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Lee Elci, Voice of Freedom | Socialism Is Alive and Well? · The Lee Elci Show

0:00
Speaker 1: Not even going to jump into that. I'm going to
0:02
Speaker 1: talk about the day. I haven't taken shots at the
0:04
Speaker 1: day in a while. And, you know, I got my
0:07
Speaker 1: friends at the day. I did a big event for
0:11
Speaker 1: the day the other day with the day. The other day,
0:14
Speaker 1: my friend Casey O'Neill will be appearing on the show,
0:17
Speaker 1: probably on a semi-somewhat regular basis. We got Bill Stanley
0:22
Speaker 1: from the day coming on today. You know, we got Mike.
0:25
Speaker 1: We used to have Rick. We used to have Paul.
0:27
Speaker 2: We got Owen. We used to have Alyssa. Let's see.
0:30
Speaker 1: There's a million others if I think about it through
0:34
Speaker 1: the day. And I personally have a good relationship with
0:38
Speaker 1: all of them. But some things that they do in
0:40
Speaker 1: this case make me mad or make me shake my head.
0:46
Speaker 1: So I didn't see this till yesterday.
0:48
Speaker 2: Shame on me.
0:49
Speaker 1: But the editorial socialism is not taking over the country.
0:55
Speaker 2: By the day editorial board. I'm going to read you
0:58
Speaker 2: a couple of lines.
0:59
Speaker 1: Socialism, and Democrat socialism in particular, seems to be having
1:03
Speaker 1: a moment. The biggest reason for the return to relevance
1:08
Speaker 1: is New York City's new charismatic young mayor, Zoran Mandami,
1:13
Speaker 1: who burst onto the political scene with some revolutionary ideas
1:17
Speaker 1: and is clearly delivering a message to New Yorkers.
1:21
Speaker 2: Mandami joins U.S.
1:24
Speaker 3: Rep.
1:24
Speaker 4: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and U.S. Senator Bernard Sanders Among the faces
1:31
Speaker 4: of modern socialism, Mondami's approval rating in some polls hovers
1:35
Speaker 4: around 50%. And he is especially popular among younger voters.
1:41
Speaker 4: Ocasio-Cortez led the Democrat field in a recent New Hampshire
1:45
Speaker 4: presidential primary.
1:47
Speaker 1: Yeah.
1:48
Speaker 5: Yes. Hear what I just said, by the way. That's
1:50
Speaker 5: an accurate fact. That she is the leader of the party.
1:53
Speaker 2: I'm going to throw up.
1:55
Speaker 1: Many Democrats still think Sanders was the party's best option
1:58
Speaker 1: in 2016. No.
2:00
Speaker 5: When Donald Trump first rose to the presidency defeating Hillary Clinton.
2:03
Speaker 5: Remember in 2016 we all thought Bernie was like 90?
2:06
Speaker 5: How old is Bernie Sanders?
2:08
Speaker 2: Like 150? He might be the vampire.
2:12
Speaker 1: But the point is that these politicians are popular.
2:15
Speaker 5: Yes, I've been saying that. Are you guys listening to me?
2:18
Speaker 5: And some of their policy ideas are as well popular.
2:25
Speaker 5: Meaning the day says that their policy ideas are popular.
2:28
Speaker 1: We shouldn't be dismissing the ideas.
2:32
Speaker 5: We should be listening to people who.
2:34
Speaker 1: Disagree with that's how you govern. That's how problems are solved.
2:40
Speaker 1: This is the day saying this. Many hear the word
2:45
Speaker 1: socialism and immediately imagine a country descending into chaos, running
2:49
Speaker 1: out of money and people waiting in bread lines. Socialists
2:53
Speaker 1: are not communists. And they don't hate America. They just
2:57
Speaker 1: have a different vision of it. So my first statement
2:59
Speaker 1: to the day is this. Name one socialist country that works.
3:04
Speaker 5: Just one.
3:09
Speaker 2: I'll wait.
3:16
Speaker 5: So....
3:19
Speaker 1: I brought this up because seemingly now, for some reason,
3:23
Speaker 1: the day wants to have a conversation about different ideas,
3:28
Speaker 1: different points of view. And they want to say, well,
3:32
Speaker 1: so Ron Mondami and AOC and Bernie and their passion
3:36
Speaker 1: for socialism, we should have a conversation about that.
3:40
Speaker 2: Yet, their previous position.
3:44
Speaker 1: In particular, when it pertains to a particular party, Republicans
3:49
Speaker 1: in this case, if you do not denounce Donald Trump,
3:54
Speaker 1: you are somehow an ogre to the world. So I
4:02
Speaker 1: think it's fair that I ask the day to ask
4:05
Speaker 1: Democrats to denounce AOC, Elliott for that matter in this
4:12
Speaker 1: own state, Bernie. Because I believe socialism is the root
4:18
Speaker 1: of all things evil. And socialism eventually leads to communism.
4:22
Speaker 1: It's been proven time and time and time and time again.
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Speaker 1: Socialism is a political and economic system in which the
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Speaker 1: means of production, factory, land, natural resources, capital goods, major
4:39
Speaker 1: industries are owned or controlled collectively, typically by the state.
4:48
Speaker 5: Workers or the community as a whole rather than by
4:51
Speaker 5: the private individuals or corporations. So you don't own. You
4:55
Speaker 5: don't have.
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Speaker 6: The government does. It's just step one in the march
5:09
Speaker 6: towards communism. Ah, so the day goes on to say
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Speaker 6: this isn't a defense of full-blown socialism.
5:19
Speaker 1: Mondami recently announced the opening of five city-owned grocery stores
5:25
Speaker 1: in York. And they say this is the day saying
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Speaker 1: that may be a bridge too far. But this country
5:31
Speaker 1: should be a free marketplace of ideas.
5:34
Speaker 5: Well, shouldn't it be a free marketplace?
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Speaker 1: And it says the people of New York will see
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Speaker 1: whether it works. So in this one paragraph, this isn't
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Speaker 1: a defense of full-blown socialism. Mondami recently announced the opening
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Speaker 1: of five city-owned grocery stores in New York. That may
5:52
Speaker 1: be a bridge too far, they say, but this country
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Speaker 1: should be a free marketplace of ideas.
5:59
Speaker 5: That's the sentences in that paragraph. Remember this.
6:04
Speaker 1: You're a mom-and-pop grocery store, right? And you are set
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Speaker 1: up somewhere on the west side. And you're selling your goods.
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Speaker 1: Your bananas, your apples. You got your milk.
6:24
Speaker 2: You got your butter.
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Speaker 5: You got all the stuff.
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Speaker 2: And you're charging.
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Speaker 5: Market right?
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Speaker 1: Maybe it's a little expensive. It's New York, for God's sake.
6:35
Speaker 1: Everything's expensive. And then right next door to you comes
6:41
Speaker 1: a taxpayer-funded. Remember, taxes out of your pocket go to build,
6:48
Speaker 1: by the way. In one case, I think one of
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Speaker 1: the grocery stores is going to cost like $ 30 million
6:53
Speaker 1: to build. They're going to build a grocery store on
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Speaker 1: taxpayer-funded dollars and put the produce in it, taxpayer-funded dollars.
7:06
Speaker 1: And then they're going to charge 30% less.
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Speaker 5: So you're going to pay for the food, pay for
7:12
Speaker 5: the building, pay for the power, pay for the rent,
7:15
Speaker 5: pay for the help as a collective.
7:19
Speaker 2: And then you're going to get 30% off.
7:20
Speaker 5: And when you get the 30% off, you're going to
7:22
Speaker 5: put the guy who's been selling his stuff on the
7:26
Speaker 5: corner for 40 years, a family supermarket business, out of
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Speaker 5: business because he can't compete because it's 30% cheaper.
7:35
Speaker 2: At the government-run store.
7:39
Speaker 1: And then after the government-run stores put the other stores
7:43
Speaker 1: out of business, which eventually they will, the selections in
7:52
Speaker 1: the government-run store will seemingly just evaporate.
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Speaker 2: You won't get five or six types of bread.
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Speaker 5: You'll get one.
8:01
Speaker 2: You won't get three or four different kinds of butter.
8:04
Speaker 5: You'll get one.
8:06
Speaker 2: If you're lucky. I just, I can't believe the short-sightedness of.
8:18
Speaker 1: This column when it comes to how they are shining
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Speaker 1: this glowing light, or at least this light of lukewarm
8:26
Speaker 1: warmth on socialism.
8:28
Speaker 2: Ah, it's not that big a deal.
8:32
Speaker 1: Yet everybody who walks around with a Make America Great
8:35
Speaker 1: Again hat on is somehow.
8:39
Speaker 2: Associated with Satan himself.
8:45
Speaker 1: Now, there's no question that right now, one of the
8:47
Speaker 1: biggest problems in this country is wealth concentration. Top 50%
8:51
Speaker 1: of U.S. households hold 97% of the country's wealth. The
8:55
Speaker 1: middle class is disappearing. I will sit down all day.
8:58
Speaker 1: We can have a conversation, get the greatest minds together,
9:00
Speaker 1: and let's figure it out.
9:03
Speaker 2: Figure it out.
9:08
Speaker 6: In this column, it says socialism is not taking over
9:10
Speaker 6: the United States, and it won't anytime soon. It's taking
9:13
Speaker 6: over New York City, the biggest city in the country.
9:19
Speaker 5: And there are whispers of it in other places.
9:27
Speaker 1: And I think I should demand that the day paper...
9:33
Speaker 1: when they begin to interview the candidates for these political
9:37
Speaker 1: positions here in the next couple of months, I demand
9:41
Speaker 1: that you ask them to denounce socialism, Democrat socialism, denounce Bernie,
9:47
Speaker 1: denounce AOC, denounce Mondami, or they're going to get a
9:52
Speaker 1: negative checkmark from you. Just like you did to the
9:57
Speaker 1: Republicans when it came to MAGA. I think fair is fair.
10:07
Speaker 1: I respect the day paper. I think it's necessary. I
10:12
Speaker 1: have a lot of friends, like I said, who have
10:14
Speaker 1: worked there or do work there. But if you're going
10:17
Speaker 1: to say one thing during one campaign or one election
10:22
Speaker 1: or take one position, then I'm asking you to take another.
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Speaker 1: You're writing this very lukewarm, let's hold hands and embrace
10:31
Speaker 1: different ideas of socialism, yet an entire cast, half of America,
10:39
Speaker 1: who thought putting America first, somehow, they're the enemy. And
10:50
Speaker 1: you ask these politicians during their runs for office.
10:56
Speaker 2: To denounce the President of the United States. I'm asking you,
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Speaker 2: these guys aren't even the President.
11:00
Speaker 1: You've got a mayor, you've got a congresswoman, and you've
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Speaker 1: got a 100-year-old senator. I don't think I'm wrong about this.
11:17
Speaker 1: And I think Democrat socialism is... It's a very dangerous thing.
11:20
Speaker 1: And when you combine it.
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Speaker 2: With the invasion of the Muslim.
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Speaker 1: Antifa, all of the negative attributes that coalesce and come together,
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Speaker 1: you've got yourself a serious problem. And New York is,
11:41
Speaker 1: you know, they're saying, look at New York, let's see
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Speaker 1: if it'll work.
11:45
Speaker 5: The people of New York will see whether it works. Yeah,
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Speaker 5: let's see whether it works.
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Speaker 1: Let's see whether this invasion of Muslims, the embracement of
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Speaker 1: socialism in the biggest city, the economic mecca of the planet,
12:00
Speaker 1: you want to see if that works out?
12:01
Speaker 5: Okay, let's take a.
12:02
Speaker 1: Couple steps back and see if that actually works out.
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Speaker 2: It'll be an interesting experiment. One that will only end
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Speaker 2: in a complete catastrophe for the United States if it's embraced.
12:14
Speaker 2: We'll come back.
12:15
Speaker 5: Hang on, everybody.
12:16
Speaker 2: It's 90.9. We've known each other.
12:28
Speaker 7: Probably 20 years. 20-plus years.
12:31
Speaker 2: 20 years? Is that safe to say?
12:33
Speaker 7: That's safe.
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Speaker 1: Now, ladies and gentlemen who are listening, watching on the Rumble...
12:39
Speaker 1: People watching on Rumble would agree.
12:40
Speaker 7: I'm being prepared to be patronized.
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Speaker 3: No.
12:43
Speaker 1: No.
12:43
Speaker 2: I'm saying this with 100% sincerity. And with complete... I'm.
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Speaker 5: A heterosexual male.
12:49
Speaker 2: This is the best you have ever looked. I don't
12:52
Speaker 2: know what you've done.
12:53
Speaker 5: You had a facelift. Something. What is it?
12:55
Speaker 7: Well, you know I went away over the weekend?
12:57
Speaker 2: Yeah.
12:57
Speaker 7: Yeah, I went down south. Got some work done.
13:00
Speaker 5: I mean, the hair is right, the clothes. You got, like,
13:04
Speaker 5: the 5 o'clock shadow. I mean, the girls are going
13:07
Speaker 5: to be throwing themselves at you today.
13:08
Speaker 1: Yes.
13:09
Speaker 2: I mean, it's going to be hard for you to
13:12
Speaker 2: keep up, I would think.
13:13
Speaker 7: Exhausting.
13:14
Speaker 5: I'm telling you.
13:15
Speaker 2: I'm telling you. Down a few pounds.
13:17
Speaker 5: Yes. The whole thing.
13:19
Speaker 2: It's all coming together for you, kid.
13:21
Speaker 7: It's really happening for me at 61.
13:22
Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, good for you. Congratulations.
13:24
Speaker 5: Thanks. And by the way.
13:27
Speaker 7: And I'm not just saying this to throw it back.
13:28
Speaker 5: You too. No, you lied. Because before we went on
13:31
Speaker 5: the air, you said you look tired.
13:34
Speaker 2: And I am tired.
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Speaker 8: I don't know.
13:36
Speaker 5: I wake up now.
13:37
Speaker 1: I used to wake up in the middle of the
13:39
Speaker 1: night and bang, back to sleep in two seconds.
13:42
Speaker 2: I wake up now. Now it's in my head. I
13:44
Speaker 2: can't go back to sleep.
13:45
Speaker 5: I don't know why.
13:45
Speaker 7: Do you start thinking about stuff?
13:46
Speaker 1: Yeah.
13:46
Speaker 7: Because that's what happened to me.
13:48
Speaker 3: Yeah.
13:48
Speaker 7: I wake up at 3. I was done.
13:50
Speaker 5: Yeah.
13:51
Speaker 9: Had to have a note, like have my phone and
13:53
Speaker 9: take notes or else I... Couldn't get back to sleep.
13:55
Speaker 9: Then I started gumming it.
13:57
Speaker 5: Gumming it?
13:58
Speaker 2: Gumming it.
13:59
Speaker 1: I was going to get up, like, today at 3
14:01
Speaker 1: o'clock and work out, but I didn't have the energy
14:03
Speaker 1: for that.
14:04
Speaker 7: That gym's open 24 hours?
14:05
Speaker 5: I know.
14:05
Speaker 2: That's right. That's where he's going to do it.
14:07
Speaker 5: Yeah.
14:08
Speaker 2: Coastline Fitness.
14:09
Speaker 7: Coastline Fitness.
14:09
Speaker 5: Yeah. All right.
14:10
Speaker 2: So, well, congratulations on whatever the new look is, whatever
14:13
Speaker 2: you're doing. I'm looking great.
14:14
Speaker 5: Thank you. Yeah, looking great, feeling great, all that great stuff.
14:17
Speaker 1: So, yeah, man, today you've got a special event.
14:21
Speaker 2: You're going on Channel 3 today.
14:22
Speaker 5: I'm going on Channel 3.
14:24
Speaker 9: With Hello CT, and we're going to talk about the
14:28
Speaker 9: Mystic Outdoor Art Festival, which is super... It's coming up.
14:33
Speaker 2: It's this weekend. Okay.
14:34
Speaker 7: Are you excited for that?
14:35
Speaker 2: I am very excited. It's one of my favorite weekends
14:37
Speaker 2: of the year.
14:38
Speaker 9: It's one where parking just is the biggest nightmare for you.
14:41
Speaker 1: But still, it's one of the most magical weekends for Mystic,
14:45
Speaker 1: and I never miss it.
14:48
Speaker 2: I never miss going to it.
14:49
Speaker 7: Yeah, well.
14:51
Speaker 9: It is our signature event. And today I'm going with
14:57
Speaker 9: Rachel and Linda from a CT visit. We're going down
15:00
Speaker 9: to– I'm going to be with Rene Danino on Hello CT.
15:05
Speaker 5: That's going to be great. And you only get like
15:07
Speaker 5: a couple minutes, though.
15:09
Speaker 7: Yeah, I can still give you whatever I need.
15:10
Speaker 1: Yeah.
15:10
Speaker 10: Yeah.
15:11
Speaker 8: All right.
15:12
Speaker 2: Get that powerful. I get it.
15:14
Speaker 5: Yeah.
15:14
Speaker 2: All right.
15:15
Speaker 9: I'll make it, you know, they say take three minutes.
15:17
Speaker 2: Yeah.
15:17
Speaker 7: And I'm so endearing that I'll make it, you know, five, six.
15:19
Speaker 2: Yeah.
15:20
Speaker 5: Especially like the way you're looking.
15:22
Speaker 2: It's all part of a major plan. It's a win, buddy.
15:26
Speaker 5: It's a win.
15:27
Speaker 7: But can we talk about the Art Festival?
15:30
Speaker 2: I guess, sure. No, yeah, of course.
15:32
Speaker 5: I love that.
15:32
Speaker 2: I guess.
15:33
Speaker 7: I mean, it's our signature event.
15:35
Speaker 3: Is it?
15:35
Speaker 5: Is it the biggest event of the year for you?
15:37
Speaker 7: It's our biggest event of the year. It's our biggest.
15:39
Speaker 7: If we didn't have it, we wouldn't be in business.
15:41
Speaker 3: Really?
15:41
Speaker 2: Yeah. It's that big?
15:42
Speaker 7: That big.
15:43
Speaker 6: All right.
15:43
Speaker 1: So it eclipses the Lollapalooza. It eclipses all the other things.
15:49
Speaker 5: That you do?
15:49
Speaker 11: Yes.
15:50
Speaker 5: Yes.
15:52
Speaker 7: It's the 68th year of the Mystic Outdoor Art Festival.
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Speaker 9: There will be 240 artists participating. We will not be
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Speaker 9: in the seaport this year. We'll be on Washington Street, Cottrell,
16:03
Speaker 9: Holmes Street, Bay Street.
16:05
Speaker 2: Shut it down.
16:05
Speaker 7: And behind Schooner's Wharf.
16:07
Speaker 5: Okay.
16:08
Speaker 7: And it's– well, I've got to say a couple things.
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Speaker 9: First off, we are very fortunate, and I think other
16:16
Speaker 9: organizations are as well, to have the cooperation of so
16:20
Speaker 9: many people that are in.
16:22
Speaker 7: Town that help us. These big events are huge.
16:24
Speaker 2: Okay.
16:25
Speaker 7: And we're bringing, you know, 20, 30, 40,000 people to town.
16:28
Speaker 7: And you can't do it without the community.
16:31
Speaker 9: And for an example, Seaport Marine, which is on the
16:35
Speaker 9: corner of.
16:37
Speaker 7: Willow and Cottrell Street, and.
16:39
Speaker 9: Harry Bordson, they have allowed us, because we weren't going
16:44
Speaker 9: into Seaport this year, we needed to add booths.
16:47
Speaker 7: And so we ended.
16:49
Speaker 9: Up allowing us some of their land to put booths
16:53
Speaker 9: on on the side of the road so that we
16:55
Speaker 9: can fit the booths on the road. and they also
16:59
Speaker 9: help us with they donate to us and the Knights
17:01
Speaker 9: of Columbus to use one of their parking lots that
17:04
Speaker 9: we man and charge people to park in, and.
17:06
Speaker 7: We get to use it.
17:08
Speaker 9: So they're donating not only to us but to the Knights,
17:11
Speaker 9: to nonprofits. They're helping us with the event. The people
17:14
Speaker 9: who work with Harry, like Matt, tremendously helpful. And also
17:19
Speaker 9: people should know that that's a place to park. So
17:21
Speaker 9: if you're looking for a place to park, the parking
17:24
Speaker 9: lot on the corner of Willow and Washington Street, It's
17:27
Speaker 9: $ 25 for the day and easy to get to, easy in,
17:30
Speaker 9: easy out.
17:31
Speaker 5: All right. And the artists, they're just– not just. They're
17:35
Speaker 5: people who have created different types of art.
17:38
Speaker 2: It could be paintings. It could be drawings.
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Speaker 9: So the mediums are– like there's ink. There's watercolor, acrylic, oil, leather, wood, sculpture.
17:51
Speaker 9: There is– everything okay? I'm hearing a weird– hold on.
17:54
Speaker 2: All right. That's better.
17:55
Speaker 9: So– and– So there's 15 different mediums, and we are
18:00
Speaker 9: one of the oldest juried art shows in the country.
18:03
Speaker 9: So we have a set of judges that go around
18:06
Speaker 9: to every booth. Every artist can put up one piece
18:09
Speaker 9: of work that's juried.
18:11
Speaker 5: What's juried mean?
18:12
Speaker 9: It means that these four judges go around and judge
18:15
Speaker 9: the work and give out 15. We have 15 different
18:17
Speaker 9: prizes that are sponsored by local businesses. And so people
18:21
Speaker 9: on Sunday morning, we have an award ceremony.
18:23
Speaker 5: Okay.
18:24
Speaker 9: So we also have the Performing Arts Stage, which is
18:28
Speaker 9: the Cigar Arts Performing Arts Stage. It's going to be
18:30
Speaker 9: in Mystic River Park. So this is the great thing.
18:33
Speaker 9: This event is free to the public. You can come
18:35
Speaker 9: down and not spend a dime, just park in a neighborhood,
18:39
Speaker 9: walk on over. You can have entertainment for your kids.
18:43
Speaker 9: So the Performing Arts Stage during the day has performances
18:46
Speaker 9: from 11 to 4 p.m. including the Grand at Theater's
18:53
Speaker 9: Willy Wonka Kids and Mystic Chamber Music Theories. Poppy's planning.
18:56
Speaker 7: Remember Poppy?
18:57
Speaker 5: I do. She's great.
18:58
Speaker 7: She's coming.
18:59
Speaker 5: What about Steve Elsie and Friends?
19:01
Speaker 2: No?
19:01
Speaker 7: Steve Elsie and Friends is not coming.
19:02
Speaker 2: Didn't make it.
19:04
Speaker 7: All right.
19:04
Speaker 9: But at night is an all-ages performance from 5.30 to 9,
19:10
Speaker 9: all produced by chamber member theaters. So, like, the United
19:14
Speaker 9: Music School presents a band called Pop. The Chestnut Street
19:17
Speaker 9: Playhouse in Norwich is... having one of their season highlights.
19:23
Speaker 9: The Stonington's Poet Laureate will be speaking. I know you
19:25
Speaker 9: want to see that. The Connecticut Lyric Opera, Mystic Chamber Music,
19:29
Speaker 9: Grand Theatre, Saltmarsh Opera, and the Guard Arts. The Guard
19:32
Speaker 9: Arts is presenting acclaimed comedian Paul Mercurio.
19:35
Speaker 5: I like Paul.
19:36
Speaker 7: Who writes for Colbert.
19:38
Speaker 2: Yeah.
19:38
Speaker 5: He's been on the show before. Great.
19:39
Speaker 2: He was on with Tom Cantone last week.
19:42
Speaker 7: That's right. He's doing 20 Minutes of Stand-Up.
19:44
Speaker 5: Oh, wow.
19:45
Speaker 7: During that, too. All free.
19:47
Speaker 9: And then in the engine room parking lot on Home
19:51
Speaker 9: Street is the Kids Art Park, where the Mystic Museum
19:54
Speaker 9: of Art and the Lyman Allen will both have activities
19:57
Speaker 9: for kids to do.
19:58
Speaker 2: That's a lot going on.
19:59
Speaker 7: A lot going on. And how much is it?
20:00
Speaker 2: $ 25 to park.
20:03
Speaker 5: Well, you can find a space on the street, too.
20:05
Speaker 2: No, I know. I'm kidding.
20:06
Speaker 7: But how much is it for you to go?
20:07
Speaker 5: Nothing.
20:07
Speaker 7: Nothing.
20:08
Speaker 3: Free.
20:08
Speaker 9: Nothing.
20:08
Speaker 6: Free.
20:09
Speaker 7: It's a day of fun for nothing. And then you
20:11
Speaker 7: might spend some money on some art.
20:13
Speaker 2: Now, I'm sure you've got food trucks.
20:16
Speaker 7: There are.
20:17
Speaker 9: So what we do here is, because there's such great
20:19
Speaker 9: food in Mystic, we do have the Knights of Columbus,
20:24
Speaker 9: the Masons. The Boy Scouts all have tents and will
20:29
Speaker 9: be selling food, and so we're donating.
20:31
Speaker 7: That's the community.
20:32
Speaker 9: That's reeling the community in by having them have a
20:35
Speaker 9: big fundraiser that weekend. So they'll be selling the food
20:38
Speaker 9: on the route. And then we have Moving Scoops, an
20:41
Speaker 9: ice cream place, and we have Mitchell College. His ice
20:43
Speaker 9: cream will be there. We have Waking Up Wagon. Which
20:48
Speaker 9: is a coffee truck.
20:51
Speaker 2: For dogs?
20:52
Speaker 6: No.
20:54
Speaker 7: Is there a dog? No. But a nonprofit, we love,
20:59
Speaker 7: we adopt Greyhounds is going to be there.
21:01
Speaker 5: Oh, I love that.
21:02
Speaker 9: So they're there every year. They'll be on the corner
21:04
Speaker 9: of Washington and Cottrell with dogs.
21:07
Speaker 5: That's great.
21:08
Speaker 9: So it is an art show, but we try to
21:11
Speaker 9: suddenly put in other things and we grab the community
21:13
Speaker 9: into it.
21:15
Speaker 7: And we're super excited.
21:16
Speaker 2: To be here.
21:16
Speaker 1: Greyhounds are a great dog to adopt. Even if you
21:20
Speaker 1: think that they go out and want to run around,
21:23
Speaker 1: they don't.
21:24
Speaker 2: They're lazy. Which is good.
21:26
Speaker 5: Yeah.
21:26
Speaker 7: But there's no Greyhound racing anywhere in America anymore, is there?
21:30
Speaker 5: Are there any flowers there?
21:32
Speaker 7: There are flowers there.
21:33
Speaker 2: Because Pete wants to know if there's flowers there.
21:35
Speaker 9: Yeah, Pete is absolutely right. So in the engine room
21:37
Speaker 9: parking lot, Pete last year brought.
21:42
Speaker 9: Sunflowers yeah and we're selling them for uh for uh
21:46
Speaker 9: i think they were five dollars each yeah but i'm
21:48
Speaker 9: gonna uh i i have forgotten the name of the
21:53
Speaker 9: uh the the place yeah so okay pete would.
21:57
Speaker 5: Well pete can fire away when he can fire away
21:59
Speaker 5: let me know but this is a big event this
22:00
Speaker 5: is like so you must be working very hard right.
22:02
Speaker 9: Now we are working very hard and we have a
22:04
Speaker 9: number of sponsors including sns electric which is pete yeah
22:08
Speaker 9: like uh we have a.
22:09
Speaker 7: Number of sponsors, Breeze Line.
22:11
Speaker 2: Mary's Meadow, he says.
22:12
Speaker 7: Mary's Meadow, thank you.
22:13
Speaker 5: Thanks, Pete.
22:13
Speaker 9: So Mary's Meadow will be there, and they were there
22:16
Speaker 9: last year in the Engine Room parking lot selling these
22:18
Speaker 9: beautiful sunflowers and flowers.
22:21
Speaker 7: You admire them.
22:22
Speaker 3: Oh, okay.
22:22
Speaker 7: Or you give them to somebody you love.
22:23
Speaker 2: You put them in a vase or something, or vase?
22:25
Speaker 2: How do you say that, vase or vase?
22:26
Speaker 7: Tomato, tomato. Vase or vase, doesn't matter.
22:29
Speaker 2: Which way would you say it if you had to
22:30
Speaker 2: say it?
22:30
Speaker 7: I'd say vase.
22:31
Speaker 2: Yeah. I would say vase, but I think vase is
22:33
Speaker 2: more sophisticated.
22:35
Speaker 7: It is, but it also has an air of.
22:37
Speaker 2: Pompous.
22:38
Speaker 5: Yeah.
22:38
Speaker 2: Oh, really?
22:39
Speaker 5: I thought you were going to say femininity, but pompous
22:41
Speaker 5: is right. I would agree with that.
22:42
Speaker 2: All right.
22:43
Speaker 5: Well, that's awesome. Yeah.
22:45
Speaker 9: So it's very exciting, and we're excited about it.
22:49
Speaker 5: Yeah.
22:49
Speaker 9: And it is our signature event, and everybody keep their
22:52
Speaker 9: fingers crossed and send good vibes for weather.
22:55
Speaker 5: Good weather vibes.
22:56
Speaker 7: Weather looks— weather, I'm consciously optimistic right now.
23:00
Speaker 2: So— I don't want to jinx it.
23:02
Speaker 5: Cautiously, you don't want to jinx it.
23:03
Speaker 7: I don't want to jinx it.
23:04
Speaker 5: All right.
23:04
Speaker 7: Because if you sit there and say, like, yeah, it
23:05
Speaker 7: looks great.
23:06
Speaker 5: Yeah, then you get screwed.
23:07
Speaker 7: It all falls apart.
23:07
Speaker 2: All right. That's fair enough.
23:09
Speaker 1: I mean, in all seriousness, I know I always like
23:11
Speaker 1: to break your stones, but it's a great event, fun event.
23:13
Speaker 1: You can go buy some art. You can go walk around.
23:16
Speaker 1: Like you said, it's free. You can do whatever you want,
23:18
Speaker 1: hang out. The kids, it's family friendly. You get entertainment.
23:22
Speaker 1: You get all of that right there in Mystic. And
23:24
Speaker 1: that's put together by the one and only Bruce Flex.
23:26
Speaker 1: So good job, man.
23:27
Speaker 7: The Mystic Outdoor Art Festival.
23:30
Speaker 12: Yeah.
23:30
Speaker 5: You excited? I am.
23:32
Speaker 9: I am very excited.
23:33
Speaker 7: But it is a lot of work. We have volunteers.
23:34
Speaker 9: We still need volunteers on Sunday late afternoon. We have
23:38
Speaker 9: about 120 volunteers. If you do want to volunteer, we're
23:41
Speaker 9: actually having a volunteer get-together at 4 o'clock at Popover today.
23:45
Speaker 2: Okay.
23:45
Speaker 7: And we give you a free T-shirt.
23:47
Speaker 5: Oh, wow.
23:47
Speaker 7: For volunteering. And you get to hang out in the
23:50
Speaker 7: street and talk.
23:50
Speaker 5: To artists and meet people.
23:51
Speaker 8: All right.
23:53
Speaker 5: All right. All right.
23:54
Speaker 2: That's great. Okay.
23:55
Speaker 1: No, no.
23:55
Speaker 2: I'm saying that's good. I just had deja vu. We
23:58
Speaker 2: did this exact thing.
23:59
Speaker 7: Really?
23:59
Speaker 5: Yeah.
24:00
Speaker 2: That's weird.
24:00
Speaker 8: Yeah.
24:02
Speaker 9: You like to come to the art festival.
24:07
Speaker 5: You are so immature, man.
24:15
Speaker 7: Except you don't like to park.
24:17
Speaker 5: I hate parking.
24:18
Speaker 13: That will be a problem for you. I've been there.
24:21
Speaker 13: I've been to the art festival before. I like special
24:25
Speaker 13: places to park. So give everybody the times.
24:29
Speaker 9: So it is 10 to 6... On Saturday and 10
24:34
Speaker 9: to 5 on Sunday. And I'm going to tell you places.
24:36
Speaker 9: If you go to our website or on our app,
24:39
Speaker 9: we have all the information.
24:40
Speaker 7: We have maps. We have places to park.
24:42
Speaker 9: So you can park in Rob River Salon, at Mystic
24:44
Speaker 9: Museum of Art, the Seaport Marine, Great Parking Lot, Mystic Parking,
24:48
Speaker 9: Union Baptist Church. And if you're going to park in
24:50
Speaker 9: a residential area, we ask that you please abide by
24:52
Speaker 9: all posted signs and respect the neighbors.
24:55
Speaker 2: Fair enough.
24:55
Speaker 7: Right? That's a good way to name it.
24:57
Speaker 5: And enjoy the weekend.
24:58
Speaker 2: Did you say Sunday? What's Sunday?
25:00
Speaker 7: Sunday is 10 to 5.
25:00
Speaker 2: What was Saturday?
25:01
Speaker 7: 10 to 6.
25:02
Speaker 5: Okay.
25:03
Speaker 9: And there's a number of sponsors. The Roadwood Club, Flood
25:09
Speaker 9: Law Firm, Advanced Window, Connecticut Cellar, Electric Boat, Mr. Quarian, Renewal,
25:14
Speaker 9: Buy Anderson, CT Visit, Yale New Haven, Hartford Health, Great Wolf.
25:17
Speaker 7: A number of them.
25:17
Speaker 2: The LC Show.
25:18
Speaker 7: The LC Show. Huge sponsor.
25:20
Speaker 5: Huge supporter.
25:20
Speaker 2: All right. If you're calling in, by the way, I
25:23
Speaker 2: don't have a call screener. You want to take a call?
25:25
Speaker 5: You want to just roll the dice and see who
25:27
Speaker 5: this is?
25:27
Speaker 2: Or do you want to.
25:28
Speaker 7: Can I guess who it is going to be?
25:29
Speaker 2: You can guess.
25:31
Speaker 3: Phil.
25:33
Speaker 5: Phil.
25:33
Speaker 2: All right, let's see. Good morning.
25:35
Speaker 5: Who's this?
25:37
Speaker 2: Hello?
25:39
Speaker 5: Good morning.
25:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, hello.
25:41
Speaker 7: Hey, how are you?
25:42
Speaker 2: Good, how are you?
25:42
Speaker 8: Turn the video down.
25:43
Speaker 2: That's all right. What's going on?
25:45
Speaker 8: I was just offering Lee a VIP parking.
25:50
Speaker 5: Oh, I like that.
25:53
Speaker 2: Yes, is this Pete?
25:55
Speaker 8: This is Matt.
25:56
Speaker 5: Oh, Matt.
25:57
Speaker 8: At Seaport Marine. Oh, hey, Matt.
25:58
Speaker 2: What's up, Matt? How are you, buddy?
26:00
Speaker 8: What's going on?
26:01
Speaker 5: How are you, Bruce?
26:02
Speaker 7: Good, man.
26:03
Speaker 5: How are you?
26:03
Speaker 7: Appreciate you, man.
26:05
Speaker 5: I appreciate you, brother. And I may take you up
26:07
Speaker 5: on that.
26:08
Speaker 2: I may come down Saturday. I might come down Saturday
26:10
Speaker 2: for a little bit.
26:12
Speaker 8: Well, both days are excellent for that show.
26:15
Speaker 5: Do you have a spot?
26:16
Speaker 2: Like, do you do the art thing, or are you
26:17
Speaker 2: just down there hanging out?
26:19
Speaker 7: We help Bruce out.
26:20
Speaker 8: We do the parking at Seaport Marine.
26:23
Speaker 2: Okay.
26:25
Speaker 8: And this year we're going to do a little bit
26:27
Speaker 8: extra for him with some booths, I believe. We're going
26:30
Speaker 8: to make some space for.
26:31
Speaker 7: Booths on Washington Street.
26:35
Speaker 5: So what is Seaport Marine?
26:37
Speaker 2: What is that?
26:38
Speaker 8: Seaport Marine?
26:39
Speaker 2: Yeah.
26:40
Speaker 8: I mean, it is Mystic.
26:42
Speaker 2: Yeah, right.
26:43
Speaker 8: It's the largest waterfront in Mystic, I believe.
26:47
Speaker 2: That's great.
26:47
Speaker 8: We have... We have basically everything between the drawbridge and
26:52
Speaker 8: the train bridge is Seaport Marine.
26:54
Speaker 2: Okay.
26:55
Speaker 8: And we have a huge marina, but we have what
26:58
Speaker 8: became a huge parking lot now.
26:59
Speaker 2: Yeah.
27:02
Speaker 8: And we're just trying to give back and help with
27:06
Speaker 8: Bruce's cause to do some parking there and give him
27:12
Speaker 8: a little bit of space for the whole show. But
27:15
Speaker 8: also we have the, I believe, Night at Columbus as
27:17
Speaker 8: well this year.
27:18
Speaker 2: That's right.
27:18
Speaker 5: Oh, good. Again.
27:19
Speaker 8: Doing our parking in the lawn. But if you need
27:23
Speaker 8: to come down and park, Lee.
27:24
Speaker 3: All right.
27:25
Speaker 8: You just, Bruce can forward my number to you.
27:28
Speaker 3: All right.
27:29
Speaker 5: I appreciate that.
27:30
Speaker 8: And we will get you VIP.
27:33
Speaker 2: Thank you, brother.
27:34
Speaker 5: I appreciate you.
27:36
Speaker 8: It might also come with a booth so you can
27:38
Speaker 8: do signatures.
27:39
Speaker 2: Yeah.
27:40
Speaker 5: That would be a one-person line, maybe.
27:45
Speaker 4: You got it.
27:46
Speaker 8: I'll be there.
27:47
Speaker 5: All right. Thank you, buddy. I appreciate you. All right, man. Listen,
27:50
Speaker 5: before we get to a break, a couple things. Yeah. One,
27:53
Speaker 5: this is a time for us to talk about our
27:55
Speaker 5: very good friends over at Shoreline Super Liquors, right? So maybe,
28:00
Speaker 5: you know, you're.
28:00
Speaker 2: Heading over to the.
28:01
Speaker 5: The weekend festivities with you. Stop at Shoreline Super Liquors.
28:06
Speaker 7: Pick up something.
28:06
Speaker 5: Pick up a little something something for the ride. There's
28:08
Speaker 5: something special about walking into a place where they know
28:11
Speaker 5: your name. Like cheers. You'd walk in and they'd say, Bruce!
28:16
Speaker 1: Where the owners are your neighbors and where the dollars
28:19
Speaker 1: that you spend stay right in the community. For more
28:22
Speaker 1: than 55 years, Super Liquors has been proudly family owned,
28:26
Speaker 1: serving generations of local families since 1969. This week, a
28:32
Speaker 1: sale of what kind of tequila is it?
28:35
Speaker 5: Patron.
28:35
Speaker 2: That's it.
28:36
Speaker 1: Patron Silver Tequila, 750 milliliters.
28:38
Speaker 5: I got it right. For only 35.
28:40
Speaker 2: Well, I don't know.
28:41
Speaker 5: I'm saying Patron.
28:42
Speaker 2: Other people say it differently.
28:43
Speaker 1: But, you know, I'm just going to go with Patron
28:46
Speaker 1: until they tell me to stop. $ 35. 99 for that 750 milliliter.
28:50
Speaker 1: When you choose to shop local, you are helping homeowners.
28:54
Speaker 1: You're helping businesses. You're just helping out the community. It's
28:57
Speaker 1: really that simple. From the folks over at Shoreline Super Liquors,
29:00
Speaker 1: what are you waiting for? Head over to Shoreline Super
29:03
Speaker 1: Liquors today. And I ask.
29:05
Speaker 2: You this all the time. Yeah.
29:06
Speaker 5: What, again, is your go-to?
29:08
Speaker 2: Light beer, Bud Light? What else?
29:09
Speaker 5: Yeah. I like a.
29:11
Speaker 2: I'm just looking for something.
29:12
Speaker 7: Yeah. Light beer, whatever, Bud Light.
29:16
Speaker 5: Yeah.
29:16
Speaker 7: I like the seltzers, too.
29:18
Speaker 2: Yeah.
29:18
Speaker 5: You don't like.
29:19
Speaker 7: Well, you don't drink.
29:20
Speaker 2: I don't drink, but, I mean, you know.
29:22
Speaker 1: You don't have 20,000 square feet of stuff packed with beer, wine, spirits.
29:27
Speaker 2: And there's, you know, there's always somebody.
29:29
Speaker 5: You know what I hate?
29:30
Speaker 2: You go to a store and you're walking around like
29:32
Speaker 2: a dummy. I was doing this the other day.
29:34
Speaker 5: Yeah. Walking around like a dummy. Like a dummy. Yeah.
29:37
Speaker 5: I do that almost every day.
29:38
Speaker 2: But I'm looking for help in the store.
29:40
Speaker 5: Nobody's helping me. Nobody's showing me what I need. Can
29:43
Speaker 5: I help you out?
29:44
Speaker 2: Yeah, can I help you out?
29:44
Speaker 5: You need any help?
29:45
Speaker 2: Blah, blah, blah. Nothing. That was Walmart. I got no help.
29:48
Speaker 5: But they have 20,000 square feet of beer, wine, spirits,
29:52
Speaker 5: and right now, absolute vodka 80 proof, which is 1.75 milliliters, $ 23.
29:56
Speaker 3: 99.
29:56
Speaker 2: Wow.
29:58
Speaker 5: Plus, you get a $ 4.
29:59
Speaker 1: Rebate when you get it down to $ 19.
30:01
Speaker 2: 99.
30:01
Speaker 7: That's a good math right there.
30:04
Speaker 1: By the way, I haven't mentioned this yet. You can
30:06
Speaker 1: shop online. ConnecticutSuperLiquors.com. That's ConnecticutSuperLiquors.com.
30:11
Speaker 7: Do they mail it to you?
30:12
Speaker 2: That's a good question. I'll have to find that out.
30:15
Speaker 5: They must.
30:17
Speaker 1: Now, maybe.
30:18
Speaker 2: I bet you can shop and then go pick it up.
30:20
Speaker 5: No, no, no.
30:20
Speaker 2: I'll find out.
30:21
Speaker 5: I'm going to find out. All right. I'm going to
30:23
Speaker 5: find out about that. Shoreline Super Liquors, 40 Boston Post
30:26
Speaker 5: Road in Waterford. 40 Boston Post.
30:28
Speaker 2: Road over in the red, white, and blue section of Waterford.
30:34
Speaker 2: My heart bleeds. Lance are blue. All that great stuff.
30:36
Speaker 5: Shoreline Super Liquors.
30:37
Speaker 2: Check it out today. Tell them you heard about it
30:39
Speaker 2: on the radio.
30:40
Speaker 10: All right.
30:40
Speaker 5: Bruce Flax is with us. When we come back, a.
30:43
Speaker 2: Question for you.
30:44
Speaker 3: All right.
30:44
Speaker 5: For you about socialism.
30:47
Speaker 10: Okay.
30:47
Speaker 1: All right.
30:48
Speaker 7: Let me see what I can Google that and see
30:50
Speaker 7: what it is.
30:51
Speaker 5: Google it. Get ready. It's coming. 94.9.
31:21
Speaker 1: Broadcasting live from the Bruce Delon Buick GMC Studios.
31:25
Speaker 5: WJJF. Montauk. Ledger. Mystic. Norwich. 94.9 News Now. It's primary
31:35
Speaker 5: day in five states. I'm Dave Anthony, Fox News. I
31:39
Speaker 5: believe in the opportunity we have in front of us.
31:42
Speaker 12: That's Abdul El-Sayed, a Democrat in a Michigan Senate race
31:45
Speaker 12: getting the most attention.
31:46
Speaker 11: Abdul El-Sayed is the progressive who has the backing of
31:49
Speaker 11: the Democratic Socialists of America. He wants to abolish ICE,
31:53
Speaker 11: cut off USAID to Israel, and has made Medicare for
31:56
Speaker 11: All one of his signature issues.
31:58
Speaker 5: Fox's Garrett Tenney in Detroit.
32:00
Speaker 11: Republicans would love to see him win because they believe
32:03
Speaker 11: he would give the GOP nominee, Mike Rogers, the best
32:06
Speaker 11: shot at picking up this seat.
32:08
Speaker 1: It's time for us to sit down and chat with
32:11
Speaker 1: the WTNH's Channel 8's Capitol Report on set.
32:16
Speaker 2: Let's say we call him a panelist or contributor or
32:19
Speaker 2: a panelist. Yeah, I think it's fair.
32:21
Speaker 5: Capitol Report, Sunday mornings, 1030 WTNH Channel 8.
32:25
Speaker 2: Great show. Good morning, Liz. How are you?
32:28
Speaker 3: Good morning, sir.
32:28
Speaker 9: I'm well.
32:29
Speaker 10: How are you?
32:29
Speaker 5: I'm doing okay.
32:30
Speaker 2: You know what I wanted to ask you today? I
32:31
Speaker 2: don't know why.
32:32
Speaker 5: Tell me. So the citizens election program where everybody gets
32:36
Speaker 5: free money from the.
32:38
Speaker 2: State of Connecticut.
32:40
Speaker 5: Who made the decision that these candidates, that they're handpicked,
32:46
Speaker 5: chosen by their parties, right? So you got the Republicans
32:50
Speaker 5: who picked person A, the Democrats picked their person.
32:54
Speaker 2: Why do they have to go out and raise.
32:56
Speaker 5: $ 21, 000 for a senator, $ 8, 000 for a rep.
33:01
Speaker 2: Why don't they just get the money?
33:02
Speaker 5: I mean, why do they got to go through that?
33:04
Speaker 2: I don't understand that.
33:05
Speaker 3: Well, I mean, to be honest with you, I think
33:09
Speaker 3: it probably could be higher, right? I mean, you have
33:14
Speaker 3: to have some ability to demonstrate that you have a
33:19
Speaker 3: real– campaign, right? There has to be a threshold. You're
33:29
Speaker 3: accepting public money, right? So it's a grant process. You
33:35
Speaker 3: have to have some buy-in. There has to be some
33:38
Speaker 3: buy-in from the public that you are a viable candidate
33:42
Speaker 3: and that this is a real campaign. Otherwise, they're just
33:49
Speaker 3: handing out hundreds of thousands of dollars because For what?
33:58
Speaker 3: Without any justification that this campaign is real.
34:01
Speaker 5: I was quickly looking up the percentage of candidates who
34:09
Speaker 5: actually qualify, just quickly.
34:12
Speaker 3: Most candidates qualify. The threshold at the statewide level is
34:17
Speaker 3: a little higher, particularly for Republicans. Republican candidates have a
34:22
Speaker 3: harder time getting the threshold because we have We don't
34:26
Speaker 3: have candidates that have the network to go out and
34:34
Speaker 3: raise the money.
34:37
Speaker 2: Well, the reason why I bring it up is.
34:38
Speaker 3: For the constitutional offices anyway, it seems to be a
34:41
Speaker 3: harder threshold.
34:42
Speaker 5: Well, because I see some people who are running for state,
34:46
Speaker 5: Senate in particular, who months into this campaign, after announcing,
34:52
Speaker 5: they're still lacking the signatures and or The money. And,
34:57
Speaker 5: you know, after a couple of months, I mean, if
34:59
Speaker 5: after a couple of months you can't raise the twenty
35:01
Speaker 5: thousand bucks and I'm not saying it's easy. That's I'm
35:04
Speaker 5: saying it's hard.
35:05
Speaker 2: Right. So, you know, you're not intentionally hard, though.
35:08
Speaker 5: OK.
35:08
Speaker 1: Right.
35:08
Speaker 3: I mean, you have to be able to have a
35:12
Speaker 3: campaign operation.
35:13
Speaker 1: Yeah. OK.
35:14
Speaker 2: All right. I just I was curious about that, what
35:16
Speaker 2: you thought about that.
35:17
Speaker 1: And do you think that the citizens election program in
35:19
Speaker 1: general is a good idea?
35:21
Speaker 5: No, you don't.
35:23
Speaker 1: What would be– by the way, it's typically 70 to
35:27
Speaker 1: 90 percent for major party general assembly, state house, and
35:30
Speaker 1: state senate races to actually qualify, believe it or not.
35:34
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, look, I think that it ultimately– it
35:39
Speaker 3: has not borne fruit for Republicans. I don't know that
35:44
Speaker 3: it's really– it is sort of in furtherance of an
35:49
Speaker 3: incumbency protection program, right? I mean– You know, incumbents pretty
35:54
Speaker 3: much start rounding third base and heading home overall. And
36:01
Speaker 3: so the idea that you have the same amount of
36:04
Speaker 3: money as your opponent allows you to run a campaign,
36:09
Speaker 3: but there's no real benefit, number one. Number two, it
36:17
Speaker 3: has created a culture in... Republican Party politics, where people
36:29
Speaker 3: are relying on CEP to fund their campaigns. Candidates and
36:36
Speaker 3: operatives and folks all over don't have the opportunity, nor
36:43
Speaker 3: do they have a reason to go out and meet
36:47
Speaker 3: donors and build those relationships and create that coalition. we're
36:52
Speaker 3: 20 years into that system in some form or fashion,
36:57
Speaker 3: or I guess not. It passed in 2006. It really
37:01
Speaker 3: went into effect in 2010. So I guess 16 years
37:08
Speaker 3: into it. And I think for Republicans, it has certainly
37:13
Speaker 3: been to our detriment overall. And I'm sure that there
37:16
Speaker 3: are people who would disagree with me a great deal.
37:19
Speaker 3: And I would be happy to have that debate and conversation.
37:23
Speaker 3: But I think that when you look across the board,
37:28
Speaker 3: not just at the legislative level, but at congressional races
37:32
Speaker 3: and further up, it has been difficult for Republicans to
37:37
Speaker 3: continue to build those relationships with donors and run strong
37:45
Speaker 3: campaigns outside of the legislature. And you see that, too, now,
37:50
Speaker 3: to your point about the ability to raise money and
37:56
Speaker 3: build those coalitions at the legislative level even, right? Everybody
38:00
Speaker 3: just goes back into their RTC. Well, RTCs are not— have
38:07
Speaker 3: honestly become, like, the only place where people are going
38:10
Speaker 3: to raise money. And that's really tough. So— I think overall,
38:16
Speaker 3: and I also think the system is geared towards people
38:20
Speaker 3: who take advantage of the system. So I don't know.
38:24
Speaker 5: What do you mean by that?
38:25
Speaker 7: Nothing is perfect.
38:26
Speaker 2: What do you mean by take advantage?
38:32
Speaker 1: I think.
38:32
Speaker 3: Say it.
38:36
Speaker 5: You want to say it.
38:38
Speaker 11: Say it.
38:39
Speaker 3: I do want to say it.
38:40
Speaker 6: Look, I think that.
38:41
Speaker 3: There are people who perennially.
38:44
Speaker 14: Go out and.
38:48
Speaker 3: Use the system. They know that there's a guaranteed block
38:52
Speaker 3: of money that they can go out and spend on
38:55
Speaker 3: behalf of a candidate. And so it's sort of just
39:00
Speaker 3: like rinse, repeat.
39:02
Speaker 5: Yeah.
39:03
Speaker 2: Okay.
39:05
Speaker 1: What they do, I mean, I hate to say this,
39:07
Speaker 1: so before this, it was just every man for themselves?
39:11
Speaker 2: They raised whatever they could raise?
39:12
Speaker 3: You have to go out and raise money the old-fashioned way.
39:14
Speaker 5: Interesting.
39:16
Speaker 3: You know, you have to go out and justify your
39:20
Speaker 3: campaign and your strategy and be able to go out and,
39:28
Speaker 3: convince people to invest in your campaign and your effort. Now,
39:34
Speaker 3: on the flip side of that coin, when you look
39:37
Speaker 3: at the– and this is where I will concede benefit
39:41
Speaker 3: to the system– the vitriol that you see in fundraising
39:48
Speaker 3: across the country is and not just at the federal
39:53
Speaker 3: campaign level, but at the state campaign level, is very palpable, right?
39:58
Speaker 3: You see that in what Chris Murphy does, for example, right?
40:02
Speaker 3: Like the constant, you know, need for clickbait and 15-second
40:07
Speaker 3: videos and, you know, having to pound his fist on
40:10
Speaker 3: the podium to justify his existence so he can go
40:14
Speaker 3: out and rattle the cages for people to, you know,
40:18
Speaker 3: give them their $ 5 online. You know, in a lot
40:22
Speaker 3: of states, you see that at the state level and
40:24
Speaker 3: the local level, right? Because everybody's got to feed the beast.
40:27
Speaker 3: And so everybody needs to stay the more inflammatory thing
40:30
Speaker 3: in order to continue to feed the beast, right? But
40:35
Speaker 3: so in Connecticut, we don't have that as much because
40:40
Speaker 3: the fundraising component is not as as necessary, right? Like
40:47
Speaker 3: you don't have the, at the state level, you don't
40:49
Speaker 3: have as much of that. However, we did see that
40:52
Speaker 3: creeping in, certainly with Senator Duff, certainly with Nick Manapace,
40:59
Speaker 3: and we haven't seen it as much. Those are the
41:03
Speaker 3: two sort of outliers. You don't see as much of
41:06
Speaker 3: that kind of approach at the state level. And a
41:08
Speaker 3: lot of that is because the CEP program has created
41:12
Speaker 3: this sort of equal level playing field. And the prohibition on,
41:18
Speaker 3: you know, influence and state contractors, which I 1,000 percent
41:27
Speaker 3: support Governor Rell in that effort, and the restrictions on lobbyists.
41:34
Speaker 3: I think that's good for everybody. It's good for the system.
41:37
Speaker 3: And she was 1,000 percent right on.
41:40
Speaker 8: All of that.
41:43
Speaker 3: But I'm for transparency, right? Like, I think that having
41:50
Speaker 3: immediate disclosures and transparencies within the confines of the law,
41:54
Speaker 3: and I'm sure people are going to be like, but
41:56
Speaker 3: you ran independent expenditures and you, you know, did C4s
42:00
Speaker 3: and dark money and blah, blah, blah. Yeah, but it
42:02
Speaker 3: was within the confines of.
42:04
Speaker 12: The law, right?
42:06
Speaker 2: Yeah.
42:08
Speaker 3: And, you know, the 527s that I ran disclosed their donors.
42:13
Speaker 3: um you know i'll never forget the first one that
42:16
Speaker 3: i did i called the donor and i was like
42:19
Speaker 3: hey listen i've got to list my top five contributors
42:22
Speaker 3: right now you're the only one so um there's gonna
42:26
Speaker 3: be a lot of press about this uh and uh
42:31
Speaker 3: he didn't care it worked out quite well actually um But,
42:38
Speaker 3: you know, I mean, so I don't know. I'm a
42:41
Speaker 3: nerd on this stuff. I love talking about campaign finance
42:44
Speaker 3: reform and the impact that it has on our political system.
42:46
Speaker 3: I personally think McCain-Feingold was one of the most detrimental
42:53
Speaker 3: pieces of legislation to our political ecosystem. And it happened
42:58
Speaker 3: at the same time as sort of the advent of
43:01
Speaker 3: new media and 24-7 cable news and You know, social
43:05
Speaker 3: media came on, you know, relatively soon after that and
43:10
Speaker 3: sort of like that was it. But the way the
43:13
Speaker 3: system used to work was not necessarily great. But our
43:19
Speaker 3: system has certainly taken a nosedive since the advent of
43:23
Speaker 3: campaign finance reform. And nothing really has changed in terms
43:28
Speaker 3: of positivity and how campaigns are funded.
43:32
Speaker 12: So that's my.
43:34
Speaker 3: That's my diatribe on that for today.
43:36
Speaker 1: When you think about it, because, you know, campaign donations
43:39
Speaker 1: are not tax deductible, right?
43:41
Speaker 2: No.
43:42
Speaker 3: Nor should they be. I mean, like, you know, I mean,
43:44
Speaker 3: they shouldn't be.
43:46
Speaker 5: Right. And so you're asking somebody to take money out
43:50
Speaker 5: of their pockets. It's a heavy ask.
43:52
Speaker 1: You're asking them to give money to you, and really,
43:56
Speaker 1: there's really no expectation.
43:58
Speaker 5: That of a return on your investment. So it's a,
44:03
Speaker 5: it's a lot, I think it's a heavy lift for
44:05
Speaker 5: some folks, you know.
44:06
Speaker 3: I will say that. And this, I, I, so I
44:10
Speaker 3: worked at the state, I was executive director of the
44:13
Speaker 3: state party. I worked there from 2007 through 2011. So
44:17
Speaker 3: I was there the entire time that Chris Healy was
44:21
Speaker 3: state party chair. And, and I started off just doing
44:25
Speaker 3: fundraising and then kind of evolved into press and, and
44:29
Speaker 3: executive director and chief of staff and all those things.
44:32
Speaker 3: So I saw it all, but I did fundraising the
44:35
Speaker 3: entire four years that I was there. And Chris and I,
44:38
Speaker 3: we actually just talked about this the other day. We
44:42
Speaker 3: were always so struck by the handwritten notes from folks
44:48
Speaker 3: who would respond to our direct mail solicitations and send
44:53
Speaker 3: like a dollar or $ 5. Right, right, right. And And oftentimes, Chris,
45:01
Speaker 3: as chair, would write those folks handwritten notes. He would
45:06
Speaker 3: make the phone call and thank them for their donation.
45:11
Speaker 3: And those folks, like, we would keep those cards, you know,
45:17
Speaker 3: on the wall. And I'm not being corny here.
45:20
Speaker 12: I mean it.
45:21
Speaker 3: As a reminder that people are investing in our efforts
45:29
Speaker 3: and in our outcomes. And so obviously there's always a
45:33
Speaker 3: North Star and there's a million of them and everyone,
45:36
Speaker 3: but it's an important reminder that there is someone who
45:40
Speaker 3: has invested in your outcome and that they've given you
45:45
Speaker 3: their hard-earned resources that they could certainly put elsewhere. And
45:50
Speaker 3: that is an important reminder. And when you don't have
45:53
Speaker 3: that you lose a little bit of it. Do you
45:56
Speaker 3: know what I mean? Yeah, I get.
46:01
Speaker 11: It.
46:01
Speaker 3: I look at congressional campaigns that I've worked on where
46:04
Speaker 3: it's the same thing, right? A lot of that is
46:06
Speaker 3: more digital nowadays, but you don't have as much. We
46:09
Speaker 3: certainly did do direct mail, and direct mail is a
46:12
Speaker 3: great way to raise money still. But because there's an
46:17
Speaker 3: anonymity to it on the digital side, you don't get
46:20
Speaker 3: that as much. There's just something to someone's giving you
46:24
Speaker 3: a dollar bill or five dollars like i'm this is
46:28
Speaker 3: this is all i can give you right now but
46:30
Speaker 3: i believe in you and i believe in your cause
46:32
Speaker 3: and and you lose some of that when you don't
46:35
Speaker 3: go out and raise money the old-fashioned way you lose
46:38
Speaker 3: that investment you know what i mean no i get
46:40
Speaker 3: it i'm sure everyone's like rolling their eyes right now.
46:43
Speaker 15: And how cheesy i am but i think it's uh
46:45
Speaker 15: i think it's probably i've already heard that a number
46:48
Speaker 15: of different times with some of these campaigns that It's
46:50
Speaker 15: the people who are reaching for the $ 5 bills, not
46:53
Speaker 15: that the.
46:53
Speaker 5: Other ones are not, you know, important.
46:55
Speaker 1: I mean, if somebody's giving you the max of $ 340,
46:58
Speaker 1: obviously that goes a long, long way.
47:01
Speaker 3: I mean, listen, I've gotten seven-figure checks for independent expenditures
47:07
Speaker 3: and things like that. And, you know, you're always extraordinarily
47:12
Speaker 3: grateful that someone believes in your cause or believes in
47:15
Speaker 3: what you're trying to achieve that they're willing to invest.
47:19
Speaker 3: And it is humbling. And if you're not raising money
47:22
Speaker 3: in any way, then you're missing out on that piece
47:26
Speaker 3: of it, you know?
47:27
Speaker 5: All right.
47:29
Speaker 2: Unfortunately, I have a couple more questions, but we'll have
47:31
Speaker 2: to pick it up next time. We can talk about
47:33
Speaker 2: it next time.
47:33
Speaker 1: But Liz Karanowicz, make sure you watch your Sunday mornings, WTNH,
47:37
Speaker 1: Channel 8 at 1030.
47:38
Speaker 5: I will talk to you next time, but appreciate it.
47:41
Speaker 3: Next week is primary.
47:43
Speaker 2: Day, guys.
47:44
Speaker 5: I know. Primary day.
47:45
Speaker 6: One week.
47:46
Speaker 3: Let's go.
47:47
Speaker 5: We'll talk about that next week for sure, too. All right. Thanks, Liz.
47:50
Speaker 1: Bye.
47:50
Speaker 2: See you.
47:51
Speaker 5: All right. Bill Stanley will join us after the top
47:56
Speaker 5: of the hour news. Please don't go anywhere. Then we'll
47:59
Speaker 5: take phone calls from 930 until 10 o'clock.
48:02
Speaker 2: 94.99.
48:15
Speaker 14: Would love to have a discussion with someone.
48:17
Speaker 12: And I say to myself, because they have the name Trump,
48:19
Speaker 12: we can't use them.
48:21
Speaker 14: It's ridiculous.
48:23
Speaker 12: But I'm back to this thing last night I was
48:24
Speaker 12: looking at on qualified opportunity zones. And I hear all
48:28
Speaker 12: this stuff of, ah, it's just going to get rich
48:29
Speaker 12: guys money. And it's like, hey, wait a minute.
48:33
Speaker 14: When you're dead, you're dead.
48:35
Speaker 12: And you've got to do something to show you where
48:38
Speaker 12: we're at. Now, again, this is private investment. encouraging private
48:42
Speaker 12: investment in the state of Connecticut. No one on either
48:45
Speaker 12: political party seems willing to do that. Now, we had
48:50
Speaker 12: 72 zones under 2018. The then Governor Dan Malloy had
48:54
Speaker 12: designated them. We can designate right now another 61. To
48:59
Speaker 12: show you really however you want to look at it,
49:02
Speaker 12: the economic landscape of Connecticut, this is like 11% of
49:07
Speaker 12: the state right now, which is qualifying as quote-unquote shall
49:11
Speaker 12: we say, a place for investment. And the way this
49:13
Speaker 12: thing works is pretty simple. doesn't involve any bureaucracies doesn't
49:17
Speaker 12: involve public dollars you designate the zone an investor comes
49:22
Speaker 12: you have 180 days after your realization for something to
49:26
Speaker 12: put into a qualified opportunity zone and then if you
49:30
Speaker 12: leave it there for there's this benchmark three years five
49:33
Speaker 12: years ten years You can walk away effectively with tax-free
49:36
Speaker 12: profit from.
49:37
Speaker 14: Sweating it out in a place.
49:38
Speaker 12: Now, Norwich, as we've said, has got incredible amounts of
49:42
Speaker 12: opportunity zone. The thing is to invest tax dollars. This
49:46
Speaker 12: is just one other quote-unquote thing you can do. Now,
49:51
Speaker 12: there's a deadline, July 1, 2026. Uh, Connecticut is supposed
49:57
Speaker 12: to start nominating zones. My, uh, from what I'm seeing
50:01
Speaker 12: is they have no desire to nominate zones whatsoever.
50:07
Speaker 14: As a matter of fact, if you, and we'll get
50:09
Speaker 14: into this in a moment, our should be.
50:10
Speaker 12: Abolished Connecticut department of economic community development. I challenge anybody
50:15
Speaker 12: to go to the website and click on opportunity zones
50:18
Speaker 12: and And the only thing your mouse is going to
50:20
Speaker 12: do is keep clicking. It doesn't even go to a link.
50:23
Speaker 12: And this is like Connecticut's like one of 11 states
50:26
Speaker 12: that isn't doing anything. So basically what it comes down
50:31
Speaker 12: to is that it's there's a deadline in place for
50:36
Speaker 12: designating economic private capital coming in and they.
50:41
Speaker 14: Doing a thing about it now.
50:43
Speaker 12: If you think this is some harebrained idea, some pie
50:46
Speaker 12: in the sky, some, you know, oh, that's Donald Trump
50:48
Speaker 12: and we don't do Donald Trump and all this idiot nonsense.
50:52
Speaker 14: I can give you one, two.
50:54
Speaker 12: Three, Utah, District of Columbia, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, Alabama, Ohio, Texas,
51:01
Speaker 12: not all, quote, unquote, shall we say, red states, but
51:06
Speaker 12: are doing great things with this program.
51:08
Speaker 14: Now, Utah, right?
51:10
Speaker 12: 115 million per opportunity zone that it reached. I mean,
51:15
Speaker 12: making a friendly environment. And I say to myself, you know, others, Arkansas, Hawaii,
51:21
Speaker 12: Hawaii of all people, Montana, Wyoming.
51:25
Speaker 14: And it's like, you know, my mother.
51:29
Speaker 12: Would always say that, you know, it takes one to
51:30
Speaker 12: know one like charges attract. We're not, we're not getting any,
51:37
Speaker 12: any attraction here, anything whatsoever. And the most galling thing
51:41
Speaker 12: to me, and this is the thing I do not
51:44
Speaker 12: want to see another four years of, you know, shall
51:47
Speaker 12: we say demo commie socialist rule. I want to see
51:51
Speaker 12: Republicans win, but you try to, you try to show
51:56
Speaker 12: things and do things and like, you know, nobody seems
51:58
Speaker 12: to be paying any attention. you know, they keep complaining.
52:03
Speaker 12: Our housing is affordable. Cities are stagnating. Investment is flowing
52:07
Speaker 12: to lower tax states. We have several things that we
52:11
Speaker 12: can do to immediately start driving capital.
52:14
Speaker 14: They ain't saying a word about it.
52:17
Speaker 12: And it's like, if this is going to be lost,
52:20
Speaker 12: if this election is going to be lost, it's going
52:22
Speaker 12: to be lost because we're not putting the damned opportunities
52:25
Speaker 12: out there. We're not We're not doing anything to counteract
52:30
Speaker 12: socialism and communism. And you can say whatever you want.
52:33
Speaker 12: You can agree with me, disagree with me. I am
52:35
Speaker 12: of the belief that the only way you're going to
52:37
Speaker 12: defeat socialism and communism is by individual ability, giving somebody
52:44
Speaker 12: a shot to do something on their own. It's like
52:47
Speaker 12: I was thinking about my late brother this morning who
52:50
Speaker 12: was high up in Pitney Bowes and Personnel. And he
52:53
Speaker 12: had one thing in his, shall I say, in his
52:56
Speaker 12: job description, Mike, key people, out of the union and
53:00
Speaker 12: do whatever you can to do that. And the fact
53:03
Speaker 12: of the matter is, you know, way back when a
53:05
Speaker 12: Pitney Bowes had a great, a great marketing thing.
53:08
Speaker 14: And it was the monopoly on the postage meter postage meter.
53:11
Speaker 14: What the hell is that?
53:12
Speaker 12: Well, you know, I got to tell you about it kids,
53:13
Speaker 12: but that all said the, the whole idea was no
53:17
Speaker 12: one in that plant wanted to unionize. They had it
53:20
Speaker 12: too good the way it was happening. And we're just
53:23
Speaker 12: not seeing that. And I, you know, I'm being, shall
53:27
Speaker 12: I say, I can be a whole lot more angry.
53:29
Speaker 12: I'm more concerned about the fact of we're just, we're
53:33
Speaker 12: failing all over the place and we're really in for
53:36
Speaker 12: some soup and.
53:37
Speaker 14: People don't see it unless something happens.
53:40
Speaker 12: I'm doing my best here to give you something, give
53:43
Speaker 12: people something willing to work with them, willing to talk
53:45
Speaker 12: with them because I, man, oh man, it ain't good.
53:48
Speaker 14: You're ball.
53:49
Speaker 2: So two things.
53:50
Speaker 5: One is I explained to everybody, if you could, what
53:53
Speaker 5: advantages come from an opportunity zone?
53:56
Speaker 2: Like what do they get?
53:57
Speaker 1: And then part two of that is, Your brother's company
54:01
Speaker 1: keeping folks out of the union means that they were
54:04
Speaker 1: treating their employees.
54:06
Speaker 2: Better than a union could treat them.
54:07
Speaker 1: So does the onus for that now sit with these
54:11
Speaker 1: companies right now in the state, let's say with the
54:14
Speaker 1: state of Connecticut, to actually be better employers and do
54:18
Speaker 1: a better job through their employees?
54:21
Speaker 2: Just a couple of thoughts from you on those.
54:23
Speaker 3: Okay.
54:24
Speaker 14: The first thing is what is an opportunity zone?
54:27
Speaker 12: You provide a means of somebody who has a large
54:33
Speaker 12: capital gain to defer it and invest it in an economically,
54:37
Speaker 12: shall we say, challenged area and stay there for a
54:41
Speaker 12: period of time to make the investment work. Now, what's
54:45
Speaker 12: going to happen? They're going to make it work. They're
54:47
Speaker 12: going to keep things clean. They're going to look out
54:50
Speaker 12: after themselves. They're going to provide jobs. They're in order
54:56
Speaker 12: to get this thing working if it's economically favourable. In
55:00
Speaker 12: order to do that, you need to have a government
55:03
Speaker 12: that is, you know, shall I say, do you have
55:06
Speaker 12: to like micromanage this thing? Do you have to have,
55:09
Speaker 12: you know, 50 million programs and 37 committees? Connecticut was
55:12
Speaker 12: doing it. No, just simply stay the hell out of
55:14
Speaker 12: the way because that's all you do many times is
55:17
Speaker 12: just get in the way. That's really the first thing.
55:20
Speaker 12: And then to provide, shall I say, somebody comes, somebody
55:24
Speaker 12: else sees that, they come, that sort of thing. And
55:27
Speaker 12: as far as can the company do it on their own,
55:31
Speaker 12: they need a favorable environment and they need to be
55:35
Speaker 12: in a place where they're not going to be overtaxed,
55:38
Speaker 12: they're not going to be dragged upon, they're not going.
55:40
Speaker 14: To be pointed at as the bad guy, and they're going.
55:43
Speaker 12: To, you know, just to sit and do, basically. And
55:48
Speaker 12: those are basically the two big things. And is this
55:51
Speaker 12: a a perfect solution, Leo C?
55:53
Speaker 14: No, it's not.
55:55
Speaker 5: It's not.
55:55
Speaker 12: Nothing is perfect, but yet it's the kind of thing
55:58
Speaker 12: that if you can increase private capital into an area
56:02
Speaker 12: that is mired by economic disadvantagement, destruction, and socialism, what
56:09
Speaker 12: the hell do you have to lose?
56:11
Speaker 14: That's what I'm saying. Because right now, what little we have,
56:13
Speaker 14: we're going to lose everything.
56:15
Speaker 2: So you're saying like a place like Bridgeport or even
56:17
Speaker 2: some places.
56:18
Speaker 5: Exactly. Norwich.
56:19
Speaker 2: Norwich's got a big one.
56:20
Speaker 5: Yeah. You could actually give like tax abatements.
56:23
Speaker 2: Is that what we're talking about? Because a lot of
56:25
Speaker 2: folks don't like that. And I get it. But I mean.
56:28
Speaker 1: No.
56:28
Speaker 5: This is not.
56:29
Speaker 14: I mean, this is a federal thing.
56:30
Speaker 12: In other words, it doesn't cost the state anything.
56:33
Speaker 1: Right.
56:33
Speaker 5: Basically.
56:34
Speaker 12: I mean, the only thing that, you know, it's when
56:38
Speaker 12: so-and-so goes to sell their property, staying there 10 years.
56:41
Speaker 14: They don't pay the capital gains tax.
56:43
Speaker 12: On, on what, but, but I mean, for staying there
56:45
Speaker 12: 10 years, I mean, honestly, truthfully, I mean, I do
56:48
Speaker 12: think that's worth an attaboy.
56:49
Speaker 2: Okay. All right.
56:51
Speaker 5: What else you got?
56:52
Speaker 12: Well, look at it this way again, socialism, communism, what, uh,
56:57
Speaker 12: what exactly are we doing? Um, I, people were sharing
57:03
Speaker 12: with me this, um, weekend, the, The Auditors of Public
57:07
Speaker 12: Accounts came out with an audit on the, again, the
57:12
Speaker 12: should be abolished Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development.
57:16
Speaker 12: And basically it, and this is quote unquote, shall we say,
57:24
Speaker 12: not politically pointed as such.
57:27
Speaker 14: There are 22 major.
57:30
Speaker 12: Violations in this accounting report or on this audit.
57:34
Speaker 14: 11 of them are repeats, you know, didn't do anything
57:38
Speaker 14: from the last audit.
57:40
Speaker 12: And it's the kind of thing and these are the
57:42
Speaker 12: things that I think it comes down to what kind
57:45
Speaker 12: of an economy do you want? What kind of a
57:47
Speaker 12: society do you want? Do you want a society where
57:50
Speaker 12: people were doing for themselves? Or do you want to
57:52
Speaker 12: have this perverted idea that Connecticut has that.
57:56
Speaker 14: For some reason? We're supposed to.
57:58
Speaker 10: Be, you know, the SOP, the bank of last resort,
58:05
Speaker 10: the social service support of last resort. I'm not opposed
58:08
Speaker 10: to helping people, ELC, but basically all we seem to
58:12
Speaker 10: do is shovel money.
58:14
Speaker 14: And when we shovel.
58:15
Speaker 12: Money, what we're getting is effectively, you know, out-of-control messes,
58:19
Speaker 12: millions of dollars lost, and, hey, let's just go and
58:22
Speaker 12: do it again. Some of these findings in this report,
58:26
Speaker 12: the– There was a fraud investigation in the small business
58:31
Speaker 12: boost program. I'm sitting there saying, why do we have
58:34
Speaker 12: a small business boost program? Isn't that something that banks
58:37
Speaker 12: are supposed to be doing, basically? And or, you know,
58:41
Speaker 12: you go to some site or you borrow from your
58:44
Speaker 12: friends and neighbors, a million-dollar loss there. Now, of course,
58:47
Speaker 12: there's the gold standard of Connecticut Department of Economic and
58:51
Speaker 12: Community Development failure.
58:53
Speaker 14: The Blue Hills Civic Association, $ 13.
58:54
Speaker 8: 55 million.
58:56
Speaker 12: Basically, in the street, three hundred thousand dollar wire. No, no, no,
59:01
Speaker 12: no idea where it went. Another finding seventy five hundred
59:05
Speaker 12: two products submitted to the governor lack cost estimates. That's
59:08
Speaker 12: like you going to the bank. and saying, you know,
59:12
Speaker 12: I want to build a house and I need a loan. Well,
59:14
Speaker 12: how much are you.
59:15
Speaker 14: Going to need, Mr.
59:16
Speaker 12: I have no idea, but just give me the money.
59:18
Speaker 12: So basically they give them the money. I mean, finding
59:21
Speaker 12: for I can go down all these, but of course,
59:23
Speaker 12: we don't have time. 18 awards, $ 84 million showed missing
59:27
Speaker 12: performance metrics, project balance sheets, cost statements, expired. $ 1 million
59:33
Speaker 12: improperly approved. Just give them the money. This one here
59:37
Speaker 12: just drove me crazy. Uncollectible loans receivable understated by $ 22.
59:42
Speaker 14: 6 million. All the people lending the money? They're still there.
59:47
Speaker 14: They got their jobs. They got their pensions. They got
59:49
Speaker 14: their vacations.
59:51
Speaker 12: Somewhere like $ 350 million and $ 292 million. On and on
59:56
Speaker 12: and on we go. And then the other thing is
59:59
Speaker 12: this community investment fund, which basically is a feel-good. All
1:00:03
Speaker 12: the politicians sit there, Democrats and Republicans, and throw projects
1:00:06
Speaker 12: and thinking, hey, great, I'm going to get reinvested.
1:00:08
Speaker 14: I'm going to get reelected and that sort of thing.
1:00:11
Speaker 12: And, I mean, this is not– this is basically taking–
1:00:15
Speaker 12: Taxpayer money, throwing it at projects and saying, this is
1:00:19
Speaker 12: economic development.
1:00:20
Speaker 5: It's not.
1:00:21
Speaker 14: It's our money.
1:00:22
Speaker 12: And basically what it's doing is it's not attracting anything.
1:00:26
Speaker 12: I say to myself, where's the new capital? Where's the
1:00:29
Speaker 12: new thoughts? Where's the new ideas? What is going to
1:00:32
Speaker 12: make Connecticut desirable as Connecticut used to be, you know,
1:00:35
Speaker 12: 30 years ago? And this this kind of stuff just
1:00:38
Speaker 12: makes me absolutely crazy.
1:00:40
Speaker 14: And it's all based upon the fact that no one
1:00:43
Speaker 14: wants to.
1:00:44
Speaker 12: You know, quote unquote, not be the guy bringing the
1:00:47
Speaker 12: cake to the party.
1:00:48
Speaker 14: And there's things in this audit when you read it.
1:00:52
Speaker 14: Auditors did a fine job with it.
1:00:54
Speaker 12: But like, you know, and this may not be an
1:00:56
Speaker 12: audit function, but I wish there was an evaluation as to.
1:01:02
Speaker 12: The economic value of subsidized activity, what is it doing
1:01:09
Speaker 12: other than scratching the mosquito bite? It didn't look at
1:01:15
Speaker 12: the fact of, well, if you keep subsidizing activity, is
1:01:18
Speaker 12: this a good thing?
1:01:19
Speaker 14: Where does the subsidy come from? Where does the juice
1:01:21
Speaker 14: come from? You need capital. You need investment. You need vision.
1:01:25
Speaker 12: And if you don't have any of that, basically, as
1:01:27
Speaker 12: we don't and you're not attracting it, I mean– It's
1:01:30
Speaker 12: it's absolutely you're going to be in the soup.
1:01:33
Speaker 5: I've looked.
1:01:33
Speaker 14: I mean, honestly, truthfully, I again, I don't want to
1:01:36
Speaker 14: see a Democratic victory.
1:01:37
Speaker 12: But Republicans are supposed to be the party here with
1:01:40
Speaker 12: the vision to say these are the economic plans. This
1:01:42
Speaker 12: is what we're going to do to fix the state economically.
1:01:45
Speaker 12: They you know, it's they're not showing it.
1:01:48
Speaker 14: They're not doing it. And that's the part that really
1:01:49
Speaker 14: troubles me.
1:01:50
Speaker 1: Tony, I wish we had more time because I got
1:01:53
Speaker 1: more questions, but we'll pick it up next time.
1:01:55
Speaker 5: Maybe we'll do it next week, yeah.
1:01:57
Speaker 2: Well, it's all good. I mean, we have plenty of time.
1:01:59
Speaker 1: And you can also find Tony on Thursdays, 30 with Tony,
1:02:03
Speaker 1: right there on his X channel and, of course, on
1:02:06
Speaker 1: Talk Red Media.
1:02:07
Speaker 2: Tony, I thank you, brother. I appreciate it. Until next time,
1:02:10
Speaker 2: we'll talk then.
1:02:10
Speaker 5: Thanks, pal. Thanks, everybody. You got it, Tony D. We'll
1:02:13
Speaker 5: come right back.
1:02:14
Speaker 2: Our good friend Bruce Flax will join us. We'll be
1:02:16
Speaker 2: right back.