Podcasts about state senators

Many in-person celebrations of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. have been canceled Monday due to the rapid spread of the omicron variant in California. Despite that, his legacy lives on, particularly in the work being done by California's Legislative Black Caucus, led by State Senator Steven Bradford. Guest: Steven Bradford, State Senator, 35th District First it was new cases and hospitalizations. Now, COVID-19 deaths have jumped significantly in Los Angeles County.

Pennsylvania State Senator Mario Scavello joins the Dom Giordano Program to discuss a new memorandum he wrote addressing alleged ghost flights flying illegal immigrants into the state of Pennsylvania. First, Giordano asks Scavello whether these flights affect the voters in his district in Monroe and Northampton counties, to which Scavello explains the detrimental effects of allowing such an act in Pennsylvania. Then, Giordano and Scavello discuss the Coronavirus implications, telling the hypocrisy of strong governance for citizens while allowing this, as well. In addition, Giordano and Scavello discuss multiple other issues playing out around the Commonwealth, including issues around voter's rights. (Photo by Getty Images)

Join Heather and Maureen this week as they recap both personal and professional achievements of 2021. Your fearless hosts spend some time catching up on holiday travels and drama, and look back on another year of pandemic living. They get vulnerable about parenthood and personal hopes and fears. In this two part episode Heather and Maureen go beyond the personal and review the current state of lactation in the United States and their home of West Virginia. They also review some of the most interesting new studies of 2021. Join them to take a look at newly found benefits to lactation, covid-19 and breastmilk research, and more in part 2!THANK YOU TO THIS EPISODE'S SPONSORSSay goodbye to your breastfeeding stank and click here to get your Lume! Shop Maureen's Etsy Shop, The Wandering Womb by clicking HERE!Resolve your immediate breastfeeding issue with a Virtual Lactation Consult with your host Heather ONeal by clicking HERE!Listener Question: What do I do when pumping has become a huge source of stress (because I've been having trouble with let down) and seems to make my boobs not want to let down?Find the new Milk Minute Podcast website by clicking here!Become a Milk Minute VIP: Click here to get behind-the-scenes-access and exclusive merch!Contact us: To send us feedback, personal stories, or just to chat you can send us an email at milkminutepodcast@gmail.comGet Community Support: Click Here to Join our Free Facebook Community!Stay up to Date: Find us on INSTAGRAM @milk_minute_podcastPrefer to read the transcript?- Click Here to read the edited version of this episode!Previous episodes of The Milk Minute Podcast mentioned in this episode:Milk Minute Ep 68- A Milk Expression Meditation with Neuroscientist, Dr. Julie Brefczynski-LewisResources:Look up your own state's breastfeeding report card here: http://www.usbreastfeeding.org/p/cm/ld/fid=257Donate to the US Breastfeeding Committee: https://usbreastfeeding.salsalabs.org/2021GivingTuesdayFundraisingForm/index.htmlPUMP Act: http://www.usbreastfeeding.org/p/cm/ld/fid=903Send a letter to your State Senator here: https://usbreastfeeding.salsalabs.org/2021pumpactletterhouseamended/index.htmlTake Action for the PUMP Act: https://usbreastfeeding.salsalabs.org/2021pumpactaction/index.htmlSupport the show (https://www.patreon.com/milkminutepodcast)

Interview with Idaho State Senator Doug Ricks by BYU-Idaho Radio

Thank you so much for listening to the Bob Harden Show, celebrating over ten years broadcasting weekday mornings – providing you news and commentary rooted in the principles of individual liberty, personal responsibility, limited government and the rule of law. On Tuesday's show, we visit with our State Senator, Kathleen Passidomo, about “re-districting” in Florida and preparation for the legislative session beginning January 11. The Founder and President of Less Government Seton Motley and I discuss the race with China for leadership in “5G.” Linda Harden and I discuss the spread of the Omicron virus variant and the lack of full disclosure about vaccines to the American people. We also have a terrific and entertaining visit with our weekly guest, Boo Mortenson, about simple new habits that could improve the quality of our lives in 2022. Please join us tomorrow when we visit with Bob Levy from the Cato Institute, Professor Andrew Joppa, and Endowed Professor at the University of Houston, Larry Bell. Please join us live at 7 a.m. on bobharden.com, or access the show anytime on podcast platforms (iTunes, TuneIn, Spotify, and Stitcher, Vurbl, and ChoiceSocial).

Thank you so much for listening to the Bob Harden Show, celebrating over ten years broadcasting weekday mornings – providing you news and commentary rooted in the principles of individual liberty, personal responsibility, limited government and the rule of law. On Tuesday's show, we visit with our State Senator, Kathleen Passidomo, about “re-districting” in Florida … The post Update on Omicron appeared first on Bob Harden Show.

1/3/22 - State Senator Will Haskell And Covid Spiking by The Lisa Wexler Show

Today we are joined by District 24 State Senator Jesse Green for a legislative preview in part one of our two part series.

A founding premise of the show is that political engagement in state and local politics is essential. It is because of this that each year we preview the upcoming state legislative session. This week we...

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In today's second hour, Giordano leads off by playing back a clip of NYPD officers removing a family including what looks to be around a 5 year old from a restaurant. In the clip, onlookers yell at cops, asking questions such as ‘is this what you signed up for?' Giordano takes umbrage with this quote, proclaiming that it is not the cops fault, explaining that they've been forced into a horrible situation by policymakers forcing overbearing policies. Then, Dom plays back a clip from Dan Crenshaw's podcast, in which the politician calls those who oppose endless wars ‘friggin' idiots,' and argues with Producer Dan over whether Crenshaw is correct. Then, State Senator and gubernatorial candidate Jake Corman returns to the Dom Giordano Program to discuss the issue of the reported ‘ghost flights' which have been become a large topic of discussion on the show. Over the weekend, reports arose about flights in the middle of the night into Pennsylvania airports filled with illegal immigrants. Corman has now written a letter requesting answers from the Wolf administration, asking for transparency in the situation, noting that he and other Republicans may even support the policy if they had any idea what was going on. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Then, State Senator and gubernatorial candidate Jake Corman returns to the Dom Giordano Program to discuss the issue of the reported ‘ghost flights' which have been become a large topic of discussion on the show. Over the weekend, reports arose about flights in the middle of the night into Pennsylvania airports filled with illegal immigrants. Corman has now written a letter requesting answers from the Wolf administration, asking for transparency in the situation, noting that he and other Republicans may even support the policy if they had any idea what was going on. (Photo by Getty Images) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Georgia State Senator from District 22 Harold Jones, Augusta, describes what has transpired at the state and local levels with respect to redistricting. We touch on how that affects the balance of power between political parties in the State House and Senate, the legal constraints they faced, and how, inevitably, someone will not like the results.

State Senator Lana Theis represents the 22nd Senate District and serves as Assistant President Pro Tempore of the Michigan Senate. Theis chairs the Senate Education and Career Readiness Committee. She led the charge against the Whitmer administration on Critical Race Theory in schools and how she sponsored (but the Governor vetoed) legislation that would have created Education Savings Accounts that would have provided more educational options to students and families. Looking forward to 2022, what do we think about education going into 2022.

Amanda Cappelletti began running for the Pennsylvania State Senate just before the COVID-19 pandemic began. In this wide-ranging You Should Run Podcast discussion, Senator Cappelletti talks about her political upbringing and what she learned from jumping from local government to state government. Topics include: Bridges The benefits and costs of bipartisanship Redistricting The value of different perspectives in public office, from experts in public health to a lack of knowledge on the tech industry Electing more women to office and what changes may result by having a majority female legislature Maternal health and helping mothers and fathers after pregnancy loss Not giving up and focusing on the 2022 elections. Follow Amanda on social media @amandaforpa

December 27, 2021- Devin Lemhiu- State Senator

Thank you so much for listening to the Bob Harden Show, celebrating over ten years broadcasting weekdays – providing you news and commentary rooted in the principles of individual liberty, personal responsibility, limited government and the rule of law. On Tuesday's show, we visit with our State Senator, Kathleen Passidomo, about “re-districting” in Florida and … The post Biden’s Precipitous Decline in Popularity appeared first on Bob Harden Show.

Thank you so much for listening to the Bob Harden Show, celebrating over ten years broadcasting weekdays – providing you news and commentary rooted in the principles of individual liberty, personal responsibility, limited government and the rule of law. On Tuesday's show, we visit with our State Senator, Kathleen Passidomo, about “re-districting” in Florida and preparation for the legislative session beginning January 11. Linda Harden and I discuss Biden's lack of effectiveness and achievement in his first year and his declining popularity and influence among American voters. We also have a terrific and entertaining visit about “Intstacart” with our weekly guest, Boo Mortenson. Please join us tomorrow when we visit with Bob Levy from the Cato Institute, Professor Andrew Joppa, and Endowed Professor at the University of Houston, Larry Bell. Please join us live at 7 a.m. on bobharden.com, or access the show anytime on podcast platforms (iTunes, TuneIn, Spotify, and Stitcher, Vurbl, and ChoiceSocial).

Steven Roberts State Senator

He warned them, then he warned them again! Now the State Senator from VA's 17th is about to sue the City of Charlottesville to stop the illegal meltdown of the Robert E Lee Statue that used to stand on Market Street. (He's not going to be the only ones) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

John talks to the Army Major, State Senator, Richard Ojeda & The Resident Genius Hal Sparks about the corrpt, Fascist, treasonous Party known as the GQP. Please donate through Superchats or directly here: paypal.me/JohnMelendezInc. Become a Youtube member and/or Patreon member at Patreon.com/stutteringjohn.

December 27, 2021- Devin Lemahiu- State Senator

On The Kenny & JT Show, we're joined by Ohio State Senator Kirk Schuring. The sports gaming bill that he has spear-headed has been fully passed with Governor DeWine putting his signature to it. Senator Schuring gives us more details.

State Senator Tom Barrett, Candidate for Congress. 2022 Election and Why He's Running

Georgia State Senator Burt Jones discusses the controversial Georgia Voting Bill, SB 202, saying that the arguments from Stacey Abrams and Democrats calling the legislation, ‘voter suppression' is ‘flawed'. The State Senator dismisses these arguments saying that the opposition to the ‘voter integrity legislation' is only an attempt for ‘bureaucrats in DC to run statewide' and local elections. Jones pushes back saying that he ‘does not know' how they could argue that ‘19 days of early voting, weekend voting, and having to show proof of identification' is ‘suppressing the vote'. Jones goes on to explain that even people without ‘a driver's license', can still vote under the new law, as ‘a state voting ID on behalf of the state of Georgia' will be issued to the person, to accommodate the requirement for identification at the polls.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Thank you so much for listening to the Bob Harden Show, celebrating over ten years broadcasting weekdays – providing you news and commentary rooted in the principles of individual liberty, personal responsibility, limited government and the rule of law. On Tuesday's show, we visit with our State Senator, Kathleen Passidomo, about Florida's response to the … The post Public Response to the Omicron Variant appeared first on Bob Harden Show.

Thank you so much for listening to the Bob Harden Show, celebrating over ten years broadcasting weekdays – providing you news and commentary rooted in the principles of individual liberty, personal responsibility, limited government and the rule of law. On Tuesday's show, we visit with our State Senator, Kathleen Passidomo, about Florida's response to the spread of the Omnicron variant. Seton Motley, the Founder and President of Less Government, and I discuss the importance of the patent office to American innovation. Linda Harden and I discuss the misinformation spread about the Coronavirus and the vaccines. We also have a terrific and entertaining visit about Christmas traditions with our weekly guest, Boo Mortenson. Please join us tomorrow when we visit with Bob Levy from the Cato Institute, Professor Andrew Joppa, and Endowed Professor at the University of Houston, Larry Bell. Please join us live at 7 a.m. on bobharden.com Bob Harden Show News and Commentary You Can Use! bobharden.com , or access the show anytime on podcast platforms (iTunes, TuneIn, Spotify, and Stitcher, Vurbl, and ChoiceSocial).

December 20, 2021- Andre Jacque - State Senator

C4 and Bryan Nehman heard weekday mornings from 5:30-10AM on WBAL NewsRadio 1090, FM 101.5, and the WBAL radio app.

Doug talks to Pennsylvania State Senator and Veteran Doug Mastriano about election integrity and voter fraud. Restoration PAC is a non-partisan political action committee that sponsors political activities advocating for policy changes and/or the election or defeat of candidates on the basis of time-tested conservative principles. Visit our website: https://restorationofamerica.com/ Facebook: https://facebook.com/restorationpac Twitter: https://twitter.com/restorationpac Instagram: https://instagram.com/restoration_pac/ GETTR: https://gettr.com/user/restorationpac

Once again, lawmakers will be talking about health insurance during the upcoming session. One bill would help Realtors get coverage. Michael Pope reports.

Give us about ten minutes a day and we will give you all the local news, local sports, local weather, and local events you can handle.   SPONSORS: Many thanks to our sponsors... Solar Energy Services because solar should be in your future! The Kristi Neidhardt Team. If you are looking to buy or sell your home, give Kristi a call at 888-860-7369! And Hospice of the Chesapeake Today...After a shooting in Eastport, a man is involved in a multi-vehicle accident on MD Route 665, Annapolis Police are investigating. A State Senator wants to know why the Department of Health is giving us the silent treatment on the cyber attacks. COVID woes plaguing local schools. A clarification on the Ward Boundary Task Force meeting. Your final night for Midnight Madness. And a bunch of new pod news! It's Thursday, which means that Trevor from  Annapolis Makerspace is here with your Maker Minutes with great ideas to work out your mind and hone your skills. And as usual, George from DCMDVA Weather is here with your local weather forecast! Please download their APP so you can keep on top of the local weather scene! The Eye On Annapolis Daily News Brief is produced every Monday through Friday at 6:00 am and available wherever you get your podcasts and also on our social media platforms--All Annapolis and Eye On Annapolis (FB) and @eyeonannapolis (TW) NOTE: For hearing impaired subscribers, a full transcript is available on Eye On Annapolis

Yvette begins the 4th season of What's Your Legacy and the 17th Client Appreciation recognition with several new episodes. In this episode, Yvette talks with State Senator Steve Santarsiero. Senator Santarsiero represents the 10th District covering much of Bucks County with a population of over 259,000. Senator Santarsiero talks with Yvette about his role in serving the interest of children and his leadership on environmental protection, women's health issues, infrastructure investment and gun violence prevention.

In this episode, Vince and Jason sit down with the author of the Texas abortion bill Bryan Hughes to discuss how it is enforced, when does life actually begin, how rape victims are handled, and gun laws. Bryan Hughes (R) is a State Senator for Texas District 1 (eastern portion of Texas, bordering Arkansas, Oklahoma and Louisiana). He authored the Texas Heartbeat Law (Texas Senate Bill 8), which makes abortion illegal from the moment an embryo's heartbeat can be detected. The Supreme Court ruled recently that abortion providers in Texas can sue over the state's ban on abortions, but it left the law in place (the court was not asked to rule on the law's constitutionality in this case). You can follow Senator Hughes on Twitter, Facebook or his webpage. This episode is brought to you by Goldco. Go to http://www.goldco.com/savethenation to receive your free IRA guide, and to qualify to earn up to $10,000 in silver when you open your qualifying Goldco account. Visit the show page on the Daily Caller And catch the full episodes on our premium YouTube page Visit our website Check out our social media: Twitter Facebook Instagram 'Vince & Jason Save The Nation' grapples with America's most pressing questions through intelligent, brutally honest conversations between Vince Coglianese and Jason Nichols, two nationally renowned political commentators who come from opposite sides of the political divide but share a profound love of country. Enlisting the support of their fascinating and talented guests, Vince and Jason tackle the existential issues confronting America and set out on their quest to Save the Nation.

Stand Up is a daily podcast. I book,host,edit, post and promote new episodes with brilliant guests every day. Please subscribe now for as little as 5$ and gain access to a community of over 800 awesome, curious, kind, funny, brilliant, generous souls Check out StandUpwithPete.com to learn more All this month and next I will be promoting GiveWell.org and I hope you will consider sending them a donation. They will match new donors up to $250! Please go to GiveWell.org/StandUp 36 mins Laura Coates, CNN Senior Legal Analyst and SiriusXM Host, is a well-respected attorney, commentator, author, and adjunct professor at the George Washington University School of Law. Coates' depth of experience and broad expertise has earned her acclaim across all media platforms. Coates played a central role in the network's programming surrounding the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, including hosting a special entitled "White House in Crisis: The Impeachment Inquiry." In June 2020, Coates made fundamental contributions to the coverage of the unrest in Minneapolis and the protests around the world following George Floyd's death. During this national reckoning on race, she moderated "Mayors Who Matter: A CNN Town Hall on Race and Covid-19" with four female African American mayors on the front lines. Coates also regularly serves as fill-in anchor for CNN's Don Lemon, conducting prominent interviews and informing viewers in primetime. In 2017, she launched the daily eponymous talk show, - on == where she engages the audience with a lively discussion on the intersections of politics, law, and pop culture. Recognizing the dire need for increased police accountability and improved police-community relations, she wrote the bestselling 2016 book, You Have the Right: A Constitutional Guide to Policing the Police. In the book, Laura removes the legalese and helps ordinary citizens know and understand their 4th, 5th and 6th Amendment rights. A native of Saint Paul, Minnesota, Coates graduated from Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and the University of Minnesota Law School, where she serves on the Board of Advisors, before beginning her legal career in private practice. She practiced law in Minnesota and New York handling cases ranging from intellectual property litigation and First Amendment issues to Defamation and Media law. Called to public service, she transitioned from private practice to the United States Department of Justice, thriving as a federal prosecutor. She served as a Trial Attorney in the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice during the Bush and Obama administrations, specializing in the enforcement of voting rights throughout the country. She also served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, prosecuting a myriad of violent felony offenses including drug trafficking, armed offenses, domestic violence, child abuse, and sexual assault. She and her husband live in Washington, DC with their two young children. You can find her on social media at @thelauracoates. ------------------------ 1:13 Sen. Mallory McMorrow is serving her first term in the Michigan Senate. McMorrow gained more than a decade of experience in product design, media and advertising through her work with Mazda, Mattel, Gawker Media, Hearst and other global brands. She brings a fresh, creative and collaborative approach to addressing and solving some of our state's most complex issues. As a state senator, McMorrow is focused on increasing our state's competitiveness by supporting what makes Michigan unique – our people, unparalleled history of manufacturing and innovation, and our Great Lakes. She will work to diversify our economy by creating more opportunities for small businesses, provide our kids with a world-class education, fight for access to health care and clean water for all Michiganders, and ensure we fix our roads. She earned her bachelor's degree in industrial design from the University of Notre Dame. She resides in Royal Oak with her husband, Ray, their daughter, Noa, and their rescue dog, Detroit. https://www.mcmorrowformichigan.com/ DONATE to Her RE Election Campaign Get your holiday gifts from one of the sponsors of the show!   GetQuip.com/STANDUP Indeed.com/STANDUP and start a store or shop at Shopify.com/Standup   Check out all things Jon Carroll Follow and Support Pete Coe   Pete on YouTube Pete on Twitter Pete On Instagram Pete Personal FB page

On today's episode of The MeidasTouch Podcast we two incredible guests, Georgia's State Senator and Candidate for Attorney General Sen. Jen Jordan and writer Grant Stern! During the interview with Sen. Jordan, we discuss what she can do to protect women in Georgia if Roe is overturned, election integrity and Kanye West's publicist (?) trying to force a false confession from a Georgia election official. The remainder of the episode, the brothers discuss the tornadoes that hit midwestern and southern US states, CA Gov. Newsom's response to the abortion ban and new information detailing Mark Meadows involvement in the Jan 6. insurrection.  We close the episode with a bombshell report from Grant Stern! Stern's report (which can be found at grantstern.substack.com) unearths how Sidney Powell was mis-representing & not properly disclosing important legal filings in Florida and the potential repercussions from this action. If you enjoyed today's episode, please be sure to rate, review and subscribe! As always, thank YOU for listening. DEALS FROM OUR SPONSORS: HOMEDICS AIR PURIFIER: HoMedics.com/MEIDAS and use code MEIDAS BETTERHELP: betterhelp.com/MEIDAS SOLE: yoursole.com/meidas and use promo code MEIDAS WONDERY: Listen to BUSINESS WARS: CHRISTMAS MOVIE WARS on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen ad-free by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we met w/ State Attorney RE: FWC Constitutionality We have been working on this since March 2005 when we first learned that the FWC's authority over captive, non native wildlife, did not come from the FL constitution (as they claim) but rather came from the statutes. The reason that is important is that the FWC has managed to avoid a ban on the private possession (and pimping) of tiger and lion cubs by saying the citizens of the state have no right to petition the legislature for a ban. On March 18, 2005 I spoke with Curt Kiser (former State Senator) by phone and these were the pertinent details from that conversation: 1. Curt was the first person to draft legislation for ANY regulation of exotic animals in the state of Florida and was involved in the process that elevated FWC from being a state agency called the Game and Freshwater Fish Commission to having constitutional authority under their new name of the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC). 2. He says that they have had Constitutional authority over the native animals since long before that, but that even today their power over non native species (the ones I am concerned about) is not constitutionally given, but is rather legislatively given. 372.921 and 372.922 seem to bear that out in that the Florida Statutes state that for a person to own or exhibit and exotic animal they must meet the standards set by FWC. That gives FWC the authority to determine who may or may not own or display them and how that should be done and seems to leave in their hands the ability to define which animals fall into which classes (I, II or III). 3. Because the FWC has the power to do what I want (re class all exotic cats to Class I and require commercial zoning for acceptance of applications to exhibit) he suggested that I meet with David Meehan, one of the FWC Commissioners who lives nearby. The meeting should be at Big Cat Rescue so he can see the enormity of the problem first hand and so that he can see that I am not just some rabid, crazy cat lady. 4. Curt suggested that I use his name to effect this meeting and that I could do the same with the FWC's general council for the past 20 years, Jim Artista. He suggested that I let them know that I am trying to work within their framework first because they are protective of their constitutional power, and even more so of the perception of that being all-encompassing, and may be willing to work out something that suits my requests so that they are not in the position of having that ability to be in charge taken away from them by the legislators. Curt said he would call Jim and let him know that I would be calling soon. 5. He warned me that David Meehan is an avid hunter (as are all of the FWC Commissioners) and they don't want to assist any proposal that could be a foot in the door for us bunny hugging types to stop them from hunting. To tell them that the reason this legislation is important is because canned hunts are the only place that unwanted lions, cougars and tigers can go is likely to fall on deaf ears even if they wouldn't personally participate in shooting an animal in a transport cage. He said another reason that it would be hard to over turn any of FWC's constitutional authority would be because of the powerful groups, such as NRA, who want the rules of hunting to be controlled by those of like mind and not the majority of the population who could influence changes with their voting power. I've been writing my story since I was able to write, but when the media goes to share it, they only choose the parts that fit their idea of what will generate views. If I'm going to share my story, it should be the whole story. The titles are the dates things happened. If you have any interest in who I really am please start at the beginning of this playlist: http://savethecats.org/ I know there will be people who take things out of context and try to use them to validate their own misconception, but you have access to the whole story. My hope is that others will recognize themselves in my words and have the strength to do what is right for themselves and our shared planet. You can help feed the cats at no cost to you using Amazon Smile! Visit BigCatRescue.org/Amazon-smile You can see photos, videos and more, updated daily at BigCatRescue.org Check out our main channel at YouTube.com/BigCatRescue Music (if any) from Epidemic Sound (http://www.epidemicsound.com) This video is for entertainment purposes only and is my opinion.

This week's guest is Rhode Island State Senator Joshua Miller, who represents State Senate District 28. He is Chair of the State Senate Committee on Health and Human Services and is actively involved in the Governor's Overdose Prevention and Intervention Task Force.  In this episode, Senator Miller talks about what local representatives are doing to address two major public health concerns: the COVID-19 pandemic and the drug overdose epidemic.  Co-hosts, Dr. Jim McDonald and Dr. Philip Chan, talk with Senator Miller about issues that made the impact of COVID-19 in some communities much worse—like lack of access to affordable healthcare, transportation, and housing. They also talk about how Rhode Island is among the first in the nation to pass legislation allowing a two-year pilot program for harm reduction centers, also called “overdose prevention sites” or “supervised consumption centers.” What does Senator Miller share about strategies to address health inequities in Rhode Island? How did Rhode Island pass a bill allowing a two-year pilot program for harm reduction centers? Download this week's episode to find out.  

State Sen. Rosemary Bayer (D-Beverly Hills) who represents Oxford, Michigan in the Legislature, details her new bills that would ban sales of high-capacity gun magazines. And Dr. James Alan Fox, one of the nation's leading experts on gun violence in American, talks about what the issue looks like beyond high-profile mass shootings as well as possible solutions.

Today Crystal is joined by Shasti Conrad, Chair of the King County Democrats, to discuss Shasti's journey from working on progressive national campaigns to immersing herself in political organizing with the local Democratic Party. In 2018, Shasti became the first woman of color chair of the King County Democrats and set out to re-make the local party into a place where everyone can belong and make an impact in their community. Come listen in on the conversation and learn how to be part of a vision that both recruits and retains passionate volunteers. As always, a full text transcript of the show is available below and at officialhacksandwonks.com. Find the host, Crystal Fincher, on Twitter at @finchfrii and Shasti Conrad @ShastiConrad. More info is available at officialhacksandwonks.com. Resources King County Democrats: https://www.kcdems.org/     Transcript   [00:00:00] Crystal Fincher: Welcome to Hacks & Wonks. I'm Crystal Fincher, and I'm a political consultant and your host. On this show, we talk with policy wonks and political hacks to gather insight into local politics and policy in Washington State through the lens of those doing the work with behind-the-scenes perspectives on what's happening, why it's happening, and what you can do about it. Full transcripts and resources referenced in the show are always available at officialhacksandwonks.com and in our episode notes.  Today, I'm thrilled to be joined by Shasti Conrad, a friend of mine, the Chair of the King County Democrats, and someone who's done a lot of work in the electoral space, campaign space, both locally and nationally. Thank you for joining us. [00:00:57] Shasti Conrad: Hey, Crystal, it's so great to be here. [00:00:59] Crystal Fincher: Well, I wanted to start off and just talk about who you are and how you came to this work. How did you first get started in politics? [00:01:09] Shasti Conrad: Well, in some ways, I feel like I never had a choice not to, in some ways. I felt called into this work even as a little kid. My family were - they treated politics as though it was a part of your civic duty. My grandmother was from Britain and got her citizenship in her 50s and I'm adopted from India. And so it was one of the hot topics at the dinner table - was just being on the issues of the day - what was happening, what elected officials were doing. And then my grandmother would take me to go vote - every year she would go and would make a big deal out of it. And so I was just like the kid on the playground that was constantly talking about politics. I would school my preschool teachers on why they were supporting Ronald Reagan and telling them that they were making bad choices.  So, yeah - and then I worked on my first campaign when I was in high school. It was a school bond levy campaign. And then when I moved up to Seattle University to go to college, I reached out and started working for the Washington State Democrats as an intern and just kind of fell into all of this work and it became a huge part of my life. [00:02:26] Crystal Fincher: So what was your path between just that very beginning and winding up in the White House? [00:02:32] Shasti Conrad: Yeah. So I went to Seattle University for college and it was during the Bush administration. And so I was spending a lot of time protesting, and I was really active in the anti-war movement and was really trying to rail against the system. And then in my senior year, a guy named Barack Obama decided to announce that he was going to run for president. And I had been working on my senior thesis, which was on hiphop and politics and this cultural connection between political activism and community organizing. And then Barack Obama entered the scene and I read his book, Dreams from My Father. And he talked about being this cultural ambassador between white society and his white family, and then into communities of color. And as an adopted kid by a white mom in a small white town, that really spoke to me. And so I just believed in him. I just wanted to help him. And so I jumped on that campaign - I was an Obama organizing fellow and out of the Everett Labor Temple actually.  And I always like to remind people - we weren't supposed to win. We were not the chosen candidate back in 2008. And so when he became the nominee and then when we won, it was such a huge deal - just felt like such a chance for America to deliver on its promise. And a friend of mine had been working on the campaign and went to the White House to go set up their internship program. And she asked me to apply for the internship program. And that's how I was in the first class of Obama White House interns in the summer of 2009. There was 100 people chosen out of, I think, 6,000 applications. And that was what set me off on the trajectory that's led me to today. [00:04:27] Crystal Fincher: Thanks for the reminder about Barack Obama - not supposed to win. A lot of people are - I mean, you're certainly younger than I am - a lot of people are a lot younger than I am. And after Barack Obama had been president for eight years, it seems it's really easy to assume that he would've been pretty standard Democratic nominee, but everything was geared to go the Hillary Clinton route. And certainly the establishment was largely in favor of her, so that was an uphill battle that did not at all look like it was going to happen until much later in the game. So yeah, you found your dark horse candidate. [00:05:15] Shasti Conrad: Yeah - I remind people - he was the progressive in that race. He was the left candidate that people thought like, "Oh, cute, he'll try, but there's no way he'll actually win." I mean, there was also all of the first Black president. I mean, I think so many of us - particularly older people of color - had Jesse Jackson. They'd seen how this stuff had played out previously and they're like, "There's no way in hell. America is not going to allow this Black man to win." And so I always go back to that - it was a real moment of hope and it was a real - say what you want about how the administration ended up - that was a really special time in American history. And improbable. [00:06:06] Crystal Fincher: Yeah. I mean, I think we've seen in the time since then a significant backlash against that happening and a concerted effort to not allow something like that to happen again, because they just didn't think it was going to happen at that time. Kind of snuck in under the gun before they realized what was happening. But anyway, so you landed at the White House and you wound up working for Valerie Jarrett, which a lot of people certainly look at that and are just like, "My goodness, that's a big deal, really big deal." What was your time like there? And I guess how did it shape the work that you've done since then? [00:06:46] Shasti Conrad: Yeah. I mean, when I look back, that arc is so crazy even for me to be like, "How the hell did I end up there?" So when I was an intern, I was in the Office of Urban Affairs. And the plan was it was a summer internship - I was going to go to graduate school that fall. And I did really well in my internship - I worked so hard. My goal was basically to be the person that it was - people just knew they could rely on me. It was like anything that needed to get done, it was like, "We have Shasti. We know we can trust her. We know that she's a value here." And so at the end of my internship, I talked to Valerie's chief of staff, Michael Strautmanis, who had been an intern for Michelle Obama back when they were lawyers in Chicago. And I sort of said to him like, "Hey, I'm supposed to go to graduate school, but I feel called to do this work. I want to stay, I want to build." And he said, "Dream big." He's like, "Okay, put it on the line." And I decided to defer graduate school for a year - I gave myself a year to try to see if I could get a job in the administration.  And in a couple of months, Michael Strautmanis came back to me and he said, "We've got something for you." And so I ended up in the Office of Public Engagement, working for the special assistant to the president on disability policy. He was a blind civil rights lawyer. And I worked with him for about seven months and then was promoted to Valerie's office. And that was such an incredible honor. For people who don't know, Valerie Jarrett was basically the President's best friend - had been the kingmaker in Chicago, met Michelle Obama who - Michelle Robinson - who introduced Valerie to her fiancé, Barack Obama, and they became fast friends. And so I was able to work in her office, which meant that I had an office in the West Wing. And it was intense - there was a lot of crises at that time - it was in the first term. So we were trying to get the Affordable Care Act passed, we were dealing with "Don't ask, Don't tell," there was the BP oil spill - there was just so many things that were happening over and over. There were crises all over the time. But I learned a lot about the toughness and trying to hold onto your compassion and humanity while dealing with deep serious issues where people's lives are at stake. So that balance was a good thing for me to learn - it was in my early 20s. [00:09:33] Crystal Fincher: So what was the path from there to then becoming involved with the King County Democrats? [00:09:41] Shasti Conrad: Well, I'll try to give you the short version. The short version is - so I left the White House to go work on the re-election campaign. Because I loved DC, it was really intense experience, it was all kinds of special opportunities and getting to really - you feel like you're making a difference - but I missed the people part of the work. So I went back on the campaign and we won again, and that was great. And by that point, I felt like, "Okay, we did it." And I was kind of ready to take a little bit of a break. And for me, that break meant going to graduate school. And so I did that and then I went and worked for the Malala Fund and did a couple of other international development foundation projects. Then you speed all the way up to 2016, and I worked on the Bernie Sanders campaign. I did advance for Bernie. And then I came home. And Trump won and folks were in shock and traumatized and there was such a sort of like, "What are we going to do?" And I came back and decided that the best thing that I could do was to try to rebuild, here in the Seattle area in King County, because so many people look to us as this like Blue paradise. And if we couldn't get it together in Seattle, then I was like, "What hope do we have for the rest of this country? We've got to try to build a really strong Democratic Party. We need to..." And you remember, in 2016 - the infighting that was happening because in part, we lost. We turned on each other to say, "Well, it's because you guys messed this up because you messed it up. You pulled the party in these ways," and everybody was fighting. And it was like I just wanted the fighting to stop so that we could pull together to be able to fight back against what Trump was - I knew the Trump types and the GOP - what they were going to go after and we needed a strong front. So that's what brought me back into this work. [00:11:58] Crystal Fincher: Well, and at that time - you talk about fighting and discord nationally. And the local party here in the King County Democrats - there was a chair at the time who had been found to be involved in a variety of different types of misconduct and unethical practices - from harassment to financial mismanagement, in addition to a lot of issues before that and subsequently - come to turned out. But you were taking over - were elected to become the Chair of the King County Democrats - and were taking over an organization that was almost an organization in name only. There was so much that had been either dismantled or was not cared for under the previous chair - there was very little infrastructure. How did you, I guess, go into - thinking about, looking around - what were you seeing as the state of the party then? And what was the vision you had for what it could be? [00:13:12] Shasti Conrad: Yeah. The Democratic Party, both at the county level and some of - not all of the LDs - but in a number of the LDs, there was all of that in-fighting and there was a history of this type of fighting and jockeying for power. And really, I do want to say that there have been a lot of incredible volunteers who have held the line for the Democratic Party. I am appreciative of their work, but there were leaders who were using the party as basically their own power base. It was just about what they could do for themselves, who they could intimidate, who they could - all this kind of quid pro quo stuff behind the scenes. And it just wasn't serving the community. It wasn't doing the work - like sure, we were getting Democrats elected, but it was leaving so many people out. And so - I had no plans. I was not planning to be a leader in the Democratic Party. That wasn't what I was like, "Yes, that's my dream." But I just kept seeing all of this pain. I just kept meeting people who were like, "I got hurt this way when I got involved in the Democratic Party, and I dealt with this type of racism and sexism, and this leader harassed me." And I just was like, "I just want the pain to stop." And so the vision, and I think you helped us back when we were running as Vision 2020, was really that we wanted to create a healthy professional organization that was about the old ethos of Obama - it was like respect, empower, and include. And we really recognized that the party needed to be more diverse and needed to be more inclusive. And we needed to have a team that was going to - who believed in those values. One of the things that I had recognized when I looked back at the history of the different iterations of leadership at King County Democrats, is that in the elected officers, you would have people who had run on different teams who didn't like each other. There was no consensus in, "This is what we want to do. This is what we stand for. These are our values. And so we are going to do this together." And so we ran as a slate because I needed to know that I had a solid team who bought into this belief of, "We want to create an inclusive, welcoming organization that has a culture of accountability, transparency, and is about electing Democrats - people with our values - and not just gate-keeping, not just about power maintenance for a small group." That's what the other team does. That's not what we were going to do. And so we won back in December of 2018 and we set forth on doing the work to try to restructure this organization and bring in new people, bring in more young people, more people of color, more women - and create a space where people felt like they could do good work and they could make a difference in their communities through being involved with us. [00:16:33] Crystal Fincher: This local party apparatus is really what determines whether you have strong, competent elected officials at the local level - and that's the bench that then proceeds on to the national level. So it really does take competent, intentional organizing at the local level. And the local party is ideally supposed to be that. What it actually was was pretty far from that. And I think one of the things that you brought with your vision was to be influential and consequential in local government - and looking at what's happening with city councils, and playing a role in advocacy, and making sure the right people are in the right positions to make the right decisions. And to lead and push those decisions. I know, certainly from my perspective as a Black woman, and we've had conversations about this before, but similar to a lot of us - where we've experienced from party sources - racism and sexism, and viewed harassment and bullying, and things that we fight against. And I had grown quite frustrated with the party quite frankly because of watching those things persist in the local level and not feeling like it was very relevant. I definitely felt that when you came aboard, you were seeking to really completely change that direction and make it relevant again. What have you been working on to help the average person in Seattle, regardless of whether they have a partisan affiliation or not, know that there's a local party, see that it's influential, and trying to help them in the issues that they're dealing with on an everyday basis? [00:18:29] Shasti Conrad: I mean, so much of it is it's basic - it's education, it's connection, it's building authentic relationships, and it's showing up. I think that there had often been this idea that people had to come to the party and that it wasn't that the party was showing up. And there's so much expectation a lot of times that when it comes time to vote, everyone should just get on board with what the Democrats are doing. But if we're not there for the community, if we're not there for other community partners for the rest of the year, we lose our ability to have any leverage to say like, "Hey, remember August primary? Remember November general? Hey, in February, did you know there's special elections for King Conservation District, or there's this or that?" People - they didn't know - and we didn't do a great job of communicating what the value is.  We certainly have benefited for the last couple of years of a much more heightened spotlight on politics, I think, because of 2016. You have people who are paying attention who weren't paying attention previously. But yeah, we have tried to demonstrate how important it is to focus on the local. Now, my career, I have worked on four national presidential campaigns. I was like so many other Democrats where it was like my energy and excitement would be in a presidential year. I'd be all about the national. I love my national politics, but I know that the place where I can make the biggest difference is in helping to flip the city council in Sammamish, it is helping to make sure that on our school boards across King County that we are fighting back against these people who are pushing anti-Critical Race Theory nonsense. We've got real white supremacists that are getting onto Black Diamond City Council - that's happening right here. And so I can drive 10 minutes, 20 minutes, an hour across the county, and I can make a difference in people's lives in a way that - when I was on Obama's campaign, I'm one of several thousand staffers - when you are part of - and it's great, it's exciting, but we have to remember that you have to guard the cast every single election. And in some ways, I find that these odd-year elections - often have way lower turnout than the even years - are the most important. And Seattle - we'll have Democrats - there is a battle between the type of Democrat that we want leading the City. But in places across the County, you really are fighting against people who don't believe in democracy. My counterpart, King County GOP Chair, Joshua Freed, has totally thrown in with the insurrectionists. He says that wearing masks is child abuse. These are not people who fully believe in what we consider American values. That's what we're fighting against. So I think that's really important for us to continue to keep the spotlight on. And then we've been pushing for getting Precinct Committee Officers - which you helped us with that project - where we have found that, in 2019, in precincts where we had Precinct Committee Officers, there was a 5% higher voter turnout and that those numbers matter. We found that if we'd had full coverage of PCOs in every precinct in King County, we would've passed I-1000. It makes a difference here in King County, but it's also for statewide elections and statewide initiatives. Those progressive votes are going to come out of King County. So if we're not solid here, it impacts the entire state and that impacts the region. So all of this work really, really matters. [00:22:29] Crystal Fincher: Yeah, it does matter. And one of the reasons why I decided to say, "Okay, let me go ahead and try and help," was seeing that someone was willing to do the work even when it got uncomfortable and even when you were facing some pushback to say, "No, it is important to have a local party that looks like the communities that it serves. It's not okay to make people feel unwelcome, to pass off racism and misogyny as casual, let people get bullied out of the organization," and really moving to have the party truly represent and serve people in communities. Which a lot of people have come into meetings, seen that they - especially for someone taking some free time in their evening to come into a meeting - if they see people in-fighting, or if they hear things that are like, "This is not a welcoming or inclusive place for me, I don't feel like this is a space for me," they're just going to peace out, and they had been in droves. And in my view, there's such a potential - and clearly in yours, right? Such a potential for the party to be impactful in driving some of those key meaningful things where, to your point, there are certainly especially sometimes in Seattle, these extremely passionate but really ultimately nuanced conversations about like, "What is the correct climate policy that we should be pursuing? What is the correct zoning policy where some people are just like, 'No, we don't believe in the concept of climate change, we don't believe in the concept of a minimum wage?'" You would be surprised how many local city council candidates right now in King County are publicly saying they don't believe there should be a minimum wage. Period. Not, "We shouldn't raise it to a living wage," just there shouldn't be. We are going all the way back. And to your point, just some blatantly talking about violence and being okay with undemocratic processes and just really just being flat-out racist and violent, and it's not cool. So I guess in looking at how people can and should get involved and what the party has in the pipeline here in King County, what are you looking to do, I guess, as we come upon these November elections, how are you involved with that? And overall, just in communities, how are you engaging? [00:25:14] Shasti Conrad: Well, and let me underline one thing - which is the other thing that we saw over the last couple of years is that the Republicans were doing a much better job than we were at building a bench. They were so much better. So in King County, they'd kind of given up to some degree the State Legislature. But what they were doing was they were back-filling in Hospital District Commissions, on Water Districts, in City Councils, and School Boards. They were doing a much better job fixating and getting people running in those places, which then made these - yes, they're smaller offices - but they had a huge impact. They were more conservative. And it was flying under the radar because we were like, "Oh, good, we've got the governor." Finally in 2017 with Manka like, "We've got the State Legislature - good enough." And then people were getting deeply hurt in their communities by what was happening there. So that was one of the biggest things for us where we were like, "This is clear." Also, just to put it out there, the King County GOP has 10 times the amount of money that we do at King County Democrats. They are better funded than we are because, again, people know to give to somebody who's running for Congress, they know to give to their candidates, but the regular Democrat wasn't investing in the infrastructure. I often describe the party as candidates and campaigns are the jazz. As a party, we're supposed to be the steady drum beat. Whoever shows up and says, "I'm willing to put my name on the ballot, I'm willing to run, I align with your values," our job is to show up with volunteers, to show up with resources to say like, "We understand the lay of the land, we know the communities here, and we've got your back." That is our job. [00:27:08] Crystal Fincher: People want to get involved or learn more, where can they contact you or the King County Democrats? [00:27:14] Shasti Conrad: Our website is kcdems.org. And then my email is chair@kcdems.org. And I'm always happy to answer questions, or if you folks have ideas in their communities that they want to amplify, get up to me. And there are 17 legislative districts in King County - all of them have Democratic Party organizations. And we love to have people get linked into their Democratic LD organizations as well. [00:27:43] Crystal Fincher: One thing a lot of people talk about, especially here in King County, is there are Democrats, there are Democratic Socialists, there's the People's Party - there's a lot of people who are on the left politically but may not identify as Democrats either - because just in the City in particular, just kind of everybody's a Democrat, that's kind of taken for granted. But other people on purpose have felt like the Democratic Party is not the place for them and they want another home. How do you view them or candidates running under - who are not officially Democrats, but who may hold values that a lot of Democrats agree with and a lot of people on the left agree with - how do you work through that? [00:28:29] Shasti Conrad: Well, I think people might know that I worked on Bernie Sanders' campaign both in 2016 and 2020. I consider myself a strong progressive and align with a lot of the values of, like you said, folks who are the Working Families Party, or People's Party, or DSA. And I think for us leftists and progressives, we have to build the coalition. And so I think there's room for those organizations to exist, but what I always like to remind people is - for better, for worse, we are currently a two-party system. That's just the reality of what we have. And sure, I would love to do all kinds of other things, but I recognize that the Democratic Party - that's what we had. That is the most solid party organization that represents the most people. If you believe in democracy, that's what we have. And so I am an institutionalist in the sense that I believe it is our job to go into these institutions, into the infrastructure, and try to change them from within. I've done the work on the outside, and there's a place and a role for that, but you also - these institutions are what stay. And so I believe that it is valuable to try to work with the party to try to change it, to open it up, to build the coalition so that more people who identify and feel comfort with DSA and People's Party and Working Families Party - that they feel welcomed back into the Democratic Party - because I think that's how we're going to win, is if we build that broad coalition. And so I'm in full support. I understand why people may not have wanted to work with the Democratic Party before. But I am trying to lead a millennial, Gen Z, woman of color organization. I'm trying to do the work to change it so that it doesn't feel as - it's not as traumatic or painful as it has been previously. And that is what I have - put my stake in the ground, and what I really believe in, and I'm trying to fix. [00:30:46] Crystal Fincher: Do you see your role as the Chair of the Democrats, or just should the Democrats, in your opinion, be supporting candidates who may not share the label, but who are sharing the values? [00:31:05] Shasti Conrad: Absolutely. Look, I look at it as it's somewhat of a marketing issue. My job is to understand why someone would not want to choose our brand. It is to understand that and to be able to recognize, what are the ways in which we can change that to be more appealing to a broader base of people - who for the most part, you look at the Venn diagram of it all, for the most part, probably share 90% of our values. And so what is it that we need to fix internally and externally? Sort of an outward facing front, but also internally, what do we need to change that will welcome those people back in? I believe you can hold - two things can be true at once. You can be a proud DSA member, a proud member of the People's Party or Working Families Party, and also work with us in the Democratic Party. I mean, that's how we get things done. That's how we move the needle. At the end of the day, we are the caucus that you're going to have to work with to get things done once you get into office. So that's my hope, is that we can better build something that people want to be a part of, even as they hold these different identities. [00:32:26] Crystal Fincher: I managed campaigns for a long time, so I went to lots of different LD meetings with several different candidates - that's just a thing that you do. And man, these meetings are oftentimes horrible things to go to. Lots of great people doing great work, lots of great volunteers, but in the past has been the exception and not the rule for the meeting not - the meeting to be relevant. You go in there, you hear people arguing, using Robert's Rules of Order. You see these long marathon hours, multiple hours, long endorsement meetings. You hear people just like yipping and yapping at each other. Sometimes you hear people with microaggressions or macroaggressions. And so a lot of people will dip their toe into their local LD and just not feel like it has been the best use of their time. Like, "Hey, I'd rather watch a movie instead of listening to someone debate one tiny element of one thing for 20 minutes using Robert's Rules of Order." What do you say to people who have looked at the Democratic Party locally and been like, "I tried it before, it didn't quite work out, it may not be a place for me." [00:33:53] Shasti Conrad: I mean, look, I get it. And I hear them. And I've felt that way. Like we talked about earlier, I came back into the party and into Washington State politics in 2016. And I remember going to these LD meetings where there was like 100+ people. And then I watched over the next few months as those numbers dwindled because people wanted to do something, they wanted to be actively involved. And the Democratic Party offered them nothing. What it offered them was, like you said, Robert's Rules of Order, people getting completely wrapped around the axle on some minutia that didn't really matter. It wasn't open and accessible to the average person by any means. And particularly to people of color and younger people who it's like - I'm trying to survive here. I'm trying- [00:34:42] Crystal Fincher: Yeah, and people with disabilities, parents. Yeah. [00:34:47] Shasti Conrad: Yes. I mean, in some ways, the pandemic has given us the opportunity of being able to do things in a way that are slightly more accessible in that - before, I would hear parents - it's like you'd have a meeting at 7:00 PM in Renton, that's right in the middle of bedtime and dinner and all of that. And so at least now we are able to do it where it's like, "Hey, hop on online and we'll make it easier." But I would say like, "Look, I get it. And what I am trying to do as the first woman of color chair for this organization is I'm trying to rebuild an organization that is welcoming. That is a safe space for everybody. That it's not about power gate-keeping." I'm like, "Hey, you want to come in and do some work?" Come on in. There's power for you too." And we have to do this work because we're fighting against fascism, we're fighting against authoritarianism. And I think also come on back - we want to welcome you back in. I want to know how it didn't work and I want to make it better. I had a call with a woman of color who's running for school board up in the northern part of the County two weeks ago. And she was talking about the endorsement process and how awful she had been treated by a couple of these LDs. And I was like, "Tell me, because I want to go and fix it." And like, "Let me go help you hold these folks accountable. Help me demystify the process." For better or for worse, I feel like I've gotten a PhD in this weird party stuff. And the reason why that matters is because I am here to be a resource to help change the way that it works, but also to help explain it. To help be able to say, "Hey, here's the side door. Let me help show you the way and how you can make this work and get done what you want to get done." And I believe that we're doing that. I mean, you've gotten involved, Crystal, in some ways in helping us. And you said you would never - I remember when we first met - you were like, "I'm done with the party." And you've been helping out here and there because I think we're making those changes and we're doing that work.  And it's not perfect, by any means, but I can't do it alone. I think that's also what I really want to be clear. When it's just me, I can't make the changes and I can't do the work that needs to get done. And so I need more people who are also committed to these types of changes to come in and help me build an organization that is of value to everyone that is a part of our community and not just for the few. That same way of doing things doesn't work. One of the things I am most proud of is - in 2019, we endorsed and we supported people like Tammy Morales, Shaun Scott. We supported people who - other places weren't. And Shaun didn't win, but he has gone on to do all kinds of amazing work in the community. And last year, with the State Legislature, we replaced Democrats with more progressive Democrats, more Democrats of color, and that shifted and changed the type of legislation we were able to get passed. [00:38:03] Crystal Fincher: Oh, absolutely. I mean, we don't get capital gains without those changes, we don't get a number of the progressive policies - some of the environmental policy, certainly the police accountability legislation - that doesn't happen without the changes on the Democratic side to more progressive people that were there. And I think you bring up a great point. I mean, you talk about me - and I don't know that I've talked a lot about this on the podcast - but certainly have had major frustrations with the party, consider myself a progressive and continue to have frustrations with the party, particularly on the national level. But when there are people in places, and just FYI, these local Democratic organizations, they're actually all their own organizations. They're part of a master organization, but it actually is not like a company with branches - they have a lot more autonomy than that. So there's actually a lot that can be done in shaping these local party organizations - how they're composed, the leadership that is in there, and how they can interact with and serve their communities. And the Democratic Party has resources. It's a party of resources and those resources certainly can be helpful in getting people elected. So if we can use those resources in the right way to get the right people to make the right decisions and in the right position with the appropriate power to do so, that's a good thing. And I think what I saw in you was, "Okay, there is someone willing to work and willing to push in the right direction." So if there is a tool available, with resources behind it, that can actually be a force for good, Hey, I'm willing to help have it be a force for good. Would I do that if - I wasn't doing that - I'd said that I was not going to do that unless I saw that. Had not seen that up to that point and was skeptical that I would, but certainly here at the local level with you being involved and willing to push in the right direction. And a lot of times bend over backwards to make the process more accessible to more people - is helpful. And to help the local LD organizations move in that direction too and be spaces that are inclusive and open enough to even have leadership that understands the ability and the potential and how to be more inclusive and continue walking down that road. So that's how you hooked me in - was my ability to see you doing the work. And so if someone's willing to do that, I am willing to help. I do have some skills and talents that I can use to be helpful. And so I appreciate that. So if there are other people who are perhaps considering where they are going to be investing their time and talent, this is certainly an option and one that can be consequential in who gets elected, and what decisions are made, and what policies pass. With that said, the accountability piece is also important and holding people accountable - both within the party, within the party organization, and with electeds - and seeing you be serious about that was another reason why I got involved because, man, was I sick of just watching people do ridiculous, buck wild, out of pocket things - and in some instances, unethical things that - [00:41:57] Shasti Conrad: Yeah. It's not fair to ask someone to come in and be a part of something that you know is going to be traumatizing for them. So we have a recruitment problem and we have a retention problem. And so that is where it is both on the doing the outreach, getting out into the community, but it's also creating a culture of accountability and creating these spaces that are welcoming and conducive for all kinds of people to be able to do work that they find meaningful and can be proud of. And my subversive reasons for being in this role is because I know that the Democratic Party is an organization that has to change from within. It just does. And so we need more people to become members of these LDs who then can vote. And if they become Precinct Committee Officers, they can vote on leadership. They can choose people to lead in a way that backs up their values and is going to take these organizations in a direction that they want. If you're just railing from the outside, nothing changes. That's just where we're at. So that's why I think it's so important to come back in and I'm doing everything I can to try to create a place at King County Democrats where people who want to do good work can do that. [00:43:14] Crystal Fincher: Yeah. And it's worth pointing out that, to your point, PCOs or Precinct Committee Officers, kind of the most grassroots party position that there is - you're like a neighborhood captain - they vote on appointments of elected officials. When there's a vacancy in the Legislature and on some County Councils, they vote for those replacements. And those votes are pretty well-attended in Seattle, but I will tell you, in many of the LDs here in King County, those votes often don't include more than 30 people. [00:43:55] Shasti Conrad: Our good friend, Representative Jesse Johnson - that's how he was picked for - down in the 30th LD. And he's wonderful and that's great, but 30 people were able to make that decision. And so it's absolutely an incredibly important role to play. I first got involved when I was running for an appointment to fill Pramila Jayapal's State Senate seat. And so about 100 some odd people voted on who became the State Senator - and that was Rebecca Saldaña, another wonderful elected official. But look, this stuff actually matters. A third of the State Legislature was picked by PCOs. It's not a small number - so it's really important. So if you become a Precinct Committee Officer, you get to vote on leadership within the party, you potentially get to choose elected officials, and you get to volunteer and knock doors in your community and get to be a leader in your neighborhood. That's pretty cool, and I think a really fun way to get to participate in democracy. [00:44:55] Crystal Fincher: Sounds good. Thank you so much. [00:44:57] Shasti Conrad: Thank you. This has been fun. [00:44:58] Crystal Fincher: I thank you all for listening to Hacks & Wonks on KVRU 105.7 FM. The producer of Hacks & Wonks is Lisl Stadler with assistance from Shannon Cheng. You can find me on Twitter @finchfrii, spelled F-I-N-C-H-F-R-I-I. Now you can follow Hacks & Wonks on iTunes, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcasts. Just type "Hacks & Wonks" into the search bar, be sure to subscribe to get our Friday almost-live shows and our midweek show delivered to your podcast feed. If you like us, leave a review wherever you listen to Hacks & Wonks. You can also get a full transcript of this episode and links to the resources referenced in the show at officialhacksandwonks.com and in the episode notes.  Thanks for tuning in and we'll talk to you next time.

Maryland State Senator Justin Ready, a Republican from Carroll County, joined WMAL's "O'Connor and Company" radio program to share what was happening in the Maryland General Assembly regarding the gerrymandering fight. TWEET: https://twitter.com/JustinReady/status/1468378325726994432 For more coverage on the issues that matter to you, visit www.WMAL.com, download the WMAL app or tune in live on WMAL-FM 105.9 FM from 5-9 AM ET. To join the conversation, check us out on Twitter: @WMALDC, @CamEdwards and @Amber_Athey. Show website: https://www.wmal.com/oconnor-company/   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Join the conversation with C4 and Bryan Nehman. Today they talked to MD State Senator Christopher West about the state redistricting, Mayor Deblasio instituted and city-wide vax mandate on private and non-private businesses, and early studies are showing that the Omicron COVID-19 variant may be milder than the Delta variant. C4 and Bryan Nehman heard weekdays from 5:30-10:00am ET on WBAL Newsradio 1090, FM101.5, and the WBAL Radio App.

Thank you so much for listening to the Bob Harden Show, celebrating over ten years broadcasting weekdays – providing you news and commentary rooted in the principles of individual liberty, personal responsibility, limited government and the rule of law. On Tuesday's show, we visit with our State Senator, Kathleen Passidomo, about the Governor's plan to create a “Florida State Guard.” We visit with Seton Motley, the Founder and President of Less Government, about the potential contributions of the World Trade Organization. My wife Linda and I discuss the lack of justice for Roger Stone, and we discuss Devin Nunez' decision to leave Congress and to join Donald Trump's media organization. We also have a terrific and entertaining visit about holiday spending with our weekly guest, Boo Mortenson. Please join us tomorrow when we visit with Bob Levy from the Cato Institute, Professor Andrew Joppa, and Endowed Professor at the University of Houston, Larry Bell. Please join us live at 7 a.m. on bobharden.com, or access the show anytime on podcast platforms (iTunes, TuneIn, Spotify, and Stitcher, Vurbl, and ChoiceSocial).

We had the honor to sit down with Texas Senator Bob Hall and discuss why Texas has been able to remain so free and be a beacon of hope for the rest of the Republic. We also dive into the boarder crisis and the Cartels involvement with drugs and human trafficking. Senator Bob Hall also was talking about the trans-humanism agenda.  Keep Up with what Senator Bob Hall is up to HERE: https://senatorbobhall.com/ Our fren Green Beret Veteran Jeremy Brown was recently arrested in his home by the FBI for TRESPASSING!! They searched his home for 5 Hours and denied him bail. If you don't remember Jeremy Brown story the FBI approached him to be an informant and infiltrate groups like the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys and Jermey blew the whistle on the whole thing. We had him on the show a few months back. Here is the link if you would like to hear more about his story: https://rumble.com/vfit5d-52-we-the-people-radio-w-green-beret-jeremy-brown-vs-the-fbi.html Jeremey is a true Patriot and does not deserve to be in jail facing any charges he was protesting peacefully and NEVER entered the Capital building. Jeremy Brown is a POLITICAL PRISONER!! Link to hear more about Jeremy's arrest https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/10/judge-denies-bail-retired-green-beret-jeremy-brown-arrest-misdemeanor-charge-standing-us-capitol-jan-6-refusing-fbi-informant/ If you would like to donate to Jeremy to help him with his and defense costs and fight back against this tyrannical government. Donate HERE: https://www.givesendgo.com/JeremyBrownDefense Help our Frens Robert and Joeylynn Mesaros Fight back against the Tyrannical government! https://givesendgo.com/mesaros Help We The People Get Better Support your favorite podcast: https://givesendgo.com/WPRUSA Patreon https://patron.podbean.com/WPRUSA MERCH IS LIVE!! GO TO WPRUSA.COM AND PICK UP YOURS TODAY https://wprusa.com/ Pick up the best topicals in the game sold nation wide Kush Creams! 21x Cannabis Cup Award Winning Visit their website today! https://kushcreams.com/ Put in WPRUSA for 15% off at check out If you love the outdoors more specifically cooking over an open fire pick up the best grill there is MMM-Grills! GO to https://mmm-usa.com/ Pick up yours TODAY!! Open Fire Grills Made and sourced here in AMERICA!!  Put in CODE: WPRUSA (ALL CAPS) at check out for 10% off your oder https://mmm-usa.com/ New Rumble Channel https://rumble.com/c/c-648243 Weed The People YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCo5pjjpKyL4qkjj4IaSZ5jw CHAT WITH US AND JOIN OUR TELEGRAM!!!!!! Telegam link: https://t.me/wprusa17 Follow us on GAB:@We_The_People_Radio GAB Link: https://gab.com/we_the_people_radio Visit our Sponsor for all your beauty product needs for men and women Support local! https://thewarehouse.salon/ Put in code WPRUSA for 10% off at check out Follow on IG & YouTube @TheWarehouse.salon Subscribe to our Rumble channel: We The People Radio https://rumble.com/c/c-648243 We are now on all major streaming platforms go subscribe and follow Apple Podcast Link (If you Like our content give us a 5 star rating) https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/we-the-people-radio/id1536870009 Podbean Link https://wprusa.podbean.com/ LIKE SUBSCRIBE SHARE Really helps us spread the truth to as many as possible Sign up for our Email List while we build our website incase we get removed from social media to keep up with what is going on WWW.WPRUSA.COM Follow us on IG: @We.The.People.Radio Follow our back up account: @We.The.People.Radio.2.0 Follow 2nd Backup Account: @WPRUSA__ Follow us on Twitter @WPRUSA17  

Happy Tuesday everyone! It's another wonderful morning for news and coffee. Today we are joined by State Senator Linda Holmes to talk about the 42nd District and more! Let's get into the news: - On December 17th at Java Plus on Waterford there will be a great musical event with salsa band Impacto Boricua! This will be a live event and will feature the tastiest thing you ever heard of; coquito eggnog lattes! Alto Granda puerto ricn coffee will also be served. This event will be held from 6 to 8:30 pm. Come on out for dancing and coffee at Java Plus! - There's a helpful and fun family event coming up for the month of December. Working with great sponsors and community partners, The Neighbor Project & Aurora FEC (financial empowerment center) will provide information and more resources for free at this event. The date is December 11th and the event will be from 1 to 4 pm at 1 E. Benton street (gallery 1904, lower level). Santa will also be on hand for cool holiday photos; health resources will be provided by our friends of VNA Healthcare as well. Please help spread the word and come out to this great event. There will be food, a DJ and many great vendors. For more information visit the link to the event here: https://fb.me/e/139gVWog4 - Saturday December 11th from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm you can find Santa and Pizza at the same time in Aurora! There will be a great fundraiser for Judge Bianca Camargo at Mike & Denise's pizzeria, located at 1760 N. Farnsworth avenue. The price is $15 for adults and $8 for children and that price includes pizza and soft drinks. Support our officials and a great Aurora restaurant on Saturday the 11th of December! What a great interview and discussion! We appreciate you all for tuning in to the show. There's a lot of great things taking place in our city and we're always proud to bring you the news you love. Subscribe to the show on YouTube by clicking this link: https://www.youtube.com/c/GoodMorningAuroraPodcast The second largest city's first daily news podcast is here. Tune in everyday to our FB Live from 8 am to 9 am. Make sure to like and subscribe to stay updated on all things Aurora. Twitter: goodmorningaur1 Instagram: goodmorningaurorail Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6dVweK5Zc4uPVQQ0Fp1vEP... Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/.../good-morning.../id1513229463 Anchor: https://anchor.fm/goodmorningaurora #positivevibes #positiveenergy #downtownaurora #kanecountyil #bataviail #genevail #stcharlesil #saintcharlesil #elginil #northaurorail #auroraillinois #auroramedia #auroranews #goodmorning #goodmorningaurora #news #dailynews #subscribe #youtube #podcast #spotify #morningshow #morningnews #aurorapodcast #tuesday --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/goodmorningaurora/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/goodmorningaurora/support