Latest / Conversations: Special Guests with Preston Scott / He's Running To Be Florida's Next Governor

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He's Running To Be Florida's Next Governor · Conversations: Special Guests with Preston Scott

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Having more fun than I should be allowed to have.
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  Speaker 1: It's good to be with you, everybody. I appreciate all
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: of you joining us wherever however you're listening, whether it's
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  Speaker 1: old school radio or whether it's iHeartRadio all across the country.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you. We do not take for granted the time
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  Speaker 1: that you extend to us, and we're thrilled to have
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  Speaker 1: just great guests. And over the last several months, we've
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  Speaker 1: gotten to know this gentleman. He's the lieutenant governor for
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  Speaker 1: the state of Florida. He is now a candidate to
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  Speaker 1: be governor. Lieutenant Governor Jay Collins, how are you.
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  Speaker 2: I'm doing well.
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  Speaker 1: How are you doing this morning? I am great, but
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  Speaker 1: I'm not running for governor.
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  Speaker 2: Well, you know, I'm blessed. I remind myself I grew
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  Speaker 2: up in a trailer, adopted kid, and God is good. Man.
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  Speaker 2: We have an opportunity to serve twenty three and a
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  Speaker 2: half million people. It's not something to take lightly.
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  Speaker 1: That actually leads perfectly to what I wanted to start with.
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  Speaker 1: Why'd you decide to run?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I'll tell you. When you look at all of
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  Speaker 2: the opportunities in life, one, you got to wake up
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  Speaker 2: grateful every morning. I'm a kid who came from obscure poverty,
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  Speaker 2: raised without anything, didn't have two wood nicolas to rub together.
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  Speaker 2: I get to serve twenty three and a half million
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  Speaker 2: people as attendant governor. Again, it's not something you take lightly.
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  Speaker 2: I expect us to lead and when you look across
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  Speaker 2: our state, I want someone who has that steel resolve
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  Speaker 2: that will just step in and stand alone if necessary
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  Speaker 2: to protect the most important thing in our communities in
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  Speaker 2: our state. It's our people. It is people over politics,
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  Speaker 2: and I've seen that when I look at the pantheon
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  Speaker 2: and political candidates out there, I want someone who espouses
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  Speaker 2: my values, who has a courage a conviction to stand
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  Speaker 2: in even if alone. And I didn't see someone who
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  Speaker 2: I thought would be that person in the lineup. So
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  Speaker 2: the question I asked myself was this. You know, Governor
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  Speaker 2: Ron DeSantis, he wasn't America's governor until COVID, and he
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  Speaker 2: stood in. America was saved because.
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  Speaker 1: Of his action.
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  Speaker 2: I truly believe that if he hadn't been there, it's
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  Speaker 2: a different world for the next governor in this state.
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  Speaker 2: Do you want someone who is day one ready as Governor?
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  Speaker 2: DeSantis has clearly said many times about me, or do
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  Speaker 2: you want somebody who in the next hardest thing they're
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  Speaker 2: going to have to deal with, that's the hardest thing
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  Speaker 2: that they were dealt with in their entire life. I've
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  Speaker 2: been tried, and I've been trude. I have stepped in
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  Speaker 2: and led, broken, healed and got back up, and I've
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  Speaker 2: led from the front every single time. The best indicator
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  Speaker 2: of future potential is past performance. Where other candidates didn't
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  Speaker 2: pass anything, I passed fifty five bills in three years, Economy, education,
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  Speaker 2: and safety and security. This is not time to learn
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  Speaker 2: on the job for the next two to three years.
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  Speaker 2: If you're going to come after America's governor and you're
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  Speaker 2: going to walk in the shadow of President Donald J. Trump,
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  Speaker 2: well you better be ready on day one to step
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  Speaker 2: up and lead from the front and help protect our
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  Speaker 2: people at a time when Florida cannot take a step back.
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  Speaker 1: Do you think there's any chance of I don't want
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  Speaker 1: to use the word wedging, Jay, but you know President
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  Speaker 1: Trump got out and decided to endorse Byron Donald's I
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  Speaker 1: don't know that Donald Trump saw you becoming a candidate
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  Speaker 1: for governor.
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  Speaker 2: I'm sure it didn't.
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  Speaker 1: Do you think there's a chance of getting some support.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, I do. The simple fact is this, President Trump
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  Speaker 2: wants a winner. He wants people who espouse his values,
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  Speaker 2: and he wants someone who is going to stand there
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  Speaker 2: in the fire beside him. No matter what, I promise
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  Speaker 2: you as the next governor, I will be President Trump's
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  Speaker 2: best friend. We're going to solve problems. Let me be
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  Speaker 2: very very clear, Florida will not take a step back.
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  Speaker 2: We will lead from the front. And on day one,
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  Speaker 2: he's going to know that. I expect Florida to lead
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  Speaker 2: because when Florida leads, America wins. That has been the
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  Speaker 2: recipe for success. That must never change.
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  Speaker 1: Lieutenant Governor j Collins with me, and we were just
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  Speaker 1: talking about the fact that Governor Ron Desantus is considered
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  Speaker 1: by many who we hold in high esteem on this
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  Speaker 1: show as the most consequential governor when it comes to
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  Speaker 1: conservative policy. Obviously needed legislative members like yourself to help
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  Speaker 1: put the Polo see across the finish line. But there's
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  Speaker 1: still work to be done. He has said as much.
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  Speaker 1: Came on this program a few weeks ago and said,
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  Speaker 1: you know, we're going to run through the tape as
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  Speaker 1: best we can. What is on the sticky note, the
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  Speaker 1: dry erase board. As far as if you become governor,
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  Speaker 1: what are you picking up and carrying the rest of
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  Speaker 1: the way. What are other things that maybe we haven't
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  Speaker 1: spent a lot of time on that Florida needs to
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  Speaker 1: focus on.
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  Speaker 2: Well, a great question. I actually I agree with the
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  Speaker 2: initial premise. I think he is the most consequential governor
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  Speaker 2: in our nation's history. But let's look at why when
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  Speaker 2: COVID happened, he stood, He stood alone. Our entire dynamic
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  Speaker 2: as a nation would have shifted had he not been
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  Speaker 2: constitutionally focused, had he not been focused on the people.
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  Speaker 2: It's incredible how much he got attacked, not only from
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  Speaker 2: within our country, but externally, from world leaders, from people
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  Speaker 2: all over the planet, day in, day out, and yet
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  Speaker 2: he stood and people came around to him, and Florida
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  Speaker 2: led on those issues. That really was what made him
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  Speaker 2: who he is in terms of being America's governor. The
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  Speaker 2: foundation was there because he is a rock solid constitutional conservative.
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  Speaker 2: So where are we at? When I ran, it was economy, education, safety,
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  Speaker 2: and security. Those three things brain us together. Sometimes I
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  Speaker 2: think we overcomplicate Ris Crispi's right, it's a blue box.
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  Speaker 2: Cool Cereal makes meat sound right. This is Florida. We
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  Speaker 2: have so much going for us. Twenty three and a
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  Speaker 2: half million people eight hundred and twelve hundred people a
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  Speaker 2: day moved to this state. We have that going force.
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  Speaker 2: We have to manage the things that matter. It all
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  Speaker 2: starts with safety. There are things we can do right
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  Speaker 2: now to not only enhance how our law enforcement works,
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  Speaker 2: but prepare them for what's to come. Cyber warfare, drone warfare,
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  Speaker 2: those things will come to our cities. We have to
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  Speaker 2: prepare those people for that. I would love to see
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  Speaker 2: some more alignment with FUSION in terms of our fahp
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  Speaker 2: our fdaily working together to prepare them for the next piece.
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  Speaker 2: I think there's ways to save money in terms of
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  Speaker 2: purchasing and how we do that to bring more taxpayer
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  Speaker 2: dollars back to the taxpayer, or better yet, not take them.
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  Speaker 1: Lieutenant Governor. On the subject of safety and security, we've
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  Speaker 1: talked this morning on the program about Chinese nationals and
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  Speaker 1: what's happening in various parts of the country. There have
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  Speaker 1: been discussions on should they even be allowed to buy land,
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  Speaker 1: not just near sensitive areas, but in general. What should
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  Speaker 1: Florida's policy be on that well?
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  Speaker 2: I wrote Florida's policy. That was my bill that banned
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  Speaker 2: them from buying our critical infrastructure.
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  Speaker 1: What about anything?
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  Speaker 2: I'm good with that. If you are from the CCP, Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: you should not buy American land.
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  Speaker 1: Because we can't buy land in their country.
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  Speaker 2: Last I checked.
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  Speaker 1: So is it as simple as that. Well, if you
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  Speaker 1: look at.
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  Speaker 2: How we wrote that law, it is very, very very
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  Speaker 2: strict in maintaining our privacy in our standards. That was
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  Speaker 2: where we could land that thing. Look, I am happy
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  Speaker 2: to go back to the Well. What I know from
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  Speaker 2: my time bouncing around the planet is that when people
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  Speaker 2: like China, people who do not align with our values,
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  Speaker 2: say something, you better believe it. They're here for economic
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  Speaker 2: and if necessary, militaristic domination across the planet. They're there,
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  Speaker 2: they're pressing, they're saying that every single day. They're not
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  Speaker 2: our friend, they're not our ally. Take them serious, keep
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  Speaker 2: them from buying land, protect our people state by state
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  Speaker 2: and across this nation.
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  Speaker 1: You and I talked before the show even started our
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  Speaker 1: segment together that there's a growing concern because we're seeing
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  Speaker 1: the mayor of the largest city in our country is
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  Speaker 1: now a socialist, an open socialist. The mayor of Seattle.
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  Speaker 1: We have others running for offices. Should that even be allowed?
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  Speaker 1: In your opinion, and you're a student of the constitution,
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  Speaker 1: should a socialist, communist, Marxist be allowed to even run
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  Speaker 1: for office?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I will tell you this. Abraham Lincoln addressed this
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  Speaker 2: many many years ago. We'll never be taken a part
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  Speaker 2: or beat from the outside. We'll beat from the inside,
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  Speaker 2: will be beat from the inside. And you see that happening.
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  Speaker 2: You see erosion of our American values in cities like
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  Speaker 2: New York, in Minneapolis. You see this in the Northwest.
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  Speaker 2: You see this in the Northeast, in the cradle of liberty.
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  Speaker 2: We see these things forming. First off, what's going on
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  Speaker 2: in New York of all cities. How on earth do
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  Speaker 2: we have to learn that lesson there? How on earth
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  Speaker 2: do we have to relive all of those things they're
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  Speaker 2: telling us that there's nothing too small or too big
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  Speaker 2: for the government to solve. Friends, you should be afraid
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  Speaker 2: right now. That is how they are going to get
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  Speaker 2: you and hook you with socialism, and they are going
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  Speaker 2: to take away your freedoms. Your liberty is one step
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  Speaker 2: at a time. That is a near guarantee. There's a
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  Speaker 2: reason people are fleeing New York to come here right now.
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  Speaker 2: The simple fact is this, let's look at the forms
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  Speaker 2: of government out there, Sharia law, socialism. I don't believe
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  Speaker 2: either or commensurate with our constitution.
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  Speaker 1: A don't.
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  Speaker 2: I do not. I believe in our values. We are
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  Speaker 2: blessed and ordained by God. We are a nation unlike
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  Speaker 2: any other in the throes of history, and we have
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  Speaker 2: to fight for it. We have a republic for a reason.
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  Speaker 2: The minority and the majority are protected from each other,
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  Speaker 2: but they're both protected from the government. We have to
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  Speaker 2: keep that. We have a republic if we can keep it.
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  Speaker 2: As per Benjamin Franklin, and something the governor says all
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  Speaker 2: the time, we better take that serious.
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  Speaker 1: Final segment flies and it goes too fast. Lieutenant Governor
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  Speaker 1: Jay Collins with me. We were just talking in the
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  Speaker 1: break about the affordability issue. It's been very on brand
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  Speaker 1: when I've talked with sal Newso about the legislative session
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  Speaker 1: with doctor Bob McLure of JMI. Give me your take first,
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  Speaker 1: defined affordability to you.
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  Speaker 2: Well, affordability is simple. I want to put more money
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  Speaker 2: back in people's pockets. Right it's those kitchen table issues.
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  Speaker 2: I want people to live the American dream. I believe
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  Speaker 2: in American exceptionalism, and that's not predicated on eching buy
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  Speaker 2: or just being good enough. This should be about excellence
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  Speaker 2: in everything we do. Excellence is a habit, right, just
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  Speaker 2: put those things down. Unfortunately, I think we framed this
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  Speaker 2: that we're only going to try to really talk about
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  Speaker 2: saving money via Doze, which I.
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  Speaker 1: Love, love love, I love FAFO.
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  Speaker 2: Right, Blaze is doing incredible work or dropping rates here
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  Speaker 2: or dropping rates there, friends, we got to talk about
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  Speaker 2: blowing the roof off this thing and bringing in more jobs,
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  Speaker 2: more high paying jobs, more opportunity. It's something that Marco
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  Speaker 2: talked about fifteen years ago in his first book.
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  Speaker 1: You know, it's funny you say that, because I was
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  Speaker 1: just thinking about Secretary of State now Mark Rubio. How
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  Speaker 1: funny that is. And he's doing an incredible job. He said,
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  Speaker 1: we don't need more taxes, we need more tax payers.
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  Speaker 2: That's right. Look, the simple fact is we have incredible opportunity.
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  Speaker 2: We are Florida. This is the United States of America.
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  Speaker 2: Remember who we are. Step up, dream big dreams, do
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  Speaker 2: bold things, build great businesses, and let's raise how we
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  Speaker 2: live because we're raising this salary across that we got
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  Speaker 2: to bring more of those jobs, more of those opportunities
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  Speaker 2: back right here to Florida, build them up and move
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  Speaker 2: them forward. But I think secondary too, that you got
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  Speaker 2: to fix education as well. You know, the average tradesman
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  Speaker 2: is like fifty seven to fifty eight years old. Farmers
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  Speaker 2: are fifty eight, friends, we better figure that out. We
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  Speaker 2: can't feed ourselves and we can't fix our toilets. We're
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  Speaker 2: going to be out of luck really soon.
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  Speaker 1: Do you think to move towards more vocational education as
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  Speaker 1: a step in the right direction.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think it's almost necessary. Yeah, you look at
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  Speaker 2: the gaps in our economic model. Those things are gonna
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  Speaker 2: be the best paying jobs with the lowest entry point
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  Speaker 2: in terms of debt. Why would you not want to
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  Speaker 2: do that more money quickly and retire and live the
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  Speaker 2: American dream doing that right now?
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  Speaker 1: So what are the keys to expanding industry, manufacturing, whatever
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  Speaker 1: it might be in the Sunshine State.
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think you got a point of pain, a
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  Speaker 2: vision first, right, you got to bring those people in,
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  Speaker 2: set them up here. You know, there's opportunity to do
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  Speaker 2: more ship building, right, eighty thousand jobs per planned, another
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  Speaker 2: twenty five thousand jobs in the economy. Eightyk and above
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  Speaker 2: was within those five thousand jobs in the plant sixty
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  Speaker 2: five k and up starting out in the economy, that's
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  Speaker 2: thirty thousand jobs. It would come to a community to
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  Speaker 2: help build out that industry that then exists in energy
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  Speaker 2: with small modular reactors. We start building them here with people,
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  Speaker 2: maybe Rolls Royce or others. Right, same thing with cranes.
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  Speaker 2: Let's build cranes for our ports. That's an industry that's
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  Speaker 2: always been linked with the largest ship building state in
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  Speaker 2: the Union.
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  Speaker 1: We can do more. When you're looking at industry regardless
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  Speaker 1: of what it is, you still have to like paint
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  Speaker 1: a pie chart for me here, how much of grease
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  Speaker 1: in the wheel? For this is the state responsibility versus
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  Speaker 1: whatever roadblocks and hindrances exist in local communities.
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  Speaker 2: Well, local communities are a huge part of the problem. Right,
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  Speaker 2: Let's take a step back and let's look at housing
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  Speaker 2: and how home prices go up. Right, Let's get impact fees.
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  Speaker 2: Let's look at permitting. We've got to get that straightened out.
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  Speaker 2: The state probably has something we can say and do
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  Speaker 2: right now to help levy that out. So builders have
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  Speaker 2: an opportunity to drop that price. If they have impact
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  Speaker 2: fees and they have permitting that takes years, well, guess
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  Speaker 2: who that really falls back on as a consumer. It's
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  Speaker 2: exactly that. If we lay out our grid work as
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  Speaker 2: a state, just like Governor de Stantus has done as
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  Speaker 2: a true conservative, a true conservative warrior for our state
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  Speaker 2: in this country, that's the path to success. But the
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  Speaker 2: reality is things always change. It's your principles that have
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  Speaker 2: to lead. That's why the next governor is so vital
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  Speaker 2: and so important. We have to press through this. We
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  Speaker 2: have to make sure we lead by those principles, and
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: we have to make sure that we get the government
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  Speaker 2: out of the things that shouldn't be in. But we
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  Speaker 2: also hold those people accountable when they're usurping individual freedoms
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  Speaker 2: at those local levels. That leadership matters.
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  Speaker 1: When you talk impact fees. Is there a need to
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  Speaker 1: reverse engineer and figure out how we got where we
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  Speaker 1: are now? Is it simply a matter of local communities
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  Speaker 1: just wanted more money? And even Republican local communities, I
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: mean Blaze has seen that that Republican Democrat run communities,
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  Speaker 1: they're they're just skyrocketing their budget.
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  Speaker 2: President, now you're speaking my love language they're reverse engineering
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  Speaker 2: this and understanding how this happened. Yeah, one d percent.
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  Speaker 2: You got to do it. Forensic analysis of this, right,
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: let's understand what happened, what went wrong. But more importantly,
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: let's identify the gaps. One of the biggest problems in
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: government is we have a great idea and we'd jam
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: it into a crack or a gap that doesn't exist.
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  Speaker 2: Let's go find our problems. Let's fix those and move
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  Speaker 2: on to the next things.
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  Speaker 1: If if we were to bring up property tax in
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  Speaker 1: sixty seconds, is there a proposal out there if we
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  Speaker 1: accept we can't get there one hundred percent right now?
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  Speaker 1: Is there a glide path to property tax relief that
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  Speaker 1: you personally like better than another.
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  Speaker 2: I think you go for the top of the ladder, right,
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  Speaker 2: and then you move back from there. If the math
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  Speaker 2: doesn't play out, I have ten fingers and five toes, right,
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  Speaker 2: math wins. Show me the math. Let's go through the math,
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  Speaker 2: and I'll show you a plan that can be successful.
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  Speaker 2: But I do believe in what I've seen, you can
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  Speaker 2: go for property tax exemptions on our homestead of properties,
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  Speaker 2: no property tax. It's less than thirty percent of the
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: money that comes from property tax comes from home stead
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  Speaker 2: of properties. We can solve for that as a state.
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  Speaker 1: How do you handle the rural communities that don't have
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  Speaker 1: the base.
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  Speaker 2: Well, i'll tell you the Governor Dessantis has already said
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  Speaker 2: clearly he's willing to help offset that, to help regulate
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  Speaker 2: this and manage that process to get the money back
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  Speaker 2: in homeowners' pockets so they're not taxed into oblivion. I
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  Speaker 2: think that probably yields prosperity, gives more opportunity, and I
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  Speaker 2: will bet it probably leads to more small businesses, more
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  Speaker 2: economic growth, and facilitates incredible growth in those communities.
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  Speaker 1: Thanks so much for coming in.
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: I appreciate it. Man Extract.
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: Good to see again