Latest / The Orange Report with Kira Davis / Ep.55 Can California be saved? with Rhonda Shader
Transcript
- speaker-1: There is everybody. Hi, everybody. Welcome to the show. I'm Kira Davis. Today is Tuesday, August 11th. And as you can see, I have a very special guest with me. And I'm really excited to introduce her. But before I do that, I just want to make sure everyone's plugged in. Make sure you know where the show is. You can follow us here on X. We broadcast live. We're broadcasting live right now. Follow me at Kira Davis or over on the Orange Report at Orange Report OC. ⁓ hit tap that YouTube button. And sign up for our Substack at the Orange Report. Again, just go search the Orange Report OC on Substack and you'll see it. We try to run down headlines and stuff each week and we got it's a growing publication. So I'm proud to be ⁓ the the ⁓ editor-in-chief for that publication. But very also thank you, Rhonda. Well, this is a great opportunity to introduce my guests. As you can see, I have a beautiful, doesn't she look like the quintessential Californian here in this frame? Please welcome to the show Rhonda Schader. She is running for the state senate in District Thirty-four. She is the former two-time mayor of Placentia here in North Orange County. I'm in South. She's in North. And also a former city council member. Rhonda, thank you so much for taking some time for us today. speaker-0: Yeah, it's good. It's a treat to be with you. Thanks for having me. speaker-1: Well, tell us before we get started, because I'm gonna I I've got some ⁓ I wanna grill you a little bit about our governor ⁓ and get your your opinions on some of the stuff that he's out there saying right now. I don't know if you know this, Rhonda, but we actually have a governor here in the state of California, but he's not here. I don't know where he is. But he's not here. speaker-0: You know, it's so interesting 'cause I thought, if you know there's a possibility that someone can get a hold of your calendar and see what you've been doing, wouldn't you be really careful what you put in it? speaker-1: It makes you wonder, doesn't it? And it makes you wonder I feel like a lot of these people have just been getting away with stuff for so long they don't even think about it. They don't even think about it. Like speaker-0: Yeah, no nobody's ever gonna see it and if they do, so what? speaker-1: I know. It's really crazy. I mean, and meanwhile, California's literally falling apart. Our episode yesterday, Rhonda, was called Los Angeles is Falling Apart. Literally. Water main breaks. They've had five in the last few weeks. ⁓ the auto zone looting, which I'm gonna ask you a little bit about a a bit later. But this the city of Los Angeles is literally falling apart and it's one of the major cities in the state, and the governor is he's on the other side of the country right now, actually. Yeah. Well Rhonda, tell us a little bit about your ⁓ about yourself, about Placentia, and your vie to be the next representative for your district in the state Senate, District thirty four. speaker-0: Thank you. I'll just try to nutshell it here. So I was minding my own business, building a ⁓ insurance agency in North Orange County when a colleague of mine came to me and said, Your city is in really big trouble right now. ⁓ my little city of placentia had been on the verge of bankruptcy for at least a decade, if not more. They had just had ⁓ millions of dollars embezzled by an ⁓ finance person in the finance department and ⁓ they were just reeling and she said there's two open seats will you do it and I just kind of looked at it as well you know I I volunteered to be chairman of the Chamber of Commerce. ⁓ you know, I volunteered for the women's club. I guess I could go help the city now. So I just kind of looked at it as an act of service and you know had never you know, done anything like that before. and so I knew the cost was the election and I had to run an election. And so I I got some people around me to help me do that. And ⁓ we won. And ⁓ I was the only woman running. I was the only woman on council all eight years that I was there. And I was only the fifth woman mayor of Placentia in its 100 year history. Placentia is a hundred years. and ⁓ the first four years, I was there for two terms, eight years, four each, ⁓ was probably some of the hardest work of my life because to turn a city around financially takes just about everything you've got. Every resource, every person, ever everything you've ever had in your background that you can pull from. I mean, it just takes everything out of you. ⁓ the second four years were a little more fun. We had some money coming in the door, things were in much better order, and we were able to pave streets, make the parks better, and work on those infrastructure things. ⁓ because I I have found ⁓ many local elected officials, they forget what the priorities are. The priority is public safety and infrastructure. Those are the priorities of government. They're supposed to do the things that we can't do on our own, like pave a street. My goodness, we can't afford to pave our streets. You know, we we have to group together to do that and use our tax dollars. ⁓ and so we were able to start doing some of those things in placentia that have been ignored for so many years and also bring in some economic development because you know, when you're trying to raise money ⁓ and income in a city, you go after everything. And it was the most exciting experience of my life to start. bringing better quality of life to the people in my own city, to watch them enjoying a park, to watch them get excited about street signs and new roads being paved and you know, gutters and sidewalks and trees being I mean, literally it had been ignored for so long that people were really grateful ⁓ that those things were being taken care of again. And I had no idea how much I would love the work. And the whole time I was doing it, I was constantly having to overcome the laws that were being pushed out of Sacramento, keeping me from keeping people safe, ⁓ putting the right housing in my city where it belongs, you know, spending money wisely instead of on, you know, infrastructure like solar or electrical ⁓ ⁓ charging stations and stuff like that. You know, things that we didn't have money for that. You know, but yet we were being forced to spend money on that instead of the basics that my city needed so badly. And I thought, you know what, there is a disconnect here. Something's something's wrong. You know, something something has gone wrong. And ⁓ when this Senate seat opened up, this was after the twenty twenty census, they redrew the lines, and here I ended up in this Senate seat. ⁓ just a small portion of my city happened to be my city council district. ⁓ and I'm a woman of faith, and I just felt like God told me, This is yours. I want you running for this. ⁓ and so here I am, and I've I have been working on this seat in North Orange County for four or five years. Because it's a very difficult seat for a conservative. Mm-hmm. And so it takes a lot of extra effort, ⁓ on my part to get it done. And so speaker-1: I want to stop you right there, Rhonda, because you said something that really piqued my interest. I thought was a really great thing to hear coming out of the mouth of a politician, which is I viewed running as an act of service. And what you described really was service, you know, ⁓ give sacrificing so much energy, making sure that the people were cared for. I loved how you described the a feeling of pride. run, you know, driving through the city and seeing people enjoying the parks finally and seeing clean streets and and all of that. And I think that that is a quality that gets lost in the political discussion, even among voters. I don't think we ever really think about positions like the one you're running for for or the ones you just left. We don't ever think about those positions as service. We think of service as maybe you're in homeless services or you're at work at a church and you're serving the community. But elections are service too. Elected positions are service. And you said it yourself. There are people who are in these positions who positions who don't view themselves as a servant of the people. They have their priorities mixed up. Talk a little bit more about the calling or what you feel is the calling of a California. politician, ⁓ as set out by our founding fathers and also just set out by the voters, the agreement that we make with you all. speaker-0: Yeah. Well, I mean, when you go all the way to founding fathers, I mean, the the constitution, right, pushes a lot of authority down to the state. Because they know that the government closest to the people is best for the people. Right. Because we know what they need. I was recently being interviewed by somebody and they said, Is there one thing that you could tell me that Governor Newsom did right? Because I've been in public service the same amount of time that he's been governor. So that's been my experience, you know, of what the leadership was at the state level. And I said, you know what, there is one thing. And the one thing that he did right was a program called California Clean. And he sent money through Caltrans down to the the county level. So it was the Orange County Caltrans office, selected cities to work with to get homeless debris Cleaned up on state property to make on ramps and off ramps in cities cleaner. And my city, when I was mayor, got selected for that project. And we worked with the state government to tell them what our city needed and what would be best for our city. And man, did that work great. It really made a difference in my city. But you see how that happened. It got pushed down to where the people are. Right. And to where we can understand right what needs to really be done and where and how it would make the biggest difference. So, you know, that's number one when you talk about how it's supposed to work. ⁓ the second thing you said is I always remember that, especially at the state level, and it's certainly in Congress as well, that let's say a businessman or woman would Their career would mature and they would be in a position maybe just short of retirement, but still has a lot to give. And they say, you know what? I could sacrifice some time and financial to go into public service, because that's how our country works. People sacrifice and volunteer to go into public service for a time, but then you're supposed to come back out. ⁓ I'm a big term limits promoter. I really believe in term limits. And ⁓ so I feel like that that's what I'm doing. I built a business, I'm ready to step aside and sacrifice for a time ⁓ financially, because even though in California we do pay our state legislators, ⁓ it's certainly not as much as I would make in my own business. So I will sacrifice some of that and I will sacrifice a lot of my time. But right now in my life, I'm in a good position to do that. And so I say it's my turn right now. Just like I said it was my turn on city council. And I also believe I have a gifting to do this type of work. Not everybody does. Not everybody's called to be in public service. I have a lot of colleagues that find it very frustrating. We just had somebody on the city council in my city who served one term. I thought he did a great job. He didn't really care for it. He's done. He's already done. And I was shocked. But you know what? It doesn't suit everybody. And I and I can appreciate that because it is a very, very difficult work. It can be if you're not cut out for it. speaker-1: It's not Yeah, I think I Rhonda, I always tell people this when I I mean, really, this is like what my book is about, drawing lines, which you can see behind me. ⁓ but that's really what it's about. It's just telling people, look, here's all these issues that we have in our society. That was a book written for the larger culture, not necessarily something as as myopic as what you're running for, but ⁓ the principles are the same, which is that ⁓ everyone needs to get in the game. You everyone needs to be a participant in their own political culture in their in their country and in their community. And excuse me, I have a fly flying around here. And and but a lot of people get intimidated because they think, well, I can't run for office. I don't want to run for office. That's crazy and it's so much energy and it's these days it can be dangerous and depending on where you are and who you're up against. So a lot of people feel like that's where their service stops. Is that public service? But is that, excuse me, elected service? But there are so many d other ways that you can be of service to change the political culture in your community. for instance, you have a candidate like Rhonda who's running. Rhonda, what are some of the things that you might suggest that people can do? This is a regular mom and dad out there who doesn't, like you say, doesn't have the finances, doesn't have the time. Maybe they're in a young family. They really can't take a lot of time. But as we say, everybody's gotta be in this game to win this game. What are some things that the average Californian can do to be involved in shaping the life of their community? speaker-0: Well, the very first thing that everybody can do is vote. And I don't say that lightly. There are a lot of people that don't vote. I know you know that. Yes. ⁓ and especially for Republicans in California, we need all our Republicans to vote. And they don't. It's a problem. ⁓ and so when you put yourself out there to run for office and your fellow Republicans speaker-1: Moving like a true politician. speaker-0: Can't even check a box, it can be very disheartening. speaker-1: I'm gonna play devil's advocate here. I but I had Roxanne Hoag is the the the chairwoman of the L A G O P and we were talking about this is after Spencer Pratt's lost. And you know, one of the and we were talking about this and she said just what you said, obviously. Like she she laid the numbers out there too. She just went on a tear. She was like, Here's the numbers, we're not turning out. But here is is what I always ask is What how much of that is due to the fact that the the Republican vote feels very depressed here? There are a lot of people who feel like it doesn't matter if I get out to vote, however many votes my gal has, the you know, somehow the other side with these endless ballot drops we have is always gonna find the votes to ⁓ overwhelm that potential victory. So what do you ⁓ what message do you have to people who feel like I like you, Rhonda. I wish you the best. But honestly, why am I breaking my neck to vote when it doesn't feel like maybe the Republican Party is fighting for my vote the way like fighting for my vote to count, the way I think they should be, or I just feel overwhelmed by the corruption in this state. speaker-0: Yeah. So I think that even though we understand that there are the way our elections run and the and the laws that have been passed are not good here, I feel like we've gotta work really hard not to live in that space. Because you can live in the space of a lot of bad things. And I put voting in that bucket. You you cannot live there. We must rise up. And I understand what you're saying because I have experienced a couple of hard elections and I have experienced a lot of ballots showing up after the fact and and I understand that. But I won't give up. The message has to get out. People have to run. There has to be an alternative. We can't just roll over and let it go. And I would tell you not to throw out a bunch of numbers. But when I ran for this seat in twenty two against the incumbent, which which meant it was even harder, had every almost every, if I had probably ninety percent of the Republicans voting, I would have won him. When you statistically when you looked at at the votes at the end. ⁓ so you know, it's like if we all band together. If we could all lift each other up and say we're going after it, which is what the whole country did in twenty four. And a lot of people voted for President Trump, we've got to figure out how we can make that trickle down the ballot. Because it matters here in our state too. It matters in our county. It matters in our cities. ⁓ having good people in office affects our lives every single day. And so it's it's worth the effort to do that. speaker-1: Okay. speaker-0: To vote, to have a meet and greet so that people get exposed to good candidates. If you believe you have a good candidate, what can you do to tell 10 or 20 other people about this candidate? Right? Like, you know, just be a part of that ⁓ in your own small way if you d if you don't want to be running. And there's all kinds of places to serve without running for office. I mean, we have commissioners. everywhere, committees, all kinds of things that you can do at, you know, city, library, county, state. There's all kinds of things that have to be filled. And if we can get good common sense, conservative people that are looking out for, you know, big picture the constitution, looking out for our children, looking out for public safety, looking out for these things at all levels. ⁓ What a difference it would make in our state. ⁓ so everybody can do collectively when we all do a little something, right? It all adds up. It all adds up. Just like what you're doing. Giving me a voice, ⁓ saying things out loud that nobody wants to say, to intrigue people, to fire them up, right? To get them spurred on to take action. ⁓ so there's and that's your gifting. Not everybody can do what you do. Yeah, so I just everybody's been given something to your point, and there's something that they have to offer society in their act of service. So it sounds like you have a good premise for your book. I like it. ⁓ huh. speaker-1: Thank you. Yes. I yes. ⁓ and that is my goal to to inspire everybody to serve somewhere. and it doesn't have to be in politics either, you know. If you want to just serve, you know, I I ran an after school program for a long time back in Gary, Indiana, and that that's how I serve the community. So there are are things you can do. I just want everybody to start reframing what it means to serve your country and what it means. really just sacrifice for your your country. Rhonda, tell me a little bit about district thirty four. What are the lines here? What and did it was this one of the districts that got carved up in Prop fifteen? speaker-0: Not Pro fifty, because that was only Congress, but it certainly got carved up in the last redistricting ⁓ for our state. ⁓ it's a sixty-three percent Hispanic district, and it runs from I have a small portion of Los Angeles, which is east and south Whittier. It moves through La Habra, Fullerton, Buena Park, picks me up in Placentia, ⁓ Anaheim, Santa Ana, a little bit of orange and a little bit of garden grove. So remember in California we have forty senators. We have almost forty million people. So every Senate district is about a million people. So there's actually four hundred and sixty five thousand voters at my Senate district. Almost forty percent of them voted in the primary. speaker-1: Wow. That's a big turnout for ⁓ speaker-0: Yes. Was it's a it was extra it was actually extraordinary for this district in particular, ⁓ which honestly did not help me. ⁓ but ⁓ we have a very contentious assembly seat in Santa Ana and Anaheim and it brought in a lot of money, a lot of commercials and it kind of fired up the voters a little bit. So Interest. ⁓ yeah, there was some interesting action ⁓ going on. speaker-1: So that's a big that's a big spread. This is listen, folks, I talk about gerrymandering all the time. It is the one thing as an American I just have never been able to bring myself to understand. It feels illegal, it feels unconstitutional. I don't know why we do it. But that district that you just described for we have a national audience for people who might not know, that's a very weird shaped district and it's very horrible. That's long. And it's got tentacles and it goes into places where people really, you know, orange is a lot different than Whittier. Orange is a lot the the city of Orange is a lot different than Whittier and there are different needs. So how do you run a campaign? with like you said, there that's a million people you're running to represent. How do you run a campaign in these communities that are so vastly different, live different lives and even in some cases have Different populations. speaker-0: Well, the really fun thing about this district is that I have a tie to every single city in it. I was either born there, lived there, raised my kids there, went to a school there. I've I've been a North Orange County Gal my whole entire life. speaker-1: Well see you guys see when I open the show. I said, Does this woman not look like the quintessential California representative? Yes, that and this is what I wanna see. When I see my California representatives, I wanna see someone who looks like California to me. Right. So I guess the visuals match the ex speaker-0: These are kind of my people. So I'm very comfortable. ⁓ you know, I went to school, you know, with a lot of them. ⁓ so ⁓ I think my biggest ⁓ I would say effort over the last several years has been let me do two things. The first one is is I created conservative groups in my three major cities because I felt like conservatives, and I say conservative, not Republican, because ⁓ many people in these cities are independent voters, no party parties. Yeah. But they have conservative values and they want to talk about that. And so I created these groups that have been g gathering for the last four years from time to time. and we've been recruiting ⁓ local candidates. We've been talking about issues, we've been having people come speak to us. It's just been a way to get people together because When we were talking earlier about Republicans not picking their vote counted, well so I think it's because every Republican thinks they're on an island. And they're not. There's a lot of us. There's there's thousands of Republicans in Santa Ana. Santa Ana's leadership is very blue. there's majority Democrats, but at the same time there are thousands and thousands of Republicans and independent voters that are conservative. And they're not alone. They share a lot of the same values. And so we need to make sure that they know who shares their values that's running for office. And so strategically, you probably know you go after who's gonna vote, who's gonna vote for you, who can you get to vote for you? And all of a sudden you shrink that universe of who you have to go after. So ⁓ you do get very strategic in election because you have to, because there's no possible way for me to reach that many people. And nor do I need to, because they're not all, you know, they're not all gonna vote. So ⁓ we do get into a lot of strategic, you know, planning and stuff with our consultants and all of that, so to make it more manageable. ⁓ but really just being among the people, I joined every chamber in Northranch County. Nice. ⁓ 'cause I wanted to go to state of the cities. I wanted to meet the the leaders in the city. The other thing I did last year is I visited with a hundred businesses in a hundred days. Because I'm a business owner and I knew that our businesses were suffering, especially after the pandemic. And I wanted to talk to them a little bit more about that and see if they had some ideas of how we could make things better. And boy did I get an earful. ⁓ speaker-1: Hear some of the stuff that you've been hearing out there when you go. This is one of the my favorite part. I've only campaigned for one office that I lost, but my favorite part was campaigning. I loved campaigning because I love talking to people and you hear so many different you have the opportunity to hear so many different stories. What are you hearing out there? And I think a lot of people in our national audience don't really understand the way life works here in California. You know, we see the big stories coming out of LA and San Francisco, but there's a whole There's a whole lot of life going on between those places and they're very unique places. Some of our our needs and our our annoyances are the same statewide, but some of them are are more local. I think a lot of people would think that some of the biggest issues, and you tell me if that's right or wrong or anything to add, but some of the biggest issues here in California for any politicians are going to be affordability, ⁓ crime and ⁓ homelessness. What are you hearing when you go out there? speaker-0: So ⁓ I did something really fun I'd like to tell you about. Yeah, please. I've done a lot of booths at festivals and stuff. And I love doing that because you get to talk to a lot of people at once, right? It's much easier than knocking on doors, even though I do that as well. And and people are ready to speak talk, right? They're there to be social and and do things. So ⁓ I created this giant poster board and I put six things on it. And they have to choose one to six, one being the most important, six being the least. And they're all important, but they must choose. They must rank them for me. And after the festival's over, I have all these numbers and I add them all up. Every single time it's cost of living. Every single time, which is affordability. And at the booth, I get to talk to them about what is unaffordable? Where's your biggest pain point? You know, and I I hear many different things, but when I continue the conversation, the one thing that we all agree on, every single person altogether, it's food. Food is quadrupled. And our incomes have not caught up yet with all the increase in inflation and the things that we need. And so we're in this weird gap right now. And I think that's why affordability is such an issue for people. But I hear healthcare, I hear housing, I hear of course gas for the car. It all depends on people. But one of the things that I put on there too is jobs slash economy. And jobs slash economy come from our business owners. If our business owners are thriving and doing well, the economy is better. The state gets more taxes. They hire people. We get more jobs. And so it just makes sense that we would support our business owners. And in this state, we just don't do that at all. I mean, everybody hears in the news about our businesses leaving. many of them are hanging on by a thread. They they barely made it out the pandemic. A lot of our restaurants have been closing. And it's funny, I had a restaurant owner in placentia tell me right after the pandemic in twenty two, she goes, A lot of people haven't closed yet. She goes, but you mark my words. She goes, over the next three to five years, all these older restaurants are going to start closing because they're hanging on by a thread and they'll keep hanging because that's what entrepreneurs do, right? We work, we try to make it happen. She goes, but at some point it's gonna give. And there's no succession planning because whose kid wants to take over the loser restaurant? speaker-1: Such a great point. And it can afford to stay in California. speaker-0: Right. So we're sadly seeing this decline in in these wonderful like hallmarks of our communities. I mean, it just some of them are so heartbreaking. When they come out in the news, I just wanted to cry. but our business owners are suffering and there's just they don't need a lot. They just need a little bit. ⁓ they just need to know that the state wants them here, that they care, that they're gonna quit piling it on, you know. I'm up in Sacramento right now. And that building over there is getting ready to pump out another probably eight hundred bills. I mean, come on. speaker-1: Twenty two hundred last year. speaker-0: Well, they start out with twenty two and then it gets pared down and then the governor only signs so many, so that it ends up being about eight, right? So I I've been watching it for many years and ⁓ that's not necessary. I don't think I can change that, but it's just like they just keep piling it on. speaker-1: But it won't change if we keep sending the same type of representative to Sacramento because it's it's the body that's doing this. So you can't change it personally, but we the voter can. speaker-0: Yes, absolutely. And you know, most of the ideas I have is how can I roll some stuff back? You know, that has just been so inappropriate and speaker-1: Yeah. Do you think that the the like but ⁓ when I look at the assemblyman and women and the ⁓ senators up there in Sacramento, and I look at the Republican contingent, it's a motley crew. I mean, y they're outnumbered, you know, ten to one. It's i more even. It's incredible. And it I wonder how it feels walking into a situation where you are vastly vastly outnumbered ideologically, voter-wise, influence-wise. ⁓ how do you feel about wading into the Sacramento swamp and and not getting sucked into it? That's the ⁓ that's the thing that always concerns me, Rhonda, is like the people I think people who don't take the swamp seriously and just think like, ⁓ I'd be the one to walk in there and I would never have any problems. I'll just stand for everything and You don't realize how the swamp can infect even the best person. ⁓ and so I just wonder, do you worry about that? Do you think about that? Do you think about who you might have to be or might have to become in order to get the work done up there? speaker-0: I do think about it. ⁓ but I gotta tell you, I know it's worse up here, but I found local government to be pretty swampy. ⁓ apologies can be very swampy, ⁓ if you let it. ⁓ so the question is is can you rise above and then can you figure out how to thread that needle to feel like you're effective? And that's gonna be big ⁓ take a lot of creativity up in Sacramento for sure. But I do watch some of my colleagues, because I know a lot of people up here. They used to be local electeds in Orange County. And ⁓ some of them can come up with some r pretty good ideas, ⁓ you know, for bills, things that you're like, Okay, all right, that's gonna help. You know, Senator Strickland ⁓ pushed that nine one one bill, ⁓ which is very important to our public safety, you know, it it stagnated. the state wasn't doing what they were supposed to be doing. And he rooted that out. And he did it through a bill and he did a great job. So ⁓ you know, that was a great example of try doing something effective. But but it is difficult. But but we have to keep on keeping on because it's a numbers game. So you get great people up here. They hold the line as much as they can. They they work with the tools they've been given, like their mouths ⁓ and messaging. And then when election times comes, and even in between, you're looking for those next candidates. You're always working, how can we move the numbers? How can we move the numbers? And you know, you talk to so many people. ⁓ Arkansas has turned around. I think ⁓ Ohio has turned around. So they were so they were as blue as California. And over a certain amount of time, they were able to change the tide and and change the electorate. And and so we know that it's not impossible. It just feels that way when you're in it. ⁓ so we must keep going and we must, you know, Continue the messaging because if we stop. Shame on us for doing that. speaker-1: Yeah, I think that's the word stagnation. And I think that was a really great word to use. ⁓ yeah, because we will stagnate if we I hadn't Ron, I can't tell you how many times I've quit politics. I cannot tell you how many times, girl, I have quit. I'm putting down this mic after the school board race. I was you're right, local politics is worse than anything. I after the school board race, I was like, I don't want anything to do with any of this anymore. But you know, there's something in me every time that feels like the battle is worth having. You know, I like you, I do feel called by God to always to be discussing and be engaged. ⁓ and maybe part of that is being a mom too and just wanting to secure a future for the kids. Let's talk about the future a little bit here, Rhonda. Scott, let's pull up some Gavin Newsom because I wanna play A clip of Gavin Newsom have you respond to it. Gavin Newsom's running for a new future as well. Not here in California. I know some of you some of you might be like, Well, isn't he the governor of California? Governor Schmuvener, you know, sure in name, but he has ⁓ loftier plans for the future. So he's been out trying to secure that future. ⁓ Scott, why don't we just play the whatever you have first available for ⁓ Gavin Newsome, play it with sound, and then I'll have Rhonda respond. a thing or two about how important these races are, and I know a thing or two about my party, your party, that hasn't focused enough on state races. I know a thing or two about how important these races are, and I know a thing or two okay about my Rhonda, so he says the Democrat Party has not focused enough on state races as he is out of his own state. speaker-0: ⁓ yeah. Yeah. speaker-1: ⁓ for somebody else's favorite. He's in Michigan with Abdul What's His Face, which I refuse to learn his last name. Abdul What's his face? He's there campaigning. W what are your comments? speaker-0: Well, horrible frustration, first of all, because the people in our state are suffering so bad and they need leadership and we don't have it. He's absolutely absent and He knows a thing or two about nothing as it would seem. He just likes to say that. ⁓ so ⁓ he is very frustrating. ⁓ yeah. speaker-1: Okay, agreed. Scott, queue up the next one. Let's listen to this one. Let me see. Let me get my glasses on here. Make sure I have the right one. Yeah, number three. Gavin says, so the in this clip, I think he's still in Michigan. He says there's too much money at the top, Rhonda. There's just too much money at the top. Gavin, Gavin knows about being an avenger for the the poverty stricken. Let's ⁓ Let's play that. The whole thing is about concentration. It's what's at the top. It's not left and right. And I think that's the thing that is truly uniting all of us. I mean this, you know, you saw some hats here about the oligarchy. It's the concentration of money, it's concentration of wealth, it's concentration of power, it's the abuse of power, it's abuse ⁓ of ⁓ of these monopolistic tendencies that have impacted now ⁓ the income ⁓ inequality in this nation and the wealth disparities that are at historic levels. And I think those things unite every ⁓ every part of the democratic coalition. And so I think that's really for me the focus is the things that unite us together, bind us together, ⁓ not our interesting differences. The whole Rhonda, this man told you to look at your dying loved one through a pane of glass during COVID and told you not to party with your family. And if you went to church you couldn't sing while he was dining at the French laundry at twenty thousand dollars a plate. Talk about income disparity. Talk about nerve. speaker-0: Talk about what? speaker-1: Nerve the nerve. speaker-0: The nerve. Well, y when I look at that clip, I gotta be honest with you, I see somebody that's trying to talk themselves into the socialist agenda. ⁓ And he he doesn't quite know how to do that because he knows he's talking about himself and his family, right? He's having a very, very difficult time with that. And you know, one of the things that I found during my time in public service, because the thing about public service is it's very public. You own your decisions, you own everything that comes out of your mouth. Your moral compass and your belief system and values has to be rock solid. And you have to own that all day long. And you have to bring it to every decision and you have to convey it to people because you signed up for that. You signed up for having to explain yourself. And My observation of our governor is he doesn't have any of those. He changes his mind and is willy-nilly. If you even look at his podcast and that some of the things that he said, I mean, we would probably go clip after clip after clip of him saying one thing and then saying another thing and then saying one thing and saying another thing. ⁓ he's just trying to be who he has to be because he has an agenda to be the president. And he's trying to figure out How where is his path? You know, what's his next move and what's going to get him there? And you and I were talking earlier about the motivation for serving, for being in public service. And that is true at all levels, including the president of the United States. There is a difference when you sacrifice your life, but yet you see a better way and you know that you can lead. And you go and do it anyway, even though it's gonna cost you. And in some respects, it could cost you your life. Because like you said, it is very dangerous. And our current president right now, right? It is a it almost costs him his life on a regular basis. So tell you know, tell me, like, you know, that's that's public service in my opinion. He does not need to be doing this. You know, and and there's He's not the only one. I mean, there's so many people that I can think of that are wonderful, wonderful leaders that are in public service that could choose otherwise. ⁓ and and you see many of them do. They they come into public service for a long period of time, and when they come out, you see them go make some money because they haven't, you know, because that's part of the deal. And ⁓ and so it's sad to see that we just we have not had that in California. And you know what the state of California and the feeling in California. speaker-1: Yeah. speaker-0: shows that we have had failed leadership for the last decade. It really does. And and that's on both sides, you know. speaker-1: Yeah. No, you're so right and you're right to say it that way. And I love that you describe yourself as a conservative. We're both Republicans. I mean, let's not be you know, let's not pretend, but I love how you describe yourself as a conservative. I always do as well, because not every Republican is on the same page, but also I think you're right, we are getting to a point in this state where people are slowly, too slowly for my mind, given that the entire state is falling apart, but Slowly starting to realize that this that we have been lied to about the right and left thing in this state. This is not the right if you vote red or you vote blue, you're still gonna you're still vulnerable to that drug addict on the street. If you are in the middle of a street takeover, they don't stop and ask you if you're if you voted for Donald Trump or Kabul Harris. You know, we're we all the the word says, you know. It rains on the wicked and the righteous, you know. We we feel the same rain and the same pain. And I think a lot of people are starting to understand this and understanding that you might not line up ideologically, you know, spiritually, religiously with this candidate or that, but you have to look at what the candidates are prioritizing, as you said er when we started this this podcast. Are you prioritizing Service, or are you prioritizing your pocket? But this is the other problem, Rhonda. This is a high cost of living state. You don't get paid a lot, relatively speaking. some of these people probably get paid more than they deserve, but relatively speaking, you don't get paid a lot in public service. ⁓ and so a lot of times that incentivizes people to make the backhanded deals, the background, the back room deals. And ⁓ so I think there's a people have started to notice that. You know, you can say all the buzzwords, you know, to to racism. That's a big one, like racism, sexism, and you can put those in an ad and get a lot of votes. It used to be that way. But I feel like, Rhonda, people are starting to notice the right left thing has been a lie to keep us separated and to keep us from comparing notes and saying, ⁓ maybe we should start thinking about how our local representation is serving the city rather than the name behind the letter behind their name. speaker-0: Yeah, you know, that's interesting you say that because of course we have some races where there is a letter behind your name and some where it's not. And I think the division and also the labeling has made voters very lazy. They they don't do their homework. They don't get to know the candidates. They don't try to understand, you know, this person's background or where they came from. And and so I I would be a big proponent of taking all labels off. of of the ballot because we should all have to do that work. You could probably still find it out, right? It's it's usually in the public square of what party you are. ⁓ but they don't even have to. They could just go to the ballot box and like to your point vote whatever their party is without being sure that that's what they want to do. And then those races where there's no label They're in big trouble. If they they they don't know what to do. speaker-1: Yeah. Yeah. You know, I think i I I never there's no greater example than what happened to the coastal cities in the twenty twenty two elections. We a lot of those or the twenty twenty elections, excuse me, and some in the twenty twenty two, but here in Orange County, a lot of the coastal cities went blue or elected blue councils and then the voters immediately started complaining about all of the new development in our coastal cities. Well, that we didn't want. Like a lot of people just want the sleepy beach community vibe that they moved into fifty years ago. Well, you voted for it. That's what you voted for when you voted straight down the ticket. You didn't listen to this person when they were saying, I wanna ⁓ I wanna build a mall here. I wanna build a park I wanna tear down the San Juan Capuchano Playhouse and build a parking lot there. Like you weren't paying attention. So there are a lot of people who They get really surprised when, you know, things are changing in their city and but they still don't investigate why those changes are happening. If you don't know what this person is going to advocate for when you elect them, don't vote. Just don't vote then because you have to be sure what this person's beliefs are. speaker-0: And that's why also one of the things I just I just put something out for my campaign talking about the price of my ballot statement. You know, I I've got to have a ballot statement because that may be the only thing anybody sees about me. But it's frustrating for people that ⁓ people that run for office have to ask for money all the time. But the money is to get that message out. So that people do know what you stand for. And because we have so many people in this county, we just ran through the numbers of my office, you know, to reach those thousands of people with your message costs money because all of those things cost money. ⁓ and and nothing is free anymore. Like not even so every do it on social media. Well, you can do a certain amount on social media, but you can't reach everybody because once you try to reach everybody, it costs you money to do that on social media, right? So, ⁓ I would just say too that I I would hope a lot of people listening to this would place that ⁓ when a candidate asks, you know, ⁓ for financial support. ⁓ because ⁓ you don't want someone funding their whole entire campaign on their own. Because that means that nobody believed in them enough to give. And I've always felt that way. And I don't think I'm already sacrificing enough financially. I'm not gonna then put all my money into a campaign and hurt my family. Because that's what it would be for me. Yeah. You know, and I realize there's some people that have a lot more money than that, but ⁓ we want everybody to be able to run for office. ⁓ and so, you know, we wanna support that. And every office obviously takes different amounts of money. ⁓ but ⁓ I just think it's something of note, you know, when we're talking about this type of thing, ⁓ and and going out and making money. You know, even when you talk about our governor, think about how much money it costs to run for the president of the United States. And now you have to reach 300 million people, right? It's We've we've created a beast. I don't know if our founding fathers anticipated how big this country was gonna get. Yeah. speaker-1: No, we certainly have created a a beast. Yeah. ⁓ I I ⁓ one of the things that I think a lot of people can do that they don't think about as something they can do is to donate money. That's a that's an option that you have. Again, ⁓ don't look at your a lot of people think about the president or presidential election when they think about donating money. Well, Donald Trump doesn't need another ten dollars. ⁓ and he does, you know, 'cause that's how the campaigns work. But at the local level, tell people just a little bit about where the money goes when they donate to a campaign. 'Cause I don't think people understand all of the little things that it that cost you as a candidate. speaker-0: My goodness. So there's so much. ⁓ at this point in my campaign, a lot of it's gonna be about getting out that message. So texting, stuff like that. But even if you if you walk, which I do, I have to have a walk piece. I have to have something to hand to people. And just that right there costs thousands of dollars to have a nice print piece done that you're gonna leave at people's doors. And ⁓ and my ballot statement for state senate, which would be probably the most expensive. State Senate districts are bigger than congressional districts. So v per voter, my it cost three thousand eight hundred and something dollars in Orange County, which is the majority of my race, and then another eight hundred in Los Angeles. So That's thousands of dollars I had to spend just to have that 250 word statement printed in the ballots works out to like fifteen dollars a word. So, you know, that that's another thing. You know, plus if you want a website, like you don't just put up a website, that costs you money. Yeah, s ⁓ hosting of the website. So you have like these ongoing monthly expenses. Our fair political practices and compliance as candidates has gotten so complicated and you can get in so much trouble if you do it wrong that we pay treasurers hundreds of dollars a month to make sure that we don't do anything wrong and that we're reporting properly. So that just gives you a taste for materials, you know, and text messaging. You know, that's one of the favorite ways to get to people today. ⁓ Yeah, all of those things, depending on how many people you have to reach, all start to add up. So ⁓ that's why such a focus ⁓ on the money part. It it's not greedy or anything, but if you want to have an effective campaign, you've got to have money to get to the voters. So that the voters understand who you are and that you are another option, that there's another way to run the state, that there's, you know, better ideas. that would make your life better and bring more value and make this state what it used to be. planting those seeds in people takes time, effort and money. speaker-1: Yeah, and it's not fair. I get it. It's not fair that it costs this much to run an election. Ronda, I was telling the the ⁓ listeners the other day in LA, in LAUSD, if you want to run for school board in Los Angeles, you gotta start with a war test of three million dollars to run for school board. I mean, here in CUSD when I ran in twenty twenty two, I don't know what it is today, but I had to raise a hundred thousand dollars to run for a local school board. But you would think that should just cost thousands, some flyers and you knock on doors and no, it was crazy. So there are and I I believe this is on purpose. You know, our government tries to make it cost prohibitive, tries to make it confusing, so that it it's harder for good people to run. But that's just how it is, people. It's not fair, but that is how it is. And you can choose if you don't want to, my dad never when he was alive he never wanted to give to a politician because he didn't want to get on the mailing list. And but he the first politician, this is a funny story, Ronda. The first politician my black father gave money to was Barack Obama in two thousand and eight. And my dad was, you know, he was the hippie and he was like, I never thought I would see a black president. I was so impressed with this guy. And two years later he was like, I made a mistake. I never should have given that man money, let alone my vote So he definitely was regretting it later, but there are other things people can do. And I, and I, I, it's we're about getting to the end of our time here, but I do want to remind people that there are other things that you can do. For instance, you don't have to necessarily I want you to give Rhonda your money. I do. But you don't have to necessarily give her your money. You could host an event for her, you know, spend some money on some sandwiches, invite 10 to 50 friends over and let her come talk. Let her candidates love that. We love that stuff. So that's the kind of stuff that you can do. Don't keep yourself in a box. I've got to raise a hundred dollars. Believe me, you don't, Rhonda. If someone says, ⁓ I would love to have Rhonda at my house, but she's such a big, she's a big name in Orange County politics, she's not gonna wanna take the time to come and speak to a group of people at my house. What are you gonna say? speaker-0: No, that's the stuff we love. Because to your but to your point before, talking to actual people and voters and learning what's on their mind and communicating with them, that's the gold right there. I love knocking on doors. It's my absolute favorite thing to do. ⁓ I've got my my group has already knocked on like four thousand doors. Like we love it. ⁓ but that takes up a lot of time. It's it's a it's a grind. It's hard to get to a lot of people. So you still do it, but you must do other things too. So if you had a meet and greet for me and I could meet twenty people all at once in thirty or sixty minutes together at your house, like that's way better. It would take me way longer to knock on all their doors. And they might not be home. At least now I'm talking to them. speaker-1: Exactly. Well, Rhonda, tell people ⁓ this is your last chance. Give your pitch for why the voters of District thirty-four should vote for you as their representative in the California Senate and where people can find out more about you and donate to you. speaker-0: Yes, they can do that at shaderfor Senate dot com and shader is just S H A D E R F O R and then the word Senate. So would love to hear from you. You can sign up for you can give there. You can also sign up for my newsletter, sign up to volunteer, anything like that. ⁓ we must fight for North Orange County. It's the bluest part of our county. We can't let it go. Those people are worth fighting for. And just like we say no LA and OC, we've got to hold the line in North Orange County. So everybody needs to care about this race and about North Orange County and what's going on. And let me tell you something. I might win. Tim Shaw might win Orange County Supervisor. We have school board candidates on tap, Republicans, conservatives in Santa Ana, La Habra, Anaheim. We've recruited candidates. So this is a North Orange County effort when you support my campaign. And we're gonna win seats and we're gonna get good people in these offices to protect our children, our public safety, and to change the cost of living in our state by all changing the way we make decisions. And that's how it gets done. speaker-1: Amen. And and that is up to you. So if you're discouraged, you are still called. You know, ⁓ the word says do not grow weary of doing good. You are still called to go out there and participate. So if you're discouraged, do that. If you're a Democrat or a left winger and you're just not pleased with how things are going, maybe you you're not trying to be a Republican, but you are trying to make change. Here's a a change candidate sitting right in front of you. And let's see what happens. You know, let's see what happens. I I heard a politician say the other day, Rhonda. ⁓ you know, Rhonda has an as much money as she needs. She's got all the money she needs. It's just in your pocket. Yes. Right now. So Was that Urson? I heard it from Urson. Yeah, you have all the ⁓ she she has all the money she needs. It's just in your bank account. You need to make it out of the bank account. Make sure that it that she can use it. ⁓ but you have a lot of ways that you can help, Rhonda. Thank you so much for picking up the call to ⁓ serve your community. We wish you the best here in the Orange Report. We're we're we're supporters. We are officially endorsing you. Although I guess I've not done this yet. speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: I will say Rhonda Schader has my official endorsement for California Senate District Thirty Four. And the or the crew at ⁓ the Orange Report also fully endorses Rhonda. ⁓ so I don't know. That's probably worth the internet that it's printed on, Rhonda, for your campaign. But ⁓ it's been a real pleasure to talk to you and thank you so much for stopping by, Rhonda. speaker-0: Thank you. Appreciate the time. Have a great day. speaker-1: Well, I will see you out there in Orange County Land. I'm sure we'll pass with the crossing very soon. All right, girl. Well, ⁓ stay safe up there in Sacramento, all right? Don't don't let the crazies get you down. speaker-0: Yes. And we will not grow weary. speaker-1: Amen. Thank you everybody. Don't forget to dis to subscribe everywhere. And I'll see you next time. And don't forget that sunlight is the best disinfectant. So bring on the sunshine.