Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Business leaders for Michigan is united by an ambitious goal
to make Michigan a top ten state for jobs and
talent and a thriving economy. We spoke just the other
day with Jeff Donofrio and they are asking whoever is
the next governor to have a laser focus on prosperity
and that essentially the education element in Michigan lagging so
(00:23):
sadly behind, even though more money gets thrown at it.
And there were other pillars of what they're talking about
to improve our states education, the workforce, and business fundamentals.
A man who knows that. And by the way, we
just spoke to Jas Bolder a few minutes ago. He's
the former Speaker of the House. Now we have, luckily enough,
(00:44):
the current Speaker of the House, Matt Hall, the Republican
from Richland Township. Welcome to the airwaves and thanks for
being here. Great to be with you, this current governor
who was given two terms by Michigan voters. One of
the elements in addition to fixing the damn roads that
she it would be transparency. There would be people who
would say you have done more for transparency in your
(01:07):
time as a speaker than she has as governor. Would
that be fair to say? Oh?
Speaker 2 (01:13):
I think so. Yeah. I mean, we we pushed the
Heat Plan, the Hall Ethics, Accountability and Transparency Plan. You
know when I became Speaker, because I was looking at
all these budgets that were going on under Whitmer, and
they would just shove in in the last minute a
billion dollars or more of pork in there, and you know,
(01:35):
we wouldn't know what any of this was. But it
did approve because you know, we we were there to
vote for public safety, healthcare, education, roads, and so you know,
they shove this stuff on in the end. Well, it
adds up. So when I became Speaker, I just said, look,
we're going to come up with the Hall Ethics, Accountability
(01:55):
a Transparency Plan. We're going to stop this. We're going
to make them disclow was at least forty five days
in advance, what this stuff is. Put their name on
it so we know who's sponsoring it. Ban for profit
companies from getting it, make us, you know, tell us
what the public purpose is, give us a description so
we can bet these things. I mean, you saw people
(02:18):
get criminal charges over these things, and a lot of
very wasteful uses. So we put that forward and I
willed it into power by saying, we're not doing this
budget unless you guys agree to make this permanent law.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
And they did, and there was pressure, of course, with
the possible shut down we saw the federal government have one.
Michigan narrowly avoided it. But are you surprised that something
like this hasn't happened sooner that we've been operating with
the ability to you know, put these sorts of things
(02:51):
in place without the scrutiny that you're asking for, or
the transparency maybe is a better word.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Well, there was so much money, you know, during the
COVID nineteen pandemic, there's so much money floating around, and
I think there was a lot of there were no rules,
and you know, I just felt like if we put
rules in place, you know, it would protect us as
elected officials, because you know that people come to you
(03:19):
with all kinds of pitches and you say, look, okay,
we'll disclose it. You know, we'll vet it. It can't
go to your for profit corporation. And you know, I
think this is going to lead to all that shady
stuff and not making it into the bill because they
don't want it out in the open, so you know,
and then there were a lot I mean, you know,
(03:40):
there's a lot of pressure on the politicians to support
a lot of their political allies, and we've seen that
with the pork spending. So what I was surprised is
when I was in the room how difficult it was
to make us happen. But we decided. I decided, I'm
not supporting any pork in this budget until you agree
to it and brings in. The Democrats agreed because they
(04:02):
wanted to pork so bad.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
What was the argument against?
Speaker 2 (04:10):
It's just like this is too rigid. What if there's
some emergency. You know, they always let the emergency swallow
up the routine, So I mean, what if there's an
emergency and we can't do it forty five days before bill,
how do we It's like, okay, well, so let's let's
let's address the problem and then if that ever comes up,
(04:32):
I mean, we'll work, we'll work on a solution. But
you know, they want to swallow that up instead of
fix the real problem, which is the all the billions
every year that get shoved in there and nobody knows
what it is until after the vote, and a lot
of it is not justified.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
These are examples we saw in the federal government when
Elon Musk and those came through and started reminding people
about money that was going all over the world for
some curious things. And of course in Michigan, I guess
the example that will always be held up is the
eight thousand dollars coffee maker or is too much being
made about that?
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Well, that's a great point. And so what we did
in the Heat Plan, the Hall Epics Accountability Transparency Plan,
is we were changing this from where they pay it
out in advance to where you have to you have
to get approval for those expenditures and then get reimbursed
or approval, and then they'll make you know, they'll give
(05:34):
you the money for each expenditure. That's a big change
because you know, we knew some of these projects were wrong,
and the Witmer administration wouldn't do anything about it. They're like,
we can't audit them until they spend a certain amount
of money. Well, now they have to get that approval
after the fact. So that's going to stop that stuff
like the coffee maker from happening again.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Well, I always think of the state government as a
giant content board, and all of us are paying our
dues into it every month, our taxes. And you know
it's different when you go to a condo association meeting
and you see the budget laid out and you get
a voice, you can stand up and yell about it.
But those citizens don't have really often the chance to
do something like that, at least not directly. And so
(06:17):
we depend on the people that quote unquote represent us
to make sure that our money is being spent effectively
and fairly. And we appreciate that from you. Do you
get many knocks on doors, Matt Hall, Speaker of the
House from candidates for governor who wonder if you might
like to be their running mate.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
No, no, I don't you know. I'm I mean, what
I'm trying to do as a speaker is to be
a resource to all the candidates and to you know,
help them develop their platform so that when we win
the governorship, you know, we can partner and get things
done immediately. We've got a lot of changes. You talked
about what be business leaders from Michigan thinks, and we
(07:00):
got a lot of work to do. We got to
start early.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Okay, maybe putting restoring right to work would be on
that list.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Well, some people, some people want to do that, so well,
you know, we're going to assess a lot of things,
but you know, I think we're going to be focused
on in our education system and getting you know, kids
to to read.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
We sure appreciate that.
Business leaders for Michigan is united by an ambitious goal
to make Michigan a top ten state for jobs and
talent and a thriving economy. We spoke just the other
day with Jeff Donofrio and they are asking whoever is
the next governor to have a laser focus on prosperity
and that essentially the education element in Michigan lagging so
(00:23):
sadly behind, even though more money gets thrown at it.
And there were other pillars of what they're talking about
to improve our states education, the workforce, and business fundamentals.
A man who knows that. And by the way, we
just spoke to Jas Bolder a few minutes ago. He's
the former Speaker of the House. Now we have, luckily enough,
(00:44):
the current Speaker of the House, Matt Hall, the Republican
from Richland Township. Welcome to the airwaves and thanks for
being here. Great to be with you, this current governor
who was given two terms by Michigan voters. One of
the elements in addition to fixing the damn roads that
she it would be transparency. There would be people who
would say you have done more for transparency in your
(01:07):
time as a speaker than she has as governor. Would
that be fair to say? Oh?
Speaker 2 (01:13):
I think so. Yeah. I mean, we we pushed the
Heat Plan, the Hall Ethics, Accountability and Transparency Plan. You
know when I became Speaker, because I was looking at
all these budgets that were going on under Whitmer, and
they would just shove in in the last minute a
billion dollars or more of pork in there, and you know,
(01:35):
we wouldn't know what any of this was. But it
did approve because you know, we we were there to
vote for public safety, healthcare, education, roads, and so you know,
they shove this stuff on in the end. Well, it
adds up. So when I became Speaker, I just said, look,
we're going to come up with the Hall Ethics, Accountability
(01:55):
a Transparency Plan. We're going to stop this. We're going
to make them disclow was at least forty five days
in advance, what this stuff is. Put their name on
it so we know who's sponsoring it. Ban for profit
companies from getting it, make us, you know, tell us
what the public purpose is, give us a description so
we can bet these things. I mean, you saw people
(02:18):
get criminal charges over these things, and a lot of
very wasteful uses. So we put that forward and I
willed it into power by saying, we're not doing this
budget unless you guys agree to make this permanent law.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
And they did, and there was pressure, of course, with
the possible shut down we saw the federal government have one.
Michigan narrowly avoided it. But are you surprised that something
like this hasn't happened sooner that we've been operating with
the ability to you know, put these sorts of things
(02:51):
in place without the scrutiny that you're asking for, or
the transparency maybe is a better word.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
Well, there was so much money, you know, during the
COVID nineteen pandemic, there's so much money floating around, and
I think there was a lot of there were no rules,
and you know, I just felt like if we put
rules in place, you know, it would protect us as
elected officials, because you know that people come to you
(03:19):
with all kinds of pitches and you say, look, okay,
we'll disclose it. You know, we'll vet it. It can't
go to your for profit corporation. And you know, I
think this is going to lead to all that shady
stuff and not making it into the bill because they
don't want it out in the open, so you know,
and then there were a lot I mean, you know,
(03:40):
there's a lot of pressure on the politicians to support
a lot of their political allies, and we've seen that
with the pork spending. So what I was surprised is
when I was in the room how difficult it was
to make us happen. But we decided. I decided, I'm
not supporting any pork in this budget until you agree
to it and brings in. The Democrats agreed because they
(04:02):
wanted to pork so bad.
Speaker 1 (04:05):
What was the argument against?
Speaker 2 (04:10):
It's just like this is too rigid. What if there's
some emergency. You know, they always let the emergency swallow
up the routine, So I mean, what if there's an
emergency and we can't do it forty five days before bill,
how do we It's like, okay, well, so let's let's
let's address the problem and then if that ever comes up,
(04:32):
I mean, we'll work, we'll work on a solution. But
you know, they want to swallow that up instead of
fix the real problem, which is the all the billions
every year that get shoved in there and nobody knows
what it is until after the vote, and a lot
of it is not justified.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
These are examples we saw in the federal government when
Elon Musk and those came through and started reminding people
about money that was going all over the world for
some curious things. And of course in Michigan, I guess
the example that will always be held up is the
eight thousand dollars coffee maker or is too much being
made about that?
Speaker 2 (05:14):
Well, that's a great point. And so what we did
in the Heat Plan, the Hall Epics Accountability Transparency Plan,
is we were changing this from where they pay it
out in advance to where you have to you have
to get approval for those expenditures and then get reimbursed
or approval, and then they'll make you know, they'll give
(05:34):
you the money for each expenditure. That's a big change
because you know, we knew some of these projects were wrong,
and the Witmer administration wouldn't do anything about it. They're like,
we can't audit them until they spend a certain amount
of money. Well, now they have to get that approval
after the fact. So that's going to stop that stuff
like the coffee maker from happening again.
Speaker 1 (05:56):
Well, I always think of the state government as a
giant content board, and all of us are paying our
dues into it every month, our taxes. And you know
it's different when you go to a condo association meeting
and you see the budget laid out and you get
a voice, you can stand up and yell about it.
But those citizens don't have really often the chance to
do something like that, at least not directly. And so
(06:17):
we depend on the people that quote unquote represent us
to make sure that our money is being spent effectively
and fairly. And we appreciate that from you. Do you
get many knocks on doors, Matt Hall, Speaker of the
House from candidates for governor who wonder if you might
like to be their running mate.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
No, no, I don't you know. I'm I mean, what
I'm trying to do as a speaker is to be
a resource to all the candidates and to you know,
help them develop their platform so that when we win
the governorship, you know, we can partner and get things
done immediately. We've got a lot of changes. You talked
about what be business leaders from Michigan thinks, and we
(07:00):
got a lot of work to do. We got to
start early.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Okay, maybe putting restoring right to work would be on
that list.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Well, some people, some people want to do that, so well,
you know, we're going to assess a lot of things,
but you know, I think we're going to be focused
on in our education system and getting you know, kids
to to read.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
We sure appreciate that.
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