December 2, 2025 • 35 mins
Tune in here to this Tuesday edition of Breaking With Brett Jensen!
Breaking Brett Jensen kicks off the show by interviewing North Carolina State Auditor Dave Boliek. Boliek and his team are actively investigating the City of Charlotte's $99,999 settlement given out to Lance Patterson, the husband of new Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Chief Estella Patterson. This payout was brought about to settle Patterson's seven-year lawsuit against the City.
In the interview, Boliek mentions that he requested this investigation to bring transparency to the residents of Charlotte - as well as expose how the city government spends their taxpayer funds. He also notes that his office reached out to the City of Charlotte on November 14 to request the details of the payout. When asked his thoughts about City staff calling the investigation a "political ploy", Boliek emphasizes that he was very clear when he investigated the settlement to former Police Chief Johnny Jennings. During that investigation, he explained that the position of the State Auditor's office is that any expense of taxpayer money is the business of the taxpayers. This rhetoric is also being used in the newest investigation.
In closing, Boliek gives an update on other projects that the State Auditor's office has been working. One such audit involved the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency, which looked at the Eastern part of the State's response to Hurricanes Matthew and Florence. Boliek notes that this particular audit is instructive and interesting as it pertains to how the State responded to those storms that affected the region.
Listen here for all of this and more on Breaking With Brett Jensen.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Hi, oh, let's go oh, let's go oh, Let's go oh,
let's go.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Please talk eleven ten and ninety nine to three WBT
bred Jensen here with you again on this beautiful, beautiful
edition of Brett Jenson Breaking with Brett Jenson on this
Tuesday night. Got a little sidetrack there on this beautiful
Tuesday night edition of Breaking with Brett Jensen, as we
go up until seven o'clock tonight, seven oh four, five,
seven oh eleven ten. Okay, so we got a lot
(00:55):
to get into tonight. By the way, that is also
the exact same number two text us at Liberty BBT
text line driven by Liberty Buick GMC. And also, you
really need to be following me on except Brett Underscore
Jensen for all the latest and breaking news in and
around the Charlotte area. Because the story that I broke
yesterday about the payments and City Charlie, I think it
has one hundred and twenty thousand views now, I think
(01:16):
it's somewhere around there, at least it was early this afternoon,
I think. And then you have the North Carolina State
Auditor Dave Bollock retweeting my story yesterday saying that they're
investigating the City of Charlotte and this particular payout and
making sure what happened, why it happened, and making sure
it's on the up and up. And so I thought,
(01:37):
you know what, since he retweeted me, let's get to
North Carolina State Auditor on the phone and let's talk
to him about this particular investigation. First of all, Auditor Bullock,
thank you so much for joining us tonight. I truly
do appreciate it, and I know the listeners do as well.
And second of all, I broke the story yesterday of
releasing the documents of the payout to the husband of
(02:00):
the brand new police chief here at CMPD SO, but
you asked for these specific documents back on November fourteenth.
What were you specifically looking for and why did you
ask for the documents of the payout?
Speaker 3 (02:11):
Well, you know, Brett, first of all, appreciate you having
me on the show. Second, you know, our job from
day one, the beginning of twenty twenty five is to
be the watchdog that's shining a light on the spending
of taxpayer dollars. And we saw already that the City
(02:32):
of Charlotte had created and completed one behind closed door
settlement with the previous police chief, and then news reports
indicated that they had entered into Well, I actually entered
into a settlement because the city decided prior to trial
(02:53):
not to try the case with the battalion fire chief,
and so we said, well, and the indication in the
federal court documents was that the case had been settled
and we could find no evidence or indication that the
(03:13):
public had been made aware of any monetary payment to
the battalion chief. And a settlement, you know, it sort
of indicates that there's likely some dollars that have been
paid out. So we initiated an investigation to find out
how much or whether the City of Charlotte taxpayers had
(03:37):
paid the battalion chief money in response to a lawsuit.
And so actually those were our responses. We actually did
not receive the response on the fourteenth. We received it
later than that, but that is when that document was dated.
But we did have we did have information in our
(04:00):
Handbrett before yesterday. So we were going through our process
which would give and we will continue to go through
that process, which will give the city an opportunity to
respond to our ultimate findings.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
I'm speaking with North Kunta State Auditor Dave Bollock, and
I will tell you that many members of the Charlotte
City Council and members of the staff in the City
of Charlotte, they believe that the only reason you are
trying to get these documents and look at these payouts
is because of it's a political ploy.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
What do you say to all that, well, I would
say I was very clear when we initiated the investigation
on the behind closed door settlement with the former chief
of Police that the position of the State Auditor's Office
is that any expense of taxpayer money is the business
(04:57):
of the people who pay taxes. So it's the people's
business with how much money is spent. Now, not to
move forward with any additional comment on this ongoing investigation,
but the previous findings that we made in the chief
of police settlement, the former chief of police's settlement case
(05:17):
that we looked into. The city responded that they would
think about and I'm paraphrasing, but that they would think
about it or give it some consideration as to whether
they're going to release dollar amounts expended to settle lawsuits
that they believe were personnel related. I've just got to
(05:41):
tell you from the position of the State Auditor's office.
I'm going to repeat myself for the third time. Any
expense of taxpayer dollars is the business of the people
of North Carolina, no exceptions, and the gamesmanship that appears
to be being played in the City of Charlot is
not acceptable in my opinion, to the taxpayers of Charlotte.
(06:06):
They deserve to know how their money is being spent.
After all, this is not the city council's money, it's
not the city manager's money, it's not the city attorney's money.
It's the people's money.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
North Colina State Auditor Dave Bullock joins us here on
breaking with Brad Jensen. So, I'm curious, is Charlotte unique
in terms of cities or towns across the state of
trying to keep things private or hidden or do you
find this maybe in other areas, be it Gastoni, i
should say, or Wilmington or Greensboro or Raleigh, whatever. Are
you finding this in other parts of the state or
(06:40):
is it specifically unique to Charlotte.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
No, we don't see the withholding of subtlement amounts widespread
across the state of North Carolina. I couldn't speak to
all of North Carolina because every situation is unique and different,
But these are certainly high profile instances that have come
(07:03):
up with the City of Charlotte, and our job is
to hold city government accountable. And you've got to ask
yourself the question, if we did not send a request
asking for the information on how much money was used
to settle that particular lawsuit, would that amount of money
(07:26):
have ever seen the light of day to the taxpayer?
Would they have ever known about that? And it certainly
begs the question.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
One last question on this particular topic was North Kinta
State auditor Dave Bollock. How long do you think this
investigation will last into the payout? Is it something that
will be quick or something that might be long term,
Like how long do you expect this to happen?
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Well, as you have reported, and you have sources that
divulged our inquiry, but we've received answers to the questions
that we've asked, and so our team will review that
and compare that against some financial records that we also have,
(08:14):
and then we'll draft a final report and send it
to the city for their response, and then after they
get their response, we will typically issue reports.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
So I don't know.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
I don't think it's not a really long inquiry. So
I couldn't give you a day or a time, but
it's not a long time.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Off, Okay, So we're going to ask the auditor to
State Auditors stick around for one more segment because I
want to talk to him about other things going on
across the state, not just what's happening here in Charlotte,
Because I will tell you the auditor right here, Dave Bollock,
has investigated many, many things across the state to making
(08:57):
sure all the money is a heunted four in being
used appropriately from local governments to state governments, to the
City of Charlotte, to everything else and in between. So
again we've asked mister Bullock if he'd stick around for
one more segment, and he has graciously agreed to. All Right,
So when we come back more of our conversation with
the North Kunta State Auditor Dave Bullock. Welcome back to
(09:24):
breaking with Brett Jensen on this chili and wet Tuesday night.
So we go up until seven o'clock tonight, seven oh four, five,
seven eleven ten. Yes, the tar Hills play tonight, but
they play a late game. So I am here till seven. TJ.
Ritchie's on the show tonight or on his show tonight,
so you got nothing to worry about. You got a
full slate of all your favorite people tonight. Speaking of which,
(09:48):
Dave Bullock, the North Kulina State Auditor, has agreed to
stick around for one more segment, So I truly do
appreciate that. Thank you again for sticking around for one
more segment with us tonight. So I want to switch
gears a little bit and just talk about your office,
because you know, Charlotte's not the only thing that you've
been investigating since you took office back in January. You've
investigated quite a lot of things. So what can you
(10:10):
tell us about some of the new things that you've
been investigating or some of the new findings that you've
been finding across the state in other towns or other avenues.
So what's been going on in the North Carolina Auditor's Office?
Speaker 3 (10:21):
A couple things. One, we just released our audit on
the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency in Eastern
North Carolina response to Hurricanes Matthew and Florence, and I
would commend although it's not a page turner, as much
of these audits aren't, but it is very instructive and interesting.
(10:41):
With respect how North Carolina responded to those storms down east,
we had some i think some findings that indicate the
need for North Carolina to have a solid plan moving forward.
In the recovery phase of major disasters. We do a
(11:01):
credible and good job on the nine to one one
part of it. The response, you know, you get in there,
we get people stable. It's the long term recovery where
there has been a sheer lack of financial accountability and
results accountability. And that's what are that found in Encore.
For example, I'll give you one number of note. The
(11:24):
State of North Carolina and taxpayers as a result, spent
twenty five point four million dollars on the software program
that was wasn't the program's fault, it was the user's fault.
That was never utilized to the full extent of its ability.
And that's just that's a waste of taxpayer dollars. So
(11:46):
that's one of the things we've been working on, I'd say,
on a broader picture, we've been working on the Dave Act,
which is the vision of accountability value and efficiency in
North Carolina, and that was an effort where the North
kind of General Assembly has given our off additional resources
to look at efficiency across the state of North Carolina.
We'll be issuing a report on state agencies across the
(12:11):
state of North Carolina, not including universities and community colleges,
which will be in a separate report that details vacancies
in state government and how much money state agencies have
at their disposal as a result of those vacancies, and
also taking a look at why there are vacancies and
(12:32):
when the state has a vacancy, what level of service
are is state government not delivering as a result of
the vacancy. So we're going to have a comprehensive report
on that coming out. We didn't release a preliminary report
focused on Department of Health and Human Services since there's
a large debate since Department of Health and Human Services
(12:57):
unilaterally cut provider re imbursement for Medicaid patients. So that
is doctors that you and I have, our family physicians,
our surgeons, our interness, our emergency medical personnel, and hospitals.
You know, they who also see patients who may have
(13:20):
private insurance, who may have government insurance but who also
have Medicaid as their third party payer had their reimbursements
from Medicaid cut by between three and ten percent, but
it really averaged out to around eight percent cut, and
that was unilateral from Department of Health and Human Services.
(13:40):
Yet they have three hundred and eighty six million dollars
in lap salary in the agency. Now, to be fair,
some of those salary dollars are tied to specific positions,
but one hundred and fifty one million of those dollars
our state appropriated dollars that the agency would be free
to use in whatever method they felt appropriate. So those
(14:04):
are real budgetary numbers. They're large numbers and you know,
like hard to understand sometimes, but that's you know, at
some point, Brett, one hundred and fifty one million dollars
starts to add up to real money, and it's time
for government to be held accountable for what those dollars
(14:25):
are being spent for and truing up these budgets to
let the General Assembly and the taxpayers know exactly what
agencies need in order to properly serve the citizens of
North Carolina. And we've been working on our own efficiency
here in the in the State Auditor's Office with some
new technology and working to modernize the way our audit
(14:52):
teams work across the state of North Carolina. We've been busy.
I'm proud of the work our team has done. I
don't do it by myself, for sure. I've got fantastic,
astic civil servants who really are dedicated to the mission
of holding a government accountable at all levels. And our
team has grown over the last year. They're energized their
(15:14):
own mission, and I believe we've delivered results for the
people of North Carolina, and I'm excited about the results
we're going to be able to deliver in the new year.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
North Carolina State Auditor, Dave Bullock, I really do appreciate
you taking so much time with us tonight. I really
do appreciate it, and I know that listeners appreciate it
as well. Thank you very much for doing this anytime.
Brett all right again, thanks to the Auditor, mister Dave
Bullock for doing this tonight with me and busy man
investigating a lot of things. And I want to tell
you during the break, I got a message and I
(15:48):
want you to I want you I want to read
this to you speaking to you the audience, not to
the auditor. But it's interesting. We were talking about the
investigating Charlotte and everything else like that, and I said, hey,
is Charlotte unique in this? If you remember the question
I asked the last segment, is Charlotte unque in this?
Or are there other towns and municipalities, governments, county governments whatever?
(16:09):
Are they being secretive with all their stuff? And you
heard him say absolutely not. Charlott's by itself, right, and
then he I got this message from him. The small
town of Randoman, random and famous for the home of
Richard Petty, right, that's in Randolph County, going out east
(16:30):
towards Pinehurst, but not quite to Pinehurst. Got an example.
The small town of Randoman in Randolph County released the
fifty nine thousand dollars settlement with a finance director. So
Randolman can do it. Apparently Mecklimburth County and Charlotte can't. Well,
I should say Charlotte, not Mecklmer County. Apparently Charlotte cannot.
(16:51):
And I will say this, and we don't know how
this is going to work with the new county manager.
You know, he took he took over, I believe on
July first. Maybe I can't, maybe a little bit earlier,
but I know Dina Diorio's contract went until June thirtieth.
But I can tell you this, donew Diario, first and
foremost above anything else, believed in transparency more than anything else.
(17:15):
When she was named county manager years ago. That was
her type part because she came in the middle of
a flying crapstorm involving women's health records and everything else, right,
and so she said, no, no, no, We're going to be transparent,
even if it hurts us. We are going to be transparent.
They should probably give that to a lesson to Anthony Fox,
(17:36):
the city attorney, who, thankfully for the City of Charlotte,
will no longer be on the payroll, because I don't
know why he's on the payroll. Why does the City
of Charlotte need two city attorneys? Apparently the same reason
why they need two police chiefs, paying two police chiefs
at least until January second, only in Charlotte, ladies and gentlemen,
(17:57):
only in Charlotte. And you know you always hear me say,
with each passing day, we're getting closer to Baltimore, DC. Baltimore,
New Orleans, Memphis, Saint Louis, Detroit, with each passing day
getting closer to those cities. And I put that on
a thread last night. Text the thread it was like
ten of us and the person said, one person said, well, Brett,
(18:21):
I would feel fairly confident that many people on this
thread would rather live in Charlotte in those places. I said, yes, now, yes, now.
Baltimore twenty years ago was beautiful, twenty five years ago
was gorgeous. Saint Louis was a happening city twenty five
years ago. Memphis I used to be in. I would
hang out in Memphis twenty five years ago. Loved New
(18:45):
Orleans before Hurricane Katrine. Ate, Yes, they always had their
political issues in Louisiana is very famous for their political
weirdness and corruption. Great cities and what's happened? And now
this it is Charlotte has elected its first socialist on
the city council, taking the You know, and you just
(19:07):
had a felon who's now charged with multiple felonies, get
removed from office, get voted out. The mayor and the
city manager of the city attorney trying to do secret
deals and not tell the public we got two police chiefs,
We've got two city attorneys on the payroll. What are
we doing? Okay? All right, all upset because border patrol came.
(19:31):
This is how it starts. And that's why I say,
with each passing day, all you got to do is
look at the elected officials in the city of Charlotte.
Welcome back to Breaking with Brett Jenson on this Tuesday
night once again thanks to North Carolina State Auditor Dave Bollick,
who joined us for the first half of the show
(19:53):
tonight talking about the investigation going into the city of
Charlotte and the ninety nine thousand, nine ninety nine dollars
payout that they gave to the husband of the brand
new police chief here in Charlotte. Gave the payout to
Lance Patterson over his seven year old lawsuit. Forty thousand
(20:13):
went to Lance, fifty ninety nine dollars went to his
legal team, And gonna be honest with you, sixty thousand
over seven years. That seems rather low. I'm not sure
how much he paid out of his pocket. Maybe I
would think that he probably paid out a lot. If
he paid nothing out of his pocket. You got seven
(20:35):
year lawsuit for forty K. Was that worth it? All
the stress, all the anxiety, was that really worth it?
You got forty k? Congratulations, your law firm got sixty K.
But I would think or hope if i'm the lawsuit,
(20:56):
because the law firm is like one of the biggest
law firms in Charlott mackelrowan Deal. Right, it's huge, the
old Bill Deal law firm, and that lawsuit would be
way more than sixty thousand dollars because I know what
they generally charged per hour, and I doubt they would
do it on a contingency basis, going yeah, we'll take
(21:17):
thirty three percent of your winnings. Yeah, that's not what
happened here. They took sixty percent, probably because he owed
them a lot of money for this lawsuit. And I
would think that he probably paid paid a lot out
of his pocket, maybe ten fifteen K out of his pocket.
So in the grand scheme of things, forty thousand dollars
(21:40):
in twenty twenty five isn't the same amount as forty
thousand dollars was in twenty eighteen. I promise you that
in twenty eighteen, forty K was probably worth about sixty
just a rough guess. Just a rough guess, minimum fifty
but maybe fifty five sixty some running there all right,
(22:01):
speaking of the city as Charlotte. So last night the
new members were sworn in, including the first Socialist elected
in Charlotte City Council history. Jd Airis worked for AOC
all this stuff up there in New York City, came
(22:22):
to the country illegally, got a scholarship to Queen's University.
Queen's University likes to give scholarships to foreign born people.
All universities do, I should say, not just Queens, all
universities do that because it's all about inclusion. But so
(22:42):
he's not elected. Joy Mayo we interviewed in her primary
against Tijuana Brown, Isaac's favorite person. Interviewed her. She's extremely bright. Yeah,
of course she's a Democrat, but nobody knows is she
(23:04):
like really far left? Is she center left? Is she
moderate left?
Speaker 3 (23:08):
Like?
Speaker 2 (23:09):
We don't know yet. We don't know yet, So we'll see.
And I once had a city council member tell me, saying, Brett,
they don't care if the person's Republican or a Democrat
that's elected to city council. They just want to make
sure that they're not using the city Council as a
platform for activism. Are they taking care of the whole
(23:32):
city and what's best for the whole city, or do
they only care about a certain subset. Yes, you have
to care about your district. They're the ones that elected you.
But it is incumbent upon you to actually care about
the entire city in which you live, because if the
city starts to rot, then your district will eventually rot.
(23:59):
So last night they start they have to pick a
mayor pro tem and for those of you that don't know,
mayor pro tim, that's essentially the vice mayor, you know,
vice president, it's the vice mayor. It's the number two,
and it's the one that tries to help keep the
mayor in check and challenge the mayor with the agenda
(24:23):
and everything else. And they did not believe that Dante
Anderson was doing a good enough job. They didn't feel
like the council members didn't feel like she was challenging
and keeping the mayor in check. So there was some
back and forth. Dimple ashmro for at least the second
(24:47):
time is the leading vote getter, and last time she didn't.
They didn't give it to her as a matter of fact,
on election night, multiple phone calls and text messages were
going on between city council members on how not to
give it to dimpleedged mirror a couple of years ago,
(25:09):
and then last time two years ago. Up until the
final moments, she was trying to get people to vote
for her, even according to people that were there, misleading
council members in order to get them to vote. Hey,
I've got so and So's vote. I got so and
So's vote, if you'll vote for me, but never really
had so and So's vote. So I exposed all that
(25:31):
two years ago, exposed it all, every single bit of it.
And her people did not like that I did that.
They were not happy and tried to deny it, but
I had multiple witnesses. So now fast forward to last night.
(25:51):
She clearly wanted to be the Mayor pro temp. She
feels like it's her right as the leading vote getner.
Would tell dimple Ashmira this, go talk to Pat Cothham.
She can tell you how it is. How many times
was Pat Cotham the leading vote getter and how many
times was she not named head of the Mecklemburg County Commissioners. Right?
(26:16):
It was George Dunlap and so she again, the leading
vote getter is generally supposed to be the chair. That's
it's not a written rule, it's an unwritten rule, but
that's generally accepted. Pat Coltham always the leading vote getter.
Noop for the County Commissioners, dimple, Ashmira, there you go.
(26:40):
Now go check out cus CMS school board. Any of
the leading vote getters getting that chair. Noop. So Dimple,
you're not alone. She wanted it. She feels like it's
her right. In some ways it is. But when you
can do a comparison contrast the County Commissioners and CMS,
(27:02):
no it's not. You just fall in line with everybody else.
Was fall in line like they did up with the
County Commissioners and everyone else. So now you have James
no show Smudgie Mitchell as the new mayor pro tem.
(27:25):
He's had finance issues with his election campaigns for years.
Wouldn't file, wouldn't file the state documents that you are
required to file, wouldn't file them for years. And then
these Charlot Observer did this big, huge piece on him
last year, going yeah, he's a no show. A lot
(27:46):
of the Times and so now he's your mayor pro
tem and somebody said, well, you know, he was probably
the sympathy vote because of his health issues. Okay, maybe,
but the question is, now that you're the mayor of
pro town, will this incentivize him to actually start showing
(28:07):
up to meetings like you're not just another council member.
Now you actually have to be there. You actually have
to be there. By the way, Mayor of our Laws
got the number of people wrong in the city council
the other night in the vote for Smudgie Missile last night,
(28:27):
said it was a ninety three vote. Yeah, there's only
eleven people on the city council. This is a trend.
What about Frank equipbrat Jensen for a few more minutes
going up until seven o'clock and then TJ. Richie will
(28:49):
take you the rest of the way until the Carolina
basketball game starts later tonight. Okay. So yesterday was the
first day of filing for office in North cal lineup
for those that are running for election in twenty twenty six. Okay,
you can file up until twelve noon on December nineteenth,
(29:10):
So you've got nineteen days to file for election. Okay.
Michael Wally who was running for Senate. He filed yesterday.
People that are running for federal offices or state office,
they have to file in Raleigh. Those that are running
(29:32):
for like say, representative of a you know mcliber you
are a state senator or a state representative, you can
file in your local Board of Elections in your county.
So those that have filed so far in Mecklinburg County
that plan to run in twenty twenty six, you'll have
(29:55):
your primary, I believe, March fourth, and then you'll have
the general election and whatever it is November third, I
think it is okay, first Tuesday, November. So right now,
as I look at it, this tells you now, yes,
this will change, but not by a lot. Right now,
(30:19):
you have one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty,
twenty one, twenty two, twenty three Democrats have filed. There's
(30:43):
been one Republican that says a lot about Michael Murer County.
Correct now. Granted a lot of the people that have
filed are incumbents, and I talked about Rodney Collins yesterday
he's running for sheriff against Gary mcfatten. And he was
Gary mcfatten's right hand man for many, many, many, many
(31:04):
many years. He was number two in charge. Matter of fact,
like I said, he was the very first person that
I met at the Mclamburre County Sheriff's office back in
twenty nineteen. The very first person. I remember our very
first conversation. I was in the parking lot of a
Harris Teeter and we talked for thirty five to forty
minutes because I asked for a very specific information and
(31:24):
he called me wanting to know why I wanted it.
It was the first time we met. It was via
tel phone. But as I look along, Susan Rodriguez mcdowalds
followed for reelection the Meckliburth County Commissioners. George Dunlap has
a primary for the County Commissioners against Phil Kerrey, another
Democrat Board of Commissioners, Adam Passik. He has done. Author
(31:50):
Griffin Lee Altman have both filed for reelection with the
County Commissioners. And then you look at like Brandon Lofton
is filed for reelection. Laura bud election. A lot of
these people again are people that have already you know,
Mary Bell everything else, right, And now Woodson Bradley filed
(32:12):
for reelection in District forty two. She's running for the
she's state senator. She won by a whisker last time,
by like two hundred and I don't know twenty votes,
whatever it was. Her district is mint Hill, Matthews, South Park,
(32:34):
Providence area, like the Piper Glen area that you know, Raintree,
that whole area, Highway fifty one, Arboretam that's her area, right.
And already she's a super nice person. I was actually
(32:57):
invited to go to her her Christmas party last year.
She has this massive Christmas party every year at her house,
she and her husband and I actually went last year.
This is after she had won the general election. So
I went and super nice woman, super nice lady. But
(33:20):
she's had votes already that leave you scratching your head.
She voted against making sheriffes cooperate with ICE. She voted
against the Arena Zaruska's law. She voted against trying to
define what a woman is. She voted against preventing inmates
(33:45):
and children from getting state funded transgender medicine or whatever.
Therapy if you want to call it.
Speaker 3 (33:55):
That.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
Can't use state funds. If you're in prison and you
say you're a girl, you're not getting state funds. She
voted against that, And it's curious because her husband is
a longtime deputy, a very long time deputy Maclamore County.
And I believe up, I'm blowing rock right, But yet
(34:16):
she voted against making sheriffs have to cooperate with ICE.
So and then when there's well, let me let me
rephrase that. I want to make sure I get this
accurate before we set it off to TJ. She voted
the She voted against it on the Vita override. A
(34:36):
lot of the times in the initial votes she took
a walk. She didn't want to vote on it because
it was controversial, so she took a walk. And that's
a problem. The person you elected doesn't want to vote
if it's semi controversial. She kept saying in her campaign,
I'm not the crazy Democrat. I'm not the crazy Democrat.
(35:00):
I don't know. I know what a woman is. I
think you do too, since you're a woman, but I
don't know. I don't know. And your sheriff, your husband
is a sheriff's deputy or work for the sheriff's department
for many years, and yet you don't want to make
sriffes cooperate with Ice to keep Charlotte Mecklamer County safer. Okay, Okay,
(35:23):
So that but she followed today and that race, like
I said yesterday, is going to be one of the
three or four races in Mecklinburg County that bears watching.
All Right, that's gonna do it for us tonight. TJ.
Ritchie is coming up next. Look forward to doing this
all over again tomorrow. And I have a very special
guest tomorrow night, so make sure you stick around for that.
My name is Brett Jenson, and you've been listening to
Breaking with Brett Jenson
Hi, oh, let's go oh, let's go oh, Let's go oh,
let's go.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Please talk eleven ten and ninety nine to three WBT
bred Jensen here with you again on this beautiful, beautiful
edition of Brett Jenson Breaking with Brett Jenson on this
Tuesday night. Got a little sidetrack there on this beautiful
Tuesday night edition of Breaking with Brett Jensen, as we
go up until seven o'clock tonight, seven oh four, five,
seven oh eleven ten. Okay, so we got a lot
(00:55):
to get into tonight. By the way, that is also
the exact same number two text us at Liberty BBT
text line driven by Liberty Buick GMC. And also, you
really need to be following me on except Brett Underscore
Jensen for all the latest and breaking news in and
around the Charlotte area. Because the story that I broke
yesterday about the payments and City Charlie, I think it
has one hundred and twenty thousand views now, I think
(01:16):
it's somewhere around there, at least it was early this afternoon,
I think. And then you have the North Carolina State
Auditor Dave Bollock retweeting my story yesterday saying that they're
investigating the City of Charlotte and this particular payout and
making sure what happened, why it happened, and making sure
it's on the up and up. And so I thought,
(01:37):
you know what, since he retweeted me, let's get to
North Carolina State Auditor on the phone and let's talk
to him about this particular investigation. First of all, Auditor Bullock,
thank you so much for joining us tonight. I truly
do appreciate it, and I know the listeners do as well.
And second of all, I broke the story yesterday of
releasing the documents of the payout to the husband of
(02:00):
the brand new police chief here at CMPD SO, but
you asked for these specific documents back on November fourteenth.
What were you specifically looking for and why did you
ask for the documents of the payout?
Speaker 3 (02:11):
Well, you know, Brett, first of all, appreciate you having
me on the show. Second, you know, our job from
day one, the beginning of twenty twenty five is to
be the watchdog that's shining a light on the spending
of taxpayer dollars. And we saw already that the City
(02:32):
of Charlotte had created and completed one behind closed door
settlement with the previous police chief, and then news reports
indicated that they had entered into Well, I actually entered
into a settlement because the city decided prior to trial
(02:53):
not to try the case with the battalion fire chief,
and so we said, well, and the indication in the
federal court documents was that the case had been settled
and we could find no evidence or indication that the
(03:13):
public had been made aware of any monetary payment to
the battalion chief. And a settlement, you know, it sort
of indicates that there's likely some dollars that have been
paid out. So we initiated an investigation to find out
how much or whether the City of Charlotte taxpayers had
(03:37):
paid the battalion chief money in response to a lawsuit.
And so actually those were our responses. We actually did
not receive the response on the fourteenth. We received it
later than that, but that is when that document was dated.
But we did have we did have information in our
(04:00):
Handbrett before yesterday. So we were going through our process
which would give and we will continue to go through
that process, which will give the city an opportunity to
respond to our ultimate findings.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
I'm speaking with North Kunta State Auditor Dave Bollock, and
I will tell you that many members of the Charlotte
City Council and members of the staff in the City
of Charlotte, they believe that the only reason you are
trying to get these documents and look at these payouts
is because of it's a political ploy.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
What do you say to all that, well, I would
say I was very clear when we initiated the investigation
on the behind closed door settlement with the former chief
of Police that the position of the State Auditor's Office
is that any expense of taxpayer money is the business
(04:57):
of the people who pay taxes. So it's the people's
business with how much money is spent. Now, not to
move forward with any additional comment on this ongoing investigation,
but the previous findings that we made in the chief
of police settlement, the former chief of police's settlement case
(05:17):
that we looked into. The city responded that they would
think about and I'm paraphrasing, but that they would think
about it or give it some consideration as to whether
they're going to release dollar amounts expended to settle lawsuits
that they believe were personnel related. I've just got to
(05:41):
tell you from the position of the State Auditor's office.
I'm going to repeat myself for the third time. Any
expense of taxpayer dollars is the business of the people
of North Carolina, no exceptions, and the gamesmanship that appears
to be being played in the City of Charlot is
not acceptable in my opinion, to the taxpayers of Charlotte.
(06:06):
They deserve to know how their money is being spent.
After all, this is not the city council's money, it's
not the city manager's money, it's not the city attorney's money.
It's the people's money.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
North Colina State Auditor Dave Bullock joins us here on
breaking with Brad Jensen. So, I'm curious, is Charlotte unique
in terms of cities or towns across the state of
trying to keep things private or hidden or do you
find this maybe in other areas, be it Gastoni, i
should say, or Wilmington or Greensboro or Raleigh, whatever. Are
you finding this in other parts of the state or
(06:40):
is it specifically unique to Charlotte.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
No, we don't see the withholding of subtlement amounts widespread
across the state of North Carolina. I couldn't speak to
all of North Carolina because every situation is unique and different,
But these are certainly high profile instances that have come
(07:03):
up with the City of Charlotte, and our job is
to hold city government accountable. And you've got to ask
yourself the question, if we did not send a request
asking for the information on how much money was used
to settle that particular lawsuit, would that amount of money
(07:26):
have ever seen the light of day to the taxpayer?
Would they have ever known about that? And it certainly
begs the question.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
One last question on this particular topic was North Kinta
State auditor Dave Bollock. How long do you think this
investigation will last into the payout? Is it something that
will be quick or something that might be long term,
Like how long do you expect this to happen?
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Well, as you have reported, and you have sources that
divulged our inquiry, but we've received answers to the questions
that we've asked, and so our team will review that
and compare that against some financial records that we also have,
(08:14):
and then we'll draft a final report and send it
to the city for their response, and then after they
get their response, we will typically issue reports.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
So I don't know.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
I don't think it's not a really long inquiry. So
I couldn't give you a day or a time, but
it's not a long time.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Off, Okay, So we're going to ask the auditor to
State Auditors stick around for one more segment because I
want to talk to him about other things going on
across the state, not just what's happening here in Charlotte,
Because I will tell you the auditor right here, Dave Bollock,
has investigated many, many things across the state to making
(08:57):
sure all the money is a heunted four in being
used appropriately from local governments to state governments, to the
City of Charlotte, to everything else and in between. So
again we've asked mister Bullock if he'd stick around for
one more segment, and he has graciously agreed to. All Right,
So when we come back more of our conversation with
the North Kunta State Auditor Dave Bullock. Welcome back to
(09:24):
breaking with Brett Jensen on this chili and wet Tuesday night.
So we go up until seven o'clock tonight, seven oh four, five,
seven eleven ten. Yes, the tar Hills play tonight, but
they play a late game. So I am here till seven. TJ.
Ritchie's on the show tonight or on his show tonight,
so you got nothing to worry about. You got a
full slate of all your favorite people tonight. Speaking of which,
(09:48):
Dave Bullock, the North Kulina State Auditor, has agreed to
stick around for one more segment, So I truly do
appreciate that. Thank you again for sticking around for one
more segment with us tonight. So I want to switch
gears a little bit and just talk about your office,
because you know, Charlotte's not the only thing that you've
been investigating since you took office back in January. You've
investigated quite a lot of things. So what can you
(10:10):
tell us about some of the new things that you've
been investigating or some of the new findings that you've
been finding across the state in other towns or other avenues.
So what's been going on in the North Carolina Auditor's Office?
Speaker 3 (10:21):
A couple things. One, we just released our audit on
the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency in Eastern
North Carolina response to Hurricanes Matthew and Florence, and I
would commend although it's not a page turner, as much
of these audits aren't, but it is very instructive and interesting.
(10:41):
With respect how North Carolina responded to those storms down east,
we had some i think some findings that indicate the
need for North Carolina to have a solid plan moving forward.
In the recovery phase of major disasters. We do a
(11:01):
credible and good job on the nine to one one
part of it. The response, you know, you get in there,
we get people stable. It's the long term recovery where
there has been a sheer lack of financial accountability and
results accountability. And that's what are that found in Encore.
For example, I'll give you one number of note. The
(11:24):
State of North Carolina and taxpayers as a result, spent
twenty five point four million dollars on the software program
that was wasn't the program's fault, it was the user's fault.
That was never utilized to the full extent of its ability.
And that's just that's a waste of taxpayer dollars. So
(11:46):
that's one of the things we've been working on, I'd say,
on a broader picture, we've been working on the Dave Act,
which is the vision of accountability value and efficiency in
North Carolina, and that was an effort where the North
kind of General Assembly has given our off additional resources
to look at efficiency across the state of North Carolina.
We'll be issuing a report on state agencies across the
(12:11):
state of North Carolina, not including universities and community colleges,
which will be in a separate report that details vacancies
in state government and how much money state agencies have
at their disposal as a result of those vacancies, and
also taking a look at why there are vacancies and
(12:32):
when the state has a vacancy, what level of service
are is state government not delivering as a result of
the vacancy. So we're going to have a comprehensive report
on that coming out. We didn't release a preliminary report
focused on Department of Health and Human Services since there's
a large debate since Department of Health and Human Services
(12:57):
unilaterally cut provider re imbursement for Medicaid patients. So that
is doctors that you and I have, our family physicians,
our surgeons, our interness, our emergency medical personnel, and hospitals.
You know, they who also see patients who may have
(13:20):
private insurance, who may have government insurance but who also
have Medicaid as their third party payer had their reimbursements
from Medicaid cut by between three and ten percent, but
it really averaged out to around eight percent cut, and
that was unilateral from Department of Health and Human Services.
(13:40):
Yet they have three hundred and eighty six million dollars
in lap salary in the agency. Now, to be fair,
some of those salary dollars are tied to specific positions,
but one hundred and fifty one million of those dollars
our state appropriated dollars that the agency would be free
to use in whatever method they felt appropriate. So those
(14:04):
are real budgetary numbers. They're large numbers and you know,
like hard to understand sometimes, but that's you know, at
some point, Brett, one hundred and fifty one million dollars
starts to add up to real money, and it's time
for government to be held accountable for what those dollars
(14:25):
are being spent for and truing up these budgets to
let the General Assembly and the taxpayers know exactly what
agencies need in order to properly serve the citizens of
North Carolina. And we've been working on our own efficiency
here in the in the State Auditor's Office with some
new technology and working to modernize the way our audit
(14:52):
teams work across the state of North Carolina. We've been busy.
I'm proud of the work our team has done. I
don't do it by myself, for sure. I've got fantastic,
astic civil servants who really are dedicated to the mission
of holding a government accountable at all levels. And our
team has grown over the last year. They're energized their
(15:14):
own mission, and I believe we've delivered results for the
people of North Carolina, and I'm excited about the results
we're going to be able to deliver in the new year.
Speaker 2 (15:24):
North Carolina State Auditor, Dave Bullock, I really do appreciate
you taking so much time with us tonight. I really
do appreciate it, and I know that listeners appreciate it
as well. Thank you very much for doing this anytime.
Brett all right again, thanks to the Auditor, mister Dave
Bullock for doing this tonight with me and busy man
investigating a lot of things. And I want to tell
you during the break, I got a message and I
(15:48):
want you to I want you I want to read
this to you speaking to you the audience, not to
the auditor. But it's interesting. We were talking about the
investigating Charlotte and everything else like that, and I said, hey,
is Charlotte unique in this? If you remember the question
I asked the last segment, is Charlotte unque in this?
Or are there other towns and municipalities, governments, county governments whatever?
(16:09):
Are they being secretive with all their stuff? And you
heard him say absolutely not. Charlott's by itself, right, and
then he I got this message from him. The small
town of Randoman, random and famous for the home of
Richard Petty, right, that's in Randolph County, going out east
(16:30):
towards Pinehurst, but not quite to Pinehurst. Got an example.
The small town of Randoman in Randolph County released the
fifty nine thousand dollars settlement with a finance director. So
Randolman can do it. Apparently Mecklimburth County and Charlotte can't. Well,
I should say Charlotte, not Mecklmer County. Apparently Charlotte cannot.
(16:51):
And I will say this, and we don't know how
this is going to work with the new county manager.
You know, he took he took over, I believe on
July first. Maybe I can't, maybe a little bit earlier,
but I know Dina Diorio's contract went until June thirtieth.
But I can tell you this, donew Diario, first and
foremost above anything else, believed in transparency more than anything else.
(17:15):
When she was named county manager years ago. That was
her type part because she came in the middle of
a flying crapstorm involving women's health records and everything else, right,
and so she said, no, no, no, We're going to be transparent,
even if it hurts us. We are going to be transparent.
They should probably give that to a lesson to Anthony Fox,
(17:36):
the city attorney, who, thankfully for the City of Charlotte,
will no longer be on the payroll, because I don't
know why he's on the payroll. Why does the City
of Charlotte need two city attorneys? Apparently the same reason
why they need two police chiefs, paying two police chiefs
at least until January second, only in Charlotte, ladies and gentlemen,
(17:57):
only in Charlotte. And you know you always hear me say,
with each passing day, we're getting closer to Baltimore, DC. Baltimore,
New Orleans, Memphis, Saint Louis, Detroit, with each passing day
getting closer to those cities. And I put that on
a thread last night. Text the thread it was like
ten of us and the person said, one person said, well, Brett,
(18:21):
I would feel fairly confident that many people on this
thread would rather live in Charlotte in those places. I said, yes, now, yes, now.
Baltimore twenty years ago was beautiful, twenty five years ago
was gorgeous. Saint Louis was a happening city twenty five
years ago. Memphis I used to be in. I would
hang out in Memphis twenty five years ago. Loved New
(18:45):
Orleans before Hurricane Katrine. Ate, Yes, they always had their
political issues in Louisiana is very famous for their political
weirdness and corruption. Great cities and what's happened? And now
this it is Charlotte has elected its first socialist on
the city council, taking the You know, and you just
(19:07):
had a felon who's now charged with multiple felonies, get
removed from office, get voted out. The mayor and the
city manager of the city attorney trying to do secret
deals and not tell the public we got two police chiefs,
We've got two city attorneys on the payroll. What are
we doing? Okay? All right, all upset because border patrol came.
(19:31):
This is how it starts. And that's why I say,
with each passing day, all you got to do is
look at the elected officials in the city of Charlotte.
Welcome back to Breaking with Brett Jenson on this Tuesday
night once again thanks to North Carolina State Auditor Dave Bollick,
who joined us for the first half of the show
(19:53):
tonight talking about the investigation going into the city of
Charlotte and the ninety nine thousand, nine ninety nine dollars
payout that they gave to the husband of the brand
new police chief here in Charlotte. Gave the payout to
Lance Patterson over his seven year old lawsuit. Forty thousand
(20:13):
went to Lance, fifty ninety nine dollars went to his
legal team, And gonna be honest with you, sixty thousand
over seven years. That seems rather low. I'm not sure
how much he paid out of his pocket. Maybe I
would think that he probably paid out a lot. If
he paid nothing out of his pocket. You got seven
(20:35):
year lawsuit for forty K. Was that worth it? All
the stress, all the anxiety, was that really worth it?
You got forty k? Congratulations, your law firm got sixty K.
But I would think or hope if i'm the lawsuit,
(20:56):
because the law firm is like one of the biggest
law firms in Charlott mackelrowan Deal. Right, it's huge, the
old Bill Deal law firm, and that lawsuit would be
way more than sixty thousand dollars because I know what
they generally charged per hour, and I doubt they would
do it on a contingency basis, going yeah, we'll take
(21:17):
thirty three percent of your winnings. Yeah, that's not what
happened here. They took sixty percent, probably because he owed
them a lot of money for this lawsuit. And I
would think that he probably paid paid a lot out
of his pocket, maybe ten fifteen K out of his pocket.
So in the grand scheme of things, forty thousand dollars
(21:40):
in twenty twenty five isn't the same amount as forty
thousand dollars was in twenty eighteen. I promise you that
in twenty eighteen, forty K was probably worth about sixty
just a rough guess. Just a rough guess, minimum fifty
but maybe fifty five sixty some running there all right,
(22:01):
speaking of the city as Charlotte. So last night the
new members were sworn in, including the first Socialist elected
in Charlotte City Council history. Jd Airis worked for AOC
all this stuff up there in New York City, came
(22:22):
to the country illegally, got a scholarship to Queen's University.
Queen's University likes to give scholarships to foreign born people.
All universities do, I should say, not just Queens, all
universities do that because it's all about inclusion. But so
(22:42):
he's not elected. Joy Mayo we interviewed in her primary
against Tijuana Brown, Isaac's favorite person. Interviewed her. She's extremely bright. Yeah,
of course she's a Democrat, but nobody knows is she
(23:04):
like really far left? Is she center left? Is she
moderate left?
Speaker 3 (23:08):
Like?
Speaker 2 (23:09):
We don't know yet. We don't know yet, So we'll see.
And I once had a city council member tell me, saying, Brett,
they don't care if the person's Republican or a Democrat
that's elected to city council. They just want to make
sure that they're not using the city Council as a
platform for activism. Are they taking care of the whole
(23:32):
city and what's best for the whole city, or do
they only care about a certain subset. Yes, you have
to care about your district. They're the ones that elected you.
But it is incumbent upon you to actually care about
the entire city in which you live, because if the
city starts to rot, then your district will eventually rot.
(23:59):
So last night they start they have to pick a
mayor pro tem and for those of you that don't know,
mayor pro tim, that's essentially the vice mayor, you know,
vice president, it's the vice mayor. It's the number two,
and it's the one that tries to help keep the
mayor in check and challenge the mayor with the agenda
(24:23):
and everything else. And they did not believe that Dante
Anderson was doing a good enough job. They didn't feel
like the council members didn't feel like she was challenging
and keeping the mayor in check. So there was some
back and forth. Dimple ashmro for at least the second
(24:47):
time is the leading vote getter, and last time she didn't.
They didn't give it to her as a matter of fact,
on election night, multiple phone calls and text messages were
going on between city council members on how not to
give it to dimpleedged mirror a couple of years ago,
(25:09):
and then last time two years ago. Up until the
final moments, she was trying to get people to vote
for her, even according to people that were there, misleading
council members in order to get them to vote. Hey,
I've got so and So's vote. I got so and
So's vote, if you'll vote for me, but never really
had so and So's vote. So I exposed all that
(25:31):
two years ago, exposed it all, every single bit of it.
And her people did not like that I did that.
They were not happy and tried to deny it, but
I had multiple witnesses. So now fast forward to last night.
(25:51):
She clearly wanted to be the Mayor pro temp. She
feels like it's her right as the leading vote getner.
Would tell dimple Ashmira this, go talk to Pat Cothham.
She can tell you how it is. How many times
was Pat Cotham the leading vote getter and how many
times was she not named head of the Mecklemburg County Commissioners. Right?
(26:16):
It was George Dunlap and so she again, the leading
vote getter is generally supposed to be the chair. That's
it's not a written rule, it's an unwritten rule, but
that's generally accepted. Pat Coltham always the leading vote getter.
Noop for the County Commissioners, dimple, Ashmira, there you go.
(26:40):
Now go check out cus CMS school board. Any of
the leading vote getters getting that chair. Noop. So Dimple,
you're not alone. She wanted it. She feels like it's
her right. In some ways it is. But when you
can do a comparison contrast the County Commissioners and CMS,
(27:02):
no it's not. You just fall in line with everybody else.
Was fall in line like they did up with the
County Commissioners and everyone else. So now you have James
no show Smudgie Mitchell as the new mayor pro tem.
(27:25):
He's had finance issues with his election campaigns for years.
Wouldn't file, wouldn't file the state documents that you are
required to file, wouldn't file them for years. And then
these Charlot Observer did this big, huge piece on him
last year, going yeah, he's a no show. A lot
(27:46):
of the Times and so now he's your mayor pro
tem and somebody said, well, you know, he was probably
the sympathy vote because of his health issues. Okay, maybe,
but the question is, now that you're the mayor of
pro town, will this incentivize him to actually start showing
(28:07):
up to meetings like you're not just another council member.
Now you actually have to be there. You actually have
to be there. By the way, Mayor of our Laws
got the number of people wrong in the city council
the other night in the vote for Smudgie Missile last night,
(28:27):
said it was a ninety three vote. Yeah, there's only
eleven people on the city council. This is a trend.
What about Frank equipbrat Jensen for a few more minutes
going up until seven o'clock and then TJ. Richie will
(28:49):
take you the rest of the way until the Carolina
basketball game starts later tonight. Okay. So yesterday was the
first day of filing for office in North cal lineup
for those that are running for election in twenty twenty six. Okay,
you can file up until twelve noon on December nineteenth,
(29:10):
So you've got nineteen days to file for election. Okay.
Michael Wally who was running for Senate. He filed yesterday.
People that are running for federal offices or state office,
they have to file in Raleigh. Those that are running
(29:32):
for like say, representative of a you know mcliber you
are a state senator or a state representative, you can
file in your local Board of Elections in your county.
So those that have filed so far in Mecklinburg County
that plan to run in twenty twenty six, you'll have
(29:55):
your primary, I believe, March fourth, and then you'll have
the general election and whatever it is November third, I
think it is okay, first Tuesday, November. So right now,
as I look at it, this tells you now, yes,
this will change, but not by a lot. Right now,
(30:19):
you have one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty,
twenty one, twenty two, twenty three Democrats have filed. There's
(30:43):
been one Republican that says a lot about Michael Murer County.
Correct now. Granted a lot of the people that have
filed are incumbents, and I talked about Rodney Collins yesterday
he's running for sheriff against Gary mcfatten. And he was
Gary mcfatten's right hand man for many, many, many, many
(31:04):
many years. He was number two in charge. Matter of fact,
like I said, he was the very first person that
I met at the Mclamburre County Sheriff's office back in
twenty nineteen. The very first person. I remember our very
first conversation. I was in the parking lot of a
Harris Teeter and we talked for thirty five to forty
minutes because I asked for a very specific information and
(31:24):
he called me wanting to know why I wanted it.
It was the first time we met. It was via
tel phone. But as I look along, Susan Rodriguez mcdowalds
followed for reelection the Meckliburth County Commissioners. George Dunlap has
a primary for the County Commissioners against Phil Kerrey, another
Democrat Board of Commissioners, Adam Passik. He has done. Author
(31:50):
Griffin Lee Altman have both filed for reelection with the
County Commissioners. And then you look at like Brandon Lofton
is filed for reelection. Laura bud election. A lot of
these people again are people that have already you know,
Mary Bell everything else, right, And now Woodson Bradley filed
(32:12):
for reelection in District forty two. She's running for the
she's state senator. She won by a whisker last time,
by like two hundred and I don't know twenty votes,
whatever it was. Her district is mint Hill, Matthews, South Park,
(32:34):
Providence area, like the Piper Glen area that you know, Raintree,
that whole area, Highway fifty one, Arboretam that's her area, right.
And already she's a super nice person. I was actually
(32:57):
invited to go to her her Christmas party last year.
She has this massive Christmas party every year at her house,
she and her husband and I actually went last year.
This is after she had won the general election. So
I went and super nice woman, super nice lady. But
(33:20):
she's had votes already that leave you scratching your head.
She voted against making sheriffes cooperate with ICE. She voted
against the Arena Zaruska's law. She voted against trying to
define what a woman is. She voted against preventing inmates
(33:45):
and children from getting state funded transgender medicine or whatever.
Therapy if you want to call it.
Speaker 3 (33:55):
That.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
Can't use state funds. If you're in prison and you
say you're a girl, you're not getting state funds. She
voted against that, And it's curious because her husband is
a longtime deputy, a very long time deputy Maclamore County.
And I believe up, I'm blowing rock right, But yet
(34:16):
she voted against making sheriffs have to cooperate with ICE.
So and then when there's well, let me let me
rephrase that. I want to make sure I get this
accurate before we set it off to TJ. She voted
the She voted against it on the Vita override. A
(34:36):
lot of the times in the initial votes she took
a walk. She didn't want to vote on it because
it was controversial, so she took a walk. And that's
a problem. The person you elected doesn't want to vote
if it's semi controversial. She kept saying in her campaign,
I'm not the crazy Democrat. I'm not the crazy Democrat.
(35:00):
I don't know. I know what a woman is. I
think you do too, since you're a woman, but I
don't know. I don't know. And your sheriff, your husband
is a sheriff's deputy or work for the sheriff's department
for many years, and yet you don't want to make
sriffes cooperate with Ice to keep Charlotte Mecklamer County safer. Okay, Okay,
(35:23):
So that but she followed today and that race, like
I said yesterday, is going to be one of the
three or four races in Mecklinburg County that bears watching.
All Right, that's gonna do it for us tonight. TJ.
Ritchie is coming up next. Look forward to doing this
all over again tomorrow. And I have a very special
guest tomorrow night, so make sure you stick around for that.
My name is Brett Jenson, and you've been listening to
Breaking with Brett Jenson
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