But why don't we just go over some of the other requirements? There's annual filings of who are the officers and where you're domiciled and all sorts of things, right?

All sorts of things.

No, there are numerous requirements.

uh forms you've got to fill out that you've got to file every year you've got to come back to the secretary of state's office and one of the interesting things about this run is it's given me an opportunity to hear from business owners up and down the state and i i've traveled this entire state and there is a common theme and that theme is that the secretary of state's office is not business friendly that you know they'll point you where you need to go but they won't help you they They will make sure that if you haven't done everything, they're going to be on you in a heartbeat.

And occasionally, I've heard of just horror stories where they cancel your – you filed your LLP, for example.

They've canceled your partnership or your corporation because, well, they meant to cancel one that sounded just like you.

Got a guy down in Orange County, a friend of mine for a long time, who was telling me that his LLC was canceled simply because somebody in Nevada with a similar name had tried to cancel theirs and they made a mistake.

Anyway, Don, tell us something more about what, what you see wrong with the secretary of state and with California politics in general? I mean, what, what can we do? What can average Californians do?

Wow

... z- and that's the responsibility under existing law for the Secretary of State.

So, so that isn't being done, and the, the voting rolls have people who've moved.

We don't clean the voting rolls anywhere near as much as we should when people pass away, or when it's determined that someone is not in this country legally, not a citizen, not entitled to vote.

And so the Department of Justice has sued a, a number of counties, including my county, Orange County.

We identified 17, um, illegal aliens on our voting rolls.

Now 17 doesn't sound like a lot, and to be honest, it's not, but, um, 17 illegal aliens on our voting rolls in Orange County that shouldn't have been there.

How is the, uh, response you're getting from the no party preference, the independent voters in California?

Because if you make the rules so relaxed that bad actors can take advantage of the process to get their preferred candidates in, even if that's not where the public necessarily is, well, the DSA can then turn around and do that to the Democrats, and the Democrats are losing seats around the state because the DSA is able to turn in more ballots.

Well, John, you've hit the nail on the head, and one of the opportunities that I think I as a Republican and others on the Republican side in this battle have is that there is a split in the Democratic Party, and there are DSA candidates that have just gone so far to the left that, that a, a number of rank-and-file Democrats, and I've met them out on the campaign trail, are beginning to question not just the Republicans, but they're questioning what you say about what's happening to them on their left.

And I think one of the secrets to, to winning this race, and one of the things that I'm working very hard, is to reach out to those moderate Democrats, reach out to those no party preference voters and say, "Look, there are challenges coming in the Democratic Party to begin with, but if you're not confident in your election system, then the only way to fix it is to make a change at the top." My opponent's had six years to rein in ballot harvesting and clean our voter rolls and to, um, um, um, get some sort of voter identification.

She hasn't done it.

She's the, the slowest counting secretary of state in the nation.

And what I'm saying to people of all political parties or none, there is an alternative there if you want to be able to trust your election system.

And I've heard a statistic in California, John, only 65% of the people say they have a great deal or, or a, a moderate deal of confidence in our elections.

It was just this passive-aggressive, snarky reaction of, "I'm the queen, and I can get away with whatever I want to because I'm a girl boss, and what I say goes."

Because if you make the rules so relaxed that bad actors can take advantage of the process to get their preferred candidates in, even if that's not where the public necessarily is, well, the DSA can then turn around and do that to the Democrats, and the Democrats are losing seats around the state because the DSA is able to turn in more ballots.

Well, John, you've hit the nail on the head, and one of the opportunities that I think I as a Republican and others on the Republican side in this battle have is that there is a split in the Democratic Party, and there are DSA candidates that have just gone so far to the left that, that a, a number of rank-and-file Democrats, and I've met them out on the campaign trail, are beginning to question not just the Republicans, but they're questioning what you say about what's happening to them on their left.

And I think one of the secrets to, to winning this race, and one of the things that I'm working very hard, is to reach out to those moderate Democrats, reach out to those no party preference voters and say, "Look, there are challenges coming in the Democratic Party to begin with, but if you're not confident in your election system, then the only way to fix it is to make a change at the top." My opponent's had six years to rein in ballot harvesting and clean our voter rolls and to, um, um, um, get some sort of voter identification.

She hasn't done it.

She's the, the slowest counting secretary of state in the nation.

And what I'm saying to people of all political parties or none, there is an alternative there if you want to be able to trust your election system.

And I've heard a statistic in California, John, only 65% of the people say they have a great deal or, or a, a moderate deal of confidence in our elections.

It was just this passive-aggressive, snarky reaction of, "I'm the queen, and I can get away with whatever I want to because I'm a girl boss and what I say goes."

Is- is- is there reason to believe that there could be a surge, not just for the- the secretary of state position, uh, but for other statewide, uh, positions as well, if Republicans get out and vote?

Well, I'm certainly hopeful that the entire ticket will be successful, and it will depend in large measure on a, just an overwhelming turnout of Republicans.

And with that turnout we can make a significant, uh, uh, difference.

But, you know, we've got...

And- and you mentioned, uh, Herb Morgan, who's- who's running for controller, and of course Michael Gates and- and- and Steve Hilton.

Um, but I am focusing on, obviously, my race.

Would love to have all of us win, but because I feel so passionately about the importance of elections and that they be done right and be trusted, um, that's where my focus has been, with both Republicans and with some of the non-party preference voters who are, who are just dissatisfied with the entire system.

Am I right or am I wrong?

What about mail-in voting?

Well, mail-in voting, the thing is, we used to have a fairly standard absentee ballot process, and most other states do it, and it worked for us.

If you want an absentee ballot, I, as Secretary of State, would encourage you to get one.

And I would say, absolutely, we should let folks who have, for whatever reasons they want, an absentee ballot to be able to access it.

I do think, in part because our voting rolls are not clean and we have those ghost voters, that simply mailing everybody a ballot is going too far.

Until we've got the rolls as clean as they can be, and perfection, of course, is not what I'm looking for because this is an entity run by human beings.

Perfection is never achievable.

I think he's trying to put a thumb on the scale here.

Yes

... editorial board sent out an editorial saying, "What's going on in California? You've got to count faster." And the, uh, the incumbent has simply said, "No, no, no, we can't do that." I think actually we can.

The way to do that is to in, in fact, um, require the registrars to check in periodically.

Hey, 72 day... uh, 72 hours after the election, I need you to tell me how many votes have been cast, how many votes are out there yet to be counted, who is winning, what are the percentages? And then periodically, every couple of days, keep checking in, keep the pressure on the registrars to report.

It'll take a change in state law because the legislature has dictated that long period before final certification.

But if we are having our registrars and the Secretary of State check in with the voters and assure the voters we are counting, we are doing our job, and here's what we're seeing, then that's gonna add some, uh, sense of, m- you know, more security, and that gamesmanship isn't being played, and that you're not gonna see four weeks after the election, with two days left to certify, an election suddenly switch-

Yes

... editorial board sent out an editorial saying, "What's going on in California? You gotta count faster." And the, uh, the incumbent has simply said, "No, no, no, we can't do that." I think actually we can.

Don, how's the campaign going since we last talked to you?

I will tell you, Clint, the campaign is going very well because what I was seeing in the primary is just being multiplied as I go forward in the general election.

We're seeing significant concerns from Republicans, of course, but also from Democrats and the no party preference voters that they just are having trouble believing that our election system is as secure and the protections are as robust as they need to be.

And you don't have to take my word for it.

Gavin Newsom himself sent a letter to all 58 of the registrars in the state of California saying, you've got to count your votes faster.

It was an implied shot at his handpicked secretary of state, who I'm running against.

And she, of course, responded, oh, no, we can't do that because we will suffer in inaccuracy if we increase our speed.

Is voter ID something you support and why?

assemblyman and a good friend, and full disclosure, I'm endorsing him enthusiastically.

And as have I, and he's a super member of the legislature and does great work.

the people of california he wanted that those pieces of great work is he is going to introduce a bill that i brought to him a constitutional amendment to make secretary states office nonpartisan and so we do in the school context our superintendent of public education or public instruction is a nonpartisan race the secretary of state should be an umpire call balls and strikes if the democrats win a free and fair election Gosh, I will certify that election and swear those people in.

And if a Republican does in a free and fair election, same thing.

I am going to call it like the public wants it to be called.

And that is something that we just don't have confidence is being done any longer.

One of the things that troubles me about the way the Secretary of State office is currently being run, there are state and federal laws that allow – indeed, they really mandate – The Secretary of State and the registrars out in the individual counties to clean their voting rolls.

That, I think, is a pretty clear message that things are terribly bad here, and we need to change that, and we can change

Yeah.

I knew I wanted to coach, and me and a, a, a buddy were looking to see where would be a good place to coach, and then we picked Arizona.

And so him and I, we dro- He drove his car, I drove my car to Phoenix and, you know, we're thinking we're gonna do something.

And our first-- my first job winds up being a houseman at the Camelback Inn.

And so that was, that was in January.

And, uh, in the spring, they had a, a little summer...

They had summer league programs.

... how did you guys meet?

and

cars in general.

But my first car was a Mustang in 1968 Mustang.

And he got involved in him, you know, looking at Mustangs and and bought his first car was was a Mustang.

And he always enjoyed that.

And then he he came to me one day, said, you know, Dad, I. I need a truck.

I'd like to go into landscaping.

So

Where does that money go? That's right.

So what we've done is various things around the Powell community, like all these splash pond area where we have exercise equipment, the black and orange exercise equipment around the splash pad.

We, we bought, we, uh, put in a swing set last year.

Um, the disc golf course right next to Powell high school was named in his honor at the time, mayor Tim Burcham named that.

And, um, I've always had tremendous support from, from the mayor and mayor Jacobs.

Also, uh, Joe Mack, who's head of Knox County parks and rec.

Uh, we do everything through him.

So any,

Why should the county wait before they phase them out altogether?

Good afternoon, gentlemen, and thanks for the chance to make clear what we are not talking about and have never been talking about is indiscriminately spraying herbicides.

And I know the phrase was used earlier, but the county has been under both federal and state restrictions as to what sort of spraying it can do, where it can do.

Many years ago, when I first got on the board, I brought an item to the board that stopped all herbicide spraying anywhere where People are supposed to be.

It's not on our soccer fields.

It's not on our trails out in our off-road spaces.

It's nowhere where people are supposed to be.

some uh orange county supervisor don wagner joining us right now some would argue if there's even the slightest potential that these are hazardous to the health of people or the the the environment in general then you should stop using all of it and do your studies but in the while you're doing your studies let's uh let's just go back to the old-fashioned way of weeding and then and then work this out in other words uh Why not ban at all before you do your studies? Why are you allowing for the chemicals to continue to be sprayed while you wait for results? Why not play it

Why should the county wait before they phase them out altogether?

Good afternoon, gentlemen, and thanks for the chance to make clear.

What we are not talking about and have never been talking about is indiscriminately spraying herbicides.

And I know the phrase was used earlier, but the county has been under both federal and state restrictions as to what sort of spraying it can do, where it can do.

Many years ago, when I first got on the board, I brought an item to the board that stopped all herbicide spraying anywhere where People are supposed to be.

It's not on our soccer fields.

It's not on our trails out in our off-road spaces.

Why not ban at all before you do your studies? Why are you allowing for the chemicals to continue to be sprayed while you wait for results? Why not play it

And tell us about where Prop 50 will be while that lawsuit is going through the courts.

Well, Prop 50 takes effect for the 2026 congressional lines.

And so nobody immediately is out of office.

It just will be a question of who runs for which offices, what are the lines for 2026.

So there's a little bit of time to bring the lawsuits that are being brought right now.

And I wish I could say I was very hopeful for them, but some of the main challenges to gerrymandering are either along racial lines, and we have seen the Supreme Court cut back a little bit in the last few years on the Voting Rights Act and what it takes to bring a Voting Rights Act case.

The Supreme Court has also said that political gerrymandering is mostly off the table for federal courts.

At least he's able to see through