Latest / Winning With Winans! / Drew Johnson-on Nevada’s Economic Future, Financial Reform & Diversification

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Drew Johnson-on Nevada’s Economic Future, Financial Reform & Diversification · Winning With Winans!

• speaker-0: Well I guess it's another time for an episode of Winning with Winens. Let's go. And welcome back to Winning with Winens Las Vegas newest and coolest financial show. I'm your host, Ken Wynans. And you know, it is midterm election season, as we've had with our lieutenant governor and other various candidates running for state and federal office. We love to have people who, by the way, people who are friends of mine, because Drew Johnson and I are now friends. Hey Drew, how's it going? By the way, he's running for treasurer, so he controls the money. So speaker-1: That's speaker-0: let's talk about the can. How's everything going, buddy? speaker-1: It's going great. I've I've really enjoyed going around the state. You know, this obviously is a statewide office and spending time and getting to know people in different parts of the state and and sharing my vision and hearing their issues has been really rewarding. So it's a blessing to run. speaker-0: So now you've been all over the state. speaker-1: I've been in every county three times and speaker-0: Three times. Yeah. So you've seen parts of Nevada that speaker-1: Yeah, of course we've got you know, Esborado County's got six hundred people in it and I've I've been there I think four times. And speaker-0: You did this in summer. speaker-1: I most of it in summer. So it's been that's one of the great things is you know, you get up north and you go to, you know, Incline and places like that and it's a lot cooler and you know, Winnemukka and Ely and Elko and places like that are a little cooler than down here in in Clark. So it's it's nice to travel around. speaker-0: And no UFO sightings. You didn't see anything in the sky? speaker-1: No. I always keep my eyes open. speaker-0: Well, 'cause we're known to have all these things around here, so what the heck, you know? speaker-1: Speaking of that, one of the really cool things that Nevada has is great dark sky areas. So it's beautiful. Yeah. So, you know, Tonopah's known for that. Baker, that area around Great Basin. There's some really great star siding, you know, sky viewing. So I I enjoy that. And you look up and you see all these these things, Wiz and Bob, but I'm pretty sure that they're just satellites and not UFOs, but knows. speaker-0: You know what it also is? The space station. I speaker-1: Yeah, yeah. speaker-0: mean people what it this has got to be nope. It just there's a gauge for it. I I have it on my phone. I'm a big space nut. But you're as you go around the state, I mean what what's the mood of the state right now? Is it optimistic, cautious? Where where do you put it? speaker-1: You I think there are two things going on. One is people don't want Nevada to become California. We have so many people who move from California. Don't California my Nevada. You know, we always say that we want we want Californians to leave their politics at home and when they cross the border. And so that's really important. And I think a lot of people understand that and want wanted to come to Nevada because it's more of a, you know, sort of a small L libertarian, free market, limited government place where you can chase your American dream. speaker-0: Totally. speaker-1: And so that's that's one aspect. The other aspect are the pocketbook issues. You know, people are starting to feel pain in different ways with prices and and with, you know, the size and scope of government, the cost of living. And so that's one of my main issues is as treasurer, there are things that you can do to make people's lives easier that aren't being done right now in the current treasurer's office. And that's what I'm really focused on. speaker-0: Well, it's funny because I just came back from the the lo the Vegar the Vegas Chamber of Commerce's DC fly in and I know you were busy campaigning because I would love to have you by as, you know, compadres as we're going through this. But I was telling several people, I said, you know, we're not really connecting the dots at a lot of this inflation that we have in Nevada. We've imported it from California because unfortunately we get our fuel from guess who? California. So we need to somehow change that whole flow of things and and try to get it from other places. speaker-1: That's exactly right. So the way that the gas prices work for Nevada is we're in a region where basically all the refineries that we rely on are in California, and we have to have literally an act of Congress to change the region that we're in. There's some opportunities for us to get our gas from from Utah, from Colorado, from New Mexico, but we've got to have an act of Congress to do it. So I know Governor Lombardo has been really helpful in sort of fighting that and making sure that California or encouraging California to reopen some of the refineries. But when you've got your source of gas closing the refineries and you've got all these environmental regulations that increase the cost of gas anyway. And so we're really beholden to this, you know, increasingly socialist state that increases the cost on everything we do. speaker-0: Well, and I would add too, just again, the logistics, they won't fix their roads. I mean, it c transportation costs are higher. You we can we you you and I can California bash this whole show. I'll bring up, you know, you talked about the worry about Californication. I I think the concern is I'll add just another part to it. They look at what happened to Arizona. Now, Arizona at best is schizophrenic. I mean, it doesn't know what it is. Right. I mean, it is the state of Barry Goldwater, it's got a lot of ranching, but then you got these academic towns and they are really you know, way off you know, off in Lala Land to some degree. So I think that's as much a concern too. But as we look at the in the election landscape, now you've you've had, you know, and by the way, I always tell people that if they'd like to thank me for being a vet. I want to thank you for your public service. It's hard. Running for office is hard. speaker-1: Yeah, when you turn on the TV or open up your your computer and you realize you or you see what an asshole you are and you didn't speaker-0: And we have a sea to deserve this. speaker-1: Exactly. but it I'm the the biggest blessing in my life is my wife because she she helps me through it, she deals with it, she puts up with it. she's wonderful and she's she's sort of fought this fight too. She Actually, I know you've had Starros Anthony on here before. Sarah, my wife, ran his office of small business advocacy. That's right. And so she helped small businesses sort of what Institute for Justice does in a way, find you know, red tape, regulatory burdens, licensing issues that are keeping businesses from surviving and thriving here in Nevada and tried to get rid of some of those whether it's occupational licensing issues or wait times to get a county approval. And the Democrats actually defunded her office and cost her her job. But so but she's been wonderful to me. she actually came up with Stavros's idea to do the task force to protect women's sports. So because of her, Stavros's leadership, a couple other really brave women, men now can no longer compete in men can no longer compete in girls' high school sports in Nevada. So really proud of her for her advocacy and her accomplishments. speaker-0: You when Salverzona asked him, did you ever imagine your wildest dreams we would be having this discussion? He goes, No. He said, I but this is a it's so like part of the post COVID world we're having these interesting discussions about things. Drew, as you look though, I mean you you've been here long enough, you've gone through enough of these election cycles. I I my personal opinion, I don't think the polls mean anything right now. To me, it's voter turnout. Would you agree with that? Absolutely. I mean I don't care if you say you don't like somebody or like somebody, if you don't vote, what doesn't matter? speaker-1: Yeah, I mean, we've got polls showing us up. You know, we're we're encouraged by that. But the fact of the matter is if the people who say they're going to vote for you do not turn out, then it doesn't matter. we know nationally, you know, there's frustration for all parties, which is understandable, but it all comes out it comes down to turnout. So if we can, if Governor Lombardo can, if I can, if you know these congressional candidates, David Flippo in the North and the three we've got down here can help. Turn out the vote. That's what's really crucial. because if there are more Republicans than Democrats in Nevada right now, but it won't matter if they don't turn out speaker-0: Exactly. And it's also looking at the population centers. So as you sit here right now, you feel that it's gonna be an interesting election. You know, it's not that far away. I mean it's for it's coming up very fast. the other thing that I sensed, at least in DC, there's less North Nevada, southern Nevada. There's there seems to be an awakening that we're Nevada and that everybody's issues matter. And I think we've talked about I'm I'm on a very involved with the Nevada Mining Association. And as I pointed out some folks up there, you know, obviously we have the rare earth finds and all that's happening way north. But at the same time, we have mining down here. And people go, I said, Yeah, go drive around. There's a lot of mining going on in southern Nevada. So it's almost like they were they didn't know that. speaker-1: Yeah, one thing that's really exciting is is the mining that's about to take place in in southern Clark County, in you know, Sandy Valley, Good Springs area. And of course, we all know that there's a lot of mining in Nye County and the southern part of Nye County. And so I think the more that we look to diversify our economy, and Governor Lombardo's been really good and really focused on that issue. but we know that gaming is different today. And there are reasons why people still want to come to Las Vegas, but it's more about The sports and the dining and the entertainment and the experiences. It's less about putting twenty dollars on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers or whatever, because everybody can do that from the phone now. And so that's caused us to look at different ways that we can diversify the state, diversify the economy. And you know, we began with mining and now we're kind of back to mining because that that really is a a real key driver for our our economy right now. speaker-0: Well, and the other thing too, I mean, I know I was just part of a group and you know, when you tell people, do you realize that I mean, just on rough estimates, we're dealing with as could be as high as a trillion dollars of reserves of rare earths, gold, silver, you know, turquoise, I mean, you name it. I mean, that that's a mind boggling amount of money for a state that is still eighty five percent owned by the federal government. Which is interesting 'cause we're going to talk about that. Hey, we're gonna take a quick break, Drew, to hear from our sponsors and we're and we got a lot to talk about. So everybody, this is Ken Wynans winning with Winens with Drew Johnson, our Republican candidate for treasurer for the great state of Nevada. We will be right back. And welcome back to Winning with One is Las Vegas newest and coolest financial show. And look, I know you all say, why do I always wear a cowboy hat? I wore a cowboy hat in Washington, DC. Why? We are a Western state. It's we were born and bred one. This man sitting next to me, he's a Tennessean, but he also adopted Nevada as your home. That's right. Drew, I let's let's just go where we left off. Let's talk about economic diversification because I know you and I both are very strong about this. You know, I don't think either of us. imagined when we were in school or at any other point. We always heard about the Western migration. I don't think we ever thought of migration leaving New York, leaving Illinois, leaving California. I mean, did you ever think Dallas, Texas would be the home of Goldman Sachs? Exactly. speaker-1: Exactly. And and what an opportunity it creates for Nevada. We've seen, you know, in my home state of Tennessee, as you mentioned, I'm from there. We've seen so many headquarters relocate from Chicago, from Southern California to Nashville. And it's just a different place than, you know, when I grew up there, you know, 30, 40 years ago. speaker-0: It's cra yeah, it is amazing. I've same with me. I mean, I I've actually people ask me, well, you're from California. I say, you know, I'm an Eastern Californian. I'm from the Sierra Nevada Mountains. I am not from the beach areas. And and you know, you you it it makes a difference. Absolutely. It's a big state, long, and and it it does matter where it's from. But Drew, you and I, and you know, and I I really, you know, obviously you have my endorsement as treasurer. You and I have some big plans together. you know, everybody, I know you've all heard me talk about it. I'm a you know, call me a zealot on this. We have got a chance to turn Nevada and Vegas particularly into a major financial hub. And I just I'm looking at the chops to go after these firms. What I'm hearing in California, and obviously I'm involved with all the major industry associations, whether they're wealth management shops, I even think venture capital shops, investment management shops, mutual fund companies. I mean, we could go through the list, which is not by the way, not fintech. Okay, I I I no, these are the other parts of financial services. There's thousands of them in California, and not to mention the big guys like Pemco and Temp Franklin Templeton, which, you know, maybe down the road that's worth going after. But you and I agree that if we can get those kind of firms that are high paid, educated jobs, don't need water, don't need land, don't need anything else, they just want to be left alone to make money, that would transform our state. speaker-1: Absolutely. And why wouldn't they be here? I mean, we don't have a state income tax. We're much less burdensome with our regulations. And so I look forward to to working with you to get these financial service industry companies to Nevada. And I remember reading before we even met, I read your Forbes piece. and I thought it was brilliant. I thought this guy gets it. We can do this. We can do it. I know you've talked about having you know, the even sports companies come here. Yeah. And that's a whole group. I think that's really valuable too. Anybody who is that mobile and can move and isn't isn't somehow tied to being in California for some geographic reason, why the hell wouldn't you come to Nevada? It's such a more welcoming place. speaker-0: Drew, I just literally told a bunch of people, I said, look, we have one of two choices. We can watch them fly overhead as they fly to Texas or Florida, or have them stop here and just say, Look, give us a day. We won't go anywhere near the strip. We're going to show you Henderson, Summerlin, Centennial Hills, Lake Las Vegas, and you're going to go, wow, this is this is Vegas. But I think too that even people in the tourism area, I I don't know why, but they somehow think that this diversification is somehow going to cannibalize them. And I've tried to tell them, hold it. You know how many conventions are gonna come to town? Do you know how many of the big clients of these firms are gonna go who do like to still gamble? Right. And like Yeah. speaker-1: Light to be one and donned. Yeah. speaker-0: I mean, I mean, why would you want these folks to go off? I mean, where did Atlantic City come from in with New York? It was feeding New York. And by the way, most of the stock traders I know. like to gamble. So so, but I I, you know, True, I think you get it. And that's the part I love about it. And I think that it's safe to say that as I was back there, I I believe it's one of those win-wins politically. I mean, it's you're talking about people who are going to bring those monies, they're going to help our schools, they're going to help beef up our coffers. you know, our our people coming out of UNLV and UNR won't have to look for a job anywhere else. They can stay here in the state. So I mean, a am I wrong to look at it that way? I mean, do you see the Democrats supporting this? speaker-1: Yeah, I I I could see it happening because first of all, it addresses one of the issues that I care a lot about and you kind of hit on it there, is the brain drain that we have. Our best and brightest, when they graduate, there aren't a lot of places for them to go if they wanted to get into financial services, if they want to get into certain kinds of health care, they wanna want to get into, you know, academia. And this is an opportunity for us to be a completely different state in twenty, thirty, forty years where we're not all casino workers and valets and Thank God for those those jobs. Absolutely. But we also need more. And so offering, you know, our best and brightest the opportunity to have those sorts of jobs here in a few years is really crucial. And one of the reasons why I'm running for treasurer is because my opponent has driven the Millennium Scholarship into the ground. She is over it. Her day job is the bureaucrat who runs the Millennium Scholarship. That's a $10,000 scholarship to keep kids in state to go to UNLV, UNR, our two-year schools. And it will be bankrupt after next year. And so saving that, you know, correcting the flaws, the problems that she's created, and making sure that our kids can still stay here and then once they're educated, have the sort of jobs that you're talking about, I think is is something that I'm really passionate about and look forward to working together with you on that. speaker-0: Drew, I'll just say this. mean, I'm I'm on the business advisory school board, you know, as as an advisor. And I'm hearing all the time that the we have, you know, young people who many of them first time in their family go to college. They're tough. I mean, these are kids that work gardening jobs in the summertime or the foray and shifted a casino. Right. Or they came out of the military. And, you know, they they want to stay here. They they love Nevada. They love Las Vegas. They don't want to have to go anywhere. Right. And I'm but I'm hearing for the first time. Especially with what we do with that licensing program to have them get their securities licenses, that they see that there's there's a new sheriff in town. You know, we're gonna make that change. Absolutely. Now let's let's talk about this a bit. The treasurer's job. and we've talked about this before, but I I find that people are utterly confused with what the role of the treasurer and the controller and why are these elected positions, not appointed positions. Is it just indicative to Nevada? Or is this pretty much common amongst the states? speaker-1: Some states have elected controllers and comp trollers and inspector generals and and and treasurers. Some states, all these things are appointed. some states have all the jobs into one person, some have four or five different people doing these jobs. but in Nevada, the treasurer is basically the chief investment officers, the banker, and the the controller is the CPA. He's writing the check. So I'm bringing in the money, investing it, making sure it's taken care of there. And then when the controller, who we've got a great controller right now running for re-election, Andy Matthews, he actually has a similar background to me, in the sort of free market think tank world, doing budget and finance policy. And we've known each other since we were in our our mid twenties. wow. speaker-0: Well that's great. So the synergy there. speaker-1: Exactly. So one of the reasons I'm running is because he said, Drew, I need a good teammate here in the sort of the financial world of Nevada government. So hopefully we can we can make that happen. But so we don't have an inspector general here in Nevada, which is really interesting. another state that doesn't have an inspector general is Minnesota. And so you hear about the learning centers and the Medicaid fraud. And some of the reason that happens is because there's nobody there as a watchdog. And as you know, my background is 25 years exposing wasteful spending, exposing corruption, saving taxpayers $60 billion by working with members of Congress and state lawmakers to exp to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse. And so I want to take that background and basically serve as an inspector general until we can have one in Nevada. So Andy's tried to get an inspector general passed and installed here in Nevada. The Democrats will not pass an inspector general. And that raises a lot of red flags because what are they hiding? You know, if you're uncomfortable with having, you know, transparency and accountability, it means that there's something there to be found. And one of my real goals is to to see what what we can find and save taxpayers money. speaker-0: Well, we're gonna and by the way, we're gonna have a bonus section right after we're done here. But hey, for the people who are listening to this on the radio, they want to get a hold of you. Where should they go? speaker-1: Yeah, go to our website. It's Drew for Nevada, all spelled out, Drew for Nevada.com. on there you'll see I've got a plan to eliminate the gas tax with just using existing money. Really proud about that. we've got to reform unclaimed property. Right now it takes ninety-one days on average just to know if you're going to get your money back. Legally, you have to know within 90 days. So the treasurer's office is breaking the law every day, all the time. speaker-0: State or federal law. speaker-1: State law. Okay. And so One the real frustrations is how long people have to wait to get their own money back. I'm gonna automate that. We've got the capabilities, other states do it. If got money due to you, I wanna get that back to you automatically. You don't have to fill out forms, you don't have to wait three months. speaker-0: Well, me just say this and and before we go off here, or before the bonus. And please stay in for the bonus section. Cause this is where Drew and I pretend pr think of us at a bar having a drink, okay? And we're having a talk. But listen, I'm gonna put this laid out there. There are some serious questions about how that treasurer's office has been ran for the last two administrations, and it might even go back further. And I think that we all know Zach, there there was certainly he did not win the attorney general race on the Democratic side. th but as I went back to DC, I did not have anybody crying the tragedy of him no longer treasurer. But and that's my own personal opinion, but I didn't hear anybody say anything positive on either side. speaker-1: Yeah, there are a lot of reforms that need to be made. And obviously with the background I have, you know, making sure that government is streamlined, working for taxpayers. you know, I grew up in a trailer in rural Appalachia near Dolly Part. My mom worked two jobs. I lived in a car to start a business. I know what it's like to work your ass off, to make a living, and that's what caused me to be a taxpayer watchdog. And I want to be treasurer so I can protect taxpayers' hard earned money. speaker-0: That's great. No. Drew, we're going to be right back for the bonus section. Okay, everybody. and please, please stay on for it because this is where we're gonna have some really fun things to talk about. But we give our endorsement for Drew Johnson as treasurer. I would love to work with this man. We want to bring those jobs here. We want that here. I and I've been sent marching orders, right, Drew? Go to California, Ken. Take those jobs. I'm gonna do it. All right, Drew Johnson. We'll be right back, everybody, with a bonus section of winning with wineins. Hey everybody, this is Ken Winens, and here we are for the bonus podcast section of our show. And as you remember, when we had Stavros Anthony here, we had a chance to talk about how he got locked out of the Senate. So, Drew, let's talk about Carson City and let's talk about the shenanigans, but let's start work. Okay, look, this is a podcast. This is open to everybody, but people need to hear where are the dirty tricks right now in this election? What's going on that but a voter should be aware of? speaker-1: Yeah, I think there are a few different things. First of all, as far as how speaker-0: Besides besides you being personally attacked and being told you you're the that you want to convert the entire pension into crypto. Right. Yeah. I mean you're you're just a crazy guy here. speaker-1: And of course the treasure doesn't have anything to do with speaker-0: I know, I know. But I just yeah, I mean, I heard all these things about you. All right, so let's so what's dirty tricks? What's going on? speaker-1: So there are two different things. one is the way that Zach Conine, the current treasurer, and Tia Mathis Coleman, who's my opponent, she is currently a deputy treasurer under Zach Conine. Okay. And they have basically converted the treasurer's office into a campaign office using tax dollars to try to help her win. And I think part of it is because they know if I win, there are a lot of heads that are gonna roll because there are people there who are bad at their jobs. And the way you see this is I mentioned in the previous section, unclaimed property. Under the previous treasurer, Dan Schwartz, they were getting unclaimed property back 24 days, they would turn around, 23 days, something like that. And that that was before some of the AI and other things that they have with their their contractors, their vendors for unclaimed property today. Now it's taking 91 days. And so you've got a terrible job at one of the core, core jobs of the treasurer, which is returning unclaimed property. the infrastructure bank is almost completely bankrupt right now. There is this huge amount of money in there. It's supposed to be a revolving fund. These projects get built, they paid tax money in, you get the money back, and you can then fund the next pro program or project that you want to fund with it. There's no money left in the infrastructure bank, and that's on Zach Conine. the Millennium Scholarship, which I mentioned. My opponent is literally over the Millennium Scholarship and prepaid tuitions, and under her leadership, it went from being funded. You know, things were going well. and today there's not enough money to get us through next year. So kids who are in school right now on a millennium scholarship are going to lose their scholarship unless we completely reform the way it's done. And I've got plans for doing that. And the other thing is prepaid tuitions, they've gone down more than half since she took office and became the person in charge of of the prepaid tuition. So you know, to me, I see her as an incredibly failed bureaucrat. It's sort of a Peter principal situation. She was working at CCSD as a r teacher recruiter. once she left there, they said that she had lied about the number of teachers that she claimed to have recruited. And then she gets this job with with Conan in the treasurer's office, and she has failed miserably. She's got two jobs, she's run them both in the ground, and now she wants to run the treasury, and she doesn't seem to know very much about about legislature, she doesn't seem to know much about financial policy. or the actual job of the treasurer. And that really concerns me. speaker-0: Well, I mean, and also her background. I mean, I'm I'm I'm always surprised when people run for a treasurer slot who do not have a financial background. They do not have business degrees, they do not have private sector experience in finance, which I mean, you know, that and and you know, Joe Dahlia, who ran against her, a lot of the points you raised, he raised as well. I mean, he you know, he's a Democrat raising these issues. I don't think it's a partisan issue. I think it's about these people work for the state of Nevada. It should be done right. You know, I'll tell you a quick story about Zach that that and I I didn't really know him that well, but at the DC fly in a year ago, when we were having all the discussions about illegal immigration, and he started in on housing because that was one of his causes. And I asked him, as a re as a writer for Forbes, I asked him, Zach, what is the impact on our housing stock of illegal immigration? You know what his answer was? What's that? Zero. And I I said, Excuse me? He goes, I and he looked at me with a straight face. Yeah, I I guess not. But I mean, I was so blown away. I did not realize how partisan he was. And then, of course, you know, in in a state that you have a massive number of independent voters, and all his ads were about attacking Trump, right, not about issues. And so I I just run what I'm what I'm hearing you tell me, correct me if I'm wrong, is that If she was to win the election, it's gonna be a continuation of these policies. speaker-1: I would say it will be worse because I think she's less skilled or qualified on the broad array of things that the treasurer's office actually does. And the other thing that worries me is Zach played, you know, this ESGDI politics when it came to investing. He wouldn't invest in gun gun makers. She has said that she wants to continue that and has talked about taking it a step further with not investing in fossil fuels and things like that. And that's ridiculous. One of the things I love about the treasurer's office is if a treasurer is doing his or her job well, you don't really know what party they're affiliated with. And and it's economics. Exactly. Exactly. So you're a treasure for all people, for all taxpayers. You're trying to protect their money. You're trying to do well by them. one thing I will not do is play politics with people's money. And you see time and time again, you know more about this than I do. That when you invest, your investments are based in, you know, political principles and ideology and ESG principles, you lose money. You don't make as much return as you would otherwise. And so I will not play politics with your money. Democrats can feel comfortable voting for me, knowing that I'm not gonna ban investments in in solar panel manufacturing or your or whatever the the issue of the day is. I just wanna get a a great return safely. speaker-0: Well, I'll just add, I mean, I run a lot of 401k money. I run a lot, I mean, I I've been a fiduciary most of my career. You're supposed to do what is best for the client. Right. And and as state of Nevada, that is a mining state, that is a capitalist state. Our job is to try to get the best risk adjusted return possible. Right. That and tr and you know, now we're dealing with inflation issues, so you gotta make sure the pensions meet a lot of different hurdles. But when you start putting these You know, we don't want this, we don't want that. We invest in what I understand foreign government bonds in a state that really shouldn't be in that in that area. I I think it's Roth. And you know, I'll say this too, Drew. If you want a better example of what not to do with your pensions, do nothing more than just fly four hours west from here and go to Sacramento. What they've done with Calpers and Calsters, the two big pensions there, and they've done they politicize their pensions and now. The actuarial tables are all upside down. They meaning that they you know, they look at tables in people's retirement years. they're already declaring unfunded a lot of things. That that we can't have that happen here. Right. speaker-1: Th there's another thing that the treasurer can do that can save taxpayers money that you reminded me of. So we have a double A plus credit rating. Great, but not perfect. Obviously we've got room to grow. speaker-0: Well hey, real quick on that, but in the West, outside of only Utah, we're second. speaker-1: Right. speaker-0: I mean, compared to those the the coastal states, yeah. California I think's double A minus and it's already been an under negative review. Yeah, we don't wanna copy that. speaker-1: Exactly. One thing that Idaho's done in their triple A, speaker-0: Okay, they're triple A. speaker-1: Idaho did a sort of an ad hoc committee with financial analysts, with people like yourself in the state, and also with lawmakers. And they came together and figured out a path forward to get from AA plus to AAA, and they made it happen. And that's been a real inspiration to me because, you know, as somebody who's a taxpayer watchdog for a living, knowing that you can borrow money. Cheaper, you can save taxpayers' money, you can hopefully prevent tax increases in the future. Getting to that triple-A bond rating is a real passion of mine. And that's something that the last that the current administration, that Conan's administration, hasn't been able to achieve. they did have a a credit rating increase, but it only happened his first year in office because of policies that happened the previous administration. And so he was sort of gifted this this increase in credit rating and has done nothing to improve it. And so I'm going to work to make sure that we can get on a path to AAA. And who knows with the economy, with different things that go on, it's not always in your hands, but at least I will have a path that can get us there. speaker-0: Yeah. I'll add another part to this too. And I know that I'm just changes slightly. That triple A rating is also predicated on how much you do in economic growth, economic development, you know, fiscal governance and all those great things. But, you know, I was really blown away when I went to legislative session in twenty twenty five when I asked that the they showed the pie chart of spending and they showed this little tiny sliver, and this is what we spend on economic development. I mean, I I put in in terms of marketing. This is all you're spending on marketing the state. And I I asked, I'm I forget who it was, I think it was Tom Burns, who runs the governor's office in economic development. And I said, Tom, is there a decimal point error wrong on that? And he goes, No. I and he everybody acknowledges it's a problem. I think that driver needs to come from the treasurer office to say, look, we need these jobs. We need this coming in here. speaker-1: I look, I look forward to going on on for lack of better terms, missions with you. yeah. We're gonna to California, to Seattle, places like that, and get the businesses that we're losing out to Phoenix right now, to Dallas, to Nashville, to Tampa. They shouldn't be going to these other places when we're so close. You know, it it just the sales pitch writes itself to people in Southern California. Keep your beach house. You're four hours away, you know, and you don't have to fly across the country. speaker-0: Absolutely not. That but and and also if you don't like desert, well you've got Reno. Exactly. You've got you got two flavors here. Texas, you got humidity, hurricanes, tornadoes, blue northern storms, ice. Yeah. good luck with all that. speaker-1: Yeah, exactly. speaker-0: Drew, let's let's your turn. what are the things that you see? I mean, I I think there are some skeletons in the closet that are gonna come home to roost here. What else would you be fearful of? I mean, because I think if the finances are bad. It's a hard sell to other to trying to get companies to move here. speaker-1: Absolutely. Yeah, I think y you know speaker-0: You already hit on the a couple of are there others that you think? speaker-1: You know, I think our biggest issue comes from other states bad mouthing us. And you've you've mentioned that to me privately. I think we need to have a better sort of package that we take and sell to other to to the states that we're trying to encourage or the businesses that we're trying to encourage to move to Nevada and just be better salesmen for ourselves. I think that's a real key. you know, so much of our our state economy is based on gaming. So making sure that we can diversify and we aren't so impacted by recessions. Because obviously when a recession comes, when there's an economic downturn, we feel it first. It takes longer to come back from those. And so the more we can diversify, the better off we are. So it's sort of a a little bit of a chicken and an egg, but if we can get people to come and help, you know, bring other other, you know, industries into the state, whether it's you know, sports, whether it's financial services, the better off we're gonna speaker-0: Well, I'll I'll say this, 'cause I two other things I want to bring that I heard in DC. So number one, we I'm glad you're bringing up sports management. I mean, right now, sp I mean at the the thought that somebody paid ten billion dollars for an a new team of nothing when the Lakers just sold for twelve, right tells you just how powerful we become as a sports center. Everybody acknowledges that. Even though I do find it pretty funny, we don't have horse racing. But I guess we're working on that too. speaker-1: Of course it would get hot in the summer, kids. speaker-0: Well, so does Dubai, but they still have horse racing. So come on, you and it's awfully humid where you're from. Right. A lot of horses out there. Plenty of horses, yeah. But here's the point that that sports management, I mean, you think about the agents, the managers, the the hey, they lost their houses in the Palisades fire too, and they still can't rebuild. That is a big issue in California, Drew. I'm people are mad. I went to Pepperdine, so I yeah, you went to Pepperdine, yeah. Yeah, but by the grace of God it survived. Right. You know, and so many times. But I mean the fact that Malibu property is selling it at 25% is six count because people don't want to deal with it anymore. I mean, this this is crazy. But my point is, I think that again, high-paid jobs, we are and the athletes, I mean, unless you're a fool, you to not make Nevada your residence where you got a world-class airport, whatever team you play for, I guarantee we got a non-stop flight out of Las Vegas to take you there. Right. It's crazy. I mean, our schools are getting better, our healthcare. you know, everybody likes to really beat up on our healthcare. I personally think it's getting a lot better than it was a decade ago. Things are improving. But let me ask you this the other thing that came up, the Brightline train. Now, I think you were a little surprised when I sent you that. I all I did was a Google AI search. Did you have any idea that we somehow have gotten ourselves 600 million somehow attached to this thing? Okay, fill me in on that. speaker-1: So I did some research. Okay. Taxpayers are on the hook for a portion, and I'll explain how. So the actual bond itself, say in November, they've got another another finance disclosure due and show how much further it speaker-0: It doesn't work. speaker-1: does not look good whatsoever. so we are not on the hook as taxpayers for the bond, but we're on the hook for a couple of things. One is any ground, any dirt that's been moved. on the Nevada side for Brightline. we would have to, if it doesn't come to pass. And right now, I wouldn't, if I were to bet, I would say that it won't ever be built. maybe it gets some bailout from California. you know, I don't think it's appropriate for our state to bail out a a private train service, obviously. But anything that needs to be rebuilt, returned to its original form, whatever, we are going to be on the hook for that. And that scares me because that could be tens of millions of dollars. The other thing is that the federal government, had some investments in Brightline and we could actually get sued for those. And it's it's not a huge amount of money, but it again, it could be millions or tens of millions of dollars. So if the I think it's the Department of Transportation put money into it through Nevada. And if they sought that money back, they could say that Nevada was basically the guarantor for this loan and get that money back. So it's not as bad as I think you feared, but it's still terrible. And we could be out, you know Seven, eight figures because of this. speaker-0: Well, here's my problem. We were told repeatedly by certain members, public elected officials, we're on not on the hook for any of this. I mean, I heard that repeatedly. That's not true. And and or l at least to say that look, we're it's not a big number, but it but I kept raising the issue. I I all the people. I think I told you the story about the tortoise tunnels. I mean, I I told people, I said, who thought it was a good idea? To get in bed with California on a train when they that disaster they have that train to nowhere. I mean, why did we think that was a good idea? And I'd like to know, and I correct me if I'm wrong, I think some of this falls back to the previous treasurer's office. They they clear w am I right to say they were at least in on the discussions about this thing? speaker-1: Believe so. I'm not exactly sure of the timing, but I know that my concern just as a resident at that time, this was before I ever ran for public office or thought about running for treasurer, is like you're talking about being in bed with California. I appreciate that it's private. I appreciate that the money is supposed to be spent privately, so you know, raised privately, invested privately. But when California is involved, you just know that some somehow, some way, somewhere, there's going to be a taxpayer bailout. This thing either is not going to be built or it's going to be built. Yeah, when you have to go through the Coastal Commission, you have to go through all the environmental regulations and, you know, all the different things that you have to deal with with California, it just costs so much to build anything there, even just a a a rail track that you're going to end up, you know, paying so much more. You're going to end up not hitting your deadlines, all that sort of stuff. And you're going to end up as Nevada in a position where California's going to bring you down and you might end up being being asked to pay. you know, taxpayers' money into that project. And that's something I'm not comfortable with. speaker-0: Well, I'll just add this. Now we don't want to spend the whole time on the train, but I'm concerned. We all know the fifteen needs on their side especially needs serious help. And then and I read that they're they're requiring HOV lanes in the middle of the desert. Are you kidding me? I mean, this is beyond crazy. But I just worry that somehow we the I saw it in the water negotiations and the c unfortunately, I think a lot of our surrounding states still see us as little Nevada. Right. We're the little territory. And they don't really respect us as as a powerhouse state. And I I'm I'm thinking with your leadership, and certainly hopefully we have Governor Lombardo back and Stavros, Anthony, that again, we make it very loud and clear. Those old days are gone, folks. We're now a major state. We're and we're gonna continue to grow and continue to prosper. And there's not, you know, you we we can't control what's happened to you. but I and I do think that if as long as we continue to work together and keep our state running the right way. But listen. It's your podcast. What else you want to cover today? What are what are we not what have we not hit the nail on? You know. speaker-1: One thing I'll I'll sort of flesh out is I mentioned the gas tax proposals. speaker-0: Big deal. speaker-1: So obviously right now we're all feeling the pain at the pump. One of the reasons why gas is so expensive is all the taxes. And in in Nevada, we've got a 23 cent state gas tax. Obviously, it's not going to keep up because with the cost of road construction, road repair, because fewer people are driving, more people working from home, people have EVs, more fuel efficient cars. And so where's that money come from going to come from? And you know, people in a kind of libertarian state like Nevada are uncomfortable with the idea of tack mileage based taxing. And is the government going to watch where I'm going and to counting how many miles I'm, you know, all that sort of stuff. So I came up with a way around that that would keep our roads funded. It wouldn't take money from any programs or services. it wouldn't cost taxpayers an additional dime. And here's how it works. So The last few years we've been getting almost a billion dollars a year into surplus revenues. And so rather than just giving that money to lawmakers to spend to waste, take half that money and put it into a permanent fund, sort of like Alaska has. speaker-0: Rainy D fun. speaker-1: North Dakota has with their oil. So you put that away into a permanent fund and then you take new mining, new lithium mining, and you put there's about a third of that money that ends up in state coffers. So rather than bloat the budget, new programs, one day the mining runs out and then where's the money going to come from? You put that money also into this in this reserve fund, into this permanent fund. And then the proceeds that you get from that, from the investments of that fund, After it gets to about five and a half, six billion dollars, it takes about nine years, 10 years probably to grow to this point. Then you can actually get rid of the sales tax or the the gas tax, rather, the state gas tax. So you get rid of that, it's a tax break for everybody, you know, it doesn't cost us any more anywhere else. And then you also have the roads fully funded. So I think it's this great way of avoiding, you know, losing the money for roads. You know, what are we going to do in the future? How are we gonna increase taxes? give everybody everybody a tax break. And it also at the same time doesn't give the bastards in Carson City hundreds of millions of dollars of new money to play with every two years. instead it goes for as a tax break to to taxpayers. And I just think, you know, growing up the way I did where my mom worked at Walmart during the day and she was a maid at night. And so people like her, whether they're people in the trades, you know, who are taking their truck around with their tools or people like my mom who maybe they work at a casino as a as a a maid. or you know, front desk or something like that. Those people can't avoid paying that tax. You and I can buy an EV. We're at your house right now. You've got this incredible studio in your house. You can buy an EV. You know, we can avoid paying this tax, but a lot of these people can't. And so this tax is so unfair. And so if I can do something to help people like my mom, you know, like the people who are working so hard in the trades, I think it's a great thing. speaker-0: Well I'll add another part to that. The HOV lane thing. Yeah. Where not only do they not pay a gas tax, they get their own private little lane, which I I agree with Stavros. I th I think they're I don't know anybody in their right mind that's gonna pick up a trail or a a stranger for a carpool ride to work. I'm sorry. I I mean this is a different world. Yeah. You're not gonna do it. And I I think I mean I living in Summerlin, every time I go down the Summerlin parkway and I look at that big arching HOV lane, I don't know what it costs to build that thing. Yeah. One lane. that I never I rarely see a car on. It drives me crazy. We could use that lane somewhere else just for normal traffic. I I I think and I'll add, look, I'm a Republican. I don't like taxes. I don't like fees. But I I would gladly just vote to turn every HOV lane into a car into a pay a paid toll lane. Fine. I'll pay it if that helps with the coffers. It doesn't matter if I'm an EV, a hybrid, a gas car I I don't want to wait a little bit of traffic. I will pay the little extra money. I I mean I know nobody wants to talk about toll roads here, but because I know they can get in trouble. I mean, we all know they can go spin out of control. Sure. But I think we have to rethink this to a large degree. Drew, what else? What else is you you thinking about just as we go forward? Is our future bright? speaker-1: I I'm very proud to live in Nevada. I think I've got concerns if, you know, Governor Lombardo doesn't win reelection and there's, you know, a Democrat legislature, a Democrat governor passing Democrat California bill. speaker-0: Will they really go Cal do they wanna be California? speaker-1: reason Governor Lombardo has the record for the most vetoes in a session and in a four-year term is because of all these California proposals, these high tax, high spend, you know, speaker-0: I think they work. I mean, don't they look and see what's going on there? speaker-1: There's a reason why so many people are here and I mean speaker-0: It's crazy. I don't see why they would why they why they honestly, I mean, why do you want to copy failure? That makes no sense to me. speaker-1: When people come from California, I always say, we need fewer missionaries and more refugees. We need more people who know why they came here from California and not people who want to, you know, brag about about how c great California is. If you want to give everything to everybody, you're gonna end up having to pay so much that you're not living in Nevada anymore. And so one real passion of mine is making sure we preserve what Nevada is, which again is sort of a a small L libertarian, you know. live free or die kind of kind of place. And I really love that. It's a place where people can still live their American dream. And it's a place where government largely stays out of your life, you know, keeps your taxes low, keeps your re regulatory burns low. There are ways that we can improve, but the last thing we need are these DSA Democrat ideas coming in from California. So if Governor Lombardo wins reelection, Stavros can win re-election, if I can get in office, we can do some really great things to make sure that Nevada remains to the Nevada that you and I moved here. speaker-0: for. Yeah, absolutely. And I I just say too, look, there there's there's room for for different discussions, but I just can't believe, I mean, I just would tell anybody, go live there for a year and tell me if you really think that's a great idea. I just can't believe it. Drew, anything else? speaker-1: One thing I'll mention very briefly that speaker-0: Besides where to give you money. Absolut and I I also I I want to raise one last issue, but finish yours first. I think it's important. speaker-1: So financial literacy. So as I mentioned, I grew up in a trailer in rural East Tennessee. One real blessing I had is I remember in sixth grade, we had this financial literacy course. And it really made me fall in love with with finance, with numbers, and really think about saving and investing. And I came from a family where, you know, it was it's very rare that people go to college, but it really made me appreciate what I could become and how I could. Could improve my situation from living in a trailer and a holler near where Dolly Parton's from. And I live in Summerlin today. And a big part of that is because of that background. And when I started making a little bit of money, saving money and investing it wisely and avoiding scams and knowing what happens when you compound interest and knowing what happens when Exactly. speaker-0: Yeah, a credit card debt. speaker-1: Pay too much for credit card debt. You took the words out of my mind, out of my mouth. but if we can do better as a state and making sure that Not just kids, but everybody has some sort of financial literacy education, financial literacy programs available to them. You see so often, you know, these older people, these seniors in Nevada, they have a spouse who dies, they become a widower or a widower, the other person, the the deceased spouse is the person who handled the money. Now they fall into all these debt traps and you know, fraud, fraud opportunities and things like that. And so if we can help make people Be more aware, more conscientious with your money. I think that's a really important thing that the treasurer's office can do better at. speaker-0: Well, and I think too, we do have a fantastic library system. I mean, I met our Clark County librarian back in DC, and clearly we I mean, these are community centers. Yeah. And they're perfect to spread that. Drew, I just want to say this quick. I I I'm and I think it's so important. one thing as a as a citizen I'm concerned with, especially with what happened last year with Charlie Kirk, this this horrible, hateful rhetoric, you know, you know, battle lines seem to be drawn. And we are in an open carry state. And, you know, I I think about what happened to Gabby Gifford in Arizona. I I just really I for you and the other elected officials here, you don't have large security detentions. And I worry about you and your family. I mean, are there steps being made to better protect our elected officials? speaker-1: You know, I think what I'm trying to do is try to sort of bring down the discourse and make people realize if you're a rabid Democrat who thinks every Republican is a terrible person, I'm I'm just a guy with a background that's a good fit to make your life easier through the treasurer's office. And so, you know, the treasurer's office, you're not talking about abortion, you're not talking about some of these extreme issues that get people so fired up. And I do appreciate that about the treasurer's office because As I mentioned to you earlier, if you're doing the job well, people should forget which party you're a member of until it's time to go vote again in four more years. And and that's sort of how I'm, you know, addressing it is trying to just bring down the rhetoric a little bit, bring down the temperature, listen respectfully, take other ideas into into into mind. And obviously the things that I'm proposing are things we all support, you know, lower tax on on gas. Better education, opportunities for kids to go to college, you know, things like that, getting people's money returned. speaker-0: Nobody's against any of those things. Nobody's against that. I that's and this this idea that I that that that a capitalist is going to turn his back on his community, that's just not the case. I mean, look at how many private family foundations give money. I mean, look at how many people give money to their church. I I just I I I want all of us out there, we need to protect whether you vote for them or not, our elected officials need to be protected. And we need to be always watchful for this stuff. Drew, thank you for your service. I appreciate all that you do. And you maybe you should get a German Shepherd. I have mine at home. Yeah, she'll she's already trying to protect you, Drew. speaker-1: Got a Catahula leopard dog who's not as a cat a Catahula leopard dog, and she is not as good of a protector as I speaker-0: Yeah, so no. Drew, God bless you, sir, and good luck with everything. And and listen, vote. Absolutely. Do this is an important election. I'm gonna say this finally. I don't care what party affiliation or independent, don't blow this off. This is important. Okay. I know look, we all have our opinions. Things are never perfect. They're a lot better here than in most parts of our country. You've got to vote, folks. So get out and vote. So anyway, this is Ken Wynans with winning with Wynans. And Drew, real quick, they wanna get hold of you. Where do they go? speaker-1: Yeah, it's Drew for Nevada, all spelled out, Drew F O R Nevada dot com. You can find out more about my platform. You can find out how to contact me. You can find out how to give me a few bucks and all that would be appreciated. speaker-0: fantastic. Drew, thanks, buddy. All right, everybody. We'll see you next week on Winning with Winens. Take care. Hey everybody, this is Ken Winins, the host of Winning with Wineins Podcast. And yes, our staff can actually spell, believe it or not, part of that new education process. Anyway, if you want to learn, besides spelling, how to invest money, tune in and learn some new innovative things. It's about having an edge. And in investing, that's what matters the most. See you soon. Boy, that time went fast. I hope you had as much fun as I did during this segment of Winning with Winens. Make sure and tune in next week for another round of guest and interesting topics. And if you missed this, make sure and check us out on Spotify, YouTube, or go to our website, winningwithwinins.com, where there's a lot more information for you to follow. So good luck this next week. Look forward to seeing you then. Take care.