November 14, 2023 • 8 mins
Mike Gastin faces run-off race to fill the District 9 seat on Charleston City Council. Gastin isn't affraid to tell you he's a conservative private sector entrepreneur who's never run for office.
What do you think? How'd he do in his first 'broadcast' interview?
MORE: https://votemikegastin.com/ - candidate For Charleston City Council District 9 West Ashley Seat
What do you think? How'd he do in his first 'broadcast' interview?
MORE: https://votemikegastin.com/ - candidate For Charleston City Council District 9 West Ashley Seat
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
You're locked on now, Kelly GoldenShow Podcast, go back to Iowa.
It will not be as a presidentialcandidate. I am suspending my campaign.
I think the voters, who arethe most remarkable people on the planet have
been really clear that they're telling menot now, Tim, my guest,
(00:20):
it is going to be joining yourballot here coming up in the city of
Charleston's runoff elections. How are you, Mike, Good morning, I'm doing
real well. Thanks for having me. Kelly, how are you doing well?
So I'm really not all that surprise. I figured Tim at some point
and Chris Christy eventually I would imaginewould be not making the next debate stage.
But what's your reaction to Senator Scottdropping out? I really loved Tim.
(00:42):
I think you know what he standsfor and the type of person is
I really appreciate. I love hisfaith and what he's accomplished. But you
see how he's performed throughout the beginningof this race. It just was apparent
early on that he was going tostruggle to getting purchased, So seeing him
drop out not a big surprise.You know, you mentioned Chris Christie,
I mean the cynic and me saysChristy will stay in there to the to
(01:04):
the end. Yeah, someone's goingto make sure that that they've got their
voice. You know. I feellike Chris Christi is a paid you know,
sponsor. He's just so annoying tome. Mike. I want to
not distract too much to your localraces here because it's so important to sweep
our own front porch first. Andwe can be distracted by all of the
national stuff. But we saw throughCOVID how important our City of Charleston City
(01:26):
Council was. You know, herewe have a runoff race. This is
a big deal and I want tomake sure, yes, John Tecklenberg and
William Coggswell, they're you know,they're going to get a lot of attention
because it's the mayoral race and he'san encompassy with Charleston's District nine. Let's
talk about where that is specifically,so people in West Ashley pay attention.
Yeah, thank you. So we'reWest Ashley District nine. We had five
(01:49):
folks running for the seat. Icame in number two out of five,
so it's myself and my opponent isWilliam Tinkler, the Tinkler family. For
listeners, probably know that name.But this is this is a political family.
They're Democrats, they're liberal. I'vemet William, good guy's young fellow,
good Guy, but I just don'tagree with his ideas. And the
reason I jumped in this race,I was going to run against another Conservative.
(02:14):
You know, we're talking about ChrisChristy a minute ago. If there
was a good, strong Conservative thatwas saying, hey, I'm going to
vote against unnecessary tax increases, I'mgoing to the unmitigated you know development,
I'm going to support the police.And I would have supported that person.
But out of four other people,there was no one in the race saying
that they believed in and so Ithrew my hat in the ring, and
(02:35):
so now it's down to William andI. And you're right, this is
so important. The thing that people, you know, we tend to think
a city council it's almost like dogcatcher, you know, it's just some function
in the back of our mind.But when it comes down to things like
COVID or the riots that we sawacross the country, your city council matters.
Those are the people that decide ifyou get to go outside. Those
are the people that decide if businessesget to continue to exercise their constitutional right
(03:01):
to make a living and feed theirfamily. And so, I you know
this, this is a really importantrace, like you said, and there's
a stark difference between myself and mycompetition. Well one that you're willing to
you know, broadcast live across theair waves. And I've seen you speaking
at neighborhood meetings that you're conservative.This is a non partisan race, and
(03:24):
there are many people I don't knowyour opponent here, whether they you know,
have or have not said politically howthey lean. Because again, nonpartisan
means you don't have to say,so you kind of get to hide behind
that, right, You're not hidinganything, my guests. And clearly it
seems to me when it comes tothe City of Charleston in the past,
their COVID masking, their business shutdowns, that you're anti all of that stuff.
(03:49):
Yeah, that's what about the UpperKing Street riots and now the city
is forcing security permits on people whoare struggling through Biden inflation. I mean
do you support that? Yes,absolutely not. I mean obviously the way
the city handled the riots is reallydisgusting. Where years past that and no
one's willing to take responsibility. Imean, here's the thing. When you're
(04:11):
in charge, you know, whetheryou picked up the phone or you didn't
pick up the phone. If you'rethe person in charge, the mayor needs
to take responsibility for what happened,even if he's unhappy with it. He
needs to come out. He shouldhave come out and said, hey,
look we fell short on this one. Here's what we're doing to make it
right. Rather than do that,he's obfuscating and you know, doing a
little bit of a dance here.He's got all this focus on King Street
(04:32):
for police presence, which you needto look at, and what listeners need
to look at voters need to consideris you need to look at incident reports.
I mean they're not you can hita lot of police presents, but
the police aren't arresting people, ifthey're not issuing citations and fines, if
they're not holding people accountable to thelaw, then what good is the presence
and the police want to do theirjob. You know, one of the
(04:54):
problems we have in West Ashley,especially District nine. On a weekend you
have all the police presence down I'mking Meanwhile you get two or three cars
patrolling. We's the actually West actuallyis a huge area. And if you
get a little car break in,you get a fender bender, you can
wait hours for the police to respond. And it's not because they're not doing
(05:14):
their job. They want to dotheir job, but they can only do
so much. And so we needto see a more intelligent, a more
committed allocation and support of public safetyand police officers. But no, I
think burdening honest business people with unreasonablepermits and fines and whatnot is outrageous.
They've got it backwards, they're punishingthe wrong people. Well, my Gaston
(05:35):
District nine going to be on yourballot here coming up. You've got early
voting opening on Wednesday through Friday atthe North Charleston District headquarters right there at
Azalea and Leeds Avenue in the Northarea eight thirty to five. And then
you go to your election day,which is a week in a day away.
You go to your regular polling locationseven to seven. And it's really
(05:55):
important Mike for people to understand,No, you didn't have to vote back
on Suday seven. Yeah, youdidn't have to vote on the seventh.
To come out and vote in theregistered Mike Gaston, I tell you the
reaction. I mean you just mentionedpolicing in West Ashley to this past Friday
is deadly shooting in the heart ofthe tourist district. This spike and crime
stretches from the city of Charleston touristcenter all the way out to West Ashley
(06:20):
and beyond. It affects all ofus. That's right again, you've got
early voting and there's no excuse.How is it? Mike, by the
way, with your door knocking andtalking to people, I know, it's
got to be a little frustrating whenyou're running for office and you see,
you know, the lack of voterparticipation. Because for me, it's like
if not now win, if youwere not willing to show up a vote,
(06:41):
then win. How much more canbe going wrong for you to stand
up and have a sex Well,you know, I got it. I
mean, I totally agree with you. It is discouraged. And these are
trends across the country. I mean, and actually generational two. Like you
know you're knock on doors, yousee certain generations, older generations very enthusiastic,
and you do see a bit ofa drop off. But I want
(07:01):
to say this you know, whenI went into this race, I didn't
mind doing fundraising. I didn't mindgiving speeches. You know, in my
business life, I'm a business guy, an entrepreneur and a consultant, so
I'm used to all that. Thedoor knocking, I have to be honest,
scared me. I was like,oh, I don't want to do
this. I started knocking on doors. It was the best experience of my
life. Practically. I have tosay it practically because my marriage is better
(07:25):
than that obviously. But when Iwent knocking on doors, I discovered that
my district is populated with so manywonderful, enthusiastic, committed people, great
Americans that love their city, lovetheir country, love West Ashley. They
were thanking me, thank you somuch for doing this. You know,
please come in and sit down.Can I get you a drink? People
(07:46):
are just so generous and gracious.So I say all that to say,
this gives me hope. Yes,we don't get big turnout at these types
of down bailed elections, but wehave a population of wonderful people that do
want to change. They resonated withmy message. They want a more conservative,
common sense, you know, accountableleadership from city Hall. We have
an opportunity to do something special hereand I think we've got the people behind
(08:09):
us to do it. We justneed to get, like you said,
people out to the bailots. Wecan make a change this time. This
is one election your vote really doesmatter. Yeah, not only that Caroline
Park are openly conservative. Representing theJames Allen area on Charleston's City Council indeeds
more conservative support, my guest,than so good luck You're locked on Kelly
(08:30):
Golden Show podcast
You're locked on now, Kelly GoldenShow Podcast, go back to Iowa.
It will not be as a presidentialcandidate. I am suspending my campaign.
I think the voters, who arethe most remarkable people on the planet have
been really clear that they're telling menot now, Tim, my guest,
(00:20):
it is going to be joining yourballot here coming up in the city of
Charleston's runoff elections. How are you, Mike, Good morning, I'm doing
real well. Thanks for having me. Kelly, how are you doing well?
So I'm really not all that surprise. I figured Tim at some point
and Chris Christy eventually I would imaginewould be not making the next debate stage.
But what's your reaction to Senator Scottdropping out? I really loved Tim.
(00:42):
I think you know what he standsfor and the type of person is
I really appreciate. I love hisfaith and what he's accomplished. But you
see how he's performed throughout the beginningof this race. It just was apparent
early on that he was going tostruggle to getting purchased, So seeing him
drop out not a big surprise.You know, you mentioned Chris Christie,
I mean the cynic and me saysChristy will stay in there to the to
(01:04):
the end. Yeah, someone's goingto make sure that that they've got their
voice. You know. I feellike Chris Christi is a paid you know,
sponsor. He's just so annoying tome. Mike. I want to
not distract too much to your localraces here because it's so important to sweep
our own front porch first. Andwe can be distracted by all of the
national stuff. But we saw throughCOVID how important our City of Charleston City
(01:26):
Council was. You know, herewe have a runoff race. This is
a big deal and I want tomake sure, yes, John Tecklenberg and
William Coggswell, they're you know,they're going to get a lot of attention
because it's the mayoral race and he'san encompassy with Charleston's District nine. Let's
talk about where that is specifically,so people in West Ashley pay attention.
Yeah, thank you. So we'reWest Ashley District nine. We had five
(01:49):
folks running for the seat. Icame in number two out of five,
so it's myself and my opponent isWilliam Tinkler, the Tinkler family. For
listeners, probably know that name.But this is this is a political family.
They're Democrats, they're liberal. I'vemet William, good guy's young fellow,
good Guy, but I just don'tagree with his ideas. And the
reason I jumped in this race,I was going to run against another Conservative.
(02:14):
You know, we're talking about ChrisChristy a minute ago. If there
was a good, strong Conservative thatwas saying, hey, I'm going to
vote against unnecessary tax increases, I'mgoing to the unmitigated you know development,
I'm going to support the police.And I would have supported that person.
But out of four other people,there was no one in the race saying
that they believed in and so Ithrew my hat in the ring, and
(02:35):
so now it's down to William andI. And you're right, this is
so important. The thing that people, you know, we tend to think
a city council it's almost like dogcatcher, you know, it's just some function
in the back of our mind.But when it comes down to things like
COVID or the riots that we sawacross the country, your city council matters.
Those are the people that decide ifyou get to go outside. Those
are the people that decide if businessesget to continue to exercise their constitutional right
(03:01):
to make a living and feed theirfamily. And so, I you know
this, this is a really importantrace, like you said, and there's
a stark difference between myself and mycompetition. Well one that you're willing to
you know, broadcast live across theair waves. And I've seen you speaking
at neighborhood meetings that you're conservative.This is a non partisan race, and
(03:24):
there are many people I don't knowyour opponent here, whether they you know,
have or have not said politically howthey lean. Because again, nonpartisan
means you don't have to say,so you kind of get to hide behind
that, right, You're not hidinganything, my guests. And clearly it
seems to me when it comes tothe City of Charleston in the past,
their COVID masking, their business shutdowns, that you're anti all of that stuff.
(03:49):
Yeah, that's what about the UpperKing Street riots and now the city
is forcing security permits on people whoare struggling through Biden inflation. I mean
do you support that? Yes,absolutely not. I mean obviously the way
the city handled the riots is reallydisgusting. Where years past that and no
one's willing to take responsibility. Imean, here's the thing. When you're
(04:11):
in charge, you know, whetheryou picked up the phone or you didn't
pick up the phone. If you'rethe person in charge, the mayor needs
to take responsibility for what happened,even if he's unhappy with it. He
needs to come out. He shouldhave come out and said, hey,
look we fell short on this one. Here's what we're doing to make it
right. Rather than do that,he's obfuscating and you know, doing a
little bit of a dance here.He's got all this focus on King Street
(04:32):
for police presence, which you needto look at, and what listeners need
to look at voters need to consideris you need to look at incident reports.
I mean they're not you can hita lot of police presents, but
the police aren't arresting people, ifthey're not issuing citations and fines, if
they're not holding people accountable to thelaw, then what good is the presence
and the police want to do theirjob. You know, one of the
(04:54):
problems we have in West Ashley,especially District nine. On a weekend you
have all the police presence down I'mking Meanwhile you get two or three cars
patrolling. We's the actually West actuallyis a huge area. And if you
get a little car break in,you get a fender bender, you can
wait hours for the police to respond. And it's not because they're not doing
(05:14):
their job. They want to dotheir job, but they can only do
so much. And so we needto see a more intelligent, a more
committed allocation and support of public safetyand police officers. But no, I
think burdening honest business people with unreasonablepermits and fines and whatnot is outrageous.
They've got it backwards, they're punishingthe wrong people. Well, my Gaston
(05:35):
District nine going to be on yourballot here coming up. You've got early
voting opening on Wednesday through Friday atthe North Charleston District headquarters right there at
Azalea and Leeds Avenue in the Northarea eight thirty to five. And then
you go to your election day,which is a week in a day away.
You go to your regular polling locationseven to seven. And it's really
(05:55):
important Mike for people to understand,No, you didn't have to vote back
on Suday seven. Yeah, youdidn't have to vote on the seventh.
To come out and vote in theregistered Mike Gaston, I tell you the
reaction. I mean you just mentionedpolicing in West Ashley to this past Friday
is deadly shooting in the heart ofthe tourist district. This spike and crime
stretches from the city of Charleston touristcenter all the way out to West Ashley
(06:20):
and beyond. It affects all ofus. That's right again, you've got
early voting and there's no excuse.How is it? Mike, by the
way, with your door knocking andtalking to people, I know, it's
got to be a little frustrating whenyou're running for office and you see,
you know, the lack of voterparticipation. Because for me, it's like
if not now win, if youwere not willing to show up a vote,
(06:41):
then win. How much more canbe going wrong for you to stand
up and have a sex Well,you know, I got it. I
mean, I totally agree with you. It is discouraged. And these are
trends across the country. I mean, and actually generational two. Like you
know you're knock on doors, yousee certain generations, older generations very enthusiastic,
and you do see a bit ofa drop off. But I want
(07:01):
to say this you know, whenI went into this race, I didn't
mind doing fundraising. I didn't mindgiving speeches. You know, in my
business life, I'm a business guy, an entrepreneur and a consultant, so
I'm used to all that. Thedoor knocking, I have to be honest,
scared me. I was like,oh, I don't want to do
this. I started knocking on doors. It was the best experience of my
life. Practically. I have tosay it practically because my marriage is better
(07:25):
than that obviously. But when Iwent knocking on doors, I discovered that
my district is populated with so manywonderful, enthusiastic, committed people, great
Americans that love their city, lovetheir country, love West Ashley. They
were thanking me, thank you somuch for doing this. You know,
please come in and sit down.Can I get you a drink? People
(07:46):
are just so generous and gracious.So I say all that to say,
this gives me hope. Yes,we don't get big turnout at these types
of down bailed elections, but wehave a population of wonderful people that do
want to change. They resonated withmy message. They want a more conservative,
common sense, you know, accountableleadership from city Hall. We have
an opportunity to do something special hereand I think we've got the people behind
(08:09):
us to do it. We justneed to get, like you said,
people out to the bailots. Wecan make a change this time. This
is one election your vote really doesmatter. Yeah, not only that Caroline
Park are openly conservative. Representing theJames Allen area on Charleston's City Council indeeds
more conservative support, my guest,than so good luck You're locked on Kelly
(08:30):
Golden Show podcast
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