The Talk of Santa Clarita

An interview with screenwriter Charlie Vignola. Who worked for more than 30 years with Jerry Bruckheimer as the head of development.

Annie Cho is what some would call the real American dream. Her family immigrated to the United States when she was in the fifth grade. She worked two jobs to put herself through college at California State University eventually obtaining a degree in Political Science. She became a business woman specializing in diversity communications and has since launched a second career in Real Estate.

Annie is also an activist. She is involved in several community and grass roots organizations including the Womens' Political Caucus San Fernando Chapter, the API Caucus, and several Democratic Clubs.

Now, she is running as a Democrat to challenge Republican incumbent Suzette Martinez Valladares for the Assembly seat of for the 38th District.

This is Annie's second time to run for the seat. While Suzette was the ultimate winner in the election it could be argued that she was aided by the fact there were three Democratic challengers which split the Democratic vote three ways allowing Suzette to squeeze through. Annie did however receive more votes than any other Democratic candidate. She believes her chances for a victory in 2022 are extremely strong.

This is episode 173 with Democratic candidate for the 38th District in the California State Assembly, Pilar Schiavo

Pilar Schiavo is a resident of Chatsworth. She is a proud activist having worked extensively with unions and non-profits. Most recently she helped deploy nurses for disaster relief and humanitarian missions. She has been involved with unions like UNITE HERE Local 11, SEIU, the AFL-CIO, and the San Francisco Labor Council. Her work has one mission behind it-to uplift families. In addition to her union and non-profit work she has been very involved with her community as well. Co-founding West Valley Homes Yes and the West Valley People’s Alliance. Now she is running for the 38th District Seat in the California Assembly in hopes of unseating Republican incumbent Suzette Valladarez.

So far, she is off to a good start. Her campaign has started with a large amount of enthusiasm and dollars. In the first six weeks since she started her campaign, Pilar raised more than 120,000 dollars. A district fundraising record. She also has received several endorsements such as Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, and Treasurer Fiona Ma among others.

I sat down with Pilar several weeks ago (apologies to Pilar for the delay in posting this podcast by the way) and we talked about her life, her dedication to unions and what she wants to do for this district.

This is episode 172 with Democratic candidate of the 25th Congressional District, Quaye Quartey

John Quaye Quartey lives in Valencia. He is a husband and father and the son of an immigrant. I find Quaye to be incredibly interesting. His resume reads like the one of an action hero for the latest Bruckheimer film. He attended the Naval Academy where he played football and ran track. Afterwards he served in combat in both Kosovo and Iraq as well as fighting terrorism and cyberwarfare operations all around the globe. He led intelligence operations on five continents and then served as a military diplomat in France. He also commanded special forces combatting ISIS inspired terrorists in Central Africa.

After 20 years in the service, Quaye retired from active duty at the rank of Commander. He enrolled in Stanford University's Graduate School of Business where he obtained a Master's degree in Business Management.

He now runs a small business with a mission to grow other small businesses serving the community.

As I said, an impressive resume. One thing that sticks in my head though is that he has done intelligence operations on five continents. Just five continents, Quaye? That means you still have two to go. Next time lets' not be such an underacheiver. OK?

In all seriousness, Quaye is running for Congress as a Democrat with hopes of unseating incumbent Mike Garcia. It's still very early and it's going to be a tough race. As of right now, there are four Democratic candidates running and the filing deadline is nowhere close. And although Quaye lives in Valencia now, some have criticized him for not having grown up in this district. Still, he's off to a strong start as he was one of the top fundraisers among the candidates. Quaye really knows his international politics and the way the US government works. He was incredibly charming and had a good sense of humor. I enjoyed talking to him a great deal. As a veteran, he already fits the a major requirement for some in this district and with his strength in fundraising, he shows he could be a formidable contender for the role of Congressman for the 25th District.

Welcome to episode 171 with Democratic candidate for the 38th district in the California Assembly, Jonathan Ahmadi,

Jonathan Ahmadi is a first generation Californian who has done many things in life. He has worked as an aeronautical engineer, he has been involved in the entertainment industry, and was part of former Congresswoman Katie Hill's team here in Santa Clarita. He currently is involved with healthcare where he works with providers bringing new facilities online safely. He is extremely involved with the community by volunteering at the SCV Senior Center, being a member of the Sierra Club, the Whittaker Bermite Citizen's Advisory Group as well as a being a campaign lead for the BE SMART campaign for Moms Demand Action. He has also been involved with the Santa Clarita Homelessness task force and is Vice President of the Santa Clarita Veteran Services Collaborative.

He is running as a Democrat for the California assembly in the 38th District hoping to unseat Republican incumbent Suzette Valladarez. This is going to be an interesting race.

The last democrat to hold the 39th assembly seat was Christy Smith. She seemed like a shoo in to continue in that seat until the 25th District needed a Democrat to run for the suddenly open seat in Congress. When this happened suddenly the Democrats no longer had a candidate to run for the 38th. Three people eventually stepped up but ultimately it divided the Democratic votes and as a result of the jungle primary, two Republicans moved forward to the general election eventually leading to Suzette Valladarez winning the seat.

To say Valladarez caught a break and moved to an easy win is arguably an understatement. But in 2022 things will be different. As of right now she has no Republican challengers which means there will probably be a Democrat challenger to her in the general election. There is currently three Democrats including Jonathan vying for that spot in the general election and they are all extremely strong candidates. In my very humble opinion this is the race to watch over the next year.

I met with Jonathan a few weeks ago. We talked about a lot of different things including his time working with Katie Hill, his involvement with the community and why he is running. But what really impresses me about Jonathan is his kind and friendly nature. He showed up early for the podcast just to see if he could help out with setup. (which he did). And upon a classic outtake moment where I first sat down in my chair and I fell backward, instead of laughing about it, he was legitimately concerned I may have hurt myself.

This of course proves he's a much better person than me.

I said we talked about a lot of different things but before we got to the nitty gritty I thought it would be fun to open with a question which has been bugging me since the first time I met Jonathan. Needless to say that first question threw him for a bit of a loop which is always fun.

This is episode 170 with guest Democratic candidate for the 25th Congressional District, Rhoda Nazanin

Rhoda Nazanin is an immigrant, a citizen, a Christian, a former Pastor, and now, she is a Democratic candidate for the 25th Congressional District with hopes of defeating incumbent Mike Garcia.

She was born in Iran, coming to the United States with her family when she was eight years old, due to the persecution her father was receiving as a Christian Pastor. She says that her family's journey helped her appreciate at an early age that this country represents the promise of opportunity and freedom for anyone willing to take a chance.

Rhoda was the first of her family to attend a four year college. She later followed in her father's footsteps by becoming a Christian pastor. Although she says she loved being a Pastor, Rhoda was experiencing a struggle with her identity as a gay woman. She eventually stepped down and returned to college to complete her degree. She now works for a non-profit.

And now she is running for Congress in the 25th District. Rhoda said she was increditly hit hard by the insurrection at our nation's capiltol on January 6th and after Biden's inauguration, she decided to get in the race.

The 25th District Congressional Race is getting crowded quickly. There are more than four democratic candidates currently running to unseat Mike Garcia. All of them are vying for donations and attention and we are still almost a year away from the primary!

I sat down with Rhoda on Juneteenth. It was an incredibly hot day so kudos to Rhoda coming dressed in a full suit. I was already melting by that point. It was so hot in fact that my recorder actually overheated! Fortunately, I did have a back up but as a forewarning there is about 3 minutes where we were forced to use the audio from the camera.

I really enjoyed talking to Rhoda. She is incredibly charming and definitely has a sincere desire to do some good for this world, this country and this district. But with Garcia leading all of the candidates in donations, and with the other candidates in the race, it will be an uphill battle for her. She told me she knew that but was ready to take challenge head on. I really respected that about her and I wish her much luck in the race.

This is episode 169 with our guest local business owner and gay advocate, John Musella

John musella is president of the Musella Group and a member of the Santa Clarita Valley Chamber of Commerce. He is also an openly gay man who describes himself as a "late bloomer" when he came out.

John is a charming and interesting guy and I always enjoy talking to him. But due to June being Pride Month, I thought it would be fun to talk to him about being gay, and his work as an advocate for gay rights.

Not to put anyone to a stereotype but it is usually assumed that (right or wrong) that person is also a Democrat simply because Democrats have a history of being more welcoming to the LGBTQ community.

And this is one reason I find John fun to talk to. This was my second podcast with him. When we did that first podcast, John talked about being in the closet at college and also not being a strong supporter of gay rights at the same time.

For a long part of his life he was a Republican (until the age of Trump where he changed to no party preference). But after he came out and before the age of Trump, John was a strong advocate for gay rights in the Republican party.

This podcast is a very late addition for Pride month (as I said, sometimes life gets in the way) I thought it would be interesting to talk to John about coming out, his advocacy work and why Pride month is so important.

He was incredibly friendly and had a great sense of humor about doing the podcast. When I mentioned it would be about Pride month and being gay, John laughed and said "What are we going to talk about after that three minutes?" meaning to John and a lot of people, there's nothing special or different about being gay. It's just who he is and he is 100% right.

Needless to say, John was a lot of fun to talk to and I think you'll enjoy this podcast a great deal.

This is episode 167 with guest Cenk Uygur from "the Young Turks"

I want to apologize up front about the sound issues with this particular podcast. Covid have made it necessary to try and do these podcasts outdoors, and with the Santa Clarita weather being what it is, let's just say it's been difficult to find a regular safe place to record a podcast especially with wind. We do what we can under extreme circumstances.

Cenk Uygur is one of the founders of "The Young Turks" network. For those who don't know anything about him, Cenk is a very vocal and unapologetic progressive. He has done many things throughout his career and currently champions the green new deal, medicare for all and getting money out of politics completely.

In 2019 Cenk announced his candidacy for the 25th congressional seat maintaining there was a progressive audience in the district who could carry him to victory.

But the votes proved otherwise and he finished fourth in the race. As he says in this podcast with blatant honesty "I got killed"

Love him or hate him, I find Cenk fascinating to talk to. He has a confidence in what he believes and is never short of an opinion on a topic. He was kind enough to appear on this show twice before during the race. The first time was a bit awkward mostly on my part. The second time, was a much more friendly conversation which I jokingly called "Part 2: The Wrath of Cenk"

I thought it would be interesting to meet with Cenk again now that the race is over to get his viewpoints on his candidacy and the other people who ran in the race as well as politics in general these days. Considering he wasn't a candidate, I didn't expect him to say yes because I saw no reason for him to appear on my little dog and pony show but to my surprise he was more than willing to do the show.

We met a few weeks back, defying the wind and other weather conditions. Cenk was incredibly patient and kind considering the conditions we were doing the podcast under but as Cenk even said "We do what we can under Covid Conditions". I called this podcast "Part 3: The Search for Hope" because as Cenk and I discussed the state of politics and the media today, I found the cynicism rise in me again. In contrast Cenk continues to be an optimist about the future of this country and that is something I truly admire about him. I want to thank Cenk for finding the time to come up here and do the podcast. I hope to have him return again when he publishes his upcoming book.

Again apologies in advance for the sound issues with this particular podcast. Because you know, Cov-id

This is episode 167 with our guest Joshua Wentz, the Director of the artistic director for Mission Opera and an Associate Professor of Music at Los Angeles Mission College

Joshua Wentz serves as the Director of Music at Santa Clarita United Methodist Church and Production Manager of Landmark Opera in Los Angeles as well as Artistic Director and President of Mission Opera.

 

Launched in 2019, Mission Opera strives to produce high-quality, accessible opera and musical theater, to provide members of thecommunity the opportunity to participate at all levels of these productions, and to afford both participants and audiences enjoyment and a deeper appreciation of opera and musical theater. Mission Opera is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.

 

And Mission Opera is the reason I sat down to talk to Joshua.  His organization, Mission Opera is performing a short opera on the weekends of June 6th and 7th and June 12th and 13th.   The piece is called  “Le 66,” and is a one-act comedic piece.   The story is about two traveling musicians who get lost on the way to help a distant cousin but get side tracked when a peddler sells them a lottery ticket.  

 

Josh knows that bringing opera to the masses is a challenge due to preconceived expectations that opera is considered by some as pretentious, is often in a foreign language and some even consider it boring.  Knowing this, Mission Opera is working toward making it more appealing to the mainstream. For example “le 66” will be performed in both English and French.  A caption viewer with translations is often provided at foreign language performances as well. 

 

I don’t claim to know much about opera but I do recognize the work which is involved in producing one and I certainly respect anyone who attempts to produce one.  I found Josh to be really interesting with a great attitude.  He knows the challenges he has with his organization but seems eager to take them head on. Also how can you not admire someone that is doing something for the simple love of an art form?

This is episode 166 with guest Democratic candidate for the 25th Congressional district in 2022, Ruth Luevanos.

Ruth Luevanos has many labels.  She is a mother, a wife, a teacher, a union leader, a graduate from law school, and an activist.  Along will all of that, she currently sits on the Simi Valley City Council as an unapologetic progressive.  That's quite an achievement by itself considering the traditionally conservative area of Simi Valley.  She is also the first Latina ever elected to that position.    Now, she's running as a Democrat to challenge Mike Garcia in the 2022 Congressional Election.

I have to admit being immediately impressed with Ruth.  She has a helluva resume to run for office and when I met her to do this podcast, I found her to be incredibly funny, sweet and energetic yet still having a very serious determination to solve some of this district's and the nation's problems. 

Election 2022 is going to be an interesting one for this district as there are currently four Democrats all vying to challenge Mike Garcia in the general election and, because the district hasn't been redrawn yet, there's no clear boundary as to where the district will begin or end.  It's possible when the district is redrawn one or even two of the candidates might not even live in the district's boundaries. 

Money is also a big factor in this race.  It will literally take millions of dollars to unseat Garcia who already has a large amount of money raised for his re-election.  Simply put, t's going to be an uphill battle for all of the candidates.  However, I got the impression from Ruth she's in it to win it and when I sat down to talk to her I could tell she was going to be a candidate to take very seriously in this race.