Tuesday, Jun 9 – Hour 2

Good morning, good morning. Welcome to the second hour of the program. Thank you for joining me. So it'll be kind of open phones, if something's on your mind. I got some callers that hung around through the news break. I appreciate that. And I'm going to talk about Sean Oliver, who's running for lieutenant governor, Republican nominee. Challenging some of the other candidates, well, one of the other candidates, who may have gotten this signatures through fraud. And that's playing out in the pages of the Boston Globe. You can see it online at boston.com, the Boston Globe. Many of you get the online version, some of you get the paper version. It's an interesting article, we'll talk more about it. Let's go to the phones. Good morning, thanks for holding. Yes, good morning. Hey, good morning. This is Mr. East Freetown talking to you. How are you, Mr. East Freetown, my former neighbor? I'm getting there. I've been having problems with a lot of asthma lately. And I'm starting to feel better with the sun being out. Why I wanted to talk to you, Chris, is people is, I don't know how they think. Here's what I'm going to tell you. Okay. We have a lot of Portuguese that live in New Bedford. Yes. We have a lot of Portuguese people that live in Fall River. I've heard that. A lot of Portuguese down at Cape Cod. Yes. A lot of Portuguese in East Providence and that area. And we also have a lot of people that are Portuguese that live in Connecticut. Okay, so if I was FIFA and I was doing this program, I would have had the soccer, the Portuguese team right here in Foxborough. Where is the Portuguese team? They're not playing in Foxborough? No, they're playing somewhere far away, I think in California or somewhere. How could you be doing that? To me, that's ridiculous. You know, this is the area. Put them here. But I guess they don't think you have to go by their rules. Can you imagine paying $180 to park your car at Foxborough- I cannot. If you go see the soccer? Is that what they're going to charge? Yeah, $180 to park your car. Isn't that ridiculous? Good Lord, that's crazy. And the other, before I finish talking to you, one more thing I want to say. You know, with this new idea of having the bars open till 3 in the morning, are they going to enforce the last call? A lot of bars say, last call, that's it, no more drinks after this. Would they do something like that at quarter past 2 in the morning or 2.30? I was wondering if they would do that. So it's brand new ground for all of us. I don't know what the governor is going to do. I mean, do we trust her management skills that this is going to come off the way it should? I don't. No, she's got bad management skills. Yes. As far as I'm concerned, she's been a big letdown. I mean, you're not going to have people getting drinks at 10 minutes to 3 or 5 minutes to 3. And then coming out, to me, they should have like a last call, that's it. 2.30 or something, last call, you're all done. Will you be out there? I will not be. Will you be out there at 2 o'clock in the morning looking for a- Absolutely not. Okay, all right. I'm glad to hear that. I'll tell you about when we were having parties. I think I have mentioned it to you, I haven't drank since. You know, we had a party one time and I drank so much and we all drank so much, going home to East Freetown, I went on the wrong part of the 140. And I said to myself, oh my God, these cars are coming to me, I got to be on the wrong place. So I was lucky I didn't get caught. I turned around, And got off of Bailey Road and I got on the right thing to get back to East Freetown. I got back to the right part of 140 going to East Freetown. So after that, that was the end of my drinking. Yeah, that's good. No, you learned your lesson. I could have been killed and that would have been it for my family and my boys and everything else. No, yeah, alcohol is not something to fool around with. That's right, you're right. Hey, thanks for the call. I hope your summer's going well. You take care. Thank you, my friend. Don't be a stranger. My former neighbor. Yeah, look, I think a lot of people have stories like that. You drank too much because you don't know who you are. Drinking alcohol really changes people, okay? It does, we all know that. And some people can handle it, some people cannot. So I'm glad that gentleman who told that, that's a harrowing story, right? To be on the wrong side of the road, heading head on into traffic, I'm glad he doesn't drink anymore, and I don't, look, I'm not going to be out there in the bars at 2 o'clock, 1 o'clock in the morning. That's just not what I do. But I am concerned about the employees coming home, and do you think they're going to make more money, less money? I don't, anyway. I'm not sure what's going to happen, I'm really not. And every bar will be different. And every bar, every restaurant knows their clientele and whether they have a reason to stay open later, so we'll see. We'll see, it's an interesting experiment. 508-996-0500, that's how you can get on the air. By the way, there are actually a lot of Portuguese people in California. There's a lot around here, obviously, and we're for the better for it. But there are a lot in California. I'm trying to think of his name. Nunes, okay? Devin Nunes, who's now the head of Trump media. He was the ranking Republican on, I think the Intelligence Committee. Devin Nunes, and he's Portuguese. Parents, I believe, are immigrants. And they live in California. They got a big farm out there. But I know, because he comes here, when he comes here, he used to go to Inner Bay quite a bit when he'd be in the Northeast. He would try to stop at the Inner Bay in New Bedford, which is where I regularly go to as well. I've never seen him there, but I've heard that. So, and I know that there are a lot of Portuguese people, for whatever reason, out in California. Not just here in the Northeast, but there's a lot of them here in the Northeast as well. And there's a lot in Florida these days now, too. 508-996-0500, open phones. It's on your mind. I want to hear about it. Good morning. Thanks for holding. The bars in New Bedford, a lot of them are closed at 8 o'clock because there's no business and people don't have the money to drink. And the bars that will do well in New Bedford will be the Portuguese sports bars, bars like that. because they go wild for their soccer, because I used to hang around Portuguese clubs, a lot of them, but a lot of them are closing down at 8 o'clock. Yeah, I couldn't believe it. I went to the Madeira Club a couple of weeks ago to get a draft. Yeah. Here, and they were closed, and it was like 9 o'clock. I said, what is this? So then I went down to the Ponto da Gata. That was another bar I used to go to. They were closed, too. And I found out that no one's got money, and they're not closing the bars early. So the only ones that will do well is Punto Luzo, Portuguese sports, bars like that, I think. I'm going to tell you, though, I don't know about late, but I was at a restaurant on Sunday night in Wareham. The place was packed. We had to wait for about 15 minutes for a table. So people have money. They're out there. Yeah, but I mean, on the weekends, the bar will open later. But during the week, they're closed at 8 o'clock. It's really strange, because they used to be open until the regular closing time of those bars that I used to frequent. Quite often, quite often. Yeah, I would never be able to. All right. Thanks for the call. I do appreciate it. 508-9960. If I keep reminding you, it is election day here in Fairhaven. There are reasons to go to the polls. You got a lot of options. Quality candidates from a lot of different perspectives, really, for the select board. So you got some real good choices there. Planning board, there's competitive election. There's a proposition, two and a half override forever in a day. In other words, it's a general override, not just for a debt exclusion. So you've got some real thinking to do about your own personal circumstances and desires for the town of Fairhaven before you take that vote. And you got today to think about it because the polls close, what about 8 o'clock? 8 o'clock, I think tonight, right? 508-9960-500. So what's this article in the Boston Globe? The title is The Scrum. That's a rugby title, actually. Speaking of foreign sports, The Scrum is where they're all trying to get at the ball, right? The Scrum, the Massachusetts GOP own worst enemy. The Democrats aren't the only ones trying to knock Republicans off the September ballot. One Republican is two. This is the Boston Globe. Days after Massachusetts Democrats challenged the nomination papers filed by two Republicans running statewide, including Lieutenant Governor Hopeful and Manning Martin. Fellow Lieutenant Governor Hopeful, Sean Oliver, quietly filed his own challenge against Manning Martin, his would-be primary rival, okay? I'm reading from the Boston Globe. And he seems to be taking his complaint to the next level. While Oliver also filed an objection with the State Ballot Law Commission, alleging that, quote, numerous signatures Manning Martin handed in by last week's deadline had been, quote, fraudulently obtained, all of his camp, is also pressing for answers. His lawyer, Dan Winslow, I know Dan, he's a quality guy. Bristol County guy, Attleboro, North Attleboro. He's a former Republican state lawmaker, judge, and chief counsel to then Governor Mitt Romney, is seeking testimony from Joe Bronski, the signature gatherer, at the center of the controversy, okay? So Dan Winslow used to be the lawyer for Mitt Romney, he was a judge, he was a state representative, is representing Sean Oliver's campaign, okay? And he wants to depose Joe Bronski, who gathered the signatures for Anne Manning Martin, who's a Peabody City Council. Back to the article. Winslow has asked that Joe Bronski sit for a deposition by Friday or testify before the commission. He also sent Manning Martin a list of questions he wants answered under oath, including when she or her campaign first learned the signatures that Bronski had collected may have been fraudulent. And what steps her campaign took to verify the viability of the signatures before submitting them. These are really good questions. Doesn't surprise me. Dan is an excellent attorney. All right, I'll come back to the article. But first, we got to take a break. Stick around if you're on hold. We'll be right back. Back to Chris McCarthy and South Coast now on WBSM. Call 508-996-0500. Of course, written by Paul Overstreet. I was wearing one of Paul Overstreet's t-shirts the other day, a gift from Lenny Mills. They're beautiful t-shirts. I know that Tim Dunn from the Boston Arrow pointed out on the air. You can get them at pauloverstreet.com if you're interested, check them out. All right, so this article, remember, I'm reading from the Boston Globe, okay? So the Boston Globe has never endorsed a Republican, not in my lifetime that I recall, really. And nor would most Republicans want their endorsement, the El Globo, right? So they go on to point out. Now again, by the way, Brian Shortsleeve and Sean Oliver will be having a rally today, tonight, 6 to 8 PM. It'll be a beautiful night for it. Travelers Alehouse here in Fairhaven, I understand it's going to be an enormous crowd, doesn't surprise me. So check it out if you'd like, open to the public, open to everybody, head on down. So Sean is challenging, by the way, rightfully so. Let me say something. If your opponent, you believe, rightfully, if you have what you believe to be credible information, okay? If it's not credible, you're only going to embarrass yourself. In this case, I believe Sean has credible information to challenge his opponent, one of his opponents, for lieutenant governor, access to the ballot. You cannot allow fraudulent gathering of signatures to, you cannot reward that type of behavior, whether the woman knew it or not, okay? You cannot reward that kind of, we've had problems like this locally, where people run, they forge signatures. To me, they ought to be criminally charged. Now, we'll see what comes out of this. It's likely that Ann Manning-Martin had no idea. But I like that Sean's lawyer is probing, what did she know? And when did she know it? Because her reputation deserves to be salvaged or salvaged, right? Based on what she knew. Was she a victim? Or was she a willing participant? We don't know. But thanks to Sean Oliver, chairman of the local Republican party in the city of New Bedford, we might find out the truth, okay? So the Boston Globe goes on to say, the move by Oliver puts Oliver a bit at odds with his own party. After Democrats filed their challenge to Ann Manning-Martin, MASH GOP chairman, Amy Carnivali, said the party stood behind its candidates, including Michael Walsh, its endorsed candidate for Attorney General, who is also facing an objection over the signatures he filed. Okay, Boston Globe goes on to say, voters deserve contested races, real choices, and confidence that the election laws will be applied fairly and consistently. That's a quote by Amy Carnivali, chairman of the Republican Party. Carnivali said in a statement last week, the outrage from the Massachusetts Democrats rings hollow. They routinely oppose common sense election integrity measures, yet now claim sudden concern as statewide races heat up. But following Oliver's challenge, the statement, well, rings a little hollow, says the Boston Globe. A MASH GOP spokesperson declined to comment on Oliver's objection on Monday. Oliver's campaign, meanwhile, said that it's all in the name of protecting elections. By the way, I agree with the Oliver campaign on that, because, look, you cannot allow fraud to carry the day. You just can't, okay? You can't. And Sean Oliver went out, literally, I'm one of the signatures that helped qualify him for the ballot. I know that he hired qualified people to go get signatures, but he also personally went out and got them. He took my signature right here in this studio. So, Sean Oliver did the work. He got on the ballot at the convention level, then again, by gathering the signatures. And I think it would be derelict on his part if he just ignored credible charges of fraud on his political party, right? Remember, if you get on the ballot as a Republican using fraudulent methods, that's a crime against the Republican Party, okay? That's a crime against the Republican Party, just like it's a crime against the Democrat party if people get on the Democrat line using fraudulent methods, okay? So the party has to stand up, and the candidates themselves have to stand up for the integrity of the election. So, and again, I get what the Globe's trying to do, and I appreciate it because that's propaganda, and that's kind of what they do for the Democrats, all right, 508-996-0500. This guy Bromski, again, everybody's innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. But he's done, it's alleged that he's committed acts that are, as I pointed out earlier, a crime figuratively against the Republican Party, of which he purports to be a member. He's on one of the local town Republican committees, I think he's chairman. He's also appointed by the select board in his town to the registrar of voters, that's like the Elections Commission in the city. He holds one of the positions for the major party, the Republicans, in that town. I think it's Braintree, I think so, Joe Bromski. So I'm glad that Sean Oliver is pushing forward using a really talented lawyer, Dan Winslow, Bristol County guy, to try to get to the bottom of what happened here. Who knew what, and when did they know it? Does it serve Sean? Yeah, but I think it also serves all of us who vote in elections, okay? You do not want fraudulent means to carry the day. And I think Anne Manny Martin may end up being a victim here, depending on what she knew and when she knew it. Now, there's a statement here that Amy Cannavale is sticking by Anne Brinsley. Well, that statement is no longer operative, okay? Because I've interviewed Amy Cannavale last week, we had her on, she's a regular here on the program, and I'm happy to have the chairman of the Republican Party here regularly. Amy basically said, it's time for Anne Brinsley to move on, okay? And maybe return to focusing on the community that she represents on the select board, but she's not going to be the lieutenant governor candidate, okay? That's not going to happen. And if you can complain all she wants, and she very well may be a victim, or she might be involved. I don't know, I do not know. I've literally never spoken to the woman, I've never met her. And the other thing this Globe article points out, something I've been pointing out for quite a while. The Republican Party, which I traditionally vote for, has really given the Democrats a free pass in most elections this year. So the question is asked at the bottom of this article, how sparse is the Republican slate across 258 different seats on the September primary ticket, statewide, legislative, and county seats included, okay? The party didn't put up a candidate in a hundred seats, 183 of them, or 71% of the Democrats are running unopposed, okay? It's crazy, it's crazy. However, we do have a competitive governor's race, competitive, possibly lieutenant governor's race, that remains to be seen. But our guy, at least my guy, is on the ballot. Sean Oliver is on the ballot. If you've never met Sean, he's a really interesting guy, good guy. I think you'll find the experience enjoyable, and you can do it tonight if you'd like. He'll be in Fairhaven from 6 to 8. They're doing a unity rally. He and his running mate, gubernatorial candidate Brian Shortsleeve, they're having a unity rally here in Fairhaven. 6 to 8 PM, I'd get there early at the Travelers Ale House on Route 6. I would say plenty of parking, but I think that is dependent on what time you get there. They've got a big parking lot, but I think you want to get there earlier rather than later. One of the interesting things is that the primary election for the Republican Party is heavily weighted towards Bristol County, Plymouth County, and the Cape Cod area, okay? Barnstable County. So Plymouth County, Barnstable County, and now Bristol County for the last couple of years have been heavy factors in the outcome of the Republican primary, okay, statewide. So as an example, the Boston Globe and Suffolk University did a poll. I talked about it last week for the Republican primary. When you look at where they did the poll, less than 5% of the people polled came out of Suffolk County. Suffolk County is the city of Boston, the suburbs of Winthrop and Revere, and the entire city of Boston. So that's Jamaica Plain, South Boston, Dorchester, Roxbury, right, all those neighborhoods that make up the city of Boston. Plus the city of Revere and the suburb of Winthrop, beautiful town Winthrop, got a lot of good friends there. And that is Suffolk County. Now that's enormous in the general election, but in the Republican primary, traditionally, it's less than 5% of the vote. So when Suffolk University did the poll of likely Republican voters looking for a model, they concentrated on Bristol County, Southeastern Mass, and Cape Cod, okay? So that's really interesting because Sean Oliver is in the biggest city in Bristol County, one of the biggest cities in the Commonwealth, the city of New Bedford. And by the way, he's likely to be the only Republican candidate who qualifies for the ballot, okay? Which means whoever wins the governor's race is going to be running with New Bedford City councilor, Sean Oliver. Either it's Brian Shortsley, the man who selected Sean Oliver to be his running mate, running with Sean, or it could be Mike Minogue running with Sean Oliver. Either way, Sean Oliver will be on your ballot in September. He may be the only candidate that you have to vote for in the September primary, which I think is absolutely mind-boggling, right? Sean Oliver, not only the first guy from New Bedford, since when, I don't know, World War II, to run statewide out of New Bedford, may end up being the only candidate on the ballot for Lieutenant Governor in September. And by the way, I think he would have won anyway, but therefore, the de facto winner, right? There's no contest. He's the only one who met the minimum standards to get on the ballot, it's just wild. And I'm pretty excited for the man, really, and for the region, because I think we all win when Sean Oliver wins. By the way, knowledge is power for Bristol County seniors. Please join us at the Bristol County Celebration of Seniors at White's of Westport on Friday, June 12th, from 9 AM until 12 PM. I'll be broadcasting live. Seniors are invited to enjoy a free breakfast, a really nice breakfast, all for free, and a resource fair with speakers, giveaways, and important information. This special free event is presented by Bristol County District Attorney Tom Quinn and Coastline Elderly Services. A special thank you to our platinum sponsors, Anodyne and Eternal Health, gold sponsors, AARP Massachusetts, Bristol Elder Services, Mechanics Cooperative Bank, keep it local, Senior Medicare Patrol, and United Healthcare Community Plan. For questions and to RSVP, please call Brian Rose at the district attorney's office, his phone number, 508-961. 1972, that's Brian Rose at the DA's office, 508-961. 1972, we'll be right back. This portion of programming on WBSM brought to you by South Coast Health, Advanced Medicine, more care. Back to Chris McCarthy and South Coast now on WBSM. Call 508-996-0500. Welcome back to the program. It's Jimmy Buffett, doing a little Grateful Dead. So really interesting story. I know I say that all the time, but it's true. In the new Bedford Light, about someone I call a friend, a regular here on the program. Many of you have gotten to know her through this program, Megan Lapp. Megan Lapp, gutter start, building fishing nets in Fairhaven and New Bedford. Scott Lang's a big fan of her. I know she worked with Richie Canastro on a lot of fishing issues. She's been brought into the Trump administration. Megan Lapp, regular advisor of mine. I ask her a lot of questions. She's been a regular guest here on the program. She's now a member of the Trump administration, working in the Interior Department, which is, I think, fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. That a regular guest of this program would be identified by the people in Washington to bring up there. Again, a local person, local woman who knows this area and understands the fishing industry really well. New Bedford Light has an article all about it. We'll play a little clip of it. But I would encourage you to go to New Bedford Light, read the article. And Megan Lapp, who many of you know because of her appearances, regular appearances, here on the program, has now joined the Trump administration. Trump administration hires offshore wind critic to join wind regulator by Anastasia E Lennon. A longtime offshore wind critic is now employed by the federal agency regulating offshore wind. Megan Lapp, who has served as a fisheries liaison for Rhode Island commercial fishing company Sea Freeze Limited, now works for the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, the Light confirmed Monday. Lapp has been a longtime critic of BOEM over its review and approval of offshore wind projects, often citing concerns about impacts to the commercial fishing industry in Wales. She was involved in lawsuits against the federal government over its approval of wind projects, including Vineyard Wind. As a fishing industry representative, she often expressed opposition through detailed comment letters complete with figures and footnotes during BOEM's years long reviews of projects, several of which are now in the water. It is unclear what her position is within BOEM or when she started. A spokesperson with the Interior Department late last week declined to confirm whether Lapp was employed by BOEM or answer questions, stating the agency has no comment related to personnel. A spokesperson for BOEM, a bureau within Interior, has not responded to inquiries. Ahead of submitting a public records request on Lapp, the Light confirmed her employment with BOEM through its Freedom of Information Act office. The office had no information to share on her position or title within the agency. Lapp has a master's degree in legal science from Queen's University Belfast. She sits on an advisory council for the New England Legal Foundation, a non-profit law firm that addresses policy and constitutional concerns related to free enterprise, according to its website. She also used to work in New Bedford, making nets and gear for commercial fishing vessels. With Sea Freeze, she represented the company's interests regarding offshore wind and fisheries management with government bodies at the local, state, and federal level. Lapp has appeared on Fox News several times to talk about offshore wind, stating last fall that offshore wind farms will destroy the planet and degrade national security. National security is the latest argument the Trump administration has used to try to stop offshore wind construction. Not to mention just Fox News, she also appeared numerous times on this program as well. And the national security issue, listen, Megan Lapp is highly qualified. She's a local person. And she explained to us repeatedly about the national security implications because of radar. She understands radar really well. And I've talked with other boat owners about the problems with offshore wind, radar, when the Coast Guard is looking to do searches by air, they're really inhibited by these giant windmills out there. I mean, it's just common sense. But also the fact that, Megan's a really good researcher. As she was, as mentioned, she has a master's degree from Northern Ireland in legal studies, which is all about research. And she had all this research done. She had mined all these different papers, all about the effects of offshore wind on radars. And really, really knowledgeable person. And I'm glad the federal government has recognized her expertise and brought her in, in some role, into the Interior Department. And that's good for everybody, including national security, but also for the fishing industry. And quite frankly, for offshore wind, because if you can't do it safely, why invest the money? Maybe Megan Lapp should have been brought in by Biden to explain why this was a bad way to invest money, okay? And that these offshore wind companies are not going to be able to do it because it impacts national security. And that why get them involved spending all this money, if ultimately it's going to interfere with national security. Which is the reason countries have militaries, the reason countries exist to defend their citizens. So maybe by ignoring Megan Lapp, which is what the Biden administration did, and a lot of local Democrats ignored her as well. Maybe they would have been better off listening to her a little bit, the way Donald Trump is. Take a break, we'll be right, if you're on hold, stay there, we'll be right back. To the program, I'm Chris McCarthy. Remember, if you live in Fairhaven, today's your opportunity to go out and vote. You got a competitive election for select board, planning board. There's also a proposition, two and a half overrides. So, go vote and then you can complain about the results for the rest of the year. So it's kind of nice, 508-996-0. Open phones, whatever you want to talk about. Good morning, thanks for holding. I guess I didn't want to talk. They couldn't hang 508-996-0. So again, I know that a lot of people are all for offshore wind. And look, I get the mayor's point of view about if you have a local project like that, inevitably, there's going to be local economic development. And that there's a very interesting article in Commonwealth Magazine. I think it's Commonwealth Beacon. Now, like Beacon Street or Beacon Hill, Commonwealth Beacon. I always just knew of it as Commonwealth Magazine, but I guess it's Commonwealth Beacon Magazine now. Check it out. It's a local article about offshore wind, quotes John Mitchell, quotes Andrew Saunders, who's not only a member of the Fairhaven Select Board, but he also is involved in ocean construction, offshore construction, all over the world really, has been. And now has what formerly was the power plant on the waterfront. That's all cleaned up. Commonwealth Magazine interviews Andrew as well, Andrew Saunders, about offshore wind and the future. And look, both Andrew Saunders and John Mitchell, in my conversations with them, are not pessimistic. In other words, this is the way politics is. Anything that's heavily dependent upon politics, which is what offshore wind is, heavily dependent upon government subsidies. And most industries, most power companies are heavily dependent upon regulation, right? If the regulators won't let you do it, you can't do it. That's the way we do it here in America. So, they are, I would say, optimistic for the future. They recognize that Donald Trump is sour towards offshore wind. He doesn't really believe in it, in terms of its capabilities. There's a lot of capabilities to question. But if you're Andrew Saunders, if you're John Mitchell, you recognize that it's probably good for New Bedford. And so, they're just going to wait Trump out. That's how I read the article. You can check it out yourself at Commonwealth Magazine. That when Donald Trump goes, and eventually he will, he's term limited. And maybe there'll be a Republican after that.