MR. KOJO NNAMDIFrom WAMU 88.5, at American University in Washington, welcome to "The Politics Hour," starring Tom Sherwood. I'm Kojo Nnamdi. Tom Sherwood is our resident analyst. He's an NBC 4 reporter and a columnist for the Current Newspapers. Tom was one of the initiators of an event known as Hacks and Flacks, where reporters and press persons for elected officials and public information officers got together after hours and socialize while sipping sparkling water, ginger ale and other nonalcoholic beverages.

MR. KOJO NNAMDIAnd if you believe that, I've got some nice refreshing Kool-Aid for you, anyway. The administration of Mayor Vincent Gray, having no doubt enjoyed the Fenty surly cronyism, inattentive coverage of the previous mayor, apparently finds itself a little shell-shocked and not enjoying at all the same media's coverage of its turn to burn.

MR. KOJO NNAMDISo it called an executive media skill seminar, inviting the luminaries of local reporting to illuminate its leaders on, well, we don't know exactly what, but we'll soon will because Tom Sherwood couldn't be there. He had another more important engagement here. So he reportedly got a solo session with the higher-ups, and Tom, otherwise known as Mr. Transparency, is here to tell all.

MR. TOM SHERWOODI was there. You know, the mayor's administration -- they met at -- first of all, I complained immediately when I stood up. I said -- I complained that the World Bank, you know, it has no -- pays no taxes to the city. The employees are exempt from taxes. They're not part of local Washington. And also that's a building that went around and took out all the parking meters from -- at around 18th and H Street for alleged security reasons. And they put up all these barriers on the side.

NNAMDISo this got off to a bad start.

SHERWOODIt was an outrage. I said I can't believe you're in here. And you shouldn't have been here, and you should -- and next time you invite me, I hope you're in the District of Columbia.

NNAMDIWow.

SHERWOODSo that's how I started. So everyone who thought was going to be some kind of off-the-record thing, I was going to disclose secrets. I said this is not off the record as far I'm concerned. Of course, they had cable TV there, so I hope my editors don't watch it. But in any event, because I did talk about it, and I just said a very simple thing. Reporters are not your friends, but they don't have to be your enemies.

NNAMDIWho was there from the Gray administration?

SHERWOODWell, there was this huge table. I really thought we were going to discuss Middle East peace because there was this table -- and I am not exaggerating. It was 50 feet long.

NNAMDIYou were looking around for Yasser Arafat.

SHERWOODHuge. It had all the microphones, and nobody knew how to operate the microphones. You know, you have to push a button on, push a button off. No one knew how to do that. It was 50 feet long. I stepped it off if I were going to make 50-foot putt. It was just unbelievable, and they all sat around there. Then they went around and introduced themselves.

SHERWOODI thought, don't you know each other? You've been working together six months. I'm not going to remember your name, so they did it. And they played the little game. They said say your first and last name and then a word that describes you with the first letter of your first name. So mine is T. I said trouble.

NNAMDIYes. And I think that's entirely appropriate.

SHERWOODBut anyway, it was good. And they just -- I said the same, you know, reporters -- respond to reporters. Don't keep them waiting if you're afraid. Even if there are, like, 10 bad stories about you, answer the phone call or the email or the tweet on the 11th one because if you don't respond -- it's like a football team. You're leaving the game to the team on the field. You've got to be on the field, even if you're getting roughed up.

NNAMDILater, the Gray administration higher-ups held a meeting with a bunch of other reporters. Was there...

SHERWOODAlso grand.

NNAMDIWas there any mention in the meeting you had of the -- well, first, was the chairperson of the taxicab commission in the meeting you were in this morning?

SHERWOODWell, that chairperson is not a Cabinet member so...

NNAMDIThis is true.

SHERWOOD...and maybe she couldn't get a cab over there -- you know, that cab thing. And I'm really -- I've often participated in the stories. I hadn't done it because I've called the attorney general since I've heard about it, said -- because I actually called him in March, also, when they previously locked out the reporters. And I said, the cab commission in a public meeting has locked the doors.

NNAMDIThe...

SHERWOODAnd he called over when -- and, politely, in the attorney general sort of way, said, open the door, please. And then afterwards, he...

NNAMDIWell, the taxicab commission may have opened the doors, but for those of you who may not be aware of it, they opened the doors. But, apparently, they weren't very either friendly or hospitable to at least two reporters who were there...

SHERWOODThree.

NNAMDI...one of whom tried to place a tape recorder in front of the chairperson of the taxicab commission to report to record this public meeting, another apparently who tried to take a photograph of the taxicab commission panel with a mobile device. And both of those reporters were escorted by security out of the proceedings. What is it...

SHERWOODHandcuffed.

NNAMDIHandcuffed and escorted. What is it that the taxicab -- the chairperson of taxicab commission knows that we don't?

SHERWOODWell, the open meetings law says it has to be open, but there are -- you know, if there is a belief that the recording devices and cameras would be disruptive to the ability to hold the meeting, there is an exclusion like that. But this is a big conference room. And they didn't like the fact that Pete Tucker, who's been covering the cab industry for a couple of years now and even does a radio show about it, put his recording device up in front of the chairman.

SHERWOODShe didn't want it there. She wanted it off in a side table, and then, the third reporter, I'm told -- I don't know who it was -- was kept from the room. And so they -- because they were meeting in a U.S. Park Service building, the Park Service police officers came in and arrested these guys, and then the cab commission -- well, we didn't ask them to arrest them. It's just ridiculous. And Mayor Gray himself, to his credit, put out a statement yesterday, saying, look, we're an open administration.

SHERWOODThese are meetings, and if you -- if they -- if you can accommodate the press, do so. And it should be an extraordinary event when you don't. The cab commission -- Tommy Wells, the councilmember who oversees it, he's going to discuss this summer to abolish it and just put it inside the Department of Transportation. It's a dysfunctional agency, and it disrespects the right of reporters to be in the room.

NNAMDIMayor Gray's poll numbers have been falling. That is really not surprising, given all of the controversies that the administration has been involved in almost from the moment that it got into office. The question is whether or not you think the mayor still has the opportunity to turn this around.

SHERWOODI think he does. You know, favorable poll numbers when he first started, in the 60 percent range. It's down to, what, like, 47 now. Frankly, given the stuff for the last five, three or four months, I would say I'm surprised they're not lower. I do think he has a problem. And he's being told internally and externally by people who know him, like him and want him to do well that he's got to get his administration focused, and he's got to clear up this thing with Sulaimon Brown.

SHERWOODAnd he can't be -- you know, he keeps having so many things going on that nothing is going on, which is -- it's just kind of flat. The question is, will he step up and try to change it?

NNAMDIWe do have guests, but I know that at some point you're going to burst out with Jim Riggleman...

SHERWOODYes.

NNAMDI...the manager of the Nationals, leaving because it happens to be in your neighborhood. So you might as well just go ahead. What do you think?

SHERWOODWell, for those of you who appreciate all types of business in Washington, 'cause that's another (word?) job, is the manager of the Nats, yesterday, told his bosses, look, if you don't discuss my contract and commit to discussing it on our trip to Chicago, at the end of this game, I'm walking out.

NNAMDIBecause I'm on a hot streak, baby.

SHERWOODWell, that wasn't the reason, but it was a good -- it was well timed, though. And he -- and so the management said, well, we're not ready to discuss it, and he walked out.

NNAMDIBecause I'm on a hot streak, baby.

SHERWOODNow, I (unintelligible) at all times to Tom Boswell of The Washington Post...

NNAMDIYes.

SHERWOOD...superb baseball writer and...

NNAMDIAnd...

SHERWOOD...he says that Riggleman was on some thin ice anyway, and while he's got a good case for maybe staying, he's not the long-term plan for the Nats. And so maybe it's not such a bad thing he left. But it just seems abrupt. I'm not sure why Riggleman had to quit yesterday. Why can't he finish up the season? Why couldn't he fulfill his part of the contract?

NNAMDIDoes that mean that he has...

SHERWOODBut he had some inkling in the background that somebody else wants to hire him.

NNAMDIDoes that mean you're going to be moving out of the neighborhood or anything like that?

SHERWOODNo, no. I said, you know, but when I was at the game Sunday, my son took me to the game for Father's Day. We were shouting, go, Nats, go.

NNAMDIHave you ever actually paid your own money to go to one of these games?

SHERWOODYes. I never...

NNAMDIWell, okay.

SHERWOOD...(unintelligible) we were shouting, go, Nats, go. We didn't mean for the manager to go. (unintelligible).

NNAMDIOh, okay. Help me to welcome our guest in the control room today.

SHERWOODI've already talked to him today.

NNAMDIThe Washington Business Journal's Michael LaRosa...

SHERWOODOh.

NNAMDI...and Missy Frederick, they are winners of cultural tours in D.C.'s auction to be in the control room today. Hi, thank you for joining us.

SHERWOODIt's a great newspaper and website, too, although I don't buy this -- the premium content because you have to pay extra for that.

NNAMDIWe had...

SHERWOODI try to sneak a look at it before the computer shuts off.

NNAMDIDo you understand you're becoming positively curmudgeon? Do you understand that?

SHERWOODOnly professionally.

NNAMDIThe D.C. government released a report this month that essentially said that, while there has been progress made in the fight against HIV/AIDS, we still got an infection rate high enough to be an epidemic. And joining us in studio is Don Blanchon, CEO of Whitman-Walker Health, a community health center in Washington that specializes in LGBT and HIV/AIDS-related care. Don Blanchon, thank you so much for joining us.

MR. DON BLANCHONGreat to be here, Kojo.

NNAMDIWhitman-Walker never used to be called Whitman-Walker Health. Why is it now called Whitman-Walker Health?

BLANCHONYou know, that's a great question, and the simplest answer is that's who we are now. We are a community health center that serves 13,000 patients. Clearly, we're very well-known for our HIV care as the first responder to the epidemic under Councilmember Graham's leadership at Whitman-Walker, but the best way for us to care for the community, the best way for to care for people living with HIV is really to be their medical home, where we do more than just specialty care.

BLANCHONBut we actually take care of all of their preventive needs, their primary care and needs or HIV care needs and any other health need that we can do.

NNAMDIIf you have questions or comments about HIV/AIDS in Washington, D.C., now is the time to call, 800-433-8850. Or go to our website, kojoshow.org. Send us a tweet, @kojoshow, or email to kojo@wamu.org. You work on the front lines of this fight. What does an epidemic rate look like from there?

BLANCHONSo it's challenging now to explain to people who did not live through the '80s and '90s, and the three of us in this room are a little bit longer in the tooth and know that period. For younger people, it's very hard to explain that it was about death and dying, and it was about an urgency. It was an urgency on an individual level, on a community level and on a political level. Now, it's got of a level of chronicity to it, and I mean that not just from a...

SHERWOODI'm sorry. Level what?

BLANCHONChronicity.

SHERWOODOh.

BLANCHONIt's chronic. It's here. It's not going anywhere anytime soon, and I don't just mean that...

NNAMDISee, chronicity is a word that doesn't pop up a lot on this broadcast.

BLANCHONI'm trying to enlighten Tom.

SHERWOOD(unintelligible) not on a TV show.

BLANCHONI'm trying to enlighten Tom today.

SHERWOOD(unintelligible).

NNAMDII didn't know what it meant either, but go ahead.

BLANCHONIt's -- the issue we have is we have roughly 17,000 people living in the District of Columbia with HIV. There's probably another 5- to 6,000 minimum who have HIV and don't know it. That's a lot of HIV in the community when you think about how people are connected personally and socially, and so that is going to be with us for a long time. And the efforts, now, are on education, prevention and treatment, but very different from what went on 25, 20, 15 years ago.

SHERWOODCouncilmember David Catania, who's kind of been overseeing this himself as a health committee person for the last six years, notes that the collection of data -- he says the city was kind of floundering around, not knowing what you had a bad problem, but could quantify it. And someone suggested that this latest report shows you a better, truer picture of what you've got to deal with.

BLANCHONYeah, the councilmember's spot on. I mean, without the data, you're fighting any public health challenge, like HIV, in the dark. And, you know, for years, without that data coming from either the city or a city contractor to help us with the epidemiology of the epidemic, you know, we don't know where to test. We don't know where to treat. We don't know where to do education and outreach. So we're trying to do it everywhere.

SHERWOODOne of the things I found interesting in the report was -- and Catania's office mentioned this -- is that there's an image that, you know, people who get HIV/AIDS infections and STDs are young, active, straight and gay people. But one of the growing areas is our -- is people over 50. And so you have both people who are newly infected over 50, and you have people who are aged -- getting older, living with HIV/AIDS. So that's a whole different dynamic than what's...

NNAMDIWhat accounts do you think for the increase in the spread of the virus among people over 50 in the District?

BLANCHONSo, you know, the practical reality is people over 50 are sexually active and, you know...

SHERWOODAnd you think they missed the epidemic.

BLANCHONAnd for those of us who are under 50 and think that they're not sexually active, we're being pretty naive. The second issue is that there's a lot of virus in the community. I mean, you start looking at groups of people, and you look at where the virus is concentrated. It shouldn't be a surprise. I think the frontline issue for us is, how do we care for a wave of people who are going to have health issues related to aging and HIV?

BLANCHONAnd that is going to be new for us as a city. That's going to be new for us as a country because we're really dealing with a set of survivors from the '80s and '90s, but also older people who are newly infected. And we don't really fully understand how aging and HIV are going to impact (word?).

NNAMDIIn case you're just joining us, our guest is Don Blanchon. He is CEO of Whitman-Walker Health, a community health center in Washington that specializes in LGBT and HIV/AIDS related care. You're listening to The Politics Hour. Tom Sherwood is our resident analyst, an NBC 4 reporter and columnist for The Current Newspapers.

SHERWOODYou know, our listeners are across the entire Metropolitan Washington area, so we know we're talking about AIDS numbers in the District. But can you give us a sense for the whole metropolitan region of how the region is doing? Are you guys working closer with Maryland and Virginia and (word?) ?

BLANCHONSo I want to applaud, you know, Mayor Gray, Dr. Akther and Dr. Pappas at the Health Department and at HAHSTA for their efforts to look at the problem regionally because the -- you know, the borders aren't impenetrable. We have people coming across from Prince George's, Montgomery, Northern Virginia that come to our health center. So the practical reality, there is, if you would, metropolitan issue.

SHERWOODYou guys are doing treatment on demand without really asking where you're from, right? They ask, but they don't have to say.

BLANCHONThe treatment on demand is the initiative that the Gray administration has forward. In our particular health center, we actually do screen everybody who comes to us first time. And the reason for that is if you're ever a donor to Whitman-Walker, you would want us to stretch our money as far as possible. So if an individual came to us and qualified for a public program or another insurance program, you'd want us to enroll that person if we could so we could stretch your donation farther.

NNAMDIIt's my -- go ahead.

SHERWOODMay I just clarify the suburban -- I mean, this is not just a District of Columbia issue. I was trying to get this Arlington, Montgomery, Prince George's...

BLANCHONNot -- completely. And the issue is that each community has a variation on the infrastructure, what they can do for prevention education and treatment. And not every county has as robust an HIV care infrastructure as the city does.

SHERWOODWhich county is dragging its feet?

BLANCHONYou know, I don't know enough about the surrounding jurisdictions.

SHERWOODOkay.

BLANCHONI will tell you that if you looked at health disparities, you'd take a look at Prince George's County and say they have some issue there. And there are certain pockets, which people know in Montgomery County, where we have some issues. But, again, this isn't to point the finger at one county. The reality of it is we live in a metropolitan area. The virus clearly doesn't care about geographic boundaries.

NNAMDIIt's my understanding that you offered free expanded or expanded free testing this past Wednesday. Greg Pappas, the man in charge of the city's HIV/AIDS office, said that the city is learning that a lot of people don't get tested by their own doctors. What lesson do you think we can take out of how and when people are showing up for testing?

BLANCHONYou know, this is a real oddity. We get a lot of bump as a health center around National HIV Testing Day on the 27th and World AIDS Day on Dec. 1 and what have you. But during the, rather, rest of the year, people are periodically seeing their medical, their physician, their practitioner. But they're not talking about their sexual health. They're not talking about any of their issues in terms of relationships, and so HIV is not coming up.

BLANCHONAnd I think the most striking thing was, in last year's city report, that the amount of data where newly infected individuals who had seen their physician but not got an HIV test from that physician, it seems really odd to think that they're not seeking that.

SHERWOODWhat are the cost -- I mean, I think -- I do the annual physical because I'm getting older about every nine months or so, and it's a routine part. But how much does it cost? Is it 40 or 50 bucks or $100?

BLANCHONNo. The HIV -- the test kit is less than that, the oral swab. I mean, if you're talking about a blood test, that's potentially a little bit more. But the, you know, the OraSure test kit is, round figures, you know, somewhere between $14 and $20 if we tried to buy it. It might be less for the city.

SHERWOODI think you're doing testing in the -- do you have some vans out today, don't you, in the...

BLANCHONSo -- yeah, we have a mobile van out. And, as you know, we did expanded testing because it's such an important issue right now for our community. We've got activity going on from Wednesday all the way through Mondays, National HIV Testing Day. Feel free to come by at one of the two centers for us. You can check out the schedule on www.whitman-walker.org.

NNAMDIOn to the telephones. The number is 800-433-8850 if you have any questions on HIV/AIDS. We go to Goulda in Washington, D.C., whom I suspect is Goulda Downer. Goulda...

MS. GOULDA DOWNERHi, Kojo.

NNAMDIYou're on the air, Goulda. Go ahead, please.

DOWNERGood afternoon, everybody. I wanted to just revisit the issue of, you know, patients actually seeing physicians and not being offered a test. One of the things, I think, we can start to do as a city is require that every single clinician who treats, before their licenses are reviewed, are required to take at least a four-hour overview of HIV.

DOWNERThe unfortunate thing is we're still having patients seeing physicians, seeing clinicians who are absolutely not being tested. And so the clinicians, we have to be brought to the mat for that.

NNAMDIYou yourself are a clinician.

GOULDAYep.

NNAMDIAnd so when you advocate that kind of regulation, if you will, for clinicians, I guess, Don Blanchon, it's something we should be taking seriously.

BLANCHONWe sure should. The whole notion that our physicians, you know, nurse practitioners and other health care professionals are fully versed in HIV if they're going to practice in this area, they need to know about it, and they need to talk to their patients about it. And I wholeheartedly support the caller's push.

SHERWOODDoes that require -- are you saying to require this testing or just require them to bring it up?

BLANCHONSo the caller's question, first and foremost, is, are the practitioner's versed in HIV? And we want all the practitioners in this area to have an understanding of HIV because they're going to treat people. The second...

SHERWOODBut if I'm a patient, I can't be made to take that test.

BLANCHONYou can't be made. I think, you know...

SHERWOODPersuaded.

BLANCHONI think on a practical level, if you're an adult and you're informed -- and this came through with the Kaiser-Washington Post survey. HIV is a concern for people. How could it not be in this city? And so the practical side of it is if you go in and get an annual physical and you live in this city, you should request an HIV test.

NNAMDIGoulda, you have anything else to add? Goulda, are you there?

DOWNERYes, I'm here. I'm sorry. I agree 100 percent because, as we also know, Kojo, many of our patients are coming in for testing. And, as a matter of fact, on July 21st, we have the National Clinicians HIV/AIDS Testing and Awareness Day. That's the day when we ask all clinicians not just to be tested and to be tested in front of their patients, but those who are first in clinical manifestations and are able to test their patients, those who are low volume become mentors or make peace to those who are high-volume clinicians.

DOWNERSo if you hardly saw patients who is positive versus somebody who always saw one, we want you to mentor those clinicians so they know what they are doing. It's too critical for us not to be part of the solution as clinicians.

NNAMDIGoulda Downer, thank you so much for your call. I will see you at the D.C. Caribbean Carnival tomorrow. There, I got that mention in. 800-433-8850 is the number to call. D.C. Appleseed did not give out great marks in its report card earlier this year. They said that the city was falling behind, backsliding for the first time in several years. How do you see it?

BLANCHONI don't necessarily see whether it's the Appleseed report or another third party report that we are backsliding or going to make tremendous movement in a short period of time. This is a marathon, not a sprint. And I think there are going to be areas where the District government advances in the fight and then are going to be areas where we're not moving fast enough.

BLANCHONAnd I think that you're going to see D.C. Appleseed, as they continue that reporting, they're going to see places where both the government and the city providers and the community providers are doing a good job in areas where -- you know what? -- we're not moving fast enough. And I think that's going to be something that's going to play out over five, 10 years. It's not one year and 18-month window.

SHERWOODWe had a controversy, I guess, last year. One of the junior high schools, one of the youth groups distributed some letters or something about sex. Are you sexually -- a survey, are you sexually active? And this was going to 12 and 13-year-old kids. How do you deal with the sensitivity of educating people about this issue for people that young?

BLANCHONWell, you know, I applaud the fact that we as adults are finally coming to grips with the fact that we have HIV and STDs at too high rates in this community, and that we're finally looking to schools, other community organizations and other settings to educate our youth. I think that, as a practical matter, as a parent of two daughters, a 13-year-old and a 17-year-old who live in this area, that it's really important for me to share information about the fact that, you know, they're going to have a sexual life.

BLANCHONThey're going to be sexually active. And that is part of their routine care. They need to pay attention to the fact that these two things are in the neighborhood that they live in, and that whoever they are with, whether they're sexually active or not, whoever they're with, they really need to know more about their status, their partner's status, and that those are things that need to become more common and not less common in our discussions around relationships.

NNAMDIHere is Gionne (sp?) in Washington, D.C. Gionne, you're on the air. Go ahead, please.

GIONNEHi, there. Thanks for taking my call. You know, I think -- I'm actually a physician, and I work at a number of hospitals in the District. One of them is actually the Veterans Affairs hospital and the veteran's administration. And, basically, you know, I think the key to containing the epidemic is really identifying the people who are undiagnosed in a systematic way.

GIONNEOne of the things that we've done is actually -- no matter what specialty you're practicing, whether it's urology, neurology, whatever it may be, we have a screening form that every physician sort of gets a flag on. And we have different HIV tests that have been done on that veteran in the past year. And if not, we screen that person at that point, doesn't matter.

GIONNESo I think the key is that this has to be sort of a standard of care across the board, no matter what age group you're in, if we're really going to contain the epidemic. And, you know, knowing your status is really the key to this, I think.

NNAMDIDon Blanchon?

BLANCHONI mean, I wholeheartedly agree. The -- there's a connection between a patient and a physician, where the sexual health of the individual has got to get in that exam room and that we have the patient taking responsibility for his or her part of that conversation and the physician or practitioner taking their responsibility, which is to say, hey, I haven't seen an HIV test in a year, 18 months, two years. I'd recommend that you do this, and here's why.

SHERWOODWhat about the people in the tens of thousands or hundreds of thousand, maybe people who cannot afford to have a general practitioner or physician who can talk to them, you know, one-on-one, people who go to an emergency room for medical care? I mean, how do you rate those people?

BLANCHONSo we're blessed here in the District to have a very robust primary health care system. The District government through the mayor, through Councilmember Catania, the full council have supported health centers and have...

SHERWOODYou're talking about Mayor Williams, right?

BLANCHONI'm talking all the way back -- Mayor Williams, Mayor Fenty, Mayor Gray. We have a robust health center system, where people who don't have coverage, who don't have access, can actually get in and see a primary care physician and start that relationship. Whenever I meet someone who doesn't have a primary care relationship, I tell them, check out our health center. Check out one of the other health centers. But, please, get into that relationship, so you're getting ongoing care.

NNAMDIIn spite of that system -- and you mentioned the names of three mayors -- a lot of people criticize Mayor Fenty for not speaking about the disease in public more, even if they agreed with what the people in his HIV/AIDS office were doing. How do you feel about the leadership Mayor Gray has provided so far? Has he been speaking out on this issue enough? Or have the myriad problems of his administration been preoccupying him too much?

BLANCHONYeah, I mean, Tom knows this about me. I tend to steer as far away from politics as possible because I, you know, operate and help run a health center.

NNAMDIOkay, let's (unintelligible).

BLANCHONOn the health side -- no, no, no. On the health side, the mayor -- this mayor has been great.

SHERWOODBut he's chairing the AIDS commission...

BLANCHONHe's -- we've got...

SHERWOOD...although -- which some people think is a mistake, that he shouldn't be that much into the weeds on an issue. He should let you guys do it and then tell him what you want to do.

BLANCHONSo there's a couple of things about that. I think having the mayor at the table for this -- the mayor doesn't need to be at every commission meeting or every subcommittee meeting.

NNAMDIAnd they replayed the April meeting yesterday.

BLANCHONYes.

NNAMDII watched it all on television.

BLANCHONBut I think having the mayor...

SHERWOOD(unintelligible).

BLANCHONI think having the mayor there and hearing firsthand about what the epidemic is doing and what are some of our options to be bold in our response, I actually think that's a great use of his time. I just don't think he needs to be in every place at all times around HIV.

SHERWOODYeah.

BLANCHONI think there's a place for him. For example, with this last report, this was a great opportunity to highlight the strides the city made and that we should be thinking through the commission and through Dr. Pappas. What are the bold steps we can take to fight this epidemic.

SHERWOODI just...

NNAMDIHere is Lisa in Washington, D.C. Lisa, your turn.

LISAHi. My ex-husband is part of the demographic of men over 50 who have been recently diagnosed. And I have found a lot of information about HIV/AIDS on the Web, but there are a lot questions I can't get answered on the Web. And I called Whitman-Walker when I first found out and asked if there was any kind of support group or information session for family and friends, and I never got a call back.

LISAI left messages on several different answering machines, and I still haven't been able to find -- you know, my ex-husband wants to portray this is nothing worse than diabetes. And he's, you know, I think he's just trying not scare us, but I have a lot of questions that I haven't been able to get answered. And I wondered if there was a place. You know, we want to support him, and we want to know what the trajectory is and what, you know, what we can do.

LISAAnd I can't find out. I cannot get that information from ex-husband, and I can't seem to find it from anywhere.

NNAMDIDon Blanchon?

BLANCHONSure. Lisa, I just want to make sure that -- first, I apologize that we didn't call you back. Two, if you get your information to me offline, I can get you to the right person at Whitman-Walker Health. There are either support groups at our health center or through other community partners that we work with that help both the newly diagnosed individual, as well as the family and friends around that individual.

NNAMDILisa, I'm going to put you on hold so that someone in our control room can take your information and pass it on to Don when he is leaving. But thank you so much for your call. Tom?

SHERWOODAll right. You know, you said in an interview with me about this subject that it is somewhat like a chronic disease now, like diabetes and high blood pressure, that people who do become infected are not sentenced immediately to death in a short 18-month period or something. But it does require maintenance for a long period of time. But it doesn't take the urgency of people getting -- like this woman here who wants to know what does it mean for her? What does it mean for any children she may have? What does it mean?

BLANCHONYeah. No. The place around urgency for all of us is, is that the minute someone's diagnosed, their life is going to change because, all of sudden, we're going to need to get him into treatment. They're going to be on medications, presumably for the rest of their life. And then there are a whole set of individual health issues, as well as relationship issues within -- if they're partnered or if they're in a family. These are not simple topics to have conversations about.

SHERWOODAnd then we haven't mentioned them, but you know, the cheating spouse who may or may not know he or she is infected, who is out cheating. And that's -- it's a real social issue.

BLANCHONYeah, it's -- and it's a real social issue. And, again, it comes back to -- there's got to be some honesty in those relationships. And we're all human. We all make mistakes. But the practical reality of it is someone who's HIV-positive who doesn't know their status and who has multiple partners, they're presenting a tremendous risk not only to those immediate partners but to the community at large.

NNAMDIA lot of people -- The Washington Post came out with some interesting poll dated this week, finding the D.C. residents considered HIV/AIDS to be the city's most pressing health problem and that more than 4 in 10 African-Americans are personally concerned about getting the disease. How did those poll numbers square with what you see every day interacting with people at -- with (word?) ?

BLANCHONThey -- they're really aligned with who comes through our door, and I think this is, again, where the city deserves a lot of credit. The awareness particularly around HIV in the black community, in our black community is so important and that, now, community organizations, faith-based groups, community groups, there's so much more effort around educating and testing people in different neighborhoods in the city.

BLANCHONThat's why that awareness number is so high. I think the second issue is it's really hard as an adult in the District living here not knowing someone with HIV or knowing someone who died from HIV.

SHERWOODAnd, you know, I think the -- these are simple numbers, which I thought were pretty easy to display on television. The Centers for Disease Control considers something to be an epidemic if 1 percent of the population has it. The District of Columbia has 3 percent of the population, but among African-American males, it's 7 percent. Those are -- I mean, that's -- no, it's seven times the number for what would be called an epidemic. That's why it's so serious.

BLANCHONMm hmm. Yep.

SHERWOODDon Blanchon, thank you so much for joining us.

BLANCHONAlways a pleasure, Kojo.

NNAMDIDon Blanchon is the CEO of the Whitman-Walker Health, a community health center in Washington that specializes in LGBT and HIV/AIDS-related care. You're listening to the Politics Hour. Tom Sherwood is our resident analyst. He's an NBC 4 reporter and a columnist for The Current Newspapers. Before our next guest joins us, let's talk with Jim in Washington, D.C. Jim, you're on the air. Go ahead, please.

MR. JIM DIXONHi, Kojo. I was at the taxi cab hearing. In fact, I was testifying when the arrest happened. I'm blind and have a service dog. The Equal Rights Center did a study. And 60 percent of the time, cab drivers will not stop for somebody who has a service dog.

NNAMDIWhat did the -- were you able to raise that issue at the hearing? Or did it break up before you had the opportunity to? This is Jim Dixon, right? Yeah.

DIXONYeah, I was able to raise it. I got no response from any of the commissioners. Several of the -- many of the cab drivers said, you know, that was appalling. There are lots of cab drivers who are very good and go out of their way. But I got more response from the drivers than I did from the commission.

NNAMDIWell, that simply adds to the list of complaints about the Taxicab Commission, Tom Sherwood.

SHERWOODWhether it's, you know, African-Americans who are passed by for the white person standing on the next corner, the person who wants to go to Bethesda and is told to get out of the cab, we're not going to Bethesda. I mean, the cab enforcement issues are just not there. I think that's what Tommy Wells has said over this summer.

SHERWOODHe is going to seriously look at how maybe we should abolish the cab commission and put it into a regulatory structure, much more like DCRA, and maybe they're going to be more accountable to -- now, we haven't talked about taxi medallions. Are we not going to do that?

NNAMDII guess we are now. Jim Dixon, thank you very much for your call.

SHERWOODWell, just briefly, you know, in Prince George's County, that's a move in the District maybe to require all the cab drivers to have medallions. And their concern is that there are many cab drivers who do this job part-time or it's they're livelihood. And if you have medallions, the great fear is that companies will sweep in, pay upfront prices to get those medallions then control the industry. That's a big concern both in Prince George's...

NNAMDIAnd in the District.

SHERWOODAnd it should be watched carefully.

NNAMDIThe Republican Party has an interesting relationship with the country's Muslim communities right now, to say the least. A powerful committee chair launched a series of hearings earlier this year into homegrown extremism in American Muslim communities. A GOP presidential candidate recently said that he'd make Muslims prove their loyalty to the Constitution before they could serve in his administration. Well, now joining us in studio is David Ramadan.

NNAMDIHe is a Republican candidate for the Virginia House of Delegates. He's running for the seat in the commonwealth's 87th district, which includes parts of Loudoun and Prince William Counties. We talked to him at the Republican Convention back in Minnesota in 2008. David Ramadan, thank you for joining us.

MR. DAVID RAMADANPleasure is to be here, Kojo, good to see you again.

NNAMDIYou are a Muslim, yet here you are a Republican candidate for the Virginia House who's been working hard for the party for years. How would you say the values of the party relate to the values of your own faith?

RAMADANThe values of the party are 100 percent in line with values of all ethnicities and religions of the one and only one God. That includes, in my mind, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. The Republican Party stands for ideals of these ethnicities and religions where faith is important to family values, where faith is part of our everyday life, where faith brings us to work hard and become part of this American system, and thus go for entrepreneurial and less government.

RAMADANAnd thus I don't see any difference between the values of any community, including the Muslim community, with the Republican Party. On the contrary, I think it's in line with it.

NNAMDI800-433-8850 is the number to call if you'd like to join this conversation. When you hear people like presidential candidate for the Republican Party Herman Cain say that he'd be uncomfortable with Muslims in his cabinet, what does that say to you about the party, if anything at all? And what does that say to you about Herman Cain?

RAMADANIt reflects only on the candidate that's saying that, not on the party. The party is a big establishment that have people that are well informed, people that are misinformed. It seems candidate Cain is misinformed of where Muslim Americans stand and misinformed of their Americanism and patriotism, like everybody else.

NNAMDIHerman Cain, scratch off one primary vote. Here is Tom Sherwood.

SHERWOODJust for fairness, who is the incumbent? In which House district number are you running then?

RAMADANIt's a new seat, the 87th district, which was created...

SHERWOODIn the redistrict.

RAMADAN...it was one out of two in the redistricting, to represent most of Loudoun County and part of Prince William.

SHERWOODSo there's no incumbent, technically.

RAMADANCorrect, no incumbent.

SHERWOODOkay. Well what would -- just asking. You mentioned Christians and Jews and Muslims? What about people who are of no faith? I mean, how much does faith -- people who are agnostics or atheists -- but how much does faith play in your role? Because people ask that question all the time. How much does faith play a role in what you think ought to be public policy?

RAMADANIn God we trust. That's something I personally believe in, and that's something I believe is essential to the basics of our community, and the way the Founding Fathers had built this country. However, we do have a Constitution that gives the freedom of religion, or lack of, to everybody who lives here. So I believe faith is important. I believe those ideals, that -- sure, it came out of the Christian religion and the Christian values that the country was built on. However, everybody has the right to choose to either worship or not worship, and that is the genius of America.

SHERWOODHow are you doing on the hot button issues, the Tea Party issues, but the social issues, say, abortion? Are you pro-choice or...

RAMADANNo, I'm pro-life.

SHERWOODDoes that mean you're anti-choice? I mean, what does that mean?

NNAMDIIt means that it's in accordance with his faith. I'm sure he could say that.

RAMADANI didn't think...

SHERWOODNo, no, (unintelligible).

RAMADANNo, no, no. This is a clear -- I do believe in life since inception, and therefore I believe that is something that we should protect and will continue to protect. And I'm in line 100 percent with party ideals on that.

NNAMDIDavid Ramadan is a Republican candidate for the Virginia House of Delegates. He's running for the seat in the commonwealth's 87th district. It includes parts of Loudoun and Prince William Counties. If you'd like to join the conversation with David Ramadan, call us at 800-433-8850, or send email to kojo@wamu.org or tweet, @kojoshow. Or join us at our website, kojoshow.org.

NNAMDIYou have been clocking in a lot of time for the party for a long time. Why have you decided to throw your hat into the ring as a candidate? And what gives you the confidence that you're up for this job?

RAMADANI'm living the American dream, Kojo. I'm an immigrant of 22 years. I worked hard, went to a great local university, George Mason, my alma mater, got my education there and was honored by an appointment by Gov. McDonnell to the board of George Mason last year. I built my entire career in this country, immigrated an entire family. And, today, I am a success of the basics of this country, and I believe it was a duty for me now to go ahead and serve the area that I live in, in Virginia.

SHERWOODCan I -- I looked at the website. What is your business? Are you a business consultant with international businesses? Are you, basically, locally, or...

RAMADANBoth. I do franchising mostly. I do mostly franchising. I consult with many franchise companies around the country.

SHERWOODYou mean, like, fast food company franchises or...?

RAMADANActually, one of my largest is Curves for women, if you're familiar with Curves.

SHERWOODYes, I am.

RAMADANThe ninth largest...

SHERWOODSome people are irritated about Curves, but we don't want to start that conversation.

RAMADANI'll defend Curves on-air, off-air, any time.

SHERWOODIt's okay. But you are a successful business person, that is correct?

RAMADANYes, I am. Very successful, created a lot of jobs over the years in many industries.

SHERWOODAre you supporting George Allen for the Senate next year?

RAMADANYes, I am supporting George Allen. I was a candidate for George back in '93 when he ran for governor. And I am a big fan and friend of the governor.

SHERWOODYou know, a lot of people thought he had a national reputation. He could have -- going on to national things until the big, you know, disastrous macaca thing. What did you think about that?

RAMADANI think it was a -- he addressed it recently last week, and he apologized for misspeaking back then. And he realized that this resonated more with the voters then that -- he did at the time, but he came very clear on it. He apologized, and we moved on. I think Sen. Allen did a great job as a senator, did a fantastic job as a governor. And I think he'll do a great job again as a senator.

NNAMDIYou list job creation among your top priorities on your website. What ideas do you have for stimulating Virginia's economy, outside of cutting taxes?

RAMADANLet me start with Loudoun because, really, I'll be representing mostly Loudoun County and a small part of Prince William. Loudoun County today -- and this district is right around Dulles Airport. We have a great international airport that is only at about, I think, 8 percent of its capacity for what it could potentially do. We have highways that help quite a bit. However, we don't have a local infrastructure that supports that creation.

RAMADANSo part of my idea is to establish a better road system around that airport, and better transportation system, and then attract more businesses that can work locally, nationally, and internationally and base that job creation based on the availability of an international airport right in the middle of the District.

NNAMDIDulles Rail, above ground or underground? Which side do you support?

RAMADANAbove ground. Save the $330 million. Nobody can afford $10 on the toll road each way.

NNAMDIA lot of people in our audience would be interested in knowing what your priorities are when it comes to transportation and how you intend to achieve them. Where are you going to be wiling to go to bat to make progress on this issue? This has tripped up Republican and Democratic governors of Virginia.

RAMADANThe average resident in the district I'm running in, Kojo, spends one-and-a-half hours each way for -- to go to work and one-and-a-half hour back. It's a two-earner income family, so both husband and wife are spending an hour-and-a-half each way. Those are six hours of their lives, instead of spending it with their children. Yes, besides cutting taxes and creating jobs, transportation is something I'll go to bat for any way possible. I have some detailed ideas -- I'm releasing a transportation plan next week.

NNAMDICare to share any of those specific ideas with us right now?

RAMADANCertainly, if you'd like to go that detailed. We have a Loudoun County parkway that connects northern and southern part of the Dulles area of Loudoun County that has been cut off in the middle, due to some misunderstandings and not being able to finish the part that the development -- or the developer of Brambleton community is doing. That's a proffered project. It's a funded project. However, there's a problem with a bond issue on it.

RAMADANThat's where the state could come helpful. Instead of requiring a 125 percent bond on a street that could save thousands of commuters a half an hour every day, they could come in and do an exemption for a lesser bond of 125 percent. Another thing they can do is use the good faith of the commonwealth to be able to secure the bond because bonds is a big issue today. That's one just example of something that can save thousands of people.

RAMADANCommon sense solutions that are easy, that are quick, that do not require hundreds of millions of dollars, that can save quality of life...

NNAMDIBecause I was about to ask, where do you get the money for investing in roads and infrastructure without raising taxes?

RAMADANThe money is there. We don't have to raise taxes. There's plenty of taxes there. It needs to be reappropriated. We need to cut some wasteful spending, and needs to be prioritized and optimized. The governor in Virginia did a quick audit last year and found $1.2 billion in the transportation budget that was just there. So if we do it right, if we serve our constituents right, we should be able to just use the money that's there wisely instead of just raising taxes.

SHERWOODNorthern Virginia, for decades, has complained that it is the money generator for the state of Virginia in many respects, but that it gets the least respect when the general assembly meets in January. With the new census and the realignment of the districts, has northern Virginia increased its power for being in Richmond, and, if so, how much?

RAMADANCertainly, we increased, at least, by two delegate seats and one state Senate seat. Those are all now from northern Virginia, mostly from the Loudoun and Prince William area. And those will carry quite a bit of weight in Richmond when we go down.

SHERWOODIs state Sen. Dick Saslaw, who's a -- what's his -- anyway, he's a party leader. Is he supporting your...

RAMADANNo, I don't have -- I'm only dealing with the House...

SHERWOODHe's a Democrat.

RAMADANI know he is. I know, but I was going to tell you, I don't have any support at all from, or any interaction with the Senate caucus, except with a support from one senator who is Bill Stanley from (unintelligible)...

SHERWOODBut regardless of Republican or Democrat, you have -- northern Virginia, if you're going to get something out of Richmond, you guys -- people have to work together, right?

RAMADANAbsolutely, absolutely. The job of a senator or any representative, a delegate, a senator, a board supervisor, is to serve his constituents. We run based on party affiliation. We run based on beliefs of a certain way of doing things. However, once one becomes in office, he has -- he or she -- and I'm speaking in gender neutral here -- he or she has then the duty to serve all of his constituents. And in order to serve all the constituents, they need to work.

RAMADANNow, you never give up things that you believe in and you promised. However, you can always find the best solution to solve a problem. The differences, I believe, all are good people. On both sides, they're good people. They all have good intentions. The problem is we have differences on how to reach these solutions. And if we can come to the middle where we can reach solutions without giving in on any firm beliefs, that's the best way to serve the constituents.

NNAMDIYou're way too bipartisan to be running for office. Here's Kate in Baltimore, Md. Kate, you're on the air. Go ahead, please.

KATEHi. I was just wondering, out of curiosity, what the candidate's feelings are on the Dream Act, as in immigrants living the American dream and also a member of the Republican Party.

NNAMDIFor those of our listeners who are unfamiliar with the Dream Act, the Dream Act would allow those people who have gone through public schools in the United States, who came here as children, to be able to get -- to become citizens of the United States, as a result of doing certain things that they will, certain things.

SHERWOODAlso, I think it also allows the children to have access to education, children of illegal immigrants.

NNAMDITo have access to education. What were you saying, David Ramadan?

RAMADANI'm sorry. I didn't catch the question. I didn't have the headphones on.

NNAMDIShe wanted to know what you thought about the Dream Act. As an immigrant yourself, what is your stance on that?

RAMADANImmigration. This country was built on immigration. The genius of our country was built on immigration. However, immigration has become a huge issue on both sides of the aisle, and a very contentious issue. We need to continue with a smart immigration policy that allows for legal immigration and for us to keep attracting the cream of the crop of the world and do the best education possible.

RAMADANHowever, at the same time, we do need to solve the current problems. The Dream Act has good intentions and good aspirations. However, it's not doable right now. It's not the time for it because we do need...

NNAMDIYou mean, it's not doable from a political standpoint?

RAMADANFrom political and practical standpoint. When you have hundreds of millions -- or not hundreds. But there are millions of illegal immigrants, problem in the country, and borders that are unsecure. You can't solve this as a piecemeal, one at a time. This needs to be a fulltime solution to the problem. And we need to secure those borders and solve the solution, and then we'll be able to solve the solution of immigration, including the issues and the problems of children that are here, that it wasn't their fault when they came in.

RAMADANIt was their parents who brought them in. But is the Dream Act the solution to it? No, it's not.

SHERWOODBut you would not wait to solve the massive immigration problem before you assisted the children who are simply trying to get an education?

RAMADANIt's not the role of the government to assist those children. It's the role of the society to do so. And as a Republican who believes firmly in that, I believe, yes, we do wait until we solve the solution. And then let that -- that's a social problem, not a government problem. And I don't want the government interfering in anything, including these children.

RAMADANAnd even though they have a problem, it's not the job of the government to solve that solution.

SHERWOODSo I'm an illegal immigrant with three children in elementary and junior high school. If I'm found out, what happens to my children?

RAMADANAn illegal immigrant should be deported until we solve that problem.

SHERWOODWith the children.

RAMADANWith the children. Even though it wasn't the children's fault, it's still an illegal immigrant.

NNAMDIThank you for your call, Kate. You say that you want to root out waste, fraud and abuse in Richmond, that you're a good government guy. There's a good amount of consternation about an all-expenses paid trip that some 14 Virginia lawmakers are taking to France this month, a trip that's being funded by Virginia Uranium to what at least one legislator says is a closed uranium mine.

NNAMDIHow do you feel about the lawmakers taking this trip? And what would you have done if you were offered the opportunity to go? Would you be brushing up on your French, or saying no?

SHERWOODHe might already know French.

RAMADANI do know a little bit of French, Kojo. That's my Lebanese upbringing.

NNAMDIThat's true.

RAMADANMy -- I can fool you that I can speak it, and that's simply because of the accent, but not really. But I can manage to order a hamburger and some French fries on the (word?).

NNAMDIWould you be doing that now if you were a legislator and offered this trip?

RAMADANI'm not aware of that trip. I would look into that. However, I believe that our legislators should be taking trips abroad and should be able to work with anything that could help the economic development of Virginia. But I don't have any knowledge of that particular trip.

NNAMDIVirginia Uranium invited nearly all 140 state lawmakers to France as it looks to mine what it thought to be a large deposit of uranium in the United States and south central Virginia. Five legislators went to France last week to see that mine. Seven others went on the five-day trip. But you haven't heard anything about it so far?

RAMADANRepresenting northern Virginia and concentrating quite a bit on Loudoun County, going door to door for hours every day and talking about transportation and higher education.

NNAMDIHere is Raymond in Washington, D.C. Please put on your headphones, gentlemen. Raymond, you're on the air. Go ahead, please.

RAYMONDHi, thank you. My question is for Mr. Ramadan. Earlier you were extolling the virtues of American embracement for religious identities, acceptance, really. I'm wondering if, perhaps, later down the road, for yourself or anyone else, when do you realistically think the American public is ready to be lead and defer judgment to a Muslim or Islamic president, or an atheist or agnostic president as well?

NNAMDIDavid Ramadan.

RAMADANReligious is -- the religion is not a litmus test in my mind. Any candidate for office should be taken based on his or her education and his or her capability, their experience for that particular job. The way they pray for God is their business and not mine, and, therefore, I will never see it as a litmus test of the office they're running for.

SHERWOODThis is a bit frivolous. But, you know, there's been this ongoing thing about President Obama that a certain percentage of the country believes that he is a Muslim. And they say that as if that's a criticism, of course. But what is your own thought about that? He has shown his birth certificate, and that kind of made everybody quiet. But there's still -- there are people who believe he's a Muslim. I guess they want him to be one. But what is your own thought about that? Is that the kind of level of silliness you have to deal with?

RAMADANIt is silly, to a certain extent. President Obama -- who I am no fan of, for political reasons -- had -- he's a practicing Christian. He's attended churches for years. That's his faith. That's between him, his god and between him and God -- not his god, all of our God. It's the same God. It's between him, God, and his family. And I really don't think that should be part of the public debate, even though it's free to do so. But it's not -- it shouldn't be.

SHERWOODVery -- we got 10 seconds. Do you experience discrimination because of being Muslim?

RAMADANNo, absolutely not.

NNAMDIDavid Ramadan is a Republican candidate for the Virginia House of Delegates. He's running for the seat in the commonwealth's 87th district, which includes part of Loudoun and Prince Williams Counties. David Ramadan, thank you for joining us. Good luck to you.

RAMADANThank you. Pleasure to see you again.

NNAMDITom Sherwood, always a pleasure.

SHERWOODYes. And we have free t-shirts from -- polo shirts from Whitman-Walker. I want to just put that on the record.

NNAMDII never accept gifts. Thank you all for listening. I'm Kojo Nnamdi.