A break down with Rep. Pat Garofalo on his upcoming retirement from the Minnesota legislature

[00:00:00] Welcome to The Break Down with Brodkorb and Becky, a weekly podcast that breaks down politics,

[00:00:16] policy and current affairs. I'm Becky Scherr and I'm Michael Brodkorb. Today we are pleased

[00:00:21] to be joined by one of our returning guests, Representative Pat Garofalo. Representative

[00:00:25] Garofalo was first elected to the Minnesota House in 2004 and earlier this year announced that this

[00:00:30] is his final term in the state legislature. He represents the Farmington area, has chaired a

[00:00:35] couple of committees and currently serves as a minority lead on the House Ways and Means Committee.

[00:00:39] We first spoke to Garofalo just over a year ago to discuss the start of the trifecta at the

[00:00:44] Capitol, sports betting, and Minnesota becoming the next California politically. Today we will

[00:00:49] follow up on our last conversations and see how things have evolved over the last 15 months.

[00:00:53] We will break down where sports betting stands and if the legislature will be able to pass a

[00:00:57] fix to the Uber, Lyft, debacle. We will also break down Garofalo's 20-year career in the

[00:01:02] legislature and what is next. Then we will hit what seems to be a weekly topic and break

[00:01:07] down former President Donald Trump's comments on abortion. We will then step outside of politics

[00:01:11] to discuss college basketball and namely Caitlin Clark and her impact on women's sports.

[00:01:16] Thanks for joining us and enjoy the show. We are excited to be joined once again by

[00:01:20] Representative Pat Garofalo, Representative you were with us just a little over a year ago

[00:01:25] at the start of the 2023 legislative session. So I want to start by just getting your take on

[00:01:31] how things have gone over the last 15 months here. We saw everything that came out of the

[00:01:36] last session. What's been being worked through this session? Are you surprised? Are you not

[00:01:42] surprised? What's your overall sentiment? First thanks for having me on. I appreciate it.

[00:01:47] Since we last just talked, I think the biggest change has been that the legislative section

[00:01:53] completely met last year, a budget was passed and in the choice between being a center left or a

[00:02:00] hard left, the Minnesota DFL really shows a very hard left far left governing strategy

[00:02:07] both fiscally and on social policies. Even though they only have a one-seat majority

[00:02:13] in the house, they have just a three-seat or excuse me a one-seat majority in the Senate and a

[00:02:18] three-seat majority in the house. They really have governed as if though they have a super

[00:02:23] majority mandate and all you have to do is look at the budget to understand just how

[00:02:29] totally far left they've gone. They increased the general fund budget by 36.5%

[00:02:36] which is no state budget in the country grew as much as the Democrats grew Minnesota's last

[00:02:41] year and that's a completely unsustainable. So a lot of these programs that they funded and stood up

[00:02:48] next year are going to have to be cut regardless of who wins the elections in the house because

[00:02:55] the governor is not on the ballot this year, the Senate's not on the ballot but the state

[00:02:59] house is. So even if the Democrats were to keep the majority in the house,

[00:03:04] the general fund had projected to contract by five billion but they're going to have to

[00:03:08] just to keep spending at what it's at. They're going to need billions of tax increases. Again,

[00:03:12] we've had a debate in Minnesota for a long time about whether Minnesota is a

[00:03:16] center left or a center right today but it's only recently that we've seen Democrats argue

[00:03:20] that Minnesota is a far left state and that's what's going to be on the ballot this November.

[00:03:27] And I certainly want to get into this upcoming election cycle. One of the big things we

[00:03:32] talked about last time with you was that Minnesota is the next California in terms of

[00:03:37] political environment. Are you surprised? Did you go into the 2023 legislative session with the

[00:03:43] trifecta cautiously optimistic that they were going to stay center left or was this not a shock

[00:03:50] that they went as hard left as they did? I think everybody was surprised how far they

[00:03:56] lurked at the left. Again, no surprise that as a conservative I was going to be disappointed

[00:04:01] with what the Democrats did. You can expect that but what's the fear of what they

[00:04:07] show us to fund? Building an insurance company inside of the state government so that now

[00:04:13] every private sector individual when they want to have paid leave is going to have to call the

[00:04:17] government to get that. Things like that are pretty, the anti-law enforcement stuff that

[00:04:22] got corrected earlier this year with the school resource officers and of course most recently

[00:04:28] Governor Walz vetoed the bill but they passed a bill that would set the wage for self-employed

[00:04:33] independent contractors who drive Uber and Lyft and now we've seen that come back. So I was

[00:04:39] genuinely shocked because it seemed to me that if they were a more centrist, had a more

[00:04:44] centrist approach they could build a long term sustainable majority whereas this seems like

[00:04:49] they're more interested in okay let's we got the votes let's do everything now because we

[00:04:53] may not have them this year. It's not very sustainable and not from a political perspective nor an

[00:04:59] economic perspective. Absolutely agree. Now you just mentioned Uber and Lyft and that crisis

[00:05:05] are going on in Minneapolis with surrounding that we've spoken with Representative Elliott Ingin and

[00:05:10] we have talked about this quite a bit lately. You recently quoted that this is not an

[00:05:15] unnatural or unexpected natural disaster. This is not a crisis of current events. What we have

[00:05:20] before us is a Democrat created crisis. Go into that a little bit further. Yeah and so what happened

[00:05:26] was the last year the Democrats and the legislature passed a bill that would have set

[00:05:34] minimum mandatory reimbursement rates for every single Uber and Lyft driver in the state of

[00:05:39] Minnesota and these rates would be higher than anywhere else in the country maybe higher than

[00:05:44] Manhattan and as a frame of reference if a person were to drive Uber for an hour under the

[00:05:52] the Democrat bill they get paid $90 and putting aside the economics and sustainability of how

[00:05:58] expensive it would be I think quite a few of us would quit our jobs and drive Uber if that was

[00:06:03] the case. If it was $90 an hour and so walls rightfully so vetoed that but then the Minneapolis

[00:06:12] City Council picked up the mantle and passed an ordinance and so now we're staring down the barrel

[00:06:17] of a May 1 deadline of losing Uber and Lyft services in our state and it's just putting aside

[00:06:23] the philosophy that you really have government setting the wage for self-employed individuals

[00:06:28] that's pretty strange. I'm just putting that aside the model they're advocating for would

[00:06:34] destroy demand and reduce the quality of services so it doesn't Uber and Lyft are not

[00:06:40] charitable organizations they exist to make a profit and for 12 years they lost a total of over

[00:06:47] 30 billion dollars at least Uber did. Last year it's the first year that Uber made a profit

[00:06:53] and mandating their cost structure be so high that it destroys demand this is a

[00:06:59] this is simple basic mathematics and we're seeing kind of short term where the consequences

[00:07:04] for this and this goes beyond just someone has to want to drink at the bar and catches an

[00:07:09] Uber on the way home. There's a lot of people who are elderly disabled people who don't own vehicles

[00:07:15] a lot of commerce that is dependent on rideshare and this sort of intervention into the economy

[00:07:22] by the far left is symbolic of why Minnesota really does need to restore balance

[00:07:28] and restore some adult supervision at the Capitol so I think the Uber live situation with

[00:07:33] the far left of the DFL sort of exacting that they do it's a it's symbolic of a bigger problem in the

[00:07:42] net is that the screams are increasingly dominating the political dialogue whether it's

[00:07:48] states like Minnesota with the Democrats in control or Marjorie Taylor-Gene and the Congress

[00:07:54] threatening to take out the speaker you have more and more people who are

[00:07:57] mind engaging in mindless, sapri debates and more interested in a hard bar left or a hard bar right ideology

[00:08:07] Can you expand on that for a second because would this type of

[00:08:11] Uber live situation happened let's just change some of the Democratic composition

[00:08:16] and maybe some of the Republican too put yourself when you had more have there be

[00:08:22] more centrist in the legislature how would this situation have even developed and what would be

[00:08:27] in from your institutional experience what type of changes have made that make this a more difficult

[00:08:33] problem to solve if you had spared government at the legislative level it's unlikely that

[00:08:39] Minneapolis City Council ever would have passed this ordinance because legislative leaders would

[00:08:44] have told them publicly that if you pass this ordinance we're going to over we're in the free

[00:08:50] m or we're gonna pass a law that says you can't do that especially now with Uber is already

[00:08:57] beginning to sort of shutting things down in the past I think you would have had more moderate or

[00:09:05] centrist Democrats stand up to the far left and say we're not going to pass a bill

[00:09:10] that is going to set the way for self-employed individuals and obviously now the difference

[00:09:17] today is that not only is the does the far left have influence on the agenda they are the ones

[00:09:24] driving the agenda the fact that governor walls had the veto this bill last year should tell

[00:09:30] people just how how crazy this idea is that we're setting that we're setting wages for independent

[00:09:39] self-employed individuals it's very bizarre either you either you're an independent contractor

[00:09:44] you're an employee if you think that these drivers are employees then you could

[00:09:49] say they're employees you don't specify wages for self-employed individuals it's very strange

[00:09:54] it is and I think also you've raised a really good point about just the nature of the partisan shift

[00:10:01] of the legislature and on that it's much more of a polarizing institution and I think that this is

[00:10:07] and I think your quote was spot-on that this is as this is not an unexpected natural disaster this

[00:10:12] is not a crisis of current events we have before us is a democrat created crisis and

[00:10:17] I think that this is a really real-world example I know that there's been a per-crisp any substantive

[00:10:24] shift in kind of state government policy since the democrats as they hold all branches of government

[00:10:30] but I think this is a recent situation that as you correctly pointed out is a democratic

[00:10:36] created crisis yeah and all you have to do is just take a look at the data people who drive

[00:10:42] uber and lyft right now when they're driving they get paid 52 dollars and that's what the

[00:10:48] government the department of labor in the three support is and they have to engage in some pretty

[00:10:52] aggressive gymnastics that these people are not making minimum wage for example if for those who

[00:10:59] are familiar with uber and lyft you can as a driver you can accept or reject a ride

[00:11:04] and in this report they said if you reject a ride and then you wait 15 minutes before

[00:11:08] you're offered another one to drive that you could get paid for that 15 minutes even though you said

[00:11:14] we didn't want to drive that that's your party or already tell just calculate them in that report

[00:11:19] they say that none of their tipped income should count so that none of that counts towards their

[00:11:24] so-called minimum wage on top of that you have this they have some pretty ridiculous assumptions

[00:11:30] like no one owns a cell phone unless they're an uber driver so you got to get full reimbursement

[00:11:34] for your cell phone drive to your cell phone bill and on top of that you assume that you're

[00:11:39] going to have $1000 of vehicle depreciation every year that doesn't count vehicle maintenance

[00:11:45] insurance all these other things it really is a messed up set of assumptions but again what

[00:11:51] we're seeing minnesota's democratic party is already more left than most other democratic parties

[00:11:57] but given their very narrow legislative majorities it's the far left that is dictating

[00:12:02] the agenda last session in this session and i think that governor walsh is starting to figure

[00:12:07] out that's probably not in his best political interests to continue this forward i want to shift

[00:12:13] a little bit to something that is bipartisan that you've been a leader on sports betting up at

[00:12:17] the capital and this is something this isn't the first time that this has been moving but it

[00:12:22] certainly seems as maybe the first time it has substantial movement and potential there was

[00:12:28] a recent committee hearing where it appears the tax rate was raised from 10 percent to 20 percent

[00:12:34] you had tweeted that made this bill unworkable can you talk to us a little bit about that shift

[00:12:40] and we we're running up against the clock here right we've got what five or six weeks left at

[00:12:44] the legislative session what needs to happen is this going to get done and and what does this

[00:12:49] tax rate do do to that a couple of things so i was opposed to the increase in the tax rate

[00:12:56] but the they went from 10 percent to 20 percent but i still think we can make that work in minnesota

[00:13:02] the issue is that in the senate they adopted an amendment that that band was called in-game

[00:13:08] wagering so you bet on a contest recorders of the way through the contest it looks like you're

[00:13:15] going to win but you're like i don't want to risk it i just want to cancel my i just want to

[00:13:19] take my money taking the winnings that's very common that would be illegal in minnesota you

[00:13:24] wouldn't be allowed to do that or let's say halfway through a game you look out and get there are

[00:13:30] revised betting lines on the games but half time you want to bet on a game that would be illegal

[00:13:35] in minnesota and just to be clear we would be the only state in the country that would have to

[00:13:39] throw a big end on in-game wagering and so it's real it is from an industry perspective

[00:13:45] unworkable but i'm not really at my this point right now the message i gave people is that

[00:13:51] there's a lot of clunkers in the bill from tax rate to what we do with the race tracks to

[00:13:56] it allows teenagers to bet on sports if they're in person so i i i have problems with all those things

[00:14:03] i just think we need to get the bill into conference committee and then try to

[00:14:07] address those concerns there that's like fighting about it now prepossering for negotiating

[00:14:12] that's just going to throw a stand in the gear stop it no one wins if we do that

[00:14:16] it might be an opponent of the bill so whatever those concerns are right if i ask people please

[00:14:21] vote for the bill get it in the conference committee and let's see if we can address those concerns there

[00:14:27] if i can have you explain to our listeners what is in from a history again just a little bit of

[00:14:32] an explainer explain the dynamics between the tribes that we have in minnesota related

[00:14:37] to gambling and why this is such a complicated issue sometimes to get solved some of the

[00:14:42] little bit of the history maybe some of the political history as a little bit of an

[00:14:45] explainer for our listeners and so in minnesota the only casino gambling we have is tribal we have a

[00:14:52] tribal monopoly and it's been that way some rooty purpose with with governor and so historically

[00:15:00] republicans used to advocate for an expansion some republicans would advocate for an expansion

[00:15:05] of gambling slot machines at canneberry park and or running aces and with that money going to

[00:15:12] the state or to uh it could enhance the pool the the pool available for horse breeding for their

[00:15:19] the purses at race and that historically was very divisive then in 2012 mythic lake and

[00:15:27] canneberry reached an agreement where they basically had a marketing agreement that

[00:15:32] they would mystic lake would supplement the purses at canneberry and there would be no

[00:15:38] efforts to expand gambling it's brought regulatory peace in the area and that agreement

[00:15:44] expired last year and so now there's this discussion of relooking at casino wagering i will tell you

[00:15:51] the proposal that's flot mackin's at canneberry was called the i used to keep author that bill in

[00:15:56] the past uh it's not a particularly fun issue it's a theory because it is so provocative

[00:16:03] to vert bill and devices but what we've got now is the fight about what is the future of gaming

[00:16:10] look like in sports gambling isn't that particularly big of an issue but what it does do is it sets

[00:16:16] the foundation for what the next wave of gambling is going to be and that's digital

[00:16:21] so if you look at missigan or pennsylvania you are allowed to engage in casino

[00:16:25] activities on your cell phone from home and in the future if we were to do that here

[00:16:32] if non-prival entities were allowed to do that it would be very disruptive and very

[00:16:37] obviously the tribal casinos would be very opposed to so they view sports gambling particularly

[00:16:42] mobile sports gambling as the foundation that will be based that will base that for what i

[00:16:48] gaming may be in the future and so they are very opposed to anyone besides drives offering

[00:16:54] mobile sports wagering or in person sports wagering so it creates a controversy on that

[00:17:00] side and then of course the frat they view paramutual wagering as a type of sports gambling so if

[00:17:05] you're going to legalize sports gambling in minnesota why won't the frat be involved and that's

[00:17:10] we're fighting at the legislature over who gets to make money out of sports gambling and

[00:17:15] hopefully we're able to find a win situation that addresses both the frat concerns and the

[00:17:20] tribes as well explain to our listeners one more one more thing on a sunday during the nfl season

[00:17:25] you're watching how what can minnesotans do for betting on sports versus what our neighbors to the

[00:17:30] south can do in iowa so in iowa you can open up your phone log into an app and you can

[00:17:37] bet on an nfl game you can bet who's going to win the game uh based on a point spread the total

[00:17:43] point scored you can engage in the literally from your couch you can engage in those things

[00:17:49] in minnesota you can also do all those things it's just that it's illegal

[00:17:54] right so yeah if you use a sports book that is overseas or unregistered and that's happening

[00:18:00] right now some people are doing that that's why it's from my perspective i think the smart thing

[00:18:05] you do is to have a safe regulated market in minnesota people are able to get their winnings

[00:18:10] have consumer protection make sure the money's not being used for illicit activities and but

[00:18:16] in minnesota you're not allowed legally to engage in all those things like just over the

[00:18:20] border in iowa that you can and there's not an iowa they've got a dozen different sports books that

[00:18:25] are available that you can again as long as you're within the borders of iowa you can open up your

[00:18:30] phone and and bet on any sport you want that's available thank you for explaining that i think

[00:18:35] it's good i think minnesota is always unique and there's always an additional complication so

[00:18:39] i appreciate you giving some backstory for our listeners on on gaming and particularly

[00:18:44] in a real world example like on sundays what what minnesota's minnesotans can't do in

[00:18:48] relations to our neighbors just next to us yeah if you it's interesting if you look at the gaming

[00:18:53] numbers from iowa they have reports on sports gambling and it's pretty clear that the diamond

[00:18:59] joe's casino the fan dual branch that's just over the minnesota iowa border is one of their biggest

[00:19:06] operators and as someone who's been there before i can tell you you look at the parking lot

[00:19:10] it's just full of minnesota life is life right it's not people from demoing something that's

[00:19:16] the numbers what i was not people from the twin cities that are driving there and

[00:19:21] to me it makes sense but we just have to find a smart way that's a win that again we put money

[00:19:27] into problem gaming to make sure that those with addiction issues get the help they need

[00:19:32] making sure we have protected protections and safeguards for consumers but also it's this

[00:19:38] big fight about who's going to make money off it that's really it's a regulated industry and that's

[00:19:43] what the legislature's fighting about right now is who's going to make money off sports gambling

[00:19:48] so if you were a betting man what what odds would you give it of passing this year i am a

[00:19:54] betting man beggy uh so i would say that probably a little bit better than 50 50 but it's

[00:20:00] one of these things that doesn't not dance and then we were discussing earlier the situation with

[00:20:05] uber and an issue like uber can poison other issues sports gambling is an elective issue we don't

[00:20:13] have to do it if we have uber shut down on may 1st in the twin cities in in minnesota it's very hard

[00:20:20] to work on elective things when the things that we have to get done aren't getting done

[00:20:25] and so that's why these things as they get closer to the end of the session they get

[00:20:28] intertwined with each other and just another reminder of uh it's how complicated public policy

[00:20:36] can be i keep in mind the democrats have total control so they set the agenda on things but this

[00:20:42] section whether it's ficting the school resource officer ifu whether it's ficting uber and left

[00:20:49] sports gambling a bonding bill these are all things that they need republican votes to pass

[00:20:55] and last section they didn't really they just got youth to tell them people what to do they

[00:20:59] can make all the decisions themselves and they're for a lot of their members they have not developed

[00:21:04] the skill set of being able to collaborate compromise that's something we're running into right now

[00:21:10] so we've spoken a lot about how um the impact and the repercussions of a lot of these policies

[00:21:18] are yet to be felt um we're starting to get some of them some of the new laws aren't taking

[00:21:23] effect until after this upcoming election and you after 20 years are stepping away from the legislature

[00:21:28] which we'll touch on what's next for you here briefly or shortly but i want to talk about these

[00:21:33] upcoming elections and when we spoke with you last we talked about how republicans need to speak

[00:21:38] to republicans to centrist and even to some of the light democrats and we need to stop with

[00:21:43] that circular firing squad as you're retiring and as you're stepping away from this what advice

[00:21:48] do you have for either some of the legislators or candidates running here i think you have been

[00:21:54] someone a lot of folks have spoke have looked to because you are you speak up you speak loudly

[00:22:01] in a way that's always based in principle and policy and not in a way that's a distraction

[00:22:06] and causing issues a lot in this question here but what kind of advice do you have to your

[00:22:10] colleagues and other candidates running of how republicans can flip the house in this

[00:22:15] upcoming election cycle and what we need to do when talking to voters sure the important thing is

[00:22:20] that i don't view politics the ideas and politics have to be both ideas to be successful don't have

[00:22:27] to be original to be good i'm all about copying successful strategies that other people have

[00:22:32] implemented to win so whether it's mariland where they had a republican governor in mass

[00:22:38] the two-thousand four months if they're all states that are way more democratic than minnesota

[00:22:44] but republicans have found a way to win statewide and be competitive and i think it starts with

[00:22:50] recognizing that minnesota is a blue state maybe it's a purple state but it does lean

[00:22:55] to the left in order for republicans to win they can't talk like marjorie taylor green they

[00:23:01] can't focus on issues like an alabama republican would they have to talk like blue state

[00:23:06] republicans now it doesn't mean there are any less principled or any less focused on implementing

[00:23:11] the conservative agenda but they have to articulate that vision in an intelligent and smart fashion

[00:23:18] and what we've seen historically is that more and more republican campaigns are focusing on

[00:23:25] the conservative base and that's fine for getting the conservative base out but it doesn't

[00:23:29] that's not enough to win in minnesota you have to appeal to centrist independence as well as a

[00:23:35] small group of democrats to get them to switch over and that's why candidly i'm pretty disappointed

[00:23:40] that donald trump's our nominee this year i think joe biden is in a place where he could easily be

[00:23:44] defeated by a conservative whether it was the santhus or hailey i think we're well positioned

[00:23:49] to running as the guy who's in his 80s and unfortunately with trump as the nominee

[00:23:55] you basically have two candidates who independent voters don't want to vote for now that being

[00:23:59] said trump may end up winning despite that but i think in places like minnesota we are better served

[00:24:06] by having those who can be successful in articulating a conservative vision that is

[00:24:11] positive that inclusive that practices politics of addition and multiplication as opposed to the

[00:24:17] politics of subtracting and division it's challenging to understand that you're not

[00:24:24] running for reelection and we're going to have a little bit of a brief conversational that

[00:24:28] you are one of the good ones you are one of the good ones i've said that long before i had a podcast

[00:24:32] i've always believed that pakarofa was one of the good ones well i'm susceptible to flattery so please

[00:24:38] keep complimenting me absolutely i appreciate it and i will say this there's a couple legislators

[00:24:43] that have stepped away in the lat they're going to be stepping away and i just i'm really

[00:24:46] disappointed by it and i'm this isn't contrived or fake and you haven't paid me to say this

[00:24:51] but you are legitimately one of the good ones and there's a just a lot of common sense approaches

[00:24:56] that you've taken on solving a lot of issues and working to solve some issues and i was very

[00:25:01] disappointed when i saw the news that you weren't running for reelection i do hope that they're that

[00:25:06] you're not closing the door on elected office because i think there's a there's an becky and

[00:25:11] i have talked a lot about the republican brand and republicans succeeding and republicans

[00:25:16] particularly winning in the suburbs and i can think of just losing your institutional

[00:25:22] knowledge your political knowledge your experience and your perspective even though i disagree

[00:25:25] with you on some issues is just a loss for the team i i appreciate the kind words i appreciate the

[00:25:31] compliments but this is something that i've been a state legislator for 19 years i've enjoyed my

[00:25:36] service i enjoyed working for people i enjoy learning uh and sometimes figuring out things

[00:25:43] i've been wrong about i enjoy that but the reality is that politics is not a marathon you don't

[00:25:50] run until you're completely exhausted and collapse across the finish line it's a relay race you

[00:25:54] go out and sprint as fast as you can and then you pass the baton to someone else so that that part of

[00:25:59] i'm interested in public service but i won't run for elected office again this will be i've put

[00:26:04] enough time in and serve time that i understand my strengths and my weaknesses and the reality

[00:26:09] whether i choose to acknowledge it or not but my brand of conservatism is just not that dominant

[00:26:16] in in minnesota and as much as i want that to change it's an acknowledgement of reality what

[00:26:22] i love to be in a higher form of elected office with being able to say public policy sure yeah but

[00:26:30] guess it's not the reality of things it's not where it's not where most republicans are it's not where

[00:26:35] minnesota voters are and i think you're seeing candidly a lot of democrats too who are finding

[00:26:41] that their party is shifting away that both parties are having more and more of the debate

[00:26:46] being monopolized by the extremes and that's just not it's just not who i am if you look at

[00:26:51] the rich tapestry of american political history there's a number of candidates just like yourself

[00:26:56] who stepped away for a time and i think there's a path here and i'm not going to give up the

[00:27:00] dream that you're going to be serving an elective office you are far too young to not be

[00:27:06] seeking elected office to not be a part of the voice and i guarantee you there's an organized

[00:27:11] effort of people wanting to make sure that the hopes and dreams are alive a representative

[00:27:16] pakarov or pakarov serving in any office at some point so be prepared for an ongoing draft effort

[00:27:22] to get you for any available office i appreciate that and again i am susceptible to flattery so

[00:27:27] please by all means just praise me but at the federal level right now congress is running an

[00:27:32] over trillion dollar budget deficit right this is completely unsustainable at some point here

[00:27:38] the bond market is going to impose this one on the congress and we don't have members of either party

[00:27:44] doing anything about it and the budget deficit make no mistake about it the budget deficit at

[00:27:48] the federal level and the debt are a threat to the quality of life of every single american it

[00:27:54] doesn't matter if you're rich or poor young or old black or white it doesn't matter this is a

[00:27:59] threat to everyone's quality of life and none of these guys are doing anything about it and so

[00:28:04] yeah i'd like to make a difference and get people to focus on the deficit but it's hard when from a

[00:28:11] fiscal perspective there isn't at the federal level there isn't much of a difference between

[00:28:15] republicans and democrats we appreciate your perspective i do hope that you'll continue to

[00:28:20] stay active i do hope that we can rely on you for a punchy quota analysis even when you're in

[00:28:26] this very brief i hope time where you're back in the wilderness amongst the people but before

[00:28:31] you seek elective office again you'll always have a place here on our podcast for both compliments

[00:28:36] and probably some criticisms too thank you very much i appreciate that and again i don't i don't

[00:28:41] know what the future holds for me it's uh it's an exciting opportunity in my life because i have all

[00:28:45] this energy that i put into politics and public administration i've worked in bring the legislative

[00:28:52] section i work full time on my private sector job so i'm going to have all this extra energy

[00:28:56] in a matter of deciding what it is i want to put it into whether it's charitable work political

[00:29:02] nonprofit or other things um it's really i've got a lot of opportunities there i'll be honestly

[00:29:07] i'm a little bit nervous because i'm like a high energy person not knowing what i'll be doing next

[00:29:11] year but i do have a private sector job as a network engineer and that's that's my fallback

[00:29:17] position the things aren't too bad so we'll see we'll see what god has planned for me but i am

[00:29:21] excited to see what i can do to continue to learn things to continue to meet people and to try to

[00:29:28] to a certain degree try to educate people on things we can be doing that position minnesota for the

[00:29:33] future if it's not going to be an elected office for now let's not make statements that we can't

[00:29:38] expect you to relentlessly i don't know if you have a google alert for your name but you may

[00:29:43] become aware of in the recent in some time i'll just put you on the spot or you may become

[00:29:47] aware of that a draft graph a low url has been purchased just an fyi to you there's already a

[00:29:54] movement of foot because you are one of the good ones and that doesn't mean that i agree on every

[00:29:58] issue but you are one of the good ones that has been really waving the flag for republicans and

[00:30:04] i just hope that there's whether you do i hope you're happy you're safe your family's good

[00:30:08] and i hope that there's an opportunity for you down the road because i think you would

[00:30:11] do a great fantastic job you have done a great job thank you for saying that and in the first

[00:30:15] term the most important thing is we really do in my opinion we need to restore balance to

[00:30:20] minnesota government and we cannot have another two years of the hard left far left doing this

[00:30:26] in place like new york to the financial markets the financial hub of the western hemisphere

[00:30:33] california is the cultural and entertainment hub of the western hemisphere to a certain degree

[00:30:38] they can get away with crazy policies and in minnesota we can't do this and you're seeing

[00:30:44] some of the wealth destruction and demand destruction taking place now and so if we need

[00:30:48] to restore minnesota to what it's what it's really a strategic strength is and that's working together

[00:30:53] rather than having 51 percent they are their legislative agenda down the road of the other 49

[00:30:58] percent agreed and one thing i just want to say in closing is i'm very hopeful you'll still

[00:31:05] be offering all of your wisdom and thoughts and funny witty statements on twitter where

[00:31:11] can people follow you now and in the future so my twitter account is at pat garofalo and if you

[00:31:17] don't know how to spell garofalo just remember the vowels go a o a o so it's pat y a f a l o

[00:31:25] on twitter that's probably the best way to see what i'm thinking and thoughts that i share

[00:31:29] i'm on facebook too but that's most of like a just for friends and family and stuff like that but

[00:31:35] that's where i talk about sports pop culture jokes and all my training to someday hopefully be a

[00:31:41] stand-up comedian or something like that i don't know thank you so much we really appreciate it

[00:31:47] yeah thanks again for having me on i really appreciate it thank you again

[00:31:53] that can be just interviewed representative pakarofalo your take like you said he is one of the

[00:32:00] good ones it's definitely a loss to the legislature to the state to not have him up there he's been

[00:32:06] there he's been a great advocate vocal fought for things that were not always the most popular

[00:32:11] he's done some bipartisan work he's done some really great things and certainly sad to see him go

[00:32:16] but definitely excited to see what comes from him in the future but through chatting with him i

[00:32:22] think it's he just has great takes on things i i think it's important again to look at

[00:32:27] the uberlift debacle and how it is a mess of the democrats own making and looking at all of these

[00:32:33] things we've been talking about for the last year and a half about all of the issues that have

[00:32:38] arose from the democrats lack of being thoughtful moving slow working through things and not having

[00:32:46] him up there to call them out and to hold their feet to the fire is certainly going to be

[00:32:50] disappointing he's just one of the good ones and when i heard he wasn't running it was just

[00:32:55] disappointing i understand i'm glad he's making his choice voluntarily he's moving on but he's just

[00:32:59] one of the good ones as we've discussed and in particular i think i don't agree with him on all

[00:33:04] issues there's not many elected officials that i do agree with on all issues but i think pakaroffal

[00:33:09] is one of the good ones i think he's someone that goes to the state capital and tries to work

[00:33:13] for solutions through his ideological lens that he has and there are good democrats that do

[00:33:18] the exact same thing i just it's just disappointing but i wish him the best i wish his family the

[00:33:23] best and i do hope he seeks the elected office at some time down the road again because i do believe

[00:33:29] that he has the right balance that i think republicans need right now and it's just disappointing to know

[00:33:34] that he's not going to be waving that flag and i can be selfish and just make it about me for a

[00:33:40] second but it's just disappointing but i wish him the best i wish him all of the success

[00:33:44] and i think this is gonna we're still gonna have opportunities to talk to him he's

[00:33:48] not going away but i just think as we've done this podcast over the last last 18 months or whatever

[00:33:54] he's just one of the people that we've identified and we've spoken with more than once

[00:33:59] and offline there's good discussions he's just he's just a larger than life person

[00:34:02] and he's just a real character and he's gonna be missed absolutely i have to imagine we'll

[00:34:09] have him back on but i don't think that he's going to be quiet and shy in his off seasons

[00:34:14] here in his retirements go follow him he's a good follow and so we'll be following along

[00:34:22] but what is next for us we are gonna go it seems like we should just make this a regular weekly

[00:34:28] segment these days we're gonna chat about abortion again we saw in the last couple of days

[00:34:34] a former president donald trump put on a video about abortion in it he said that state should

[00:34:40] be deciding abortion laws but for themselves he said that he backs fertility treatments like IVF

[00:34:46] he supports exceptions to abortion bans in cases of rape incest and the life of the mother and part

[00:34:51] of his quote was you must follow your heart or in many cases your religion or your faith do what's

[00:34:56] right for your family and what is right for yourself what do you think i listen to it when you

[00:35:03] read it it sounds more reasonable but when he reads it it's not as sincere and it's not as effective

[00:35:10] i think it was a messy statement i think that and it's interesting because as you noted this is a

[00:35:16] subject we've talked about a lot but particularly i have this filter i've got this kind of way in

[00:35:21] which i'm now when i hear about abortion related news and the and we discuss the politics of a

[00:35:26] lot on the podcast i think of it immediately in the lens of how you and i have discussed it

[00:35:31] and so i understood what he was trying to do i don't think he was successful in what he wanted

[00:35:36] to accomplish donald trump the abortion is going to be on the ballot in in 2024 as much as republicans

[00:35:44] don't want to admit that reality it is and in donald trump is part of the reason because of

[00:35:49] his picks for the united states supreme court that we're dealing with this issue

[00:35:53] as to continue to become an issue republicans as we've discussed have not had a good message

[00:35:59] on this and i think that they politically operated in a little bit of safe harbor on abortion because

[00:36:05] it was constitutionally protected but once that was taken away by the united states supreme court

[00:36:10] and it was ruled unconstitutional for the reasons that it was and was sent back to the states

[00:36:15] we're now into this situation and so i think it's going to be very difficult on the issue

[00:36:20] of abortion for republicans to win unless they have a concise clear message and this kind

[00:36:26] of states rights issue is not going to is not going to be it it's not going to be it

[00:36:31] now i'm a big states rights gal and tend to lean on that a decent amount this though i agree with you

[00:36:37] first of all a four minute video is never the answer to any pr or messaging crisis it just

[00:36:43] does not there's too much it's too messy and then there was a lot of people picking this

[00:36:48] apart of things that he said and didn't say they he didn't say whether he would support or

[00:36:53] not support a federal ban if he is elected he did not support or say whether he supports

[00:36:58] existing state bans so those things were frustrating to some folks and obviously there was some

[00:37:04] big reactions from folks largely within the pro-life community who very much take aim at this

[00:37:10] that there was a lot of different conversations before he was elected the first time about

[00:37:14] different things that he should do must do promise to do his former vice president

[00:37:21] mike pence called it a slap in the face to the anti-abortion voters who supported president trump

[00:37:26] said too many republican politicians are all too ready to wash their hands off of the battle for life

[00:37:32] and then lindsay graham was outspoken and trump did swing back at both senator lindsay graham and a

[00:37:38] president of a pro-life group he posted on true social lindsay marjorie and others fought for

[00:37:43] years unsuccessfully until i came along and got the job done we cannot let our country

[00:37:47] suffer any further damage by losing elections on an issue that always says or that should always

[00:37:52] have been decided by the state and now will be now that right there we all know this is a political

[00:37:59] video we all know this is a political move not a policy move for him it may mean just outs himself

[00:38:04] right there of we cannot continue to lose elections on this issue which i agree but man oh man it

[00:38:10] is it's messy man yes let me let me offer a particular take on this so if you're a republican

[00:38:18] running for office right now let's say you're a republican who wants to have what republicans

[00:38:24] would define or is what you and i would maybe define as a sensible position on abortion we

[00:38:29] i'm personally pro-life but i believe so the question would be come to a republican candidate

[00:38:34] male or female would be what would be your position on abortion what would you do if you're

[00:38:39] in office what would be the votes that you would support what type of legislative changes

[00:38:43] would you be at now i start from the position on the issue of abortion that as of right now in

[00:38:48] the state of minnesota it is legal up until the moment of birth for there to be an abortion

[00:38:52] in this state i sincerely believe that the vast majority of minnesotans i shouldn't say vast

[00:38:59] majority or the majority of minnesotans want some bit of range on that issue i don't know if

[00:39:04] you polled minnesotans my instinct tells me that if you polled minnesotans on the issue of abortion

[00:39:10] i don't know if they would want there to be if the poll question was asked if it was do you want

[00:39:16] abortion during the first full term of the first nine months the full term of a pregnancy

[00:39:22] i don't know what that poll would come back my instinct tells me just my kind of bias is that

[00:39:26] i don't think that would be a majority position i think that most minnesotans want there to be

[00:39:31] abortion should be safely legal and rare and but they should have full and complete access to the

[00:39:35] under certain circumstances that's where i think the electorate is a problem and i would encourage

[00:39:41] i would push back and say when we get to that point let me know if you disagree with me on that

[00:39:45] take so that's where i'm starting from and so the issue here is right now if you're a republican

[00:39:48] candidate running for the legislature in minnesota it'd be reasonable to ask you what's your

[00:39:52] position on what's going on under states would you support of what's going on as much as you

[00:39:57] want to answer the question and say i'm running for the legislature in minnesota running for this

[00:40:00] in minnesota the introduction of abortion into electoral politics for republicans right now

[00:40:06] is like introducing kryptonite to superman it's just not helpful and it's harmful because republicans

[00:40:14] don't have a message that's moored and tethered in any type of consistent way so what trump has

[00:40:19] just done is he's punched it pundit off to the states and the problem is that we don't have

[00:40:25] a national message for republicans on abortion we now have a patchwork of messages that are

[00:40:32] being pursued in individual states and republicans aren't going to succeed that way on this issue

[00:40:37] that's why in contrast trump's message is so much worse than what walls was able to say

[00:40:44] and the question i will go back to is there a republican statement that could be made an abortion

[00:40:49] that is as crisp and clean as walls was on the progressive side on the democratic side

[00:40:54] and not create the type of trouble for republicans and i'm continually coming to the conclusion

[00:40:59] after we have these conversations that republicans just need to either stop talking about abortion

[00:41:07] or really do some soul searching on the reality of where americans are at because i think they're

[00:41:13] going to continue to lose on this issue your take no i completely agree i think the closest

[00:41:19] thing that we have to a good republican message on this is nickie hailey and one of the presidential

[00:41:25] debates how she framed it up but i think it's such a hard thing because well i would you want to

[00:41:33] sure let's stop talking about it democrats are not going to let that happen they simply

[00:41:37] are not going to let that happen and for good reason there's certainly we just before this

[00:41:43] taping we saw what happened in arizona where they basically said a state ban of abortions from 1864

[00:41:51] or some maybe i made that year 1864 there you go it stands that that it's a complete and total

[00:41:58] ban of abortions in in arizona and so there are real repercussions and real actions for

[00:42:05] this issue and it is something that's going to continue to evolve there's going to be

[00:42:08] continual court cases and legislation and it's not going away so we need to figure excuse my

[00:42:14] language we need to figure our shit out on this it's mind boggling that we still out of all of these

[00:42:19] different groups and different organizations and different candidates that we haven't been able to

[00:42:23] have somebody coalesce behind let's say this let's let's have somebody put together something

[00:42:28] that is saying something without saying anything and i don't know the perfect answer to that

[00:42:33] obviously nobody else does either but it's going to continue to be here so we need to figure

[00:42:38] this out so that republicans regardless of what the candidates personal views on abortion

[00:42:43] that they're able to talk to voters because this is going to be something that they're

[00:42:46] going to be continued to be asked about and especially with trump hunting it to the states

[00:42:50] that's going to be something that down ballot candidates and members are going to have to

[00:42:55] address here you mentioned the the insincerity of trump in this message there in this video

[00:43:02] and i think that's who he is as a person i feel like insincerity of what he's saying is largely

[00:43:08] that but i did think and i'll tweet this link out when i was looking up to find this video again

[00:43:14] an article came up from cnn that was published just today 13 times trump abortion position

[00:43:20] shifted over the last 25 years and it's just really yeah and i 13 is a little higher than i expected

[00:43:28] but i don't know what the answer is here i do understand why him and his campaign

[00:43:36] decided to try to do something and take some of that heat off of him because he you guarantee

[00:43:42] he's getting so many conversations and so many pushes from those pro-life people to come out and

[00:43:48] say i will ban abortion and he needs to it needed to get that off so people could stop

[00:43:54] saying that so i do understand the political reasons for doing this but i don't think he's

[00:43:59] going to get away with it being that simple and him not having to talk about this anymore

[00:44:04] i think abortion is going to continually be an issue for republicans in part i'm going to

[00:44:08] go back to something you said about the democrats not not letting republicans get away with it

[00:44:13] here's the environment that i think we're in right now is that because republicans for so many

[00:44:18] years had that perceived safe harbor of not formulating a more in-depth policy and political

[00:44:26] statement on where they stand on abortion because they had the protection of roe v wade now that's

[00:44:31] been removed it's somewhat open season to figure out what their positions are i think the political

[00:44:36] climate is that if a republican goes out in messages on abortion in any type of way that

[00:44:42] wants to limit the right of someone to get an abortion even if it's even if it's a more

[00:44:48] centrist position on abortion where i think where i have a feeling where most minnesotans are

[00:44:53] i think it's an incredibly difficult environment for republicans to talk about without

[00:44:59] there being a very significant echo chamber that will carry that message and it becomes a

[00:45:07] very mobilizing issue for democrats if i was a legislative candidate if i was advising a republican

[00:45:14] who wanted to run statewide i would really stress upon them figure out where the state is really

[00:45:19] at on the issue but in no way shape or form what i encourage there to be any type of message that

[00:45:25] would limit or reduce the ability or limit the ability for people to have access to an abortion

[00:45:32] because i think it's right now the conversation is so polarized in a way and i think it's the

[00:45:38] democrats have found a way to use that that passion that that belief in that in such a

[00:45:47] mobilizing way particularly in the suburbs to have rep and republicans i think have done

[00:45:51] such an incredibly poor job of messaging on it it's very easy to turn all republicans or

[00:45:57] any republican even if they have what some might argue be a bit of a centrist position on the issue

[00:46:02] to turn them into a gargoyle or some type of some type of monster on the issue and so i think

[00:46:10] that walz's answer i if i was i'm literally still up to this point where if i was i would say just

[00:46:18] say what walz says have that be the position and because that's the way in which i think you

[00:46:23] can talk about it in a way obviously you need to believe it but his framing of it i think is the

[00:46:29] messaging standard by which all abortion rhetoric in terms of campaigning and the politics of it

[00:46:37] are going to be judged by and again we're talking just about the politics that the campaign ads

[00:46:42] them the mailings the lit pieces the attack ads this is not i'm not talking about the the

[00:46:47] substance of the policy but just in the context of that kind of politicization of abortion and

[00:46:53] how it's on the campaign it's just a very difficult issue for republicans to message on and i think

[00:46:59] trump's message is messy i think it's very messy tim walz gave on national television a very

[00:47:08] succinct precise answer on the issue of abortion that i think aside from partisans

[00:47:15] criticizing him would give him no pushback inside his own party no pushback and no substantive pushback

[00:47:22] inside his party look at what the republican the frontrunner and the de facto nominee of the

[00:47:28] republican party the head of the republican party during this upcoming election cycle donald

[00:47:33] trump said and look at the internal problems that he created for himself so it's just continues

[00:47:40] to be an issue that republicans have a problem getting away from because ultimately i think

[00:47:47] republicans didn't do the work on the issue right and so i'm gravitating towards continuing as we

[00:47:53] have these discussions continuing to look back at walz's statement and say ultimately

[00:47:58] that's a pretty good statement and absent someone telling me how a republican can win

[00:48:03] statewide on the issue of abortion that they can message and navigate that's a pretty good

[00:48:09] message for republicans to have because i don't see how this issue is going away from republicans

[00:48:16] and they need to deal with it in the real in in terms of the political and real world realities

[00:48:22] of what they're facing right now i want to play devil that devil's advocate of course you do

[00:48:28] right here briefly so you talked about that we really need to figure out where minnesotan

[00:48:32] stand on this do you think that answer to that is is putting it on the ballot

[00:48:39] putting it on the ballot in terms like a constitutional amendment that's one way to

[00:48:42] gauge but i would be more i would be very curious from just an academic standpoint from a polling

[00:48:48] standpoint yep where the state truly is i just my bias and instinct is a little bit of bias a

[00:48:55] little bit instinct is that i don't know that what we currently have in law if minnesotans knew

[00:49:01] the full details of it if they would be if they had the option to directly influence the law

[00:49:08] if that's where they would land so i think that democrats have staked out a position on abortion

[00:49:13] that is i think out of step i think with some significant percentage of minnesotans that by no

[00:49:20] way means that minnesotans would want to dial that back but i do think just from a policy

[00:49:25] standpoint i think that abortion has the access to abortion is and what it currently is in law

[00:49:34] is very significant incredibly significant that i do wonder if there was the ability for

[00:49:39] minnesotans to fully grasp the true nature of it and where it would go i think they'd be i think

[00:49:44] that would surprise a number of people because in part if you looked at the rhetoric during the

[00:49:49] 2022 campaign where governor walls was on the issue and what he campaigned on versus what he signed

[00:49:54] into law and where minnesotans have gone on this i think it's quite significant there is a bit of

[00:50:00] a change i think he has adopted a very smart message in the reality of what happened in roe v wade and

[00:50:10] the dobs decision and what what occurred but i do think that if minnesotans had a clear

[00:50:17] just from a polling perspective to offer their position on abortion i do wonder where it would

[00:50:22] land in terms of what the state allows right now but i think that message the ability for

[00:50:27] republicans to if there was a situation where minnesotans supported somewhat of a more limited

[00:50:33] circumstance where someone could gain access to an abortion and have an abortion i wonder if

[00:50:38] republicans would be able to message in that because that might be landing a message on the

[00:50:42] head of a pin because and so that's why i just think that this is not a winning issue for

[00:50:48] republicans it's certainly not when they have this message but i don't believe it's a long-term

[00:50:52] winning message for republicans um but i was speaking just mostly from the academic polling

[00:50:57] standpoint i figured i just had to poke you a little bit um and then before we end i just

[00:51:02] have to because it's on my mind every time we talk about this but there's a vp episode about

[00:51:07] this great show if you haven't watched it highly recommend it but there is one where they

[00:51:11] literally just have a board up and they're like pick a week talking to julia louis drive this

[00:51:15] is a character pick a week you just got to pick a week and it is something that's always in my head

[00:51:21] because it is so hard and i can't imagine when you are going through those having to pick a week

[00:51:26] whatever if they're trying to rein in what is currently allowed under law to make it more

[00:51:31] safely glen rare and not have it up to the time of birth or whatever it makes it be

[00:51:36] is that 15 weeks is that 20 weeks what is that and what does that truly mean to

[00:51:42] to the fetus and to the life and there's so many different ways to look at this and

[00:51:46] if a fetus can feel pain and when it is actually considered a baby and when is it able to sustain

[00:51:51] life outside of out of the womb and so many different things and i'm certainly not the

[00:51:56] expert on any of this i have my personal opinion and but i think it is something we've been

[00:52:01] talking about quite a bit i don't expect that to change anytime soon obviously we're not just

[00:52:06] going to talk about it to talk about it it is as things pop up like this trump video so if you

[00:52:11] want to use four minutes of your day to go watch it and go find that video from president trump and

[00:52:18] he might tweet something different out tomorrow so we will see thank you for having that discussion

[00:52:23] again you bet

[00:52:27] moving on we are going to step a little bit away from politics here and talk about basketball now

[00:52:34] i am not a basketball expert by any means however fun fact i did play basketball from

[00:52:40] kindergarten up until high school so i have about eight nine years of a basketball experience under

[00:52:46] my belt love it it's fun march madness is great we'll come back to how you feel about this year's

[00:52:52] march madness brackets here soon but we are going to start with katlyn clark so this is

[00:52:59] something katlyn clark playing for iowa huge impact on the game on women's basketball on women

[00:53:06] in sports in general so i want to throw it to you to kick us off here i thought it was fantastic

[00:53:11] a couple things about me i've never played an organized game of basketball in my life

[00:53:15] i was basketball is a winter sport i played hockey i was also very short growing up and so

[00:53:20] basketball just wasn't my thing i have played a couple games of pig slash horse and i don't

[00:53:26] have a very good record at it and if you're thinking about me playing basketball just think of the worst

[00:53:31] basketball player you could perceive and that's me just from a standpoint that means so i also

[00:53:36] that affinity for basketball has not translated my my lack of interest or playing basketball

[00:53:43] has not really carried over into watching the sport i'm not a big bachelor ball watcher i think

[00:53:48] the last timbrell game i went to was probably 20 some years ago and so this resurgence of

[00:53:54] basketball particularly women's basketball is something that is incredibly foreign to me

[00:53:58] because i'm just not a basketball watcher sure i watched jordan play basketball i watched the dream

[00:54:04] team some people ping me after i sent out a tweet about a basketball saying do you've never watched

[00:54:08] a game of basketball no i've watched basketball but in terms of consistency the last month or so

[00:54:13] the last few weeks i've watched more basketball than i have probably in my life just in terms of

[00:54:18] following the sport my wife's from iowa kaitlyn clark uh has been with iowa down there so we've

[00:54:24] been watching a lot more basketball and it has just been absolutely fantastic to watch it's a

[00:54:29] i've learning more about basketball i'm watching it more it's just been an absolutely fantastic

[00:54:34] tournament and to watch the competitiveness and basketball i'm i become a big fan and a

[00:54:40] bandwagon fan to the sport of basketball but i just want to make sure i'm clear about something

[00:54:45] you played basketball in high school right i stopped when i was in high school okay so you

[00:54:50] played basketball i wanted to be a cheerleader instead okay but you played it yeah that's fantastic

[00:54:56] yeah i i have i'm seriously true story i've never played an organized game of basketball in my life

[00:55:01] not in school not like outside with buddies it's just never been my thing and once people saw me

[00:55:07] dribble the ball and shoot i was never gonna get picked on even a pickup game team so i do

[00:55:13] want to chat a little bit just about some of the stats and numbers surrounding kaitlyn clark and her

[00:55:19] impact on the sport up until the last few years the uh first of all did you know i just as i was

[00:55:25] researching i found out the women's tournament was not able to use march madness in any of their

[00:55:30] promotions or anything up until two years ago that was reclaimed yeah is this like just come on

[00:55:36] what was we already had a discussion this was this about the super bowl two you were talking

[00:55:40] about the record game you're always you're such a rule follower you're we're are we gonna get in

[00:55:44] trouble now for saying march madness no just like you say we couldn't say the super bowl three years

[00:55:48] ago we maybe got a would have gotten in trouble but now they allow it remember you're the legal

[00:55:53] advisor to this podcast because you have one year of law school exactly okay but so in the

[00:56:00] championship game south carolina versus iowa 18.7 million people watch that now that had peaked

[00:56:06] that was the top of any other march madness tournament in the last in recent or ever but

[00:56:12] in recent years 2023 it was just under 15 million 2022 18 million now the men's tournament this year

[00:56:19] the championship game did surpass 20 million so there is that but it's just been an incredible spike

[00:56:25] in the overall watching and viewership of women's games and also with this the economic

[00:56:32] impact that has that kitlin and they literally call it like the kitlin effect or impact that there

[00:56:38] is a report that projected that women's sports will generate more than a million billion dollars in

[00:56:43] global revenue this year up roughly 300 percent from the company's estimate in 2021 and just

[00:56:49] globally the sponsorships with women are now on par with what men's are getting kaitlyn clark

[00:56:54] herself with this new change and name image likeness and being able to get sponsorship she

[00:56:59] is already valued at three million which will be more than what her projected salary is would be for

[00:57:04] her rookie season in the wnba so kaitlyn herself got to give her some props here with her she surpassed

[00:57:11] all of these records first division one player to top 3000 points 1000 assists and 800 rebounds

[00:57:18] but the thing that really sticks with me is how much she has embraced her impact for other women

[00:57:25] and for young girls and for the sports themselves it's got to be a little tough to you're in the sport

[00:57:30] you're focused on she's going to school she's playing a sport she this there's a lot going on

[00:57:34] in this woman's life and she still is taking the opportunity to push and prod and make sure that

[00:57:40] this is a continued effect on women's sports a couple co-executes and she had said she said you

[00:57:46] see it with other sports continue to invest in time money and resources for those people

[00:57:50] meaning women and give them the opportunities i think that's what's going to drive women's

[00:57:54] sports in the future and then said people will remember the moments that they shared at one of

[00:57:59] our games or watching on tv and how excited their daughter or son got about watching women's

[00:58:04] basketball and i really think it is just incredible to see how much people really

[00:58:11] got to this point of loving her and then cherishing the sport of women's basketball

[00:58:17] all together correct i would say to you that if there was a channel dedicated to paint drying

[00:58:23] versus watching a basketball game prior to kitlin clark i would have probably watched the paint drying

[00:58:29] channel and that includes some great ambient it's just not my thing it's just not my sport

[00:58:34] i don't understand it i'm not it's just i can't it does nothing for me but the introduction of

[00:58:40] kitlin clark and particularly my as i said my wife's from iowa so we were watching more of the

[00:58:44] games they're just as competitive as hell to watch they're fun to watch and it was for me to set

[00:58:49] aside a time like okay we have to watch this game or me to even know that about particularly basketball

[00:58:54] is so foreign and i attribute that all to the kitlin clark and all the other fantastic athletes

[00:59:01] in women's college basketball and watching some of those games it's just amazing to watch

[00:59:06] and i think there are so many women in that sport that are just fantastic ambassadors

[00:59:11] but props to kitlin clark for just dominating in her sport and she came up short on sunday in

[00:59:17] the nca double a championship game but to get a call out from the coach like she did from the

[00:59:22] coach of south carolina for her leadership in the game watched how she's put that mark on the game

[00:59:27] of basketball and all women's sports i just think is remarkable hats off to her i wish her all the

[00:59:32] success and i'm going to continue watching women's basketball because it was just fantastic

[00:59:39] it was a it was incredibly entertaining to watch and i say that in i say that as someone

[00:59:44] who has never been invested in any type of significant way in the game of basketball

[00:59:49] agree it's been impressive it's been incredible and i hope it keeps up 2024 here let's give

[00:59:55] women's sports the credit that they deserve we should end the podcast right here let's cut it

[00:59:59] off right here are you sure do you want to chat a little bit about how do you know i know you

[01:00:04] like to have different kind of wagers or brackets how'd you do this year so i do as partake in

[01:00:12] a number of brackets i have consistently over the years which is interesting generally the most

[01:00:17] amount of thought i give to basketball because i want to participate in the brackets that they have

[01:00:22] for the nc double a i have done nca brackets over the years which again that march badness time

[01:00:27] is generally the most amount of time when i like auto pick the draft is the most amount of time

[01:00:33] when i have filled up brackets the most amount of time of thought i've put into brackets but i did

[01:00:38] there was a family bracket my sister set up for family members and her husband did

[01:00:44] i was not successful what becky's getting at is she knows that i didn't win and then i lost to my

[01:00:49] little sister again oh and you had to out yourself because otherwise she was going to which is just

[01:00:55] makes my heart really happy so i apologize for your raining on your parade yes so what

[01:01:00] new years were getting ahead of a pr problem my little sister won the league uh bumped me off from

[01:01:07] getting any money any points or whatever i would have gotten bragging rights and in the text message

[01:01:12] back to me where she's announcing and rubbing this victory in my face she was going to note that she

[01:01:17] was going to reach out to becky and self disclose that i'd lost once again because my this is the

[01:01:22] same sister yes it's the same sister who won the fantasy football league and so once again my

[01:01:27] big mouth has gotten ahead of me so we're trying to deal with this pr crisis ahead of time i'm

[01:01:31] trying to get ahead of my sister kaplin reaching out to becky and divulging her placement so i'm dealing

[01:01:38] with it honestly and transparently but that's why we're having this discussion that it sure is so

[01:01:42] watch out katlyn clark is a force to be reckoned with in the basketball world and kathleen is a

[01:01:48] force to be reckoned with in your guys's fantasy football and brackets and bravo bravo thank you

[01:01:57] thank you have a good one

[01:02:00] we want to thank you for listening to the breakdown with broadcore becky and before we go show some

[01:02:04] love for your favorite podcast by leaving us a real and apple podcast spotify or on the platform

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[01:02:16] media platform at at bdbreak pod the breakdown with broadcore becky will return next week thank

[01:02:22] you again for listening