Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
And it's the third hour of the Morning Show with Me.
Not the official title, but it'll work. I'm Preston. He's Jose.
Great to be with you, friends. It's a show fifty
three seventy nine, and it's time to visit with our
friend from the James Madison Institute. He's the president. He
is doctor Bob McClure. Doctor McClure. How are you.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
I'm doing well, my friend. How are you?
Speaker 1 (00:26):
I'm doing okay. I you know i'd be lying to you,
Bob if I said that. I'm not getting a little
angry at our lawmakers because I think they're really hurting
all of the progress made in Florida. And so I'm
just curious what your take is of where we are
with the session. My views are well known to the listeners,
(00:47):
but I'm curious what yours are.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Well. You're definitely correct on at least the damage to
the brand, and by brand, I mean the movement conservatism
that has blessed this state for the last thirty years.
There's real damage there. I don't have a crystal crystal ball, Preston.
I'm not sure where it ends up, but we have
(01:10):
a governor who has been very clear about what he
wants to do and how he wants to do it.
But we have three co equal branches of government. But
my concern is we have a House that has decided
to side with maybe some non traditional conservative constituencies like
(01:32):
trial lawyers. And that's the concern. That's the real concern, Preston.
And it happened so quickly after the great two years
of having Paul Renner as Speaker of the House and
the speakers before that, And so we have to really,
we and the Senate and the governor really have to
(01:53):
hold this house hold them accountable for doing the right things.
We can get here by accident. As a state, this
is a thirty you know, we were over took us
thirty years to become an overnight success. And side battling
up to trial lawyers is what you know. If you
remember the Republicans of DC before Donald Trump always used
(02:14):
to say, if we could just be nicer, if we
could just be uh, you know, coexist with the left,
they'll like us more and then we'll be able to
work together. That's not how this works. And we're seeing
the same thing happen in the state.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
You know, it was interesting I read a short piece
from the Tampa Bay Times where they quote Danny Perez
is calling Governor Round de Santus is seventh grader, ostensibly
for not being willing to sit down and talk about
the budget when it's really their job, along with the Senate,
to deal with that and then present something to the governor.
It's it's it's it's so unbecoming, and it's I'm let me,
(02:50):
let me use this to segue into our topic, which
is the polling that you guys have just released, which
is fascinating. Do you think that a year from now,
if if the Republicans continue on this slide in the
House and Senate, that this polling will be very different.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Yeah, I mean, I think there's always that issue because
here's the thing that has gotten Florida to where it
is today. And I've said this before on your show.
Good policy is good politics, right, And so you look
at the presidential race that was a policy driven race.
You didn't have to vote for Donald Trump, but you
knew exactly where what he was going to do if
(03:31):
he was elected. Three or four things. Nobody could ever
tell us what Kamala Harris was going to do. She
was from a middle class family, something about she she
was really proud of her lawn when she was growing up,
and you know, nobody else knew what she stood for,
and people made a choice. Donald Trump wins the popular vote.
He wins all seven swing states, which is like winning
(03:53):
seven different governors race. It's very hard to do to
sweep that same thing has happened here in Florida. The Republicans,
because of their policies, universal school choice, the tax reduction,
fewer regulations, easier to start a business, those kinds of
things have moved from a minority party twenty years ago. Preston,
(04:15):
think about this. Susan McManus, who's a great friend of mine,
University of South Florida political scientists, one of the brilliant
Florida mins twenty years ago said the Republican Party was
in danger of becoming a third party behind no party affiliation. Today,
because of policy, they have one point five million more
(04:35):
Republican folks registrations in this state. Yes, there's a chance
that they could blow all of this.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Levin passed the hour, Doctor Bob McClure, President James Madison Institute.
Doctor McClure, is this polling that we're going to talk
about is this an annual set of questions that you
throw out or what triggered this.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
We do a series of polling, series of polls me
three or four times of year, and our polling questions
are driven by primarily current events. So in this poll
we did, we asked questions about what concerns you the most,
what worries you the most, what issues are most important
to you. We did polling on the governor's race, both
(05:19):
in the Republican primary and the Democratic primary. So really, Preston,
it's driven by what is happening today, because our effort
at JMI is to get a snapshot of what are
Floridians thinking about at this moment, because it allows us
then a bit of a roadmap to continue to move
forward as a think tank.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
Let's take the broad view, the macro view. Before we
drilled down a little bit from your chair, When you
got the results back from the polling, what was the
overall message that you took away from it.
Speaker 2 (05:54):
From the policy perspective, the overall message was that people
are still worried, very much so about the cost of living.
It's a real concern for Floridians. Now we've seen this
addressed by the governor and the legislature and Donald Trump,
and we see the numbers inflations coming down. Property insurance
(06:16):
is stabilizing in the state, but Floridians are still you know,
that's kind of a you know, people's opinions are kind
of a lagging indicator, and we have issues like the
expense of housing and things like that. So people are
very concerned about the cost of living in the state.
That has to continue to be addressed on the governor side.
(06:38):
What I'm found fascinating is that Byron Donalds and Casey
Destantus are relatively even in the Republican primary until primary
voters see that Byron Donalds has been endorsed by Donald Trump,
at which point he's up twenty five on Casey DeSantis,
(06:59):
and most Republican primary voters don't even know he's been
endorsed by Donald Trump. Those were kind of the two
most fascinating things I saw.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
What do you what do you make of it in
terms of let's let's work backwards now from the Trump endorsement.
Is I mean, the power of Trump is pretty remarkable,
But is it more remarkable because he's a Floridian.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
No. I think it's well I think it's the power
of Donald Trump. Love or hate this guy. He is
a once in a lifetime generational politician. I mean, you know,
my hero is Ronald Reagan, and Donald Trump has transformed
this Republican Party in a way that is just unbelievable.
(07:46):
Uh and his impromater is gold to Republican primary voters.
I'm sorry to people candidates who are running in a
Republican primary.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
Do you think it matters that Hasey Desandas has not
officially declared?
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Yeah? I do. I think that matters. I think it matters.
And look, we're a year and a half out, and
you know how things go. You gotta you gotta, you
gotta declare, You've got to run campaigns, You've got a debate.
I mean, the the the the history is littered with
candidates who end up winning that no one gave a
(08:25):
chance to win. So there's a long way to go
on this. Again, this poll is a snapshot of what
we're seeing today in Florida.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
I want to drill down even deeper into the JMI
component of this moving forward. But before we do that,
and as we wrap up this segment, doctor McClure, what
does Jason Pizzo's exit from the Democrat Party do for
the Democrat gubernatorial races.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
Well, I think it continues to be a disaster for
the Democratic Party of Florida. Go back to our early
you know, early discussion this morning present. Good policy is
good politics. Can you tell me what the Democratic Party
stands for in Florida? I can't weed. Maybe weed, maybe
radical abortion, I don't know. And and here's the thing.
(09:16):
Here's the thing. As a as a the James Madison Institute,
as a truly nonpartisan organization, the Republican Party, the Democratic Party,
it makes no difference to us. For us, it's a
set of principles. It's a set of principles that embody
free markets, limited government, personal respons responsibility, and the protection
(09:37):
of private property. So to say, you know, the republic
to the extent that that those principles reside in Florida's
Republican Party and basically have for the last thirty years,
that's where we land. But I'd be happy for a
second strong party in the state of Florida. But now
this party, the Democratic Party, is really in danger of
(09:58):
becoming a third part in the state of Florida behind
the Republicans. No party affiliation MPAs and the Democratic Party,
and with Jason Pizzo vocally publicly leaving the Democratic Party,
I'm not sure where they go at this moment.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
Talking with doctor Bob McClure, he heads up the James
Madison Institute, you talked about that the polling gives your organization,
doctor McClure, a leg up on understanding where the voters are,
what they're thinking, what's most important to them. Now, how
does that impact you? For example, we have a budget
stalemate right now, which is a little embarrassing. I would
(10:37):
think to lawmakers, will jm I use this data to
maybe share with them anything that's useful in their budget negotiations.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Absolutely, President, and I would go a step further. One
of the things that we know to be true. Two
major issues came out of this polling. One is property insurance,
which I've already refted. We put in these reforms. We
being the state of Florida, put in these reforms two
years ago with Paul Renner as the Speaker of the House,
(11:09):
and basically at the fifty thousand foot level, it rained
in lawsuit abuse, aob abuse, and you know trial lawyers
that come in after every hurricane, and so what they've
done is it has brought down the cost of property
insurance for consumers. That's what we should be focused on,
(11:32):
is Floridians, not a spit match between the two houses
in the legislature or a spitting match with the governor.
So we would use this. People are worried about property
insurance and the cost of housing, Well damn. I rolled
out two consecutive studies in the last month. Everybody can
(11:52):
see them at James Madison dot org on why housing
is so expensive and lo and beholds. Surprise, surprise, it's
more often because of government. I mean, look, we live
in the capital city, Leon County. Try getting a building
permit within a reasonable amount of time, right, So, it's
impact fees, it's permitting, it's land used, it's zoning, it's
(12:14):
all of those kinds of things. And there's a lot
that the legislature can do in the property insurance space
and in the housing space that the governor wants to do.
The great debate preston about should we eliminate or reduce
property taxes that would help tremendously with the cost of housing.
That's a complete major discussion that came out of this
(12:35):
polling by two to one margin, Floridians would rather cut
or eliminate property taxes than reduce the sales tax, which
is what Speaker Perez has said he would rather do instead.
So there's a lot of information here on housing, on
property insurance, and on that great property tax debate that
we can then use to go to the legislature, go
(12:58):
to the governor and say here's what we're seeing, here's
what the data shows. How can we help.
Speaker 1 (13:03):
What does your intuition tell you about the next session?
I mean, other than the budget and waiting to see
what the governor signs in or vetos that's presented to
him from the House and Senate from the session. This
session is largely in the rearview mirror. Now looking ahead
to twenty twenty six, Bob, what do you see as
maybe one or two priorities that James Madison will maybe
(13:25):
maybe you're not prepared to say what you'll advise or
what you'll suggest, but what you're looking at, well, I.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
Think there's probably three areas, two on offense and one
on defense. Okay, One is the governor has made it
a point to enact a Doge style look at the
state budget, and we're going to work. You know, we
are working with him and with his folks to hopefully
(13:57):
find ways to continue to make government more efficient. So
we will have a whole series of recommendations over time,
over let's say, pressed in the next six months to
help help with that effort. The governor has set up
a Doge effort, which is really important. And look, I
(14:20):
say this all the time. Florida is the single most
important state in the country when it comes to policy
and politics. When our governor has the vision to set
up something like DOZE in Florida, guess what. Georgia looks
at that, Arizona looks at that, Missouri looks at that,
and they say, Florida can do it, then we can
do it too. This is the story written large on
(14:41):
school choice, on eliminating the income tax. When Florida does it,
opening the economy during COVID, Sure, Florida does it, Other
states follow. That's number one. The second issue is the
trial lawyers are coming back. They're going to come back.
They don't sleep and they've lost their bread. It was
taken away from two years ago in the way that
(15:03):
Renter and the governor, Paul Renner Speaker and the Governor
worked to eliminate frivolous lawsuit abuse, which was essentially about
a five thousand dollars tax on every Floridian.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
Okay, we got about thirty seconds left.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
Defend against that.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
We got about thirty seconds left. What's the third?
Speaker 2 (15:22):
The third is there are a lot of things that
can be done at the state level to bring down
the cost of housing. We really need to have this
discussion about the reduction or the elimination of property taxes
because cities are coasting on property values and increasing their
budgets magically as property taxes increase, and then we can't
(15:44):
continue to have that.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
Doctor McClure, always a good visit. Thanks so much for
the time. We'll talk again next month.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Thank you, sir, Doctor Bob McClure with us from the
James Madison Institute.