US Congressman Bill Baker - Part 2

[00:00:05] Speaker A: The Michael Hatfield re Max team presents real estate and more. [00:00:11] Speaker B: Bay Area real estate is different than in all of America. And why? What's up with homebuyers? What's on sellers minds? How is the market and much, much more. Now here's your host, Michael Hatfield. [00:00:25] Speaker A: Well, welcome back to the real estate and more show. I'm Michael Hatfield and I have asked a very esteemed person to come back and to finish what we started. We have lists and pages of questions. I have former congressman Bill Baker, William P. Baker that served two terms in the US House of Representatives. Welcome back, sir. [00:00:48] Speaker B: Michael, it's great to be with you. [00:00:50] Speaker A: Now, we were talking earlier about some of the policies that are out there on the table, and one thing that came to mind with me is I saw a lady on YouTube and she had her hand up. She was swearing on the Bible. She says, six years ago, I went into Walmart and I bought these items, the same items, the same manufacturers. Today I went back and bought them again in Walmart. Back when I bought them six years ago, they were $58. This time they were dollar 184. What say you about inflation? [00:01:27] Speaker B: Well, inflation is high, partly because of government controls, partly because of the fact that the interest rates have been driven higher and higher. There's a lot of things that go into the inflation number. The Democrats tend to ask for price controls and limiting the way prices go up. That's the way it doesn't work in a marketplace. We have to start our economy, and it starts with energy. When they closed down the pipeline from Canada for oil and gas and decided to buy from Venezuela and Iran and other of our enemies, that was the beginning of the end of energy independence. The last administration had us energy independent at the end of their term. And we have so enriched Iran by buying on the open market, and it's driven our prices up tremendously. And that's at the root of our economy, is energy. It moves all the goods and services. It allows us the freedom to shop and to move and to work. All of that occurs through energy. And then the economy begins to spiral down. If the energy prices go up. And we in California again, luckily paying just $5 a gallon, it was a dollar 90 something, $2 and something at the end of that last administration, we have to begin drilling. We have to begin fracking. We have to go where the energy is and not have this carbon mania. The environmentalists on the Democrat side are not so much environmentalist. I would consider Robert F. Kennedy an environmentalist. He doesn't just worry about carbon, but he worries about the environment, the animals, the fish and the fauna, all of the things around us. He's more interested in that and what we can do to preserve that. You believe in open spaces because that's where you go to commune with God. You don't want to pave over everything, as we're often accused of doing, but we want to make sure we expand the national parks and expand the green areas of our area. But whether it's a city or a county, we want to maintain that environment. But you don't do it by just trying to control carbon. Carbon is a necessary part, and it's less than 1% of our. Of our air. [00:03:54] Speaker A: Don't we have to breathe it? Isn't that part of it? Everything is made of carbon. [00:03:58] Speaker B: Yeah. And the trees require it. [00:04:00] Speaker A: Yes. [00:04:01] Speaker B: They take in carbon, put out oxygen. [00:04:03] Speaker A: Now, tell me if I'm wrong, but we. This country has enough oil. We have enough oil for decades and decades and decades and decades into the future, and to simply cut off that pipeline, it caused an actual ripple effect with our economy. And I can see that being that we used to have the petrodollar. We don't really have the petrodollar anymore. We are seeing other countries exchange energy using other currencies. So our currency has been degraded as a result, I would think, to a degree. [00:04:47] Speaker B: Well, we've got to get back to using a balanced mix. Natural gas, by the way, is the cleanest burning carbon fuel. Now they're saying you can't have a natural gas stove or you can't heat your home. Can you imagine trying to heat your home on electricity when the electricity prices are going through the roof and there's no generation of energy? If you don't have carbon based fuels, you can't make all of the electricity you want. They tell you, get an electric car, buy an electric car. I have two electric cars and one gas eating car, a nice Ford Explorer. But you don't get the electricity to do those cars without hydrogen fuel burning fuel. And we've got to go back to a balanced mix of our energy. And fracking is part of it, drilling is part of it. And we have to get off the idea that we're all going to live on electricity. And look at the offshore windmills. They're distracting the poor whales on the back, and now there's something called a breaker whale or brake whale or something. They're going to be extinct and there's no reason for it, except that we spend more money than we should building these things out in the ocean. [00:06:05] Speaker A: Well, you know, electricity is one thing, but you're so totally correct that you really need to produce it. And I don't think we have the capability for decades to produce enough electricity to do what some groups are saying. I know that if I go up to. To Lake Tahoe and I get caught coming back and I have an electric vehicle, the whole air conditioning and heating system goes out, what are you going to do? And I can't tell you how many times that I've been caught in a five to six hour sit coming back, and I would run out of energy. So the oil is a very important part of it. It's like your real estate is the Christmas tree for your personal investments, and everything else is ornaments. That. This is my own personal thoughts. I think that oil is incredibly important to everything that we do in America. [00:07:03] Speaker B: You're right on both points. The house, your family home, is the basis, the bedrock of your savings and wealth. And also, energy is the number one thing in the economy. And oil and gas, natural resources are part of that. Most people, when they plug in, and this is, I tell all my friends, I'm not as green as Kermit the frog. So when I plug in, I know I'm polluting because 25% of that grid is coal from Utah and Idaho, and 25% of its oil and gas, 10% of its nuclear. So what? You'll know the environmentalists are serious when they talk about wanting to expand nuclear power, clean burning fuel, and they're not doing it. It's all politics to them. [00:07:57] Speaker A: You know? You went to San Jose state. [00:07:59] Speaker B: I did. [00:07:59] Speaker A: So did I. But I wasn't as good a student as you. But there for a while, I was thinking about politics and I thought, not my kind of tree, you know, I'll just go and learn how to fly airplanes and go from there. But I just wanted to get it out there. You know, one of the things about a representative, he's not much good if he doesn't show up for the meetings and for the roll call. And, you know, one thing that stood out with you is that out of something like 2462 Congress meetings, our senator bill Baker showed up for 2424 of those. That is amazing. And that is like a 98.5% attendance rate. Do we have that today? [00:08:50] Speaker B: Oh, I don't think so, but I can't say because I'm not there. But most people skip meetings and they have better things to do, like fundraising and politics. So, no, that's the key to getting along, is to meet people. And you don't meet them. When you're a herd of 435, you meet them in the committee rooms. And I met some people in ways and means that are friends to this day as clients. I've got a couple of liberal Democrat clients who I met in those days, one the lobbyist, one's a member of the assembly. And you just do all of your basic work in the committees. [00:09:31] Speaker A: Well, showing up as you have done is remarkable, and I have to applaud you for that. Representing the people as a public servant, I guess, and showing up for as much as you did at the time. They had an absentee of like 2.7% for most of it. But you are way down, just above 1% not showing up. That is really valuable. And I know that when I was flying airplanes, we often would wait for a pilot to come in because another one went out of flying available time, and we would sit and wait with an airplane full of people. Well, it's true. You can fly the airplane by yourself if you had to. The autopilot doesn't do it. Forget about that nonsense for a while. We can talk more about that in private. But you need the full crew. And to have the full crew there, deciding on the country and the direction that it takes is a very important thing. But the first step is you got to be there and be engaged, I think. [00:10:32] Speaker B: Well, you have to be congratulated, too. That's quite a responsibility, being a pilot of a plane full of people. [00:10:38] Speaker A: Well, it's a pretty big responsibility being House of Representatives also. And you were, what with a. What was that, the 15th or the 10th district? I think. [00:10:47] Speaker B: Yes, it was the 10th district. [00:10:49] Speaker A: What is the 10th district? I mean, I should know. [00:10:52] Speaker B: Well, it's all been carved up since then and sent in many directions, but it used to be most of central Contra Costa and southern Alameda county, from Castro Valley over to Livermore, and that. That part of the area, and then much of Lafayette or Walnut Creek, Moraga, Clayton, all of the central. It was a large, large district. [00:11:20] Speaker A: I see, I see. So the rules committee is a key concept, right? You were talking about committees, everything being in committees. You break out of the meetings, you go to the committee that you're working on because you have an interest in it. What does a committee really do? [00:11:35] Speaker B: The rules committee assigns bills to where they go. Which committee? Some they can send to their death, others they can send to the proper committees. They have a lot of power. [00:11:47] Speaker A: I can see that. And then is it the rules committee? How do they compose those? [00:11:53] Speaker B: There's a certain number of members from each party that are appointed by their leadership. [00:11:58] Speaker A: I see. So if there's more majority in the House of Representatives they're going to get more of their party's representatives on that committee, correct? [00:12:08] Speaker B: All committees. [00:12:08] Speaker A: I see. And I believe the composition of who a House representative reps in Congress is. Is different than in the Senate. I mean, in the House you represent citizens based upon district populations, do you not? [00:12:23] Speaker B: Yes. And again, they're all the same. It was about 500 and some thousand when I was there. [00:12:29] Speaker A: I see. [00:12:30] Speaker B: I got 130,000 votes when I lost. [00:12:34] Speaker A: When you lost? [00:12:35] Speaker B: Yeah. They're very large. The state is the state senator. The US senators are statewide so they represent their state regardless of size. [00:12:44] Speaker A: So the Senate actually they represent citizens on an equal basis. I think it's a little bit different than in the House. And that's an agreement that was called great compromise. You probably before your time, right. Back in the days, it was all put together. [00:13:00] Speaker B: 1718 hundreds. Yeah, a little bit. [00:13:03] Speaker A: You're not that old, are you? [00:13:04] Speaker B: No. [00:13:05] Speaker A: All righty. Well. And who does each member of the House really represent? You're saying constituents? That could be everybody within that district, correct? [00:13:15] Speaker B: Oh, that's correct. [00:13:16] Speaker A: Okay. [00:13:16] Speaker B: And the public opinion of the state itself? I have certain views that I wouldn't change. Like right to life. You know, you. Our next generation is very important and many countries are finding out that they're short of kids. Israel for one. They're very. Sometimes they'll have one child, sometimes none and they're going to pay the price. Their neighbors are multiplying at rates of five, six, 7810 kids. And they'll be overwhelmed at some point. So population is important. In the right of every child to be born is important. So it doesn't matter what my constituents say on those certain issues you would hold to your values. A balanced budget would be another. I know. People come to me. Oh, I want millions and millions of dollars for police services. Okay. Put it on the tab. I want money for first time homebuyers, illegal aliens. I want healthcare for illegal aliens. Okay, sure. Put it on the tabe. Pretty soon you have to say no. No, I'm sorry. I'd love to do that, but I can't. [00:14:23] Speaker A: We're going to take a short break. We'll be right back. Welcome to the real estate minute with re Max expert Michael Hatfield. Michael, what traits should we look for in selecting an agent? Look for a deal maker with a positive attitude who will work tirelessly for you. An agent who is adept in multiple offer situations drafting contracts, marketing and advertising. A client's home is familiar with multiple cultures, experienced in mortgage financing, inspections and escrow is a huge asset to his client. What can you do as a plus for clients? Your agent is your eyes and your ears, one who works behind the scenes on your behalf. A great attitude, working well with others and keeping clients priorities. Number one is a given for us. Call 925322 7775. Now to schedule an appointment or complimentary home analysis for excellence in real estate, call the Michael Hatfield remax team at 925-32-2775 or go to michaelhatfieldhomes.com dot. [00:15:27] Speaker C: Well, we were in the market to buy a house in Pleasanton for a very long time. So we saw this beautiful house. We walk in, we see Michael and Nancy. We just absolutely love this house. Brought in a wealth of knowledge and experience to the whole home buying process. He was very professional, and both Michael and Nancy went way above and beyond to help us and to help us achieve the house of our dreams. Working with Michael and Nancy, I was a first time home buyer and I was very nervous about the process. I didn't really know what to expect. Michael and Nancy were able to take that fear away from me and answered all of my questions. They were right by my side the entire time and they really helped me find the perfect home for me. And I'm so thankful. [00:16:09] Speaker B: And this, this one in the state that's coming up, 150,000 to buy a new home. It hasn't been passed yet, but it's the goofiest idea in the world to give someone who's just arrived illegally in your country 150,000 so they can buy a house. It's just a political gimmick. And the 150 wouldn't qualify you for a loan. And as we found out in 2008, nine and ten, the rent comes due. You have to pay both principal and interest. And that was when the balloon broke. The people couldn't do it. They walked away from their homes, sometimes stripping them of copper and all of the appliances, and it was just a disaster. And it set the whole economy back many years. [00:16:55] Speaker A: It seems to me that sometimes political parties would love to buy votes and that's how they could possibly get the votes. If they can make a certain group eligible to vote. [00:17:06] Speaker B: Yeah. How would you like a free student loan? So the beer truck driver who's never set foot in college gets to pay for the wealthy kid who's 16th generation in college. It isn't right. Those loans were made and they have to be repaid. The problem is the government has taken over all the loans, so they probably won't invest the proceeds well, and it'll be a goner soon. But you shouldn't give them the free right to an education. [00:17:38] Speaker A: You know, it's kind. I wouldn't say kind of. It's a personal thing. When you look inside yourself and say, you know, is this about me or is it about what's right? And I always take a look at. I try to always take a look. I put it more succinctly. I try to take a look and say, is this a good thing to do? Is it a right thing to do? Is it a fair thing to do other than just benefiting myself? I took college loans, finance loans. A lot of it went into flying, airplane training, but it did. And the education is what allowed me to progress in life and to be able to support my family when they came along. But there was a time that, you know, I would have said, you know, maybe I. Maybe I just should have that those loans, you know, taken off and made free. But I don't feel that way at all. [00:18:32] Speaker B: It's like the first time home buyer, you know, you have to have a mortgage. In your case, the mortgage was the education you needed to fly the plane. [00:18:39] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:18:40] Speaker B: You did ask them about takeoff and landing, didn't you? You remember, the terrorists went to flight school in San Diego, and they tried to teach them the whole thing about flying. They said, no, no, no, we don't care. I just want to know how to fly straight. [00:18:54] Speaker A: Just fly straight and level or land or take off. Just enough. Yeah. You know when that happened, I was in Colorado Springs on a trip, and I was one of our flight standards checkpilots. And I was part of the procedures that were reenacted by the airlines to get recertified to fly again. But the most craziest times was looking out in the sky and the skies be absolutely quiet. [00:19:21] Speaker B: Yes. And you were trapped there in Colorado five days. Yeah. [00:19:25] Speaker A: Yeah. But we made good use of it. You know, it worked out just fine. Just fine. So what's new on your list? Being that I count at least eleven bills that you sponsored. At least eleven. And I saw something like 87 bills that you co sponsored. What are you an interested guy in what the government does? [00:19:46] Speaker B: Yes. You have to be, especially from our side of the fence. I sponsored a bill that got a billion dollars to the Livermore lab to build their machines, that they're testing nuclear weapons to see if they're viable and someday will lead to a new generation of nuclear power. And it's really important. It's called the NIF project national ignition. So I was pleased that Newt Gingrich, who got along really well with members of the lab, they were talking more like prehistoric animals than they were about Nif. But he freed up in that time we were trying to balance the budget, a billion dollars to get that kicked off. So I'm most proud of that. But we had all kinds of bills, wetlands bills and other bills, if I remember right. [00:20:36] Speaker A: Wasn't it the water in the state of California an issue at the time in the delta? [00:20:43] Speaker B: Wasn't it delta water and the clean water. Most of our water goes south, which makes people mad. But just thank, thank your lord that you don't have to live down there. So I'm a northern California born and raised in Oakland and I fourth generation californian, and I admire northern California. I don't want to live in the south, so I'll send them the water. But we have to build dams. We passed two bond issues to build two new dams and all they've done is take the money and decommission two bonds, two dams up in northern California, the exact opposite of what we need. [00:21:21] Speaker A: Wow. Wow. Out of all of the bills that you were involved with, what was your most favorite, what did you enjoy the most? [00:21:30] Speaker B: Well, the cute little bill I did in the house in the assembly was the Yosemite license plate bill. When you sign up for one of those ego plates and you have a picture of Yosemite on your license, money goes to the fishies and the fauna and all of the environment of Yosemite through the Yosemite Conservancy. So I encourage people to do that. It wasn't earth shaking, but it did benefit the environment in Yosemite. [00:22:01] Speaker A: Wow. The people of state of California were very fortunate to have you in the office. Number one, you were there so much for all of those meetings you were present, your background as a file clerk in the state assembly, your twelve years in the assembly, all of this background, your business background, your education, and you went there and you did good. [00:22:24] Speaker B: What was your major at San Jose State? [00:22:26] Speaker A: That's kind of interesting that you asked me that. Well, it was aeronautical operations and then I found out they were trying to make me learn about how to run an airport. And then you're going to get your hands dirty and work on the engines. Well, I was interested in all of that, but flying airplanes was my maximum thrust. I wanted to get qualified to get hired as early as I possibly can, so I changed it to marketing so marketing. Is that suits you well, no matter what you do. [00:22:59] Speaker B: That's right. I was business and industrial management, minored in political science, knowing I'd never use it. [00:23:05] Speaker A: Wow. Wow. So do you think the budget will ever be balanced in the United States of America? [00:23:11] Speaker B: Once again, yes, it will. Once they take their foot off the accelerator and stop spending, they just can't help themselves. For instance, this 150,000 at the state level for illegal aliens and others. New time home homebuyers, first time home buyers. They can dream up ideas to spend money every minute. Who would have thought of that? And the same on the federal level. They just have all kinds of plans to spend money. We just have to get back to the basics. It's like education. We don't need to study someone's gender. What we have to do is reading, writing and arithmetic so that we can compete worldwide for our business and in national defense. [00:23:56] Speaker A: So you would say that for everybody that's going to vote in this election, it's really important. Your vote does count and it does mean something. So everybody get out there and do the vote. [00:24:05] Speaker B: Yes, it is. You hit it right on the head. Don't feel that your vote doesn't count normally. And in California, maybe it won't count, but I'm a big fan of Steve Garvey. Isn't that awful? Here I'm supporting a dodger, but I think if he were to pull an upset, we'd have a voice in the Congress once again. So I think your vote does count, and I think we ought to. Yeah, we ought to take it reverently almost, because this is, as you mentioned earlier, this is the way the country was set up. Yes. We don't have a democracy, as the Democrats keep harping on Trump's against democracy. How could you be against democracy? It's like saying he's a russian agent. No one. Now, we look back at that, how silly that was to say somebody's a russian agent, but they do that just for politics. So they're saying he's against democracy. You're going for an election and you're against democracy. I don't think so. So we've got to make sure that we vote and vote early. We got to get rid of the drop boxes and the mailing of the ballots to everyone. We have to have same day voting, voter id. We have to know you're a citizen. We have to have the safeguards put back in elections. And I don't care how many ballot hustlers ZuckeRBeRg hires, it's not the way to run an election is to go take a ballot from an uninformed and uncaring person market and send it in. That's not what elections are. There's the people that are interested show up at the polls, have their ids checked. You notice at the Democrat convention they checked ids and there was a fellow there with a venezuelan illegal alien, and he went around to every door. My friend wants to see how this works. Would you let him in? No, sorry, I can't. Do you have to have an id approved by their committees? What? What? Well, he's a brand new citizen. You know, he's, he's illegal, but, but he wants to know how this works. And they went around to every door and every window and they tried to get, get him in. They wouldn't allow him in without a, without a badge and without an id. But yet it's racist if we ask for ids to vote. Just simply crazy. But make sure you vote. [00:26:25] Speaker A: We're looking, we're looking for credibility. I believe in credibility in an election. I think it's most important things so that you get representation of what the people really believe in and what they would think about and who they endorse. I think it's so, so important. [00:26:40] Speaker B: So I think bipartisanship joins with that, too. And this addition of Robert F. Kennedy, junior to the republican side is really important. A unity party that goes into areas like the environment that Republicans typically wouldn't go into, and healthcare, talking about the needs of the, of the youth and why they're sicker now than they've ever been. Those things ought to be explored by the government. And I think this unity party, the idea that you're going to have a Tulsi Gabbard, former Democrat, House of, House of Representatives member from Hawaii, I think having her on the team is really valuable. She's a great spokesman. [00:27:18] Speaker A: She seems to be, yeah. [00:27:19] Speaker B: And Robert F. Kennedy has ideas that we haven't even thought of. Also the brainpower of JD Vance. Regardless of what you think of him, Trump is one of the most active, energetic, brain power people in the world. He and Robert F. Kennedy, they're going to reshape government and it's going to be much better. [00:27:41] Speaker A: Let's sure hope so. So one of the things that keeps coming to mind as a current foreign policy, that would be changed totally for the better, I would think, under a Trump administration. [00:27:54] Speaker B: That's correct. You just have to look back at his four years in office. No wars, no new wars were started. He backed down the north korean little emperor. And he said, my button's bigger than yours. Then he went over there and told him to his face. And the way he got rid of the killing of the Americans in Afghanistan, he went to the Taliban leader and he talked to him. He says, I don't want any more Americans killed over here. We're going to be over here as peacekeepers and the guys. Oh, yeah. And he's giving him the brush off. He handed him a picture of his home. He says, make sure no Americans are killed. In other words, he was going to disintegrate if anyone was killed on our side. And so for a year and a half, no Americans died. And then, tragically, as they were trying to beat a hasty retreat, the Biden administration killed 13 american soldiers. It was a shame, but we'll have a different foreign policy. But you've seen it before, strong leadership, personal interaction between our strong president and their strong leaders like Putin and Xi. I don't think you'd want a giggling Democrat nominee to be the leader in those tough situations. We'll have a new foreign policy, and it's based on strength. And they're talking about a new space shield that, that Israel has, putting one in the United States. We're talking about a stronger air force. We just have a lot of work to do. [00:29:25] Speaker A: Wow. Well, congressman, it's sure been a pleasure having you on the show this morning, your wealth of knowledge. And I appreciate your viewpoints, which are very experienced in knowledge. So thank you. Thank you. Thank you for coming out a second time and talking to our listeners. [00:29:42] Speaker B: Michael, it's my pleasure. You have a great program. [00:29:44] Speaker A: Thank you. Well, ladies and gentlemen, there's a lot to know about how to become an effective congressman. Then if you win the election and after that, one needs to represent their constituency and do it well. That means go in and be present and do the job, meet people, think about what is being said. And I note that the former congressman Baker spent years gaining experience as a file clerk. He spent twelve years as assemblyman in California, and then he went to the US House of Representatives. We're grateful for that type of public service and I'm grateful. Thank you for coming out and to our listeners. [00:30:24] Speaker B: Michael, it's my pleasure. You have a great program. [00:30:27] Speaker A: Thank you. You've been listening to the real estate and more shows show. We'll be right back with our next special guest. Stay tuned.