October 17, 2024 • 17 mins
He is running for re-election and Florida State Senator Corey Simon (longtime friend) stopped by to chat about the most important issues facing the people of Florida's District 3.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Here we go, third hour. Already I'm literally turning the
page on the rundown. Here we go. It is a
show fifty two to fifty six of the Morning Show
with Preston Scott. Great to be with you. And is
this the first time we've been actually, I mean since
you've been elected. Is this the first time we've talked
in studio?
Speaker 2 (00:22):
In studio? I did, we did a radio we did
a phone or phone interview. Yeah, but this is the
first time in studio. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Do you like my place? I do like your place.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
It's been a while, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
I have, And I don't know if you'll admit it,
but I admit it. I have mentioned to listeners that
were friends. We've known each other for a very long time,
a long long time, and I remember the days of
trying to nudge you into running for office, thinking very
highly of you. And so I say that in fairness
up front, because although I'm fair to anyone who comes
in here, I want people to understand that we talk
(00:56):
at a little bit of a different level than a
standard you know, me, me a person and candidate or
in this case, incumbent. So with that said and out
of the way, why'd you decide to run for.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Reelection, oh man, because there's work to be done. I
think over the last two years we have done an
amazing job of really tackling some big issues that I
ran on, workforce education being one of those, education in general,
educational school choice, and that was a huge one for me.
It was personal for me. And so those are things
(01:29):
that that we got done and I saw the You know,
for me, I need to see the ship turn right.
I can't just be on a ship that's not that's
just floating out there. I need to be able to
see results, and we're seeing those results. And so because
of that, that's why I want to keep going, because
there's a lot left to do when you wide around
(01:50):
this When I ride around this district, and.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
It's a huge district too, it is a.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Big district, thirteen counties. I've got the largest district in
the state. But when I ride around this district, the
need is so great and I know I have an
opportunity and a seat at the table to make sure
that I can tackle those needs. Got out of the
thirteen counties, twelve are fiscally constrained, and so you take
counties like Liberty County that has an avalorm of three
(02:17):
million dollars. You can't build, you can't grow with three
million dollars. You're living off grants, and so for me,
it's it's making sure that these folks aren't forgotten. And
that's why I show up. I was on a conversation
before walking in here with my folks over in Swanee
County and looking at getting a regional shelter built over there,
(02:37):
because I had eoc's across this district after the storm
head that had to desert their eocs to go to
other places. Your emergency operations centers are supposed to be
your base hubs in the times of disaster, and they
couldn't be in those places because they just weren't built
to stand the storms.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Yeah, So there's a lot of work that needs to
be done. We've got rural healthcare all across the district
that is struggling, making sure that people can see their doctors,
and there's just a lot of issues that still need
to be tackled. And two years went by way too fast,
and you're trying to get as much done as you
possibly can, but we've still got big issues that we
(03:17):
have to tackle.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
I might have inadvertently for God to say it's Corey
Simon is here with me. Corey is representing the third
State Senate district here in Florida. You mentioned the breadth
of this district, the diversity of the district, the size
of the district. We're going to run a minute long here, Hose,
(03:39):
because I want to give you a chance to just explain.
You are pro life. I am, but you voted against
the six week ban, and I remember you and I
talking about that and I said, give me your thoughts,
and you did. I'd like you to share them with
our listeners.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Well, just my personal story and why I'm pro life
is my wife and I. We have one son. He's
twenty one years old. That wasn't the initial plan. I
really wanted a big family, and we got pregnant several times,
but we miscarried several times. Unfortunately, God has a plan
and I understand that, but it was tough. It was
(04:18):
tough to you know, my son is an absolute blessing.
But we've lost a lot of kids over of the
last twenty years, and so I have an affinity and
affection for young kids and for babies, and I wanted
those kids. But That's why I am pro life. But
(04:40):
I understand my district and it doesn't always come down
to what my personal feelings are. When I ran for
office at the time, fifteen weeks is where the law was,
and that's what was being pushed in a lot of
different places. And I said, you know what, fifteen weeks
was somewhere about right. And when the six week band
(05:03):
came up, I had already given my word to this district.
And whether it's you know, Democrat, Republican, NPA, I give
my word, and when I give my word, my word
means something yep. And so that's why I voted the
way I did because I wanted to make sure that
the folks could trust me in this district to do
what I said I would do.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
What is elected person doing what they say they'll do.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
I try to do this job the way I always
wanted to see it be done. Amendment four, I'm a
I'm an absolute no on Amendment for Yeah, I think
it goes too far. I think when you start talking
about taxpayer dollars and stripping away parental consent, those are
big issues for me.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
The Morning Show with Preston Scott, You're mocking me aren't you.
Oh no, no, no, no, no, no no. I used
radio one hundred point seven WUFLA twelve past the hour.
State Senator Corey Simon with me this morning for a
couple more segments. What's on the to do list? Let's
(06:14):
just assume the constituents put you back in office for
another term. What is top of the list for you?
Not necessarily for the Senate.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Well, for me, it is a couple of things. You know,
access to healthcare is one of the big ones for
me to find that. So when you look around this
district and we have the pleasure here in Tallahassee of
having great hospitals here, we have access. And what I've
done over the last two years is trying to bring
(06:45):
additional dollars to some of our f qacs in the
area like Neighborhood Medical and Bond Community Health Clinic and
do those things here and trying to sew up what
we're doing here in Tallahassee. The partnership that Tallahassee or
TMH and FSU have is going to be absolutely phenomenal
(07:08):
for the entire region. And so I look, I want
to sit at the table making sure we're having a
seat at that table, because when I look at areas
like Liberty County, Franklin County, Gulf County, all the way
over into Swanee County, Lafayette, Madison, Jefferson, what color, all
of these places don't have that kind of access. And
(07:30):
so when we start talking about diabetes and SIKA cell
and issues that are plaguing many of our communities, we
have to make sure that there's access to care in
these areas.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
And when you say access to care, you're literally talking
at this point almost brick and mortar and places to
go to get the care.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Absolutely. I mean when you you know, a lot of
our folks, even in the places that we have hospitals
now trying to bring attention to them, like over Doctors
Memorial over in Taylor County. Folks are driving from Taylor
County to Tallahassee and driving right by Doctors Memorial many
times because they just don't know the services that are
being provided. So making sure that folks are informed to
(08:14):
the medical choices that they have in their communities, uh,
and then expanding those opportunities, whether it be through mobile
units and getting in there and making sure that we're
doing our prostate cancer checks I've had three friends over
the last two and a half months that have all
been diagnosed with prostate cancer. It's concerning for me. So
we're using our emergency rooms and we have some eds
(08:35):
in the area, but we need actually primary care in
a lot of these places so we can get out
in front of some of the disease that is affecting
our communities. And so, you know, those that'll be a
big focus for me as always. You know, these are
these are things that I personally, I'm going to work on.
You know. We're still trying to get our arms around
our insurance industry.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
On all levels, on all levels. Yeah, on all.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Levels, which is I I'm a no on Amendment three
because it's going to run up insurance rates.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
It's a lot of other things exactly.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Uh. And so we've got to wrap our arms around that.
And I think we've done some work to try and
to go in the right direction, but there's still work
to be done. Uh. And then workforce education, we've got
young people that are you know, and I think the
Chamber of Commerce is coming out on Monday with a
list of jobs that are that the job market is
looking for, uh, and two thirds of them don't need
(09:29):
a college education, and so we've got to make sure
that families understand the options that are out there. Sure,
as you know, Preston, my son's a welder and he
didn't want to go into our traditional post secondary institutions.
And so making sure that the kids have a full
understanding of the job force and what the needs are. Uh.
And there's a return on investment on the things that
(09:49):
they're that they're majoring in and spending time in. And
so those are things that I'm working on that I
really want to see move forward. We've taken some great
steps in many of those areas, but there's a lot
way to go.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Twenty two past the hour State Senator Corey Simon, Florida's
third state Senate district. Our guest, what's the what is
the next biggest thing on the list? I mean, I
could probably grab the low hanging fruit, which is your
district has been hammered in the last few weeks a
couple of times, and well in the last few months
(10:30):
a few times. And how is the district, first of all,
recovering from the last set of storms.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Oh man, it is a it has been a gut
punch when you look back a couple of months ago
and you had the tornadoes come through here, right, and
then of course over the last thirteen months we've had
three hurricanes, and so this last one was just a
gut punch. When you ride down the coast and from
Degal Beach all the way down the Horseshoe Beach and
Dixie County, it's absolutely des made it. And when I
(11:01):
was driving to Keaton Beach and you look for every
one home that may be standing there, fifteen to twenty
homes that it's just nothing but a concrete slab. And
so these these these folks have been hammered. You know,
the farming industry, chicken houses that are laying on the ground,
that just product that has just gone Pilgrim is one
(11:21):
of the largest producers and job providers in the in
the district. Uh and so you know, those those folks
have just been beat up. You know. The I think
the mental health counseling that are that is going to
need to happen for a lot of these families is
going to be ongoing because they've put everything into rebuilding
after Adelia and then to see it all just go away.
(11:45):
That's tough. It's tough. To stand in front of a
family that has just lost it all for the second
and maybe third time.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
What role does the state play? What can what role
can it play well?
Speaker 2 (11:54):
And that's that's the great that's the great thing about
this job. After Adelia hit sat down with our folks
over at FDx and sat down with the Governor's office
and sat down with our leadership, President Pasadonmo and President
Designated all Britain, and we came up with a plan
to tackle some of the issues after Adelia. I ran
(12:17):
a disaster disaster recovery bill in terms of about the
four hundred million dollars that we put back into the
into the district. You know, it was really trying to
get our forestry industry back up and running and making
sure that those folks can go and replant and clean
up UH and then gave them a glad path. We
had a ten year loan, zero interest loan with the
(12:38):
last three years forgiven for those farmers to get back
on their feet so they can start seeing some production
and start to put some money back in their policet
before they have to come back to the state. So
I think we can do a lot. I think we
can expand on that program.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
There is no international airport in this area. I mean,
let's set Tallahassee aside. I mean, but you know what
I mean, Largely the area that has been hit the
hardest by these recent storms in the last year, in
a couple of months, this area doesn't have any big,
noteworthy cities, and it's easy for them to fall off
the map, and in this case almost literally.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
Yeah no. And that's what I said when the day
the storm hit and I was standing over in Perry
with those with the families and the folks over there,
and one of the things that I said when the
cameras were there, I said, listen, long after the cameras
are gone, and they'll be gone quickly, I will still
be talking about the recovery and the response efforts and
(13:39):
making sure that we get back up on our feet.
I'm not gonna let the folks outside of these cities
that were impacted forget about us, and I'll continue to
beat that drum. It's important, you know, these families have
chosen to live in the areas that they live. This
is a gorgeous part of the state. It's an important
part of the state. Absolutely is when you go to
(13:59):
your grocery sto or people we take for granted. And
I didn't grow up farming. And so when I when
you go into your grocery store, you walk into your
publics or you're pickli wiggly and you pick up a
piece of meat and you're in some you know, cabbage
or whatever, and you just walked there and you pay
for it. But that's not how it happens. It didn't
just get there. And so but I went and spend
(14:20):
time with farmers, and you understand that the margins are
very thin already. We're waiting on a on a on
a farm bill that hasn't happened in Washington, d C.
In a long time, and trying to dig these folks out.
And so prices of our food goes up when the
supply goes down. And so we've got to make sure
(14:40):
that we're sewing up these areas and making sure that
these folks stay in the business, because we're losing our
farmers every single day. Farmers are walking away from the business.
They just they can't take it anymore, they can't afford it.
And so it's it's important for us to make sure
that we do all that we can to save our
industry here. I think we have a tremendous opportunity in
(15:03):
this region.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
I don't think. I don't think. I don't think citizens
understand in the state how big agriculture is in this
in this state. It's massive, it is.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
It is. I don't know. When you drive down Aut ten,
just take a look into the left and right before
you get to seventy five. They're everywhere you get off.
You know, drive down fifty one and get into Lafayette
County and see where our dairies are. See the production
that's going on there.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
Corey, do you think you mentioned the farm bill and
the dysfunction on a federal level. Florida is fiscally in
a very good position. This state has taken care of
its finances of course, go figure, no income tax and
a balanced budget. Amazing, Think what can happen? Right? But
does the state need to think about Okay, if the
(15:53):
Feds aren't coming through on the farm bill, we need
to come up with our own own form of it.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
Well, and now we will be doing that in the
upcoming session. We will. The great thing is my dear
friend and President designated Ben All Britain and comes from
rural Florida. He is from the heartland. He is a farmer.
He's a citrus farmer in our citrus industry has been
absolutely dismantled to the storm through Milton and greening and
(16:19):
greening exactly the citrus screening that's happened. So I'm excited
because he is from rural Florida, he understands it, and
he's passionate about it. And so I look forward to
running that bill in the upcoming session, and uh, we're
gonna get some things done for these folks.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
I loved your use of the word tackle. It just
seems appropriate.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Yeah, I hit other problems now it's I just don't
run into people anymore.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
That's good to see you. Corey Simon with us and
again running to return to the State Senate in District three.
And uh, there you go. Thanks for the time. Eight
past the hour.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
M
Here we go, third hour. Already I'm literally turning the
page on the rundown. Here we go. It is a
show fifty two to fifty six of the Morning Show
with Preston Scott. Great to be with you. And is
this the first time we've been actually, I mean since
you've been elected. Is this the first time we've talked
in studio?
Speaker 2 (00:22):
In studio? I did, we did a radio we did
a phone or phone interview. Yeah, but this is the
first time in studio. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Do you like my place? I do like your place.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
It's been a while, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
I have, And I don't know if you'll admit it,
but I admit it. I have mentioned to listeners that
were friends. We've known each other for a very long time,
a long long time, and I remember the days of
trying to nudge you into running for office, thinking very
highly of you. And so I say that in fairness
up front, because although I'm fair to anyone who comes
in here, I want people to understand that we talk
(00:56):
at a little bit of a different level than a
standard you know, me, me a person and candidate or
in this case, incumbent. So with that said and out
of the way, why'd you decide to run for.
Speaker 2 (01:08):
Reelection, oh man, because there's work to be done. I
think over the last two years we have done an
amazing job of really tackling some big issues that I
ran on, workforce education being one of those, education in general,
educational school choice, and that was a huge one for me.
It was personal for me. And so those are things
(01:29):
that that we got done and I saw the You know,
for me, I need to see the ship turn right.
I can't just be on a ship that's not that's
just floating out there. I need to be able to
see results, and we're seeing those results. And so because
of that, that's why I want to keep going, because
there's a lot left to do when you wide around
(01:50):
this When I ride around this district, and.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
It's a huge district too, it is a.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Big district, thirteen counties. I've got the largest district in
the state. But when I ride around this district, the
need is so great and I know I have an
opportunity and a seat at the table to make sure
that I can tackle those needs. Got out of the
thirteen counties, twelve are fiscally constrained, and so you take
counties like Liberty County that has an avalorm of three
(02:17):
million dollars. You can't build, you can't grow with three
million dollars. You're living off grants, and so for me,
it's it's making sure that these folks aren't forgotten. And
that's why I show up. I was on a conversation
before walking in here with my folks over in Swanee
County and looking at getting a regional shelter built over there,
(02:37):
because I had eoc's across this district after the storm
head that had to desert their eocs to go to
other places. Your emergency operations centers are supposed to be
your base hubs in the times of disaster, and they
couldn't be in those places because they just weren't built
to stand the storms.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
Yeah, So there's a lot of work that needs to
be done. We've got rural healthcare all across the district
that is struggling, making sure that people can see their doctors,
and there's just a lot of issues that still need
to be tackled. And two years went by way too fast,
and you're trying to get as much done as you
possibly can, but we've still got big issues that we
(03:17):
have to tackle.
Speaker 1 (03:18):
I might have inadvertently for God to say it's Corey
Simon is here with me. Corey is representing the third
State Senate district here in Florida. You mentioned the breadth
of this district, the diversity of the district, the size
of the district. We're going to run a minute long here, Hose,
(03:39):
because I want to give you a chance to just explain.
You are pro life. I am, but you voted against
the six week ban, and I remember you and I
talking about that and I said, give me your thoughts,
and you did. I'd like you to share them with
our listeners.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Well, just my personal story and why I'm pro life
is my wife and I. We have one son. He's
twenty one years old. That wasn't the initial plan. I
really wanted a big family, and we got pregnant several times,
but we miscarried several times. Unfortunately, God has a plan
and I understand that, but it was tough. It was
(04:18):
tough to you know, my son is an absolute blessing.
But we've lost a lot of kids over of the
last twenty years, and so I have an affinity and
affection for young kids and for babies, and I wanted
those kids. But That's why I am pro life. But
(04:40):
I understand my district and it doesn't always come down
to what my personal feelings are. When I ran for
office at the time, fifteen weeks is where the law was,
and that's what was being pushed in a lot of
different places. And I said, you know what, fifteen weeks
was somewhere about right. And when the six week band
(05:03):
came up, I had already given my word to this district.
And whether it's you know, Democrat, Republican, NPA, I give
my word, and when I give my word, my word
means something yep. And so that's why I voted the
way I did because I wanted to make sure that
the folks could trust me in this district to do
what I said I would do.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
What is elected person doing what they say they'll do.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
I try to do this job the way I always
wanted to see it be done. Amendment four, I'm a
I'm an absolute no on Amendment for Yeah, I think
it goes too far. I think when you start talking
about taxpayer dollars and stripping away parental consent, those are
big issues for me.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
The Morning Show with Preston Scott, You're mocking me aren't you.
Oh no, no, no, no, no, no no. I used
radio one hundred point seven WUFLA twelve past the hour.
State Senator Corey Simon with me this morning for a
couple more segments. What's on the to do list? Let's
(06:14):
just assume the constituents put you back in office for
another term. What is top of the list for you?
Not necessarily for the Senate.
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Well, for me, it is a couple of things. You know,
access to healthcare is one of the big ones for
me to find that. So when you look around this
district and we have the pleasure here in Tallahassee of
having great hospitals here, we have access. And what I've
done over the last two years is trying to bring
(06:45):
additional dollars to some of our f qacs in the
area like Neighborhood Medical and Bond Community Health Clinic and
do those things here and trying to sew up what
we're doing here in Tallahassee. The partnership that Tallahassee or
TMH and FSU have is going to be absolutely phenomenal
(07:08):
for the entire region. And so I look, I want
to sit at the table making sure we're having a
seat at that table, because when I look at areas
like Liberty County, Franklin County, Gulf County, all the way
over into Swanee County, Lafayette, Madison, Jefferson, what color, all
of these places don't have that kind of access. And
(07:30):
so when we start talking about diabetes and SIKA cell
and issues that are plaguing many of our communities, we
have to make sure that there's access to care in
these areas.
Speaker 1 (07:44):
And when you say access to care, you're literally talking
at this point almost brick and mortar and places to
go to get the care.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Absolutely. I mean when you you know, a lot of
our folks, even in the places that we have hospitals
now trying to bring attention to them, like over Doctors
Memorial over in Taylor County. Folks are driving from Taylor
County to Tallahassee and driving right by Doctors Memorial many
times because they just don't know the services that are
being provided. So making sure that folks are informed to
(08:14):
the medical choices that they have in their communities, uh,
and then expanding those opportunities, whether it be through mobile
units and getting in there and making sure that we're
doing our prostate cancer checks I've had three friends over
the last two and a half months that have all
been diagnosed with prostate cancer. It's concerning for me. So
we're using our emergency rooms and we have some eds
(08:35):
in the area, but we need actually primary care in
a lot of these places so we can get out
in front of some of the disease that is affecting
our communities. And so, you know, those that'll be a
big focus for me as always. You know, these are
these are things that I personally, I'm going to work on.
You know. We're still trying to get our arms around
our insurance industry.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
On all levels, on all levels. Yeah, on all.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Levels, which is I I'm a no on Amendment three
because it's going to run up insurance rates.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
It's a lot of other things exactly.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Uh. And so we've got to wrap our arms around that.
And I think we've done some work to try and
to go in the right direction, but there's still work
to be done. Uh. And then workforce education, we've got
young people that are you know, and I think the
Chamber of Commerce is coming out on Monday with a
list of jobs that are that the job market is
looking for, uh, and two thirds of them don't need
(09:29):
a college education, and so we've got to make sure
that families understand the options that are out there. Sure,
as you know, Preston, my son's a welder and he
didn't want to go into our traditional post secondary institutions.
And so making sure that the kids have a full
understanding of the job force and what the needs are. Uh.
And there's a return on investment on the things that
(09:49):
they're that they're majoring in and spending time in. And
so those are things that I'm working on that I
really want to see move forward. We've taken some great
steps in many of those areas, but there's a lot
way to go.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Twenty two past the hour State Senator Corey Simon, Florida's
third state Senate district. Our guest, what's the what is
the next biggest thing on the list? I mean, I
could probably grab the low hanging fruit, which is your
district has been hammered in the last few weeks a
couple of times, and well in the last few months
(10:30):
a few times. And how is the district, first of all,
recovering from the last set of storms.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Oh man, it is a it has been a gut
punch when you look back a couple of months ago
and you had the tornadoes come through here, right, and
then of course over the last thirteen months we've had
three hurricanes, and so this last one was just a
gut punch. When you ride down the coast and from
Degal Beach all the way down the Horseshoe Beach and
Dixie County, it's absolutely des made it. And when I
(11:01):
was driving to Keaton Beach and you look for every
one home that may be standing there, fifteen to twenty
homes that it's just nothing but a concrete slab. And
so these these these folks have been hammered. You know,
the farming industry, chicken houses that are laying on the ground,
that just product that has just gone Pilgrim is one
(11:21):
of the largest producers and job providers in the in
the district. Uh and so you know, those those folks
have just been beat up. You know. The I think
the mental health counseling that are that is going to
need to happen for a lot of these families is
going to be ongoing because they've put everything into rebuilding
after Adelia and then to see it all just go away.
(11:45):
That's tough. It's tough. To stand in front of a
family that has just lost it all for the second
and maybe third time.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
What role does the state play? What can what role
can it play well?
Speaker 2 (11:54):
And that's that's the great that's the great thing about
this job. After Adelia hit sat down with our folks
over at FDx and sat down with the Governor's office
and sat down with our leadership, President Pasadonmo and President
Designated all Britain, and we came up with a plan
to tackle some of the issues after Adelia. I ran
(12:17):
a disaster disaster recovery bill in terms of about the
four hundred million dollars that we put back into the
into the district. You know, it was really trying to
get our forestry industry back up and running and making
sure that those folks can go and replant and clean
up UH and then gave them a glad path. We
had a ten year loan, zero interest loan with the
(12:38):
last three years forgiven for those farmers to get back
on their feet so they can start seeing some production
and start to put some money back in their policet
before they have to come back to the state. So
I think we can do a lot. I think we
can expand on that program.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
There is no international airport in this area. I mean,
let's set Tallahassee aside. I mean, but you know what
I mean, Largely the area that has been hit the
hardest by these recent storms in the last year, in
a couple of months, this area doesn't have any big,
noteworthy cities, and it's easy for them to fall off
the map, and in this case almost literally.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
Yeah no. And that's what I said when the day
the storm hit and I was standing over in Perry
with those with the families and the folks over there,
and one of the things that I said when the
cameras were there, I said, listen, long after the cameras
are gone, and they'll be gone quickly, I will still
be talking about the recovery and the response efforts and
(13:39):
making sure that we get back up on our feet.
I'm not gonna let the folks outside of these cities
that were impacted forget about us, and I'll continue to
beat that drum. It's important, you know, these families have
chosen to live in the areas that they live. This
is a gorgeous part of the state. It's an important
part of the state. Absolutely is when you go to
(13:59):
your grocery sto or people we take for granted. And
I didn't grow up farming. And so when I when
you go into your grocery store, you walk into your
publics or you're pickli wiggly and you pick up a
piece of meat and you're in some you know, cabbage
or whatever, and you just walked there and you pay
for it. But that's not how it happens. It didn't
just get there. And so but I went and spend
(14:20):
time with farmers, and you understand that the margins are
very thin already. We're waiting on a on a on
a farm bill that hasn't happened in Washington, d C.
In a long time, and trying to dig these folks out.
And so prices of our food goes up when the
supply goes down. And so we've got to make sure
(14:40):
that we're sewing up these areas and making sure that
these folks stay in the business, because we're losing our
farmers every single day. Farmers are walking away from the business.
They just they can't take it anymore, they can't afford it.
And so it's it's important for us to make sure
that we do all that we can to save our
industry here. I think we have a tremendous opportunity in
(15:03):
this region.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
I don't think. I don't think. I don't think citizens
understand in the state how big agriculture is in this
in this state. It's massive, it is.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
It is. I don't know. When you drive down Aut ten,
just take a look into the left and right before
you get to seventy five. They're everywhere you get off.
You know, drive down fifty one and get into Lafayette
County and see where our dairies are. See the production
that's going on there.
Speaker 1 (15:33):
Corey, do you think you mentioned the farm bill and
the dysfunction on a federal level. Florida is fiscally in
a very good position. This state has taken care of
its finances of course, go figure, no income tax and
a balanced budget. Amazing, Think what can happen? Right? But
does the state need to think about Okay, if the
(15:53):
Feds aren't coming through on the farm bill, we need
to come up with our own own form of it.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
Well, and now we will be doing that in the
upcoming session. We will. The great thing is my dear
friend and President designated Ben All Britain and comes from
rural Florida. He is from the heartland. He is a farmer.
He's a citrus farmer in our citrus industry has been
absolutely dismantled to the storm through Milton and greening and
(16:19):
greening exactly the citrus screening that's happened. So I'm excited
because he is from rural Florida, he understands it, and
he's passionate about it. And so I look forward to
running that bill in the upcoming session, and uh, we're
gonna get some things done for these folks.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
I loved your use of the word tackle. It just
seems appropriate.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Yeah, I hit other problems now it's I just don't
run into people anymore.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
That's good to see you. Corey Simon with us and
again running to return to the State Senate in District three.
And uh, there you go. Thanks for the time. Eight
past the hour.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
M
Popular Podcasts
Good Game with Sarah Spain
Good Game is your one-stop shop for the biggest stories in women’s sports. Every day, host Sarah Spain gives you the stories, stakes, stars and stats to keep up with your favorite women’s teams, leagues and athletes. Through thoughtful insight, witty banter, and an all around good time, Sarah and friends break down the latest news, talk about the games you can’t miss, and debate the issues of the day. Don’t miss interviews with the people of the moment, whether they be athletes, coaches, reporters, or celebrity fans.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
Crime Junkie
If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people.