By Billy Cunning in the Great American and coming up later as Rets manager Terry Francona brought the prospects for the twenty twenty five Reds. And also we have later on scheduled Mowagger to talk about Xavier basketball and what's happening in the in March tournament games and in the studio with me. It's viavek Ramaswami Viveke. Welcome again to the Bill Cunning mshow vivic. How are you good to be here in person this time? And this is unbelieved you're sitting right here.
Yeah, I love it. Oh, it's better this way.
Let's get into the issues.
You were born and raised to hear Springfield township, even Dale went to Princeton. And the thing that I think many people want to know is why are you running for governor. You're a billionaire, You're connected to the Trumpster, You're at the inaugural right next to the president. You have all the things going for You're a young guy, like thirty eight or thirty nine years old, and uh, and in politics is something that most guys your age don't want to do it. You have him money, you
got your family, you got your stuff to do. Dot why are you running for governor?
He raised some great points, But the reason I'm running is I'm filled with gratitude to our country and to our state. I've lived in American dream at a scale that my parents would have never imagined when they came here to Cincinnati forty five years ago, and I'm on a mission to make sure we can actually pass that on to my two kids and their generation. And I'm worried that isn't going to happen unless we have leaders who actually step up.
Now.
Prison Trump is ushering in a golden age for the country, and I'm incredibly proud to watch what he's doing. But what a lot of what he's doing is shifting responsibility back to the states and to the people where it belongs. Look at the shutdown of the Department of Education just last week as a good example. That's a great first step, but it's then going to fall on the states and the people. That's what our founders envisioned to get the
job done. So Billy, that highlighted to me that being a governor was the right step for me to make a positive impact on the country, and also to do it in the state where I was born and raised where I'm raising my kids, and my vision for Ohio isn't just for us to be one one of the better states in the Midwest, which in fairness we are right now. I don't want us to be one of
the better states in the Midwest. I want us to be the best state in the country to raise a family, to start a business, to create generate wealth and keep that wealth, and to give our kids the same conviction that Neil Armstrong and John Glenn and the Wright brothers had when they grew up in Ohio. That's what I want to bring back. And I think it's going to take a different generation of leadership in the.
Citevag Ohio is unique on the northern shore with lots of water, southern shore lots of water. We have flat land because of the applies to the seene Age when the Great Glacier came down from the North Pole and they scraped Ohio clean all the way to the Seven Hills of Cincinnati. That's why it's flat. Great farming community. And I see eight major cities. I see manufacturing, I
see interstate highway systems, I see public education. Within the sound of my voice got my University, got NKU, got Xavier. You see Indiana, you have Thomas Moore, you have Mount st You got all of these colleges ready to go. But Ohio is losing population and I don't know if there's a GDP in Ohio. I can't imagine it is going up a lot. Is what's wrong with Ohio?
Well, I would say, at our core, nothing's wrong with Ohio. At our core, we're the greatest state, at the heart of the greatest nation known to mankind. We have the same God given gifts we did when we led the first Industrial Revolution, same fertile farmland, same natural resources underneath our ground, including oil and natural gas in our own state, our geographic position. You think about this way better than
Florida or Texas. We've got sixty percent of North America's population within a single day's drive of where you and I are sitting right now. So God has blessed our state with every gift we could wish for to be the leading state in the country. All we have to do is actually start believing in ourselves again. You want to know, you ask me what's wrong. It's a crisis of self confidence in this state. And I think we have every reason to believe in ourselves. There are some
changes we need to make. We need to become a zero income tax state. I think we need to bring down the regulatory burden to create new jobs and to build new businesses in the state. But at the core of the natural foundations of Ohio, we have every reason to believe in ourselves. The problem right now is we have a population decline issue. And you talk about jobs, jobs, jobs, you and I were talking about that before.
I agree with that.
We don't have enough good people who are able to fill those jobs that new businesses may bring to our state. And here's why. Part of it is we have a fertility issue. People are having fewer kids in our state. Part of it is when they do have kids, those kids go out to other states once they get education here to live their American dreams somewhere else. That creates a demographic issue where we have Actually the death rate is going up with an older population and younger people
leaving the state. We're number thirty eight now within people moving in versus out Texas thirty eight. Yes, Florida's number one. Texas is number two. We are number thirty eight. Billy in twenty twenty, we reached an all time low at that time. Now it's even lower for our fertility rate. We have more people moving out of our state than in. We're one of the only red states that's in that category. That's got to change, and it's got to change.
Educations and crisis.
You went to Princeton, Yes, I read in the newspapers that if Princeton fails the levy in a month or two, they're going to shut down two elementary schools, one of what you probably went to.
It's also had the money.
It's very personal to me, so Roberty Lucas Intermediate School RELIS out in Sharonville. I went there for sixth grade at a magnet program. Relis shut down. RELIS doesn't exist as a school today. And actually, I mean the teacher there, Missus Kenney, she changed my life. She passed away a couple of years ago in an accident, but she was somebody who saw potential in me that I didn't even know I had, lit a fire under my feet, got
me to work harder. I credit her for my journey in living the American dream in the way that I have. But we're not getting teachers like Missus Kinney anymore because there is no meritocracy in compensation. Right, I've lived the American dream. You have Donald Trump, Elon Musk, you could have a wide range of bezos, Bill Gates. They've all lived the American dream. And that's great, that rags to
riches story through business. But I think the question we got to asked Billy is do we really think a public school teacher in the year twenty twenty five in the state of Ohio can live the American dream?
And we don't make enough money?
Right exactly right now? The answer to that question, sadly is now.
Five thousand dollars.
It's unbelievable. That is the starting side.
It's a little under forty five thousand dollars the average starting salary for a new teacher across America, and this is true in Ohio too. That's got to change, but we've got to do it according to a meritocracy, which is what we don't have in our public schools. The best teachers deserve to be paid a lot more than they are right now, as determined by parental assessments. Parents know whether their kids are really getting that right educational
experience or not. Peer assessments right, even principles and other teachers in the school know who's doing a good job, who's carrying their weight, and who isn't. And then also we got to look at the proficiency of our students. I mean, right now, seventy five percent of eighth graders. Just to think about this for a second, three out of four eighth graders are not proficient in math. That's unacceptable. You got kids in China, on average, are four years
ahead of their counterpart in the US. What does that mean a seventh grader here is performing at the same academic performance as a third grader in China. That doesn't work for me. I'm speaking as an Ohioan, as an American, as a parent. Well, here's how we're gonna do it. Well.
First of all, bring back the best teachers in meritocracy in our schools, roll up our sleeves and actually get into the curriculum, re emphasizing math, reading, writing, and critical thinking instead of a lot of this sel dei indoctrination, victimhood, psychology, reward performance. Get the cell phones out of the classroom, amen. Bring back physical education which helps mental health at a
young age. Starting pe in kindergarten. Bring back the presidential fitness test that you and I both had when we were going through school. Yes, that includes the pull ups I did mind this morning, I promise you. And that doesn't mean it's going to be for everybody passing in the same way, but it sets a standard for what you actually want to achieve. Think about civic education. We're
totally missing civic education today. I think that every kid who graduates from a high school in this state of public high school should have to pass the same Civics test that every legal immigrant has to pass before they become a naturalized citizen. That's something we should expect of our high school seniors, at least before they graduate from high school.
I want the Pledge of allegiance every morning with a moment of silence to allow kids to fill that vacuum of purpose and meaning in their heart, emphasize actual achievement, and reward it both for the teachers and for the students. It's a culture of achievement that I want to bring back to our educational system. And I still think we have time. We can write this ship, we can turn
this around. I want to lead Ohio Billy to be the top state in the country and in the world to give our kids that world class education.
Algosoms years ago. I can recall a big Intel plant. It was going to generate tens of thousands of jobs in and around Columbus, much fanfare. Intel the CEO is now fired. Came I'm told there's billions of dollars worth of infrastructure inside the ground. You can't see what happened to the Intel plant in central Ohio.
Look, I want to be blunt about this. It's a disappointment that it's on a five year delay now. The timeline that we were supposed to have started seeing chips being produced to that factories pushed out for five years.
There's a lot of reasons behind that.
My goal is not to curse the darkness, or to blame anybody who came before me, or to blame anybody on the outside. My goal is how do we actually fix Ohio to make sure that the commitments that are made to our state are actually followed through on a timeline that serves the people of our state as well.
I also, as the governor, want to ask companies, frankly, what can we be doing better as a state in terms of our regulatory burden, cutting red tape, cutting the tax burden, cutting the tax burden, and also putting more money in people's pockets that improves the workforce issues that we have in our state. So part of this is the next governor of the state. I'm not looking to blame anybody else. I'm looking to look ourselves in the mirror and say, what can we be doing better to
make sure that something like this doesn't happen again. With five year delays baked in at the last second for when they're supposed to have been producing instead of being pushed out five years.
Is that a good thing?
Now?
I'm disappointed about it, but I'm also going to make sure that we fix the issues that stop the companies from being able to follow through on those commitments as well.
Veg Ramaswami.
A few months ago, the powers that be told me that you went down to Amar A Lago and met with President Trump and he kind of wanted you to run for the Senate. He wanted to appoint you to the Senate, to the open seat of JD Vance and you start work tomorrow, start work on Monday, and you looked into the eye and said, let me think about it, and you came back and said, no, I do not want to be a US Senator and he said what why? And then you said, I want to be governor. And
then the guy pigeonholed to be the next governor senator. Now, John, you said, went went down tomorrow, lag go with with Governor DeWine And he had to be talked into running for the Senate because the appointment was tomorrow. Why did you turn down the US Senate seat of JD Vance to run for a position that's like almost two years away as opposed to taking the Senate immediately.
Well, look, I think that at a high level.
First of all, I want to thank President Trump for setting such a good tone from the top. He won with a decisive mandate that he's now delivering on, and I'm optimistic about what he's going to accomplish. He and I have had some great conversations over the years and over the last year in particular, and what I shared with him is, like him, I'm an executive, right. I like to get things done, not just through the sausage making of being you know, one of one hundred. So
it wasn't really my vision. But at the same time, I told President Trump, I was open to serving this country and whatever way would have a biggest impact. He asked me, in my heart, what was that for me, And in my heart, it was to be the next government of the Senate. They are you can get a lot done. All I do is talk and give great speech.
And you go to speech, you're fine, but you don't get anything done when you're the govern I've been in the governor's mansion, I've had dinner with them, and you can actually order or demand something happen and it occurs.
Is that the reason for.
Me, it's about exactly the idea that you're going to see the impact that you have. Right my older son is going to be in high school by the time I'm done with two terms as governor. To me, the ability for him to grow up in a state where the changes that we made to this state, the positive changes, is something that my kids in their generation are going to grow up in and I can see that impact even on a daily basis. To me, that's rewarding. I'm
also somebody who believes in action. Actions speak louder than words. Okay, there's a lot of people who can, as I said, curse the darkness. There's fewer who can actually create value and get things done. I'm a businessman. I've built multiple successful businesses. I know how to select great people, put them in positions, and give them deliverables and actually expect
hard results. I think we need more people who are in the private sector to take their time in public service to lead as executives, and particularly in this state, we have such an opportunity Billy, first of all, to just start marketing Ohio to the rest of the country. That's something that frankly, I believe we have room to do a lot better on. There's a lot to love about the state. We have a beautiful northern coast, a beautiful shoreline. We've got a national park in this state.
We've got the Ohio River to the Mississippi, the same Erie Canal to New York City, a great geographic position. We got to market that to the rest of the country where people don't even know about the gifts that Ohio has, the oil and natural gas underneath our ground. When I go travel this country and talk about Ohio in that way, it's eye opening for people. In fact, there's even people I've met since I've started running for governor.
People from New Jersey to South Carolina, to Texas to Florida who have told me personally they are already starting the process of moving back to Ohio because they expect me to be governor and to deliver on the changes that I'm actually running on.
When you get rid of the income tax, Indiana wants to do it. Many states.
I think nineteen states don't have a state income tax, and you'll lower the property tax, especially for seniors income How do you pay the bills?
So first, so there's eight states there's zero income tax states.
If eight other states have done it, I want Ohio to be next on the list and to lead the way. Property taxes, we got it. They've gotten way too high in the state. I mean, the truth of the matter is if you're paying as much on your principal repayment of your mortgage as you are in your property taxes, it makes it feel a heck of a lot, like the land that you own is really just a lease from the government, and that's unjust. Okay, So we got to put a cap on both those things. How are
you going to pay for it? Well, the number one answer is the economic growth that you drive through our state. That's gonna increase our sales tax revenue. That's gonna increase the other revenue flowing into our state's bottom line as well. And the other thing, Billy is, let's be really honest. Are we wasting a lot of money in areas where we shouldn't be. The uncomfortable answer to that question is you know it, Yes.
Four letters doge four letters Ohio. Well, you bring DOSEE to Ohio.
And the way we're going to do it in Ohio, I want to be clear about this, is by putting more money in people's pockets. That's what bringing it to Ohio means is take the money that's being wasted on things that don't affect your life and quite literally put it in the pocket of Ohioans. Put it in the bank account of our kids that can, with the benefit of compound interest, allow them to graduate with six figure graduation gifts when they get out of high school if
they've actually had that money compounding. And we're going to come out with some very specific solutions on this, Billy in the very near term. But bringing down the income tax eventually down to zero, bringing down the property tax burden are examples of ways that My vision for the state is take the money that's being spent in ways that don't help your lives to put it in your
pocket where it can help your lives. Create an economic boom in the state of a kind that we haven't seen since the Second Industrial Revolution, and have a population boom in this state, so we can have not only jobs, jobs, jobs, but jobs filled, jobs filled, jobs filled right here in the state of Ohio.
How do it? Lastly, how do we judge you?
Say you're elected, your way up in the polls like thirty percent, you have all the endorsements of every everyone that matters in the state of Ohio. If I you and I together in four years, I just signed a four year contract extension. Yeah, if you and I together in four years, how will I judge reveg Ramaswami on whether or not you succeeded.
That's a good question. So it's not just the GDP growth. We'll have GDP growth.
The metrics I want you to judge me on are the number of people moving into our state versus out of thirty eighth, not thirty eighth. Right now we're number thirty eight. Florida's number one. Texas is number two. I want Ohio to be number one. That's how I want you to judge me. We're one of the few red states that has more people moving out than in. That
will change when I'm governor. So I want you to judge me on the number of people moving in versus out, the number of kids born into families in our state, the number of those kids who go on to remain in our state to pursue their American dream in our state of Ohio. Those are my metrics, and I want to lead this state to be not just one of the better states in our region. I want to lead this state to be the top state in the United
States of America on those metrics. And to those who say that's too ambitious, you know what, it was not long ago that Ohio was that state at the turn of the last century. That was us in the nineteen fifties, that was US when six of the top fifteen wealthiest cities in America were right here in Ohio. I want to be the governor that restores Ohio back to greatness, not just to be a regional leader, but a national leader so our kids can be proud of it and
can live the American dream. By staying here instead of leaving.
Have you spoken to Mike DeWine.
I have.
I've got to know him.
How's your relationship with him? Good?
From my standpoint, I've got to know him. I look forward to building on the foundation that he has laid. Look, there's a lot to like about the early movement towards economic development. So you're going to hear from me, Billy, as I leave this state, nothing but praise for the good parts of what my predecessor left me. I want to build on those foundations. But it's about where are we run in two where are we leading this state? We want to chase the future while respecting the past.
Incredibly grateful for the positives of what Mike Dwine and John Houston and hopefully now Jim Tressel are accomplishing. I have nothing but praise for their love of this state. I want to build on the foundation they've laid, but to take this far further, and frankly from him and others who have come before me, if they have great advice on how we can be successful.
To play tennis, Yes, I used to a ball boy there, so I was at I was running.
Around collected balls when I was when I was in great school here.
We were all at the towel boy. Yeah, and occasionally the players would be nice. They would hit with us as well.
I played tennis at Saint X growing up, so we would occasionally be hitting balls and warming up the players.
Last year I went and I take my kids down there. Now every year.
I got to warm up with Ben Shelton and a couple of the other American guys who were playing there. Yeah, he's a good player, so he and I hit some balls in the warm up courts. So I'll be out there again.
What's your west Side?
If people need to know where you're going to be and what your thoughts on are more concrete fashion, what's your epsite?
Sure, go to vivekefour Ohio dot com. That's vivat for Ohio dot com. And my message, frankly, if you're a Republican or a Democrat, I don't care learn more about this campaign because I'm not in this to just lead the Republican Party of Ohio. I want to lift up every person in this state, black or white, Democrat or Republican. If you care about educational excellence and economic excellence for
your kids, then we're on the same team. We got a seat for the we got a seat at the table for you, and we're going to lead the entire state and unite the state going forward.
Thank you very much.
Communication Open Bill Cunningham News Next at Show of the Reds. News Radio seven hundred WLW