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This is later with Lee Matthews the
Lee Matthews Podcast War What You Hear weekday

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Afternoons on the Drive. Been looking
forward to this for a long time.

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Exclusive interview with State Superintendent of Education
Ryan Walters on the Drive. Superintendent,

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I've got a lot to talk to
you about, but let's start with the

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latest headline and the bill for about
half a million dollars that you turned into

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the Middale School District. Yeah,
you know, Middelle Public Schools spent five

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hundred thousand dollars on athletic lawn care, which is prohibited directly in statue.

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And so we made the school aware
that we're not going to allow taxpayer dollars

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to be spent illegally. So we
are clawed those dollars back and we're going

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to make sure that Middell is held
accountable for misusing taxpayer dollars. We're not

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going to allow it on our walks. Already, the critics have been saying,

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you're denying school children the funds that
are necessary for their education. Yeah,

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let me be clear. Middell Public
Schools did that. They took money

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was supposed to go to COVID recovery
that were supposed to go for kids trying

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to get back to the classroom,
was supposed to go help the teachers who

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were trying to help learning loss.
They took that and decided to spend it

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illegally on a lawn, a lawn
career. So they did that, and

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that's why it's so important to hold
districts accountable. We have a record investment

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in education in Oklahoma. Money needs
to be getting in the classroom. The

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problem isn't, frankly, more money, it's that money's not getting spent correctly.

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And so we're going to continue to
make sure that we're old districts accountable

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to make sure money gets to the
classroom, gets to the teachers, and

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gets to the kids. Superintendent of
Education Ryan Walters is with us. I

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want to offer my congratulations. By
the way, the turnaround of the Tulsa

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Public Schools system and then the other
one hundred and fifteen schools that got off

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the National Naughty List was remarkable.
I know you were working hard at turning

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those around, but I didn't expect, even as a supporter, for them

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to turn around as quickly as they
did. Well, Leah, I really

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appreciate that. I mean, you
know, we're working hard and we've told

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the districts guys, we can do
better for kids. You know, I

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think we've had a lot of the
status quo complacency that's set in across the

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state. You know, hey,
I said, the superintendent from Tulsa need

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to go. She had to go. She was a poster child of the

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status quo left wing liberals who thought
kids were victims, who didn't believe the

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kids could learn. And you know
what, we got a good superintendent over

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there. We lit a fire into
that district and what do you know,

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they're gonna have some of the biggest
academic growth they've had in decades. They

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got sixteen schools off the F list. They're rocking and roll, and they

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introduced merit pay. I mean when
you ever thought that lead that Tulsa Public

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Schools wuld introduce merit pay? And
what do you know, those great teachers

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have helped student learning at a record
pace. Same thing for the one hundred

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and fifteen schools coming off the F
list. We came in and I'm looking

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at these F schools and I'm talking
to the team over there, and well,

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you know, we give them more
money, and you know, they

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stay on there for about three years, and we go, guys, the

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goal is to get them off.
Okay, the goal is to get schools

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off the F list and fix what
the problems are and then go help continue

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to improve. So I was crystal
clear, guys, we're gonna get you

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off this list. You are gonna
do things. You're gonna focus on student

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outcomes. You're gonna really take a
critical look at yourself and see what we

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can do better. And so hey, we have been very, very thrilled

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to see the success of those schools
moving off the F list and TPS.

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I'm telling you they have had record
student tutoring programs. They launched the biggest

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suitoring program of any school in the
state. They're doing a huge summer school

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program. We're not just through at
the end of this year. Their summer

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school program is going to be tremendous. We've been working with them on that.

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This fall, they are starting a
whole new personal development for team that's

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gonna be laser focused on standards and
ensuring the outcomes there. So this is

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a turnaround this gi just from beginning
in till to we are going to get

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them back on trap. Well,
you're well on your way to doing that

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and not also not been spared your
your share of critics, especially the latest

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report. I don't remember if it
was last week or week before pointing out

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that Oklahoma tops the list of underpaying
teachers, I immediately Ryan Walters pointed out

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that the study did not take into
account cost of living, So when you

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adjust for cost of living, Oklahoma
is not doing bad. No. Look,

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we're a great player neighboring states.
Dude. We also give teachers a

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pathway to make up the six figures
and stay in the classroom. We have

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a Teacher Empowerment Act that we've been
touting that. Again, I was bragging

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on Tulsa for doing it. Hey, look, you can work your way

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up and make up the six figures
and stay in the classroom here if you're

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one of our top ten person teachers. So not only have you teacher pay,

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We're saying, listen, we believe
in the free market here in Oklahoma.

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So when you do a great job, we're going to incentivize you about

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pay an you better. I mean, I mean crazy thought, right,

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I'm mean it works in every other
three We're going to do it here.

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And again we are recruiting some of
the best pro brightest teachers around the country

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with our teacher signing bonus that brought
five hundred teachers back to the classroom last

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year, and we're going to continue
to do that work because look, we

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want high quality individuals in the classroom, and we are absolutely recruiting those folks

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to Oklahoma. Superintendent of Public Schools
Ryan Walter is joining us on the drive.

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The other thing that I've particularly talked
about, and not just with your

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administration, but with previous administrations that
I don't see any attention to, and

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maybe you can speak about it,
the reduction in the vast amount of administration

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we have statewide. And if that
means consolidation for me, so be it.

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But what are your thoughts? Yes, I mean that we need less

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administrators, we need less bureaucracy,
and we need more money getting to the

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classroom. And so a lot of
the things we try to lead by example.

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We we didn't left activists in the
agency, and we also wanted to

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lessen our footprint because guess what,
the if you are administrators and bureaucrats that

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we hire, the more I can
put money into tutoring programs, tea professional

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training. We told districts the same
thing. Cut these administrative costs. That's

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why we're requiring more financial controls on
districts. We want to see more transparency.

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We want to see more money getting
into the classroom. I told districts,

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I think over this isn't a big
ask, but I think over sixty

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percent of your funds should go in
the classroom. They should go to expenses

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with teacher pay. They should go
to the material students see in the classroom.

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Right now, we're about fifty three
percent of every dollar gets to the

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classroom. That's unacceptable. We should
have less administrators, more of the investment

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taxpayers are making. Look, Oklahoma, taxpayers, we invested in education for

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our kids, not a bunch of
bureaucrats to have jobs. Okay, So

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that money needs to get to the
classroom, and we're going to continue to

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push for financial accountability on districts to
make sure that is where they're spending their

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money. Superintendent of Public Schools,
I'm sorry, yeah, Superintendent public Schools,

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Ryan Walters, you got into education
because you wanted to educate kids.

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A lot of teachers don't get into
education for that reason. What do you

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think the best way to attract teachers
that want to be there to educate kids.

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Yeah, you know, I've been
very clear publicly on this. So

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look, if you're a social justice
warrior and you think you're going to get

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into our classroom and convince kids in
America's an evil, racist country and that

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there's eighty four genders, hey,
keep moving on to another state or another

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profession. You're not going to teach
in our schools. We don't. That's

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not Oklahoma values, that's not what
education looks like. That's in doctrination.

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So a couple of things we've done
is we've been crystal clear we are recruiting

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people who have traditional Oklahoma values.
That's who we want in our classroom.

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We're going to focus on the basics. We're not going to have indoctrination in

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the classroom. We're not going to
allow it. We're also going to bring

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back here's a good one lee discipline
to the classroom. I talked to so

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many cheers that talk about the breakdown
of discipline in the classroom. We've got

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to make sure that we want to
get into the profession. So the more

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that and I'm gonna tell you the
other thing, we continue to offer teachers

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alternative pathways to get in his class
room. Look, our higher end institutions

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have gone woke. You've got a
bunch of left wing activists masquerading as college

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professors. And you know what,
if we've got a guy that's a local

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banker who says, hey, I'd
like to teach financial literacy at our school,

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well we're gonna help him get a
certification to go do it. We're

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not gonna go, hey, go
back to a higher ED institution, get

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another degree from a bunch of higher
ed Marxist and then we'll let you come

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back. No, those are people
with real world experience that can have a

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tremendous impact on our kids. We
want to help them get to the classroom.

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So we love people with real world
experience want to get to the classroom.

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So we've opened up alternative pathways.
We now allow adjunct teachers in the

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classroom and K twelve institutions, And
boy, every time I go to districts,

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I hear a great story about You're
not gonna believe that we found this

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individual. They applied, they have
a different type of background, and boy,

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they love it. The kids love
them. They're doing great. So

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we're going to keep going around higher
ED two to make sure that we're getting

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folks from all different kinds of backgrounds
into the classroom. Ran Walters, If

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I may ask a kind of a
personally personal slanted question, You've had to

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take a lot of arrows since you
took office. How you're holding up?

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Hey, Look, when I take
arrows from far left wing activists, it

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just tells me I'm over the target. It just further encourages me that we're

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doing the right thing. I mean, listen, for far too long,

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we've allowed a bunch of radical union
activists to come in and bully Republicans.

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I mean, it's ridiculous to me. I'm going so, you guys are

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going to go back home to a
bunch of to the teachers Union that are

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pushing radical gender theory. They're fighting
parents rights. Remember our teachers unions,

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our school board associations, they lobbied
the Biden administration to label parents domestic terrorists

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and investigate them. And we're going
to back down to those groups. Absolutely

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not. The more that I take
arrows from the teachers Union, the more

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that I know that I'm on the
right track. I'm always going to defend

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parents. I'm always going to do
what's best for Oklahoma students, and I

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will never back down to a woke
mob. You know these I've got these

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national LGBTQ plus groups coming after me, Joe Biden, the federal government coming

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after me, the teachers Union.
Hey, all those folks right there.

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Absolutely those folks are trying to fundamentally
undermine our country, fundamentally undermine our families,

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fundamentally attack our faith. So I'm
going to stand in a way every

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chance I get to keep them out
of our classrooms and keep them from destroying

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our families. Superintendent of Public Education, Ryan Walters, I'm so glad you

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carved out some time for us today. Have been aching to speak with you

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about some of these issues, and
all I can say is is keep on

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keeping on, keep the fight going. Lee. Hey, I appreciate you

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very much, love to come back
on. I appreciate what you're doing.

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Thank you for being such a voice
for common sense, and thank you very

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much for the epising to be on
faith. Thanks for listening to Later with

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Lee Matthews, the Lee Matthews Podcast, and remember to listen to The Drive

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Live weekday afternoons from five to seven
and iHeartMedia Presentation