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Speaker 1: This is Alec Baldwin, and you're listening to Here's the

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Speaker 1: Thing from iHeart Radio. My guests today are a former

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Speaker 1: New York state senator and a former journalist who now

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Speaker 1: work together on a civic engagement initiative called The States Project.

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Speaker 1: Daniel's Squadron previously represented New York's twenty fifth and twenty

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Speaker 1: sixth districts as a state senator from two thousand and

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Speaker 1: eight to twenty seventeen. After nine years in public service,

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Speaker 1: Squadron resigned his office and helped launch the political initiative

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Speaker 1: future now currently known as the States Project, with entrepreneur

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Speaker 1: Adam Pritzker. Melissa Walker was formerly a magazine editor and journalist,

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Speaker 1: published in countless magazines ranging from teen Vogue to The

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Speaker 1: New York Observer. She has also authored ten young adult novels.

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Speaker 1: Walker currently served as the principal strategist for the States Projects,

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Speaker 1: giving circles. Being New Yorkers who are immersed in democratic politics,

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Speaker 1: I was eager to hear their reactions to the recent

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Speaker 1: mayoral election here in New York City.

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Speaker 2: So I do think that a mayor's race that more

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Speaker 2: New Yorker's participated in than any time since John Lindsay

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Speaker 2: is good news. I am partial to state lawmakers being

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Speaker 2: elected to high and important offices. So this idea that

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Speaker 2: mom Dannie has never had a real job is incorrect.

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Speaker 2: State Assembly member is a real job. No one has

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Speaker 2: had a job that prepares them for mayor. I don't

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Speaker 2: know if you know what Borough presidents do nowadays, but

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Speaker 2: like you know or public advocates which I ran for,

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Speaker 2: you know, these are not jobs of enormous managerial complexity.

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Speaker 2: I think, as someone who loves New York, being optimistic

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Speaker 2: and hoping for and trying to support his success is

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Speaker 2: what we should all do. He has a vision that

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Speaker 2: is responsive to the thing that is killing New York,

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Speaker 2: which is affordability and liveability, and we should be all

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Speaker 2: hands on deck for him to overperform the skeptics and

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Speaker 2: deliver the most ambitious possible parts of what he can.

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Speaker 3: I really leaned into what my younger self would think.

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Speaker 3: I thought about myself in my twenties, and I thought

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Speaker 3: about all these people who were out in the streets.

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Speaker 3: I got canvassed three times in Brooklyn by people in

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Speaker 3: their twenties, and seeing that made me feel energized, and

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Speaker 3: I leaned into the kind of hope I would have

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Speaker 3: had in my twenties, and I know I would have

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Speaker 3: been out there canvassing, and that kind of helped me

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Speaker 3: get over some of my own skepticism and get into

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Speaker 3: that place of energized excitement.

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Speaker 1: I wonder what you think about that one percent thing,

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Speaker 1: whether more of them are going to leave the one

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Speaker 1: percent that's paying the forty percent of the tax base

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Speaker 1: in New York? Is that? Where were you when New

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Speaker 1: York are strapped for cash? Now?

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Speaker 2: I think the race to the bottom on public financing

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Speaker 2: over the last forty years is a real problem. You know,

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Speaker 2: where you have these states that are basically using low

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Speaker 2: taxes and bad services as a recruitment tool. And in

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Speaker 2: New York, we need to be bringing young professionals, young

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Speaker 2: artists in and then having them choose to stay for

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Speaker 2: forty six years four forty six years ago, housing schools, liveability.

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Speaker 2: And if New York has that engine, despite the fact

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Speaker 2: that people can now work remotely, New York does great.

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Speaker 2: If New York is a place where a tiny portion

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Speaker 2: of the one percent or choosing whether or not to

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Speaker 2: move to Florida, and that's the only chance for its

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Speaker 2: vibrancy and success New York's done anyway.

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Speaker 1: You worked in the legislature for ten years, and when

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Speaker 1: you left you questioned that you had your quote I

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Speaker 1: have here about the corruption. I believe in state government's potential.

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Speaker 1: I still do, but over the years I have seen

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Speaker 1: thwarted by a sliver of heavily invested special interests. In

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Speaker 1: the State Senate, for example, Democrats have repeatedly been denied

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Speaker 1: control of the chamber by cynical political deals despite winning

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Speaker 1: an electoral majority. How is that? How were they repeatedly

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Speaker 1: didn't what denied it to them?

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Speaker 4: And the political nature.

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Speaker 2: Speaking of misdemeanors and felonies, I would consider this one

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Speaker 2: a political felony, obviously not criminal. But a group of Democrats,

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Speaker 2: starting in twenty ten, announcing on the same day as

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Speaker 2: Andrew Cuomo's first State of the State address, left the

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Speaker 2: Democratic Party group of Democrats and gave Republicans the majority. Now,

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Speaker 2: in twenty ten, Republicans already had a majority by one seat.

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Speaker 2: But what they did is they gave them a cushion.

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Speaker 2: In twenty twelve, they gave them the majority, and they

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Speaker 2: stayed with them year in and year out.

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Speaker 1: What was the name of those Democrats again?

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Speaker 2: Independent Democratic Conference, which was missnomer on every one of

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Speaker 2: those words. Nothing independent. They were with the Republicans. They

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Speaker 2: weren't Democrats, they were the Republicans. They weren't a conference.

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Speaker 2: They were just a people, a lot of conferring. And

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Speaker 2: the really shocking thing, though, is this was done with

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Speaker 2: no political accountability. For eight years, from twenty ten to

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Speaker 2: twenty eighteen, this was happening.

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Speaker 1: And Cuomo did nothing to dissuade them.

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Speaker 2: Well, there's certainly speculation that he did things to influence them.

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Speaker 2: I'd say this, Andrew Cuomo is known to care about control.

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Speaker 2: And they announced on the day of his first date

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Speaker 2: of the State address, and they lived to tell the tale.

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Speaker 1: But he never did anything publicly to change them.

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Speaker 4: Right.

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Speaker 1: I only asked that because when the Moralmit Commission came

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Speaker 1: and went, I was flabbergasted, because I remember that the

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Speaker 1: Brennan Center at NYU Law School they would do a

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Speaker 1: report every year, and one year the report they there

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Speaker 1: was an evaluation of the fifty state legislatures in the

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Speaker 1: United States, and New York was forty ninth, just above

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Speaker 1: Louisiana in terms of its transparency and effectiveness and integrity.

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Speaker 1: So I mean I'm someone who's grown up in New York,

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Speaker 1: my whole life in New York State. I grew up

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Speaker 1: on Long Island. I've been in the city since seventy nine.

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Speaker 1: And you know you have a tough, jolegist view of Obany.

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Speaker 4: Well, this is why I ran.

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Speaker 2: You know, I'd say tough, but not cynical. You know,

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Speaker 2: it was right just a couple years after that report

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Speaker 2: that I ran. I ran against a thirty year incumbent,

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Speaker 2: a guy who had been the leader of the Democrats.

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Speaker 2: He'd been ousted by David Patterson on his way to

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Speaker 2: become governor. I was twenty eight years old at the time,

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Speaker 2: and you know, everyone said to me, this is the

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Speaker 2: worst place in politics, and I said, that's exactly what's.

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Speaker 4: Appealing about it. A couple things.

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Speaker 2: One, you can't underperform expectations, sort of the opposite of

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Speaker 2: what our mayor elect has. He's got very high expectations

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Speaker 2: to perform against. But secondly, if you can just improve

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Speaker 2: it nominally, the impact in the state and people's lives

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Speaker 2: will be so dramatic. And you know, we saw that

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Speaker 2: the moments of greatest competence were unbelievable. My first years

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Speaker 2: in office, two thousand and nine and ten, there's a

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Speaker 2: huge amount of stimulus money to deal with the financial

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Speaker 2: crisis from the federal government, and I chaired the Social

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Speaker 2: Service Committee, were able to create a billion dollars in

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Speaker 2: new social services programs, all of which were tested for

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Speaker 2: their effectiveness and some of which still continue today. And

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Speaker 2: Riquomo deserves credit for in twenty elevens, for six months,

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Speaker 2: you know, pulling a political rabbit out of the hat

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Speaker 2: and getting marriage equality passed in New York with Republicans

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Speaker 2: having the Numerican majority and the additional majority with those

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Speaker 2: turncoat Democrats. When state government rises above its most dysfunctional instincts,

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Speaker 2: the outcomes are unbelievable.

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Speaker 1: Now, you had a long career in magazines and publishing,

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Speaker 1: I did, yes, and you did that for how many

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Speaker 1: years were you in that business? Twenty oh No, probably

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Speaker 1: more like ten.

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Speaker 3: I started my career in magazines at Rosy Magazine, Rosi

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Speaker 3: o'donald's magazine.

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Speaker 1: How was that? Someone? Was it? That was formerly McCalls.

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Speaker 3: It was formerly McCalls.

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Speaker 1: How does Rosi o'donald take over McCall's. What does that work? Well?

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Speaker 3: Oprah magazine launched with Hurst and then Gruner and Yar,

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Speaker 3: which was the publisher company that owned McCall's, was kind

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Speaker 3: of looking for a way to jazz it up a bit,

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Speaker 3: and Rosie O'Donnell on the cover had sold the most

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Speaker 3: issues anytime she was on the cover. It was just phenomenal.

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Speaker 3: Her talk show was on, and so eventually they made

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Speaker 3: a deal with her to take over the magazine and

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Speaker 3: make it hers, and then she was on every cover

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Speaker 3: after that, And that was where I had my first job.

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Speaker 1: And when you just started to leave the public, I

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Speaker 1: just this is great as written for publications such as Seventeen, Glamour, Teen, Vogue,

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Speaker 1: Self More, Cosmo, Girl, Red Book, Family Circle, Fitness, Parenting, Brides,

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Speaker 1: The New York Observer, New York Magazine, Ladies' Home Journal,

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Speaker 1: Life and Style. I'm like, what base didn't you touch

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Speaker 1: going around the bags there? What's the difference. What's the

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Speaker 1: difference running for women's magazine on men's magazine in terms

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Speaker 1: of your writing skills?

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Speaker 3: You know, I think I wrote a lot about lifestyle things,

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Speaker 3: and I wrote a lot about psychology. I mean, I

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Speaker 3: was really mining my own experiences women in their twenties,

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Speaker 3: and honestly, back then, magazines really didn't write about women

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Speaker 3: much older than their twenties and thirties. I remember asking

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Speaker 3: my colleagues like, where do all the forty year olds go?

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Speaker 3: Because it felt like there wasn't a voice for them

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Speaker 3: until there were some older women's magazines created, like More.

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Speaker 3: But back then, it really was what experiences were we living.

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Speaker 3: It was dating, it was psychology, it was all the

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Speaker 3: things that we were experiencing. First jobs, job changing, all

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Speaker 3: that stuff. But I really found my voice in teen magazines.

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Speaker 1: I don't know why.

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Speaker 4: Well, I don't know.

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Speaker 3: If my internal dialogue was always set somewhere around seventeen,

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Speaker 3: but when I started working at a teen magazine, that's

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Speaker 3: when I started realizing, like, oh, this is my audience,

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Speaker 3: this is who I want to talk to. I think

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Speaker 3: it's partly because teenagers are fans. They're just fans of

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Speaker 3: what they're reading, about, what they're into. They're so enthusiastic

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Speaker 3: about life.

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Speaker 1: When they like something, they.

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Speaker 3: Like it absolutely. I loved that energy, and that's really

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Speaker 3: why I started writing young adult novels too, because there's

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Speaker 3: such a universal experience when you're a teenager, and the

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Speaker 3: irony is that every teenager thinks no one has ever

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Speaker 3: felt this way before.

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Speaker 1: I alone, I don't know this.

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Speaker 3: And feel this way. And the truth is everybody's felt

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Speaker 3: that way before. So there's a lot to write about

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Speaker 3: and a lot to mine, and a lot of deep

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Speaker 3: caring among that audience.

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Speaker 1: Now, what happened? What year are we talking about when

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Speaker 1: you transition.

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Speaker 3: Over to politics as well? Really, in the fall of

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Speaker 3: twenty sixteen, you know, something happened. Donald Trump was elected

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Speaker 3: for the first time. And back then I was just

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Speaker 3: writing young adult novels and middle grade novels, so getting

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Speaker 3: even younger with my writing. And I realized that I

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Speaker 3: hadn't been involved in the democracy and that something had

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Speaker 3: happened that I couldn't believe. And so I spent the

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Speaker 3: month after Donald Trump was elected kind of looking for

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Speaker 3: ways to plug in and do something that was meaningful,

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Speaker 3: and I couldn't find any. I was casting about, I

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Speaker 3: was sending you know, I was making those five calls

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Speaker 3: a day, I was sending notes to Schumer. I was

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Speaker 3: doing all these things, but I couldn't figure out no. No,

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Speaker 3: I was just writing as a constituent. I was saying,

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Speaker 3: please help with this, How can I do this? Whare

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Speaker 3: well the form letters?

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Speaker 1: You know?

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Speaker 3: But it all felt a little bit like you know,

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Speaker 3: peering in windows at rooms I couldn't quite see, and

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Speaker 3: I could not figure out how to insert myself into

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Speaker 3: the democracy in a way that would help until I

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Speaker 3: went to a publishing holiday party in December of twenty

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Speaker 3: sixteen in Brooklyn Heights and I heard Daniel speak.

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Speaker 1: So he was the bait. The ideas were the bait.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, the ideas and a little bit of a challenge

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Speaker 3: which he is wont to throw around. I think sometimes,

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Speaker 3: you know, he really He started talking about state governments.

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Speaker 3: He started talking about how everything we care about is

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Speaker 3: decided in state capitals, not in Washington, d C. He

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Speaker 3: was talking about education, funding, environmental policy, healthcare, civil rights,

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Speaker 3: voting rights, abortion even back then, jerrymandering, all of those things.

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Speaker 3: And he connected the dots for a bunch of things

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Speaker 3: that hadn't made sense to me from the Obama years,

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Speaker 3: like the bathroom bills passing all over the country, starting

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Speaker 3: with Raleigh, and the standard ground gun laws starting in Tallahassee,

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Speaker 3: letting Traymon Martin's murder go free, then starting a spreading

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Speaker 3: to twenty six states. I started to realize, like, these

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Speaker 3: things are happening in state capitals. I don't know the

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Speaker 3: names of those lawmakers. There are fifty many congresses around

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Speaker 3: this country, and I haven't been paying attention to any

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Speaker 3: of them, not even my own. The night after I

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Speaker 3: heard him speak, I googled who is my state Senator

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Speaker 3: on the way home and figured out that I had

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Speaker 3: never heard of my state senator. I'd had no eyes

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Speaker 3: on Albany at all. But I thought of myself as

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Speaker 3: a pretty well informed person, so I realized this was

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Speaker 3: a place I could plug.

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Speaker 1: In going to this meeting with him. You went to

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Speaker 1: a meeting of future now.

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Speaker 3: No, you know what it was. It was a publishing

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Speaker 3: holiday party. It was a party that happened every year.

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Speaker 3: It was like one of the best parties of the year,

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Speaker 3: this big brownstone in Brooklyn Heights. And I thought I

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Speaker 3: was just going to the party, but we were all

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Speaker 3: feeling pretty down because, yes, because of Trump, the.

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Speaker 4: State project hadn't been launched.

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Speaker 1: I was.

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Speaker 2: I was just the local state senator at that time

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Speaker 2: who had been invited to speak at a holiday party.

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Speaker 1: Then won't you speak about what?

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Speaker 4: Well? That was a good question.

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Speaker 2: That was what they wanted, because you know, I was

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Speaker 2: in office nine years and no other point was ever

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Speaker 2: invited to anyone's holiday party as the politician to speak.

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Speaker 2: There were times I was asked not to come to

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Speaker 2: people's holiday parties for fear I would speak about politics

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Speaker 2: and so the But you know, the invitation actually happened

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Speaker 2: to be my son's third birthday. Was my wife's friend's

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Speaker 2: friend who invited me, who's actually a wonderfully successful novelist.

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Speaker 2: And I didn't really want to go at eight o'clock

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Speaker 2: after putting my three year old to bed on his birthday.

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Speaker 2: But I also figured, you know, I'm a stage senator.

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Speaker 2: Beggars can't be choosers here. They want to hear me.

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Speaker 2: I'm going to go. I'm going to do my thing.

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Speaker 2: No one's going to listen. And so I went, and

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Speaker 2: I basically said, you know, if you feel like you're

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Speaker 2: not meeting the moment, that's correct. If you feel like

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Speaker 2: you're an observer to the destruction of the democracy, that's right.

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Speaker 2: There is a thing you.

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Speaker 1: Could do good with a cheery holiday message.

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Speaker 2: And if the people in this room committed themselves for

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Speaker 2: a year to changing the direction of a state, they could.

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Speaker 2: It often costs less to change power in a state

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Speaker 2: legislature than a single congressional district. And then I said,

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Speaker 2: you know, and you know, I hope you'll do it.

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Speaker 2: If you really, we can save this country. You are

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Speaker 2: a part of it, but you need to choose to

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Speaker 2: be strategic and to look where your impact will be,

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Speaker 2: not where your glamour is. Then I stopped speaking. There's

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Speaker 2: a jazz Era microphone there. The jazz band starts coming up,

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Speaker 2: and I figured I'll do one loop around the room.

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Speaker 2: Maybe there's some constituents here, maybe someone will thank me

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Speaker 2: for the recent traffic light. And Melissa and another young

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Speaker 2: adult author stop me, and her friend Gail Foreman, says.

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Speaker 4: We can do it.

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Speaker 1: What can you do?

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Speaker 2: I kind of try to move away. Melissa blocks the

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Speaker 2: other side and say no, we're going to raise one

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Speaker 2: hundred thousand dollars and what do we do next? And

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Speaker 2: I said, you know what, here's my email. Email me

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Speaker 2: if you're still interested in this. On Monday, and I

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Speaker 2: decided not to do a walk through of the party,

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Speaker 2: I turned around and went home. I actually went home,

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Speaker 2: turned on Saturday Night Live and you were the cold

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Speaker 2: open playing Donald Trump doing a social media I just

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Speaker 2: got to eat doing a social media gambit, And I

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Speaker 2: thought to myself. I actually remember, I thought to myself, like,

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Speaker 2: now that's how people engage politics, this state legislative thing.

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Speaker 1: Never Yeah, Now describe for me. I'll ask you this question,

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Speaker 1: and we're both of you, but you first, Melissa, and

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Speaker 1: that is so future. Now describe what that was and

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Speaker 1: over what period of time does it morph into states?

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Speaker 3: Honestly from my journey, you know, I started what we

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Speaker 3: started to call a giving circle with a bunch of

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Speaker 3: other children's book authors and we decided that we would

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Speaker 3: try to focus on a state, just like Daniel had

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Speaker 3: said we wouldn't do. And when we had amassed a

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Speaker 3: bunch of pledges together, we called them back and said

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Speaker 3: we're ready to do this. We've got pledges, we just

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Speaker 3: need your guidance on where to go and how to

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Speaker 3: do this. And he said, okay, well not a minute,

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Speaker 3: and a bunch of other things happened too, including you

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Speaker 3: met Adam Pritzker, and that summer Daniel resigned from the

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Speaker 3: State Senate to start Future Now, which is now the

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Speaker 3: State's Project, and start focusing on state legislatures, and we

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Speaker 3: became the first giving circle to support the electoral work

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Speaker 3: of the States Project. So that was fall twenty seventeen

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Speaker 3: was giving.

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Speaker 1: Circle for my listeners is just it's just fundraising.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a group of people coming together. It's actually fundraising,

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Speaker 3: but it's also a lot of learning. None of us

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Speaker 3: had any idea about state legislatures grams you can learn. Yeah,

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Speaker 3: once we started getting together and learning about, you know,

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Speaker 3: how much power they had and how you know, from

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Speaker 3: twenty ten to twenty sixteen, Democrats had lost nearly a

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Speaker 3: thousand state legislative seats as Carl Rove and Project Red

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Speaker 3: Map got into action and flipped all those seats and

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Speaker 3: then took over state houses and state senates and really

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Speaker 3: made people's lives bad. Defunded education, put in right to

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Speaker 3: work laws, gutted environmental protections, and most people blame what

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Speaker 3: they can see and the spotlight stays on Washington, DC,

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Speaker 3: the President and maybe Congress. So once people started seeing that,

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Speaker 3: light bulbs went off in their heads and they were

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Speaker 3: ready to say, yeah, i'll give an annual donation for this.

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Speaker 3: This seems like something I can actually impact. And that's

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Speaker 3: how we started our giving circle, learning together and giving together.

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Speaker 1: How about you when you started future Now, what was

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Speaker 1: the goal?

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Speaker 2: So I can't tell you how surprised I was that

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Speaker 2: they took me up on the challenge. I wasn't being cute.

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Speaker 2: I really thought no one had. Probably I'd made a

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Speaker 2: similar speech one hundred times before, and it really changed me.

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Speaker 2: I could not stop talking about it. In this moment

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Speaker 2: with Trump, maybe people will finally be willing to be

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Speaker 2: strategic and focused till everyone I knew about it. Adam

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Speaker 2: Pritzker was selling his first business. He knew two people

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Speaker 2: in New York politics, and they both said, well, you

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Speaker 2: want to do something really interesting. He's a very interesting thinker,

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Speaker 2: wander something interesting. You should meet this guy who's got

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Speaker 2: this strange obsession with giving circles for state legislatures and

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Speaker 2: kind of want to do something in Virginia this year.

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Speaker 2: Virginia's your elections. So Adam and I met, and to

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Speaker 2: my shock, he said, this is great. Like I don't

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Speaker 2: want to go just do something. I said, you know

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Speaker 2: you're not going to get credit for it because it's

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Speaker 2: state legislators.

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Speaker 4: Said I know, but.

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Speaker 1: It's really this is he was seed money.

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Speaker 2: Lots smart. He said, let's do it together. I'll make

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Speaker 2: it possible. I'll see it. You have to resign to

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Speaker 2: do it full time, and let's partner up and let's

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Speaker 2: see how we can.

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Speaker 1: Prime to resign by then. Any Way, according to your

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Speaker 1: remarks about Albany.

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Speaker 2: Look, I was certainly extremely frustrated with how much a

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Speaker 2: single politician could do to change the system, especially as

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Speaker 2: it felt like the democracy was starting to crumble. Now,

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Speaker 2: my district was the greatest district on earth. It was

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Speaker 2: Lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn. You know, I had

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Speaker 2: the Statue of Liberty Allis Island, both sides of the

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Speaker 2: Brooklyn Bridge World Trade Center site. You tight in New

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Speaker 2: York City into a map, it Pushban came down right

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Speaker 2: in the middle of that district. I was never tired

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Speaker 2: of that district. But there are two things. As an

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Speaker 2: elected official, your best job is to take what comes

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Speaker 2: and try to make good decisions, try to improve it

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Speaker 2: on the margins, or to serve your constituents and what

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Speaker 2: they need. That was an incredible way to spend ten years.

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Speaker 2: But this is a systems problem. This lack of attention

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Speaker 2: to state legislature is their potential to either be a

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Speaker 2: source to destroy the democracy or improve it. And when

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Speaker 2: Adam and Melissa and her first giving circle together made

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Speaker 2: it possible to do something that really also wasn't partisan.

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Speaker 2: The other thing that was important to Adam is this

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Speaker 2: is not about party. Obviously, you need to choose in

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Speaker 2: a two party system in each election who's better. But

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Speaker 2: it's about these outcomes in the world that you talk

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Speaker 2: about that when you really look at it on paper,

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Speaker 2: States can deliver and no one's trying except for the

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Speaker 2: radical right, who was, by the way, doing a damn

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Speaker 2: good job of it.

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Speaker 1: Daniel's Squadron and Melissa Walker of the States Project. If

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Speaker 1: you enjoy conversations about New York City history and preservation,

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Speaker 1: check out my episode with Rob Snyder of The Island

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Speaker 1: Institute and Andrew Berman of the Greenwich Village Society for

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Speaker 1: Historic Preservation.

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Speaker 5: We need to have affordable housing all throughout New York City.

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Speaker 5: The problem is that the approach that a lot of

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Speaker 5: people take is instead of saying we need affordable housing,

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Speaker 5: let's build affordable housing, they say, well, we need to

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Speaker 5: unleash the market and build as much market rate housing

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Speaker 5: as possible, flood the market, and then that's going to

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Speaker 5: bring the prices down for everybody. The way to get

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Speaker 5: affordable housing is to build affordable housing and to keep

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Speaker 5: the affordable housing that you have, which we're losing at

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Speaker 5: a breakneck pace.

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Speaker 1: To hear more of my conversation with Rob Snyder and

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Speaker 1: Andrew Berman, go to Here's the Thing dot org. After

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Speaker 1: the break, Daniels Squadron, and Melissa Walker share how the

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Speaker 1: State's Project operates beyond New York State and targets all

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Speaker 1: ninety nine legislative chambers in the country. I'm Alec Baldwin,

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Speaker 1: and this is Here's the Thing. When Melissa Walker first

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Speaker 1: met Daniel's Squadron in twenty sixteen, she was inspired to

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Speaker 1: start her own giving circle to help raise funds for

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Speaker 1: local state legislatures. In twenty eighteen, she co founded a

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Speaker 1: giving circle for the States Project to help engage networks

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Speaker 1: and raise funds towards the goal of creating political change

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Speaker 1: at the state level. I was curious how these giving

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Speaker 1: circles have evolved over time.

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Speaker 3: The first year we started doing it, there were twenty

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Speaker 3: eight giving circles all in New York and really just

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Speaker 3: kind of along my walking paths in Brooklyn and Manhattan.

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Speaker 3: It was people who were gathered in cafes writing postcards

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Speaker 3: to voters, and I would kind of knock on the

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Speaker 3: window and say, can I talk to you about state legislatures,

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Speaker 3: because what I thought happened every time I walked into

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Speaker 3: one of those rooms was I said, I know you're

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Speaker 3: trying to impact what's happening in this country, and I'm

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Speaker 3: about to tell you a way that you can have

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Speaker 3: an impact that you never thought was possible, and people

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Speaker 3: would really light up at it and think to themselves,

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Speaker 3: maybe I can do this, Because you know, I wasn't

437
00:22:09,400 --> 00:22:11,400
Speaker 3: someone I was writing one young adult novel a year

438
00:22:11,440 --> 00:22:14,040
Speaker 3: and for many many magazines, as you noted. But I

439
00:22:14,119 --> 00:22:17,080
Speaker 3: wasn't someone who could host a senator in my living room,

440
00:22:17,200 --> 00:22:19,880
Speaker 3: you know. But I was someone who could gather ten

441
00:22:19,920 --> 00:22:23,040
Speaker 3: friends over for pizza and wine and everyone pulled some

442
00:22:23,119 --> 00:22:27,159
Speaker 3: dollars and actually change what's happening in a state legislature.

443
00:22:27,240 --> 00:22:30,879
Speaker 3: Who's in the majority. And that first year, we raised

444
00:22:30,920 --> 00:22:33,879
Speaker 3: around one hundred thousand dollars for Virginia, and they have

445
00:22:33,920 --> 00:22:36,639
Speaker 3: odd year elections. We were trying to flip ten seats

446
00:22:36,680 --> 00:22:38,639
Speaker 3: that year to change the balance of power in the

447
00:22:38,640 --> 00:22:41,840
Speaker 3: House of Delegates. We funded the final campaign gaps for

448
00:22:41,880 --> 00:22:44,879
Speaker 3: ten of the ten candidates. Nine of them won their seats,

449
00:22:45,200 --> 00:22:47,440
Speaker 3: and the balance of power got so close to flipping

450
00:22:47,520 --> 00:22:50,200
Speaker 3: just one seat away from flipping entirely that the next

451
00:22:50,280 --> 00:22:52,919
Speaker 3: year of Virginia expanded Medicaid, four hundred thousand people got

452
00:22:52,960 --> 00:22:56,679
Speaker 3: healthcare who hadn't had it before, and we felt connected

453
00:22:56,720 --> 00:22:59,480
Speaker 3: to that policy outcome, and everyone who'd given any amount

454
00:22:59,520 --> 00:23:02,320
Speaker 3: to my giving circle said, let's do this again. Let's

455
00:23:02,400 --> 00:23:05,240
Speaker 3: choose another state with the State's Project and do this again.

456
00:23:05,600 --> 00:23:08,399
Speaker 3: And so that's when I started Giving Circles program with

457
00:23:08,480 --> 00:23:11,840
Speaker 3: the States Project, because it was the most impactful thing

458
00:23:11,840 --> 00:23:14,879
Speaker 3: I'd ever done. It was the most you know, energized

459
00:23:14,880 --> 00:23:17,320
Speaker 3: I felt, and I really felt like what we were

460
00:23:17,320 --> 00:23:20,200
Speaker 3: doing was making a difference, and that feeling has gotten

461
00:23:20,240 --> 00:23:22,760
Speaker 3: stronger every single year.

462
00:23:22,920 --> 00:23:25,360
Speaker 1: But in that way that you can harness that kind

463
00:23:25,400 --> 00:23:28,000
Speaker 1: of thing, I mean for you with the Giving circles,

464
00:23:28,560 --> 00:23:30,959
Speaker 1: is it like do you make sure people don't come

465
00:23:31,040 --> 00:23:33,720
Speaker 1: unless you know what they're going to give? No?

466
00:23:33,720 --> 00:23:36,600
Speaker 3: No, really, I mean it's it's kind of fascinating. So

467
00:23:36,680 --> 00:23:39,480
Speaker 3: when I started doing this work, I had a friend

468
00:23:39,520 --> 00:23:41,800
Speaker 3: a couple months in say, oh, how's the fundraising going?

469
00:23:41,920 --> 00:23:45,840
Speaker 3: And I said, I'm not fundraising, I'm flipping state legislatures.

470
00:23:45,880 --> 00:23:48,399
Speaker 3: And she was like, through fundraising, right, And I was like,

471
00:23:48,560 --> 00:23:52,119
Speaker 3: oh am I fundraising, Oh my gosh. And I really

472
00:23:52,359 --> 00:23:55,440
Speaker 3: still kind of approach it that way. I want everyone

473
00:23:55,480 --> 00:23:58,919
Speaker 3: in a room to really understand how power works in

474
00:23:58,920 --> 00:24:04,040
Speaker 3: this country and how foundational state legislatures are to that power,

475
00:24:04,480 --> 00:24:07,800
Speaker 3: and I hope they all leave with that kind of knowledge,

476
00:24:07,800 --> 00:24:09,560
Speaker 3: and I hope they all leave with enough kind of

477
00:24:09,640 --> 00:24:12,920
Speaker 3: tidbits to spread that knowledge a little bit. And then yeah,

478
00:24:12,960 --> 00:24:15,480
Speaker 3: there's an ask in the room. But I have found

479
00:24:15,800 --> 00:24:18,840
Speaker 3: that not having a minimum and not having a maximum

480
00:24:19,200 --> 00:24:21,920
Speaker 3: can really do the most for a room, because it's

481
00:24:21,960 --> 00:24:25,280
Speaker 3: never with giving circles about one room. It's about seeding

482
00:24:25,320 --> 00:24:28,040
Speaker 3: something in a room and raising some dollars, but then

483
00:24:28,080 --> 00:24:30,480
Speaker 3: spreading those seeds out among the people who were there

484
00:24:30,720 --> 00:24:32,720
Speaker 3: to host the next room and the next room and

485
00:24:32,760 --> 00:24:34,520
Speaker 3: the next room or a lunch they want me to

486
00:24:34,520 --> 00:24:37,400
Speaker 3: come to with someone who's really important. And that way

487
00:24:37,440 --> 00:24:39,920
Speaker 3: it has spread so much more organically, I think than

488
00:24:40,000 --> 00:24:41,920
Speaker 3: those kind of one off political events.

489
00:24:41,960 --> 00:24:44,360
Speaker 2: And this is one of the big differences. I don't

490
00:24:44,359 --> 00:24:48,000
Speaker 2: think there's a single person who says I love political fundraisers.

491
00:24:48,680 --> 00:24:51,520
Speaker 2: Occasionally you're glad you got the picture and the grip

492
00:24:51,560 --> 00:24:53,280
Speaker 2: and grin line so that you can show everyone else,

493
00:24:53,359 --> 00:24:55,240
Speaker 2: but no one had a good time. That's true in

494
00:24:55,240 --> 00:24:57,080
Speaker 2: a small one, it's true in a big one. The

495
00:24:57,160 --> 00:25:00,800
Speaker 2: difference with the giving circles and with Melissa's sometimes it's

496
00:25:00,800 --> 00:25:03,080
Speaker 2: been difficult for me. Insistence that it's not just about

497
00:25:03,119 --> 00:25:08,080
Speaker 2: fundraising is that it's actually a good time because you're

498
00:25:08,119 --> 00:25:10,520
Speaker 2: actually going And there are two things happening that never

499
00:25:10,560 --> 00:25:13,440
Speaker 2: happen at a political fundraiser. The first is you're actually

500
00:25:13,520 --> 00:25:18,480
Speaker 2: learning something, you're not just scoring the pall on how

501
00:25:18,560 --> 00:25:20,000
Speaker 2: much they can tell you what you want to hear.

502
00:25:20,720 --> 00:25:24,399
Speaker 2: And the second is you're doing something that feels like

503
00:25:24,480 --> 00:25:27,639
Speaker 2: you discovered the best next band that no one's heard of.

504
00:25:28,640 --> 00:25:30,240
Speaker 2: And so you show up thinking you're going to be

505
00:25:30,280 --> 00:25:32,600
Speaker 2: a political fundraiser, and you walk out with a totally

506
00:25:32,600 --> 00:25:35,240
Speaker 2: new perspective on American politics that, by the way, happens

507
00:25:35,240 --> 00:25:38,760
Speaker 2: to be true, and like a little bit of like

508
00:25:38,760 --> 00:25:42,840
Speaker 2: an insider in the kind of cred that you can

509
00:25:42,920 --> 00:25:45,879
Speaker 2: carry with you everywhere you go. And if there was

510
00:25:45,920 --> 00:25:48,280
Speaker 2: a minimum, if everyone was there, it was like here's

511
00:25:48,320 --> 00:25:51,199
Speaker 2: the two fifty, here's the thousand dollars check, it wouldn't

512
00:25:51,240 --> 00:25:52,320
Speaker 2: be that, it wouldn't.

513
00:25:51,960 --> 00:25:55,800
Speaker 1: Be the same. I believe that again, harnessing that energy.

514
00:25:55,880 --> 00:25:59,320
Speaker 1: People want to think it matters. People want to give,

515
00:25:59,400 --> 00:26:01,720
Speaker 1: they want a care, they want to help, they want

516
00:26:01,760 --> 00:26:04,560
Speaker 1: to learn, they want to do all these things based

517
00:26:04,640 --> 00:26:06,720
Speaker 1: on one really horrible thing, and that is that they've

518
00:26:06,720 --> 00:26:09,200
Speaker 1: completely lost faith in the government of this country. Exactly,

519
00:26:09,359 --> 00:26:12,600
Speaker 1: they have completely lost faith. You only come when you

520
00:26:12,640 --> 00:26:14,560
Speaker 1: want something from me, and then once I vote for

521
00:26:14,600 --> 00:26:17,600
Speaker 1: you, you disappear and I never hear from you again. I

522
00:26:17,720 --> 00:26:21,760
Speaker 1: never hear from you again. And people are sick of that.

523
00:26:22,560 --> 00:26:25,960
Speaker 1: What's the path? Now? With the giving circles, you raise

524
00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:28,639
Speaker 1: some money, you educate people, you have a good speaker,

525
00:26:28,720 --> 00:26:31,959
Speaker 1: somebody who's really really interesting and informed, and so forth,

526
00:26:32,119 --> 00:26:34,840
Speaker 1: and then the money goes where where does it go? Yeah?

527
00:26:34,880 --> 00:26:37,399
Speaker 3: So with giving circles, they get to choose the target

528
00:26:37,480 --> 00:26:39,920
Speaker 3: state from our list of targets that they'd like to impact,

529
00:26:40,000 --> 00:26:40,240
Speaker 3: not just.

530
00:26:40,240 --> 00:26:40,800
Speaker 1: Their home state.

531
00:26:41,000 --> 00:26:44,280
Speaker 3: Correct, that's right, iortant yep. So we are only in

532
00:26:44,359 --> 00:26:47,040
Speaker 3: states where we see a threshold of power that needs

533
00:26:47,080 --> 00:26:49,760
Speaker 3: defending or that we think can be challenged.

534
00:26:49,840 --> 00:26:50,320
Speaker 4: Exactly.

535
00:26:50,800 --> 00:26:53,440
Speaker 3: So, for example, we just finished up this year working

536
00:26:53,440 --> 00:26:56,359
Speaker 3: in Virginia because it again has odd year elections, working

537
00:26:56,400 --> 00:26:58,120
Speaker 3: on the House of delegates. So many of the giving

538
00:26:58,200 --> 00:27:02,560
Speaker 3: circles working this year were focused on Virginia, and when

539
00:27:02,640 --> 00:27:05,120
Speaker 3: they give money to the giving circle, one hundred percent

540
00:27:05,200 --> 00:27:07,080
Speaker 3: of the amount that's raised by the giving circle goes

541
00:27:07,119 --> 00:27:10,159
Speaker 3: out the door to the state. And we are working

542
00:27:10,160 --> 00:27:13,440
Speaker 3: in the state as the State's Project with the State Caucus,

543
00:27:13,480 --> 00:27:17,000
Speaker 3: the Virginia House Democrats and working on targeting the set

544
00:27:17,040 --> 00:27:20,280
Speaker 3: of districts that are possible to win to shift power.

545
00:27:20,560 --> 00:27:22,320
Speaker 3: This case, we were trying to deepen power. We had

546
00:27:22,359 --> 00:27:24,400
Speaker 3: a one seat majority that we won by nine hundred

547
00:27:24,400 --> 00:27:27,200
Speaker 3: and seventy five votes in twenty twenty three, so trying

548
00:27:27,200 --> 00:27:30,320
Speaker 3: to deepen that majority this year, protect it and deepen it.

549
00:27:30,520 --> 00:27:32,639
Speaker 1: I went down there, went door to door the last election.

550
00:27:32,920 --> 00:27:34,720
Speaker 1: Good for you get with people for the American way.

551
00:27:34,920 --> 00:27:37,159
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, it's it was really important. It was

552
00:27:37,200 --> 00:27:39,760
Speaker 3: a really important thing to do, partially because there was

553
00:27:39,760 --> 00:27:42,719
Speaker 3: a governor's race too, and there was a chance just

554
00:27:42,760 --> 00:27:45,720
Speaker 3: on Tuesday to make Virginia a trifecta, meaning control of

555
00:27:45,720 --> 00:27:48,600
Speaker 3: the governor's mansion, majority in the House and majority in

556
00:27:48,640 --> 00:27:53,440
Speaker 3: the Senate. And that was achieved on Tuesday, and Virginia

557
00:27:53,480 --> 00:27:54,760
Speaker 3: became the sixteenth.

558
00:27:54,400 --> 00:27:55,960
Speaker 4: Divenment a trifecta.

559
00:27:56,080 --> 00:28:00,840
Speaker 3: Yes, absolutely, sixteenth democratic trifecta in the country, and that

560
00:28:00,920 --> 00:28:04,520
Speaker 3: has a lot of power to not only do things

561
00:28:04,520 --> 00:28:08,760
Speaker 3: to improve Virginian's lives, but also to impact the entire country.

562
00:28:09,240 --> 00:28:14,520
Speaker 3: And that really was made possible by the State's Project's investment,

563
00:28:14,560 --> 00:28:16,840
Speaker 3: which was the largest investment of any national group.

564
00:28:17,400 --> 00:28:21,760
Speaker 1: And who with the State's Project or someone you're affiliated with,

565
00:28:22,240 --> 00:28:24,640
Speaker 1: is doing the strategic research as to where the money

566
00:28:24,720 --> 00:28:25,199
Speaker 1: is going to go.

567
00:28:25,680 --> 00:28:28,000
Speaker 2: So our team does that, you know. I think another

568
00:28:28,400 --> 00:28:31,399
Speaker 2: barrier to people getting involved in politics, giving money let

569
00:28:31,520 --> 00:28:34,840
Speaker 2: himself become emotionally invested, is the feeling that it will

570
00:28:34,840 --> 00:28:38,320
Speaker 2: be wasted, that campaigns don't really matter, or they just

571
00:28:38,440 --> 00:28:42,400
Speaker 2: enrich consultants, someone's cousin, whatever it is. And so that's

572
00:28:42,400 --> 00:28:44,360
Speaker 2: a barrier we need to help people get across. We

573
00:28:44,400 --> 00:28:48,080
Speaker 2: have a whole internal team that is constantly looking actually

574
00:28:48,120 --> 00:28:50,480
Speaker 2: at all ninety nine legislative chambers in the country. As

575
00:28:50,560 --> 00:28:52,800
Speaker 2: I'm sure you and all your listeners know, Nebraska is

576
00:28:52,800 --> 00:28:55,480
Speaker 2: a unicameral state, but every other state has a House

577
00:28:55,520 --> 00:28:57,960
Speaker 2: and a Senate, and so they're looking at all ninety

578
00:28:58,000 --> 00:29:00,360
Speaker 2: nine of those legislative chambers trying to figure out out

579
00:29:00,800 --> 00:29:04,240
Speaker 2: both which chambers could be flipped, but also which seats

580
00:29:04,400 --> 00:29:08,480
Speaker 2: and which candidates are most likely to do so, and

581
00:29:08,520 --> 00:29:12,040
Speaker 2: then trying to figure out the most effective ways to

582
00:29:12,120 --> 00:29:15,240
Speaker 2: spend money so that those dollars are well spent to

583
00:29:15,440 --> 00:29:17,600
Speaker 2: communicate with voters and convince people. And you know, one

584
00:29:17,640 --> 00:29:20,240
Speaker 2: of the things that they've found that we found is

585
00:29:20,600 --> 00:29:25,000
Speaker 2: in state legislative elections, getting candidates off the phones, raising

586
00:29:25,000 --> 00:29:28,720
Speaker 2: money from special interests and out knocking on doors in

587
00:29:28,800 --> 00:29:32,959
Speaker 2: their communities is an incredible way to win elections and

588
00:29:33,080 --> 00:29:36,040
Speaker 2: do something about corruption. And so the way to think

589
00:29:36,040 --> 00:29:39,160
Speaker 2: about it is there's going to be money in politics.

590
00:29:39,440 --> 00:29:43,120
Speaker 2: The state's project program, make sure that money is well spent,

591
00:29:43,520 --> 00:29:48,000
Speaker 2: but also that the candidate is not being asked to

592
00:29:48,040 --> 00:29:53,040
Speaker 2: do something. We don't have a litmus test other than one,

593
00:29:53,160 --> 00:29:56,240
Speaker 2: serve your constituents, they are the ones who hired you. Two,

594
00:29:56,720 --> 00:29:58,800
Speaker 2: do you believe in the American promise, the idea that

595
00:29:58,800 --> 00:30:00,880
Speaker 2: it's self evident all people are aated equal with the

596
00:30:00,920 --> 00:30:02,800
Speaker 2: right to life, liberty in the pursuit of happiness, and

597
00:30:02,840 --> 00:30:05,080
Speaker 2: government secures those rights with the consent of the government.

598
00:30:05,800 --> 00:30:09,040
Speaker 2: And then go work for the people who you want

599
00:30:09,080 --> 00:30:09,560
Speaker 2: to represent.

600
00:30:10,400 --> 00:30:15,280
Speaker 1: Now, why is Nebraska the only unicameral. You blew my mind.

601
00:30:15,600 --> 00:30:17,920
Speaker 1: Why is that the only unicameral.

602
00:30:17,400 --> 00:30:18,520
Speaker 4: It got it got shifted.

603
00:30:18,520 --> 00:30:20,520
Speaker 2: So you know, the requirement in the Constitution is that

604
00:30:20,720 --> 00:30:23,800
Speaker 2: all of the states have a quote republican form of

605
00:30:23,800 --> 00:30:30,160
Speaker 2: government small R not party although I think exactly and so,

606
00:30:31,040 --> 00:30:33,800
Speaker 2: actually a bunch of states were already bi cameral as

607
00:30:33,840 --> 00:30:36,640
Speaker 2: of the time the US government was created, and then

608
00:30:36,640 --> 00:30:39,280
Speaker 2: there was a move sort of in the progressive era

609
00:30:39,520 --> 00:30:42,840
Speaker 2: that unicameral would be better. Only Nebraska did it sort

610
00:30:42,840 --> 00:30:46,160
Speaker 2: of play a plan's progressivism. There's actually some real arguments

611
00:30:46,160 --> 00:30:48,080
Speaker 2: for it. The relationship between the legislature and the governor

612
00:30:48,160 --> 00:30:51,560
Speaker 2: is very different in a unicameral LEGI when you need

613
00:30:51,560 --> 00:30:54,120
Speaker 2: two chambers, the governor can play them off each other

614
00:30:54,160 --> 00:30:58,160
Speaker 2: and increase their power significantly. A gubernatorial veto, just as

615
00:30:58,160 --> 00:31:00,920
Speaker 2: an example, is much easier to override in a single

616
00:31:01,000 --> 00:31:03,480
Speaker 2: chamber than a bicameral.

617
00:31:02,880 --> 00:31:05,560
Speaker 1: What do they call the members of the unicamer senators?

618
00:31:06,160 --> 00:31:08,080
Speaker 4: Yes, I mean they're politicians.

619
00:31:08,120 --> 00:31:09,720
Speaker 2: You don't think they wanted to call themselves a separate

620
00:31:09,760 --> 00:31:13,080
Speaker 2: members as a former senator of Upper House matters. But

621
00:31:13,240 --> 00:31:16,600
Speaker 2: the other interesting thing is it's the only nonpartisan legislature.

622
00:31:17,160 --> 00:31:20,480
Speaker 2: So while people have parties, they run on a non

623
00:31:20,560 --> 00:31:24,840
Speaker 2: partisan ticket. So as recently as twenty nineteen, members of

624
00:31:24,880 --> 00:31:29,880
Speaker 2: the Nebraska Senate supermajority Republicans. The number three most powerful

625
00:31:29,880 --> 00:31:32,600
Speaker 2: person in that chamber was a Democrat, even though a

626
00:31:32,680 --> 00:31:37,520
Speaker 2: supermajority of Republicans. The different possibilities for a different kind

627
00:31:37,520 --> 00:31:40,720
Speaker 2: of partisanship across the fifty states, I mean, you would

628
00:31:40,760 --> 00:31:41,880
Speaker 2: really lose all your listeners.

629
00:31:41,880 --> 00:31:46,160
Speaker 1: But is fascinating now is there a state that you

630
00:31:46,280 --> 00:31:49,160
Speaker 1: basically said us of don't bother. You wouldn't even bother

631
00:31:49,320 --> 00:31:51,720
Speaker 1: going down there to try to influence the state legislations

632
00:31:52,040 --> 00:31:53,040
Speaker 1: is so conquetized.

633
00:31:53,440 --> 00:31:55,640
Speaker 2: So you know, it's actually not a light question at

634
00:31:55,640 --> 00:31:58,959
Speaker 2: all because I would argue that the Democratic Party and

635
00:31:59,120 --> 00:32:03,280
Speaker 2: progressive activiststs have basically been sending the message we don't

636
00:32:03,320 --> 00:32:06,240
Speaker 2: need all the states for a number of years now,

637
00:32:06,920 --> 00:32:11,640
Speaker 2: The idea that we're letting the competition partisan or ideological

638
00:32:11,680 --> 00:32:15,720
Speaker 2: competition in places like Idaho just whether on the vine.

639
00:32:16,280 --> 00:32:16,760
Speaker 4: For years.

640
00:32:16,800 --> 00:32:20,000
Speaker 2: Were in Mississippi. Hopefully that's now shifting. We were in

641
00:32:20,040 --> 00:32:24,160
Speaker 2: Mississippi in twenty nineteen. You know, it's an incredible state

642
00:32:24,320 --> 00:32:28,680
Speaker 2: with a really interesting political history. Obviously very ugly one

643
00:32:28,960 --> 00:32:31,479
Speaker 2: as well, but also some hope in it. We were

644
00:32:31,560 --> 00:32:34,440
Speaker 2: able to help a candidate, I think, outperform what she

645
00:32:34,480 --> 00:32:37,440
Speaker 2: had done the year before the election before by seventy

646
00:32:37,520 --> 00:32:41,040
Speaker 2: points to win the election. So I would say there's

647
00:32:41,040 --> 00:32:44,240
Speaker 2: some cultures that you wouldn't want to get involved in.

648
00:32:44,440 --> 00:32:46,240
Speaker 2: I think that maybe for non New Yorkers people might

649
00:32:46,240 --> 00:32:47,960
Speaker 2: think the New York political culture is one of those.

650
00:32:48,640 --> 00:32:51,680
Speaker 2: But there is no state where we shouldn't be saying

651
00:32:51,840 --> 00:32:54,160
Speaker 2: at a time when you have a political movement that

652
00:32:54,160 --> 00:32:57,200
Speaker 2: wants to undermine democracy, we should be able to build

653
00:32:57,200 --> 00:33:00,480
Speaker 2: a coalition that's pro democracy, including by the way, if

654
00:33:00,480 --> 00:33:02,520
Speaker 2: you have an R by your name on the ballot,

655
00:33:02,800 --> 00:33:03,320
Speaker 2: not just a D.

656
00:33:03,720 --> 00:33:05,400
Speaker 1: Now, when you were doing that, just like in the Senate,

657
00:33:05,440 --> 00:33:09,800
Speaker 1: you were you were Brooklyn and at that timely Manhattan.

658
00:33:09,840 --> 00:33:11,720
Speaker 4: So I never lived in Manhattan.

659
00:33:11,720 --> 00:33:13,479
Speaker 2: When I was in the legislature, I was considered very

660
00:33:13,560 --> 00:33:16,360
Speaker 2: Manhattan because two thirds of my district was Manhattan and

661
00:33:16,440 --> 00:33:18,680
Speaker 2: how I come across. But I actually grew up in

662
00:33:18,760 --> 00:33:20,600
Speaker 2: the Bronx and lived in Work. I've never lived in

663
00:33:20,600 --> 00:33:21,560
Speaker 2: Manhattan a day in my life.

664
00:33:21,640 --> 00:33:24,640
Speaker 1: The Bronx andwhere riverdaleah exactly, Oh, yeah, your dad, as

665
00:33:24,720 --> 00:33:27,160
Speaker 1: we raise everybody, got it? Got it? Got it? Would

666
00:33:27,160 --> 00:33:30,440
Speaker 1: you say that when you do these projects? Because when

667
00:33:30,480 --> 00:33:33,400
Speaker 1: I was there at the thing that you both were attending,

668
00:33:33,400 --> 00:33:36,920
Speaker 1: that was Sarah Jessica was there and Jasmith Cameron and

669
00:33:37,000 --> 00:33:38,720
Speaker 1: so forth, and I went to that event, which I'm

670
00:33:38,800 --> 00:33:41,360
Speaker 1: very glad I went to, although there was that again

671
00:33:41,400 --> 00:33:43,760
Speaker 1: hallucinatory moment when I was like, I've heard this before,

672
00:33:44,400 --> 00:33:47,080
Speaker 1: if I heard this before, but do you find that

673
00:33:47,120 --> 00:33:49,880
Speaker 1: it's easier to corral women than it is meant?

674
00:33:50,840 --> 00:33:55,080
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I find that, yes, giving circles are

675
00:33:55,440 --> 00:33:59,120
Speaker 3: largely led by women, and they are organizing other women.

676
00:33:59,480 --> 00:34:02,000
Speaker 3: There are some men who lead giving circles with us,

677
00:34:02,040 --> 00:34:04,960
Speaker 3: but I would say eighty percent of our leaders are women.

678
00:34:05,120 --> 00:34:09,200
Speaker 3: And it's really an exercising organizing people. So I always

679
00:34:09,239 --> 00:34:11,600
Speaker 3: say it's you know, it's the person who's organizing the

680
00:34:11,600 --> 00:34:13,520
Speaker 3: pot luck, it's the person who started the book club,

681
00:34:13,560 --> 00:34:15,840
Speaker 3: it's the person who hosts the dinner parties, it's the

682
00:34:15,840 --> 00:34:17,280
Speaker 3: person who brings people together.

683
00:34:17,800 --> 00:34:19,279
Speaker 1: That women are more organize them men.

684
00:34:19,640 --> 00:34:22,000
Speaker 3: I mean, I'm just saying I think there's there's a

685
00:34:22,040 --> 00:34:25,920
Speaker 3: community building aspect to it that really is tends to

686
00:34:25,960 --> 00:34:27,560
Speaker 3: be women and for the most.

687
00:34:27,320 --> 00:34:35,200
Speaker 1: Part, Daniel's Squadron and Melissa Walker of the States Project.

688
00:34:35,400 --> 00:34:38,440
Speaker 1: If you're enjoying this conversation, tell a friend and be

689
00:34:38,560 --> 00:34:42,799
Speaker 1: sure to follow Here's the Thing on the iHeartRadio app, Spotify,

690
00:34:43,400 --> 00:34:47,600
Speaker 1: or wherever you get your podcasts. When we come back,

691
00:34:47,719 --> 00:34:52,120
Speaker 1: Daniel's Squadron and Melissa Walker discuss how the States Project

692
00:34:52,200 --> 00:34:56,040
Speaker 1: was able to flip twelve state seats in Pennsylvania in

693
00:34:56,120 --> 00:35:09,279
Speaker 1: twenty twenty two with the help of giving circles. I'm

694
00:35:09,280 --> 00:35:13,160
Speaker 1: Alec Baldwin and you're listening to Here's the Thing. As

695
00:35:13,320 --> 00:35:17,120
Speaker 1: a New York State senator, Daniel's Squadron focused on many

696
00:35:17,239 --> 00:35:22,640
Speaker 1: important public policy and funding issues. Among his many contributions

697
00:35:22,640 --> 00:35:27,600
Speaker 1: were federal funding for public housing, ethics and campaign finance reform,

698
00:35:27,960 --> 00:35:31,360
Speaker 1: and public parks projects on the Lower east Side, Governor's

699
00:35:31,400 --> 00:35:34,520
Speaker 1: Island and the Brooklyn Bridge Park. I wanted to know

700
00:35:34,640 --> 00:35:38,680
Speaker 1: more about Squadron's desire to protect open spaces and how

701
00:35:38,719 --> 00:35:43,560
Speaker 1: he worked to save Brooklyn Bridge Park from developments. Well.

702
00:35:43,560 --> 00:35:46,760
Speaker 2: Originally the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey State,

703
00:35:47,719 --> 00:35:50,719
Speaker 2: well a bi state agency. Actually there is a state

704
00:35:51,040 --> 00:35:54,279
Speaker 2: public state level, and then the conversion and it was

705
00:35:54,320 --> 00:35:56,200
Speaker 2: in the district I was running for, and the plan

706
00:35:56,320 --> 00:36:00,239
Speaker 2: to get it funded was to build luxury housing in

707
00:36:00,360 --> 00:36:02,719
Speaker 2: the limits of the park and have the tax dollars

708
00:36:02,840 --> 00:36:07,239
Speaker 2: from that housing fund the park. I had real concerns

709
00:36:07,280 --> 00:36:12,880
Speaker 2: about that because I think that privatizing public space with

710
00:36:13,120 --> 00:36:16,759
Speaker 2: parochial local interests is a serious Actually, it's the same

711
00:36:16,760 --> 00:36:19,400
Speaker 2: thing that's now become sort of the Nimby question when

712
00:36:19,440 --> 00:36:21,160
Speaker 2: it comes to housing. But I think you see it

713
00:36:21,200 --> 00:36:23,000
Speaker 2: with open space all over the place as well.

714
00:36:23,040 --> 00:36:25,080
Speaker 1: It's what did they wind up doing? Did they build

715
00:36:25,160 --> 00:36:25,880
Speaker 1: luxury housing?

716
00:36:25,960 --> 00:36:28,239
Speaker 2: So they did, so I was able to delay it

717
00:36:28,280 --> 00:36:31,200
Speaker 2: to reduce it, and you know it. It's actually Brooklynbridge

718
00:36:31,239 --> 00:36:33,320
Speaker 2: Park is working really well because, in a way I

719
00:36:33,400 --> 00:36:38,400
Speaker 2: underestimated it's so popular all of us. It was so

720
00:36:38,440 --> 00:36:41,359
Speaker 2: popular that there's no parochial interest that could take it over.

721
00:36:41,480 --> 00:36:43,279
Speaker 2: So there are people who live in brooklyn Bridge Park.

722
00:36:43,600 --> 00:36:46,680
Speaker 2: You ask anyone who does, they're sure their tax dollars

723
00:36:46,719 --> 00:36:50,480
Speaker 2: go to brooklyn Bridge Park. But the political constituency and

724
00:36:50,760 --> 00:36:52,799
Speaker 2: the folks who designed it, Regina Meyer, who ran it

725
00:36:52,840 --> 00:36:55,480
Speaker 2: when it was first getting built and opened, really to

726
00:36:55,520 --> 00:36:58,120
Speaker 2: their credit, built a park that would draw people in

727
00:36:58,640 --> 00:37:01,719
Speaker 2: even who could never still live in Brooklyn Heights, and

728
00:37:01,880 --> 00:37:05,319
Speaker 2: that has, in a way I underestimated, allowed it to

729
00:37:05,320 --> 00:37:07,440
Speaker 2: be a truly public space. It also, i would say,

730
00:37:07,800 --> 00:37:11,800
Speaker 2: is by far the best funded public amenity maybe in

731
00:37:11,840 --> 00:37:13,840
Speaker 2: the history of all humanity because of what's happened to

732
00:37:13,880 --> 00:37:14,440
Speaker 2: real estate.

733
00:37:15,040 --> 00:37:18,440
Speaker 1: So the land was owned by the joint authorities and

734
00:37:18,480 --> 00:37:20,479
Speaker 1: they sold it to the developer to build the house.

735
00:37:20,600 --> 00:37:22,759
Speaker 2: Now, before I ever came an office, the Port Authority

736
00:37:23,160 --> 00:37:27,279
Speaker 2: transferred it to a public corporation that was controlled by

737
00:37:27,280 --> 00:37:29,799
Speaker 2: the state at the time. All of the land is

738
00:37:29,840 --> 00:37:32,400
Speaker 2: on ground leases with the developers still owned by the state.

739
00:37:32,520 --> 00:37:34,440
Speaker 1: But part of this whole in theatre buildings are just

740
00:37:34,520 --> 00:37:35,560
Speaker 1: renting the land.

741
00:37:35,680 --> 00:37:39,360
Speaker 2: Yes, but under long term leases and leases. And actually,

742
00:37:39,360 --> 00:37:40,920
Speaker 2: another thing we did that I'm really proud of and

743
00:37:40,920 --> 00:37:42,600
Speaker 2: we were able to do in Governor's Island too, is

744
00:37:42,760 --> 00:37:46,280
Speaker 2: change the governance structure so instead of some by state

745
00:37:46,440 --> 00:37:49,640
Speaker 2: no accountability. In both cases, we were able to negotiate

746
00:37:49,640 --> 00:37:53,319
Speaker 2: with the Bloomberg administration and the governor at the time,

747
00:37:53,320 --> 00:37:56,600
Speaker 2: Governor Patterson, so that the city controls Brooklyn Bridge Park,

748
00:37:56,640 --> 00:38:00,000
Speaker 2: the Mayor's responsible, the city controls Governor's Island, the Mayor's

749
00:38:00,080 --> 00:38:02,000
Speaker 2: responsible sort of like what you see in the arrow

750
00:38:02,040 --> 00:38:04,440
Speaker 2: control of the schools. And one reason I think those

751
00:38:04,480 --> 00:38:08,200
Speaker 2: both of those parks have done so well is is

752
00:38:08,239 --> 00:38:11,680
Speaker 2: mayors care about making them better in a way you

753
00:38:11,719 --> 00:38:13,680
Speaker 2: never would if it was this alphabet soup that we're

754
00:38:13,680 --> 00:38:14,280
Speaker 2: talking about.

755
00:38:14,920 --> 00:38:19,800
Speaker 1: Now. The land was leased by the developers. They built

756
00:38:19,840 --> 00:38:23,279
Speaker 1: and erected housing, their high end housing, and they kept

757
00:38:23,280 --> 00:38:25,600
Speaker 1: the money they profited from them from leases they got

758
00:38:25,640 --> 00:38:28,320
Speaker 1: with did they pay so the only thing they paid

759
00:38:28,640 --> 00:38:30,279
Speaker 1: They didn't pay a big on the housing or do

760
00:38:30,360 --> 00:38:31,280
Speaker 1: you guys say paid taxes?

761
00:38:31,320 --> 00:38:33,640
Speaker 2: Now they did so, I mean, so there's a bunch

762
00:38:33,680 --> 00:38:35,960
Speaker 2: of different types of housing there. So there's a rental unit,

763
00:38:36,000 --> 00:38:38,800
Speaker 2: there's a building that was a huge conversion, that warehouse

764
00:38:38,800 --> 00:38:41,000
Speaker 2: that you might sort of be able to picture at

765
00:38:41,000 --> 00:38:44,040
Speaker 2: Peer five there. And then there's some new developments that

766
00:38:44,080 --> 00:38:46,600
Speaker 2: were built, one of which is actually one hundred percent affordable.

767
00:38:46,800 --> 00:38:50,440
Speaker 2: Actually the Blosoo administration and I both supported that. So

768
00:38:50,880 --> 00:38:54,200
Speaker 2: there's a mix. There was some cost to the ground lease,

769
00:38:54,200 --> 00:38:56,480
Speaker 2: but mostly there had They have something called pilots payments

770
00:38:56,520 --> 00:38:59,480
Speaker 2: and lieu of taxes, so they don't pay property taxes

771
00:38:59,520 --> 00:39:02,239
Speaker 2: to the city. The property DEXes for those all of

772
00:39:02,280 --> 00:39:04,440
Speaker 2: that housing funds the park directly.

773
00:39:04,440 --> 00:39:07,680
Speaker 1: So the city and of the state have realized some

774
00:39:07,760 --> 00:39:10,040
Speaker 1: money from the sale of this property. The housing.

775
00:39:10,120 --> 00:39:12,640
Speaker 2: I'd say the city doesn't the city treasury doesn't have

776
00:39:12,680 --> 00:39:15,920
Speaker 2: to pay to keep Brooklyn Bridge Park going and being

777
00:39:15,960 --> 00:39:17,759
Speaker 2: the it's funded by this mechanism.

778
00:39:17,920 --> 00:39:20,719
Speaker 1: And then and then the land that the park is on,

779
00:39:21,160 --> 00:39:22,600
Speaker 1: there was there was no park there.

780
00:39:23,120 --> 00:39:25,000
Speaker 2: I know there were. There was Peers. It was it

781
00:39:25,040 --> 00:39:28,720
Speaker 2: was Peers that had been basically in disuse since the containerization.

782
00:39:28,800 --> 00:39:30,520
Speaker 1: And where do the mochi have developed the park?

783
00:39:31,600 --> 00:39:33,799
Speaker 2: So that was capital money that was part of the

784
00:39:33,840 --> 00:39:36,680
Speaker 2: deal we made to give the city control. The Bloomberg

785
00:39:36,680 --> 00:39:41,000
Speaker 2: administration put a really large amount of capital investment in

786
00:39:41,480 --> 00:39:44,120
Speaker 2: as part of the deal to take control of the park.

787
00:39:44,800 --> 00:39:47,560
Speaker 2: There's a board that has seventeen appointments on it.

788
00:39:47,680 --> 00:39:48,879
Speaker 4: So if so you.

789
00:39:48,840 --> 00:39:51,680
Speaker 1: Know who appoints them, hocel Well, I want to.

790
00:39:51,640 --> 00:39:53,160
Speaker 2: Tell you because we made the deal. So obviously the

791
00:39:53,200 --> 00:39:55,880
Speaker 2: local state senator has an appointment and I.

792
00:39:55,920 --> 00:39:58,120
Speaker 1: Knew him once and what did he do? And the

793
00:39:58,239 --> 00:40:00,320
Speaker 1: ones walking around lost in Manhattan.

794
00:40:00,120 --> 00:40:02,560
Speaker 2: The local assembly member, the local city council member, the

795
00:40:02,719 --> 00:40:06,080
Speaker 2: Brooklyn Borough president, the governor still has a few appointments,

796
00:40:06,160 --> 00:40:09,120
Speaker 2: and the mayor has a large number. The best thing

797
00:40:09,120 --> 00:40:10,279
Speaker 2: to do with a five year old in New York

798
00:40:10,280 --> 00:40:13,200
Speaker 2: City is get on one of those public ferries. Take

799
00:40:13,239 --> 00:40:15,480
Speaker 2: it to Governor's Island, spend Little Ham Gover Island, get

800
00:40:15,560 --> 00:40:17,479
Speaker 2: back on the ferry. Take it to Brooklyn Bridge Park,

801
00:40:17,880 --> 00:40:19,480
Speaker 2: Go get some ice cream, Get back on the ferry,

802
00:40:19,480 --> 00:40:21,560
Speaker 2: take it back to Manhattan. Think of a day where,

803
00:40:21,560 --> 00:40:24,680
Speaker 2: like you know, you spend less than ten dollars and

804
00:40:24,880 --> 00:40:27,720
Speaker 2: maybe twenty dollars with the ice cream cone, and you

805
00:40:27,960 --> 00:40:31,879
Speaker 2: experienced the greatest view, the greatest community on earth.

806
00:40:31,920 --> 00:40:33,600
Speaker 1: My wife and I take my kids to Saint George

807
00:40:33,640 --> 00:40:36,080
Speaker 1: all the time. My kids would love to go on

808
00:40:36,120 --> 00:40:37,600
Speaker 1: the ferry and they'd seen to me, you know you

809
00:40:37,840 --> 00:40:39,919
Speaker 1: rode the ferry, Dad, But when you were young, did

810
00:40:39,920 --> 00:40:41,759
Speaker 1: you ride the ferries? Like? Yeah, when I was in

811
00:40:41,920 --> 00:40:43,200
Speaker 1: I used to ride the ferry. Then I could have

812
00:40:43,239 --> 00:40:45,239
Speaker 1: had to cut the story short because it involved me

813
00:40:45,520 --> 00:40:48,080
Speaker 1: smoking a joint, drinking a bottle of wine, turning around,

814
00:40:48,080 --> 00:40:50,719
Speaker 1: coming back and going to Woe Hop in Chinatown, and

815
00:40:50,800 --> 00:40:51,800
Speaker 1: it was blowing it out.

816
00:40:51,640 --> 00:40:54,319
Speaker 2: On the Dollar Miller high lifes on the All Staten Island,

817
00:40:54,360 --> 00:40:56,520
Speaker 2: ferry ferry with the dollar highlight.

818
00:40:56,600 --> 00:41:00,680
Speaker 1: We got as wasted as that was glorious of liberty.

819
00:41:00,880 --> 00:41:03,000
Speaker 4: So it was so for Agia.

820
00:41:03,080 --> 00:41:04,719
Speaker 1: Yeah, I remember I woke up to the ferry with

821
00:41:04,719 --> 00:41:06,239
Speaker 1: my kids and I go, where do I pay? I

822
00:41:06,239 --> 00:41:08,560
Speaker 1: hadn't been on the ferry of fifteen years, and I

823
00:41:08,600 --> 00:41:10,320
Speaker 1: welcome to the like ten cops in a huddle, and

824
00:41:10,320 --> 00:41:12,319
Speaker 1: I go where do I pay? And I goes ferries free,

825
00:41:12,360 --> 00:41:15,919
Speaker 1: mister Boldbyn ferries free. I go what he goes? Yeah,

826
00:41:16,080 --> 00:41:18,719
Speaker 1: it's free. That's another thing I can save money with.

827
00:41:18,760 --> 00:41:21,600
Speaker 1: Mid We're going on the ferry again. Yeah, come on,

828
00:41:21,680 --> 00:41:24,640
Speaker 1: come on, get your coats on. Now, what is your

829
00:41:24,719 --> 00:41:27,920
Speaker 1: goal in the coming years or even months. What's the

830
00:41:27,960 --> 00:41:30,360
Speaker 1: goal in terms of you want to just continue a

831
00:41:30,440 --> 00:41:32,400
Speaker 1: long or is there another goal? You have a broader

832
00:41:32,440 --> 00:41:33,000
Speaker 1: goal you have?

833
00:41:33,719 --> 00:41:36,960
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean so we now have over two hundred

834
00:41:36,960 --> 00:41:41,239
Speaker 3: giving circles working with the state's pormationwise nationwide. Correct. And

835
00:41:41,600 --> 00:41:44,600
Speaker 3: my goal really with that program is to keep everyone

836
00:41:44,640 --> 00:41:47,480
Speaker 3: who's in it on a steady course, not in this

837
00:41:47,600 --> 00:41:50,680
Speaker 3: kind of reactive politics that makes us all so tired,

838
00:41:51,000 --> 00:41:54,200
Speaker 3: but to keep them moving steadily and focused strategically on

839
00:41:54,320 --> 00:41:57,320
Speaker 3: these particular nodes of power where they can have impact.

840
00:41:57,440 --> 00:41:59,799
Speaker 3: You know, these are races that are decided on the

841
00:41:59,800 --> 00:42:04,480
Speaker 3: mark rgins, and these giving circles are actually impacting results

842
00:42:04,560 --> 00:42:07,120
Speaker 3: not just of single elections, but who is holding the

843
00:42:07,160 --> 00:42:11,680
Speaker 3: majority in states. And you know, twenty twenty two Pennsylvania

844
00:42:11,760 --> 00:42:14,440
Speaker 3: is a great example. We were able to flip twelve

845
00:42:14,480 --> 00:42:17,080
Speaker 3: seats that year with the help of Giving circles and

846
00:42:17,200 --> 00:42:20,840
Speaker 3: we got the final twelfth seat by sixty three votes.

847
00:42:21,120 --> 00:42:24,839
Speaker 3: Sixty three votes shifted power in Harrisburg that year. And

848
00:42:25,239 --> 00:42:28,560
Speaker 3: I believe that every single Giving Circle that chose Pennsylvania

849
00:42:28,560 --> 00:42:30,839
Speaker 3: that year was responsible for that victory because if one

850
00:42:30,920 --> 00:42:32,960
Speaker 3: of them hadn't been there organizing a living room in

851
00:42:33,000 --> 00:42:36,920
Speaker 3: a backyard, a gathering or a zoom room, then I'm

852
00:42:36,960 --> 00:42:38,640
Speaker 3: not sure we would have gotten those last sixty three

853
00:42:38,719 --> 00:42:41,279
Speaker 3: votes to shift power. So when I meet a new

854
00:42:41,280 --> 00:42:42,880
Speaker 3: Giving Circle leader, what I say to them is that

855
00:42:42,920 --> 00:42:45,800
Speaker 3: they are turning on the porch light for strategic political

856
00:42:45,840 --> 00:42:49,520
Speaker 3: giving or their communities. And my goal is to make

857
00:42:49,560 --> 00:42:52,799
Speaker 3: sure that people have a focus and people have a

858
00:42:52,840 --> 00:42:55,160
Speaker 3: place where they feel like they're making a difference, and

859
00:42:55,200 --> 00:42:57,799
Speaker 3: that's what the Giving Circles program does. So staying in

860
00:42:57,840 --> 00:43:01,440
Speaker 3: it staying steady, not being reacted to politics, but really

861
00:43:01,480 --> 00:43:04,799
Speaker 3: focusing on where they can have an impact foundationally for

862
00:43:04,840 --> 00:43:08,439
Speaker 3: the country, and then spreading that to other people, saying

863
00:43:08,440 --> 00:43:10,760
Speaker 3: who else in your community should have a giving circle?

864
00:43:10,800 --> 00:43:13,799
Speaker 3: Who else is feeling like there's nothing they can do.

865
00:43:13,880 --> 00:43:16,400
Speaker 3: We do not have to be witnesses to what's happening

866
00:43:16,400 --> 00:43:19,680
Speaker 3: in our democracy. We have power, especially when we gather

867
00:43:19,800 --> 00:43:22,799
Speaker 3: people and do it together, and so giving circles are

868
00:43:22,840 --> 00:43:25,320
Speaker 3: never about what one person can give, but the magical

869
00:43:25,360 --> 00:43:27,839
Speaker 3: math problem of bringing people together to learn about this,

870
00:43:28,640 --> 00:43:31,920
Speaker 3: have a focus, and strategically work with us to target

871
00:43:31,920 --> 00:43:32,840
Speaker 3: specific seats.

872
00:43:33,000 --> 00:43:35,200
Speaker 1: I love when I went to the meeting both meetings,

873
00:43:35,719 --> 00:43:37,880
Speaker 1: the one at Rothman's house that I first went with

874
00:43:37,920 --> 00:43:40,279
Speaker 1: you guys was a bit smaller, and that other one,

875
00:43:40,280 --> 00:43:42,440
Speaker 1: that woman who was the host in that magnificent carriage

876
00:43:42,480 --> 00:43:44,560
Speaker 1: house of us that was like, oh my god, I'll

877
00:43:44,600 --> 00:43:46,120
Speaker 1: give money to I and come back here and have

878
00:43:46,200 --> 00:43:50,080
Speaker 1: some more candipas and some sparkling war or know her

879
00:43:50,080 --> 00:43:52,799
Speaker 1: house was stunning. But the idea being that you know,

880
00:43:52,880 --> 00:43:56,640
Speaker 1: finding people I guess nationwide, who are States Project's material.

881
00:43:56,920 --> 00:44:00,840
Speaker 1: My question for you is what's the budget of States Project?

882
00:44:00,880 --> 00:44:03,640
Speaker 2: Now roughly in the twenty twenty four cycle, we were

883
00:44:03,640 --> 00:44:06,440
Speaker 2: the largest outside state legislative effort in the history of

884
00:44:06,480 --> 00:44:09,000
Speaker 2: the country. We raised more than seventy million dollars over

885
00:44:09,040 --> 00:44:13,080
Speaker 2: that two year cycle. And you know, it's it's a

886
00:44:13,120 --> 00:44:15,479
Speaker 2: lot of money. But when you think of the fact

887
00:44:15,560 --> 00:44:19,040
Speaker 2: that a single congressional race nowadays cost about twenty five

888
00:44:19,239 --> 00:44:21,760
Speaker 2: million or is, you know, they're spending twenty five million dollars,

889
00:44:22,200 --> 00:44:24,279
Speaker 2: you're talking about less than the cost of three or

890
00:44:24,280 --> 00:44:29,960
Speaker 2: four congressional races. To have candidates who believe in America

891
00:44:30,000 --> 00:44:34,240
Speaker 2: and believe in democracy free to go meet their voters

892
00:44:34,400 --> 00:44:39,600
Speaker 2: around the country in every state, it matters, and giving circles,

893
00:44:39,640 --> 00:44:42,880
Speaker 2: including ones that raise cumulatively five thousand dollars in contributions

894
00:44:42,880 --> 00:44:45,560
Speaker 2: of fifty dollars at a time or raised ten times,

895
00:44:45,600 --> 00:44:50,960
Speaker 2: that are often the single biggest giver in one of

896
00:44:51,000 --> 00:44:54,560
Speaker 2: these races in a smaller state like New Hampshire or Maine.

897
00:44:55,000 --> 00:44:57,279
Speaker 1: So the budget of states projects is what per year.

898
00:44:57,360 --> 00:44:59,960
Speaker 2: It's a two year cycle, so almost the vast major

899
00:45:00,120 --> 00:45:02,680
Speaker 2: the money goes out to actually be contributed to campaigns.

900
00:45:02,760 --> 00:45:04,719
Speaker 1: And I'm sure the initiative of quesse so low, but

901
00:45:04,840 --> 00:45:07,880
Speaker 1: how many people in the staff fourteen people. Great, and

902
00:45:07,920 --> 00:45:08,600
Speaker 1: your office is.

903
00:45:08,600 --> 00:45:09,960
Speaker 4: Where totally remote?

904
00:45:10,080 --> 00:45:12,560
Speaker 1: Unfortunately, totally remote. You don't want an office, no.

905
00:45:12,560 --> 00:45:14,600
Speaker 2: I said, unfortunate. I mean because I love, actually love

906
00:45:14,640 --> 00:45:16,000
Speaker 2: our team and when we get to be at worse,

907
00:45:16,760 --> 00:45:17,279
Speaker 2: when we got to be.

908
00:45:17,280 --> 00:45:18,760
Speaker 1: In personal, did they have an office prior?

909
00:45:18,960 --> 00:45:21,160
Speaker 2: We had an office before COVID, but then as we

910
00:45:21,160 --> 00:45:24,520
Speaker 2: were growing during the COVID period, we started hiring people

911
00:45:24,520 --> 00:45:25,719
Speaker 2: from around the country and now.

912
00:45:26,280 --> 00:45:27,600
Speaker 1: My kids, you can have my apartment.

913
00:45:28,120 --> 00:45:30,279
Speaker 2: If you can convince our team to move to New

914
00:45:30,360 --> 00:45:33,040
Speaker 2: York by doing happy hours for them once a week,

915
00:45:33,200 --> 00:45:33,840
Speaker 2: I'll take it.

916
00:45:33,920 --> 00:45:35,880
Speaker 1: I'll take a look at it. Yeah, you know, when

917
00:45:35,880 --> 00:45:37,759
Speaker 1: I saw you guys speak the first time, I mean,

918
00:45:38,080 --> 00:45:40,320
Speaker 1: I think a lot of people have the same idea

919
00:45:40,320 --> 00:45:43,000
Speaker 1: of there's a collective consciousness, and they have a variation

920
00:45:43,080 --> 00:45:44,719
Speaker 1: of the same idea of like, well, let's go, let's

921
00:45:44,719 --> 00:45:47,799
Speaker 1: work the states. I think what you're doing is really

922
00:45:47,840 --> 00:45:50,120
Speaker 1: the only meaningful work that could be done right now.

923
00:45:50,120 --> 00:45:51,960
Speaker 1: We're more meaningful in that way.

924
00:45:52,520 --> 00:45:55,280
Speaker 3: Well, it gives me a lot of hope to work

925
00:45:55,719 --> 00:45:59,040
Speaker 3: on these campaigns where the main thing is we want

926
00:45:59,040 --> 00:46:01,160
Speaker 3: you to go door to door and talk to the people.

927
00:46:01,160 --> 00:46:04,080
Speaker 3: In your community, right, we want you to We want

928
00:46:04,080 --> 00:46:06,720
Speaker 3: you to listen. We want you to talk about the

929
00:46:06,760 --> 00:46:09,160
Speaker 3: traffic patterns and the grass on the softball field and

930
00:46:09,200 --> 00:46:11,759
Speaker 3: the local school. And that is how you connect with

931
00:46:11,800 --> 00:46:14,880
Speaker 3: people as a neighbor. And you do that persuasion knocking,

932
00:46:15,040 --> 00:46:18,759
Speaker 3: talking to people like a neighbor. That to me is

933
00:46:19,160 --> 00:46:22,839
Speaker 3: part of the connective tissue that's been missing. And it's

934
00:46:23,120 --> 00:46:25,359
Speaker 3: really heartening to be able to work on campaigns where

935
00:46:25,440 --> 00:46:28,360
Speaker 3: that is a main tactic, because that person to person

936
00:46:28,440 --> 00:46:32,720
Speaker 3: contact is so effective and so important for healing people

937
00:46:33,120 --> 00:46:34,800
Speaker 3: in this really disconnected time.

938
00:46:35,480 --> 00:46:39,000
Speaker 2: I'm really sympathetic to people who are discouraged by politics,

939
00:46:39,320 --> 00:46:42,239
Speaker 2: and I actually sometimes think how hopeless about politics must

940
00:46:42,280 --> 00:46:45,120
Speaker 2: people have been to vote for this guy again, knowing

941
00:46:45,120 --> 00:46:46,319
Speaker 2: what they were getting.

942
00:46:46,480 --> 00:46:47,160
Speaker 1: But knowing.

943
00:46:47,280 --> 00:46:50,640
Speaker 2: But it's on those of us who are doing this

944
00:46:50,719 --> 00:46:53,359
Speaker 2: full time, on those of us who care about the democracy,

945
00:46:53,640 --> 00:46:59,319
Speaker 2: to make it less hopeless, to make it seem worthwhile.

946
00:47:00,360 --> 00:47:03,800
Speaker 2: That's not going to happen by watching more cable news

947
00:47:04,000 --> 00:47:06,600
Speaker 2: or spending more time on social media. It's not going

948
00:47:06,719 --> 00:47:10,400
Speaker 2: to happen by choosing you Burger King McDonald's Republicans or

949
00:47:10,400 --> 00:47:14,800
Speaker 2: Democrats in the national conversation. When you get into states,

950
00:47:15,560 --> 00:47:20,200
Speaker 2: you start feeling like, Wow, I have power in this democracy.

951
00:47:20,800 --> 00:47:24,600
Speaker 2: Wow that thing that made no sense suddenly I understand.

952
00:47:24,640 --> 00:47:28,960
Speaker 2: And most importantly, things really can change for the better.

953
00:47:29,880 --> 00:47:33,080
Speaker 2: And I just want people to have that chance, because

954
00:47:33,360 --> 00:47:37,359
Speaker 2: being discouraged and being hopeless is the end of the democracy,

955
00:47:37,640 --> 00:47:40,480
Speaker 2: whether it's this guy or someone else, and knowing you're

956
00:47:40,480 --> 00:47:41,080
Speaker 2: a part.

957
00:47:40,840 --> 00:47:43,200
Speaker 4: Of it is the hope.

958
00:47:45,600 --> 00:47:50,440
Speaker 1: My thanks to Daniel Squadron and Melissa Walker. This episode

959
00:47:50,600 --> 00:47:54,399
Speaker 1: was recorded at CDM Studios in New York City. We're

960
00:47:54,400 --> 00:47:58,440
Speaker 1: produced by Kathleen Musso, Zach MacNeice, and Victoria de Martin.

961
00:47:59,000 --> 00:48:03,640
Speaker 1: Our engineers Frank Imperial. Our social media manager is Danielle Gingrich.

962
00:48:04,000 --> 00:48:06,719
Speaker 1: I'm Alec Baldwin. Here's the Thing is brought to you

963
00:48:06,760 --> 00:48:15,000
Speaker 1: by iHeart Radio.