Latest / Brian Thomas / Ohio Treasurer Robert Sprague - Running for Sec of State

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Ohio Treasurer Robert Sprague - Running for Sec of State · Brian Thomas

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  Speaker 1: I have KRC aight oh five, fifty five KRC detalk
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  Speaker 1: station is very happy Friday to you, extra special on
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  Speaker 1: the heels of former congress from Brad Weinster. Welcome back
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  Speaker 1: to the fifty five KRC Morning Show Treasurer Robert Sprague,
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  Speaker 1: who is currently running for second Bay State in the
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  Speaker 1: state of Ohio, and I am pleased to have you
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  Speaker 1: back on the program. Robert Sprague a storied political career,
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  Speaker 1: started out in Finley's as treasurer city auditor, over to
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  Speaker 1: Ohio state representative for eight years, treasurer since twenty nineteen,
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  Speaker 1: and now running for Secretary of State.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you.
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  Speaker 1: It's an impressive career. And before we get started, I
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  Speaker 1: just want to ask you what are you most proud
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  Speaker 1: of as your accomplishments as treasurer before we pivot over
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  Speaker 1: to what you might do as Secretary of State.
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  Speaker 2: Heey, Brian, Well, I really appreciate that. And can you
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  Speaker 2: hear me? Okay? Is the connection all right?
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  Speaker 1: You sound fine from my perspective, our treasure Sprague.
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  Speaker 2: No, that's great. Well, you know, I think that one
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  Speaker 2: of the things that I'm most proud of in the
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  Speaker 2: Treasury is that we've improved the credit rating of the
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  Speaker 2: state of Ohio, and believe it or not, our credit rating,
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  Speaker 2: which we got the first upgrade since nineteen seventy nine,
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  Speaker 2: statiscal management of our state, but also the underlying economics
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  Speaker 2: and we get a more diverse economy. I think that
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  Speaker 2: we're doing very well. There's more work to be done.
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  Speaker 2: We want to create more jobs, better paying jobs. We
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  Speaker 2: want to return industry to our state from overseas and
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  Speaker 2: make sure that we reclaim our manufacturing base here in
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  Speaker 2: the United States. But we've got a lot of energy
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  Speaker 2: underneath our feet, a lot of water with our lake
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  Speaker 2: to the north and our river to the south, and
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  Speaker 2: just an incredible workforce that can't be replicated to the
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  Speaker 2: rest of the United States. And I think our credit
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  Speaker 2: rating upgrade reflects that.
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  Speaker 1: It certainly lowers our borrowing costs the extent we have
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  Speaker 1: to borrow any money.
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  Speaker 2: It does. And you know an amazing thing is in
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  Speaker 2: some cases our credit rating is better than that of
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  Speaker 2: the United States.
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  Speaker 1: Bonds don't make you know we're doing That's a softball.
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  Speaker 1: In my neighborhood, I am a deficit hawk, and we
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  Speaker 1: spend too much money, and our government's overly bloated. If
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  Speaker 1: I was a credit agency, I would probably rank it
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  Speaker 1: a hell of a lot lower where the US credit
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  Speaker 1: currently stands, But that's a subject for another day. One
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  Speaker 1: of the key roles as Secretary of State is voter integrity,
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  Speaker 1: and I know your campaign website for my folks in
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  Speaker 1: the audience want to check you out Sprague spr Ague
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  Speaker 1: four fo R Ohio dot com, Spreague Ohio dot com.
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  Speaker 1: You can see where he is on the issues, but
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  Speaker 1: specifically election integrity. Congress from Winsor wanted me to thank
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  Speaker 1: you for your efforts on voter id here in the
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  Speaker 1: state of Ohio. You're saying that as you walked out.
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  Speaker 1: I applaud them as well. Where are you? For example,
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  Speaker 1: on the idea of computer ballots, A lot of my
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  Speaker 1: listeners maybe leaning conspiracy theory, but I think they have
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  Speaker 1: a lot of justification to be worried about that. If
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  Speaker 1: you can't go back and check it against a paper ballot,
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  Speaker 1: for example, you have to trust that the computer's crunching
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  Speaker 1: the numbers right, and they the manufacturers, won't give you
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  Speaker 1: access to the code. So I call that a problem.
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  Speaker 2: Well, you know what we do in the financial world
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  Speaker 2: is we have a dual system. You have a paper
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  Speaker 2: audit trail. That's why I want to see as the
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  Speaker 2: next Secretary State, make sure that we use paper ballots.
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  Speaker 2: A paper ballot that's a separate printed piece of paper
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  Speaker 2: that you can see who you voted for, that you
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  Speaker 2: submit as your vote, and that's actually with you. How
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  Speaker 2: constitution says. It says that all elections will be by
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  Speaker 2: secret ballot, and the definition of a ballot is a
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  Speaker 2: piece of paper, and you'll submit that vote and then
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  Speaker 2: we run it through the tabulation machine. That way, we
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  Speaker 2: get the results immediately that night, just as you're used to,
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  Speaker 2: and we know who one who lost and how many
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  Speaker 2: votes were counted. But there's two things that happened during
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  Speaker 2: that process. First of all, you create a perfect and
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  Speaker 2: immutable audit trail by submitting that piece of paper, and
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  Speaker 2: we can go back and we will count the paper
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  Speaker 2: to make sure that the machines are accurate and that
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  Speaker 2: they're telling us the truth. And the second thing is
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  Speaker 2: you create an audit trail as well by the number
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  Speaker 2: of votes casts who one who lost, that you can
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  Speaker 2: go back and audit that. We'd like to actually create
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  Speaker 2: and add a secondary audit as well. And believe me,
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  Speaker 2: I know how to audit things. So this would be
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  Speaker 2: a secondary audit for the bipartisan chain of custody for
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  Speaker 2: the ballots themselves. And the great thing about that is,
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  Speaker 2: you know, if you have the machine saying X, and
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  Speaker 2: you have the paper ballots saying why, you know that
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  Speaker 2: you can go back to the paper ballots at the
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  Speaker 2: precinct level, recount them and make sure that the vote
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  Speaker 2: is accurate. That's the only way that you can ensure
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  Speaker 2: one hundred percent accurate elections one hundred percent of the time.
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  Speaker 1: Is anyone opposing that conceptually, Robert Sprague, You know.
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  Speaker 2: I think I don't think anybody's opposing that necessarily. I
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  Speaker 2: think the issue is going to be with funding. We've
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  Speaker 2: got to get some you know, as you probably well know,
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  Speaker 2: our elections are held at the county level. And by
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  Speaker 2: the way, I don't want to tear down our county
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  Speaker 2: boards of elections. They do a fantastic job. I'm running
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  Speaker 2: to build them up, and we got to be very
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  Speaker 2: careful with that because I mean, are precinct officials courses bipartisan.
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  Speaker 2: We are Republicans and Democrats to work at these polling
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  Speaker 2: locations to hold each other accountable and make sure that
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  Speaker 2: everyone follows the rules and that's the reason our system
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  Speaker 2: works so well. In the state of Ohio. We do
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  Speaker 2: elections right here, but at the county level sometimes they
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  Speaker 2: lack the funding to be able to upgrade two different
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  Speaker 2: machines and machines that can work with a paper ballot.
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  Speaker 2: And I'm going to work with the General Assembly to
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  Speaker 2: make sure that we find the funding to be able
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  Speaker 2: to run our elections securely.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I know you're responsible for licensing business as a
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  Speaker 1: secretary of state. Is there anything the Secretary of State
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  Speaker 1: can do pivoting over to fraud that might aid and
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  Speaker 1: assist the state of ohiowand saving money that's going out
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  Speaker 1: in fraud, waste and abuse, which many have calculated in
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  Speaker 1: the billions of dollars. I keep looking at funding sources
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  Speaker 1: and a lot of my listeners will be the first
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  Speaker 1: person to say, well, if we didn't let so much
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  Speaker 1: money go out the door in fraud, waste and abuse,
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  Speaker 1: we'd have enough money to fill in the blank or
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  Speaker 1: in this case, maybe increase election integrity. So does the
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  Speaker 1: Secretary of State have a role in preventing fraud? Like
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  Speaker 1: looking into license you're ahead of time before say, granting
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  Speaker 1: a leering center license.
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  Speaker 2: Sure, a learning center license, absolutely. I'll tell you, well,
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  Speaker 2: that goes back to something I want to talk about
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  Speaker 2: with the integrity of the election system. But let's just
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  Speaker 2: talk a little bit about the filing of the businesses.
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  Speaker 2: I've got some ideas around this that I can think
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  Speaker 2: can help our small businesses in our state. But first
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  Speaker 2: let me address this issue of fraud. And it's a
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  Speaker 2: big issue. I mean, we can remember that how do
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  Speaker 2: people commit fraud. They typically committed over the Internet, and
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  Speaker 2: it's normally with self attestationist when we tend to trust
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  Speaker 2: people to do the right thing, you can see that
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  Speaker 2: it's not working well for the Somali daycares up in Minnesota.
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  Speaker 2: You have to trust, but verify and you've got to
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  Speaker 2: make sure that the documentation is in place. And so
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  Speaker 2: to your point, there is a tremendous amount of in
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  Speaker 2: fraud within the system. We saw that during COVID with
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  Speaker 2: the unemployment compensation system of four point three billion dollar
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  Speaker 2: fraud there. But at the end of the day, you've
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  Speaker 2: got to demand that documentation from those businesses as they
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  Speaker 2: go through and process those transactions to make sure that
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  Speaker 2: they're valid transactions. I mean, I mean it's a little
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  Speaker 2: bit difficult a Secretary of State, just because when people
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  Speaker 2: are filing the paperwork to start a new business, they've
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  Speaker 2: not done anything wrong. All the fraud happens after you incorporate, right,
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  Speaker 2: and you don't know what people are going to do. Obviously,
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  Speaker 2: that's not the way our criminal justice system works or
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  Speaker 2: should work. So we want to make sure that we
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  Speaker 2: hold people accountable for what they do or what they
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  Speaker 2: do wrong. My idea for the front end, I was
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  Speaker 2: an entrepreneur myself, so I started my own business, ran
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  Speaker 2: it successfully for several years. We had an international business.
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  Speaker 2: Actually did a little work in London than in Mexico
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  Speaker 2: City and some other places. I can remember when we
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  Speaker 2: started that business, the one thing we needed was money.
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  Speaker 2: We needed some cash up front to get our business started.
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  Speaker 2: There are a lot of government programs out there and
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  Speaker 2: nobody knows what they qualify for. I would love to
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  Speaker 2: create an artificial intelligence skin on top of the business
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  Speaker 2: application piece, so that when new businesses are getting started,
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  Speaker 2: they have access to maybe thousands of different programs and
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  Speaker 2: maybe even some private funding like from the bank, that
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  Speaker 2: we would provide them guidance to access all those funding mechanisms.
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  Speaker 1: Fair enough. Now I have I say the privilege. I
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  Speaker 1: really impressed by the man, and this is not to
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  Speaker 1: give Brian Thomas has an endorsement or anything. I know
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  Speaker 1: the Republican Party has endorsed you in advance of the primary,
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  Speaker 1: and given the collective of my listening audience, that concept
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  Speaker 1: has kind of rubbed a lot of people the wrong way.
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  Speaker 1: You know, why didn't we get a say in that.
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  Speaker 1: I know the advance endorsed Vivik Ramaswami too for governor.
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  Speaker 1: So I want to get your position on pre primary endorsements,
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  Speaker 1: but also a question about whether you'll be debating Marcel's
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  Speaker 1: sturbage again. I liked the guy. I'm impressed by his
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  Speaker 1: energy and of course his service to our country. So
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  Speaker 1: will there be a debate on the heels of what
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  Speaker 1: do you say about the event's primary endorsements?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I mean, look, at the end of the day,
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  Speaker 2: the people of the Republican Party the primary electorate are
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  Speaker 2: the people that make the decision. Of course, I'm honored
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  Speaker 2: to get the indorsement of the high Republican Party. Obviously
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  Speaker 2: it's a high bar. They've known me, they've endorsed me
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  Speaker 2: for the Treasurer's office, and I'd like to think that
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  Speaker 2: we've done a good and honorable job in the Treasurer's
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  Speaker 2: office for people, and in this particular case, I think
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  Speaker 2: it's one of those things where you do want a
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  Speaker 2: proven leader in the Secretary of State's office because you
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  Speaker 2: want someone that understands how to run an office and
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  Speaker 2: run an election. Well, you know, with regards to a
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  Speaker 2: debate with Marcel, we'll see if we can find a
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  Speaker 2: time and some sort of a platform to make it
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  Speaker 2: fair for everyone. I don't know that that that's what
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  Speaker 2: we're going to do. I noticed that last time when
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  Speaker 2: Trump ran, when he was ahead of the other Republican contenders,
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  Speaker 2: he didn't enter any of the debate stages. But I
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  Speaker 2: think that's still up in the air as to what
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  Speaker 2: we do on that. What I want to talk about
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  Speaker 2: really is election security, and I want to move to
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  Speaker 2: an upfront citizenship check exact only American citizens, you know,
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  Speaker 2: can vote in our elections. And I want to talk
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  Speaker 2: about those kind of issues with our in our Republican primary.
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  Speaker 1: Well, you know personally where you read my mind, because
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  Speaker 1: the last question is going to ask you for we're
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  Speaker 1: party company, because we were going to part company here
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  Speaker 1: momentarily since we're out of time. Should only citizens be
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  Speaker 1: allowed to vote in Ohio elections? Of course, that's a
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  Speaker 1: federal law. On federal elections, you have to be a citizen.
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  Speaker 1: But that is not necessarily applied to state issues. So
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  Speaker 1: where are we in the state of ohigl on that one.
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  Speaker 2: Well, here's the interesting thing. In Article five of the
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  Speaker 2: Ohio Constitution, which was passed in twenty twenty two by
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  Speaker 2: seventy seven percent of ohioans, it says that only American
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  Speaker 2: citizens can vote in Ohio elections. I can tell you that.
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  Speaker 2: But there are members of the Democratic Party that do
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  Speaker 2: not believe that. They want to see, you know, non
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  Speaker 2: citizens be able to vote in Ohio elections, and some
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  Speaker 2: of them have voted for that and against that language
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  Speaker 2: in the Constitution on the House floor. But it is
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  Speaker 2: important for us. I believe in upholding the rule of law.
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  Speaker 2: That's my number one job and I will do it.
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  Speaker 2: And so in order to uphold the rule of law
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  Speaker 2: in the Constitution of the State of Ohio, we must
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  Speaker 2: there is no debate. We must move to a front
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  Speaker 2: end citizenship check where we require documentary proof of citizenship
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  Speaker 2: when someone registers to vote. Now, when you go to vote,
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  Speaker 2: all you have to show is your photo, idea or
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  Speaker 2: driver's license. But when you register to vote, you do
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  Speaker 2: need to show proof that you are an American citizen.
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  Speaker 1: And then listen, Lawyer, I may be, but I'm not
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  Speaker 1: familiar with every single provision of hell Constitution. So you
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  Speaker 1: enlighten me on that that it's already there. So our
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  Speaker 1: constitution demands action on that point, I could argue absolutely.
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  Speaker 2: I would. That's a great way to put it. That
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  Speaker 2: absolutely demands that we uphold the Constitution, and the only
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  Speaker 2: way to do that is trust, but verify, and further, Brian,
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  Speaker 2: I will tell you that I want to create an
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  Speaker 2: internal audit team to look at the current voter registration
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  Speaker 2: records and make sure that we identify any record that
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  Speaker 2: does not comply with Ohio law. In other words, non citizens,
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  Speaker 2: illegal immigrants, people that have moved out of our state,
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  Speaker 2: which is probably one of the key pieces of voter fraud.
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  Speaker 2: That we have people that have moved out of our state,
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  Speaker 2: and then also people that have passed away because none
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  Speaker 2: of them are ballot electors under Ohio law.
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  Speaker 1: That all sounds like low hanging fruit with modern technology.
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  Speaker 1: Robert Sprague, running for Secretary State find online it's Sprague
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  Speaker 1: for Ohio. That's the word for spelled out Sprague for
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  Speaker 1: Ohio dot com that all the issues. Feel free to
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  Speaker 1: donate work on his campaign. And I appreciate the time
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  Speaker 1: you're willing to spend with my listeners me this morning,
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  Speaker 1: Robert Sprague. I look for to having me back on
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  Speaker 1: the program and I listen. You didn't say anything that
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  Speaker 1: robbed me the wrong way today, sir, I gotta admit that.
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  Speaker 2: All right, well, very good. I really appreciate it. We
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  Speaker 2: want to keep our elections secure in the state of Ohio,
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  Speaker 2: and I appreciate it coming on and talking a little
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  Speaker 2: bit about election security with you.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you, Brian Opening