WEBVTT

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Bill Sites the conscience of the Ohio
Senators. Bill Sites he announced next year

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he's not going to run for reelection
for the first time in about twenty five

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years, so it'll be Bill Sites
unbridled on many issues. Bill Sides,

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Welcome again to the Bill Cunningham Show. You're getting ready to quit, to

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retire with the thanks of a grateful
nation. Are you ready to go out

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to pasture, out to stud How
do you feel? Well? Well,

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Bill, I'm not retiring. We
have term limits in Ohio and I have

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reached the end of the eight year
term limit to be eligible to run for

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the House, and there's no opening
over in the Ohio Senate. I wouldn't

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run against my good friend Bill Blessing
in a Republican primary, and I'll be

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seventy years old by that time.
So it's been a great run and it's

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really not a retirement. It's just
opening up another chapter in my life apart

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from being in the Ohio House or
Senate. But make the last year count.

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That's what I'm going to try to
do. If you could run again,

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would you or would you say?
You know what, years that's pretty

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old, that's enough. Well,
you know, we've got some people that

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are doing pretty well at plus seventy
years, and Governor Dwine is doing pretty

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well at seventy six. But then
you've got a hundred people that are showing

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their signs of age at that age, including mister Trump, including mister Biden.

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And you know, you don't want
to stay around too long, and

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we're out. You're welcome, So
you know, I just think everybody has

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to make a judgment as to how
best to serve as they approach senior status.

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Shall we say? Most of the
people that I know that I went

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to high school with a are already
retired. You know. In many of

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the large law firms, they make
the lead partners that phase down after age

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sixty five, and the accounting firms
that partners have to go by age sixty.

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So it's interesting. And of course, our judges, as you well

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know, are aged out at age
seventy. So that's why your lovely wife,

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you know, could no longer,
I assume, could no longer run

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for judge. So this is just
partal life, I guess is people make

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different decisions about how long people should
be eligible to serve in elective office.

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Two things we all share, we're
born and we die. What you do

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in the meantime is what's important,
and some of us keep kicking it for

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some reason past that age. I
don't know how much many years I have

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left, maybe one or two.
But I understand what you're saying, and

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maybe it's time to move on.
Let young studs take over. But let's

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talk about Issue one too and Issue
twenty two. I watched the commercials and

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the experts that Tony Bender types tell
me that Issue one's going to pass by

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a wide margin. That it's about
women not getting medical care if they have

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a miscarriage. It's about women being
able to have birth control pills and men

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able to buy condoms. It's about
a twelve year old girl who was raped

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by her by her mother's boyfriend and
had to go to Annapolis to get an

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abortion. So that should not be
the talisman that decides what happens to all

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the other less than one percent of
the abortions of rape and incest. Those

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could be carved out if you'd like
to, So give me your analysis about

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the commercials being run in at Pearis. That's going to pass by a wide

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margin, despite many saying the rosary
forever, who knows what's going to happen

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Number one? Tell me what Issue
one says. Number two, tell me

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what's going to happen to Issue one? And number three we'll talk about issue

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too, and then we'll talk about
issue then Issue twenty two. You know

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what I'm saying. Yeah, that's
a lot to bite off. But yes,

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Look here's the problem with Issue one. It goes far beyond what Roe

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versus Wade ever said, because it
says, quote every individual end quote,

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I have certain reproductive rights, and
those rights are quote including but not limited

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to end quote those subjects. Well, if something is including, but not

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limited to, what are the limits? The answer is there are no limits.

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Is it a child? An individual? I think so. So,

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while it is true that Issue one
does not directly cut off parental notification and

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consent or directly cut off some of
the things that the Issue one opponents say

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is going to happen, the fact
of the matter is in Issue one,

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the actual language says rights are conferred, including but not limited to, and

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the state is prohibited from quote directly
or indirectly end quote, interfering with those

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rights. So anything that has ever
done that could be viewed as a burden

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or an interference with reproductive rights is
out the window if Issue one path,

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including the obligation to have a woman
listen to the ultrasound to determine that the

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fetus is in fact alive and viable, including restrictions on parental notification and consents,

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including all of that, would be
out the window if Issue one passes.

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So that's why and I wrote a
very nice op ed in the Enquirer

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came out on the Sunday enquire October
fifteenth, that explains all that in substantial

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detail and why this does go beyond
Row versus Wade. Yes, it says

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that abortions may be prohibited after viability, but not if the woman's health is

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at risk. And according to the
United States Supreme Court in Dove versus Fulton

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from nineteen seventy three, health means
and I quote all factors physical, emotional,

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psychological, familial, and the women's
age end quote. So any abortion

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doctor can hang his hat on any
of those in thishea of health and perform

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abortions subsequent to the time when the
fetus is viable outside the womb. So

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for those reasons, it goes way
too far. I don't know if it's

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going to pass or fail. I
don't know. I think is what's going

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to depend on the turnout. I
can tell you in my part of the

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world, out in western Hamilton County, I see a lot more vote No

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signs than Vote Yet signs. But
I recognize that, Mike, part of

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the world is not the whole world. So I don't know what's going to

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happen with issue one, but I
do know for an absolute spact, it

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goes way beyond Row versus Wade,
and on that basis alone should be defeated.

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Well, a lot of women want
to kill their unborn, healthy babies,

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and I get that. However,
when I had on Mike DeWine about

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a month ago, he is similar
right to life as you and me and

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he, and that is conception to
natural death. However, Mike DeWine said

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that we should have fifteen plus three, which is fifteen weeks plus rape incest

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in life of the mother. And
that's where Ohioans are. But you politicians

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and Columbus wouldn't pass that. Why
Well, I don't know what we would

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pass and what we wouldn't pass.
We did pass the Heartbeat Bill in twenty

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nineteen, which establishes the principle that
when a fetal heartbeat is detected, abortion

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should not happen except to protect the
life of the mother. Whether that went

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too far or not, some would
argue that it did. But whether we

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choose to revisit that if Issue one
is defeated. I know the governor would

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like to. I don't know what
my colleagues would do. I think we

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are looking for a compromise. Personally, I would be looking for a compromise,

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but I don't know what my colleagues
would do about that. Let's leave

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that one alone, because I pray
to God it goes down hard like a

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cold boat on a hot July afternoon
in Green Township. But we'll see what

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happens. Issue too is another matter
about adult use of marijuana over the age

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of twenty one recreationally, like I
would imagine you. I have a few

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of my buddies that like enjoying a
doobie a little bit of ganji on the

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back deck as the sun's going down, instead of a martini or a long

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island ized tea, which is Tony
Bender's favorites. To who my buddies like

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to get a little pot smoke on
the back of the deck, and they

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have to buy it illegally unless they
conjure up some other medical problems can be

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solved with the use of marijuana.
Where does spill sit stand, if anywhere

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in State Issue Too Well, I
do not plan to vote for State Issue

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Too either, not because I'm a
particular fuddy duddy about marijuana, but rather

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because I believe a well regulated medical
marijuana system is a better system. We

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do not want people smoking cigarette,
or smoking pipes or smoking cigars, Why

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then would we want them smoking marijuana. Our medical marijuana program does not permit

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smoking of marijuana, but this initiative
would permit the smoking of marijuana, and

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for that reason it is a risk
to the public health. I say that

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as a former smoker myself. Number
one. Number two, the initiative Issue

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Too also allows every single Ohioland to
grow pot in their own home. And

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you know, we don't allow folks
to grow to have a bathtub gin.

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When we regulated alcohol, we said
it's got to be part of a three

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tier system with a manufacturer, a
wholesaler, and a retailer. And in

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the interest again of public safety.
Although the initiative says you can only grow

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it in your home for your own
use. How is anybody going to enforce

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that? And the answer is completely
unenforceable. So that's the second reason why

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it's a bad idea. I would
prefer that we beep up our current medical

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marijuana statute. There's a very good
bill pending in the Senate right now,

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Senate Bill nine that I've worked on
for the better part of three years with

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my friend Senator Suring, that would
give people a better program under the watchful

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eye of the state, improve the
supply, improve the number of dispensaries.

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That's a great bill. So I
would prefer that we do that rather than

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we open the door wholesale to everybody
becoming their own cheech and chong. Well,

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let me ask you this. If
one of your pals are smoking a

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little doobie at the end of a
hard day of work on the back deck,

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do you call the authorities and say, come and arrest that guy.

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No, And you know, the
small quantities of marijuana are not givenly prosecuted

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and haven't been for two twenty years, so that's really not even an issue

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anymore. Well, when you walk
across Washington Park on a summer's evening,

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when you go to Fountain square.
All you smell is pot. It's openly

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smoked everywhere. The drug dealers are
making money. The state's making no money.

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And if some adult wants to smoke
a little pot, I don't have

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an objection. Have at it.
That's my opinion. Well I don't eat.

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I don't either, But I'd rather
come through the licensing regulated medical marijuana

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program operated under the watchful eyes of
the state, through our College Department and

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our Department of Pharmacy and so forth. I'd rather have that than just every

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Tom, Dick and Harry doing what
they want. You don't know in many

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cases what this pot might be laced
with, to be laced with other things

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that are far more harmful. So
you know, there's got to be some

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guardrails. And I just don't see
those guardrails in Issue too State Representative Bill

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cites the conscience of the Senate in
the House. Lastly, State Issue I'm

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sorry, City Issue twenty two is
buying the one point six billion dollars,

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selling it to the railroad and collecting
the money, and then everyone's lined up

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to manage the money. Those kinds
of things you were indirectly involved in Columbus

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passing legislation. Can you tell the
American people whether selling the railroad dirt for

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one point six billion dollars is a
good or bad idea. I think it's

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a very good idea, and I
think the city would be making of city

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voters would be making a big mistake
to turn it down. And here's why

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I say that. We put him
in state law strict safeguards about how this

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money could be used. It cannot
be used except to pay for the repair

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and replacement of existing infrastructure number one. Number two, the city will only

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get the interest and dividend income on
the one point six billion dollar price.

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They will not have access to the
principle of that at all because the money

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will be held in trust. Number
Three. If the principle ever declines to

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seventy five percent or less of what
the original one point six billion dollars was,

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then the city will not even get
any interest or dividend income off of

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whatever is left in the trust bund. So the big argument was, well,

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we don't trust the city. They
would just frivolously expend this money.

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That cannot happen because state law prohibits
it. Bill Blessing and I worked on

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these guardrails, and they're in state
law. I have no particular allegiance to

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the democratically controlled Cincinnati City Council,
but this is a smart move for the

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city as a whole. A It
takes care of our infrastructure needs. See,

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it's much better to have one point
six billion dollars invested across a broad

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portfolio of investments than to have your
entire nut tied up in one railroad.

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People say, well, what's wrong
with that? I said, well,

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Norfolk Southern may not be around forever. They've already expended seven hundred and twenty

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five million dollars just on the train
derailment in East Palestine. If if the

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Norfolk Southern continues to have those kinds
of safety issues, they could very well

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go out of business and then you've
got nothing. People said, well,

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no, that would never happen.
Well, last week I read Johnson and

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Johnson is about the file bankruptcy.
Nobody thought the Boy Scouts would file bankruptcy,

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but they did. Nobody thought the
Catholic Church dioceses in many states would

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file bankruptcy, and they did.
So. It doesn't make sense to have

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that kind of money tied up in
one investment, and that's what the city

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is doing now. So we need
to take that money and invest it across

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a broad portfolio, just like you
do with your four oh one K.

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You don't have it all in one
stock, or you shouldn't, and therefore

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it makes all the sense in the
world to do them. Plus, I

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was told, and I believe because
they have a very good rail board right

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now, that there were four independent
appraisals of the value of this rail line,

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and it came in at the one
point six billion price came in towards

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the top end of those four appraisals, So that tells me it's a fair

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price. People can argue and say, well, why didn't somebody else fit

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on it? Because it's subject to
a long term lease in favor of Norfolk

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and Southern. No other railroad is
going to bid on that line if it's

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already encumbered by a long term lease
to Norfolk and Southern. That doesn't make

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any sense. So I think,
frankly, the city should get out of

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the railroad business. We're the only
city in the United States that has an

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interstate rail line that they own.
Get back to the core competency of city

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government, which is fixing our streets
and keeping our infrastructure intact, and let's

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move on from there. If odd
coalition of far left and far right folks

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that are opposed to Issue twenty two
is kind of interesting because the broad and

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sensible middle seems to be very much
in favor of it, as is the

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business community, the Chamber of Commerce. Folks with the same rational heads all

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agree this is a good thing.
And if I lived in the city,

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I would vote yet, well,
because you have the guard rails, I'd

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be inclined to vote yes. Also, because of the guard rails, no

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one trusts city council to do a
damn thing because most of the previous council

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is serving time in federal prison,
and so that's a different problem. But

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that has nothing to do. If
Norfolk Southern has two or three more derailments,

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they'll be in bankruptcy court. They'll
be filing eight, nine, ten,

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eleven, seven and fourteen bankruptcy.
And then what happens God only knows.

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But at this point, the city
with guard rails can collect the one

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point six billion in February and March
of next year, and then the money

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will be managed to the benefit of
the citizen. Ad infinitum, Bill Sites,

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may you live long and prosper and
serve for another thirty years. Well,

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thank you very much, appreciate your
kind words. And that should be

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00:17:11.960 --> 00:17:15.160
an interesting election day coming up in
about a week. Now, seventy years

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00:17:15.160 --> 00:17:17.680
old is pretty old, so it's
time for you to go out to stud

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00:17:19.480 --> 00:17:23.079
Thanks really all, Bill Sites,
the conscience of the House in the Senate.

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Let's continue with more. So he
says, vote no on one is

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the abortion. He says on issue
too, he says vote no. I

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say vote yes on Issue twenty two. We both say vote yes because I

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don't trust the scoundrels in city Hall
to do anything with money. They're all

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00:17:38.839 --> 00:17:44.640
incompetent or in prison. Let's continue
with more. Bill Cunningham, News Radio

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00:17:44.680 --> 00:17:52.640
seven hundred WULW. Saving for a
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