Latest / Chuck Douglas / Candidate For State Senate Don Roberts in Studio Part 1

Transcript

Candidate For State Senate Don Roberts in Studio Part 1 · Chuck Douglas

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  Speaker 1: Greetings, salutations. Welcome, my friends, to another edition of the
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  Speaker 1: Power Hour on 610 WTVN. I'm Chuck Douglas. You know
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  Speaker 1: who you are, and we take it from there. We
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  Speaker 1: get one hour together, which means I talk really fast
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  Speaker 1: and you must listen even faster. The number is 821-9886-821-WTVN
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  Speaker 1: or 1-800-610-WTVN. And as the election is around the corner,
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  Speaker 1: it is time to start getting the candidates in the studio.
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  Speaker 1: This hour is being spent with a candidate for the
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  Speaker 1: Ohio Senate in the 25th District. I know well because
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  Speaker 1: I live in the district. And his name's Don Roberts.
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  Speaker 1: We have a professional and personal relationship. I want to
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  Speaker 1: get that out of the way right up front. I
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  Speaker 1: know the guy. I like the guy. And that's why
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  Speaker 1: he is my inaugural guest when it comes to bringing
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  Speaker 1: politicians into my studio and getting all those political cooties
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  Speaker 1: on stuff. Hello. Hello, Chuck. You got to turn him
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  Speaker 1: on over there, Zach. You got him on? Okay, you're on. Okay. No,
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  Speaker 1: he's not on. No, the red button should be, I think,
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  Speaker 1: your second. Push it until it turns red. Zach's coming
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  Speaker 1: in to fix it.
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  Speaker 2: Am I on now?
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  Speaker 1: There you are. Okay. Too much technology. So you're not
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  Speaker 1: a professional broadcaster?
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  Speaker 3: No, not yet.
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  Speaker 1: Okay. But wait a minute. Am I getting a residual
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  Speaker 1: on him or not? I still don't think I'm getting
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  Speaker 1: a direct feed on his microphone. Sing us a song. Oh, September.
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  Speaker 3: See?
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  Speaker 1: And that was terrible. There it is.
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  Speaker 2: My gosh.
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  Speaker 1: Okay. You are officially on now. You're running for Senate
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  Speaker 1: for the 25th District.
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  Speaker 2: That's correct.
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  Speaker 1: Who are you? What do you do? Give the general biography.
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  Speaker 1: Who is Don Roberts? Let people know who you are.
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  Speaker 2: Okay. Just a brief rundown. I'm Don Roberts.
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  Speaker 3: I am a local attorney that's been practicing in family
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  Speaker 3: law here in Columbus area and in about 48 other counties.
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  Speaker 3: But I do primarily family law, a little bit of
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  Speaker 3: criminal defense. I used to be a police officer, so
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  Speaker 3: I like getting over in municipal court and common pleas
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  Speaker 3: now and then to hang out with some of the
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  Speaker 3: police officers, even though I'm on the other side of
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  Speaker 3: the fence.
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  Speaker 2: I've been doing that.
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  Speaker 3: I'm also an Air Force veteran, and if that's not
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  Speaker 3: interesting enough, I was also a Waffle House manager, so
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  Speaker 3: I can scatter, smother, cover hash browns.
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  Speaker 1: Oh, my gosh. See, that part of your history I
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  Speaker 1: did not know, the Waffle House manager. There you go.
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  Speaker 1: you've accomplished a lot. You've been many, many things. And
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  Speaker 1: you and I are about the same age, so I'm
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  Speaker 1: kind of envious of the different career paths. Air Force,
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  Speaker 1: was it straight into law enforcement out of the Air Force,
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  Speaker 1: or what was the sequence there?
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  Speaker 3: Well, right out of high school, I joined the Air Force.
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  Speaker 3: Did my four years of enlistment, so I was an
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  Speaker 3: enlisted guy. My wrestling coach from high school was a
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  Speaker 3: Covington police officer, and he convinced me that it Maybe
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  Speaker 3: I should get out and become a police officer in
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  Speaker 3: the same town that I used to hang out with,
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  Speaker 3: with all my friends. So now I joined up with
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  Speaker 3: that police department and got to chase my friends around.
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  Speaker 1: All right. So we know the history into the present. Why?
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  Speaker 1: The first time I met you, you were actually a
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  Speaker 1: candidate for a domestic court judge. And I wish you'd
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  Speaker 1: have won that, but you didn't. So we're here today
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  Speaker 1: running for the Senate. Why are you the choice? Why
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  Speaker 1: should people vote for you? What are they going to
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  Speaker 1: get from Don Roberts that they're not seeing any other time?
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  Speaker 3: Well, first off, I'd like to say I am a Republican.
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  Speaker 3: And that's important because although there's good Democrats out there,
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  Speaker 3: there's good Republicans out there. But Ohio is a majority
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  Speaker 3: Republican majority. And for my district is all of Frank
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  Speaker 3: is Franklin County exclusive. And if the citizens want change.
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  Speaker 3: They either have to get a Democrat that's holding office
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  Speaker 3: now to join up with some Republicans to get their
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  Speaker 3: pet projects accomplished, or they will settle for what's been
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  Speaker 3: done for the last four years is they got the
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  Speaker 3: state candy, the Buckeye, accomplished.
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  Speaker 1: We have a state fish now, too, don't we?
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  Speaker 2: We do. A prehistoric one.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, the idea of, I don't know, it almost
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  Speaker 1: seems like people are somewhat ashamed to proclaim a political
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  Speaker 1: allegiance now. And that's on both sides of the aisle
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  Speaker 1: because there are plenty of Democrats out there that I
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  Speaker 1: think are good constitutional Americans that they see some of
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  Speaker 1: the extreme left stuff that is passing as the Democrat
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  Speaker 1: party around this country. And they kind of even flinch
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  Speaker 1: when you say it. It's also not real popular with
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  Speaker 1: a lot of people to be Republican these days. They think, okay,
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  Speaker 1: they're cold. They won't work with anybody. They, They bipartisanship
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  Speaker 1: is something they don't even think about. They want to
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  Speaker 1: just bulldoze their way through. What what is your philosophy
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  Speaker 1: as if you're an elected Republican in the legislature? Are
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  Speaker 1: you do you see yourself more as a bridge builder?
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  Speaker 1: Do you see yourself more as a bulldozer? What what
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  Speaker 1: is your mindset going in?
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  Speaker 3: Well, although I'm not one that has to be restricted
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  Speaker 3: to staying in their lane, so to speak, I do
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  Speaker 3: believe that I should do what I know. And I've
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  Speaker 3: been a family law attorney for 25 years. Before that,
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  Speaker 3: I was a police officer that worked second shift, which
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  Speaker 3: primarily dealt with families, squabbles that happened at the dinner
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  Speaker 3: table and so on. So I know families. I know
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  Speaker 3: what families need. And I think that what makes me
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  Speaker 3: stand out is that I would pursue things that matter
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  Speaker 3: to families, kitchen table economics. It would be equal parental rights,
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  Speaker 3: allowing a streamlined process for child support for mothers. expungement
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  Speaker 3: expansion so that we can get people that can't get
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  Speaker 3: a job or can't get the job that they used
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  Speaker 3: to have to get reemployed and be able to put
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  Speaker 3: food back on the table. So to me, although I
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  Speaker 3: respectfully disagree a little bit, Chuck, that people don't want
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  Speaker 3: to acknowledge that they're Republican or Democrat for that matter.
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  Speaker 3: I think that this year with this whole, you know,
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  Speaker 3: the new DSA movement, that a lot of people are
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  Speaker 3: concerned about that. And I think there's a resurgence, especially
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  Speaker 3: with the young people with conservative mindset. So I actually,
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  Speaker 3: I'm fine with admitting that I'm a Republican. I'm fine
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  Speaker 3: with reaching out to people and telling them that I'm
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  Speaker 3: the Republican choice, because I think I've heard a lot
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  Speaker 3: of attorneys and, you know, there's a lot of Democrat
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  Speaker 3: attorneys out there and I socialize with a lot of
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  Speaker 3: them and I respect their positions and, And I can
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  Speaker 3: tell you that a lot of them are against this
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  Speaker 3: whole Democrat socialist movement and think that that's sort of
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  Speaker 3: a bridge too far. But really, again, I'm not pursuing
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  Speaker 3: federal issues. I'm not necessarily even pursuing issues that affect
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  Speaker 3: Ohio but are more governed by federal things. I'm looking
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  Speaker 3: at how I can actually change lives in Franklin County
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  Speaker 3: because my district goes from Galloway up to the top
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  Speaker 3: of– Right before you hit Delaware County, so Worthington, Westerville,
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  Speaker 3: New Albany, that's the.
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  Speaker 2: Borderline of my area.
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  Speaker 3: So I'm solely in Columbus, whether you're looking at Upper Arlington, Hilliard,
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  Speaker 3: the Hilltop area, your beloved Hilltop. And I was up
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  Speaker 3: and knocking on doors in Minerva Park yesterday.
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  Speaker 2: So that's all my area, Blended Woods, all of that stuff.
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  Speaker 3: So to me, it's important to identify what is important
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  Speaker 3: for people in Franklin County.
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  Speaker 1: This is Don Roberts, by the way. He's a candidate
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  Speaker 1: for the Ohio Senate District 25. One of the most
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  Speaker 1: passionate speeches I've seen you give to this point has
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  Speaker 1: been regarding reacclimation of people convicted, I guess especially men convicted,
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  Speaker 1: back into society. I have a feeling that's probably going
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  Speaker 1: to be at the top of your legislative list when
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  Speaker 1: you get yourself elected, you get in there. These are
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  Speaker 1: things that really seem to matter. Kind of go into
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  Speaker 1: that a little bit. As a lawyer, as somebody who's
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  Speaker 1: a potential member of the legislature, what have you seen
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  Speaker 1: that is off balance that you just feel like we
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  Speaker 1: need to address and get cleaned up and fixed in
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  Speaker 1: those situations?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think it's.
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  Speaker 3: Really important because I've watched it with my own eyes,
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  Speaker 3: starting in family law. I've seen fathers that say that
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  Speaker 3: they can't, you know, they had an OVI, first OVI ever.
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  Speaker 3: They were a truck driver making six figures, and now
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  Speaker 3: they're making $ 45, 000 somewhere in managing a restaurant, maybe managing
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  Speaker 3: Waffle House.
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  Speaker 1: I don't know.
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  Speaker 3: But they're looking for that second chance. Well, unfortunately, OVIs
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  Speaker 3: are one of those things that you cannot get removed
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  Speaker 3: from your record. And I believe that a second chance
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  Speaker 3: is what can help put food back on their table.
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  Speaker 3: And it's not just a blank slate. It's not just, hey,
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  Speaker 3: we're giving you a second chance. I want these guys
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  Speaker 3: to have to work with probation officers, jump through more
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  Speaker 3: than a three-day program in lieu of jail sentence. I
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  Speaker 3: want them to show that they've accomplished whatever rehabilitation that
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  Speaker 3: they need, but so that that record doesn't prevent them
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  Speaker 3: from getting that job back that they used to have,
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  Speaker 3: that they have their skill set. There's so many truck
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  Speaker 3: drivers out there that that's the one thing that they
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  Speaker 3: know that they can do, and they can feed their
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  Speaker 3: families with that.
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  Speaker 2: Right now, we're keeping people from doing that.
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  Speaker 3: Even if they don't have a family, if they have
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  Speaker 3: a child support obligation, which sometimes creates its own set
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  Speaker 3: of problems. If they can't pay their child support because
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  Speaker 3: their child support was set at what they used to
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  Speaker 3: make and now they can't afford that, that's creating problems
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  Speaker 3: on their end. It's creating problems on the mother's end
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  Speaker 3: and supporting the family that father is no longer in.
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  Speaker 3: So to me, it's really important that although I am
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  Speaker 3: very pro-law enforcement and as an ex-police officer, I think
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  Speaker 3: you can understand that, that I think that law enforcement
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  Speaker 3: would agree with me that they think people should be
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  Speaker 3: able to get back to work. as long as they've
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  Speaker 3: proven themselves and that they've accomplished the hurdles that would
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  Speaker 3: rehabilitate them.
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  Speaker 1: No, you know the old saying, the proof is in
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  Speaker 1: the pudding. And the pudding does not prove the stated
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  Speaker 1: mission of our prison system, of our child support agency,
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  Speaker 1: of our probation and parole system. What you see out
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  Speaker 1: there is not what they say. Putting families back together,
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  Speaker 1: keeping– that's really not what happens. You've got too many restrictions,
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  Speaker 1: especially men, I guess, more so than women. But as
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  Speaker 1: you said, you mess up one time. Everybody gets one.
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  Speaker 1: But when that is denying you the ability to care
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  Speaker 1: for your family afterward, I can't believe nobody's ever called
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  Speaker 1: the state on this and said, this is wrong. This
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  Speaker 1: needs to be fixed because– You say one thing and
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  Speaker 1: you're doing exactly the opposite. If you get elected and
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  Speaker 1: you get in there and you bring this plea to
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  Speaker 1: your fellow senators, have you spoken to enough people that
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  Speaker 1: you believe there will be some support there to actually
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  Speaker 1: see something happen? Or are you going to be a
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  Speaker 1: voice in the wilderness?
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  Speaker 3: No, I think there are some people that are out
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  Speaker 3: there already. And again, part of that idea is that
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  Speaker 3: once in the Senate, you want to learn to work
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  Speaker 3: together with both sides. So you're going to need to
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  Speaker 3: find some Democrats that support you. You're going to need
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  Speaker 3: to find some Republicans to support you. Nothing's going to
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  Speaker 3: get accomplished with one man. That's why I say if
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  Speaker 3: you're a Democrat right now and you're one man, you're
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  Speaker 3: trying to bring something. If you don't have alliances, which
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  Speaker 3: there's only a few people, few Democrats in the Senate,
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  Speaker 3: there's a handful of Democrats in the House. But if
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  Speaker 3: you don't have enough to get that passed, then you're
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  Speaker 3: going to be wasting your time. You're going to be
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  Speaker 3: looking for another piece of candy to name the state candy.
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  Speaker 1: You talk about that candy one more time. Don Roberts,
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  Speaker 1: he's a candidate. He's looking for your vote, of course.
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  Speaker 1: When is early voting? When does that begin?
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  Speaker 2: It begins October 6th.
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  Speaker 1: October 6th. So that's coming up. I'm not a big
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  Speaker 1: fan of early voting. And I know candidates have had
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  Speaker 1: to completely change the way that they politic. We say, Oh,
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  Speaker 1: why does it have to start so early? My gosh.
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  Speaker 1: But you really do have to start early anymore because
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  Speaker 1: even in the last election we saw it, even with
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  Speaker 1: Republican voters, the early voting has kind of taken hold.
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  Speaker 1: Do you think that's going to work to your advantage?
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  Speaker 1: Is that going to be a detriment? Have you met
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  Speaker 1: enough people, shaken enough hands that you think that's going
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  Speaker 1: to help you this year? Or is it something you
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  Speaker 1: worry about?
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  Speaker 3: Well, I don't worry about it because it's a fact.
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  Speaker 3: So it's not like I can change it. So I
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  Speaker 3: do get out there. I try to be as noticeable
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  Speaker 3: as possible. Look at my sign. I've got Ohio's most
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  Speaker 3: unique yard sign for my campaign. No one's got a
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  Speaker 3: round yard sign except for me, so you can spot
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  Speaker 3: it a mile away.
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  Speaker 2: So it's all about that notice, that recognition.
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  Speaker 3: If that can get people to go vote early, If
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  Speaker 3: that can remind them, hey, I need to get in
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  Speaker 3: there and vote, then great. I'm chasing that vote as
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  Speaker 3: much as I'm chasing for the November 3rd vote. So
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  Speaker 3: if I can impress people to vote early, that's what
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  Speaker 3: I'm going to do. I can tell you that my
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  Speaker 3: understanding and my feeling from knocking on doors every day
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  Speaker 3: is that people are more leaning towards voting on Election Day,
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  Speaker 3: as traditionally they've done. The last election, I helped with
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  Speaker 3: some candidates, and I can tell you that it was–
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  Speaker 3: impressed upon people a lot more. And I felt like
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  Speaker 3: we had a bigger turnout with the early vote. The
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  Speaker 3: early vote is, is up on Morse road at the
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  Speaker 3: Franklin County board of elections. So people in Hilliard may
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  Speaker 3: not want to drive all the way up there. So
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  Speaker 3: my tendency is to think that we're going to get
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  Speaker 3: the majority of our votes, like always is going to
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  Speaker 3: be on November 3rd on election day.
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  Speaker 1: I hope so. I like it better that way myself.
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  Speaker 1: I just, I think, uh, I don't know. There's something
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  Speaker 1: that builds the fellowship when we all head to the
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  Speaker 1: polls on the same day and vote on the same day.
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  Speaker 1: We're all in it together. As crazy as that sounds,
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  Speaker 1: just as citizens, I think it serves us better.