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Dirty tricks (and maybe a crime) take center stage in Alaska’s Senate race · The Hugh Hewitt Show: Highly Concentrated

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to today's podcast sponsored by Hillsdale College. All things
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Hillsdale at hillsdale.edu. I encourage you to take advantage of
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: the many free online courses there and of course to
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: listen to the Hillsdale Dialogues. All of them at hueforhillsdale.com
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: or just google Apple, iTunes and Hillsdale. My name is
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  Speaker 1: Grace America beginning this hour with United States Senator John
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  Speaker 1: Husted from my home state of Ohio. Senator Husted, great
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  Speaker 1: to have you back. President Trump has been there a
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  Speaker 1: couple of times for you. Is he going to come
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  Speaker 1: back before next Tuesday again?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, he's here tonight and then we may get him
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  Speaker 2: one more time. So he's been he and the vice
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  Speaker 2: president have been here many times and it's really helping
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  Speaker 2: generate some momentum here in Ohio.
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  Speaker 1: That is good news. I want to walk around the
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  Speaker 1: state with you. Many people don't know Ohio is really
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  Speaker 1: five different states, maybe six. Let's start in the Steel Valley,
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  Speaker 1: Ashtabula down to Columbiana County. That includes Mahoning and Trumbull County.
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  Speaker 1: What's on their mind the most, Senator, in that part?
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  Speaker 1: That's my neck of the woods. What's on their mind
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  Speaker 1: the most?
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  Speaker 2: Look, I think it's always been jobs in that part
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  Speaker 2: of the state because they were probably the hardest hit
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  Speaker 2: part of the state when the steel mills closed and
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  Speaker 2: things like that. I was there recently at the only
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  Speaker 2: remaining steel maker, a company called Valoric, and they're adding jobs.
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  Speaker 2: And I had a chance to meet with the workers.
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  Speaker 2: And look, they want us to fight against China. They
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  Speaker 2: want us to to save the steel industry in the country,
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  Speaker 2: and they're very happy about what the president has done.
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  Speaker 2: We've added 10,000 manufacturing jobs in Ohio.
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  Speaker 3: A lot of those jobs are in the Mahoning Valley,
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  Speaker 3: where you talked about.
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  Speaker 2: So that's important to them, and they're feeling good about
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  Speaker 2: the direction we're going.
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  Speaker 1: Can you tap into union workers? Because the best audience
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  Speaker 1: for the tariff conversation in the United States are union workers.
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  Speaker 1: Whether it's steel workers or auto workers, they're both in
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  Speaker 1: the Valley in Mahoney and Trumbull County. Do they turn
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  Speaker 1: up for the rallies with the president?
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  Speaker 3: They do.
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  Speaker 2: And I've been going to the places where they work
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  Speaker 2: and having a chance to meet with workers all across
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  Speaker 2: the state.
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  Speaker 3: They get it. I was at Kenworth.
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  Speaker 2: We're going to be in Chillicothe later.
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  Speaker 3: There's a Kenworth truck plant down there.
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  Speaker 2: Kenworth was getting hit hard because what people were doing
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  Speaker 2: is they were building trucks in Mexico and then shipping
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  Speaker 2: them in the United States and using cheap dumped steel
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  Speaker 2: from China in Mexico and then killing the steel jobs
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  Speaker 2: and the trucking jobs in places like Ohio. President Trump
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  Speaker 2: equalized that with tariffs, helped to create a lot of
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  Speaker 2: jobs there.
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  Speaker 3: So the workers get it. The workers in places like
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  Speaker 3: this get it. Because why? Because they were hit hard.
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  Speaker 2: You got people that work these places for 30 years
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  Speaker 2: who are like, Yeah, I just wanted.
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  Speaker 3: To get to retirement. I know the president's fighting for us.
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  Speaker 2: I saw a lot of my my my friends over
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  Speaker 2: the years lose their jobs.
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  Speaker 3: You're fighting to keep our jobs. They get it. They're
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  Speaker 3: smart folks.
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  Speaker 1: All right. So let's drive across the state along the lake.
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  Speaker 1: You end up in Cuyahoga County, which for the Steelers
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  Speaker 1: fans and everyone else is home of Cleveland, Cleveland Browns,
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  Speaker 1: Cleveland Cavaliers, Cleveland Guardians and the brand new submarine facility
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  Speaker 1: that is going to be in the next budget. How
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  Speaker 1: hard did you work to bring that to Cleveland? Do
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  Speaker 1: people know about it?
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  Speaker 2: We saved the Sherwin-Williams deal up there, so Sherwin-Williams is investing.
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  Speaker 2: The new announcement with the submarine plant, that's a $ 3
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  Speaker 2: billion contract that will create jobs in Lorain, in Cleveland,
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  Speaker 2: and some of those will go over even into Youngstown.
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  Speaker 3: And so people know about that.
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  Speaker 2: Plus, the people are happy in Cleveland about the Guardians
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  Speaker 2: making a good run and the Browns being in first place.
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  Speaker 3: So that's a rare occurrence in Cleveland. So A lot
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  Speaker 3: of happy people up there.
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  Speaker 1: Five and two Browns. Miracles do happen. Let's go over
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  Speaker 1: then the northwestern part of the state. That's Toledo. That's
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  Speaker 1: Ohio Northern. It's farming. It's some industry. It's a pretty
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  Speaker 1: tough place to campaign, though. I think you may have
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  Speaker 1: grown up there. I'm not really sure, Senator Houston, but
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  Speaker 1: it's a tough place to campaign because they're really in
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  Speaker 1: density of population. Do you get up there a lot?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I was in Toledo yesterday. It is where I
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  Speaker 3: grew up.
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  Speaker 2: I grew up in Williams County, rural northwest Ohio.
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  Speaker 3: And I will tell you that people.
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  Speaker 2: There in Toledo, this is one of the hidden gems
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  Speaker 2: of the President's.
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  Speaker 3: Made in America policy.
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  Speaker 2: You're seeing, because that's the manufacturing pipeline right there between,
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  Speaker 2: you got I-75, you got Cincinnati, Dayton, Toledo, Detroit, and
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  Speaker 2: you're seeing so many small manufacturers who are now getting
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  Speaker 2: work up there. A lot of small manufacturers getting work
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  Speaker 2: supplying data centers too that you hear about in Northwest Ohio.
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  Speaker 3: In Toledo.
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  Speaker 2: You talk to commercial real estate developers, they'll tell you
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  Speaker 2: Toledo is one of the hottest markets in the country
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  Speaker 2: because everybody wants to make things. They need space to
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  Speaker 2: be able to build their factories, to put their inventory,
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  Speaker 2: and the Toledo market is very strong right now.
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  Speaker 1: All right, down the 75 to Cincinnati, home of the
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  Speaker 1: Bengals that we don't necessarily root for on this program,
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  Speaker 1: but we do have a great signal down there in Hamilton, Ohio.
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  Speaker 1: So what's happening in Cincinnati? How much of that has
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  Speaker 1: taken your time? We should add in Dayton there as well.
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  Speaker 3: Well, here's the deal.
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  Speaker 2: That place between Toledo and Cincinnati is the heart of
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  Speaker 2: the gold coast there along Indiana, where Republican votes really,
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  Speaker 2: really turn out. And that's the place where we have
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  Speaker 2: to do great.
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  Speaker 3: And I've been spending a lot of time there.
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  Speaker 2: The where I played football in college and lived for
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  Speaker 2: a good part of my life. But, you know, making
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  Speaker 2: a billion dollar investment in the Middletown Works Cleveland Cliff
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  Speaker 2: Steel Plant, where J.D. Vance's papa worked as a welder.
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  Speaker 2: And you're seeing investment in that part of the state. Hugh,
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  Speaker 2: this is a great thing about Ohio. We have the
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  Speaker 2: most jobs and the lowest unemployment rate we've had in
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  Speaker 2: the history.
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  Speaker 1: I put that down to you and Mike DeWine. Yeah, exactly.
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  Speaker 3: And we don't want to go back.
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  Speaker 2: The the unemployment rate was 9% in the state of Ohio.
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  Speaker 2: And we had 89 cents in the rainy day fund
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  Speaker 2: and the.
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  Speaker 3: State was almost bankrupt.
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  Speaker 2: OK, now we have four billion dollars surplus in the
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  Speaker 2: state's rainy day fund, lower taxes and the lowest unemployment
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  Speaker 2: rate in our history.
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  Speaker 3: We don't want to go back to where we were
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  Speaker 3: when Democrats were in Ohio.
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  Speaker 2: I think a lot of Ohioans know that, but it's
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  Speaker 2: my job to remind them of that because people do
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  Speaker 2: have short memories.
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  Speaker 1: So if we go across the state, I'm going to
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  Speaker 1: end on Columbus, Senator, so I won't leave out the
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  Speaker 1: heartland of the of the state and the Ohio State University.
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  Speaker 1: But over in Marietta to Ironton, that's the southeastern part
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  Speaker 1: of the state closest to West Virginia. it's another difficult
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  Speaker 1: place to campaign. I'm not really sure it's Democrat or Republican.
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  Speaker 1: I don't know it very well. Do you spend time
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  Speaker 1: down there? You've run statewide four times, five times, so
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  Speaker 1: you know everything. But what about that area?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I was down in Marietta the other night in Pomeroy, Ohio,
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  Speaker 2: down along the Ohio River. They had the biggest turnout
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  Speaker 2: I've ever seen at Republican events down there.
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  Speaker 3: So they're they're excited.
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  Speaker 2: But culturally, they don't want people like Sherrod Brown, people
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  Speaker 2: that support, you know, men and women's sports and and.
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  Speaker 3: In transgender surgeries.
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  Speaker 2: And Sherrod Brown trying to call mothers pregnant persons rather
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  Speaker 2: than mothers. I mean, culturally, Southeast Ohio, they care about jobs,
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  Speaker 2: but they also don't like crazy.
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  Speaker 1: Now, I think probably the place in Ohio that's grown
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  Speaker 1: the fastest is the greater Columbus area, and not just
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  Speaker 1: because of the Ohio State University and a national championship
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  Speaker 1: coming our way, but because of places like Anderle and
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  Speaker 1: others that are open up there. Is that an easy
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  Speaker 1: place for Republicans to campaign? It used to be Republican territory,
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  Speaker 1: but I don't know anymore.
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  Speaker 2: Well, strangely enough, Columbus has become one of the more
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  Speaker 2: Democrat parts of the state. And I say strangely enough
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  Speaker 2: because under Republican control, we've landed some of the biggest
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  Speaker 2: economic development projects in Ohio history.
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  Speaker 3: You mentioned Andrel, 4,000 jobs. Intel, several thousand jobs.
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  Speaker 2: Amgen and Bayer building pharmaceutical facilities, thousands of jobs.
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  Speaker 3: Honda expanding, thousands of jobs.
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  Speaker 2: And Columbus is literally one of the fastest growing markets
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  Speaker 2: in the country.
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  Speaker 3: Prosperity abounds.
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  Speaker 2: But it is one of the tougher places for Republicans
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  Speaker 2: because you have you have, you know, big university, things
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  Speaker 2: like that that are that are full of people who
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  Speaker 2: aren't necessarily friendly to our message. But but look, it's
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  Speaker 2: not because it's not it's not because we haven't created prosperity. Literally,
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  Speaker 2: the Republicans that have run state government for the last
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  Speaker 2: two governorships and legislatures have created the most prosperous region.
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  Speaker 3: In the Midwest, Columbus, Ohio.
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  Speaker 2: And frankly, I'm not getting a lot of credit for
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  Speaker 2: all that we've done, but we'll remind them of this.
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  Speaker 3: I think a lot. I think there are a lot
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  Speaker 3: of voters that get that.
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  Speaker 1: So last question, Senator Houston, you've got all sorts of
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  Speaker 1: money raining down on Ohio. There are a lot of
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  Speaker 1: different media markets. What is Sherrod Brown selling? Because 50
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  Speaker 1: years he took a government paycheck in the state legislator, Congress, Senator.
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  Speaker 1: He got fired two years ago. He wants a job back.
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  Speaker 1: I can't imagine Buckeyes rehiring this guy. So what's your
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  Speaker 1: closing message in a minute or so?
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  Speaker 2: Well, my closing message is you've had 50 years of
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  Speaker 2: Sherrod Brown, and name one thing he's actually done to
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  Speaker 2: make your life better.
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  Speaker 3: I ask that question all over the state.
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  Speaker 2: No one ever gives me an answer other than a
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  Speaker 2: couple times people will say, well, he lost two years ago.
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  Speaker 3: That made my life better. But he's really.
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  Speaker 2: Trying to sell himself as a change agent, like he'll
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  Speaker 2: change Washington. Hugh, you and I both know he is Washington.
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  Speaker 2: If there's somebody that represents the Washington values that I
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  Speaker 2: can possibly think of is Sherrod Brown. He is a
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  Speaker 2: creature of the swamp, and he's raised their taxes, shut
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  Speaker 2: down power plants. plants, jacked up their utility rates. He
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  Speaker 2: doesn't represent Ohio values.
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  Speaker 1: I do.
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  Speaker 3: And I think Ohio voters will reward this next Tuesday.
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  Speaker 1: Senator John Huston, always good to talk to you. I
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  Speaker 1: think you're right. And please keep telling us if we
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  Speaker 1: can get you back before Tuesday. Come on back. Tell
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  Speaker 1: us about the closing march with President Trump through Ruby Red, Ohio,
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  Speaker 1: 11-point Trump State two years ago. Should come through for
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  Speaker 1: John Huston. I hope so. Thank you, Senator. I'll be
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  Speaker 1: right back, America. Stay tuned. Welcome back, America. I'm Hugh Hewitt.
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: Dandy Pletka is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: She's the co-host of the What the hell is going on, podcast?
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  Speaker 1: And she joins me. Danny, last time I talked to you,
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  Speaker 1: you were in Israel. We covered the elections today. I'm
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  Speaker 1: about to give the update, which is with 88.8% of
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  Speaker 1: the vote in. Likud is the largest party with 26 seats.
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  Speaker 1: The Netanyahu coalition has got 53. Gadi Eizenkot is the
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  Speaker 1: second largest party with 21 seats. And his coalition has
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  Speaker 1: 48 seats. But there's still 170,000 votes out there. How
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  Speaker 1: do you read yesterday's vote in Israel?
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  Speaker 4: So I think that the most succinct way to describe
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  Speaker 4: it is that while Bibi Netanyahu has not won the election,
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  Speaker 4: Gaudi-Eisenkot has lost the election. This was meant to be
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  Speaker 4: the opposition's turn. This was meant to be the moment
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  Speaker 4: that they had momentum. And this was meant to be
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  Speaker 4: the apotheosis of Bibi exhaustion. And It hasn't turned out
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  Speaker 4: that way. It turns out that, you know, I wrote
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  Speaker 4: this on our Substack this morning. Bibi is still the
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  Speaker 4: great oversized character of Israeli political life. And Gadi Eizenkot's
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  Speaker 4: come and Gadi Eizenkot's go and he still gets the
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  Speaker 4: most votes.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, the last Gadi Eizenkot was, of course, Benny Gantz.
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  Speaker 1: And he dropped out because he had come and gone.
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  Speaker 1: I don't see a coalition problem. emerging from this morass,
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  Speaker 1: though President Herzog said it's his job to do that.
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  Speaker 1: I can't see Eisenkot sitting with a joint list. That's
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  Speaker 1: 12 seats. They are anti-Zionist. Do you? Could they join
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  Speaker 1: a coalition?
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  Speaker 4: I don't think they can. I mean, you know, look,
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  Speaker 4: you never say never, Israeli. Politics is, you know, it's
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  Speaker 4: like cage fighting, but.
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  Speaker 3: A little bit dirtier.
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  Speaker 4: And so I'll never say never because.
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  Speaker 5: I'll be wrong.
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  Speaker 4: But Eisenkot laid down the red line for a coalition
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  Speaker 4: partner and said they have to acknowledge that Hamas is
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  Speaker 4: a terrorist organization and they have to accept that Israel
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  Speaker 4: is a Jewish state. And neither of those parties, neither
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  Speaker 4: the Joint List, which got the most votes, or Ram,
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  Speaker 4: which is the other Arab party and I think got
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  Speaker 4: seven seats at this point. So they're up to 19.
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  Speaker 4: Neither of them meet those conditions. So I don't see
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  Speaker 4: it as very likely, no.
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  Speaker 1: So, Danny Pletka, the replay of what we saw Israel
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  Speaker 1: do four years ago is three or four elections in
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  Speaker 1: a row separated by three or four-month periods. And everybody
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  Speaker 1: wants to avoid that, but I don't think there is
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  Speaker 1: any avoiding it. As an American, Israel is at the
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  Speaker 1: equal of any of our strategic partners. Do you think
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  Speaker 1: they're in any way restrained or that Prime Minister Netanyahu
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  Speaker 1: is in any way shackled by being an interim prime
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  Speaker 1: minister as opposed to having won the election?
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  Speaker 4: No, I don't think so. Look, at this point, what
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  Speaker 4: happens is that one of them, either Bibi or Eisenkot,
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  Speaker 4: will be asked by the president to form a government
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  Speaker 4: When they fail, the other party will be asked, and
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  Speaker 4: presumably they will also fail, at which point we will
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  Speaker 4: go to new elections next year, as you described having
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  Speaker 4: happened more than once in Israeli history. But Bibi remains
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  Speaker 4: the caretaker. I don't see him as being in any
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  Speaker 4: way hobbled. by that status. I don't think that's what is,
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  Speaker 4: and I don't think that's what Israeli politics or Israeli
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  Speaker 4: law contemplates either. He's a full-fledged prime minister and he's
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  Speaker 4: obviously been PM, so he's got his entire team in
• 14:20
  Speaker 4: place already.
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  Speaker 1: So let's talk about the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. They're
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  Speaker 1: watching Israel, they're watching our election. How do they interpret,
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  Speaker 1: how do you think they interpret yesterday's vote in Israel?
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  Speaker 1: How do you think they would interpret a victory by
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan?
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  Speaker 4: Those are great questions. And Hugh, one of the things
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  Speaker 4: that I really try to underscore to people is that,
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  Speaker 4: you know, when our adversaries, when the Irans, but I
• 14:49
  Speaker 4: would say even, you know, even the Russians, even the Chinas,
• 14:52
  Speaker 4: when they look at political situations overseas, they are not
• 14:57
  Speaker 4: interpreting it the same way we do. And I don't
• 14:59
  Speaker 4: even mean Hugh and Danny. I mean, even the New
• 15:02
  Speaker 4: York Times. No, they are not interpreting things the same way.
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  Speaker 4: They live in a different reality. And so for the Iranians,
• 15:09
  Speaker 4: they're going to look at this in two ways. They're
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  Speaker 4: going to look at this as a blow to Bibi.
• 15:16
  Speaker 4: his wasta, his influence, his power has diminished. And I
• 15:20
  Speaker 4: think that that would be a correct interpretation. But they're
• 15:24
  Speaker 4: also going to look at the unprecedented Arab participation in
• 15:29
  Speaker 4: Israel's elections and the unprecedented number of seats in the
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  Speaker 4: Knesset that were won by these two Arab parties. And
• 15:37
  Speaker 4: they're going to say to themselves, aha, our strategy is
• 15:42
  Speaker 4: of undermining Israel from within has been validated. And that's
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  Speaker 4: what they're going to think about that. So that's part one.
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  Speaker 4: And that's a very dangerous thing, but we know that's
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  Speaker 4: their strategy because they had a planning document up on
• 15:58
  Speaker 4: the IRGC website for some time, which actually laid this
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  Speaker 4: out before October 7th, 2023. For us, what they're going
• 16:06
  Speaker 4: to see is exactly the same thing, Hugh. And again,
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  Speaker 4: What we have to understand is that there have always
• 16:15
  Speaker 4: been fights inside Islamist movements about how to confront the
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  Speaker 4: true enemy.
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  Speaker 1: Right, the West.
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  Speaker 4: Should it be through violence or should it be through cooptation?
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  Speaker 4: Osama bin Laden himself wrote many, many letters about this.
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  Speaker 4: And the decision that was made by Muslim Brotherhood-related individuals
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  Speaker 4: and groups in the United States is, in the early
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  Speaker 4: part of the 21st century was, we're going to go
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  Speaker 4: the co-optation route. We're going to have an occult movement
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  Speaker 4: under the radar, and we are going to take power
• 16:51
  Speaker 4: that way. That's what El-Sayed is all about. He's part
• 16:55
  Speaker 4: of this Council on American Islamic Relations effort that is
• 16:59
  Speaker 4: about using America's rights, America's Bill of Rights, America's Constitution,
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  Speaker 4: and America's political system against it. And the Iranians are
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  Speaker 4: going to say, yay, it's working there too.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I'm hopeful that Mike Rogers wins. I know what
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: the poll said yesterday. He's down by five points, but
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  Speaker 1: I believe there's a shy Tory voter there, a shy
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: Mike Rogers voter didn't want to get into it with
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: the kids in Ann Arbor. Let me close by asking you,
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: you're a veteran of the Beltway, Danny Pletka. So Susan Collins,
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: and I cannot imagine, I was up there in September,
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: I was up there in October, I cannot imagine Maine
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: exchanging the chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee for the
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: schlub Troy Jackson, can you? I mean, she's always tied
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: in the polls, but she always wins by eight points.
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: What do you think?
• 17:46
  Speaker 4: Now, I think she wins. And obviously, I say this
• 17:49
  Speaker 4: as a as a beltway creature. But Susan Collins is
• 17:53
  Speaker 4: she's like Mike Rogers. She's not a wingnut. She's not
• 17:57
  Speaker 4: out there. She is a conservative, but she is bipartisan.
• 18:02
  Speaker 4: She always has held her hand across the aisle. She's
• 18:05
  Speaker 4: a great senator for Maine. She's great for her state.
• 18:09
  Speaker 4: And she's a good, good senator and an honorable politician.
• 18:13
  Speaker 4: So I think she makes it.
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: So drawing back, I won't talk to you before the election.
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: How do you see the House and Senate races total going?
• 18:23
  Speaker 4: I mean, again, I'm possibly the worst political prognosticator on
• 18:27
  Speaker 4: the face of the earth. So I'm just hoping that
• 18:30
  Speaker 4: we're not recording this. No, no. Look, we're going to
• 18:34
  Speaker 4: lose the House. And, you know, I'm a Republican. There's
• 18:37
  Speaker 4: a we here. The Republicans are going to lose the House.
• 18:40
  Speaker 4: I remain hopeful about the Senate. I cannot imagine that
• 18:44
  Speaker 4: Texas goes goes blue. But you know what?
• 18:48
  Speaker 3: Hey, we've had bad nights before.
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: Remember 2006? What do you think? Oh, I think the
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: same as you do. Probably not going to hold on
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: to the House. Probably going to hold on to the Senate.
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: But I'm open to any result because I remember 2006
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: before the surge. And W had to do it on
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: his own without any support in the Senate, in the House.
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: And it was easier when you have Republicans in control
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: of one or the other. Danny Pletka of AEI. Thank you.
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: Follow Danny on X at D Pletka. Listen to the
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: What the Hell is Going On Here podcast as well
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: with Mark Thiessen. I'll be right back, America. Stay tuned.
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: on Fox with Hannity last night talking to, oh, we
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: got Sarah. Sarah C. Bedford has found a way to
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: dial in. Sarah, welcome. I know you're having a little
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: problem with our Zoom link there. Sarah, you're the investigations
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: editor at the Washington Examiner. Were you stunned by this
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: New York Times story about Mary Peltola today? And not
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: only just the word it had, but the fact that
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: it came from the New York Times?
• 19:44
  Speaker 5: Yeah, really surprising.
• 19:46
  Speaker 6: They didn't pull their punches and it sounded like they
• 19:47
  Speaker 6: had an opportunity to, because if you read the story,
• 19:50
  Speaker 6: the uh the original source for the story of the
• 19:54
  Speaker 6: former campaign manager of mary polito does tried to recant
• 19:59
  Speaker 6: her story to her interviews and the details that she
• 20:01
  Speaker 6: provided about um about the fake Dan Sullivan scheme. It
• 20:06
  Speaker 6: kind of falls into the category of something that's not
• 20:08
  Speaker 6: that surprising, but also completely shocking, because this was a
• 20:11
  Speaker 6: suspicion that a lot of Republicans had, that the Democrats
• 20:14
  Speaker 6: were involved in this. But to see just how high
• 20:17
  Speaker 6: it went, that the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee was involved
• 20:21
  Speaker 6: in this, and the Elias Group law firm, and the
• 20:24
  Speaker 6: senior aides in Mary Apatowda's campaign were involved in coordinating this,
• 20:29
  Speaker 6: it's really shocking stuff.
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: Now, a lot of lawyers on X slash Twitter or
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: people who pass the bar and pretend to be lawyers
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: on X and people who don't know anything about the
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: law on X are debating whether or not anyone broke
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: any laws. And over at CNN, they're saying, well, it's
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: a dirty trick. It's happened before. I don't think anything
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: involving a candidate like this has happened before. At least
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: I don't remember it.
• 20:53
  Speaker 4: Do you?
• 20:55
  Speaker 6: So there's one example that's itself floating around Twitter right now.
• 21:00
  Speaker 5: I'm not a.
• 21:00
  Speaker 6: Lawyer, but it looks like a similar case that took
• 21:03
  Speaker 6: place in the 2020 election with a state Senate seat
• 21:06
  Speaker 6: in Florida, where the Republican candidate did recruit someone with
• 21:10
  Speaker 6: the same last name as the incumbent Democratic candidate. And
• 21:15
  Speaker 6: he ended up winning by 32 votes because this decoy
• 21:19
  Speaker 6: candidate siphoned off enough votes.
• 21:21
  Speaker 5: And he ended up getting convicted of a crime.
• 21:23
  Speaker 6: That was because money changed hands behind the scenes that
• 21:26
  Speaker 6: exceeded campaign contribution limits.
• 21:28
  Speaker 5: So it was a campaign finance crime.
• 21:30
  Speaker 6: Now, we don't know what sort of money might have
• 21:32
  Speaker 6: changed hands behind closed doors, if any, with fake Dan Sullivan.
• 21:36
  Speaker 6: But there is a precedent for a decoy candidate scheme
• 21:41
  Speaker 6: ending up with a criminal conviction. But, you know, the
• 21:44
  Speaker 6: avenue for that was campaign finance. Is there some sort
• 21:48
  Speaker 6: of conspiracy against rights case here? I mean, there's a
• 21:50
  Speaker 6: lot of speculation here. But the truth is that we
• 21:52
  Speaker 6: don't know enough about what sort of deal was struck
• 21:55
  Speaker 6: to entice fake Dan Sullivan into the race.
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: There's also a reference to a federal court proceeding in
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: which the Peltola campaign made filings veering that they knew
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: nothing about and had no connection to the fake Dan Sullivan. Obviously,
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: if you file with the federal court, you're going to
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: be sanctioned by the federal court if you lied, because
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: those are statements made to a public official. It may
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: be 1001 UFC violation. I don't know for sure, but
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: I do know we're used to dirty tricks when, for example,
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: Claire McCaskill got, I think his name was Murdoch, to run.
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: They favored Murdoch in the primary, the Republican, because he
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: was more unelectable than the other Republican. So, I mean,
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: people do. Rush invented the vote for Hillary in Pennsylvania
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: back in the day in 2016 to try and keep
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: the Democratic presidential campaign going. There are dirty tricks going
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: back to the beginning of time. But I don't I
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: think this is a different order of magnitude. And I
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: think Alaska is small enough that everyone's going to know
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: about it. Do you agree with that, that everyone in
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: Alaska will know about it now?
• 23:04
  Speaker 5: They will.
• 23:05
  Speaker 6: The problem, though, is that so much so much of Alaska,
• 23:08
  Speaker 6: because it's rural, I mean, there's a lot of voting
• 23:11
  Speaker 6: by mail that has taken place.
• 23:13
  Speaker 5: And the ranked choice system.
• 23:15
  Speaker 6: Already introduces a lot of confusion and chaos in the state.
• 23:18
  Speaker 6: It's relatively new. It hasn't been around for a super
• 23:21
  Speaker 6: long time in Alaska. And it's part of what makes this,
• 23:24
  Speaker 6: like you mentioned, an order of magnitude more serious than
• 23:27
  Speaker 6: other kinds of like decoy candidate schemes, because you have
• 23:34
  Speaker 6: this ranked choice system that's already confusing for voters and
• 23:39
  Speaker 6: the nonpartisan primary system that allowed fake Dan Sullivan and
• 23:43
  Speaker 6: an additional Republican candidate to end up as the four
• 23:46
  Speaker 6: names on the ranked choice system, it makes it a
• 23:49
  Speaker 6: lot more likely that this is going to be a
• 23:50
  Speaker 6: really effective tactic.
• 23:52
  Speaker 5: In siphoning votes away from real Dan Sullivan.
• 23:55
  Speaker 6: It's part of, I guess, why so much of the
• 23:57
  Speaker 6: higher levels of the Democratic Party were involved.
• 24:00
  Speaker 5: But yeah, it makes it a lot more serious of
• 24:01
  Speaker 5: a trick.
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: Now, the final question, Sarah, there is Dan Sullivan's closing argument,
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: don't rank Mary. Three words, don't rank Mary. Think that's effective?
• 24:13
  Speaker 5: You know, it's simple enough. You would hope so.
• 24:16
  Speaker 6: But if this race, I mean, imagine if we're still
• 24:19
  Speaker 6: waiting on the results and they could take a while
• 24:20
  Speaker 6: because it's Alaska and it's ranked choice voting.
• 24:22
  Speaker 5: Imagine if control of the Senate comes down to.
• 24:24
  Speaker 6: This race and you have just a few dozen or
• 24:27
  Speaker 6: a few hundred votes separating Mary Poltola and Dan Sullivan.
• 24:32
  Speaker 5: It will be chaos and legal chaos as well.
• 24:34
  Speaker 6: You already have the DOJ trying to intervene in this race.
• 24:37
  Speaker 6: So it's really just creating a mess a week before
• 24:40
  Speaker 6: Election Day.
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: And it came from the New York Times. That's the
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: other surprise. We'll have to investigate that a little bit later.
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: How long have they known about this? As you're right,
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: Alaskans have been voting for a while. How long have
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: they been sitting on this story? Sarah C. Bedford, follower
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: on X at Sarah C. Bedford. Thank you, Sarah. I'll
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: be right back, America. Stay tuned. Welcome back. I'm Hugh Hewitt.
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: Mary Catherine Hamm joins me. She is the host of
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: the Getting Hammered podcast along with Vic. And Vic is
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: going to be on tomorrow and I'm going to talk
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: to him about the podcast tomorrow, Mary Catherine, because I
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: haven't listened to it yet. So I'm going to start
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: with Alaska and Mary Peltola. What do you think of
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: this story?
• 25:27
  Speaker 7: I already thought this was the dirtiest trick of the
• 25:30
  Speaker 7: cycle in American politics this year before we had the receipts.
• 25:33
  Speaker 8: And now that we have the receipts, it's even worse.
• 25:37
  Speaker 7: And and also sort of like largely incompetent in the
• 25:40
  Speaker 7: way it was run, like written down in texts. And
• 25:43
  Speaker 7: who knows what kind of FEC violations happened here?
• 25:46
  Speaker 4: Oops.
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: So, Mary Catherine, your dad's a journalist. You've got journalism
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: in the blood. The New York Times. ran this story today.
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: 58,000 Alaskans have already voted as of yesterday afternoon. I
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: just checked it on ChatGPT. How long do you think
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: the New York Times has known about this story?
• 26:06
  Speaker 7: Unclear, because I think it came from this source who
• 26:09
  Speaker 7: was burned by Paltola at some point this year, right?
• 26:12
  Speaker 8: So that seems like the linchpin to this. But I think.
• 26:16
  Speaker 7: If this had been a Republican dirty trick, there would
• 26:19
  Speaker 7: have been a lot of reporters on this, probably on
• 26:22
  Speaker 7: the ground in all these bars that this guy went
• 26:25
  Speaker 7: to to talk to Dan Sullivan's, because.
• 26:27
  Speaker 8: All of us knew just logically that this was.
• 26:30
  Speaker 7: Not an organic Dan Sullivan, who, by the way, in
• 26:32
  Speaker 7: his first filing, filed with Dan Sullivan's senators middle initial
• 26:38
  Speaker 7: and called it a mistake because.
• 26:40
  Speaker 8: He's, of course, an earnest candidate. We all knew it
• 26:42
  Speaker 8: wasn't in earnest.
• 26:43
  Speaker 7: And I think there would have been a lot more
• 26:44
  Speaker 7: digging and you would have had the linchpin sooner.
• 26:47
  Speaker 8: Had it been a Republican.
• 26:48
  Speaker 7: Now, now the people of Alaska have been lied to
• 26:52
  Speaker 7: during the time of their voting.
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: Now, our friend Dana Bash over at CNN, you know,
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: or I know her. She pronounced that this isn't criminal.
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: Mark Preston, your friend, my friend from CNN said, no,
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: it's not criminal. Actually, it could be. There were filings
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: in federal court. You just mentioned FEC violations. If money
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: changed hands, all that sort of stuff. But if we
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: use the Jack Smith standard for conspiracy, what do you think? Criminal?
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: If we just apply one rule, what do you think?
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 27:21
  Speaker 7: I mean, it does seem to match up with that rule.
• 27:24
  Speaker 7: And look, there can be a difference between illegal and
• 27:28
  Speaker 7: bad form and unethical, right? And that's a distinction worth making.
• 27:32
  Speaker 8: But there are a.
• 27:33
  Speaker 7: Bunch of FEC rules for a reason that you are
• 27:35
  Speaker 7: supposed to follow. And I think even though belated, it's
• 27:39
  Speaker 7: good to get this information out to the people of
• 27:41
  Speaker 7: Alaska so they can make an informed decision.
• 27:44
  Speaker 8: About what they're doing. And, you know, they are.
• 27:48
  Speaker 7: despite the fact that the Peltola's people were making fun
• 27:49
  Speaker 7: of them, they've been smart enough in the past to
• 27:52
  Speaker 7: achieve a write-in victory for Murkowski. So that's a pretty
• 27:55
  Speaker 7: complicated ballot instruction situation. And so I think they can
• 28:00
  Speaker 7: foil this and foil Mary Peltola.
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: Well, that's why I am going to wait and see
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: what this election is out before I talk about the
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: significance of the material delay at The New York Times.
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: But if Dan Sullivan is on the wrong end of this,
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: and it's by a handful of votes, not running this
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: story when they first learned of it will become significant.
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: Let me go to something as significant, the kitchen remodel.
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: I want to report, like every week, Mary Catherine Hamm,
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: how goes the kitchen remodel? Have you begun taking the
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: kids to the Cheesecake Factory yet?
• 28:32
  Speaker 8: No, but we should.
• 28:33
  Speaker 7: They would be happy about that. You know, we all
• 28:36
  Speaker 7: should have foreseen this. The first delay in our construction
• 28:39
  Speaker 7: is not.
• 28:41
  Speaker 8: Steve, it's not the contractor. It's the government.
• 28:45
  Speaker 7: We're waiting for another another round of discussions with the
• 28:50
  Speaker 7: local authorities to get everything squared away.
• 28:54
  Speaker 8: And yeah, so that's that's what we're waiting on right now.
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: OK, that brings us to Cheesecake Factory. I note in
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: the notes on the Getting Hammered podcast that you and
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: Vic Mattis talked about the Cheesecake Factory. I'm going to
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: go out on a limb and I have not heard it.
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: I'm going to guess that Vic likes the Cheesecake Factory.
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: Am I right? Oh, yeah.
• 29:14
  Speaker 8: We're both fans.
• 29:15
  Speaker 7: It's a very, the encyclopedic menu, the sheer economic feat
• 29:20
  Speaker 7: of serving that many dishes of that many genres and
• 29:23
  Speaker 7: also making a profit is something like that can only
• 29:25
  Speaker 7: happen in the magic of capitalism. And of course, libs
• 29:28
  Speaker 7: don't appreciate it, but it's a beautiful thing. And the
• 29:32
  Speaker 7: Cheesecake Factory is actually where I went to eat in
• 29:34
  Speaker 7: this area um upon my first ever promotion and i
• 29:38
  Speaker 7: went to celebrate at the cheesecake factory and i had
• 29:41
  Speaker 7: a great time and i always have a good time
• 29:43
  Speaker 7: there all.
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: Right now i'm going to switch over to the election
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: in michigan uh coming up next hour i've got susan
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: collins so we'll stick in maine and michigan i'm feeling
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: pretty good about susan collins and i think mike rogers
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: is going to win Because I just don't think Al-Sayed
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: fits inside of the 40s of American politics. What do
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: you think?
• 30:03
  Speaker 8: Look, it's a very blue year. It's a blue state.
• 30:05
  Speaker 7: But this state has acted differently in Trump year elections, right?
• 30:09
  Speaker 8: This is a different one. It's the midterms.
• 30:11
  Speaker 7: El-Sayed, to me, is very off-putting, but I have different
• 30:14
  Speaker 7: priorities sometimes than the people who are on the ground voting.
• 30:17
  Speaker 7: But I find him as a personality to be very abrasive,
• 30:20
  Speaker 7: to be very obvious when he doesn't want to be
• 30:22
  Speaker 7: hanging out with people, to make it very flat, as
• 30:25
  Speaker 7: he did in that video where he's in.
• 30:27
  Speaker 8: The barbershop, which I think he refers to as a salon.
• 30:30
  Speaker 7: He does not seem to connect in those places. He
• 30:33
  Speaker 7: connects in TikTok videos, which is part of a campaign.
• 30:36
  Speaker 7: But you also have to connect with the constituencies. And
• 30:38
  Speaker 7: I thought Haley Stevens had great advice for him, which
• 30:40
  Speaker 7: he ignored, which was you should give a speech to
• 30:42
  Speaker 7: the black community about how you're going to serve them
• 30:45
  Speaker 7: and why you're interested in serving them and what that
• 30:47
  Speaker 7: looks like.
• 30:48
  Speaker 8: And he didn't do it.
• 30:49
  Speaker 7: And I think Rogers has gotten better during the campaign
• 30:51
  Speaker 7: at the right moment. And he's reaching the right people
• 30:54
  Speaker 7: and he's giving them a permission structure to say, hey.
• 30:56
  Speaker 8: You can do this and still be a Democrat. But like,
• 30:58
  Speaker 8: join us in this. I do think the people of
• 31:00
  Speaker 8: Michigan are going to look.
• 31:01
  Speaker 7: At El Sayed eventually, enough of them and go, are
• 31:04
  Speaker 7: we really doing this?
• 31:05
  Speaker 8: Are we really doing this?
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: That's the question. Are we really doing this? Is this
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: going to be our senator? Because he's going to stand
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: in the corner by himself in the United States Senate,
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: and no one except Bernie Sanders is going to wander
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: over there to talk to him. Let's close with a
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: quick comment on the Israeli election. Pollsters got it wrong.
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: What a surprise, Mary Catherine Happ.
• 31:22
  Speaker 8: Yes, quite a bit wrong. And look, it's just.
• 31:26
  Speaker 7: I know that it's our job to read polls and
• 31:28
  Speaker 7: it's an important tool and people have to distribute resources
• 31:31
  Speaker 7: based upon them and figure out what's happening.
• 31:33
  Speaker 8: I have many friends who are pollsters.
• 31:35
  Speaker 7: However, I think it's a feature of the American and
• 31:37
  Speaker 7: it turns out the Israeli public as well, but the
• 31:39
  Speaker 7: American public that you don't have a perfect model for
• 31:42
  Speaker 7: what they're going to do. And if we have a
• 31:44
  Speaker 7: perfect model, you know, the libs are going to say,
• 31:46
  Speaker 7: let's just model it and not have the icky voters vote.
• 31:48
  Speaker 8: We know what they want to do.
• 31:50
  Speaker 7: And so you can't model it. You can't predict us
• 31:52
  Speaker 7: all the time. And so we don't know exactly who
• 31:55
  Speaker 7: will turn up on Election Day. And I love that
• 31:57
  Speaker 7: about this country, actually, even when it takes us by surprise.
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: And that is a big yellow caution to everyone absorbing
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: the polls, both those that you like and those that
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: you don't like, because they don't know and their models
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: are wrong. Mary Catherine Hamm, follower on X at MK Hammer.
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: Listen to, like and subscribe to Getting Hammered podcast with
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: Mary Catherine McMattis. which dropped today and I will be
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: listening to tomorrow before Vic joins us on the program.
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: Don't go anywhere, America. I'll be right back here on
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: the Hugh Hewitt Show. Hi, Hugh Hewitt for Carbon Zero.
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  Speaker 1: or visit usmedicalplan.com. I'm Hugh Hewitt, standing by for Senator
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: Susan Collins in Maine. I believe she's at the Bath
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: Iron Works. If you've ever been to Maine, you've driven
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: up down east, you've gone over the Kennebec River, and
• 35:48
  Speaker 1: you've looked to your right, and you've seen a bunch
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: of Ollie Burke destroyers being produced there. Twenty-five have been delivered.
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: And Senator Collins joins me now. Senator, I was just
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: telling the audience about Bath Ironworks. They've delivered 25 Arleigh
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: Burks in the last 25 years. They've got seven more
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: under construction, and now they're going to get another one,
• 36:06
  Speaker 1: if I'm correct.
• 36:08
  Speaker 8: That's right.
• 36:10
  Speaker 9: And it's so important. Bath-built ships truly are best built,
• 36:15
  Speaker 9: as we like to say in Maine. And the destroyers
• 36:19
  Speaker 9: are the workhorses of our fleet. They play such an
• 36:24
  Speaker 9: important role. And I've worked really hard with the Deputy
• 36:30
  Speaker 9: Secretary of Defense and the new Secretary of the Navy,
• 36:35
  Speaker 9: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. The comptroller to educate them
• 36:40
  Speaker 9: on bath iron works to show that the productivity is
• 36:44
  Speaker 9: going up, retention is good, and that they need another
• 36:49
  Speaker 9: ship to ensure that they have a steady workflow.
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: Senator Collins, that's called a demand signal when I talk
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: to Navy people. You've been dealing with this for a
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: long time. That demand signal takes the production line out.
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: Is it as far out? The machinists did a five-year
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: deal this summer when I was up there extending their
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: deal with Bath Ironworks. There were 6,800 people working there.
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: Did that guarantee of another ship aid in bringing the
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: union and management to an agreement?
• 37:18
  Speaker 9: It absolutely did. And it also meant that one part
• 37:25
  Speaker 9: of the yard would not run out of work to do.
• 37:30
  Speaker 9: The initial stage in building a ship is the steel
• 37:34
  Speaker 9: cutting unit. And what I held the new members of
• 37:42
  Speaker 9: the administration to better understand was that this is a
• 37:46
  Speaker 9: process that you can have several shifts under construction, but
• 37:52
  Speaker 9: they're at different stages, and you need work at every
• 37:57
  Speaker 9: stage to retain the greatly skilled workforce that we have
• 38:02
  Speaker 9: at BIW.
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: Now, Senator Collins, I was in Maine in October to
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: see your debate with Troy Jackson, and you trounced him.
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: I don't think Mr. Jackson knows much about many federal issues.
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: Did shipbuilding come up in any of the debates? I
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: didn't hear it in the fourth one.
• 38:20
  Speaker 9: It didn't. And when you think about that, that's extraordinary,
• 38:24
  Speaker 9: given that Bath Iron Works is the single largest single
• 38:29
  Speaker 9: site employer in the state with 6,800 employees. So it
• 38:35
  Speaker 9: actually is pretty amazing that it didn't come up.
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: Senator, if you... I think you're going to win. I
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: think everyone I know in Maine thinks you're going to win.
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: If you do win, are you optimistic about coming to
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: an agreement on Department of War Spending and making sure
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: that the demand signal stays steady so we can, in fact,
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: rebuild shipbuilding in the United States?
• 38:58
  Speaker 9: You know, we have to come to an agreement. And
• 39:02
  Speaker 9: I think what is not fully understood is that because
• 39:07
  Speaker 9: defense was so underfunded during the Biden administration that we
• 39:14
  Speaker 9: need a budget to catch us up. And then as
• 39:19
  Speaker 9: the comptroller and the deputy secretary have told me, then
• 39:23
  Speaker 9: it can go back down a bit, not to the
• 39:26
  Speaker 9: levels of the Biden administration. But we do. need this
• 39:30
  Speaker 9: single year to catch up to where we should be
• 39:35
  Speaker 9: and to repair our industrial base and send that all-important
• 39:40
  Speaker 9: demand signal so that the subcontractors can have the work
• 39:46
  Speaker 9: that they need and the employees that they need.
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: Senator Collins, you mentioned Deputy Secretary Feinberg a couple of times.
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: Russ Howe, the OMB director, is also involved. How did
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: you persuade them to put the destroyer in? How does
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: that work?
• 40:02
  Speaker 9: Well, it took a lot of meetings, but what I
• 40:05
  Speaker 9: think was most important was both Russ Vogt, the OMB director,
• 40:12
  Speaker 9: and the Secretary of the Navy came to Bath Iron Works,
• 40:17
  Speaker 9: and they saw firsthand the work that was being done
• 40:21
  Speaker 9: there and got a better understanding of shipbuilding. In addition,
• 40:26
  Speaker 9: I had several extensive meetings with Deputy Secretary Feinberg, and
• 40:34
  Speaker 9: he sent a group, which he calls his bond group,
• 40:39
  Speaker 9: of largely retired experts who are very skilled, and they
• 40:44
  Speaker 9: reviewed BIW operations and gave a good thumbs up. So
• 40:50
  Speaker 9: that was helpful as well.
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: Now, Senator Collins, the other question I would ask if
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: I was doing the debates is you've got 6,800 people
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: working there. There aren't a lot of houses in Maine. Now,
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: that's not a federal issue. That's a state issue. That's
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: really what Troy Jackson should have been working on for
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: the last time in a number of years. He was
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: in the state legislature. What does the state do about
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: the lack of housing for people who work great jobs,
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: like at Bath Iron Works, but they can't find a house?
• 41:16
  Speaker 9: That is so true. First of all, we need permitting
• 41:21
  Speaker 9: reform at the state level and at the federal level
• 41:25
  Speaker 9: so we can build more housing more quickly. But for
• 41:30
  Speaker 9: Bath specifically, I've worked with the city of Bath on
• 41:34
  Speaker 9: two affordable housing projects that I've secured funding for because
• 41:41
  Speaker 9: you're right, most of the workers... can't find housing that's
• 41:46
  Speaker 9: that close to Bath. Most of the Bath Ironworks employees
• 41:51
  Speaker 9: live in Lewiston and commute each day. And it's great
• 41:58
  Speaker 9: if they want to live in Lewiston, which is a
• 42:01
  Speaker 9: great city, but if they're living there because there's just
• 42:05
  Speaker 9: not housing available, which is the case in In a
• 42:09
  Speaker 9: lot of instances, that's something we need to fix. But,
• 42:14
  Speaker 9: you know, it's not just housing. It's that Maine has
• 42:19
  Speaker 9: very high electricity rates. They're the fourth highest in the nation.
• 42:25
  Speaker 9: And that is directly due to policies that were adopted
• 42:31
  Speaker 9: under Troy Jackson's leadership in Augusta.
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: Oh, you scored on that. By the way, when you
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: made the joke and he told you to shut up,
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: did you take offense or did you just think he's
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: a rookie?
• 42:44
  Speaker 9: You know what I thought? I thought about how reflexive
• 42:48
  Speaker 9: it was and that that's sort of his normal response
• 42:54
  Speaker 9: to someone who disagrees with him, particularly if it's a female,
• 42:58
  Speaker 9: because that's what I'd heard about how he treats people
• 43:02
  Speaker 9: in Augusta.
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: You kept your cool, Senator Collins, as always. Thank you
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: for making time for me today, catching up with you
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: on the campaign trail and good work on Bath Ironworks.
• 43:11
  Speaker 1: We need the Arleigh Burks. They are the workhouse of
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: the fleet. Thank you, Senator Collins. I'll be right back, America.
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: Stay tuned.