Latest / The Dave Allen Show / 02/20/2024 The Dave Allen Show on 580 Live - Dr. Jason Sorens, Police Chief Scott Dempsey, Tony Hodge

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02/20/2024 The Dave Allen Show on 580 Live - Dr. Jason Sorens, Police Chief Scott Dempsey, Tony Hodge · The Dave Allen Show

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Dave Allen Good Tuesday Morning. See you from four nine three five five
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Marshall University. If there's not a Parmar store near you now, there will
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be soon. Well. Welcome to the day after President's Day for those who
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had the day off from work in school yesterday. Welcome back for the rest
1:45
of us. Well, we're still here. Where have you been? Coming
1:49
up this morning? Tony Hodge, who is the State is with the State
1:52
Republican Party. He's going to join us a little bit later on the show.
1:53
Also last Friday, it was announced that we have a new police chief
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here in the city of Charleston. His name of Scott and the new chief
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of the Police Sparmatani Charles, will join us to talk about his new role.
2:05
Bus your calls and Texter welcome to again, Bigley, Biguli Wiggly hotline
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three zero four three four five fifty eight fifty eight. I have a text
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line from Fruth is three zero four nine three five five zero zero. Wait,
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there is a new study that came out that said that of all the
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states in these here United States of America, West Virginia ranks thirty seconds when
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it comes to things like personal freedom and economic freedom. Doctor Jason Sorens is
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from the American Institute for Economic Research, one of the folks behind the study,
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and he joins us now to talk about this. Doctor, Good morning,
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Welcome to the show. Good morning, Dave, thank you for being
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here. I want to talk about the exciting world of economics. Always exciting
2:46
stuff, I know, but a lot of this stuff really interests me and
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I hope it will some of the listeners as well. But before we get
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into what you're here to talk about, tell us about the work of the
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American Institute for Economic Research and maybe a little of your background and the work
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that you've done so far with this group. Yeah. So we are a
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think tank that works on economic freedom. So we have three main areas.
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One we call defending freedom and combating collectivism, and that really takes on kind
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of the threats to individual liberty around the world today and in this country especially,
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everything from sort of DEI and ESG on the left to growing protectionism and
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sort of nationalism on the right. And then we have another area that looks
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at monetary policy, so this is inflation and the FED. And then we
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have an area economics and economic freedom, where we really look at what the
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federal and state governments can do to increase freedom. And that's where I'm working.
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So I'm trained as a politically commonist, as a professor for a long
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time. I'm joined here a year ago, and yeah, we're working on
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find ways to liberate our entrepreneurs or taxpayers or property owners to make America a
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better play. So this study that came out and I referenced, and I
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did a little reading yesterday myself, and the interesting part of the study that
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came out was that West Virginia now ranks thirty second. It's in the thirty
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second position out of of course fifty states in terms of personal and economic freedom.
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How has that number arrived upon, sir? Yeah, So we look
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at over two hundred and fifty state and local policies and we grade all the
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states on these policies, and then we combine them to create this index.
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The way we combine them is an objective methodology, or as objective as we
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can be. We actually look at the research on what the impact of each
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of these policies are. We actually come over with a dollar value for a
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standardized change in each of these and so that's the way we wait them altogether.
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And what we mean by freedom is really your ability to to live your
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life, use your property, trade, live your lifestyle as a concepting adult
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as you see fits, so long as you're not infringing on the same rights
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of other people. And so we look at the extent of which government actually
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respects that freedom. And so we find that West Virginia does really well on
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personal freedoms and less well on economic freedoms. At the same time, though
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West Virginia has increased quite a bit. So West Virginia is freer now according
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to our data, than it was back in two thousands. And furthermore,
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West Virginia had the third biggest increase in freedom over the last three years.
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So when you talk about economic freedoms, let's go there first. Again.
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We're talking with doctor Jason Sorenge from the American Institute for Economic Research. When
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you talk about economic freedoms, particularly, sir, here in West Virginia,
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what are some of the things that you see as positives in West Virginia.
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Yeah, I mean West Virginia has made a lot of changees recently. They've
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done some tort reform, You've done some labor market reform like right to work.
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Uh, it's easy to build there, so a lot of places have
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a lot of restrictions on your ability to build housing and things like that.
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There's pretty broad energy freedom, so you haven't you know, regulated electric production
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in such a way as to drive of costs. You've got broad essays now,
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educational savings accounts that I think they're called Hope scholarships where parents can now
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send their kids to private schools or school them and you've got to share of
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that state mind that would otherwise go to public schools. So there are a
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number of ways in which West Virginia has has grown in freedom recently. And
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you know, in the past, West Virginia's economy hasn't done that well because
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it's economic freedom has been very, very low. But that's really starting to
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turn around now. So what are some things in your opinion, Sarah,
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as you have studied West Virginia, what are some things that West Virginia can
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do to improve its standing to move up from thirty second? You said it's
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better than it was, but we're still, you know, pretty much in
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the middle, I guess, So what can West Virginia do to improve it
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standing? Yeah, there's still some hangovers from the past, like you know,
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just fairly big state government. And our data go up to the beginning
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of last year, beginning of twenty twenty three, so we don't include the
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income tax cut that you guys got last year. So that should improve where
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you stand on on fiscal policy, taxes and spending. But there are other
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areas where government spending looks really high, especially government employment. And when we
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drilled down into this and we visited it there in Charleston, spoke with some
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folks, we really wanted to dig into these data. And what we found
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is that in West Virginia, highway spending is really high, both state and
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local. If you compare to the national average, that's really high, even
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higher than other rural mountainous states like say Montana or Vermont. And then we
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also find a general administration spending is high, so there's some areas where you
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could keep spending low for several years, you know, just kind of level
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fund some of these functions perhaps, and that's going to allow you then to
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start to pay down debt and to start to cut taxes more, and that'll
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make your economy a lot more competitive. The Dave Allen showing five ABE Live
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that EDU Slash apprenticeships today Doctor Jason Sorens from the American Institute for Economic Researches
8:58
here. Now you mentioned you reference there, sir, that you were in
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Charleston, Racely meeting with various folks. Who did you meet with and what
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was your takeaway from the meetings. Yeah, we met at the state capital
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with legislators and with some folks from the Cardinal Institute, which is the free
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market think tank there. They're doing good work and we got some really good
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questions. So the legislators really wanted to know, like dig into the data
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and find out how does West Virginia compare to other states. So it was
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a really good opportunity to share ideas because when we go to states, we
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realized that the people there know their state better than we do, so we're
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learning from them. But what we bring to the table is that we know
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things about other states, right, so we can help provide those comparisons that
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helped guide policy. So there are a lot of things here that we dug
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into. You know. Another one is civil assets forfeiture, and not a
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lot of people know about it, but the legislators were some of them were
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surprised to know that in West Virginia, law enforcement gets one hundred percent of
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all the proceeds from anything that they seize. So that they see some property
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and then they auction it off, they get one hundred percent of those proceeds.
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And if you're an innocent owner and your property is seized, you have
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to sue them, go to court and prove your innocence before getting your property
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back. So a lot of states have changed that changed those rules so that
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you have to get a criminal conviction before you can seize property, or it's
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placed the burner proof on the government, or they've reduced the revenues that go
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directly to law enforcement to reduce those incentives to seize that and auction off that
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property. So there are some things there where you know, we were able
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to show what other states have done and maybe foster conversation about ideas where West
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Virginia could go. What can people learn more about your organization and about some
10:56
of the work that you do. Yeah, So the American is to Economic
11:00
research is at aier dot org. Now I highly recommend subscribing to our Daily
11:07
Economy because we have several articles a day on hot topics in the economy and
11:13
in government. And then you can find out about the Freedom and the Fifty
11:16
States publication and grab the data play with it yourself if you want. That's
11:22
at Freedom in the Five zero States dot org or Freedom in the Fifty States
11:26
dot org. I appreciate you taking time to be here. As I said,
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this is fascinating stuff to me. Maybe not to everyone else, but
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it is to me, and thankfully this so some people because you're still employed.
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So I appreciate you taking time, Jason to be here. We'll talk
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again soon. Man, thanks a lot, all right, thanks Dave,
11:43
Doctor Jason Soorn's again for the American Institute for Economic Research, Special Olympics and
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bodies. The true spirit of sportsmanship not merely about winning medals. It's about
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Special Olympics at Facebook dot com, slash five adwcchs let menock go out a
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couple of texts here. Tex says this is a right wing group through and
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through. They don't advocate for moderate policies. Ask about their child tax credit.
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Tex says AEP has a robust DEI program and scores third party contractors on
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their diversity initiatives. Does this freedom group dare to call out AEP as anti
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liberty? Tex says how does a lack of running water improve West Virginia's economy.
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firm. We have a new police chief at char also, his name is
12:50
Scott Dempsey. Named that position the official announcement coming last week by Mayor Goodman.
12:54
We'll talk to Chief Dempsey after this. Plus we got Tony Hodge coming
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four five fifty eight fifty eight. Fruit Pharmacy Text three zero four nine three
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five five zero zero eight. Ryan Nicholson is our producer today. Tony Hodge
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from the State Republican Party is going to join us a little bit later on
15:33
in the show. This past Friday, Charles Tremier Amy Schuler Goodwood made it
15:37
official, naming the interim police Chief Sky Dempsey to the post as the main
15:41
guy. The chief of police for the capital City also announced at that time
15:45
that Jason Webb would be serving as chief deputy. We have a Chief Dempsey
15:48
in the studio with us this morning. Welcome to the show, sir.
15:52
How are you. Good morning, Dave. I'm fine. How are you.
15:54
I'm fine, Welcome to the show, and congratulations, Thank you very
15:56
I guess this is a great opportunity. The interim tag has been lifted.
16:03
Now you are the new chief of Police for Charleston. Just talk about how
16:06
that feels. I'm very humbled, very humbled and grateful that the mayor would
16:11
have confidence in me to sit in this position. And of course I'm no
16:17
stranger. I've been around in the chief's office now for about four years,
16:21
but now to have the title chief is very humbling and grateful, and I'm
16:25
looking forward to continuing our work with the men and women of the Charleston p
16:29
D and the public as well, and many others. Give us the bio
16:33
on yourself and this in your whole policing well. For first of all,
16:37
I would always want to ask people that are in jobs like yours, is
16:41
this a calling? Is this something that you always wanted to do as a
16:45
young man? Or absolutely day one? From day one, it has been
16:49
a calling. It truly has. I've come from a family of law enforcement,
16:55
and I've been around emergency services quite a bit, So this truly was
17:00
a calling, and I had no clue I would end up in the position
17:03
I'm in now. I've just I've loved serving the city of Charleston. I
17:10
love the Charleston Police Department, and I've lived here, I've worked here,
17:12
I've played here, and to be able to have this position is such a
17:17
great opportunity for me. Talk about your career as an officer. How have
17:21
you risen to this level? So, just like every other police officer,
17:25
I started out in the patrol division and worked my way up to a detective,
17:29
and I did that for several years. Then I went to our Warrants
17:33
division and served there for a couple of years, and then I became more
17:37
of a commander at that point and had various command roles throughout. Became the
17:44
chief Range Officer, which is our firearms instructor, and then became deputy chief
17:48
in twenty twenty. And here I am, now, what part of the
17:52
area are you from? I grew up in eastern Endikinaal County in Bell,
17:56
Okay, you're you're a Bellite? What do you call people from Bell?
18:00
You know, that's a good question question. I know the mayor of Veil
18:04
very well. Ask him that he's been on this show many many times,
18:08
so I'll have to I have to ask him about that. So talk about
18:14
Chief some of the good and the bad of being a police officer in Charleston,
18:15
because because you've seen it all in your time on the force, and
18:19
now that you've risen to this level, Charleston has got challenges. I mean,
18:23
as you well know, Charleston is the largest city in the cate of
18:26
West Virginia. It's a capital city. So there's going to come some unique
18:30
challenges to the city of Charleston. Just kind of kind of gloss over the
18:33
whole thing, that is correct. So a Charleston police officer within a year
18:37
will probably do just about what a normal police officer out in the county or
18:42
the state or any other city will do in their whole entire career. So
18:47
we are very experienced with challenges and there are good there are great things that
18:52
happens. Being a Charleston police officer is a very rewarding career. We see
18:57
the best in people. Sometimes we see the worst, but mostly we see
19:02
the best in people when things happen. And as far as challenges, yeah,
19:07
we do have certain challenges with certain parts of the city, but we
19:12
are very well versed in our crime reduction efforts and I feel very confident that
19:18
our men and women can handle anything I throw at them. Talk about the
19:22
relationship Chief with the community and how important it is, It's extremely important.
19:26
Without the public's help, we would not be able to succeed in anything we
19:32
do. And to build that trust, they have to see that we have
19:37
integrity. They have to see that we're transparent, they have to see that
19:40
we're honest, and we provide the best public safety experience that we can.
19:45
And to also achieve that, we have to have a highly trained officer,
19:52
one who is highly trained with the department that speaks volumes to the public.
19:56
They want to know that when they call the police that we we'll be able
20:00
to handle any situation that is thrown at us, and that helps build the
20:03
trust. I talk a lot with law enforcement, and I have so much
20:07
respect for what you folks do for a living. But on the show,
20:10
and one of the things that I've had, whether it's the sheriff on or
20:12
it's people from another area, they always tell me they Saiday, we can
20:17
have the best trained officers, we can have all of the tools at our
20:22
hands, but if we don't have a buy in from the public, none
20:25
of it really matters. I agree with that. I agree, and that
20:29
isn't coming upon all of us, not just the Chief's office, But is
20:33
it coming on all of us to go out treat people fairly, be courteous
20:37
to people, and you know, just just do our jobs the best we
20:41
can. And we like to meet with them as often as possible. We
20:44
have many programs for the public, especially the youth, and we have neighborhood
20:51
watches, We have our Citizens Police Academy, and I would invite anyone to
20:57
come in and take those opportunities to be able to meet us and see what
21:02
we do. That's one of the things I think that this administration has done
21:07
has done well. Talking about the good one administration is that they seem to
21:11
in all all aspects that they like to get out in the community and talk
21:15
to it. We had the listening tours I guess they called it last fall
21:18
and it involved the police officers, but it also involved the fire department and
21:22
city officials to go out into the various communities and just listen to people.
21:26
And that's a that's a big part of public service. Chief. Absolutely,
21:32
a lot of people will say, you know, to do your to do
21:34
the job as a police officer, sometimes you have to shut your mouth and
21:37
open your ears and that I believe that wholeheartedly. Yeah, those here to
21:44
serve meetings is what you're referring to with the mayor's office. Yeah, those
21:48
were very informative and if anything, people can just meet us and put a
21:52
put a face, you know, to to the title. And those are
21:56
very important for people to come come to us and just talk and let them
22:00
know their concerns. But Dave Island showing five eighty live is broad to a
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Winfield. Text says you didn't know you're going to be subject to text?
22:18
Did you? I'm just gonna read them? Okay, Texas, Hell to
22:21
the Chief. I first met Chief Dempsey when he was a student at DuPont
22:25
High School. He's done quite well hashtag panther, proud, wow, and
22:30
see. I have no idea who the text are coming from, so it
22:33
takes me back. I appreciate that Texas Day. The new chief sounds like
22:37
a fine fellow, but unfortunately, with the Charleston p D, trust has
22:40
earned and not given because of their history of corruption and dishonesty. Hopefully this
22:44
time next year we're applauding the service and not looking for a new chief.
22:48
Hopefully that's the case. I look forward to showing them that they can trust
22:52
them. Charleston Police Department, Texas mayor good one got this one right.
22:55
Chief Dempsey has integrity and experience, and look forward to great things from our
22:57
new chief. The community and all uniformed officers of the Charleston p D deserve
23:02
his great leadership. Thank you very much to plan all these chiefs or what
23:07
people don't say that, don't say that he's kidding, he's getting edit that
23:10
out right, he's candy. I want to talk about the need for officers.
23:15
Charleston is not unlike a lot of communities around West Virginia. They're in
23:21
need of officers. And sometimes I've been told that you you have officers,
23:26
you get him trained up, you get him ready to go, and they
23:29
may take a job, you know, with a with a different department.
23:30
How how do we go about recruiting people to want to be police officers?
23:34
And this is a nationwide problem, by the way, this is not a
23:37
Charleston thing. This is a nationwide problem. The two the two professions I've
23:41
said that I don't know you could pay me enough to do it, would
23:44
be a teacher and a police officer. But how do we get more younger
23:48
people wanting to go into the police field, And what specifically do you plan
23:52
to do to try to get Charleston police officers? Recruiting and retention is a
23:55
huge vision of mine and Deputy Chief Webs We're going to hit the ground running.
24:00
We're going to be attending many events. We're going to be going out
24:03
speaking with young folks who are qualified and who want to have the challenge of
24:08
becoming a police officer. This is a great career. We feel very supported
24:12
here in the City of Charleston. The city Council, the Mayor's office,
24:17
and all of the staff are very supportive of us. And you know,
24:21
you see across the nation city governments not really supporting their police department, so
24:26
well, sometimes we do not have that here. We feel very supported and
24:30
I just want to spread that message. This is a rewarding career and it
24:34
is a great career, and I encourage anyone that's looking for a job to
24:37
come talk to me. What are the requirements to be a police officer in
24:41
the City of Charleston. Just a few of them. You have to have
24:44
a GED or a high school diploma, and you have to of course have
24:48
a clean background, and you have to pass a physical test and a written
24:52
test and go through a background process. And once you do that, it's
24:56
we have spots available. So once you once you take care of that,
25:02
we are ready to hire you. We're also we're giving a test April sixth,
25:06
So I'd encourage anyone to reach out at our training division three four eight
25:11
ten ninety one and they will be allowed to get you an application. Now,
25:15
is what does that test consist of? Is at the written? Is
25:18
that the physical? It's a ged equivalent. I am look for the written
25:22
test and physical tests. You have to do so many push ups and setups
25:26
and in a certain time period and you have to run a mile and a
25:30
half in about fourteen minutes, a little over fourteen minutes. How many police
25:34
officers are currently employed by the City of Charles right now, we have about
25:38
one hundred and sixty one officers. We're slotted for one hundred and seventy three,
25:41
so we have twelve spots available immediately, all any before we let you
25:47
go, Chief, the floor is yours. I'm going to give you the
25:49
opportunity to say whatever that you would like to. When I interview political figures,
25:53
I say I call it the final thirty Give me thirty seconds why people
25:56
should vote for you? Not going to do that, but give me thirty
25:59
forty five seconds. So any thoughts that you want to say to the citizens
26:03
of Charleston as the new police Chief, Sure, Dave, I appreciate that.
26:06
Again. I just want everybody to know that Charleston Police Murder. We're
26:10
gonna be doing our best, our very best to provide the best public safety
26:14
that we can. And we're going to be out and about visiting everybody,
26:18
getting ideas, sharing concerns, and we're definitely here for them. And you
26:25
know, hopefully people will see that. Now the mayor made the announcement on
26:27
Friday? Is it official now? I mean, have you been sworn in,
26:30
You've done the whole thing to happen on Friday. You're good to go.
26:33
Yes, Okay, ready to go. We're hitting the ground running this
26:34
morning. Okay. So what's an average day for the chief? Look like
26:38
very busy. There's no such thing as an average day, right I know,
26:41
a police officer, say, any police officer, I'll tell you there
26:44
is no routine day. It's you never know what's throwing at you. But
26:47
we're always ready for the challenge. All right, cheef Scot Dempsey Charleston Police
26:52
part. But I appreciate you being here, man, Thanks a lot,
26:52
and best of luck in your career. I think you're gonna do pretty well.
26:56
Thanks a lot. Thank you, Sir, I appreciate you. I
26:57
hang out with me one second. Here for calls to the show or service
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going to take a break. Tony Hodge from the State Republican Party is on
27:30
the way. Next we're back after this for the Palmar Store studio of a
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and the podcast menu and start your journey towards better health Today, Texas.
30:22
Thanks thanks to the Chief for speed Enforcement on the Interstates, Tony Hodge with
30:29
the state. Republican parties with us right now, Anthony, Good morningybody ever
30:33
call you Anthony? No, it's actually Tony. That's what we talked about.
30:36
That was before I'm a person that likes to call people like by their
30:38
official name. You know, sometimes I don't know, but wouldn't be true
30:41
with you. You're just You're just Tony. Yeah, I get Where are
30:45
you David? Yes? All right, yes, yep, just Tony just
30:48
playing like like I used to say, I like my food, just playing.
30:52
I'll take my sandwich plane. It's Tony just playing indeed, all right.
30:56
So I want to start with this. I recently I had the new
31:02
state Party chair on the show, Elder mccartill. Of course I stepped down
31:04
to run for a judicial position, and tell us about the new state party
31:10
chair. What's your what's your opinion of him? Good? Good dude,
31:11
gonna do a good job. Yeah. I've actually been very impressed. His
31:15
name is Matt Harridge. I've got to, you know, be able to
31:18
get to know him over the last few weeks, and I'm very impressed.
31:21
He's a longtime business owner up in the Wood County area. He owned several
31:26
restaurant franchises actually up in the between twenty and thirty restaurant franchises, and he's
31:30
had a point in his life where he was able to to sell those and
31:36
and kind of get to a point where he's not really retired, but you
31:40
know, at a point in his life where he can start serving in other
31:41
ways. And so he actually reached out to the party and say, hey,
31:45
you know, how how can I help? And things just kind of
31:48
got rolling from there. He guys, didn't go on a like a big
31:51
recruiting issue. I mean, he just because he just basically reached out to
31:55
you and said, hey, had he been somebody? I mean, I
31:56
guess, I guess as you kind of mentioned there, he had been involved
32:00
than politics, kind of on the sides in the past, but yeah,
32:01
he was very much involved at the federal level. So he worked in Washington,
32:06
d C. I had him on the show and he talked about that
32:07
a little bit. Yeah. Yeah, he worked with senator, both of
32:09
our senators and our congressman up there in Washington, so he had been involved
32:14
at that level, not so much on the state level, but he he
32:17
called us and wanted to know how to get involved, and of course Elgin
32:21
had, you know, talking about her future plans, and so the pieces
32:24
just kind of came together, and then he reached out to the members of
32:27
the state Executive Committee and from there the rest is history and he's hit the
32:30
ground running and he's he's all over the state. He's traveling everywhere. He
32:34
was in Morgantown last night. He's showing up at Lincoln Day dinners all over
32:37
the state, and the people really appreciate that. And he's a very good
32:40
spokesman for the party, and I'm very pleased with that. Well. When
32:43
I had him on the show, I mean a couple of weeks ago,
32:45
he was on the phone, but he was very advand as you said,
32:49
very well spoken and got as did Elgin too. I don't want to throw
32:52
off on Elgin. I mean Elgent did a fine job as well, but
32:54
I think I think he'll do a great job the Dave Allan Show on five
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at all their listings at Meeks dot Us Tony At the Winter meetings for the
33:19
state Republican Party. There was some debate on whether or not to close the
33:23
GOP primary. Now as it was registered independence would just walk in and request
33:30
a Republican or a Democrat ballot. In West Rgina, you would go in
33:34
and say, I'm Dave Allen, I am a registered Independent, but I
33:37
want a Republican ballot, or I want a Democratic ballot, or whatever the
33:38
case may be. And the pole workers were not allowed to kind of push
33:43
you in any direction. You had to specifically ask for it. If not,
33:45
you would only be allowed to vote for nonpartisan races. There's a lot
33:50
of debate at that winter meeting in Charleston a couple of weeks ago, and
33:53
it ended up being that the primary will be closed, but it will be
33:58
in twenty twenty six. They're not going to do it in twenty twenty four.
34:00
Some in the party, some I'm not very much paraphrasing here, Tony
34:06
I have said that by having in a so called open primary, it allows
34:10
Rhinos Republicans in name only to vote, and they wanted to close it.
34:15
As I said, the decision was made to close it, but not till
34:17
twenty twenty six, which I think that part was a good move because I
34:21
think would have been a nightmare for our county clerks and election officials to be
34:23
able to get it going by twenty twenty four. What was your Where were
34:27
you on the whole thing? Well, I'll tell you it was a very
34:30
I don't want to say I'm trying to think of the right word. I
34:32
don't want to say divisive because that makes it sound like we're divided as a
34:36
party and we're not here in the state. But it was a very you
34:38
know, a lot of strong opinions on both sides of that, and I
34:43
kind of feel like you, which I expressed to people who asked me about
34:45
it. It wasn't so much about closing it, but the timing did kind
34:51
of give me a little bit of heartburn. If it were to happen at
34:52
this coming primary, that was going to be a little tough, and a
34:57
lot of people were reaching out on that front of it as far as of
35:00
timing. But as you know, we got to the meeting, there was
35:02
long discussion, there was an amendment made. After the amendment kicked it to
35:07
twenty twenty six, it passed, but it was kind of closed. It
35:10
still wasn't an overwhelming thing, and so there's still people on both sides of
35:15
it, even to this very day. Some people hate it, some people
35:17
like it. But you know, we're just going to move forward. We're
35:21
going to focus on this election that we have right in front of us.
35:23
We're going to get Conservatives elected this primary, and ultimately we're going to get
35:27
the Conservatives to win in November. I will say this and we'll move on
35:30
to something else. The reason, as I said, because you know I've
35:34
told thiser before. I did work in the Secretary of State, so I
35:36
was at one point and I realized that our elections officials and say to West
35:38
Virginia on the county clerk level and their poll workers are some of the best,
35:43
hardest working people. And I could just hear the cries if you will.
35:47
And man, I don't mean it in a negative way. I mean
35:50
the cause for concern, I should say, from our county clerks, because
35:52
it's hard enough to be able to try to get ready for an election anyway
35:58
and trying to get poll workers. And I'm not sure where I am on
36:02
the whole thing. I definitely though, was not for doing it now,
36:06
so I think the party did the right thing there, at least in that
36:08
aspect. Well, I do want to make a comment on the poll workers.
36:12
So if the listeners out there, if they don't know the way that
36:15
a lot of the poll workers are recruited to workers through our executive committees,
36:19
and that's both parties, you know, have their executive committees. And I
36:22
have not worked the polls normally because on election day I'm doing, you know,
36:25
my political party business that I do. But my wife does work the
36:30
polls, and several people that I know work the polls, and I will
36:31
tell you I've made a habit of stopping in at a few polling locations on
36:36
election day and even in the early voting period. And God bless our poll
36:39
workers. I mean, they're just they're great people. They're just there.
36:43
A lot of them are retired. They're just given of their time because they
36:45
love their country, they love their community, and God bless them. And
36:49
I think we should, really, you know, this election coming up in
36:52
May, thank your poll worker, thank them for working, because think about
36:54
it, we couldn't have safe, secure elections if we didn't have good,
36:58
competent poll workers. And that falls on the party executive committees to find those
37:01
people. We appreciate everything that the county's clerks do and the Secretary of State's
37:05
office. It's a group effort, but those people should not go overlooked,
37:07
and we really appreciate them. But Dave Allan, Chill and five any Live
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Brode to a Party by Husband's Pizza. Heart Shaped Pizza Month continues. Get
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the entire month. Find your nearest location on husbands Pizza dot com. Tony,
37:22
what your take been on the legislature so far? Well, I've been
37:24
very pleased. I mean, there's been a lot of good pieces of legislation
37:28
that's gone through from all aspects. So, you know, a lot of
37:31
times, depending on where we are in the election cycle and stuff, sometimes
37:36
the social issues have the big focus. Sometimes it's economic issues. Sometimes,
37:40
you know, last year, it was our last session, it was a
37:43
lot about taxes, the personal income tax. So every session normally has a
37:46
theme. This session, I've kind of noticed. I was just going through
37:50
my notes before I came in here, and we have bills that are kind
37:52
of touching on a little bit of all of that, and so I'm very
37:57
pleased. It's a wide ranging session. There's a lot of good legends out
38:00
there. You know. There's there's gonna be a couple of constitutional amendments on
38:04
the ballot that uh the people will be able to vote on. One of
38:08
them that that generated a lot of debate in the House. I think it
38:12
was last week, was the constitutional amendment on euthanasia. And so that's that
38:16
passed and that'll be uh it passed the House. I don't know if it
38:21
passed the Senate yet. Anyway, if it passes both houses, it'll go
38:22
on to uh go on to the ballot, and that'll give the people the
38:25
right to uh say in our constitution whether we would allow euthanasia here or not.
38:31
There's another good legislation on securing our elections, uh, making sure that
38:37
well, for an example, making it illegal for illegal aliens to vote,
38:40
you know, not gonna be able to do that. We've got three or
38:44
four election integrity bills. Off look at my notes here and see what they
38:46
are. But but they're really good. There's things that that that expands scholarships
38:52
for STEM students. Uh. There's all kinds of economic development bills. UH,
38:55
there's gun gun protection bills out there going. So it's a wide array
39:01
of things that kind of touch on things that a lot of conservatives care about.
39:06
And we think we're really doing a really good job, both the House
39:08
and centive side. Ready for some text, Well, I guess bring it
39:13
on, Tex says. I asked Tony to answer if there is a substantia
39:16
substantiative due process right to privacy under the Constitution? Do you have a right
39:22
to privacy in the Constitution. You've never answered that question. This is a
39:25
text. Well, yes, but that there's a lot of uh, there's
39:30
a lot of a lot of discussion that come with that question. It's too
39:34
broad, too wide. Okay, any news on the deposition would like to
39:39
valny body returned to the family. I don't think you do know anything about
39:44
that in Russia And oh, well that would be that would be something probably
39:49
for ABC News the top of the hour. Well, I did read a
39:51
little bit in the Wall Street Journal this morning about the the I guess Vladimir
39:54
Putin's political opponent or something, and he's he's come up dead, probably murdered.
40:00
Yes, somebody made the comment. I'm not trying to make fun of
40:04
it, but somebody called it Putin's sudden death syndrome. That's what they call.
40:07
That's actually pretty funny. Well, Russia is Russia is no ally of
40:12
US. I can tell you that right now, they're not. Maybe we
40:15
should tell the former president. Now, Tex says, how does Tony feel
40:20
about Democrats changing parties just to run as a Republican in the primary? Well,
40:24
I think it's disingenuous. You know, I would feel sorry for someone
40:29
who has that in mind, just to switch parties to come over to the
40:31
to what we would say the ruling party is right now, just run for
40:35
office. I mean, it's just disingenuous. I don't know if it's really
40:38
being honest with the voters. You know, if you're a Democrat and you're
40:42
proud of it and you want to run for office, by all means,
40:44
put your name on the ballot. I mean we'll probably beat you, but
40:45
go ahead and stand your ground and put your name on the ballot. But
40:49
if you're not really a conservative and not really a Republican, you know,
40:52
we're trying to get good conservative legislators and officeholders elected. But people can change
40:59
part though. I mean I come from an area Tony in southern West Virginia,
41:02
where I've said many, many times I was a registered Democrat because of
41:07
in Logan County when I registered to vote in eighteen eighty eight, if you
41:10
are not a Democrat, you had no one to vote for. There were
41:14
no repubt There were none, I mean maybe five in the whole county.
41:17
So, but people can change their parties. I think the issue from the
41:22
text, and I'm not trying to read too much into this, was people
41:25
that change parties just to run for office, because people they can change back
41:30
and forth. Well, and as far as people changing parties, you are
41:32
correct, and there are valid, valid times when that happens. I mean,
41:37
there's people listening now that I've gone out to dinner with spoke to them.
41:39
They've changed their party. There's people who have sat literally around my dining
41:43
room table at home and have switched from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party.
41:46
But it's not because they were seeking power or they were after some ulterior
41:51
motive. It's because they realized that they were truly conservative and they didn't realize
41:53
that the Democratic Party had left them, and so they switched over. So
41:57
there are times when it is legit, But then there's other times. Sometimes
42:00
it's high profile times when we can see around the state that people are just
42:06
switching to gain office, and I I just it's hard to trust those kind
42:09
of motives, you know, like, what's really this person's motive behind this?
42:13
It just makes me a little skeptical. So we have to watch Texas
42:15
ruling party. Question mark, is this a regime? I think you met
42:19
the party in palace, just the party, and it was the Democrats for
42:22
eighty three years exactly. They were the ruling The Democrats were the ruling party
42:24
in this state for eight decades, over eight decades. And yeah, now
42:29
we're the party in power in the legislative and executive branch Texas. Tony's name
42:34
Plane, Tony's taste and food plain, Tony's political ideology plane. I see
42:38
a pattern here. Maybe Tony should move from the mountain state to a plane
42:40
state like Kansas. Well you're West Virginia morning, brad Man. You're not
42:45
going anywhere around it here. I love it. I'm staying. I'm here
42:47
for good love it. Republican says the textra trying to suppress the vote of
42:52
someone like myself. I'm voting for more Capito over Patrick Morrissey, then I'm
42:55
voting for Steve Williams and the general also going to vote for Nicki Haley over
42:59
Trump if she's still on the primary ballot, then voting for the Boss Joe
43:02
Biden in the general. Republicans are bringing the government too far into personal lives.
43:07
So text, I mean, look, this person sounds I mean,
43:12
they've got an array of people they're voting for. But in the general election,
43:15
it doesn't matter if you're a Republican or Democrat. You can vote for
43:17
whoever you want at So whoever you want to vote for in the general election,
43:22
of course we want you to vote Republican. But the issues going on
43:25
within the Republican Party as far as the primary, have nothing to do with
43:29
the general It won't affect the general election in any way. But Dave Island
43:31
Shilling five any Live is broadly to part by your hometown baseball team, the
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back at Go Ballpark on Tuesday, March twelfth. Taking information is available dirty
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birds baseball dot Com or on the Dirty Birds social media pages. It's got
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some more texts to get to. Plus I want to get Tony's take on
43:47
the upcoming primary election. I'm not gonna ask you for endorsements, Tony,
43:52
you can, you know, stop sweating over there, because I know you
43:54
can't do that, but I want to I do as an overall want to
43:57
get your take on some things going on with the primary. Will be back
44:00
right after this. How The Voice to Charleston WCCHS brought to you by the
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When I point at you're supposed to talk. Oh okay, all right.
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You said something to me and a breakin that you wanted to bring up.
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So, yeah, man, Pushkin is so much better at this than you
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are. Well, I didn't know if you want to need to build off
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your phone number or text you or what. I didn't know what was going
47:07
on. I'm kidding. I love to get the little Pushkin, you know,
47:10
jabs in there at Yeah, you and Pushkin went out for tacos.
47:14
We did a couple of years ago. We did. We did. Hey,
47:16
Hey, he's a friend of mine. I mean, look, we
47:19
don't agree on hardly anything politically. There's a few things, but very very
47:22
few. He's a nice guy. I mean, I don't have anything too
47:24
bad to say about him, and we get along just fine, you know.
47:28
But I was just kind of messing with you on him. You did
47:30
want to say something though about the land that you and I both call home,
47:32
and that is in Putnham County. Well, I want to tell you
47:35
so just today I woke up and I saw that there are two brand new
47:37
small businesses opening in Hurricane, and you know, because you live out there,
47:43
we see small business openings all the time. I mean it's happening all
47:45
the time. The last two weekends, as I have to drive through the
47:50
main street area of Hurricane to get to my home. The last two weekends,
47:53
I've driven through there, and you know the old pictures that you'll see
47:58
maybe in the newspaper and it'll say snapshots time and it might show a picture
48:00
of Logan from the nineteen fifties or Welch from the night and you look at
48:05
the pictures and there's cars line in the streets and people everywhere, and you're
48:07
like, Wow, what a time that was. That vision is the time
48:12
that Putnam County is in right now, especially Hurricane Taste Valley area. The
48:15
last two weekends I've driven down Main Street. There is not a single parking
48:20
spot to be found. And it's not just cars. There are people walking
48:23
the sidewalks. There are people standing in line outside of restaurants to get in,
48:28
and then the other small businesses out through there. There's a large,
48:31
very large senior ECON like Retiree Economic Development Package come into Hurricane right now.
48:38
It's very very large, very expansive, and it's gonna I'm excited about it
48:43
because what it's gonna do. We have a housing shortage out there right now.
48:45
We need we need housing developers, we need land, we need all
48:47
of those things. But this large development that's getting ready to happen in Hurricane
48:52
is going to free up more single family homes. I'm excited about that.
48:55
It'll get our housing market a little bit balanced. There's just so much going
48:59
on. But to go back, I think to people come into conservative places
49:02
like Putnam County and West Virginia as a whole, and it's based on the
49:06
legislation that we passed and the leadership that we have in place. I want
49:08
to talk about the race a couple of the races before we let you go,
49:10
Tony. The race for governor start to get a little bit nasty among
49:14
the Republicans, not as nasty as it's probably gonna get. There have been
49:17
some real jabs in the race for center between Governor Justice and Congressman Mooney locally,
49:22
shots were fired on this very show last week, and the Republican race
49:27
for prosecutor in Kanawha County. Are you worried. Are you worried at all,
49:31
Tony that some of this in fighting could could hurt the overall races.
49:37
Well, I don't know if it would hurt the overall races, but I
49:40
would be I wouldn't be truthful. I would be untruthful if I told you
49:44
it didn't bother me. So it does bother me a little bit to see
49:46
Republicans fighting against Republicans. But you know, we we live in a in
49:51
a you know, a democratic republic, and that's just the nature of things.
49:54
So I was at the last gubernatorial debate in Raleigh County. That was
49:59
a fantastic It was hosted by Metro News Hobby Kerchville. It was great.
50:04
I was there in person, and all four candidates did a great job.
50:07
There was some jabs thrown, but it was all good natured. It was
50:10
everybody got along really well. But afterward I was talking to some people and
50:15
about three different people, which is kind of a little sample, just random
50:17
people. They said, I just like all four of those guys. All
50:21
four of them are really good, and they are. That's the neat thing
50:23
about West Virginia now is the Democrats can barely fill the ballot. We have
50:27
you know, our bench is full, and the bench is bench is full.
50:30
I mean, we just have so many good candidates. So that's the
50:32
way I look at it, and that's the way the nature of primary elections
50:36
are. This is nothing new. Parties have dealt with this all throughout since
50:39
we've had the party system, so it's nothing new. We just have to
50:42
navigate it carefully and wisely. Tex says, here are the former Democrats who
50:45
switched to independent. You can't be trusted by the Republicans that don't want your
50:50
vote, and you're not welcome. You ry know, Marxist, socialist groomer.
50:53
It's a Texter. I used to be a Republican, says a Texter.
51:00
I voted for McCain over Obama, but as soon as Obama won,
51:02
the Republicans lost their minds and went tea party crazy, which led to Trump.
51:07
And then that's when the Republican Party left me. Well, I mean
51:10
everybody, you know, everybody has their opinion, but I would say there's
51:14
been a whole lot more testimonies of the Democratic Party leaving West Virginians and that's
51:19
why they're switching to our party, and we love it. Texas. Tony's
51:21
bills and what conservatives care about sounds like solutions in search of problems. Well,
51:27
I mean, you know one complaint that I hear a lot in the
51:30
legislature. It kind of I just don't understand it. They say, you
51:34
know, the Republicans are trying to pass a bill, and the Democrats will
51:37
say, was that actually happening here? Is that going on? Well,
51:40
if you're trying to pass legislation, I mean, does it often matter if
51:45
it's going on yet or not. Aren't you trying to get out ahead of
51:46
things? For an example, it's just a simple example. But let's say
51:50
thirty five seconds qad Okay, let's just say you know, right now we
51:55
have it's illegal to rob a bank. You know, well, whether it's
51:59
illegal or not, you know, whether people are doing it or not,
52:01
you still want it to be illegal, right, I mean, so so
52:05
you know, sometimes you have to get out ahead on stuff. So whether
52:07
it's happening or not, legislation is good legislation if it's if it's going to
52:12
get out ahead of a problem. That's what I'm trying to say. Tony
52:14
Hodge with the State Republican Party, always pleasure to have you on the show.
52:16
Man, I appreciate sure, I appreciate you having me in. Thanks
52:19
a lot. Coming up on the show tomorrow, Greg Thomas, Republican Strategy
52:22
will be stopping by, and you're a good friend of mine. Tony Milly
52:25
Snyder will be on the show tomorrow. I'll be listening. Milly Snyder from
52:29
the Shape Shop Hobbies up next with a talk line. Brad mclahetey on the
52:31
show today. Former Charles Mayor Danny Jones on Joe Manchin's decision not to run
52:36
for president. You and I didn't even get into that. Maybe we'll get
52:37
into it next time you're here. Gotta go see you next time. Till
52:40
that, have fun. I Love Somebody. W h A, W two
52:54
four three d RFM, Charles stand W two and three, AQ Cross Lanes,
52:59
WVRC YA Station. We're proud to live here too,