Speaker 1: Hudson River Radio dot com.
Speaker 2: It beats listening to nothing.
Speaker 3: My goodness, it's Frank being Frank.
Speaker 4: Were the only way to be is Frank. Hello everyone,
Speaker 4: and welcome to being Frank. We're the only way to
Speaker 4: be is Frank. I'm your host, frankle Borno, and I'd
Speaker 4: like to thank you for joining us on what we
Speaker 4: like to call the Intelligent Conversation Podcast, where no conversations
Speaker 4: out of bounds and all points of view are welcome.
Speaker 4: Listeners are familiar with our routine. We record live to
Speaker 4: tape and I give you the date till you have
Speaker 4: some context and relevance. It is the second of February.
Speaker 4: Ground all day. It is a very busy day in
Speaker 4: every sense of the word, and that's why we are here.
Speaker 4: Of all the draconian policies initiated by the Trump administration,
Speaker 4: perhaps none have proven to be more divisive than that
Speaker 4: of his mass deportation orders. The president and then did
Speaker 4: campaign with the promise of executing those orders, much to
Speaker 4: the approval of his base. However, none but his most
Speaker 4: ardent supporters could have envisioned the kind of chaos this
Speaker 4: policy has created. Especially in Minnesota, families are being attacked
Speaker 4: and separated. Journalists are being arrested, Clashes between ordinary citizens
Speaker 4: and ICE agents are occurring daily, and perhaps most frightening
Speaker 4: of all, American citizens are being murdered in the streets
Speaker 4: by federal agents. It has also become painfully obvious that
Speaker 4: the President is also using these tactics to intimidate those
Speaker 4: he sees as his enemies, that being democratic states and cities.
Speaker 4: All of those transgressions are forcing those within mister Trump's
Speaker 4: sites to take preventative, proactive measures. One of those states
Speaker 4: and counties making plans to meet the challenge. In New
Speaker 4: York and Rockland County, a group of Democratic larmens have
Speaker 4: proposed a Safety and Dignity for All Act that will
Speaker 4: be designed to limit cooperation with federal immigration agencies while
Speaker 4: explicitly preserving cooperation for criminal investigations within the county. Of course,
Speaker 4: proposal is not without opposition, particularly from the GOP and
Speaker 4: Mike Lawler, who is in a dogfight to keep his
Speaker 4: New York seventeen congressional seat. That seat remains key in
Speaker 4: the national effort for either party to control the House.
Speaker 4: It's bound to create intelligent conversation. Well, at least it'll
Speaker 4: be intelligent. Here on being Frank and joining me now
Speaker 4: are three of the Democratic warmakers who support the safety
Speaker 4: and Dignity for All act First up is Beth Davidson.
Speaker 4: She has been on being Frank once before. We welcome
Speaker 4: her back. She's a county legislator and a candidate running
Speaker 4: for mister Lawler's crucial House seat. Beth, welcome back. We
Speaker 4: appreciate We know you're very busy. You had to be day,
Speaker 4: so we appreciate it.
Speaker 5: Thank you so much for having me.
Speaker 4: Next up, doctor Dana Stilly is also a county legislator.
Speaker 4: She also have to be an educator. She is the
Speaker 4: vice president of student Services at Sunny RCC and she
Speaker 4: joins us for the first time here on being Frank. Welcome,
Speaker 4: Thank you again, another busy woman. Thank you for joining us.
Speaker 6: Thank you Frank. It's great to be here.
Speaker 4: And of course returning. He was here recently to talk
Speaker 4: about his senatorial New York State senatorial campaign. Is the
Speaker 4: mayor of Nayak and as I mentioned, he's a candidate
Speaker 4: for that Senate seat where his opponent will be Republican
Speaker 4: Bill Weber, who is opposing the Safety and Dignity for
Speaker 4: All that it's we're going to get into all of
Speaker 4: that in just a minute. Welcome back, Mayor Joe Rand.
Speaker 3: Thank you, Frank.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I really appreciate everyone being here. As I said,
Speaker 4: I know you're all very busy. I had a busy day,
Speaker 4: and that's why I want to get into it right away.
Speaker 4: You know, but before we get into the specifics, you know,
Speaker 4: I can't help but wonder how did we get here?
Speaker 4: In a broader sense, you know, I borrow a turn
Speaker 4: from from Hunter Thompson Fear and loathing? How did we
Speaker 4: get to this state of fear and loathing?
Speaker 6: You know?
Speaker 4: I write periodically in my own blog and sometimes in
Speaker 4: NIAC News and Views, and I write about my neighborhood.
Speaker 4: So it's kind of a working class, blue collar neighborhood.
Speaker 4: So it's very mixed, a lot of immigrant families here,
Speaker 4: most of them Latins. Latins love it. It's safe, it's friendly,
Speaker 4: it's happy, it's clean. So if you would, and maybe
Speaker 4: it's a rhetorical question, how did we get to the
Speaker 4: point where there's this hysteria that not only the bad
Speaker 4: guys got to go, they all got to go. So again,
Speaker 4: we'll start there, and then we'll focus because I know
Speaker 4: that's kind of the point of all of this. How
Speaker 4: did we get here? And I'll open the conversation whoever
Speaker 4: we'd like to take it first.
Speaker 7: I'm happy to jump in if that's okay. I think
Speaker 7: each have our own perspectives. But from my perspective, in
Speaker 7: the last election, I don't feel like Democrats addressed this
Speaker 7: issue in a way that people believed we were ready
Speaker 7: to really address it head on. When Doctor Stilly and
Speaker 7: I and let me take a positive because it is
Speaker 7: Black History Month and you may, I hope you know
Speaker 7: or everyone should know that doctor Stilly is the first
Speaker 7: African American woman elected to the county Legislature and now
Speaker 7: the first to sit in leadership. She's our new deputy
Speaker 7: majority leader. So we're very excited about that. So happy
Speaker 7: Black History Month, doctor Stilly and everyone else.
Speaker 4: Thank you for bringing that up. I appreciate that.
Speaker 7: But when she and I were running for County Legislature,
Speaker 7: I knocked four thousand doors. I know she knocked close
Speaker 7: to as much, and a lot of people we're talking
Speaker 7: about immigration then a year before all of this, and
Speaker 7: you know, there was reasons for that. There was there
Speaker 7: have been plans exposed from the City to potentially bus
Speaker 7: asylum seekers up to Rockland County. So it was front
Speaker 7: of mine for folks, but it really went to in
Speaker 7: general and economic anxiety that people were feeling, was my experience,
Speaker 7: and I feel as though Democrats didn't really in d C,
Speaker 7: didn't really address that in the twenty twenty four election.
Speaker 7: And then in tandem with that was the fact that
Speaker 7: the Senate did pass the most bipartisan border safety bill
Speaker 7: ever proposed endorsed by the Border Patrol would have been,
Speaker 7: you know, finally the comprehensive immigration reform bill we've been
Speaker 7: waiting for for twenty five years and again passed by
Speaker 7: the Senate, but you know, declared doa in this House
Speaker 7: by Speaker Mike Johnson and you know, aid into Bett
Speaker 7: by Mike Lawler because they didn't want to give Donald
Speaker 7: excuse me, Joe Biden a win right before the election
Speaker 7: and give Donald Trump a loss or you know, one
Speaker 7: less thing to run on. So that's technically how we
Speaker 7: got here. But obviously, you know, what Donald Trump has
Speaker 7: done since, and I'll let doctor Stilly take it from here,
Speaker 7: has really weaponized the issue really to the expense of
Speaker 7: our immigrant communities. As you as you so correctly indicate
Speaker 7: Frank right here in Rocklands.
Speaker 4: Doctor Stilley, please take it from here.
Speaker 6: When you first asked that question, I went somewhere else
Speaker 6: outside of politics, please, because I think my sense, and
Speaker 6: I would venture to guess that that might be the
Speaker 6: sense of many in the black community, is that this
Speaker 6: is all about some degree of hatred for those who
Speaker 6: are not white, for those who are of color, for
Speaker 6: those who are different, for those who are perceived as
Speaker 6: being poor and or lazy and or illegal.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 6: And I as much as the current administration refers to
Speaker 6: President Obama, I think that there is a uh and
Speaker 6: inability for Trump to accept anything that Obama put in place,
Speaker 6: and to accept the fact that generally he's judged as
Speaker 6: a pretty successful president. And so when you think not
Speaker 6: only about immigration, in terms of what Trump has tried
Speaker 6: to do, he's tried to dismantle everything that has to
Speaker 6: do with black history. He's tried to dismantle DEI because
Speaker 6: he thinks that black people are the primary beneficiaries, which
Speaker 6: is not true actually if you know the facts of that, right, So,
Speaker 6: I see it as something far deeper than just being
Speaker 6: solely about immigration.
Speaker 4: Because it is wonder that's why you're all here to
Speaker 4: give us all of your wonderful perspectives. And next up,
Speaker 4: mayor rand your your perspective. Just how did we get
Speaker 4: here this? You know, the statue, the open arms that
Speaker 4: give us your how did we wind up from there
Speaker 4: to here? In your mind?
Speaker 8: I think there's a couple of things to go on here.
Speaker 8: One of them is, you know, one of the responsibilities
Speaker 8: I think that we have as Democrats is that when
Speaker 8: we are in power, we have to govern well. We
Speaker 8: have to make good decisions, and we have to run
Speaker 8: government effectively or else we you know, because we're the
Speaker 8: party of government doing things, and so if we don't
Speaker 8: do things well, then I think it redounds to us
Speaker 8: much worse than it does Republicans.
Speaker 3: Republicans are always like government doesn't work, and.
Speaker 8: So when they're in government and it doesn't work, they're like, see,
Speaker 8: it doesn't work. But they're the ones in charge. We're
Speaker 8: in charge. We've got to make it work. And I
Speaker 8: think that God love them. But Joe Biden did not
Speaker 8: do a good job with the border.
Speaker 3: Now, as Beth says, they tried to.
Speaker 8: They had a good bill ready to go that would
Speaker 8: have fixed a lot of these problems, and then Trump
Speaker 8: killed it with because he wanted to run on the issue,
Speaker 8: not actually fix the issue, which he then did and
Speaker 8: unfortunately successfully. You know, Republicans are very good at finding
Speaker 8: someone to blame for your problems. Your problems are not
Speaker 8: your fault, they're the fault of somebody else, and they
Speaker 8: will and in this case, it's immigrants, or it could
Speaker 8: be uh, you know, there were times when there's African Americans,
Speaker 8: there are times when it's trans kids, there are times
Speaker 8: when it's Latinos or you know, whoever is the person
Speaker 8: that they can throw the blame on to try to
Speaker 8: you know, maintain power is where it comes from, and
Speaker 8: and and they'll do that. That's their game plan. And
Speaker 8: now it's it's you know, undocumented immigrants and in some
Speaker 8: cases even legal immigrants because Donald Trump has spoken out
Speaker 8: against legal immgrance and trying to he's trying to take
Speaker 8: away citizens citizenship from people who have who have earned citizenship.
Speaker 8: So it's really, you know, when you put it all
Speaker 8: that together, it's not about the legal status. It's about
Speaker 8: people that are different from us, and they're the ones
Speaker 8: to blame for the problems that we have. Now, we
Speaker 8: do need to get We needed to get control of
Speaker 8: the border, and it's good that we did that. We
Speaker 8: do need to enforce our immigration laws, and it's good
Speaker 8: that we're doing that. I think that what a lot
Speaker 8: of people have reacted to is the fact that Trump
Speaker 8: really did represent that they were going to start with
Speaker 8: the worst. They're gonna start with the people have committed crimes,
Speaker 8: and the people who permitted crimes do deserve to get
Speaker 8: convicted and deported.
Speaker 3: And the particularly the people who are violent.
Speaker 8: And every time you bring this up, people say, well,
Speaker 8: what about this person who got killed by an immigrant
Speaker 8: or an llege, you know, an undocumented person, And that's horrible.
Speaker 3: Those are horrible.
Speaker 8: Stories, and our hearts go out to the families, and
Speaker 8: certainly we do not we're not standing with that person.
Speaker 3: But that's who Trump is supposed to go after, and
Speaker 3: instead they've put in quotas.
Speaker 8: And what they're doing is they're going after they're they're
Speaker 8: they're they're looking, they're they're taking the easy hang and
Speaker 8: fruit where they go to home depot, or they go
Speaker 8: to target, or they go to the back of restaurants
Speaker 8: to see what the bus boyson, or they go to
Speaker 8: construction sites to see who's working on the new homes
Speaker 8: that we need to get built in this country.
Speaker 3: Yeah, those are easier pickups.
Speaker 8: It's a lot harder to go after people have committed
Speaker 8: crimes because they hide out better. But that's not what
Speaker 8: Trump promised, and that's not what the American people wanted.
Speaker 3: And that's why we've had the souring on.
Speaker 8: This effort by the American people, is that the what
Speaker 8: what Trump promised, he hasn't done. And what Ice has done,
Speaker 8: particularly what we've seen in some of these we've all
Speaker 8: seen with their own eyes of Minnesota has really really concerned.
Speaker 3: People and and and uh and.
Speaker 8: Created this this sense of anxiety within the within our communities.
Speaker 4: That brings us to today literally figuratively literally and interesting
Speaker 4: the term and and Beth, you and I discussed a
Speaker 4: little bit. I also discussed with Diane Sarator a little
Speaker 4: bit because I had put a promo out and the
Speaker 4: and the term sanctuary County was used, and that's it's
Speaker 4: almost a pejorative, and it's used as a cudgel as
Speaker 4: a weapon because more accurately, it's the Safety with Dignity Act.
Speaker 4: So first let's talk about what it is. What is
Speaker 4: the Safety with Dignity Act, then we'll talk about what
Speaker 4: it is not. So let's let's go around again and
Speaker 4: we'll go in rotation. I guess it's as fair as
Speaker 4: any other way. Best take it first there, please, if
Speaker 4: you will, sure.
Speaker 7: And it's very appropriate for all of us to talk
Speaker 7: about this because Governor Hochel did propose her own framework
Speaker 7: to address this issue on Friday, and as we were
Speaker 7: so excited that Joe Rand is running for State Senate.
Speaker 7: So the Safety and Dignity for All Acts and that
Speaker 7: name is intentional because what we've seen in the last
Speaker 7: few weeks is that no longer are immigrants the only
Speaker 7: targets of ICE and this you know, administration in its
Speaker 7: determination to stomp out this issue. And so we've seen
Speaker 7: now you know, two tragically civilians killed in Minnesota over
Speaker 7: the weekend. If you haven't seen the footage, it's very
Speaker 7: disturbing of a woman being her car being stopped and
Speaker 7: masked gunman jumping out of the car and drawn and
Speaker 7: walking in front of her car again, which was you know,
Speaker 7: the issue with Renana cole Good because she was deemed
Speaker 7: to be an agitator. So they're going after, you know,
Speaker 7: all sorts of folks, and so we wanted to make
Speaker 7: sure that this law includes would cover that as well,
Speaker 7: and so it's still being worked on, but in its
Speaker 7: current form, based on the Westchester law that's been on
Speaker 7: the book since twenty eighteen.
Speaker 4: I to mention this is not rand new well, no
Speaker 4: thinking no.
Speaker 7: And I'll also note that, as Paul Cleary, our chair,
Speaker 7: did this morning, that what Westchester is neither a crime
Speaker 7: ridden healthscape. It is the sixth safest county in the
Speaker 7: entire country. Rockland's the third, but we're smaller and slightly
Speaker 7: different demographics, but Westchester's number six, and it's been working
Speaker 7: well there. What it does is make sure that no
Speaker 7: county employees or resources are used to comply with civil
Speaker 7: immigration matters. And so it doesn't preclude folks the Rockland
Speaker 7: County sheriff or any other county employee from providing information
Speaker 7: when there's a judicial warrant or criminal ongoing criminal active
Speaker 7: criminal investigation. And it you know, fully complies with federal
Speaker 7: law and uh, you know, complies with judicial warrants, and
Speaker 7: so it just is a way to ensure that again
Speaker 7: we're not using the county tax paradigm to have masked
Speaker 7: thugs go after our neighbors, be they immigrants or not.
Speaker 4: Doctor Stilly, what can you add please?
Speaker 6: I think I would add that it protects protects confidential
Speaker 6: and non public information collected by County services personnel right
Speaker 6: to be delivered to any any ICE agent. And I
Speaker 6: think that's an important piece when you think about people
Speaker 6: just feeling safe.
Speaker 4: You know, I'm going to if if I just could jump, well,
Speaker 4: forgive me, I'll just interrupt for one second, because eventually
Speaker 4: I'm going to read a part of the statement from
Speaker 4: law enforcement within the county and I want you to
Speaker 4: address that as well. And you know what's coming, but yes,
Speaker 4: we will address that. Forgive me for interrupting.
Speaker 6: Please come, that's okay, that's okay. And I think probably
Speaker 6: the best way that that makes sense to everyone is
Speaker 6: suppose I had some county business and I were receiving
Speaker 6: services on some level right and all of a sudden,
Speaker 6: with the potential of ICE waiting outside of the County
Speaker 6: building for me to come out to begin to harass
Speaker 6: me or ask me questions or and or being concerned
Speaker 6: about the fact that any county employee may share my
Speaker 6: status with an ICE agent. So that's the other important
Speaker 6: piece that I think needs to be expressed here.
Speaker 4: Mayor and some of the highlights and things that you
Speaker 4: see in this act.
Speaker 8: Yeah, I think the really important point they've referenced it.
Speaker 8: But just to emphasize the fact that this is about
Speaker 8: civil enforcement of immigration law, not criminal enforcement of criminal laws.
Speaker 8: So it doesn't affect it doesn't have anything to do
Speaker 8: with the local police forces in Orangetown and Clarkstown. They're
Speaker 8: not even covered by this. They they continue to do
Speaker 8: whatever they've been doing.
Speaker 3: It also doesn't I mean, honestly, it doesn't.
Speaker 8: Prevent Ice from coming to Rockland County and doing its job.
Speaker 8: It would be nice if they actually did the job
Speaker 8: they're supposed to do and not the job that they've
Speaker 8: been doing in Minnesota. But they can continue to enforce
Speaker 8: immigration laws. It doesn't say that we don't enforce immigration laws.
Speaker 8: It doesn't say that we're going to we're gonna you know,
Speaker 8: people think sanctuary and they think the way that you know,
Speaker 8: if you go to a Catholic church and you go inside,
Speaker 8: they won't let you in. That's not what the county
Speaker 8: is doing. Let me give you an example of what
Speaker 8: this law is designed to do. Because you've got to
Speaker 8: remember what we're seeing right now in Minnesota and what
Speaker 8: we've seen other places where ice has gone.
Speaker 3: On, it's kind of its rampage, is that it chills everybody.
Speaker 8: It's not just undocumented immigrants who feel the chill it's there.
Speaker 8: It's it's documented immigrants who are properly documented who have
Speaker 8: been detained and have been in times removed from Minnesota
Speaker 8: and taken away and the ultimately they still some of
Speaker 8: them have been detained for weeks. But they've had citizens
Speaker 8: who get detained because they're on papers with them, and
Speaker 8: then they get returned. You know, I remember the story
Speaker 8: of someone getting brought down to Texas and they said, okay,
Speaker 8: you are, says, and that's great, you can go home now.
Speaker 8: Then the person's in Texas without their wallet, without their phone.
Speaker 3: What are they supposed to do?
Speaker 8: So it affects everybody, not just the people who but
Speaker 8: you know, give you a let me give you a
Speaker 8: crystal clear example of how this really does play havoc
Speaker 8: with with what's going on in our in our county.
Speaker 8: Let's say there's a woman and let's say that she's documented,
Speaker 8: she's she's a legal immigrant in this country, and she's
Speaker 8: abused by her her partner. She's a victim survivor of
Speaker 8: domestic violence. The Center for Safety and Change exists to
Speaker 8: help people like that here in Rockham County, and I
Speaker 8: know that organization very well.
Speaker 3: My wife was the.
Speaker 8: Chair of the board, is still on the board there.
Speaker 8: She was chaired for six years, so I know the
Speaker 8: organization really well. They provide services to her. Is she
Speaker 8: still going to go to the Center for Safety and
Speaker 8: Change if that information about her is going to be
Speaker 8: communicated to from the county because the center has to
Speaker 8: share the information with the county by virtue of the
Speaker 8: fact that they get funded in part by the county.
Speaker 8: Is that information then going to be shared with ICE,
Speaker 8: who then might pay her a visit to check on
Speaker 8: immigration stass But also, you know, think about that person
Speaker 8: if she might be documented correctly, but she might be
Speaker 8: living with somebody who might be undocumented or is also documented,
Speaker 8: but you know, has other issues.
Speaker 3: She may know people in the community.
Speaker 8: She doesn't want ICE to come around because she's made
Speaker 8: a complaint and start to investigate her and her family.
Speaker 8: And that means she lives with an abuser without getting
Speaker 8: help that she needs and deserves from the Center for
Speaker 8: Safety and Change.
Speaker 3: And that sort of dynamic plays out.
Speaker 9: With all of the non all the nonprofits. I spoke
Speaker 9: with Dian with people, that's the problem, yes, practical problem
Speaker 9: with all this. I'm sorry, don't talk over you, fran.
Speaker 4: No, no, no, please, Joe. It's just it's it's emotional
Speaker 4: and we all feel it, you know it direct, We
Speaker 4: all know people that this effects. As I said, I
Speaker 4: spoke with the uh uh, the CEO of People of People,
Speaker 4: Diane Seratory, who's been on a program a number of times,
Speaker 4: and explain that very thing we live on trust people
Speaker 4: trust us. We will lose that trust. Okay. Now, of
Speaker 4: course you have to expect some opposition, and you knew
Speaker 4: where it would be coming from the GOP, the Republicans
Speaker 4: led by Michael Lawler and Bill Weber, and they had
Speaker 4: a it was kind of a dueling press conference thing
Speaker 4: going on this morning. I know Bethew ran one for
Speaker 4: information with the Safety with Dignity for All Act and
Speaker 4: Lawler had his own with a group of law enforcement people.
Speaker 4: They are the Sheriff's Association, the Police Chiefs Association, etc.
Speaker 4: And they put out a statement. If you'll allow me,
Speaker 4: I'd like to read a few paragraphs from it. And
Speaker 4: get your thoughts on it, because I think it's important
Speaker 4: to address because I think people have in their mind
Speaker 4: even though you have started to address it already, you've
Speaker 4: made directly that this is going to infringe on proper
Speaker 4: law enforcement. So let me read what they said and
Speaker 4: get your comments if you will. Proposed legislation, if enacted,
Speaker 4: risks disrupting effective and long established partnerships that support officer
Speaker 4: safety and the successful resolution of complex incidents that often
Speaker 4: cross municipal and jurisdictional boundaries. Womening lawful cooperation between agencies
Speaker 4: may result in unintended consequences that negatively impact public safety
Speaker 4: throughout Rockland County. Together, we remain committed to constitutional policing, professionalism,
Speaker 4: and the fair and respectful treatment of all individuals. We
Speaker 4: believe that public safety policies should be informed by the
Speaker 4: experience and expertise of local law enforcement professionals and should
Speaker 4: preserve the tools necessary to protect the communities we serve.
Speaker 4: We stand united in our willingness to engage in constructive
Speaker 4: dialogue with elected officials and community leaders to ensure that
Speaker 4: any legislative action strengthens public safety, preserves effective partnerships, and
Speaker 4: allows law enforcement in Rockland County to continue serving our
Speaker 4: residents in a safe, responsible and effective manner. Okay, sounds
Speaker 4: entirely reasonable. Now break it down for US Legislator Davidson,
Speaker 4: if you would begin, please.
Speaker 7: Well, certainly the last three paragraphs of what you said.
Speaker 7: I don't disagree with any of it. I'm guessing the paragraphs.
Speaker 7: I did see it briefly that this morning. Look, we
Speaker 7: fully intend to cooperate with law enforcement as we continue
Speaker 7: to draft and iterate this bill, which, as I've noted,
Speaker 7: is very much still a work in progress. This morning,
Speaker 7: I kicked off our press conference by stressing how much
Speaker 7: I value our partners in law enforcement, what a great
Speaker 7: job they do keeping Rockland County safe. As I said,
Speaker 7: it's the third safest county in the country, and that
Speaker 7: if what went down for the woman in Saint Pete,
Speaker 7: Minnesota over the weekend happened to me, Luthalca would be
Speaker 7: my first call, and I know that he would do
Speaker 7: the right thing for anyone in our county, not just me,
Speaker 7: but anyone who found themselves in that predicament. And he
Speaker 7: takes very seriously his role in safeguarding county residents from
Speaker 7: ice overreach because he and I've spoken about it, and
Speaker 7: I really appreciate that in him. And so you know,
Speaker 7: what I would just go back to is what we
Speaker 7: said that this policy will be drafted with that with
Speaker 7: their input, because we do want to make sure we
Speaker 7: understand any impediments the law may have on them doing
Speaker 7: their job. We believe it does not and certainly any
Speaker 7: police chiefs of the other agencies. Is only applies to
Speaker 7: the sheriff, doesn't apply to any municipal police police departments,
Speaker 7: any village police departments, state police, none of the above.
Speaker 7: It only applies to county employees. So I just want
Speaker 7: to make that really clear. And then it doesn't apply
Speaker 7: to any criminal matters of any kind. It's civil immigration status.
Speaker 7: And I would just point back to what Joe just
Speaker 7: went through that it's also important to take into account
Speaker 7: the lived experiences of folks in our county and the
Speaker 7: nonprofits in particular, but also schools. We've heard from hospitals, clinics,
Speaker 7: others who who you feel that their services are either
Speaker 7: not being availed because people are nervous. You know, we've
Speaker 7: seen a ten percent every single day absenteeism rate in
Speaker 7: the Easter Post school district and that's you know, in
Speaker 7: large part of attributed to fear of vice activities. And
Speaker 7: another point that Brooke molloy made this morning to build
Speaker 7: off of what Joe was saying, is that there's risk
Speaker 7: exposure for the nonprofits if somebody's confidential information is shared
Speaker 7: and that results in a terrible outcome the likes of
Speaker 7: which we've seen in Minneapolis around the country. And so
Speaker 7: we take all of that very seriously. And while we
Speaker 7: certainly plan to engage law enforcement as we continue to
Speaker 7: revise and work on this bill, it's important to take
Speaker 7: other matters into consideration. That's our job as county legislators
Speaker 7: is to consider everyone that we serve, and that's what
Speaker 7: we're trying to do.
Speaker 10: Doctor Stilly, I think it's really important to change the
Speaker 10: narrative and stress that in no way were we intending
Speaker 10: to quickly rush through.
Speaker 6: This legislation. From the very on set, we laid out
Speaker 6: our plan, made the list of who we knew that
Speaker 6: we needed to engage in, we determined who would be
Speaker 6: the point person for the various departments to engage in,
Speaker 6: and we purposefully elongated the proposed date for the public hearing. Right,
Speaker 6: we didn't say we're doing it this week, We're doing
Speaker 6: it next week because we knew that there were many
Speaker 6: conversations and we wanted to work hard and ensure that
Speaker 6: everyone was on the same page and really had an
Speaker 6: understanding of the goal of the bill. And so moving forward,
Speaker 6: what plan, what we're planning to do tomorrow, I think
Speaker 6: it's been all over the place is we were planning
Speaker 6: to set the date for the public hearing tomorrow. And
Speaker 6: I'm sure that at the legislative meeting which begins at seven,
Speaker 6: there will be a lot of public comment, which quite frankly,
Speaker 6: we welcome. We want to hear what people are thinking.
Speaker 6: We want to understand their opposition, right. We want to
Speaker 6: be able to address everyone's concerns and not just rush
Speaker 6: to any kind of judgment about that. And then once
Speaker 6: if the decision is made to set a public hearing,
Speaker 6: then we will move forward continuing those conversations with law
Speaker 6: enforcement and with the county executive and everyone else who
Speaker 6: needs to be fully knowledgeable and fully aware of how
Speaker 6: we plan to move forward. And so let's stop the
Speaker 6: this is we're doing this in a hurry. We are not.
Speaker 6: We're thoughtful legislators, right who want to be sure that
Speaker 6: the public safety of everyone is taken care of, and
Speaker 6: that we hear from from everyone. So I really think
Speaker 6: it's important just to change that. There's no rush to
Speaker 6: judgment here. We're working hard.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm going to get to Mayor Rand in just
Speaker 4: a second. But but what I might want to say
Speaker 4: here is it seemed to me that the opposition seemed
Speaker 4: to rush to judgments and condemning it quite quickly. Uh uh,
Speaker 4: that again, that was the impression that immediate this is awful.
Speaker 4: It seems to me you guys are open to talk
Speaker 4: and knowing more, learning more, presenting your position as well.
Speaker 4: Where the Republicans immediate Now this is bad. This is
Speaker 4: just bad. It can only be bad. Therefore it will
Speaker 4: be immediately rejected.
Speaker 8: So, in frank as usual, the Republicans aren't necessarily interested
Speaker 8: in finding a solution to a problem. They're interested in
Speaker 8: creating an issue for themselves. You know, just look at
Speaker 8: just just let's just read between the lines here. Where
Speaker 8: did this story break. Was there a public announcement by
Speaker 8: the Democrats that they were considering doing legislation like this, No,
Speaker 8: there was a there was a story planted in the
Speaker 8: New York Post, which is not a publication that is
Speaker 8: particularly aligned with Democrats, and the story put out that
Speaker 8: they're rushing through this legislation to do all these terrible things. Well,
Speaker 8: the fact is this legislation is that it's very infancy
Speaker 8: that people don't necessarily understand. There is not going to
Speaker 8: be anything passed on Tuesday, other than maybe a resolution
Speaker 8: to call for a future public hearing that will then
Speaker 8: in the meantime there will be a deliberative and drafting
Speaker 8: process to get legislation on the table.
Speaker 3: That then can be voted on it.
Speaker 8: Even then there'll probably be future proceedings involving it.
Speaker 3: This is not something that's getting rushed in any way.
Speaker 3: And so that's the first thing.
Speaker 8: The second thing is I want to make clear again
Speaker 8: I want to reiterate with what Dana and Beth said.
Speaker 8: You know, I have enormous overriding respectful law enforcement. I've
Speaker 8: worked with them as mayor. I have nothing but respect
Speaker 8: for them in the difficult job they do. I stand
Speaker 8: with them, and I understand how they are always going
Speaker 8: to be leery of this sort of thing, and they
Speaker 8: are are They're going to stand in solidarity with their
Speaker 8: colleagues in uniform, and I get that that is understandable
Speaker 8: how they approach these things. I have said that I
Speaker 8: don't believe what Ice has done in what we've seen
Speaker 8: in Minnesota is quote unquote law enforcement, because what I
Speaker 8: see it is I see it as a bunch of
Speaker 8: people who were amassed and unidentified, and they're doing things
Speaker 8: that I've never seen police do, not just in terms
Speaker 8: of the shootings, but just in the way that they've
Speaker 8: treated people, just in the way they're behaving themselves and
Speaker 8: conducting themselves and the disrespect they have for the public.
Speaker 8: I don't think that they're acting like the way the
Speaker 8: way my experience with law enforcement has been where I've
Speaker 8: always found on law enforcement professionals to be polite and
Speaker 8: constructive and not escalating situations the way we see in Minnesota.
Speaker 8: But the last time I make them, I want to
Speaker 8: make the point about that statement from the different police organizations.
Speaker 8: I thought it was a very constructive statement. I thought
Speaker 8: it was very sober minded. I thought that they made
Speaker 8: the point. But if you read what they say is
Speaker 8: they don't say anything that we don't oppose this. They're
Speaker 8: not striking, they're not saying this can't possibly pass. What
Speaker 8: they're saying is we want to engage in a constructive dialogue.
Speaker 8: They're saying that the proposed legislation risks disrupting effective law
Speaker 8: enforcement and that law limiting. You know, there has to
Speaker 8: be cooperation, and there should be public safety policy should
Speaker 8: be informed by the experience and expertise of local law
Speaker 8: enforcement professionals. All of that is true, and that's exactly what's.
Speaker 3: Going to happen.
Speaker 8: And I hope that they are able to work out
Speaker 8: legislation that's that's going to be acceptable to everybody that
Speaker 8: will do what we're trying to do. And I just
Speaker 8: want to again say this legislation was passed eight years
Speaker 8: ago in Westchester and has worked effectively at accomplishing its objectives.
Speaker 8: But again, I respect law enforcement. I expect, I really
Speaker 8: respect the way they engaged in this that their their
Speaker 8: statement was very constructive in trying to approach and have
Speaker 8: a dialogue about what's trying to be accomplished. Right, I
Speaker 8: think they understand what the legislation is trying to do,
Speaker 8: and I think they're they're explaining what the issues might
Speaker 8: be from their perspective, which is exactly what I would
Speaker 8: expect from them.
Speaker 4: Well, very very well taken. Yeah, thank you, doctor s agree. Yeah,
Speaker 4: points very very well taken.
Speaker 7: Everyone connect piggyback on one thing Joe said was that
Speaker 7: you know about it being on the books in Westchester
Speaker 7: for song and not only that, but this this whole
Speaker 7: law as you know, as suppose it, you know, using
Speaker 7: the term sanctuary law. Sole issue was adjudicated again during
Speaker 7: Ken Jenkins's campaign last year for County executive, and his
Speaker 7: Republican opponent, Christine Sculty, tried to make all the same
Speaker 7: arguments that's a sanctuary county and YadA, YadA. If you
Speaker 7: look on Trump's list of sanctuary counties and he does
Speaker 7: have one, Westchester is not on there.
Speaker 5: So it's an out and out. Lie, lie, lie, lie.
Speaker 7: What have we come to expect from this Republican party,
Speaker 7: especially when they know they're on the wrong side of
Speaker 7: a deeply unpopular issue, is they lie? And Ken Jenkins
Speaker 7: won that race with I think seventy six percent of
Speaker 7: the vote, so you know it obviously didn't work.
Speaker 4: Perfect segue to my next question points and going to
Speaker 4: get a little personal if you will here hear me out.
Speaker 4: I'm concerned with personal attacks, both physically and emotionally online,
Speaker 4: and I'm not exactly shy in my social media presence
Speaker 4: and so I hear it as well. So I can
Speaker 4: only imagine what you guys go through. And I know, Joe,
Speaker 4: you and I have had discussions where you've actually had
Speaker 4: to turn off both of us being big believers in
Speaker 4: the First Amendment. I don't care. You don't have to
Speaker 4: agree with me. You can viscerally disagree with me, but
Speaker 4: at some point it just gets ugly. And doctor Stilly,
Speaker 4: of course, and as an educator and part of Rockley
Speaker 4: Community College, you have a valid point here as well.
Speaker 4: Guys talk a little bit about that are how are
Speaker 4: you dealing with it? And what can we do to
Speaker 4: deal with it? Kick it off first, Beth, and then
Speaker 4: Joe you pick it up, and Dana and you put
Speaker 4: some in as well too.
Speaker 7: Please first, I'm a i'm a want to be factual,
Speaker 7: So sorry, Ken Jenkins won sixty four percent of the
Speaker 7: vote to Sculties thirty six percent, So.
Speaker 4: I just want to correct that significant.
Speaker 7: I mean, I mean, so the when you get into
Speaker 7: the political arena, you sort of know at this point
Speaker 7: that this is what's coming. And when doctor Stilly and
Speaker 7: I ran for county legislature, we were attacked by even
Speaker 7: the state Republican Party and paid media that had racist overtones,
Speaker 7: you know, classiest overtones, anti poverty, and so it's something
Speaker 7: that we're used to at this point. And you know,
Speaker 7: you just got a my family. The deal we made
Speaker 7: when I announcement for Congress is that you're not allowed
Speaker 7: to read the comments.
Speaker 5: And so I've really that.
Speaker 4: Probably pretty healthy. I've read so believe we don't some
Speaker 4: of only in fairness, it's true, but it's the fact
Speaker 4: that people get so ugly about it. Again, I don't certainly,
Speaker 4: and I'm sure you don't mind, as it has been
Speaker 4: put forward to the whole idea of dialogue, discourse, etceter.
Speaker 4: Not to agree all the time, but it gets ugly.
Speaker 7: And we're here to represent everybody, and this law is
Speaker 7: intended to protect everyone, whether it's people who voted for
Speaker 7: us or not, people who agree with us or not.
Speaker 7: It's our job to protect all Rockland residents. And I
Speaker 7: just stand firm in my belief that this is the
Speaker 7: right thing to do and that we're on the right
Speaker 7: side of history. And Facebook is not real life. When
Speaker 7: we go out and we're talking to folks, we know
Speaker 7: that this is something that they want us to do.
Speaker 7: You know, another response in you know that this has
Speaker 7: been rushed to. People have been asking us what the
Speaker 7: county can do about this for months, and it was
Speaker 7: really when these two horrific murders happened that we knew
Speaker 7: that this was our moment to not stand by one
Speaker 7: more day and say that we were okay with the
Speaker 7: threat of ice coming into our communities and disappearing our neighbors,
Speaker 7: you know, beating up, pepper spraying our are anyone who protests.
Speaker 7: I'm sure you've seen the attacks, you know, on school
Speaker 7: when parents were picking up their kids, they were trying
Speaker 7: to pick up somebody and they were Ice was pepper
Speaker 7: spring parents. These are not well trained people. Another distinction
Speaker 7: I would draw between law enforcement and Clarkstown, which I've
Speaker 7: been to their graduation ceremonies. They you know, study and
Speaker 7: train and work really hard to become police detective police officers,
Speaker 7: you know, ICE agents only need for seven days of
Speaker 7: training to become a nice agent. They are just not
Speaker 7: comparable to me. And so it's, uh, you just just
Speaker 7: going back to original question. It's about just being sure
Speaker 7: that you're right and going ahead and knowing that the
Speaker 7: internet's not real life.
Speaker 4: Jelse, a few your thoughts.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 8: I just actually wrote something literally an hour ago that
Speaker 8: I posted on Facebook about the level of discourse we
Speaker 8: have in our politics today. And it's just it's it's
Speaker 8: so non constructive. And I'll make I'll say very plainly,
Speaker 8: I have been I've had a good relationship with Bill Webber,
Speaker 8: my opponent that our State Center. I think he's a
Speaker 8: good man of good faith, who's who's working to as
Speaker 8: he sees it, to make Rockland better. But I don't understand,
Speaker 8: you know, I don't understand how he can look at
Speaker 8: I wrote two very thoughtful and discoursive pieces about where
Speaker 8: I stood on this issue, and then he replies with
Speaker 8: your sanctuary, Joe.
Speaker 3: And you hate law enforcement. And it's just it's just
Speaker 3: like I think it's beneath all of us. I think
Speaker 3: it's I think it's beneath us.
Speaker 8: And then you know, you go on these Facebook, these
Speaker 8: toxic Facebook pages where there's these are not all these
Speaker 8: keyboard cowards behind uh you know, anonymous of just their masks,
Speaker 8: just like the Ice people are a mass and they
Speaker 8: hide behind their masks and they say things that they
Speaker 8: would never be able to say in person.
Speaker 3: And it's just it's I don't even.
Speaker 8: Engage with them, because why am I going to engage
Speaker 8: with someone who doesn't even.
Speaker 3: Exist in the real world.
Speaker 8: And you know, now I would love to have a
Speaker 8: more thoughtful dialogue with Center Weber.
Speaker 3: I think that would be very good. You know.
Speaker 8: I know we're not going to get back to the
Speaker 8: Lincoln Douglas debates, but at least we can have a
Speaker 8: debate that is of a higher level than your sanctuary.
Speaker 11: Joe. Maybe you could do it here. We'll put it
Speaker 11: out now. You're welcome to the airtime, the two of you.
Speaker 11: You know, you're welcome here to be Frank on being Frank.
Speaker 11: That's kind of the point of intelligent conversation. And of
Speaker 11: course I had to get a plug in.
Speaker 4: But with all seriousness, I mean, that's what it really
Speaker 4: is about, and we're speaking of you know, controversy will
Speaker 4: take care of itself. This is about information and presenting
Speaker 4: information in a way that people can understand. And we
Speaker 4: appreciate comments. I will put this out on face but
Speaker 4: you mentioned for what it's worth social media to at
Speaker 4: least get some comments and reply in a reasonable way
Speaker 4: to all reasonable comments. So yes, I just want to
Speaker 4: keep moving on to a doctor still your thoughts. Also, again,
Speaker 4: as an educator, you have a valid point of view
Speaker 4: here as well. And also you ran for office as
Speaker 4: well too, though you're not currently so you've had that experience.
Speaker 6: Yes, I have had that experience and had to go through,
Speaker 6: you know, the methodology of learning not to respond ever,
Speaker 6: or most of the time never on Facebook. For me,
Speaker 6: I usually will say, you know, I'd love to talk
Speaker 6: to you about this or whatever, but I won't engage
Speaker 6: in any back and forth on Facebook. But I can
Speaker 6: say that some of what I read, and it's funny
Speaker 6: because Beth said that it's not real. I wish that
Speaker 6: I believe that some of the hate that some folks
Speaker 6: are spewing on Facebook wasn't real. But when I think
Speaker 6: about education and what we're teaching our children, that's when
Speaker 6: it really becomes a concern because, as has previously been stated,
Speaker 6: we have to learn how to engage in discourse that
Speaker 6: moves us forward, and what we're seeing now quite often
Speaker 6: in the political arena, it just is not that.
Speaker 7: It's just not that, and this is going to bed
Speaker 7: to therapy. Can I just say that, Dana, and I
Speaker 7: don't dismiss anything of what you're saying. I guess I
Speaker 7: just mean that, like, if you looked at Facebook, you
Speaker 7: think that everyone is opposed to this, and or that
Speaker 7: everyone was supposed to us running for legislator and we
Speaker 7: were going to lose in a landslide. That's what I
Speaker 7: meant that it doesn't they're the loudest voices in the room.
Speaker 6: Yes, but I'm glad that you said that, because you
Speaker 6: reminded me that even as I sit here, you guys
Speaker 6: may have heard this opining. I'm sorry, but I have
Speaker 6: constituents who are emailing saying, please support this bill, Please
Speaker 6: support this bill. And they're not just saying that in
Speaker 6: one sentence, they are outlining why they believe that it's
Speaker 6: important for us to move this forward. So that's a
Speaker 6: pleasant reminder that, yeah, it's not a loud noise, negative energy.
Speaker 6: People believe in what we're doing and what we are
Speaker 6: trying to do.
Speaker 8: I've always said before the break, I just said, I've
Speaker 8: always thought that Facebook what it does is amplify whatever
Speaker 8: affect you have. So if you're happy, you look delighted.
Speaker 8: If you're sad, you look depressed. If you're angry or irritated,
Speaker 8: you look like you're so so angry and and so
Speaker 8: I think that's that's always going to be a problem.
Speaker 8: That's just the way it is. We we we we
Speaker 8: we see that all the time. So, you know, I
Speaker 8: post a picture of me with my kids. It's the
Speaker 8: one picture that they actually smiled in, you know, when
Speaker 8: we're at the beach and they weren't fighting with each other.
Speaker 3: And then everyone's like, oh, he's such a good life
Speaker 3: living at the beach with his kids, and they don't.
Speaker 8: Know that, like there were three hours of fighting that
Speaker 8: preceded that. And the same thing is, if I post
Speaker 8: something that you know, I'm a little bit irritated with,
Speaker 8: it might appear that angry than I am, and I
Speaker 8: try to be careful of that. I try to be
Speaker 8: you know, but I do think people appreciate. I mean,
Speaker 8: I posted on a Facebook page which doesn't get much engagement.
Speaker 8: I've posted two long, I mean a thousand words each
Speaker 8: pieces about what I think about the whole ice problem,
Speaker 8: and they've each gone over like two hundred and fifty
Speaker 8: likes and engagements. And that's a lot for a page
Speaker 8: that I only have three thousand followers, and they're being shared,
Speaker 8: and then you know, Bill whatever posts something about me
Speaker 8: being Shanetruary Joe, and he gets like twelve likes. Like
Speaker 8: I think that people are ready for actual substantive discourse
Speaker 8: and they're dying for it. They're they're so hungry for
Speaker 8: somebody like Dana, like Beth, and I hope, like me
Speaker 8: that is actually engaging on these issues in a constructive
Speaker 8: way and digging into them and getting their hands dirty
Speaker 8: and not just thrown out dumb slogans.
Speaker 4: You know, I think it's important to say that it
Speaker 4: was just an anti Ice Nyak High School organized rally
Speaker 4: in town and Nayak and I knew Joe. We were
Speaker 4: all there, including me, and I did some videotaping and
Speaker 4: I did a live feet of it. And I have
Speaker 4: to say, with all honesty, and there were some trolls
Speaker 4: out there, and they literally are. If you sometimes look
Speaker 4: at the pages, there's no information and one or two photos.
Speaker 4: They're just making trouble for the sake of making trouble. Now,
Speaker 4: with that said, you did have a feeling that the
Speaker 4: tide was turning just from the amount of comments. I
Speaker 4: got hundreds and hundreds of comments, most of them the
Speaker 4: overwhelming amount positive, and the people driving by asking to
Speaker 4: honk their horns in support of the students was overwhelming,
Speaker 4: So at least personally, I've been a feeling that maybe
Speaker 4: the tide is really turning here with your efforts included,
Speaker 4: this has been just wonderful coach, intelligent conversation. What we're
Speaker 4: all about here, guys are going to take a quick break,
Speaker 4: come back, finish up with some closing thoughts and what
Speaker 4: the future might bring. So don't go anywhere, and of
Speaker 4: course our audience, this has been absolutely terrific. This is
Speaker 4: Being Frank. We're the only way to be is Frank.
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Speaker 4: opinion column for Nyaknews and Views. And we're back with
Speaker 4: some wonderful, intelligent conversation with three Democrats who have put
Speaker 4: forth the Safety and Dignity for All Act proposal. And
Speaker 4: it's important that we make that clear at this point.
Speaker 4: It is not legislation, is just a proposal. And we
Speaker 4: have a county legislator who also happens to be running
Speaker 4: for Congress, Beth Davidson along with doctor Dana Stilly, who
Speaker 4: is an educator, the first black woman elected to the
Speaker 4: Rockland County Legislator legislature, excuse me, and NYAK Mayor Joe
Speaker 4: Rand who also happens to be running for political office
Speaker 4: as a Democrat for a New York State Senate against
Speaker 4: Bill Weber. Welcome back, everyone, and again I want to
Speaker 4: thank you for your wonderful conversation in the first part
Speaker 4: of our program, and I'd like to continue. You know
Speaker 4: one of the things and guys, you know and doctor
Speaker 4: Still you've run a campaign, so you understand this, and
Speaker 4: Joe you're actively camp painting as your Beth. Money in politics,
Speaker 4: money is reality. You need to buy ads, time, space,
Speaker 4: et cetera. But how much money is enough money? I mean,
Speaker 4: we can see it. I mean Mike Lawler, Beth, your opponent,
Speaker 4: who seems to be the darling of the GOP. Every
Speaker 4: other minute he seems to be on CNN and the
Speaker 4: Republican Party is pouring. But people have to realize that
Speaker 4: tons of money into his campaign so he can buy
Speaker 4: these spots to get his word out over anyone else's.
Speaker 4: So we need to talk about how do we get
Speaker 4: a leash on that. What can we do to understand that, yes,
Speaker 4: there needs to be some money in politics, but money
Speaker 4: shouldn't rule the day. Your thoughts. Let's start with Beth Well.
Speaker 7: I'm not to put my friend Joe Ran on the
Speaker 7: hot seat, but he is running for state office, and
Speaker 7: there is partial public financing of state wide elections in
Speaker 7: New York states, so it would help if we didn't
Speaker 7: have to raise it all ourselves. But if there were
Speaker 7: some kind of matching program. There's thoughts about there, you know,
Speaker 7: shortening the fundraising period. I'm not you know, I'm not
Speaker 7: sure without completely taking out dark money, if that would
Speaker 7: be helpful or harmful. I'm always like a think three
Speaker 7: steps ahead kind of person, but certainly it's such a
Speaker 7: long and drawn out process and takes so much time,
Speaker 7: and you know, leaves everyone wondering who you really answer
Speaker 7: to at the end of the day when you've raised
Speaker 7: the last time. This this congression race cost all in
Speaker 7: with all everyone who pitched in money, both candidates, outside groups,
Speaker 7: forty two million dollars, and it's projected this year. Mike
Speaker 7: Laller himself said it a fundraiser with Ted Cruz that
Speaker 7: he believed this time, it would be about sixty million.
Speaker 7: So you know, when you think about, you know, how
Speaker 7: many world problems you could solve with that kind of money.
Speaker 5: It's really depressing, chillous if Europe.
Speaker 8: Yeah, it's not done like this anywhere else in the world,
Speaker 8: this kind of reliance on money.
Speaker 3: It's just it's a unique factor. It's a unique part.
Speaker 8: Of elections in the United States, and it's unfortunate.
Speaker 3: And you know it.
Speaker 8: What I think people don't necessarily realize is how much
Speaker 8: both candidates and donors.
Speaker 3: The people who contribute, really don't like the system. I've
Speaker 3: been on both sides.
Speaker 8: I've been someone that has been asked for money for candidates,
Speaker 8: and I've been someone who's gone and asked people for
Speaker 8: money for candidates.
Speaker 3: And I don't like either part of it.
Speaker 8: From the perspective that, you know, I would love for
Speaker 8: there to be you know, as someone who is given
Speaker 8: to candidates, I don't you know, I would rather they
Speaker 8: get the money from some sort of public financing rather
Speaker 8: than relying on me.
Speaker 3: I don't have I have never felt this idea that.
Speaker 8: Somehow, you know, because I gave money to a candidate,
Speaker 8: that I have some special infants out of the candidate.
Speaker 3: I've never felt like I had that.
Speaker 8: I've never gone and tried to get favors from people
Speaker 8: because I gave them some money for their candidacy, and
Speaker 8: I've never never dream of having it the other way
Speaker 8: as a candidate, someone give me money. It's not about
Speaker 8: the fact that that you know, there's there's undue influence.
Speaker 8: It's about the fact that the amount of distraction that
Speaker 8: it is for candidates to have to raise this money,
Speaker 8: the amount of distraction and money that could otherwise be
Speaker 8: donated to the Center for Safety and Change where people
Speaker 8: to people or Rock and Pride goes to you know,
Speaker 8: candidates like me, to put it into our campaigns.
Speaker 4: I would.
Speaker 8: I wish there was a better system of doing this.
Speaker 8: We should really be working toward it. I think that
Speaker 8: the Democrats have tried. It's the Republicans who have generally
Speaker 8: stopped it because they like the influence of money in campaigns.
Speaker 8: I do appreciate the New York State does have some
Speaker 8: fun you know, some public money that goes in based
Speaker 8: on how much you raise from individuals on small donations.
Speaker 3: That's a good start for that. I think it's good.
Speaker 8: It does encourage people like me to go out and
Speaker 8: try to get more donations from small donations from lots
Speaker 8: of people in Rock and County, and proud the fact
Speaker 8: that we about two hundred or so donations in the
Speaker 8: first month of the campaign of people qualified donations under
Speaker 8: under two hundred and fifty dollars from people that lived
Speaker 8: in the district. And that's what that's what you need
Speaker 8: to do. And so I appreciate that system at least
Speaker 8: doing that. But boy, it's not the influence of money.
Speaker 8: It's the amount of energy that goes into fundraising that
Speaker 8: I think is really the problem.
Speaker 4: Great point, Doctor Stilley, your thoughts.
Speaker 6: I also wonder if the idea of having to raise
Speaker 6: millions of dollars keeps good candidates from not investing in
Speaker 6: the idea of running for public office. Right. And I
Speaker 6: can remember back when I first thought about running, it
Speaker 6: was like, oh, I have to raise money, and granted
Speaker 6: to have a successful legislator or campaign did not require
Speaker 6: what one might think is not an exorbitant amount of money.
Speaker 6: But to Joe's point, it still requires some energy. Right.
Speaker 6: But I'm just and the bigger that number gets and grows,
Speaker 6: I think it is prohibited to those who might really
Speaker 6: want to run for public office and just don't see
Speaker 6: them having that skill set, or having those deep relationships,
Speaker 6: or really, quite frankly, having to know how it's hard
Speaker 6: to ask for money sometimes.
Speaker 4: One last question, guys, I've got about five or six
Speaker 4: minutes left, so if we can, and it's it's kind
Speaker 4: of a broad topic, it's to handle in a few minutes.
Speaker 4: But I find myself asking this question an awful lot lately,
Speaker 4: especially to political candidates and people in government. What's going
Speaker 4: on with voter apathy? The percentage of voting in this country,
Speaker 4: even for big elections is pitiful. For local elections, it's
Speaker 4: even worse. If you can briefly, how do we fix that?
Speaker 4: And again let's go around at beginning with Beth, how
Speaker 4: do we fix that?
Speaker 5: Well, I think that.
Speaker 7: Voters need to believe in something and need to understand
Speaker 7: that their vote makes a difference. I mean, we've seen,
Speaker 7: we've seen elections, as you know, well here in Rockland
Speaker 7: County come down to a handful of votes, so every
Speaker 7: vote really does make a difference. That just happened again
Speaker 7: this year. It happened on a couple of races over
Speaker 7: in Westchester, especially in those off year elections where there's
Speaker 7: even lower turnout the local races. I'm really excited that
Speaker 7: for the first time this year local a number of
Speaker 7: local elections will be held in the even year this
Speaker 7: year along with our you know, congressional and state races,
Speaker 7: and so I'm really hoping that boosts turnout for the
Speaker 7: local candidates. But it's it's a general problem. It's both
Speaker 7: how we whether or not we inspire people to get
Speaker 7: out an exercise their constitutional right, make sure that they
Speaker 7: actually do it. So that's all the door knocking we
Speaker 7: do and the phone calls and make sure that we're
Speaker 7: competing for every vote, and you know, mobilizing folks to
Speaker 7: turn out and then making sure that they think that
Speaker 7: their vote was worthwhile by actually delivering what we promise.
Speaker 4: Joseph, I know you were on recently and I think Hey,
Speaker 4: asked you that question at the same time at that time.
Speaker 4: But what can we do to increase voter participation?
Speaker 3: I think what what we just heard is exactly right.
Speaker 4: You know.
Speaker 8: I think people come out when they're inspired by a
Speaker 8: candidate that they want to support, you know, or that
Speaker 8: they are really motivated to vote against somebody.
Speaker 3: You know, That's what either of those things can actually
Speaker 3: do it both ways.
Speaker 8: And and you know, we just saw it down in
Speaker 8: Texas a special election for the state Senate where a
Speaker 8: Republican it's a Republican seat that Trump won by seventeen
Speaker 8: points and the Democrat won it by like fifteen points,
Speaker 8: huge tund It was a big turnout and a big
Speaker 8: turnaround that that I think.
Speaker 4: Let's turn out as key within that, I'm sorry to
Speaker 4: me to interrupt, but within that turnout, we've got to
Speaker 4: get people out.
Speaker 8: Yeah, and I think that we're in a position right
Speaker 8: now looking at what's going on right now. It's it's
Speaker 8: unfortunate that you sometimes you lose an election and then
Speaker 8: people get very excited to vote in the next election,
Speaker 8: Like you have to almost have to lose the election
Speaker 8: to get people excited for the next one. But I've
Speaker 8: sensed from talking to people just an enormous amount of
Speaker 8: pent up enthusiasm among Democrats for the elections coming up
Speaker 8: this year.
Speaker 3: People are motivated.
Speaker 8: We've had, you know, a lot of reaction, positive reaction,
Speaker 8: a lot of people showing up at events, a lot
Speaker 8: of people commenting and volunteering and whatnot and donating. I
Speaker 8: think it's going to be you know what what can
Speaker 8: we do to make it? But we gotta, we gotta,
Speaker 8: we gotta govern well. We have to do all good things.
Speaker 8: We have to we have to come up with the
Speaker 8: good policies. We have to get good candidates, we have
Speaker 8: to inspire people. And I think part of it is
Speaker 8: also just running campaigns that are based on positive messaging
Speaker 8: rather than dumb, you know, slogans against the other side.
Speaker 4: We hear you, Joe, doctor stilly quick? Can you add?
Speaker 6: I think I would only add something that you know
Speaker 6: sounds pretty simple, but in reality it is not. And
Speaker 6: that's connect the dots. And I know that when Beth
Speaker 6: and I are running for the legislature, we really worked
Speaker 6: hard to be sure to do that, meaning we didn't
Speaker 6: want to have a we didn't want to run on
Speaker 6: a crazy slogan without folks understanding that in our capacity
Speaker 6: and as legislators, we would have the ability to do
Speaker 6: something about X, Y, Z. Right. And so if you're
Speaker 6: concerned about sidewalks, then yes, you want to vote for
Speaker 6: your county legislator legislator, but if you're concerned about zoning,
Speaker 6: then be sure that you are voting for whoever sits
Speaker 6: on your municipal board. Right. So it's really making it
Speaker 6: very very clear what the roles are for those who
Speaker 6: are running and what they can accomplish that relates to
Speaker 6: everyone's everyday life. And I think that's a big motivation.
Speaker 7: And if I can, yeah, I could piggyback for thirty
Speaker 7: seconds on that, I will say that, you know, we
Speaker 7: did boost turnout by twenty percent the year that we
Speaker 7: ran for kind of legislature over the previous twenty twenty one,
Speaker 7: the previous off year election, and that even had a
Speaker 7: count executive race and ours did not. And so and
Speaker 7: I think that the reason we did that is because
Speaker 7: our real deal for Rocklands did speak to issues that
Speaker 7: people cared about in that moment, you know, Vivaldi had
Speaker 7: just happened. People were furious about that. So we part
Speaker 7: of our real deal was a common sense gun safety
Speaker 7: proposal that we could pass at the county level, and
Speaker 7: that we did pass at the county level about eight
Speaker 7: months after being sworn in. You know, folks were really
Speaker 7: angry about Roe versus Wade being overturned. So we you know,
Speaker 7: looked for something we could called planned parent and they said,
Speaker 7: we could you propose a buffer bill that you know,
Speaker 7: would protect folks going to reproductive healthcare facilities from intimidation.
Speaker 7: So that was part of our real deal for Rockland. Obviously,
Speaker 7: transit and transportation and lack thereof here in Rockland County
Speaker 7: is always a huge issue. So it ran on advocating
Speaker 7: for an elimination of the payroll attack and other ways
Speaker 7: we could address our transit problems here. And what am
Speaker 7: I forgetting? Oh, climate action and making sure that Rockland
Speaker 7: County finally had a climate action plan because people are
Speaker 7: always and should be very concerned about climate change and
Speaker 7: so and that's already also been kicked into gear as
Speaker 7: we've approved funding and staffed up a Climate Smart Communities
Speaker 7: Task Force to start getting us a climate action plan
Speaker 7: in motion and along with some of the grant money
Speaker 7: that's available to counties that adopt green initiatives. You if
Speaker 7: you talk to people about what they care about.
Speaker 4: So what in your mind, what is the key issue,
Speaker 4: the one key issue in your race issue?
Speaker 7: I mean right now, certainly the overreach of the Trump
Speaker 7: administration in so many areas of our lives is and
Speaker 7: putting a check on that administration by reminding folks that
Speaker 7: article won in the Constitution is not the president, it's
Speaker 7: the Congress, and that was by design to make sure
Speaker 7: that the voice of the people leads the way in
Speaker 7: policy making and not you know, one single person in
Speaker 7: this case, Donald Trump. That having been said, you know,
Speaker 7: similar to the New York City mayorals race that we
Speaker 7: just saw, everyone has been talking to me since the
Speaker 7: day I got into the race.
Speaker 5: You know that my top five issues have been.
Speaker 7: Affordability, affordability, affordability, affordability, and affordability. It is too expensive
Speaker 7: to live here in the Hudson Valley and that is
Speaker 7: driving folks out. We need to bring down the hot
Speaker 7: cost of housing, of childcare, of healthcare, home heating. People
Speaker 7: are getting exorbitant energy bills right now, utility bills, and
Speaker 7: so pushing pushing back against that and trying to at
Speaker 7: a time when Trump is you know, shutting down some
Speaker 7: me clean energy projects around New York State and around
Speaker 7: the country. But that all that all sort of rolls
Speaker 7: up to the same issue, which is affordability and making
Speaker 7: sure that people can actually afford to stay and live
Speaker 7: here in the Hudson Valley and enjoy the buy a
Speaker 7: home and enjoy the wonderful life that I've certainly had
Speaker 7: living here in Rockland.
Speaker 4: County may Rand, same question for you. You have single issue,
Speaker 4: what's the most important issue in your race?
Speaker 8: I think the most important issue besides affordable affordability is
Speaker 8: the overwriting issue for every Democrat running in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 8: But as part of that, it's it's the issue of
Speaker 8: that we need a cenator that's going to bring money
Speaker 8: back from Bobonnie to the district, and right now we don't.
Speaker 8: Bill Weber's very good at printing up big novelty checks
Speaker 8: that he brings around and stands behind, but they're all
Speaker 8: checks that were that have money that was generated by
Speaker 8: Democratic majority and that he you know, either didn't vote
Speaker 8: for or may have voted for, but he didn't carry
Speaker 8: the day.
Speaker 3: He didn't get it.
Speaker 8: Or that are just like literally some of them are
Speaker 8: just there's a formula, and Rocklin County gets a certain
Speaker 8: amount of that money because every county gets a certain
Speaker 8: amount of money, and so we get it, but but
Speaker 8: he didn't get it, and we need someone who's entrepreneurial,
Speaker 8: who is someone who can be persuasive and can go
Speaker 8: out there and get money for the district. I got
Speaker 8: six million dollars in grants, more than six million dollars
Speaker 8: in grants to NIAC in two years.
Speaker 3: That are all grants that are discretionary.
Speaker 8: Not nia got, you know, chips money though that every
Speaker 8: village in town in the state gets, not like that.
Speaker 3: I'm talking about discretionary grants that we.
Speaker 8: Had to go up against other municipalities to get and
Speaker 8: we got because I'm good at going getting money for
Speaker 8: my constituents, which is what I'll do a center.
Speaker 4: Right quickly, Joe, if people wanted to get involved of
Speaker 4: give money, get involved in your campaign websites. How can
Speaker 4: they find out more about Joe Ran jorran dot com.
Speaker 8: That's its simple as possible. Go to jorran dot com.
Speaker 8: If you want to volunteer, you want to donate, and
Speaker 8: I'd love for you to do both or either.
Speaker 4: Okay, that's the same for you.
Speaker 5: That's Davidson four Congress dot com.
Speaker 4: Fo R terrific doctor Danas Stilly. If people wanted to
Speaker 4: get and you had mentioned people are emailing you, if
Speaker 4: they want to give you in voice to hear this
Speaker 4: podcast and give you your opinions, how can they get to you.
Speaker 6: I'll give them an easy one. Dana G. Stilly at
Speaker 6: gmail dot com.
Speaker 4: Guys, this has been absolutely terrific. You know, I just
Speaker 4: love when I learned in podcasts, and I learned an
Speaker 4: awful lot today. This is just terrific. And I know
Speaker 4: how busy you are. You know they can't see us,
Speaker 4: but you know, it's a little tired. It's been a
Speaker 4: long day and it's get it's going to get a
Speaker 4: longer two guys, so I wish you all the best
Speaker 4: of luck. This has truly been intelligent conversation Doctor Dana Stilly,
Speaker 4: Mayor Joe Rand and Legislator Beth Davidson. We really appreciate
Speaker 4: you guys having us, oh my pleasure, and of course
Speaker 4: we offer special thanks to our listeners who take time
Speaker 4: to give us a voice in their lives. Remember we
Speaker 4: offer a fresh topic just about every week. Catch us
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