Auto news on Youtube Oct 30 2018

- I am sitting here with Doctor Randy Friese,

who is a member of the Arizona House of Representatives

for District 9.

Thank you so much for joining us today.

- Thank you Sara, my pleasure.

- What do you have to say to Millennials, or young people,

that feel totally disenfranchised with politics,

and the deep political divide in this country?

- There's always hope, and I'm so encouraged

by young people today.

Seeing their degree of engagement.

We didn't have that same level of engagement

in my generation.

Although you may think in the short term,

you're not affecting change.

Small actions today, create large repercussions

in the future.

You must absolutely talk politics to your friends

and neighbors, because you know what you find,

is that you agree on more things than you realize.

And when you realize that you're agreeing,

at least with the goal, you may disagree

on how to get to that goal, but if you realize

that you're agreeing on the goal, then you can,

you can get compromised and figure out a way

to get to that goal.

Arizona has a bicameral state legislature,

a house in the senate, so that house has twice as many

members as the senate.

Each member of the legislature can introduce bills,

Of course you have to get majority of people

to agree with you to pass the bill forward,

and then of course, it's gotta be signed by the governor.

- What are the most pressing issues you've found

for your constituents, and legislative district nine.

- Oh that's an easy question, education funding.

It is the state's responsibility to be sure that we have

a well funded uniformed system of public education.

And I believe that we're failing as a state.

We're not addressing it, we're not solving it.

The citizens are reacting and showing us,

you're not fixing this problem,

it's becoming more and more pressing.

Making sure that our balance between

corporate taxation, and creating an environment

that's helpful to business, is balance.

What we have neglected to consider

is making sure that Arizona is a place

that people wish to live.

Make it so that people want to move here,

then businesses will come and create jobs,

and an economy will grow.

- What originally got you in to politics?

- Well I'm a trauma surgeon.

In 2011, we had a mass shooting,

and I took care of those victims.

I took care of Congresswoman Giffords,

and that sort of flipped the switch for me.

- How do you balance your two careers?

- It's actually easier for me

when we're in session in Phoenix,

because we can work 12 hours a day, 18 hours a day,

at the capital.

In the interim, when we're not in session,

it's a little harder for me.

Working at the hospital, but then I'll frequently

need to go to Phoenix for a meeting, or for some reason,

and then it's harder for me to juggle.

I do trauma critical care, so I work in the ICU

and take care of extremely ill people,

and taking care care of these people as a team,

and I, and I get to be the team leader,

and everybody, everyone has input, everyone has ideas.

Those skills that I've been developing

for the past 20 years have helped me

move over in to the legislative sort of workplace as well.

- How do you ensure you reach all of your constitutes?

- Going out to the community, going to the schools,

going to events that people would like me to.

I'm a frequent writer of Op-Ed's for our local paper.

We're doing mailers, and lots of social media.

- What are some options that you see as feasible solutions

for medical care?

- Healthcare is very expensive.

It's our job as a state, and the federal government's job

to make sure that everyone has access to quality healthcare.

Moving towards a market or the exchange

that the Affordable Care Act set up,

and divorcing that benefit from your job,

I think is something that we need to start thinking about.

Healthcare is very expensive, also for employers.

The problem with the Affordable Care Act right now

is the people using exchanges,

tend to be high risk with their healthcare, and cost more.

If we can get more young, healthy people

on the exchanges, the cost of healthcare

following the exchange will come down,

the products available on the exchange

will become more robust.

My goal would be to transition us to

getting more people on the exchanges,

through the Affordable Care Act,

purchasing products on the exchanges,

and not having the expectation

that I'm gonna have a full-time job giving me my healthcare.

- What is an example of something you've done

to support or empower women?

- As the Democratic Caucus has been trying to get

the Equal Rights Amendment Heard.

Arizona's one of the states that never ratified it.

So we've been trying it get it heard

in our new state legislature, to move it forward,

and take us closer to that number.

- The ERA you said?

- The Equal Rights Amendment, yes.

We are the minority, but we represent 41 or so percent

of that body.

We are like water on a rock.

We're dripping water on a rock,

and over time, we will affect change.

- What is a piece of legislation

that you either sponsored, or co-sponsored,

that you are the most proud of?

- My second year in the legislature,

again, focusing on public education,

I noticed not only do we have a problem

with funding our schools down in Arizona,

we have a very big problem with teacher flight.

So I created a program that said

if you're a public school teacher,

a certified public school teacher here in Arizona,

and you've taught here for three years,

then you could go to the University of Arizona,

the Northern Arizona University,

or Arizona State University,

for 75% tuition reduction,

and get a masters degree or phD in education,

in the college of education.

Let's develop a second tier in the program

to help keep the senior teachers here,

where if you are a teacher of ten years or more experience,

then you, the teacher, your spouse, and your dependents

can go to any one of our state schools

for 75% tuition reduction, and get a degree

in anything you need.

We have to spend money to save money.

And if you build a retention program,

and at least put a dent in your teacher flight problem,

we're actually gonna be saving money in the long run,

and creating a stronger teaching workforce.

- What is the last TV show that you binge watched?

- I was a big fan of Lost In Space when I was a kid,

so I been watching the Netflix Lost In Space.

- The new Lost In Space?

Diamond Backs, Sons, Mercury, Cardinals, Coyotes,

or Road Runners. - Road Runners, yeah.

Runners, our new hockey team.

The Road Runners is our new hockey team.

- Who is your favorite female artist?

- Annie Lennox.

Been a fan of Annie Lennox for many, many years.

- Who is a political candidate that in 2018,

inspires you the most?

- I would say Beto O'Rourke in Texas.

I respect him because he is running as who he is,

in his home state,

and we need to see so much more of that in politics today.

We need people to tell us who they are, why they're running,

and what they would do.

- Well thank you so much for sitting with us today.

This was a real pleasure speaking with you.

- My pleasure, Sara, thanks for the invitation.