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Speaker 1: I'm coming to eight oh six I fifty five KERCD

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Speaker 1: talk station. He's in studio. He's promised not to drop

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Speaker 1: the S word. He is Marcel Sturbige. He's running for

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Speaker 1: Secretary of State. We've got a primary coming up here

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Speaker 1: to Ohio, and there are two people to choose from,

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Speaker 1: at least according to the Secretary of State's webpage right now,

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Speaker 1: that will be on the Republican side of the letter.

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Speaker 1: My guest today Marcel Sturbadge and Robert Sprague. We're going

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Speaker 1: to find out for Marcel y he is the better choice.

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Speaker 1: At least he's going to try to convince you of that,

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Speaker 1: and he promised he will explain himself as opposed to

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Speaker 1: blowing up and leaving the morning show studio. Welcome Marcel Sturvidge.

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Speaker 1: It's great having you in the studio.

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Speaker 2: Hey, good morning, and thanks for having me. And yes,

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Speaker 2: I will keep it a PC for you in our audience.

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Speaker 1: Even though you are a highly decorated twenty year Air

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Speaker 1: Force veteran, Marcel Sturbage probably served his country and I

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Speaker 1: salute you for that. You can find him online. It's

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Speaker 1: S T R B I C H. The word for

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Speaker 1: sturbadge for Ohio dot Com. Jos Strekker posted a link

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Speaker 1: to that website on my fifty five krecy Morning show.

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Speaker 1: First and foremost, I know, in terms of your resume,

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Speaker 1: your Crikland VTA family number one. You have a beautiful family, sir,

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Speaker 1: and I congratulate you.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's my best part, and that's a motivator for me.

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Speaker 2: You know, serving twenty years going across the Horn of Africa, Iraq,

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Speaker 2: Afghanistan and then working my way up to the Pentagon

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Speaker 2: and handling the upgrade and modernization of our information systems

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Speaker 2: which we fell behind in terms of our abilities, was

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Speaker 2: probably my professional peak. And then coming into Ohio, living

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Speaker 2: here in Montgomery County and seeing where we've come as

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Speaker 2: a country in the last five years, with people's loss

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Speaker 2: of confidence and trust in various aspects of government, but

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Speaker 2: specifically elections was something that caused great concern. And I

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Speaker 2: had to experience the military's transition from twenty twenty into DEI,

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Speaker 2: which I pushed back against medical mandates, and that really

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Speaker 2: caused me to get active politically. And I realized in

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Speaker 2: coming to Ohio that there are many aspects of our

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Speaker 2: election systems that are loose that we have to fix.

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Speaker 2: And I'm not running to build a political career. I'm

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Speaker 2: not running for a title. I don't need that. I'm

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Speaker 2: a dad, I'm a retired lieutenant colonel. I am running

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Speaker 2: to fix problems in election systems and to address government

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Speaker 2: benefits fraud programs, because the Secretary of State could actually

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Speaker 2: do something about that. If we can get somebody that

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Speaker 2: isn't just rotating seats.

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Speaker 1: Well, it sounds like you want to hit the ground running.

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Speaker 1: I'm looking at your website again, sturbage for Ohio. Under

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Speaker 1: your priorities, they are one day one vote number one

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Speaker 1: on the list voter ID required to register and vote

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Speaker 1: in the state of Ohio under the Ohio Election Integrity

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Speaker 1: Bill of Rights that you are you are pushing, so

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Speaker 1: explain that curse timing couldn't be better given the Save

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Speaker 1: Act being discussed in Congress, And might that impact the

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Speaker 1: bill that you're pushing for here in a lot.

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Speaker 2: Well, certainly Congress has shown over the past thirty years

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Speaker 2: that they're incapable of addressing issues with elections, and I

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Speaker 2: won't put I wouldn't put it on the US Senate

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Speaker 2: to address this. This is like going two times in

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Speaker 2: a row, you hit your head against the wall same

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Speaker 2: time expecting a different results. But in Ohio, we don't

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Speaker 2: have to have that issue. See, we have a supermajority

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Speaker 2: legislature and we have the ability of veto proof to

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Speaker 2: do these things. What we need is some political will.

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Speaker 2: We need a political outsider like myself instead. What's happening

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Speaker 2: is we consistently see these career politicians rotating who've been

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Speaker 2: in the system, who trade favors for endorsements, and they

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Speaker 2: haven't They've led to unimpressive results week leadership. And that's

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Speaker 2: why you know we're within ninety days of this primary election.

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Speaker 2: I really want those of you who are tired of

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Speaker 2: that system to choose somebody who has something to offer. Again,

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Speaker 2: I have the skill sets, I have the background with

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Speaker 2: national security. I understand that we have to protect these systems,

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Speaker 2: and I really just want to introduce a system where

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Speaker 2: we verify eligibility of people before we put them on

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Speaker 2: the voter rolls. And that is something that can be

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Speaker 2: done within short order, and the Secretary of State can

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Speaker 2: do that, and that's how we ensure that our vote

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Speaker 2: is protected. Yes, one day, one vote, So let's vote

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Speaker 2: in person, same day, and for those who can't make

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Speaker 2: it to the poll location, let's have a qualified reason.

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Speaker 2: But that's acceptable. And if we come up with that

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Speaker 2: type of system, and then we also flush out third

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Speaker 2: party voter groups who don't have business being involved in

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Speaker 2: our elections when it comes to handling ballots and registration

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Speaker 2: for ballot harvesting, then I think we'll get back to

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Speaker 2: a point of trust and confidence.

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Speaker 1: Indeed, and the other component of this which has been

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Speaker 1: lurking beneath the surface of this election integrity discussion. You

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Speaker 1: look at what is it Fulton County, Georgia, where they're

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Speaker 1: finding all kinds of problems in connection with the electronic

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Speaker 1: voting machines. The records don't reflect consistency. The more votes

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Speaker 1: came in, then we're counted, or more we're counted than

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Speaker 1: came in, and then the specter of g are our

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Speaker 1: elections being changed with the electronic voting machines. You suggest,

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Speaker 1: as a matter of your platform, let's just get rid

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Speaker 1: of them.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, what you know with respect to that, if you're

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Speaker 2: not audio visually impaired, why can't you just fill out

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Speaker 2: a pre printed, handmark paper ballot. It costs tens of

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Speaker 2: millions of dollars less than Ohio. You can put a

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Speaker 2: watermark on it that's anti tamper proof, and that's really

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Speaker 2: the main way for us to have oversight and security

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Speaker 2: over the balance themselves. So this is something that a

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Speaker 2: lot of people have not had access to these voting

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Speaker 2: systems for many years. We should have given third party,

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Speaker 2: independent security assessors the opportunity to look at those but

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Speaker 2: you know, the voting system vendors have been proprietary, meaning

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Speaker 2: they don't allow others to access those systems.

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Speaker 1: You can't see the code, right, I mean, how can

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Speaker 1: you assure election integrity if they want allow you to

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Speaker 1: review the code that goes into tabulating the votes. That

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Speaker 1: should be a matter of contractual agreement. If you are

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Speaker 1: going to be the provider of systems, you must subject

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Speaker 1: to confidential out this contract provides you you must provide

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Speaker 1: state authorities with the code exactly.

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Speaker 2: Look in Venezuela, they created systems. Going back twenty years,

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Speaker 2: we understood that Chavez regime used electronic management software to

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Speaker 2: flip votes. Those systems and many of them were sold

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Speaker 2: outside of Venezuela. Those folks that created that system came

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Speaker 2: to the United States, they incorporated their businesses. These are

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Speaker 2: systems that are from twenty years ago. They don't they

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Speaker 2: don't currently meet security controls of twenty twenty five, the

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Speaker 2: time and place that we now live in and the

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Speaker 2: level of threat that we face. So I don't focus

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Speaker 2: too much on the machines. To be honest with you,

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Speaker 2: there's an aspect of efficiency when it comes to hand

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Speaker 2: with not handcounting. I should say the vote.

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Speaker 1: Counting clearly, yeah, and that's faster.

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Speaker 2: It's faster, right, And so people have tried to distort

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Speaker 2: and say my position is I want to impose a

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Speaker 2: handcout method on all eighty eight counties. And this is

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Speaker 2: not true. That's just what my opponent who's desperate and

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Speaker 2: who's taking my positions now because he's losing in this race.

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Speaker 2: I'm up eight points, that's unheard of. I took a

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Speaker 2: poll with eight hundred nineteen likely registered primary voters. I'm

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Speaker 2: doing that with less money because my method, my message,

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Speaker 2: excuse me, is authentic, okay, And you can't manufacture authenticity

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Speaker 2: in politics. So and I'm dynamic, and that is why

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Speaker 2: I am the most capable candidate. And we should start

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Speaker 2: electing people on capability, not based on patronage.

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Speaker 1: Like that message very much more. Sol sturbage sturbage for

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Speaker 1: Ohio dot com. Have you had interactions with the party

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Speaker 1: elites if I can refer to them as as such.

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Speaker 2: I always interact with a variety of folks in that arena.

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Speaker 2: What I would say is, you know, I've had so

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Speaker 2: much success in this race that they that recently I

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Speaker 2: received a call from a Central Committee member asking if

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Speaker 2: I wanted to take a position within Secretary of State.

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Speaker 2: I was interested in that that a conversation could be

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Speaker 2: had with key officials in the party and if I

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Speaker 2: would be willing to suspend this campaign. And I just

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Speaker 2: thought that is not the will of the people. And

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Speaker 2: I was just detested by the idea, and overall I

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Speaker 2: spoke out about it on social media. And it's very

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Speaker 2: important that people do not take those kind of deals

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Speaker 2: if they're offered, because this isn't about I'm not for sale,

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Speaker 2: that's the bottom line.

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Speaker 1: Oh that is a strong message in it of itself.

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Speaker 1: Is this like one of the like the on the

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Speaker 1: waterfront conversation, It's not your night, Marcel. You know you

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Speaker 1: got to take a dive for the broader team and

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Speaker 1: for the effort is that one of those deals.

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Speaker 2: I think some people people think that way, Brian. I think,

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Speaker 2: you know, people get used to and have relationships in politics.

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Speaker 2: I'm learning this for the first time. You know, I

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Speaker 2: didn't go into this gullible. You ever wonder why people

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Speaker 2: don't go in It's because they got to navigate these

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Speaker 2: type of things. And yeah, and it's not always. It's

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Speaker 2: not like a job interview, You're going to go work

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Speaker 2: for Procter and Gamble, you know, it's you know, where

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Speaker 2: have you worked? What have you done? It has more

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Speaker 2: to do with have you paid your dues? I paid

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Speaker 2: my dues to my country, okay, and I've seen a

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Speaker 2: heck of a lot in twenty years. And so I'm

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Speaker 2: doing this so I can give Ohio real leadership, selfless leadership,

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Speaker 2: not about personal advancement, and that I think is a

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Speaker 2: unique and rare quality when somebody steps up to do that.

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Speaker 2: And that's why this is that's why we're having marked

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Speaker 2: success and I think we're going to win on the

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Speaker 2: primary May fifth, twenty twenty six, if Ohio voters want

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Speaker 2: to see this change.

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Speaker 1: Well, lending significant credibility to your philosophy and your your

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Speaker 1: motivations to run you spent twenty years in America's military.

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Speaker 1: You didn't sign up for a big six figure job,

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Speaker 1: that paying job. You signed up to protect America from

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Speaker 1: its enemies, both domestic and foreign, and you served in combat,

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Speaker 1: and you went on countless missions, and you are highly decorated.

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Speaker 1: This is just it seems to me. And you can

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Speaker 1: tell me I'm wrong, but it seems logical that running

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Speaker 1: for high office is an extension of your commitment to

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Speaker 1: the people.

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Speaker 2: I always felt like, if you're going to be in

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Speaker 2: any form of elected office or appointed, it has to

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Speaker 2: be selfless, right, People expect more of you in that regard.

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Speaker 2: So this is our ethos in the military. We have

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Speaker 2: this ethos of selflessness. That's why we're willing to give

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Speaker 2: up our lives if need be, and that's why I

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Speaker 2: think society does recognize that. And I'm grateful when I

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Speaker 2: do go around and people thank me for that, But

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Speaker 2: I also don't want that to be just what defines me.

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Speaker 2: We're all defined, Brian on purpose and our task, and

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Speaker 2: we all have to understand that in life we have

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Speaker 2: to give back. The other generations are waiting for leaders

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Speaker 2: to step up. I'm forty four years old, almost so

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Speaker 2: I've got the youth, I've got the energy. I've gone

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Speaker 2: to fifty different counties. I've enlisted hundred of volunteers. If

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Speaker 2: you look at the twenty twenty sixth election, Republicans have

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Speaker 2: an enthusiasm deficit. The reason to have an enthusiasm deficit

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Speaker 2: is because they're recycling career, empty suit politicians. And now

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Speaker 2: they need somebody who doesn't have that mindset, who's engaging

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Speaker 2: with the people and is not afraid to sling it

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Speaker 2: out there and take the questions and be dynamic. And

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Speaker 2: that's why this is this is going to work out

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Speaker 2: in the end.

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Speaker 1: I can hear several of my regular callers going, yeah,

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Speaker 1: that's exactly right. Eight sixteen Right now more with Marcel

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Speaker 1: Sturbridge Sturbadge for Ohio dot Com. Link on the blog

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Speaker 1: page fifty five krcity dot com. Be back after these

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Speaker 1: brief words here see the talk station. It's eight twenty

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Speaker 1: if fifty five KRCIT talks station fashionating conversation with veteran

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Speaker 1: and of course, more importantly Secretary of State Canada Marcel Sturbage. Again,

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Speaker 1: it's Sturbadge st r B I c H four Ohio

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Speaker 1: dot Com and off the air, you were really talking

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Speaker 1: about the importance of the Secretary of State's business portfolio.

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Speaker 1: And as Secretary of State, you are responsible for management

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Speaker 1: a lot of businesses. And what is the importance you

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Speaker 1: want to stress for the listening audience and potential voters

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Speaker 1: for you, Marse, every year.

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Speaker 2: Over one hundred thousand businesses are formed in Ohio and

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Speaker 2: every single business has to be registered, and so the

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Speaker 2: Secretary of State plays a critical role in facilitating business registration.

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Speaker 2: It's done online and it's gained even more notoriety or

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Speaker 2: importance because, as we've learned in the last year, a

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Speaker 2: number of businesses have been formed in the state of

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Speaker 2: Ohio that have tagged onto government benefits programs, whether that

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Speaker 2: be daycare, home health, trucker services. And we have found

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Speaker 2: that that has become a venue, unfortunately for levels of

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Speaker 2: fraudulent activities.

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Speaker 1: See Minnesota, yes, e Columbus yes, see Cincinnati.

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Speaker 2: And so what has to happen and what I propose

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Speaker 2: as a Secretary of State is to utilize the information

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Speaker 2: systems that involve registering these businesses and create a process

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Speaker 2: and identify criteria for us to evaluate what could be

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Speaker 2: questionable businesses. So you can't prevent a business from being

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Speaker 2: formed in Ohio. But what you could do is you

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Speaker 2: can conduct a review in conjunction with the Public Integrity Division,

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Speaker 2: and you can assess whether some of these businesses are

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Speaker 2: in some former manner, improperly conducting themselves, or in some

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Speaker 2: criminal manner. So what needs to happen in the state

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Speaker 2: of Ohio and what I would like to play a

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Speaker 2: role in helping lead if elected Secretary of State in

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Speaker 2: the primary here is coming up May fifth, twenty twenty six,

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Speaker 2: is I would like us task force to be stood up.

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Speaker 2: I participate in a task force in the Department of

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Speaker 2: Defense in the Capital Region that involved counterteror and counterthreat finance.

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Speaker 2: We need something similar where the governor establishes a task force,

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Speaker 2: the Secretary of State uses the Public Integrity Division identifies

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Speaker 2: questionable activity, the Attorney General uses the Medicare Control Fraud Unit,

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Speaker 2: the one hundred or so investigators that they have, the

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Speaker 2: auditor uses the statutes and the means that are done

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Speaker 2: in conjunction with that Attorney General. And take for example,

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Speaker 2: a cabinet agency like the Department of Youth and Children,

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Speaker 2: which is responsible for that licensing and judicating and inspecting

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Speaker 2: some of these daycares for example. We all need to

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Speaker 2: work as one because, as we know Brian, individual government

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Speaker 2: bureaucracies have limited in specific authorities and when things take

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Speaker 2: place that are fraudulent, they usually look at the other

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Speaker 2: department and they say, oh, but that's yours. And the

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Speaker 2: reality is they all have about ten percent of the puzzle.

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Speaker 2: And so what needs to happen is in conjunction. They

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Speaker 2: all need to work as one. And if we don't

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Speaker 2: stand up a joint interagency task force, call it whatever

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Speaker 2: you want, like ICE is doing these task forces across

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Speaker 2: the country, then we will never get at this problem

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Speaker 2: and we will continue to be exploited to the tunes

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Speaker 2: of billions of dollars.

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Speaker 1: That is brilliant right there, marcel I got to applaud

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Speaker 1: you for that concept. Gee, what an interesting and so

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Speaker 1: ridiculous concept. Working together, shared services of government coordinating together

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Speaker 1: for one ultimate end, which is the benefit of the constituents. Wow.

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Speaker 1: And then you got a governor like the Wan who says, well,

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Speaker 1: this is just part of doing business, this whole fraud thing,

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Speaker 1: you know. Yeah, if you got a government program, well

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Speaker 1: it's just gonna happen. It doesn't have to happen. Official

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Speaker 1: intelligence at work.

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Speaker 2: Here.

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Speaker 1: We can cross reference numbers and match those security numbers

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Speaker 1: and find out who's dead and the live. It isn't

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Speaker 1: that challenging these days. I would imagine.

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Speaker 2: Look, if a YouTube influencer can get out however many millions,

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Speaker 2: tens of millions of views and go out there and

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Speaker 2: put eyeballs on. Are you telling me that multi million

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Speaker 2: or multi billion dollar government agencies can't put their heads together.

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Speaker 2: You know what it takes. It takes a political outsider

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Speaker 2: like me, somebody who's done this as a mission already

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Speaker 2: and has the knowledge of how to initiate this to

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Speaker 2: be able to be given the authority in the team

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Speaker 2: to do it. I know how to lead teams. I've

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Speaker 2: been an organizational leader both in peacetime and war. I've

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Speaker 2: had tactical, operational, strategic assignments. That's why I signed up.

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Speaker 2: That's why I'm asking you to deploy me and assign

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Speaker 2: me to Columbus for this task of four years as

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Speaker 2: the next Secretary of State to get at the problem

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Speaker 2: of government benefits fraud, To get at the problem of

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Speaker 2: voter registration fraud, for example, in Hamilton County, we need

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Speaker 2: some something to move quickly on this, otherwise people will

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Speaker 2: continue to drift.

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Speaker 1: Strong leadership is what I'm here in, Marcel. It sounds great.

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Speaker 1: That's why maybe need a military guy. Someone is strong leadership,

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Speaker 1: who's done this before in different capacities, mind you, but

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Speaker 1: can herd the cats that are Columbus in Columbus right now? Marcel,

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Speaker 1: that's what we need. Someone who's I have lamented now

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Speaker 1: forever and everybody knows what's coming. Why is Columbus so

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Speaker 1: damn dysfunctional when it's run almost exclusively by Republicans? Do

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Speaker 1: you think they be unified in mission, unified in goal well,

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Speaker 1: oil machine, limited government, fiscal responsibility, free markets, it's all

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Speaker 1: normal and regular. Yet they fight amongst themselves constantly, Marcel,

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Speaker 1: I don't get it.

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Speaker 2: It's a quality and caliber of the people. If they're

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Speaker 2: there for personal advancement, if they're there to somehow coordinate

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Speaker 2: one another, then the mentality is they don't want to

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Speaker 2: call each other out because they're always thinking, well, after

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Speaker 2: this assignment, where am I going to go? Can I

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Speaker 2: make it to the governor, Can I make it to

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Speaker 2: the US Senate. So that's the inherent issue that I see.

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Speaker 2: It doesn't matter if you put an R or a

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Speaker 2: D or an L next to them. Those are just labels.

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Speaker 2: And you know, every time we get to the general

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Speaker 2: it's like, don't vote for the other side because the

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Speaker 2: other side's more evil. People are tired of that, are

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Speaker 2: They just want to know, do you have the capability,

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Speaker 2: do you have the will? What are you saying you're

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Speaker 2: gonna do? And are you gonna do what you're gonna say?

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Speaker 2: And that's why I think some are are cautious about

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Speaker 2: this assent that we're having success in this campaign, because

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Speaker 2: I think they believe Brian. They know I'm gonna do

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Speaker 2: what I say I'm gonna do, and that's a terrifying

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Speaker 2: prospect if you believe in status quo. Right, So if

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Speaker 2: that's a positive disruption and that's a positive change, so

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Speaker 2: be it. I'm all for that, and I think that

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Speaker 2: the vast majority of seven point eight million registered Ohio

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Speaker 2: voters are all for it. And I think I'm going

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Speaker 2: to get votes well beyond the Republicans because this is

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Speaker 2: about common sense in Ohioans or common sense voters.

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Speaker 1: Will you sound like a person who'd be more than

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Speaker 1: willing to call out and hold people accountable regardless of

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Speaker 1: political stripe, and perhaps that makes them nervous.

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Speaker 2: Marcel correct, I'm not a yes man, and I don't

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Speaker 2: surround myself with yes men. I actually like critical thinkers.

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Speaker 2: And the way you build great teams is you build

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Speaker 2: smarter people than you and you put them in there.

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Speaker 1: Well. Green light from Brian Thomas, Marcel brilliant, I just

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Speaker 1: really thoroughly enjoyed your very, very inn warmed and thoughtful

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Speaker 1: analysis of your role as Secretary of State,