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Rick's List
Hundreds of D.C. Teachers Fired; Charles Rangel Under Investigation
Aired July 23, 2010 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Here is what's making the LIST in prime time.
STEVE PERRY, CNN EDUCATION CONTRIBUTOR: At what point does the teachers union step from behind their dogma and say some teachers actually deserve to be fired?
SANCHEZ: Two hundred and forty-one teachers fired in D.C. today. The union's now fighting back.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How do you justify $800,000?
SANCHEZ: City officials pocket big bucks, but the citizens say stop the gravy train.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're taking our money and you're paying each other.
SANCHEZ: Now they have resigned, but there's so much more as we follow your money.
Bombshell at the Pentagon: Defense Department workers buying and downloading kiddie porn, sometimes using government computers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The next thing I hear him say, oh (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
SANCHEZ: Bam, the whale that hit the yacht. You have seen the picture. Now watch the video.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SANCHEZ: And hello again, everybody. I'm Rick Sanchez. Welcome back to RICK'S LIST.
Tonight, a shockwave sent to one of the largest teacher's unions in the country. As we have reported here on CNN and as you probably know, it is very difficult to fire teachers and their unions are very powerful.
Here's the news that has come as a bombshell. The D.C. public school system today fired 241 teachers, 241 teachers that Chancellor Michelle Rhee said were poor performers or just not properly licensed. And there's more -- 737 other employees were put on notice.
They have one year to improve on the job or they will be fired. You know how rare this is? We did a little digging for you, and this is what we found. The year before Rhee took over, not a single teacher, not one teacher, was fired for poor performance -- 95 percent of them got glowing reviews. That was 2006. You get the picture?
Here's the background. Just one month ago, the teachers union in D.C. signed a contract that got them an increase of more than 20 percent in pay and a chance to earn a performance bonus. That's a contract. They signed it.
But here's the key to that contract. It also gave the chancellor, Rhee, more leeway to get rid of ineffective teachers. And she's pressed that button. She's deployed that option. That is what she is doing.
Let's start now with what she just told -- you may have seen it -- CNN's John King just a short time ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHELLE RHEE, CHANCELLOR, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA PUBLIC SCHOOLS: I have heard a lot of talk from the teachers union saying that we should have given the ineffective teachers more time to improve.
But the question that I ask to them is, whose children are we going to put in the classroom of ineffective teachers next year? My two kids go to DCPS. I'm not willing to put my kids in those classrooms. And I don't think any parent anywhere in the city should be forced to make that decision.
I think that, in my opinion, for far too long, we have been willing to turn a blind eye to the injustices that are happening to children in schools across America in the name of harmony amongst adults.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: She's saying, we have been putting adults first and we should be putting the kids' interests first.
My guess on this tonight are Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, and Steve Perry, CNN's education contributor.
My thanks to both of you for being with us.
And, Randi, I'm going to begin with you. You have already responded to what Michelle Rhee has done on behalf of your teachers union. You say she's trying to hire and fire her way to better schools. You know, I have got to ask you something. What's wrong with that?
RANDI WEINGARTEN, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS: At the end of the day, we are all for good evaluation systems. In fact, in New Haven, Connecticut, about a couple of hours away from Hartford, depending upon traffic, they have a brand-new really good evaluation system, and the same has actually been true or is true in New York State right now. The difference is this, Rick.
Everyone who teaches gets better with time and gets better with experience, just like ballplayers and others. And so what's happened here is that in that contract you just referred to, we actually -- Michelle Rhee actually signed a couple of letters that said we need to actually do an independent evaluation of this brand-new, very complicated -- lots of new things -- kind of evaluation system.
And all we're saying is that if an evaluation system is thorough, competent, comprehensive, measures how we're doing as teachers, and how students are learning...
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: So, you're going to blame -- OK, so...
(CROSSTALK)
WEINGARTEN: Let me just finish.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: Please do so.
WEINGARTEN: Then it's fine.
But the thing is, in this -- the whole year, we have raised and the teachers have raised lots and lots of different issues about the evaluation system, and the person who turned a blind eye to it was Michelle.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: But here's the problem with this. You're -- you -- it looks to most Americans watching this story like you agreed to ground rules, and now that the score is in, you don't like the score, so you want to go back and change the ground rules in this case.
WEINGARTEN: Actually, that's not true.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: Well, explain to us how it's not true then.
WEINGARTEN: Because we had no ability to bargain this negotiation -- this evaluation system.
SANCHEZ: But you agreed to the bonuses. You agreed to the 20 percent increase.
WEINGARTEN: And we also agreed to have this evaluation system independently reviewed and have committees of teachers that talk about how to make those corrections, and none of that has happened. That was all part of that agreement that just happened.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: Steve, do you think the union in this case, with all due respect to her, is actually trying to have it both ways here?
STEVE PERRY, CNN EDUCATION CONTRIBUTOR: I think -- first of all, I want to thanks Randi for coming on, because she has a daunting task. She has to defend the indefensible opinion that these teachers who received the lowest evaluations in one of the lowest performing school systems in America get to keep their jobs because we should find a more what she's calling fair evaluation system that will, in fact, hearken us back to a time when no teachers are fired.
At some point, the union has to begin to acknowledge that the tide has turned. America is fed up. They are sick and tired of the whining. They want results. They send their children to school, to our schools, and they want an education. That's all they're asking for.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: No, hold on just a moment. Let me come back to that issue, because that's a really interesting issue.
(CROSSTALK)
WEINGARTEN: But that's not what I'm saying at all.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: Ms. Weingarten, would you mind if I ask you a question? You know, Americans...
(CROSSTALK)
WEINGARTEN: I'm very passionate about evaluation systems.
SANCHEZ: Ms. Weingarten, let me ask you this question. Americans are very -- have a very difficult time understanding how it is that in 2006, for example, not a single teacher, not one single teacher was let go, and 95 percent, according to the material that we have, got glowing reviews.
And now, as soon as there are some firings that start to take place, as a union, as a respectable union representative, you come here and say, well, that's not fair. Americans would have a tough time understanding that, or would understand it better if back in 2006, you had done your due diligence and gotten rid of some bad apples.
Please, I allow you to...
WEINGARTEN: Actually, I was not in Washington, D.C., at that point. I was in New York City, and we in 2004 asked to police our own profession because we also didn't like the kind of system that had these kind of drive-by evaluations.
We all agree that the evaluation that used to occur in D.C., in New York City, was bad. And we have actually said let's change it. My point is simply this. This was a new -- I don't actually know how these evaluations were done this year. We have been trying to get all of that information, and, ultimately, we just want to have a fair, good evaluation system, so that teachers can improve and that kids can learn.
SANCHEZ: Well, they can do this..
(CROSSTALK)
WEINGARTEN: The bottom line is not about whether or not teachers should be fired.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: They can do this. Chancellor Rhee is saying tonight that all these teachers, all 241 of them, can appeal this decision, and we expect that they will do just that, and we will be watching it.
Ms. Weingarten, thanks so much for being with us. We appreciate you sharing what you have to say.
We have Ann Coulter joining us now. She was monitoring this debate that we were having just moments ago and wants to join us.
Ann Coulter, good to see you. How are you doing?
ANN COULTER, AUTHOR, "GODLESS: THE CHURCH OF LIBERALISM": I'm so happy. This is the greatest story you just led with. I didn't know -- 241 teachers laid off, this is fantastic news. It's fantastic news for the people living in the District of Columbia.
And I mean, it is evidence of the rank hypocrisy of the Democrats, defending these teachers unions to the hilt while they send their own children to fancy private schools. If they love these public schools so much, like the school's chancellor you just quoted in your program, she sends her kids to these schools. That's why she wants the bad teachers fired.
It really is outrageous, when you have Clinton, Gore, Obama all putting their kids in fancy private schools, while saying no, we must have no public school teachers being fired.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: Last time I checked, when we just read those numbers, in 2006, most of the students that were in those schools, I think that was a Republican administration when that was taking place.
So, you're basically castigating Democrats when it's actually under a Democratic administration that some of these firings are taking place. And, in fact, the person the president has chosen as his education czar of sorts is a person who's done some firings on his own in the past. So, is your criticism warranted?
COULTER: I don't think you can maintain that it is the Republicans who are captured by the teachers unions.
About a third of the delegates at the Democratic National Convention are teachers. These are government employees. It is absolutely the Democratic Party in their bills and their actions who are constantly, ferociously defending the teachers union and opposing school vouchers. You know, 60 percent of blacks support school vouchers for the obvious reason that they want their kids to go to decent schools. But you can't with the teachers union. You can't when you can't fire bad teachers, so God bless Washington, D.C.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: Well, guess what? You're going to continue to have this conversation with me. I'm glad you're here. We will continue in just a moment picking up a couple of other issues.
COULTER: Me, too.
SANCHEZ: By the way, take a look at this. There's an unbelievable story that's coming out of the Pentagon as scary as it is disgusting, dozens of Pentagon officials and contractors, many with top-secret clearance, accused of down loading and buying child pornography. They may have even used Pentagon computers to do this. I have got the reporter who blew the lid off of this story and he's going to be joining us.
Also, more with Ann Coulter. I'm going to ask her about this week's huge political story, the fiasco involving Shirley Sherrod and that video posted by Andrew Breitbart that she appears to be, or at least suggesting, that she defends Mr. Breitbart. We will let her speak for herself. You will find out in just a moment.
Also, speaking of politics, have you seen the video today of Charlie Rangel? You know the longtime New York congressman is in some serious hot water over alleged ethics violations, right? Well, today he tried to address the controversy, and not to mention this dust-up with Luke Russert, who simply asked if his job was on the line.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. CHARLES RANGEL (D), NEW YORK: What are you talking about? You're just trying to make copy? What job? The one I got? Basically, you know it's a dumb question and I'm not going to answer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: It's a dumb question, he says. Rangel to his credit did later apologize, but he's certainly not alone on my list of top politicians who had meltdowns. Look what happened in the Alabama State Senate a few years back. Republican Charles Bishop punches Democrat Lowell Barron after Bishop claims Barron called him an SOB. You want more? I have got more as our national conversation in prime time is off and running. This is your national conversation. This is your list. This is RICK'S LIST. And we will be right back with Ann Coulter.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez.
Charlie Rangel's condescending tone in front of Luke Russert may actually be fairly mild compared to what we found on our list of political outbursts. We keep a list for you every single day, and here's the top three.
Number three, remember former Congressman Randy Duke Cunningham?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. RANDY CUNNINGHAM (R), CALIFORNIA: I'm almost 65 years old and I enter the twilight of my life.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Don't feel too sorry for him. Cunningham took a plea deal admitting that he accepted more than $2 million in bribes. He got eight years in federal prison.
Here's number two. This goes back to, what, 1995. A city councilman in Clarkston, Washington, tossed out of his own council meeting by the mayor, but he refuses to leave. The police chief gets involved, even calling for backup. And, finally, finally, well, here look for yourself. Yes, they actually pepper spray the good councilman before arresting him for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
But that's nothing compared to our number-one political meltdown. Yes, you knew this was coming. This is Taiwan. And I have got to be honest with you. This is one of Ann Coulter's favorites. I don't know what set these guys off. I don't even care, to be honest with you. It's incredible video and it tops our list every time of all- time political meltdowns.
All right, there's a new and interesting development tonight in the Shirley Sherrod story. You know she lost her job at the Department of Agriculture because of misleading video of a speech that she gave at a NAACP event.
The selective edited chunk of sound made it look like she was denying help to a poor farmer. It wasn't true. RICK'S LIST brought Sherrod and the farmer together here on this newscast on video. But today they reconnected for the very first time in person.
I want you to take a look at this video now. It's an emotional reunion today in Georgia between Shirley Sherrod and the Spooners. They are crediting Sherrod with helping save their farm. Of course, it all started when conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart posted the edited portion of Sherrod's speech online. And the rest as we say is history. Breitbart is one of the few folks involved in this whole mess that has not apologized, has not apologized to Shirley Sherrod.
But one person thinks Breitbart is a victim here. I want you to take a listen to Ann Coulter on FOX News two nights ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COULTER: The whole key to this story is that Andrew Breitbart was set up. He was sent a tape that as we now know was massively out of context. I think Breitbart ought to reveal his source, because he was set up. This was a fraud.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Ann Coulter is a frequent guest on our show. And she joins me tonight in prime time.
Ann, thanks for coming back.
COULTER: Well, that was a surprise. I guess that's what we're talking about, Rick.
SANCHEZ: Let's do that.
Look, doesn't Breitbart deserve to lose his credibility for this? It doesn't matter who sent it to a man. What matters is he published this stuff, something that turned out to be wrong.
COULTER: Well, you said something wrong in your introduction. This wasn't edited to make it look like she was discriminating against a white farmer. She was admitting that she was discriminating against a white farmer.
What made it out of context was, when you saw the full 45-minute speech, she then explained, as everyone, the entire world, now knows that she came around, she changed her mind, that was the wrong thing to do. It wasn't a doctored tape. It wasn't an edited tape. It was an excerpted tape. And we're constantly hearing public figures who are caught telling dirty jokes.
SANCHEZ: You're playing games. You're playing games. You're playing semantics.
COULTER: And they say, oh, that was taken out of context.
This was literally taken out of context.
SANCHEZ: Ann, you're playing semantic games, and you know it.
(CROSSTALK)
COULTER: No, I'm not. There's a big difference.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: Yes, it does. The only thing -- the thing that matters to those of us who practice this craft, you and myself, those of us who make money communicating with people, is truth. And, in the end, that's the only thing that we should be talking about, not whether one word was taken here or one word was taken -- if, in the end, the whole of your argument, the whole of what you just delivered is true or not true, that's what you should be judged by.
How am I wrong?
COULTER: Well, A, then the NAACP and the White House are far more guilty than Breitbart because they didn't wait to see the full video, and, by the way, the NAACP had the full video. Breitbart didn't fire anyone. Breitbart didn't have the full video.
(CROSSTALK)
COULTER: And if we could get back to your claim that what you care about is the truth, why do you keep repeating the despicable lie that John Lewis was called the N-word 15 times on Capitol Hill at the anti-Obama protest? That is a lie.
And you have repeated that. All these -- all these -- this network repeats it. All these networks repeat it. That is a lie. At least Shirley Sherrod got her reputation back.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: Let's be fair. Let's be fair. We attribute that to the congressman who made that assertion. That's called attribution.
COULTER: It wasn't John Lewis. John Lewis didn't say it.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: Well, there were several there who have actually said that. They said it in a press conference.
But let me come back to the matter at hand there.
(CROSSTALK)
COULTER: Oh, no, no, no. There's a $100,000 reward for anyone who can produce a video of someone calling John Lewis the N-word one time, not to say 15 times.
That reward has been out there for three months.
SANCHEZ: And you're convinced that because no one has taken the money that it didn't happen?
(CROSSTALK)
COULTER: There is more evidence that you have a problem with kiddie porn. I have as much evidence for that as you do that John Lewis was called the N-word.
And, by the way, in fact, I have more evidence because there hasn't been the press searching all over you, trying to find your problem with kiddie porn, and a $100,000 reward for anyone who can produce evidence of your problem with kiddie porn.
So, I have a lot more evidence that you have a problem with kiddie porn than that any Tea Partier ever called John Lewis the N- word one time, forget 15 times.
SANCHEZ: All right. You and I are not going to solve that, because I wasn't there and neither were you. And all we have done is attributed what some people have said.
(CROSSTALK)
COULTER: OK. I wasn't in your private room when you were going through kiddie porn.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: We will wait for that person to come in with -- and accept the $100,000 reward and see if that happens.
COULTER: Well, how long do you wait? You have made an accusation that a great civil rights hero was called the N-word. There were cameras all over.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: You're trying to prove a negative. And I want to get back to this point, all right?
COULTER: OK. You prove you don't have a problem with kiddie porn.
SANCHEZ: No, no, I don't want to talk about kiddie porn.
(CROSSTALK)
COULTER: More evidence than that.
SANCHEZ: I want to go back to the assertion that you make that, in fact, it wasn't Andrew Breitbart's fault for putting out that information because it's really the fault of the mystery person who sent him the information. Do you stand by that?
COULTER: Look, I don't know the details of this.
What I know is what was played -- and I never said anything about it. I wasn't on TV on Monday. On Monday, what people saw, what I saw, what you saw, what the White House saw, what the NAACP saw, and what Andrew Breitbart saw was a racist statement.
It was literally taken out of context, where, when you see the full speech, you see she's walking it back. It's like she's at an AA meeting talking about getting drunk, and now she doesn't get drunk anymore. She is saying she had these racist feelings toward a farmer and she was in a position of power.
That's why the White House fired her. I mean, they're the ones you should be haranguing. I didn't fire anybody. I didn't denounce her like the NAACP. And I didn't have a copy of the full video, the way the NAACP did.
SANCHEZ: Let me ask you the question one more time, Ann. Did you defend Andrew Breitbart and put the blame when you were on FOX News on whatever person it was who sent him the tape? Did you do that? Because it sounded to me when I heard that sound bite like that that's what you were doing.
COULTER: Yes, you saw what I said.
SANCHEZ: Well...
COULTER: I suspect someone was trying to play him, but I don't know. That's my suspicion because that was the part of the video he had. And he didn't have the full video, the way the NAACP did.
But if you really want examples for accusations of racism being taken out of context, how about all these photos of white men carrying guns allegedly at Obama rallies, and then you expand the photo and it turns out it's a black man?
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: You're changing the subject.
(CROSSTALK)
COULTER: And all the networks keep showing the photo of the gun.
Well, because, usually, when someone is falsely accused of racism, it's a conservative, and, usually, they don't achieve sainthood within 24 hours, as Shirley Sherrod is. I feel sorry for her, but not as sorry as I feel for the other ones.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: Here's an example of where you may possibly be a little hypocritical on this thing.
COULTER: I don't think so.
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: Well, let me take you back to something you did. When Dan Rather was accused of using a source that was questionable regarding a story he did about President George Bush, you wrote, "Dan knew he was foisting forgeries on the nation to try and change a presidential election."
So, when it comes to Dan Rather, you say that, in fact, he was at fault, but, when it comes to Breitbart, it's not his fault; it's the fault of the source who sent him the story.
Can you have it both ways, Ann, my friend?
(CROSSTALK)
COULTER: Yes, you can, because, yes, there does need to be some due diligence in news organizations.
And if you read the full column, it was well known that Dan Rather's source was not trustworthy. He literally was foaming at the mouth in a meeting with "The Washington Post," as described...
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: And Breitbart was? And Breitbart -- someone we haven't even identified yet, but he was?
COULTER: I don't know. I don't know. But I know with Dan Rather. I don't know.
All I know is what Breitbart has. I'm making an educated guess, because that was -- Breitbart put up all of the tape he had. And I think we're spending way too much time on something.
OK, a bad thing was done to Shirley Sherrod on Monday, but she's a saint today. She's Mother Teresa.
SANCHEZ: I get it. I get it.
COULTER: That never happened to Charles Pickering. That never happened to Judge Bork. That never happened to George Bush, all of whom were also falsely accused of racism by taking things out of context.
SANCHEZ: You are aggressive and combative when debates occur with you and that's why I enjoy having you on the show. Thanks so much for being with us.
COULTER: Thank you, Rick.
SANCHEZ: And hopefully we will be able to do it once again and stay friends when we're all done arguing. It's like family.
COULTER: Of course.
SANCHEZ: Thank so much, Ann. Appreciate it.
COULTER: Thank you.
SANCHEZ: Some incredible video just coming into us, the pilot of this jet parachuting to the ground as his jet goes up in flames. We're going to show you the crash and the dramatic moments following it. That is just ahead.
Also, porn at the Pentagon. Investigators are now looking into whether some of the people in charge of keeping us safe were watching child porn while they were at work on computers that you and I bought for them, government computers. Some of them actually had access to state secrets. And here's a question before they go. Did they make themselves vulnerable to blackmail by doing something like this? This is your national conversation. This is your LIST. This is RICK'S LIST. And I'm all charged up now after talking to Ann Coulter. We will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Welcome back.
If you haven't been with us before, we call this RICK'S LIST. It's a national conversation. We integrate social media. And you will be hearing from people all over country during this newscast, as well as people who are relevant to the news that we cover.
So, it's come down to this now, child pornography putting our national security at risk. Think about that. A bombshell report in "The Boston Globe" reveals that several dozen current and former employees at the Defense Department have been investigated for buying and downloading kiddie porn, sometimes even on their computers while they were at work.
Many had top security clearance at the Pentagon, access to government secrets and military installations. This is a big problem for the folks at the Pentagon.
"Globe" reporter Bryan Bender has broken the story. And he's good enough to join us now.
Bryan, we're not talking about clerks and secretaries here, are we?
BRYAN BENDER, "THE BOSTON GLOBE": Well, we're not, but I think it's important to note that obviously this is a fraction of a fraction of people who worked in the Department of Defense.
SANCHEZ: That's fair.
BENDER: But you're right. These were some individual, a couple dozen, who were swept up as part of a larger investigation into people downloading child pornography illegally on the Internet.
And some of them were officials at agencies like the National Security Agency, the National Reconnaissance Office, departments within the Pentagon that do very top-secret stuff.
SANCHEZ: Well, here's the problem with this. Look, all of us deserve to be private to a certain degree. And many of us have our own secrets that we like to keep.
But when you start taking them to a place like that, and you're a public official with the kind of vulnerabilities like this, aren't you * RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Well, here's the problem. Look, all of us deserve to be private to a certain degree. And many of us have our own secrets that we like to keep. But when you start taking them to a place like that and you're a public official with the kind of vulnerabilities like this, aren't you putting yourself in a situation where you could be blackmailed, possibly even blackmailed by one of our enemies?
BRYAN BENDER, "BOSTON GLOBE": Well, I think that's why the Pentagon and law enforcement were so alarmed by this. In fact, they categorized these cases as tier one, which meant they were a top priority to investigate because of the individuals who were allegedly involved. And you're right, they have access to secrets, military installations and they could be compromised if someone found out that they were engaging in this activity and they could try to blackmail them and, you know, damage American security. So they certainly were putting the country in a vulnerable position.
SANCHEZ: You know it's funny but, you know, Americans don't cop to this kind of stuff and I'm already getting tweets from people right now who are responding to this conversation that you and I are having. I mean, look at this one. Let's go to the Twitter board if we possibly can, Robin (ph). Shoot it over here.
"So these Pentagon perverts in jail? And if not, why not?" Sometimes the best question is just to go back to the basics. That's not a bad question, is it?
BENDER: Well, you would.
SANCHEZ: Go ahead.
BENDER: No, I was going to say a good number of them have been prosecuted. But there are some cases where the government decided that they didn't have enough evidence. There is a threshold that has to be met in these cases. You have to be able to positively identify the people in the images as children, or as known abuse victims. In some cases they were not able to do that. And in other cases, they are still pending and investigators still hope to be able to bring charges.
SANCHEZ: But you know, if you and I did this, because you and I work for like a private company, I mean, we'd be out the door the next minute. I mean, folks here at CNN wouldn't be sitting there asking me too many questions, I don't believe. But when you're a government worker, it seems like you get a lot more shots than most people do. Why is that?
BENDER: I don't know that I would necessarily agree with that. You know, I think a lot of law enforcement investigations take time. They're not as easy as they sound. I think you're right. When you hear child pornography, you hear something that sounds black and white. You know, there's no way we could cop that, as you said. But you know, you still have to prove it. You still have to build a case and, you know, you're innocent until proven guilty. So I think they're serious about it and, you know, I think they're doing their best.
SANCHEZ: Yes. Yes. I know you're certainly right about that. I mean, I'm talking about the cases where, you know, it's prima facie. I mean, it's right there in front of you. You know what they did and sometimes in those cases, most employers don't sit there and give you too many reviews. They just say, you know, here's your walking papers and that's the door. But we'll follow this.
"Globe" reporter Bryan Bender who broke this story, job well done, sir. And thanks for coming on and sharing your information with us.
BENDER: Thanks for having me.
SANCHEZ: All right, take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're taking our money and you're paying each other, and you think we're not going to be mad about it? You're out of your minds.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: This is a backlash over some big bucks. Some folks in one blue collar city are blasting several of their leaders over their monster salaries. And their outrage has caused those leaders to make a dramatic move. That's just ahead right here.
Also, somebody apparently turned off the emergency alarm on that oil rig, and it exploded in the Gulf of Mexico. Now, that's according to a rig worker who says it was deactivated so it wouldn't wake up the crew. So it wouldn't wake up the crew. The disturbing details are next on RICK'S LIST. This is your national conversation in prime time.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Breaking news is coming to us from New York City of all places, where you're not going to believe this, folks. And by the way, as you look at this picture, you might be able to see what appears to be a lightning in the background over New York City. Yes, through those skyscrapers. There is a tornado alert for most of New York City's metro area, a tornado alert. We're told it's through 8:45. What is it now? 8:36 southeast.
We're going to follow -- you see the flickering now. We're going to follow this for you. If there are any developments coming out of there, obviously we will bring them to you immediately. We'll be monitoring it with our crews there.
All right, two questions. One, what the hell is going on in Bell, California? I'm serious. Two, do you know what you're paying your city and county employees? What you're paying, wherever it is that you live or you're watching this show right now. Are you ready for this? These folks here, they weren't.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're taking our money and you're paying each other, and you think we're not going to be mad about it? You're out of your minds.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: These are the taxpayers of Bell, California after learning their city manager makes more than Barack Obama. In fact, almost twice as much as the president of the United States, and that's just the beginning, folks.
This is a rogue gallery for you. Robert Rizzo, city manager; Angela Spaccia, assistant city manager; Randy Adams, police chief. Rizzo, $787,000. Spaccia, $376,000. Randy Adams, $457,000.
Is that amazing? Now you know why the locals stormed city hall demanded, and last night received these officials' resignations. That's right, they resigned. Yes, they're all quitting. But as far as we can tell, they'll still get their pensions, which are set up in such a way so that it's going to pay them nearly as much as their bloated city salaries did, even though they're not working anymore.
Look, we're talking about Bell, California. This is not L.A. This is not San Francisco. Not San Diego. Not Fresno. It's not even Turlock. Bell, California.
Bell, California, population less than $40,000. Hell's bells. Three city officials, pulling down more than $1.5 million a year? And why? You'll love this. Great city services. How great can they be, Mr. Mayor?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR OSCAR HERNANDEZ, BELL, CALIFORNIA: If you want good service, I think you deserve to get good money.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You don't have a lot of money coming into this city. When you compare what you have coming in to Los Angeles, that city manager doesn't make close to that much money.
HERNANDEZ: But I don't know. I don't know.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How do you justify $800,000 in a city this small and this poor.
HERNANDEZ: The only thing I say, this community, they're receiving good service. They deserve to have the best service.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They can get the best service for a lot less than $800,000 a year.
HERNANDEZ: Well, you have to have good employees to do that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Many of you are telling me right now on Twitter, just as you were seeing that that you smell a rat and maybe you should. These three city officials were not told that, none, not one, even bothers to live there. That's right. They don't live in this town with the, quote, "great services."
And Rizzo, the city manager, the guy who was pulling down close to $800,000 a year for managing a city of 40,000 people? Here's his crib in Huntington Beach. We went out and got a shot of it, miles from the city that he supposedly runs. He also owns a horse ranch that's valued at $1 million. A city employee.
There's something very wrong in Bell, California. And now I'll ask again. Do you know what you're paying your city workers?
Lots more news is coming your way tonight. But first, I want you to take a look at this amazing video. You've heard of flying by the seat of your pants. Well, this lucky guy escaped by the skin of his teeth. Witnesses say the pilot of this CF-18 fighter jet was able to eject and pull his parachute just moments before the crash, crashed and burned in an airport in Alberta, Canada, this afternoon. He was rushed to the hospital where doctors say his injuries are not -- are not life threatening.
Most bank robbers wear a mask. But some sport the entire costume. Yes, that's Darth Vader holding up a bank and it ain't Halloween, folks. You're going to see what happens. That's just ahead.
Also comic-con. It's where Batman and Spiderman hang out with some of their biggest fans. But there's a real story behind this. We do something here called "trending topics" and the person who handles this for us is Brooke Baldwin.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Was that you in the Batman costume?
SANCHEZ: Well, no, I was wearing Robin.
BALDWIN: You're a Robin kind of guy?
SANCHEZ: That's right.
BALDWIN: Let's talk about that.
SANCHEZ: Are you going to take us through this?
BALDWIN: Oh, and I have a special guest.
SANCHEZ: A special guest?
BALDWIN: Back in the corner of the studio.
SANCHEZ: Can you make me understand this?
BALDWIN: He is going to help us understand this.
SANCHEZ: RICK'S LIST in prime time continues with Brooke Baldwin. Stay right there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) SANCHEZ: Because we follow social media and the Internets so carefully --
BALDWIN: We try to be hip.
SANCHEZ: We like to check in and see what's trending out there in the Googles and all those other great places.
BALDWIN: Yes.
SANCHEZ: So that's why we have you. This is Brooke Baldwin and she's going to take us through is. And you're starting us with what?
BALDWIN: We're starting first with a serious story in the gulf. We're talking Bonnie.
Bonnie now a tropical depression was a storm. But the big concern, obviously, as Bonnie heads toward the gulf could gain steam and change and wreak havoc for people down there. Keep in mind, right now, hundreds of oil response vessels, thousands of people being evacuated today. Also underwater cameras we've been watching, they're being pulled out. The extent of this delay still to be determined. I've been hearing maybe 10 days? Also, this means that that new well cap that stopped the flow of the oil, that will be untouched for 48 hours.
Meantime, the entire reason they're all down there, this picture. That massive explosion in the gulf. Chief engineer tech for Transocean, remember that's the company that owned that rig testified that the night of April 20th, 3:00 in the morning, the fire alarm did not sound.
SANCHEZ: No.
BALDWIN: Why? Hear it for yourself.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE WILLIAMS, TRANSOCEAN, CHIEF ENGINEER TECH: I discovered it was inhibited about a year ago. I inquired as to why it was inhibited. And the explanation I got was that they, from the OIM down, they did not want people woke up at 3:00 in the morning due to false alarms.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Why in the hell -- hold on. Why would you have an alarm if you're not going to use it?
BALDWIN: Seems kind of counterintuitive, right?
SANCHEZ: Yes, doesn't it?
BALDWIN: So he went on to testify that it was inhibited. The sensors were inhibited. So that means two things. They were actually working, and they were actually relaying information to the computer system, but the flashing lights, that alarm sound never triggered. He also said the supervisors on the rig knew about it.
SANCHEZ: What else can we find out? Here's the good news, though. It appears that that system that you were just talking about, that thing is breaking up. It's not going to be a hurricane and it's probably not going to do the kind of damage that they were thinking it could possibly do.
BALDWIN: Fingers crossed.
SANCHEZ: But we'll keep our fingers crossed.
BALDWIN: Yes.
SANCHEZ: All right.
So what's this thing with this geek convention or whatever you're told?
BALDWIN: This thing, the Nerd alert, nerd alert. OK. So you know -- do you know what fan boys are?
SANCHEZ: I don't.
BALDWIN: Do you know what "Tron" is? In fact, it is coming out in December?
SANCHEZ: Don't.
BALDWIN: J.J. Abrams? Joss Whedon?
SANCHEZ: Don't.
BALDWIN: They are heroes.
SANCHEZ: I don't know what you're talking about.
BALDWIN: I got to be honest, I don't know what I'm talking about either. Two words, "comic-con," watch and learn.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AARON ECKHART: It's insane. There's thousands of people outside. All generations, you know, family. They all are true believers. They know the history of their favorite films. They're queuing up in line around the block.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: So yes, San Diego, huge convention. Four days.
SANCHEZ: Comi what?
BALDWIN: Comic-con.
SANCHEZ: Oh, comic-con. BALDWIN: Let's ask our resident -- and we can say this lovingly, our resident geek. We love Graham Flanagan, down from New York, hanging out in prime time show.
GRAHAM FLANAGAN: How are you, Rick? Good to be hear.
BALDWIN: So you're on the comic-con beat, Graham. We had to bring in reinforcements tonight. What is this thing?
FLANAGAN: Well, you know you showed a lot of clips of people dressed up in costumes. And they talk about knowing the history of their favorite films.
SANCHEZ: Right.
FLANAGAN: This is about money.
SANCHEZ: Oh.
FLANAGAN: A few years ago, the big Hollywood studios figured out that this was a very effective way to create lucrative buzz for their movies. So they come to the convention, like say yesterday, they had a panel for the movie "Tron" opening in December.
SANCHEZ: Oh.
BALDWIN: Which really stoked about.
FLANAGAN: Personally me, I'm a big "Tron" fan. We can get into that later.
SANCHEZ: Good.
FLANAGAN: So basically they play a clip then the fan boys who are there, they start tweeting about it, blogging about it.
BALDWIN: Fan boys? Got it?
SANCHEZ: I got it.
FLANAGAN: I'm more of a fan man.
BALDWIN: A fan man.
SANCHEZ: So if you want to get a movie out there and you want people to watch it, you want to get these guys on your side?
FLANAGAN: Exactly. Like last year there was a movie based on a comic book called "Jonah Hex" that they kind of started -- they tried to create buzz at comic-con, right? It didn't go over too well. Look what happened a year later? "Jonah Hex" comes out, flops at the box office. Directly related? Probably.
BALDWIN: Can we talk --
SANCHEZ: I like the way -- I like the way you guys did that, too, explaining that. We're almost out of time, but go ahead.
BALDWIN: Briefly, it's also all about dressing up, right?
FLANAGAN: Absolutely.
BALDWIN: We have an entire iReport desk out there. I don't know if we can swing around, take a look at the picture as you explain why people are dressing up. And they go all out.
FLANAGAN: They do. I mean, it's a sign of pride. You know, who's got the most realistic Chewbacca costume, you know.
SANCHEZ: I do, in case anybody wants to know. My thanks -- my thanks to both of you.
BALDWIN: All right.
SANCHEZ: And we'll have to leave it at that.
FLANAGAN: All right, Rick.
SANCHEZ: You're always wonderful coming out here and helping us with this.
BALDWIN: I'm trying.
SANCHEZ: By the way, if you're struggling to pay the bills or looking for your next job, or just hoping for a raise, I want you to listen to this. A lot of people made a lot of money off of you, and they did it during the height of the financial crisis. Wait until you hear who is making the very top of what we call "The List That You Don't Want 2 Be On." You'll see one of these every single night.
And if you think that this picture is amazing, wait until you see the video. A whale jumps clear out of the water, right? Crashes on to a boat. Well, you've got to see it to believe it because we don't just have the picture anymore. No, we have the video now. The actual video. You'll see it for yourself on RICK'S LIST in prime time.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Here we go. Welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez.
Note yourself, if ever you go whale watching off of South Africa, whatever you do, do not sneak up on the whales. Time now for the best videos out there. We call this "Fotos del Dia."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ah, dios mio.
SANCHEZ: All right, check this out. A couple of sailing -- a couple is saying, I should say, along the coast of Cape Town when bam, a giant southern right (ph) whale just slams right into their boat. The people survived. So did the whale. Apparently, whales can't see too well and can't hear too well either so when the sailors turned off their motor, the big beast didn't realize the boat was even there. Moral of the story, don't sneak up on whales, people. All right. He's on the run, but so far, the force is with this guy. He robbed a bank in Long Island yesterday, dressed as Darth Vader. No light saber on him, but a gun did the trick. He's a big man, 6 foot 2, we're told. But who know what's going on behind the mask?
And the Alvin Greene fan club now has a theme song. Greene, of course, is the unemployed veteran who's the Democratic Senate nominee for South Carolina. He's captured the public's imagination and now has his own -- you knew it was coming -- his very own viral video. Here, take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MUSIC: When I say Alvin, you say Greene. Alvin Greene, Alvin Greene.
When I say Alvin, you say Greene. Alvin Greene for senator.
Listen up, everybody.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: When he says Alvin, you say Greene. By the way, you can see it for yourself. In fact, you can see all of our "Fotos del Dia" on CNN.com/ricksanchez.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ah, dios mio.
SANCHEZ: All right, coming up in just a little bit, wait until you hear who is on "The List That You Don't Want 2 Be On." I am calling them out. And you need to know who they are. You do. You need to know. Your list, RICK'S LIST. We're scrolling on. Stay right there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: All right, I get it. You guys are tweeting me right now and tons of you are telling me hey, I didn't even see the whale get out of the water. Please show the video again.
Rodge (ph), in the control room, can we show this? These people really want it. Can you do it?
All right. Let me know when you're ready to go and we're going to show this thing once again. And I can't wait to see it, by the way, because frankly -- OK, here it is.
Boom. There you go. And down goes Frazier (ph), as the whale hits the boat. There you go.
The Twitter-verse asked me to play it again, and I played it again. See, I'm connected to you. You're connected to me. This is how this works.
All right. During this newscast, we told you about the outrage and the anger across a small city in California. Three public officials are now resigning after word got out that they're making more than $1.5 million between them each year. And that's in a city with fewer than 40,000 people and where the median household income is less than $35,000 a year. This guy is making $800,000.
Well, tonight, there's more outrage over another explosive report concerning payouts on Wall Street. And the companies involved have found themselves a little something that we do every night that's called "The List You Don't Want 2 Be On."
You many not believe this but according to a new review by the Obama administration, 17 banks and financial firms gave up about $1.6 billion in bonuses to employees between late 2008 and early 2009. Those months ring a bell? Yes. That's when we, the taxpayers were bailing them out, the height of the global financial crisis. In fact, some of the risks taken by these companies are blamed for causing the crisis. And guess what? No one can really do anything about it.
Members of the administration say the bonuses, look, they're not illegal. The government reports 11 of the 17 companies named in the review have already repaid taxpayers so they owe nothing. Yet companies like AIG and Citigroup that gave out these lavish rewards, they still haven't paid the money back.
Kenneth Feinberg, the man President Obama put in charge of reviewing Wall Street payouts, says most of these employees did not deserve any of the money they got. Something like 80 percent. Here, take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KENNETH FEINBERG, SPECIAL MASTER FOR EXEC. COMPENSATION: When these payments were made, they were ill advised. It was an exercise in bad judgment. These 17 companies should have not made these payments. However, at the time they were made, they were not illegal. They did not violate any statute or any regulation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Several of the companies either declined to comment or were not available. A spokesperson for Citigroup, however, says the bank supports the administration's efforts to overhaul salary packages.
But here are the facts -- the review finds that employees began receiving those bonuses 21 months ago. For some context, in that time, some five million Americans have lost their jobs. Many of you who are watching me right now. The unemployment rate remains at 9.5 percent, and the fact that the 17 companies gave out lavish bonuses at a time when the hands of their executives were stretched out, asking for help lands them on tonight's "List That You Don't Want 2 Be On."
Coming up, a brand new segment we call the "Laugh List."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Here now, our "Laugh List."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID LETTERMAN, COMEDIAN: Maybe you like the summer blockbuster movies. Oh, man, the number movie in the country is "Inception." The movie is set in alternate reality dream world, kind of like the tea party. It's --
JAY LENO, COMEDIAN: Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich did not testify at his corruption trial yesterday. It's ironic. He wanted to testify. Turns out, he sold the seat he's supposed to testify in for $100,000. He sold it.
JIMMY FALLON, COMEDIAN: Two more massage therapists are coming forward and accusing Al Gore of sexual misconduct. One woman said that Gore stood naked in front of her, pointed south and said take care of this. Even Bill Clinton was like the student has surpassed the master.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Here's "LARRY KING LIVE." I'll see Monday, folks. Thanks for being with us.
