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August 4, 2025 • 34 mins
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, this is Uncle Henry. I'm on vacation this week.
While I'm gone, let's learn about some Mobile mayoral candidates.
Tomorrow I'm gonna interview Spiro Charragatis. But today let's start
off and meet candidate for mayor of Mobile, Paul Prime.

(00:48):
It says the Uncle Henry Show here on news radio
seven to ten WNTM. Thank you for listening to the
Uncle Henry Show. And today we've got a mayoral candidate
in the studio. I want to welcome to the Uncle
Henry Show microphones, Paul Prime. Paul Prime, thank you for
coming in and doing the Uncle Henry Show.

Speaker 2 (01:07):
You bet so. My pleasure to be here, Uncle Henry.

Speaker 1 (01:09):
All right, I've got a lot of questions, of course,
about your campaign for mayor. Right, I want to ask
about all that. But before we get to that, if
you don't mind, I want to ask you about being
a police officer. Sure, how many years were you a
police officer?

Speaker 2 (01:20):
So I've been a law enforcement officer for thirty years.
I started in the little town of Chickasaw, Alabama, the
first three years of my career, and in nineteen ninety
seven I was fortunate to be accepted into the Mobile
Police Academy in nineteen ninety seven, and it was a
kind of a really great moment for me because the
Mobile Police Apartment at that time was about five hundred

(01:41):
and seventy five members strong. Yeah, and the Mobile Police
Department really is the big show in town from you know,
here to Tallahasseee, Montgomery and certainly New Orleans, and so
I wanted to be a part of that program.

Speaker 1 (01:54):
Well, I bring this up to one and I just
I'm curious, do you miss it? Were you ready where
you are already at a point where I think I've
done this long enough, or do you miss being in
law enforcement right now?

Speaker 2 (02:06):
Well, listen, I it certainly retired. It got cut a
little short. I planned on retiring this December.

Speaker 1 (02:13):
Oh so you were already on your you decided you're
going to do something else.

Speaker 2 (02:16):
Well, you know, considering the issues and some of the
problems we had in the administration when I was there,
I felt like it was probably best just to finish
that term out. I certainly love protecting people, I certainly
love being available to help people, but you know, it's
just time to move on from that. I've had a
great career. I've had a stellar career. I couldn't be
more proud of the things that I've accomplished. And I

(02:39):
have to say, one of the biggest things, or one
of the biggest successes I had as the chief was
lowering crime and lowering the attrition certainly for the City
of Mobile and the Mobile Police Department respectfully. And that
was great for me. That was great because as the
chief of police, you can drive that agency into the
direction you wanted to go.

Speaker 1 (02:58):
In modern times, with all the police face with public
perception over the last few years, how did you stop
attrician or how did you slow that down?

Speaker 2 (03:08):
Great question. I think you may be one of the
first people to ask me that, and that's probably why
of your uncle, Henry, I'll tell you this, we added
that as a part of a system with a strategic
plan that I put forward to address crime. As a
part of my written strategic plan, I addressed a culture
of the department. Growing up in the Mobile Police Department,

(03:30):
it had a lot of undertones of being a toxic
police to work really the office politics, if you will.
I grew up in the police department. I knew it
better than anybody did. So I was the first chief
ever to actually put it in writing in to address it,
and what we did was essentially addressed fairness and equity
with transfers, promotions, treating these officers with dignity. My overall

(03:53):
concept is, if we want to, if the community expects
the police officers treat them with dignity and respect, the
officers have to learn to do it with one another
first and foremost. It's kind of like being raised in
your home. You treat your children the way you want
them to treat others, right, and so you raise them

(04:14):
in an environment where they learn to be respectful. And
I think Uncle Henry could certainly appreciate that absolutely, and
mannerisms and all that go with that. And trying to
reinstill that notion with these law enforcement officers that you
know somehow or another. You know this grumpy, cynical thirty
year police officer. It's really not it's not acceptable, right,
and nobody likes it. It's not a good look, and

(04:34):
it creates a problem. And if it's allowed to grow
in any organization, it becomes toxic. And when you have
police officers leaving essentially from one organization and they're leaving five, eight,
sometimes ten years on the table, to go to the
local sheriff's department for a buck an hour or more
under a completely different retirement system. We had a problem.

(04:56):
We had a big problem. And in two thousand and one,
when I became the chief of police, we had the
largest year attrition rate of one hundred and one officers
that had walked out of the door and essentially in
a twelve month period. And that is problematic for not
only for the department, but it's problematic certainly for the
citizens in the way of being able to not only
enforce laws, but to address those quality of life issues

(05:20):
that we want to enjoy, such as people out here
running red lights, people with no mufflers on their cars,
and tags, not having insurance, and those things really are
a palm mount to the success if we want to
move the city forward.

Speaker 1 (05:33):
So you mentioned you mentioned crime rates going down, and
I have a little deja vous feeling about this because
I remember during the Sam Jones years we had a
very similar public perception of even though we're being told
the stature are going down, we have a perception that

(05:53):
we're not safe. We can't go to the gap, we
can't let your wife get gas after dark. That kind
of stuff. Is there something we're missing because we're once
again feeling that there's a lack of safety, but the
crime stats are down.

Speaker 2 (06:07):
What are we missing? It's the public. Well, I think
you're exactly spot on, and you're one of few people
that recognize that perception if you well, let me back up,
If you look at crime in and of itself, we
do have a crime problem. One homicide, one robbery is
too many. You'll never get down to net zero. But
I think we're operating far above where we should be,

(06:27):
and we proved that we could do it. In twenty
twenty three, we had the best single year crime reduction
since nineteen eighty eight, so we did a great job.
But you're absolutely spot on. If you compare Mobiles as
a comparable city to Montgomery or Jackson, Mississippi, our crime
rate is half of their rate. So you are spot
on in that we have a perception problem. Social media

(06:49):
is probably one of the biggest antagonizers of that, right,
people getting on there every time there's an issue. But
I was the first chief to address the perception, made
it public in that if you'll go back and remember,
I stopped doing the perpetrator walks we call them perp
walks in the media for sure, right, because we're showcasing people,
and especially a lot of the local gang bangers. You know,

(07:11):
they take that as a badge of honor to be
walked out the back door of police headquarters. And then
you know, all their buddies in their community get to see, hey, man,
this guy made it. He's on TV. And we were
showcasing them in a way that I felt like was
bringing honor to them and their community, which sometimes emboldens
them to do more. Right. But I was not the

(07:32):
chief that brought in the first forty eight program, and
while it's a great program, when I became the chief,
I got to think, and I said, we are showcasing
the most egregious crime in society. That this is what
Mobile Alabama has to offer. And so while I was
not really successful in the very beginning of my tenure
as chief to walk them out, eventually two and a

(07:53):
half years later, I was able to walk them out
the door.

Speaker 1 (07:56):
Okay, so we're gonna talk more. Of course, in fact,
we're about to go to break. When we come back
from break, we're going to talk more about that topic.
Because public safety is probably because of your background that's
the one thing people want to hear the most from you.
We'll get to other things as well. Sure as we
continue here, where can people find out more information about
your mayoral campaign?

Speaker 2 (08:17):
You can go to primefromayor dot com well paid. You
can find out all the talking points and the platforms,
and certainly join us on Facebook at Prime for Mayor,
and I believe you'll be pleasantly surprised with the momentum
we have.

Speaker 1 (08:28):
All right, is it harder to run for mayor than
it is to be a police chief?

Speaker 2 (08:33):
Well, I will tell you I don't know that it's harder.
I think it's probably uglier and nastier in summergars, But
maybe we'll chat about that. On the other end, Ugly, you're.

Speaker 1 (08:42):
A nastier all right. We'll have more from mayoral candidate
Paul Prime when the Uncle Henry Show continues next here
on News Radio seventy ten WNTM. Hey, this is Uncle Henry.
I'm on vacation this week. While I'm gone, we're going
to meet some Mobile mayoral candidates. Tomorrow will have Spiro

(09:03):
Chara Godis. But right now here is Paul Prime, candidate
for mayor of Mobile. Says the Uncle Henry Show. Paul
Prime is the guest. Paul Prime running for mayor of Mobile.

(09:26):
We have news headlines coming up in ten minutes. Before
we get to those news headlines, more from mayoral candidate
Paul Prime. So we talked in the last segment about
crime stats going down, but people number one issue out
of people's mouths, or most people's mouths, is going to
be something related to public safety. How what can you
do as mayor you've been there at the police chief level,

(09:49):
going to the level of mayor, what can you do
differently for us?

Speaker 2 (09:52):
Well, what's more importantly for me to do differently is
keeping politics out of the police department. That's what we do.
And let me explain that. So you know, there's no
doubt that you know there are adversarial situations and outcomes
sometimes between law enforcement and members of the community. But

(10:13):
what's important for the public to know is that police
officers only while we train them, we give them the
best training, especially de escalation tactics and all these things
that are great. Officers in the field on the street
are only in charge of that situation at the moment
that the person they're dealing with desize that they're no

(10:33):
longer going to obey lawful commands and at that point,
whatever they do, officers are simply responding. Unfortunately, we're in
twenty twenty five and I do believe that a lot
of agencies across the country sometimes have created problems for
themselves by not addressing corruption, not addressing officers you know
that are using excessive force. But we have not had

(10:55):
that situation here in Mobile. While that may be people's
perceptions and sometimes whether the city council, people the mayor,
we need strong leadership that says we are not going
to allow political interference in the police department because we
feel like something's going on, or because a small group
of constituency in a particular area says, hey, you know,

(11:17):
the police department's corrupt or they're wrong, and there's no
evidence based scenario where you could even agree to believe
on that, And we don't have strong leadership to be
able to stand up and say, listen, we hear you,
but we've not seen that. And a lot of times
certain counselors in certain districts will take a political hit,

(11:37):
but behind the scenes with the public, the average public
doesn't understand is there's a lot of political apperance. You
need to dial the chief back, You need to dial
the officers back from being proactive. And there's a lot
of political inference going on that prohibits a lot of
these officers really doing their job.

Speaker 1 (11:56):
I know when you say political interference, can it be
it's something like being told, hey, you're in this neighbor
neighborhood too often, we need you out in this other neighborhood.

Speaker 2 (12:06):
Yeah, well, it could be allegations like well, maybe they're
oversaturating one community versus another. Now, I will tell you this.
Sandy did very well bringing in intelligence led policing in
twenty fourteen, shortly after he was appointed as the mayor,
And that was the right call, okay, because we had
been using the old model of community oriented policing, saturating neighborhoods.

(12:30):
And I think you and I had maybe mentioned it
before about maybe at one time, most of your violent
crime was east of the interstate, primarily around some of
where the housing districts were. Well, if you were to
look at a heat map today where crime is now,
it's dispersed because all those housing projects have certainly been
closed down and so you know, as some of those

(12:52):
in the lower end of the social economic scale are
dispersed across the city. You would look at a heat
map today and say, well, look like a buckshot, you know,
on a map where the crime is sporadic. So going
to intelligence led policing really is good. But I also
want to qualify that statement that most people, in my opinion,
most of those and I grew up very poor. So

(13:12):
I can say this, Okay, everybody that grows up poor
doesn't commit crime, but the vast majority of those that
commit crimes, especially violent crimes, come from the lower end
of the social economic Still, so when I make that statement,
I'm making that because it is an economic or an
evidence based statement. But we have to keep politics out
of policing and understand that when we went to intelligence

(13:34):
led policing, really essentially what that means is we are
targeting non offenders or those that have the propensity to
commit violent crimes. And we've been doing that since twenty fourteen.

Speaker 1 (13:43):
So in addition to removing politics from police strategy, the
way the police department is directed, what else does the
police department need? Are there needs to that department?

Speaker 2 (13:57):
Yeah, that is a great question. When we started this off,
I told you the mobile police apartment was approximately five
hundred and seventy five sworn officers. Okay, that doesn't include
the personnel or civilian personnel that provide a support to
the police officers. Today we're roughly budgeted for four hundred
and eighty nine, Uncle Henry, we average four hundred and
fifty four hundred and sixty and now that we've annexed

(14:20):
just over twenty thousand people into the city of Mobile,
if you look at the general rule of thumb two
and a half officers per one thousand residents, that's about
five to five hundred and twenty officers. But that does
not account for response times, violent crime or some of
the other quality of life issues that we talked about.
Mobile Police Apartment now should be somewhere between six and

(14:41):
six hundred and twenty officers to address those very things
that we discussed. And that's problematic for the citizens because
we don't have really the boots on the ground that
we need to support the system.

Speaker 1 (14:52):
So we need we need to budget for more officers
and get them.

Speaker 2 (14:54):
We do, We absolutely do, and I would not only
say just for police, but for firemen. We are stemically
short fifty firemen. A lot of that has to do
with the benefits that we don't have the day that
we did have maybe ten years ago. And those things
are problematic, especially when you're dealing with the fire department
because as we age and you have that heart attack
without getting all into it, where you're normally running with

(15:16):
four people on a truck, now you're running with sometimes three.
You know, that delays the response time. It delays the
time to load up a patient and carry them off
to the hospital for treatment.

Speaker 1 (15:26):
Okay, so additional officers and firemen, fire medicst What about
equipment and training? Is everything okay on that end or
is there still more needed there?

Speaker 2 (15:37):
Right? Well, the equipment is ever changing. I'll just give
you one example of the police department. You know when
and Sandy did a very good job on some of
these things. When it comes to equipment, there were times,
you know that we had literally holes in floorboards of
police cars. Well we've gotten away from that. You have
to essentially purchase fifty to seventy police cars a year

(16:00):
to keep that on about a six or seven year rotation.
And you know a police car that has one hundred
miles one hundred thousand miles on it, that's a beat
up car, just making no mistakes about it. That is
especially in mobile with potholes, but that is a beat
up vehicle, and so we have to keep that equipment going.
We've done very well. I don't necessarily see that changing.
But one of the other things that you did ask

(16:22):
about being the mayor, not just with public safety, but
understanding really what is the fundamental role of government? And
I think we've gotten away from that. And I don't
know how much time we have left, but the fundamental
role of government, real simple is public safety, transportation, and
public infrastructure, and we have kind of neglected those things.
They're not sexy to talk about. I had a guy

(16:43):
tell me Prying, you're doing great. You'll become the mayor,
but you'll only be a one term mayor. And I said, well,
why is that? He said, well, because if you invest
in one hundred million dollars of a one hundred year
flood pipes that should have been in there, not the
ten flood pipes in midtown or down town, people can't
see that, the voters can't see that, and then when

(17:03):
the term comes up, you're going to brag about spending
one hundred million dollars on flood pipes that nobody can
see and they only think about it when it rains.
And there's probably a lot of truth to that, but
that really is Uncle Henry, the fundamental role of what
government is supposed to do and might I had nothing
affects us more than local government.

Speaker 1 (17:21):
All right, We're going to take a time out for
news headlines and then come back with more. We have
another half hour with Paul primee here on the Uncle
Ingray Show again. How can people find out about your campaign?

Speaker 2 (17:30):
Yeah? Sure, primefromayor dot com is the web page. You'll
find the platform there and certainly join us on Facebook
at Prime for Mayor.

Speaker 1 (17:38):
We will be back with more from Paul Prime in
just a moment, as the Uncle Henry Show continues here
on News Radio seventy ten WNTM. Uncle Henry here with
you on news Radio seventy ten WNTM. I'm on vacation
this week, but while I'm gone, we're meeting some Mobile
mayoral candidates. Broh Spiro, Charit Guidess will be in here

(18:02):
to talk to us. But today now we continue our
conversation with candidate for mayor of Mobile, former police chief
Paul Prime. Uncle Henry Show News Radio seventy ten WNTM.

(18:36):
This hour, Paul Pride is here running for mayor. A
lot more to talk to Paul Pride about.

Speaker 2 (18:43):
Now.

Speaker 1 (18:44):
In the last the last two savements of the show,
we've talked a lot about public safety. You have such
a background being a police officer for so many years,
but you you went into infrastructure, one of my favorite
things to talk about that nobody else wants to talk
about potholes. I agree with the premise that the basics
of government are what you said, and so whenever I

(19:06):
see a bunch of potholes, I feel like, well, the
city is not functioning properly. If there's poor drainage or
a bunch of potholes, that to me says the city
something is wrong. City is not functioning even if we're
even if we're having movies in the park for the
family and all the different things we're doing. What are
your ideas on making progress in infrastructure when, as you

(19:28):
pointed out, a lot of that isn't seen by all
the citizens.

Speaker 2 (19:31):
Well, it's not, and I appreciate the question. The truth
is is, if you look at what I consider old mobile,
which is everything east of sixty five versus Westmobile and
even now the intermedior parts of Westmobile, just west of
sixty five is starting to age too. Sure it is, yeah,
and so I've often thought about this problem for a

(19:52):
couple of years now. We used to flood cars in
midtown all the time. We were police cars, and we
were talking about flooding and pipes ten year pipes versus
one hundred year pipes. But what I would like to see,
certainly when I become the mayor, is that we take
the pull of money for infrastructure capital improvements and we
need to do a serious audit of the infrastructure Mobile,

(20:13):
whether it's lighting sidewalks certainly, drainage roadways. And I know
there is a system in place, but the people feel
like we talked about perception with crime, but even now
with the big issue with potholes, people feel like at
least the perception is that the city is not addressing
the problem. Right, and some of these are not all
the city's problems. Some of these issues belong to mass

(20:35):
the Mobile area water system and so but nonetheless, leadership
is just that right. So if it's first reported, any
issue is reported to the city, the city should have
people in place. It's gonna work with Moss, determine who
owns the utility, who owns the problem, and then move
and try to expedite fixing that problem. And then if
you can expedite the problem, find a way to communicate

(20:57):
this to the people. But ultimately, certainly for me, when
you talk about all the infrastructure east of I sixty five,
we may just have to take all the CIP money
back from all the individual districts, work with the council,
build consensus and say, listen, if we don't address these
major issues in the next five to ten years east
of sixty five, then we're going to find ourselves in

(21:19):
a place where I think in many regards we're doing
it now. It's just putting a band aid on a
problem rather than fix the problem. And if we don't
do this within the next ten years east of sixty five,
then I think we're going to find ourselves in a
real financial burden where we've got to fix now the
problems east of sixty five, on top of going out
west and start trying to repair some of those aging
systems like I told you that are immediate west of

(21:41):
I sixty five.

Speaker 1 (21:43):
Now, one of the things you'll have to do if
elected mayor is a symbol of staff. You've had to
do that as a police chief. I'm going to assume
do you already have a lot in mind without naming names.
Have you already tried to figure out who you want
to bring in there with you to help?

Speaker 2 (22:00):
If you do all this, sure well you know certainly
probably one of the most integral parts of that staff
is the chief of staff, and that's going to be
a person that can help the mayor certainly build consensus
with different players. I will tell you this, there are
immediate positions that can be replaced in most of the
inner circle of the mayor's immediate staff or his cabinet,

(22:21):
if you will. Those positions people expect to change from
administration to administration, But there are a lot of great
people that do work with the city, that do a
great thing. And so whether it's me or anybody else
that goes into that position, I think the right thing
to do is really go in, find out who's doing
the work, what the processes are aught at. The process

(22:42):
is fix what can be fixed, and if the people
are not in a position to fix them, if we
can't give them the authority or they're the hiccup. Then
I think we'll find ourselves replacing some of those people.
But yes, to your greater question, there are some people
and we are looking, certainly tentatively for some of those
that can come.

Speaker 1 (22:58):
In and help now. So one of the great successes
of the City of Mobile and the Stemson administration over
the past several years and past several terms is the
local economy. Everything that is now going and all of
the different projects that are that are taking off, are
about to take off. Talk about being able to complete

(23:20):
that process or keep it going further.

Speaker 2 (23:22):
So what is the mayor's responsibility in that right? And
so while I will arguably say Sandy's done a lot
of good things, certainly over the last thirty years, as
did Mike Doll in years passed, I think what's important
is is that work with the chambers. We have, the
Black Chamber, the Mobile Chamber, the Southwest Chamber, Work with

(23:43):
these chambers, work with the certainly these federal officials that
we have in Congress, senators, state officials. We have to
continue the momentum. Those things that are coming, We're not
going to we are actually going to add to that.
The Chamber says there's going to be approximately five to
six thousand jobs in the next five years. But while
that sounds great, Mobile sitzings are not prepared to address

(24:08):
and fill that gap in the workforce. That's just a fact,
and so I have really been selling this idea that
while we have signature schools in Mobile County, we're kind
of behind the proverbial eight ball on Henry in that
if you look at Balwin County's preparatory public School, they
have one hundred million dollar facility. Budding Steel Mill just
announced a week and a half ago that they chose

(24:29):
the Balwin County site primarily because of that workforce development school.
According to them, one hundred jobs, six figure jobs. There again,
nothing against Balwin County great leadership, we need to work
with them, but we need to be focused on developing
the young men and young women in our community to
take those jobs. And while we may not have the

(24:50):
time to get into it, that's actually a part of
my three form pillar platform, not only public safety first,
but workforce development, that we do it in the high school.
Some of these kids at graduation or certified to carry
some of these jobs into the workforce, and that changes.
Remember we talked about the social economic scale, not only
that child's life, but certainly for generations to come, and

(25:12):
I think we need to do better on that front.

Speaker 1 (25:13):
Well, a lot of really big business has been attracted
to Mobile and Mobile County in the Gulf Coast. What
about the small businesses that are already here that are wondering,
is there anything in it for me?

Speaker 2 (25:27):
Right? Excellent question, I believe wholeheartedly for me as a
part of my platform, and third pillar is economic development.
But simply from a standpoint of an emphasis, right, we
have to cater to the business community. The vast majority
of businesses and Mobile are small businesses. What is the
city doing? What are they not doing? As I look

(25:49):
at Bella or Mall. One of the things that I
wanted to implement, is to achieve, was to put kind
of a mini precinct in there. They wanted that we
wanted to work with that. We were not successful in
getting that information or getting that unit over there in
the mall. But now if we look at the mall
and they're great leadership over there, but they're doing everything
they can to keep the doors open, what can the

(26:09):
city do to help that business specifically to maintain and thrive.
If you look over here at the Festival Center, and
I didn't realize that I've been on the campaign trail
for a couple of months. But over there behind the
Olive Garden, all these box stores are closed, and it
just seems like everybody's moving further west. I feel like
there's an issue related to crime, even the perception of crime,

(26:30):
and people do not want to be around that area
where they become victims of crime. And I hate to
say it, but I've even been guilty of going to
other communities to shop so me or especially my family
don't become victims of crime, and that becomes first in center.
And here's the thing, and I'll just tell you're in brevity.
We can build all the buildings, bring all the parts,
do all these things that everybody loves and wants to

(26:52):
come to Mobile, but Uncle Henry is all for not
if people don't feel safe.

Speaker 1 (26:56):
All right, we are going to take a time out
and then we'll have one final segment here with Paul
Prime once again. How can people find out more about
you and your campaign?

Speaker 2 (27:06):
Sure, you can go to my web page at primefromayor
dot com or visit us on Facebook at Prime for Mayor.

Speaker 1 (27:13):
All right, we'll have more a little bit more with
Paul Prime. When the Uncle Henry Show continues here on
news Radio sevent ten WNTM. You spent your life putting
money away, protect it, Jesse Kelly, don't wake up tomorrow
with the bubble popped and you're wiped out That Jesse
Kelly Show, weeknights at seven on News Radio seven ten WNTM.

(27:39):
It says, Uncle Henry. While I'm on vacation, we're meeting
some candidates for Mobile mayor Tomorrow. We'll talk to spirocheriganus.
Right now, we finish up with candidate Paul Prime. Uncle
Henry Show, NewsRadio seventy ten WNTM. Paul Prine is running

(28:02):
from mayor and he is with me. Now our final
moment's here with Paul Prime. Now, Hey, Paul Prian. Earlier
in our conversation, in our first segment of the show,
you made a comment about finding out that the politics
can be ugly. So I'm just curious what has it
been like for you the way you got into the

(28:26):
mayor's race different from how most people get into mayor's race. Right,
what kind of things have you learned about all of
that going through that? And then and then putting your
name out there as a candidate.

Speaker 2 (28:40):
Right now, it's an excellent question. Listen. I tell everybody
that last year, while Sandy's done some good things, you
just didn't handle my situation correctly. I just kind of
write it off to dirty politics. Right. You get in
the way of maybe whatever the administration's big picture is,
whether you know it or not, and they kind of
okay out the door and do it in a public way,

(29:02):
and you know, it's disheartening, it's discouraging. But here's what
I found, and it's the same one I decided to
announce my position for run for mayor. Is that those
you think are that have your bank, they usually fall
by the wayside because a lot of people really just
don't have the mocksy and courage to stand up. The
Good Lord has blessed me in a way that I

(29:24):
was financially stable, and while it did cost me some
money for an early retirement, I did it because I
can't be balked, I can't be intimidated. And I feel
like that when you serve public service, that you are
serving the people. It is not about your self interest.
It's certainly and about friends or friends of friends. You know,
there was a period where you know, we weren't doing anything.

(29:46):
A lot of people were reaching out to me to
run for mayor, and so about the summer of last year,
I said, well, you know, there may be something to
the sentiment. Now. While it was ugly, it seemed like
we had a lot of certainly support in the community.
And what I found was is people really want honest

(30:07):
people in government, right, and whether the current administration's honest
or not, or whether the currently the previous president was
or not. I think I tell people whether you support
Trump or not, I think the idea behind Trump and
that movement that we have no doubt seen is people
feel like they that government is not doing what's best
for them and they're looking for an advocate that says, hey,

(30:29):
do what's for the best. I'm sorry by everybody. And
so once we announced in March eleventh, I was one
of the last candidates to way jump in. What I
have found since then is that some of those early on, hey,
we're behind you, We're rooting you on. I have no
idea where they're at. But the beauty of it is
I have met some great people along the way that

(30:49):
have filled that void and filled that gap. I'm sure
that in the last two or three weeks of the
campaign sometimes, you know, it gets really ugly, you know,
with the smear tactics. I'm the only camp that on
March eleventh that said that I would run a clean campaign.
I think people just want to hear the merits, they
want to hear the qualifications, and people really don't want

(31:10):
to be distracted by the side show, so to speak.
And I've met people on the way for the most part,
to support us. But it's amazing, Uncle Henry. You can
knock on one door out of one hundred lights and
then somebody come out and they're really really ugly and nasty,
and I'm like, I don't understand it right because it's
not personal for me, and I'm sure the other candidates
have experienced that as well.

Speaker 1 (31:30):
Did you have you when you went through what you
went through with the city and then announced for mayor,
were you surprised at any of the people that did
come to your side? Was there any surprise I didn't
know this person was going to be on my side
on this.

Speaker 2 (31:44):
Well, there were probably more people, especially some of the
more political and prominent people on my side, that didn't
feel like it was handled correctly. But obviously everybody, certainly
in those positions are very political, very high profile, and
people are not always in a position to come out
and publicly support, and a lot of times that's really
where you need the support is publicly right. But at

(32:06):
the end of the day, I've got a great family support,
I have a huge church support, a spiritual support, and
I'll be honest with you, if it wasn't for those
things in place, I don't know how anybody could go
through something like that.

Speaker 1 (32:18):
You mentioned your family. Did they encourage all along? Did
they have to be talked into? How did that work?

Speaker 2 (32:24):
Well? Your family knows you better than anybody, right, and
so I will tell you it did not take much encouraging.
In fact, I will tell you, in particular, my wife
never throttled back from it. She wanted me to do
it from the onset. It was me that kind of
had pushed myself to the back burner for many reasons
that we felt like things needed to be worked out.

(32:46):
But nonetheless, my family's been there certainly the whole time.

Speaker 1 (32:50):
Now we've only got like a minute and a half
left here. When I watched the mayoral form that was
streamed online Fox tend did I thought that all four
candidates really, all four of you seemed confident. Now are you?
Do you feel like you're going to win this? You
feel confident?

Speaker 2 (33:08):
I don't want to be pretentious. We have a lot
of momentum. Of course, in politics, in the world of publicity,
you can say one thing and mess it all up.
Campaigns and ads do have a way of swaying people.
I will simply say this, while we have the momentum,
I'm not going to raise the money. Maybe some of
the other candidates are going to raise, but because of
the dynamics and the demographics in the city of Mobile,

(33:29):
money is not going to win this raise. I will say,
they cannot outwork me. They're not outworking me now, and
if they can't do it now, they're certainly not going
to do it if they get the seat.

Speaker 1 (33:40):
All right, well, Paul Prime, one more time. If people
want to find out more about you and your campaign,
what should they do? Where should they go?

Speaker 2 (33:47):
Great? Thank you so much, Uncle Henry prinfremaire dot com
and certainly visit us on Facebook at Prime Premaire.

Speaker 1 (33:53):
All right, Paul Prime, thank you for coming in today.

Speaker 2 (33:55):
You bet, thank you, My friend, the world is listening,
and the entire the world is watching. Check in at
the top of the hour. News Radio seven, ten, WNTM
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