The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - #BecauseMiami: Publicly Financed Stadiums on Strawberry Fields
Episode Date: January 17, 2025Paula Barros, better known as Pauley McPaulerson, joins Billy Corben in the co-host chair today. David Samson joins the show to talk about a potential publicly financed sporting venue in Orlando. And ...Scott Maxwell of the Orlando Sentinel talks about his dealings with potential United States Attorney General Pam Bondi. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Transcript
Discussion (0)
You're listening to Giraffe King's Network.
Now's a good time to remember where Tequila's story truly began.
In 1795, Cuervo invented Tequila.
Cuervo.
What are you doing here?
Cuervo.
Anytime someone says Cuervo, I show up.
Well, I do know that to be true, but even during ad reads like
Cuervo, I think you could lay out, especially for one of our great partners.
Sweet, delicious Cuervo.
Since then, Cuervo has stayed true to its roots.
The same family, the same land, the same passion.
Cuervo. So enjoy the tequila that started it all.
Cuervo. Cuervo. The tequila that invented tequila.
Proximo. Cuervo.com. Please drink responsibly.
Queervo.
Folks, the playoff season is here and the only thing better than the game day predictions
are the foods that come with them.
Introducing Tums Fantasy Foodball Pool brought to you by Tums, America's number one anti-acid
brand and Draft Kings.
Each week leading up to the big game, turn football into food ball by building your best
game day plate for a shot at winning a share of $40,000 in cash prizes. Inspired by game day bites and tailgate treats,
join the Tums Foodball action during this playoff season's most heartburn inducing times.
Visit draftkings.com slash Tums Foodball between January 6th and February 9th to enter for free
and select your game day plate before the start of each playoff round.
Age and eligibility restrictions apply.
Void where prohibited.
See terms at DraftKings.com slash TumsFoodball.
When you feel the heat of the game, don't let the heartburn keep you on the sidelines.
Try TumsChewyBites with a tasty outer shell and soft center for fast relief of heartburn,
acid indigestion, and upset stomach.
Check out TumsGummyBites featuring a soft and easy to chew format for fast relief of heartburn, acid indigestion, and upset stomach. Check out Tums Gummy Bites, featuring a soft and easy to
chew format for fast relief of occasional heartburn, acid
indigestion, sour stomach, and upset stomach.
Both available at Amazon, Target, and other major
retailers nationwide.
And for more heartburn relief fun, be sure to follow Tums
at Tums Official on Instagram and TikTok.
With TD Direct Investing, you can get live support. So whether you need help buying a partial share from your and TikTok. today and make your investing steps count. Plus, enjoy 1% cash back. Conditions apply. Offer ends January 31, 2025. Visit td.com slash DI Offer to learn more.
This winter, take a trip to Tampa on Porter Airlines. Enjoy the warm Tampa Bay temperatures
and warm Porter hospitality on your way there. All Porter Fairs include beer, wine, and snacks,
and free fast-streaming wifi on planes with no middle seats.
And your Tampa Bay vacation includes good times,
relaxation, and great Gulf Coast weather.
Visit flyporter.com and actually enjoy economy.
I'm wondering if you think that the Trump administration
should seriously look at moving
the Olympics to a red city where you know things are going to be run properly, like
a city in Florida, maybe Miami, or maybe Dallas, and Texas, or maybe a city in the Middle East. Only in the Banana Republic, baby.
Only in Miami.
I mean, what's that line from the usual suspects?
The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist.
I think the greatest trick that Miami ever pulled or that Florida has ever pulled is that this is somehow a competent, well-run city or state
with good actors and good governance
and nothing could be further from the truth.
I mean, this whole-
And they're all moving here excited, like thinking, yeah.
Yeah, the whole show wouldn't exist if this place
were the kind of place that you'd wanna hold
the 2028 Summer Olympics,
which is supposed to be held in Los Angeles, which of course is plagued now by a biblical tragedy.
I just want to throw out there for a moment, we are joined today by my co-host, Paola Barros,
aka Paulie.
That's a great segue there.
Paulie.
Great segue.
Miami New Times best Comedian.
And speaking of Miami disasters.
2024.
Let's.
Yeah, I know.
But enough about Paulie's bangs.
Which by the way, right?
Right.
They're great.
They are there.
Thank you.
And so Paulie was Miami New Times Best Comedian 2024.
Yeah, you should have heard me on the countdown.
I was like, for New Year's Eve,
I was like three, two, one, I'm no longer Miami's best comedian.
I was so sad.
Oh, poorisita.
So, Polly is a comedian, a voice over artist.
She's the host of A&E's Cold Case Files podcast,
the Karen podcast for Wondery,
and the producer and one of the hosts
of the Sacred Scandal True Crime podcast.
Those all sound very serious.
They're true crimey.
They're all about murder, it's all very deathy
and I, yeah, I am involved in all of that.
And she's also the voice of all the women
on Spanish South Park.
All the women.
Most of the women on Spanish South Park, right?
You do all the dubbing.
You just got it right, which is great.
Every time a host introduced me in comedy here,
they go, and welcome, the voice of the Simpsons.
They never get it right.
So thank you for getting the South Park right.
Who are some of the characters on South Park
that you voice, en espanol?
I do the fat goth girl.
Can you still say fat?
Hang on, let me check.
We can say that now.
Yes!
And I'm thick, so like, this is my people.
So I do the fat, I do the fat goth girl, she's amazing.
I do the new girlfriend of Mr. Mackey.
Mmkay, mmkay, you know that guy?
Mmkay.
Yeah, but it's not mmkay in Espanol.
In Espanol it's mmb, mmbien, vamos a hablar hoy
de las cosas que tenemos que hacer para el colegio, mmbien.
And this is a girl, she's a woman.
And I also do like the really ultra Good. And this is a girl. She's a woman. And I also do the really ultra-feminist new vice
principal, strong woman, mujer fuerte.
So I have really fun ladies and some little girls and stuff.
But I love South Park.
They need to put out some new episodes.
She also hosts Tuesdays at the Greystone Hotel South Beach
Comedy Night, Thursdays at the Arlo Hotel in Wynwood,
both free.
Both free. Both hosted by you. And curated. Curated.
On the IG machine at Paulie P-A-U-L-E-Y-Me.
Paulie Me. Paulie Me. Yeah. Absolutely.
So here's the question.
Miami, are we ready for the 2028 Summer Olympics?
Are we ready for the World Cup? What would that be like?
I love that. I think we need new categories would be introduced for sure. Like the ready for the World Cup? What would that be like? I love that.
I think we need new categories would be introduced for sure.
Like the sports of Miami, right?
Like jet skiing.
Jetskiing.
Was that in the Olympics?
But like fully automatic, like jet skiing
like combined with like rifle rate, right?
There'd be like AK-47s on the,
be like Waterworld is what is basically what it is.
Catching of roosters.
They, cock fighting.
That's good.
Fishing off of places you're not supposed to fish off of.
Cockfighting and also chickens fighting as well.
Yeah.
And.
No categories for sure.
No, but I'm just talking about infrastructurely
and governmentally.
What would this be like?
I feel like it would be a epic fiasco.
Oh yeah, we have to have a ballet.
Don't they have ballets and stuff at the beginning?
They couldn't even do Copa America at one venue at one stadium without we're Miami is the
first place that innovated a soccer riot before the game. We're the first place that ever did that.
So we're on the cutting edge. But how big of a disaster do you honestly you think that that would be
very big, very big, large disaster. Billy honest you think that that would be very big
Large disaster Billy if you put garbage in you're gonna get garbage out. Why don't you run it though? Why don't you like offer to produce it? They wanted them to
Chair the DNC down here. No, yeah, she means that she was the summer Olympic 228 summer
Yeah, bro would be such a shit show. I'd like to see you do it. Like just the total collapse of infrastructure,
the total collapse of buildings, the like.
Buildings.
People being, the lack of public transit,
the inability of people to get from one place to another.
What are they gonna do, throw everybody out of Liberty City
to build single purpose stadiums for two weeks?
No, they need to do it in Homestead.
That would be the idea, to do it in open field,
like summer cool homes.
Build it on strawberry fields.
I'd like to nominate Homestead.
The Homestead.
Homestead Olympics.
Florida City.
But irregardless, that would be how this would go anyway.
They would call it Miami,
and it would literally take place everywhere
except for Miami.
Miami Gardens, Homestead,
maybe even Miami Lakes, Doral, probably.
You know they have like a 290th street,
like a 311th street in Miami?
No, I don't know anything about that.
Don't you think at some point they were like,
let's just make this a difference,
like change the name of the county?
If you think about it,
if you get from one end of the county to the other
with no traffic would still probably take like an hour,
hour and a half, like just to get from one it's got to be one of the biggest
counties in the country except for Monroe which is the longest because
because it's just the chain of islands it goes all the way down the Keys it's
also the narrowest County the Olympics would be great Monroe County summer
Olympics track and field will definitely be in sight. Holy shit.
Oh yeah, running over the seven mile bridge.
Oh, absolutely, and rafting to Cuba.
We can say that now.
There we go.
Yeah, because you're Cuban now.
Yeah.
So, sweet.
Oh, and you're Republican now, right?
We're, we're, hang on, hang on, I gotta,
You're goddamn right, Meatball.
So, here's a story
for New Year's that we did not get to last week
hey how come I'm not hearing any songs in English and it's only Spanish the
president of the Biscayne Neighborhoods Association says he and other Miami
residents are disappointed the Bayfront a park new year's eve celebration
featured exclusively spanish-speaking performers i think
the city of miami
inclusion should play a role
and and anything that we do that involves taxpayer dollars the press
release ahead of the event promoted as the largest hispanic new year
celebration in the united states
paul and just gonna kick this right to you.
I'm gonna throw to you on this.
I'm Hispanic, so I can say that now.
I'm just kidding.
But I love that.
We can say that now.
I need that, my ringtone.
No, what else did they expect in Miami?
I think it's wonderful.
What do they want?
Would they want Billy Ray Cyrus?
What else did they want to play there?
I mean, country would have been cool, I get it. get it but we don't really well I'm actually the single largest
like biggest growing fan base for country music in America is yeah I think
I think you know it's a very Miami I think it's fine I'm not I think people
are complaining for no reason for sure what do you think well I think that diversity is our strength. But diversity, but I'm sure there were.
Amorita! Amorita!
But I'm sure there was somebody from every Hispanic country
representing diversity.
Listen, I think if we wanna have a conversation
in this country, which we seem to wanna have now,
more than ever post-election,
about what it means to be an American,
and who should stay, and who should go. We have to have a conversation about our priorities
and our values, and what does it mean to be American?
Do we speak the same language?
Are we bilingual?
What are the standards going to be
for what it means to be an American?
That's all I'm saying.
No, the language thing is off.
I don't think it's the language anymore.
We can't just have a country that just speaks one language.
I don't think many countries do that.
But what is the mandate though,
as a result of this past election,
as a result of what the new immigration policy is going to be?
What I'm saying is like, is there not a mandate
for some new prioritization of Americanism, if you will?
There seems to be a lot of people who think
that there is some kind of litmus test
for what it means to be masculine
or what it means to be American or what.
And I'm saying a lot of people,
back in 1980, there was a Holocaust survivor
by the name of Emmy Schaeffer.
She had fled Germany during World War II,
made it to the United States.
I think she spoke like three or four different languages.
She spoke Yiddish and German and Russian and maybe Polish.
But she came here to America
and having been saved effectively by America
during the Holocaust, she assimilated.
She learned another language.
She learned English so she could be American
and be successful here in this country.
And the Miami-Dade County Commission,
then the Metro-Dade or Dade County Commission,
passed a bilingual ordinance where they said
that everything in county government now
is going to be bilingual.
So this is 79, so they had to hire translators,
they had to make sure that all of the literature
and paperwork in the county and that all county offices
could interact with both English language people
and Spanish language people.
Well, Emmy Schaefer claims that she went into a county office
one day to get a service in 1979ish
and couldn't find anyone who spoke English.
Oh.
And she decided that she was going
to take some action on this.
Anti-bilingualism leader Emmy Schaefer
led a sparse band
of supporters through the streets of downtown Miami
this afternoon.
What I have to accomplish to get the message
to our local, state, and federal government.
94% of all American people throughout the United States
speak only English.
A majority of these people would oppose the situation
as it exists here, yet they cannot all be classified as bigots.
Representatives from several Latin organizations gathered at the torch of friendship for a counter-protest.
Selling of hate is very easy. Selling of love is very difficult.
But we suggest that she stops polarization of her county.
What she did was, is she got a petition drive together,
it got signed and they put on the ballot later that year,
November of 1980, an English only ordinance.
That Dade County was only going,
we're gonna have one language,
that no more money would be spent on translations,
on attempting to communicate with this ever growing
population in our community,
which would later become the minority majority community.
And the Miami accent.
And then the West Kendall, I speak fluent West Kendall.
I'm really trying to speak English,
like I speak English really well,
but I don't even know why.
Super well. Super well.
Super well. Super good, bro.
I think that's what we have to work on first,
like people's accents, like honestly.
Let's get the English right,
and then we can make it that rule.
So what happens?
So we have a Republican candidate for president that year year who is a former b-movie actor a
kind of left of center republican governor of california
who is
running for
president as republican
ronald reagan and he was one of the first candidates to come down to miami
and really campaign to the
kind of hardline anti-communist cub Cuban community down here, Brigade 2506,
you know, the Bay of Pigs veterans,
and he was running on a campaign, a platform,
a slogan of, let's make America great again.
And what happens, we elect Ronald Reagan president
and Dade County passes that English-only ordinance
in November of 1980.
So there is a part of it that sees sort of a return to that
sense of perhaps you would call it hate or exclusion.
But is that the way the pendulum is swinging?
It just limits us. It limits the country just to, you know,
it should be mandatory to know both.
No, but then you have to throw in the Creole.
You have to give it to the Creole. Oh, now. Oh, wait a second. both, but then you have to throw in the Creole, you have to give it to the-
Creole, oh, now, oh, wait a second,
are you complaining that you'd also have to do Creole as well?
Yeah, because if we allow Spanish
and we also have to do the Creole,
then we have to do- But we do that,
look at our ballots.
That's what I'm saying, yeah.
Our ballots tend to be very long
because they're in three languages.
I'd say shouldn't they be?
Every single voicemail is like,
para español, marque dos, you know,
it's like, for real, like, it's-
Wait, but is that a problem, or is that how it should be? I mean, it's great for my mom. Like, it's... Wait, but is that a problem?
Or is that how it should be?
I mean, it's great for my mom.
Like, you know what I mean?
She came here in 1985 and never tried.
Like, never tried.
She had the books, like,
Inglés Sin Barreras or whatever the f***.
But, like, they were never opened.
My father gave them, never opened, didn't try.
She was like, I just don't, I won't have friends.
She didn't care.
She was just like, I have my daughters,
I don't need anything like that.
Miami is an extraordinary place in that way.
It's one of the few places in the United States
where you can come, never learn English.
In fact, even the signage, the people you deal with
or work with on a daily basis, the menus, the billboards,
everything, you'll never have to learn English
and you can have a perfectly successful,
happy, wonderful life. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah or
You get deported and they well they see that yeah
Yeah, you know what word that they like I go to Miccosuke often to go gamble there Miccosuke casino
I don't know if you guys have ever been there my favorite place my favorite place out on chrome. Yeah chrome
Oh my god, that's where the Olympics should be. Oh my god
Just slash and burn the Everglades
and build a f***ing stadium there.
I should be on this committee.
I know somebody who would agree with that.
He's gonna be on the show shortly.
But yeah, no, gambling is a big thing now, so it's fine.
It's okay for me to gamble now, openly.
I think gambling's great, but I mean,
you go out to Mikasuki, you are dedicated.
I'm dedicated.
You are committed to losing your money.
No, no, no, it pays out well.
But anyway, those people over there do not speak a lick of English. Like, no, no, it pays out well. But anyway, those people over there
do not speak a lick of English.
Like it's mostly Cuban people gambling a lot
and not speaking English.
But they know the words that benefit them.
Like when they win, they'll be like, catch out!
And that means cash out.
So they know like the words, you know?
Yakbot!
You know, like they know the words.
Yakbot?
Yakbot!
Yakbot. Sorry to scream.
But it's just so funny that they've only learned the,
I'm trying to think of other words
and they'll come to me that they weren't,
they learn enough just to like get what they need,
which I love.
Do they ever recognize you?
Your voice, I mean.
Oh, my voice.
Oh yeah, cause I did the Mikasuki ads
for a long, long time before the pandemic.
Well, you had to pay off your gambling debt somehow.
They're gonna break your legs, maybe.
True story, I was on a losing streak
and I had just lost like 400 bucks.
For real?
That day, and I was like, let me see if they have
like a media, like an office of like something.
And so I was started looking around or whatever.
I asked and I got to an office and I was like, hi,
I am Paula, I was like, the person that does your ads
right now on TV like sounds really bad, like really like, it kind of like, let's go to Sansa, please. Like. I was like, the person that does your ads right now on TV sounds really bad, really like,
kinda like, let's go to Sansa, please.
What are we doing, like that girl?
And I was like, and I can give you
a really good bilingual read and blah, blah, blah, blah.
I got the job.
I got the job.
Are you serious?
So Mikasuki.
By basically, by willpower.
So they would pay me money.
And debt, gambling debt.
And then that's the only money that I would be allowed
to gamble would be my Mikasuki checks.
I would just bring them back.
And then that was my gambling budget, my own VO.
Don't tell them.
That's very responsible actually.
Yeah, there it is.
I'm very impressed.
Paying them back and everything.
It's like free talent right there.
Yeah, exactly.
Give it right back, you're right.
Have you ever been out there?
I went out there a lot of years ago.
They had like a 9.99 surf and turf.
It's amazing.
At the restaurant in the middle of the,
like that island in the middle of the casino.
Yeah, I know, it's 30 now.
It's 30 now. By inflation.
But the, sorry, it was like a Roy Bobblehead.
It was a Roy Bobblehead I just saw there in the.
Oh yeah, I'm gonna miss that on Monday.
No, no you're not.
All the grocery prices are gonna come down immediately.
Come Monday, it'll be all right.
I think it's fascinating out there.
It's amazing.
Yeah, because like the Seminoles got all the good shit.
They bought the most American brand Hard Rock.
They have like the sexy building
and like a good location right there
off the turnpike and everything.
But the Miccosuke you're like, no, we're good out here.
We're good, we're gonna stay out here in the Everglades.
And be humble and be chill.
And that building hasn't,
it hasn't been renovated in like 50, 60 years.
The carpets are old and amazing.
Like it smells like, dude, it is the most.
What does it smell like?
It smells like 1937.
Yeah, like the 60s in Vegas.
It's like, but it's only Cuban.
So it's like very Native American mixed with Cubans.
And it's just a world of its own.
It's my favorite place in the world.
Cigars, it smells like cigars.
Let's go after this.
20 years ago, we should, 20 years ago,
I went out there for a Tyson fight,
and they had this dome, this off to the,
do you remember this giant building?
Yes, absolutely.
Instead of building an addition,
they just put up this weird, giant temporary dome.
They had a bunch of wrestling there,
a bunch of like this, and boxing.
They had free, so come watch the Tyson fight for free.
It was like a pay-per-view fight.
I can't remember the fight,
because this night was so crazy,
I just remember how crazy the night was. It was a short fight, probably. It was a a paper view fight. I can't remember the fight because this night was so crazy. I just remember how crazy the night was.
It was a short fight probably.
It was a short fight.
And we started, it took longer to get there.
We started going west on Tamiami Trail on Cuyocho on A Street.
Yeah.
And then it was bumper to bumper traffic.
I know the development has increased westbound,
but like there was a time when there was nothing out there.
I mean, nothing out there.
And so we hit bumper to bumper traffic,
and everybody's just now pulling over to the side
of the road and just leaving their car and walking.
But you're walking.
Next to the Gators.
In the Everglades, next to this creepy canal in pitch black.
So I'm like, I don't know that I wanna park here.
So we kept rolling and rolling,
and we finally said, ah, fuck it. We gave up wanna park here. So we kept rolling and rolling and we finally said,
ah, f**k it, like we gave up.
We pulled over, we parked and we start walking.
We start following this crowd.
And there's just a line of people,
you're walking in the swamp and then there's just this,
in the middle of the darkness,
right there at the corner of Chrome and Kai Ocho
and Tenya Mitro, there's just all of a sudden this building.
The casino.
The casino.
It says gaming.
It doesn't say casino, it just says gaming. It doesn't say casino.
It just says gaming.
It doesn't even say Mikasuki.
Mikasuki gaming.
I don't know if it's like a legal thing,
but they couldn't call it a casino
because they can't.
It's like with bingo.
Every machine is also with bingo.
It's like they have a license for bingo.
Yeah, it's a certain class of gaming.
It's like class, right, that you can't,
you have to, the machines have to be programmed
to play against each other rather than the house.
It's very complicated, but we're just walking
down this line of people, and my buddy Dave,
I'll never forget this,
because we're walking next to the swamp.
There's a road to the left, and there is just Everglades.
It's alligators.
Yeah, and so Dave goes, as we're just walking along,
there's like women and children,
there's this line of people trying to walk their way
to this, yes, walk their way to this casino. Yeah, women and children going to the Tyson.
Pure degeneracy.
And so all of a sudden, Dave, brushing next
to the Everglades, goes, oh shit,
and throws himself into the bushes
as if he had gotten pulled in there by some swamp creature.
And this woman goes, ah!
That's what I'm saying.
And I'm like, and I didn't know what he was gonna do.
I was like, oh shit!
And then Dave just like jumps out, like just kidding.
This woman was sobbing.
This child was like gonna run out into the street
and get hit by, it was pretty funny.
Then we-
Pretty funny!
Then we was pretty funny.
Go Dave, bro.
But then we get, long story even longer,
we finally cross the street,
cause we like parked by the gas station.
Okay.
That's in like the south.
Yeah, I know the gas station. the gas like the southeast corner of that intersection
I have like all kinds of Native American like souvenirs to like Gator jerky. Yeah, you parked at the gas
I bought a manatee skin belt there. It's pretty amazing. We parked at the gas station. It's old
No, everybody was doing it. Everybody was just pulling over wherever they could at the
Cigarette trailer or whatever and then and. Cigarettes are really cheap over there guys.
If you need cigarettes in 2025 still, like go.
Buy it wholesale.
It gives you that sexy South Park voice I noticed.
Hello.
So we finally get to the edge of the parking lot
and we look up and at those tall lights,
there's what I can only describe as flying cats, like these.
Bats though, bats there?
We didn't know what they were, but we're like,
what the hell is that up there?
These giant insects with wings fly,
they were palmetto bugs, but they were like
the size of my head, and they're fly,
and then we look down, and there's piles of dead
palmetto bugs all over the parking lot.
And everybody, so imagine we're all in this weird
single file kind of line in the Everglades
and all of a sudden we disperse because everybody's
trying to avoid these piles of palmetto bugs.
And we're all, this is like out of Jurassic Park,
this play, it was unbelievable.
That is a great story.
And we all just like everybody just imagine the shot
overhead. We all just suddenly like disperse and when people
going left and right and just trying to avoid but I've never
seen and everybody's looking up to because we're scared that
these things are dying and then falling. It was like fucking
Lucas out of the sky. I don't I don't know. I love
Miccosukee guys. If you have been there, go support Miccosukee.
I love Miccosukee, guys. If you have been there, go support Miccosukee. expert who's matched to your unique tax situation, an expert who's backed by the latest technology which cross-checks millions of data points for 100% accuracy while they work on your
taxes, you get real-time updates on their progress and then you get the most money back
guaranteed. All while you go about your day. No stressing, no worrying, no waiting. Now
this is taxes. Into a TurboTax, get an expert now on TurboTax.com only available with TurboTax live full service
Real-time updates only an iOS mobile app see guarantee details at TurboTax.com slash guarantees
Our next guest needs no introduction.
I'll do it anyway.
Fans of the show, fans of Miami sports will recognize him and his name will send a chill
down your spine.
He is the former president of the Florida turned Miami Marlins and less than two decades
ago he was responsible for negotiating with the city of Miami, the county of Miami-Dade, and for a brief time anyway,
the state of Florida, in an effort to get public funds
to build him and his ownership group of the Marlins
a private stadium effectively.
What I would call the worst at the time,
the worst sports welfare deal
in the history of the country.
A deal that accomplished nothing that was promised,
did not revitalize Little Havana economically,
it did not change the attendance fate of the team,
which is still in competition for the bottom two
of the worst attendance in Major League Baseball.
Of course, for our neighbors to the north,
Tampa is usually right there in contention.
All it accomplished was on the backs
of broke ass Miami taxpayers made his ex-stepfather
and the owner of the Miami Marlins,
Jeff Loria, a billionaire.
You know, usually when you introduce guests,
you usually give glowing praise, you know.
That is, I think that is,
I think he's erect hearing all of that.
I think that that was like-
Like a stadium.
That was-
He doesn't look erect.
That was- I'm 65 inches strong right now. hearing all of that, I think that that was like, that was, that was, that was, that was, that was, that was, that was, that was, that was,
that was, that was, that was, that was, that was,
that was, that was, that was, that was, that was,
that was, that was, that was, that was, that was,
that was, that was, that was, that was, that was,
that was, that was, that was, that was, that was,
that was, that was, that was, that was, that was,
that was, that was, that was, that was, that was,
that was, that was, that was, that was, that was,
that was, that was, that was, that was, that was, that was, that was, that was, that was believed that it might be the last sports welfare deal of all time.
The exact opposite turned out to be true. Like a cancer metastasizing throughout the
country, we have spent untold billions of dollars annually on subsidizing or outright
financing professional stadiums for every conceivable sport, professional and amateur at this point,
that you could possibly imagine.
And mostly, these owners are billionaires.
So we are providing welfare effectively for billionaires.
And David Sampson is joining us to talk about the top three,
in no particular order,
Florida sports welfare deals to watch in 2025.
Welcome, David.
Hey, with that introduction, I almost walked off the set.
But I think that the most important thing, Billy,
is that back in the day when you were trying
to stop the deal from happening,
and of course you couldn't,
you really did think it was the worst deal of all time.
And I said to you, and I remember this clear as day,
that if you think this is gonna be
the last sports financing deal,
then you need to get back into a hole from which you came,
because we're just getting started, baby.
And what's happened over the last 15 years
is just a continuation of what happened, Billy.
I didn't invent the playbook, I played by the playbook,
and the playbook is now being used
by people all over the country.
And to be fair, your play was for a stadium
and a parking structure that I think was,
ultimately cost taxpayers what?
Six, 700 million sticker price and will over the course
of the long haul, the financing, the interest cost
over two billion with a B dollars.
Yours was not what we are seeing every single day
in this country now, which is a straight up
real estate play.
That's what's happening in Orlando.
That's the first one here is that they want
an entire city block, I think adjacent or across the street
from the Orlando Magic Arena.
I can never, it's the Kia Center.
I can never keep up with, it was Amway before that.
I can never keep up.
So I'll just say the Orlando Magic Arena.
And more importantly, they want it declared
a community development district.
If ever there was a misnomer,
kind of like a public-private partnership.
A community development district.
Oh, very common, Billy, come on.
What?
Don't mislead your audience.
These districts are created all over the country
in order to capture what people say is but for revenue.
And I always laugh because I would put the two T's
in the but for revenue,
because that's about what people are doing to the public.
But what a but for revenue is supposed to do with one T.
What can I tell you? The one T. Oh. But what a butt for revenue is Florida dad Joe one seat
Not have access to what for the dad has access I have access I don't I don't have I don't know But I say but for but enough about Andrew Gillum
That touch no, I will not Andrew what you're not
That's the best reaction.
He's under the desk.
Oh, okay.
Okay, but for David.
Let me just explain, Billy,
what but for revenue is,
is that were it not for a stadium,
were it not for the team being in that stadium arena,
then any sort of economics that are driven around that,
any sort of revenue that the state would get
or a city would get or a county from a restaurant,
from a museum, from a shirt that's bought,
that is only happening because of the team being there.
And what teams do is they say, listen,
of course it's absolute horse eye.
We all argue it.
It's page 12 of the playbook. And what we say is let's draw horse eye. We all argue it. It's page 12 of the playbook.
And what we say is, let's draw a line.
And inside that line, we're gonna keep all the revenue
and whatever taxes are collected, give them back to us.
And we will use that to bond out money,
meaning we can borrow money
by having this as a way to pay the money back.
And then what we say is, dear commissioner,
but for our team, no one would be buying a shirt,
eating at a restaurant or doing anything in this area.
Therefore, you won't be missing anything.
That's the argument that owners are making.
And secondly, they all make it a real estate play
because I was a rookie wanting just a ballpark and parking.
I should have, and I tried to get control over the retail
at Marlins Park and around Marlins Park
with the structures and at the west side of the building.
And I didn't make it a deal breaker and I should have.
My bad.
The fact of the matter is the teams now want control
of everything around their ballpark
and they want all the revenue that comes with it.
So the DeVos family, the Amway heirs,
multi billionaires own the Orlando Magic
and what they're looking for here
and will likely get, they always do,
they want to use tax-free debt to pay for a $44 million
privately owned parking garage and other infrastructure.
That's the federal tax break I think that they want
on top of a $42.5 million package
of city funded tax breaks and grants.
And it comes just a few months after Orlando City Hall
pressured the greater Orange County government
into putting another $226 million of county taxpayer money
into the Kia Center, which is quote unquote city owned,
as is Marlins Park, but it's built just for the magic
and it's owned by the magic and effectively
and operated by the magic.
They keep most if not all of the revenue generated there.
Why should we be giving hundreds of millions of dollars
to billionaires to basically fix their office.
So they're privately owned stadiums.
Let me just correct you.
First, Marlins Park is owned by the county.
And the reason why you have a public entity
own an arena or ballpark
is so you don't have to pay property taxes.
And when a arena is privately owned, like Joe Robbie,
that forces the owner of that team
or the occupant of that building to pay property taxes,
and no one wants to do that.
And so that's very common that you have buildings.
It's not just Miami, it's all over the country.
You've got communities that own the buildings
where the private enterprise is being held.
But owned on paper only.
Owned on paper only.
Because it doesn't mean anything that we own it.
Revenue wise, right?
Yeah, you have no power, no control,
you have no nothing.
That's always what we wanted for Miami.
We didn't want Miami to be involved in any way
because we felt they were incompetent.
We didn't want them to build anything
because we felt they didn't know how to build it
and if they did, it would be over budget.
We didn't want Miami to be involved with any part. It was bad enough that we let them build the
garages and we had to be on top of that at all times. And so what you see with deals now
around the country is teams taking ownership of all of it. And you're seeing it in Miami now
at Mel Reese where Inter Miami is trying to build a city at Mel Reese. What you're seeing it in Miami now at Mel-Reese, where Inter-Miami is trying to build a city at Mel-Reese.
What you're seeing is a family
who is going to benefit greatly from that
and what you hope is a community that will as well.
While I have you here,
can I shoot my comedy special at the Marlins Stadium?
No, it's not.
Well, he's not involved with the team anymore.
I'm just kidding.
I understand I've been gone for seven years.
I'm just kidding, I'm just kidding.
No, what I wanted to know is like, so you can have other events in these stadiums?
Like Shakira have a concert there.
Absolutely. I went to a monster truck rally at Model Spark.
But you said they keep the profits. So like, does that mean that the stadium does keep the profits?
Yes, the owner of the team, which operates it.
Keeps the profits of someone else's concert?
Not only, no, no, no. Of course, if it's being rented or there's some rev share with the event.
What I'm saying is the city or the county
doesn't get shit is the problem.
Who quote unquote owns the venue,
the owners of the building.
Right, quote unquote.
Like I said, in name only or on paper,
get no benefit from those events.
And in fact, even worse, I don't know
what your deal was David at Marlins Park,
but I know at the American Airlines Arena or FTX Arena,
whatever the hell it's called across the street here,
the Miami Heat Arena.
Okay, whatever you say.
That's the only one I've ever been to.
In that arena, the county,
in addition to getting almost $0 annually in revenue
from once again an arena they own,
the county pays
the Miami Heat pays them millions of dollars every year to quote unquote
manage as a management fee why top why is the county being so beta like why
are they right so David did you guys get paid to, quote, manage a management fee to run our ballpark?
No, it's two different ways.
The reason why that happens at the AAA,
which I don't think we call it,
but do you call it the KC now, Roy?
No.
I don't know what.
Not at all, not at all.
So it's just called the Casayas Center?
Yeah, the Casayas Center.
FTX, FTX, Miami Coin Arena.
Bang Brothers, Bang Brothers Center, BBC.
That lasts about 18 months
And by the way if it lasts 18 months you should talk to a doctor you should definitely call call your doctor if it lasts long
God you've had so many erection jokes in one show. I'm so excited to see you
Something
He did perk up in any case, I am pale
and not for the reason I'd like to be.
It's the lighting in the studio.
So in a publicly, exactly.
It certainly is not this talk of stadiums and financing.
While you think that would get me going,
that's actually not what gets me going these days.
What gets you going? In any case.
Oh, just the red light of the camera.
Okay, that gets you going.
Oh, okay.
Yeah.
The countdown in my ear.
Three, two, one.
Oh yeah.
His nipples are gonna tear right through
that leopard print shirt.
Whatever the hell that is.
I bet, can you give me, can you?
I think it's polka dots.
Hang on, Polly, can you give us a Spanish countdown
in that purr, in that South Park purr?
Tres, dos, uno.
Thank you. Oh my God.
That's pretty good, man.
That's so good.
Can I get that taped and use that to start every show I do?
I would love that. We've never met, actually,
until now. Hi, nice to meet you, man.
What's up, David?
Sorry to interrupt this speed dating session and whatever the hell's happening actually until now. Hi, nice to meet you man. What's up David? Sorry to interrupt this like speed dating session
or whatever the hell's happening here right now.
Yeah, all right.
You're, I think David you're-
Billy, let me get back and tell you why very quickly
these deals come together.
In the case of Marlins Park,
you had the public actually contribute money
toward construction.
In other deals, you've got the public
that doesn't give money toward construction,
but they give money in other ways,
like with the Dolphins, where Steven Ross
gets a sum of money from the county
for hosting marquee events,
and for attracting marquee events to Miami Gardens.
In the Heats example, they got money on an annual basis
to manage the stadium, which they then go to a bank
and say, look, we are getting this money every year
from the county, therefore, can we borrow the money needed
to construct the AAA or to do the things that we're doing
as part of our business and we'll pay you back
from this guaranteed revenue stream from the public.
So there's in New York, they built Yankee and Met Stadium
with private money, except they didn't.
They got all the public money they could have ever wanted,
billions of dollars.
It just didn't become a big deal.
And it's called the payment in lieu of taxes.
A pilot payment is a payment that a team makes,
not taxes to the taxpayers and to the community.
It's actually a payment to repay borrowed money in theory.
And so my point is there are many different ways
that owners do it, all with the intent of contributing
as little as possible in order to maximize their ability
to make profit annually and to increase
the value of their team.
Before we go, David, we have to talk about what you brought up in passing a moment ago,
because one of these sports welfare deals to watch in 2025, the one we were promised
they would not seek any public subsidies on, is of course the ultimate boondoggle, which
is Mel Reese, the inter-Miami real estate hustle on a 99 year, no bid below market value lease
on the largest, the single largest piece of green space owned by city of Miami taxpayers.
It was the largest piece of actually contiguous real estate period owned by the taxpayers.
Just this week, David, Miami mayor Francis Suarez gave his mercifully final state of
the City address
and he chose to do it at the so-called Miami Freedom Park.
And this is what he said about negotiating this deal.
This was like birthing a child, this deal.
It's moments like these that often go unseen.
Having to work on my birthday from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m.
negotiating what I believe to be the best sports deal in America
Such a good deal that not only do I challenge anyone to find me a better deal
I'd actually like to know if there is one a lot of tested test determined that oh my god
You're just a working on my birthday. Yeah, he's a narcissist
so birth in a
Yeah, he's in North Texas. Feliz cumpleaños.
So, he-
Birth and address, child, I like a C section.
Let's set aside for a second the fact that this guy
is effectively and allegedly an unregistered lobbyist
for the same people he was negotiating.
He was literally on the same side,
physically on the same side of the table as them.
His law firm represents MLS.
Like, this was very much like,
this was the left hand negotiating with the right hand.
The poor guy was up all night on his birthday.
By the way, getting paid millions of dollars for it.
I just.
That's impressive for a bro dude.
Like he's such a bro dude and like he's a,
that's impressive that he has so much power, dang.
So it's funny you say that
because he actually has no power.
He's tried to run for president and realize quickly
that he is not even a big fish in a small pond.
And that speech to me is laughable
because the deal he did with the Moss Brothers
is one of the most pro team deals that exists in the country.
The ability to develop that land
the way the Mosses are going to do it,
they don't give a flying rat's ass
about the soccer part of the deal.
They care about the real estate, the development, the hotel,
all the different ways that they will get annual, monthly, weekly, and daily revenue.
Inter Miami is like a side note.
David Beckham is collecting money based on his team's value going up.
Lionel Messi will be gone,
and the masses will be there controlling this land for generations.
And Suarez stands up to congratulate himself.
I'm embarrassed for you at this time.
Mr. Mayor, you're brilliant, you're super smart.
So just-
Where did he go to high school?
Did he go to Columbia?
He looks like a Columbus guy.
He got apparently kicked out of Belen.
Belen had a-
He got kicked out.
Okay.
He got kicked, I think he wound up at Columbus.
I'm not sure, but how do you get,
he was the mayor's son and he got kicked out of Belen.
I don't know how you do that, but I'd love to know.
Practice.
Last August, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis
handed out $8 million in a state grant
to pay for a new road serving Miami Freedom Park.
Then Moss Brothers got another $3 million state grant
that Florida's Republican controlled legislature
kind of hid into this year's budget
to also pay for more.
There was no big ceremony for that.
With the oversized check, they just snuck that in.
This is in addition to more than $300 million
in local subsidies, okay,
that are supporting the development.
That includes over $70 million
for site prep and infrastructure,
including cleaning up environmental contamination,
which I imagine there'll also be some federal subsidy
for that as well, as there usually is
with these former Superfund sites.
And get this, here's something they negotiated,
because they need tenants, right,
on this real estate hustle and this mall
and this office park, and also, by the way,
there's gonna be a soccer stadium there,
I don't know if you heard.
But the first tenant is going to be the city of Miami,
because France has quote unquote negotiated
a $250 million city administration building.
So he's basically gonna be moving the city government there.
So guess what?
The city of Miami is now going to be a tenant,
paying, pay rent, paying on their own property.
What kind of a deal is that?
That's not a deal, that's crazy.
What kind of a deal?
To go ahead and give a 99 year lease to these
and then say okay, now we're gonna lease it back.
I mean, like I said, it's the left hand negotiating
with the right hand.
This was, in my opinion, a corrupt act.
This was a robbery that we
witnessed all happen on live television. This is my favorite deal that's ever
existed in Florida, the Inter Miami deal, and the reason why is that no longer can
people talk about Marlins Park as some sort of terrible, worse deal. Because when you
have a frame of reference like what Moss has done to Miami, that's it.
I am off the hook permanently.
Congratulations.
Okay, so Roy, you should ask me,
ask me if I think that the Marlins Park deal
is the worst sports welfare deal
in the history of sports now.
Billy, do you believe that the Marlins Park deal
is the worst sports deal in the history
of the United States of America?
Fortunately, I have a translator here so all of our listeners can understand this in English. No
No, thank you. That is that is an espanol as well
That is no, I don't I don't think it and but David you you didn't take exception to me
Repeatedly referring to these arrangements as sports welfare deals
I wonder if if you have a different view on it or if...
I don't know how much time you have,
but you've always been on the wrong side of this
because you've always believed
that it's just sports owners who do this.
But in fact, these sort of tax incentives
are used all over by all industries,
including the industry you're in.
You and I have had this debate
and I'm happy to have it again.
I love that you choose to be this sort of disruptor,
but you do it without facts.
And the facts are that communities have sports teams,
communities have facilities.
Not everything is meant to be for profit.
And you need the private sector
to spend their intellectual capital
and also their blood and sweat equity to do certain projects
and you have to make it worth their while.
That's the role of the government.
I never felt one ounce of guilt for what we did
to bring baseball to Miami.
And look, if it weren't for me,
you wouldn't have Miami Live.
Congratulations. Oh my God.
Oh my God.
Okay, before we go, Miami Live, what do you think? I don't know that it's such a bad thing,
but we might be on the opposite sides of this one.
There's no chance it succeeds.
It's what we've dreamt about.
We wanted Urban Sprawl to Little Havana.
We wanted there to be some sort of development
around Marlins Park to make it a year-round destination,
and it's failed.
Make it a casino.
And it failed my first five years.
I love that.
And it's failed in the seven years since.
Make it a casino.
Maybe this will be it. Miami Live is a development, one of the West Coast's destination and it's failed. Make it a casino. And it's failed my first five years. I love that.
And it's failed in the seven years since.
Make it a casino.
Maybe this will be it.
Miami Live is a development one on the west side
of the building where they're gonna build like this,
I think it's sort of a shopping mall, restaurant.
No, that's not right.
What is it?
It's in the west plaza.
Maybe they could use the lot just to the west
where you don't need parking
because they don't have enough fans.
Right.
But what you have to do is you have to put something there
that people want to go to on non-game days
because God knows on game days there aren't enough people
to make it profitable.
And it's very unlikely that people will come
to that neighborhood on any day to engage in what,
quote unquote, Miami Live offers.
I hope it works for Miami's sake,
but I do not see a path to economic prosperity.
Like a mall?
A mall's not gonna work.
Well it's not a mall, it's like kind of like restaurants,
what the hell is it?
It's much smaller than I thought it was gonna be.
The footprint, it would be tiny if it's just in the,
Like Gulf Stream Park.
Yeah, it's way smaller than you think.
Yeah, and the most frustrating thing about it is though
that the people behind Miami Live
are part of these things all over the country
So it's a it's a company from out of state that's supposed to curate a Miami experience for miamians in Little Havana
My concern is that that in in authenticity is not gonna
Well make it like a put like horse races or something like that to bring cock fights
That's the only way you could sell out Marlins Park is is the Savannah
Fights you could believe me Samson would is the Savannah bananas. No, I mean dog races. And cockfights.
I don't know.
Believe me, Samson would have done it
if he could have done it.
If I thought there were profiting cocks and fighting,
I would do it, of course.
In terms of the government bringing value to these teams,
they certainly do.
As I mentioned earlier, it took your ownership group
from multimillionaires to billionaires,
and you sold the team for over a billion dollars
on the back of the
Taxpayers investment and the Orlando Magic
They have more than tripled the value of that team over the past 10 years to an estimated
3.2 billion dollars and Inter Miami which is one of North America's newest pro sports franchises is
Already worth more than a billion dollars according to Forbes
sports franchises is already worth more than a billion dollars, according to Forbes valuations.
And of course, the Rays, always in contention with the Marlins
for the lowest attendance in Major League Baseball.
They now want another billion dollars for a new ballpark.
And their value over the past decade is now one point three billion dollars.
So I'm not exactly sure who this is supposed to benefit, but we know it sure
as hell is benefiting the billionaires.
David, will you come back to talk about the Rays? Because the Rays are about to outdo you again, too. is supposed to benefit, but we know it sure as hell is benefiting the billionaires.
David, will you come back to talk about the raise?
Because the raise are about to outdo you again too.
I'm getting out on left, right and center.
I'm like the old record holder.
And I don't say this with any sort of anger,
angst or regret.
I'm happy that people have continued to blaze the trail
that we started and that we continued
because these projects are necessary for us to make as much money as we started and that we continued because these projects are necessary
for us to make as much money as we can
and to screw you, Billy, as much as we possibly can,
which frankly is our only goal.
We didn't even care about winning baseball games.
We said, let's really screw Billy Corbin.
Billy.
Yes?
You know what we've been talking about all season long?
Smear it off? Yeah, how'd you guess? I knew it. I'm a good guesser. You are. Billy. Yes? You know what we've been talking about all season long? Smirnoff?
Yeah, how'd you guess? I knew it. I'm a good guesser. You are. They are the official sponsor of the Dan
Leventar Show with Stugato. You already know that it's an official vodka partner
of the NFL and Super Bowl 59. We're gonna be there. Oh yes. I can't believe we're by
59 already. Yeah. Time flies. It does. Yes. We're old. I'm old. Hey, you know what?
I was thinking. Yes. Since football season's winding down, Super Bowl's coming up,
Super Bowl 59, we've been celebrating football all year. I have an idea. What?
Let's do a toast. Okay. Oh wow. To football. Really? Yeah, me and you. Let's
toast football. So just a toast. So we're raising our glasses. Yeah. Glasses up.
Yeah. All right. And we are toasting to football. To football. To just a toast so we're raising our glasses. Yeah. Glasses up yeah. Alright and we
are toasting to football. To football. To football everyone. What we love about Smirnoff is that you
can get the world's number one vodka without breaking the bank. This feeling is what the good
folks over at Smirnoff call. Billy you want to take a stab at this? Yes. Smirnoff's extraordinary?
Nailed it! I told you I'm a good guesser. guesser. And right now Smirnoff has partnered with Complex letting fans get their hands on some
amazing items handpicked by celebrities including NFL legend and Super Bowl champion Vernon
Davis for the unbelievable price of $12.99 just like a bottle of Smirnoff.
So head on over to smirnoffdrops.com to check out upcoming drops and check out Billy, you want to take a guess
again? These Smirnoff extraordinary items. Oh, look at
us. What's the website? It is smirnoffdrop.com. Smirnoff, we
do game days, please drink responsibly. Smirnoff, number 21
vodka distilled from grain 40% alcohol by volume. The Smirnoff
Company, New York, New York, pricing is at the sole discretion of the retailer
and may vary by state.
Please do not share with anyone under legal drinking age.
Billy.
Yes?
You know what we've been talking about all season long?
Smirnoff?
Yeah, how'd you guess?
I knew it.
I'm a good guesser.
You are.
They are the official sponsor of the Dan Leventar show with Stugato
You already know that it's an official vodka partner of the NFL and Super Bowl 59. We're gonna be there. Oh, yes
I can't believe we're by 59 already. Yeah time flies. It does. Yes, we're old
Hey, you know what Stugato is thinking. Yes since football's winding down, Super Bowl's coming up, Super Bowl 59,
we've been celebrating football all year.
I have an idea.
What?
Let's do a toast.
OK, oh wow.
To football.
Really?
Yeah, me and you, let's toast football.
So just a toast, so we're raising our glasses.
Yeah.
Smyrnoff vodka here.
Glasses up, yeah.
All right, and we are toasting to football.
To football.
To football, everyone.
What we love about S Smirnoff is that
you can get the world's number one vodka without breaking the bank. This feeling is what the good
folks over at Smirnoff call. Billy you want to take a stab at this? Let me guess, Smirnoff's
extraordinary? Nailed it! I told you I'm a good guesser. Oh my god and right now Smirnoff has
partnered with Complex letting fans get their hands on some amazing items handpicked by celebrities including
NFL legend and Super Bowl champion Vernon Davis for the unbelievable price of
$12.99 just like a bottle of Smirnoff.
So head on over to smirnoffdrops.com to check out upcoming drops and check out, oh Billy, you want to take a guess again?
These?
Smirnoff's extraordinary?
Items.
Oh.
Look at us. What's the website?
It is smirnoffdrop.com.
Smirnoff, we do game days.
Please drink responsibly.
Smirnoff, number 21 vodka distilled from grain, 40% alcohol by volume.
The Smirnoff company, New York, New York, pricing is at the sole discretion of the retailer
and may vary by state.
Please do not share with anyone under legal drinking age.
["The Daily Show Theme"]
Do you have any doubts that Joe Biden had the majority
of votes, electoral votes necessary
to be elected president in 2020?
You know, Senator, all I can tell you as a prosecutor is from my first-hand experience.
And I accept the results. I accept, of course, that Joe Biden is president of the United States,
but what I can tell you is what I saw firsthand when I went to Pennsylvania as an advocate for
the campaign. I was an advocate for the campaign and I was
on the ground in Pennsylvania and I saw many things there. But do I accept the results?
Of course I do. Do I agree with what happened? And I saw so much, you know, not no one from
either side of the aisle should want there to be any issues with election integrity.
Okay, let's let's let's go ahead. We can go ahead and stop it.
We should all want our elections.
That is Florida woman former state attorney general, Pam Bondi.
It's a yes or no question.
Roy, it's a lot more complicated than that, clearly.
And she is, of course, President Trump's nominee for United States Attorney General there at her Senate confirmation committee being asked about the outcome of the
2020 election, which she fought tooth and nail against on behalf of her client.
As anybody knows, a good prosecutor who has to rely on evidence and facts, quote, I saw many things there, end quote. That's of course what any good investigator
or detective or prosecutor is looking to rely
on the true standard of evidence.
Which is, I saw many, by the way, on my way here today,
I saw many things.
Scott Maxwell is the Metro columnist
for the Orlando Sentinel who has written some sensational columns
about Pam Bondi and her rise to Maga stardom.
And in fact, I met Pam Bondi in Tallahassee
when she was attorney general.
I kind of liked her to be perfectly honest at the time.
And Scott Maxwell, you were a bit of a fan as well early on.
I recall, I think you actually coming to her defense
during the early parts of her career.
Tell us a little bit about that and how'd you come around
and how'd your girl Pam perform?
My girl, yeah, yeah.
Fan might be a little bit of a strong word,
but you are absolutely right that I was somewhat sympathetic
to her original campaign when she came on the scene
to run for attorney general.
She was actually sort of theoretically
the moderate in the race.
And she was being attacked by right wingers
who thought she was unqualified for among other reasons,
being divorced and not having children.
So they didn't think she lived up to the family values.
And I was, you know, I wrote a couple of pieces,
you know, what the hell's wrong with you?
And they went after her for petty things like that.
But as you mentioned, I got to know her a little bit
to the extent that even when she was on her campaign,
during the campaign and struggling a bit,
she was prepping for a national appearance on Fox News.
And she called me to help her prep for her appearance,
which I would not normally have done, except it was about a
crusade of wrongful convictions.
I was willing to talk to anybody who would listen.
Pam Bondi swore she wanted to be prepped so that if she got
elected Attorney General, she could write these wrongs and
open new investigations.
That's not how it panned out.
What was this story?
Incidentally, there were there. It's a complicated one, but there's a string
of convictions in Brevard County.
Whenever the cops were sure that somebody had done
something wrong, and I say sure, they believed somebody
had done something wrong, and they couldn't prove it,
they brought in this dog handler.
And this dog handler and his magical dog would be able
to allegedly trace sc sense through water,
through rivers, across streets years later.
And then they would use this dog handler's testimony to convict people.
Anyway, DNA ultimately proved that the guy was full of baloney.
A judge called the dog in, he couldn't pick out a ham bone from a Lego.
They got a bloodhound and put him in court?
This is crazy.
Oh, absolutely.
I need to see this footage.
So the dog got exposed for being a fraud, the dog handler.
The dog got exposed for being a fraud.
That bitch.
DNA proved that two of these guys were wrongfully convicted, but the dog handler helped convict
like 12 people.
So I was one of a lot of people that said, hey, maybe we should look at all these cases. Back in those days, this was in like 2010, Geraldo was actually, you know, the Fox News host.
He was big on this case, as I think anybody would, saying we need to investigate this.
He invited Pam on the show and then basically you could tell the setup here. It was like if Pam Bondi
promised to investigate these cases, she was going to get Geraldo's endorsement and a lot of fawning coverage from Fox News.
But she didn't know crap about the stories.
So she called to ask me and I said, well, you know what, if you're going to vow, it's
not to help your campaign, but if you're going to vow to pursue justice, I'll help get you
briefed.
I did.
She promised Geraldo she'd investigate.
She promised me she promised all the Fox viewers and she did absolutely none of that.
I'm assuming this is a bloodhound. All right, so
That's right, this German Shepherd perjurer itself
I'll say that that cross-examination was rough
So, uh so Scott so so Ah! No. No. Dad jokes? All right. It's good to have an effect for that.
Yeah, we're doing Florida Dad jokes.
So, so Scott, so, so,
needless to say, she, she broke a campaign promise
to really do what it is that she, I feel like,
promised at the hearing this week she would do,
which was follow the law, it was to do the right thing,
and to investigate, you know, wrongdoing,
and follow the evidence wherever it may lead.
And to that end, could you maybe refresh people's recollection
about the Trump University fraud investigation?
Absolutely, absolutely.
And first of all,
I think one thing that a lot of people may not realize
is Trump University, in case they do not know,
is not an actual university.
It's a university in the same way
like Burger King is actual royalty.
It is not.
Trump University was basically a- It it's like it's where Dr.
Pepper went to medical school.
Basically, that's right.
That is indeed.
In fact, in fact, that German Shepherd is a professor at Trump University.
Touche. Yeah.
So Trump University was like you pay, I forget, five thousand,
ten thousand, whatever bucks is and you learn how to get rich.
And people who came through this, you will be shocked to learn.
A lot of them said they paid a bunch of money and did not, in fact, get rich.
And a number of them said they did not gain anything from paying all this money.
So basically, to cut a long story short, people filed complaints.
They said they were defrauded and they did so in two states, mainly.
One was in Florida and one was in New York.
In New York in New York.
The attorney general went after it.
Gangbusters pursued it quickly turned up evidence that they proved they believed
it was a fraud and netted a twenty five million dollar settlement for the people
who were defrauded here in Florida, where Pam Bondi was attorney general.
That did not happen.
Instead, what happened was the Trump Foundation
cut Pam Bondi a check for $25,000
three days after we wrote that her office
was considering whether to investigate Trump University.
Whoa.
And then she did nothing, absolutely nothing.
Did not investigate at all.
And the folks in Florida got nothing.
After which Donald Trump threw her a fundraiser,
I believe, at Mar-a-Lago.
Well, yes, he did.
And by the way, Pam loves fundraisers,
because one of my other favorite stories for her
is this woman wants to kill everybody.
Executions are her thing.
That's her jam.
She gets her rocks off on executions,
except for there was one time during her tenure
where one execution that had been long awaited
got postponed and nobody could figure out like,
what happened?
They'd been waiting family 15 years for this thing.
Turned out Pam had a scheduling conflict.
She'd scheduled a fundraiser for herself
on the same night as the execution.
So she called the governor and asked if he could postpone
the killing so that she could have her party
and then they get back home.
Homegirl is shameless.
You have to remember this this Florida woman is only there because Donald Trump's first
choice Matt Gaetz pulled out.
Gracias.
Oh, so that is why we are here.
Gracias.
Matt Gaetz said that in Spanish.
And Scott, what do you think?
I mean, listen, there's no reason to believe she's not gonna get confirmed.
She is most likely going to be the next
Attorney General of the United States.
Really? Remarkable.
Yeah, I don't really see what,
I only see a path to victory there for her.
She looks like she has a lot of work done.
She should be Surgeon General.
Wait.
Oh.
Oh, shit.
That's cool. Oh my gosh.
She's not even blonde.
So she's probably more qualified to be surgeon general than this state's surgeon general.
But yeah, what is this?
Yeah. What is this going to look like?
What I see her sailing.
In fact, one of the best things that probably could have happened to Pam
Bondi was Matt Gates.
I mean, next to Matt Gates, she looks like Clarence Freak and Tarot.
She's a little old, like the most skilled attorney in the history of the United States. But this is not an honest person.
And I can say I don't throw that accusation out lightly.
I mean, the reason she's there, as you may remember, she said before she wanted
Donald Trump to prosecute the prosecutors.
She has already clearly said what she wants to do as attorney general.
And then when asked by the senators if she prejudged any of these things, she said no.
Well, I don't know whether you were lying before
or you were lying now.
Actually, I do have a pretty good feeling
for which time you were.
But those are two completely different things.
And that is why she's being nominated
because she vowed to prosecute the prosecutors.
Find Scott Maxwell on the app formerly known as Twitter
at Scott underscore Maxwell read his columns.
They are a blast of their breath of fresh air and a lot of fun.
Yeah.
And like, I don't know anything about politics.
I understand that that article was very easy read.
It was just perfect for the lay woman.
Easy read.
Easy read.
Easy.
Yeah.
For a woman who lays or what?
I lay around a lot. Yeah. Okay. You are my audience
then. Scott Maxwell. Thank you so much. Pauly. Thank you so
much. Follow her on the Instagram machine at Pauly.
P-A-U-L-E-Y me. Pauly me. Pauly me. Follow me guys please. I'm
very lonely. Cocaines. What?
From fireside conversations to football Sundays,
winter means more moments with the coolest people
in your life.
Make these moments even better with Miller Lite.
I know I do.
The great tasting light beer for people who love beer.
A new year is a perfect time for friends, family,
and great tasting light beer. Tastes like is a perfect time for friends, family, and great tasting like
beer. Tastes like Miller time. Recently I had family over and while everyone's palate is different,
I knew they all like beer and they all look like people who want to drink beer that actually
tastes like beer. So I brought out a nice little silver platter of Miller Lite. That beautiful white
can was an instant winner. Trust me, learn from my experience, set that bad boy out, and you will be making people
happy left and right.
Because Miller Lite is brewed for taste.
It hits different than other light beers, the original light beer since 1975.
And still the very best one.
Miller Lite, great taste, 96 calories.
Go to MillerLite.com slash Dan to find delivery options near you, or you can pick up some
Miller Lite pretty much anywhere they sell beer.
Tastes like Miller time.
Celebrate responsibly, Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 96 calories and 3.2
carbs per 12 ounces.
The Dan LeBatoit Show with StuGottes is sponsored by BetterHelp.
Every January feels like a fresh start.
365 blank pages waiting for your story to be written.
In 2025, maybe you're ready for a plot twist, ready to revise the parts of your story holding
you back.
Life isn't about New Year's resolutions that disappear by February.
It's about picking up the pen and becoming the author of your life.
Derby can help you do just that.
Think of it as your editorial partner, helping you write new chapters, build positive coping skills, and set boundaries.
Therapy isn't just for big traumas. It's for anyone who wants to grow, heal, and thrive.
With BetterHelp, therapy is convenient and affordable. It's fully online so you can
access it anywhere, anytime. BetterHelp connects over 5 million people with a network of
30,000 licensed therapists, specialized, experienced, and ready to help. And if it's not the right fit,
you can switch therapists anytime at no extra cost. So if you're ready to take the pin back in 2025,
make this the year you invest in you. Write your story with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com slash dlb today to get 10% off your first month.
That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P dot com slash D-O-B.