Latest / Brian Thomas / Ohio Treasurer Robert Sprague - Running for Sec of State

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Ohio Treasurer Robert Sprague - Running for Sec of State · Brian Thomas

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  Speaker 1: It's 8.05, coming over at 8.06 here at 55KRC, the
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  Speaker 1: talk station. Brian Thomas, wishing everyone a very happy Wednesday.
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  Speaker 1: And welcoming back to the 55KRC Morning Show. He's running
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  Speaker 1: for Secretary of State. He's got a name that you
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  Speaker 1: know very well. Robert Sprague, welcome back to the 55KRC
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  Speaker 1: Morning Show. It's good to have you back on. And,
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  Speaker 1: of course, 13 days to Election Day. It's fast approaching.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, thanks, Brian. Appreciate being on.
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  Speaker 1: Let us talk about what you plan on doing here. When,
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  Speaker 1: I would argue, when you get elected Secretary of State.
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  Speaker 1: Work to be done. I know it's in good hands now,
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  Speaker 1: and I know you've had high praise for the current
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  Speaker 1: occupant of the office, but things that you want to
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  Speaker 1: accomplish going forward, work to be done. For example, insofar
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  Speaker 1: as elections are concerned, let me just pivot over this
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  Speaker 1: one right away. The Social Security announced the other day
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  Speaker 1: they corrected tens of millions of records, including now the
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  Speaker 1: citizenship information. And that information apparently is available to states
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  Speaker 1: to use. States can find a person's citizenship status by
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  Speaker 1: entering that person's name, date of birth, and full or
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  Speaker 1: partial social security number into this social security administration's database,
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  Speaker 1: thus determining whether that person is eligible to vote in
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  Speaker 1: federal elections. Is that something that you plan on doing
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  Speaker 1: going forward?
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely. Within the first 100 days, we want to make
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  Speaker 2: sure that we move to a front-end citizenship check. Now,
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  Speaker 2: we have some of those checks in place right now,
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  Speaker 2: but I can tell you that working with the federal
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  Speaker 2: government is so critical because they're the people that know
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  Speaker 2: who the citizens are. And in the Ohio Constitution in 2022,
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  Speaker 2: we voted, 77 percent, voted to add to the constitutional
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  Speaker 2: language that only American citizens can vote in our Ohio elections.
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  Speaker 2: I think it's pretty fundamental. Now, I can tell you
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  Speaker 2: my Democrat opponent, Alison Russo, opposed that amendment on the
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  Speaker 2: floor of the House. I guess she wants noncitizens to
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  Speaker 2: be able to vote in our elections. You know, the
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  Speaker 2: first piece of election integrity was is that you have
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  Speaker 2: to have only citizens voting in the elections. That's what
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  Speaker 2: you're talking about with having access to that federal social
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  Speaker 2: security data to see who is a citizen and who's
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  Speaker 2: not a citizen. I would say right after that, we
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  Speaker 2: want to make sure that we have photo ID in
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  Speaker 2: our elections. So you got to know that people are
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  Speaker 2: who they say they are when they vote. If you're
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  Speaker 2: having to show a photo ID to buy a beer
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  Speaker 2: in the state of Ohio, it only makes sense that
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  Speaker 2: in our elections to keep them secure, You should have
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  Speaker 2: to show a photo ID to vote so that we
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  Speaker 2: know that you are who you say you are. And
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  Speaker 2: my Democrat opponent has made a living out of voting
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  Speaker 2: against photo ID for the people of the state of
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  Speaker 2: Ohio and our election security. We have to keep our
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  Speaker 2: elections secure.
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  Speaker 1: Well, given how popular photo ID is and given the
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  Speaker 1: fact that literally every man, woman, and maybe even children
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  Speaker 1: in some cases have a photo ID for something they
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  Speaker 1: have to have it for in their day-to-day lives, it's
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  Speaker 1: not a big ask. and accusations that somehow it's racist
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  Speaker 1: to require a photo ID because, I don't know, people
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  Speaker 1: of color find it difficult to do so. I find
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  Speaker 1: that insulting, and to be a racist accusation in the
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  Speaker 1: first place. But the other left-wing arguments, or maybe Alison
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  Speaker 1: Russo-type arguments, well, it's going to suppress the voter turnout,
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  Speaker 1: or here's my favorite one, oh, this hardly ever happens,
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  Speaker 1: non-citizens voting in federal elections, so there's really nothing to
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  Speaker 1: deal with here. Well, that ignores the fact that Sometimes
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  Speaker 1: they do, and if there's a problem that allows for
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  Speaker 1: a violation of the law, shouldn't you stop that from
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  Speaker 1: being able to happen as a part of your job
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  Speaker 1: in the role of Secretary of State?
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  Speaker 2: The last thing you want is a Secretary of State
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  Speaker 2: that's going to, first of all, create a system where
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  Speaker 2: people can cheat, and secondly, look the other way while
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  Speaker 2: they do cheat, and that's what my Democrat opponent is
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  Speaker 2: going to do. She's against every single security measure that
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  Speaker 2: currently makes our elections good in the state of Ohio
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  Speaker 2: and gives them integrity. We don't want to turn into
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  Speaker 2: New Jersey. New Jersey is a good example of bad
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  Speaker 2: processes where the Democrats control the elections process. And what's
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  Speaker 2: happened there is they had 6,600 more than that, non-citizens
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  Speaker 2: and illegal immigrants registered to vote in their state. Hundreds
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  Speaker 2: and hundreds of them actually voted in the elections. And
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  Speaker 2: now they won't tell the people of New Jersey which
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  Speaker 2: elections they voted in because, you know, in the state
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  Speaker 2: of Ohio, we've had over 70 elections that have been
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  Speaker 2: determined by a single vote in the state of Ohio
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  Speaker 2: just in the last couple of years. And, you know,
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  Speaker 2: this happens all the time. You know, people try to
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  Speaker 2: register to vote illegally. And current Secretary of State Frank LaRose,
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  Speaker 2: who's doing a great job, along with our Board of Elections,
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  Speaker 2: have to refer those people to local prosecutors. And the
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  Speaker 2: fundamental piece is photo ID. We have to have photo ID.
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  Speaker 2: It's the fundamental security measure. It's just the ante to
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  Speaker 2: be able to get into the poker game. That's all
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  Speaker 2: it is. It's basic. It's fundamental. We need to have
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  Speaker 2: photo ID for in-person voting. We need to have photo
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  Speaker 2: ID for the mail-in ballots. And we need to add
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  Speaker 2: photo ID to the Ohio Constitution so that it's permanently
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  Speaker 2: in there and these crazy socialists can't take it away
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  Speaker 2: from the people of the state of Ohio. That's issue
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  Speaker 2: three that your listeners are going to be voting on
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  Speaker 2: on November 3rd, and I urge them to vote yes
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  Speaker 2: on issue three, add that to the Ohio Constitution, and
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  Speaker 2: preserve it forever so that we have a photo ID
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  Speaker 2: and election integrity for the people of the state of Ohio.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, in the hope that, well, hopefully nobody ever occupies
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  Speaker 1: the office. It does spring from that Amy Russo position,
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  Speaker 1: but If it's in the Constitution, you don't have to
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  Speaker 1: worry who the occupant of the Secretary of State's office is.
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  Speaker 1: There will always be a photo ID requirement. Hey, I'll
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  Speaker 1: tell you what, though.
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  Speaker 2: That's right. But you also have to elect people that
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  Speaker 2: are going to uphold the Constitution, uphold the rule of law,
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  Speaker 2: and enforce it. I mean, that's what the executive does.
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  Speaker 2: And that's why the Secretary of State's office is so
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  Speaker 2: important to people. You know, it's the one office that
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  Speaker 2: you want to have be run professionally by somebody that's
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  Speaker 2: very competent.
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  Speaker 1: Well, you seem very confident in your positions, Robert Sprague,
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  Speaker 1: and I remind my listeners it's Sprague4Ohio. com. You can check
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  Speaker 1: out what his background is. He's well-qualified for the job,
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  Speaker 1: of course. But let me ask you this. You're very
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  Speaker 1: strong in your positions. They sound logical and reasonable to me,
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  Speaker 1: but I'm sure Ms. Russo, Alison Russo, also is firm
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  Speaker 1: in her convictions and strong in her beliefs and can
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  Speaker 1: support her arguments. So I presume she wants to debate
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  Speaker 1: this in front of the voters.
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  Speaker 2: Is that correct? The last thing she wants to do
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  Speaker 2: is have a debate. Spectrum News has challenged us to
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  Speaker 2: a debate. Our campaign immediately accepted. We said, yeah, absolutely.
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  Speaker 2: If you're going to be the chief civics officer for
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  Speaker 2: the state of Ohio, the least we could do is
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  Speaker 2: defend our positions on a debate stage in front of
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  Speaker 2: the public, have it be advertised and televised live so
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  Speaker 2: that people can see the differences between the two candidates
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  Speaker 2: and their ideas. Alison Russo rejected that. She said, no,
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  Speaker 2: I'm not debating. We're not doing it. And after repeated calls,
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  Speaker 2: repeated calls. And to this day, I will tell you what, Brian,
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  Speaker 2: if you want to host a debate, I would just
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  Speaker 2: say we accept. And I think it's critical. I think
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  Speaker 2: it's fundamental for our democracy and as a nation. Honestly,
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  Speaker 2: we need to compete more on ideas and vision for
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  Speaker 2: our country and for our state. That's the way elections matter.
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  Speaker 2: But it's impossible for the elections to... you know, reflect
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  Speaker 2: the will of the people unless the people know what
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  Speaker 2: the candidates stand for. So, yeah, if you want to
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  Speaker 2: host a debate, I just accept on the air right now.
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  Speaker 1: Well, and this comes at absolutely no risk to me,
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  Speaker 1: not that I'm risk averse to hosting a debate, but
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  Speaker 1: I know it's never going to happen, Robert Sprague. So, yeah,
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  Speaker 1: I'll do it. And expect that I won't hand out
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  Speaker 1: pre-written questions. You have to do it on the fly
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  Speaker 1: like Ramaswamy does all the time, like you do. You
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  Speaker 1: didn't know what I was going to ask you about
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  Speaker 1: when you came on this morning, Robert Sprague.
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  Speaker 2: We'll take questions from any of the callers that want
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  Speaker 2: to come in, even. It's just critical that you be
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  Speaker 2: able to defend your position as you understand what you
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  Speaker 2: believe in, and you're able to enunciate it to the voters.
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  Speaker 2: That's what these debates do. And frankly, the candidates that
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  Speaker 2: don't want to debate are unable to do that.
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  Speaker 1: Well, that's the only conclusion I can reach because politicians
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  Speaker 1: thrive on being able to advance their position, talk in public.
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  Speaker 1: It's one of those almost like any publicity is good publicity.
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  Speaker 1: But if you think you have the winning strategy, don't
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  Speaker 1: you want to argue with the opponent over why theirs
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  Speaker 1: is wrong and yours is right? And if you can't
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  Speaker 1: do that, then I think we all know the answer
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  Speaker 1: to the question. I guess your policies aren't right.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely. You know, I can tell you that in politics,
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  Speaker 2: there's a lot of different reasons to debate. But the
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  Speaker 2: most fundamental reason is it's part of our democratic republic.
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  Speaker 2: And people need that information in order to make a
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  Speaker 2: good decision. And our election system doesn't function unless you're
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  Speaker 2: able to have information as a voter and as a citizen.
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  Speaker 2: And then also the elections don't function unless they have integrity.
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  Speaker 2: So those two pieces are what makes our elections work.
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  Speaker 2: It's what defends your rights and allows you to defend
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  Speaker 2: your rights at the ballot box and maintain this fantastic
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  Speaker 2: country that our ancestors and our forefathers have given us
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  Speaker 2: and the rights that we enjoy under the United States Constitution.
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  Speaker 2: But you can't do that without information and without the
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  Speaker 2: integrity of the election system.
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  Speaker 1: And being deprived of information, I think, is quite revealing
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  Speaker 1: going back to the refusal to advance or to argue
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  Speaker 1: against your opponent over these important issues. To me, that
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  Speaker 1: just tells the tale. I mean, Amy Acton's doing the
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  Speaker 1: same thing, hiding in the basement. I've called it cowardice.
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  Speaker 1: Maybe that's too harsh considering she had a terrible childhood
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  Speaker 1: and I don't know that it bolsters your qualification for governor.
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  Speaker 1: I personally don't think it did. And I'm sorry she
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  Speaker 1: went through some tragedies as a young person. But you know,
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  Speaker 1: I wouldn't add that to my resume if I was
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  Speaker 1: running for governor. I suffer child abuse. OK, what have
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  Speaker 1: you done? OK, what are you planning on doing? I
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  Speaker 1: will not debate. I refuse to debate while Ramaswamy will
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  Speaker 1: run around and answer any question from any person around
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  Speaker 1: because he can support his position. So we've got multiple
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  Speaker 1: candidates doing this hide in the basement Joe Biden strategy.
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  Speaker 1: And look what that brought us. Robert Sprague at spragueforohio.com.
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  Speaker 1: Check out the website. You also are responsible as Secretary
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  Speaker 1: of State for Business Services and a variety of other duties.
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  Speaker 1: Is there any less, I will argue, perhaps less sexy,
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  Speaker 1: but not for business owners, anything you want to do
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  Speaker 1: to improve the speed service, reduce costs, modernization? What needs
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  Speaker 1: to be done in that realm of the Secretary of
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  Speaker 1: State's office?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, let me start out and just say, I was
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  Speaker 2: a state representative that joined the General Assembly in 2010,
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  Speaker 2: and At that time, we were 37th out of 50
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  Speaker 2: states in the CNBC rankings for business friendliness. This year,
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  Speaker 2: under Republican leadership, for the first time, we are number one.
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  Speaker 2: Number one in the Ohio. Ohio is number one in
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  Speaker 2: the United States of America. We're doing a great job
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  Speaker 2: with business startups. And one of the things I want
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  Speaker 2: to do as Secretary of State, because I was a
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  Speaker 2: small business owner, and I remember starting my small business out,
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  Speaker 2: and the number one thing that I needed and didn't
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  Speaker 2: have was money. And so when you go to register
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  Speaker 2: your new business online in the Secretary of State's office,
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  Speaker 2: when I'm Secretary of State, you will have the option
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  Speaker 2: to type in a little bit about your business, and
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  Speaker 2: we are going to have a search engine that goes
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  Speaker 2: out and looks at all the federal grants, all the
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  Speaker 2: state grants, and all the local grants that you would
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  Speaker 2: qualify for as a small business in the state of
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  Speaker 2: Ohio to give you some fuel for that rocket so
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  Speaker 2: that you can get off to a great start. I
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  Speaker 2: think it would be a huge help. I think that
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  Speaker 2: we would see businesses succeed more if they had just
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  Speaker 2: a little bit of capital. as they're starting up here
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  Speaker 2: in the state of Ohio. So I think that's a
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  Speaker 2: big contribution to these very small businesses in our great state.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I presume that's harnessing artificial intelligence for good rather
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  Speaker 1: than evil. That sounds like a great concept, Robert.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, right. We could actually train this AI agent on
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  Speaker 2: all these governmental programs, and all you have to do,
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  Speaker 2: and it's completely optional, you don't have to do it,
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  Speaker 2: but You've got to type in a little bit about yourself,
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  Speaker 2: who you are, who your small business is, and it'll
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  Speaker 2: go out and search all these programs, and who knows,
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  Speaker 2: maybe it'll even apply for you.
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  Speaker 1: Amen to that. And finally, before we part, coming again,
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  Speaker 1: Sprague for Ohio, Robert Sprague's campaign website. Right there, in bold,
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  Speaker 1: stopping fraud. What are we going to do about stopping fraud?
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  Speaker 1: I know we're on a roll here in terms of
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  Speaker 1: stopping fraud. I appreciate the work that the Trump administration
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  Speaker 1: is doing that, and God almighty, do any of us
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  Speaker 1: really fully appreciate the size and scope of the abuse
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  Speaker 1: of the American taxpayer dollars, but we've got it here
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  Speaker 1: in Ohio to a certain degree. What's your action plan,
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  Speaker 1: Robert Sprague?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, well, I think what we're referring to
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  Speaker 2: there is obviously there's financial fraud, and we're very sensitive
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  Speaker 2: to that. I'll just give you one instance of financial
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  Speaker 2: fraud that we tackled in the state of Ohio. We
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  Speaker 2: used to have people that would submit for your income
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  Speaker 2: tax returns fraudulently, and then they would take that from you.
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  Speaker 2: had the income tax return sent from the state of
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  Speaker 2: Ohio to their house instead of yours. We fixed that
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  Speaker 2: by asking people to submit, guess what, a copy of
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  Speaker 2: their driver's license, a copy of their photo ID, and
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  Speaker 2: the amount of fraud went to zero. The way that
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  Speaker 2: you stop fraud in the election system is you create
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  Speaker 2: a system that has integrity. We have that in the
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  Speaker 2: state of Ohio. There are some things that we can
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  Speaker 2: tighten up, but by and large, we need to protect
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  Speaker 2: the system that we currently have, and that's what I'm
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  Speaker 2: going to do as your next secretary of state.
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  Speaker 1: Any idea about offering a slice of the action for
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  Speaker 1: those who drop a dime on fraudsters in the state
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  Speaker 1: of Ohio? Trump just unveiled that plan yesterday. Is that
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  Speaker 1: something that could be done on a statewide basis? Not
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  Speaker 1: that you're necessarily going to embrace it, but if there
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  Speaker 1: are people out there in the business world or within
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  Speaker 1: government that know where the fraud's coming from and they're
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  Speaker 1: keeping their mouth shut, maybe an incentive plan here in
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  Speaker 1: Ohio to have them drop a dime?
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  Speaker 2: 100%. And I think also they need to incentivize the states.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, you know, it's a federal government, federal money, and,
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  Speaker 2: you know, you need to let the states retain some
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  Speaker 2: of that money. which would also be another good economic incentive,
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  Speaker 2: but I also agree with the personal incentives because, look,
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  Speaker 2: there's a lot of financial fraud that occurs. And anybody
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  Speaker 2: that thinks there's not a lot of financial fraud in
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  Speaker 2: the system with Medicaid and all these other gigantic government programs,
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  Speaker 2: it's why they cost so much and it's why things
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  Speaker 2: are unaffordable. We need to make government more efficient and
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  Speaker 2: root out this fraud.
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  Speaker 1: Sprague for Ohio. Sounds like a good idea for me.
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  Speaker 1: You got my vote, Robert Sprague. I look forward to
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  Speaker 1: casting it when I get over to the Board of Elections.
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  Speaker 1: I wish you all the best with 13 days left.
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  Speaker 1: If we don't get a chance to talk, my fingers
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  Speaker 1: are crossed, my friend. I know you have the best
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  Speaker 1: interest of Ohioans in mind in the role of Secretary
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  Speaker 1: of State, and I know you will do a fantastic job.