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Speaker 1: Best under twenty players bat one Minnesota Ice tickets to

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Speaker 1: the biggest matchups, to all Move Fast World Junior is Men,

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Speaker 1: twenty six dot.

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Speaker 2: Com from the six five one carpets plus home in

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Speaker 2: the next day install studios. This is K two seven

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Speaker 2: app Cottage Grove and KTLKAM eleven thirty Minneapolis and Saint Paul.

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Speaker 2: I've been to every corner of Minnesota and there's nothing

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Speaker 2: like it. See those maps red and blue, and there's

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Speaker 2: all that red across there.

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Speaker 3: Democrats go into depression over it.

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Speaker 4: It's mostly rocks and cows that are in that red area.

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Speaker 3: I've seen how we help each other through the hard times.

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Speaker 3: But I've not been perfect, and I'm a knucklehead at times.

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Speaker 3: But it's in these moments we have to come together.

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Speaker 3: I called Donald Trump a wanna be dictator. You bully

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Speaker 3: the shit out of him, and.

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Speaker 5: I'll never stop fighting to protect us from the chaos,

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Speaker 5: corruption and cruelty.

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Speaker 3: Coming out of Washington. Well, maybe it's time for us

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Speaker 3: to be a little meaner.

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Speaker 6: May his fat ankles find something today.

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Speaker 2: We do not have the luxury to fight amongst ourselves.

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Speaker 3: Why that thing sets in the White House.

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Speaker 2: We can't lose hope because I've seen what we can

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Speaker 2: do when we work together. Think of how easy it

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Speaker 2: would be to be a damn Republican.

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Speaker 3: Oh what should I wear today?

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Speaker 5: This stupid freaking red.

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Speaker 3: At cutting taxes for the middle class.

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Speaker 5: However, there are also taxes going up for most Minnesotans

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Speaker 5: while also.

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Speaker 3: Making the largest investments in public safety.

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Speaker 7: But one of the few tweets we've had from any

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Speaker 7: kind of official source site, and in my opinion, that

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Speaker 7: is inexcusable.

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Speaker 3: We have reached out to the governor.

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Speaker 8: We are getting no response.

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Speaker 3: Tonight, we raised graduation rates to the highest ever.

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Speaker 5: Most Minnesota students are falling behind state standards in math,

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Speaker 5: and only about fifty percent of students are proficient in reading.

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Speaker 7: Crack Down on fraud and protect our tax dollars, bribes,

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Speaker 7: falsified records, and taxpayers charged to help dead people find housing.

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Speaker 9: Thousands of dollars for work that's not being done, fake meetings.

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Speaker 3: They doesn't build us for nothing.

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Speaker 5: Forge names homeless that dead people build phantom services for

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Speaker 5: that fourteen thousand you got what nothing?

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Speaker 7: Now I'm hitting the road, so listen to you and

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Speaker 7: talk about our future.

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Speaker 3: You get up in the morning and you doom scroll

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Speaker 3: through things.

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Speaker 5: And although I will say this, for the last few

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Speaker 5: days you woke up thinking there might be news, just

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Speaker 5: saying there will be news sometimes just so you know

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Speaker 5: there will be news.

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Speaker 3: I'm ready to get beat.

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Speaker 5: Twin City's News Talk Am eleven thirty and one oh

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Speaker 5: three five FM. Thanks for listening this morning or checking

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Speaker 5: out the podcast available on the iHeart Radio app from

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Speaker 5: the six five to one carpet. Next day you install studios,

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Speaker 5: let's get back to the iHeartRadio app. I want to

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Speaker 5: talk a little bit about walls. When he is concerned

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Speaker 5: as it relates to Medicaid fraud, and when he's not concerned,

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Speaker 5: it's when he can use it to help win a

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Speaker 5: historic third term as governor.

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Speaker 10: Good morning John. Pre Obamacare, the year before it took effect,

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Speaker 10: our family plan was two hundred and fifty dollars. A

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Speaker 10: month after Obamacare the very next year was eight hundred

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Speaker 10: and fifty dollars for the exact same plan. So all

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Speaker 10: these Democrats and liberals getting their endies in a twist

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Speaker 10: over increases in healthcare, they caused it with Obamacare. Sorry,

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Speaker 10: that's the fact. And then it's been going up ever since.

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Speaker 3: Well and it's a fact that Walls even admitted.

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Speaker 5: When you go back to this clip that Leftists of

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Speaker 5: MN had posted, you got yet by Dad.

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Speaker 7: That's why the message and you were talking about the DNC.

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Speaker 11: The DNC wanted the message to be the ACA is

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Speaker 11: working fine, and don't talk about the words.

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Speaker 3: I said, I can't do that because it's.

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Speaker 11: Failing my constituents in a lot of ways. So I

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Speaker 11: hear you a loud it.

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Speaker 5: Clear, Yeah, the ACA is failing my constituents. They wanted

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Speaker 5: me to speak positively. See. Then it was addedages for

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Speaker 5: Walls to actually be honest about what was going on

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Speaker 5: now not so much by example, the Minnesota Department of

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Speaker 5: Human Services, just as a reminder, they announced last week

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Speaker 5: and I'm looking at the version here from Alfhae News

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Speaker 5: that it has disenrolled about eighty excuse me, eight hundred

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Speaker 5: medicaid providers. These are individuals who had not build for

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Speaker 5: services in more than a year.

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Speaker 8: Now.

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Speaker 5: The number excludes the six hundred and twenty one providers

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Speaker 5: in the fraud ridden Housing a Stabilization Services program because

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Speaker 5: it's set to end on October thirty first. Sharen Gandhi,

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Speaker 5: the Temporary Human Services Commissioner, said, we must reduce risk

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Speaker 5: and increased efficiencies where we can. Taking this first step

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Speaker 5: to streamline the pool of inactive providers will strengthen the

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Speaker 5: integrity of Minnesota's Medicaid programs and services.

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Speaker 3: If you had.

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Speaker 5: Republicans in control and a Republican governor and this was

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Speaker 5: going and taking place, you would have the Democrats screaming, going,

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Speaker 5: they're going to have eight hundred medical Medicaid providers who

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Speaker 5: are no longer going to be able to provide medicaid.

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Speaker 5: The disenrollments aligned with the executive Order twenty five to

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Speaker 5: ten issued last month by Governor Tim Walls because finally

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Speaker 5: he started getting concerned about fraud because people were waking up.

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Speaker 5: And now we have a battle going on between the

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Speaker 5: legacy media outlets over which outlet is going to cover

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Speaker 5: fraud most extensively because people are waking up. It just

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Speaker 5: took far too long for the legacy media to care

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Speaker 5: enough beyond the initial reporting of when the fraud is discovered.

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Speaker 5: Now they're launching their investigative reporting the same thing as

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Speaker 5: a precarious state. And really it's because of Liz Colin

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Speaker 5: her book, they're lying and the fall of Minneapolis that

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Speaker 5: paved the way for these various entities now to begin

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Speaker 5: to cover the fraud extensively.

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Speaker 3: So Walls issued.

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Speaker 5: This executive order last month directing agencies to intensify fraud

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Speaker 5: prevention measures, including the immediate removal of non billing Medicaid

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Speaker 5: providers within the bounds of the law. Additional rounds of

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Speaker 5: disenrollments or planned and effective providers will receive notification letters

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Speaker 5: with appeal instructions according to DHS, so people are also

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Speaker 5: losing Medicaid coverage in this case. But for Walls, this

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Speaker 5: is okay because this helps him politically, But it really

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Speaker 5: isn't much different than what the GOP is trying to

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Speaker 5: do with the Affordable Care Act and what the Democrats

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Speaker 5: are keeping the GOP from doing and moving forward by

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Speaker 5: passing the Clean cr And again it's the Democrats shut down,

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Speaker 5: not Republicans, and even Democrats like Chris Murphy. Murphy are

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Speaker 5: admitting this.

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Speaker 7: You need Democratic votes to pass a budget. Everybody's known that.

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Speaker 7: That's been the rule of the Senate for years, and

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Speaker 7: so it requires a negotiation. But Republicans aren't even talking

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Speaker 7: why because they are living in the shadow of Donald Trump,

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Speaker 7: who believes that he's a king who believes that he

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Speaker 7: doesn't have to obey any law or work with anybody

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Speaker 7: in order to run the country.

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Speaker 5: Walls's executive order issued one day before the eight defendants

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Speaker 5: were federally charged with wire fraud for their roles in

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Speaker 5: the massive fraud in Minnesota Housing Stabilization program that was

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Speaker 5: According to Acting US Attorney Joe Thompson, the level of.

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Speaker 3: Fraud in the programs is staggering, he said.

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Speaker 5: Unfortunately, our system of trust but Verify, no longer works.

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Speaker 5: These programs have been abused over and over to the

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Speaker 5: point where the fraud has taken the legitimate services, Thompson said.

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Speaker 5: Republicans argue the taxpayers have been defrauded of hundreds of

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Speaker 5: millions of dollars during Walls's tenure, making the governor's recent

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Speaker 5: efforts to address the frauds seem like a late response

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Speaker 5: to the long grewing crisis. A year before the Minnesota

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Speaker 5: gubernatorial election, federal charging documents described the elaborate scheme relating

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Speaker 5: to the defrauded HSS program, which provided Medicaid funded helped

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Speaker 5: the Minesotans with disabilities, mental illness, and substance abuse disorders.

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Speaker 3: Prosecutor said the programs.

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Speaker 5: Low barriers to entry, and minimum requirements reimbursement made it

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Speaker 5: susceptible to fraud, just like Obamacare.

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Speaker 3: The program was.

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Speaker 5: Projected to cost two point six million dollars annually. That

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Speaker 5: the housing and stabilization services that ballooned to twenty one

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Speaker 5: million in twenty twenty one, forty two million in twenty two,

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Speaker 5: seventy four million in twenty twenty three, one hundred and

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Speaker 5: four million in twenty twenty four. And none of this

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Speaker 5: raised an eyebrow by anybody under the Walls administration inside

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Speaker 5: of DHS, or if it did, they simply didn't care. Oh,

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Speaker 5: but now they do because everybody is talking about it,

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Speaker 5: and this could hurt Walls in his re election chances.

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Speaker 5: This might also hurt not just Walls in his re

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Speaker 5: election chances, but all of us. Channel five anxiety grows

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Speaker 5: for employers about paid family medical leave program. The kickoff

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Speaker 5: of Minnesota's new paid family medical leave program is just

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Speaker 5: over two months away, and the pressure is on for

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Speaker 5: a smooth rollout.

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Speaker 3: This program is so infuriating to me.

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Speaker 5: The fact that a single penny of my paycheck is

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Speaker 5: going to have to go to fund this that I

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Speaker 5: will not use apart from medical emergencies in my yearly

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Speaker 5: vacation summer and winter, I rarely take time off, and

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Speaker 5: yet I am going to have to pay for it.

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Speaker 5: You are going to have to pay for without being asked,

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Speaker 5: without opting in means can opt out for individuals to

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Speaker 5: take essentially if they wanted to five months time off

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Speaker 5: of work. We'll get into the growing concerns over this,

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Speaker 5: and remember you even had the a Fellers saying they

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Speaker 5: wanted to pause on this because they were concerned about

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Speaker 5: paid family medical leave and the rest of the Democrats

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Speaker 5: basically shut up their own party and just press forward. Anyways,

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Speaker 5: we'll get to your top backs as well, and Hank

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Speaker 5: Long from Alpha Neuws will be joining us in studio

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Speaker 5: next on Twin City's News Talk AM eleven thirty and

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Speaker 5: one oh three five FM YO coverage you can count

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Speaker 5: on from the sixty five to one Carpets plus home

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Speaker 5: of the Next Day Install STUDIOSFAM one O three point

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Speaker 5: five and KTLKAM eleven thirty Minneapolis.

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Speaker 3: I'm Saint Paul.

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Speaker 5: From the sixty five to one Carpet Next Day Install

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Speaker 5: Studios John Justice on Twin City's News Talk. Hank Long

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Speaker 5: from Alpha News joins us in studio. We'll talk to

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Speaker 5: him in just a moment before we get back into

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Speaker 5: paid family medical leave. Foes of the show talkbacks Alpha

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Speaker 5: News conversations with Hank.

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Speaker 3: I want to remind you we do all remember.

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Speaker 5: That one teacher who made a difference or who believed

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Speaker 5: in us, challenged us, made learning just fun. Now is

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Speaker 5: your chance to say thank you. You can do this

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Speaker 5: in a big way with iHeartRadio's Thank a Teacher. It's

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Speaker 5: powered by donors Choose nominated an outstanding public school teacher

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Speaker 5: who's gone above and beyond for their students to win

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Speaker 5: five thousand dollars to stock their classrooms with whatever they need.

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Speaker 5: Help us say thank you to educators for shaping our future.

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Speaker 5: Nominate your favorite teacher now at iHeartRadio Forward slash Teachers,

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Speaker 5: and I just want to mention briefly from American experiment

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Speaker 5: regarding if the schools here in Minnesota are going to

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Speaker 5: be affected by the shutdown at the moment. No, the

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Speaker 5: recent government shutdown hasn't significantly impacted our educational system here. Certainly,

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Speaker 5: Governor Tim Walls and his policies have been done more

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Speaker 5: damage than the shutdown will at least at this point,

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Speaker 5: and they're also unlikely to do so assuming the shutdown

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Speaker 5: length it does not stretch for several months. Funds represent

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Speaker 5: only about five percent of Minnesota's education budget for the

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Speaker 5: twenty five twenty six a year. The vast majority of

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Speaker 5: those are earmarked federal dollars from a Title one Grant

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Speaker 5: the Idea of Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, both of

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Speaker 5: which have already been awarded and had their funds awarded

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Speaker 5: to Minnesota schools this year. So the bottom line is,

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Speaker 5: if the shutdown ends on or just before All Saints Day,

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Speaker 5: Minnesota's education system will have experienced a relatively minor disruption,

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Speaker 5: but more changes could be coming down the pipeline, so

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Speaker 5: don't expect anything major happening to our schools.

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Speaker 3: Here. Hank Long from Alpinus.

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Speaker 1: Joints us Hey, Hank, I'm so happy to be back. John.

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Speaker 3: How are you, Om good Man? A long time, we'll

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Speaker 3: see Good to see you though. Talking pay family sick leave,

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Speaker 3: I'm all about it. Let's go, let's do it.

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Speaker 5: Chunta Five's got an article Anxiety grows for employers about

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Speaker 5: pay family medical leave. We'll get into some more details

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Speaker 5: of this and just in just a moment under You

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Speaker 5: guys have covered this extensively over at Alphinus as well.

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Speaker 3: I do want to go to the iHeartRadio app.

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Speaker 5: I want to break my rule, but it's relevant to

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Speaker 5: what we're talking about and full of the show.

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Speaker 3: Phil believes he has a point once again.

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Speaker 11: Hey John and Justice, it's Phil and you've prayed one

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Speaker 11: last time. You know your GOLP guys say your pro

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Speaker 11: family the party of the family. Well, yet you want

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Speaker 11: to get rid of the one thing that benefits family

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Speaker 11: the most. Pay family leave. Hey, guys, make that make sense.

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Speaker 11: I don't want to hear you. Guys tell you your

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Speaker 11: pro family again. Pay familyly benefits people who have to

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Speaker 11: take time off to take care of their family, whether

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Speaker 11: have a new baby or take care of an elderly person.

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Speaker 4: In the house.

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Speaker 11: I mean, you guys nuts, have a great day.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, we're just helping or you know, we're just helping

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Speaker 3: families here to hang.

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Speaker 5: I mean, you know we're so essentially we're anti family

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Speaker 5: by doing so. By the way, this is no secret,

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Speaker 5: but the whole paid family medical leave in order for

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Speaker 5: it to come to fruition. A part of that was

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Speaker 5: to be able to craft a ridiculous argument of what

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Speaker 5: Phil just presented. So if they have moved forward with

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Speaker 5: say pulling five percent of your available money that you've

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Speaker 5: earned out of your paycheck to go and pay for

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Speaker 5: people to have even more time off, is that suitable

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Speaker 5: for you?

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Speaker 3: When does it end? Phil?

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Speaker 5: And people already had the opportunity to go and take

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Speaker 5: time off for various reasons that have been established long

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Speaker 5: before Paid Family Medical leave. We're talking about essentially, under

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Speaker 5: the program, you can take up to twelve weeks of

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Speaker 5: paid leave after the birth of a new child, or

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Speaker 5: twelve weeks of personal medical reasons to care for a

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Speaker 5: sick relative. So you can take up to twenty weeks

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Speaker 5: combined of the two types of leave in one year.

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Speaker 5: And the individuals that you were going in and taking

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Speaker 5: care of they don't even have to live in the

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Speaker 5: state of Minnesota. We're talking essentially five months that people

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Speaker 5: can take time off of money to pay forward is

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Speaker 5: coming out of my paycheck, It's coming out of your paycheck.

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Speaker 3: Phil.

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Speaker 5: So Phil, I just I'm assuming you're cool with that.

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Speaker 5: You're cool with having to pay for somebody that you

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Speaker 5: work with who puts forward a bogus claim because you

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Speaker 5: there's very little requirements it's like almost everything the DFL

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Speaker 5: has passed. The stipulations in order to receive this paid

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Speaker 5: family medical leave. It's essentially whatever your imagination can come

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Speaker 5: up with, and you'll be fine when whoever you work

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Speaker 5: with ends up taking almost five months off and you

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Speaker 5: have to go and shoulder the burden at your place

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Speaker 5: of work while your business suffers and potentially risks having

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Speaker 5: to shut down because of this program that was completely

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Speaker 5: and totally unnecessary. Good for you, Phil, See, this is

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Speaker 5: what I talked about. I was telling Hank from Alpha

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Speaker 5: News that the foes of the show sometimes make me

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Speaker 5: want to pull my Well, we know what.

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Speaker 1: John has to say, but what about justice because Phil

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Speaker 1: Phil usually introduces you as John Injustice.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, John Injustice. I thinks he's clever with that. Listen

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Speaker 5: this program. The businesses are concerned. They even had there

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Speaker 5: was dfellers during the legislative session right that we're looking

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Speaker 5: to put a pause on this, and the Democrats essentially

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Speaker 5: silenced their own party.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, you got to go back a little bit, back

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Speaker 1: to the DFL Trifecta era in twenty twenty three when

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Speaker 1: this bill was first introduced and obviously passed, and even

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Speaker 1: then there were two Republicans in the House. That was

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Speaker 1: Jean Pulowski and Dave Littlegard. Plowski's from Winona and Littlegard

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Speaker 1: was from Aurora, the Iron Range.

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Speaker 3: They both voted against this bill.

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Speaker 1: Now they are no longer in the legislature, replaced by Republicans.

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Speaker 1: But the point is, at that time, all the facts

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Speaker 1: were laid out. This bill was going to impact one

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Speaker 1: point three million Minnesotans who are employed by small businesses

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Speaker 1: across the state. And there is obviously the Chamber of

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Speaker 1: Commerce and a couple other organizations, one of them is

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Speaker 1: called the National Federation for Independent Businesses that were in

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Speaker 1: midies and saying, hey, this is like Kart before the horse,

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Speaker 1: like let's let's get rid of the mandate component of

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Speaker 1: this on small businesses, let's do some carve outs. And

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Speaker 1: they felt like they were roundly ignored during the default triffect.

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Speaker 1: So this thing was passed, right, and then in the

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Speaker 1: last couple of legislative sessions when Republicans have a little

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Speaker 1: bit balance of power here, they've said, how about we

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Speaker 1: delay this and fix this because this is going to

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Speaker 1: have a massive negative impact on a small business can

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Speaker 1: be just a few people, right, I mean they're at

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Speaker 1: the end of the day like it's it's a huge

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Speaker 1: burden to say it's not even just the cost I

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Speaker 1: think for a lot of these small businesses, but to

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Speaker 1: say that I possibly could constantly be placing one of

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Speaker 1: my three or four employees on leave for up to

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Speaker 1: twelve weeks, and how do you replace them with with

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Speaker 1: with a lot of these small budgets that a lot

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Speaker 1: of these businesses have well and and you know you're right,

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Speaker 1: let me add another component to this, and I won't

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Speaker 1: get into two much detail, but listen, I don't work

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Speaker 1: for a small company. I work for a large corporation

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Speaker 1: right now called iHeart Radio, iHeart Media. And I can

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Speaker 1: tell you that this type of stuff happens within large

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Speaker 1: corporations in terms of counting every dollar and making sure

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Speaker 1: that people aren't going over in the time that they're allotted,

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Speaker 1: depending on what their role is. I mean, we have

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Speaker 1: rotating and this is they all do a fantastic job

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Speaker 1: and I love working with all of them, but we

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Speaker 1: have rotating individuals that come in and produce and board

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Speaker 1: op the show.

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Speaker 3: Now, I mean these are changes that have to be

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Speaker 3: made in order for.

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Speaker 5: iHeart to continue to do what iHeart does, and so

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Speaker 5: that I can keep talking on the radio. And this

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Speaker 5: is going to ring true to that as well, because

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Speaker 5: if somebody goes and wants to take you four months off, well,

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Speaker 5: now you're looking at an individual that has to go

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Speaker 5: and pick up the slack over that and a lot

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Speaker 5: of times that has to be a part timer. But

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Speaker 5: then they're limited on how much time they can end

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Speaker 5: up working. So what you're going to make a full

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Speaker 5: timer who is already salaried out and working, has a

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Speaker 5: lot of hours go and cover for that. This is

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Speaker 5: going to be an un in negated disaster for big

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Speaker 5: and small companies.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's fair to say too that Republicans have

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Speaker 1: offered solutions in the legislature to say, hey, guess what,

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Speaker 1: we do agree something needs to be done. But I

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Speaker 1: did see back and I covered this back in twenty two,

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Speaker 1: twenty twenty three, one of the senator Republican senators in

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Speaker 1: the state legislature offered a bill and in the form

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Speaker 1: of an amendment that would basically have eliminated the mandate

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Speaker 1: un employers but allow employers to volunteerly enroll in plans

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Speaker 1: that the state provides via like preferred insurance companies. So like,

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Speaker 1: it's not that one side cares about this and the

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Speaker 1: other side doesn't. Everybody seems to care about this issue.

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Speaker 1: And the question is is like everybody talks about the

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Speaker 1: one size fits all approach versus like a little bit

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Speaker 1: more custom approach, because, like I said, what is a

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Speaker 1: small business. A small business could just be a few people,

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Speaker 1: could be literally a husband and a wife running a

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Speaker 1: shop anywhere in Minnesota with four to six employees. And

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Speaker 1: at the end of the day, like you have to

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Speaker 1: listen to those voices in the legislature when you're crafting

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Speaker 1: this legislation.

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Speaker 5: And think and do not you know, also the unintended consequences,

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Speaker 5: you know, they're numerous. And consider the fact that employers

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Speaker 5: now you think that the hiring process is strict already

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Speaker 5: and difficult to get a job. You know, employers are

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Speaker 5: going to be making sure when they go through the

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Speaker 5: hiring process that they're not going to be hiring somebody

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Speaker 5: who is going to potentially go and put them in

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Speaker 5: a tough spot because of what paid family medical leave

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Speaker 5: is going to do. All Right, we'll talk more with

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Speaker 5: Hank Long coming up in just a moment. From Alpha

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Speaker 5: News joins me and studio will get into Keith Ellison

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Speaker 5: running for reelection. I do want to sneak in a

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Speaker 5: couple of your talkbacks before we take a quick break.

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Speaker 5: Your talk back of the day is coming up as well,

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Speaker 5: brought to you by Many Leave here on Twin City's

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Speaker 5: News Talk.

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Speaker 9: Sure, for the love of God, expand your thought process

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Speaker 9: just a little bit, all right? Sure, it says it's

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Speaker 9: for family leaves, pay family leave for people that want

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Speaker 9: to go take care of their families. What happens to

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Speaker 9: all the people that are going to lose their jobs

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Speaker 9: because their businesses are going to shut down because employees

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Speaker 9: can't afford it anymore because of this, Phil, just think Phil, No.

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Speaker 6: I guys like Phil, they'll be the first guys to

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Speaker 6: complain wildly when they have to fill in for somebody

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Speaker 6: who took a little bit of family lead and do

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Speaker 6: their tasks to get it done, and then he's got

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Speaker 6: to pay five percent of his paycheck. We'll see, I'll

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Speaker 6: feel Phil. I hope Phil calls in when that happens.

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Speaker 3: We'll see what happens.

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Speaker 8: Then, responding to Phil, who, by the way, sounds like

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Speaker 8: he's speaking in an underground cavern, Phil I've worked for

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Speaker 8: an employer for fifteen years that provides generous time off,

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Speaker 8: well until twenty twenty six, that is, at which point

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Speaker 8: they're curtailing it, specifically because of the Paid Family and

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Speaker 8: Medical Leave Act. So that's why we're against it. Phil

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Speaker 8: private employers. We're doing the trick for many of us,

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Speaker 8: but now it's being taken away in favor of the

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Speaker 8: benevolent government. Figure it out, Man.

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Speaker 5: Twin Cities News Talk, John Justice want to remind you

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Speaker 5: Aquarius Home Services as you're shot at four tickets to

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Speaker 5: see Green Bay take on the Purple That Game early January.

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Speaker 5: You also get five hundred dollars in Game Day cash.

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00:22:37,440 --> 00:22:38,760
Speaker 3: Can register for your chance.

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Speaker 5: To win today at twin Citiesnews Talk dot com on

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Speaker 5: the contest page. Twin Citiesnews Talk dot Com. Slash Furnace

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Speaker 5: is where you can go and enter.

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Speaker 3: Check that out.

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Speaker 5: Broadcasting from the six to five to one carpet Next

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Speaker 5: Day Install Studios. Before we get back to your talkbacks

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Speaker 5: and more of our conversation with Hanklong from Alpha News

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Speaker 5: joining us in studio, we'll get into Keith else and

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Speaker 5: running for a third term as well. Back to paid

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Speaker 5: Family Medical Leaf. First off, though we do have to

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Speaker 5: get to your talk back of the day, and that,

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Speaker 5: of course is brought to you by Many Leaf. Check

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Speaker 5: out the night gummies and many Leaf free shipping available

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Speaker 5: on track like I have at minileaf dot com.

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Speaker 4: This is constant messaging about people's voices being heard, but

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Speaker 4: when they have an opportunity to speak up about what

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Speaker 4: they believe and they can't articulate what their point is.

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Speaker 4: And activism is supposed to be about getting people to

442
00:23:30,000 --> 00:23:32,359
Speaker 4: see your side of the argument and get them to

443
00:23:32,400 --> 00:23:35,480
Speaker 4: see where the change needs to be made. But instead

444
00:23:35,560 --> 00:23:38,880
Speaker 4: these people are just going out and stopping their feet

445
00:23:39,280 --> 00:23:42,000
Speaker 4: about something that they were told on the media is

446
00:23:42,040 --> 00:23:44,919
Speaker 4: happening without figuring out the reality behind it.

447
00:23:45,160 --> 00:23:47,560
Speaker 5: Yeah, No, Blake, that was an amazing point that you

448
00:23:47,640 --> 00:23:50,399
Speaker 5: made this morning, and thank you so much for leaving

449
00:23:50,440 --> 00:23:51,080
Speaker 5: a talkback.

450
00:23:51,119 --> 00:23:52,360
Speaker 3: We were getting into.

451
00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:55,040
Speaker 5: The whether or not the No King's protests were effective

452
00:23:55,600 --> 00:23:57,840
Speaker 5: or not for Democrats and if you believe that they

453
00:23:57,840 --> 00:24:00,040
Speaker 5: were in what way? And I appreciate your comment. What

454
00:24:00,160 --> 00:24:01,760
Speaker 5: is your talk back of the day and it's brought

455
00:24:01,760 --> 00:24:05,320
Speaker 5: to you by Mini Leaf. Head on over to MNNLAF

456
00:24:05,480 --> 00:24:09,000
Speaker 5: dot com to check out all of their amazing products,

457
00:24:09,160 --> 00:24:12,040
Speaker 5: so a couple of different versions here on Channel five.

458
00:24:12,200 --> 00:24:15,720
Speaker 5: I know Alpha News has covered it seventy one days away.

459
00:24:15,800 --> 00:24:18,480
Speaker 5: Greg Norfleet, the director of the Minnesota Paid Family and

460
00:24:18,560 --> 00:24:21,239
Speaker 5: Medical Leave program. Total room full of business owners and

461
00:24:21,560 --> 00:24:25,560
Speaker 5: human resource representatives. This is on Tuesday, and kun rapids

462
00:24:25,600 --> 00:24:28,080
Speaker 5: that I can sense a little anxiety in the room.

463
00:24:28,200 --> 00:24:28,679
Speaker 3: He said.

464
00:24:29,600 --> 00:24:32,480
Speaker 5: They had all kinds of questions, ranging from what to

465
00:24:32,560 --> 00:24:35,320
Speaker 5: do about people who work in Minnesota but live in Wisconsin,

466
00:24:35,520 --> 00:24:38,040
Speaker 5: and what happens with all the new personal finance data

467
00:24:38,400 --> 00:24:41,359
Speaker 5: the state will be collecting. Then there's the concern about

468
00:24:41,359 --> 00:24:44,080
Speaker 5: whether the online portals will work as intended.

469
00:24:44,440 --> 00:24:48,320
Speaker 3: We're all reminded of menshure and min lars. The state does.

470
00:24:48,320 --> 00:24:51,560
Speaker 5: Estimate the some twelve thousand to fifteen thousand Minnesotans will

471
00:24:51,560 --> 00:24:56,400
Speaker 5: take paid family leave in the first year. That's based

472
00:24:56,440 --> 00:24:59,000
Speaker 5: on experiences with programs that are similar in other states.

473
00:24:59,040 --> 00:25:01,359
Speaker 5: What we do know is that more than sixty thousand

474
00:25:01,359 --> 00:25:04,160
Speaker 5: babies have been born annually in Minnesota, and under the program,

475
00:25:04,359 --> 00:25:06,680
Speaker 5: you can take up to twelve weeks of paid leave

476
00:25:06,760 --> 00:25:09,600
Speaker 5: after birth of a new child, or twelve weeks of

477
00:25:09,720 --> 00:25:13,320
Speaker 5: personal medical reasons, or to care for a sick relative

478
00:25:13,359 --> 00:25:15,560
Speaker 5: that doesn't even have to live in state. So you

479
00:25:15,560 --> 00:25:19,040
Speaker 5: can take up to twenty weeks combined of the two

480
00:25:19,119 --> 00:25:21,480
Speaker 5: types of leave in one year. And it's important to

481
00:25:21,600 --> 00:25:24,920
Speaker 5: note that people not people taking leave do not get

482
00:25:24,920 --> 00:25:28,240
Speaker 5: one hundred percent of their wages. For example, someone earning

483
00:25:28,280 --> 00:25:31,240
Speaker 5: sixty thousand a year and makes one thy fifty four

484
00:25:31,280 --> 00:25:33,920
Speaker 5: dollars per week, they would only qualify for nine hundred

485
00:25:33,920 --> 00:25:36,439
Speaker 5: and thirty two dollars per week eighty one percent of

486
00:25:36,440 --> 00:25:40,040
Speaker 5: their regular wages. The payroll tax of point eighty eight

487
00:25:40,160 --> 00:25:42,560
Speaker 5: percent will pay for the ongoing cost of the program,

488
00:25:42,760 --> 00:25:46,159
Speaker 5: with at least half paid by the employer. Hank, do

489
00:25:46,240 --> 00:25:49,240
Speaker 5: you know where the whole where this whole impetus of

490
00:25:49,280 --> 00:25:51,960
Speaker 5: this started. I know it took place during the during

491
00:25:51,960 --> 00:25:55,159
Speaker 5: the DFL trifecta, But I mean, do we know what

492
00:25:55,200 --> 00:25:57,800
Speaker 5: the original argument was raised of why this was necessary

493
00:25:57,880 --> 00:26:00,359
Speaker 5: in the first place, going back to win THEFA was

494
00:26:00,359 --> 00:26:01,320
Speaker 5: pushing this and passed it.

495
00:26:01,480 --> 00:26:05,320
Speaker 1: You're talking about just like the mandate aspect of Yeah,

496
00:26:05,359 --> 00:26:07,639
Speaker 1: I mean, if you if.

497
00:26:07,520 --> 00:26:09,679
Speaker 3: You go back, I don't know.

498
00:26:09,840 --> 00:26:13,320
Speaker 1: Ten years or so, Minneapolis really had a lot of

499
00:26:13,480 --> 00:26:17,640
Speaker 1: activists that were pushing for sick time, guaranteed sick time,

500
00:26:17,680 --> 00:26:21,760
Speaker 1: and and just a huge increase to I guess you

501
00:26:21,760 --> 00:26:24,119
Speaker 1: could say entitlements or benefits that they didn't feel like

502
00:26:24,160 --> 00:26:27,840
Speaker 1: a lot of let's be honest, small businesses were offering

503
00:26:28,680 --> 00:26:31,040
Speaker 1: to their employees, whether it be part time or full time.

504
00:26:31,320 --> 00:26:33,679
Speaker 3: And I think that was probably the test lab for

505
00:26:33,720 --> 00:26:34,560
Speaker 3: a lot of this stuff.

506
00:26:35,600 --> 00:26:38,080
Speaker 1: It's it's easy to pass some of these ordinances in

507
00:26:38,280 --> 00:26:41,320
Speaker 1: a city like Minneapolis or Saint Paul, and then once

508
00:26:41,359 --> 00:26:46,800
Speaker 1: that kind of takes effect, then the same activists kind

509
00:26:46,800 --> 00:26:49,399
Speaker 1: of look on a grander scale. And we all know,

510
00:26:50,000 --> 00:26:53,720
Speaker 1: we all knew what was going to happen when Walls

511
00:26:53,800 --> 00:26:58,199
Speaker 1: one another term in Democrats to control the legislature in

512
00:26:58,280 --> 00:27:00,600
Speaker 1: twenty twenty three, And this is just the effect of it.

513
00:27:00,600 --> 00:27:05,280
Speaker 1: It's it's it's looking at the entitlement culture and the

514
00:27:05,280 --> 00:27:08,920
Speaker 1: benefits that some people think that all people are entitled too,

515
00:27:08,920 --> 00:27:12,640
Speaker 1: regardless of the actual impact on the people that employ them.

516
00:27:12,920 --> 00:27:15,600
Speaker 1: So I I just it's I think it's it's sort

517
00:27:15,600 --> 00:27:19,720
Speaker 1: of an ideological paradigm that one side of the aisle,

518
00:27:19,720 --> 00:27:22,840
Speaker 1: for the most part has at the legislature. But like

519
00:27:22,880 --> 00:27:24,560
Speaker 1: I said, I mean, we've seen in the last two

520
00:27:24,640 --> 00:27:29,120
Speaker 1: legislative sessions, we've seen some Democrats say hey, and they're

521
00:27:29,160 --> 00:27:31,600
Speaker 1: from Greater Minnesota and from areas that probably have a

522
00:27:31,640 --> 00:27:34,600
Speaker 1: lot of small businesses, right, they say, I'm not, I'm not,

523
00:27:34,800 --> 00:27:37,480
Speaker 1: I'm not supporting this. And at that time in twenty

524
00:27:37,480 --> 00:27:40,640
Speaker 1: twenty three, there wasn't enough votes to stop it, even

525
00:27:40,640 --> 00:27:42,840
Speaker 1: with a couple of Democrats say hey, I'm not on this.

526
00:27:43,680 --> 00:27:46,960
Speaker 1: But now we've got a tide house and there's just

527
00:27:47,040 --> 00:27:50,280
Speaker 1: that one seat margin that the Democrats have in the Senate.

528
00:27:50,680 --> 00:27:53,040
Speaker 1: And so the question is is, as we're revisiting this

529
00:27:53,119 --> 00:27:56,920
Speaker 1: issue before becomes implemented in just a few months, did

530
00:27:58,320 --> 00:28:00,840
Speaker 1: the Democrats put the cart before the whole on this thing?

531
00:28:01,480 --> 00:28:05,240
Speaker 1: And what kind of cascading effect is it going to

532
00:28:05,240 --> 00:28:08,560
Speaker 1: have on these small businesses that are already just teetering right,

533
00:28:08,600 --> 00:28:09,440
Speaker 1: a lot of them right.

534
00:28:10,040 --> 00:28:12,040
Speaker 5: Well, And when you look at so the startup costs

535
00:28:12,040 --> 00:28:14,600
Speaker 5: of the program, so those are paid through the legislation

536
00:28:14,680 --> 00:28:17,359
Speaker 5: in twenty twenty three with taxpayer funding. So you have

537
00:28:17,359 --> 00:28:20,800
Speaker 5: six hundred and sixty eight million for the initial benefit account,

538
00:28:21,560 --> 00:28:24,240
Speaker 5: with an additional one hundred and twenty two million for

539
00:28:24,320 --> 00:28:27,879
Speaker 5: administrative costs, and then you have this payroll tax of

540
00:28:27,960 --> 00:28:30,840
Speaker 5: point eighty eight percent that is supposed to pay for

541
00:28:30,880 --> 00:28:34,280
Speaker 5: the ongoing costs of the program, with at least half

542
00:28:34,359 --> 00:28:36,480
Speaker 5: paid by the employer, and I guess the other half

543
00:28:36,520 --> 00:28:42,400
Speaker 5: is paid for by us, right, yep. So we've already

544
00:28:42,440 --> 00:28:44,960
Speaker 5: seen the math not bearing out on so many other

545
00:28:45,040 --> 00:28:49,320
Speaker 5: DFL programs. I mean, we're stepping towards disaster with this,

546
00:28:49,440 --> 00:28:52,800
Speaker 5: depending on you know, how many people end up taking it,

547
00:28:52,920 --> 00:28:56,560
Speaker 5: how many people are paying in, and what ends up

548
00:28:56,560 --> 00:29:00,040
Speaker 5: getting billed essentially correct. I mean, this is where the

549
00:29:00,080 --> 00:29:03,440
Speaker 5: concern rests on whether or not they've been able to

550
00:29:03,480 --> 00:29:06,160
Speaker 5: go and math this out appropriately, And so far they've

551
00:29:06,160 --> 00:29:08,240
Speaker 5: shown another programs they haven't been able to do the

552
00:29:08,240 --> 00:29:09,720
Speaker 5: math on those other programs.

553
00:29:09,800 --> 00:29:13,440
Speaker 1: And it's also worth noting contextually. I believe Minnesota at

554
00:29:13,480 --> 00:29:16,720
Speaker 1: the time was the eleventh state to pass this form

555
00:29:16,760 --> 00:29:22,479
Speaker 1: of mandated paid family leave, and from what everything I

556
00:29:22,520 --> 00:29:24,640
Speaker 1: read at that time when I was covering this issue

557
00:29:24,680 --> 00:29:27,520
Speaker 1: at the legislature, it is considered to be the most

558
00:29:27,560 --> 00:29:31,480
Speaker 1: generous of the eleven or so programs across the country.

559
00:29:31,680 --> 00:29:35,320
Speaker 1: So does generous equate with making sure we have the

560
00:29:35,400 --> 00:29:38,200
Speaker 1: right math or not? That's that's good I mean, honestly,

561
00:29:38,200 --> 00:29:40,360
Speaker 1: we're not quite no until what happens, right. Yeah, it's

562
00:29:40,400 --> 00:29:43,480
Speaker 1: also worth noting you you mentioned administrative costs, right, I

563
00:29:43,520 --> 00:29:46,480
Speaker 1: think you said one hundred and twenty something million, two million, Yeah,

564
00:29:46,480 --> 00:29:48,800
Speaker 1: and we're talking about, you know, by any M type stuff.

565
00:29:49,720 --> 00:29:52,240
Speaker 1: I was trying to dig through past articles I'd written

566
00:29:52,240 --> 00:29:52,720
Speaker 1: on this.

567
00:29:53,480 --> 00:29:54,280
Speaker 3: In the last couple of years.

568
00:29:54,320 --> 00:29:57,360
Speaker 1: But I I'm almost one hundred percent sure in one

569
00:29:57,400 --> 00:29:59,680
Speaker 1: of the stories I wrote a year or two ago,

570
00:30:00,480 --> 00:30:03,320
Speaker 1: I was digging into the spreadsheets and then I found details.

571
00:30:03,600 --> 00:30:07,280
Speaker 1: I'm almost assuredly it's on this particular program. There was

572
00:30:07,360 --> 00:30:10,560
Speaker 1: gonna be like a new like office space with like

573
00:30:11,040 --> 00:30:14,959
Speaker 1: dozens and dozens of employees dedicated to this expansion this

574
00:30:14,960 --> 00:30:19,120
Speaker 1: new program essentially. And administrative cost to like get this

575
00:30:19,200 --> 00:30:21,400
Speaker 1: off the ground and running like a hundred over one

576
00:30:21,440 --> 00:30:24,040
Speaker 1: hundred million just to run the program, not even to

577
00:30:24,080 --> 00:30:26,360
Speaker 1: get the benefits to these people is kind of a

578
00:30:26,920 --> 00:30:28,760
Speaker 1: it's worth it's worth noting a little bit, you know,

579
00:30:28,840 --> 00:30:30,360
Speaker 1: digging into a little bit more, is my point.

580
00:30:31,000 --> 00:30:34,640
Speaker 5: So is there a circumstance here where once again you

581
00:30:34,720 --> 00:30:40,720
Speaker 5: could have an employer start billing the state needing funding

582
00:30:40,760 --> 00:30:45,000
Speaker 5: for the paid family leave that that people are taking

583
00:30:45,080 --> 00:30:47,320
Speaker 5: but yet it ends up turning out very similar to

584
00:30:47,360 --> 00:30:50,160
Speaker 5: what we've seen before with these other programs, wherein they're

585
00:30:50,160 --> 00:30:52,400
Speaker 5: building the state for these services, but they're not actually

586
00:30:52,440 --> 00:30:53,040
Speaker 5: providing them.

587
00:30:53,080 --> 00:30:55,960
Speaker 3: Is that a concern over this? Do we know? Is

588
00:30:55,960 --> 00:30:56,640
Speaker 3: that even I.

589
00:30:56,560 --> 00:30:58,920
Speaker 5: Mean because a portion of this again that eighty eight

590
00:30:59,600 --> 00:31:02,360
Speaker 5: sense being taken out that one percent is being taken

591
00:31:02,400 --> 00:31:05,000
Speaker 5: out from is being paid for by the employer and

592
00:31:05,040 --> 00:31:05,840
Speaker 5: the employee.

593
00:31:05,920 --> 00:31:07,320
Speaker 3: So I just don't know how much of that is

594
00:31:07,320 --> 00:31:07,800
Speaker 3: supposed to.

595
00:31:07,800 --> 00:31:11,400
Speaker 5: Go and recoup when the companies essentially go to the

596
00:31:11,400 --> 00:31:14,800
Speaker 5: state and say we need money to continue funding the program.

597
00:31:14,960 --> 00:31:15,160
Speaker 3: Yeah.

598
00:31:15,200 --> 00:31:17,760
Speaker 1: I think, honestly, I think a lot of it remains

599
00:31:17,760 --> 00:31:19,640
Speaker 1: to be seen. And that's part of the problem here,

600
00:31:19,760 --> 00:31:24,760
Speaker 1: is like everyone's trying to shift forward here and prepare

601
00:31:24,840 --> 00:31:27,680
Speaker 1: for how it's gonna impact their bottom line as a business.

602
00:31:28,520 --> 00:31:32,960
Speaker 1: I don't know if employees are like super conscious of

603
00:31:32,960 --> 00:31:34,360
Speaker 1: this and being like, oh, I'm excited for this.

604
00:31:34,760 --> 00:31:36,600
Speaker 3: Well, when this happens, I'm gonna.

605
00:31:37,800 --> 00:31:41,360
Speaker 1: There's tons of folks that are employed by small businesses

606
00:31:41,360 --> 00:31:43,880
Speaker 1: that are like altruistic and if they're gonna take leave,

607
00:31:43,920 --> 00:31:46,080
Speaker 1: they're gonna take leave because they need it. But the

608
00:31:46,120 --> 00:31:49,880
Speaker 1: point being is it's the businesses right now that are

609
00:31:50,320 --> 00:31:52,840
Speaker 1: seeing this. We're in the eleventh hour before we turn

610
00:31:52,880 --> 00:31:54,440
Speaker 1: over and they have to start providing this. So I'm

611
00:31:54,480 --> 00:31:57,480
Speaker 1: sure they've adapted, but I don't think we'll see the

612
00:31:57,520 --> 00:31:59,360
Speaker 1: consequences bear out until they actually do.

613
00:31:59,520 --> 00:32:01,240
Speaker 5: Yeah, we'll spend some more time on this. I know

614
00:32:01,240 --> 00:32:03,440
Speaker 5: I'm throw I'm throwing a bunch of a bunch of

615
00:32:03,440 --> 00:32:05,760
Speaker 5: hard questions. We didn't preview into this before we got

616
00:32:05,760 --> 00:32:08,520
Speaker 5: on because I'm just trying to envision how the process

617
00:32:08,560 --> 00:32:10,600
Speaker 5: works and for example, and we'll leave with this one

618
00:32:10,640 --> 00:32:12,240
Speaker 5: and move on to some other items because we're already

619
00:32:12,280 --> 00:32:14,920
Speaker 5: running short on time. But Hank along from Alpha News

620
00:32:15,000 --> 00:32:17,360
Speaker 5: Joint System Studio like, could you have I don't know

621
00:32:17,400 --> 00:32:19,080
Speaker 5: if you know the answer, we're staring out of hypothetical.

622
00:32:19,360 --> 00:32:19,960
Speaker 3: Could you have a.

623
00:32:19,920 --> 00:32:23,120
Speaker 5: Situation where there's somebody who is pregnant, but then the

624
00:32:23,160 --> 00:32:27,080
Speaker 5: company goes and hires them, knowing full well that after

625
00:32:27,120 --> 00:32:29,080
Speaker 5: they hire them, they're going to immediately go and take

626
00:32:29,120 --> 00:32:31,680
Speaker 5: a whole bunch of time off and the person's going

627
00:32:31,720 --> 00:32:32,920
Speaker 5: to get paid, but they're just going to go and

628
00:32:32,920 --> 00:32:34,600
Speaker 5: build the state in order to get recouped for the

629
00:32:34,640 --> 00:32:36,200
Speaker 5: dollars for the individual they hired.

630
00:32:36,400 --> 00:32:38,320
Speaker 3: Again, I'm just tossing out a scenario. I don't know

631
00:32:38,320 --> 00:32:40,080
Speaker 3: if that's it's an interesting hypothetical.

632
00:32:40,120 --> 00:32:43,520
Speaker 1: There are possible There are some really tuned folks that

633
00:32:44,760 --> 00:32:47,320
Speaker 1: represent organizations, like I said, the NFIB and stuff you

634
00:32:47,360 --> 00:32:50,600
Speaker 1: can bring onto the show, and they are very well

635
00:32:50,680 --> 00:32:53,120
Speaker 1: versed in these scenarios that I think would be helpful

636
00:32:53,160 --> 00:32:54,080
Speaker 1: for your audience.

637
00:32:55,400 --> 00:32:59,080
Speaker 6: John, how much did you say the administrative cost was

638
00:32:59,200 --> 00:33:00,000
Speaker 6: for that program?

639
00:33:00,200 --> 00:33:03,040
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think you said one hullion one hundred and

640
00:33:03,040 --> 00:33:03,480
Speaker 5: twenty two.

641
00:33:04,960 --> 00:33:08,080
Speaker 6: Sounds like another government jobs program.

642
00:33:08,440 --> 00:33:10,880
Speaker 3: Good Lord, where does it ever end? That's a very

643
00:33:10,880 --> 00:33:11,680
Speaker 3: good point, all right.

644
00:33:12,120 --> 00:33:15,680
Speaker 5: Keith Ellison announces a run for a third term. He

645
00:33:15,800 --> 00:33:19,760
Speaker 5: kept using this line where he wants to make life

646
00:33:19,760 --> 00:33:24,520
Speaker 5: more affordable. He says, he's made myfe more affordable for Minnesota.

647
00:33:24,520 --> 00:33:27,000
Speaker 5: As we were talking about this in the first hour

648
00:33:27,840 --> 00:33:30,200
Speaker 5: of the show, I suppose I'm not surprised by this.

649
00:33:30,240 --> 00:33:32,600
Speaker 5: Were you surprised that Keith Ellison was going to go

650
00:33:32,600 --> 00:33:34,120
Speaker 5: ahead and run for a third term or were you

651
00:33:34,160 --> 00:33:36,760
Speaker 5: hearing the potentially he could have been jockeying for a

652
00:33:36,760 --> 00:33:38,200
Speaker 5: different position that might have been home.

653
00:33:38,280 --> 00:33:40,080
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I think most of the media out there,

654
00:33:40,120 --> 00:33:46,680
Speaker 1: probably June, July, August, was waiting to see what Governor

655
00:33:46,760 --> 00:33:49,560
Speaker 1: Walls would do. And then there was a pretty solid

656
00:33:49,640 --> 00:33:53,600
Speaker 1: rumor mill that said that possibly Steve Simon or Keith

657
00:33:53,640 --> 00:33:56,080
Speaker 1: Ellison were waiting in the wings to see if Walls

658
00:33:56,120 --> 00:33:58,760
Speaker 1: decided not to run for a third term, if those

659
00:33:58,800 --> 00:34:03,000
Speaker 1: two might have competed within sort of their party apparatus

660
00:34:02,720 --> 00:34:04,160
Speaker 1: to be the nominee.

661
00:34:04,200 --> 00:34:08,800
Speaker 3: But when Walls decided, obviously, was it September?

662
00:34:08,800 --> 00:34:10,520
Speaker 1: I can't even remember now, Yeah, I think it was

663
00:34:10,560 --> 00:34:13,360
Speaker 1: September that he was going to run again. It was

664
00:34:14,520 --> 00:34:17,400
Speaker 1: pretty obvious that you can just look at the campaign

665
00:34:17,480 --> 00:34:22,600
Speaker 1: receipts for Ellison's attorney General campaign in twenty twenty four.

666
00:34:23,239 --> 00:34:26,319
Speaker 1: I looked this up yesterday and earlier again today. I mean,

667
00:34:26,440 --> 00:34:29,319
Speaker 1: he was raising one hundred and sixteen hundred and seventy

668
00:34:29,320 --> 00:34:33,680
Speaker 1: thousand dollars just to keep the fundraising apparatus continuing. So

669
00:34:33,719 --> 00:34:37,960
Speaker 1: we're talking about last year, right two years out from

670
00:34:38,239 --> 00:34:41,799
Speaker 1: a reelection bid. He was keeping keeping an operational So

671
00:34:42,040 --> 00:34:43,960
Speaker 1: to me, it was pretty obvious that he was going

672
00:34:44,000 --> 00:34:46,760
Speaker 1: to run for a third term if there wasn't another

673
00:34:46,840 --> 00:34:51,719
Speaker 1: opportunity out there for him, and I mean he's never

674
00:34:51,760 --> 00:34:54,919
Speaker 1: shied away from sort of that activist mentality that you've

675
00:34:55,600 --> 00:34:58,680
Speaker 1: discussed earlier in the show. The story that I wrote

676
00:34:58,719 --> 00:35:01,080
Speaker 1: yesterday made sure to highlight that, you know, during these

677
00:35:01,160 --> 00:35:05,880
Speaker 1: no Kings rallies that took place over the past weekend,

678
00:35:06,040 --> 00:35:09,960
Speaker 1: that he was a featured speaker at a protest that

679
00:35:10,120 --> 00:35:12,400
Speaker 1: was sponsored at least in part by the Twin Cities

680
00:35:12,480 --> 00:35:15,319
Speaker 1: chapter of a Communist Party USA. And then I'm not

681
00:35:15,360 --> 00:35:18,680
Speaker 1: sure if if you I think you did cover a

682
00:35:18,800 --> 00:35:21,800
Speaker 1: Liz Collins exclusive on the honor flight.

683
00:35:22,120 --> 00:35:22,920
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah.

684
00:35:22,960 --> 00:35:24,759
Speaker 1: So my point is is like this is all just

685
00:35:24,760 --> 00:35:27,480
Speaker 1: within the last few weeks, so there we can play

686
00:35:27,520 --> 00:35:30,920
Speaker 1: at greatest hits album of all the sort of like

687
00:35:31,160 --> 00:35:38,120
Speaker 1: very brash activist act, you know, mentality that Ellison has

688
00:35:38,120 --> 00:35:41,080
Speaker 1: put out there. He's not ashamed of it. And the

689
00:35:41,400 --> 00:35:44,040
Speaker 1: key is this, I mean you mentioned it, a newcomer

690
00:35:44,160 --> 00:35:48,320
Speaker 1: challenger to him matched him from a fundraising perspective almost

691
00:35:48,400 --> 00:35:51,040
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty two is Jim Schultz ran a really

692
00:35:51,080 --> 00:35:54,360
Speaker 1: great campaign and came within it was zero point nine percent,

693
00:35:55,400 --> 00:35:59,640
Speaker 1: so less than one percent, and that did I think

694
00:36:00,560 --> 00:36:02,880
Speaker 1: it left Ellison a little bit dismayed after it was

695
00:36:02,880 --> 00:36:04,680
Speaker 1: all said and done. I think he probably was a

696
00:36:04,719 --> 00:36:08,360
Speaker 1: little more confident before that election. Obviously, Walls won by

697
00:36:08,360 --> 00:36:11,400
Speaker 1: I think seven points that that same election cycle. But

698
00:36:11,960 --> 00:36:15,560
Speaker 1: Ellison is he's running hip to hip with Walls. They're

699
00:36:15,640 --> 00:36:20,279
Speaker 1: running again together for the third time, essentially, and not

700
00:36:20,320 --> 00:36:20,920
Speaker 1: four years ago.

701
00:36:20,960 --> 00:36:21,680
Speaker 3: Three years ago.

702
00:36:22,360 --> 00:36:25,560
Speaker 1: I mean, Ellison squeaked by against somebody that nobody knew

703
00:36:25,719 --> 00:36:28,560
Speaker 1: before the election cycle. So we've got some folks that

704
00:36:28,560 --> 00:36:31,880
Speaker 1: are pretty darn't experienced in the legal community.

705
00:36:32,239 --> 00:36:33,480
Speaker 3: Obviously, Ron Schutz.

706
00:36:33,160 --> 00:36:35,719
Speaker 1: Has already put himself out there as a candidate, and

707
00:36:35,760 --> 00:36:38,480
Speaker 1: he's really well known in political circles and hasn't established

708
00:36:38,480 --> 00:36:42,120
Speaker 1: a career as an attorney in private practice, and he's

709
00:36:42,160 --> 00:36:45,800
Speaker 1: got a background as JAG officer, and those are bona fides.

710
00:36:45,880 --> 00:36:49,359
Speaker 1: And then Erica McDonald, who was a US attorney during

711
00:36:49,400 --> 00:36:54,560
Speaker 1: the first Trump administration. She's you know, has expressed interest

712
00:36:54,600 --> 00:36:56,600
Speaker 1: self and he was another media Hey, I might run

713
00:36:56,640 --> 00:36:59,439
Speaker 1: for this too. So you've got some folks that are

714
00:36:59,760 --> 00:37:05,520
Speaker 1: very credible, veteran political, politically versed attorneys that are ready

715
00:37:05,520 --> 00:37:10,759
Speaker 1: to challenge Ellison in a cycle that isn't unprecedented for

716
00:37:10,760 --> 00:37:12,799
Speaker 1: an attorney general to try to seek a third term

717
00:37:13,080 --> 00:37:15,319
Speaker 1: as opposed to Walls, who this is the first time

718
00:37:15,320 --> 00:37:18,000
Speaker 1: ever we've seen somebody seek a third consecutive term as governor.

719
00:37:18,280 --> 00:37:23,279
Speaker 1: But Keith Ellison doesn't, in my opinion, have the credibility

720
00:37:23,280 --> 00:37:24,799
Speaker 1: that Walls has run for a third term. And we've

721
00:37:24,800 --> 00:37:28,560
Speaker 1: all talked about whether or not Walls's third term desires

722
00:37:28,600 --> 00:37:32,560
Speaker 1: are are viable. So I would say this is definitely

723
00:37:32,560 --> 00:37:34,719
Speaker 1: the election to watch, and it could be the first

724
00:37:34,719 --> 00:37:37,439
Speaker 1: time since two thousand and six that a Republican could

725
00:37:37,440 --> 00:37:39,400
Speaker 1: win a state wide election if they have the right candidate.

726
00:37:39,560 --> 00:37:41,520
Speaker 3: So Hank's going to be joining us again next week.

727
00:37:41,560 --> 00:37:42,919
Speaker 5: I know we're going to get into the school board

728
00:37:43,000 --> 00:37:47,520
Speaker 5: races next week, and they're very polarized and contested, especially

729
00:37:47,600 --> 00:37:49,000
Speaker 5: up in a an Nooka.

730
00:37:49,040 --> 00:37:53,240
Speaker 1: There's other communities to wisea down in Apple Valley, Rosemont Egan.

731
00:37:53,360 --> 00:37:55,680
Speaker 5: Yeah, so we'll get into that next week on the show.

732
00:37:55,960 --> 00:37:57,719
Speaker 5: Hank Long off the news. Thank you for hanging out

733
00:37:57,719 --> 00:38:00,760
Speaker 5: with me this morning. I appreciate it missed any portion

734
00:38:00,840 --> 00:38:02,759
Speaker 5: of today's show. Be sure to check out the podcast.

735
00:38:03,120 --> 00:38:05,719
Speaker 5: Devin and the Master Control Booth will have those up

736
00:38:06,000 --> 00:38:07,480
Speaker 5: very shortly for you to go and check out.

737
00:38:07,520 --> 00:38:09,000
Speaker 3: Tomorrow We'll talk.

738
00:38:08,880 --> 00:38:12,399
Speaker 5: More AI with Davide Gartenstein, Ross, Crash and Burn this

739
00:38:12,520 --> 00:38:16,279
Speaker 5: week at Acne Comedy Company. Comedian Tim Slagel will be

740
00:38:16,520 --> 00:38:18,000
Speaker 5: in studio right around this time.

741
00:38:18,000 --> 00:38:19,720
Speaker 3: I have a great Wednesday. Talk to you tomorrow.

742
00:38:19,800 --> 00:38:20,240
Speaker 7: Bye,