Interview: Florida's Newest Gubernatorial Candidate - Paul Reener

What does he stand for? How does he intend to win? Where is he on the big issues? It's in this interview.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
The news you need to start your day, and the
bomb beaches at the Treasure Ghost. This is the Brian
Mud Show. Yeah, welcome back. Florida has its newest combinatorial candidate.
Former Florida House Speaker Paul Rinner And, making his announcement yesterday, said,
as the son of a minister and a teacher, I
learned the most important things in life are faith in God,

(00:27):
your family, and honesty and hard work. And the former
Florida House Speaker, state prosecutor, Navy veteran joins us. Now,
good morning, Paul.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
Brian agree with you.

Speaker 1 (00:40):
So you and making your announcement yesterday, said that a
big part of what you want to bring to the
table is essentially codifying the gains made during the Desantus agenda.
Then you talked about the remaining work that needs to
be done. If you'll tell us what that means to you.

Speaker 2 (00:57):
Yeah, sure. So my two years a speaker, and obviously
I want to be real clear. You got some great
members there, Robbie Brackett, Aaron Grahl, you know who helped
build the Free State of Florida. But that two years
when I was presiding as Speaker were some of the
most productive, most conservative consequential in Florida history. And so
what we call the Free State of Florida today, I
was an architect of that, and we're going to defend it.

(01:19):
And I'll give you two examples where, you know, if
leadership is about not just taking what comes to the
governor's desk or the speaker's desk. And along with the governor,
I fought Amendments three and four last year. You know,
the left was bringing in millions out of state to
try to shove their agenda into our constitution. Those kinds
of things that will never let happen. I'm not going
to let a single crack in the wall of what

(01:41):
we've built ever happened. Same with school board races, you know,
where we have kids being indoctrinated. We need to focus
on education. And so I helped in twenty twenty two
and twenty four to flip those seats and we have
conservative majorities in many counties today because of that effort.
And so that's the kind of governor I will be
lean in, lean forward, much like this guy governor. And

(02:01):
you know, whether it's parental rights or defending children from
all kinds of things like transgender surgeries, social media, online pornography.
We've been just very bold and very courageous in standing
up for conservative principles.

Speaker 1 (02:18):
Let me ask you about your thoughts of your successor,
Daniel Perez. There obviously has been a much more distance
between the governor and the Speaker of the House since
you left. What do you think of the current speaker
and the agenda of the state legislature and some of

(02:39):
the issues of the day that the surround those matters.

Speaker 2 (02:43):
Well, when I was a young naval officer, one of
the words of wisdom I got in a leadership course
is criticized in private, praise in public. And so I
won't criticize in public, make it personal, but I'll just
say that that's how you get things done. You know
with center of Pasadomo, who was my counterpart over in
the Senate, she's more moderate. She'll tell you that I

(03:03):
am and governor to stand this. We had our disagreements,
we worked those out, and we came out publicly arm
in arm, and had again, with that kind of cooperation,
the most consequential two years. And I believe in Florida
history and most many would tell you that. So, you know,
throwing rocks at each other. When Republicans fight, Democrats win.
And that's what I would say about that. I'm not

(03:24):
going to be that kind of governor. I'm not going
to name call people. And so it's all about doing
the things that people send us to do. I mean,
people want you to come up and solve their problems.
They want you to fight for the things you actually
campaigned on and not get up there and you know,
head to the bar to hang out with your buddies.
And so it's important that we have somebody who's about

(03:46):
getting the mission done. As a veteran, you know, that's
what they teach you. It's service above self and you
never quit on the mission until it's done and accomplished.

Speaker 1 (03:54):
Speaking with Republican give natorial candidates all renter a couple
of these than use of the day. One that came
up just yesterday wasn't on the radar of a lot
of people, the end of all vaccine mandates in the
state of Florida. Surch In General Doctor Joseph Ladipou made
the announcement now as it pertains to school children, and
those mandates were public schools that would require legislative action.

(04:17):
Are you supportive of this effort, would you call on
the state legislature to follow through and if governor, would
you sign legislation putting an end to vaccine mandates in schools.

Speaker 2 (04:28):
Well, let me separate two kinds of vaccines. Let's talk
about the COVID vaccine, which I strongly supported, no mandates
whatsoever on forcing people to take a shot that was
experimental in some respects right, and so I will continue
on that path. Vaccines like polio vaccines, measle vaccines that
our grandparents and parents and I took, and you took

(04:50):
and everybody took, has caused the mortality of young children
to plummet across the world. And so what I want
to be careful about is we're not sending a signal
that vaccines aren't important. And so I don't know that
I'm where Ladapo is. And I'll tell you I don't
mind taking a look at the efficacy of vaccines. If

(05:10):
there's something anything, we should always be open to the
prospect that something in a vaccine could be harmful to people.
But I think you've got to be really careful not
to send a signal that getting vaccinated is not important,
because the last thing I want is sending my five
year old to kindergarten and some kids got polio and
nobody's vaccinated for it.

Speaker 1 (05:31):
Another matter that is a hot button, especially in Republican
Party politics these days, the push by the governor to
end homesteaded property taxes within the state. Your thoughts about
that proposal.

Speaker 2 (05:48):
Well, first of all, I am absolutely in favor. There
has to be property tax relief. And let me tell
you the why. Florida has grown twice the rate of
the rest of the country, almost fifty percent increase in
property taxes since twenty nineteen, so there must be substantial relief.
I would also like to look at something for the elderly.

(06:08):
When you've retired, you're on fixed income, you're ready to
you've got your little nest egg to live the rest
of your life. Even with savior homes, your property taxes
are going up three percent every year, well ten years,
that's thirty percent. That's a big chunk. And you have people,
I'm here in Miami right now, people that are literally
looking at moving out of the state or losing their
homes because they can no longer afford the taxes. So

(06:29):
that is a paramount. You know, when I was a speaker.
We did a lot on affordability, tax relief, we took
out took out the litigation of use to help our
insurance market. I put on the ballot. One of my
priorities was this homestead exemption adjustment, which the voters passed
that at least increases it with inflation. But you've got
to have and this governor will do that. I will
do that. You've got to have a campaign by the

(06:51):
governor or. It won't pass because remember we got to
get the sixty percent and we've had twenty five thousand
dollars exemptions and they failed because the Democrats come out
against it, the League of City come out against it.
And that'll happen again, certainly with the kind of reform
we're talking about, which is a lot bigger than a
twenty five thousand dollars exemption.

Speaker 1 (07:08):
All right, So, speaking of the governor, you know the
elephant in the room, which you know as a pun
intendent when you're talking about Republican politics as well, is
that any campaign you're going to have your work cut
out for you're running for governor. But obviously you have
a candidate and Byron Donalds, who was backed by President
Trump and yesterday, Governor des Antis was asked about your

(07:33):
entrance into the race, and this is what the Governor
had to say.

Speaker 2 (07:36):
I'm not supporting Paul Renner. You know, I think it
was I think it was an ill advised decision to
enter the race.

Speaker 1 (07:43):
Your thoughts, sir.

Speaker 2 (07:45):
Well, when we look at the the Santus legacy on
the legs slid up front, a lot of that runs
through the two years I was speaker. So I'm sure
the governor will be on board, certainly at the point
that I'm the Republican nominee, and look forward to that
continued partnership that we've had up until yesterday.

Speaker 1 (08:01):
Very good. How about the challenge with donalds and Trump's
support of his candidacy, Well, I.

Speaker 2 (08:09):
Wouldn't be in this race if I were afraid of
an endorsement or afraid of having somebody. You know, the
voters are going to decide, They're going to look at
three things. Who do we trust, who has the leadership
experience to actually sit in the office of the third
largest state in the country, and who's delivered results. And
so from the time I was twenty three, you know,
on a navy warship going through mind infested waters with
a security clearance. I've been trusted in positions of trust

(08:32):
my whole life as a prosecutor, standing up for victims
and prosecuting violent criminals, and a speaker, and so I've
had a leadership under pressure and delivered results over and
over and over again. That's who people want as governor.
And so yeah, some people look at endorsements, but in
the end, they're going to want something more than that,
and when they look at the record, when they look
at my records, that's what's going to put us over

(08:53):
the top next year.

Speaker 1 (08:55):
Paul Renner, Republican, good editorial candidate. Good talking with you.
Thank you for taking the time, which is great to
be with you.