The gritty stories behind New England's infamous mafia history

Note: This is an auto-generated transcript from YouTube. Please be aware that there may be spelling or transcription errors.

[Music] Good morning. Welcome to the third hour and the final hour today of the program. I'm Chris McCarthy. We're going to be joined here in a moment by Tim White from WPRI um to talk about The Last Dawn of Providence. This is a special really great television that um the investigative team put together down there. They've got a lot of history of the mafia in New England and so they're the perfect team to do it and they've done a wonderful job. Yesterday, the third installment of a four-part series dropped and so now we're joined by Tim White to talk about the last Dawn of Providence. Good morning, Tim. How you doing, my friend? I'm good, Chris. Thanks for having me back on again. yesterday was I I watched it early in the morning uh when it came out the third installment and there was a lot about Massachusetts in there. Talk about the project and the what the series is up to now. Yeah. So, The Last Don of Providence, as you said at the top there, is a four-part docue series u into the life and times of former mom boss Luigi Baby Shacks Manakio, who is the last boss from Providence to control the Patria crime family. Um and episode three is a uh titled the reckoning is really about a turbulent time in New England. Lacosinostra following the death of the patriarch Raymond LS Patria. He died in 1984 and as your listeners likely know uh his son Junior Patria took over. But what we found in part of our reporting was the FBI had actually identified Louis Minino to believe to be the next boss of the crime family following you know what whatever might happen to Patria. Um but for Louisie, he was in prison, Chris, um at the time in 1984 when Patria died uh because he uh had been sentenced to two life sentences in um in a uh double gang land slaying in Providence that ultimately got overturned, but he was sitting in the ACI when that happened. And so, uh the New York five families voted Junior Patria into that spot. And that sparked a lot of unrest in in the crime family all the way through the 1990s. Um, and that is the era that we take a look at in episode 3. We're talking with Tim White from WPRI. Tim, you know, a lot of people say, "Well, gez, the mafia in New England's been around forever. There can't be anything new." What I was really impressed with is you guys have some really new stuff that we haven't seen before, including interviews with actual former inmates and criminals, uh, colleagues, if you will, of Monakio. Yeah, we do. Underworld colleagues, you know, and some of them go on camera. Um, I think we talked about this a couple of weeks ago, Chris. Some people go on camera. Others are kind of camera shy, but they're they're willing to talk to us, you know, to to provide accurate information for this project. Um, you know, I think often what I've learned, Chris, in my time in reporting on this is when a significant organized crime figure dies, there are suddenly people who are willing to come forward with information because they're look, they're not scared they as much anymore and they're they want to, you know, make sure that the record is accurate or at least have their part of the story told in some cases. and talking to those people. You know, we can rely on government FBI files and and uh talking to detectives and and state police investigators. All of that is super valuable and really appreciate u all of that information, but I I really did not want to do a project that was told solely through the lens of the government. And that's what we strive to do here is talk to people that were in Mino's orbit or at the very least were um part of or lived the experience of the Patriotic Crime family in the era of which the episode that we're talking to them about takes place. Talking with Tim White from PRI. Tim, help people out. How do they get the series? How do they watch it? Yeah, it's a little different. I mean, uh, we about a year ago, we, meaning WPRI, launched something called the 12 Plus app. It's a free television app, uh, so people can watch all of channel 12's, uh, local programming on there and then some. Um, and, you know, it's it's it's a little bit different, but it it has opened the door, Chris, to these types of long form projects. I mean, I've done half hour specials for Channel 12 in the past, uh, in my near 20 years here, but this, uh, this one, uh, was tailor made for 12 plus. It it it's the the fourpart halfhour episodes, um, that we can stream when anybody ever, you know, like you would on Netflix, wants to watch it. And it has really worked out well. Um, so people understand it's not an app for their iPad or for their phone, but uh their TV uh however you get Netflix or Disney Plus may be the same way that you can get 12 plus. So Roku, Amazon Fire, Apple TV devices, newer model Samsung TVs. Just go to the uh the app store if you will on any of those devices. Click that magnifying glass and search WPRI. Download it and you're ready to stream. You don't have to sign up for anything. You don't have to provide credit card information or any of that. Um it's it's an absolutely free app and people can watch it there. Tim, um this episode three had a lot to do about Massachusetts. A lot of familiar names in there. Talk about that. Yeah, I think one of the key figures and I'm guessing uh this is kind of what you're referring to uh is Francis Cadillac Frank Selemi. He of course rose to boss following the uh indictment and conviction of Raymond Jr. Patriarcha circa 1991 or so. Um and it was the first time Chris that the Patriarcha crime family was controlled by a Massachusetts figure lived in Sharon Massachusetts technically. Uh so that was a significant time but it also was a real violent time in in the crime family. There was a power struggle by a faction from Western Mass that wanted to take control. So they tried to whack Selemi. He was shot six times outside a pancake house in Sus. Um he survived. Uh but Billy Graasso, who was the underboss at the time in Connecticut, wasn't so lucky. He was killed. And Junior Patria, so before Selemi's ascension, Junior Patriaka uh was worried he'd be next. So he he did an induction ceremony that in Medford, Mass. that was caught on FBI wiretap which is now infamous uh of course and the other Massachusetts figure or one I would say with Massachusetts ties is a guy named Kevin Hanrahan. He was a notorious um hitman and uh I I would say renegade member of the patriarch crime family who was shaking down bookmakers in your neck of the woods, Chris. Um and he had drawn the eye of several cappos in the crime family and he was ultimately killed in the early 1990s um up on federal hill. And as we report in the um in the third installment, uh Louis Manakio, who is the underboss at the time, everyone agrees would likely have had to have um approved that hit as would have selei. And uh both of them were being targeted. They believed they thought Hanhan was going to kill them through uh in a very dramatic fashion. Um and so they had him whacked first. Tim, I really appreciate you joining me this morning. Um, and the fourth installment comes out next Monday, right? Yeah, fourth and final. Uh, and we are just peel back the veil a little here. Uh, we are definitely under the gun. Uh, getting that completed uh, post-prouction. I'm sure you can appreciate is is really something we had it written a month ago and it went through all the editorial process it needs to go through, but it's a heavy lift to put uh, these things together and but we'll make it, you know, we'll get to the deadline. So, Monday, the fourth and final installment, and then Chris, everyone can you can binge watch it over the holidays. Episodes 1, two, three, and four will all be there for you to stream. Tim, it's a really great production. Everything I've seen so far, I can't wait for the fourth one. Uh, thanks so much, my friend. Chris, always a pleasure. Thanks for having me. All right, great. That was Tim White from WPRI. Check it out. The last dawn of um Providence, but really Lou Manakio. Um, I think I told you this last week, he reached certainly over to here. He used to be in New Bedford quite a bit, my understanding. Um, he liked the fish here and, uh, he used to prune the trees actually at a local business. Um, I don't know if he had an interest in it or not, but he would he was doing the landscaping. Um, which kind of tells me something. Uh, in New Bedford, Louis Monino, that was a while ago. All right. We'll have Mike Connealy coming up at 11:30 seeking your vote to be the governor of Massachusetts. He was in Rochester last night out at the Ponderosa the Republican Town Committee. We open phones till then. If it's on your mind, I want to hear about it. Stick around. We'll be right back. Nine. This portion of programming on WBSM is brought to you by De's Hot Dogs in New Bedford, where you can get two hot dogs, soda, and a bag of chips for only $5. South Coast Now with Chris McCarthy. Weekdays on 14:20 a.m. and 995 FM. WBSM. [Music] [Applause] [Music] I do believe in you and I know you believe in me. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. But now we realize I'm not all that it's supposed to be. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Welcome back to the program. I believe in you. I hope you believe in me. And there's a whole lot of news going on these days, right? We have a very competitive race for governor going on here in Massachusetts. And we had Tim Dunn yesterday. Tim Dunn is a uh good friend of mine. Used to be the news director here. Then he went down to was down the Cape. Then he went to Fox News. Now he's at the Boston Herald um covering the day-to-day activities of the political world. he uh is working on a story that involves the convention center, but for our our purposes, our senator, Senator Mark Montgney, um is working on that investigation into a number of potential discrepancies and um misdeeds Even Senator Montgney as the chairman of post audit has subpoena power. So he can subpoena documents. He can subpoena individuals to testify. He's doing all of that. Watch that story. Tim Dunn is on it at the Boston Herald. Check it out at bostonherald.com. Um, of course, Senator Montgi earlier blew up the turnpike deal. You ever go out on the turnpike? They have those rest areas. You know, there service areas. You can pull in, get gasoline, convenience store items. There was a Roy Rogers when I was used to head out to UMass Amherst out there on the pike. I don't know what restaurant is in now. I haven't been out there in a while. Um, but the governor's office with her handpicked secretary of transportation, they were bringing in an Irish company. The numbers were way, way off for the taxpayers. Mark started ask Senator Montgney started asking questions. People pulled out of the deal. The Secretary of Transportation, Miss Nut, resigned. Resigned. I mean, it's really, really been an amazing story and quite frankly, we've got Senator Montgue to thank for it because you can put somebody in to a position like post audit and they can just sit there, collect their paycheck, but with Senator Montgney, we've got somebody doing an investigation. multiple investigations on behalf of the taxpayers. You know, normally we get into the Republicans versus Democrats, all that stuff, and that's a pretty good narrative and it's often accurate, but there are times when that's not the whole story, right? And remember, whoever we elect as the next governor, they're going to have to be able to work with a lot of Democrats. We're going to elect a Republican. And that Republican is going to have to be able to work with Democrats. I mean, hopefully we'll elect some Republican state senators and members of the House, but it's not going to flip both bodies. Just not going to happen. So, they've got to be able to work with the other side on electrical rates, on taxes, on local aid, all of that stuff. And we got to get to those records on the cocaine trafficker on the governor's staff, right? We've got to get those records. Those records tell a really important story. All right, tell you what we're going to do. We are going to take a break, quick one, and when we get back, we should be joined by Mike Connealy. Guys, Mike Connealy is coming in to talk about his campaign. And he's also issued a challenge to the other Republicans. He wants to start having debates within the Republican party. So we, the members of the Republican party who will be voting in the primary will know who is the most prepared to take on the formidable Governor Mora Hilly. That's an very important decision, right? All right, we'll take a break and then we'll be right back. Stick around. Back to Chris McCarthy and South Coast now on WBSM. Call 508996500. Wondering how much I can pay. [Music] Should I try to do some [Music] 25? [Applause] [Music] Yeah. [Music] Welcome back to the program. Little Chicago for you. Um, you got a cracked windshield, you got to get it fixed. It's not that hard, really. Actually, it's pretty easy. All you got to do is call Citywide Glass. You can go on their website, citywideglass.net, make an appointment. They're going to bill your insurance company, so it won't cost you any money out of your pocket whatsoever. Then they're going to send their mobile team right to your home or to your work parking lot and they're going to fix your windshield. So think about that. All it takes is a phone call. Call them in Dartmouth. Call them in Full River. Citywideglass or you can go online or on your phone citywideglass.net. Make an appointment. You don't have to go to them. They're going to come right to you. They're going to come right to you and fix your windshield. Their mobile tech team goes anywhere. They build your insurance company. Shouldn't cost you any money out of your pocket. And they can fix all the other glass on your vehicle as well. Doesn't look good to have a cracked windshield. And by the way, it's not safe. It's not safe at all to have a cracked windshield. So, stop worrying about it. stop looking terrible and get that windshield fixed at Citywide Glass in Dartmouth and Forever. Um, so we are expecting Mike Connealy to be joining us here this morning. Oh, there he is. So, Mike was in Rochester. You say, you know, Mike's been here a couple of times. He sat here in the studio, took your phone calls and my questions as well. He's been down here quite a bit and been to a number of Republican town committees. He's a former cabinet secretary for Charlie Baker. Uh Mike was the secretary of economic development. Um, and really happy to have Mike Connealy joining us now. Good morning, Mike. How are you, my friend? Hey, good morning, Chris. I'm doing great. Thanks as always for the the chance to be on here. And we we had a great uh event down in Rochester last night. What a great group of folks down there. Really good event. I think I think by the way, Chris, I think that was event number 98 or 99 for me since I got into the race eight months ago. So, re really nice group of people there. No, Rochester is a beautiful town. It really is. Um, and Mike, you have put forward a challenge to your fellow Republicans in the governor's race. Talk about that. Well, Chris, let me let me frame it this way for you. I mean, first of all, there's three people in the race running for the Republican nomination right now. And I get this question a lot in my events. Uh, people ask when are the debates. Right now, there are no debates scheduled among the three of us. And let's start with this, Chris. As you know, this is a really, really important race. Yes. We we have an incumbent governor now, Mora Healey, that is failing us every day around some of the key issues and opportunities facing Massachusetts. So, we need to replace her. Okay? And I hear a lot in my travels around the state that people will say, "We're fortunate to have three good candidates in the race." Uh, and on some level, I understand that you've got three people competing for the Republican nomination that that all have a track record in business. I think that's an important attribute for a governor to have, particularly now where the state is literally not creating any new jobs. They're all business people. Uh, and we all have pledged to take the state to the extent I know the other guys views on the issues. Um, we all have pledged to try to take the state in a different direction the more heel around affordability and job creation and government accountability and lots of important things. So, I I get this kind of, you know, three good candidates thing. However, the primary, I believe, is September 1st, 2026. And after that, there will be two people on a debate stage. Mora Healey, who has run for and won statewide office three times. Yes. And one and one Republican. And that person has got to make the case to the voters that they should fire the incumbent and hire them. And so my point in saying all this is that yes, there's a few of us competing for the nomination. This is a really, really important election and the party has got to make the choice for the person best able to defeat Governor Healey. Now, I've said for a long time now, I think I've got the best. In fact, I believe I have the only chance among the three of us to do that because in addition to my career in business, I've delivered for the people of Massachusetts for the last dozen years in public service on progrowth economic policies and government reform and education reform and lots of other things. That's my case. But it's really important the three of us get up there and make our case to the voters. Yes. So we can we can make the best possible choice. It's a really really important race. And I will say this, Chris, you know, I' I've had the the the the privilege, the honor to be invited to multiple candidate forums around the state, including a great one in New Bedford, the Wong Soda Club. Wonderful place. Uh a few weeks back. Um I was the only candidate to accept that. I believe there's been others that have tried to organize forums and uh and again that I've been the only person at a lot of these events. So, it's really important we have debates that we present our case to the Republican voters and and the party makes the choice of the person that I believe can make the has the best opportunity to win. We're speaking with Mike Connealy. Mike is looking for your vote at the Republican convention. Then after that in the Republican primary and he hopes all the way in November when he runs against Mora Healey. Um Mike of course was a was a secretary of economic development for Charlie Baker for all of us really and um very successful in business, graduate of Dartmouth and Harvard. Uh lives in Massachusetts, raised his family here in Massachusetts and he spent a lot of time down here on the south coast. Mike, what do you think sets you apart from the the other two gentlemen in the race? Well, Chris, I I think it's two things. Um, one is dedication to the Republican party in Massachusetts. And so for the two years, uh, between the end of my time in state government and announcing my campaign, I was the the finance chair for the party. Uh, and and no one has done more in terms of raising money or personally donating money to Republican candidates uh, and causes and the party than I have. And so I can I'll make that case all day long that of the three of us, no one has done more for the party. Uh in fact um perhaps has to be said the other two guys have been very prolific donate donors to Democrats. Uh we're talking hundreds of thousands of dollars of donations to Democrats among the two of them to Andrea Campbell and Seth Molton and Ed Marky and lots of folks on the other side. So I think what sets me apart is dedication to the party. Uh but the other thing Chris is as I mentioned a a balanced track record across you know 19 years in private equity building companies and creating jobs. uh three years of service in local government on my town's finance committee. Uh two years turning around the worst performing school district in Massachusetts up in Lawrence uh and eight years in state government uh including being the economic development secretary at a time when the state created 230,000 jobs and last two years uh working with the CEO of Boys and Girls Clubs of Boston so the kids in Roxbury and Dorchester and Matipan could do better in school and do better in life. But that's the track record I bring. Business, local government, education, and state government. And again, I think that's the track record and experience the Republican nominee will need to convince the voters to fire the incumbent governor and hire them. Speak with Mike Conaly. Mike, one of the things you you just pointed out, and I've known it, but that you served on your finance committee uh in town, and with that in mind, I've got a lot of local officials listening right now. um talk about local aid and the importance of and what you'll do when you're the governor regarding um unrestricted local aid and things of that nature. Oh, I Chris, I love this question. I'm the only candidate in the race on either side of the aisle that's actually served in local government. I learned a lot during my time serving on our town's finance committee. Um first of all, the state budget is out of control. It's now crossed the $60 billion threshold, up from $30 billion a dozen years ago. the spending's out of control and that level of spending is crowding out payments to our cities and towns and so local aid from the state is not keeping pace with inflation and that's causing a lot of stress at the local level. You're seeing I think 160 towns the last couple years pursue these prop 2 and a half overrides to try to get more revenue in but so so state budget dysfunction is causing a real challenge for cities and towns. Now what Mora Hilly has suggested as a remedy to that is something called the municipal empowerment act. All right. Now if you want to wonder why people sometimes get cynical about government this is a law that is a municipal tax hike act and they're calling it municipal empowerment. Okay. Like more taxes for food and lodging a tripling of the excise tax. I mean that that is not the answer. Asking our residents at any level of government to pay more in taxes is not the answer. So that's not the answer. The other thing that's not the answer is doing anything but Prop 2 and a half. Now, I don't know where Massachusetts would be if if we did not have Prop 2 and a half the last 40ome years. It is an important safeguard of our tax dollars and it keeps local budgets in check. I wish we had Prop 2 and a half for the state, by the way. Maybe topic for another day. Okay. But so my pledge as governor is to make sure that local aid at least keeps pace with inflation and that we don't put our municipal leaders in a challenging position of having to either cut tax uh cut services or raise taxes and and and if we do that we can avoid calls for higher taxes at the local level and just be a more responsible partner for our cities and towns as state government. We're speaking with Mike Connealy. is looking for your support to be the next Republican nominee to run for governor and then ultimately to be the governor. Um Mike, everybody is concerned about their utility bills. Look at these the the temperature outside. Utility bills are going through the roof. Have been going through the roof. What does Governor Connealy do to help consumers on utility bills? Well, Chris, what Governor Connealy does is recognize that in any market, supply and demand is undefeated. If you want lower price, you need more supply. Uh, and you have to point again to the fact that Governor Gilly has bragged about shutting down natural gas pipelines years ago. If you cut off supply, you're going to have higher price. That's what we're seeing now. And by the way, I think she's trying to um, you know, pretend that didn't happen. And, in fact, recently denied she ever said it. Uh, unfortunately, these things exist on video online. So, she said it. I wish she would treat us like adults and acknowledge that she said something three years ago. Um, and uh, and not follow through on that. So, so what my pledge is to have more energy supply of all kinds of energy. It is secondly to get what I call the green gimmicks off our utility bills because what you see in your bill as folks probably know is is the the cost of energy but also all the charges that get added on which is uh you know meant to facilitate some kind of a transition to greener and cleaner energy and solar panel charges and things like that. I mean enough is enough. We shouldn't be burdened with with with government programs on our utility bill. Um, and the third is, you know, to really follow through on on just hitting a a serious pause on offshore wind. And you I look at that, Chris, I look at that that is so having spent a career working with entrepreneurs to build companies in some cases create new industries, you know, that is where industry creation and entrepreneurship should happen. But this is a government created industry which is way too expensive and way too heavily subsidized by the government. And in all my travels down down in your part of the state, Chris, I've loved engaging with the folks in the fishing industry and they'll talk about the damage to the fishing industry of offshore wind. And let's acknowledge if you have wind turbines washing up on beaches and landing in cranberry box, I don't think that's clean energy. So more supply of all kinds of energy, including natural gas, of course, and just being uh having much more cautious approach on all these these green forms of energy. I called weeks ago for a full analysis of all the state spending on on on green energy programs and climate programs. I think it's out of control. We're we're burdening our citizens too much with these costs. We're creating a very difficult circumstance for our small businesses and our residents. And we just have to govern with pragmatism, not govern with ideology. And I think Governor Healey and her team, including her climate chiefs, that's a job that won't exist in the Canaly administration. um they look at this as dedication uh solely to the climate not to the affordability and competitiveness of our state. We um are are last in the state last in the country rather um which makes it last in the world in private sector job creation. What does a governor Healey do to correct that? A governor Connealy do correct that? G I I want to make sure people understand what you just said because it's really important. I I make this point when I um when I go around the state and talk with people. So in the last three years among the 50 states in job creation, Massachusetts literally ranks number 50. And so I mentioned my service as the state's economic development secretary at a time when the state created 230,000 private sector jobs. Uh the Healy track record is 25,000 negative. I think during that period of time, by the way, the state created 40,000 government jobs, but in terms of the the private economy, it's negative 25,000. So, I answer that question in a couple respects, Chris. First of all, you got to recognize that that people make decisions on you and we compete for investment and jobs and opportunities against lots of states and lots of other parts of the world. So, you need a governor that has a competitive mindset. And one of the things I like to talk about is in my private equity career, traveled to 40 states. And you come away from that experience realizing, you know, first we're a very special place in Massachusetts, but secondly, we're not alone. There's a lot of places to make a living and build a life in America. And you got to compete. And we we don't have a strong competitive position now. And so you got to look at just like any any CEO of a company would do. You know, look at where you're strong, look at where you're weak, and address your weaknesses. And in terms of housing costs, were third highest in the country, uh, but actually worst in terms of housing affordability when you compare incomes to housing costs. Energy costs were third highest in the country. Big thanks to California and Hawaii for keeping us out of the top spot on both of those. I guess um the taxes are too high, regulations are too burdensome. U the state budgets out of control. There's some the prospect of higher taxes at the state and local level in terms of the core parts of our economic foundation that the the the drivers of how people make decisions on where to put jobs and where to live and work and more important most importantly where to start companies. Uh we're not competing well. And so we have to address all those factors, cost of living and and the and the cost government puts on businesses. And by the way, on that one, I I I talk all the time to small business owners who talk about taxes and regulation and energy cost and unemployment insurance costs and health insurance costs. So we become a place that's just very costly to do business and that that impacts job creation, of course. So you got to address the foundation. You actually have to engage with business leaders and understand their needs. And the most important thing to do in public life is to listen and learn. I learned that as a cabinet secretary going to 151 cities and towns. I've learned it in this on this campaign trail making 98 stops now. Get out there and listen, understand what the issues are and try to solve them. And the third part of me for for growing jobs is workforce because Massachusetts our calling our calling card has always been talent. You know, we're we're a high talent state. However, our kids the the last dozen years of public education in Massachusetts, I would characterize as lower standards, less accountability, less innovation, less choice, a lot more money spent, and a lot worse results. And again, in the spirit of being a CEO running something and look at where we're strong, where we're weak, I our our education performance right now is weak uh on a relative basis. And leaders on Beacon Hill, like Governor Hilly, like to say we're number one. Um, we're sort of still number one. We're not number one for everybody and we're number six in fourth grade reading behind Mississippi. I mean, there are warning signs all over the place that that are education advantage being eroded. That's my answer on that, Chris. Fix the foundations of the economy. Uh, engage with business leaders and make sure we truly are building the best workforce out there. We're speaking with Mike Connealy. Mike's running for governor first. you're going to get the Republican nomination and he's looking for your support as a delegate at the convention and then ultimately as a voter in September. Mike, how does someone become a delegate for you at the convention? Well, I I direct people to our website, mikealy.com, and there's a lot of information on there about about my experience and my track record and my my view on some of the issues informed by all my discussions around the state. But very importantly, you can go on there uh and there's a button to volunteer and sign up as a delegate. Uh but I would be honored by by support from people uh to volunteer for the campaign and serve as a delegate at the convention. And again, it's a really really important race. Yes. And the party got to nominate the person with the best ability, the best chance to defeat Governor Healey. And I strongly believe I'm that person. Um, Mike, have you heard anything officially yet from any of the other gentlemen in the race for the nomination on your challenge to get together and debate the issues? I I personally haven't, Chris. Um, we'll we'll be on the lookout for that one though. And I uh and by the way, I we we started this call back in we we we kind of reiterated the call last night, but this goes back to October and I said we should have debates and I talked about the fact that I've been invited to forums and been the only person to show up and I said uh I said here's uh here's how we think the debate should be structured around rules. So so no notes um and uh and real debate and dialogue among the candidates, rebuttals and so forth. I think that would give and and have the debate the debates be televised or at least simal cast if they're radio debates for example. Um but really give the voters a chance to look at all three of us and make a decision. So um we're still waiting. I think it's really important and uh and I've said in that in that press release and others my debate policy is anytime anywhere. I like it. Mike Connealy who was here in Rochester last night. One more time I before I let you go give give your your website out how people can get in touch with you. Yeah website is mike connealy.com. Chris. Um, and again, I always appreciate the chance to be on here. It was a wonderful event in Rochester last night. Big thanks to Bill Chamberlain and the people down there. Got a chance to see a number of a number of familiar faces and uh, you know, Bob McConnell and Jacob Ventur and Jesse St. Jet and a bunch of great folks there. Always love my visits to that part of the state. Uh, Joe Paris was down there, right? A lot of lot of good people. So, uh, always love going down there, Chris. And always great to be on your show. Thanks, Mike. really I I I I appreciate what everything you're trying to do for the state of Massachusetts. Thank you, my friend. Again, guys, we've got um a lot of good cand. But look, his point is accurate. You got to pick the one you think can actually get 51% of the vote against Mora Healey. 51% of the vote against Mora Healey. You can nominate your favorite guy or gal. There's no gals in the race this time. Uh the Republican side, but what good is it if they lose in November, right? All right, take a break and then we'll uh we'll be back. Open phones for the remainder of the program. If it's on your mind, I'd love to hear it. Are you making a have you made a decision about what direction you're going in? Are you going with Connealy short sleeves? You going with Manog? We're going to write somebody else in. Who are you Republicans like? Who do you like in the race for governor? Stick around. We'll be right back. [Music] Welcome back to the program. It's the year of the cat. The year of the cat. I like that song. Al Stewart. Um, so We're going to have a lot of really important stuff coming up politically. Now, if you're a Republican, you can participate. You've got till the end of the month to change to Republican. If you're a Democrat today and you just had it unenrolled and you just want to be involved more with a political party, you've got till the end of December to become a Republican and that will allow you to attend the caucuses to elect the delegates to the convention. And you could become a delegate should you decide to be one to the convention. get elected. So if you live in the city of New Bedford, there are ward committees. If you live in the towns, there are town committees, but you don't have to be a member of the Republican town committee to qualify to be a delegate. It's going to be a caucus, and basically what it is is it'll be in a community room. All right? It'll fluctuate from town to town obviously, but as an example, could be at the senior center as an example um in your community, could be at town hall, it'll be on a specific date at a specific time, all registered Republicans, and this is how it works on the Democrat side as well. So, if you're a Democrat, just substitute the word Democrat for Republican. and you show up at the appointed time and you'll vote. You have to physically be there to vote, but you don't have to be physically present to be voted in as a delegate. All right? But it helps in every community. In the case of the Republicans, it's going to be one delegate for every 300 people who voted for Charlie Baker in 2018. The last successful candidate for governor was Charlie Baker in 2018. So of every 300 votes, you get one delegate in your community. Now, if you're a Republican, locally elected official to the finance committee, board of selectmen, school committee, city council, you are automatically eligible to be a delegate. And it does not count against the allotted delegates to the town. So, if you're a selectman right now or a member of the school committee or an elected member of the finance committee and you're interested or or a city council and you're interested in going to the Republican convention, you have to switch to the Republican party if you aren't now before the end of December and you're automatically eligible to be a delegate, which is pretty good. It's a pretty good deal. Um, it makes your community stronger because you automatically go and you still get all the delegates you got based on the formula of 300 of one delegate for every 300 votes for Charlie Baker. Right? So, I would think a lot of Democrats out there who don't want to go down with Healey would be considering switching to the Republican party and unenrolleds who want to have a little more activity in politics would be thinking about switching to the Republican party. All right. Well, listen. Brian the Cababie is coming up next. I'm going to leave here, go across the street, get all my blood taken out of my body, cleansed, then put back in my body. And God willing.