I believe im the right person for this particular job. How does someone from glendale, california come and fit in . Lori jane gliha is in ferguson with a question, will a new face bring real change on the streets . Thanks for joining us. Im joie chen. Could a change in face signal the start of a bigger turn around for the flash point of americas reignited conversation about race . Just days ahead of the anniversary of mike browns death and months after federal investigators found clear evidence of Racial Disparity in its brand of justice the Ferguson Missouri Police department named a new chief for the moment at least. America tonights Lori Jane Gliha has reported from ferguson a half a dozen times in the past tumultuous year. She reports on the changing of the guard. I believe im the right person for job. First day on the job and Andre Anderson is already facing the cameras and plenty of questions. Can you talk about your reaction from glen day arizona, from last august 9th, what you thought here . Right now, im not at liberty to discuss what happened on awgd 9th. A Police Department found to have a culture of racism frustrations boiling over into nights of rioting last year. He was one of only two candidates, the interim city manager personally interviewed for job. Anderson, a Law Enforcement veterans with 24 Years Experience most recently served as a commander over 80 detectives. You know obviously in the eyes of many people i guess its a bonus that hes an african american. But truly we were looking for a person with the right mentality towards policing, the right mentality towards policing. Bo dean is an activist who was calling for change in ferguson. How important do you think they are bringing in a chief thats black . Theyre doing so the chief can relate, saying to him more but im pretty sure hes more understanding of you know what im saying our way of living and im pretty sure when he was growing up he dealt with being harassed by police and stuff. So him coming in will be helpful but at the same time, like, the officers thats on duty like correctly. It is going to be interesting to see what he does or how he handles you know what im saying st. Louis compared to arizona. A whole different ballgame. Sergeant domenica fuller is only one of a few black officers. She was promoted to sergeant after the protest. What about the interim chief rycroft is he a good leader . Yes he is. Is he fair . As long as i have a good leader, so far ive been blessed to have good leaders. The philadelphia native, is yet another temporary leader. The mayor blamed delay on finding a permanent chief on the lack of resources. We believed that bringing in someone with a background in Community Policing would be an excellent choice to help us in that transformation to a more communityoriented policing model. Changing the guy at the top i dont think thats going to change anything. Because they already being trying to change. They had different interims coming in. Its a miscommunication between Police Officers and the black community. Reporter a department of justice report found issues of systemic racial bias by the Ferguson Police force. Now another face in ferguson is a step towards bringing together this community. There is a lot of work to be done. Im ready to roll up my sleeves and get to work and i appreciate this opportunity. Thank you. Reporter joie, this isnt even a permanent position. This chief is going to be here for a interim six months. He says he wants the permanent position but the community would be involved or at least aware of the final candidates they are considering but they havent even come up with that process yet because in order to have a full time police chief they have to have the full time actual city manager and now they have just an interim city manager and not even a full time hr person. You can understand the process is slow to find a actuality permanent chief. Today they had this press conference. This happened very quickly, we found out in very few minutes to get there. It was an Interesting Press conference. They called us out there, they did the introduction of the new chief, we got to get to know him, and we asked a few questions and all of a sudden they decided the press conference was over, the city officials left the office and we were complaining amongst ourselves, they called this press conference and we cant even ask all the questions we want to. But then, the city manager and the mayor came back in and allowed us to ask more questions. I think everyone is getting a hang of all the changes happening in the city. America tonights Lori Jane Gliha reporting from ferguson. Hot on our website now, a former officer on the ferguson force speaks his mind. At aljazeera. Com americatonight. Next on the program a trail of tears. An apache communitys long trek to demand justice for a sacred space. Later taxpayers taken . America tonights michael okwu investigates the long list and Al Jazeera America primetime. Get the real news youve been looking for. At 7 00, a thorough wrapup of the days events. Then at 8 00, John Seigenthaler digs deeper into the stories of the day. And at 9 00, get a global perspective. Weeknights on Al Jazeera America. For native communities across the united states, the long struggle to stand their ground and protect their rights to it has inspired generations of protest, the latest brought a trail of tears and determination directly to the door steps of the law makeers lawmakers. Adam may joined the marchers at their journeys end. Reporter for nearly a month, naylan pike and other members of the carlos san carlos apache have been on a be journey to the nations capital. What does oak flat meanwhile to you . The future of my people, as apache girl, what my sister had her family at was at oak flat. That means so much to her and to me. Oak flat sits on the top of the worlds richest copper deposits. Under the protection of mining since 1955. A Company CalledResolution Copper has been trying to break the protection order for a decade. After a dozen failed attempts in congress to acquire the land through special legislation, and unexpected maneuver did the trick in december. Buried in the 1600 page defense spending bill a special provision that gives Resolution Copper the land. Wensley nosy has fought against the appropriation for years. We were not consulted at all. Do you think the apache people will see any benefit from it . Look at all the mines here already. Look at all the things they took from us. 70 unemployment. That already tells you where its going. Its not going to benefit anybody here. Imagine a few years from now they break ground at oak flat, you are standing there watching it, whats going to go through your mind . Im probably ill probably cry. We asked refltion revolution minings general manager what he thought. They dont want architecturally significant items wiped off the map. Whats important is we sit down with the stakeholders and the neighboring tribes, how we can be dig the mine in a respectful manner. Resolution copper has already started work on the mine. They granted us access to their new exploratory shaft. It stretches nearly 1. 5 miles under the earth. At the end of the day, i think the American People are getting short changed badly. Reporter scott wood is a professional archaeologist who worked for the tonto forest for many years. What bothers him and other groups is that Resolution Copper may be able to mine the land with little regard to the environmental impact. Under the terms of the landswap bill an environmental study is required. But the company is also guaranteed to get the land. No matter what that study shows. Be. Its bypassed all the normal kinds of analysis that we would have done for this project. Reporter the company has announced it will use a type of mining called block cave pipelining, destroys the surface of oak flat. What insurances can you assurances can you give the American Public that this will not create environmental dangers glnl weve committed to the most environmentally safe mines. We are already working with the federal regulators to ensure we follow all their recommendations. Environmental groups and more than 500 tribes have joined the fight. At a rally in front of the capital they found some congressional support for a new bill, a bill that would save okay flat and reverse the controversial land exchange. This is why im here to stand up for the people, for the voices that havent been heard. As long as the prayers are here now thats what makes me happy. This generation is not afraid no more. If i just sit and let them do this they are going to keep doing this and keep doing this until i can no longer say im apache. The apaches say they will keep fighting for a future that preserves their past. Adam may, al jazeera. Next, spending your money. America tonights michael okwu in californias capital investigates whether taxpayer dollars are used to prop up donothing committees. And thursday on america tonight, the disturbing video thats stirred up questions, did sandra bland die in the most ive been asked to keep my voice down cause we are so close to the isil position this is a great place to work. Not because they have yoga meetings and a juice bar. Because theyre getting comcast business internet. Comcast business offers convenient installation appointments that work around your schedule. And it takes done. About an hour. Get reliable internet thats up to five times faster than dsl from the phone company. Call 8005016000 to switch today. Perks are nice. But the best thing you can give your business is comcast business. Comcast business. Built for business. Its as bad as you might expect. Hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer money spent and what to show for it . For all the belttight 96 in the golden tightening inthe golden waste. Americaamerica tonights michael okwu okwu, what is your money. Billions have been cut from Services Like education, housing and healthcare. But millions have been spent on obscure commissions committees and boards. Each packed with appointees. Not surprising to doug johnson a fellow at the Rose Institute at Claremont Mckenna college. Reporter california is known for a great many things but is this also the state that should be known for you know government commissions committees gone wild . I think thats a fair characterization. We are one of the states with a full time paid legislature and theyre looking for things to keep themselves busy. Johnson is an expert on government and all those committees. Weve got 31 Standing Committees and multiple subcommittees in the assembly. And we have 40 select committees in the assembly. In the senate weve got 22 Standing Committees that are permanent and then multiple subcommittees, 16 select committees and then we get into the committees that report to committees and monitor other committees. You realize that this sounds like a saturday night live skit. Yes it does. But what are they all doing . Do you know what the commission on uniform state laws does . No, i have no idea. But what about the legislators . Have they heard of some of these commissions committees and boards . Im curious to find out if you know what the commission of the californias is . No. Have you ever heard of the structural pest control board . No. Theres also the bipartisan Internet Political practices commission. That one i honestly dont have an idea. There doesnt seem to be a council in california that doesnt have its own commission or committee. You wonder what the hearing aid dispensary Advisory Committee for . A favorite is mexican memorial beautification and enhancement right. Would you think the money would be better spent on beautifying the Mexican American statues than holding a committee on talk about beautifying the statues. Theres plenty of fluff and somewhat silliness. Take the Senate Commission on cost control, likely the title suggests its charged with cutting cost, but looking at the website, it doesnt show much of anything it has done in the past 12 years except posting a couple of reports. We couldnt even figure out when they meet. Can you figure out what they do on a daily basis or weekly basis, when they meet or exactly what theyve achieved . No. Classic example. There are no agendas, no minutes, in the sacramento world, in a Public Policy world, if theres no agenda you didnt meet. We tried to find out what they do or when theyre in section. Im trying to find the commission on cost control, do you know what that is . You sound like you dont know what that is. You dont know what they do. So we went to sacramento and asked. Can you tell me anything about the Senate Advisory commission on cost control, what theyve achieved . And asked. Thank you. But nothing. Senator can i ask you a question . Not even the Senate President pro tem, Kevin De Leon knew, and the commission is under his watch. It took filing a public records request to find out when the commission met. We got these two agendas from 2010 and 2013. One of their goals . Make the legislature aware, the commission exists. I think its pretty clear evidence that youre not doing anything of value for the taxpayers when the legislators dont even know you exist. Good lord. We also obtained four years worth of expense reports. What am i even looking at . Since 2010 the commission had 150,000 in expenses but we dont entirely know where the money was going because some records were redacted, blacked out, like this 70,000 bill to amex. You have got an amex bill of 70,000, does that strike you as a lot of money . Yes indeed, thats a shocking amount of expense report especially for a commission that isnt meeting. Who is paying 2500 for rental cars . Enterprise made a lot of money from this commission. They did and i have no idea what those cars were used for. On top of the hundreds of thousands spent on staff salaries. I think its a bogus sham commission. Im embarrassed about it. Those are strong words. I feel strongly about it. I do. I feel very strongly about government wasting money. Former california Inspector General laura chick wonders if this commission is worth the cost. To have a commission and someone running it whos earning an exceedingly high salary 120,000, its causing more than 120, theres contributions to the pension fund, travel meals et cetera, thats a lot of money, for nothing . Theres nothing i can get my arms around. Reporter nor could mairnlt. So we called the america tonight. We called mel sas clugian. She blamed the legislature for not acting on the commissions recommendations. Chick thinks the whole thing including clugians salary has been a waste of taxpayer money. I know so many schools, so many senior meals programs, so many veteran crisis centers, that would do 96 anything to have an extra 120,000 a year to do their good, handson directservices work. But its being wasted in sacramento. Reporter Becky Denison couldnt agree more. Those amounts in skid row could be used ten times over for bus benches, for restrooms, to help communities. Helping l. A. s homeless on skid row it recently lost 60,000 in funding that paid for a Nutrition Program thats now dead. Its incredibly frustrating. Domestic violence providers, where these committees continue to get funded no matter what they do. Were talking about a symptom of whats wrong with california in a bigger picture. We spend a lot of money. We say were big. What does 100,000 matter . Well, 100,000 here, 100,000 there, soon youre talking millions and eventually youre talking about money that matters. Unique. There are committees galore on the federal level, too. Claim sid garner, who claimed there were veterans programs whether he was a white house advisor. Its what people sometimes do instead of putting serious resources into solving the problem. Lets have a commission, lets have an interagency body. Reporter or say an Interagency Commission on veterans which garner knows too well. Thats too bad. Garner a viet flam veteran happens to be a volunteer on the council created by governor jerry brown in 2011. Gairn says its all talk. Its been a place where agencies can tell each other what theyre doing. Its not yet become a place where theres accountability for whether veterans are being helped. America tonight obtained this never released draft review of the council answer performance by an overtime board. In it one member is quoted as saying he hasnt seen one boots on the ground accomplishment. Another one said, whats being produced . Criticism of the group as being slow when it comes to veteran suicide and homelessness. What do you think of this . It makes me angry as a veteran as a citizen as a former elected official. If it doesnt make you angry you dont understand the problem. There was a microphone in 2005 by then governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to eliminate dozens of commissions and committees but the plan went nowhere. He thought it would be an easy win. It didnt go that way. What happened . It was a very slow change. There has to be political will to change. These things are not obscure policy things, if governor firing friends of legislators. In political circles these commissions and councils are considered soft landings for termed out legislators or places to put a friend who helped to get a bill passed. Whats less known is how little they get done and that infuriates laura chick. Its criminally wrong to be wasting public dollars that are so desperately needed in other ways. This really makes you angry doesnt it . I get very upset. I can