What They’re Seeing: Tom Steyer and Jim Acosta Talk Lowering Costs by Taking On Special Interests

 “The job of the governor is to stand up for Californians,” said Steyer

CALIFORNIA — Democratic gubernatorial candidate and climate advocate Tom Steyer sat down with journalist Jim Acosta to discuss his run for governor and his fight to lower costs for working Californians. The two discussed Steyer's plans to take on powerful corporate special interests — Big Oil, gas companies, and utility monopolies — who are spending a record $27 million against Steyer. The following are excerpts from their conversation:

On the special interests keeping costs high in California: 

"I think this race is about the corporate interests who run this state and the politicians who serve them… The big issue in California is Californians can't afford to live here anymore. And that has to do with housing costs, both rent and the ability to buy a house. It definitely has to do with healthcare. It's got to do with surging gasoline prices at the pump. And it's got to do with electricity prices where Californians pay twice as much as the rest of the United States of America."

On the contrast between the special interest-backed candidates and Steyer–who will take them on:

“Steve Hilton has been endorsed by Donald Trump. He supports this war. He's claiming that they're going to bring down gas prices when they've done nothing but move them up. Xavier Becerra is someone who has taken the maximum amount of money from two big oil companies. He's taking the maximum amount of money from the strongest lobby against single-payer health care. He’s said not one word about taking on any corporations. 

I think this is a very straightforward race, about whether Californians want change, whether they want to bring down costs and whether they want to take on the corporations that are driving up those costs. And I'm the only person who's challenging them.”

Steyer’s plan to stop price gouging at the pump:

"The reason [gas] prices are so high is there's a war in Iran that Donald Trump started… It is literally a windfall profit to his oil and gas supporters. We have a windfall profits tax on the books. I think we should activate it and take those windfall profits and send them back to the people in California who are getting gouged."

Steyer on how clean energy lowers costs for Californians:

“Clean energy is cheaper right now by a lot. And the fact of what's going on in Iran shows not only that the cost of fossil fuels is much higher than the cost of clean energy, but they're also undependable… This is a reliability issue and it is a cost issue… This is hundreds of billions of dollars being spent by the U.S. government to protect fossil fuels.”

… And how electric vehicles lower costs:

“In California, owning an electric car from the day you buy it until the day you retire it is cheaper than a fossil fuel car right now… I'd triple California's incentive to buy EVs because we need to move off this as a state. The future is clean electricity… And the technology around this transformation is invented in California. We should be leading the charge of driving down electric costs. That’s why I am taking on the electric monopolies that are overcharging us.”

On Taking On Trump:

"The job of a governor of California is to stand up for the California people against organized interests that threaten them with violence, that take advantage of them, or that try to rip them off. And if you look at the federal government from California's perspective, all of those things are happening… These guys are attacking California… They're doing it through their ICE agents. They're doing it through money…The job of the governor is to stand up for Californians, and I will do that job faithfully every single time.”

On the choice in this election: 

"I believe people are looking for someone who's going to stand up to the corporate interests that are ripping them off… the person who will stand up to the billionaires and the corporations and work for working people and make them pay their fair share. And there's only one person running for governor in the state of California who will do that. And it's me."

Watch the full episode here.