Bill Sites the conscience of the Ohio Senators. Bill Sites he announced next year
he's not going to run for reelection for the first time in about twenty five
years, so it'll be Bill Sites unbridled on many issues. Bill Sides,
Welcome again to the Bill Cunningham Show. You're getting ready to quit, to
retire with the thanks of a grateful nation. Are you ready to go out
to pasture, out to stud How do you feel? Well? Well,
Bill, I'm not retiring. We have term limits in Ohio and I have
reached the end of the eight year term limit to be eligible to run for
the House, and there's no opening over in the Ohio Senate. I wouldn't
run against my good friend Bill Blessing in a Republican primary, and I'll be
seventy years old by that time. So it's been a great run and it's
really not a retirement. It's just opening up another chapter in my life apart
from being in the Ohio House or Senate. But make the last year count.
That's what I'm going to try to do. If you could run again,
would you or would you say? You know what, years that's pretty
old, that's enough. Well, you know, we've got some people that
are doing pretty well at plus seventy years, and Governor Dwine is doing pretty
well at seventy six. But then you've got a hundred people that are showing
their signs of age at that age, including mister Trump, including mister Biden.
And you know, you don't want to stay around too long, and
we're out. You're welcome, So you know, I just think everybody has
to make a judgment as to how best to serve as they approach senior status.
Shall we say? Most of the people that I know that I went
to high school with a are already retired. You know. In many of
the large law firms, they make the lead partners that phase down after age
sixty five, and the accounting firms that partners have to go by age sixty.
So it's interesting. And of course, our judges, as you well
know, are aged out at age seventy. So that's why your lovely wife,
you know, could no longer, I assume, could no longer run
for judge. So this is just partal life, I guess is people make
different decisions about how long people should be eligible to serve in elective office.
Two things we all share, we're born and we die. What you do
in the meantime is what's important, and some of us keep kicking it for
some reason past that age. I don't know how much many years I have
left, maybe one or two. But I understand what you're saying, and
maybe it's time to move on. Let young studs take over. But let's
talk about Issue one too and Issue twenty two. I watched the commercials and
the experts that Tony Bender types tell me that Issue one's going to pass by
a wide margin. That it's about women not getting medical care if they have
a miscarriage. It's about women being able to have birth control pills and men
able to buy condoms. It's about a twelve year old girl who was raped
by her by her mother's boyfriend and had to go to Annapolis to get an
abortion. So that should not be the talisman that decides what happens to all
the other less than one percent of the abortions of rape and incest. Those
could be carved out if you'd like to, So give me your analysis about
the commercials being run in at Pearis. That's going to pass by a wide
margin, despite many saying the rosary forever, who knows what's going to happen
Number one? Tell me what Issue one says. Number two, tell me
what's going to happen to Issue one? And number three we'll talk about issue
too, and then we'll talk about issue then Issue twenty two. You know
what I'm saying. Yeah, that's a lot to bite off. But yes,
Look here's the problem with Issue one. It goes far beyond what Roe
versus Wade ever said, because it says, quote every individual end quote,
I have certain reproductive rights, and those rights are quote including but not limited
to end quote those subjects. Well, if something is including, but not
limited to, what are the limits? The answer is there are no limits.
Is it a child? An individual? I think so. So,
while it is true that Issue one does not directly cut off parental notification and
consent or directly cut off some of the things that the Issue one opponents say
is going to happen, the fact of the matter is in Issue one,
the actual language says rights are conferred, including but not limited to, and
the state is prohibited from quote directly or indirectly end quote, interfering with those
rights. So anything that has ever done that could be viewed as a burden
or an interference with reproductive rights is out the window if Issue one path,
including the obligation to have a woman listen to the ultrasound to determine that the
fetus is in fact alive and viable, including restrictions on parental notification and consents,
including all of that, would be out the window if Issue one passes.
So that's why and I wrote a very nice op ed in the Enquirer
came out on the Sunday enquire October fifteenth, that explains all that in substantial
detail and why this does go beyond Row versus Wade. Yes, it says
that abortions may be prohibited after viability, but not if the woman's health is
at risk. And according to the United States Supreme Court in Dove versus Fulton
from nineteen seventy three, health means and I quote all factors physical, emotional,
psychological, familial, and the women's age end quote. So any abortion
doctor can hang his hat on any of those in thishea of health and perform
abortions subsequent to the time when the fetus is viable outside the womb. So
for those reasons, it goes way too far. I don't know if it's
going to pass or fail. I don't know. I think is what's going
to depend on the turnout. I can tell you in my part of the
world, out in western Hamilton County, I see a lot more vote No
signs than Vote Yet signs. But I recognize that, Mike, part of
the world is not the whole world. So I don't know what's going to
happen with issue one, but I do know for an absolute spact, it
goes way beyond Row versus Wade, and on that basis alone should be defeated.
Well, a lot of women want to kill their unborn, healthy babies,
and I get that. However, when I had on Mike DeWine about
a month ago, he is similar right to life as you and me and
he, and that is conception to natural death. However, Mike DeWine said
that we should have fifteen plus three, which is fifteen weeks plus rape incest
in life of the mother. And that's where Ohioans are. But you politicians
and Columbus wouldn't pass that. Why Well, I don't know what we would
pass and what we wouldn't pass. We did pass the Heartbeat Bill in twenty
nineteen, which establishes the principle that when a fetal heartbeat is detected, abortion
should not happen except to protect the life of the mother. Whether that went
too far or not, some would argue that it did. But whether we
choose to revisit that if Issue one is defeated. I know the governor would
like to. I don't know what my colleagues would do. I think we
are looking for a compromise. Personally, I would be looking for a compromise,
but I don't know what my colleagues would do about that. Let's leave
that one alone, because I pray to God it goes down hard like a
cold boat on a hot July afternoon in Green Township. But we'll see what
happens. Issue too is another matter about adult use of marijuana over the age
of twenty one recreationally, like I would imagine you. I have a few
of my buddies that like enjoying a doobie a little bit of ganji on the
back deck as the sun's going down, instead of a martini or a long
island ized tea, which is Tony Bender's favorites. To who my buddies like
to get a little pot smoke on the back of the deck, and they
have to buy it illegally unless they conjure up some other medical problems can be
solved with the use of marijuana. Where does spill sit stand, if anywhere
in State Issue Too Well, I do not plan to vote for State Issue
Too either, not because I'm a particular fuddy duddy about marijuana, but rather
because I believe a well regulated medical marijuana system is a better system. We
do not want people smoking cigarette, or smoking pipes or smoking cigars, Why
then would we want them smoking marijuana. Our medical marijuana program does not permit
smoking of marijuana, but this initiative would permit the smoking of marijuana, and
for that reason it is a risk to the public health. I say that
as a former smoker myself. Number one. Number two, the initiative Issue
Too also allows every single Ohioland to grow pot in their own home. And
you know, we don't allow folks to grow to have a bathtub gin.
When we regulated alcohol, we said it's got to be part of a three
tier system with a manufacturer, a wholesaler, and a retailer. And in
the interest again of public safety. Although the initiative says you can only grow
it in your home for your own use. How is anybody going to enforce
that? And the answer is completely unenforceable. So that's the second reason why
it's a bad idea. I would prefer that we beep up our current medical
marijuana statute. There's a very good bill pending in the Senate right now,
Senate Bill nine that I've worked on for the better part of three years with
my friend Senator Suring, that would give people a better program under the watchful
eye of the state, improve the supply, improve the number of dispensaries.
That's a great bill. So I would prefer that we do that rather than
we open the door wholesale to everybody becoming their own cheech and chong. Well,
let me ask you this. If one of your pals are smoking a
little doobie at the end of a hard day of work on the back deck,
do you call the authorities and say, come and arrest that guy.
No, And you know, the small quantities of marijuana are not givenly prosecuted
and haven't been for two twenty years, so that's really not even an issue
anymore. Well, when you walk across Washington Park on a summer's evening,
when you go to Fountain square. All you smell is pot. It's openly
smoked everywhere. The drug dealers are making money. The state's making no money.
And if some adult wants to smoke a little pot, I don't have
an objection. Have at it. That's my opinion. Well I don't eat.
I don't either, But I'd rather come through the licensing regulated medical marijuana
program operated under the watchful eyes of the state, through our College Department and
our Department of Pharmacy and so forth. I'd rather have that than just every
Tom, Dick and Harry doing what they want. You don't know in many
cases what this pot might be laced with, to be laced with other things
that are far more harmful. So you know, there's got to be some
guardrails. And I just don't see those guardrails in Issue too State Representative Bill
cites the conscience of the Senate in the House. Lastly, State Issue I'm
sorry, City Issue twenty two is buying the one point six billion dollars,
selling it to the railroad and collecting the money, and then everyone's lined up
to manage the money. Those kinds of things you were indirectly involved in Columbus
passing legislation. Can you tell the American people whether selling the railroad dirt for
one point six billion dollars is a good or bad idea. I think it's
a very good idea, and I think the city would be making of city
voters would be making a big mistake to turn it down. And here's why
I say that. We put him in state law strict safeguards about how this
money could be used. It cannot be used except to pay for the repair
and replacement of existing infrastructure number one. Number two, the city will only
get the interest and dividend income on the one point six billion dollar price.
They will not have access to the principle of that at all because the money
will be held in trust. Number Three. If the principle ever declines to
seventy five percent or less of what the original one point six billion dollars was,
then the city will not even get any interest or dividend income off of
whatever is left in the trust bund. So the big argument was, well,
we don't trust the city. They would just frivolously expend this money.
That cannot happen because state law prohibits it. Bill Blessing and I worked on
these guardrails, and they're in state law. I have no particular allegiance to
the democratically controlled Cincinnati City Council, but this is a smart move for the
city as a whole. A It takes care of our infrastructure needs. See,
it's much better to have one point six billion dollars invested across a broad
portfolio of investments than to have your entire nut tied up in one railroad.
People say, well, what's wrong with that? I said, well,
Norfolk Southern may not be around forever. They've already expended seven hundred and twenty
five million dollars just on the train derailment in East Palestine. If if the
Norfolk Southern continues to have those kinds of safety issues, they could very well
go out of business and then you've got nothing. People said, well,
no, that would never happen. Well, last week I read Johnson and
Johnson is about the file bankruptcy. Nobody thought the Boy Scouts would file bankruptcy,
but they did. Nobody thought the Catholic Church dioceses in many states would
file bankruptcy, and they did. So. It doesn't make sense to have
that kind of money tied up in one investment, and that's what the city
is doing now. So we need to take that money and invest it across
a broad portfolio, just like you do with your four oh one K.
You don't have it all in one stock, or you shouldn't, and therefore
it makes all the sense in the world to do them. Plus, I
was told, and I believe because they have a very good rail board right
now, that there were four independent appraisals of the value of this rail line,
and it came in at the one point six billion price came in towards
the top end of those four appraisals, So that tells me it's a fair
price. People can argue and say, well, why didn't somebody else fit
on it? Because it's subject to a long term lease in favor of Norfolk
and Southern. No other railroad is going to bid on that line if it's
already encumbered by a long term lease to Norfolk and Southern. That doesn't make
any sense. So I think, frankly, the city should get out of
the railroad business. We're the only city in the United States that has an
interstate rail line that they own. Get back to the core competency of city
government, which is fixing our streets and keeping our infrastructure intact, and let's
move on from there. If odd coalition of far left and far right folks
that are opposed to Issue twenty two is kind of interesting because the broad and
sensible middle seems to be very much in favor of it, as is the
business community, the Chamber of Commerce. Folks with the same rational heads all
agree this is a good thing. And if I lived in the city,
I would vote yet, well, because you have the guard rails, I'd
be inclined to vote yes. Also, because of the guard rails, no
one trusts city council to do a damn thing because most of the previous council
is serving time in federal prison, and so that's a different problem. But
that has nothing to do. If Norfolk Southern has two or three more derailments,
they'll be in bankruptcy court. They'll be filing eight, nine, ten,
eleven, seven and fourteen bankruptcy. And then what happens God only knows.
But at this point, the city with guard rails can collect the one
point six billion in February and March of next year, and then the money
will be managed to the benefit of the citizen. Ad infinitum, Bill Sites,
may you live long and prosper and serve for another thirty years. Well,
thank you very much, appreciate your kind words. And that should be
an interesting election day coming up in about a week. Now, seventy years
old is pretty old, so it's time for you to go out to stud
Thanks really all, Bill Sites, the conscience of the House in the Senate.
Let's continue with more. So he says, vote no on one is
the abortion. He says on issue too, he says vote no. I
say vote yes on Issue twenty two. We both say vote yes because I
don't trust the scoundrels in city Hall to do anything with money. They're all
incompetent or in prison. Let's continue with more. Bill Cunningham, News Radio
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