New Bedford debates budget cuts and their impact on public safety

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Welcome, [music] welcome to the program. We're having a lot of fireworks here. Look, I provide the meal. You got to bring your own knives to chop it up here on the program. That's what callerdriven radio is all about. We're joined by Leo Shet. Fresh off cut. Leo was uh didn't have enough time to respond to the last calls. We obviously have a clock here that goes no matter what. So Leo would like to respond and I'm happy to give him the time to the last caller. Go ahead, Leo. Show Kevin Wood. So again, look, I don't expect everybody to like me, but you want to call up on this radio station, drop a challenge, an insult, and then run away and hide. Give me a call anytime. We can talk it out. 508-441-7508. Okay. And in regards to me going back to sleep, sir, I think you need to wake the hell up because obviously you don't live in my ward, you obviously don't understand how hard I work at this job and you certainly don't understand my conviction standing out there trying to help the firemen. And you're over here complaining about, oh, this person and that person, and you didn't see what they did for a job. Let me ask you something. Have you ever seen what a third or a fourthderee burn looks like? Okay. If the mayor doesn't fund that fire station, response times go up. Somebody could get hurt or get killed. I'm sorry that whoever's friends you are, okay, might, you know, have problems on with in the mayor's staff and and they may not get the job that they want or they may they may face a cut. This isn't business as usual. We're talking about life and death. So when you tell me to wake up, I mean, you know, call me anytime and we can talk it out. He can actually call back to the program if he wants to answer what you just said to him. Leo, since you've been here, a press release came out from Mayor Mitchell's office on a statement on city council budget cuts. It's two-page press release. The mayor will be with me for a little bit tomorrow by phone, but um I want to want to get some of this on the table here. the mayor takes criticism with um some of your cuts, some of the city council cuts. I don't know the ones you voted for. Some of these you may not have voted for, but um as an example, the mayor points out or his team points out, reductions to the line item the city uses to pay its utility bills, $500,000 cut. The line item the city uses to buy fuel and replacement parts for public safety and other vehicles, $200,000 cut. the item line item the city uses to make required payments to the state unemployment insurance fund 150 cut. I know we talked about that. Um and other cuts um including cyber security $36,000 cut. You have the press release there. Uh we gave you a copy. Uh your thoughts on what the mayor's criticisms here? Well, you know, I mean I don't know. He was obviously out at a fundraiser last night, so I don't know if this was prepared before or after, right? Um, look, obviously the mayor has every right to state how he feels. Uh, and you know, I I I've come on here trying to extend the olive branch. Uh, I I I want to work with him as do many members of the council. Um, you know, in regards to these particular line items, I mean, he's looking at them. I will tell you this, the CFO, okay, was pretty happy last night in regards to the the fact that we didn't make many cuts at all. Okay. Okay. Like, you know, I I just happened to see the CFO right at the end of the meeting. Last year, we cut like what, $11 million, right? We we literally cut 0 35% of the budget. So this canned statement, I mean, come on. You know, we didn't cut 30% of the city budget. Okay? So, you know, it's unfortunate, I guess, that government has checks and balances because, you know, if it was just all run by one department, then government would be easy, right? like in North Korea. [snorts] I mean, obviously it's very simplistic. Supreme Leader Kim John Mill says, "Hey, you know, do this and and and there's no city council to get in the way, but in the United States of America, we have a city council at this level, right? And we contribute also and we speak for the people." Did you just compare the mayor to the dictator of North Korea? No. No. I said Kim Jong-il. That's the name of the dictator of North Korea. I'm just saying as far as governments out there that don't have to listen right to a legislative body. That's like North Korea, you know. 5089960500 Leo Shet, Ward One City Councelor. Good morning. Thanks for holding. [laughter] Wow, what a show this morning. Thank you. Anyways, I I'm surprised that Mr. Shet stayed after 11:00 after going through those few callers like Gilly. H well, I have no respect for what Gilly ever says anyways. So, what what he says shouldn't bother you at all. He he just gets on to irritate people. I I usually feel like shutting the radio off when he comes on. But anyways, um I I did want to say that I do I appreciate your common sense approach and thank you and you're respectful to the mayor and I appreciate that. I happen to like the mayor. I mean I think he's No, I and I like him too just very professional. I I think you know and I I I appreciate that. I I like last night. I cannot believe that Shawn Berggo and Brian Gomes just spent all that time I call it grandstanding. Um rather than getting to work and I think you mentioned a little bit about that. Um, you know, they had a big job to do yesterday, but what did they waste? A half hour at least of of time just uh grandstanding it. It's I don't appreciate that. Anyways, I won't take up any more of your time, but um I do appreciate you and I don't even know you. Anyways, thank you for the call. Don't be a stranger. Do it again sometime. Leo, that's a nice call to get, right? Yeah. I mean, obviously I can't make everyone happy and you you told me that a long time ago, right? I mean, even President Kennedy only won the election for president by like 0.0, right? But you don't want to make people that angry at you. Well, no, I don't want [laughter] Right. You know what I mean, Leo? No. And look, I mean, everybody has a right to feel how they feel about me. Maybe I hope that other gentleman calls me. Like, personally, give me a call. Like, I mean, there's nothing we can't talk out. We can make it work, right? Yeah. Yeah. I'm a pretty agreeable person, I like to think. Yeah, you are. Um, we can work it out. Didn't the Beatles sing that? Don't sing it because we'll get in trouble. 5089960500. Good morning. Thanks for holding. Yes. Good morning. Hey, good morning. This is Mr. Freetown. How are you doing, Mr. Freetown? Who's now moved to New Bedford? How are you? Good, good, good. Nice to hear from you. I I have a question for you guys. All right. You know, uh, when years ago they came out with the lottery, right? Yes. Oh, we're going to help the cities and towns. Okay. Could you tell me what kind of help New Bedford is getting from the lottery? So, it's you know, well, it's hard to figure out because they have changed that formula. It's one It's a community that gives. So, you probably remember when they used to have the illegal lottery and it employed a lot of people. I used to play as the illegal. Sure. Everyone did. So everyone So did everybody else. Yes. In fact, where I used to go, there would be police officers in there playing the lottery and I'd look at them and they'd smile at me. So, you know, they're human like I am and everybody else, but I I want to know what the hell the lottery is doing to help out. I know uh I know the governor has been very free with the money she gives out. Yes. But uh what kind of money are they helping? How are they helping you out? That's what I want to know. It's it's a great question. Thank you for the call, my friend. Thanks for checking in. Leo, do you understand how much the lottery actually gives to the city? Do you know that? Not off the top of my head, I don't know. You know who would be a great person to to find that? I I mean, I could reach out to Mr. Steve Martins. Yes. I mean, he he works for the lottery. I mean, and and he was a W one, you know, constituent of mine, right? I mean, I think he lived in W 2, Steve. No, he moved to Ward One. Oh, okay. Oh, yeah. He lives He lives in a nice area in my ward. Sure. There's no bad areas in Woodland, I don't think. Well, no, we want to keep it that way. Yeah. [laughter] Right. Right. Leo 5089960500. We've got other people on hold. Good morning. Thanks for holding. Good morning, gentlemen. And council lecture cat is is I apologize if you give this answer, but like I just turned on like the radio. I'm I'm just curious. I got two questions for you, counselor. First of all, when you introduced your proposal to the mayor saying, "Mayor, this is what we can do." What What did he say to you? Why did he refuse that idea? Exactly. What is What was his feedback? Why wouldn't he go that route? Well, so I didn't really get a direct answer. Okay. Um, you know, he the mayor is is very much trying to um get the the the minimum manning changed with the firemen from four to three. I I know he feels passionately about that. He's talked all about it here. Yeah. And I'm not faulting him for feeling strongly about that. Um, do I think that that's the correct assessment? No. But he's the mayor and he's got every right to to have his opinion on that. Um and then of course the uh the municipal uh they call it chapter 21 and 23 uh trying to get the health care providers to switch the uh the co-pays okay percentage from 7030 to or 7525 to like 65 uh 35. Um, you know, no doubt if they were able to do that, that provides a lot of savings. And the mayor is absolutely correct that some of the big stresses on this budget is rising pension costs, rising health care costs, right? Um, he is correct with that. And some of the budget council, I think some of the budget that's really stressed like on on on every city and town in in the state is the education budget. And it's funny because Yeah. No, not under benefit because we get 80% uh Well, yeah, but it kind of handcuffs you of of of that you have to give that base minimum and even that base minimum is a large amount. It's funny how you talk about the lottery system, it's down in the Carolinas, the m all the all the proceeds, unless it changed, all the proceeds of the lottery system down there goes directly to education. So, they don't have the issues that we have up here. So, a lot of it 100% goes all to education. I I don't know if that's changed. And the other question I have for you, me now as now I live in New Buffett, but now I've been a Don like resident and now me I'm concerned about the mutual aid because I'm thinking strategically. There was a reason why he closed that specific one because you look at the way it is. You go up road, you got the volunteer fire department which we have here in Damoth which which works great for us. We got the fire station right there on State Road. You go down a little bit by Walmart, you got another fire station there. So, it's kind of close to the airport and everything else that god forbid if something happens. Now, what happens to us and do fall? Yeah, I heard your call yesterday. You you brought up an excellent point and I want to and I'll rehash this with Chris. Um, so the caller's point is, you know, much like the the loafing 30some guy from uh uh Step Brothers who's buming gas money off his mom to get to school. Um, you know, the city of New Bedford would now be buming mutual aid and taking from the people of Dartmouth because we don't have enough coverage up here. So now, how does that affect the taxpayers in Dartmouth? And if it does, does it affect you guys financially? And listen, that is an incredibly important question which I am gonna find the answer to. And I I would have had an answer today. I I just, you know, with last night and everything, I just didn't get around to it. Um, and and I don't know if you know this, but I I you know, my family, they all live in North Dartmouth. I went to Dartmouth school system. I'm originally a Dartmouth guy. So, this is this is important to me. I don't want New Bedford, you know, um, hurting the surrounding communities. counselor, I get the fact that, God forbid, there's a five alarm fire. You got all hands on deck. I get it. Of course, everybody's supposed to like help out. I get it. But now you're short-handed on purpose and basically everything that's average might be mutual aid and and that's what concerns me. Listen, Diamond has his own issues. Listen, this year we got a balanced budget, but next year it doesn't look well because again, education is going to be an issue. And until we in our local communities, now this is something different entirely in the future. Do you want to really change our local budgets, our state budgets, we have to look at the way we fund education, education, everybody's a right to a free education. I agree for the teachers, for the buildings, for the schools, not for transportation, not for the extracurricular activity. That should be some kind of co-ayment or some kind of out of pocket. I'm sorry. When you have trans, especially transportation, imagine all the money you get for transportation and you could put it towards teachers and put it towards classrooms. When you have kids being dropped off at each individual house, this is ridiculous. Now, okay, that that costs money. There is no reason why a parent can't afford the the transportation because you're already getting a free education. I by my choice from grammar school all the way to high school paid out of pocket to go to private school. That was my choice. But I paid for everything and I I have no problem with that. I don't see as a taxpayer, we as taxpayers who don't have children no more in in the school system are still paying and and I fully agree with that for the books, for the buildings, for the teachers, everything else. I'm sorry. Parents have to have some kind of responsibility because we cannot burden this anymore. The big problem is the school system, which Diamond next year is going to be the school system again. We have to address this. We cannot run education like we're running education in the 70s and 60s. It's changed. This transportation transportation issue I think is the main issue which we can get a lot of money back counselor a lot of money and put it towards the teachers that you need and the classrooms that's where we have to go but it's going to be a a bad pill to swallow going to be a lot of angry people but I'm sorry when when you have children transportation is your responsibility extracurricular activity if you have it for the baseball leagues and all the soccer leagues you can give a co- payment to is towards your local high school for equipment and transportation. That's the way it should be. Thanks for the call. Thank you for the call, my friend. A lot of that is above Leo's elected position committee. That's, you know, the mayor state law, too. State law. Absolutely. Leo, we got other people who want to speak with you. I'm going to take a quick break. If you're on hold, stay there. I just got to get in a It'll be a It'll a minute and a half. So, stick around. We'll go right back to the phones. More with Leo Shet. Sometimes a Democrat, sometimes a Republican. We never know. We never know. We broke the big story. Breaking news. Here we go. Stick around. This portion of programming on WBSM [music] is brought to you by De's Hot Dogs in New Bedford, where you can get two hot dogs, chips, [music] and a soda for just six bucks. Back to Chris McCarthy and South Coast now on WBSM. [music] Call 508996500. Welcome back to the program. We have ward one city councelor Leo Shet here fresh off cut night and have a lot of time left with us but we got a number of people on hold. Good morning. Thank you for holding. Thanks for holding. I don't know what's happening with that. Good morning. Thanks for holding. Good morning. Thanks for holding. Susie, call back. 508996500. Please call back if I just hung up on you. And your name is Susie. Good morning. Thanks for holding. Hey, Chris. How you doing? Good. What's happening? You're on with I'm standing above. I'm I'm still kicking. Um just barely making it. Uh treading the water. How you doing, Council Shette? I'm doing well. How you doing, sir? Uh, not too good. Now, with uh where our city's going, uh, you know, we're being given a TV dinner and we're telling we're having a banquet dinner at $32 million in December 2025. We were told uh by the mayor we got $13 million surplus. Uh, this the school budget is $290 million. Uh, bus and transportation for all the students is $15 million. We're told we can't touch the but the school budget. If we cut the school budget, we're going to get less in state aid. It's a catch 22. Uh, and that's been accounts for 66% of our budget is going to the school department. Uh, all I got to say is that we're headed towards chapter 9 receiverhip. And the mayor is not an emperor of He's not a Roman emperor with his purple toga. You got to kiss his feet. This guy has been spending like a drunken sailor since he got in. In 2012, it was $283 million was our city budget. Our city budget ballooned over $500 million. It's great to give speeches on the floor of the city council. But you're telling me the only cuts that were made last night is only a little over a million dollars. Yeah.$ 1.7 million. It literally is only 0.35% of the total budget. Yeah. Right. you know, so to to have press releases where, you know, we're getting complaints already. Um, right. Let me just say in all honesty, Leo, it's peanuts. It's dropping a bucket. Uh, the, you know, Beth Light put out a story, the anatomy of the of the city budget. We're going to make $16 million in in cuts and we're going to take it on the chin for $16 million. [clears throat] We're talking about hundreds and hundreds of dollars that going to be put on us. city, our city taxes have gone up year over year 25 to 30%. It's a burden. Well, you have the mayor going out for a fundraiser. The guy doesn't meet with you. You had uh you had the head of the the firefighters union, Billy Sylvia, said that he doesn't even talk to them. you know, keeps talking about we need to bring down uh the health insurance and we the pension plan, but he don't even sit down with the leaders of the of the labor uh the not only the labor units, but uh the police department and the fire department, you know. No, no, the mayor the the mayor does I'll tell you the mayor does it, you know, out of respect here for the mayor, the mayor does meet with them. He has great talks with them. Um it's actually part of this press release he talks about. Go ahead. Go ahead. Um, they may not make as much progress as both sides would would each like, but you know, look, at the end of the day, I I get it that the mayor's statement on the city council budget cuts is not going to be him saying, "Oh, this is wonderful." But here is here is the ultimate question. after absorbing everything that he puts in this budget cut uh press release, how can you justify that the correct response to fixing these things is cutting public safety for 30,000 people? I mean, that's like being in a plane that's having engine trouble and saying, "Hey, let's cut off the wing. That'll fix the problem." I mean, come on. 5089965. Thank you for holding and thank you for calling back. Hey, Chris. Sorry if this call dropped. That's all right. That's all right, Susie. Good morning. [snorts] Good morning. It's been a riveting show so far. Very entertaining. I just want to change topic really quick. Appreciate the time. Sure. Tonight is our Aushnet Republican Town Committee first anniversary meeting. Um that's at six o'clock tonight at the VFW um in a Kushnet. We have some great guests. Uh Jesse St. slave will be there. Elizabeth Dion and uh Mike Walsh. So, everybody's welcome. You too, Leo. Oh, thank you. No, Mike Walsh is a great Jesse's great, but you can see a lot of Jesse around locally, but Michael Walsh is the candidate for AG. He I've I've had lunch with him. He's and and seen him speak. He's dynamic. That's going to be a great lineup tonight, Susie. Yes, a great lineup. So, thank you for the time and I hope everybody's welcome. We hope to see everybody tonight. Thanks, Chris. Thanks, Leo. Thank you. Um, yeah, great opportunity to head out to Ausha. They're doing a lot out there. Their first annual their like anniversary meeting. They've come a long way. Um, that was a uh big win out there for Donald Trump. A Kushnet. Um, yeah. But before I take off here, I I just wanted to say again, look, obviously, you know, I I I'm an excitable guy. I'm a competitive guy. So, you know, obviously excitable boy. Yeah. Um, that's a song, Leo. Yes, it is. Warren Zebon excitable. Do you know that song? Yeah. But my point is is that you don't have a date for the prom coming up, do you? No. If if if you know you feel that I'm not doing my job well enough, even if you don't live in my ward, which I'm pretty sure that Cara doesn't live in the ward, give me a call. I She lives in a cushion. No, no, no. Her I'm talking about the gentleman that Oh, the guy from the guy that thought I was like Edy A mean, you know. Um, give me a call. 508-441-7508. I I want to hear from you. I don't want to I I don't hide from criticism. I want to know what you think I didn't do right. And you know, if you hid from criticism, you wouldn't come on this program, Leo. I know that about you. Yeah. Yeah. You're a stand-up guy. Thank you. Um I don't know what position you're going to take next, but you're a you'll stand on at least I go with the common sense positions or the wind. Is that what we're calling the wind now? Common sense. Leo, I appreciate you coming in. All right. Thank you. Thank you to the audience. Uh it's been a it's been a an experience. Again, Mr. Mayor, you you have my respect. I hope that you'll take the baton that the council has done with these cuts and apply that money to station 9. And and again, thank you, sir. Thanks. Thanks, Leo Shet. You know, in New England, framing has to stand up to the elements. That's exactly what Shoreline Framing Incorporated is built for. Dave S. Vera and his team bring more than 20 years of residential and commercial wood framing experience to every job. From custom homes to large commercial projects, Shoreline Framing delivers strong, precise, precise [snorts] craftsmanship designed for coastal New England conditions. Reliable crews, quality work and framing built to last. For advanced residential in commercial wood framing, trust shoreline framing. Contact Dave SA and Shoreline Framing Incorporated in Dartmouth to discuss your next project. Their phone number is 508962 0977 Shoreline Framing Incorporated. All right. So that was Leo Shet. Excitable excitable counselor, right? That was a um excellent segment with the council. I do appreciate him making so much time for us. So, while we were um doing that program, the mayor of New Bedford sent over a press release. Um the mayor will be here with me tomorrow, but it will be by phone because he's representing the city of New Bedford down in Tennessee. He's paying for that as well. Well, the the the city of New Bedford is not paying for that trip. I am told that the sponsors of the um the conference of the mayor's at in Tennessee are paying for that. But the mayor's press release, his statement on the city council budget cuts, I read a little bit of it about the cuts because I found it unique and I wanted Leo to have an opportunity to contribute to the program by saying more. But the mayor says at a time when the residents of New Bedford needed the city council to put political differences aside, rise to the occasion and work with the administration to put city finances on an even keel for the long term. The council yet again chose gimmicks and arbitrary budget cuts that will not only further reduce services but also ignore the long-term structural imbalances that have already pushed the budget to the boiling point. Just as I, the mayor of New Bedford, have warned for years, rising pensions, employee health care costs combined with an inadequate level of state aid that have not kept pace with inflation ought to have been the focus of the council's work. But instead, it missed yet another opportunity to pursue meaningful reforms in these areas and deliver long-term relief for local taxpayers. The mayor goes on to say, "While the administration remains focused on structural solutions, the city council continued its past practices of arbitrary, often unimplemented cuts to departments that collectively represent only a very small portion of the overall budget. goes on to mention the examples of the cuts that I talked about. These and other similar cuts do nothing to rein in the real budget busters driving up tax bills. They, meaning the city council, simply create the appearance of fiscal discipline while dodging the hard work of real reform. Again, I'm reading a statement from the mayor's office. Among the cuts that he singled out for um criticism were um city council uh cut $36,000 from the cyber security services which protect the computer networks. Remember, wasn't that long ago that the city and other it's happened in other municipalities, police departments, but cyber hacks, cyber hostage situation. City council cut 36,000 though. Um the mayor lists a whole bunch of cuts. Um and again, he'll be here tomorrow. But the mayor to close off his statement says, "My administration will now begin the process of carefully evaluating every budget cut to determine whether a reduction is implemented or not. But most importantly, my administration intends to continue proactively working with the city's public employee unions during the coming summer months to address health insurance and pension reforms as well as collective bargaining matters that together can produce genuine benefits. to the taxpayers of New Bedford and address the long-term fiscal challenges facing city government. So, that's the statement of the mayor. Um, I want to point out Leo did say, hey, look, the mayor is working with the unions. But I I know he has been cuz um but I think Leo was right to qualify it with saying it doesn't maybe move as fast. But you know guys, if you look at negotiations, they don't always move as fast as we like, right? That's cuz both sides have really important positions and you wouldn't expect either side to give up their positions right away, right? Otherwise, they wouldn't really be important positions. So anyway, 508996 0500. This hour is brought to you by the cold beer and the world's best chicken wings at Rose Alley Ale House in downtown New Bedford. It's a great day. Looks like it's going to be a good day to sit on the deck at Rose Alley. If not today, maybe tomorrow. Right. Check it out. So, it's been a really, really wild couple of hours. I do appreciate Leo Shoet. If any other city council has the time and wants to call in, I I certainly love to continue this conversation. Um, but um maybe we won't have any takers. So it is u really interesting evening right like I said Paul Haru Paul I'm sorry I'm just texting with the sheriff Paul Haru so we're trying to figure out our schedule no Shane Berggo who has through his supporters and out of his own mouth although never to me has announced he's running for mayor. Okay. He's running for mayor and I know right after he was reelected to the city council. He was out and about in town. He announced to one of the union lobbyists, a leader, but also a lobbyist, I'm going to need a maximum. It was said in front of multiple people, so I know it's true. Um I didn't just have one source on this. I'm going to need maximum contributions from you people, right? Meaning everybody who's out there donating to political campaign cuz he's running for mayor. And last night, you heard. And that's why I thought it was worth playing. I didn't fact check it. I just played it straight. I didn't edit it. Nothing. You can go play it on cable access. Shane Berggo made a series of direct charges against Mayor Mitchell and his closest staff members. So, it um it's going to be an interesting year. And the mayor had a fundraiser. It was an RSVP and we'll give you the we'll give you the location. By the way, I don't see anything wrong with it. I really don't. Um I wouldn't want if I was the host or the mayor, people showing up there who um were going to protest and give my uh my supporters a hard time. I don't even know if that would have happened, but it has happened. But I just want to point out recently there was a fundraiser like that couple of months ago in the city of New Bedford. It was at the inner bay. Inner Bay is a great location. I have lunch there couple of times a month. I love the inner bay. Um they have an upstairs room. more people should use that to hold a fundraiser. Um, the attorney general held a fundraiser there. Andrea Campbell held a fundraiser upstairs at the inner bay. Maybe a year ago now. Literally, her invitations said, "We'll give you the location when you RSVP." I happen to know who rented that room on behalf of the attorney general or rather who put their name down right as the contact person. I know. So before John Mitchell did it, the attorney general did the we'll give you the location when you RSVP to our fundraiser. Only then do you get the location. I know who in the local power structure put their name down to solicit and ret retain that room on behalf of the attorney general who used the exact invitation format that the people running the mayor's fundraiser did. When you tell us you're coming, when you RSVP, we'll tell you the location. Before I ever saw John Mitchell's team do that, I saw Andrea Campbell's team do that. And I know who signed up to be the per local contact for that room. So, it's pretty interesting, right? Pretty interesting. Can take a break. We'll be if you're on hold, stay there. It's a quick one. Another minute break. Stick around. South Coast Now with Chris McCarthy. weekdays on 1420 a.m. and [music] 995 FM WBSN. Welcome back to the program. Just finishing up before I go to the phones, my thoughts on the fact that the mayor had a fundraiser. Um, I only knew one of the names on that list. That's not a big deal. Um, it is important for people in the greater New Bedford area to raise money outside of the greater New Bedford area because a lot of us have friends outside of the greater New Bedford area, right? I grew up in Freetown, spent my summers in Fair Haven, but I had a lot of friends in the Boston area from college and other places like that. So, when I was a selectman, a bunch of my friends got together and threw a fundraiser for me in Boston. Um, that's if you're going to if you want to be successful in politics, look at Sean Oliver. He's getting a lot of money from the Boston area. Um, it's just the way it is. There are not enough people who or not enough people who contribute money to political campaigns in the greater New Bedford area. if you really want to compete against people who do raise money in the Boston area. So, you got to do it. And I don't know that the mayor's fundraiser was in Boston. I've heard some speculation that it might have been a law firm in Boston area, but a lot of people do that. I got to be honest with you, if you don't realize that, um, and I know a lot of people do and they just taken it as a political shot against the mayor for whatever reason, future contests, maybe past contests. All right, let's go back to the phones. Good morning. Thanks for holding. Yes. Good morning. What's happening, Mr. Freton? I I had to call back because I didn't get a chance to tell you what my thoughts are. Okay, go ahead. I'm glad you did. Okay. Is Leo still there? Leo is not. Oh, gee. Okay. But that's all right. He said that he's going to talk to Steve Martin to find out where the lottery money goes. Yes, sir. Okay. Here's what I would do. Here's what I would propose. You know something? Uh, Chris, you know what I'd say? The hell with the mass lottery. Let's have a new Bethford lottery. [laughter] Let's have our own. And then I wrote down who I would have. All right. Okay. I would have Dartmouth Freetown. All right. Okay. Uh, Lakeville and uh there would be five all together. Okay. We have our own lottery, right? Okay. Uh the the money would be shared, you know, between these these little area. I call it the big five. And uh you know I this way here we would know where the money's going. And then you you know what I would do? Excuse me. [clears throat] We give a you know of all the proceeds taken into the lottery for the year. We would give a royalty to the state. Okay. In other words, maybe 2% of of the money we took in we could give back to the state. And and like I say, the hell with the the the way the state runs the lottery, what they're doing with the money. Let's have our own lottery. It would be called the new uh we would call it the big five. New Beford lottery. How would we select? We'd have the other towns in with us. We'd have Westport. We would have Dartmouth. Then we would have Lakeville and Freetown and New Befford. We'd have five communities. And and this is what we would do. This this is what I would propose. Okay? I would want to be independent of the state and you know let's use this money to help our area out. You know I do. Yeah. This is what I would do. I would love to see this happen but really we could run it out of a clothing store up on a Christian Avenue. Oh, they're not there anymore. You're right. [snorts] You're right. We we could do uh and and you know you were saying a little while ago uh Leo was saying uh New Befford has two people that do the same job. Yes. We could take one of those persons that's got that education and that knowledge to be the head of the the head of the lottery. Okay. That we would have. I mean, you know, maybe I'm stupid what I'm No, no. I I like the idea. I mean, I I fear that we'd all end up in jail, but I you know, what's gambling these days, right? [laughter] What's a gambling charge? Yeah, sure. [snorts] But I'm I'm saying that, you know, uh and you know, uh Chris, talking to you. Okay. The other day I got very upset. Oh, you know they were saying that you know uh you know social security the pensions right? Yes. You would end up w with 700 let's say I got a pension of $1,000. Okay. Okay. I would end up with $780. Okay. If I had a pension of of 2,000 I would be losing $220 times. You know what what happened Chris? I wouldn't be able to eat. No. I think a lot of people if the government ever did that crazy idea they're talking about I wouldn't be able to eat so you know uh I don't know there's no sensibility sometimes I get so upset how would we select the money how would we select the number um for the lottery would it be like the old school three three numbers the uh the handle at the dog track we could have two we could no we could have three lotteryies okay number one would be the alphabet lottery. The next one would be the regular numbers lottery and the other one would be be the cash. You know, we'd have 30 numbers and we do that. We could have our own. Oh, yeah. Believe me. I wish I wish, you know, uh Leo, I I wish he was here to hear what I'm saying. I hope he is. Oh, he's listening. I'm sure he's listening. He's on his way down the case for his private clients. It's getting to the point. Uh Chris, well well you know if you can't if you're squandering the money one way, [clears throat] give us our own, we'll take care of oursel and we won't squander any money. No, I agree with you. This is how I feel about things. You know you if you if you're so big you can't do things right. Well the hell with you. Let's do our own. I tell you what, there's a the treasurer the state treasurer happens to be uh treasurer Goldberg right now. Um she's got an opponent on the Republican side um who has been on the program a couple of times, Elizabeth Dion. I actually had lunch with her. Um and she's putting looking for options to how to make the lottery better. I'll run that by her when I next time I have her. Well, you can call in next time she comes down. Oh, yeah. I would I I know how to I I know how I would set up this lottery. Don't worry about that. And and another thing too uh uh we we would have like uh every area would have a representative uh come in and look at the books. Okay. I mean you you know there will be no squandering of any money and you know uh uh uh uh some of these people that work for the lottery I I've been over there. They're they're ignorant. You know what I'm saying? I've dealt with a few of them and I don't like your attitude and and you know you know there's no need of this kind of stuff. I mean, you know, it's just I just get disgusted with things sometimes. I agree with you, my friend. Thanks for the call. Thanks for the great idea. The gone of the days when if a lottery agent got out of line, you could go over and talk to their boss, whether it was Jerry or Raymond or Timmy, you could talk to their boss. Now, you got to wait till election season. Um, a lot of conversation about the audit, right? The audit. I got the mayor's press release here and among the cuts by the city council that he's highlighting as arbitrary and not helpful, right? They cut $22,000 from a legally mandated annual audit. the people they pay to do the audit. City council cut the $22,000 for the legally mandated audit of the city books. The mayor is pointing that out in the press release. I mean, that's pretty funny, right? That um because if there's one thing that we all concerned with is the audit. And I get it. It's a different audit than this one. But um we'll have the mayor tomorrow to talk about it. Stick around. We'll be right back. Welcome back to the program. I'm Chris McCarthy. We're wrapping up the program. Um I got a press release here from the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance celebrating that the rent control ballot question will not be on the ballot in November. Okay, that ballot question is uh not going to be on the ballot. All right, they've knocked the rent control question, which I think is a good decision because it's a little bit tempting uh for people to to go with it. So, I'm glad it won't be on the ballot. We'll talk more about that. We got some people on hold here, though. Good morning. Thanks for holding. How you doing? Good. How you doing? Not bad. Uh I'm selling uh hang uh handkerchieips. You're selling handkerchiefs. Punchline, please. Cuz everybody's going to be crying when they see their tax bill. That's That's true. [snorts] And some's probably going to lose the houses, uh, thrown out of their apartments because they're not going to be able to handle the rent. You know, this is the way I look at it, okay? The more money you give them, the broker they get. And I look at it this way. If we owe what was it, $32 million? Well, it's a it's a deficit, but yes. Go ahead. Okay.