Speaker 1: It's Nightside with Dan Ray on w b Z, Boston's
Speaker 1: news radio.
Speaker 2: Dan Hawkins, thank you very much. We are going to
Speaker 2: talk this hour with a Republican running for governor. He's
Speaker 2: not the only Republican running for governor, but certainly he's
Speaker 2: someone who has a very impressive resume and someone who
Speaker 2: will be taken as a serious candidate in the Republican
Speaker 2: primary next year. Brian Shortsleeve, Brian Shortsleeve, Welcome back Tonight's Side.
Speaker 2: The last time I think you were a guest, we
Speaker 2: were talking about the MBTA.
Speaker 3: That's exactly right, Dan, you have a great memory. That
Speaker 3: was back in twenty sixteen and we were talking about
Speaker 3: driving reform at the NBTA after the Snowmageddon of twenty fifteen.
Speaker 2: Well, hey, I haven't heard the word snow mcgeddon in
Speaker 2: a while, but you're right, I do remember that winter,
Speaker 2: the winter of twenty fourteen to twenty fifteen. And yeah, now,
Speaker 2: how long were you at the tea? Just to refer
Speaker 2: fresh People's recollection, how long were you at the tea?
Speaker 2: And what was the accomplishments that you're most proud of?
Speaker 3: Well, you know, looking back on it, I was enjoying
Speaker 3: my life in the business world. I'm a businessman, you know,
Speaker 3: at Core, and when the T imploded in the winner
Speaker 3: of twenty fifteen, Governor Baker called me and asked me
Speaker 3: to lead a rescue mission to go in and drive reform.
Speaker 4: So I did it.
Speaker 3: I spent two years, Dan, to answer your question, spent
Speaker 3: two years was sort of summer of fifteen to summer
Speaker 3: of seventeen. And when I arrived at the T, we
Speaker 3: had a three hundred and thirty five million dollar forecast deficit.
Speaker 3: The system was in shambles, and my mission and the
Speaker 3: mission of the Fiscal Management Control Board was to deliver
Speaker 3: a balanced budget, get costs under control, and put the
Speaker 3: system back on a path to fiscal stability. I was
Speaker 3: a great experience. I'm very proud of what we accomplished.
Speaker 3: We delivered the first balance budget and more than a
Speaker 3: decade at the TEA, we had the lowest operating expenses
Speaker 3: in years. We got that green Line extension project back
Speaker 3: on track that had been left for dead the FEDS
Speaker 3: had pulled their funding in early fifteen. We got that
Speaker 3: built and you can now take a one seat ride
Speaker 3: from downtown crossing to Tufts. So I think we accomplished
Speaker 3: a great deal that I'm really proud of what we did.
Speaker 2: After you left. I'm just curious, do you as you
Speaker 2: look at the T these days. I guess the new
Speaker 2: T general manager, mister Ang who was brought in by
Speaker 2: the current governor from he came in, I believe from
Speaker 2: New York. I'm not an expert on the tee, but
Speaker 2: he seems to be getting pretty good grades. Has he
Speaker 2: been able to build on some of the things that
Speaker 2: you said in motion?
Speaker 3: Well, you know, I was on the tea last week
Speaker 3: and I rode on a phenomenal orange line car which
Speaker 3: we had procured back in twenty fifteen sixteen. The new
Speaker 3: red line cars are coming in, so I'm really proud
Speaker 3: of the progress. I will tell you this though. The
Speaker 3: one thing that we delivered back in twenty fifteen sixteen
Speaker 3: that More Healy has not is a balanced budget for
Speaker 3: the T. The TA cost about a billion dollars more
Speaker 3: to operate today than it did then. The costs have
Speaker 3: exploded across the board, so I think it's really incumbent
Speaker 3: and critical for that organization to get focused on cost
Speaker 3: control when you look at many elements of the system,
Speaker 3: whether it's what it costs to put a bus on
Speaker 3: the road, or what it costs to run you know,
Speaker 3: the paratransit systems. The cost have exploded, and frankly, when
Speaker 3: you're adding you know, two hundred million dollars a year
Speaker 3: of operating expenses, that organization revenue will never catch up.
Speaker 3: You've got to You've got to focus on cost control.
Speaker 3: So when I look at your organization, I'd say they're
Speaker 3: spending about a billion dollars more than we were, they're
Speaker 3: delivering a third fewer trips, and there's a lot of
Speaker 3: opportunities to get refocused on cost control to make sure
Speaker 3: it's fiscally sustainable.
Speaker 2: They've also, it seems in the last few years, the
Speaker 2: last two or three years, they've had some horrific accidents.
Speaker 2: I remember the train where people were literally jumping out
Speaker 2: the windows of the train and jumping into the Mystic River.
Speaker 2: The fellow the other day, his family was I get
Speaker 2: They agreed to a five million dollars settlement. He was
Speaker 2: dragged to his death. They just seemed to be as
Speaker 2: well as sealy tiles falling. It would seem to me
Speaker 2: that maybe the tea in the last few years, even
Speaker 2: before mar Healey has regressed from where you from the
Speaker 2: direction you had put it in. Would you agree?
Speaker 3: Well, I was very proud to deliver a balance budget.
Speaker 3: We tripled capital spending, We got those Orange line cars.
Speaker 3: The red line cars we've procured are coming. So I'm
Speaker 3: proud of what we did. But I will tell you today,
Speaker 3: I think the costs are too high. They're growing at
Speaker 3: an unsustainable rate. In twenty twenty four, last year, the
Speaker 3: TEA had more derailments than any major transit agency in
Speaker 3: the country by a factor of four. So I would
Speaker 3: encourage Governor Healey and her team to get focused on
Speaker 3: cost control, get focused on safety.
Speaker 5: The TEA is critical.
Speaker 3: There's four hundred thousand people that ride it every day,
Speaker 3: but there's seven million of US DAN who are paying
Speaker 3: the bills, and we've got to make sure that that
Speaker 3: organization is sustainable and doesn't require continual state bailouts.
Speaker 2: Speaking about cost controls, there was an audit released today
Speaker 2: by state auditor Diana Desauglia. I believe we'll have the
Speaker 2: auditor with us tomorrow night during this very hour. Even
Speaker 2: the Globe, which is very supportive, I think of the
Speaker 2: incumbent governor their headline that I believe will be in
Speaker 2: tomorrow morning's newspaper. Is Healy used unlawful no bid contracts
Speaker 2: as migrant and homeless families surged into emergency shelter system?
Speaker 2: Audit chargers, I'm sure you've had a chance at least
Speaker 2: to read a little bit of this audit report. I'm
Speaker 2: sure it was very, very interesting. Get a quick comment
Speaker 2: from you. Your reaction to it.
Speaker 3: Well, I've spent four years as an officer in the
Speaker 3: Marine Corps after college, Dan, and most of the most
Speaker 3: important lessons I learned about life and leadership I learned
Speaker 3: in the Marine Corps. I'll tell you what this state
Speaker 3: needs a rescue mission, and this audit is a prime
Speaker 3: example of that. It's completely off the rail. You've got
Speaker 3: no bid contracts, You've got one hundred and fifty dollars
Speaker 3: cab fares. I even read about one particular fair that
Speaker 3: was one hundred and forty dollars fare to move someone
Speaker 3: two hundred and twenty feet. What does it tell you?
Speaker 3: It tells you that this administration has written blank checks.
Speaker 3: They're really not focused on on productivity, on efficiency, and
Speaker 3: this is sort of a classic Beacon Hill mess. And
Speaker 3: I think it's going to take a marine and a
Speaker 3: businessman in that corner office to get the state back
Speaker 3: on track. And this audit is a classic example of
Speaker 3: what happens when you have a career politician at the
Speaker 3: helm instead of having a businessman who lives in the
Speaker 3: real world and understands how to balance budgets and drive
Speaker 3: productivity and everything else. We've also called for the governor
Speaker 3: to fire Secretary Augustus because I believe has laid out
Speaker 3: clearly in that audit. There's just one example after another
Speaker 3: of the administration breaking the laws. So I call him
Speaker 3: the governor to make that move at the time for
Speaker 3: account of ability and taxpayers. You know, taxpayers deserve better.
Speaker 2: What about the Secretary of Transportation. She has kept a
Speaker 2: pretty low profile, and she called for a lot of
Speaker 2: construction of new tolls about a year ago, and seeing
Speaker 2: to me that that was something that the government was
Speaker 2: not happy about. But no changes, no changes, She's still there,
Speaker 2: you have.
Speaker 3: Thought, so well, Look, Dan, I ran the Tea for
Speaker 3: two years. I delivered the lowest operating expenses in the
Speaker 3: history of the organization. We balanced the budget. Here's what
Speaker 3: I can tell you. The Tea does not have a
Speaker 3: revenue problem. The Tea has a spending problem. The Tea
Speaker 3: has increased its expenses by a billion dollars in five years.
Speaker 3: That's completely unsustainable. The organization is delivering about a third
Speaker 3: fewer trips. Even just the bus system itself, it cost
Speaker 3: the Tea almost three hundred bucks per hour to put
Speaker 3: a bus on the road today. That's almost twice what
Speaker 3: it was five years ago. So at the Tea, it's
Speaker 3: about controlling spending, and I would call on the governor
Speaker 3: and the secretary to get serious about it. We had
Speaker 3: a fiscal Management Control Board in place. We brought incredible
Speaker 3: transparency of the organization. We met every single Monday. We
Speaker 3: stripped out abuse. I'll give you an example. I mean,
Speaker 3: we had employees that I got there that were building
Speaker 3: taxpayers for twenty seven to twenty eight hundred hours of
Speaker 3: overtime in a year dan in on top of two
Speaker 3: thousand regular hours. That's literally that's more overtime hours than
Speaker 3: there are waking hours in the year. But those are
Speaker 3: the sorts of things. We put prophecies to place, We
Speaker 3: managed it, and when I was done with the team,
Speaker 3: even the Boston Globe was forced to say that the
Speaker 3: Fiscal Management Control Board in my leadership was the best
Speaker 3: thing that ever happened to the transit agency. If I
Speaker 3: would encourage the governor and the secretary to get serious
Speaker 3: about cost control, get serious about efficiency, and get serious
Speaker 3: about safety.
Speaker 2: And the secretary in this instance you talking about is
Speaker 2: Monica Tibbet's nut.
Speaker 3: That's right.
Speaker 2: The Secretary of Transportation, Who's right. I seemed to have
Speaker 2: an inclination early on to put up toll boots wherever
Speaker 2: she could find a little extra space along any various
Speaker 2: and sundry highways. My guest is Brian short Sleeve, Harvard graduate,
Speaker 2: Harvard Business School, Marine, very interesting background. We have a
Speaker 2: bunch of calls we're going to get to if you'd
Speaker 2: like to join the conversation six one seven, two four
Speaker 2: ten thirty six one seven, nine three thirty Brian, I
Speaker 2: want to go to phone calls as soon as we
Speaker 2: get back, because I think I've asked questions and give
Speaker 2: you an opportunity, gave you an opportunity to kind of
Speaker 2: introduce yourself, and I think a lot of people probably
Speaker 2: who listen to my show will like what they heard.
Speaker 2: But let's see what some of the listeners feel and
Speaker 2: we'll be back some of the callers feel Actually, we'll
Speaker 2: be back on Nightside talking gubernatorial politics with Brian Shortly.
Speaker 2: There's at least two former members of the Baker administration
Speaker 2: who are running for this position. Mike Kneely is also
Speaker 2: a former member of the Baker administration, and we will
Speaker 2: talk to him. I believe we're scheduled talked to him
Speaker 2: on Thursday night, so we talk. We'll finish up with Brian.
Speaker 2: We have about forty five minutes, plenty of time for
Speaker 2: calls and questions. Looking forward to hearing from you. We'll
Speaker 2: be back on night Side right after this.
Speaker 1: It's Night Side with Boston's News Radio with us.
Speaker 2: Is Brian Shortly if he's a Republican running for governor
Speaker 2: and we'll get this one out of the way soon. Here, Brian,
Speaker 2: you've got to be related to my former colleague, Joe Shortsleeve.
Speaker 2: I assume it's something.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, Joe's terrific.
Speaker 6: He's the best.
Speaker 3: Joe is my father's younger brother, all right, So that.
Speaker 2: Would make him an Uncle's an uncle, all right, all right,
Speaker 2: So give him a shout out when you see him
Speaker 2: for me. Let's get to the phone. It's going to
Speaker 2: go to a different Joe This is not Joe Shortsleeve.
Speaker 2: This is Joe and Vermont. Hey, Joe, you're wrong with
Speaker 2: Brian shortsleaved candidate running for governor.
Speaker 4: Thank you, Dan and mister short slave. I just wanted
Speaker 4: to say a couple of things fast, because kill other people.
Speaker 4: In seventy one, I remember taking the brand new tea,
Speaker 4: the Red nine. I grew up in hauled Fantaska. I
Speaker 4: went to UMass Boston, the old downtown campus before the
Speaker 4: Harvard kIPS.
Speaker 7: Uh.
Speaker 4: It's good to hear a good Republican candidate. I wish
Speaker 4: you a lot of the luck, sir. Hopefully you'll get
Speaker 4: lucky like Phil Scott and Vermont.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you get Phil Scott in Vermont. You got yeah,
Speaker 2: Chris Sinunu in New Hampshire.
Speaker 8: And I was gonna mention him too, I was, I
Speaker 8: was thinking about that. Oh yeah, but I'm a home
Speaker 8: from a road trip, so I'm I'm lucky to be
Speaker 8: on the first call.
Speaker 4: Well, Joe, appreciate you, Joe, I enjoyed a lot.
Speaker 2: Thanks, Joe, appreciate it. Brian, thank you.
Speaker 5: Good good.
Speaker 3: Governor's got terrific. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2: All right, thank you, Joe, thank you? All right? Yeah,
Speaker 2: there there there New England states. They do tend to
Speaker 2: elect Republicans. Again, we're here, you know, well, Paul Salucci,
Speaker 2: Charlie Baker, there have and of course Mitt Romney was
Speaker 2: here as well. Uh, you know, go back a little further.
Speaker 2: You got John Volpi and Frank Sargent. This is this
Speaker 2: is this is a state that that is always liked,
Speaker 2: that balance between the Democratic legislature and a Republican governor.
Speaker 2: So who knows, let's keep rolling. You're going to go
Speaker 2: to a Ben in Fall River, Massachusetts. Ben, you're next
Speaker 2: on nice side with Brian Shortsleeve, Republican candidate for governor.
Speaker 6: Thanks for having me on.
Speaker 3: I just wanted to ask you real quick, Brian, where
Speaker 3: do you stand on the NBTA Communities Act. Thanks for
Speaker 3: the question.
Speaker 8: Ben.
Speaker 3: I oppose the MBTA Communities Act and I support a
Speaker 3: full repeal. That's an example of administrative overreach. It's an
Speaker 3: example of a one size fits all approach to a problem,
Speaker 3: and it's a law that doesn't respect the uniqueness of
Speaker 3: local conditions, of local infrastructure.
Speaker 2: And if I could, I know what the MBTA Communities
Speaker 2: Act is, but there are some of my audience who
Speaker 2: might not know. And I know, you can explain it,
Speaker 2: and you can explain why you're a posed or go ahead.
Speaker 9: Well.
Speaker 3: The NBTA Communities Act is a law that was put
Speaker 3: in place a couple of years ago that requires any
Speaker 3: community which is on the NBTA system, which is about
Speaker 3: one hundred and seventy communities in the state, to dramatically
Speaker 3: increase the amount of multifamily housing that they have to
Speaker 3: give you an example, a town like Milton with eight
Speaker 3: thousand homes would be required to put in over two
Speaker 3: thousand multifamily units. A small town like Lincoln, Massachusetts, with
Speaker 3: two thousand homes might be required to put in six
Speaker 3: hundred multifamily condos. There are plenty of communities in the
Speaker 3: state that want housing, and in fact, when I was
Speaker 3: at the MBTA, we worked really hard on something called
Speaker 3: transit oriented development. And what transit orients developed means is
Speaker 3: working with communities like Quinsy that want housing. The MBTA
Speaker 3: owned all sorts of land along the Red line and
Speaker 3: we would effectively give that land to developers. They would
Speaker 3: build multi family. But that's a win win, I mean,
Speaker 3: that's a good incentive. It's a carrit people wanted to
Speaker 3: do it. The NBTA Communities Act is very different. That
Speaker 3: is administrative overreach. That is forcing in some cases a
Speaker 3: small suburban town without adequate infrastructure to zone itself to
Speaker 3: handle hundreds and hundreds of multifamily and condo units. So
Speaker 3: I think we got to go back to the drawing board.
Speaker 3: There are really good solutions out there to the housing crisis.
Speaker 3: Transit oriins development is one of them. I'll tell you
Speaker 3: something else, Dan and Ben. The state of Massachusetts owns
Speaker 3: over one hundred thousand acres of vacant land right inside
Speaker 3: Metro Boston. If we developed even ten percent of that,
Speaker 3: we could create close to two hundred thousand new units.
Speaker 3: If I was governor, if Governor Shortsleeve was in that
Speaker 3: corner office, that's what we'd be focused on. Vacant land
Speaker 3: in the city, in areas where the community wants the
Speaker 3: housing and the state controls the land, so the state
Speaker 3: can get it done more quickly. So there's a lot
Speaker 3: of ways to increase the housing thought, But the NBTA
Speaker 3: Communities Act I think is the wrong the wrong approach.
Speaker 2: Ben, great question.
Speaker 8: Than you are my vote, sir.
Speaker 4: I appreciate it.
Speaker 6: Thank you so much.
Speaker 2: Thanks Ben, appreciate thank you. Ben. Let me get one
Speaker 2: more in here before the breaking to go to Jen
Speaker 2: in pevity. Jen, you were next on nice hat with
Speaker 2: Brian Schwartzleey, go.
Speaker 10: Ahead, Jen, Hi, Thank you. Dan. You know govern Wrong
Speaker 10: De Santos, who you raised money for. Mister short Steve
Speaker 10: has signed strict abortion laws in Florida. Can you support
Speaker 10: those laws? And where do you stand on protecting the unborn?
Speaker 3: Well abortion writers are guaranteed under the Massachusetts Constitution. I
Speaker 3: consider myself pro choice. I wouldn't do anything to change
Speaker 3: those laws. I really admire Governor Santis' service in the Navy.
Speaker 3: I'm a Marine officer and I always admired his service
Speaker 3: in the Navy. I also admired the economic record of Florida.
Speaker 3: You know, Florida's added over five hundred thousand jobs private
Speaker 3: sector jobs since twenty twenty three. In Massachusets, we've actually
Speaker 3: lost six thousand jobs in three years since Healy took over.
Speaker 3: If you look at our private sector in this state,
Speaker 3: it's smaller than it was three years ago. We're now
Speaker 3: at the very bottom of the list in Massachusetts in
Speaker 3: terms of private sector job growth. And when I look
Speaker 3: at other states like Florida and I see the growth
Speaker 3: in their economy. I think we've got to get serious
Speaker 3: in Massachusetts about creating a much stronger pro growth set
Speaker 3: of policies here. We've got to cut taxes, we've got
Speaker 3: to cut fees. We've got to reduce utility bills, which
Speaker 3: is one of the highest expenses at small businesses and
Speaker 3: families bear. But the result of all those things, as
Speaker 3: Governor Healey herself noted two weeks ago, is people are leaving.
Speaker 3: Companies are leaving, students are leaving, and they're leaving because
Speaker 3: of Healey's failed policies. They're leaving because the cost of
Speaker 3: living is too high, because she's continued to propose taxes,
Speaker 3: and because she's grown state government too quickly. So we've
Speaker 3: got to get this economy growing again. I'd like to
Speaker 3: see Massachusetts back where it was between twoenty ten and
Speaker 3: twenty twenty one. We were the fastest growing state in
Speaker 3: the Northeast, and we were leading in new business rate.
Speaker 7: Can I interrupt?
Speaker 10: Can I just interrupt? Because I'm confused. You're talking about
Speaker 10: jobs and the economy, but I'm just talking about pro
Speaker 10: life versus pro choice, and you raise money for life.
Speaker 10: I confused, jin let.
Speaker 2: Me in throw it for a second. I think he
Speaker 2: actually answered that question, but if you want him to
Speaker 2: answer it again, he'll go right ahead.
Speaker 3: I am, I am, I am pro choice. Abortion rights
Speaker 3: are guaranteed under the Massachusetts Constitution. I support that it
Speaker 3: wouldn't do anything to changes here in Massachusetts.
Speaker 2: I think that's pretty drunk answer.
Speaker 3: Thank you, You're welcome, have a great night.
Speaker 2: We take a break.
Speaker 6: Thank you.
Speaker 2: News. At the bottom of the hour, one line open six, one, seven, two, four,
Speaker 2: ten thirty. My guest Brian Shortsleeve, Republican running for governor.
Speaker 2: It's we're coming up on an election here. I know
Speaker 2: we just went through a presidential election, but I think
Speaker 2: it's important, particularly on positions like governor, to get these
Speaker 2: candidates in front of people so people have it chance
Speaker 2: to ask questions. Jen asked a tough question. She asked
Speaker 2: a tough question twice. Not a problem. Back on Nightside
Speaker 2: right after this.
Speaker 1: It's Night Side with Dan Ray on w B Boston's
Speaker 1: news radio.
Speaker 2: We're talking with Brian Shortsleeve. He is a candidate for
Speaker 2: governor here in Massachusetts, running as a Republican. For those
Speaker 2: of you who want to catch up, he's a graduate
Speaker 2: of Harvard and Harvard Business School, businessman, worked in the
Speaker 2: Baker administration and was actually put in charge of the MBTA.
Speaker 2: He's a Marine Corps veteran, served four years, did tours
Speaker 2: duty in Bosnia and the Persian golf and he's he's
Speaker 2: with us tonight taking phone calls. Let's get back to
Speaker 2: the calls. I appreciate people's patients. We try to move
Speaker 2: as quickly as we can. Jack is in Rockland. Jack, welcome.
Speaker 2: You are next on Nightside with Brian Shortsleeve. Right ahead.
Speaker 6: Jack. Hey, Brian, really impressed with your campaign so far.
Speaker 6: My question for you is what are you going to
Speaker 6: do to make this state more affordable and keep young
Speaker 6: people here?
Speaker 3: Well, thanks for the question, and I'll tell you the
Speaker 3: affordability crisis of Massachusetts is driving people in businesses out
Speaker 3: of the state. Just look at your utility bill, and
Speaker 3: I look at mine every month. My bill is about
Speaker 3: three hundred bucks. One hundred of that is related to
Speaker 3: the core cost of electricity, but the other two hundred
Speaker 3: or all those transmission charges. And if you look at
Speaker 3: those charges, what do you see? You see the energy
Speaker 3: efficiency charge, to distributed solar charge, the electric vehicle charge,
Speaker 3: the net metering charge. Those are all state mandated fees,
Speaker 3: and that is where all of the growth and these
Speaker 3: bills are, So I think we've got to cut those fees.
Speaker 3: We've got to get those bills under control. We've got
Speaker 3: to cut taxes, and we've got to reduce the cost
Speaker 3: of living here. It's becoming too expensive for young people
Speaker 3: and for working people live in Massachusetts. And that's why
Speaker 3: under Governor Healy and her failed policies, we've seen record
Speaker 3: exodus of people. There's five hundred people a week leaving
Speaker 3: the state. There's fewer people working in the private sector
Speaker 3: here than there were three years ago. Even just this week,
Speaker 3: you Math Benchmarks put out a report showing that our
Speaker 3: economy in Massachusetts contracted at four times the national rate
Speaker 3: in QW to one, so we shrunk four times faster.
Speaker 3: And the reason for that big drop in mass GDP
Speaker 3: was slowing job growth. Right, People are leaving, companies are leaving,
Speaker 3: the private sector is getting smaller. So we've got to
Speaker 3: go go over all those things. But it starts with
Speaker 3: It starts with cutting taxes, cutting fees, and making this
Speaker 3: state more affordable for small businesses and for families.
Speaker 6: Sounds like the planning to me. Thanks so much all right, Jack.
Speaker 2: Appreciate you calling.
Speaker 8: Thank you.
Speaker 2: Next, Let's go next to Tom and Boston. Tom, you
Speaker 2: were next on N I said with Brian Schwatzlee, go ahead.
Speaker 5: Tom right, Dan, thanks for taking the call. I just
Speaker 5: had a quick question for Brian about the audit the
Speaker 5: legislature bill that Massachusetts voters passed last year. I think
Speaker 5: it was seventy two who wanted to have it passed
Speaker 5: and twenty eight again.
Speaker 2: Two percent, you're correct, Tom, seventy two percent of all
Speaker 2: the voters overwhelmingly. We could call that a landslide. Go
Speaker 2: right ahead.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'd call it a mandate.
Speaker 6: Dan.
Speaker 5: And in my question is, you know we have Speaker
Speaker 5: Mariano and we have President spill Cup in the Senate
Speaker 5: who are who are kind of blocking is not letting
Speaker 5: the light into the legislature. So I'm I'm just want
Speaker 5: to ask Brian if if he'd be willing to hold
Speaker 5: the legislature's feet to the fire, maybe stand with autor
Speaker 5: does ugly and say, Hey, the taxpayers want this done,
Speaker 5: the voters want this done. Can we please open the
Speaker 5: books and see what's going on with our tax dollars
Speaker 5: up on Beacon Hill? Can we count on you to
Speaker 5: do that, Brian, you bet.
Speaker 3: Look, we got to audit the legislature day one. As
Speaker 3: we see today when we see the work that the
Speaker 3: OTTIT put out on the migrant crisis, we see the
Speaker 3: Heliad administration hiding information, not being transparent, we see no
Speaker 3: big con tracks. We see money being wasted, you know,
Speaker 3: across the board. I would say it's blank checks, right,
Speaker 3: and I think Beacon Hill needs a complete overhaul. I
Speaker 3: would do that. So I'm a strong supporter of the
Speaker 3: audit and I'm a strong, strong supporter of transparency. You know,
Speaker 3: when I ran the MBTA, we brought unprecedented transparency at organization.
Speaker 3: We went through every department, we went through every cost,
Speaker 3: We questioned, we questioned everything over you know, more than
Speaker 3: two hundred and fifty public meeting. So I would ask,
Speaker 3: where's the governor on the audit? And what the Attorney
Speaker 3: General ought to be doing is she ought to be
Speaker 3: using her powers to force the legislature to comply. But
Speaker 3: in both of those cases, I don't see Governor Heally
Speaker 3: stepping up and I don't see the Attorney General using
Speaker 3: the power of her office to force an audit. When
Speaker 3: I'm governor day one, that audit will will happen, by.
Speaker 2: The way, just for your benefit, Tom Tomorrow night, Auditor
Speaker 2: Disaccio would be joining us at nine o'clock to talk
Speaker 2: about the audit there was. I look did a little
Speaker 2: bit of that tonight and there's a no big taxicab
Speaker 2: contract in that audit. Brian, correct me if I'm wrong.
Speaker 3: For six I know a little bit about those type
Speaker 3: contracts because we ran a lot of bus service at
Speaker 3: the tee and.
Speaker 5: I can tell you.
Speaker 3: Well by my quick math, six point eight million dollars
Speaker 3: spent at what it sounds like was almost one hundred
Speaker 3: dollars per per fair. That's like sixty to seventy thousand
Speaker 3: trips on Cape cod In one case, there was one
Speaker 3: hundred and forty dollars cab fare to move someone two
Speaker 3: hundred and twenty three seat. That's an example of blank checks,
Speaker 3: an example of people not paying attention. And I think
Speaker 3: you know Beacon Hill needs an overhaul, and that's a
Speaker 3: that's a classic example of government run amock under under government,
Speaker 3: Governor Healy, I would change that.
Speaker 2: Day one my understanding, and you may want to check
Speaker 2: into this, and Tom, you may want to talk to
Speaker 2: the auditor tomorrow night, because she has really suffered the
Speaker 2: slings and arrows of a lot of people up at
Speaker 2: the legislature, including the legislative leadership, and with no support
Speaker 2: from the governor or the Attorney general. My understanding is
Speaker 2: that on this no bit of contract, every fear that
Speaker 2: was called, once the call was made in the fear
Speaker 2: was accepted, it was one hundred and forty dollars to
Speaker 2: pick the person up. And at that point, however far
Speaker 2: the person who was living in the shelter had to
Speaker 2: go the fear, that meter started running at one hundred
Speaker 2: and forty dollars, which is extraordinary, which explains why a
Speaker 2: fear there was only two hundred and twenty three feet
Speaker 2: only cost one hundred and forty dollars.
Speaker 3: How about well, look, that's a classic example, right of
Speaker 3: that classic example, I mean, Healey's team blew billions of dollars.
Speaker 3: These are no bid contracts, probably sweetheart deals, and literally
Speaker 3: got taken for a ride with one hundred and forty
Speaker 3: hundred and fifty dollars bills and even bloated food bills
Speaker 3: I think I read about. So that's an example of
Speaker 3: of of of the need for transparency. We owe it
Speaker 3: to the taxpayers of this state and the voters of
Speaker 3: this state that voted, as you noted, Tom by seventy
Speaker 3: two percent of all. We got to do it. And
Speaker 3: Governor Heally could have a press conference tomorrow and she
Speaker 3: could force that audit, and the AG, I would say,
Speaker 3: could do the same. So under a governor shortly, we
Speaker 3: would do that day one.
Speaker 2: Tom, thank you for the call. I want to get
Speaker 2: one more Indio before the break, but I did want
Speaker 2: to explain that to people. Let me go to will
Speaker 2: in Worcester, Massachusetts, central part of Massachusetts. Will you next
Speaker 2: on Nightside with Brian Shortsley.
Speaker 6: Hey, how's it going?
Speaker 1: Thanks for taking the question.
Speaker 11: I'm wondering, Brian, your top supporter in Surrogate, Mark Lombardo,
Speaker 11: has repeatedly attacked the House Republican leader Brad Jones, and
Speaker 11: really the entire GOP caucus. I'm wondering, do you agree
Speaker 11: with Lombardo that Brad Jones should step down? Where do
Speaker 11: you stand on this?
Speaker 3: Look, I'm getting a great response out there from across
Speaker 3: the spectrum. I've spent the last three months meeting with
Speaker 3: grassroots groups and Republican town committees.
Speaker 6: I think there's.
Speaker 3: Tremendous support broadly across our party to come together. What
Speaker 3: matters is we got to send Governor Heely packin. We've
Speaker 3: got to win the twenty six race. I'm the candidate
Speaker 3: that can do that. I think I bring this party
Speaker 3: together and we're gonna We're gonna welcome support from across
Speaker 3: the across the spectrum, and I think it's going to
Speaker 3: take that to beat Heally. But that should really be
Speaker 3: our focus.
Speaker 2: I'll bet you'd like that. Yeahos, go ahead. Will This
Speaker 2: is into the weeds a little bit. I don't know
Speaker 2: that too many people are interested in some of the
Speaker 2: internescing warfare of the Republican Party. But if you want
Speaker 2: to follow up with one question, go ahead.
Speaker 11: Yeah, Dan, I understand it's just as Governor mister Shortley
Speaker 11: would be dealing with these kinds of antics from both sides.
Speaker 11: So I'm wondering, do you think Brad Jones should step
Speaker 11: down or do you support him and his speakership as
Speaker 11: minority leader.
Speaker 3: Look, I'm getting broad support across the board from Republicans,
Speaker 3: from independence of Democrats. We're going to unify this party
Speaker 3: and we're gonna win in November. I'm the leader to
Speaker 3: do that and uh and I welcome support from across
Speaker 3: the board. We've got to you know, we've got to
Speaker 3: stick together. We've got a lot of work to do
Speaker 3: to beat more heey in twenty twenty six.
Speaker 2: Appreciate the call, Thank you very much. We'll take a
Speaker 2: quick break. Coming back on nightside. I got Sanda, I
Speaker 2: got Joanna, I got Sam, and I even got room
Speaker 2: for you. One line at six one se Well that
Speaker 2: just filled one line at six one, seven, nine, three thirty.
Speaker 2: Back on nightside.
Speaker 1: Right after this, you're on night side with Dan Ray
Speaker 1: on w BEZ Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2: Back to the phones we go, were you full lines?
Speaker 2: Let's keep rolling here, going to go to Sanda in Boston. Sandy,
Speaker 2: you were next on nightside with Brian short Sleeve.
Speaker 9: Go right ahead, Hi, mister short Sleeve. I would like
Speaker 9: to know, with offshore wind three times as expensive as
Speaker 9: the terrestrial version and the possible denise of our wonderful
Speaker 9: fishing industry, what is your position on offshore wind?
Speaker 3: Well, offshore wind, by a factor of three, is the
Speaker 3: most expensive form of renewable energy. We I got three
Speaker 3: young boys. I care a lot about clean water, right clear,
Speaker 3: a lot about the environment. And clean air and a
Speaker 3: clean environment. But we need to do it in a
Speaker 3: way that doesn't bankrupt the fishing industry, doesn't drive families
Speaker 3: out of the state because it's too expensive, and it
Speaker 3: doesn't damage our economic competitors. When I look at when
Speaker 3: I look at the Healy Agenda, and I look at
Speaker 3: all those state mandated fees that you see on your bill,
Speaker 3: I would tell you those fees need to be cut
Speaker 3: because they are making the state too expensive. They're driving
Speaker 3: people out of the state. Healy this week on Tuesday
Speaker 3: did a huge about faith. I mean, she had a
Speaker 3: press conference Tuesday and which she effectively acknowledged that our
Speaker 3: energy policies have been a complete failure, and she said
Speaker 3: it's time to move those state mandated fees off of
Speaker 3: the bill. She questioned whether there was any return on
Speaker 3: a lot of those fees, and listening to it, all
Speaker 3: I could think was that it's too little, too late.
Speaker 3: Here we are We're almost three years in her term.
Speaker 3: She's been a champion of this, she has driven those
Speaker 3: fees up, and she basically knowledge on Tuesday that generally
Speaker 3: those those energy policies have been a failure because they're
Speaker 3: making the state too expensive. For families and too expensive
Speaker 3: for businesses. So I think we've got to approach things
Speaker 3: always starting with reducing the burden on working people and taxpayers,
Speaker 3: making sure this is a state that working families can
Speaker 3: afford to live in, and it starts with cutting those
Speaker 3: state mandate fees you see on your utility bill.
Speaker 2: Thanks, thanks, andder appreciate your call.
Speaker 7: Thank you, you're welcome.
Speaker 2: Let's go to Jonah Joanna. Excuse me, Joanna and Dennis. Joanna,
Speaker 2: you are next on nice side with Republican candidate for
Speaker 2: governor Brian Shortsleeve.
Speaker 3: Go right ahead, Joanna, Thank you Dan.
Speaker 7: Thank you Brian for taking my call. As as you heard,
Speaker 7: I'm from the Cape, and one of our state representatives
Speaker 7: here in the Cape, Stephen Xaros, is filed a bill
Speaker 7: called the Buffer Bill, and I wonder, Brian, if you
Speaker 7: know anything about that and.
Speaker 2: What it's called. I think it's called it's called the
Speaker 2: Halo Act. We talked about that an hour for an
Speaker 2: hour last night on night Side with a Democratic member
Speaker 2: of the Legislature from Milton, Massachusetts, UH state Representative Richard Wells,
Speaker 2: and we're going to talk and he they're all in
Speaker 2: favor of this Halo Act well protect first responders, firefighters,
Speaker 2: police officers, e mts. We'll be talking with someone who's
Speaker 2: opposed to it in the next hour, so you may
Speaker 2: want to continue to listen. Joanna, I get you. Joanna
Speaker 2: wants Brian would like your response on the Halo Act.
Speaker 3: Well, I've known Rep. Zorro's for a long time. He's
Speaker 3: got forty years of a law enforcement experience, and I
Speaker 3: really appreciate him leading on this issue. This is common
Speaker 3: sense legislation. We should protect law enforcement, we should protect
Speaker 3: first responders. This Halo Act allows them to do their jobs.
Speaker 3: So I strongly support it. I commend Representative Zorro's It's
Speaker 3: fine to protest, it's America. Everybody can protest, but you
Speaker 3: can't interfere with local law enforcement and first responders when
Speaker 3: they're doing their job. So this is common sense legislation.
Speaker 3: I hope it passes, and it's great to see Repsaro's
Speaker 3: providing a leadership leadership role on it.
Speaker 2: So and we'll be talking about that in the next hour,
Speaker 2: and you could go and listen to what Representator Wells
Speaker 2: had to say in our nine o'clock hour last night.
Speaker 2: On nights that on Demand Dot com when we post
Speaker 2: all our hours and podcast form.
Speaker 7: Thank you. I will do that and I appreciate your
Speaker 7: response and hope to be calling you governor one day soon.
Speaker 3: Well, thank you, thank you, Joanne.
Speaker 2: Let me keep rolling here, We're going to get I'll
Speaker 2: try to get everybody, and let's go back to the
Speaker 2: South Shore. Sam is in Plymouth. Sam, you're next on
Speaker 2: Nice that with Brian Schwartzleeve Gohadhead.
Speaker 3: Sam, and you can a little bit more about your
Speaker 3: business by the ground.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he's looking, wants to know more about your business background.
Speaker 2: The connections not great, Sam, So.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, thank you, yeah, thank you for the question.
Speaker 3: I've been out of college for thirty years, and two
Speaker 3: of those years I was working on the MBTA reform plan.
Speaker 3: In four of those years, I was an officer in
Speaker 3: the Marine Corps. But the other, you know, the other
Speaker 3: twenty five plus years, I've been in the business world.
Speaker 3: You know, I've been building companies. I have a real
Speaker 3: passion for working with small companies. Our firm helps small
Speaker 3: companies become big companies, helps them higher up, help them
Speaker 3: scale up. So I'm very passionate about the small company
Speaker 3: economy and in the state of Massachusetts, sixty percent of
Speaker 3: the people who work in the state work in small businesses,
Speaker 3: and all of the growth of our state are small companies,
Speaker 3: those twenty to forty, twenty to fifty employee companies. So
Speaker 3: I think we need to make this state a much
Speaker 3: better place to do business. NFIB had a recent study
Speaker 3: out which I read, that said fifty percent of small
Speaker 3: businesses in Massachusetts are planning to close or move in
Speaker 3: the next five years.
Speaker 4: And here were the reasons.
Speaker 3: Number one, taxes are too high. Number two, utility build
Speaker 3: are too high. We've got the most expensive electrics to
Speaker 3: electricity costs in the country. And it goes on and on.
Speaker 3: So when I think about our small business economy, I
Speaker 3: think it's so critical to cut taxes, to cut fees,
Speaker 3: to cut those state mandated fees, get utility bills under control.
Speaker 3: Because small business is the backbone of America. It's the
Speaker 3: backbone of our economy. We need small businesses to prosper
Speaker 3: and grow. But unfortunately, under Governor Healey's failed policies, we've
Speaker 3: got more businesses closing in the state than opening. We've
Speaker 3: got five hundred people a week leaving, and we've got
Speaker 3: close to you, close to five thousand fewer people working
Speaker 3: in the private sector here than there were three years ago.
Speaker 3: We're like forty ninth out of fifty in the country
Speaker 3: right now in private sector job growth. We've got to
Speaker 3: turn all that around. It starts with supporting our small businesses.
Speaker 2: Thanks am, appreciate the question. Thank you very much, appreciate it.
Speaker 2: Let me keep rolling. He going to go to Chrissy
Speaker 2: in quinsy, Chrissy and quinsy. That's almost rhymes. Go ahead, Chrissy,
Speaker 2: you're own Brian Shortsleeve.
Speaker 12: I'm Heleia. How are you tonight? I have a few
Speaker 12: things things to bring to your attention. One, I have
Speaker 12: a family member in the trades, the Union trades in Boston,
Speaker 12: and I'm not sure if you're aware of this issue,
Speaker 12: but there is very little skills going up in the
Speaker 12: city of Boston this year. The tradesmen. There's a lot
Speaker 12: of them out of work right now. My relative is not,
Speaker 12: but they're very concerned because Mayor wu has put in
Speaker 12: all these very strict guidelines. Any new commercial building going
Speaker 12: up in the City of Boston has to be all
Speaker 12: powered by electricity.
Speaker 13: But do they.
Speaker 12: Realize that where do we get electricity from? You need
Speaker 12: coal or gas or oil to produce the electricity and
Speaker 12: these power plants.
Speaker 2: Christy, let's get a question here, because we're getting laid
Speaker 2: on time and there are others who I want to
Speaker 2: get to. What's your question?
Speaker 12: Yes, question is how do we become active in your campaign?
Speaker 12: How would we find out that information?
Speaker 3: Well, thank you so much for the question, Christy. My
Speaker 3: website is www dot Brian Schwortzleeve dot com. Love to
Speaker 3: get you involved, love your support. We got to streamline
Speaker 3: that building code. As you noted, Mayor WU has added
Speaker 3: a whole bunch of things into the building code, whether
Speaker 3: it's the green you know, the green search chargers, the
Speaker 3: green requirements, the affordable search chargers.
Speaker 4: The result of all.
Speaker 3: Those things in Boston and there's not a single project
Speaker 3: that pencils out. Boston is critical to this state, right.
Speaker 3: Boston needs to get back on track for Massachusetts to
Speaker 3: get back on track, and I think it starts with
Speaker 3: streamlining permitting, streamlining those requirements, cutting those taxes and fees
Speaker 3: so builders can get back to buildings. So we'd love
Speaker 3: to have you on the team. Please check my website,
Speaker 3: sign up, and give us a call.
Speaker 12: Because we're excited about having another Republic and running for
Speaker 12: governor in this state again.
Speaker 2: Okay, we'll give his website thank you after one more call,
Speaker 2: thank you, Christy. Let me try Debbie in Boston. W
Speaker 2: next on Nightside with Brian Schatzlee, you've got to be
Speaker 2: quick for me. W called late. Thank you very much,
Speaker 2: but tight on time.
Speaker 13: Okay. As a conservative I voted for Donald Trump, and Brian,
Speaker 13: I know that you did too. Can I count on
Speaker 13: you to support his agenda? Holy support at starting with
Speaker 13: mass deportation of the unvetted illegal migrants.
Speaker 3: We'll tell you what. The border is secure, and that's
Speaker 3: a good thing. Whoever would have fought at Massachusetts would
Speaker 3: be a border state. Yeah. Here we are three years
Speaker 3: into Healy's term and we're still spending at last count,
Speaker 3: three million dollars a day on the migrant crisis. That's
Speaker 3: three million dollars a day. That's over a billion dollars
Speaker 3: a year. With that much money at the state level,
Speaker 3: we could be given every city in town over seven
Speaker 3: million dollars of local aid. So I think Heally's failed
Speaker 3: policies around the migrant crisis and the right to shelter
Speaker 3: alaw been a big driver of our budget issues and
Speaker 3: to get this budget back on track and get the
Speaker 3: state back on track, We've got to fix those things.
Speaker 3: State spending is up close to fifty percent over the
Speaker 3: past six years. It's an enormous amount of growth, and
Speaker 3: the cost of the migrant crisis has a lot to
Speaker 3: do with it.
Speaker 2: All right, Debbie Wi, I hate to do this to you,
Speaker 2: but we're flat we're flat out of time. Okay, thanks,
Speaker 2: thanks so much. Appreciate Brian. If folks want to get
Speaker 2: in touch with the campaign, how do they do that?
Speaker 3: Well, thank you www dot Brian Shortsleeve dot com. We've
Speaker 3: got a terrific movement going. We've got great interest, a
Speaker 3: lot of volunteers, so we'd love to get people signed
Speaker 3: up to help us out.
Speaker 2: And I will tell you that on Thursday night, we
Speaker 2: will have another Republican running for governor, and that is
Speaker 2: the candidate Mike Kanneely. I'm going to ask you one
Speaker 2: quick direct question. I'm hoping to get a yes or no.
Speaker 2: Will you support whoever is the Republican nominee for governor?
Speaker 5: Absolutely?
Speaker 9: Yes?
Speaker 2: Okay, well that's Kanneely that same question as well. Brian,
Speaker 2: thank you very much for your time tonight and besta walker.
Speaker 2: We'll have you back.
Speaker 3: Thank you, Dan, You're very welcome.
Speaker 2: All Right, we get back. We're going to talk about
Speaker 2: the Halo Act. We're going to talk with an attorney
Speaker 2: who disagrees with me and as opposed to that act,
Speaker 2: and you'll be able to participate in the conversation right
Speaker 2: after the ten o'clock news on Nightside