Latest / Between the Headlines: Columbus / In Studio: Lavonne Harris PLUS A Last Minute Raise for the Mayor

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In Studio: Lavonne Harris PLUS A Last Minute Raise for the Mayor · Between the Headlines: Columbus

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: From the opinion page of the Commercial Dispatch.
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: This is Between the Headlines.
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: This is Peter Imes, publisher of the Dispatch.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: One of our hosts of Between the Headlines is the managing editor of our newsroom.
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: Typically, we try to keep news and opinions separate, but reporters have a unique insight into the workings of local government and their analysis can be helpful for readers and listeners.
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: The Dispatch remains committed to journalistic integrity and our reporting will always reflect that.
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: And now Between the Headlines.
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: This week on Between the Headlines, we have special guest the victor and new face of Ward 4, ms LaVon Harris.
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: Also, we talk about the city and county adding up to hire a PR firm to keep MSMS where it is.
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: And, lastly, the mayor's getting a raise, and we have thoughts about that.
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: But first, retirement looks different for everyone, so your plan should be built around you.
• 1:10
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• 1:17
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• 1:22
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• 1:25
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• 1:27
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• 1:30
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• 1:37
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• 1:40
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• 1:43
  Speaker 3: Call Benton's at 662-657-2583 or visit them online at bentonsinccom.
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: That is bentonsinccom.
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: This episode of Between the Headlines is brought to you by Bank First, the locally owned bank that makes decisions right here at home, by people who understand the needs of our community.
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: That means local decisions, local support and folks who care if your kid made the team.
• 2:18
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• 2:21
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• 2:26
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• 2:30
  Speaker 3: Now we welcome into the studio the former and technically current president of the Columbus Lounds NAACP and also Councilwoman elect.
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: Congratulations for ward four, miss levon harris, thank you for being in here today thank you.
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: Thank you for inviting me all right, good, good to see you.
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: Um, you look well today.
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: Well, thank you, and I like the.
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: Uh, you have the new orleans saints fleur-de-lis sported on the front of your shirt.
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: There, I'm okay with that choice as well.
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 3:06
  Speaker 4: No, no, I'm diehard.
• 3:07
  Speaker 4: Saint Fein, there you go who dat?
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: What shall we talk?
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: about today.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: Well, ms Harris, well, I just want to jump right in here.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: You've run for this office a couple of times before, didn't get it?
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: What was different this time about your campaign?
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: About the I guess, the political landscape?
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: What did you do to get over the top this time?
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: Well, this time, what I did, I got a campaign manager, ms Brenda Martin.
• 3:28
  Speaker 4: She decided to be my ride or die and she worried me so bad about the running because my kids really didn't want me to run due to the last two times.
• 3:36
  Speaker 4: But I had a plan and I decided to work the plan and I played, and a lot of times I didn't do a lot of speaking or whatever because I was on a mission and then so what I was doing, my plan was to knock on and talk to as many people as I could and I explained to them what I would like to see happen in the ward.
• 3:57
  Speaker 4: I explained to them I am only one vote and I explained it.
• 4:01
  Speaker 4: So what I was telling them, they was all for that and what I said is if you want change, you elect me.
• 4:07
  Speaker 4: If you don't want change, you'll keep what you already got.
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: Well now, when you said, when we talked right after the election, you said that you had knocked on every bit of 4,000 doors.
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: How did you get all that done?
• 4:22
  Speaker 4: I did some every day.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 4:23
  Speaker 4: And I had two diehard friends of mine that when I called and asked them what were they doing, they said, oh nothing.
• 4:30
  Speaker 4: I said, well, put your boots on, let's go, and, like when it rained and stopped, we get out there, even if we only did an hour.
• 4:38
  Speaker 4: Most times we got over an hour, but everything.
• 4:40
  Speaker 4: Then on March the 31st I had a whole crew to come in.
• 4:45
  Speaker 4: I had friends come from Jackson, my son came up from Tennessee and then I had friends here.
• 4:49
  Speaker 4: I had some friends come up from Knoxville where I was born and raised, and we got out there and just knocked on doors, knocked on doors that particular day.
• 4:59
  Speaker 4: We went from Memphis town area.
• 5:00
  Speaker 4: I had already did East Columbus where I live.
• 5:03
  Speaker 4: We did Southside and I got one house off of Blue Cut behind the dispensary.
• 5:09
  Speaker 4: I was out there.
• 5:09
  Speaker 4: So only door that I did not knock on if it said no trespassing, I'll beware dogs.
• 5:15
  Speaker 4: We didn't go there.
• 5:16
  Speaker 4: Okay, I wouldn't go there either, trust me, I know every house that in my ward.
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: You have anybody slam the door in your face.
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: No, they were happy to see me.
• 5:26
  Speaker 4: Yeah, no, and if they didn't come to the door wasn't home.
• 5:29
  Speaker 4: I left a door hanging on it with my picture.
• 5:31
  Speaker 4: Okay, you know, part of my ward is on the Dubby Campus too, in those apartment complex, so I was all over the place.
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: You say you're the candidate for change.
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: What needs to change on the council generally and in Ward 4 specifically?
• 5:51
  Speaker 4: Well, what I would like to see change on the council is we come together and try to be on one page, you know, and I work for the people.
• 5:55
  Speaker 4: I don't work for the ones that sit up on the council seat or the mayor.
• 5:59
  Speaker 4: I work for those who elected me in this seat for change, and I would like to see we work together and I feel that this council we really need in the next four years to bring this city back up to where it needs to be, and I hope we all can come together and work it and do what we need for the people and not just for personal intake.
• 6:20
  Speaker 3: You know you mentioned earlier that you were just one vote, but I think one vote can be really powerful, the way this particular council is set up.
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: You know we've talked about the weak mayor system, blah, blah, but four, two seems to be the thing.
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: Changing that to three, three or even the other side, you have a.
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: I would not dismiss the power of that one vote that you've been awarded in terms of what it can do for our city.
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: And when you say, lift us up, to where do we need to be, what does that look like to you?
• 6:51
  Speaker 4: To me what it look like.
• 6:52
  Speaker 4: You know, we, everybody know we got a big drainage problem.
• 6:54
  Speaker 4: We need to kind of handle it.
• 6:56
  Speaker 4: So we literally lift it up, so it'll drain down right, we'll got to find somewhere where the water gonna go.
• 7:01
  Speaker 4: That's my one.
• 7:09
  Speaker 4: Dad joke'm done now, go ahead.
• 7:09
  Speaker 4: But what I would like to see happen if we all can come together.
• 7:11
  Speaker 4: But I would love to see just like our city, I want to focus on cleaning it up.
• 7:12
  Speaker 4: You know we talk about people don't want to move here.
• 7:14
  Speaker 4: Well, right down the street, do you want to move here?
• 7:16
  Speaker 4: But if we can get it clean and I know they used to have this in the past I would love to see just a six-plus employees working in each ward.
• 7:24
  Speaker 4: That's the only way we're going to keep it clean.
• 7:26
  Speaker 4: That's the only way we're going to keep them ditches clean out, because right now they're all over the place.
• 7:31
  Speaker 4: So if I'm working in Ward 4 today and I didn't finish, then I know tomorrow I need to go back.
• 7:36
  Speaker 4: And then I feel, every three months, let's rotate them, take them out of Ward 4, put them in War 5.
• 7:42
  Speaker 4: You know you rotate them out, but that's the only way you're going to be able to clean the city up.
• 7:45
  Speaker 4: And plus, they need, you know, adequate equipment, of course, right To work with.
• 7:50
  Speaker 4: And then you know, like I said, kind of hold the employees, let them.
• 7:54
  Speaker 4: Come up to a standard that you really love your job.
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: My mama always told me if you're going to be a street sweeper, you better be the best D-suite tripper you can.
• 8:02
  Speaker 4: So that's what I look at and by me being a business owner dealing with the public, you know that's what I like to see.
• 8:08
  Speaker 4: And then, like I said, I know and I'm not sure, but I'm going to check into it we got a lot of laminated houses around here that some need to be done.
• 8:16
  Speaker 4: We got a lot of the vehicles still sitting in communities.
• 8:21
  Speaker 4: Driveway ain't running Need to be done.
• 8:23
  Speaker 4: And let's just kind of get our city cleaned up.
• 8:25
  Speaker 4: So you know people when they ride down the street, come down Main Street, they go ooh, I like that, I like that.
• 8:30
  Speaker 4: So you know they ever want to move here.
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: Well, talking about that one voice, that one vote there have been, especially over the past four years.
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: It's been block voting for most of the time.
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: Talk about how independent your voice is going to be, issue to issue on that council.
• 8:51
  Speaker 4: My vote going to be independent.
• 8:52
  Speaker 4: I'm going to pray about it and I want to vote for what I feel for the people, and I know my vote is important, but I just still wanted them to understand that I am one vote.
• 9:02
  Speaker 4: But like I told them, also them.
• 9:03
  Speaker 4: But I just still wanted them to understand that I am one vote.
• 9:04
  Speaker 4: But like I told them also, I'm one vote, but I intend to be the right vote.
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: Ms LaVaughn, I want to ask you about this, and this is kind of deep, but hang with me here.
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: About three weeks ago we had Rick Don't Go Mason on here and we had a discussion on race relations and it went okay, but the thing is about the, the racial healing in columbus.
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: It's such a delicate topic, it's such a nuanced topic.
• 9:30
  Speaker 3: Five minutes just wasn't really enough to do it justice.
• 9:35
  Speaker 3: You know what I mean, and so here's what I want to throw at you.
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: When I was in graduate school, I met an older black man and he told me this story.
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: He said for his ninth birthday he got 10 cents, which is big deal for him back in the civil rights era.
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: He went to the the store.
• 9:50
  Speaker 3: He ordered a coke.
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: All right.
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: The young server brought him a coke in a glass.
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: The old white lady that owned the place came in there and threw a fit.
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: She said we don't serve glasses to those people.
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: She got a napkin, put it over there, actually took a hammer and busted the glass up and threw it in the trash and she said the paper cups are over there.
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: Okay, that story broke my heart when that old man said it.
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: Okay, it's terrible.
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: It is, and here's why I bring that story up.
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: Okay, that was kind of a reality check for me when I heard that.
• 10:27
  Speaker 3: When I heard that, can someone such as me acknowledge that things were really, really bad for the African-American community back in those days?
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: Can we say I am sorry for what my great-grandpa did, I am sorry for what my great-great-great-grandpa did, for what my great-great-great-grandpa did, and at the same time hold the position that meritocracy works and certain policies maybe reparations for example would be just counterproductive to the healing that we need?
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: I know that's a deep question, but I think you're a person that's qualified to answer that and I'd like your take on that.
• 11:13
  Speaker 4: Well, I think it can be healed because we can come together as one.
• 11:16
  Speaker 4: And me myself, I don't see color, and you know by being in the NAACP for almost 20 years, and that's what it's based on National Association for the Advancement of Colored Peoples.
• 11:29
  Speaker 4: Colored peoples.
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: Which is anybody that doesn't look peoples.
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: So I don't care what color you is.
• 11:34
  Speaker 4: You can be black, white, green, purple, I don't care.
• 11:35
  Speaker 4: I can have a conversation with you, we can be friends, we can go out to eat and I'm still fine Now.
• 11:41
  Speaker 4: As I was coming up as a child, I kind of went through a little of the racist stuff, but I learned over time everybody's not racist, okay, yeah, so you got to know the person.
• 11:56
  Speaker 4: But we can have a cordial conversation.
• 11:59
  Speaker 4: We all can come together, we can sit down and let's have a talk about it.
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: You know, you know what I'm saying.
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: Well, which goes to my point, like, how do we, when we had Mr Mason on, we talked about this a little bit how do we have those community conversations in good faith where we're talking about the right thing?
• 12:18
  Speaker 4: Let's just do it like this If you want to do this conversation, let's start where you're going to really kind of hit home as far as I'm concerned.
• 12:25
  Speaker 4: Let's start with the church.
• 12:26
  Speaker 4: Let's start with the pastors, Because see what you've got to realize.
• 12:29
  Speaker 4: Let's start with the pastors Because see what you've got to realize.
• 12:32
  Speaker 4: The pastors see more than any given people in a month time on a Sunday than anybody, and the pastor has more influence on those people that are coming in to get the word.
• 12:43
  Speaker 4: And the church remains some of the most segregated places and during that time in the church that I belonged to back in the day, I was told they was part of some of that segregation already, because I belong to missionary union Baptist church.
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: Going back to the, the, the city policy part of this or not the city policy part of this, but the uh, the councilman race and everything else, how much do you feel like and I don't mean this as a as a trap question or as a or as throwing shade at anybody, but I'm just going to ask it straight how much did character matter in, specifically, the Ward 4 race in your?
• 13:20
  Speaker 4: view, it mattered a lot.
• 13:23
  Speaker 4: People look at what you do and me, anybody that knows me.
• 13:28
  Speaker 4: I try to be a woman of my word.
• 13:31
  Speaker 4: I work in the community.
• 13:32
  Speaker 4: I do a lot, so if I tell you something, let's put it like this If I tell you something that I'm going to do for you or whatever, you can take that to the bank.
• 13:42
  Speaker 4: But if I tell you it's 430, you can take that to the bank too, because I'm not going to do it.
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 13:48
  Speaker 4: And it's just me and I just try to be a straightforward.
• 13:54
  Speaker 4: If you call me and ask me something, I ask me to do something and if I see where that I can't, I'm going to make sure I get back to you and let you know what happened and why I couldn't do so-and-so.
• 14:02
  Speaker 4: So-and-so Because, just to give you a prime example, as I was out campaigning on 26th Street, I had a gentleman come out to talk to me Councilman Beard had came before I had came out.
• 14:14
  Speaker 4: You know he mentioned it to me and he was talking about his semen that was broke up in his front of his driveway, that he goes down.
• 14:23
  Speaker 4: And he said, well, what can you do about it?
• 14:26
  Speaker 4: You can't do nothing.
• 14:27
  Speaker 4: And I said, well, I'm not going counselor.
• 14:29
  Speaker 4: I said, well, y'all can.
• 14:31
  Speaker 4: All you know, I see what I can do like that.
• 14:33
  Speaker 4: So I left and I made a phone call and I got the person to go out there and look at it because it is on the city, and I called the person back, the homeowner, and I let him know who was coming to talk to him and see him about that issue.
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: And so that's what I did.
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: Okay, well, two of the people that you ran against in this one in the primary and one in the general previously held the seat, pierre's the sitting councilman.
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: You beat him in June In the primary.
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: It was a previous Ward 4 councilman, marty Turner, and you beat him in the primary.
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: They both had really positive things to say about you throughout.
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: What is your relationship with those previous councilmen specifically?
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: You know Pierre, who was very complimentary to you from the council table last night.
• 15:27
  Speaker 4: Yes, I know Marty and I know Pierre just you know from knowing in the neighborhood and being my counselor.
• 15:32
  Speaker 4: But we had had a conversation previous to all those running and I just told them I'm not going through this with y'all this year because my plans at the time I'm going to run a clean campaign, because I don't need to say anything about martin, I don't need to say anything about pierre.
• 15:49
  Speaker 4: Whatever the people want to know about it, I feel they already knew it was about me running, knocking on your doors and tell you what I'm going to do.
• 15:55
  Speaker 4: That was my main point about it.
• 15:58
  Speaker 4: So we got along just fine.
• 15:59
  Speaker 4: We didn't bump heads, they didn't say nothing negative about me.
• 16:02
  Speaker 4: I didn't say nothing negative about them.
• 16:04
  Speaker 4: Okay, and any time I called Pierre, if he didn't answer the phone he would get back with me and the same as Marty.
• 16:14
  Speaker 4: Like I said, they did some good things over the years, but then you just had some other stuff happen and it is what it is.
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: At the risk of making the interview less about you, I do want to throw this in there what do you make of Beard's bid for state representative?
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: Well, you can pass if you want.
• 16:35
  Speaker 4: Well, I put it like this I ain't got to pass.
• 16:37
  Speaker 4: I put it like this I quite didn't understand why would he want to run for state representative and you didn't win your local election.
• 16:46
  Speaker 4: The state is a little different from the local because I deal with it on a timely basis, because I go to the capital a lot, you know being with NAACP and One Voice, so there's a whole big turnaround.
• 17:00
  Speaker 4: And then what I see is I don't see Kareem that he's going to do something that you know somebody needs because he's doing a great job down there and he's going.
• 17:12
  Speaker 4: He have done a lot for Columbus and I just feel that he will still do a lot for Columbus.
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: Let me give you my two cents.
• 17:18
  Speaker 4: I just can't resist, give me your two cents, yeah.
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: There is an appropriate time to challenge an incumbent and a court ordered special election, in my opinion, is not the appropriate time.
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: Well, if they have an election and you're qualified to run, you should run.
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: It's legal.
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: And if he wants to run, he can run.
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: That's the democratic process.
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: I understand and I'm not saying that it's unlawful or even unethical, but I am saying that I feel that it's untimely and I feel that it is an unnecessary hassle for Kabir Kareem at this time, for what it's worth.
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: Well, going back to the city, when I interviewed you after the election results came in, you talked about you know I'll go to any class they send me.
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: I'll report back on what I've learned.
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: I'm ready to go.
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: What do you feel like?
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: Going in that?
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: You're the greenest as a councilman as far as making votes on city policy?
• 18:22
  Speaker 4: Well, we're a little bit of all of it, but I'm not going to say I'm green.
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 18:25
  Speaker 4: Because by being the president of the NAACP for 19 years, I deal with the finance, I deal with a lot of stuff and when they sent me on a convention, I did bring the information back and tell them what was going on and I also tell them how we can implement it with the community and put it out there, because we did do a lot for the city.
• 18:44
  Speaker 4: But I read a lot and I take a lot of notes and I just feel we need to be held accountable, because if you're going to spend your money to send me to a conference, I need to come back and let you know what I learned at that conference.
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: And that isn't always what has happened historically.
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: I know.
• 19:03
  Speaker 4: But if I'm going and you're sending me, I'm coming back with something and I feel you know we as counselors the the ones that go, the newly led and the old ones let's do a press conference, let's tell y'all what we're going to do, not just y'all just spending y'all the taxpayer money on us.
• 19:18
  Speaker 4: And if we're not bringing anything back to the better city, then I got a problem with it.
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: Do you intend to go to the 10-time Waterway Conference in Point Clear or that other conference in Tunica?
• 19:38
  Speaker 4: Well, I, you intend to go to the 10-time waterway conference in point clear or that other conference in tunica that they're.
• 19:40
  Speaker 4: Well, I go to tunica every year anyway, okay, and uh, if I go to point clear, I'm like this, I can pay for my own way and uh, and that was something I was concerned about because we didn't put like this with being in nwacp, when we travel, we roommate, roommate, you know what I'm saying.
• 19:50
  Speaker 4: So that saves you money and so that's what I was used to.
• 19:54
  Speaker 4: So now I got to get used to when we now travel, I think they told me we get our own room and stuff, you know, just in case your family want to come.
• 20:02
  Speaker 4: Well, okay, so I got a lot to learn, but I'm a quick learner and I don't think I have too much of a big.
• 20:12
  Speaker 4: So I got a lot to learn, but I'm a quick learner and I don't think I have too much of a big problem Because, like I said, I read a lot.
• 20:16
  Speaker 4: I'm reading a lot of books when it comes to different stuff, when it comes to the city council.
• 20:19
  Speaker 3: I think a humble spirit and a willingness to learn will go a really long way in our current setup.
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: And I appreciate that about you and the commitment to coming back and reporting, and reporting on what, what you learned at these places.
• 20:36
  Speaker 4: But the first I'm gonna do is pray for everybody because, like I said, stay prayed up, put him first and he will guide my path all right.
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: So, uh, talking about your naacp role a little bit, you, um, uh, you said you you stepped down as president when you ran for election, but you haven't been replaced in that role yet.
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: What exactly?
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: How does that work?
• 21:00
  Speaker 4: How that work is.
• 21:01
  Speaker 4: In January, when I decided, made up my mind I'm finishing it, I was going to run because I had to pray about it.
• 21:06
  Speaker 4: What you do is I came, I did a press conference and I made it effective media that I stepped down from being the president.
• 21:14
  Speaker 4: So what happened is the vice president steps up to my role, which is Mr Joe Johnson, the former chief of police, and then his role as being first vice.
• 21:24
  Speaker 4: The second vice stepped up to his role, which is Mr Long.
• 21:28
  Speaker 4: So that's how it works.
• 21:29
  Speaker 4: So right now they are still active, you know, until we decide Long.
• 21:31
  Speaker 4: So that's how they work.
• 21:31
  Speaker 4: So right now they're still active until we decide, but we don't meet in July.
• 21:34
  Speaker 4: We meet every month, but we don't meet in July.
• 21:36
  Speaker 4: And when we met this month, we didn't even get into that because we had to discuss what we just previously had our big freedom fund bank, and that's where we raised money to give our scholarship to the schools.
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: Regardless of what role you're in with the NAACP, you intend to continue to be involved.
• 21:55
  Speaker 4: Yes, I'm a lifetime member.
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, all right.
• 21:58
  Speaker 3: I don't have anything else except one thing I heard that a certain opponent of yours was, according to word, on the street getting beers to bums for them to go vote for him.
• 22:10
  Speaker 3: Did you hear any of those reports You're listening to Between?
• 22:18
  Speaker 3: the Headlines with Zach and David.
• 22:21
  Speaker 3: I don't blame you for passing on that one.
• 22:24
  Speaker 3: Listen, I wish both of your opponents well as they move forward in the private sector, both of your opponents well as they move forward in the private sector, and I wish you well and I wish you success in your endeavors and I do look forward to seeing you, whether it be on social media or whatever.
• 22:43
  Speaker 3: I feel like if you're in that position and the only time I see you is when Zach is calling you for an interview for the dispatch or on the live string, then you're not visible enough, so I appreciate that so what y'all need to do some uh like every third tuesday of the month, come on down to loads and fishing to help serve the community.
• 23:02
  Speaker 4: Okay, because I did that on yesterday and I still showed up at the council meet and had some other meets, but we I managed to serve 477 people.
• 23:10
  Speaker 4: So this is something I do as my ministry, giving back to the community.
• 23:14
  Speaker 4: So I love this.
• 23:14
  Speaker 4: So maybe y'all want to volunteer and not just my day.
• 23:17
  Speaker 4: You know we better have that all the time, but you will see me again, not just that, because I'm visible, I'm out in the community.
• 23:23
  Speaker 4: I do a lot People call I love working with Catfish in the alley and let me just say something Just because I was elected city council, everything I was doing before I was elected city council ain't nothing changed.
• 23:38
  Speaker 4: I just feel that I don't add something else to my plate that I got to work with.
• 23:42
  Speaker 4: Okay, and I feel that I had already, because people was calling me for stuff.
• 23:46
  Speaker 4: I'm like I'm not on the council, I don't work for the police department, but they just would how they felt, you know, being confident in me.
• 23:53
  Speaker 4: So there's nothing really.
• 23:55
  Speaker 4: I just added something to them, nothing.
• 24:02
  Speaker 4: Was there anything that we didn't go over that you wanted to touch on.
• 24:04
  Speaker 4: I do want to tell you guys, you know y'all are doing a great job with your podcast.
• 24:06
  Speaker 4: I do listen to a lot of people's listening.
• 24:08
  Speaker 4: I'd be waiting on y'all's show because it'd be very interesting.
• 24:14
  Speaker 3: Sounds like a good show.
• 24:15
  Speaker 3: Unpredictability can make people curious, but I love it.
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: So y'all keep doing the good work that you do Thank y'all, thank you, and we really appreciate you coming and talking with us, so I'll be seeing y'all soon because I know you'll be the councilman.
• 24:30
  Speaker 3: I will be.
• 24:31
  Speaker 3: So, zach, let's talk about LaVon Harris, but before we do, I want to go to our sponsors.
• 24:35
  Speaker 3: Let's listen to them.
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• 25:22
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• 25:26
  Speaker 3: Okay, back in the studio with a guy who does not deal in kings but deuces are wild and managing editor of the Commercial Dispatch.
• 25:38
  Speaker 3: Mr Zach Player, my name is David Chisholm.
• 25:40
  Speaker 3: Here's what we thought about LaVon.
• 25:43
  Speaker 3: I'll start.
• 25:43
  Speaker 3: I just thought she was a class act.
• 25:45
  Speaker 3: Class act, yeah, I think— Wouldn't even go in the dirt with my questions.
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: I'm not going gonna touch that.
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: You know I I have talked to people since she's been elected uh, democrats and republicans, people who've known her a long time, and they say, when you talk to levon harris, she's gonna be who she is, she's gonna have a good faith conversation with you.
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: She may not agree with you but she'll shake hands with you and then talk to you again next time.
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: This council and that ward needs that so bad.
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: Because you know, in fairness to Pierre, he was somewhat like that.
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: There was a lot of spectacle that came with Pierre.
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: That was sort of extracurricular.
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: That I think was a problem for him in the election.
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: But I think as a councilman he tended to veer more independent voice and how I can talk to anybody, but that credibility just got soured over time.
• 26:46
  Speaker 3: Well, he said as much, Remember.
• 26:48
  Speaker 3: He came on here and he said you take that away, what do you got?
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: Well, the, and he said you take that away and what do you got?
• 26:52
  Speaker 3: Yeah, Well, the problem is, you can't take that away.
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: And you've got, you know, miss Harris here, who doesn't have that baggage and has that stellar reputation and that ability to talk to anyone and do so calmly and in good faith.
• 27:08
  Speaker 3: I can't imagine her having an enemy out there.
• 27:11
  Speaker 3: Well, I mean, everybody's got Rogers.
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: I mean, everybody's got enemies and I'm sure she does too.
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: But I feel like I feel like it's going to be very refreshing to see how she operates on that council, because I don't think that there is anybody on that council that's going to be able to shove her in a corner and occasionally Pierre was, and that 4-2 block lived on a couple of times when it didn't need to, because you know, pierre, he would mumble and stumble and he would just, you know, gesticulate with all of this pain before he voted with the block.
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: And I don't.
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: I think, levon, if she believes in it, she's going to do it.
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: If she doesn't, she's not.
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: I take her at her word when she says that I do too.
• 27:59
  Speaker 3: I was stricken by her willingness to to be humble and to pledge to bring back information from conferences.
• 28:09
  Speaker 3: I feel like she's going to bring new ideas.
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: I really do, and I hope that she does that.
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: I hope that she takes time every time she comes back from a conference and says I want to take two minutes to tell you what I saw, what I learned from the workshops, because none of them do that.
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: None of them do that, and that's a problem.
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: Right now, you know you've got.
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: They go to conferences that are very expensive at nice hotels and all that, and that's a problem.
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: Right now, you know you've got.
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: They go to conferences that are very expensive at nice hotels and all that, and that's part of the gig.
• 28:34
  Speaker 3: I understand that Tunica can be quite expensive.
• 28:36
  Speaker 3: Yeah, for sure.
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: Well, you know better than I do there, but I understand that the nice locales and that you spent to send me to this thing.
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: I think I don't think Miss Harris is going to go unless she can come back with something like that and I think that she'll report it and I hope she does and I hope it's catching.
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: I hope that that is contagious on that city council.
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: I think it will be and I hope that it will catching.
• 29:10
  Speaker 3: I hope that that is contagious on that city council.
• 29:12
  Speaker 3: I think it will be and I hope that it will be.
• 29:14
  Speaker 3: But speaking of yield on return, laughter, laughter Y'all.
• 29:22
  Speaker 3: The mayor's getting a raise and it's kind of a big one.
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: It's a big one, not as big as Mickens wanted to give him.
• 29:31
  Speaker 3: So give me the facts about this.
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: Okay, so the facts on this, and then I've got a couple of ways of looking at it here, I'm sorry.
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: Back in 22, the council, when giving themselves a raise, attempted to give Keith a substantial one.
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: Originally they were wanting to write in 106 to the budget.
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: He wouldn't go for that.
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: Eventually they passed 93,000 for him and he turned that down and he continued to make in the low 80s and he took a three percent raise later.
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: Uh, his, so keith's salary right now is 86 000 and change some somewhere between 86 and 87.
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: And so last night mickens made a play for, uh, the mayor's position which would apply to Stephen when he took office to 120.
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: That was laughed out of the room and Pierre, to his credit, came in and said if we're going to raise it, why don't we just give him what we were going to give Keith initially?
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: And he turned it down and he that number.
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so remember it close enough, but it was uh, 107 is what they ended up going with, which would would be essentially a $21,000 annual raise for the mayor's position, starting either when Stephen takes office or the next fiscal year.
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: Probably the next fiscal year, probably the next fiscal year in the budget to hear Stephen tell it Two things on that.
• 31:13
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: Keith, and it was both a noble gesture and something that made plenty of sense.
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: Keith's standpoint is very clear on this and maybe putting a few words in his mouth along the way, but this is the practical application of his thoughts on this.
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: Mayor runs for election.
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: They qualify for the job and ask you to give it to them in an election, and they know what that pays.
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: When they do it, they should be willing to accept that pay, and for Keith, the practical matter of that was we need people in positions that have qualifications that the mayor may not have, and we've got to recruit those people because those people are hired.
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: That's your police chief, your fire chief, your CFO that's supposed to be a CPA.
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: Your chief operations officer those have to be your CFO.
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: That's supposed to be a CPA, your chief operations officer.
• 32:07
  Speaker 3: Those have to be competitive.
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, those have to be competitive because you're advertising for those jobs and you're hoping that you can hire somebody qualified, the mayor's running knowing what the pay is.
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: So that was sort of Keith's standpoint on that and he wanted to make sure that the people who were hired in those specialty positions that the city could be competitive in getting good people into those jobs.
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: Well, he's right I understand and appreciate that and agree with him.
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: Mickens for some time and others on the council for some time believes that the mayor is the top man in the city.
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: Needs to be paid like the top man in the city.
• 32:48
  Speaker 3: No, good grief.
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: Keith disagreed and deferred to making sure that the people around him were getting paid as close to market value as the city could afford, and that is to Keith's credit that he did that.
• 33:01
  Speaker 3: That's wild.
• 33:02
  Speaker 3: I mean the highest paid public employee in the state of mississippi is lane kiffin.
• 33:07
  Speaker 3: Okay, second's jeff levy.
• 33:10
  Speaker 3: And then, do you not think?
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: that that tate reeves can coach the spread.
• 33:15
  Speaker 3: Dude, come on man well, I mean that's a good point.
• 33:17
  Speaker 3: You have to go way on down the line to get to 310 000, which is the state medical examiner, and so no mayors.
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: I don't agree that mayors need to be paid more than the people that answer to them.
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: Necessarily, that's an elected position.
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: I agree with Keith's standpoint on that.
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: However, I will say this.
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: However, I will say this I don't think if Stephen does the job that he can do and he should do, and he says he's going to do, he's going to earn every bit of that.
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: Hundred and seven thousand dollars a year being the mayor.
• 33:56
  Speaker 1: I don't think that's too.
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: I don't think that's out of line.
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: I don't think that's too much to pay the mayor.
• 34:03
  Speaker 3: Is he going to still be?
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: a realtor.
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: That's a big question.
• 34:06
  Speaker 3: That is a big question.
• 34:07
  Speaker 3: Here's the deal.
• 34:08
  Speaker 3: Let me give you my two cents and then you blast away.
• 34:12
  Speaker 3: If the pay is too low, then only the richest of the rich are going to do it, and the people that do work that job, and it's a full-time job if you're doing it right.
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: It's a 24-7 job.
• 34:25
  Speaker 3: They're going to be distracted with other means of taking care of their family.
• 34:28
  Speaker 3: That's just a reality.
• 34:29
  Speaker 3: Okay, if it is too high, then obviously you're going to have people doing it for the wrong reasons, correct, and that is atrocious.
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: And I feel like 107, david, is a fair number.
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: To hit that in the middle, I really do.
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: When you think about the magnitude of that job and your point that you just made, I think 86 is way too low.
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: I think Keith's been giving the city a sweetheart deal, not taking more than that.
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: I think that 120, uh was maybe a little.
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: Was was a touch high, but that's just my opinion I think it's living a little large.
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: I think that 107 is right in there for what the market value of that job would be.
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: With the caveat taken out of keith's book if you can still recruit high value people, uh, for those other high positions, if you can still pay close to market value and get people to come in to Columbus for the police chief, fire chief, coo, cfo, those other roles of department head jobs that you're going to need to have good people in, if you still have that flexibility to say, okay, well, let's give that five more, let's give that 10 more if we can get this person here and they'll help us.
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: If you're still in a position to where you can do that, by all means pay the mayor 107.
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: I don't think the mayor should be paid first because I don't think that you should kneecap your ability to do those other things to pay the mayor.
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: But 107 is not too much to be the mayor of Columbus in my opinion.
• 36:11
  Speaker 3: Bill Strauss was going to cut it in half and was going to donate half to charity, and him and Leroy Brooks were going to get together and talk about where it ought to go, I'm not telling a joke.
• 36:24
  Speaker 3: What's funny about that?
• 36:26
  Speaker 3: He was going to do it.
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's what he said.
• 36:30
  Speaker 3: And I don't doubt that that's what he did.
• 36:31
  Speaker 3: I don't think it was disingenuous, no, I don't, I just think that it didn't matter.
• 36:34
  Speaker 3: It didn't Right In the end.
• 36:36
  Speaker 3: Good guy, I'm glad Bill ran.
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: My other question is this.
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: My question is is what's in it for mickens?
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: Why is mickens bringing this up?
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: Because, um it, he, he's, he's leaving.
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: Right, right, he's.
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: He's not going to be involved with the city.
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: Uh, right, he's.
• 36:55
  Speaker 3: He's not going to have a position in the new administration or anything right well, the conspiratorial side of me is painting him out to be the scapegoat and the conspiratorial side of me is saying, hey, what phone call did he receive from somebody who was, uh, conveniently out of town for that meeting?
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: well, I'm not going to touch the conveniently out of town man said he had a darch appointment in tupelo and I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: This is what I'll say, though you know I've heard every rumor that you could possibly hear about jobs that Mickens was promised or things that he's going to get to do in the new administration.
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: I don't know if any of those rumors are true.
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: He's not qualified to do a lot of that.
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: He's not qualified to be the CFO.
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: He doesn't.
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: I don't think that Mickens is an accountant.
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: I don't think that he's qualified to be the COO and I think that the city has one of those right now that's doing a heck of a job.
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: So I don't really know where those rumors are really coming from and I don't know if they're true.
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: But I will say that, not saying that Stephen has promised him anything or not, but this was a pretty naked attempt to lobby for something.
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: He didn't do it because they're friends.
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: Whether he was told do this for me or I will, I'm not going to say that that happened, but I will say that Mickens believes, for some reason, whether he's making it up or whether there have been conversations he's lobbying for something and he thinks that he can get it or whether there have been conversations.
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: He's lobbying for something and he thinks that he can get it.
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: I don't know what it is.
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: I mean, I guess they've got a registrar's position that's going to be open pretty soon, maybe.
• 38:35
  Speaker 3: Gotcha.
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: But I don't.
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: And that pays about what a council, what his council salary was, and keeps him in PERS.
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: But I don't know.
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: And maybe there's nothing, nothing but he thinks there's something, because if he didn't think there was anything, they're not that good of friends where he's trying to get steven 120 grand from the council table on his way out of city government.
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: That's just not his last play if he doesn't think that there's another chapter to.
• 39:03
  Speaker 3: Well certainly, it's all speculation, it is, it is, and I want to.
• 39:05
  Speaker 3: Well certainly, it's all speculation, it is.
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: It is, and I want to be very clear.
• 39:09
  Speaker 3: It is all speculation, it's all speculation, but it does kind of remind me of, shall we say, Elon Musk you know, campaigning for Donald Trump, and all this Let me see how that works.
• 39:18
  Speaker 3: Exactly there toward the end, when he didn't get his EV mandates extended, he threw a big tantrum and said Trump was on the Epstein list and all this kind of stuff.
• 39:31
  Speaker 3: So you know, that kind of lobbying doesn't always work out.
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: It doesn't.
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: And again, he may be doing this completely on his own, thinking if I go to these places I might end up in a place I want to be.
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: But you know, I just don't think that that's the way that those jobs should be awarded and I think that the new council will get to vote on that if it does come up.
• 39:52
  Speaker 3: But you know, Zach, let me ask you this and then we'll move on.
• 39:56
  Speaker 3: Was the raise issue on the agenda for that meeting?
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: It was not.
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: Mickens came in and put it on the agenda from the board table after the meeting started, which is their right to do.
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: They have a right to do that.
• 40:12
  Speaker 3: I think that's horse crap.
• 40:13
  Speaker 3: Though, If you're going to talk about raises or something like that, give the public some notice.
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: I agree with that.
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: The idea of doing that is there for a reason you you print that agenda on, say, tuesday morning or monday night and I don't know.
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: The sudden need for a temporary homeless shelter and somebody who's willing to do it, you know, arises on tuesday afternoon.
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: Those kinds of things you add.
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: But you know what everybody's getting paid and you know that.
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: You know if you want to give somebody raises and you don't come up with that on a Tuesday afternoon or you shouldn't, and so I think that certain things like that you're right.
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: I don't think that adding those to the agenda and catching everybody by surprise, and trying to ram it through.
• 41:03
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's the thing.
• 41:04
  Speaker 3: It's by surprise.
• 41:04
  Speaker 3: Nobody in the room had time to say, okay, hey, well, if we're going to talk about that, let me look up what Tupelo's doing, what Starkville's doing, what Tuscaloosa's doing, and make some comparisons and see what's been done in the past and see what's commensurate and see what's appropriate.
• 41:21
  Speaker 3: That way we're not willy-nilly picking a number.
• 41:25
  Speaker 1: Hell Mickens came in and threw a number at the wall.
• 41:30
  Speaker 3: And then Keith Gaskin was like maybe I should run again.
• 41:33
  Speaker 3: Can I go back?
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: That was funny.
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: You should have seen the look on Keith's face when Mickens said 120.
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: But yeah, I always had.
• 41:45
  Speaker 1: This is a little bit less of an issue, but I remember during the Robert Smith administration we always had a joke.
• 41:54
  Speaker 1: They would publish the agenda and then the agenda that you went in to pick up on Tuesday night had a considerable number of things added to it, and they would always have the things that were added in red ink to indicate which ones had been added since the budget had been published to the public.
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: And we always joked that it was like the New Testament and Robert Schwartz were in red.
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: Always joked that it was like the New Testament and Robert Schwartz were in red.
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: But even that has some planning associated with it.
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: This stuff of I want to put this potentially highly controversial, or certainly something that's going to be budgetary.
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: I'm going to throw this out there and try to ram it through and give you as little time as possible to think about it.
• 42:48
  Speaker 3: That's bush league and I agree with that, and it's not transparent.
• 42:51
  Speaker 3: Well, speaking of lobbying, we are pleased to learn this week that the city of columbus is putting forth fifteen thousand dollars.
• 43:02
  Speaker 3: The county of lounges is putting forth $15,000.
• 43:05
  Speaker 3: Up to yeah, okay, and the MUW Foundation will put forth the remainder of the cost and a lobbying firm will be hired to keep the campus of MSMS right here, where it belongs.
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: A public relations firm and the way that I understand that that's structured is they've all all three entities have agreed to go in thirds and I guess up to fifteen thousand dollars to pay for the contract plus any incidentals and whatever that may come up over the next six months.
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: The idea for this is to take the message that really isn't getting through beyond Lowndes County and Octobahaw County, take the message that this is a state issue and try to get some broader, statewide coverage of it.
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: Messaging out, perfect the messaging, as Tripp Hurston said, that has already been put forward in why MSMS should stay at MUW.
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: I think it's a good idea, I think it's innovative, I think that it's timely because you've got this lag here where you know, last session they didn't.
• 44:17
  Speaker 1: The Board of Education recommended the move of MSMS to be built $85 million facility at MSU.
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: There wasn't a bill dropped last set or this past session, but there almost certainly will be next session, and so this is the time to go out there and get in people's faces and get this messaging out and just keep it coming.
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: And I think that you know a PR firm we don't know the name of the firm right now but, we should in pretty short order.
• 44:51
  Speaker 1: That contract should be executed to begin July 1.
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: If these guys are good at their job, this could be effective.
• 44:58
  Speaker 3: So there's a snowball's chance that it's the same firm that picked the potential new name for the W.
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: Well, I'll put it to you this way the trip likes them and he knows who they are.
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: The legislative delegation likes them and knows who they are, and the lobbyists for MUW, like knows who they are and thinks that they'll be effective.
• 45:19
  Speaker 3: So, no, well, it's going to be money very well spent.
• 45:27
  Speaker 3: Maybe I need to reiterate that this is, in my view, an existential crisis, not just for MSMS but for the W, and it's going to be a big deal for the town.
• 45:39
  Speaker 1: Well, there, are a couple of things I'm concerned about One somebody's got to be driving the car.
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: About One somebody's got to be driving the car.
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: You can't of these three entities.
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: You can't just give the messaging over to the PR firm and say do your worst.
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: There's got to be some guidance coming from somewhere.
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: I'm assuming that would be coming from the foundation.
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: I have a feeling that this is probably more than anything going to be coming from Tripp Hurston, who has been far and away the most eloquent champion for this and the most willing champion for this.
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: Him and, I guess, secondarily Keith, throughout this process.
• 46:18
  Speaker 3: Don't forget between the headlines.
• 46:19
  Speaker 3: Well yeah, there's us too.
• 46:20
  Speaker 1: But I mean, we're not working for the PR firm or we're paying them, but the situation is this Somebody needs to be guiding this messaging, not from a micromanaging standpoint, to where we're not going to take any risks, because the PR firm needs to have the freedom to do their job and do it well, but they can't be entirely in charge of the messaging and the creative performance of it.
• 46:48
  Speaker 1: One of these three entities that is paying for this has got to be driving that bus.
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: Here is my concern.
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: We go to talk about this Now.
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: When I interview Tripp about it, he mentions that the PR firm has already done some pre-work.
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: They've already communicated with everybody.
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: They're just essentially waiting for the contract to be executed, for their identity to be announced and for this work to start in earnest, but they're already gathering information.
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: They're already communicating with, evidently, trip and maybe the foundation too.
• 47:23
  Speaker 1: So this is a known quantity, maybe the foundation too.
• 47:31
  Speaker 1: So this is a known quantity.
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: So we call about it um, after the, after the board of supervisors, uh, on monday, uh approves their end of the deal.
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: They're up to 15,000.
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: The uh council did it tuesday, but the board of supervisors did it monday.
• 47:43
  Speaker 1: It was on the agenda for days before they released that agenda, I think the Friday before.
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: So it was only agenda for days that they were going to be considering this and voting on this, potentially Monday afternoon.
• 47:58
  Speaker 1: After they did this, we're trying to get in touch with somebody with the foundation, somebody with the university.
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: We go through our regular channels of doing this, which we go through their media relations department.
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: The only thing, first of all, it didn't seem like they knew about it.
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: Secondly, the only response that we could get from the university that day was that Nora Miller was off campus and unavailable.
• 48:30
  Speaker 1: Oh, here we go again.
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: Nora Miller was off campus and unavailable.
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: Oh, here we go again.
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: They didn't have like why don't you have?
• 48:40
  Speaker 1: You know that's coming right, you know that's coming.
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: So why don't you at least have a statement canned Like hey, nora tells her media relations department as she's going off campus, I'm going to be unavailable Monday, but this is on the supervisor's agenda to do.
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: We've been working with these people.
• 48:54
  Speaker 1: We know what's coming.
• 48:56
  Speaker 1: We know that the media is probably going to be asking about this.
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: So if y'all can't get me, just give them this statement.
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: Now, that's not great, but it's better than off campus and unavailable, and I don't blame the media relations department for that.
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: I, you know.
• 49:11
  Speaker 1: First of all, I know, and, like all of those guys, top notch.
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: Second of all, I worked in a university media relations department and I understand that you don't know what you don't know and you can't comment on what hasn't been cleared, even if it's as obvious as the nose on your face.
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: You know, here again, nora again misses the dunk and they flubbed an opportunity to celebrate a win.
• 49:38
  Speaker 3: That's concerning Okay, I'll push back this time.
• 49:44
  Speaker 3: I think that timing is absolutely everything Right now.
• 49:50
  Speaker 3: You have commitments, but you have no contract.
• 49:53
  Speaker 3: I think that if you make your headlines all up front, then when it really matters the most and we need to push the red button and just really blow the message out there.
• 50:08
  Speaker 3: Have we already used our steam?
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: blow the message out there.
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: Have we already used our steam?
• 50:15
  Speaker 1: So I'm going to tell us that we're really excited that the county has invested in this.
• 50:17
  Speaker 1: We're really excited about this opportunity.
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: We hope it'll be effective, or we think it will be effective, or we know it will be effective, and we're certainly hoping that the city follows suit.
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: We're fully confident that they will.
• 50:29
  Speaker 1: Thanks for asking.
• 50:31
  Speaker 1: I don't think that shoots your steam.
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: I don't think that that does anything that compromises the effort.
• 50:40
  Speaker 1: But I do think, looking like you were surprised by the whole thing, to the point to where you were off campus and unavailable when somebody was asking about something you're supposed to know about, unavailable when somebody was asking about something you're supposed to know about.
• 50:53
  Speaker 3: um, I think that could be problematic well, from a pr standpoint I probably would have zoomed in for that if it were me, and I probably would have had a prepared statement, but my hopes are is that she's on the beach or wherever and she's got her notebook and she's doing stuff and she's just going to like unleash Armageddon at the appropriate Nora.
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: Miller unleashes Armageddon.
• 51:18
  Speaker 3: Stranger things have happened.
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: I would pay to see that All right.
• 51:22
  Speaker 3: Well, you're listening to Zach and David here between the headlines.
• 51:26
  Speaker 3: Let's go to the mail today, shall we?
• 51:29
  Speaker 3: Yeah, this from Larry Schwartz.
• 51:31
  Speaker 3: I was a bit taken aback by David's opening comment.
• 51:34
  Speaker 3: Um, let's go to the mail today, shall we?
• 51:36
  Speaker 3: Yeah, this from Larry Schwartz.
• 51:37
  Speaker 3: I was a bit taken aback by David's opening comment.
• 51:39
  Speaker 3: Go see what the libs are doing.
• 51:40
  Speaker 3: While I imagine it may have been intended humorously, it felt a little out of place and potentially divisive From my perspective.
• 51:44
  Speaker 3: The term liberal fundamentally implies being open-minded, a quality I believe most people value.
• 51:51
  Speaker 3: All right, thank you for listening, larry.
• 51:53
  Speaker 3: You know, I'm actually kind of with you on that, in the sense that when I hear the word liberal, I think of the classical liberals that are a little bit different than I think what we've got nowadays.
• 52:05
  Speaker 3: Just being honest, and second to that, I have a really old Bible in my closet and if you go to the Sermon on the Mount, the subtitle that the publisher put above that is that Jesus preaches liberality and like, if you show that to a Republican, they're going to be like oh, I thought Jesus was a Republican, not my Jesus, you know so anyhow, I appreciate your feedback, mr Larry.
• 52:33
  Speaker 3: This from Susanna Nope, she says typical Republican promote hatred and mockery.
• 52:38
  Speaker 3: I thought you were above that.
• 52:40
  Speaker 3: I'm extremely surprised and disappointed that you voted for and still support Trump.
• 52:45
  Speaker 3: I'm flabbergasted.
• 52:47
  Speaker 3: But I guess cis straight white men got to maintain the white patriarchy.
• 52:54
  Speaker 3: Thank you, susanna.
• 52:57
  Speaker 3: And this from a little more positive note from Rebecca Berry Scott.
• 53:03
  Speaker 3: She says, david, you are really doing a great job, and Zach too, of inviting people to dialogue.
• 53:09
  Speaker 3: She says memeing is a sort of intellectual threshold that most people don't want, most people don't seem to be able to cross and it's watering down logic, discourse and debate as well.
• 53:22
  Speaker 3: So we thank you for your feedback today.
• 53:25
  Speaker 3: We'd like to hear what you think about Miss LaVon.
• 53:27
  Speaker 3: Keep that stuff coming in.
• 53:29
  Speaker 3: Tips at cdispatchcom or tag my name in a public post.
• 53:34
  Speaker 3: I am at dchism00, both on Facebook or on X.
• 53:38
  Speaker 3: Anything else, mr Zach, I think that's got it Well, signing off from Catfish Alley in historic downtown Columbus.
• 53:47
  Speaker 3: Catfish Alley Studios.
• 53:49
  Speaker 3: Care of Josh Gillis.
• 53:51
  Speaker 3: We do.
• 53:51
  Speaker 3: Thank you, my name is David Chisholm and your host has been Zach Player.
• 53:55
  Speaker 3: We'll keep it real.
• 53:57
  Speaker 3: Y'all keep it friendly.
• 54:06
  Speaker 2: Opinions expressed on this show are those of the speakers and not necessarily those of the Commercial Dispatch.