Latest / Rick Outzen: (we don’t) color on the dog / David Jolly: "Florida Tonight Would Elect a Democratic Governor"
Transcript
- Rick Outzen: back to Rick's Blog Live. We've got a special guest with us, ⁓ nominee for Governor, David Jolly. David, thank you for joining us. It has been funny how the world has changed dramatically. Parties have changed. it is David Jolly: ⁓ When I was a Republican, yeah. Rick Outzen: But you've won the nomination cleanly and clearly. We now know you now know who you're facing. Sure. Florida ready for a democratic governor? David Jolly: Yes, Florida voters tonight would elect a Democratic governor. And we're seeing it. Look, we saw in the Congressional District one special election. Voters swung towards a Democratic candidate by fifteen points, sixteen. the space coast that happened, the city of Miami just elected a Democratic mayor for the first time in thirty years. ⁓ was nineteen points, not even close. ⁓ don't always get that this cycle, right? I don't want to be naive about that. Some cycles are ⁓ the course, some are ideological, some are war and peace. This a change environment where people are saying, look, The economy's not working for us. Housing, healthcare, education. we're exhausted by the culture wars. Even if you're an old school Republican libertarian, you're saying enough like punching down at communities doesn't ⁓ the price of insurance or gas. And do think we're seeing this whiff of corruption that's just been, you know, cemented into our politics. And so I think we're in a nineteen seventy four post Watergate moment. ⁓ Enough are saying, Forget about party, we're going in a new direction. ⁓ Now caution to Democratic friends is let's be careful. I'm not sure we've won hearts and minds yet. But we are winning votes and I think Florida tonight would elect a democratic governor. Rick Outzen: Mentioned corruption, what are you talking about? David Jolly: Well look, you can look at Hope Florida and wherever you think the law comes down on that, what we know is that governor made that move and then was protected by his cronies. I think we have the most corrupt campaign finance system in the ⁓ in entire country right here in Florida. And I'll a little grace to my opponent Byron Donalds in this. He's just a vessel for the special interests that have controlled Florida for thirty years. ⁓ Look, he's over a hundred million dollars. ⁓ It's not it's the utilities, the data centers, the for profit schools, the hedge funds that gobbling up rental real estate in your neighborhood so Airbnb can come in. the gambling tribes, all of the ⁓ ⁓ that have controlled Tallahassee now control my opponent. ⁓ so I think enough people are just exhausted by it. We've got a lot of Republicans coming our way. I we might hit twenty percent of Republicans. And thing they often say is, look, I just to see real leadership. And now what I'm seeing in in my party, Republican Party they're saying is our leaders are controlled, it's by the president or special interest or the donors. Whatever that might be, I'm running a very postpartisan campaign. I mean it. I was a Republican, I've been an independent. I I'm a proud Democrat, not a reluctant one, but I we gotta focus on housing, healthcare and education, clean water, clean air, and keep data centers out of your backyard. I don't care your party. Those are the priorities. And if we focus on that, yeah, I want to end the culture wars just 'cause of the old school libertarian principle to keep government out of your life. I think there's enough for a new coalition in American politics. Rick Outzen: Well the is a major issue. We we see it a lot in our stories, you know, Escambia County, we've nearly half population's either in poverty or living paycheck to paycheck. it is David Jolly: Working working families living paycheck. Rick Outzen: And the you know the property tax isn't the issue, it's the homeowners insurance. That's right. It's adjustable mortgages with the government, you know, more the bond rates go up, insur in interest rates are going up, so their their payments are going up. It's that's right. It's difficult ⁓ and then to figure out health care is a nightmare. David Jolly: Every every candidate right now says affordability. Some don't even know what they're saying, others say it and don't have a solution. what I say. The pillars of people's economic life. It shifts for you during the generations, depending on your stage in life. It's housing, and education. ⁓ Can I my rent? Can I buy a house? If I bought a house, can I afford to stay in it because of a collapsing insurance market? Where's my family get health care? More people going without health care than ever before. And where should I my kids to school in a state that's abandoned public education? And created a choice program that charges you tuition on top of vouchers, housing, healthcare, and education. yes, I've got solutions. I think we need a state catastrophic fund that'll cut insurance by 60 to 70 percent for homeowners. ⁓ should scale up workforce and affordable housing using models that work. We scale up the direct delivery of health care, primary health care, using platforms work and a federally qualified health center right here serving the community in Brownsville, regardless of the ability to pay. Use that model and scale it And I do think we need a ten-year renaissance in public education. Lead the world in public education. Why shouldn't we? It creates a resilient economy, it invests in our youth, it it transforms lives. our teachers are paid dead last in the nation. ⁓ don't care about your party registration, that's wrong. ⁓ 40th in per capita spending. Our eighth-grade test scores are falling off a cliff. Sure, keep choice, but a choice school should have to teach your kid to read. But before even consider choice, you should have a local public school. Well funded with teachers who are paid in the top half nationally, so that you want to send your kids into Florida's public schools. Rick Outzen: Well, you met with educators here as part of your vision to Pensacola. what was some of the feedback you got from them? Probably not that different from what you're saying now. David Jolly: Yeah, look, we're a state that chose to abandon public education twenty-five years ago. We started chasing choice and as a result we started defunding public education we just got our priorities wrong. When you have ⁓ living in Pensacola but teaching in Baldwin or across the Alabama line because they get paid ten thousand, fifteen, twenty thousand dollars more, when an Alabama school gives you ⁓ annual bonus because of a special certification instead of a once a career bonus like Florida does. We've lost in the competitive market, and so that's why I say about policies for a moment, forget about teachers' unions and pay and flexibility, all that's forget about it. Let's a state that chooses to lead the world in public education. Not just Mississippi, and Georgia, God bless them, lead India and China. We should have world-class public school every neighborhood with more teachers who are paid more that Florida's families want to rush into. And if it doesn't work you, then we'll have a choice program, ⁓ but that choice school should to teach your kid to read. Provide the same services, the same standards, the same offerings that our public schools do. could do it through a matriculation agreement. If you need trigonometry and they don't offer it, they could send you back to a public school, ⁓ then the dollar should follow the student back the public school. It's just enterprise approach. It's not a partisan or ideological one. Rick Outzen: Yeah, when you look at the state it is it's very the issues as you move around similar when you Yeah, they are. You know, that's that's kinda always we've always felt like we've got three different states with ⁓ here and then the the middle part and the southern part. ⁓ the issues resonating across the board? ⁓ David Jolly: They're they're absolutely the same. I was on the plane coming here and the the woman next to me said, Hey, I'm a Republican, my my husband and I are gonna vote for you. Well how should I tell my Republican friends to to look at you? I said, wanna fight for housing, healthcare, education, and to keep data centers out of your backyard. That's The basics. Yeah, I want to end the culture wars and do some other things, but housing, healthcare, education, keep data centers out of your backyard. Whether you're Democrat, independent, or Republican, whether you live in a scambia or Collier or Palm Beach or Miami Dade, That's it. Now some places different issues pop up, right? Within the immigrant community in South Florida, understand cruelty and broken promises, ripping a baby away from a mom, or ⁓ didn't think you meant you were taking my TPS. I thought it was gonna be somebody else's TPS. But then, politicians too often go into a community and honestly profile. If you're brown, LGBTQ plus, ⁓ you think that that ⁓ person only about those issues. The truth is everyone cares about housing, healthcare and education. Where to send your kids to school? Can I get health care? And where am I gonna have a roof over my head? it, Rick. ⁓ healthcare, education, ⁓ NOTA data centers. Rick Outzen: Well we're coming up on that that two minute break, but then looking at it, the are ⁓ you surprised at how big the data center issues and how ⁓ you nonpartisan it? David Jolly: You know, intensity of it. Sure. And I think for policy reasons, I proposed a one year moratorium. I worry about the environmental impact, the disruption of communities, the destabilization, devaluation of real estate. I think there remain some public health concerns, noise pollution. My opponent said, no, we're gonna let you come in. Here's the welcome at. You just have to pay us to come in. I just think are saying we don't want you here. And at some point, about policy for a moment. ⁓ The role of a or a candidate is to listen to voters. And when voters are saying don't do it here, then the then I'm gonna fight like hell to make sure we don't do it here. And so I'm I will I will institute a moratorium on data centers, and if they want to sue me, they can sue me. But I think what the state should do is study the broad environmental impact on the natural resource. We should fund a deep economic impact study. Sure, construction jobs are great, but if there's no long term tail to this, and by the way, five years from now, are we even gonna need mega data centers? Right because it might only be a ten percent footprint there. the other 49 states build them. We don't need them in Florida. We don't need data centers in Florida. That's what voters are telling us, of policy. Yeah, I on policy I think we shouldn't have them. But listen to the voters for the f for once. My opponent's so many millions of dollars from data center interests that he won't do it. He's telling us, ⁓ I don't what you think, we're gonna build them. Rick Outzen: Mm-hmm. David, thank you so much for coming on. I appreciate it. Thank you. We're gonna take a break, pay a few bills, we'll be right back. I'm Rick Altson and this is Rick's. David Jolly: You're Blah.