12 20 25 The Jonathon and Kelly Show

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Jonathan and Kelly Show.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Jonathan rush One of the arguments that I hear is
somehow that the ACA made healthcare more.

Speaker 1 (00:11):
Expensive Kelly Nash.

Speaker 3 (00:13):
Since Obamacare was fully implemented in twenty fourteen, healthcare premiums
have risen one hundred and twenty nine percent, over three
times the rate of inflation.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
The Jonathan and Kelly Show, somehow the ACA ended up
costing more, she asked, as House member of Maggie Hassem.

Speaker 4 (00:29):
By the way, and.

Speaker 5 (00:30):
The guy who rebutted it, did Jeff v Andrew didn't
really rebutt it at all, did he? He just said it's
up one hundred and twenty nine percent and more than
three times the rate of inflation. But did you actually
connect that the ACA caused that to go up?

Speaker 4 (00:45):
You know what?

Speaker 2 (00:46):
We'll ask Ralph Norman in a very special Swamp Talk
segment coming up in segment three. Love It, Hey, South Carolina.
This is Jonathan Rusher's Kelly Nash, Hey on four great interviews.
We're going to be speaking with our lieutenant governor. She's
also are running for governor just like Ralph Norman. All
we're going to speak with Ellen Weaver is segment four.
She's not running for governor, No she's not, but Alan

(01:07):
Wilson is also running for governor, and that's where we
pick it up.

Speaker 6 (01:10):
Hey, good morning, gentlemen. Great to be with you.

Speaker 2 (01:12):
Well, your office has been busy. We're reading specifically, and
recently one of the bigger stories has been the ganjentrepreneur.

Speaker 4 (01:18):
Talk to us about the bust.

Speaker 6 (01:20):
First question I get is what does goentrepreneur mean. It's
ganja and entrepreneur crammed together. That was the name of
the operation dealt with US seizing two million dollars worth
of marijuana related products here in the midlands of South Carolina.
The first thing I want to tell people is is
that this bust was not a bust against law abiding
citizens who thought they were selling something that was infused

(01:41):
with THHC and it was actually over the legal limit.
These were people who were intentionally violating criminal statues. They
were intentionally trafficking marijuana. This is products that were not
just infused with THHC, but what had high level dosage
of THC. They were marketed to children. They had which
is a cartoon characters on them, but these had the

(02:02):
concentration of THHG equivalent to maybe five or six marijuana cigarettes.
So this isn't your granddad's pot. This is high level
I concentrated synthetic DHC that could be very very dangerous,
and they were knowingly selling it. They knew it was criminal,
and they were doing it in large wholesale fashion.

Speaker 5 (02:19):
Looking at Donald Trump, he seems to be leaning towards
the idea of reclassifying marijuana. Do you have a position
regarding marijuana maybe being lessened for criminality or maybe even strengthened.

Speaker 6 (02:33):
We have a scheduling process at the federal level. Marijuana
is considered a Schedule one narcotic. Schedule one narcotics mean
there is no medically recognized application and it's highly addictive.
Scheduled two very similar, but it does recognize that there's
a medical application, but it's also highly addictive. Cocaine is
a Scheduled two drug. Marijuana is a Schedule one drug,

(02:54):
which means the government has decided that there is a
medical application for cocaine, but there is no medical application
for marijuana, and they have left it a Schedule one
drug for decades. The problem is states are going around
that scheduling regime and they are passing laws to legalize
recreation or medical marijuana. I have always advocated for that.
If you're going to allow states and not stop states

(03:15):
and preemp states from legalizing aspects of marijuana, the government
ought to at least study it and reschedule it as
a Schedule two. That way you can at least study
the harmful of side effects or the medical application of marijuana.
But they haven't even scheduled it, and so I support
the President's decision to reschedule marijuana so that it can
at least be studied, so we can know the full

(03:36):
scope of the harmful effects as well as the full
scope of the positive medical application if there are any
Whether it should be a Schedule two or a Schedule three,
that is a good policy debate. But I certainly don't
think marijuana should be a Schedule one drug while cocaine
is only a Schedule two drug.

Speaker 2 (03:50):
You know, you mentioned the government studies and then categorization
of Schedule one Schedule two. Did we create a problem
here by not involving the USDA and somehow because it
seems like when you buy like a supplement off the shelf,
it can give you the list of ingredients that's not
necessarily exactly what's in there, nor what's in there exactly

(04:10):
is being reflected in the label. So when you look
at the THC infused drinks, for instance, the ones that
you can buy in a bar and walk down the
street with because it's not open alcohol container. And also
with the hemp that's now being grown to the state
of South Carolina, we got a.

Speaker 4 (04:24):
Huge gray area here.

Speaker 2 (04:26):
And how would retailers even know exactly what's inside the
products that they've been given to sell by their understanding
of the label outside, which may or may not be true.

Speaker 6 (04:35):
Johnathan, that's a great question. First, let me say this,
after our entrepreneur drug busts, I had a number of
retailers who sell these hemp infused drinks teach to infuse drinks,
and they are trying to follow regulations and are trying
to follow the law, and they were very concerned. Let
me say this, when it comes to these drinks that
are otherwise in a gray area and legal, we are

(04:55):
not targeting reputable people who were trying to follow the law. Obviously,
there are federal and state laws that allow us to
have zero point three percent THHC by dry weight, But
the problem with that is when South Carolina passed that law.
The General Assembly made it very vague because of dry
weight is green leafy substances, but when you convert it
to the manufacturing process into a liquid, it changes its properties,

(05:19):
and all of a sudden, you might have a sixteen
or twenty four out sugary beverage with him infused in it,
and all of a sudden, it may have a very
strong side effects. It could.

Speaker 4 (05:28):
It could.

Speaker 6 (05:28):
Obviously, you could get behind the wheel of a vehicle
and you have the equivalent of smoking two or three joints.
While technically legal, we have an accounted for the fact
that the manufacturing process from a dry leafy substance by
dry weight become far more impactful or abusive when converted
to a wet weight. This is one of the things
that the legislature needs to clarify. We need to clarify
that gray area so that people who want to sell

(05:51):
these drinks in a way that is lawful and safe
can do so without the fear of being prosecuted or investigated.
That's what we want for them. But a lot of
these passckages might have stamped on it DEA approved. The
DEA does not approve these things you know when you
put them in bright rainbow colored packages with cartoon characters
and you make them smell like candy, you make them

(06:12):
taste like candy. That is where we have a problem,
because you're intentionally trying to sell and market to a
group of people, and you're also selling these packages where
the contents are far stronger than the package indicates. And
that's what we need to lock down on.

Speaker 2 (06:26):
We're talking with our current Attorney General, Alan Wilson, who
is also running for governor. How are we going to
get the JMSC in line with what the people of
South Carolina really want as opposed to the General Assembly
running a rough shot by writing laws they know the
loopholes are written in especially for them.

Speaker 6 (06:40):
Let's define JMSC for your listeners. JMSC stands for Judicial
Merit Selection Commission. Every state is given the opportunity to
pass laws on how they elect their own judges, and
South Carolina and Virginia are the only two states in
the country that use a JMSC or Judicial Merit Selection Commission.
That is, a nominating and select vehicle that picks candidates

(07:02):
for the General Assembly to vote on. The problem is
the JAMSC is overwhelmingly controlled by the legislature. We did
do some reforms. The legislature did give the governors some
appointments to the JAMSC, although it's a minority shareholder on
the appointments of the JMSC. But the reality is, if
you want true accountability in government, you want the three

(07:22):
branches of government, the executive, the legislative, and the judicial
to have equal power over each other. Right now, there
is an inordinate amount of power in the legislature over
the judicial branch of government, and that is how it's
been for decades. And while we went in the right
direction a year ago, we still need to give the
governor and the executive branch more oversight into who sits

(07:44):
on the JAMSC. In fact, I'm proposing that the Judicial
Merit Selection Commission be completely in the executive branch of government,
with all of the staff that work on it and
all the commissioners that vote on these candidates being under
the executive branch, with the governor having sole appointment authority.
Let the legislative branch of government vote up or down
on the judges that are nominated by the JMSC, but
give the governor complete control over the nominating process. It's

(08:06):
as close as we're going to get to a federal
model because the JMSC is in the South Carolina Constitution
and you would have to amend the constitution to get
rid of the JMSC to go to a federal model.
But these are just some ideas that I've been advocating for,
and I believe this will give more accountability to the people,
and this will give more transparency to the selection process
for judicial candidate.

Speaker 5 (08:26):
All three of us on this conversation are long suffering,
passionate Gamecock fans. Is there anything the governor can do
to fix the Gamecock football program?

Speaker 6 (08:34):
Lord? All I can do is give you the advice
don't give your heart to eighteen year old boys.

Speaker 5 (08:43):
It will break it every tide.

Speaker 6 (08:44):
I will always be a Gamecock fan. It's like a child.
When your child gets in trouble with the law. You
love your child. You love your child no matter how
good or bad that they are. And I'm always gonna
love the game Cocks. But man, this was a tough season.
I'm not gonna lie.

Speaker 7 (08:56):
We need a big size says Welcome to WILLIAMS. Brice Stadium,
the home of a conditional love. We would now be
called the Agappies. Oh, thank you for your time. South
Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson.

Speaker 4 (09:11):
Hope you have some.

Speaker 2 (09:12):
Time to spend with your family and enjoy the holidays.

Speaker 6 (09:15):
Merry Christmas, are happy and prosperous New Year.

Speaker 2 (09:17):
By the way, that interview had to be edited for
the UH to fit the time restraints of this program.
But you can hear the entire interview with our South
Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson on our podcast.

Speaker 5 (09:27):
Yes look for the Unvarnished Truth on the Rash Thought
podcast free on the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 2 (09:33):
I know the gubernatorial candidate coming up. In just a second,
we'll be speaking with our Lieutenant Governor, Pamela Evatt.

Speaker 1 (09:39):
Jonathan and Kelly Show. Jonathan Rush with.

Speaker 8 (09:43):
This historic executive order I will sign today for formably
Class five FEDA is a weapon of mass.

Speaker 1 (09:49):
Destruction, Kelly Nash.

Speaker 8 (09:51):
No bomb does what this is doing? Two hundred to
three hundred thousand people die every.

Speaker 1 (09:56):
Year, Jonathan and Kelly Show.

Speaker 2 (09:58):
I wonder if the Democrats will be if I have
thirteen more Republicans to overturn that.

Speaker 4 (10:02):
Hello.

Speaker 2 (10:04):
By the way, would those Republicans be making the same argument.
It's not even Fittona. It's cocaine. It's just cocaine.

Speaker 5 (10:10):
Donald Trump is, yes, concerned about drugs coming into the country,
but in this instance he's specifically targeting Venezuela. All about
the regime.

Speaker 2 (10:20):
Change, according to the interview from Vanity Fair. But we
don't have time to get into that today because right
now we're about to go to the double secret probation
every highline to talk to our lieutenant governor, who's also
a good but oftoral candidate, Pamela Evan.

Speaker 9 (10:31):
Good morning, guys.

Speaker 5 (10:32):
You've been on your keep South Carolina great tour. I
guess you've got every county now.

Speaker 9 (10:37):
The promise I made to get to every corner of
the state by the end of the year, and it's
been great. I mean places that you know normally aren't
big Republican strongholds.

Speaker 5 (10:47):
Say we live in one of those called Richland County.

Speaker 9 (10:52):
I've been there. Where were you, guys?

Speaker 10 (10:54):
And I would love to hug But.

Speaker 9 (10:57):
Lots of great people. And the one thing I've heard
in those smaller counties, like there was one day we
kind of clustered them together and we did Bamberg and
alan Dale and Barnwell. There were packed rooms in all places,
and somebody kind of laughed that I was in Allendale
and they said, oh, there's probably twelve Republicans in Allendale.
He probably shook hands with all of them. And I said,

(11:20):
it was a lot of people there, and you know,
I don't walk up and ask them for their you know,
GOP card, but they were kind and they wanted sincerely
to know about me and what I stood for, and
they just thanked me. They're like, we don't get many
people to come here. And that's something I've been very
passionate about, is shaking everybody's hands, asking everybody for their vote,

(11:42):
because that's important. It equalizes all of us. We all
have one vote to give, and people want to be
asked for their support and for their vote. And it's
been great. I know I'm going on and on about it,
but it has really been great to be in every
corner of the state.

Speaker 2 (11:55):
Well, I have a thank you for you, and I'm
assuming you had part of this, although there's got to
be more people than just me that have been worried
about our water in the state of South Carolina, and
now the Governor's announced this commission. Talk to us about
where we are with this study.

Speaker 9 (12:08):
You, guys, were one of the first people that started
talking about water. It seemed like once we jump the
hoop over energy and the energy bill passed, we went
right over into water. So I met you this summer
with Mayra Reez from DEES and her water commissioner. I
guess we can call them the water commissioner that was
formulating this plan, and they were looking at all aspects

(12:30):
in the ground, shallow water, deep water, water runoff to
kind of formulate a plan to say, like, hey, what
should our consumption be. Let's take a look at how
water is being used. The study's going to continue to
go as things change. We're going to make sure that
water doesn't become an issue here like we've seen in
other states. But it's something everybody's really concerned about, guys,

(12:51):
because a lot of the technology of the future relies
a lot on water and on energy. But as we
keep seeing these things are getting more and more efficient
where they're using less and less water and energy, which
makes it good.

Speaker 2 (13:03):
But we still have.

Speaker 9 (13:03):
To keep our eyes on the prize and we're going
to continue to kind of fine tune the studies. You know,
this goes hand in hand with something I've been talking
about a lot since I've been on the campaign trail.
Is us needing a master plan for the state, and
that goes along with some of these other things. If
we can look at where certain industries can go in
the state, what would match up ideally, And again, nothing

(13:25):
that's so in stone that it can't be a bit fluid,
but just a good roadmap, and people really like that
is one of the things really perks people up on
the campaign trail because it's things that people are talking about,
like where are we moving, what are we doing with infrastructure,
what about water? What about our small world communities? And
how do we get industry to go there? And a

(13:47):
state master plan has been part of my platform to
give everybody a good idea that you know, somebody's formulating
a plan and we're going to grow South Carolina in
the right way.

Speaker 5 (13:57):
Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evitt on the phone with Jonathan Kelly here,
you know one of the master plans that sometimes it's
called redistricting, other times it's called jerrymandering. I think it
depends on which parties in control, I guess, and the
other party says that's jerrymandering. If it's ugly to them.
But there have been calls for redistricting and jerrymandering throughout

(14:18):
the country. Indiana recently rejected that proposal. The Republicans in
charge said, we're not going to redistrict We're just going
to leave it the way it is. There's been some
calls here to try to go after James Cliburn's district
and jerrymander that or redistrict it in a way where
it make it very competitive at least. I saw the
Indiana Republicans and I also heard Ran Paul over the

(14:41):
weekend talking about how they're concerned that if you start
taking states and districts that have say thirty five forty
percent of one party, like in California, basically forty percent
of California's Republicans, and they're going to have no Republican representation.
That their concern is, this is how people begin to
get frustrated and this could lead to political violence. Is

(15:05):
that a concern of yours or would you recommend that
we do go after the sixth district and try to
get that to be a Republican as well.

Speaker 9 (15:12):
Once again, I want to say thank you to President Trump.
I find it rich when Democrats talk about this and
how unfair is when they've been doing it forever. And
we saw that in Massachusetts, what was it, forty some
percent voted for President Trump, no Republican representation. I mean,
this is stuff that Democrats have been doing forever. They
just kind of do it and don't talk about it.
And the rest of us that are just trying to

(15:35):
educate our kids and feed our families and keep our
businesses going, we are paying attention and they know that.
So President Trump brought it to the forefront and then
everybody started going, wow, wait a minute, no wonder we're
not seeing more seats in the House now here in
South Carolina. I feel like we've done a really good
job putting Republicans in the office. Guys, in all honesty, like,

(15:56):
I haven't sat down. I'm a numbers person, accountant by trade,
and it would seem to me that if we started
cutting up his district, we will now put at risk
possibly two other districts. If that's the case, do not
underestimate the will of the Democrat Party to try to
get their hands on South Carolina seats. I would venture

(16:20):
to say, and this is just my prediction, we would
see money come into our state from the DNC like
we have never seen in our lives, trying to get
any vulnerability they could get. So what I said is
what I'll continue to say, is if you could gear
and see that we could do a clean sweep. I
think that'd be great, but I just don't see it.

(16:40):
What I never want to do is put at risk
any of our other Republican seats. And my suggestion to everybody,
and has always been for seven years, is to get
out and vote. We have lots of conservative minded people
that don't vote, but they will continue to complain about
what happens in their cities, what happens in their state,

(17:02):
and what happens in the country. But let's go back
to if we really want to get Republicans elected, I'm
all for closing our primaries, making sure we have made
it easier to vote and harder to cheat. But President
Trump said it best in the last election. We have
to make it too big to rig, and that means
everybody getting out. And we should all be a little

(17:23):
bit ashamed that in primaries that are not in presidential years,
we're lucky to get thirteen percent of South Carolinians out
to vote. And that means there isn't a very good
representation of who is representing you in wherever, in your
local government, on your school board, state elections. That is
kind of my soapbox, Scotts. If we all really want

(17:45):
to make sure that we get Conservatives in office, then
get out and vote, and make sure you get your
kids out to vote and your family out to vote.
And maybe the sweet little old person that lives next
door to you that doesn't have a ride, call them
up the day before and say, hey, going to go
vote at eight o'clock in the morning, would you like
to come with us? That's how we get more Republicans

(18:05):
in office, getting people out to vote.

Speaker 2 (18:07):
Now, again, that interview was slightly edited to fit the
time respoints of this program, and we got two more
great interviews come up in just a second. Usually segment
three is exclusively our Swamp Talk opinions. Today, we get
to go to Washington, d C. To speak with one
of our congressmen, Ralph Norman.

Speaker 1 (18:25):
Next the Jonathan and Kelly Show, Jonathan Rush.

Speaker 9 (18:29):
How do you think the era ends?

Speaker 10 (18:30):
This is what I'm hoping that midterms people come out
and vote like crazy. And then the reckon incomes everybody
that worked for ICE. I want them in jail.

Speaker 1 (18:39):
Kelly, I don't mean no harm.

Speaker 10 (18:40):
If he would have said shut up picking to me,
I'd have been like, you fat, M just thinking fat
the horse you walked in.

Speaker 1 (18:47):
On, Kelly, show the horse you walked in on.

Speaker 2 (18:51):
What was the horse doing when you walked in on it?
I don't even know what she's she's gotten so wrapped up.
One of the best people Nicole Wallace ever spoke to.
According to the title of her podcast.

Speaker 5 (18:59):
I was shocked to find out that that was not
a gay man.

Speaker 2 (19:02):
That's Leslie Jones the SNL. Yes, well that's yeah. When
you told me that earlier, I was shocked. She's very
excited about the midterm. She wants the Democrats to take
over obviously control the House. That will handled the impeachment
of everybody who's been appointed, including Donald Trump and JD. Vance,
and then that would move whoever would be the new
Speaker of the House, a Democrat, into the presidential local office.

(19:24):
It's a lot of moving part from Washington, d C.
As he is a US congressman, to South Carolina as
he is also a gubernatorial candidate. Well on the hotline
with US is Congressman Rolph Norman.

Speaker 4 (19:35):
Good morning.

Speaker 2 (19:37):
There's a lot going on between the US House and
your run for the governor's office here in the state
of South Carolina, and we appreciate you carving out some
time to talk with us. I want to ask specifically
about one of the biggest things that happened in the houses.
You guys voted, and I think for you it's probably
bittersweet for the defense spending build. Do we see how
the finalized effort came out of the Senate.

Speaker 11 (19:55):
What I've learned in Congress is the devil is in
the details. Typically when it back from the Senate, it
means more spending on different pet projects that they wanted.
The Defense bill did not take the haircut that I
think we could have had in reductions. But we've got
a lot of frivolous waste that needs to be carved out.
Not able to do all of it. But if you

(20:15):
look at the actual dollars I interest on our debt
is pretty much the same as we spend on spending,
which is a little under a billion dollars a year.

Speaker 5 (20:25):
Next year, that's when the subsidies in for people on
the Affordable Care Act. But it seems as if all
Americans insurance has dramatically increased since Obamacare was passed, and
at the same time the amount of coverage continues to drop.
What is the Republican plan if we're not going to
continue down the Obamacare pathway.

Speaker 11 (20:46):
First of all, Obamacare never was feasible. We all remember
Miss Blosi is saying to figure out what's in it,
you have to pass it and you can pick your doctor,
pick your plan. Not only can you not do those things,
it's just unaffordable. There is a side of Congress, the
Democrat side, that wants single payer, wants the government to
provide everything. My question back to them is what has

(21:07):
government done that's efficient. I think what you'll see in
this health bill will be a first start, and I
credit again we the people for being loud and clear
on the fact that January fifteenth of twenty six will
be the date that most people had for you their policies.
And it's just unaffordable, the coverage, the fact that have
doctor shortages now because of the bureaucracy, And I think

(21:30):
what you'll see is a first step in putting the
patient first. What the present's talking about is letting the payments,
setting up an account where the payments don't go to
the insurance company, as it goes to the patient under
guardrails that applied just the medical needs. Now, you know
it's a contentious issue, and it's taken front and center
stage as it should. You will see this bill that

(21:52):
we will agree on. Not everyone's happy with it. I
would love it for what to go a lot further
than it is. But you got four hundred and thirty
five members of count there's one hundred members of the Senate.
They who have different ideas. It'll be a much better
plan than the Obama care plan, which is insurance companies
get the money. Insurance companies profit. Only seven percent of
the population has enrolled in Obamacare. But the subsidies, hopefully

(22:14):
we're going to get those ended, the COVID substies as well.
It'll be a step in the right direction. Is it
a cure off for everything? No, but it's the first step.

Speaker 2 (22:23):
How can we get more insurance companies representing more South
Carolinian so we can utilize the private sector and making
sure that these persons who spend their own money benefit
from the competition and the private sector from these insurance companies.

Speaker 11 (22:36):
You said the right word, competition. We ought to be
able to cross state lines and pick our insurance companies.
You've got dominant players in South Carolina, particularly with mainly
Blue Cross Blue Shield, and one size does not fit all.
I mean the way Obamacare had it is you had
to have mass listing of what you had to pay for,

(22:56):
Like why should a single college mail have to buy
healthcare for having children? You don't need that maternity care.
We ought to be able to pick what we want
to cover and have an affordable price that again we
can afford to pay, and it's just not that way now.
Government was not set up like that. I think one
of the big things is getting the businesses involved, because

(23:17):
they're the ones that are providing the insurance to the employees,
which most employees demand now before they go to work
for a particular company. So I think you'll find more
choice the patients have. You'll find the fact that they
can hopefully cross state lines and pick any company that
they want, and hopefully they can pick what benefits and
what coverage that they want, not what the government says.

Speaker 5 (23:40):
I understand that that is an important fight that we
need to have. My question is tactically. Is this the
time for that fight? And just knowing that the midterms
are just around the corner, it seems impossible that the
healthcare issue will be resolved before we start early voting.
Do we need to have this fight right now?

Speaker 11 (23:58):
You can't stand still on this. I know there's healthcare
as you mentioned is you know we're paying the highest
price all across the world, and look at the product
we're getting. So yeah, we take the first step and
then it will be refined as we move forward. In
twenty twenty six, the existing Obamacare plan is just not working.
That's why so few people are on it. Government is

(24:19):
not the answer either. All these bailouts and subsidies that
Bamacare had in it. There are a lot of members
here that want to keep those going because you've got
families that are really suffering. But the answer is putting
the patients first, getting the government out of it, getting
insurance companies out of it, where we set up amounts
that directly go to the patient and let them use

(24:42):
it wisely and find a doctor that suits particular medical
issue that they have. And I think we can have
the first step on it. But now it's going to
be criticized as everything else is up here. The mainstream
media is not going to give the president or really
the conservatives any leeway on anything. But it's be a
lot of progress made, but again it'll be not an

(25:03):
end product. It'll be just the beginning.

Speaker 2 (25:05):
I know your office made a release having a do
with your statements on repeat offenders and the like, and
that all goes back to something we've talked about briefly
before with the JMSC, and we've been speaking with other
candidates for the governor's office as well about how they
would rectify the situation given that the fact that the
General Assembly doesn't necessarily answer to you, you use your

(25:26):
position as a bully pulpit.

Speaker 11 (25:28):
A couple of things. One I will lay out the
plan day one on all the things I mentioned in
in my campaign. Is it fair for trial lawyers to
pick the members of the Judicial man Selections Committee and
pick the judges who they appear before. That's like letting
Clempson Carolina pick their own referees. You don't do that.
The result of what's happened in South Carolina recently with

(25:50):
Frederico murder, judges are turning these criminals loose and you've
got to have conservative judges, and we haven't had it
in South Carolina. And that's why the only two states
judges through a committee controlled by trial lawyers or Virginia
in South Carolina. So we'll change that. In the way
I'll do this, I have no problem using the veto.
We have the line eight of veto in the spending.

(26:12):
You control the spending. Use the veto, and then you
go to the people quote the record of the judges
that have been appointed. And I'm the only cand that
really will do that. The others will talk about it,
but it's going to take a heavy lift, not just
on this, but it's going to take a heavy lift
on the spending and the corruption in this state. The
corruption is like Washington, d c. Is just on a

(26:32):
smaller scale.

Speaker 5 (26:33):
South Carolina is legendary for our crappy roads. The state
owns sixty percent or more of the roads. The national
average for a state is nineteen percent. Many of us
believe that that's why the roads are not being taken
care of. Is there a way for you, if you
were the governor, to get the state to return the
roads to the counties in towns or do you not

(26:56):
agree with that that's the answer, that there's another answer.

Speaker 11 (26:58):
I will do a doze type commit that identifies every
spending element, including the Department Transportation in this state, and
see how much of the money is actually going for
asphalt and stone and gravel to pave our roads. And
then you bring in the professionals. And one thing that
I've been really pleased with is the people who have
nothing to gain out of serving on a transportation committee

(27:22):
to fix the problem we have on our roads that
want to come in and offer their expertise. And the
great part about it, they've been successful in their own businesses.
They're not government employees or people are pointing to positions
just because of political payback. We don't have a maintenance
plan if we don't have solid infrastructure roads, bridges. There's

(27:43):
a thousand bridges that our school children should not be
crossing over in South Carolina. That's citing truckers for going
over bridges because they hadn't been maintained. Some of these
bridges is sixteen seventy years old. That will be a
top priority in my administration, along with we have got
an energy problem in this state. I don't know whether
you looked at your electricity bill, not to kill a

(28:05):
white hours, but the things that are added on to it.
We've got to get politicians out of that and let
business people and experts in the energy field, as we
do in our roads and our bridges. It's going to
take a massive overhaul, but it can easily be done.
The only thing else I would add is we're picking
the CEO, which is the governor for the next eight years.

(28:25):
We won't have another election for governor until twenty thirty
four because incumbent always wins. You got to have somebody
who will make progress, somebody who understands how business works.
It's probably the most impactful election. We cannot have another
ten years of growth in government like we've had with
a Republican maintain majority.

Speaker 2 (28:45):
Again, that interview edited for the broadcast today. You can
hear the entire interview in our podcast.

Speaker 5 (28:50):
Yes, the Rash Thought podcast is everywhere in this country
on the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 2 (28:56):
For wrapping up the year with opportunities to speak and
have interviews for this program, including She's got a little
something to brag about the State of South Carolina or
Superintendent of Education ELLM.

Speaker 4 (29:06):
Weaver.

Speaker 1 (29:07):
Next, The Jonathan and Kelly Show Jonathan Rush, there's.

Speaker 3 (29:11):
Also a January thirtieth deadline to fund the government.

Speaker 10 (29:14):
Do you have any expectation that Democrats might tie that
to ACA like you did last time to try to
get a result.

Speaker 3 (29:19):
Just as I said, it's on the Republicans that we
haven't had healthcare done.

Speaker 8 (29:23):
Kelly Nash, she doesn't vote to shut the government down
on January thirtieth.

Speaker 3 (29:28):
As I said, the way to solve this problem to
the Republicans they should make sure that they pass our bill.

Speaker 1 (29:34):
The Jonathan and Kelly Show.

Speaker 2 (29:36):
And since we're recording this before a vacation begins and
it'll broadcast be broadcast twice, we don't know how Chucky's
argument has come out where the Republicans come to the
table and to sign his bill to keep the government
open and also handle the health care crisis.

Speaker 5 (29:50):
I don't have to be here to know that. No,
we're doing that.

Speaker 2 (29:53):
Hey, before we get out of here today, and thank
you for listening twice if you're hearing the rebroadcast of
this than the Kelly Show. We had an opportunity to
speak with our state Superintendent of Education, Ellen Weaver.

Speaker 12 (30:05):
Hey, Jonathan and Kelly, wait for having me today.

Speaker 2 (30:07):
Well, I know twenty twenty five has been a proud
year for you. We've talked about that earlier with some
of the initiatives that you set out when you first
took the position, and how you've been able to reach
some of those goals, or at least on your way
to reaching the goals that you set out for the
Department of Education.

Speaker 12 (30:22):
Yeah, we are so excited about the progress that we
are seeing in classrooms in every corner of South Carolina.
And I want to start by saying I had a
massive celebration last Thursday when I completed my tour of
every district and every special school in the state of
South Carolina, over eighty of them, and we ended in Darlington,

(30:45):
And so after I did my school visits, I actually
went to the racetrack there and several Principles and the
superintendent and I got to get our picture made and
Victory Lane, and it was just a great day of
celebration and just the incredible games that were seeing in reading,
in math, in career readiness in every corner of South Carolina.

(31:05):
We have so much to.

Speaker 5 (31:06):
Celebrate well, and we certainly appreciate all your efforts. We're
talking with the Superintendent of education. Owen Weaver, you know,
I saw you recently at the SC two point fifty
celebration for African American History over at the Richland two District.
It seems like you've made history a priority for our

(31:27):
state and you're trying to make it fun so the
kids can learn.

Speaker 12 (31:30):
Yeah. Absolutely, history has to be a priority, because you know,
the famous thing goes that those who don't know history
are doomed to repeat it. And we know that America
didn't just happen by chance. It was intentional choice and
sacrifice on the part of our founding fathers and mothers,
and the freedom that we enjoy in South Carolina and

(31:51):
across the United States was one here on the mountains
and fields and forests and swamps of South Carolina. We
were the turning point of the Revolution. And I want
every student in South Carolina to know that history, to
own that history, and to see their place in that history,
because ultimately we're going to be passing the baton of

(32:11):
America onto them, and it's going to be up to
them to make sure that we celebrate the next two
hundred and fiftieth Birthday of America. And so I am
so passionate about this. We have a lot of projects
underway with our Palmetto Civics projects. People can find information
about that at Commetto Civics dot project dot com. And

(32:33):
that includes, as you said, our South Carolina African American
History calendar. The theme this year is revolutionary and we're
telling stories of not only revolutionary war time heroes but
also just revolutionary African American leaders throughout South Carolina history.
And one of the ones that I'd love to feature
for you is Oscar Marion. We know about Francis Marion,

(32:57):
the swamp Box. The Oscar Marian fought a lot alongside
Francis mary And at every single juncture of the American Revolution,
and he is every bit as much an American hero,
and it's time that the students in South Carolina knew
his stories.

Speaker 2 (33:11):
Well speaking specifically just of recent history. I have joked before,
never to you, but now I'm finding out you might
actually enjoy my little joke.

Speaker 4 (33:20):
I really need a good agent.

Speaker 2 (33:21):
They can actually convince a district that I'd be a
great superintendent. That way, when it's found out that I'm not,
I get this incredible payout.

Speaker 12 (33:28):
Oh but I'm bumbing.

Speaker 2 (33:32):
This golden parachute that we've had, you're going to do
a wait, what are you cutting the strings on the parachute?

Speaker 4 (33:37):
What are we doing?

Speaker 12 (33:38):
Yeah, we're gonna work hard with the General Assembly to
bring some common sense and uniformity to our superintendent contracts.
And in all seriousness, you know, our superintendents, by and large,
it's a tough job. They're working really, really hard and
they deserve, you know, to be paid accordingly. But when
we have superintendents to our moved along for whatever reason,

(34:03):
you know, we've seen story after story after story of
them getting these massive multi year payouts and that's money
that is intended for every South Carolina student and for
teachers to support their work in the classroom, not to
pay out golden parachutes. And so we're going to put
an end to that working with the General Assembly here

(34:23):
in South Carolina. It's not just about ensuring that that
money gets the students. It's about maintaining the stewardship and
trust that we have with caspayers who work really hard
for that money and want to make sure that it's
getting to the place that they intended for to go,
which is our classroom.

Speaker 5 (34:39):
Talking with Ellen Weaver, the Superintendent of Education. You know,
we're here in the holidays and we often hear about
how difficult it is for the kids to re engage
when they come back in the new year. Any tips
or advice for parents, grandparents to try to help their
kids get, you know, stay engaged.

Speaker 12 (34:57):
Well, I think one of the things that's most important
is hit down and read with your children. Do not
let them spend the entire Christmas break on a device.
We know that technology is causing such harm to our students.
It actually is shrinking their brains. As scary as that
is to say, and we as adults, as tough as

(35:20):
it is, because I know kids frankly are addicted to
their technology, and we as adults are addicted to the technology,
if we're honest about it. But we have to come
together and be responsible and say enough is enough. Let's
get our kids reading, Let's get them playing outside when
it's not so cold out. Let's get them reconnected with

(35:40):
the real world, because that's how they're going to be successful,
not just in school.

Speaker 8 (35:44):
But in life.

Speaker 4 (35:45):
Well, you know, twenty twenty five.

Speaker 2 (35:46):
Wrapping up, let's talk a little bit about the budget
side of twenty twenty six. What do you see that
you really need for your office. So what are the
things you'd be working hard to make sure the General
Assembly facilitates for our students.

Speaker 12 (35:58):
Well, we have three big buckets of priorities. It starts
with student learning. We are continuing to request money around
early literacy to make sure that we are getting those
students who may be struggling in first and second and
third grade that help they need as soon as we
possibly can get it to them. So that's going to
be a big priority. We also are going to be

(36:20):
working to implement a curriculum that helps educate both students
and parents about the brain science behind what technology is
doing to their brains. And the goal there is to
empower our students and our parents to make wise choices
when it comes to technology. But we know that our
students only learn when we keep great teachers in the classroom,

(36:43):
and so we're going to continue to push to raise
the starting teacher salary.

Speaker 9 (36:48):
Here.

Speaker 12 (36:48):
Governor McMaster, when he came into office, said that we
were going to shoot for fifty thousand, and this year
we are in striking distance. So both the Governor and
I are requesting a fifty thousand, five hundred or a
minimum starting salary for teachers in South Carolina. And the
amazing thing is we're seeing the results of our across
the board increases, our strategic compensation Pilot, and so many

(37:12):
of the other initiatives that we have put into place
to support teachers actually working. We had a fifty six
percent reduction in the number of teaching vacancies over the
last two years, and we've even continue to grow the
number of teacher spots. So this is great news that
tells us that we are starting to turn the corner

(37:32):
in terms of retaining our very best teachers. So we're
going to continue to push that forward. And then the
last big priority is all around safe schools, and so
we're going to ask the General Assembly to invest in
school infrastructure for our charter schools and for our rural
districts that need the support. And we're also going to
ask them to continue to prioritize school safety. They have

(37:54):
come to the table in a big way over the
last few years, and we know nothing else matters of
our student aren't safe, So we're going to continue to
prioritize that. But I just want to say how grateful
I am for the Governor's partnership and for the partnership
at the General Assembly. Over the last three years, we
have put out the need and they have answered the
call every single time. And I anticipate that this year

(38:16):
it's going to be another great year for education in
South Carolina.

Speaker 5 (38:19):
I was going to say congratulations on a great twenty
twenty five. Excited for twenty twenty six and the plans,
and hopefully they all come to fruition as you see them,
because South Carolina is moving in the right direction.

Speaker 12 (38:31):
That's right. We call it the South Carolina Surge, and
I'm so excited. I'm actually on my way up to
Greenville today to welcome US Secretary of Education Linda McMahon.
And what I love so much about her leadership is
that she believes that states can lead the way, and
I'm here to tell you South Carolina is leading the
way and we're ready to step up and do even more.

Speaker 2 (38:51):
That interview and its entirety can be heard again on
our podcast.

Speaker 5 (38:55):
Yes, the Rash Thought podcast is on the iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 4 (38:59):
We hope all Jonathan N.

Speaker 2 (39:00):
Kelly listeners, WVOC listeners, or wherever you listen from wherever
you are, have a great holiday.

Speaker 5 (39:06):
Yes, happy New Year Well Show on PYAL.

Speaker 1 (39:09):
We'll be back next week.