FM Talk 1065 Podcasts
Yellowhammer News' Grayson Everett - Jeff Poor Show - Wednesday 9-25-24
(upbeat music) ♪ Once was a thought inside my head ♪ ♪ Or I'd reach 30, I'd beat this ♪ - Welcome back to the Jupp Porchola from Talk1065. Thanks for sticking around on this Wednesday morning. You still text in 2513430106, we'll try to get those in before the conclusion of today's program. Joining us now on the line from Yellowhammer News has to put up with Dale Jackson and I know how tough that is. Grayson Everett, Grayson, how are you? - You're good, you're morning Jeff, thanks for having me. - Hey, thanks for making time for us. Well, before we get into it, it's been a while, I said I had you on, I mean like, it was always like the next session looming, but I thought this one was, and I've sat through a lot of these. This one was a little, at least from covering it from a news perspective. This one was a little bumpier. - Yeah, it was definitely busy. I mean, looking at even right now at all the issues that are getting talked about on the state and federal level, I mean, I think at some point we really have to admit there is no off season, probably. But yeah, last session was definitely interesting and there's a huge election coming up in 41 days and that's still looking to stop folks from talking about who's gonna jump in in 26 'cause that's gonna be a very, very exciting cycle as well. - Yeah, I agree with that. And here's why this is important. Well, I think, I mean, like maybe you're hearing the same things I am, but like, people are starting to make those phone calls, asking their big donors, like, "Hey, I'm thinking about running for XYZ office." And everybody's kind of waiting to see what's gonna happen in this election in November. I mean, particularly if Trump wins, would he pull people who are in office here away? And I guess the one we talk about most, we're talking about governor, but that seems to be like, Ainsworth's been running for that for 10 years, it seems like. I don't know, Lieutenant Governor's wide open, you know the names as well as I do, but the one, we haven't discussed a lot and it's the second most powerful office in the state, probably is Attorney General. You had a PCL hammer and I encourage everybody to go check it out at yellhammernews.com, but you got at least a few names here, right? - Yeah, I think you're right on the money there about the lieutenant governor's race being wide open. For example, there's some calculus that's gonna go into, you know, how the governor's field shakes out based on, you know, the presidential election, does Senator Tuberville go to the cabinet? Does that create a vacancy that you have an RIV appoints, then does that person keep running? And, you know, one of those people could certainly be our current Attorney General who's term limited in his role, Steve Marshall, who's done a tremendous job and would probably keep doing the job if he wasn't term limited. But, you know, the Attorney General's field is probably one that's a little bit more consolidated here and a little bit more clear. And we walked through some of those folks, including Justice J. Mitchell and several others that they kind of jump out. - The J. Mitchell thing is interesting. I mean, leaving a seat on the Supreme Court to be Attorney General. And he's your typical and federal society Republican, right? But that's an interesting one. - Right, and you're absolutely right. He would have to step down from the bench in order to do this, which, you know, that's, you know, is probably going into this personal decision right now with it that, you know, he's, you know, he's probably in front of the field for maybe that reason, but also, you know, in-state fundraising. And he's really plugged up to folks who would like to see him in that role. You know, we mentioned Arthur War, for example, his campaign war chest is just immense. And really anything other than, you know, say, Attorney General or Congress or U.S. Senate would kind of be a lateral move for a war. I also mentioned Jaytown. You know, if you're in politics in North Alabama, you know, in recognized Jaytown. He's a very sharp legal mind and out there quite a bit. And so, yeah, a couple others. - The Catherine Roberts, and people don't know her real well, but I know she used to be, now they have a policy institute. I mean, she's been in these circles for a while. This is kind of fascinating how she goes from that role as like, you know, more of a think tank person. And now Chief of Staff for the Attorney General, she also is kind of an interesting candidate. And I don't know, I don't know what to make of that, but I think she would be formidable. - Yeah, I think that, you know, I mentioned that Newsweek op-ed that she wrote with the Louisiana Attorney General, Merle, they have a very close relationship personally. And her boss, Steve Marshall, definitely had the close relationship personally and professionally in what they do and how they coordinate legal efforts and briefs. And that, you know, is her kind of probably debuting herself more, you know, in a political sense. But also a lot of people were very excited to see her at the Business Council of Alabama, Government Affairs Conference here recently. I think that got a lot of people talking about what she's looking at. - I mean, I think she's not a bad pick if you're, you know, if this were like a gambling situation. And like my understanding is, I mean, she makes the trains run on time in that office. General Marshall sort of policy oriented and does a lot of the public face of the office, but like you get down inside the inner working to that office, like she's the charge. - Yeah, for sure. And that becomes kind of contingent on who all jumps in. Is she gonna be able to activate an in-state donor network? She'll probably have a lot of success nationwide because of those connections with attorney generals all across the nation and just being known for her work, which is exactly what you just said. So it'll probably be a lot of jockeying early on to see who kind of emerged at the top of the field. - Well, I'll tell you what, it's interesting you say that because that's one of the like things that stands out the Marshall legacy. He was able to really fundraise nationally. He was out front of a lot of national issues. I mean, there he is in New York City, standing next to Donald Trump during his trial. And I gotta think like that team that Marshall has probably had a lot to do with that. - Yeah, certainly. And she'll be able to talk about a lot of that for sure if she jumps in and that campaign, I'm really interested to see what that campaign would look like early on because there really is just an endless supply of those things and tough fights that are not limited to Alabama that are really, really going to be interesting to voters if she makes that case if she jumps in. - Yeah, 'cause if we're in a situation, Grace, and we're like, let's say Kamal Harris is president, I mean, it's going to be, it's going to be a different set of policy objectives for I think for the AG's office because it's sort of like what they're facing now as someone on defense to keep the federal government from overreaching, but also when the legislature passes something and you'll have a DOJ that's very, very hostile to whatever it may be potentially and you need somebody who can counter that. - Yeah, certainly and especially with immigration kind of emerging as a perennial issue. Now it's going to be huge in the 25 session and as that field starts talking about itself and of AG candidates and just messaging, whether or not it's Kamal or where it's from, immigration is going to stick. I think there's a huge appetite to do something on the state level. So it's likely that these candidates are going to be able to stick out by talking really clearly about what they want to do and what they can do on the state level about immigration. - Joy by Grace and Everett from Yellow Hammer News here on the program, Grace and we mentioned J-Town. I think there's a politician among these prospective candidates he's the guy, like he's on Dale's show, like every week, his Birmingham and Huntsville shows. He's been on down here a few times. He has sort of become branded as this guy, a former US attorney, but goes on national TV Newsmax and Fox News and weighs in on these constitutional issues. This is like, he's really built like a brand for himself. - Definitely. I mean, Mr. Town is very sharp. I'm from North Alabama. I've always seen and heard a lot of them. And that's another campaign that I'd be really interested to see, what that looks like and kind of his message and how he sharpens that into a statewide pitch. I think it's pretty clear he wants to jump into something. You know, he would definitely, I wouldn't go as far as a politician, but you know, he definitely has a future in service to state or federal government for sure. So I'm interested to see what that first campaign would look like. - Um, and I don't know. You look, is there anybody else out there that has come up on your radar since you published his piece? Um, you wonder. 'Cause a lot of times, Grayson, as you well know, I mean, you'll have like a Huntsville candidate. Let's go back to the last time we had a competitive. A G's race. She had Alice Martin from North Alabama. Yeah, Steve Marshall, who was kind of, I guess, the Birmingham candidate, even though Gunners was kind of more in the Huntsville market. He had a chess pencil down here. Um, you look at those three and it kind of had the state split up. I don't, I don't get a geographic sort of sense from this field at all. And I wonder like, who would be like a South Alabama? I mean, has any thought been given to that? - Right, and I think that, you know, pieces like this who's running are going to continually be kind of updated. I mean, people have definitely emailed and texted, uh, floating different names. But the geography of this, I get what you're saying. You know, I mentioned specifically in there, you know, Justice Mitchell is in central Alabama. He's got, he's got a lot of, uh, he's got a lot of leeway with how he gets around the state. Um, I think that there could be a state lawmaker that runs for, a city state lawmaker who runs for this office as well. Um, so there's always going to be wild cards. Like we said, the lieutenant governor's race is wide open, like you said. Um, so I think we're just going to keep, keep keeping a check on it. - Well, I think the lieutenant governor's thing, uh, I mean, the names you hear there kind of, uh, Twinkle Kavanaugh is one that comes up. Um, there may be a, you'll have at least one or two from the legislature. - And then let's talk about that. - Yep. - Running is a statewide candidate from a legislative seat. Now, Will Ainsworth, uh, pulled it off. Um, but, but it's not been something we've seen a lot of in the last 10 years. You know that you kind of hit your ceiling running. I guess what's Allen as secretary of state, Andrew Sorrell, a state auditor. But, uh, certainly from the state Senate, you don't ever see anybody. I think the last person to win a statewide office from there was like, Steve Lindem or something. But, you know, that, that has to be part of the discussion, I would think. - Yeah, I agree completely. I, I think what a lot of, uh, that is going to come down to the piece of state lawmakers running in 26 at any level is really going to be not setting too much urgency or expectations with it. But, you know, a lot of that is going to come down to the 25 legislative session. Uh, so for, for all the 24 session was and kind of working out the kinks and those lawmakers really settling in in the second year of the quadrantium. The 25 is going to be, uh, very loaded to that extent. Because I think you're going to see a lot of, a lot of these folks really making a big push to be able to put their name on stuff that they run for in 26. - What did the struggle for state Senator Arthur Orr, uh, who I looked at the mention there? But, you know, he said on the big board, just, but man, I, I've heard his name in the rumor mill for a lot of different things. I mean, obviously when Mo Brooks decided to run for Senate that time, um, there was some discussion there, but he wasn't sure where the lines were going to be drawn. Uh, what are you running a stator hole or, you know, that, that, I don't think he was wanting that at all. The or, the or thing is interesting because he's not just a state senator, right? He's did the chairman of the biggest budget in the state Senate. There's a lot of power there, there's a lot of prestige there, um, and he, and he just, he runs unopposed or with, with minimal opposition every cycle. So he's accumulated this massive or chest. He's an interesting one to watch. And I can't, I don't get a good read on him where he wants to go next. - Yeah, definitely. And I don't think he necessarily floats himself for some of these seats, but he doesn't mind that, you know, his name is, is thrown around. But I think, you know, I, I signed off with his, his prospects of A.D. But you just really never know because, you know, state Supreme Court, even, you know, some of the higher, um, statewide constitutional offices really in terms of what he handles and what he does, uh, from his role in the Senate is a lateral move. Um, attorney general is interesting, but yeah, he, he just has so much power, uh, in the Senate that it's tough to see that he would, he would want to really change things up. - Well, he's an interesting guy in the Senate too. Like he's very, very protective of that education budget. Even, uh, when they come for tax breaks and you want to cut tax sales tax somewhere or whatever. And like he's, he's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, you realize what this will have a ripple effect on down the line here when you just start handing out these freebies. I, I'm just, this is me talking, Grayson, but I think sometimes we see his name floated out there because there's some people in that town, in that state house that would like to have somebody a little more free willing at the ETF position. So they, they float his name for all these offices because you're right. His name has been floated for Congress. It's been floated for AG and it's also been floated for the Alabama Supreme Court. Well, he doesn't really want to be a judge though. Right. Right. No, that's absolutely right. He's, he's an institution. I like that. He's an institution, but, uh, he's, he's a guy that is, um, he just kind of smirks at it, right? Like, uh, he's got a good poker face, but he, you look at his, he had to go back to like two years ago when they tried that tourism, you were there, um, with the, the, the tourism incentives and he was like the lone no vote, uh, of all the, and it was because the incentive came out of the ETF and he felt like the process had been kind of circumvented. Right. And I, I think maybe as a personality trait, a lot of what it comes down to is, is an obsession to the details, um, and really, I mean, he, he does seem very interested in, uh, you know, in getting it right in his own mind. And I think that it's definitely an extraordinary quality that he has to really ask, uh, tremendous, very specific questions and kind of have everybody talk about it and move the ball forward. So, uh, definitely bank on him, uh, behalf legislature next session, uh, regardless of what he wants to do. Grayson, uh, folks will define you online. They want to check out yellow hammer news. Tell them how to do so. Yeah, yellow hammer news.com, uh, on Twitter at YHN and I'm on Twitter, X at Grayson 270. I should say, thanks for having me Jeff. Y'all gave him a fall of Grayson Everett, ladies and gentlemen. We'll be right back. This is F.M. Talk with those six, five. He said something, just flitter and shine. Taught us that love, lost the one thing money wouldn't matter that it never was.