Latest / Chuck Douglas / More With Candidate For District 10 Mark Sigrist

Transcript

More With Candidate For District 10 Mark Sigrist · Chuck Douglas

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  Speaker 1: Right here, right now is the Power Hour on 610 WTVN.
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  Speaker 1: Trying to bring you the people, the thoughts, the voices
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  Speaker 1: of those who are seeking your vote here. And I
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  Speaker 1: know a lot of people, you know, you do the
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  Speaker 1: early voting. I've never been a fan, but if that's
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  Speaker 1: how you do things, go ahead. I like going to
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  Speaker 1: the polls on Election Day. It feels like one of
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  Speaker 1: the most American things I can do except for eating
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  Speaker 1: apple pie on the 4th of July. It's just, it's
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  Speaker 1: meaningful to me. So I enjoy that. I voted early
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  Speaker 1: once simply out of necessity. And I know a lot
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  Speaker 1: of people who are like me, who like they enjoy
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  Speaker 1: going to the polls, standing in line with their neighbors
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  Speaker 1: and actually, you know, maybe getting to know people who
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  Speaker 1: live in your neighborhood you never met before while you're
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  Speaker 1: standing there to vote. So it's a it's a good thing.
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  Speaker 1: I know plenty of people still want to do that.
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  Speaker 1: And and Mark Sigris is hoping that when you do that,
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  Speaker 1: you'll push the button next to his name. It's well,
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  Speaker 1: it's not really a button anymore. It's a sense. What
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  Speaker 1: are they? What do you call them?
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  Speaker 2: I think each one is a button or at least
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  Speaker 2: touching the screen. I think touching the screen probably is
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  Speaker 2: what it is.
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  Speaker 1: We still do that stuff. He's got a new record
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  Speaker 1: coming out. Nobody does records anymore. You get used to
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  Speaker 1: using the phrase. I asked you at the beginning what
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  Speaker 1: you hung your hat on as far as his first
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  Speaker 1: term in the legislature. If you go into a second term,
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  Speaker 1: what's on the radar? What are those things that now
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  Speaker 1: that you've done some time, you've seen what's going on?
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  Speaker 1: You say, OK, I want to start working on this.
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  Speaker 1: This is important. I think the voters will need to
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  Speaker 1: know that this is something that's on my agenda of
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  Speaker 1: things I want to try to get done.
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  Speaker 3: Thanks for asking that question. I didn't say earlier, too.
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  Speaker 3: Thanks for hosting me today.
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  Speaker 2: And I just really appreciate this opportunity.
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  Speaker 3: I've had kind of an awakening, I think, for the
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  Speaker 3: first few years.
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  Speaker 2: And I as much as I know, property taxes and
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  Speaker 2: cost of living, obviously, and data centers are big. We
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  Speaker 2: all don't get a chance to kind of work on that.
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  Speaker 2: That's kind of the committee that's assigned to those. But
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  Speaker 2: I am on ways and means. So property tax, that
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  Speaker 2: all comes through our committee. It's great to kind of
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  Speaker 2: work those and vet those ideas.
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  Speaker 3: That come through.
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  Speaker 2: So I want to be part of that. But I
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  Speaker 2: also I would say in data centers, I'm not sure
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  Speaker 2: whose committee that goes through, but we'll all have a
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  Speaker 2: say and we'll all try to affect it. But the
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  Speaker 2: thing that I want to try to hone on and
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  Speaker 2: I think I want to pivot to is education. I'm
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  Speaker 2: convinced after spending a lot of times in the classrooms,
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  Speaker 2: whether it's Southwestern City Schools or Columbus Public Schools, that
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  Speaker 2: we can't focus enough right now on education.
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  Speaker 3: And I feel it's our future. It's obviously our future leaders.
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  Speaker 2: And I've been able to go to some different summits
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  Speaker 2: on what's called like innovation, invention in education and things
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  Speaker 2: like that, where kids are almost like a sport. They
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  Speaker 2: learn to invent things and they– And they develop and
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  Speaker 2: grow so much that I just think that fostering that
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  Speaker 2: kind of independence for our future generations is really important.
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  Speaker 2: Because if people can learn how to solve problems and
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  Speaker 2: navigate their life, it's less dependence even on the government.
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  Speaker 2: And they'll have a chance for a more bountiful and
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  Speaker 2: successful life. So I want to foster a little more
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  Speaker 2: creativity in the way we approach education today. So I
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  Speaker 2: hope to be assigned to the Education Committee. And that
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  Speaker 2: will be really good. But obviously, there's still these bills
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  Speaker 2: that I have in the queue if they don't get
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  Speaker 2: passed in the lame duck. I look forward to getting
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  Speaker 2: them right in the first in line for the next session.
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  Speaker 3: And I really like our bills.
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  Speaker 2: And one bill I didn't mention just to kind of
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  Speaker 2: tell you about bills that make me exciting.
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  Speaker 3: Like there's a makes me excited.
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  Speaker 2: There's a bill called a Sunday alcohol tax bill or
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  Speaker 2: alcohol bill.
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  Speaker 3: And I want to loosen that for small businesses. I
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  Speaker 3: want to loosen that.
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  Speaker 2: The requirement to have an election ballot for being able
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  Speaker 2: to sell something that you can already sell Monday through Saturday.
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  Speaker 2: And if you're already paying those fees and you can
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  Speaker 2: already do it, why do you have to go knock
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  Speaker 2: on doors and ask for permission to put on the
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  Speaker 2: ballot to do something you've already been granted to do
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  Speaker 2: Monday through Saturday? It's going to be a big break
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  Speaker 2: for businesses and it'll just help the restaurant industry. And
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  Speaker 2: so– So basically this deals with spiritist liquors mainly. You
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  Speaker 2: can sell– if you can just sell it money through Saturday,
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  Speaker 2: you can sell it on Sunday. So guess who my
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  Speaker 2: joint sponsor is on that bill from the Republican side.
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  Speaker 3: Would you know who it might be?
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  Speaker 1: No.
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  Speaker 3: I can tell you. Ruff Jack Daniels. Yeah, that's his name.
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  Speaker 3: Ruff Jack Daniels. And I think we got a shot.
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  Speaker 1: With a name like Jack Daniels?
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  Speaker 3: We have a shot at it.
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  Speaker 1: And you know what? Again, it's another one of these comments.
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  Speaker 1: Six days a week, you can sell the spirits. And
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  Speaker 1: on the seventh day, this is one of those things
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  Speaker 1: that people go, well, it was Sunday and we didn't
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  Speaker 1: drink alcohol on Sunday. We didn't do a lot of
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  Speaker 1: things on Sunday. Really, when I was a kid, a
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  Speaker 1: lot of stores were just completely closed. And then as
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  Speaker 1: a teenager, they started opening maybe noon to five or
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  Speaker 1: something like that. And now everything's open all the time.
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  Speaker 1: The world has changed and it It's strange how some
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  Speaker 1: of what we do remains 100 years ago in a
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  Speaker 1: lot of ways.
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  Speaker 3: They were called the blue laws.
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  Speaker 1: The blue laws, yes.
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  Speaker 2: So it's just to get a victory like that for
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  Speaker 2: small business owners trying to pay the rent, trying to
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  Speaker 2: deal with inflation. Those are just– They're just great, exciting
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  Speaker 2: things to do. As a Democrat especially, to be fighting
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  Speaker 2: for businesses, I just love to do that. I love
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  Speaker 2: anything to do that looks like I'm just not the
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  Speaker 2: stereotyped Democrat that just wants to put regulations on things.
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  Speaker 1: And again, the result of our conversation the other day,
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  Speaker 1: and I hope you took it as a compliment because
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  Speaker 1: I meant it as a compliment. You are what I
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  Speaker 1: would call a traditional Democrat. We got a lot of
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  Speaker 1: stuff going on there right now that I know– Even
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  Speaker 1: if you can't say openly, you're looking at it and going, man,
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  Speaker 1: this is not us. And that's on both sides of
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  Speaker 1: the fence. Trust me. As a registered Republican, I look
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  Speaker 1: at stuff and go, man, what happened? That old centrist, middle-of-the-road,
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  Speaker 1: common-sense approach is fading away quickly. So it's nice to
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  Speaker 1: speak to a fellow dinosaur. Yeah, yeah.
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  Speaker 2: Well, and, you know, no one even talks about being
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  Speaker 2: fiscally conservative anymore.
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  Speaker 3: No.
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  Speaker 1: You know? No, we don't need that. Just keep printing it.
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  Speaker 1: We're good. The property tax thing, it's kind of like
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  Speaker 1: the data centers. It's until we get through the election,
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  Speaker 1: there's no real productive, reasonable conversation to be had. And
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  Speaker 1: when it is had, people hate it when I say this,
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  Speaker 1: by the way. Get ready to hurt. Get ready to
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  Speaker 1: make some choices and decide what you want to lose.
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  Speaker 1: I get what you're saying. Property taxes are bad. I
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  Speaker 1: think they're ridiculous too. To continue to pay money for
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  Speaker 1: the rest of your days for something you already paid
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  Speaker 1: for with your after-tax dollars doesn't make sense. You're renting
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  Speaker 1: your own stuff. But we have a system where so
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  Speaker 1: much is funded by property taxes. Until we find a
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  Speaker 1: new way to fund these things, we've got no choice.
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  Speaker 1: But The legislature, it falls on them, both houses. We've
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  Speaker 1: got to find it. We've been waiting for the school
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  Speaker 1: funding thing for 27 years now. This has got to
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  Speaker 1: get done because property taxes are such a big issue
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  Speaker 1: for everybody that I hope that's something you're ready to
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  Speaker 1: stand strong on.
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  Speaker 3: And say we need to get this finished. It is.
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  Speaker 2: It's clearly– you mentioned the elephant in the room for sure.
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  Speaker 2: It's probably a third of– I'm just stabbing a little
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  Speaker 2: there– a third of the revenue stream, right, next to
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  Speaker 2: sales tax and income tax.
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  Speaker 3: And it funds so many local things. That's the thing.
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  Speaker 2: It funds the sheriff. It funds the municipal court system.
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  Speaker 2: It funds education. And so it funds MRDD. It funds
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  Speaker 2: so many things that I think we take for granted that,
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  Speaker 2: you know, like exist. But if we don't have that,
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  Speaker 2: you know, it won't fund those things.
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  Speaker 3: And so we have to have a plan B.
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  Speaker 2: And, yeah, so it is tough because especially if we
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  Speaker 2: keep– we have this like insatiable desire at the statehouse
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  Speaker 2: to keep reducing income tax for the wealthy. Well, pretty soon,
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  Speaker 2: it's that kind of shift of where you need the
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  Speaker 2: money from is going to come at the local level.
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  Speaker 1: But we can reduce income taxes. Again, be prepared to
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  Speaker 1: pay $ 300 for a license plate tag. The fees are
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  Speaker 1: going to go up. This is a governmental thing. I've
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  Speaker 1: sung this song every time that a bond issue comes
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  Speaker 1: forth here in the city of Columbus. It's not a tax.
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  Speaker 1: It's a bond. A bond is a loan for which
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  Speaker 1: you are cosigning, and it's got to be paid back
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  Speaker 1: some way. Right. It's what, if the speech is delivered properly,
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  Speaker 1: you never think about that. And it's, you know, we're
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  Speaker 1: the Republican candidates right now. We're going to get rid
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  Speaker 1: of state taxes. Okay. But be prepared. We're going to
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  Speaker 1: have to pay more for the state licenses and the
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  Speaker 1: state services. The money has, we stuff doesn't just become
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  Speaker 1: free because taxes go away. And that's, again, it's one
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  Speaker 1: of those hard conversations that, uh, we have to have
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  Speaker 1: hopefully very openly and, and very detailed wise. But as
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  Speaker 1: we talked a couple of days ago, you, you seem
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  Speaker 1: like you're ready to do that and you, you don't
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  Speaker 1: have a problem with it.
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  Speaker 2: No, I mean, I just think a balance of power is,
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  Speaker 2: is helpful, I think. But at the same time, I
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  Speaker 2: think if you're contributing and truly in the minority, like
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  Speaker 2: I'm in and you're contributing and you're, you know, I
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  Speaker 2: think I mentioned it earlier, you know, I've got 22
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  Speaker 2: endorsements from people that are watching the game being played and,
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  Speaker 2: I've got FOP endorsement, Ohio Chamber endorsement, and I've got
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  Speaker 2: an environmental fund endorsement across the gamut, 22 thing that
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  Speaker 2: probably my opponent applied for too. And I got the endorsement.
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  Speaker 2: So I think people are saying, keep it at it, Mark,
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  Speaker 2: work in the middle, keep working in the middle. And
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  Speaker 2: that's what I want to do. I want to lead
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  Speaker 2: from the middle. And that's just how I'm wired. I
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  Speaker 2: think I've always been that way. It wasn't new to government.
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  Speaker 2: I was just the idea of you got to find
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  Speaker 2: common ground with people.
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  Speaker 3: And I can do anything with anyone.
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  Speaker 2: I can work on anything with anyone as long as
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  Speaker 2: we're doing the right thing.
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  Speaker 1: Have you had a wish I could take that back
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  Speaker 1: moment in the first term? Has there been something where
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  Speaker 1: you got through it and you thought, you know, I–
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  Speaker 1: I should have gone the other way on this or
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  Speaker 1: something you wish you would have done differently.
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  Speaker 2: I think the thing for me is I literally finally
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  Speaker 2: followed my advice that I was always given and I
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  Speaker 2: never did in my career and changing jobs at Honda
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  Speaker 2: or wherever. And that was for the first six months,
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  Speaker 2: don't say a word.
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  Speaker 3: I did it.
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  Speaker 2: I finally did it. I was so proud of myself.
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  Speaker 2: I wanted to send myself a plaque. I didn't say anything.
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  Speaker 3: I observed. I sensed. I watched.
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  Speaker 2: And then– I started– I was establishing relations but I
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  Speaker 2: didn't say that was dumb. We should have done it
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  Speaker 2: that way. No, because I didn't know what I was doing.
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  Speaker 2: Your earlier question is finding my way. But then after
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  Speaker 2: the six-month mark, after the budget got closed, I started
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  Speaker 2: to get a read on how things worked and who
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  Speaker 2: are the people that I would want to work with
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  Speaker 2: on the Republican side and especially because I just– I
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  Speaker 2: mentioned there are so many people there for the right
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  Speaker 2: reason and I started– I started asking people, I got
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  Speaker 2: this idea on this Sunday alcohol tax.
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  Speaker 3: Who should you get?
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  Speaker 1: Oh, Rep.
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  Speaker 3: Jack Daniels would be a good one. OK.
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  Speaker 2: And I read this bill about giving breaks to business
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  Speaker 2: owners that want to hire veterans.
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  Speaker 3: OK, yeah, Rep.
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  Speaker 2: Gene Schmidt should be a good one, you know. And
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  Speaker 2: just people just help scare me. But I think it's
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  Speaker 2: because I didn't open my mouth and just show my
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  Speaker 2: stupidity early on, pretending like I knew something that I
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  Speaker 2: didn't know.
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  Speaker 1: That lay low strategy never fails.
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  Speaker 3: I know. And I finally did it. I want to
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  Speaker 3: send myself a plaque.
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  Speaker 1: It worked. It worked.
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  Speaker 3: I'm so, so happy.
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  Speaker 1: All right. As we are getting close to the end here,
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  Speaker 1: as I have done with everyone else, I try to
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  Speaker 1: get out of the way in the last couple of
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  Speaker 1: minutes or so just to basically to let you say
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  Speaker 1: something that's not guided by a question I might ask.
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  Speaker 1: Introduce yourself, explain yourself, represent Mark Segrist to the folks
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  Speaker 1: that are listening.
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  Speaker 3: No, I so appreciate it. And thanks again for this opportunity.
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  Speaker 2: You know, I have to admit, I retired from Honda
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  Speaker 2: in three decades there, and I decided to run for office.
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  Speaker 3: And people said, why? Why are you doing this? And
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  Speaker 3: I have to admit, I.
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  Speaker 2: I spent a long time thinking about that, what came
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  Speaker 2: next when I was at Honda. And I knew I
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  Speaker 2: always wanted to spend this chapter of my life serving
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  Speaker 2: others in some small way, leaving my community better than
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  Speaker 2: how I found it. And I never imagined that.
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  Speaker 3: Service would come through elected office.
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  Speaker 2: But some of my most meaningful moments at Honda weren't
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  Speaker 2: about promotions or titles. They were about playing a part
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  Speaker 2: in work worth doing and working alongside talented teammates who
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  Speaker 2: to solve problems that none of us could solve alone.
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  Speaker 2: And I was surprised to see that same teamwork in
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  Speaker 2: the State House. I really was gleefully surprised, whether it
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  Speaker 2: was with my staff or my colleagues or working with Republicans.
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  Speaker 3: I'm not a stone thrower. I'm a uniter.
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  Speaker 2: And some really good people are in this space for
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  Speaker 2: the right reasons. And that's exactly how I feel about
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  Speaker 2: serving this Ohio House. When I think of my time
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  Speaker 2: at Honda in the State House, the issues are different,
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: but the feeling is remarkably familiar. You know, we are trying,
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  Speaker 2: instead of improving the factory floor, we're now working with
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  Speaker 2: people across Ohio to improve our communities. And I'm not
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  Speaker 2: trying to pretend that I'm smarter than I am, and
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: I hope not to come off dumber than I am,
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  Speaker 2: but there's a balance there. And I listened for years
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  Speaker 2: to Corby on my way home, all those years on
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  Speaker 2: my drive back from Honda, and I just wanted to
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  Speaker 2: be that regular guy and go to the regular guy
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  Speaker 2: golf outing. And so I mentioned earlier my endorsements, you know,
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  Speaker 2: and I think that's a sign that I am a
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  Speaker 2: regular guy and that people– People find me approachable and
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  Speaker 2: reasonable to work with. And, you know, sometimes people like
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  Speaker 2: to ask me, are you Republican or Democrat? I'm at
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: the doorsteps, you know, and I honestly don't like grouping.
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: You know, a friend said it to me best years ago.
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  Speaker 2: You pick any group, Catholics, Protestants, gay, straight, Republican, Democrat,
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  Speaker 2: and 5% of those people are going to be you-know-whats.
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  Speaker 2: And the other 95% are going to be good people.
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  Speaker 2: And I just want to be part of that 95%
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  Speaker 2: that's in any group people put me in. I want
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  Speaker 2: to be the good person. I want to be respectful.
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  Speaker 2: I want to work and learn from each other. And again,
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  Speaker 2: I can work with anyone if we're doing the right thing.
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  Speaker 2: You know, it's now it's past time to get our
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  Speaker 2: act together at the statehouse. We've got to put some
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  Speaker 2: structure around data centers to help out our local areas
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  Speaker 2: and their governance. And we cannot give up our resolve
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  Speaker 2: to reduce property taxes. And that's how I feel the
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  Speaker 2: big thrust has to be. And I hope to work
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  Speaker 2: on a lot of other motherhood and apple pie type
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  Speaker 2: things along the way.
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  Speaker 1: All right.
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  Speaker 3: I appreciate that time.
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  Speaker 1: If you want to be a regular guy candidate, the
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: candidate theme should have been Ain't about time somebody do something.
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  Speaker 3: I'm Billy Ray Warner.
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  Speaker 1: I approve this message. Mark is his first name, last
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: name Segrist, S-I-G-R-I-S-T. Pretty easy to Google him. You're on
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: Facebook and Twitter and all the standard places, right? It's
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: like we used to go. It's available on Amazon, right? Yeah,
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  Speaker 1: that's where everybody is.