Latest / Chuck Douglas / FOP President Brian Steel 3-31-2026

Transcript

FOP President Brian Steel 3-31-2026 · Chuck Douglas

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  Speaker 1: I begin tonight by taking a look at that wonderful
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  Speaker 1: bastion of common sense we call Whitehll, Ohio. And yes,
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  Speaker 1: I say that with all possible sarkisical or that White
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  Speaker 1: Whitehall's has been uh a joke. And I used to
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  Speaker 1: love that community. It seemed like, you know, ten twelve
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  Speaker 1: years ago, they were really they were really pushing, bringing
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  Speaker 1: in new homeowners and new business, and then something just
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  Speaker 1: went left of Albuquerque. Most recently, the attempt to get
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  Speaker 1: rid of the council member a ridiculous attempt, a baseless
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  Speaker 1: attempt as far as we know, because no evidence of
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  Speaker 1: any malfeasings has been presented. It's just we don't like you.
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  Speaker 1: You criticize too much, so we're going to arrest you.
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  Speaker 1: We'll take you downtown in handcuffs, we'll go search your house.
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  Speaker 1: But we got nothing. If they had something, they would
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  Speaker 1: have done something, but they didn't. So they didn't. And
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  Speaker 1: now there is an effort to recall the mayor some
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  Speaker 1: council members in Whitehall, Ohio. We don't see that very often.
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  Speaker 1: I think we should. We don't have that option in Columbus. Unfortunately,
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  Speaker 1: I'm not saying that about anyone in particular may again.
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  Speaker 1: Thro I'm just saying about, you know, people in general.
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  Speaker 1: We don't have a recall process in Columbus, Ohio. According
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  Speaker 1: to the ABC six website, push to recall elected officials
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  Speaker 1: is moving forward. In Whitehall, Ohio. The Board of Elections
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  Speaker 1: last week's certified petitions to recall Mayor Michael Bivens, co
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  Speaker 1: member and Amy Harkar and council member el Lorie Elmore.
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  Speaker 1: They gathered though signators to move forward in the recall process.
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  Speaker 1: The city clerk has deemed them valid today. If the
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  Speaker 1: officials do not resign within five calendar days after receiving
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  Speaker 1: notice of sufficiency, the special election will be held within
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  Speaker 1: thirty to sixty days. I find that odd. Within thirty
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  Speaker 1: to sixty days, that's just an odd phrase. Whitehall City
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  Speaker 1: Attorney Brad Nicodemus confirmed that all had been notified as
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  Speaker 1: of today. Recall petitions need signatures for at least fifteen
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  Speaker 1: percent of the vote from the last election. In this case,
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  Speaker 1: it meant the petitions needed at least four hundred and
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  Speaker 1: twenty five valid signatures. According to the Board of Elections petitions,
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  Speaker 1: we received four hundred and forty four to four hundred
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  Speaker 1: and forty seven valid signatures. Between twenty four and twenty
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  Speaker 1: seven signatures were ruled invalid on the petitions. Now, all
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  Speaker 1: this being said, there was some chin music, if you will,
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  Speaker 1: on social media today from a local blogger who you know.
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  Speaker 1: I'll give the guy credit. He gets in a lot
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  Speaker 1: of faces, gets stories, gets attention. However, he was seemingly,
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  Speaker 1: at least in my reading, casting some sort of aspersion
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  Speaker 1: on the Columbus Police sergeant. I think he's still a
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  Speaker 1: serget unless he's been promoted Brian Steele and the FOP
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  Speaker 1: Lodge nine, which he is president of, for somehow covertly,
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  Speaker 1: if you will, funding the recall process in Whitehall, Ohio,
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  Speaker 1: and that that bugged me because I've known Brian for
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  Speaker 1: quite a while and uh, and I know that he
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  Speaker 1: would not be doing anything covert. He's very much an
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  Speaker 1: in your face kind of guy. If he wants to say,
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  Speaker 1: he's gonna say it, he's gonna mean it, He's gonna
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  Speaker 1: follow through with it. That's kind of man he is.
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  Speaker 1: And that's why he and I get along. And I
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  Speaker 1: was not thrilled to read that. So I wanted Brian
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  Speaker 1: on the air tonight to up to basically respond to
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  Speaker 1: this and to let you know where he stands and
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  Speaker 1: set the record straight. Well let's get him on the
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  Speaker 1: line here, Brian Steele, president of FOP Lodge nine. You
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  Speaker 1: are on the Legacy Retirement Group dot com phone lines?
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  Speaker 2: How you doing, Chuck out standing? Too blessed to be stressed?
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  Speaker 2: How are you, sir?
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  Speaker 1: Well, not not quite that blessed, But I'm okay.
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  Speaker 2: You're a blessed man. Kid? Got it all? Brother?
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  Speaker 1: When when you read that crap this morning, I have
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  Speaker 1: to I was offended on your behalf. I hope that
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  Speaker 1: I was not out of the line being so now no.
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  Speaker 2: So I'll tell you the only clarification is the individual
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  Speaker 2: who who made that post, who has ties to Whitehorn,
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  Speaker 2: is kind of part of this overall corruption. The government
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  Speaker 2: tagged the individual you referring to as the rooster. The
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  Speaker 2: rooster is not against me. We're actually aligned in that
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  Speaker 2: we believe in calling out elected officials, calling out cops,
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  Speaker 2: calling out community anybody who steps across the line, and
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  Speaker 2: supporting those that do the right thing. So I have
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  Speaker 2: no issues with him whatsoever. Actually applaud his actions.
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  Speaker 1: So our blogger buddy was not not pointing the finger.
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  Speaker 1: He was just tagged in the post.
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  Speaker 2: He was tagged in the post.
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  Speaker 1: I'm glad to hear that. I am very glad to
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  Speaker 1: hear that he was the one who brought to prominence
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  Speaker 1: that whole story with the professor beating up on the
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  Speaker 1: guy trying to talk to Gordon Gee at a high state.
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  Speaker 1: So a lot of people are getting very familiar with him,
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  Speaker 1: and I'm glad to hear that that he is not,
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  Speaker 1: you know, part of the finger pointing crew on this one.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so you you hit the nail on the head though, Chuck,
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  Speaker 2: will you see with me? You get there is no
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  Speaker 2: co hert, There's no there's no you know, Sarah Tisha,
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  Speaker 2: I flat out tell you what I'm going to do.
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  Speaker 2: I lay cards on the table and where they all
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  Speaker 2: they fall. Here's the reality I've got to know in
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  Speaker 2: Whitehall very well. We represent Whitehall police officers. The community
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  Speaker 2: is outstanding. I've met so many people there, some might
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  Speaker 2: call lifelong friends. Now they are sold to the earth.
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  Speaker 2: When I took over the FOP, I said, listen, this
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  Speaker 2: is what we're going to do. We are going to
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  Speaker 2: support cops to do the right thing, and we are
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  Speaker 2: going to support the communities that our officers serve because
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  Speaker 2: they are a part of it. And if you remember,
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  Speaker 2: I said, I'm going to call out bad cops, bad
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  Speaker 2: elected officials, and bad guys, and I'm going to support
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  Speaker 2: good cops, good community members, which is the overwhelming majority,
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  Speaker 2: overall majority cops, and I'm going to support good politicians.
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  Speaker 2: Here's why we're here. The city of Whitehall. Their government
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  Speaker 2: is one of the most corrupt governments I've ever met.
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  Speaker 2: Our officers came to us, they said, look, we have
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  Speaker 2: a problem. We have a hostile, toxic work environment. We
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  Speaker 2: have a ticket quota system, a ticket quota system which
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  Speaker 2: disproportionately impacts communities of color. Our officers told us there's
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  Speaker 2: Fourth Amendment violations and they did not want to be
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  Speaker 2: a part of a department like that. When when the
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  Speaker 2: officers are two union reps, which many Noah shop stewards,
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  Speaker 2: they brought these issues to the mayor. The mayor turned
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  Speaker 2: a blind eye. The chief of police fired are two
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  Speaker 2: union reps, trumped up charges completely false, and then you
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  Speaker 2: had a councilmember Dixon. Councilmember Diction was very outspoken, outspoken
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  Speaker 2: against the chief, outspoken against the mayor. What do they do?
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  Speaker 2: They arrested them. They accused them of being a pedophile.
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  Speaker 2: That case is dropped. Why is it dropped? There was
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  Speaker 2: not a single amount of evidence. Now, if that individual
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  Speaker 2: did commit those crimes. I'd be the first one calling
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  Speaker 2: for his removal. But we are a country with facts,
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  Speaker 2: We are a country with evidence, and it just shows
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  Speaker 2: the corruption. White Hole will be a Netflix story one
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  Speaker 2: day and you could take that to the bank, Chuck.
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  Speaker 1: I was, you know, I was among the Hanghim High
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  Speaker 1: crowd and when this was released, because here we go.
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  Speaker 1: I trust our process, I trust our I didn't think
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  Speaker 1: the police would cuff this guy, search his house, take
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  Speaker 1: him to the Franklin County jail, and have nothing. And
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  Speaker 1: so I was like, wow, we got eight complaints against
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  Speaker 1: this guy, and they arrested him and took me. I
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  Speaker 1: was ready to hang him high, and within twenty four
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  Speaker 1: hours I had to eat my words because they took
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  Speaker 1: him down there. And the prosecutor even said, they gave
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  Speaker 1: me nothing. They gave me no charges, they gave me
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  Speaker 1: no anything. There's nothing I can present to the judge.
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  Speaker 1: And the judge said, well, if you got nothing, then
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  Speaker 1: there's nothing here. You're released. And you would expect that
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  Speaker 1: same treatment of you or me or anybody else. That's
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  Speaker 1: the way the system is supposed to work if somebody
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  Speaker 1: does something stupid like that. Now, the accusation that there's
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  Speaker 1: some covert funding going on. FOP is a large organization
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  Speaker 1: with several arms, one of which is a political action
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  Speaker 1: committee of pack. So is that what they're taking aim at,
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  Speaker 1: or are they saying that you shouldn't have that or
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  Speaker 1: shouldn't be using it that way, or what was the
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  Speaker 1: basis of what they were griping about.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so you hit the nail on ahead. We have
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  Speaker 2: a political action committee. Everybody has political action committees. I
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  Speaker 2: don't care if you're a part of Black Lives Matter,
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  Speaker 2: if you're a publican party, Democratic party, if you're the
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  Speaker 2: Janitor's Union, if you're the teachers union, you name ACLU,
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  Speaker 2: we all have political action committee. We use that to
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  Speaker 2: support candidates. This is the FOP in particular, to support
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  Speaker 2: candidates that support us. We will use that money to
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  Speaker 2: fight elected officials who cross the line, who are trying
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  Speaker 2: to bust unions, who are attacking police officers and more importantly,
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  Speaker 2: attacking the communities. The group the group recalling is not
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  Speaker 2: the fop's group that is citizens that are just done
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  Speaker 2: with with with their local government. The FOP is just
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  Speaker 2: a small part of their overwhelming problems. So I'll defer
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  Speaker 2: to that group to talk about why they want to recall.
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  Speaker 2: I can tell you why we want to recall. They
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  Speaker 2: absolutely failed. That government has failed the citizens. They failed
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  Speaker 2: the FOP. There's five law suits against the City of
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  Speaker 2: white Hall right now, and ultimately who's going to bleed
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  Speaker 2: that money is the taxpayer and it could have been prevented.
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  Speaker 2: One lawsuit is they tried to silence me. They silenced
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  Speaker 2: me and the mayor Bivens would not allow me to
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  Speaker 2: use the email system to email our elected officials, our council,
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  Speaker 2: our chief, anybody non union member. I'm not only a
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  Speaker 2: union president, I'm also a citizen in this country. I
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  Speaker 2: could email or pull whoever I want, no one person,
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  Speaker 2: you know, and we live in a world where everything's
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  Speaker 2: no kings, no kings. This is a king of this
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  Speaker 2: kingdom who's saying who can contact elected officials? And that's
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  Speaker 2: not how the way it's supposed to be. And we're
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  Speaker 2: going to keep fighting that.
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  Speaker 1: Is there is there any indication there's someone waiting in
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  Speaker 1: the wings, or is this just get rid of what's there.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, because I watched that close until this morning,
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  Speaker 1: I didn't even know there was a recall effort underway.
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  Speaker 1: Is there a fresh group of people within the system
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  Speaker 1: you've known out in Whitehall can step in and fill
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  Speaker 1: these seats after a recall election? Or I mean, is
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  Speaker 1: it just going to be the same series of events
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  Speaker 1: with a different cast.
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  Speaker 2: So I'm a true believer. You recruit for attitude, you
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  Speaker 2: train for skill. I have met many great citizens there
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  Speaker 2: that have an outstanding attitude. They have a passion for
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  Speaker 2: their community, They want to well run government. Some of
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  Speaker 2: them are worried. Well, I'm not a politician. I've never
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  Speaker 2: been in the game. That's what we want. We don't
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  Speaker 2: want people who just jump from from different elected offices
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  Speaker 2: elected offices, and that's not how our forefathers set up
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  Speaker 2: these United States. So we're encourring these individuals. Here's your attitude.
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  Speaker 2: If you love your town, if you want to see
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  Speaker 2: it well run, well established, put your name in that hat.
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  Speaker 2: And if we find someone that meets meets our values,
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  Speaker 2: that they are going to be good people, unmolested by
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  Speaker 2: outside influences and bought. Hey, we're one hundred percent going
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  Speaker 2: to support you, and I don't think there's going to
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  Speaker 2: be adding shortage of people stepping up.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely great to hear that. I want to see good
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  Speaker 1: people stepping up, even even if you think you don't
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  Speaker 1: stand a chance, if you believe you could make change,
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  Speaker 1: given the opportunity you have to, you have to involve yourself.
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  Speaker 1: And too many people have just thrown up their hands
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  Speaker 1: and said, ag, it's not worth it. It's not what
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  Speaker 1: may Maybe we've reached an age where it's finally worth
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  Speaker 1: it again, and I hope we do see him stepping up. Brian,
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  Speaker 1: any good news, any Columbus Police or FOP good news
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  Speaker 1: you want to share before I say goodbye to you, Listen, there.
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  Speaker 2: There's always good news, I say. Our officers go out there,
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  Speaker 2: they take over, you know, one point five million runs
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  Speaker 2: a year, ninety nine percent, they do them flawlessly, and
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  Speaker 2: they go home to their families. And that's what I
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  Speaker 2: always harp on. I'll never let the one or two
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  Speaker 2: issues that kind of hit the headlines, that are exacerbated
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  Speaker 2: influence what we do. Anytime someone says to me or
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  Speaker 2: one of the officers, thank you for your service, I
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  Speaker 2: always tell them you are worth it. That's why our
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  Speaker 2: officers go out every single day knowing they might not
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  Speaker 2: come home, because every single person in our community is
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  Speaker 2: worth it.
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  Speaker 1: He is the president of FOP Lodge number nine, a
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  Speaker 1: Columbus Police officer. On top of that, very much appreciated
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  Speaker 1: Brian Steel always there for us. I am always here
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  Speaker 1: for you, my friend. If you need anything, you know
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  Speaker 1: where to find me.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you, Chuck. Be good.