Latest / Brian Thomas / Keith Faber wants your vote for Ohio AG

Transcript

Keith Faber wants your vote for Ohio AG · Brian Thomas

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  Speaker 1: It's 7.06 on a Monday, tomorrow's election day, if you
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  Speaker 1: haven't gotten the word. And I encourage my listeners to
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  Speaker 1: get out and vote. And, of course, one of the
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  Speaker 1: races you've got to vote for is Ohio Attorney General. Currently,
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  Speaker 1: Ohio Auditor of State Keith Faber running for that position.
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  Speaker 1: He is demonstrably better qualified for the role. Welcome back
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  Speaker 1: to the 55 KRC Morning Show. Keith Faber, it's a
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  Speaker 1: pleasure to have you on today, sir.
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  Speaker 2: Happy to be here.
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  Speaker 1: How's the race going for you? You've been out there
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  Speaker 1: shaking hands, talking to people, and getting the word out.
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  Speaker 1: What is your reaction among the crowds and the folks?
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  Speaker 2: What are you hearing, sir? We're seeing energy and excitement.
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  Speaker 3: We just are wrapping up today the last day of
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  Speaker 3: an 11-day bus tour where we've gotten in front of
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  Speaker 3: probably close to 15,000 people on the bus tour, and
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  Speaker 3: energy has been growing and been electric. Last night we
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  Speaker 3: ended with a rally in Youngstown. and the crowd tore
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  Speaker 3: the roof off the place. It's been really good. I
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  Speaker 3: think Ohioans want to see people who know how to
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  Speaker 3: do the jobs that they're running for. And as Attorney General,
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  Speaker 3: it's a complex state organization, 1,600 employees. You do a
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  Speaker 3: lot of things for Ohio, like back the police and
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  Speaker 3: support law enforcement and prosecutors. You need somebody who's actually
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  Speaker 3: done that job and a state auditor. Even my opponents
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  Speaker 3: had to concede that I've done a good job as
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  Speaker 3: state auditor.
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  Speaker 2: You know, we convicted, helped to convict more.
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  Speaker 3: Than 172 public officials and politicians who were stealing tax dollars.
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  Speaker 3: We've identified $ 12 billion of waste, fraud and abuse and
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  Speaker 3: found hundreds of millions of dollars of efficiency savings.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I'm glad your opposition concedes you're a better candidate.
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  Speaker 1: I said that on the way in, you know, demonstrably
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  Speaker 1: better in terms of what qualifies you to be attorney general.
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  Speaker 1: You've actually engaged in these cases. And I know we've
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  Speaker 1: got a huge fraud problem in the state of Ohio,
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  Speaker 1: and you have been on that and appreciate your efforts
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  Speaker 1: in that regard. And you promise as AG for the
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  Speaker 1: state of Ohio you will continue those efforts. This is
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  Speaker 1: our money being stolen, wasted, or otherwise abused. And I'm sorry,
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  Speaker 1: this sounds like a very bipartisan issue to get on
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  Speaker 1: top of.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it should be. It should be.
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  Speaker 3: You know, my opponent went out and said, and again,
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  Speaker 3: I'm not necessarily running against my opponent. I'm running for
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  Speaker 3: the job as attorney general. But he goes out and says, well,
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  Speaker 3: if there's fraud, it's not that big a deal, and
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  Speaker 3: we'll certainly.
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  Speaker 2: Deal with it.
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  Speaker 3: Look, anybody who's been awake can certainly determine that there's
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  Speaker 3: been fraud out there. We've identified fraud in almost every
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  Speaker 3: single government program, and there are 172 guys sitting in
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  Speaker 3: prison or who have been in prison since I've been
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  Speaker 3: auditor that understand we take this kind of stuff very seriously.
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  Speaker 1: Glad someone does. We've got a real problem with crime
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  Speaker 1: here in the greater Cincinnati area, even though our current
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  Speaker 1: mayor and city manager don't want to acknowledge it. Had
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  Speaker 1: some real serious issues over the weekend in downtown Cincinnati.
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  Speaker 1: What is your strategy for addressing violent crime and repeat
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  Speaker 1: offenders in Ohio?
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  Speaker 3: Well, the first thing you got to do is get
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  Speaker 3: the legislature to increase these penalties and stop this slap
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  Speaker 3: on the hands. You remember I helped lead with Joe
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  Speaker 3: Dieters at the time, the effort around Ohio to require
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  Speaker 3: judges to consider public safety when they're considering bail. The
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  Speaker 3: courts and the judges had basically said they don't have
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  Speaker 3: to consider and shouldn't consider public safety when considering bail.
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  Speaker 3: The voters in Ohio said that's crazy. And we passed
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  Speaker 3: a constitutional amendment that now says they have to. The
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  Speaker 3: second part of that is, candidly, as attorney general, you
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  Speaker 3: run the Organized Crime Task Force. You run a number
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  Speaker 3: of other operations to support prosecutors and police. And a
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  Speaker 3: lot of this is becoming a multi-jurisdictional thing. I mean,
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  Speaker 3: certainly you've got cities like Cincinnati and Hamilton County. that
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  Speaker 3: are soft on crime, but Warren County isn't. And where
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  Speaker 3: you've got multiple jurisdiction violations, you need to frankly put
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  Speaker 3: the people in trial in the counties where they're going
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  Speaker 3: to be held responsible. I wish as Attorney General I
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  Speaker 3: had the jurisdiction that some states have to sack prosecutors.
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  Speaker 2: Who won't do their job.
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  Speaker 3: But in Ohio, the attorney general doesn't have that authority,
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  Speaker 3: but the legislature does. And that's a conversation for our
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  Speaker 3: legislators that I'm happy to lead the bully pulpit on.
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  Speaker 1: Well, and I've been pleading with my listeners to ignore
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  Speaker 1: partisan politics and vote for the conservative jurists who are
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  Speaker 1: running for election here in the city of Cincinnati, because
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  Speaker 1: Hamilton County is not tough on crime. I guess it
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  Speaker 1: was Marcy's law you referenced there about taking the victim's
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  Speaker 1: and the public safety into account when determining bond and sentencing,
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  Speaker 1: the judges just ignore the law, apparently. They really do
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  Speaker 1: not seem to care, most notably in the juvenile court, sir.
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  Speaker 1: And I'm not quite sure there's anything that we, as
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  Speaker 1: the public, can do except vote for different judges. As
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  Speaker 1: Attorney General, do you have any control over this obligation
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  Speaker 1: to take the public and the victims' rights into consideration, sir?
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  Speaker 3: Well, certainly you can file actions on behalf of the
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  Speaker 3: victims and help with that. But no, I mean, the
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  Speaker 3: short answer is, as attorney general, I wish I had
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  Speaker 3: that kind of.
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  Speaker 2: Power over judges.
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  Speaker 3: But ultimately, the judge's answer to the Supreme Court and
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  Speaker 3: the answer to the voters. And that's one of those
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  Speaker 3: issues that even the Supreme Court has some limited authority.
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  Speaker 3: They can overrule them, and then they can sanction judges
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  Speaker 3: who aren't doing their job. But it's one of those
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  Speaker 3: things that you really do have to be careful who
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  Speaker 3: you vote for. And actually, the reference I was making
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  Speaker 3: is the bond law, not Marcy's law. Marcy's law is great.
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  Speaker 3: We passed that as well when I was in the legislature.
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  Speaker 3: It's the constitutional amendment. I mean, it passed and voters
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  Speaker 3: voted on it and put it in the constitution 70-30.
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  Speaker 3: And so it's pretty clear voters think that judges ought
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  Speaker 3: to consider public safety when they're granting bond. And so
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  Speaker 3: that's a big part of the discussion. And that's why,
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  Speaker 3: you know, look who's endorsed who in this case. I
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  Speaker 3: am honored to be endorsed by 87% of Ohio County prosecutors.
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  Speaker 2: I'm honored to have all of the law.
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  Speaker 3: Enforcement endorsements for the people who endorsed in this race,
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  Speaker 3: including for the first time in 20 years, the state
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  Speaker 3: FOP endorsed a Republican. I've been endorsed by all of
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  Speaker 3: the police groups and over half of the county prosecutors.
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  Speaker 3: That's because they know, especially in counties where law and
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  Speaker 3: order matters, they know you need an attorney general who's
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  Speaker 3: actually prosecuted criminal cases and understands the difference between a
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  Speaker 3: civil case and.
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  Speaker 2: A criminal case.
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  Speaker 1: Well, we have a gubernatorial race we're keeping track of
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  Speaker 1: here as well, and Vivek Ramaswamy has promised to end
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  Speaker 1: sanctuary cities in the state of Ohio. Obviously, we have
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  Speaker 1: some illegal immigration problem. You've expressed support and cooperation between
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  Speaker 1: local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities in the past.
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  Speaker 1: What specific policies would you as Attorney General pursue, Keith Faber?
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  Speaker 3: Well, the first thing to know is to recognize that
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  Speaker 3: we're a border state. Yes, other than Canada, we're really
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  Speaker 3: not on the southern border, but we are a border state.
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  Speaker 3: When Biden opened the floodgates and allowed 15 to 20
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  Speaker 3: million people to come into this without vetting, without backgrounds,
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  Speaker 3: we know that they're in our communities and we know
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  Speaker 3: that they're causing problems, heck, in a nine-day span. Three
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  Speaker 3: Ohioans were killed by illegal aliens just on our roadways
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  Speaker 3: in Ohio.
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  Speaker 2: And so we know this is a problem.
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  Speaker 3: I took a group of prosecutors and sheriffs down to
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  Speaker 3: the border where I saw the human trafficking problem firsthand,
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  Speaker 3: and we saw the fentanyl problem.
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  Speaker 2: And so those are the kind of things you do.
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  Speaker 3: You operate the Human Trafficking Task Force, you operate the
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  Speaker 3: Organized Crime Task Force, and you operate the ability to
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  Speaker 3: go out and support prosecutors and law enforcement, heck, even
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  Speaker 3: a state auditor. I am backing up local law enforcement
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  Speaker 3: on forensic audits and financial crime issues where they're trying
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  Speaker 3: to run to ground some of this cartel issue. Make
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  Speaker 3: no mistake, this illegal alien problem that you have is
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  Speaker 3: also a cartel problem. The Mexican cartels owned the border,
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  Speaker 3: and anybody who crossed that border had a tie to
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  Speaker 3: the cartels.
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  Speaker 2: They either had to pay them or they were affiliated
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  Speaker 2: with them.
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  Speaker 3: And that has brought extra crime into Ohio, whether it's
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  Speaker 3: auto theft, whether it's organized retail crime, or whether it's
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  Speaker 3: just the organized looting of our social service programs.
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  Speaker 1: Well, and finally, and I'm going to recommend my listeners,
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  Speaker 1: KeithFaber.org is the website for your campaign, KeithFaber.org. One of
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  Speaker 1: the things you have some say over apparently in connection
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  Speaker 1: with health care denials, and it's one thing that there
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  Speaker 1: is a problem out there. People get a denial, and
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  Speaker 1: you're interested in helping those folks resolve health insurance denials.
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  Speaker 1: So how would you go about doing that, and why
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  Speaker 1: is it a good thing?
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  Speaker 2: Great question. Thanks for asking it.
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  Speaker 3: What we see right now, unfortunately, is big health insurance
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  Speaker 3: companies have adopted in far too many cases a practice
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  Speaker 3: where they're denying otherwise valid health insurance claims. And they're
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  Speaker 3: using excuses like unnecessary and other things that are ambiguous.
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  Speaker 3: I'm hearing from doctors and hospitals that upwards of 25%
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  Speaker 3: of all valid claims.
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  Speaker 2: Are are now being initially denied.
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  Speaker 3: And what that does is it puts the consumer, Bob
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  Speaker 3: and Betty Buckeye, through insurance claims hell. And to go
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  Speaker 3: through those processes, if you go all the way through
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  Speaker 3: their process, through the first level appeal, which they almost
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  Speaker 3: always deny, the second level appeal, which they still deny,
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  Speaker 3: and then the third level appeal, they usually grant, over 90%
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  Speaker 3: of those people who stay vigilant and keep active on
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  Speaker 3: their claims ultimately get their claim paid. And that's not
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  Speaker 3: my number. That's from the providers in Ohio. And so
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  Speaker 3: this is a problem. So if big insurance companies are
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  Speaker 3: trying to manipulate people by putting them through this unnecessary process,
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  Speaker 3: the attorney general's office has the ability to crack down
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  Speaker 3: on them under your consumer protection standards. So what we're
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  Speaker 3: going to do is go after the carriers who are
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  Speaker 3: doing that as a business practice. But more importantly, we're
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  Speaker 3: going to have a unit that helps Ohioans through that
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  Speaker 3: claim process. Most Ohioans don't even know how to go
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  Speaker 3: through the campaign process, and that's something the Attorney General's
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  Speaker 3: Office can educate and help them do. My opponent laughs
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  Speaker 3: and says, oh, that's unnecessary. The Insurance Department does that already. Well,
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  Speaker 3: I was in the legislature for 18 years, and if
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  Speaker 3: the Insurance Department could have done that effect, they certainly
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  Speaker 3: would have done it. And we wouldn't be having the
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  Speaker 3: problems we're having now. But we handled far too many
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  Speaker 3: insurance constituent cases. And it was amazing. And almost every
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  Speaker 3: constituent case my office handled where we get somebody saying, hey,
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  Speaker 3: They pre-approved my hip replacement, only to deny me after
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  Speaker 3: the surgery, and now I've got a $ 138, 000 bill.
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  Speaker 2: What gives?
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  Speaker 3: And when we would call the insurance company, invariably we
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  Speaker 3: would hear back after a constituent inquiry. They would come
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  Speaker 3: back and say, oh, well, we don't know why that
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  Speaker 3: was denied. That should have been paid. I don't think
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  Speaker 3: they were doing it just because you called your state senator.
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  Speaker 3: I think they were doing it because that's their business practice.
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  Speaker 3: And when somebody pushes back, they don't have a leg
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  Speaker 3: to stand on. They ultimately pay it. But that's something
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  Speaker 3: consumers shouldn't have to put up with. And when I'm
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  Speaker 3: attorney general, hopefully they won't.
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  Speaker 1: Two words come to mind when you say that, Mr. Faber.
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  Speaker 1: It's bad faith. Maybe it's a policy driven around bad faith.
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  Speaker 3: I don't know.
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  Speaker 1: Just having practiced law in the medical insurance area, I
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  Speaker 1: know that's an issue.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, look, I practice insurance law as well for a while,
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  Speaker 3: and it's difficult to prove a bad faith, but the
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  Speaker 3: attorney general has extra tools.
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  Speaker 2: And we don't necessarily have to use bad faith.
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  Speaker 3: I'm pretty sure we can get the legislature to give
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  Speaker 3: us some extra consumer protection and let us go file
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  Speaker 3: the lawsuits in federal court and do them as class
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  Speaker 3: actions or do them as groups. And let us pay
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  Speaker 3: for that. Let the taxpayers say, you're not going to
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  Speaker 3: rip Ohioans off.
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  Speaker 1: Well, and the looming threat of potential prosecution does cause
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  Speaker 1: corrective behavior, if I might observe. KeithFaber.org. Vote for him
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  Speaker 1: for Ohio Attorney General.