Latest / Brian Thomas / AFP - Taxpayer Torch Awards

Transcript

AFP - Taxpayer Torch Awards · Brian Thomas

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  Speaker 1: Station. It's seven point thirty. Here's fifty five KRC Detok Station.
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  Speaker 1: Very happy Wednesday to you, and welcome back to the
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  Speaker 1: fifty five KRC Morning Show from Americans for Prosperity Donovan
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  Speaker 1: and Neil Donovan. It's always a pleasure to have you
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  Speaker 1: on the show.
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  Speaker 2: Welcome back, Brian, always great to be with You.
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  Speaker 1: Got an award to give out.
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  Speaker 2: Huh, well, we gave it out, Actually we gave it
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  Speaker 2: out last night.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, let's talk about it went to Matt Speaker. Speaker,
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  Speaker 1: Matt Huffman, and this is in connection with your your
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  Speaker 1: efforts with the Buckeye Blueprint campaign. I guess you've been
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  Speaker 1: given this award way for several years now.
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  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, actually, and I don't know if you recall
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  Speaker 2: this brance was years ago, but you actually were there
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  Speaker 2: for our inaugural Taxpayer Torch Award when we gave that
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  Speaker 2: in twenty seventeen to John Houstad for his work as
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  Speaker 2: Secretary of State. So this is an award that we've get,
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  Speaker 2: we gave for a number of years. It unfortunately got sidelined.
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  Speaker 2: I think no one really knows the lower history of
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  Speaker 2: white got sidelined. But that was around COVID time. We
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  Speaker 2: just we decided to bring it back though, because of
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  Speaker 2: the outsized impact that then Senate President now Speaker Matt
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  Speaker 2: Hoffman played in accomplishing so many important reforms last session
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  Speaker 2: into this session, coupled with holding the line on some
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  Speaker 2: really bad bills. And I've been on your show and
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  Speaker 2: talked about them, but some really bad bills that had
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  Speaker 2: moved out of the Ohio House and over the Senate.
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  Speaker 2: So just played an outsized impact in so many different ways.
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  Speaker 2: Happy to talk about them, but that compelled us to say, hey,
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  Speaker 2: we're going to bring this award back, and there's somebody
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  Speaker 2: who is well deserving of it, and then hopefully that'll
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  Speaker 2: inspire some other folks down the line to try to
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  Speaker 2: compete and earn that earn that recognition in the future.
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  Speaker 1: All right, what kind of factors are you looking for
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  Speaker 1: with this and what specifically did you ident with Matt Huffman.
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  Speaker 2: Well, yeah, and one of the things that we were,
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  Speaker 2: you know, in particular, looking for is bold conservative leaders
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  Speaker 2: who stand firm for reform and deliver results. And so
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  Speaker 2: when you look at last session into this year, we
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  Speaker 2: expanded school choice for all ohiolands. Yes, we moved from
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  Speaker 2: four brackets down to two, and then just in the
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  Speaker 2: last six months, moved that down to one bracket, a
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  Speaker 2: flat income tax bracket. We protected folks from costly mandates
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  Speaker 2: on energy bills and in fact, in just the first
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  Speaker 2: four months of this year, unleashed energy production here in
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  Speaker 2: Ohio by streamlining and speeding up permitting processes. Regulatory reform,
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  Speaker 2: property tax relief, which continues to be debated and discussed,
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  Speaker 2: but they're moving bills on that issue. In Columbus. We'll
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  Speaker 2: be there today actually testifying on one in particular regarding
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  Speaker 2: the twenty MILLI four but and then holding the line
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  Speaker 2: on government spending. All of this, right, Brian, this is
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  Speaker 2: these are the foundational pieces of our Buckeye Blueprint, and
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  Speaker 2: so all of that accomplished in the last twenty four
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  Speaker 2: or so months. Much much more work to be done, right,
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  Speaker 2: We're not near arriving. But that's the kind of leadership, right,
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  Speaker 2: that comes from helping elect Buckeye Blueprint champion state representatives
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  Speaker 2: and senators right who then elevate leadership like Speaker Matt
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  Speaker 2: Hoffman into that positional leadership to provide that vision that
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  Speaker 2: ultimately helps move us closer to being the number one
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  Speaker 2: state in the nation for freedom and prosperity.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, let's hope so. And I know, obviously the points
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  Speaker 1: that you made are fantastic ones. I got to cling
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  Speaker 1: to the property tax comment because we, of course had
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  Speaker 1: some suggestions from Mike Dwin's Blue Ribbon Committee which didn't
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  Speaker 1: make a whole lot of sense to me. I'd be
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  Speaker 1: quite candid with you, but after Dwine veto the ones
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  Speaker 1: that were in the budget. But we're moving fast toward
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  Speaker 1: this property tax appeal next year, and I think more
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  Speaker 1: and more people are going to sign the petition to
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  Speaker 1: get it on the ballot, and more and more people
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  Speaker 1: are going to gravitate toward doing that, going to force
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  Speaker 1: Columbus to do some tough work. And where's Americans for
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  Speaker 1: prosperity on that whole pile? There? That the whole mess
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  Speaker 1: that we're dealing with right now. You guys, come up
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  Speaker 1: with a solution of your own. Don't want to put
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  Speaker 1: you on the spot that I am no quite or right.
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  Speaker 2: We've actually been talking about this issue for a while
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  Speaker 2: and while eliminating house income taxes, our number one priority,
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  Speaker 2: capping and reforming property taxes here in the state of
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  Speaker 2: Ohio is a very close number two, or maybe it's
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  Speaker 2: one a right, and that it's something that many of
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  Speaker 2: our our constituents and volunteers have been talking about. Now.
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  Speaker 2: What we would like to see happen, right, is that
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  Speaker 2: the reforms that the General Assembly had vetted and reviewed
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  Speaker 2: last General Assembly, so just about twelve months ago, have
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  Speaker 2: been incorporated into legislation this year. Has been debated, vetted,
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  Speaker 2: much of it to move through committee. A lot of
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  Speaker 2: it actually ended up in the state budget. Dwine vetoed
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  Speaker 2: it as a probably recall, and a lot of that
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  Speaker 2: would have helped bring tre parency to the system, would
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  Speaker 2: have capped the ability for these spikes and increases, and
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  Speaker 2: would have put some more accountability mechanisms in place at
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  Speaker 2: a local level to get that done. If that doesn't happen, right,
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  Speaker 2: that's where that threat of eliminating the ability to levy
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  Speaker 2: a property tax in the state outright hang the concern
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  Speaker 2: there right, just speaking pragmatically, and it's coming from a
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  Speaker 2: guy who works for an organization that advocating to eliminate
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  Speaker 2: the income tax.
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  Speaker 1: In the state.
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  Speaker 2: So I don't like taxes, period, but there's a large
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  Speaker 2: shortfall that would impact police and fire and roads and bridges, infrastructure,
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  Speaker 2: much of the public services most people kind of look
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  Speaker 2: to government to do and there's not really a plan
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  Speaker 2: to backfill that right now. And so what we really,
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  Speaker 2: I think need to have happened, and I think most
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  Speaker 2: of Highlands want to see have happened, is that we
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  Speaker 2: get these reforms in the place that give the taxpayer
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  Speaker 2: more control over their local jurisdiction so that we don't
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  Speaker 2: see these unvoted increases, that we don't see these spikes,
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  Speaker 2: and that when people want to understand what's going on
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  Speaker 2: with their tax bill, they can do it. David Thomas
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  Speaker 2: is doing a lot of work. They were up. David
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  Speaker 2: Thomas from the entire other side of the state, from
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  Speaker 2: your listeners in Ashton Villa County, is doing a ton
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  Speaker 2: of work and won't be testifying on a bill that
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  Speaker 2: addresses some of these issues later today in the House
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  Speaker 2: waves the Means Committee.
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  Speaker 1: What of the notion that we wouldn't have to worry
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  Speaker 1: about the property tax if we just were able to
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  Speaker 1: successfully eliminate all the fraud, waste and abuse that exists
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  Speaker 1: in our state government's budget. I mean, I keep hearing
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  Speaker 1: this all the time. You know, Medicaid, Medicare, and the
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  Speaker 1: amount of people who are improperly registered for that. If
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  Speaker 1: we just clawed back that money or didn't send it
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  Speaker 1: out in the first place, our budget would be much
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  Speaker 1: better shape, without a doubt, I.
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  Speaker 2: Mean, and that's one of the things that is being
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  Speaker 2: worked on right But it's a massive behem if not
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  Speaker 2: to create excuses. There was a proposal put into the
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  Speaker 2: state budget that would have the state auditor go in
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  Speaker 2: and look at Medicaid millionaires and if the Medicaid system
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  Speaker 2: is actually properly reviewing in a post COVID era, who
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  Speaker 2: is actually getting these dollars. It's incredibly costly. It's the
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  Speaker 2: number one expense for the state. But here's the deal, Brian,
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  Speaker 2: in local property taxes that if they're eliminated overnight, that's equivalent,
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  Speaker 2: you know, two years of education funding from the setting
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  Speaker 2: that comes to about twenty to twenty three billion dollars.
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  Speaker 2: And so it's a large chunk of money. And that
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  Speaker 2: Medicaid audit may only identify about a billion dollars. A
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  Speaker 2: billion's big number, but it may only identify a billion.
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  Speaker 2: There's a lot of work to be done to bring
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  Speaker 2: down the cost curved government here in the state of Ohio.
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  Speaker 2: All in Columbus, it's the fifty or I'm sorry, it's
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  Speaker 2: the thirty nine hundred political subdivisions across the state that
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  Speaker 2: are the big government behemoths that's bearing down on the
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  Speaker 2: Ohio tax payer right now.
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  Speaker 1: No question about it. Well, well, then on a call
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  Speaker 1: to action, where would you like my listeners to turn
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  Speaker 1: to to get involved?
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  Speaker 2: Donovan O'Neil, Well, we had so many of our volunteers
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  Speaker 2: and supporters get at join us. So well than just
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  Speaker 2: about celebrating the elected officials, it was about recognizing the
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  Speaker 2: work of our volunteers. And you can get involved with
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  Speaker 2: us by going to Buckeye Blueprint dot com. Buckeye blueprint
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  Speaker 2: dot com, sign up, take action, join us. We've got
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  Speaker 2: chapters popping up all over the peak and we'd love
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  Speaker 2: to have your listeners join us.
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  Speaker 1: Buckeye Blueprint dot Com Call to Action, Donald oneil, keep
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  Speaker 1: up the great work. I'll look forward to another conversation
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  Speaker 1: next week. Have a great time or have a great
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  Speaker 1: day and great week, my friend. Thanks Bryan seven thirty nine.
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  Speaker 1: Right now, if you have krc DE talk station, Deb
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  Speaker 1: Meyer from oter Exsit was on yesterday talking about how
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  Speaker 1: great the product