It's Night Side with Dan Ray. I'm w Leazy Boston News Radio.
All right, welcome back. I want to thank my guests, the Auditor of the come Wealth of Massachusetts, Diana de Zaglio, And again I would encourage those of you who know state representatives, who know state senators, you need to say to the look. Now, this is a law that was passed by seventy two percent of the voters of Massachusetts and initiative petition seventy two percent to authorize the auditor
to audit the books of the state legislature. This is one that we'll talk about more frequently here on Night Side as time goes on. But this is just pure political bluster by the Speaker and the Senate to a lesser degree by the Senate President. But the Speaker who's never been on this program and probably never will be on this program, but he can come on this program
any night, any night. Or Karen Spielkill come on this program, who has been on this program, She can come on any night and just to find their unwillingness to comply with the will of seventy two percent of the voters here in Massachusetts. Now, let's talk about Washington and let's talk about the Department of Government Efficiency, which is headed by Elon Musk. Put it in perspective, put it in perspective. At this point, about a third of the voters support
what those is doing overall. Now, about a third of those voters also feel that this is not something that is legal. And we'll talk about this, but there's a really definitive split here. Seventy percent of Trump voters say it's great and seventy three percent of Harris voters say it's not so great. So there is now again to the Victor Golders spoils, to all of that, is there fraud? Is there waste within the federal government? You bet you. If we can eliminate the fraud and waste, that is
a laudable goal. However, however, it came to my attention earlier this week that you know these letters that Elon Musk has been sending out, or he hasn't, but the government under it, with his instructions, has been sending out in which everybody has to list five things that they did last week. Okay. Musk commented on that during a recent cabinet meeting in which he was he held fourth for quite quite a while, and he was talking now
about sending out these emails. I don't know if your boss ever sent you an email that said, hey, we want to make sure that you tell us five things you did last week. Okay, I could tell my boss five hundred things I did last week, and I'm sure you could as well, but I really don't want to
have to waste my time telling my boss. Now, there is some concern that some federal workers have checked out because of the time that OVID, When COVID occurred and federal workers were given the opportunity to work from home or work remotely, and there's probably some abuse to that. And if Elon Musk can find that abuse, I say, go for it. But this was Musk in the Oval office.
I believe it was some time. It was last week, and he was asked to talk about why he's sending out these and requesting emails from literally everyone who works. I don't know who's going to read them, but this is what his response was when he was prompted by the President to talk about the theory behind sending out emails and having legitimate federal employees as well as maybe people who have have zoned out. Maybe they're retired, maybe they're dead. I don't know. This is what muskt to say.
Cut thirty three, rob President.
Mister, are there about half of the government and employees so far up here to responded to your requests for what they've been doing over the past week? Is there a timeline in place for next moves for people being fired?
You want to get in there to you will expect to see you think results, yes, well to like the I think that email as was best interpreted as a proponent's review, but actually.
It was a plus check review.
Do you have a.
You have a pulse and two neurons?
I don't know.
If you have a fulse in two neurons, you can replace me an email. This is you know, I think, not a high balk. That is what I'm saying. This is a should we anyone can accomplish this.
But what we are trying to get to the bottom of it is we think there are a number of people on pair well who are dead, which is probably why they can't respond, and and some people who are not real people, like beneficially fictional individuals that are collecting paycheck.
I think, well, some of these collecting paychecks are a fictional individual. Literally, Trump grant all these people real, are they alive and can their right event? Which I think is a reasonable expectation for there. You know, the American public would have to least that expectation of someone.
In the public center. Okay, so he basically wants to know, are you alive, et cetera. Well, I think, and I've used this phrase before, that they need to be a little more careful in what they do. And it has come to my attention that there is an organization that some of you perhaps have heard of, perhaps you haven't heard of it. It's called the Trauma and Critical Trauma
and Critical Care Teams. What these teams are? These these are teams of medical professionals who volunteer their time to respond to crises like nine to eleven, like Hurricane Katrina, like all the fires I'm sure in South Carolina, the
fires in southern California. These are critical care physicians, surgeons, emergency medican medicine physicians, physicians, assistants so called pas, nurse practitioners, registered nurses, nurse anesthetists, paramedics, respiratory therapists, radiology technologists, surgical technologists, and pharmacists. Basically, these are people who are on a very very important list, short notice. They get a phone call because there's been a disaster and they need help.
Some Americans need help. These people are volunteers. Think of them as a volunteer fire department. If you've ever lived in a volunteer in a town that was small, you don't have a full time fire department, but you have a group of people, men and women who when there's a fire, they race to the fire station and they jump in the truck and they do what the truck or trucks and they do what they can to help their neighbors. So think of it like that. Apparently these
folks have received these letters. So you're a volunteer. You might go months or years without being called into action. You have your twenty four hour bag packed and ready to go. When you get the call. You don't say, you know, I think I'll run on a toothpaste. Let me hit to CVS and get myself some toothpaste. No, you have to. There's an assembly point, logan airport or wherever. That's where you go, and you get on a plane
and you go and you help people. So I think that the Trump administration under the guidance, if not the leadership of Elon Musk as the head of DOGE is a little out over their skis here, and there have been a lot of things that they have requested and things that have been said that I think are hurtful
to the cause of finding genuine fraud. There's no way that anyone who's looking for government deficiency should have sent an email to people who are medical volunteers and who are there to help their fellow countrymen in the time of crisis as stupid dumb email. Well, we need to have five things that you did for us last month. No, they didn't last week. They weren't volunteering. So I want to open this conversation, and I think that the Trump administration will be a lot small it to deal with
something more like a scalpel than a jackhammer. We'll take a break if you'd like to join the conversation on this. And I know some of you are going to disagree with me. Some of this is not intended as a criticism of an effort to get rid of waste, fraud and abuse, but this is a criticism if you're going to be called the Department of Government Efficiency for God's sakes, be efficient in terms of what you request from government employees.
Six one, seven, two, five, four, ten thirty six one seven, nine, three, one ten thirty. My name's Dan Ray. Will be back starting with phone calls right after this quick break.
Now back to Dan Ray live from the Window World night Side Studios on WBZ News Radio Bell.
I've used the metaphor that the Trump administration might be out over their skis here a little bit, because I think what's going to happen is if you threaten to UH in such a way that the public thinks that everybody is a federal employee, even doctors, nurses, pharmacists, medical professionals who are volunteering their time, volunteering their time to help out any part of this country or even some parts of the world when there's a crisis, I think
you'll lose the moral high ground. And that's what I'm concerned about. And I think that they need to be careful what they talk about, because the more they talk, there's a lot of people saying, you want to do what you want to close federal buildings. I mean, yeah, should can there be some federal buildings closed? Sure? But it's you can't do it tomorrow. Let's go to the phones. Let me go to Ron in Newton first first up this hour, Run and welcome back to Night's Side. Thanks
so much for calling. Hello, Hello, Hi, Ron, you're on ear. Okay, we're having problems with the phones again, Rob that we had had before. Okay, let's go to run now try that trick. Rob. Let's see if Ron's there. We just lost him. Ron, please call back. In the meantime, we're gonna take Matt in Franklin. We'ren callback at six one, seven, nine thirty. Let's go to Matt and Franklin. Matt next on first this hour, Nightside. Actually, hmm, can you move
Matt over up? Are you able to do that for me? Please? Six six what Let's go to Matt and Franklin. Matt, you are next on Nightside. Go ahead, Matt.
Is that am I in the air?
Yes? You are, go right ahead? All right, right, but what's technical difficulties Matt and to run? Yeah.
One of my biggest issues of the full Doge thing, yeah, is what they're focusing on is like next to like peanuts in the grand scheme of things like, oh, they spend eighty six thousand dollars on like some comic book in Peru. Well, it's like we're thirty seven trillion dollars in and it's like, that's that's your claimed the fan that you found this.
Yeah, let me let me just ask you if you have ever heard the phrase tis better to light one candle than simply curse the darkness. I mean, they are using those examples, if they're true, and I assume that that's the one you just referred to is true. They're using that as an example to basically say, here's something that never should have been spent on. They're going to have to deal eventually with the big topics topics, which would be so Yeah.
I know that Congress. Congress gave a blank check to these agencies and relied on the senior executives of these agencies to spend the money. And now they're upset how the money was spent. It's like, where was Congress all these years when the money was being spent.
That's a good question, But so the question is do you do you want? I want those to look at everything, But what my concern is that they're looking in the wrong place right now. They'll they've sent this email out it's you know, just as you're focusing on an eighty six thousand dollars comic book. After a while, all those little items do run into big money.
Yeah, and how much of the cost for all those employees to respond to a redundant email. It's like their managers should be aware of what they're doing. Not all of them have access to the computer, so they do have to get on it. But that's the whole thing. It's like, that's probably a fifteen million right there. Hold on, I'll tell you that.
Yeah, okay, Yeah, that's great. You're going to call us back and call the person back. I think we lost you. Thanks Matt let We do have run back Ron apologize. We've had some technical issues.
All damn not at all. I'm glad that I got back and thank you so much for having this on. As you know, I'm a part of the Trauma Critical Care International Trauma Critical Care Team, having since nineteen ninety nine,
go around twenty six years now. In some of my deployments had been the first on seeing at nine to eleven World Trade Center working with the New York Fire Department, Police Department, shortly thereafter Anthrax, where we went back to New York City and mass prophylacts seventy five hundred postal workers in seventy two hours. That's pretty efficient. To Hurricane Katrina. Our team has also been to Guam, Haiti, Puerto Rico.
I can tell you when I went to Hurricane Harvey and Houston, I hadn't even gotten deplaned from the plane returning back to Logan and they were queuing me up for the Ohio Ye team to go to Puerto Rico.
Right now, Look, no one is questioning the work that is done by your organization, that the trauma and critical care teams. The question is your ind of it. Your volunteers have received an email, like every federal employee who are not volunteers, what have you done last week? What have you done last week? And look, you you worked in your regular job because you were not activated last week. You probably had when was the last time you activated? A few a few months ago or a couple of years ago.
When was the last time a few years ago? But the the you know, we still we have We have a team, a roster I call every single month, so uh and I'm not on this month's roster, but I have during the past year have been on the roster a few times and uh, so I received this email. It was mandated that we respond, and I got I actually got a call from the team commander at about
eight o'clock in the evening. I was at the hospital where I worked, and we talked about it and I said, well, can I do it tomorrow and he said no, it's the deadline is tonight at midnight. So I finished up at ten pm, punched out of my usual time, and then went back to the office and completed this by midnight. And that included you know what my title was. I had to indicate that I maintain readiness to deploy in
the event of a disaster of public health emergency. You participate on the team's on call roster when available and received no compensation. When you're on call, you answer emails
and other communications from your team commander without compensation. And so I did respond, and then subsequently that has been rescinded to a lower level, that is, we don't have to provide this at the moment unless we're deployed, but it's logistically impossible it deploys was argent without communication or electricity or water and working twelve hour shifts and if you get three hours of sleep, that's a good night.
No, I understand that. But the point I'm trying to focus on is the name of this organization is the Department of Government Efficiency. If they are so inefficient that they are sending emails and demanding a response from people who were volunteers, and the question of the email essentially is tell us five things you did last week? You know, unless you had been activated, there was no there's nothing for you to answer.
I mean, it'd be like, exactly, but I did any I complied?
Well, you complied because you you're somebody who follows rules and regulations. It would be if they sent emails out to to every federal employee, Please answer this email. Were you in Paris at the Eiffel Tower last week? Now that might be interesting information and you certainly could could accomplish answer yes or no. If that's all that that that much wanted to do was to find out if
people had a pulse. My understanding, ron is, as you mentioned, is that this has been this obligation now has fortunately been put on pause. But I think it shows that the those people need to be efficient themselves before they start demanding efficiency from the government.
Can I can I say one thing before we closed in, I was, you know, I've been thinking about this, and it was somewhat insulting to receive this, to be honest with you, but I've been thinking, you know, if if our Congress could work as efficiently and as unified as a team as as we do, when they can use us as an example if they want, very easily. When we deployed to nine to eleven, we had promised the Mayor Giuliani and the fire Commissioner von Us and that we would have our site set up by oh seven
hundred and take over care from Stuyvesant High School. We beat our timeline in spite of the fact there were no walkways.
You know, it was.
Still we were still in process for the Bucket Brigade at the time we beat it. We saw firefighter by six ten in the morning, and and we accomplished what in our nation's worst disasters.
Run Yet without interrupting or with interrupting, I don't think anyone is questioning the work that you folks have done, and done it voluntarily, not not doing it to earn a federal pension or anything like that. I just think that that I'm using this as an example of where that those people basically have to learn how to be efficient themselves. They have to understand who they're sending these
these requests for information to. And they made a mistake, they should they should admit they made a mistake, because if they don't admit they made a mistake, then they might make the mistake again. So I'm into my my ten thirty newscast by four minutes, so I got to
let you go. Thank you, thank you for what you've done, and thank you for giving me a heads up on this, because again, the Trump administration will be their own worst enemy if they do not realize that this was an example of absolute inefficiency by an by agency that has inefficiency the word inefficiency in its title. Thanks Ron, we'll talk sooner.
Thanks for helping us skip see you local.
All right, take a break. Here's the news coming right back on Night's side. I just think that this is important. I hope you do as well. If you agree with me, feel free. If you disagree with me, you can even feel more free. Six one seven, two five, four ten thirty six one seven nine three one ten thirty. I want the Trump administration if there is. I want any
administration to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse in government. But I don't think that this outreach to members of this this team that has done such great work over the years, is something that they can be proud of. They should be They should actually hang their heads and say we blew it. But see what you think. Coming back on Nightside.
You're on night Side with Dan Ray on wz Boston's news radio.
Okay, back to the phones, you go. Let me go to Bill and Danvers. Bill you are next on Nightside, and we'll get the mice Rich Itch on the air. Go ahead, Bill, welcome.
Yeah, I believe. I don't know if you have the cut, dam but I did see some of that cabinet meeting that was one of the first ones the Musk was there, and must did acknowledge that they will be making the mistakes will be made, and they will try to be as quick as they can to fix them. And I think he gave an example, but I can't remember one hundred percent, but he did acknowledge that that you know, uh, you know, the size and scope and and and everything entailed, they will be mistakes.
I mean, you know, I mean one of the things. One of the things that that worries me, okay, is in the president's speech the other night, his addressed Congress, he listed off all of these numbers of people who are listed on Social Security. Who are you know, listed as being over the age of one hundred or one hundred and fifteen or one hundred and twenty. I forget the specifics. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about, right.
Yeah, I've read different stuff about that, to be honest with you. And I also read that a lot of the computer systems, and I'm not sure if Social Security Administration is one of them, but they spend more up keep these older systems to maintain them than if they had upgraded the technology, which will probably be more efficient to a degree.
And that's that's all I want of reform. That's the sort of reform that I would hope everyone would support. But what I'm saying is I've read enough which indicates to me that the fact that there's somebody who's listed as being one hundred and fifty years old doesn't mean that that person exists. Now, if there's a check being mailed to an address associated with that name, I would think you want to find out who's where are those
checks being cashed and who's cashing those checks? Because there's nobody on earth who's one hundred and fifty years old?
And I just what what I'm afraid of is that the Trump administration will engage in this hyperbole about like that, which I see as hyperbole, which is good for a SoundBite, but people will lose confidence in their ability to actually find the problems that are to be corrected because you know, whoever that person is who's listened as one hundred and fifty, I want to know the answer be pretty simple, and I would assume that journalists would want to know the
answer too. And I'm a journalist. Is there actually a person named Joe Smith who's listed as one hundred and fifty? Where's is he being sent to check? Every month? Where is that check being sent to? Who's cashing that check? That's all pretty easy to trace.
Yeah, well, well you have a writer as a journal the uh you know, to request the information of freedom you know, and an address. Well, although I don't know if you could get the address, you know, just go to the guy's house. I don't know, you know what I mean, if there is an.
Address, what I'm saying here. Look, what I'm saying is there's Washington is inundated with reporters. Uh. And if the Trump administration is smart as opposed to you know, reading off numbers as it's listed as thirty thousand people over one hundred and fifty, well, what does that mean? Does it mean that there are thirty thousand people getting government checks that they shouldn't be getting. If that's true, that's
an incredible story. If, on the other hand, some computer list hasn't been cleaned, like a voting list hasn't been cleaned as they should be cleaned periodically, that's less of a story. Still a story, but it's less of a story.
But I think, I mean, there's Social Security is one thing, but I think some of that other stuff that goes down, I don't know how anyone can defend it. I mean, there's a lot of things that you know, and it adds up. I mean supposedly I've been reading. I mean, I don't know if it's one hundred billion or one hundred and fifty billion. And actually there's accounts that they found. Zelden, right, the EPA guy, he said there should be an investigation
because the EPA. It was the grant money, and I went to certain groups that were it was very uh, and they're finding these accounts. I don't know if they forgot about them or they couldn't spend the money quick enough, or the slush funds. I mean, very sloppy, very sloppy. What's going on?
All right? Okay, Well, again I wanted to root out waste, fraud, and inefficiency, but I also want to make sure that it's done legitimately and that you know, you know the old phrase bill it's always better to under promise and over deliver. And if if at the end of the day Elon Musk is over promising but underdeliver, that's not a good thing. Yeah, that's not a good thing.
No, that's not but uh, you know, but in a way I look at it, I mean, I don't know, you can look at the last fifty years. I mean, there's been a lot of instances it hasn't been great. So this is something new. Kick the tie is and you know, see what happened, and if anything, yeah, let's see what happens.
But be careful. That's That's all I'm saying, is that if people get their hopes up and they're going and talking to their friends and say, well, Donald Trump said, there some you know, thirty three thousand people in this country who are over one hundred and fifty years old, and they're getting so secrety checks. That's not real.
They maybe, well, if you look at the big picture with Musk, I think he's kind of I mean he's in business to a degree. He's hurting himself long term think because you know he's oh, he's gonna be saying.
Well, Tesla's save sit down. There's no question about that. Okay, I'm not saying he's doing it for publicity of money. But whether you're doing it for publicity of money or you're doing it out of public service, do it right, do it right, don't over don't over promise, and under delivery. Thanks Belle, We've got to run.
Yep. Thanks man by.
Talk to you soon. Quick break coming right back only one line at six, one, seven, two, five, four thirty.
Now back to Dan ray Mine from the Window World Nice Sight Studios on WITBZ News Radio.
By the way, by the way, with all of the tariffs, uh uh and which is confusing people. Uh Donald Trump, President Trump loves tariffs. Look what the stock market is doing. You know that sort of girations in the stock market is not something that's going to instill a lot of confidence uh in the voters in the middle.
Uh.
And that can be you can you can lose your momentum very easily, Alison new Himshire, Al, welcome back to that night side.
Right hit sir, Yes, sir, it's It's very rarely that I'm the skunk in the room, but I'm going to be it tonight.
I might be the skunk in the room.
Go ahead, well, we'll join each other together. I listened very intently to the team of people, to volunteers. He said something very interesting. He said that they're compensated for if I wrote it down correctly, compensated for on call. So it's a possibility that they're part of the government, uh, you know program where money is being paid, and they were asking them what they were doing.
You say, when you say, just so, I understand, Al when you say, he said they're being compensated for all on call. Who who do you believe said that?
No, are the gentlemen that called you and said and he thanked you for being part of the groupe. He said, I listened to him very intently. What in a wonderful man.
But what he said is.
We were compensated for being on call. My position, my question to you is that not him? I wish he could answer.
And they're not. They're not compensated for being on call. I think you misheard him.
I'm very familiar, Okai.
The analogy I would use. The analogy al that I'd like to use is do you have a fire department in your town or do you have a volunteer fire department?
A volunteer sir?
Yeah, So what happens in your town when when there's a house that gets on fire? The volunteer fire department. Uh, I've lived in a town like you. Was heads to the firehouse and they jump in the equipment in the trucks and they head to the to the fire right.
Yep.
And they may be compensated for their efforts that day. But that's or they may be compensated if they show up for a drill. But that's about it.
No, No, I'm not disparaging. I'm not disparaging the team or the gentleman. I'm saying is I can understand how a government agency could could question something for people who are getting paid. That's all I'm not saying. I'm not questioning their integrity or.
What they.
Receive a stipend now as I understand.
That when they are no, no, I don't, I hear you one thousand percent. But I'm saying is I can actually understand why emails would be going out asking them the question only because when people receive something, some funds, regardless of stipend or not. I'm sure the government is so big that no one knows exactly that the intent was not initially to cause disrespect to volunteers. I think the intent was to find out is money going to
these people and what is it for? I don't I see it a little differently than you do it.
Again, you know, l thank you for that that suggestion. I don't think that is what happened. And as you may have heard, the DOGE team has rescinded or paused the requirement that these volunteers fill out and return this email. So I think that they now understand they sent it to an inappropriate group. But but again, you have a different view of it, and I'm not going to persuade you, I think, and you probably aren't going to persuade me.
So I think you made your case and to justify the email and I and I appreciate that you took the time to call.
Thank you, sir.
Thanks Al, talk soon. Okay, let's keep rolling, at least try to get one more in here. Let's go to Louis and Norwood. Louise. You were next, Alle nice, welcome, Thank you Dan.
I want to tell you that I agree with the college just before me I E. I disagree with your perspective. And here's why. I didn't know anything about this particular volunteer group. But as you talked about it when you first introduced it, you said, these people are on call, they drop what they're doing. They may go to California, they may go to a hurricane site South Carolina. So while they are volunteering their time, I highly doubt that they're paying for their own airfare, hotel, or meals.
So, first of all, you're absolutely correct that if all of a sudden, a physician at mass General Hospital, or a pharmacist or a nurse is on the list, and all of a sudden there's a crisis nine to eleven, for example, they are flown, they're told to assemble somewhere. Maybe they go to hanscom Field. They have to be there within a certain period of time. They get on a plane and they then are transported. I would hope that they're given some accommodation, and I would hope that
they're fed. But these are doctors, nurses, anesthesiologists, others who are volunteering their time. They're not receiving any great amount of money. They receive some small stipend. And yes they don't have to pay for their airfare they're lodging or their meals.
You're correct on that, Okay, So now let's take it from an audit perspective. If DOZE is truly going to do a trail on expense reimbursements for hotels and airlines, they need to start somewhere. So if they are sending out one hundred emails to one hundred volunteers and they get back one hundred responses that no one volunteered anything for two months, yet they have expense reimbursements to a million dollars, that is a pretty good opportunity for them
to open up a real good auditive. Well, why are we spending money under this grant or under this program for people that haven't really done the volunteering.
It's not a grant, it's a program. Okay, a program. Okay. If let us say in Norwood tomorrow there was a tornado and the Norwood Police department was overwhelmed. And let's say that the tornado hit not onlye Norwood, but it hit Walpole and Westwood, at Denham and most of the South Shore, similar to what happened, you know during Hurricane Katrina. And they just weren't enough doctors, they weren't enough nurses, there weren't enough medical people. Uh, and we were overwhelmed.
There would be some of these teams that have volunteered in other parts of the country who would come here. It's the same principle as a volunteer fire department. It's the same principle when we lose power in a snowstorm and you see the ever source is overwhelmed and they bring in utility trucks from other states. It's kind of the same principle. And uh, it's the last thing that I'm going to audit. If if I'm Doge and I just think they're out over their skis, I understand the
point you're making. Would they get some hotels time, Yeah, would they get yeah, you would have some. But I just think it's crazy that that this is what the Doze team is doing. Well. The only the only I want to give you final word. I don't want to cut you off, go ahead.
The only comment that they may have changed what they say said in their email. And I personally, I happen to be in a volunteer program myself, I would not be offended if anybody asked me how much time I spent on my program, because they have to know. But they could have rewarded their email and said to tip off an investigation or just to ensure that all of the money that's being spent in this program is spent correctly. We would like to know have you volunteered in the
last X period of time, et cetera, et cetera. So maybe the email could have been rewarded. But I do think that they had the right to ask these people because they would have generated an expense of some sort, even though it's not going into their pocket.
Yeah right, okay, thanks very much, I said, I'll respond on the other side of the eleven o'clock news. Thank you very much. Feel free, folks, if you want to fill up these lines here because this is razy. Doge is way out over their skis here and so I'm gonna take the gloves off on the other side. Feel free, coming back after the life