode Date: July 23, 2020

This episode is all about policy change when it comes to lead paint and mandatory vaccines. Plus, we talk about campaign donations, environmental issues, and we dive deep into Ann's political campaign.  Ann Ravel has dedicated her life to public service and the fight for justice and equality. A distinguished attorney who never backs down, Ann will take on special interests and fight for the residents of State Senate District 15 and for families across the state. A leader shaped during the Civil Rights era, Ann's commitment to public service and fighting for justice at every turn was cemented at an early age. In this podcast, we cover: The dangers of children and lead paint What Ann can do to make policy changes around lead How to follow political money trails  Why there needs to be a cap on campaign expenditures  About the vaccine discussion and why it has to change Why we need to be more aggressive about environmental issues  What Ann wants to prioritize in the California State Senate  OUR SPONSOR OF THIS EPISODE: Dry Farm Wine is our Sponsor for today's episode. Get a bottle of wine for a penny! RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE: Reset Academy Resetter Collaborative Ann Ravel Ann Ravel Events Ann Ravel on Facebook Ann Ravel on Twitter Ann Ravel on Instagram

The information discussed in this episode is intended as general information only. It is not intended for one-on-one medical advice, and you should always consult your healthcare practitioner before making any changes. And if you like the content discussed in this episode, please go leave a review so that others can benefit from it as well. I am a woman on a mission that is dedicated to teaching you just how powerful your body was built to be. I like to do that by bringing you the latest science, the great, thought leaders and applicable steps that help you tap into your own internal healing power. The purpose of this podcast is to give you the power back and help you believe in yourself again. My name is Dr. Mindy Pels and I want to thank you for spending part of your day with me.

Okay, resetters, we have another great interview for you guys. And again, taking another twist, moving a little bit away from the science and health, but it also ties into health because this woman has been on a mission to get toxins out of our environment. And this is why we brought her on to the podcast. One of the most common questions that we get because we do so much heavy metal detoxing in our clinic is, where did I get all these heavy metals? Yep. Right? Yep. It's a shock when you are not feeling well. And you're trying to solve your own health puzzle and you realize that one of the things that has been destroying your health are toxic chemicals in the environment. It's a really hard realization and almost,

you almost go into disbelief. Yeah. You think, Jess? Well, I think it's so overwhelming to know, A, you can't see them, right? You can't see these toxins. So you got to like think a little bit deeper and then B, to know that we've allowed this to happen in our environment, especially when there's a lot of other countries that aren't allowing a lot of things that we do here in America. It's, yeah, it can be a little saddening, a little bit of a downer. But also, it's a source of why you may not be feeling well. Absolutely. And I think a lot of you will find some peace in what Anne has to share right now

because there is a tendency to want to blame yourself when your health goes south. And why I wanted to bring Anne on was because I wanted you all to hear the environmental damage that's happening a lot from corporate greed, from political greed, but also from just people not knowing. And when we all wake up, we can vote amazing candidates like Anne into office and have them make a change. So, let me tell you a little bit about her background so you know who you're about to listen to. So she's dedicated her whole life to public service. And she lives in the District 15, for those of you that are close by. And she graduated from UC Berkeley at the height of her activism. She worked her way through law school at UC Hastings waiting tables. Okay, Hastings Law School is not a place you enter into if you don't.

have a strong intellect. Yeah, if you're not serious. Right. So, and she organized her fellow waitresses to unionize. And, and everyone, this is from her webpage, everyone was fired. Everybody involved was fired. So she filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board and further her fueled for her commitment to fairness and workers' rights. So you will hear that in here. Fairness is a big thing. And I've asked her about one of my big concerns, is how money runs our political system. And so we talk about that in here. But that's not where her expertise ends. She served on the Santa Clara County Council for 11 years. And during that time, she took on big tobacco. She protected consumers and children from lead paint companies.

She challenged Proposition 8 in court to defend marriage equality. She created the Educational Rights project to support at-risk foster youth, and she created the first in the country program that protected seniors from financial abuse. This woman is not afraid to stand up to the big guy. And again, this is why I brought her on, and I really want you guys to understand the lead issue. That was the first thing that I wanted to discuss with her. But then we dive into money and politics, and environment and how we can start to change some of these things that are frankly making our life not as spectacular as it should be. Yeah, well, especially in regards to health. Especially with health. Yeah. I loved one of the things she said was like you can either go,

like she was such an advocate for standing up for what was what's right. And she's like, you could either go along with what politics or big farm is doing or you could stand up and make a difference. And I think we could use a lot more of that. And she's really real. I mean, it was, I was so surprised how willing she was to come on. I asked her ahead of time, like, can I ask you anything? And she's like, yeah, go ahead. Like, she wasn't nervous to talk about any, any topic. She's just authentic. And I really appreciate authentic leaders that are smart and looking out for the good of everyone. So you guys enjoy this one. If you want to know where the lead paint is coming from or the lead is coming from, be sure to listen to. And if you love and

support her, this is a time when we got to put people into office, whether they're in our districts or not, that are protecting our health. And Anne is really doing that. So enjoy. So I have a very, very unique guest for us today and a really unique conversation about our environment, toxins, big pharma, you name it, we are going to go there. And let me start off just by welcoming Anne Ravel to the Resetter podcast. So welcome, Ann. Thank you so much. It's great to be with you. So I have to start off by telling you that on my platform, we talk a ton about diet and fasting and mindset and I have never officially brought a politician on. So you are my first politician. So welcome. Thanks for inviting. me and as I told you, I could use all of those things. So we could just talk about that.

Yeah, we could. And I'll come over and give you a personal consultation on how to fast and use keto. What I really want my audience to benefit from in this conversation is the work that you have done in the world to really clean up our environment, to really address toxins, to get big pharma out of politics. Like you are a force to be reckoned with. I did a little research on you over the last day. And holy cow, you don't sit still, do you? No, I don't. It's impressive.

So let's start off with this. You are now running for the California Senate. And my first question to you is, why the heck are you doing that? That has to be the most challenging job being a politician. What is moving you to run for this seat? Well, there are a couple of things, and you mentioned lead paint, and that's one of the reasons. I mean, for the most part, what happened when I came back from D.C., and as you probably read, I was at the Federal Election Commission, which was probably by far, at least at that time,

the most dysfunctional agency in the federal government and was unable to perform the mission that it was supposed to perform for the American public. It was so frustrating to me. And I saw that to be true about D.C. just in general. And when I came back home, which my husband and kids and dog were all here all along. But when I came back, I realized there are a lot of problems in California as well. And they haven't been fixed. But what I thought was, here's a place where you can actually make a difference in the state's

Senate in California. And that difference makes really significant change possible in not just the state of California, but all across the country, as we know from the emissions rules that were ultimately enacted by President Obama. And they started in California at the state Senate. So it seemed like a really good place to make a difference because I've been a public servant my whole life, and that's what I wanted to do, is make change. But let me tell you about the lead paint, and I know we're going to talk about it anyway, but that too made me want to run. We filed that lead paint case in 2000, which was the first case ever filed that succeeded against paint companies for lead paint that they had put on the walls. Am I, am I preempting you? Because no, go for it. No, go for

I mean, personally, I just want to chat about lead paint all the time because we are in the trenches trying to remove this junk out of the human body. And we need people who are standing up for policy on it. So you're speaking my love language right now. That's good. Actually, it's a little bit of a long story, but it actually led to me really deciding to run. And so I knew that lead paint was on the walls in mostly older homes. in the San Jose area, as well as the rest of California, in mostly low-income neighborhoods. And while lead paint had not been allowed since 1978, the impact was still causing brain

damage and brain delays in children from zero to five. So I was outraged about it. I worked with the health department, and I decided to file suit to have it, remove it. and I hoped for damages. But ultimately, we ended up filing that case. And that was my first opportunity to see what politics was really like because I was at the county council's office. I wanted other cities and counties to join my lawsuit. And they, the paint companies, hired lobbyists to go to all the small cities,

and counties throughout the state to say, if you join her lawsuit, we're going to run people against you. Wow. And you're going to lose. How long ago was this? It was in the year 2000, 2000, 2001. So I filed the case ultimately, L.A., San Diego, San Francisco, and Alameda County joined. And what was really significant about the case, was that we learned in discovery that they knew that they were causing this brain damage. And they were

selling it anyway. And we've had documents that said, who cares? It's only black and brown kids anyway. Well, nobody cares. Right? Wow. So you can imagine. They were painting our schools with lead paint. Yes. Exactly. I mean, it's, it's, it's, It's just so unbelievably outrageous. And they put so much money into fighting this case. It went to the California Supreme Court twice. And I was asked at the time, so, you know, how do you feel about going to the Supreme Court and all and what's going to happen? And I said, you know, I just hope that this case goes to trial before I'm dead because it's so important.

And literally, I left the county and they tried the case and they got a $1.15 billion judgment against the paint companies. Wow. And then during the time that they had an appeal going, they decided to put a measure on the ballot that would eviscerate the judgment and it would make the state of California, that is the taxpayers of the state pay. for removal. So when I came back from D.C., that was being discussed, and this county asked me to get back in and talk to people about it and go public about the objection to it. And ultimately, in California, the Senate and the assembly can take measures off the ballot and try to make a deal with the proponents. And in this case, they did qualify for the ballot because they put $6 million into making it qualify and getting signatures, which, as I said, they could have used actually

to help those kids and to start remedied. But no, instead they wanted to make a deal. So the night before the Senate was going to make a deal, the person who is the state senator now called me, He used to work with me at the county, and he said, should we sign this, Ann? And I said, no, why would you? Actually, I said it a little more strongly than that with a few expletives. But, you know, that right there was what pushed me over the edge to run because he went back and they did not make the deal, even though it was being pushed. And so I felt that you can either really make a difference in the state or you could have just gone along with what everybody else wanted to do and accept things that were not good for the community. Yeah, yeah. Wow. And again, this is what I'm hoping people are going to see from this podcast, is that we need more politicians like you that are willing to stand up for our children and stand up for what's right.

And just so my audience understands, what are the dangers of a child sitting in class with lead paint on the walls? Right. Well, there's a number of things. I mean, of course, because the paint has been on the walls, at least since 1978 and probably much earlier, there's a really good chance that it's going to disintegrate, that there's going to be flaking. and they will inhale that lead. I mean, that absolutely happens because what people say is, oh, it's only kids who are chewing the lead off the walls. Licking the walls.

Licking the walls. That's not the case. It still is having major impacts and it even has impacts on older adults as well. And so it comes in through the air It's not just by kids doing things that they could be cautioned not to do. And how much do you think that LED, that scenario is contributing to learning disabilities and reading comprehension?

Do we have any statistics on the correlation between LED and a child's ability to learn? Yeah, I can't tell you that off the top of my head, but I know that in public health circles, that is one of the major issues that they talk about, that that has an absolutely direct correlation. And those kids are just not as able to learn, to comprehend, to pay attention. And so the impact is huge on particularly those communities where it's so important for those kids to have to have an opportunity to get ahead. And, you know, it's interesting because in California, there are hundreds of thousands of kids that have lead paint poisoning. So it's not a small thing.

And people talk about Flint, Michigan, which was outrageous. No question. It was outrageous. But this is a bigger problem, in fact. Yep. Yeah. You know, I was at a conference about five years ago and a specialist in heavy metal detoxing stood up and said that exact thing. He said, we all think that Flint, Michigan's the problem, but you need to go look at California because at that time, he was said it's in the water that lead is in the water. So I came home and I looked at Santa Clara County's water, and sure enough, you don't have to go very far to see that they will make a statement

that there is lead in the water. Are you finding that to be true? I have heard that. I haven't had done any independent investigations on that since this, but I have heard that that's the case as well in the water. Yeah. And we have done heavy metal testing on thousands of people, and I will tell you that not one has come back without at least a moderate to severe amount of lead in their body. Yeah, and I'm not surprised about that. I interesting experience sort of related to that. When I was at the Justice Department in Washington, D.C., they had old water fountains that were carved into the walls, really.

The building was built with the Works Project Administration, so it's probably in the 30s. And, you know, what did I know? I'm drinking the water, and they found out that there was a significant amount of lead in those water towns. Yep. And what about like if we go back in time, I mean, we used to have leaded gasoline. And we know, like I saw a research or a study that they believe that because of lead in the paint, lead in the soil, lead in the water, lead in the air, that right now in this moment that we have over 600 times more amount of lead in the human body than we did a century ago. Yeah. Are these still issues that we have to deal with? Well, there are clearly issues because, I mean, I will say, for example, the lead paint case has just settled maybe less than a year ago. It finally settled. So nothing has been remediated yet. And the state did not have enough money to be able to do it on its own as they should have, but they didn't have sufficient funding. And this remediation is only going to take place in those places that sued. And there's still lots of places throughout California.

There's Bakersfield. There's places in the Central Valley that have significant older buildings that are probably replete with lead. So the problem is not going to go away anytime soon. And I was recently speaking at an event in Memphis, and I sat next to a federal judge who was hearing a lead-paid case. And I started to talk to him about it. And he was from someplace, I can't remember. But I immediately sent him all the documents that we had in our case. So this is true.

This is a problem throughout the country. And I know, for example, Scott Walker, he, when he was running for office, right maybe a week or two prior to his election, he got hundreds of thousands of dollars from the same paint companies that were involved in our litigation. And a week after he got into office then, he signed a bill saying there could not. not be any liability for paying companies. Yeah, yeah. I mean, that seems to be a common issue we have in politics that I want to talk about at the end because as some, as for the common person, it is so frustrating when these backdoor deals get made. And now these people are being injured and killed and harmed and there's nothing we can do about it. We can't sue them. That's what happened with vaccines. That's what's happened on so many different levels. And it's, it just doesn't feel right. How can this

continue like this. Yeah. Those issues of immunity from litigation are so improper. And we can talk about this, as you said later, but I think, you know, the one way that change has happened is by plaintiffs suing on behalf of people who are injured. And otherwise, we would not have safety requirements in our automobiles, safety requirements, and lots of other. areas of our daily life, but to allow these companies to give so much money to candidates and as a result, not have any responsibility for the damage they cause to people is absolutely unconscionable. Agreed. Absolutely great. And again, like at the end, I want to talk about that because I know in talking to people within the health world and talking to patients is just such a frustrating moment.

You know, speaking as a parent, I will tell you that when my kids were in elementary school, I was shocked at a couple of things. I was shocked at how many learning disabilities there are just in our society in general. I'm shocked at how many cases of ADD and ADHD there are. When my kids became teenagers, I was shocked at how many cases of anxiety we have. And these were not things that we dealt with when we were children. Do you think there's an environmental piece to that when we go and we break down how many toxins our kids are exposed to? Yeah. Well, I probably don't know enough about the science, but I wouldn't be surprised that that's the case.

I mean, I think there's probably a combination of things, and especially with regard to issues of kids who have delays and other things. people are saying that there is a connection to toxins and to various other things in the environment. So I think that that probably makes some sense. The anxiety issues, I mean, I think we have a particularly difficult time period where, you know, there's so many stressors on people. And I've heard, especially now, where kids aren't in school, they're not seeing their friends. I mean, it's having a really deep impact, both on children as well as on adults. Yeah, yeah. And that's a whole other conversation is the moment that we're in right now, for sure. So on the topic of lead, so let's say the moment you get into the California Senate,

what can you do to start to make some changes on these laws around lead? Is there work left to do on that? Well, yes, because it needs to be throughout the state. And so we absolutely need to be much more vigilant about lead and about any of those toxins that we know are causing health issues, at least, but also very detrimental impacts on children's. So you have a question that those are things that can happen. Certainly there are things that can happen to make sure that there are people

who are actually voting on behalf of the people they serve and not on behalf of industries that are giving them unbelievable amounts of money to get them elected. Yeah. And again, this is, I feel like we're at the crux of the problem that we're seeing right now. And, you know, again, I always say when people ask me, like, what I do, I always say, well, I'm in the trenches with people trying to help them put their health back together. And so much of what happens when we go to do like a heavy metal test or we start to test

to figure out where their health went off, the questions that I get back are, how did this happen? How did I get led in me? How do I have these toxins in me? And they're very difficult answers for me to give, but it really, so much of it comes back to the environment and the quality of our water and our air and our food. It's just, it's horrific. And we've got, you know, when you look at so many politicians are paid by big corporations. And so they have an ulterior agenda once they get an office, then I don't even know who's out there for the people other than people like you. who will go and fight for what is right for the individual. Well, and I appreciate that you raise that because I think people can have an influence on that by looking to see where different politicians are getting their money. And, you know, it's one thing to have a corporation, you know, give you a small amount of money. It's another thing as what happened with one of my opponents in the,

the primary, when they give you a million $500,000, and it's a California Senate seat. It's not the presidency. So, you know, those are things people should learn about and be aware of because to think that those things don't have an impact on how people vote and what people do is just ridiculous because it does. There have been studies about it. Yeah. So is there a way just again, so I can empower the common person. And I'll put myself in that category. If I'm looking at a politician, is there a way for me to see where the follow the money trail? You just use the right term. There's a group and I was on their board for a while, but I, since I'm running, I'm not any longer, but it's called the National Institute of Money in Politics. And they have a site called Follow the

money. And it looks both at federal now and as well as states to see where different people are getting their money. If you're in California, we have a pretty robust system of disclosure. And so when things are disclosed, they're often not. We know that. But when they're disclosed, they have to report it. And so it would be on the Secretary of State's website. if it's if it's been disclosed if it's been disclosed yeah i think we have a problem with dark money and i you know that's a whole other conversation yeah well because this is you know politics is a hot topic in my household we talk about it a lot we believe in voting we believe in showing up and it would sure be nice if we could look at a candidate and then look at the funding knowing that this is the way it works

and then realize that we are voting for all those corporations that this person is backed by. Don't you think that would make it a lot more simple for the typical person? But you're saying in California, that doesn't, it's not that simple. Well, you know, no, no. Usually in California, when a candidate has an ad or when there's an ad that's run on their behalf, you have to disclose the top three funders. But I don't think that's enough, honestly. I think you have to have more transparency, but there are ways that corporations and others, individuals,

because of Citizens United and its progeny, can funnel money from one group to another. Like you'll give money, say, to some group and then they'll give it to the Chamber of Commerce, and the Chamber of Commerce will do a ad. And so nobody knows who's really behind it. So, you know, that's called Dark Money. I did a case about that at the Fair Political Practices Commission against Koch Brothers groups. And Koch brothers give a ton of money that way to prohibit or defeat environmental laws.

Wow. So how do we know? How can we know? There's no way to know other than to get to know the people you're putting in office. Like, you know, I know you do a lot of coffee talks and, well, you do Zoom talks now. But how do people know if they're, you know, how do you know who you're electing? Well, that's a really important question. I mean, you know what money they get directly. And you know if there's a lot of money spent on ads as there was with my opponent in the

primary because they do have to disclose who's behind it. And so in that case, case you will know that this person is taking an unbelievable amount of money from one source, which is just, you know, human nature that they're not going to be giving that money unless they think they're going to benefit in some way from giving it. And, you know, with regard to the dark money, I mean, that's the problem with it. It's been said about dark money that it's only dark to the American people. It's not dark to the recipients of that largesse because they know exactly who's giving them the money. And as a result, they likely will be beholden to them. Wow. So, and I don't know if you know this answer. What do we know what corporations tend to be

the biggest donors? Are there categories that we can look at? Is it the oil companies? Is it big pharma like who's doing the majority of donating right now you know if you're looking at california the biggest donor in california is not a corporation it's the teachers the cta interesting they are the biggest donor but definitely pharma does give money i know it does on the federal level, as do the oil companies. The case that I was referring to was oil companies in California. So those, you know, those are big donors for sure, always. And for the most part, corporations per se are not always the biggest donors. Often they are these multi-gazillionaires who also want a particular policy that will benefit them, which is some of the reasons that that abysmal federal tax

pass that benefits only the wealthy. Yeah. Yeah. And then they go back into the back into the cycle. So and before we leave completely lead, I just want to point one other thing, whether a thing out, because it's the thing that will keep me up at night is that there, nothing has been done. The settlement was made, but it, but the lead paint hasn't. been taken out of those counties. That's still left to be done. It is still left to be done. And I think part of it is they, the health departments have to get up to speed to be able to, there's already programs to do it, but removing paint from the walls is an arduous process because they have to make sure that it doesn't spread more. And so it takes a lot of time and a lot of effort

to do that, it's going to be done. It's going to be done. But it will, as I said, unfortunately, it's only going to be done in the particular places that joined in on this lawsuit. So there's still, I mean, that was three counties, I think you mentioned. There was like only, it's Alameda, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Santa Clara. So a few more. Yeah. And they're the most populace, but on the other hand, they're not necessarily the poorest counties either. And those counties have significant issues. So, okay, let's move to Big Pharma for a moment because, again, this is the language and the conversations that I'm having with people all the time. And it becomes very difficult for people to see that their politicians could potentially, their decisions are made off a way.

what big pharma is controlling. I mean, let me just throw this out there. Will a politician actually get money from big pharma and now have an obligation to vote a certain way on per se like a vaccine bill or it doesn't work like that? No, that would be illegal, allegedly. Okay, that would be a quid pro quo. Okay.

And that's not, you know, appropriate. on the other hand, you may not have to say it. You know, you may not have to demand it. It may be enough for a person in political office to recognize that if he doesn't vote that way, potentially, that the likelihood of him or her getting, you know, money again will be small, in which case maybe their career, will be ended. And I think that's another issue. I mean, I feel this because this is, you know, true in my race. But, you know, I think that there are some amazing people who have devoted their lives to politics. But if they haven't devoted their lives to politics as public service and have only devoted their lives to doing what their donors want them to do, then people should

shouldn't vote them back in. You know, people don't have a syndicure in politics. The real idea of it is to serve the public. Right. Yeah. Do you think you can get to these higher levels of office without big corporate donations and big pharma pouring money into you? Is it possible to get high up like that? I think it's hard. I think it's really hard. I mean, I think it's interesting. There's been a lot of conversation about Elizabeth Warren, for example, and how she talked about that she didn't want to take any PAC money initially. But, you know, it costs so much money to run for office. And money is unfortunately the standard for viability for a lot of, and I've noticed this, it's even in the press. That's the standard. Money is the key. Nobody cares about what you think.

what your policies are, how passionate you are, how compassionate you are. You know, it's have you got enough money? And Elizabeth Warren ended up, unfortunately, for her, having to take the money. But I don't, I don't hold it against her, really, if you're the kind of person who is always independent anyway and will stand up for what you think is right. because you cannot run without being competitive with money. Yeah. Yeah.

And that's one of my feelings has been just the system is so broke. And could there be a possibility where there was a cap on donations and how do we, is there a light at the end of the tunnel? Is there a way we could change that? Right. You can't have a cap on donations because the Supreme Court has ruled that donations essentially equals speech. And so you cannot put a cap on the ability to speak,

which is like so wrongheaded, but that's okay in terms of, you know, jurisprudence. But, you know, unfortunately I'm not on the Supreme Court. So, you know, but that's a problem. But what a lot of places have tried to do recently, and it makes a lot of sense, is to have public funding of campaigns. And when you have public funding on campaigns,

you can put then a cap on expenditures or on the amount. And so that would be one really good way to equalize the playing field. Because what has happened with the lack of that is that a lot of people, a lot of women couldn't run because they did not have associations with very wealthy people because they weren't at the highest levels of corporations or other industries.

And a lot of minorities have been shut out of running for office for the same reasons. Because they didn't have access to equalize the amount of money. Let's dive into something that is another topic that's near and dear to my heart. And that's really around this concept of medical freedom. And it has shown up here in California under the SB 277 and SB 276 and vaccine laws. How do we rise above the vaccine discussion? Because, wow, if there is ever a discussion that brings anger and frustration to people, it is the vaccine discussion.

And 286 really took any power out of the doctor's hands to make a, a call on who was vaccine injured and who wasn't. We have families that are leaving the state because their kids are vaccine injured and they can't do it. How do we come back from that? I think, first off, I think that the people who have those perspectives have not done a good enough job. And I know a lot of legislators won't listen to you, but they haven't done a good enough job of explaining. that no, you're not crazy anti-vaxxers. They're not the people who are throwing blood in the legislature.

You're not, I mean, there's been so much that has been described about you that is not accurate. And I think that's a real PR problem for your organizations, because the truth is, many of you are, extremely thoughtful. Most of you, you have children who have immune disorders that need to have those exemptions. So you understand these things and you're perfectly rational and reasonable. And so somehow the discussion has to change. And I've tried to have this discussion when I've been in Sacramento talking about this because I actually someone said to me, oh, I heard you were an

anti-vaxxer. And I said, I don't know what you're talking about. I have met with these people. I think there are thoughtful reasons why there need to be exemptions, why there need to be doctors who aren't intimidated and are willing to be able to have that patient client relationship. And so that is not, you know, I'm not anti-vax by any means, you know. It's just. just making sure that the testing is appropriate, that they're really doing what they need to do, that we have a lot of information about the vaccines that's much more transparent to people. All of those things are, in my opinion, a no-brainer. You know, people have a right to know.

You have a right to know about who's behind campaign contributions, and you have a right to know about what you're putting in your body and whether it's going to have a negative impact. And so I feel like somehow that conversation has to change because this should be no different than the way people who are thinking people decide any issue. And it's you have to look at the facts, you have to look at the science, You have to look at people's experiences.

You have to look at the data. And you cannot eliminate people's ability when they have valid reasons to do that. Yeah. And I don't know how deep you know about vaccines, but one of my concerns, and I know it's not just my concern, but it's a concern of many people in the public is, as we're sitting here in this moment of crisis, that there is a hope for a vaccine to save us all.

And yet there should be safety studies that are done to prove that these vaccines are safe before they put them in human and the human. Are we doing enough safety studies? Well, I absolutely agree with you on that. I think that there is such a rush to get these to market because of what we're suffering. And I understand that completely. But it's so important for there to be sufficient safety studies so that we know that this isn't going to create a worse problem than the one we're already living through. And so I think that, you know, obviously we know that in certain cases there's political pressure to, to, you know, get these things out quickly. but we shouldn't take this for granted.

I think you're right about that. I mean, look, everybody's laughing and saying, oh, Trump is suggesting that, you know, you should drink, you know, take the malaria drug or take this. But, you know, we have to make sure that the same thing isn't applicable to any vaccines. Yeah, yeah. I mean, is there a world that exists where maybe someday we can do that?

I mean, this is where I go to my optimistic brain. I'm like, someday we will rise above all of this. And we will see that we need to look out for the benefit of people. Everybody. Yeah. Yeah. I think I am somewhat optimistic. And I'll say because, you know, well, I, as you know, did work suing pharmaceutical companies when I was at the Department of Justice.

And so I have my skepticism, and I'm skeptical for sure about the studies and the trials and the way that they have been manipulated. And I am skeptical about relationships with some of the doctors who have provided reports and they were not necessarily independent or accurate. So I understand all of those things. and then on top of it, I understand the costs and how they do not have to be so high so that it's difficult for people to get pharmaceuticals and medication that they need. So, you know, I'm not a rube on this, but I think that maybe coming out of this sort of moment of crisis that everybody is feeling, that maybe they'll be held to higher standards. I just, and I think that they will have an incentive to do that

because it might actually change people's perceptions of them as companies. Yeah, and you know, one of my ahas in this moment is just that there's been so much broken. Our health care system has been broken. Our political system has been broken. And where I go to, and I'm in a good place, is I hope. that we can rise above it, above it and create something new, that there will be not this partisan politics and that will create a world where everybody's decision is not bought by a corporation. And is there, am I dreaming? Is there like a possibility of where we can rise above and come to a

place that works for everybody? You know, I hope that that's true. And, you know, I could be the world's biggest cynic. But if we don't have hope that that's going to happen, then people are just going to say, why vote? Why get involved? Why do this? Because there's never going to be any change. And the only way that there's going to be change is if people really feel strongly about it and make their voices heard. Because politicians do listen to that. They want to get reelected. So they know there's sort of a combination of you need the money, but if people hate you, you're not going to be reelected. So I think that it's very important for people to have that hope so that they can mobilize like your groups and be really very outspoken about what needs to happen.

And how do we mobilize? So this has been another dilemma that I've come up against is do you make appointments with your politicians and you sit down and you talk to them. Do you march on your capital? Are there more effective ways than others to get your voice heard? Well, I think people do march on the capital. I would say having a large group of people all calling a congressperson's or a local elected official's office and expressing anger or or dismay, if you want to be nicer, that's going to have an impact. If they get lots of letters, lots of, and not the ones that, you know, somebody just writes the same thing all the time, but a personal letter that,

I'm sorry, you cannot continue to do this. And people are certainly responsive to large groups. And, you know, it is true. There have been studies that they, in their own offices, will tend to talk to people with money, people that are either big donors or corporations or the like, and not to just regular people. And that's a problem, which,

but if you have a group that has a lot of people in it, and every one of you is calling their office and saying, this needs to change, I think they're going to get the word. That over time that we'll get to them. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Yeah, interesting. So we have, we've had some interesting discussions in our household because our 17-year-old son will turn 18 in September, which means that he will vote in the November election.

Another voter for me. Well, we are like right outside the edge of your district. My parents are in your district and they were over last night. So we were discussing the policies that you are strongly hold close to you. So we're turning them into fans. But what was really interesting is that we asked him, like, okay, so, you know, instead of looking at the candidate, instead of looking at the party, how about we look at the issues that mean the most to you? So as a 17-year-old, we said to him, what tell us the top issues that you think are the most important. And, you know, one of his top was the environment, which, you know, we made us proud. But we also wanted to think for himself. And one of the challenges I have found as a voter is the top two issues for me are the environment and medical freedom. And yet there's very few politicians that will hold those two topics at high standard.

You're one of the few. Why do you think that is? Well, I think there's, I think everybody's conscious of environmental issues as being important in the state. on the other hand, they may not have the guts to stand up for them. But what we know, and you know and I know and everybody in the world should know, is we're running out of time. And we have to be much more aggressive about what we do for the environment. And, you know, it's not going to be a good thing for your children or my grandchildren, for sure.

So I think that that too, these are things that require one information to be given about your views to the people who are in elected office. And make sure you organize a lot of people in the community to do the same. Right. And make donations when you feel like you can. I mean, I've seen some, there's sort of. of a new emergence of, or at least new to my brain of this concept of these of progressive candidates that aren't necessarily falling into either party. And yet they aren't backed by corporations and they need funding regardless of whether they're in your district or not. And I would put you in one of the, in that category of, I don't know if you put yourself there, but I put you there.

I do. You know, it's interesting. After running for office, I realize I should, should have given people more money. And I'm not saying this because I feel bad because now I realize how much it means. Yes. And it does, unfortunately. But I regret that I, you know, was not more forthcoming. And I am now when people ask me who I think are going to be good. And that's the thing. Districts in California, it doesn't matter because the law. are going to be applicable throughout the state. So there's not just related to certain geographical areas. And the reality is most of California has a lot of the same issues.

I mean, it's maybe slightly different environmental issues in the Central Valley or, you know, the worry about the Bay Rising that may not be applicable other places, but everywhere. the same air quality problems. Right. And I would say that's probably across the country, too. Like, we have to maybe stop thinking about our own districts and donate to those candidates that are going to make change, especially on environmental issues that affect us all regardless of where we live. That is exactly right.

Because we know anyway that even if California has incredible lowering of the missions, which we haven't had yet, and we haven't reached our goals. But if we did, it really isn't going to matter unless all of the other places in not only the country, but in the world, are ultimately doing the same thing. Right. Yeah, especially on the environment. So let's fast forward to next year when you're in office. What are the top three things that you are going to really focus in on when you first

get an office? You know, it's interesting because I've changed a little bit in part because of what I see with the coronavirus. And I always felt that this area has so many problems, including transportation, all of which are intertwined with the environment, but also housing and affordable housing and homelessness, all of those things, as well as, you know, the lack of affordable child care that keeps women down and others, families. I mean, all of those things come in part because of the huge economic disparity. And it's kind of driving me crazy that people are saying, oh, the coronavirus has laid bare economic disparity. Are you kidding me? It's just, it's been right in our faces for so long. I mean, I can't imagine why people suddenly had to realize this. And I, I don't.

guess what they're saying is they're now realizing it that those people can infect them as opposed to. Interesting. Right? Yeah. So that really bothers me. So I think a lot of those issues are going to be big issues for us at the state. The budget is going to be a huge issue about prioritizing. And for me, I want to prioritize.

For one thing, we're going to have to put people back to work. And I firmly believe that something, I mean, kind of like the Green New Deal, should happen here where we're going to have jobs that are going to work on a lot of the environmental issue. We're going to train people for those jobs. They're not going to have to go back to their same jobs, which they can't go to anyway, because they're going to lose them. So that's one way to do both things, to give people, you know, gainful, important employment and also do it in a green way, in a way that's going to make a difference. Absolutely. I'm curious, I'm curious if you saw the research that was done on air pollution and the effect of PM2.5 on the lungs and how they're seeing areas that people are having the worst reaction to the coronavirus. have the highest amounts of air pollution. Yeah, I saw that. And what do you think about issues like regenerative agriculture,

like our soils are so depleted? How are we going to, we're not even eating food that comes from mineral-rich soils anymore? Yes, I think that's really an important part of the environmental protection that we need to have that most people don't talk about. But particularly in this valley, which when I grew up here, this, as you probably know, it was the Valley of Hearts Delight. I picked fruit. I worked in the canneries. I walked through a chariard orchard to get to Willow Glen High School.

So I understand how important agriculture is. And I think we need to make sure that we make sure that it remains in this valley, number one, and that the people are able to do that kind of regenerative agriculture. Yeah, and ironically, California did an amazing job with glyphosate. There was that lawsuit that went through on glyphosate, and it's like on one hand you see glimmers of hopes, you know, hope that, hey, people are understanding toxins in the environment have this impact. And then on the other hand, there's just still so much work to be done.

There is. There's a lot of work to be done. And what do you say to my soon-to-be 18-year-old son who is, you know, about to vote? He definitely is frustrated. I would say our 20-year-old daughter, same thing, frustrated, not really understanding where politics, where they can be supportive of a very broken system, what they see is the broken system. How do we speak to young people? How do we get them to be active voters and not?

withdraw because the system's so broken? You know, I think for one thing, a lot of young people say that and they say that it's, you know, it doesn't make any difference because only the wealthy have influence and my vote doesn't count, but their vote does count. And I think that they need to understand what leadership means and what engagement means because the reality is if they don't participate, then they're never going to have to have a voice. And our democracy is premised on people, not just voting, but having a voice and speaking up and having, you know, some participation, whether it be helping someone get elected or

putting a group together or whatever it is, they can actually have a lot of influence both locally and move their way up. I mean, really. And what really is the, what really is the, problem is that people drop out and decide that they don't care. Right. Because then those people who just want it for their own self-interest are going to win. We can't let them win. Yep. Agreed.

I 100% agree. Yeah. So with that, let me ask you the last question I ask every guest on my podcast, which is if you had one message for the world that you could just. get into everybody's brain and scream from the highest mountain, what would that message be? Well, I think it would be, don't be so concerned about your own situation. While we all worry about our own lives and our own situations, what we should be focusing on is our community and on how we're all living together on this earth.

and that can give a focus, I think, to make change. And if you're, you know, worried about yourself. And I know it's, I was thinking you were going to ask me that about your son because that's something, you know, when we're young often, we get so wrapped up in our inadequacies or whatever else it is. But we should be thinking outward. we should be thinking about how we can make a difference. Yeah. I love that. I love that. I'm going to make him watch this.

So let's finish with this thought too, is that to help support you, what's the greatest thing? I mean, I have a worldwide audience and we will leave links. And what's the greatest thing we can do to support you on your journey? Well, I really appreciate the offer. Obviously, we talked about money in politics and as disconcerting as it is, as disconcerting as it is for me to have to ask. I need money. Part of it. Yeah. I've been in public service my whole career, so I can't self-fund. I'm not a bluebird. And so my website is Raffle for F-O-R-C-A.com. And people can go on it and look at my issues

and look a little bit about my background and can also donate there. But also, I mean, now that were in the world of Zoom, if they have other people that they know might be interested in supporting me, I mean, really, we could have a Zoom event. I'd be happy to have a Zoom event with anybody, anywhere in the world that, well, actually foreigners can't contribute. But, you know, very happy to do that. And so we can help spread the word. Yeah. I love that. I love that. I love that. I'm thinking on my wheels are turning of like, how do I create a resetter Zoom event? So that will be a to be continued moment. But resettters, I will leave a link in there. If you feel moved by anything that Anne said, regardless of where you live,

please know that putting thoughtful leaders into these positions impact our lives beyond anything we can even comprehend. So again, I have so much admiration for you. anybody who is willing to go down this path for the good of people, just thank you from the bottom of our heart. Thank you so much for what you're doing. I really appreciate it. And one more thing to all your listeners, you can email me any time.

And if you've got ideas and you too, ideas, things that you want to share with me to get me better educated, I'd love to hear it. So please send it on. Amazing. We're going to teach you out of fast. So once this is all done, we're going to give you some fasting tips so that you can turn yourself into super minute. I may make it sooner than that.

Four feet from my kitchen most days for 10 hours. So it's not good. It's real for a lot of people. So thank you, Ann, so grateful for you. Thank you so much. Thank you everybody for the joke for joining. Food's out. You put organic food in and you shake bad time.

Oxen's out. You're notic and your mind. That's what it's all about. You put fast cycling in. Bring seven fast types out. You download Car Manager where your food is all grafted out. That's what it's all up. That's what resetting is all.