Latest / The SEANC View / What Tuesday’s Primary Election Results Could Mean for Employees and Retirees

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What Tuesday’s Primary Election Results Could Mean for Employees and Retirees · The SEANC View

0:00
Hello, and welcome to another edition of the Scenic View podcast.
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I'm your host, Jonathan Owens, along with Artis Watkins, Suzanne Beasley, and Sammy Klein.
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The primary election has come and gone, and we have a lot to talk about.
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We have scenic political strategist Flint Benson in the house to break it down
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for us and talk about what it means for state employees and retirees.
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Like I said, lots to talk about, so let's get to it.
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All right. So I'm not sure, Flynn, if you need an introduction,
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I think everybody in Scenic knows you.
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And Flint used to be, he's a past president of the organization.
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Past president. What years was that? 2000, 2001.
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Right. You're the millennial president. That's it. He meant start of the century.
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So for those that don't know him, he's our political strategist.
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He works with our PAC, which is MPAC, on top of his duties as a lobbyist.
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So he's pretty much got his hand in a lot of places, politically speaking, I guess.
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So, Clint, just tell us a little bit about Impact first, and yeah,
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we'll just go from there.
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Okay, well, Impact is made up of our scenic members throughout the state.
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We're divided into areas all over the state of North Carolina.
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Back in January, they met and decided what they wanted to do in the primary
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elections, and they had heard so much feedback from members,
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they decided there was no need to endorse in the primaries this year.
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So we do not have any official legislative endorsements for this race.
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So Scenic lost no races the other night. Yeah.
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If you don't endorse again. We're undefeated. Undefeated. And impact,
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just for you guys who have not heard, is EMPAC.
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It's the Employees Political Action Committee.
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Yeah. Always make an impact with impact. There you go. How many people say impact?
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Lots. Lots of people. I can't tell you how many different spellings we get there.
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Oh, yeah. Sometimes it gets, what does the M stand for in impact?
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And it's basically just what, employee. E-M is for employee.
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So it should be lowercase then. Yeah.
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So no endorsements in the primary. Is that the first time we've done that or is that?
2:17
No, that's not unusual. We didn't even endorse in primaries until probably about
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10, 12 years ago. We'd never endorsed in any primaries.
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So that's not the question for us to sit out to primaries. It seems maybe that's
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a sticky situation to endorse in a political party's primary, you know.
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Yeah, you sort of want the party to sort out their own, and then we'll look
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for them in the general election.
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So I think a lot of times for an organization like ours, that can be the best medicine.
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Just go ahead, let the party sort it out.
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Unless you have somebody who has been very much against us as an organization,
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then it would be different.
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Or if we had somebody who had really stepped up and done some great things for the organization.
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But when you have no budget, it's hard to find many bright spots.
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Years ago, Pat Hurley was in a very hotly contested, what, four or five person
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primary when she was running for the North Carolina House.
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And that was one of the ones where it makes a lot of sense for Impact Scenic
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to join, to get in that race and get behind somebody who was a retired state
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employee and who was passionate about the issues.
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Yeah, if you have a current legislator to you or someone like that that's in
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a tough primary, then it's a good time to show you support for them.
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No, she wasn't serving. Yeah, she wasn't, yeah.
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But if you've got somebody, like you say, that there, I think she had been,
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what, clerk of the court for 33 years.
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So if you've got somebody like that, that you know is a good candidate,
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there's nothing wrong with helping them out.
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But for the most part, it was sort of a hard sale to help anybody out in this
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primary with no state budget.
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Now, do you think we'll endorse in the general election?
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That'll just be up to the members.
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Our members need to let their impact representatives know what they think about it.
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It could be a very precarious situation come the general election because,
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let's say there was no budget,
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then you've got a case for nobody's done anything, but then you've also got
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the case, hey, it's time to endorse some challengers so we can get a budget next year.
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Now, I don't think that we'll be in that situation, but it's always a possibility.
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And, you know, now's the time for legislators to step up and be that legislator
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of the year that we can recognize that convention and we can get our people
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out there working for them in the general election.
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It may not be as much giving money this time as that we're going to put people
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out there at the polls working for you.
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If you want some helpers, help us. This is an interesting time because we have
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the primary and then the short session starts next month, right?
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So, like, we're going to have a whole short session between the primary and
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the general. So people have ample time to give us love so we can endorse.
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Now's the time to show the love.
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And talk a little bit about the
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process that Impact goes through to vet candidates when they do endorse.
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When they do endorse, there's an interview process the candidates go through.
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Now, to be honest, sometimes during legislative sessions, it's hard to interview legislators.
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So we have been going to a lot more Zoom interviews.
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Sometimes you look at a race and you see that there's no way that particular
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legislator is going to lose because that race has been gerrymandered to the
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point that it doesn't matter who you run against them.
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So then you have to sort of make a decision as a state impact.
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They have to make the decision, is this incumbent the right one for us?
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Have they spoke up for us? Have they let our lobbyists know,
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They speak up for us in caucus. And a lot of times, Suzanne knows this,
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and Artis, too, being a lobbyist over there, that a lot of times you have legislators
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who will come back to you and tell you,
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hey, Representative Sessions House is really speaking up for the retirees in
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caucus today. What have y'all done with them?
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So you have to take all that information and look at it. But there is a strict
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vetting process going through the interviews.
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Then the area has to recommend that candidate, and then it goes to the state.
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If there's no endorsement, then the state can take over the endorsement process.
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But if the area endorses, we're not going to set aside that endorsement.
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Yeah, so there is actually a very solid process. Yes, a very labor-intensive
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process. Yeah, no endorsements on a whim.
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And I mean, anybody can get that endorsement. That's one thing I've got to say
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about impact that I think people in North Carolina politics really do understand is true.
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It's up for grabs. Anybody can get that endorsement. You just have to be right
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on the issues for this group.
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And you have to, if you're an incumbent,
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Tell them what you did, you know, and and they are all ears.
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They're going to give everybody a fair shot. And I think that's the best thing
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you could say about anybody on impact.
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To that point, impact is a nonpartisan entity.
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And the folks that serve on impact actually sign a pledge to be nonpartisan,
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to assure that, you know, the vetting process is fair for all candidates.
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Clint, can I get you to tell a story about way back when, when Patrick Ballantyne
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was running for governor, and what a pivotal moment that was in scenic PAC,
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Political Action Committee terms.
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Wow, now you're asking me about when I was a member of State Impact because
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I was on that State Impact Committee.
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2004 is when Artis is talking about Patrick Ballantyne, a state senator from
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Wilmington, was running against Mike Easley, the incumbent governor.
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And it was the first time that I knew of that a governor brought the State Impact
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Committee to the governor's mansion and fed us lunch, gave us lemonade.
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It was just a great time. And then we went back to the scenic office, and they had their vote,
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and they voted to endorse Patrick Ballantyne, who was a Republican,
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which was the first time a Republican had been endorsed in a statewide race.
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By a senior. Yeah, I think that got news all over the country that the State
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Employees Association, the largest one in the country that was non-unionized,
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was endorsing a Republican candidate for governor.
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I mean, hell was raised from beneath the earth's surface that year. That's how big this was.
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It really rocked the political establishment.
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And people couldn't believe it. They were like, how is the State Employees Association
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endorsing a Republican? It was huge at the time. Now it seems like.
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No big deal, right? No big deal, but believe me, I still remember the vote to
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this day because I counted the ballots as they come across.
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So it was 8-6-1.
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Do you think that was the beginning of our maybe nonpartisan stand?
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We had endorsed some Republicans in the legislature before, but that was the
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time, I think, that it really sent the message loud and clear that we're open
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for business for both parties. Yeah.
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And again, to that point, I think it's important to point out that we are about
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50-50 and have been for a very long time when we endorse.
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Yeah, I think in 2024, we were like 61-61 as far as the Democratic-Republican breakdown.
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Yeah. So these folks do a good job of vetting out each party's candidates and
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making good decisions. And if you're a candidate that does wrong by us.
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They remember that, too, and they make sure that they've endorsed some opponents
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that they probably shouldn't have endorsed before. Yeah.
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But it was the principle of it. At the same time, we don't have an infinite supply of money, right?
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And you have to be selective in who you endorse because of that, right?
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Yes, we have to be selective. You know, you just can't go in and the maximum
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contribution you can give is $6,800 to each candidate in an election.
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And you can't just go and give it to 170 people $6,800, even if we had that
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kind of money. because money is such a big part of politics now.
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There's no way an organization like ours can compete.
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So we're going to have to not only make smart decisions with money,
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we're going to have to make smart decisions on who do we work for on election
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day, who do we put at the polls on election day, supporting our candidates.
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And we have very good luck with that because we have cards.
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And a lot of people will take our card when they won't take other groups because
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we have both Democrats and Republicans on there.
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And we have volunteers. That's, you know, when he talks about people working
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at the polls, this is volunteer. Yeah.
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So it's not something you have to worry about, elections laws and how that can be considered.
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And already we've started giving
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the message, hey, November 3rd is the general election. You be ready.
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Don't schedule any doctor's appointments that day. Don't offer to babysit the
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grandkids or anything like that.
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We need you at the polls on November 3rd. Go ahead and mark it down.
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So, one more administrative type question before we dive into the election. The fun stuff.
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Yeah. So, I think it was last week or one week, a few episodes back,
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maybe artists had mentioned that we can't really be active in federal races, right?
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Right. We're not a federal PAC. So, some people will be asking,
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you know, will we endorse in the Senate race or congressional races? We don't do that.
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We can, but we can't give any money. Okay. That's the main thing is we cannot
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give any money. We cannot devote any time.
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Two federal races because we're not a federal pack. Yeah. And they are very
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strict on what you can give.
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Artis, you had mentioned that you'd heard from some members that they don't
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think we should endorse at all in the general election, correct? Oh, yeah.
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I get a ton of that. I don't know about y'all. I get that all the time.
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Because they are like, we haven't gotten a doggone thing out of any of them to heck with everybody.
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And that's a very understandable position because they have been left behind.
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Yeah. Not only have they been left behind, now this budget, there's no budget.
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And nobody, everybody's been with me. And sometimes there's a little misunderstanding
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with where the money comes from for impact activities, too. It is not dues money.
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It's actually contributions outside of what they pay in dues.
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Yeah. Under law, we cannot use dues money. Exactly.
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All cynic members donating money. That's where the money comes from. For good reason.
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You have to go through intensive controlling of the money and reporting of the
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money to be in compliance.
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I know I would not want to be a part of that whole thing when you're trying
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to reconcile everything with Brenda Williams Brown, the finance department.
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So let's dive into Tuesday's primary elections.
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Did you hear there was one in Rockingham County? Not Rockingham the city from what I hear, right?
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So I will start out by saying, you know, I always try to do the things stolen
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from other podcasts. I did listen to the Do Politics Better wrap up of the election.
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So if we steal anything from y'all, I'm sorry, but I haven't heard it yet.
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So they did a great job. They always do. Yeah, they do.
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Yeah. Sorry if I steal some of your questions.
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I'm still not making a theme song for this segment.
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So Senate District 26 is the main event, right? Yeah. Everybody knew that was at the top of the card.
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That is Rockingham County and parts of Guilford County.
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And Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger against, I guess he's, is he the city sheriff?
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Yeah, he's sheriff. Okay, Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page.
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As of right now, we still don't know the outcome.
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They were separated by two votes at the end of the night. Isn't that wild?
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Two votes. That means like if Berger's babysitter voted for Page, then it would be time.
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It's true. Every vote counts. Yeah. Here's your proof. Wow.
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It won't stay like that, right? So there's provisional ballots and— There's
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some overseas and military ballots. Now, how many? I don't know.
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I'm hearing there's about 189 provisional votes, but I don't know that all of
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those are for that primary.
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Some of them could be Democrats. And then the last breakdown I heard was about
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139 in Rockingham and 52 in Guilford, which that would show that it favors paid
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since he won Rockingham by two-thirds of the vote.
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Then you never know how many of those provisionals will be accepted because
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a lot of people don't understand about provisional ballots, and this may be
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too intense to get into, but if you go to a polling place, you cannot be denied
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the opportunity to vote.
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Even if John's from Samford and he goes down to Wemmington and he wants to vote
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for a candidate down there, they have to let him vote.
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Now, they may let him vote as a provisional ballot, and then once they see that
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you're from Samford, that automatically disqualifies you. Now,
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are they doing that with people who don't have ID at the time?
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Yeah. Some people, in my understanding, they will let you vote.
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And what you're supposed to do is go by the Board of Elections and show them your ID.
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Yeah. I think it's by noontime Friday.
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Okay. But I think there was a little problem yesterday, and one of the Board
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of Elections was closed in Rockingham County. Yeah. The only one there.
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So people showing up, and there was nobody to go show their ID to.
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I mean, here come the lawyers.
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Basically, the winner in that race is lawyers.
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There's getting ready to be a lot of money made. Of course, there was a lot
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of money spent. Oh, yeah. About $10 million just in that one state Senate race.
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That's unheard of. So the political consultants have already gotten theirs,
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pollsters and all that. Here come the lawyers. Yeah.
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So will they be counting hanging chads and all that stuff? No,
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at least they don't have that part, but everything else is good to go. Yeah.
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Were you going to say something? It feels very similar to a conversation.
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I don't remember if it was last year, but it's almost like a deja vu moment
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of artists saying the lawyers are always the ones winning.
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Yeah, that was a different I mean, that's on private equity That's on healthcare
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Don't get me going Lawyers They make the laws They're the ones winning Yeah.
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So, yeah, I was going to ask, what can you glean from the situation with provisional
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ballots and everything? But you kind of covered that.
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You think that Moore and Rockingham would probably favor Page, right?
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Yeah, and Moore and Guilford would favor Senator Berger.
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Yeah. It just depends on how many are accepted at the end of the day. Yeah.
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And yet Berger is from Rockingham too, right?
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Yes. Okay. So it's just kind of a weird thing to me.
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Well, it would be a pretty interesting distance. I actually had a Democratic
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legislator tell me about a year ago, and he's very popular. In fact,
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he has no opposition this time.
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And he said that he would run for the legislature for the rest of his life unless
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his local sheriff says he's running.
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Then he's going to find something else because you can't beat a sheriff.
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That's what I was going to say.
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Sheriffs are always so popular unless they're not. Especially when they've won
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seven times in that county as sheriff.
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That's tough to beat. Yeah, we had a one in Lee County who could really could
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have gone to bigger and better, bigger offices, and he didn't.
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But yeah, they just hold a lot of trust in their county, right?
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Yeah. People get used to the name on the ballot, too.
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I always tell people don't bet against sheriffs and preachers. Yeah.
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So, Artis, what does this mean for Senator Berger?
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If he wins and if he loses, I guess. I mean, in the legislature itself,
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people realize, like Flint just said, in your local race, if you draw somebody
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like a sheriff, you're going to draw a tough race.
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So I don't know how much it will impact him in the short session with folks
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in his caucus or the folks on the other side of the aisle.
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Well, but you got to think it's not great to have to go through that and then
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try to come back and really be really tough with the House and say the Senate's
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not budging on X, Y, and Z.
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I mean, it's going to be tougher because the House generally has been easier
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for the Senate to run over.
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Very true. And I don't think the House is going to feel the same way right now.
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They're going to be like, we'll take our chances.
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Yeah, especially if he loses, right? I mean—
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Then that's a whole other ballgame, right? Yeah. Yeah.
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And then you've got, I mean, in that scenario, you would have a short session
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where people are jockeying for the leadership.
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Vaccines in the caucus will be something else, saying who's trying to run for
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that position come January.
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Unless Senator Berger was to decide if he's declared the loser,
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if he decided that he was just going to resign now.
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Yeah. Which is always a possibility. But he's stayed, I mean,
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it seems to me so far he has stayed pretty cool, calm, and collected about,
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okay, this is my race and I've got to do that.
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But then when he comes in the General Assembly, I don't think he seemed consumed by it or anything.
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He's been there, I think it was, I read yesterday, 25 or 26 years,
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right? Yeah, 2001, I believe, is when he came in.
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He's been there for as long as I've been alive. Quite literally.
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There's probably somebody over there who's been there longer.
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Yeah, there's a couple of Julia Howard, Mitchell Setzer. Mitchell Setzer.
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Okay. Forgive us if we forgot somebody else.
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So, I don't know if you want to do this or not, but do you have any projections
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or any predictions what's going to happen in this race? That the lawyers win.
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It's really too close to even think about right now. Yeah, yeah.
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Anybody that says, oh, I know how this is going to turn out,
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they're just bragging about something they don't know. What I think is interesting
19:05
is that people's opinions of whether you should go back and really worry about
19:09
every vote and whether it was correctly cast.
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That debate on Twitter has been fascinating.
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You know, everybody pointing out, well, you tweeted this two years ago.
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That was completely the opposite of what you say now. It just shows you that
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in politics, eventually every scenario will hit the guy you like. Yeah.
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And so your opinions will be very fluid on this. They also have the scenario
19:32
that can happen is after the recounts,
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It's a tie, and you have to have a runoff election in May. That could be another 10-day.
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Yeah, I saw that Jerry Cohen's thing about that. Yeah, a law from 1915.
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After the recount, you can. Yeah. If there's a tie, then you'll have another
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race. If you tie again in that one, then the chair of the party will pick the
19:54
person that wins, and it doesn't have to be either one of those two candidates.
19:59
It could get complicated. Yeah.
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That seems a little far-fetched. I think a lot of the incumbents, though.
20:05
That was a big message the other night for all of the incumbents.
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There was a very anti-incumbent message in the primaries.
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A lot of districts did not have incumbents with opposition, but those that did,
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it was much tighter than they expected.
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In fact, Representative Reese Pirtle there in Rockingham, he probably suffered
20:22
the most from an anti-incumbent vote.
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He went down to defeat. Well, he was in Raleigh on the House side from Rockingham County.
20:30
And I feel like a lot of those people in Rockingham who went for Sam Page two
20:34
to one, also while they were there, they voted against Reese Pearl because he's part of Raleigh.
20:41
Well, we'll go to the other races. I know you just mentioned one.
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Sam, did you have a question before that? It doesn't necessarily have to do
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with anything of the races.
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It's more of an opinion-based question. But for me personally,
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I'm independent and I don't typically vote in a primary for very much for the
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same reason that we didn't necessarily endorse in this primary of I kind of
21:03
let the parties fight it out amongst themselves and I don't want to choose sides until I.
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I get to, like, the general election and can just vote based on where I fall.
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Is that a Gen Z thing? I'm not sure, but I kind of wanted an opinion on people who do that.
21:19
Like, what you guys think of people who are like, I don't want to vote in the
21:23
primary because you do have to pick one card or the other.
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So the issue is, Flint pointed this out earlier, every place is gerrymandered, okay?
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I don't care what legislative body it is, it's gerrymandered.
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Because everybody's going to draw the lines to create the districts to their
21:41
advantage if they're in charge, you know, whichever party's in charge.
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So the primary, unfortunately, in most races is the race.
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Most races really aren't competitive come November. So if you don't vote in
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the primary, to a degree, the argument is you're not voting at all because,
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you know, your vote doesn't matter.
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Because there are very, very few competitive. How many do you think will be
22:04
competitive this November?
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No more than 10, probably. Out of 120. And I have a personal example of that.
22:11
I guess I am registered and affiliated, which means I didn't vote in either primary.
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My race is where I live. The Republican's going to win no matter what, right?
22:22
So I voted in the Republican primary this time because I knew one of the candidates
22:27
and also knew the other candidate that I didn't vote for.
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And I had an opinion on which one would be best. Yeah, so you felt like you
22:34
had a little bit of sway. who's going to win that one.
22:38
I did pick the winner. See, if I do have strong opinions about a certain race
22:44
that happens to be in a certain political party, then I'll usually be like,
22:48
okay, I need to go out there and do this. But I just don't.
22:51
I even took a political typology quiz just for fun, and it just called me a
22:55
stressed sideliner, which is true.
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I'm right down the center, and I'm just stressed all the time.
22:59
Well, I'll tell you what, the people who are unaffiliated are the ones with
23:02
superpowers because it's not Republicans and Democrats that are deciding this
23:07
mess anymore, in my opinion.
23:09
Well, about 91% of the unaffiliateds requested a GOP ballot in Rockingham County. Wow.
23:15
Really? The unaffiliateds have the power.
23:18
Yeah, that tells you a lot. And there's more people registered unaffiliated
23:23
in North Carolina than Republicans or Democrats.
23:26
I wonder if Berger pulls this out, if he changed that law where you have to—there
23:32
are closed primaries where you only— Yes, and I'll be honest with you.
23:35
That's one thing that the state Republican Party, at their convention,
23:40
they've been having some fights over the last few years, is there is a group
23:43
that wants to close their primaries because they don't want unaffiliated deciding their candidates.
23:49
I can see value in that, though. I mean, even though I did the opposite.
23:53
Like, I can see that a party should be able to pick their candidate, you know?
23:57
And primaries weren't even, like, an official thing for a long time, right?
24:01
It wasn't until recently. Well, we've always had primaries, but the thing of
24:04
it is the pendulum swings in North Carolina politics.
24:07
And for so long, say, you know, when I first registered to vote in 1978,
24:12
if you didn't vote Democrat in my county, you were not going to vote in the
24:16
primary. because there was no such thing as a Republican primary.
24:19
There generally was no Republican on the ballot.
24:22
Yeah. Now in that same county, a Democrat has not won a partisan race there since 1998.
24:28
So now we've had the same thing. If you didn't vote in the county commissioner's
24:32
race on the Republican side, you won't be voting in November because those Republicans
24:37
all just got elected because there's no opposition.
24:39
I think there'd be tremendous opposition from the public to closing those primaries
24:44
because those young people, and Sammy, I think you're a great example,
24:48
they hate the idea of being labeled.
24:51
Yeah. They hate, and they don't like the parties. They don't trust either political party.
24:55
The biggest thing is people, to me, that want to advocate that,
24:59
that we have closed primaries, what they're actually saying is we want to make
25:03
sure our candidate passes the party purity test. Right.
25:06
But they don't give a damn about if they win the general election. Yeah.
25:10
Which is so dumb. I feel like you need the unaffiliated like Sam.
25:13
So have we got a good candidate for November if we've got one of those 10 contested
25:19
races in the statehouse? And that's a problem on both sides.
25:22
I mean, both. Yes. Yeah. Yeah, and you saw that the other night.
25:25
Like, I'll say in 2024, I voted in the primaries because I felt very strongly,
25:30
especially about certain races, governor's race.
25:32
So I did vote during that. But this year, I was like, I live in Wake County.
25:37
There's a lot of things going on in Wake County all the time.
25:40
And I was just like, I don't feel super strongly or feel super informed just
25:45
because I don't always research as early as I should.
25:49
I'll admit it That I was like I don't know If I should even vote In this one
25:53
until No and I General I mean I think that's fair My daughter called me And
25:57
she and her friends Had gone and voted For somebody that I was like Eee But
26:00
they had really Strong opinions on it They had done their research And they
26:03
really believed In what they were doing And that's great Yeah You go do you Yeah.
26:07
So let's move on to some of the other races that you identified with that were
26:12
important to state employees.
26:13
And then we'll talk a little more broadly about how this impacts state employees and retirees.
26:18
In Mecklenburg County, Reverend Rodney Sadler defeated Representative Carla
26:23
Cunningham pretty decisively in the Democratic primary.
26:26
Yeah, she had supported the Republican override of a veto on immigration and
26:32
made some comments on the floor that I think would best be described as unfortunate
26:36
because they made for a great soundbite.
26:38
And she's been in trouble ever since.
26:41
Also, Representative Majeed in Mecklenburg County lost and Representative Willingham
26:46
over in Rocky Mount lost.
26:48
And those three were part of what's called the Main Street Caucus and the Democrats
26:52
in the North Carolina House.
26:55
And with their losses and the loss of Michael Ray against Representative Rodney
27:00
Pierce, I don't think there's any members left at the Main Street Caucus after
27:05
December 31st. Tell us what the Main Street, we call them the Main Street Ds.
27:09
Tell them what the importance of them. They were a caucus that they would work
27:13
with the Republican leadership, a lot of times for better projects to go to their districts.
27:18
And they were not as socially liberal as probably the rest of the Democratic Party.
27:22
But what's fascinating about the Main Street Democrats, to me,
27:26
is they started based around fiscal issues, which they believed their districts were more aligned.
27:34
And yes, there were some social issues, but they really didn't say a lot about social issues.
27:38
This year is when it, you know, I know from Representative Cunningham when she
27:43
said something about all cultures are not the same.
27:45
You know, you just kind of knew then Ooh, okay That goes from being mainstream
27:50
Democrat To that's going to play differently with people And I think that's
27:55
what's interesting to me.
27:57
Is that that faction that had been very much based around fiscal policy just kind of changed.
28:03
Yeah, it was basically started as a small business owners caucus and then evolved into other things.
28:10
But now I don't think they'll have to put up with them after December 31st.
28:13
But that could lead to a lot of vetoes being overridden between now and December
28:18
31st, depending on how those three decide they want to vote. I would think.
28:22
And you just mentioned Representative Ray. He was facing Representative Rodney
28:27
Pierce in a rematch from 2024.
28:31
Pierce won. Yeah, the last time I think it was 34 votes. This time,
28:35
Representative Pierce won going away.
28:37
He won all three counties, including Michael Ray's home county.
28:40
So there was a big difference, big switch on the votes there.
28:43
But you said Ray was kind of a conservative Democrat, if you will,
28:46
right? Yeah, he was part of the main street caucus.
28:49
Yeah. Now, on the Republicans' side, Darren Armstrong defeated House Freedom
28:53
Caucus Chair Keith Kidwell,
28:56
which our listeners will know from the SCOGE Committee, the House Special Committee
29:01
on Government Efficiency. Oversight and Efficiency.
29:04
Was he a chair of that? He was a chair. Yes, he was a chair of the Freedom Caucus. Okay.
29:08
So, Hal, that seems like a pretty seismic loss for the Freedom Caucus.
29:13
What happens to it and just your thoughts in general? The vice chair on that
29:17
is Representative Ben Moss, and I could see Representative Moss taking that over.
29:23
I think the biggest question is how many members of that caucus are actually
29:27
Freedom Caucus members and how many of that caucus are just in there to keep eyes on the other ones.
29:34
Yeah. Isn't that true of all the caucuses? Yeah. Because at last I heard there
29:38
was like 31 or 35 members of it.
29:40
But I know Representative Kidwell had been going to run for speaker of the House
29:46
and thinking that base of the Freedom Caucus would take him to the speakership.
29:50
And that never worked out.
29:52
And evidently it didn't work out in his primary. Yeah.
29:56
What are your thoughts on it, Artis? You seem like you have some opinions.
30:00
Oh, I mean, it makes me question something.
30:02
Because Representative Kidwell's been very, very outspoken and upfront that
30:06
his belief is government needs to run like a business.
30:10
And his idea of that, in some cases, pretty clearly means he is looking to have
30:15
more cuts happen in government.
30:17
I'm really wondering. I have no idea. This may have had literally nothing to
30:20
do with it. But it makes me wonder.
30:23
So is that a, you know, that's an old-timey popular thing to say,
30:27
run government like a business.
30:28
I think he may have hit on something, Artis, that a lot of Republicans have
30:32
not realized yet, that the rhetoric
30:34
of the Republican Party from the 80s does not sell 40 years later.
30:40
And I mean, I think neither party gets it that what we talked about earlier,
30:44
young people don't trust either party.
30:46
But I'm genuinely of the belief that neither party fully gets that or accepts
30:50
that. You're exactly right, because a lot of times they get bogged down in specialized issues.
30:57
And I'll say for a moment that those of Sam's generation, they don't have the
31:02
luxury of being concerned about some of those things because they have to be
31:05
concerned about their grocery bill, where they're getting their health care
31:09
from, how they're going to pay the energy bill since it's gone up.
31:12
So if you can't focus on that, I don't think you're going to get a lot of working
31:16
people and a lot of young people.
31:18
And that's why I think not having a budget really, really didn't help some of these people.
31:23
Yeah, I've heard more on this budget not being passed by our members and by
31:28
other people that I'm around than I ever have any other budget that's been passed.
31:33
People are like, why can't you do your job? I have to go do my job. Why can't you do yours?
31:38
So he, I was just looking at his district here. He's from down near the. Beaufort.
31:43
Yeah. Yeah. Okay. It's actually originally from New Jersey.
31:46
Yeah. I saw that too. And that became part of his campaign, too,
31:50
was that he's not one of us.
31:52
It doesn't matter where you live or what college you go to, you'll always find
31:55
someone from New Jersey.
31:58
And his opponent is a farmer, correct? Yeah.
32:02
And I mean, who feels more left out than farmers except, you know,
32:05
state employees who would hold their hand?
32:07
It was a big win for Agricultural Commissioner Steve Troxler because he went
32:11
down there for the kickoff for Darren Armstrong's campaign.
32:15
He was the keynote speaker, and he helped raise money for him,
32:18
along with Representative Jimmy Dixon from Duplin County, who's the ag chair in the house.
32:23
Jimmy Dixon had the kind of most famous ad. Where's the mate?
32:27
Yes. Where's the mate, yes.
32:29
So, yeah, Darren Armstrong, what do we know about him? Have you met him or anything?
32:35
I have become Facebook friends with him. That's all I can tell you.
32:38
Yeah, so I can stalk him for the campaign.
32:41
So you said he's a farmer, though. So you were just mentioning Jimmy Dixon.
32:45
I thought his whole situation with his election was interesting in that he was facing a woman.
32:52
Husband and wife. Not a woman. No, I mean, he was facing.
32:55
John's like, that was interesting. It was a husband and wife team that were runners.
32:59
Husband was running against Senator Britton Jackson. The wife was running against
33:02
Representative Jimmy Dixon, yes. Okay. They had a plan.
33:05
In fact, the husband has been on, was a cast member of one of the Netflix shows.
33:09
I can't remember which one. Oh.
33:12
Outer Banks? No, it wasn't anything that famous. Stranger Things?
33:15
It wasn't anything that famous. Now you're speaking Sam's language. Yeah, oh, Netflix.
33:21
But it's a little tough to be from California and move into Duplin County,
33:25
and in three years you're going to take on Brent Jackson and Jimmy Dixon. Yeah.
33:30
When ag is such a big part of Duplin County. Well, and they've been— Those are
33:33
the two ag chairs, one in the Senate, one in the House.
33:36
Forever. And did Troxler speak out in that one?
33:39
I'm sure he didn't have to. Because I'm telling you, if Steve Troxler speaks, I mean, people listen.
33:45
He is the kingmaker. He is. He's the goat.
33:48
Mad respect. Mad. And I knew Representative Kidwell was in trouble when he was
33:53
criticizing Steve Troxler.
33:55
And I thought, that's not going to work well. One of the few people I knew before
33:59
I started working here because I was in FFA in high school. And so we'd go to
34:03
state conventions and stuff, come to Raleigh for that.
34:05
We'd always hear his name. Knew a good one.
34:08
We need more farmers running for office. I love them,
34:12
But I digress. I was going to say that's a whole other conversation.
34:16
So other races that you cited, we've already talked about Reese Pirtle,
34:21
but Representative Kelly Hastings and Mark Pless also lost there.
34:25
If I was going to classify one that upset, I would say the Hastings one was
34:29
not one that many people saw coming, I don't think.
34:32
I had put it on my pre-primary list as one to watch.
34:36
But it was, again, it's one of those things at some point, as you know,
34:40
I wrote in paper about what to watch in the primaries.
34:42
At some point, as you get older, you're more susceptible to a younger person
34:46
coming on the ballot and beating you.
34:48
And that's the only thing I can really think of in Representative Hastings' case.
34:52
There's no scandal about him. There's no rhino charges or anything like that.
34:56
It was just a young lady that came in.
34:59
She's a recent graduate of the pharmacy school. And she was like,
35:02
we've got to do something to keep family pharmacy businesses together.
35:06
In fact, she testified in front of state health lab. Yeah, she did.
35:08
So, it'll be interesting to see how her voice is in the House.
35:12
And Reverend Hastings, I have to say, he was very gracious in this statement congratulating her.
35:17
Well, he's a gentleman. He is. He is. And interesting, too, though,
35:20
he had decided not to run. Yeah. And then decided he would run.
35:24
So, Caroline Eason is her name?
35:27
Yes. Yeah. And I guess we've met her right from the state health plan.
35:31
Just briefly. I mean, we watched her speak, but not really met her.
35:36
Where is that district? Gaston County is this, right? Terrible up around that area. Okay.
35:41
Any other races that you think we need to talk about in the legislature?
35:45
Well, the Mark Pless race, I don't think it was on a lot of radars,
35:49
but I knew that he had some opposition because local governments in his district
35:55
were upset because he would run bills without consulting them about local matters,
35:59
such as making the school board a partisan race and doing away with the tourist
36:04
tax in Haywood County, I think it was, and he didn't consult them.
36:07
And he sort of had a my way or the highway manner about him,
36:11
is my understanding from some of the people in that area.
36:13
And Jimmy Rogers was on the school board. In fact, I think he may have been
36:17
the chair of the school board.
36:18
And they decided to run against him, and he defeated him.
36:21
Jimmy Rogers is his name? Yeah. Like the country singer? I think that helped.
36:26
Yeah, it probably would, right? My dad would vote for it. The former.
36:29
Wasn't Jimmy Rogers a governor of Tennessee, the one that wrote,
36:32
You Are My Sunshine? Yeah.
36:33
I don't know if he was a governor, but I know he was a singer. Yeah, Jimmy Rogers.
36:37
I do want to touch on briefly the federal races in North Carolina,
36:41
specifically the Valerie Fushee race against Nita Alam in the Durham area.
36:47
It seemed like it was going to be closer than it was to me. You got any thoughts on that?
36:52
Fushee did a good job of getting it back in her court. Yeah, back in her court.
36:58
I think especially about the time Bernie Sanders came was probably when she
37:02
was at the lowest, but she ran the steady race and she got it.
37:05
But I can't be very impartial on that one because Fushy was in the state house and the state senate.
37:11
And she's been a longtime friend of Scenics. And on top of that...
37:16
Me being retired from the Department of Correction and her being a former jailer
37:19
at the county level, we automatically had a connection. Yeah.
37:23
She's a very nice lady. I know that. She's been to our convention a few times. I've seen her there.
37:28
And so Nita Alam is a young county commissioner.
37:32
Yeah. I think we'll probably see more of her in the future.
37:36
Well, the only problem is it's the second time she's lost in the primary to FUSHI.
37:40
Okay. So that cannot be a negative. But she is very young. And I think she probably
37:44
gained a lot of points just by conceding the race and not going through recounts and lawsuits.
37:49
And, of course, the lawyers may be upset with her now because of some money.
37:55
I mean, it was one of the many races around the country where APAC became a central theme.
38:01
And, you know, the congresswoman had accepted money from APAC,
38:05
and then she renounced the money from APAC. And that's sort of the problem with a lot of the races.
38:10
People say, well, they accepted support from this PAC or that PAC.
38:12
And you can't refuse it because you can't coordinate with it.
38:17
So, yeah, we see that a lot in the legislative races.
38:21
Well, he got mailers sent by such and such groups. She had them from another
38:25
group. Well, they're packs.
38:27
A lot of times they're out-of-state packs, but the candidate doesn't even know
38:29
they're coming until they see them in the mailbox.
38:31
I mean, even there was one race that we were involved in that was like,
38:35
look, the state of the liberal union is backing my opponent,
38:40
you know. Yeah, the candidate's like, knock it off.
38:43
So, yeah. Listen, John, I said something dreadfully inaccurate that I feel a
38:49
pressing need to correct. Okay, go ahead.
38:51
Most important thing we talked about this whole time. It wasn't Jimmy Rogers,
38:54
it was governor of Tennessee. Jimmy Davis. It was Jimmy Davis.
38:56
He is the one that wrote, You Are My Sunshine.
38:59
Jimmy Rogers was such a legend, and especially...
39:02
For people. You got your jimmies. I got my jimmies. That was unforgiving. So many jimmies. Yeah.
39:08
Well, whatever. Back to politics. Yeah. So in the Senate races,
39:12
the two primaries for the U.S.
39:14
Senate, there didn't seem to be any surprises, anything to say about that really,
39:19
except we're on to the main event.
39:21
Yeah. Main event. How did Don Brown do? I think he was probably the primary challenger to Watley.
39:28
Probably about like everyone expected. Okay. I'd said that Watley should receive
39:32
about 65% in that primary, and I think he came in at 64.
39:36
Yeah. So close to expectations. I think what the Republicans have to be aware
39:41
of is that in a semi-crowded field on the Democratic primary,
39:46
even though no one was campaigning but former Governor Cooper,
39:49
Cooper still got 92% of the vote. And the turnout was much higher. Yes.
39:53
So you got an enthusiasm advantage right now to Cooper.
39:58
The Republicans will have to get their enthusiasm for Whatley.
40:01
A long time to November, but they've got some work to do to do away with those negatives.
40:06
I mean, you get 92 percent, I think there's, what, seven other people in the. Yeah.
40:11
So I have a wild suggestion or maybe not a suggestion, but just a thought.
40:15
You know, Senator Tillis has been very outspoken in recent weeks.
40:19
I guess it may be too late for him to run as an independent, right? Yes.
40:24
OK, I think that would be crazy. I think that would just be like,
40:27
anyway, I do. Well, I mean, it brings up a whole issue, though.
40:31
Senator Tillis was one of the people who ushered the Republicans into power
40:34
in the legislature after well over 100 and maybe 130 years of Democrats controlling
40:41
Senate in the House, unchecked.
40:43
And Tim Moore and Tom Tillis.
40:46
Pretty much did that and took over. And Tom Tillis found himself years later a U.S.
40:53
Senator who got abandoned by his party.
40:56
I'm wondering if there's any buyer's remorse. I mean, what do you think?
40:59
I think Senator Tillis did a great job as Speaker of the House controlling his
41:03
caucus. It could have been a lot worse than it was.
41:06
And I think we all said that when
41:08
he left, we'd be lucky if anybody could control him as well as he did.
41:12
And Speaker Moore was pretty much as good as Speaker Tillis.
41:15
And Speaker Hall seems to be doing a really good job with this guy.
41:18
And so I think they have a good tradition of speakers so far,
41:22
and that started with Tom Tillis.
41:24
I think it would just be very interesting to see where Tom Tillis is in 2028
41:27
and 2030. I think they're going to want him back.
41:30
I think they're going to wish he was on the ballot. I just think it was an interesting choice to me.
41:35
Well, he is. I mean, he's stirred up, you know, commentary for sure here.
41:40
I mean, he knows how to do politics. He does.
41:43
As my friends, Brian and Skysel. Let me throw out a wild question.
41:46
Well, here's the thing to remember on Tom Tillis.
41:49
He has been a speaker at the No Labels Party convention, too.
41:53
Oh, that's right. So that's the third party.
41:56
So, you know, I know Pat McCrory had brief flirtation with him,
41:59
but is Tom Tillis in that for the long haul?
42:02
Something to watch for. Would Tom Tillis have a better chance against Cooper than Wiley?
42:08
Yes. Oh, it would be. Yeah, that would be a nail-biter. Yeah, I think so, too.
42:13
Because they both are really, really gifted politicians. Yes. Yeah.
42:18
And I say that not in a pejorative way. I mean, they really know how to speak to people.
42:23
And well-known. Yeah. And neither one of them has ever lost an election. Yeah.
42:27
You can't argue with that. That was like the main event we didn't get, right? Yep.
42:32
And honestly, neither one is kind of attached in people's minds with anyone else.
42:36
They are really their own person with everybody. I do think Watley has an uphill
42:40
climb in terms of with the independents or the unaffiliated,
42:44
whatever we want to call them today.
42:46
Because in so many people's minds, the only thing they really know of him is Trump. Yeah.
42:52
And that can be great for him with some voters, and it can be challenging.
42:57
Kind of comes back to what we just talked about. It would be great for him in
43:00
a primary, but not great in general.
43:02
And also, we talked about there's an anti-incumbent mentality right now.
43:08
So anyway, that was my side on the federal races. Like I said,
43:11
we don't really get into those. It'll be interesting to see if the anti-incumbency
43:15
movement lasts until November.
43:17
Yeah, thank heavens we have more than we can say grace over to deal with just
43:21
at the state level because, you know, it is going to be an interesting short session. Yes.
43:28
Yeah. You know, I'm hoping everybody realizes they need to get to working.
43:31
I think that's why we need to kind of wrap up with just how are the results
43:36
of these races in the primary affect state employee and retiree raises and colas
43:43
in the short session and then beyond?
43:46
I think it'll be interesting to see because some of the people that won't be
43:50
coming back next session, I don't know, you know, those Main Street D's thing.
43:55
Is it going to be chaos? Well.
43:57
There's always a possibility of chaos on Jones Street. I was going to say, when is it not?
44:02
You can look around that building and find chaos at any given moment.
44:06
So let's say, like, if Berger loses, is it going to be pure chaos?
44:10
Oh. Because you've already said it's going to be a lot of jockeying for position,
44:13
right? I mean, I think we're still going to see that even if he wins.
44:16
There's going to be shift, you know, in the power structure.
44:20
I mean, the soul of the Senate will be defined by whoever would win that power struggle.
44:25
Their ideology would be the future. Do you think we'll get a budget in the short session still?
44:32
I think we'll get at least one budget in the short session. Yeah.
44:35
Okay. It depends on who you talk to. I mean, it depends on who you ask on what day.
44:40
If I'm advising it, if I'm a political advisor for anybody in the House or Senate,
44:44
You dadgum Skippy better get a budget done.
44:47
And I mean, a good one. Yeah, and it better be big. Figure it out.
44:50
I mean, because. It just seems so crazy that they wouldn't with the general coming.
44:55
Yeah, with the general election, I think they have to do a budget.
44:58
That may not start until July 1st. And so that means that the last year has
45:02
just magically disappeared.
45:05
Yeah. But I think they're going to have to have one. And I think the biggest
45:09
thing to watch for on the budget is if there are raises for employees,
45:14
If there's colas or bonuses for the retirees, don't just think,
45:19
oh, we got a 5% raise.
45:22
No, you actually got two and a half and two and a half because this is going
45:25
to be for the last two years since you didn't get anything.
45:27
Don't fall for the tricks. And I think politics, as usual, might be over.
45:31
I don't know what they'll do exactly, but this whole it's an election year,
45:35
here's one or two percent. It just seems like the public has shifted. Yeah.
45:40
And state employee issues are kind of caught up in that to where I don't think
45:43
it's flying anymore because state employee jobs are not just something to give to somebody.
45:49
They're providing the services people pay for.
45:53
And I think people inherently know their state doesn't look like it used to
45:58
in terms of services, roads, universities, none of it.
46:03
I mean, we pounded for years on that drum for DMV, and now that something finally
46:09
has happened, you know, that looks different.
46:10
But that's the level of services.
46:13
I mean, businesses are not going to want to come here.
46:16
If you're not providing good services, and DMV was a perfect example.
46:20
I had someone call me last night.
46:22
They just got off at the prison, got over 200 inmates at the prison,
46:26
and they've had to shut some buildings down.
46:28
But yesterday, they had one lieutenant and three sergeants working.
46:31
They had no correctional laws. That's crazy.
46:33
And even if you go to the private sector, being number one for business doesn't
46:38
seem to be translating into number one for people in terms of their jobs.
46:42
Like, it doesn't look like North Carolinians are higher on the hog because of
46:47
these couple years we've been number one for business. Yeah, people are struggling.
46:51
Yeah, so it's an odd thing. But people feel that, I think, that it doesn't make sense.
46:57
So when you put that sentiment of anti-incumbent and the kind of change that
47:04
you were just talking about with people realizing they need state government,
47:09
they need state employees,
47:10
and the vacancy issues, what does that mean for, you know,
47:15
things like the doge effort or the scoge effort? Oh, I don't think that's working.
47:19
I mean, if I was outside of scenic, literally, if I was a political advisor
47:24
for those folks, that mess isn't playing right now.
47:27
What about the Dave Act and the, you know, the lapse salary survey?
47:32
I don't think that even played in committee.
47:35
I don't think the average North Carolina right now has the luxury of worrying
47:39
about vacant positions.
47:41
They're too concerned with how can I pay for groceries?
47:45
How can I pay for health care? How can I pay for that light?
47:49
They're not taking the bait.
47:51
People are not taking the bait that it's state employees that are reason they're not living better.
47:56
Yeah, they actually realize that they need those states. They know it's the gazillionaires.
48:02
Yeah. That can get free private school tuition or not free, but partially free
48:06
private school tuition.
48:08
It is not the DOT worker. Yeah. That is keeping them from living high on the hog.
48:14
They ain't buying it. That's it. Well, good episode, you guys.
48:18
We'll be sure to come back together, I guess, around September to talk about the general election.
48:23
We'll give you, but you can come back anytime. I'm not saying you can't, Flint.
48:28
But I think we need to do this again around when the general starts heating
48:32
up, just kind of as a primer.
48:34
I wanted you briefly to talk about, oh, you can take as long as you want to, actually.
48:39
Suzanne, talk about the lobby day we have. Yeah, I was just going to say,
48:42
let's put a plug in for a lobby day. May 6th, Scenic is going to have a Lobby Day.
48:47
Please go to our website and register to be part of that. Come and join us.
48:52
You know, your voice is the most powerful tool that we have when we're advocating.
48:57
And there's, you know, Scenic is not just this team sitting at this table. Scenic is every member.
49:02
So, you know, help us have a good turnout. Come and talk to your lawmakers.
49:06
Tell them your stories. You know, they need to hear that. We'll be there to
49:09
help you get around the building, but we're looking for a pretty good turnout
49:13
that day, and hopefully it'll be pretty weather, May 6th.
49:18
Yeah, and we put a link in our weekly email, The Scoop, last week asking people
49:23
to RSVP, and it'll be in this week too.
49:25
You know, just find it and let us know you can come, and if you can't come,
49:30
you can submit a video, but we actually got pretty good response from that,
49:35
so we've gotten several people already signed up for the event.
49:38
Yeah, and I like the registration. And there's a place where you can write some
49:42
notes about what it is that's important to you.
49:44
So those have been interesting as staff to see what people are going to bring
49:48
to Lobby Day, what's at the forefront of their thinking.
49:52
Let me guess what the number one is. The pay raises, right? That and a cola. Yeah.
49:57
Hopefully we don't get threatened with cops again.
50:00
Oh, yeah. Well, and the funny thing is our lobby days, well,
50:05
we haven't done a lobby day in years that's formal like this.
50:07
But when we do have people come down, it's not one of those we're out there
50:11
with pitchforks kind of thing.
50:12
It's to seriously let constituents talk to their lawmakers and let them hear.
50:18
Because, you know, I can see if I was a lawmaker thinking, eh,
50:22
the lobbyists, we're all, you know.
50:24
Yeah, they see us all the time. You're paid voices. But to hear from their actual
50:29
constituents Yeah, let's hope It could be very exciting So please join us on May 6th.
50:36
Do you have a Gen Z moment to talk about this week? I did some research,
50:40
but there's the main thing that my generation is talking about right now.
50:43
Still Epstein-Files war. Yeah. Yeah.
50:48
Punch the monkey. What happened to Punch the monkey, by the way? He's doing better.
50:53
He has a favorite zookeeper who, if you see videos every single time,
50:56
this one zookeeper walks in, immediately jumps and clings on to him.
51:01
And I think I read that that person, too, has been working like extra hours.
51:05
Yeah. And he even he has a TikTok because it has popped up on my TikTok and
51:10
he shares information about some of the other animals.
51:13
They just recently found a baby otter that was like stranded in the middle of
51:18
nowhere. And he's now the key person for that baby otter as well,
51:23
basically, and is spending a lot of time getting him socialized.
51:26
Punch the monkey could win this U.S. Senate primary. Honestly.
51:30
He is beloved. He could. There are still people.
51:33
I mean, he's got more friends. He has a brother now, and there's videos of his
51:37
little brother or his big brother coming in and protecting him when he gets bullied.
51:41
And he basically has two moms because he's still got his orangutan.
51:44
It got super muddy one day, and they tried to give him a new stuffed orangutan.
51:50
And he was like, I don't want that one.
51:53
Don't want that one. So he still has his little orangutan with him.
51:56
But it's funny because his favorite zookeeper will come in there,
51:59
and then he'll try and get him off of him and be like, you got to stay in here.
52:02
And then they just give up and they're like, all right, we're taking you into the room with us.
52:06
So there's your warm fuzzies after a week of politics. Punch the monkey. Still cute.
52:12
Okay, question of the week. John's work.
52:22
Okay, so the question of the week, it's been kind of a strain to find one this
52:26
week. I don't know why, but it just didn't come to me right off.
52:29
But I want to know your favorite political memory activity that you've ever been involved in.
52:36
And I will start. Mine is pretty ridiculous.
52:40
I ran for vice president of a high school. I love it. When I was like,
52:44
I guess I was a junior in high school.
52:46
And I wrote my speech and it was like really negative towards them.
52:52
Towards other people and I can't believe I wrote it now looking back
52:55
and it was it was really not a good good experience
52:59
did you I did win I don't
53:01
I can't remember what I promised but it was just way out there I don't think
53:05
I don't think my frontal lobe was attached you know I was like 16 then but I
53:11
always remember that afterwards a teacher came up to me and was like very upset
53:16
She was very mad that I was talking about the other.
53:23
And that was like my first soiree into politics.
53:28
Well, I mean, everything, 24 years with Scenic now, everything in my grown-up
53:34
life basically has, you know, revolved around politics.
53:37
But at this moment, always sticks in my head former Representative Wilma Sherrill.
53:42
She passed not too long ago.
53:44
God bless her. It was my first year lobbying.
53:47
And I believe, if I remember correctly, we had endorsed her opponent. She won.
53:54
And it was one of those, you know, two o'clock in the morning,
53:57
we're still at the legislature trying to hammer out a budget.
54:00
And she was punchy. I was punchy. She yelled at me. I yelled at her.
54:05
Back in the days when it was fun Yeah, it's when you could And you'd sit down
54:09
and talk But she ended up being One of my favorite people over there And she
54:13
would tell me things She would share things with me Tell me where to go Who to talk to,
54:19
So, yeah, just a fond memory. And nowadays that would have been on Twitter like within an hour.
54:24
Scenic lobbyist fighting. It was good. It would have. And that's sad because
54:28
by the end of it, they really were.
54:31
And literally, I'm just like, leave me out of it.
54:35
Yeah. It still would have been. She was like, come get your girl.
54:39
She said, you need to control her. And I was like, yeah, well, that ain't happening.
54:43
And a lot of times there's a lobbyist people that you start out on the wrong
54:48
foot with. Do become some of your best friends over there.
54:52
She liked my spunk. What about you, Flint? You got stories. Heard some of them.
54:58
Yeah, I couldn't do several scenic ones, but probably since he just recently passed away,
55:04
when I was working in D.C., Jesse Jackson was at the reception,
55:09
and he was with a group that I knew, and he came up to me, and I introduced myself.
55:15
He said, I understand you do great impressions of me and Bill Clinton.
55:19
Which one are you going to do tonight?
55:22
Now you know you've got to do one. Don't do Jesse.
55:26
Well, I just looked at him and I said, well, Jesse, I know Hillary's going to
55:31
hate that she couldn't be here tonight.
55:37
Oh, goodness. Bill, by the way.
55:43
At the uh the hearing he had last week he was a he was a rock star still you
55:49
know yeah he held the crowd even at that but well i used to have real fun with
55:54
the scenic hotline because,
55:56
well you nobody was listening anyway because i don't think anybody ever called
55:59
it but i have done scenic hotlines before one time i did a bill clinton one
56:04
one time i did a jesse jackson one One time I did a Tony Rand.
56:08
Nice. I mean, look, we've used the lyrics from Prince songs when talking to people. It's, you know.
56:16
It's all what you make it. All right. Who wants to go next? One of y'all.
56:19
I don't really have one. I've only been in politics for, what,
56:23
three years, four years? Going on four?
56:26
Well, maybe yours is the time you
56:28
got the police caught on you at the legislature. Yeah. That would be one.
56:35
Go back to Artis. She's got more things to choose from. I mean,
56:38
I can't think of just one story. There's been so much. There's so many.
56:42
Goodness. I do think one of the moments that stuck with me is profound.
56:46
Was when Linda Coleman, who was a scenic hero, she was in the House.
56:51
She stood up to the Democrats were in charge of the House. And so she was a freshman.
56:57
And she stood up to the Democratic leadership and said, the budget does not
57:01
do right by state employees and retirees. My district has a lot of them.
57:05
And I'm standing up for the people in my district. She held up the whole budget. She did.
57:09
And, man, she was beaten up over that, not physically, But, you know,
57:14
like verbally beaten up over that.
57:16
We were verbally beaten up over that because they said, I won't say who.
57:21
He's not alive anymore, so it's fine. But still, somebody super powerful at
57:27
the time said, you need to release Linda Coleman to vote for the budget. and I started laughing.
57:32
I'm like, we don't, quote, have Linda Coleman.
57:36
The problem for you is you don't either. Her voters have her.
57:40
Her constituents have her.
57:42
But I remember being struck by just how.
57:45
Committed. Honestly, her husband was alive at the time, and she said,
57:50
I would rather go home and spend time with my husband than I would sit in this
57:55
chair and not stand for anything on issues.
57:57
And I just thought I had never seen it before. She was so genuine.
58:01
So to this day, you know, I will always have love for Linda Coleman.
58:05
The one I was considering talking about actually involves her,
58:09
too, because when I first came to work at scenic
58:12
you know and that didn't really work in politics i
58:15
was a journalist on the other side but the first time
58:18
i ever really worked in politics was on her campaign when when i think it was
58:22
2012 and it was the one with the recount yeah oh 2012 well they didn't end up
58:29
she ended up she didn't ask they did not now remember five and a half million
58:34
votes were cast in that particular election for lieutenant governor.
58:38
She lost by less than 10,000. So people were pushing her with full force. You need to make sure.
58:46
I mean, when it's just, it's less than 10,000 out of five and a half million
58:49
votes, you got to make sure.
58:52
But she said she really felt like it was time to move on and not cause any more
58:57
consternation or fracturing.
58:59
That also was really, I mean, I just think she's a standup person. She is. Don't say that.
59:04
Well, that's where we'll leave
59:05
it. And enjoy the rest of your week and be sure to come out on May 6th.