Alex Lasry Interview

SPEAKER_01 0:16

Hello, it's Nick from Dinner Plus Drinks Podcast. Thank you for tuning in for this episode. As you can tell by the title, and if you're a loyal listener from listening to our programming announcement earlier this week, today's episode is not one of our normal episodes. Instead, it's something very special. A podcast we recorded live on Friday, July 22nd with Alex Lazary, Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate for the state of Wisconsin. We were really happy we had this opportunity to do the interview and talk about Alex as a person, some of the issues in this election, and of course we still had to throw in some of our normal fun with some quickfire questions and a kid corner at the end. Alex's story is pretty great, so I do hope you'll listen. For new listeners, thanks for tuning in. We hope you find that our style of interviewing and how we talk with Alex helps you learn more about who you want to vote for in this race if you're gonna vote in it. If you don't care about anything related to politics, we get it. You can skip this episode, but we do think it's a great interview, and we're really proud of it. So without further ado, just want to give you one note that this recording is a little bit more quiet than our normal ones due to the live situation. Otherwise, we hope you enjoy it. Thanks for tuning in.

SPEAKER_03 1:44

Hello.

SPEAKER_01 1:44

It is nice to see you all. Thank you for coming. Uh we want to be respectful of everybody's time and make sure everybody has a nice amount of time to talk to Alex afterwards. So uh want to get started. For those of you that don't know me, I am Nick. I am half of Dinner Plus Drinks Podcast, which we're recording tonight. So you are part of the live studio audience. The microphones aren't facing you, but we can, you know, if you like scream, we could hear you. And if your cell phone rings, we could hear you too. So you just want to make sure that that's not like ringing. That would be awesome.

SPEAKER_03 2:14

We will call you out otherwise. We will.

unknown 2:16

We will.

SPEAKER_03 2:17

We know all of your names.

SPEAKER_01 2:20

Convenient. Uh we are recording this. We're gonna post it in our podcast feed. So uh there's a recording of Buddy Rich doing a live uh recording where he said if you don't like what you did, you can come back tomorrow. If you like what you did, you can listen to it on Sunday. Um Alex, we're gonna skip the uh elevator speech again just to kind of uh be respectful of everybody's time. But if you don't know, he's running for Senate in the state of Wisconsin. Uh he is, I would say, an accomplished human being. Uh he's a husband, he's a dad. Um he was uh working, worked in the Obama administration. He is a part of the team that brought the ship to Milwaukee, bucks and sticks. We have an anniversary there, so thank you for that, Alex. Good work. Um he was a key part of the bid that brought the DNC to Milwaukee and just did a lot of really cool things. So that's a little introduction.

SPEAKER_03 3:15

So, yeah, we're gonna have a little chat. Uh obviously, the goal here is to get to know Alex better. Um, we're going to then open up for questions from you guys. So, as we're going, make sure you're writing them down or thinking of questions you might have. Uh, but we're gonna dive right in.

SPEAKER_01 3:28

So, also can we just say cheers, everybody? Thanks for coming. Cheers, thanks, guys. Dinner plus drinks, you know, conversation and drinks. So we got spotted cow up here.

SPEAKER_03 3:37

So um I chatted a little bit about this, but I was early on the Alex train. Uh, for those of you that don't know or haven't listened to the podcast regularly, I lived in Milwaukee for 11 years. I would arguably still live there today. Uh, but we moved back here, my family's back here, and um my husband got a job back here that we wanted to move back for. But I lived in Milwaukee when when I like to say Milwaukee really grew up, and that was largely in part to due, in my opinion, to the Pfizer Forum and the whole change of the Deer District and that area down there. And if you're not familiar, um uh Alex was incredibly instrumental, in my opinion. Uh Jill, I know out here, avid listener Jill, listened to my love letter to Milwaukee on one of my podcasts, and I just like poured my heart out about this exact topic um about how how Milwaukee really grew up in the bucks and the whole Pfizer Forum situation uh really changed the face of the city from becoming this place that people were people from Lake Geneva specifically, you know, where where I grew up were not so keen on it. And so so anyway, we uh we talk a lot on this podcast about my love for Milwaukee. So this fits right in. Um, but uh right as we were relocating, Pfizer Forum was being built, and I I want you to be able to brag about everything you did with that and and brag away, because that's what we're here for. If not, I'm gonna do it for you. So tell us all about kind of that project and and its its opening.

SPEAKER_00 4:58

Yeah, so um thank you guys so much for having me. It's great to be here. Um when we were trying to build the Bucks Arena, for us the entire thing was about how do we create something that's not just a place for the Bucks to play basketball, but something that was gonna be bigger than that. It was something that wanted we wanted to make sure was going to help redevelop and bring some new, be the new living room of Milwaukee and Wisconsin, something that was going to bring the next stage of sports and entertainment to Wisconsin, but also something that was going to be a big jobs creator and something that was going to create a lot of economic development. And so that's why what we picked was, you know, you see a lot of arenas or ballparks or stuff, they kind of are out in the suburbs because you want to be able to take advantage of all the parking revenue. We did not want to do that. We wanted to make sure that we built something in downtown that was going to be a real convener and, as I said, the living room of Milwaukee. We also wanted to make sure that it was going to be built by people from Wisconsin and with materials from Wisconsin. So what we did was we ensured that we built Pfizer Form 100% union and paid a living wage. We made sure that we used 80% of our materials for the Bucks Arena were sourced right here from Wisconsin. So that was stuff like steel from Marathon County or concrete from Manitowak. And we also wanted to make sure that we were hiring people from the hardest-tip zip codes. So what I led was uh our workforce development initiative where we did town halls in all of the aldermanic districts in Milwaukee. So we didn't just want to ask people to come to us to apply for a job. We wanted to go to them and network and talk to people because if there was one thing I learned in business school is that it is always better to put a face with the resume. And so we would go into every aldermanic district and we would have 50 to 200 people at these town halls with all of our contractors and subcontractors and union reps and daycare reps and all of these other community resources. And we wouldn't leave until the last person left. We would stay there from 6 or 6.30 at night till 8.30 or 9 o'clock at night, just making sure that we talked to anyone. And we hired a number of people from these town halls that were able to kind of create not just jobs but careers. And now since then they've been able to get onto other job sites. Our contracts were 30% minority-owned, women-owned, disadvantaged businesses. So again, this was something that was going to be not just a place for the Bucks to win a championship, but more importantly, it was going to be a place that created jobs and helped spur economic development. And as a result, we were able to get the Democratic National Convention. Now we might be getting the Republican National Convention. But the, you know, the Bucks playoff run has spurred millions of dollars of economic impact. Concerts are coming in that we otherwise were never getting before. The marina's booked 200 plus days a year inside and outside. You're seeing all this development now happening west of the river. You can probably speak to this too. I've never seen in the downtown of any city where there were just 30 acres of undeveloped land.

SPEAKER_03 8:10

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 8:11

For 30 years, there was just nothing put there. And we took a chance and said, I bet you if we build here, this is going to be a great thing for Milwaukee. And this is going to be a great thing for Wisconsin. We invested west of the river, and now you're seeing west of the river blowing up. You're seeing all of this new development kind of happening, not on the east side, but west of the river in a place that it before had no development. And so I'm proud of the work that we've been able to do. And, you know, that was kind of the impetus of this run was needing someone who's had a track record of accomplishment before they start asking for votes.

SPEAKER_03 8:46

I I mean River West, when we lived there, was like River West. We don't go there. We don't buy a house there. We don't we don't rent a house there. We certainly don't, you know, we had friends that got a place in in one of the first apartment buildings that was um just across 4th Street where we're like kind of scared to go there past midnight, you know, we're like leave. And now I can't imagine what the rent is at places down there. And that was when the arena opened, 2018. Uh I think something around. We left in 2016. I think it opened right after we left because I cried many tears about it.

SPEAKER_00 9:18

COVID's made everything feel like one job.

SPEAKER_03 9:20

Yeah, one year.

SPEAKER_00 9:21

So that's fair. You know, we opened right before right before COVID. So it's 2018, 2019. Yep, okay. Um but I think that's that that's what we were really hoping to do was how do we make a place in Milwaukee that was a place that everyone would congregate, that everyone would go to. That and also if you were coming into Milwaukee, what we were noticing was a lot of people from the surrounding areas would come in for a game and then leave right after. Right. Or they'd come in for a concert and leave right after. We wanted to build an area that made you say, hey, we're gonna stay here for the weekend. This is gonna be a date night, or you know, a parents' night out, or we're gonna bring our kids into, you know, into you know, downtown. And it's become something where now you're starting to see a lot of people not just coming in and getting out, but staying for Rot Fest or Bloody Mary Fest and all the you know yoga on the plaza, right? Like we're trying to activate in a way that's gonna bring in new talent. One of the things I think Wisconsin is struggling with right now is attracting and retaining talent. That's something that hopefully this new type of district is gonna be able to help spur.

SPEAKER_01 10:36

Alex, you said something interesting there about how the success that you and the team experienced with building the Deer District, building that up, that economic halo that you expanded, that's something that you said thought qualified you to run for Senate because you're asking, you've had success, you've had economic impact before asking for a vote. You moved to Wisconsin for a job. I mean, a really pretty awesome job, but you know, I've been here my entire life. Uh I know a lot of people in Wisconsin that's important too. What about not just Milwaukee, but the entire state of Wisconsin made you say, I want to stand up and be one of a hundred people representing American citizens, but most specifically Wisconsin citizens of the United States Senate? What made you want to do that?

SPEAKER_00 11:23

Yeah, I mean, look, you don't have a choice of where you're born, right? My parents didn't ask me, hey, you want to be born here? Where, like, where can we get to so that's good for you. So that you can be born. Where would you prefer that? But you do have a choice of where you live. And I've lived in Wisconsin the vast majority of my adult life, other than my stint in graduate school and at the White House. And this is where my wife and I are choosing to raise our family. This is where we're choosing to live. And when I think about what we need, to me it's not about where people are born, right? My daughter's born in Milwaukee. She's gonna have no choice of where she grows up, right? She's gonna be a Brewer fan, a Packer fan, hopefully a Bucks fan. But she's got no choice in any of that. When she's 21, though, and graduating college, where's she gonna choose to live? Right now, Wisconsin's best export is its people. We've got a brain drain that is really hurting our economy and hurting our state. And I'm sure everyone here knows kids or friends or anything that where people have said, yep, I grew up here and you know now I'm moving to Denver or Chicago or Minneapolis or Austin. And that's a problem that we're having because we're educating our kids. And they're using our our education resources and our universities, and then they're using that talent somewhere else. And that to me is what this race is about is how do we make sure that we've got more people choosing to live in Wisconsin, making sure that we're attracting and retaining talent. And when I looked at this race, to me, what I thought we need in Washington as our representatives are people who have a history and a track record of getting things done. You hear a lot from politicians about fighting. I'm gonna go to DC and fight for you. I, you know, and when you ask them, hey, what qualifies you to run? They said, well, I've run for office before, or I've proposed this idea, or I chaired a commission. That's not actually doing anything. Right? Politics is the only profession where proposing an idea is the accomplishment. And people go, oh yeah, that was awesome. We need people who are actually gonna go and can do things. And what I hear around the state is I'm tired of people just fighting. I want someone who's gonna actually go and deliver. And that's, I thought, the the different type of candidacy and background that I brought, which is when we're talking about raising wages, I didn't just talk about it, we did it. We pay a $15 minimum wage in Five Survey, which is more than double the minimum wage from before we took over. When it came to creating jobs, we did that. We created 10,000 good paying union jobs right here in Wisconsin. When it came to investing in the state, well, we did that, right? I talked about the 80% of materials that were sourced here and the contracts that we use that were from uh minority-owned disadvantaged businesses. Bringing the Democratic Convention here, uh the stuff we've done on voting rights and racial and social justice, right? These are all concrete accomplishments that um that we've been able to get done. And I think that is more of what we need. Someone who can go and not just fight and then come up with excuses as to why things didn't get done, but someone who can actually go to Washington and and do some things because I think that's how we're gonna be able to, you know, move this state forward.

SPEAKER_03 14:49

Yeah, we're we're doers and we want doers. So we're gonna dive right in and talk about a few key issues. Okay, so we're starting with the economy. Again, people who are listening um or have known me in my life or listened to the podcast at all know I've been trying to do a renovation on my house for two years. Two years. Two years plus. Has it been that long?

SPEAKER_01 15:08

At least two years.

SPEAKER_03 15:10

I think I got my house built in the time I've-and built a whole house in the time we've been renovating. Um, so the economy, we started right before everyone did. So now it is insane. I mean, prices are nuts. When's the bubble gonna pop? What what's your take on the economy and and making it a place like making this where my house will get done at an affordable price?

SPEAKER_00 15:32

I I think this is something that we're just seeing from everyone, right? Everyone is talking about the issues that are facing them day to day, whether it's rising gas prices or rising costs of eggs and groceries and milk or the rising costs of housing. And this is something that we can deal with in the short term and also deal with in the long term. And when we're looking at inflation right now, there are two things we can do. We can raise wages to make sure that that's able to mitigate the higher costs, and we can make more things in America, which will help deal with supply chain issues and make sure that we've got good paying jobs here. When it comes to things like construction, this is something that is a big issue that's not gonna just be in the short term, but is a long-term concern as well. When I travel to union halls around the state, you're not seeing a bunch of 22-year-olds in these union halls. Well, who's gonna be building stuff for us in the next 10 years, 20 years? And these are good paying jobs. When we're talking about the high cost of college and the debt that a lot of students are coming into, well, you can graduate from Waukeshaw Technical College or Fox Valley Technical College or go right into a trade out of high school, and you can make you're not worried about a $15 minimum wage. You're thinking $30, $40, $50 an hour. You can make $60 to $80,000 a year right out of college with no debt by going into the trades. This is something that I want to make sure that we're offering as a potential career path because I think for the last 30, 40 years, we've been pushing everyone to four-year universities and saying if you don't go to college, you're an idiot. And that stigma needs to change because when I, you know, have my plumber come by and I see that bill, that's a good paying job. That's a good job that you can have. And we need to start pushing, telling people, hey, if you don't want to go to college, that's fine. Look at this great career path. Look at this great opportunity, look at the skills that you can develop. And I think that's one of the things we need to be investing more in, our education system. If we can do that, we're gonna be able to deal with inflation and supply chain issues in the long term a lot better. It's right we've been why we've been running as a Make It in America Democrat to make sure that we can bring more of these jobs back from overseas right here in Wisconsin because you're then not dealing with other country risk or some canal being blocked by a boat that got sideways. You've got the stuff made right here. You've got the materials right here. It's gonna help us with our small family farms. The cost of fertilizer is skyrocketing. Well, if we make more of that here in Wisconsin and in America, that cost comes down. If we raise wages for people and put more money back into your pocket, the higher cost is mitigated because you've got more money. And when you look at what Ron Johnson did, he paid for the Trump tax cuts by taking deductions away from workers. So workers used to be able to deduct their union dues or their gas mileage. How good that would be for a lot of our workers. Or your you know, your work boots. You used to be able to deduct all of those things from your taxes. Well, to pay for tax cuts for corporations, Ron Johnson made sure that he took those tax deductions out. And now workers are looking at a paycheck that's a lot less than they had before. That's the type of stuff that we can do to mitigate inflation, help grow and spur our economy in the short term and the long term.

SPEAKER_03 19:08

And I can build my house.

SPEAKER_00 19:09

And then she'll be able to have the construction for her house.

SPEAKER_01 19:12

There we go. That's it, guys. We do have a traveling wine salesperson, I know in the audience that that gas deduction would be very helpful. Uh if you guys have specific questions about economic issues, we're gonna have time for audience questions. So think of those, bring those up too, because Alex has, I know, a very specific plan on a lot of things and ways he wants to address things. Um I want to ask you about another thing that's really top of mind right now and has affects a lot of people in a lot of different ways, which is um abortion and the right for women to choose their healthcare access and how judicial rulings have affected that. Um we try to be fairly neutral here, so I don't want to go any stronger on the language to than that, uh, even though I maybe have in the past. Um but can you talk about things, how you feel about that, how you want to address that issue, and then also beyond that, the judiciary, which is what has happened to this law, is it took out of the hands of a lot of people.

SPEAKER_00 20:16

Yeah, so I'm not gonna be fairly neutral on this.

SPEAKER_03 20:19

Excellent. You don't have to be.

SPEAKER_00 20:23

This is something that I think to is pretty clear, right? Women should have the right to make their own healthcare decisions, just as any men has man has the right to make their own healthcare decisions. A healthcare decision should be made between a woman and her healthcare provider, not some politician in Washington or Madison or some Trump Supreme Court justice. And it's devastating that we even have to say that, and then now we have to legislate on that, but we do. And my wife works at Planned Parenthood, Wisconsin, she's the chief of staff there, and I get to see every day the work that she's doing and her colleagues are doing to make sure that people have the health care that they need. And I think one of the things that she would want me to stress is Planned Parenthood is still open. Planned Parenthood's not going anywhere. They're still going to be able to provide health care to people and make sure that you're able to get the health care that you need. But they're doing their part right now. They're doing what they're supposed to do and they're doing their part. They need help. And now we have to do our part, and that means we have to win elections so that we can ensure that women have the same rights as men. And this is one of the biggest things that we've got to realize is elections have consequences. And when we lose, this type of stuff happens. And if we aren't enthused because we don't think things are going far enough or enough things haven't been accomplished in the year and a half that President Biden's been in office, just remember what can happen when Republicans take over or when we lose elections. If Tony Evers doesn't win or Josh Call doesn't win. Drastic changes to the ability for women to make their own health care decisions are going to happen. And that's what it's at stake in this election, and that's why this is so important, is because if we win, we elect enough Democrats, we can get rid of the filibuster and put into federal law the right for women to make their own health care decisions. And it's embarrassing that we have to do that. Well, kind of chuckling as you say that because it's such a embarrassing that we have to do that, but we have to do it. That's the reality of where we are, so let's do it. That's what's at stake in this election. I don't want to rely on the Supreme Court to make those decisions. We've for too long been hoping the Supreme Court will rule in all favor rather than doing what Congress is supposed to do and legislate. We cheered the Supreme Court on gay marriage and Obamacare, and then we get pissed at the Supreme Court when they rule in a different way. And look, the Supreme Court has put a lot of politics into itself. You can't have justices, when they're getting confirmed, say one thing, and then when they're on the bench, say something else. That's what politicians do. We can't have that happen on something that's supposed to be justices blind and you know you're supposed to just look at the law. When they were all three were getting confirmed, they all said Roe is settled law. And then the a year later, Roe is not settled law anymore. Well, let's make it law. And I look, I'm not someone who believes in expanding the Supreme Court because, you know, then Republicans are going to take over and they'll expand it, and then everyone's on the Supreme Court, and the court's lost all its legitimacy. But we can have reforms to the court to take the politics out of it, bring its legitimacy back. But more importantly, Congress needs to start doing its job. We're seeing that with gay marriage right now. We're seeing a vote to hopefully instill the right to marry who you want in law. Okay, well now we don't have to worry about the Supreme Court anymore. We need to do that with Roe and a woman's right to make their own health care decisions. We need to do that with contraception. We need to do that with a number, you know, with, I'm sure we'll be talking about gun violence, right? We need to be doing next up for all of this. Sneak preview, everybody.

SPEAKER_01 24:20

Summer's hottest hits.

SPEAKER_00 24:21

But that's that's what's at stake in this election right now, and that's why this is so important, and we have to make sure that we vote. You know, everyone I know always asks me, hey, what can I do to um, you know, I'm so pissed about this ruling, you know, about that the Supreme Court did. What can I do? Well, you can go vote. And I know that feels like that's not a lot, but it's a lot because it's why we've lost before. There's more of us than them. Just go vote, and we can change a lot of things.

SPEAKER_03 24:50

We my husband and I joke to all of our friends, like, uh, I don't want to hear you complain one minute if you don't vote. I just don't believe if you're if you're not voting, then shush. But we we take it as a date day. Like we always go, we go to every silly election, we put on our stickers, and like it is a date day, and all of our friends and family think it's hilarious, but we're like, hey, we got two kids, like we're we'll take what we'll get here.

SPEAKER_00 25:11

And and it's important that we know, like we did this with our Bucks Vote Initiative. Senate and the president aren't the only important things to vote for. Right. When it comes to police reform, one of the most important things that you can vote for is your sheriff and your DA. Those are the people who make those rules. Those are the people who decide who to prosecute. Your DA is very important. Your sheriff is very important. We want to make sure that abortion, that you know, your right to make your own health care decision isn't actually criminalized. Well, make sure your DA isn't going to criminalize it, right? These are the things that we can do to ensure that we have the the right policies in place. Your mayor, your city council, your county executive, your town president, right? These are all really important elections. And we have to treat all of those elections as the presidency. Because a lot of times, your older person, your mayor, your school board, your school board are gonna have a more impact day to day than who your president is. School board is probably one of the most important things that you can vote for. And there's like a thousand people that vote in those elections. We need people to vote in those elections just as much as the presidency because those are the ones that are really impacting you day to day in your community. And make it a date night, make it a whatever night, but just go vote and vote every election that's out there. Only vote once, but votefully.

SPEAKER_03 26:50

Once and legally, we I you took the words out of my mouth that uh I spent some time in local politics. Um, and it's arguably, I would say, more, I mean 100% day-to-day, that still affects my life every single day. Who is in office in this small town of ours? And we talked about it ahead of time um before we started recording how these this town specifically that we live in, very passionate. Everyone's very passionate, either way. Uh so, but not all those people are going out and voting. So anyway, just another go vote, make it a date.

SPEAKER_01 27:22

Another issue, we sneak previewed it, all the hot hits of summer, gun control. Gun control. Another thing that has been very top of mind and very unfortunate. You touched on a little bit about um legislators needing to do their jobs on gun control. What are your ideas on that? How um how do you think you can move forward on that?

SPEAKER_00 27:43

Yeah, so this has been one of the most troubling issues that we've been dealing with for decades. And no kid should go to school fearing gun violence, right? We want them learning, not you know, doing active shooter drills. I'd rather them doing math than that. I don't want our teachers spending time on target practice. I'd rather them spending time in the classroom. And that's not something teachers or kids or parents should have to ever worry about. Dropping your kid off at school should be one of the most safest things that you're thinking that you can do. Marching in a parade shouldn't be something that you're worried about. You know, and I remember talking to my wife about, like, hey, we're going to do a 4th of July parade, and she was like, be safe, be careful. That's not something she should say to me before a 4th of July parade. Um, these are, but that's where we are right now. And it's because we've got a lot of people who whether it's the NRA or you know, taking campaign donations from the NRA, affecting their votes or whatever, what we've got to make sure we're doing is putting common sense gun reform that honestly the vast majority of the country agrees with when it comes to universal background checks. That's something that we that a vast majority of people agree with. When it comes to banning assault weapons, that's something that we all agree with. Banning ghost guns, that's something we all agree with. No one is talking about taking away your hunting rifle. I've gone hunting, I love it. I've gone skeet shooting, I love it. No one's talking about preventing anyone from doing that. But you don't need a weapon of war. There is no one who needs a weapon of war to do anything. You want to have a shotgun in your house to protect yourself? No one's telling you you can't do that. But what we are saying is go through a background check. I need a background check to fly in an airplane. To get a TSA pre-check, you need a background check. You go through a background check for your mortgage, for a car loan, right? There are all these times you need when you get a job, you go through a background check. Getting a gun, you go through a background check. I bet you most law-abiding citizens that want to get a gun will pass that background check. What we also know is that a lot of studies have shown that someone who just wants to go and commit a mass shooting, if you give a little bit of resistance to them being able to do it, there's a calming down and they might have done different thoughts. The Uvalde shooter, the buffalo shooter, would not have passed background checks. The buffalo shooter was typing on message boards how we wanted, you know, how Jews were, you know, stealing jobs and you know, he hated black people, and that he was gonna go commit this crime. You would not have passed a background check, but he was able to legally buy a gun. The Uvalde shooter was able to legally buy a gun. This wasn't some instance of someone doing something illegal to get their firearm, they did it legally. And that's something we can change that would save a lot of lives and not prevent any law-abiding citizen from getting the hunting rifle or or or or or shotgun that they need. And I think that's where the debate's gotten off the rails because we've been we've lost the messaging war on this slippery slope argument that's just false. Because the Democratic Party is not advocating for any sort of slippery slope argument. They're not saying that at all. No one's saying that we're gonna come in and take your guns. No one wants to do that. What we do want to make sure is that we're putting common sense reform in so that we can save lives and protect people. The answer is not giving teachers weapons. That is not the answer. The answer is making sure that the bad guys don't get weapons. And if we can do that, we can save a lot of lives and I think bring a lot more sense of safety to a lot of people in their communities, and that's something that we have to be able to do. And, you know, whether it's a woman's right to choose her gun reform, this is why we need to elect Democrats so we can abolish the filibuster to get this stuff done.

SPEAKER_03 32:19

I um just had a girls' weekend at a cabin, and I was most excited because I have a very Republican friend, very vocal Republican friend, and I said, I just want to know her opinion on why she thinks like anyone needs to have an AR-15. And and she said exactly, well, what if people want to use it to go hunting? I'm like, well, I I I am not a hunter. I don't know, but I just don't feel like that. That's exactly the point I think you're trying to make, is the messaging has gotten completely off the rails. And I think no 18-year-old kid that's posted on social media about shooting up a parade needs an AR-15.

SPEAKER_00 32:51

Look, you you don't need an assault weapon to go hunting. What you also don't need is an automatic weapon that can shoot a hundred rounds a minute. That's not how you're shooting deer. And that's just not something that is necessary for any type of sport hunting that you're doing. And I think that's just where there is real common ground to be able to do this. We've just got a lot of people who don't have the will. And quite frankly, we need to show that this position matters. This is why we have to come out to vote. We've got to punish the politicians who aren't doing this by voting them out of office. The best way to get people to change how they're acting in office is to vote people out when they're not doing the things that the voters want. For too long, though, a lot of politicians, like Ron Johnson, have been able to get away with not voting. Ron Johnson just voted against a gun reform bill that passed with broad bipartisan support in the Senate. He voted against it. If he's re-elected, why would he ever change his behavior? For three terms, he's been able then to say, yeah, I the people of Wisconsin don't really care about this issue if he keeps getting re-elected on the fact that he doesn't want to have any gun control. We have to be able to vote to show that this is an issue that is of importance to change the way our politics work so that we can pass the stuff that people want passed, the agenda that people want passed. It's very popular.

SPEAKER_01 34:33

Alex, I'm gonna I'm gonna correct you on one thing there. I'm in a butcher shop, I see a lot of dead deer come in, and I can tell you there are people that hunt with ARs because there is some deer that come in that's like, my God, did you leave anything of that left? I don't know why they learned, but you know. Um all right, so I think we've gone about 30 minutes, and now it's time for you guys. Uh, if you have questions you would like to ask, uh we don't have a microphone out for you, but if you want to kind of stand up, we'll point at you and uh say your question, we'll repeat it so that it's recorded for posterity, and Alex will have a go at answering it. So anybody like to uh ask a first question? Otherwise, we do have some that were sent in.

SPEAKER_03 35:16

Great, well, thank you.

SPEAKER_00 35:32

So the question was, what do you say to small businesses that say they can't afford to pay a living wage? Well, then we should give a tax incentive to make it so that they can. Right? Like, I am not someone who doesn't want to see businesses succeed. I want businesses to succeed. I also want workers to be able to succeed. And these things don't have to be in conflict with each other. Right? We can have successful businesses and workers being paid a fair wage. I don't think that it's one or the other. And I think what we do in our tax code a lot is incentivize the behavior that we want. Well, let's continue to do that. All right, I don't want any business to, you know, any small business to fail because, you know, they're um you know, if their idea is good and they're getting customers, they shouldn't have to fail, right? Through no fault of their own. But we also shouldn't have people working somewhere full-time that can't afford to pay their rent or can't afford to, you know, to live. So I don't think these are things that have to be in conflict with each other. I think this is a way that we can find a win-win for everyone, and I think we've been able to show that. We pay a living wage, and I think we've been able to show that when you have workers who are paid fairly, it's stronger for your business. We have less turnover, we have better skilled, better trained workers. It's why PISERF forms constantly and the bucks are constantly rated one of the top places to work. It's not just because Giannis dunks on everyone, which I think has something to do with it, but when you have people paid fairly, you've got a more motivated, a more excited, um, and a better trained and skilled workforce. That doesn't have to be in conflict with how do we make sure our business is successful. I think we can do both and make sure that everyone's winning. And those are the policies that I want to see enacted.

SPEAKER_01 37:32

I'm gonna throw in a question we got from a listener, John, who wasn't able to come. Uh you touched on it a little bit earlier in the podcast. You talked about living wage. I think you touched on it, Jill, with your question. Uh John said, do you support a national nationwide $15 minimum wage?

SPEAKER_00 37:46

Uh yeah, so I support a nationwide $15 minimum wage that's indexed to inflation. Because what we can't have is we pass a $15 minimum wage and then it stays like that for the next 30 years. We have to be able to index it to inflation so that it's continuing to grow. As the economy's growing, wages should grow. It's not something that wages should stay flat. Um, if the economy is growing, then that means your wages should be able to go up with inflation and cost of living and all that. We've shown that a $15 minimum wage with a union is good for business. And I think that's something that we want to make, that I want to make a model. I want to make sure that we're passing the PRO Act, making it easier to unionize so that workers have a seat at the table. Because I think, again, workers and management don't have to be in conflict with each other. You should have everyone on the same page, and everyone should be treated like family. It's why at the Bucks, when COVID hit and we had to shut down the arena, us and the players put together a fund to make sure that the people who were supposed to work and who, through no fault of their own, were about to be out of a job very quickly. Through no fault of their own, were we able to make sure that they continued to get paid. And then worked with them to make sure that they were able to get the unemployment insurance and everything that they um that that Congress passed. It's why we made sure that whoever worked a certain amount of hours at PhiServe Forum got a championship ring. Because they're just as important as everyone else to the organization. Whether you're Giannis or a ticket taker or a concessionaire or security, you're part of the Bucks family. And that is how you run, and I think we've been able to show that these types of values are how you can run a successful business. When you've got a workforce and management that are all on the same page, and I think that's what's so great about union contracts, is it gets the government out. It says workers and and the company come together, get on the same page, and now you're moving forward with a roadmap of uh of shared values together. And that's something that I think is um is is smart and it's I think good for the economy and it puts everyone on the same playing field and allows everyone to have the same shared values and goals. And I think that's something we need, and I think a nationwide $15 minimum wage index to inflation is important, and also making sure that you're able to get a union, and again, I think pushing more people to these high-paying career paths, where you're not as worried about a fifteen dollar, but you're thinking more about a thirty or forty dollar minimum wage, and that's what I think is important.

SPEAKER_01 40:29

Other audience questions. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 41:14

And when you're in office, how are you gonna increase bipartisanship? So I think the first thing we have to do is realize that we've got to make sure that we kind of realize that there's a lot of persuadable voters here in Wisconsin. Barack Obama won with you know 55 plus percent of the vote in 2012. Then Donald Trump won. Then Tammy Baldwin won. Antoni Evers. And so there are a lot of Barack Obama, Tammy Baldwin, Donald Trump, Ron Johnson voters out there. And ideologically that doesn't make a ton of sense, right? Because you couldn't be further ideologically than Donald Trump and Ron Johnson and Tammy Baldwin, Barack Obama. But I think the playbook that Tammy and Obama showed is that one, you have to be able to talk to everyone and travel everywhere. And it's not just once to throw on your flannel and take a selfie in front of a cow and say, see, I I care about farms. You have to go a number of times and have and not just for photo ops, but to talk to people, to have those conversations. And it's not just traveling, it's talking about delivering. I'm never going to pretend I'm someone I'm not, right? I'm from Milwaukee. But what we can say is, look, what is it that you need? And whether you vote for me or not, I still represent you. If you don't vote for me, I am still your senator. And tell me what you need and let me deliver that for you. Because if we I am not running to just be the senator for Democrats of Wisconsin or the senator for the 50-some odd percent of people that vote for me. I'm the senator for 100% of Wisconsin. And you've got to listen to even the people that didn't vote for you because Joe Biden won with 51%, I think, in Wisconsin, something like that. That means 49% of the people said no. We've got to be a little bit more humble in our politics and realizing that, hey, there's a lot of people in this state that have different ideas, that have different opinions, and that are still looking for help. And you don't just not help them because they didn't vote for you. You've got to help everyone in the state. And it's what Tammy did so successfully, and it's why she went from 50 something, like you know, low 50s when she first won to mid high 50s the next time. She grew her coalition. She brought more people onto her side. That means those voters are there for us. We just got to go get them and we gotta go persuade them, and that's a lot of work. It's again not just a 72 county tour to take a picture. Building relationships, building trust in the community, and saying, I'm not just going to fight, I'm going to deliver for you. And trust me to do that. And even if you don't vote for me, I'm still going to come around and talk to you and listen to your ideas and represent you. When you get to the Senate, I'm not someone who believes that just my election is going to heal the partisan waters and all of a sudden everything is going to be great again. But what you can do is if you start electing people who actually want to work with people and who have a history and a track record of getting things done, well, that will lead to things getting done. And we can't just think about it as the big pieces of legislation. There's a lot of things that get done that CNN doesn't cover or the Washington Post doesn't cover. Tammy passed a shipping backlog bill that helped ease shipping backlogs to ease our supply chains. CNN didn't do a segment in prime time on that. But that helped a lot of people here in Wisconsin. That helped a lot of people around the country. Those are still things that can get done. And we should also look at how Biden's been able to operate. There's been a lot of a flurry of bipartisan pieces of legislation, probably more than we've seen in I mean, definitely more than we saw in the Trump administration, and maybe more than we've seen in a decade. Government can still work if you've got people in office who want to do things and who care more about getting something done than getting a lot of likes and retweets. But that means we've got to send people to office who know how to do that and who care more about that than their Twitter persona or being on television. And that's something that I want to do, and I will work with anyone who wants to work with me to help better the people of Wisconsin and better this country.

SPEAKER_01 45:59

Alright, so um we're getting up to where we want to wrap up the recording. Um we have one more question that was sent in, and it was sent in for my wife, so I have to make sure this one gets asked, but she sent it in to Bridget. Um we want to make sure we wrap it up so you guys all have time to talk to Alex afterwards. So if you have more questions, um, you know, he'll be here for a little bit afterwards.

SPEAKER_03 46:17

But Bridget, we're to Sarah saying, yeah, Sarah and I talk Sarah is Nick's wife. We talk about this a lot. Um my husband used to be the director of a child care center. So there we have seen specifically over the last few years um a lack of child care services and a lack of affordable child care, and then daycare teachers being paid way too little for arguably some of the most important years of children's lives. We both work full-time, we need child care full-time, my husband and I. Um have you thought on this issue? What are your what are your ideas and your thoughts on making this something that is accessible to everybody that needs it?

SPEAKER_00 46:53

Yeah, I I not only have I thought about this, experienced it, and are, you know, you feel the effects of it. Affordable childcare is one of the most important things we can do as we're trying to make sure that more people are getting into the economy, that we don't have a workforce shortage. You can't cut half the workforce up because there's no childcare. Someone has to take care of a kid. Like for anyone who doesn't have a newborn, or a six-month-old, or a two-year-old. Someone's got to take care of a child. I mean, they have to eat, right? Like they can't, they can't just sit there and you, you know, you hope that they can find their food.

SPEAKER_03 47:33

Mine's just sitting over here.

SPEAKER_00 47:36

Right? Like, there needs to be child care. And affordable child care, the child care tax credit is probably one of the most important things we could do. We've put out a plan on this, making sure that child care providers are paid a living wage, making sure that we've got um the ability to open more childcare facilities. We've also got to make sure that more people are going into these professions, right? You can't just have this stuff happen magically. You've got to have people who want to do the job. And this is something we're seeing in a lot of these um professions, whether it's nursing, whether it's teachers, childcare, right? Police, firemen. These used to be revered jobs. And now everyone, I think, is just exhausted because everyone's just yelling at all of these people. And the pay isn't good enough to deal with that. And I think if you're not going to make sure that these are people that we're still treating with the utmost respect and thanking them every day for the tough work that they're doing. I mean, when my wife and I have our daughter for the day, we're like, man.

SPEAKER_03 48:44

Hey, that was COVID for a lot of us, right?

SPEAKER_00 48:46

And then you think about a childcare provider, you know, at daycare who's got 10 of them in a class or 20 of them in a class, like day. These are tough jobs. Like, you know, you're a nursery school teacher or a fourth grade teacher. I I was no picnic as a as a 10-year-old, no 10 or 12-year-old is that awesome. And so we've got to make sure that our teachers, our nurses, our our the people doing these difficult jobs are paid fairly and are treated with the respect that they deserve, and making sure that we're training more people to get into these jobs. And the child care tax credit is something that would be huge. We have to make sure that we extend it. Paid family leave is something that is extremely important. If we want to grow our economy and make sure that everyone can participate in the workforce, we can't just make it so that one segment, you know, one partner can work. We have to make sure that anyone who wants to work is able to get into the workforce and that we've got people doing the jobs that we need to help raise our future generations. And that's something that you know we put a lot of thought into and has to be a top priority for us.

SPEAKER_01 49:57

And I think it segues into our Yeah, okay, so this is our favorite part. Uh, but we actually have four quick quick fire questions. Yeah, we got to do the quick quick fire. We do with all our guests. Who's more fun to party with? The Nassas or Giannis?

SPEAKER_03 50:13

Oh boy.

SPEAKER_00 50:17

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 50:18

Okay, fresh or fried cheese curds.

SPEAKER_00 50:21

Fried.

SPEAKER_03 50:22

Duh. Custard or ice cream?

SPEAKER_01 50:27

Cops custard.

SPEAKER_03 50:29

Door County or Lake Geneva?

SPEAKER_01 50:32

Lake Geneva. There you go. All right. Uh that was recorded in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. There you go. Okay, so it is time for our favorite segment, which is Kid Corner. Yes, you all get to hear us sing. That's right. All right. So this uh for those of you that don't listen, we tell a fun, crazy story, sometimes embarrassing, sometimes endearing, uh, our children.

SPEAKER_03 50:52

This is always endearing.

SPEAKER_01 50:53

We have a child, I have an 11-month-old.

SPEAKER_03 50:55

I have an almost three-year-old. And I have a three-year-old and a six-year-old. Uh so do you want to go first, Bridget? Sure, yeah. Okay. So we talked a lot about events um and kind of raising the general economy here of Wisconsin. So recently we attended Ribfest, uh, which, whoa, I don't eat a lot of ribs, but uh I've started attending because I'm all about supporting my local events. And I let my husband dress our children because we are equal partners. And he dressed my daughter in an overall jean overalls dress with no shirt underneath. And I was like, Tyler, uh, we gotta go. He's like, Well, we're going to rip fest. Like, this is fine. So we let her go. And I I kind of like I was a little embarrassed to be honest. Uh, but then I just fully appreciated as my six-year-old son and my three-year-old daughter are sitting at the table, just like gnawing on ribs. And they, my kids are meat eaters, like they love. Thanks, Nick. So it was just like this picture perfect thing where I used to kind of be a little embarrassed about it, if I'm honest, because I was a Milwaukee person, right? I was a city person, and now I'm like, you know what? I'm supporting this economy that we live in, and I've learned so much about it. So it was my fun, like covered in rib sauce, whatever, barbecue sauce, all over my uh gene dress wearing daughter.

SPEAKER_01 52:16

Simona is starting to hit the terrible three type of thing. Yeah, three nature. She got a little uh mouthy towards us, and the best way we can say, get across to her right now, hey, this is not acceptable is to take her new news away. That's a pacifier. And uh everybody's a word for it. So we said, okay, we're taking your new news away. You can stay in your room if you want, or you can come play with us, but no more new news. She chose to stay in her room, uh, curled up in a corner, and said, I'm a bad baby. I'm a bad baby. And then she uh got quiet and thought about her actions for a while, walked up to the uh baby cam, which is we were watching her on, walked up to it and said, Okay, I'm ready to be good now. I'm sorry. Can I have my new new back? Talks to the camera, love. So uh she got the new news back and uh she was good for the rest of the night, but I was like, I wish we had this recorded. I'm ready to be good now. Yeah, forever play that on Luke when she's saying you're ready to be good now.

SPEAKER_00 53:13

You're in the hot seat, Alex. Alright, so I have two, one recently and one uh when she was like, I don't know, probably a few weeks old. Oh, those are the best. Yesterday we were at the Waukeshaw County Fair, and um, we needed actually milk for her bottle. So we went over to the um to the milk stand and they just poured it in the bottle, which was great, and they gave us a cup of milk. And Eleanor did not want to drink from the bottle. She would just dunk her face.

SPEAKER_03 53:39

Yes. Wisconsin, that's campaign right there.

SPEAKER_00 53:42

She just dunked her face in the cup and then would like lift her face up and go Yes! And would dunk her face back in. So that was fun. I would say one of the first things that really hit me about uh raising a kid was um I think this was probably a couple weeks in. My wife was taking a nap, so I was watching her, and I was on a we were starting a campaign Zoom, and I put Eleanor in a um, I don't know, some little seat that uh like and put her right next to the um to the computer screen, and we were about to start a zoom. And I look over, everything was great, and then I'm talking to people and I'd look back over and it looked like a gunshot wound. Just something starting to spread. And I didn't know that this was possible, that you could have a blowout. Oh yes. And all of a sudden I was like, what is that? And I lean in and I smell it, and I all of a sudden go, oh my god. I have to go. And I tell her, I was like, guys, I'll call you right back. And then I'm holding her out, running into the kitchen, yelling at my wife, like Lauren, what do we do? She's like, What's going on? And Lauren wakes up and goes, What? And I go, What is happening? How did this even happen? And so I think we went through a whole box of wipes, and then we found out you just put her in the sink and wasn't down. That was the uh that was our first blowout, and we uh learned very quickly one, did not tie the diapers that tight, and two, uh, that that is a possible thing. Yeah. And that uh yeah, that was my first real introduction into parenthood.

SPEAKER_03 55:22

You really nailed Kid Corner. That's what it's that's really what it's all about. All the proof stories.

SPEAKER_01 55:27

Thank you. I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_03 55:28

So we so appreciate you taking time to come down and chat with us, driving down to Lake Geneva. And uh we want to give you a quick second, if you can let everybody know how they can best support you in the campaign.

SPEAKER_00 55:37

Yeah, anyone who's interested, um we are about two and a half weeks um out from the primary. So the primary is August 9th. Uh if you have your epsilon ballot, you can vote. I believe in-person voting begins, early vote begins next week. Um, if you're interested in learning more about the campaign, go to alexlasry.com. You can volunteer, chip in, um, send us a nice email uh or mean one, whichever one you want. Um but just go to alexlasry.com if you're interested. So um thank you and uh looking forward to uh working with everyone in the general.

SPEAKER_01 56:07

Thank you to everybody that attended. Thank you to people that donated already. Uh alexlasry.com slash Lake Geneva if is an easy link if you'd like to uh donate. Thank you to the people that already did. Uh also thank you to our friend Beth at the bottle shop who hosted us today. Uh I think we can say she's a great example of someone that might not agree with everything we had to say today, but is for open conversation. And we really appreciate that because it's a great venue for this. So thank you, Beth. If you're in the Lake Geneva area, check this place out. And uh thank you, Alex.

SPEAKER_03 56:37

We will be out for just a couple minutes before Alex has to leave if you guys want to chit chat. Thanks so much.

SPEAKER_01 56:42

Cheers, guys.