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Speaker 2: State House Happenings. Rob Kendall Dull keeps your Baz, Jim Merritt.
Speaker 2: The program of State House Happening is your weekly look
Speaker 2: at what's going on with Indiana politics. Let's meet the
Speaker 2: award winning panel you know it for thirty years and
Speaker 2: the Indiana Senate. Hello, Jim Merritt, Hello Robert and he's
Speaker 2: owner and operator of Indie Politics dot org.
Speaker 3: Dule keeps Shabaz, Hello, we'll come in Binvenue. Welcome all right,
Speaker 3: so old.
Speaker 2: Pale Todd Roketa the Attorney General another week where he's
Speaker 2: back in the news. And Abdul I think you followed
Speaker 2: this story were as close as anyone. You have it
Speaker 2: over at adypolitics dot org. Capitol Chronicle running it as well.
Speaker 2: He had a loss in front of the Indiana Disciplinary Commission.
Speaker 3: Yes he did. What a shame? Uh.
Speaker 4: Basically, I'm sorry, I'm gonna I'm in a bit of
Speaker 4: a mood today, so I'm good apologize right now for
Speaker 4: the extra double heaps of Snark's probably gonna be coming
Speaker 4: uh in today's conversation. Uh No, Todd rakeetap basically, uh,
Speaker 4: because of his comments about doctor Kaitlen Bernard and the
Speaker 4: and the whole nine yards and the loser Commission is
Speaker 4: you know, on the on the hook. And so he
Speaker 4: follally he follow what was called a motion to dismiss,
Speaker 4: basically saying there's no issue here, everything's good, fine, blah
Speaker 4: blah blah. And the Supreme Court said, no, that's not
Speaker 4: going to happen. You know, We're we're gonna, we're gonna,
Speaker 4: we're gonna.
Speaker 3: Go forward this.
Speaker 4: We're gonna do something a little differently. And so instead
Speaker 4: of one hearing officer who would hear the whole thing,
Speaker 4: they're gonna have three hearing officers from three different parts
Speaker 4: of the state. North South and Central. So that way
Speaker 4: there's no question as to when the decision comes back
Speaker 4: to know this was fair and that they're actually taking
Speaker 4: an extra step. And I see why because regardless of
Speaker 4: what you think of Todd Rakkeedter personally, he is to
Speaker 4: stay wide elected official and is entitled to I want
Speaker 4: to say extra du process, but just to make sure
Speaker 4: that everything is done right and everything is bove board
Speaker 4: and also it's done so he can shut up and
Speaker 4: not complain about well, he canplain anyway about the result,
Speaker 4: at least this way, he can't say the process was
Speaker 4: unfair that I think they went out of his way
Speaker 4: to accommodate him.
Speaker 2: Okay, So Bradford Cale Bradford is the name that I know.
Speaker 2: He is, I believe or was or is a college professor. Uh,
Speaker 2: teaches classes and one with my wife's one of my
Speaker 2: wife's professors. Seemed like a very reasonable guy.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: And actually I've known Judge Bradford for years because my
Speaker 4: first man when I first came here Indianapolis, he was
Speaker 4: on the Mary County bench.
Speaker 5: Uh.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So they're putting these judges, well two of them
Speaker 2: are judges, Is that right too? Like there's another one
Speaker 2: out of here that's also a judge, I believe.
Speaker 3: VEDE V A, I, D I K.
Speaker 2: According to India Capitol chronicled Bradford and Vedick are currently
Speaker 2: serving on the Indiana Court of Appeals, and both have
Speaker 2: been elected by their colleagues to serve as their court's chief.
Speaker 3: Judge in the past.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so that would make it pretty hard for Rokeia
Speaker 2: to say, well, I'm getting a horrible deal here and
Speaker 2: the whole thing is totally biased in a nutshow.
Speaker 6: Yeah, okay, Well, I uh, I can't speak high high
Speaker 6: enough for both those two judges.
Speaker 5: I grew up with Cale Bradford, just like I grew
Speaker 5: up with everyone.
Speaker 4: Judge Sweeney now the chief chief Justice with the Southern
Speaker 4: you like living like Mayberry for lawyers?
Speaker 3: What do you?
Speaker 2: How do you end up so bad? Look at all
Speaker 2: these other distinguished people.
Speaker 6: I have all the respect in the world for both
Speaker 6: these judges, Judge Bradford and Vedick. And and you know
Speaker 6: you see him on the elevator at the State House,
Speaker 6: and and so you you you work with them, and uh,
Speaker 6: but yeah, Cale Bradford is an outstanding jurist and also
Speaker 6: a better person as Judge Sweeney is. With the Gay
Speaker 6: Whitley case. And uh, I think they're doing an outstanding
Speaker 6: job of making sure that that all the eyes are
Speaker 6: dotted and teaser gross and and uh uh the attorney
Speaker 6: general does get a fair shot at this, and and
Speaker 6: uh kudos to the to the judiciary to making sure
Speaker 6: that that the Attorney general is one hundred percent covered
Speaker 6: with this and gets the fair hearing that he deserves.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so it's it's appeals court judges Cale Bradford and
Speaker 2: Nancy badik Am I saying that correctly, and then Attorney
Speaker 2: William Hussman are the three who will oversee this. Now,
Speaker 2: let's walk through this a little because it's our chance
Speaker 2: for us to educate that we were like, what is
Speaker 2: going on here?
Speaker 3: Okay, so just a reset.
Speaker 2: Most of our longtime State House happenings listeners will know
Speaker 2: how we got here. But there is a attorneys are
Speaker 2: held higher standard than regular people. It's the same way
Speaker 2: I want to.
Speaker 3: Say a higher state, I say a different standard.
Speaker 2: Well, okay, but my point is the same way as
Speaker 2: I can't come on these airwaves and use the F
Speaker 2: word as a terrestrial radio broadcaster.
Speaker 3: That's part of when.
Speaker 2: You agree to be on these WIBC or Network Indiana
Speaker 2: or wherever you may be hearing us on the radio.
Speaker 2: These airwaves, you give away certain rights and a privilege
Speaker 2: of doing that.
Speaker 4: In exchange for the licensed to broadcast. You agree to
Speaker 4: do these things exactity on the air.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 2: Nobody's impeding my first amendment.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 2: If we just did this on a podcast only, we'd
Speaker 2: go down to Monument Circle and we could do this
Speaker 2: show on the corner and let the f bombs fly.
Speaker 2: But we accept, in order for the privilege of having
Speaker 2: the power of broadcast IBC interrestrial radio, that there's certain things.
Speaker 5: We give great standards.
Speaker 6: Yeah, everything's about standards, and I think that that's a rock.
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, So same thing with attorney. You're not entitled
Speaker 2: to a law license. It's something you earn and then
Speaker 2: it's a club you're joining and Abdul, you're the attorney
Speaker 2: in the room. As part of that, there are certain
Speaker 2: codes of conduct and rules for the road you are
Speaker 2: forced to abide by that regular people such as us
Speaker 2: are not.
Speaker 4: Yeah, they're called the rules of professional conduct. Every state
Speaker 4: has has its own set of rules. You can't do
Speaker 4: anything an ethical and you can be combative at times,
Speaker 4: but you just can't be a four letter worth in
Speaker 4: rhymes with rick. Right, and in addition of our FEC license.
Speaker 3: Sure, very good.
Speaker 2: Okay, So no one's impeding on Todd Roketa's First Amendment rights.
Speaker 2: He could quit being an attorney tomorrow. He could go
Speaker 2: and say all the things he said that has put
Speaker 2: him in hot water. He wants to be an attorney
Speaker 2: the same way we want to be or I want
Speaker 2: to be broadcaster. A broadcaster, and thus that's the rules
Speaker 2: of the road. You don't want to do it, don't
Speaker 2: be a part of the club.
Speaker 3: So he.
Speaker 2: We're guards to this was several years ago, now, comments
Speaker 2: that's how long we've been at this. Comments made on
Speaker 2: Fox News about an abortion doctor got him in hot water,
Speaker 2: and they're sort of the eye test, right.
Speaker 4: Yeah, but what it boils down to U says comment
Speaker 4: I just pulled up here a second ago, he said,
Speaker 4: I was speaking as an elected official, not as a
Speaker 4: lawyer representing a client, so I'm protected by the First Amendment.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's not how this works, is it. I Mean
Speaker 2: it's like, again, if I'm on these airwaves, which is
Speaker 2: part of the deal of signing up, I'm Rob Kendall
Speaker 2: I'm broad. I'm a broad. That's all what I do
Speaker 2: for a job.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 2: Oh and by the way, my employer could fire me
Speaker 2: at any time, even if I went down on Monument
Speaker 2: Circle and said the F word. Right, Like, you're not
Speaker 2: entitled to any of this. Once you're an attorney. You're
Speaker 2: always an attorney. To have that law license in perpetuity
Speaker 2: or get it renewed or whatever. You have to always
Speaker 2: abide by the code of kind of you don't get
Speaker 2: to just hop I'm Todd Rokety the elected person. I'm
Speaker 2: Todd Roketa of the attorney. I'm Todd Roketa, the private
Speaker 2: Like this is so grow.
Speaker 4: You cannot you cannot compartmentalize what he was trying to do.
Speaker 4: It's like like I wasn't. I wasn't talking to as lawyer,
Speaker 4: talking to his privacies. Like no, no, no, you're always an
Speaker 4: attorney because you have a license. Yeah, number one, Number two,
Speaker 4: you're also the attorney general. So I adnything you're going
Speaker 4: to say, even though I disagree with, will carry some
Speaker 4: legal weight. And fundamentally, what the Disciplayer Commission said is
Speaker 4: tiber Kei had made false and misleta staments about doctor Bernard.
Speaker 4: He signed a sel An affidavit.
Speaker 2: Okay, real quick though, because again, we have people that
Speaker 2: come in all the time. He went on Fox News
Speaker 2: made comments about abortion. Doctor I always said's sort of
Speaker 2: like the eye test of when he said it. At
Speaker 2: the time, I think we all uh or whatever version
Speaker 2: of the show we were on. I think you were back.
Speaker 2: I think you were running for may or maybe at
Speaker 2: the time, but whatever. Maybe we were all here together.
Speaker 2: I don't remember, but we were all sort of collectively like,
Speaker 2: who that's problem, Yeah, probably gonna get him in some trouble. Yeah,
Speaker 2: And you and I Jim are not attorneys. And a
Speaker 2: week we even knew yeah, And so we got really
Speaker 2: a sweetheart deal from this Disciplinary Commission, who said hey,
Speaker 2: and a big part of it is because he is
Speaker 2: an elected official. They I think they gave him way
Speaker 2: more leeway or generosity than most attorneys would get. They
Speaker 2: sentially gave him a slap on the wrist. He got
Speaker 2: a small fine, a verbal reprimand, and then they were like, Okay,
Speaker 2: everybody go on their merry way. Well, almost as soon
Speaker 2: as this plays out, which he agreed to this, he
Speaker 2: signed off on this, and essentially one of the things
Speaker 2: he said correctly. If I'm wrong, I'm doing He said, basically,
Speaker 2: I would not be able to defend this case in
Speaker 2: front of you guys. That's part of this plea agreement
Speaker 2: or the allegations in front of me or whatever. And
Speaker 2: then almost as soon as the deal was announced, he
Speaker 2: basically came out and poo pooed the deal and was
Speaker 2: just basically like, yeah, I just did it to save
Speaker 2: the taxpayers a bunch of time. I didn't really mean
Speaker 2: the things that I said to people in your professionment
Speaker 2: well was he People and your professor were like, wait,
Speaker 2: is it you just it's under oath or perjury or whatever.
Speaker 3: Is that what you do when you sign the thing?
Speaker 4: In a nutshell, he signed then agreement and then undermined
Speaker 4: it in a nutshell that's basically what.
Speaker 2: So they're saying, you agreed to the court, which is
Speaker 2: a big deal that I did.
Speaker 3: You know, did these things?
Speaker 2: Everybody goes home and we're all we'll part friends. And
Speaker 2: then now you're coming out and saying you didn't. Well,
Speaker 2: you these two things are in conflict with each other.
Speaker 2: So now we got to get to the bottom of
Speaker 2: where aren't you maybe possibly not telling the truth?
Speaker 4: And when I looked up here it it involves the
Speaker 4: rule of the p Pressional Conduct Rule eight four C,
Speaker 4: which basically involves a dishonesty and misrepresentation and possibly uh
Speaker 4: Rull one point two, which goes but was noringly prohibits
Speaker 4: you assistant in fraud. So it's it's like I said,
Speaker 4: if tiber Keiter weren't an attorney, we wouldn't be having
Speaker 4: this converse. That's right, But he is an attorney, and
Speaker 4: it changed that law. License you agreed to, you agree
Speaker 4: to the rules of professional conduct. And the argument is
Speaker 4: that he violated the rules of professional conduct. Now he's
Speaker 4: tried to act like a prosecutor, because prosecutors when they're
Speaker 4: in court can get a little bit more work free
Speaker 4: specially But no, no, no, you weren't acting as a prosecutor.
Speaker 4: You're acting as a media whore.
Speaker 2: And he actually probably because this woman did get some
Speaker 2: level of discipline, as I recall for for something, but
Speaker 2: he probably hurt the case against her because then everybody
Speaker 2: takes it with kid gloves because he went on he
Speaker 2: went on Fox News. Okay, so now he's spent the
Speaker 2: what I mean, have we been at this for two
Speaker 2: years now? On the new version of this or almost
Speaker 2: two years or whatever, it's been trying to get out
Speaker 2: of this Capitol Chronicle hat a big article saying that
Speaker 2: he'd racked up almost a half a million dollars in
Speaker 2: legal bills. We as taxi. Yeah, he's not writing out
Speaker 2: of Roketa Incorporated. You're paying for it. And the latest
Speaker 2: on this is he tried to get these these allegations
Speaker 2: against him dismissed and the court said, the Supreme Court
Speaker 2: said no, thank you right now.
Speaker 4: And it was a unanimous decision, by the way, all
Speaker 4: five justices just said, no, we're not gonna We're not
Speaker 4: gonna dismiss this. We're gonna go forward and and hear
Speaker 4: this matter. And I remember reading one of the complaints.
Speaker 4: I want to either whether the complaints are one of
Speaker 4: the respons or opinions that my name was actually mentioned.
Speaker 3: Oh well, good for you.
Speaker 4: And you know because because remember my father complaint against
Speaker 4: Tarbra Katda forresthny Wells's personnel file during the during the
Speaker 4: debate of the Rakata crossed the line. Uh, they said,
Speaker 4: we we can't go for for some other reasons, but
Speaker 4: for tarb Key to say the system is biased against
Speaker 4: him like, do you have almost like twenty something almost
Speaker 4: two dozen complaints? Uh, and it's like my friend was
Speaker 4: on his fourth marriage. Dude, at what point, what's the
Speaker 4: one constant in this equation?
Speaker 3: It's you?
Speaker 6: And if I remember correctly, I have duel with the
Speaker 6: last decision. Does this with the five justices? It went
Speaker 6: three to two?
Speaker 3: Yes?
Speaker 6: And and talk a little bit about the personality there
Speaker 6: because the chief Chief Justice was kind of the it
Speaker 6: could have kind of where was she in the in
Speaker 6: the three to two?
Speaker 4: She was in the two, she was in the two. Yeah,
Speaker 4: she was in the two. I forget, I forget the act.
Speaker 4: She was in two.
Speaker 3: I know Justice Massis was in the three.
Speaker 5: Yeah, an alt yeah, I believe was in the two
Speaker 5: with her.
Speaker 2: Okay, so here this is okay, it's interesting you mentioned Malter.
Speaker 2: There's five justices on the Indiana Supreme Court. So the
Speaker 2: way this will work, right is this, Now this group
Speaker 2: of three judges will come up with some sort of recommendation.
Speaker 3: Is that right? Is that how this works? Well?
Speaker 4: No, No, the district they basically they'll have a hearing.
Speaker 4: They either have a hearing officer.
Speaker 5: Who is a part of the hearing.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Well, actually in this case, normally, have a hearing officer,
Speaker 4: they hear both sides and that would be the end
Speaker 4: of the discussion. But because Tiberkita is a statewide elected official,
Speaker 4: that's why they're having the three hearing officers instead.
Speaker 3: It's kind of like the way they do with judge.
Speaker 2: But what do these hearing I think this is what
Speaker 2: people need to know. These hearing officers, they then will
Speaker 2: make a recommendation to the court based on what based
Speaker 2: on the evidence. Okay, so the court, the Supreme Court.
Speaker 2: That was what I was trying to get in, and
Speaker 2: I'll take the blame of that. I don't word that properly.
Speaker 2: The Supreme Court is the ultimate judge jury and many
Speaker 2: of us are hoping maybe in terms of Roketa's law
Speaker 2: license h and right, But in the decision they're going
Speaker 2: to decide the actual punishment. These hearing officers will hear
Speaker 2: the information and then based off of that. No, normally
Speaker 2: it's one person, but as a result of this, it's
Speaker 2: these three. Two of them are judges, one's an attorney.
Speaker 2: They'll make a recommendation and then the Supreme Court will
Speaker 2: decide based on that.
Speaker 4: Do I have that correct? Yeah, don't make a recommendation.
Speaker 4: The Supreme Court can accept it, they can modify it,
Speaker 4: they can reject it, or order a new hearing altogether.
Speaker 2: Okay, So you mentioned Malta, who's one of the Supreme
Speaker 2: Court justices, because I thought this quote, this is in
Speaker 2: the Indiana Capitol Chronicle, is very interesting. While we are
Speaker 2: on this is on the rejection of Rokeita's motion to
Speaker 2: try to get this thing thrown out. While we're only
Speaker 2: depleting stage, the party's discussion of the claims to their
Speaker 2: early filings is already volume in it voluminous. Buis thank you. Yes,
Speaker 2: it's a lot of stuff, right, okay. And two, up
Speaker 2: to this point there's submissions, though extensive, reveal very little
Speaker 2: factual disagreement. That disagreement is vehement, but it also seems narrow,
Speaker 2: so there may not be much to litigate through a hearing.
Speaker 2: I thought that was interesting. I've read that quote several times,
Speaker 2: and basically what that guy's saying is there ain't much dispute.
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm trying to interpret it, right, you're the attorney.
Speaker 3: I'm not. There ain't much a dispute on what went
Speaker 3: on here.
Speaker 2: Y'all better settle it or we're gonna settle it and
Speaker 2: remember in Ghostbusters, and you don't want us exposing ourselves?
Speaker 3: Like, am I misreading that a little bit? Uh? In
Speaker 3: a nutshell? What? What? What?
Speaker 4: But Judge, what Judge Malton is saying is like, there's
Speaker 4: really not hold out to argue on the facts, right,
Speaker 4: I mean, there really isn't.
Speaker 3: I mean you mentioned it's.
Speaker 4: A little late to say you didn't say it, because
Speaker 4: we got you on tape, right, you know, saying this stuff.
Speaker 4: So the question is, did you violate the rules of
Speaker 4: professional conduct?
Speaker 1: No?
Speaker 4: Where are you making statements? No, we're you know, against
Speaker 4: against the court and where? And it also did youly
Speaker 4: to us? You know when you when you followed your
Speaker 4: cooled your motion. So the argument is over what you said.
Speaker 4: It's so it's sort of the it's sort of the
Speaker 4: mechanics behind behind why you said it and who you
Speaker 4: said it to.
Speaker 2: Okay, So, and that's very different from when what Curis
Speaker 2: Hill went through because Curtis Hill, as I recall, there
Speaker 2: was dispute of who touched who, where, what intent.
Speaker 3: I'm trying to recall things from years ago. They also
Speaker 3: he also got people in the bar at the two
Speaker 3: o'clock in the.
Speaker 6: Well right right, I mean that was a personal issue
Speaker 6: and this is a totally different situation. But it does
Speaker 6: show the Attorney general uh or or the Supreme Court
Speaker 6: can make that decision, and they would make a decision too,
Speaker 6: and then to to change the a public official career.
Speaker 4: And and and also by the way, too, I want
Speaker 4: to say Rarekeitha submitted a brief suggested that the display
Speaker 4: rules the rules be changed for law to allow like okay,
Speaker 4: uh uh, it's like you got to rest it for
Speaker 4: speeding and then you put a bill like hey, well
Speaker 4: speedling was now seventy five is supposed to sixty five
Speaker 4: And this.
Speaker 6: Was the legislature. Yeah yeah right, no, Like no, didn't
Speaker 6: they file bill to change some things?
Speaker 4: Uh, there was a bill filed, but it didn't go anywhere. Right,
Speaker 4: It was just it was no message that that that
Speaker 4: fine that that candish got across the bow.
Speaker 2: Yeah, like this guy you noticed the trend and you
Speaker 2: wrote something similar to this over an indie politics or
Speaker 2: maybe it's the cheat sheet. You're at this end, whether
Speaker 2: it's Roqueda Diego Mica, like there's just this little camp
Speaker 2: of people and it's not whether you politically agree or
Speaker 2: disagree with them. It's that it's just a never ending
Speaker 2: level of exhaust and with these guys like Roquita the
Speaker 2: dude just be professional. There's things I'd love to say
Speaker 2: about people like Rokeita on these airwaves.
Speaker 3: I know the rule, I know how it works, I know.
Speaker 2: What I sign up or I'm also cognizant of as
Speaker 2: part of me being here and the power that comes
Speaker 2: with that. That on social media, while I'm critical, there's
Speaker 2: words that my employer would frown upon and would say, Yeah,
Speaker 2: that's not gonna gonna work for us. Why is it
Speaker 2: then everybody seems to be able to get how this
Speaker 2: whole thing works, but him.
Speaker 4: Well, because just like uh Todd, Rakeita and to a
Speaker 4: Lessons degrew out to the same degree uh Diagon Morales
Speaker 4: and Micah beck With, they don't think the rules supply
Speaker 4: to them, plain and simple. Otherwise why would you do
Speaker 4: this type of stuff.
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Speaker 2: zero zero three. State House Happenings also wants to thank
Speaker 2: our fine friends at Freedom Foods Indiana. Farmer Ryan Schliman
Speaker 2: and the folks at Freedom Foods Indiana have been delivering
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Speaker 3: Jim Merritt.
Speaker 2: If b will gives you, Boss Rob Kendall the program
Speaker 2: of State House Happening it's your weekly look at what's
Speaker 2: going on with Indiana politics and government. Okay, So help
Speaker 2: me out on this here of duel because the state
Speaker 2: at a big press conference which they do every year,
Speaker 2: right where they let you know the fiscal health of
Speaker 2: the state, and I can't get a real clear image
Speaker 2: on everything because they said, well, we have basically the
Speaker 2: targeted number of reserve dollars that we're looking for. However,
Speaker 2: they didn't come off the doom and gloom scenario that
Speaker 2: they painted at the end of the legislative session where
Speaker 2: they had to cut a billion dollars in the raise
Speaker 2: taxes by a billion dollars to pay their bills. So
Speaker 2: are we are we? Are we living? Are we dying?
Speaker 2: Are we fine?
Speaker 3: I didn't. I didn't feel like I got a clear
Speaker 3: cut answer, a.
Speaker 4: Little bit of both. There's good news and there's bad news.
Speaker 4: The good news answer, we've got a two five billion
Speaker 4: dollars there plus yay. The bad news is, well, we
Speaker 4: kind of use a little bit of creative accounting to
Speaker 4: get there.
Speaker 7: Oh like in run creative accounting, No, I would say,
Speaker 7: I want to say in ron creative accounting, more like
Speaker 7: Arthur Anderson. Oh well, that would make everyone feel so
Speaker 7: much better to really to really carbonate myself back to
Speaker 7: the nineties. What are you talking about though, in all
Speaker 7: serious what are you talking about with creative accounting?
Speaker 4: Well, in a nutshell, the state has to keep a
Speaker 4: healthy amount of reserves in case of emergency, usually ten
Speaker 4: to twelve percent.
Speaker 3: So that's so they have forty days.
Speaker 2: That seems like, under what circumria you were in the
Speaker 2: Senate for thirty years, under what circumstance would the state
Speaker 2: ever be without revenue for forty days?
Speaker 5: They wouldn't. They wouldn't.
Speaker 6: And and uh, this this is a kind of a
Speaker 6: fascinating subject because the public really doesn't. It's it's like
Speaker 6: it's like an iceberg. You see a little bit of it,
Speaker 6: and most of it's underwater, and and budgeting is is
Speaker 6: a guess. Budgeting is a snapshot.
Speaker 3: And they seem to be wrong a lot.
Speaker 6: Well, the legis nature of the general Indian General Assembly
Speaker 6: has their budget team, the governor has his budget team.
Speaker 6: They're constantly looking at this and.
Speaker 3: They were all wrong.
Speaker 5: Yeah, very wrong.
Speaker 6: But the good news in all this is they're they're
Speaker 6: they're constantly paying down debt in regards to the you know,
Speaker 6: the teacher's retirement system. Uh, they're they're cutting the income
Speaker 6: task tax all the time.
Speaker 2: Well, we've already debunked that the state's got to grow
Speaker 2: at a certain percent, which it hadn't done in twenty
Speaker 2: years in order forbody to get the income taxt, I
Speaker 2: love you, but they are not cutting the income tax.
Speaker 3: Well that was a that was an l I.
Speaker 6: The bottom line is is they are now starting to
Speaker 6: work on the next budget. And and what what I found,
Speaker 6: what I found fault is that all of a sudden,
Speaker 6: April fifteenth came and that in that uh, that that
Speaker 6: forecast that they put out on April fifteenth for the
Speaker 6: next two years just completely put the legislature in paralysis
Speaker 6: and everything they've been working on and and kudos to
Speaker 6: the Senator Ryan Mischler, he and probably Thompson, but I
Speaker 6: pay attention to the Senate. They were talking about medicaid
Speaker 6: and the large punitive nature of how much money we
Speaker 6: were spending on medicaid, and but they weren't really talking
Speaker 6: about the sour economy that they that was going to
Speaker 6: be forecasts on April fifteenth. So it put everybody in paralysis.
Speaker 6: And you both have heard me talk about this probably
Speaker 6: too much that it's just a shame that when they
Speaker 6: got that forecast on April fifteenth, that they didn't just
Speaker 6: call halt for just a minute, meaning sixty days or so,
Speaker 6: and then come back at the end of June and
Speaker 6: had a really better forecast because with Liberation Day and
Speaker 6: and you know, the tariffs in the market, uh, the
Speaker 6: stock market, and everybody was piling on what they thought
Speaker 6: was gonna be a sour economy.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 6: And and and your cheat sheet talking Abdul about having
Speaker 6: you know, instead of two percent of holding back of
Speaker 6: the budgets for the different different agencies, they double that
Speaker 6: to five or more, which really on average, yeah, which
Speaker 6: really kind of saved in the minds of many, saved
Speaker 6: this budget. But but it really shocked the General Assembly
Speaker 6: when that budget forecast came out and uh, and they
Speaker 6: weren't nimble. They raised cigarette taxes. They they did the
Speaker 6: five percent and and so bottom line is the answer.
Speaker 6: The question is is where do we go from here?
Speaker 6: And I would have rather have they them pass a
Speaker 6: budget in late June and then and then micromanaged it
Speaker 6: for three to six months and if they needed something
Speaker 6: in in uh or January two, they have a new budget.
Speaker 3: Yeah, they're not going to those tax increases.
Speaker 2: If the budget will get the numbers work out better,
Speaker 2: they're gonna be like, oh, sorry about that, dull. Here's
Speaker 2: those cigarette taxes. Yes, your cigar in your case.
Speaker 4: Here a two words to can pay attention to, because
Speaker 4: I'm about to get right a problem about this weekend.
Speaker 4: Actually the word is called creative timing. Is this the
Speaker 4: creative accounting that you're referencing?
Speaker 3: Inter nutshell?
Speaker 4: Because the because like I said, no, strongly expected revenues
Speaker 4: from the corporate tax revenue, but also that that was
Speaker 4: part of the equation. And then came to the creative
Speaker 4: timing because here's what they did. They they quite and
Speaker 4: actually they actually admitted that they did this, and they
Speaker 4: didn't say yeah we yeah, we we moved them. We
Speaker 4: moved the needle. Like no, I'm like, wait a second here,
Speaker 4: What's what's going on? Because some agencies had those INNY
Speaker 4: year reversions, you know, the unspent Monday that you got
Speaker 4: to give back. But then also like payments, hiring freezes,
Speaker 4: deferred contracts, and while there's been no sort of no
Speaker 4: sort of large scale you know, creative timing, they just
Speaker 4: basically moved the like, well, instead of taking these payments
Speaker 4: like you know, in August, we'll take them in December.
Speaker 4: That way, the number, the whole life a whole lot better.
Speaker 4: I see. Now is it legal? Yes, transparent, mom, it's transparent.
Speaker 3: If you know where to look. Oh well that keeps
Speaker 3: people like you in business. Yes it does. By way,
Speaker 3: this will be the next chichi. Oh very good.
Speaker 2: All right, Well we'll unless you got some sort of
Speaker 2: pithy final thought of thirty seconds or less.
Speaker 6: Well, the bottom line is the bottom line, and you
Speaker 6: want the legislature to be very clear with the public.
Speaker 6: And sometimes we when I was a part of it,
Speaker 6: we were not, especially with the counting procedures. And uh
Speaker 6: uh you know, I think the economy is going to
Speaker 6: grow and uh and hopefully this will solve the wound,
Speaker 6: but who knows?
Speaker 3: And with that uplifting it Jamarti Bill keeps shabaz, thank you,
Speaker 3: thank you.
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