TrueLife - On Political Change - Gary Cordery

Episode Date: April 18, 2022

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Darkness struck, a gut-punched theft, Sun ripped away, her health bereft. I roar at the void. This ain't just fate, a cosmic scam I spit my hate. The games rigged tight, shadows deal, blood on their hands, I'll never kneel. Yet in the rage, a crack ignites, occulted sparks cut through the nights. The scars my key, hermetic and stark. To see, to rise, I hunt in the dark, fumbling, fear. Fearist through ruins maze lights my war cry born from the blaze.

The poem is Angels with Rifles. The track, I Am Sorrow, I Am Lust by Codex Serafini. Check out the entire song at the end of the cast. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the True Life podcast. We have got an amazing guest today. It's going to be an ongoing series to talk about integrity, leadership, and the future of government. Today we're going to spend time with Gary Quarterie, currently running for governor of the great state of Hawaii. We're going to get into some ideas, some philosophy, and what it

means to be a leader in the world today. Oh, George, thank you. Thank you for having me on the podcast. I'm excited to be here. And we briefly chat the other day, and I just appreciate you. And I love the joy about you and the forthrightness in the conversation. It's such a gift to have real conversation, so thank you very much. About me. So, well, I should be able to answer that. Obviously, my name is Gary Quarterie. You know, I'm 63 years old.

I'm married to a lovely woman, Kim. My wife, Kim, we've been married for almost 42 years. We moved here in 1981 from Northern California. Upon arriving here, we had two daughters, Rachel and Erica. They're both 30, I'm not going to say other ages. be wrong. So they married two fabulous young men, Steve and Nathaniel, and we have seven really amazing grandchildren. So, you know, Kim and I are so blessed. We're so grateful for all that's happened in our lives. And, you know, really looking forward to this season and the season's moving

forward. Very nice. And so you have decided to take on a pretty big adventure, something that you're passionate about, why don't you tell the people about that? Well, thank you. Yeah, it is a bit of an adventure. Sure. Some, a couple of months ago, I realized that there needed to be change in Hawaii, that are, that our political environment and the way that people are treated and they don't have access to their government, and they're really struggling, the people in Hawaii are

struggling under enormous pressure on almost every front. And it really, really became obvious, really through prayer initially. just praying about it. And then people began talking to me, but you should run. You need to run. You should be running. And I just dismissed this as fantasy.

You know, it was like, really? This is crazy. I'm a general contractor. You know, this is how I make a living. I'm, you know, I'm not a large company, but we've been really successful for, you know, for what the vision that we've carried. And so the idea of actually entering politics,

first of all was, you know, off the, off the, you know, off the spectrum completely. I've never been in politics before, but people kept saying it, you should run, you need to run, you need to run. And so finally, during these times of prayer, I just realized that there was a connection between what I was hearing and prayer what these people were saying. And I realized, okay, yes, this is something that I need to do. And I went in and talked to my wife and we discussed it. And, you know, initially I have all these back doors set up so that if possible, if anybody gave me a reason to not run, I would gladly, I don't even know if I would gladly, I'm making that up.

I wouldn't do it. So which I came in and she said, yes, yeah, that's right, you should. And then I said, hey, this may cost us everything. We may lose everything to making the stand. I said, this is, you know, where we're going is deep water. And it's going to be, it's going to be real. We're going to have, you know, it's going to be a real, a real endeavor that's going to take everything.

So she said, yeah, that's right. Let's do this. So the decision to run for governor for the state of Hawaii was done. And there's no looking back. You know, we are fully committed, 100% committed, to a professional campaign until November 2nd when we fully intend to sit to celebrate with the people of Hawaii a new direction for the state. That's I really I really admire that. I think first off in order to be a good leader you must have a good family and there must be good communication there. I think that a leader

and I believe the majority of people would agree with me in that if you want to be able to be a leader, You must be a leader in your home, a leader in your community, and a leader in your family. And that doesn't mean standing in front of people and dictating things. That means communicating. And the first thing you said is like, George, I heard a message. I took that message and I asked my wife and my family. And that communicates to me and I think other people in the state of Hawaii, I'm going to hear what you have to say. And we're going to talk about it.

And we're going to move from there. I think that's a great sign of what a leader should be. And do you think that you said that you were a contractor? I think that there is a bridge there, excuse the metaphor, but there's a bridge there. A builder knows how to build. And it seems to me that's what Hawaii needs. Can you tell us a little bit about your building background? Yeah, you know, I think you're right.

I want to go back just a moment. You know, without going forward with something with your wife, it's inconceivable. You know, the idea that you're going to do this and do it a separate or apart from those who are close. to you, it just makes zero sense. And without that strength and feedback, I mean, somebody always there to tell you, you know, this is, this is just a form of wisdom that you wouldn't exercise and embrace that. That'd be really short-sighted. And that's true in general in life. It has a, you know, we need friends. We need loved ones. We need friends that will actually speak the truth and help us to find a way. We need, you know, for success, you need counsel. We need wisdom for

lots of counsel, lots of perspectives. And my wife is, she's an honest, strong, loving woman. And, you know, if there's something not right, she'll say, what's with that? You know, all those are simple things. You're sure it's not, you know, you're sure it's not iron or whatever. She's just so awesome. So you're absolutely right. I believe that completely. With regard to being a builder, you know, back in the day, back in 79, as a matter of fact,

which is a long time ago, my friend called me and said, hey, we're going to go, we're going to go dig ditches in Merr Island in San Francisco. And we're going to make 13, 25 an hour. and I was a young man. And in 79, that was a lot of money. And I said, yes, you were all about it. I called my boss. I said, Bob got this option. He said, you go. You know, he was so supportive. And obviously from that point, I started doing work on the military bases all over the country. The company I worked for would bid a job on some base, whether it was in North Carolina or Southern California or we'd just go there. We'd rent a housework. Then I got married. I got married in 1980.

And the first year of our marriage, I was gone 10 months, not straight, but we would get up at, you know, we would get up at 3.30 on Monday morning, get home Friday night at 8.39 o'clock, sleep on Saturday, fight on Sunday and go again on Monday. And that was a pattern. That became a pattern. It wasn't working. So when the opportunity to come to Hawaii, we decided to go on an extended vacation. We came here and met some friends here and really were embraced by the people here. We've been a job at Pearl Harbor. You know, he wanted to know about construction, military construction. I didn't have context here. We worked together. We bid this job. We never went home. And that sounds like a cliche, but it does happen. We literally never, Kim never went home. We rent a place. About three months later, I went back and moved our stuff out. We were new to us anyways, so we didn't have anything, which was nice. Ultimately, providentially, that move to Hawaii meant that wherever I went, that day to work, I came home that night. And so the move to Hawaii really wasn't about or money. It was about God's kindness to our marriage. And in that, it was a pivotal point. It was a decision that we made. And, you know, sometimes you don't recognize the result or the reason for these decisions until later. It's kind of hindsight, hindsight conversation. But ultimately, we realized, I realized that this was, this was sour. This was set up for our well-being. And so from that point, we started doing construction here. I never left the base in Hawaii for seven years. Just job-to-job-to-job. And, you know, the total variety, you can imagine.

you're doing military work, you know what, you know, you're doing major repair one day and next day you're, you're doing concrete. And that's how I got my experience. I didn't, I never worked in a firm. I never worked for a firm before. I worked for myself from day one, from the very, even when I was working for the other gentleman, it was all, it was all piecework. People don't even remember what piecework was. That's my background. You get paid for what you do, you know. That's like merit, But it's more, it's more, it has more of a motivating factor, even than merit-based pay, because you literally get pay. You do 10 houses. You get paid for 10 houses.

So the motivation to get something done, the faster you get 10 houses done, then obviously your rate of pay increases. And so that's the motivation that I grew up in. I still hold that internally today when I look at the mirror, end of the day, whatever I've done that day. Did I do the best I could do? Was that the most effective way? Did I do that as fast as possible? kind of these kinds of mentalities were part of me as even grown up but ultimately in 95 i changed and became kingdom builders and uh we left the uh we left um the military market

there was an affirmative action piece that came down and and they they gave me the option look let's just put your wife in charge 51 you can go you'll make you'll make tons of money section a you'll go you'll make a fortune and so i asked my cam i said honey this is the deal she said no i don't want to be involved. And I said, and they said, well, just say so, just have her sign it. And the answer was no. That's not right. There's no integrity in that. And so we didn't do it. And from then on, we went out to the private market and been doing churches, schools, print improvements, across the board, everything from the very foundation, earthwork, site work, concrete, the whole deal. Up until this point, we're still working at this point,

right today. There's so much in that story. And I see a common thread, like an eriotomy thread that finds its way through the maze. And it's this idea of faith, integrity, and building. Like in your story, you talked about coming to Hawaii and realizing, hey, I'm starting over. I'm building this new life. And you talk about building foundations, not only by piecework, not only better than merit, but by building by pieces. It sounds like you rebuild your.

your life, you built a relationship, you built a home, and you built a moral foundation on which you can move forward and you know right from wrong and you know what it feels like to maybe have something put in front of you, like, hey, just have her sign this thing right here and you can move forward. I think that is something that in all of us, we know what's right or wrong, but sometimes that temptation to do what is wrong will get you. Is there maybe, can you tell us a story, maybe about some, sometime you've been tempted to do something, but you found the courage to not do it. It sounds like you did that previously with your wife, but if you have another story you can share about temptation. Well, you know, I think, I think temptation is about all of us all the time.

You know, there's an inclination to take the easy road. You know, if you don't do this, you can make more money. You cut the corner here, you know, if you cut the corner here, you'll, it'll come out. It'll be, nobody will know. Those conversations are in every industry. They're, they're actually you know, pretty well found in the construction industry. Most people hear your contract, there's some connotation about that. They've had a bad experience with somebody. And so those temptations are always there. I mean, I would be dishonest to say that, wow, if we did it this way, it would be better. But ultimately, at the end of the day, I know who I serve. I know what this is about. And ultimately, when you're in construction, you have, you have a client,

right? You have your crew. So not only are you always in front of the client, and what's right, but you have families, these men and women that work around you that you labor with day in and day out, their lives matter and have the decisions that I make, you know, as the leader or the head of the company, those people are watching. They've watched my life over the last 40 years. And they take it home to their families. These young men and these young women, they take it home to their families and they have to address the way that they make decisions. This is a part of mentoring. And it's not even like a decision, oh, we're going to mentor you today. It's just part of life. You just live your life. You know, when have I, when have I wanted to cut corners?

Gee, I mean, I can, honestly, nothing comes to my mind. I'm sure that they're there. You know, I appreciate your listening. You're a good, you're a really good listener. I appreciate that. I love your questions. I think, you know, the issue is, the issue is really, it's much like what we got going in our state. You know, we have, we have people who are laying foundations, but they're not principal. They're not thinking about, you know, the future. They're not thinking about, you know, the future. They're not thinking about the consequences of their decisions. They just want to take the shortest path forward, the easiest one. And the easiest one usually undermines the end result.

You may have a vision for something good. But unless we're willing to as a people, even as a builder, if I'm unwilling to do the work, the extra work necessary to make sure that the rebars away from the ground, before you pour the concrete, that it doesn't rush and corrode and ultimately 15 years down the road, you have spalling. If you're unwilling to get down on your hands and knees and dig out the dirt around the rebar, it's touching the rebar, you're building the foundation that's going to fail. And I think that's exactly what we see.

I think you see it across the board. You cannot pick a single industry in this state, not a single agency in the state that is not corrupted by some form of cutting corners or being self-serving that the people aren't paying. So in some sense, you know, the idea of this metaphor or this construction metaphor with regard to running for governor, there are so many parallels. you know, people, people say, well, how do you, how are you experienced? How could you possibly run for governor?

You're only a contractor. I think, really? So, you know, that may, that may, I'm not sure. I obviously didn't answer your question directly, but I think underneath your question, there's bigger questions about for the people in the state and the reason why I'm running and does being a contractor actually prepare you for that position as governor? There are numerous parallel considerations that are ideal. identical. It's just about scale. So. Yeah, I agree. It seems, you know, it seems to me that so many

people right now believe their vote doesn't matter because of the corruption that has penetrated the system. And most people that I talk to say, you can't trust politicians. You know, no matter what, it's the leaky bucket strategy. You can't transfer money without a leaky bucket. And we need only look to the last few years to the politics in Hawaii and see the corruption. You know, we see the people in Vegas. We see some of the people in the police force. We see the people at the top. And those are not the people we want our younger people to look up to. I think that, you know, having somebody who is a contractor, having somebody who knows how to build, not only relationships, not only how to mentor, but to build a foundation, to understand, there's going to be

problems. We need to get down on the bottom. We've got to root it all out of here. That's how you fix it. You must bring in a new foundation in order to build something that is worth standing up to. Yeah. We often find ourselves in times of adversity. And I'm sure as a builder, as a father, as a husband, you faced adversity. Can you tell us a story about once you, one time when you faced adversity and how you overcame it? Well, you know, adversity. Adversity is a gift, first of all. I really tell you that at this point of life, adversity really produces something beautiful.

It's a sifting process, right? We all go through adversity, whether it's relationally or medically or, you know, the whole gamut of adversity. I think the most relevant piece for me now that, although I didn't feel so much personal adversity, I think the issue that we face in the state over the last couple of years, the emergency mandates put on by Governor Ege.

That created more adversity in people's society. lives globally but not nationally and more so even locally that the governor through his mandates and the support of the lieutenant governor and Department of Health and local mayors these folks made decisions that created so much adversity and pain it was unsustainable for the people you know when this happened I when this first happened George I thought wow this this pandemic thing could be serious this could be something I moved my office home we didn't know Daxon knew what was going on but after the first round the 60-day, you know, 60-day rotation, I began to question, well, I'm not sure exactly what's

what's being proposed here. Is it really real? And then the second one and the third one, and I began to see that there was there was too many inconsistencies. There was the, you know, there was the have and the have-nots, the essential and the non-essential, you know, bars could stay open, but churches couldn't. These kinds of considerations, Walmart could stay open, but my local, my local bakery couldn't stay open. So these, how come, you know, these things, were incongruent with the truth. And they began a struggle for me. So, you know, Kim and I and about 25 other people, we came together and we said, you know,

we think something's wrong with the liberties, the civil rights of the people, the Constitution has been put at stake by very few people who are not seeking wisdom. We looked, we studied, we found out, who are they listening to to make these decisions and found out that they were listening to the CBC and the FDA? And it's a very narrow perspective because it was a, it was, you know, it was a narrative. And so when you saw doctors being, you know, not being able to share their perspectives and the whole deal. And so we decided we're going to found Aloha Freedom Coalition. And so it was a stand.

It was really a stand for liberty for the people. And that's it. The only criteria to participate with the Aloha Freedom Coalition was to understand that you have your own civil rights and you have your own individual liberties as a citizen. And those rights are guaranteed in the Constitution. And so we made that stand, and it wasn't long before people started hearing about what we were doing. And, you know, at that point, our state was shut down. You couldn't gather together. You couldn't have more than five people in your house.

You couldn't go to the beach. You must remember this. And so these mandates were, oh, I love this cat action. Got a cat got a catwalk in the back. They were brawling up there. That's fine. They're own civil rights movement going on. That's right.

They're going for liberty back there. Anyway, you know, so we stood. And then we had, we had the mayor against us. We had the police against us. We were at the park at Capulani. We got a hundred police come out to an event. It was a peaceful event where we're having Hula. We have, we have testimonies.

And the police are out there taking people down. And it was absolutely bizarre. And the people of Hawaii said, no, thank you. This is not right. You know, and there's a number of people in Hawaii. In fact, the majority of people of Hawaii were very, concerned about COVID and the mandates and, you know, the supposed vaccine and all of that. And that's fear.

It's fear-based stuff. But it wasn't, didn't matter. Our stand wasn't about whether you should receive a vaccine or you should wear a mask or whether you should social distance or whether the passports were okay or not. What we're saying, and I say today unequivocally, those mandates were unconstitutional. People have the right to know what goes into their body. The government should not say to you that you will take this shot. And if you don't, you lose access to public services and the ability to go to travel,

the ability to go in public accommodations. This was a brilliant strategy to utilize business to implement government policy. And so Aloha Freedom stood. And, you know, we took a lot of heat and we still do from, from, you know, the legislative piece, from a lot of people in a lot of people in the community thinking they're just, you know, there are these radicals. That is not true. We're radical for freedom and liberty. And that freedom, we stood for everybody who took a shot and signed up for the deal. It's for them. So it's like, it's like men going off to war. Freedom is not free. These men go off to whatever the war it was.

You can just go back through history. They died. These men laid their lives down so that others could experience the freedom that's guaranteed in the Constitution. That's all AFC is doing then and it's what doing now. So there's a, it consumed a lot of our time and energy. So I resigned from that. I was a director. I had to resign, obviously, his nonpartisan, non-religious. So to be running for governor and to be director of AFC, that was incongruent. So another, another challenged, I could have stayed in. Could they use my leadership? Of course they could. It would be a blessing to be there because I love their work. Yeah. But so, you know, adversity. I have, I have other adversity. You know, I have personal adversity. My kids, our kids left. You know, our kids saw the

crushing, you know, state here, what it meant to survive here in Hawaii. All of our two families left and went to Utah. That was crushing. You know, Kim and I cried for a year. We thought we would, you know, they're born and raised here. The kids are born and grandkids are born and raised here. And for them to come together and say, we have to move. We see the writing on the wall. We cannot. It's unsustainable here. And that is really hard. I don't see my grandkids. That bothers me a lot. So. Anyway, I don't know if that answers your question, George. It does.

I've just been rambling, so I hope that's okay. No, far from it. You interrupt you when you're going, come on, Gary. Bring it home. No, I don't want to interrupt because I think that what you've said are things that unify everybody in Hawaii. I think that the majority of people in Hawaii are people that are strong and care about living their life and their freedoms and their families.

You know, I think it's amazing that you started something that was, to me, a lot of lot like the civil rights movement. Here's these people going out and standing up in a peaceful way saying, hey, these are our freedoms. People in the past have died for this. If you have somebody in the military, they've died for your freedom. There's maybe people of color who died in civil rights movement. That's what our country is about. It's about fighting for our freedom. It's a fighting for what we believe in. And when somebody comes in and says, hey, you can't do this. Go home and stay in your house. That is so anti-American. It just, it's to the very core. of who we are as people.

And I don't think it takes a whole lot of imagination for people to know where that leads to. On the topic of your family leaving, like, it bothers me too. And it's something that happens to everybody in Hawaii. How about our friends in Y and I? How about our friends down the North Shore? Everybody in Hawaii has experienced what you've experienced.

And it's not a Hawaiian or a white or a black. It's a, it's a Hawaii thing. And it's, I believe it's a direct reflection of the corruption. and people taking the money there. That's exactly right. This idea that our kids had to leave, we have seven grandkids, and they only put their kids in school

and private school because they knew what was going on in public school. They knew that the education piece here in Hawaii is a disaster. They know that this is a pass-through organization. They know that proficiency rates in Hawaii are among the lowest in the nation. So they put their kids in private school. Could they afford that?

No, they could not. One kid, one son, another son, you know, and then they, I got three more, two more to go. And they said, we cannot make it here. We cannot. It's unsustainable. And so this, you're absolutely right. All the problems in Hawaii, whether it's economic through high taxes, the cost of living, costs of housing, you know, the taxes that we pay, the services that we pay for and don't get, whether it's DLNR and how we have, how we, how we govern the natural resources here in Hawaii. How come some projects move forward and other ones don't? How come some projects move forward and other ones don't? How

How come certain properties get rezoned? Other ones don't. How come certain segments of our society lose their rights to their property? You know, I'm thinking of Hawaiian homelands. All of these things are related and directly can be a direct line between those problems and bad political policy. Corruption is undermining everything we hope for us, the people of Hawaii. Our local people, the people that have lived here for generations are being crushed.

I don't mean that in any, I don't mean anything less than crushed. I've met with many, many families who don't know how they're going to survive. I don't know a single family that hasn't thought about, wow, I wonder if I could move. Only in Hawaii, in California, is there a shrinking population? You just have to think about that. Why does the most beautiful state in the nation have a shrinking population? While the government balloons out of control, higher and higher taxes, layers and layers of regulation on business. It's the most difficult state to do business in.

It has the highest taxes in the nation. It has no local industry. It's completely tourism-based. There was a time in Hawaii was an ag powerhouse. And it wasn't that long ago. And you had, but all the resources from our legislators have gone to promoting tourism. And the transformation of our farms and local industry have been transformed into development properties. And so we no longer have, we no longer have dairy.

What happened to dairy? How about beef? We have beef on the Big Island. You know, how about, how about poultry? What about produce on a large scale? They're gone. And people don't think that when their kids go to school here, I'm talking about when I say people, legislators don't think that when your kids go here and you pay them

through, you pay for their schooling through eighth grade or 12th grade private school. That's a fortune. You've already bought college once. They go to college. degree, that's another fortune. Now you're 100K, 200K in the whole. Then they're going to get a job in Hawaii to do what? There's nothing here. So what do they do? The kids that we love and long for, we look for legacy and families, we want our grandkids to be near us. They don't want to go. They have to go. There's no industry here. So these are things that need to come back to Hawaii.

These are things that I am running. We need dairy. We need poultry. We need beef. We need produce. We need transportation. How come there's no inner island nonprofit ferry for commodities and goods? This is what I'm saying. People complained about the super ferry. Okay, it had its drawbacks. But why not a ferry that's just for moving produce and goods between the islands so that a family can actually invest in a property that they may own? That's another concept.

What's this lease thinking that we have in our state? Why is homelands on, why are they on a lease deal? What is that lease about? That's about a negotiation to ultimately some point. point, after four or five generations, you no longer have blood quantum. You can't own the land. You can't even be on the land. These are the things that must change. This is why you have no legacy properties here. People don't own their land. So I can just go on and on. We can dominate this conversation for four hours. I can go on and on. But I'm saying, George, what I'm saying is

the people are being crushed because of bad policy. And it's inevitable that people are leaving. I'm sure that you know families that have left. I know families that have left. I've looked. Honestly, I've been on Zillow. I've checked it out. Wow, I could sell my house in Hawaii and buy three properties in Georgia. Yeah.

Right? This is exactly what's going on. But what's left? More tyranny, more government, more taxes, because you have a shrinking tax base. The people who can move, business people are moving. That means the people who are paying taxes. The shrinking population are now supporting a larger government.

The only option for government is to raise the taxes on the few people that are left. This is bad policy. You can find it running through every department that we have. And this is what must change. This is why I'm running. We must reorder the way that government functions. And so I'm not using this interview as a political campaign piece, but it's just reality. I'm just talking about what's real.

Yeah, they say that the best predictor of future behavior is past relevant behavior. If we use that maxim, how can any of the people claiming to run for governor do anything different? You know, they can't. This is their friends. This is their system. This is what they know. And if they wanted to make change, everybody who was in the big house had an opportunity to see what was happening there. Everyone in that house knew something that was happening.

Everybody in that house, they may not be guilty of the crime, but they were there when it happened. They were there when it happened. Yeah, there's an there's a, there's an, there's an absolute requirement. When you see evil or you see bad policy or you see bad decisions, you must stand. Individual citizens must take back their self-government and stand. And that's what I'm saying. These politicians that you're describing, they know these bad policies are being pushed forward. They know that they're taxing things, not for not for the purpose of improvement.

They know that they're taxing things for social change. They know that they're taxing oil and gas, pushing for for environmental policy, social change, but that people don't know this. There's so many unspoken taxes. I've spent a lot of time in tax policy. It is staggering to see what's going on behind closed doors and how they're using tax to address social change.

And the people don't know. They just wonder, how come I can't buy a house? How come it cost me $95 to fill my Honda? This is this is this is this is incongruent with integrity. It is not a service. They do not serve the people. Our legislators are supposed to work for the people. They do not.

You have no access. I guarantee you, George, if you have an issue and you go to your legislator and you say, I have an issue with this consideration, it's thank you, but no thank you. We got this. That is not the way our system is supposed to work. And so, man, I tell you. tell you there must be change. Yeah, I agree. I know I'm a teenster. I am a blue collar truck driver and when COVID hit for me, you know, no one knew what it was. We knew it was dangerous.

We thought it was something that was really, really bad. And we go into work and they tell us, okay, yeah, it's bad. We want you guys to go deliver to these rest homes. Go deliver at all these places. I'm like, wait a minute, if this is what it is, why would I possibly take this potential virus to these people who could be infected. You know, the state knew about it. You know, I believe that people that are in power were more than aware of what we were doing because we reached out to them, hey, look at this. They just turned a blind eye.

Don't worry about that. And so many truck drivers, so many blue-collar people, so many essential workers, we go out there and we're like, hey, what about us? What about us? And the next thing you know, it's like, well, you have to do all these mandates now. It seems to me that people in power had turned their back on all the working people. not Hawaiian, not white, not Filipino, but everybody who was working,

they just turn their back on them. And I think that so many people see this corruption. They see the people in power turning their back on them. And it is for social change. You mentioned earlier about making some changes about dairy and poultry and maybe changing things around. Can you talk a little bit about what that might look like or what kind of policies that you may be able to start changing?

Yeah, well, you know, policy in Hawaii is, it starts at the departments that we have, right? So if you take, let's take, well, everything that I just mentioned falls under Department of Land and Natural Resources, DLNR. Over the last 30 years or so, policy within DLNR has changed dramatically, and it's made it almost impossible for a local farmer to a local, whether produce, whether it's dairy or beef or anything like that.

They've made it impossible through regulations for these people to actually have a viable business and make it profitable. Regulation upon regulations. So first thing you have to do in Hawaii, you have to look at the regulations. What are they for? Are they really to provide public health?

Are they really about health peace? Are they really about constraining industry so we can redirect resources towards tourism? So a change in the direction within these departments is absolutely required, and that has trickled down into what happens with the ground that's being used. You see, you know, I was up in YPEO the other day,

and I saw this 500-acre solar farm Now, there was laws on the book that said, you cannot put solar energy on top of prime ag land. It's codified in law. But when you look through, when you start looking at policy within DLNR, and I'm not talking about this one specifically, but they rezone properties to accommodate new technology. Now, technology is good. We need that. But we don't need solar on top of prime level agriculture ground, even on the side of the hill.

So what happens to the possibility for an ag grower who's competing with a huge solar a national or international solar company for the ground. They come to the state, they come to the legislators and say, listen, you give us this deal, we'll sell tax credits and somehow you'll benefit. You cannot eat a solar panel, I'm sorry. We need policy that actually supports the possibility of ag. I get feedback online. Well, how do you can do that?

You sound like more big government. I'm saying no. I'm saying the problem with local industries is that the government's got his hands in everything. And government should be getting out of the way. It's government's job to create opportunities for business, right? And there's a small dairy left on Oahu, and the stories for this person to remain in business, it's been a fistfight because of regulations in the state

trying to shut this person down. Time after time after time, new regulations, new tasks. You don't have these industries because there's no slaughterhouses. Get in a slaughterhouse on the north shore of Oahu. Can you imagine what this is going to be required? because of regulations. So the regulations are designed to constrain industry. So you've got to open up the ground.

You've got to deal with the way the ground is being used. You've got to take away these leases that have been given to farmers. I know farmers in Lamanalo. They love farming. They've been farming for generations. But the state will give them a three-year lease on a piece of ground. So they're going to take their life savings and they're going to dump it into a three-year lease. And then what?

At the end of three years, that piece of property goes up for market. right and a trucker he's placed he's he can pay for it he can pay for it he's making money he's essential he comes in and says listen i'm i'm bidding for the i'm taking this lease this farmer this local farmer who's on who's on the ground trying to grow uh taro or papaya or whatever he's growing he cannot compete with an industrial piece he loses his ground therefore he won't grow so how come farming disappeared because of bad policy these these ag one properties these set aside properties that are for industrial use, they can be modified in such a way that it creates opportunities. And then I mentioned earlier, so there is a market for us.

People used to say, well, the reason people buy, they don't buy local, local is because, you know, the stuff coming from Ecuador or Mexico or wherever around the world, the produce that comes into Hawaii. It's cheaper. It's cheaper there, right? Not anymore. The cost of moving goods from the mainland are just as expensive. So now there's an opportunity for the local producer to have a competitive marketplace piece in a store.

And so what we need to do is you need to create markets, help assist them in getting into the store, getting product from the sewing to the reaping to the store, and then to be able to move that product across the state. So if you're, if you're Parker Ranch and you're a Big Island Beach, you want to have a competitive market on Oahu. That's where the market is. We have a million people on Oahu. if they had a way to move their product to Hawahu that was cheap, then we would see, we would see, it would be win-win. You would have local people growing local products sold in a local marketplace, right? The food is better and healthier.

There's a place for people to go to school and get a job. I know somebody who got a degree in ag. What are they going to do with the degree in ag in Hawaii? What are they going to do with it? Our greatest export, it's a shocking thing to know. The greatest export in Hawaii, scrap metal. That is a shocking. You want the top three are scrap metal.

Number one is truly scrap metal. Number two is engine parts from the base from Hickham and Pearl Harbor. Number three, spare airplane parts. These are our largest monetary exports. Number five, beer cans, aluminum cans. Number 10, copper. The only thing that Kauai is producing that can be exportable is trash. That breaks my heart. That is not right.

We have brilliant people here. We have hardworking people here, people who love their families. They want to stay here. They want to work. They don't want to live off of the scraps from some other industry. They want their own lives. So that's what I'm about. This idea that Hawaii cannot be self-sustained is promoted by those who want tourism.

And so we don't need to spend all this money on gathering tourism. Eight million, that's enough. We have enough. And who's thinking? What other governor is thinking about Bitcoin and blockchain technology? Nobody's talking about that. Our kids don't go to work here. There's 400, 500,000 kids in Hawaii that are sitting home trading Bitcoin and people don't know.

nobody's talking about it. Our infrastructure, our infrastructure, our technology infrastructure in Hawaii is so archaic. No wonder it takes so long to get anything done. I talked to a lady just the other day. She was here on vacation. Her husband dies here while on vacation. The state of Hawaii did not give her a death certificate for four months. How does she close her life out?

How does this happen? And, you know, in the main, she told me in the main, it takes two or three days, four months. So this is bad policy. This is, this is systematic. You know, George, I'm, even in talking, I'm just heartbroken about this. It just makes me so sad. So, you know, I've rambled for a while.

So anyway. No, look, these are important issues. And I think of, you bring up so many good points. One, for the first time, I've heard anybody say this. You're talking about, you made a point about with inflation in the situation, the world being the way it is, what better time for us to create and reinvent ourselves here? Yes, supply chains are cracking around the world.

Let's make our own here. We can't afford our own stuff. You're like fruit grows year round. You could have three or four crops here. There's no better time than right now to make this sustainable. And on the topic of tourism and look at, if we do have limited resources here, it's not the people that should be suffering. Look at these fountains out in front of like Pielani Park and all this stuff out there. How can tourism possibly take so much from Hawaii and give nothing back? There's

taking everything and giving nothing back. And I think it comes back to the, you know, the old wink wink knot handshake in the big house down there. Here comes the tourist, the tourism lobbyist makes a few deals. Maybe they take a Vegas trip somewhere. And next thing you know, they're, they're getting rights to this and rights to that. But you bring up so many good points. There's so much talent in Hawaii. There's so many opportunities for us. And there's no reason any of our kids should be leaving when we could make this.

You could make schools in Wai and I grade. Make schools in Molokai grade. There's so much here that we could be giving back to ourselves instead of just being ripped from our pockets. Yeah. It's, you know, the opportunity is before us. Yeah. You know, we have, you know, we're, you know, we're in the,

information age, right? The information age is skyrocketing at a pace. I cannot even keep my mind at it. I'm a little early for this. I'm a little old for this technology thing, but I see it all around me. In Hawaii, we have we have so much high-tech industry here with the military here, with the university system, with finance, with medical. These industries should be drawing people to Hawaii. Our young people should have a place to go to work where they make a great wage, where they should be able to afford a place to live, right? And so, you're, you're a lot of You're right. In our industry here, our produce industry, when I walk through Safeway the day I looked in the center aisle, it was beautiful.

There was, it was just a, it was like a piece of art. The only thing wrong with this piece of art is none of it, except for some squash was from Hawaii. None of it. And I just go, I mean, things like avocados. Who doesn't know that we have the best avocados in the world, right? Or papaya or mango. They're all from somewhere else. And so this is all about big ag.

This is about national corpse. So we've traded local industry for Costco. You wonder what we've done? That's what we've done. And the idea that everything should come into Hawaii, that we should receive all of our import work. They say that we're a week's way from being nothing on ourselves. The beef.

I looked in the shelf the other day. And I thought, wow, pretty scarce in here. Pretty scared. Look down the two stakes was 29 bucks. I said, are you kidding me? I remember what it was like to feed a family of four. I'm a father. You're having a family.

These people who come out of the store, a couple of bags of groceries, it's $400, how are they going to do that? This is all bad policy. And we can do that here. It can be done. Is there going to take a couple of seasons of sewing? Yes, it is.

But can you redirect the resources now? Do we need to spend millions and millions of dollars trying to drive tourists around the world and we have no infrastructure? Why don't we have desalalinization here? Right now, there's 185,000, 185,000 scalable desalinization plants around the world functioning right now. Why don't we have one at Barber's Point? Where's the government been?

Did they not know we have water issues? They talked about Red Hill recently. You know how long they've known about Red Hill? Decades. When do they decided to do something when people can light their water on fire in their kitchen sink? So this is exactly what we have, a knee-jerk reacting to, oh, my gosh, have a crisis that you create it. The crisis is created by a lack of courage and the desire to get things, the desire

to have somebody give you the finest seat at the table, the nicest seat at the restaurant. Oh, sure, we can fit you in. Oh, we're sold out. But for you, here you can have the finest seat. Oh, and by the way, here's the finest bottle of wine, the head of the table. People long to be the accolades of man. And this is the problem in our culture. It's a problem in culture, but it's a problem that's magnified in the political.

political class because they do get something. It is paid to play, period. That's why you have, that's why there's a fence, a plywood wall around the legislative building. That's a visual example of what it needs to be disconnected from the people to cut access, to restrain people from having access to their government. I say this must change. And when I'm elected, this will change. I will change this. We will have access. There will be transparency. There will be accountability, because I'll make it outside something else. I'm not sure what the governor's power to do this is, but I'm going to de-throne the governor.

No longer should he be the only person who appoints nearly everything in Hawaii. These positions should be elected by the people. Almost every other state, literally almost every other state elects these positions only in Hawaii. Hawaii's governor is the most powerful governor in the nation. People do not know this. The governor in Hawaii appoints everything.

How convenient. Every head of every agency, the judges, the attorney general, the sheriff, the port authority, Department of Transportation, Department of Education, Department of Health, DLNR, you name it, he picks it. Why? Why is that? Why don't the people pick that? Why can't they vote? This is their community.

This is their lives. Give the people their lives. And I'm not sure how to do that. And I'm sure there'll be a lot of pushback. These policies, I'm headed into deep water. Am I afraid of it? No, because it's right. I don't have to prop myself.

This is just simply the truth. Let the truth stand. Let it stand. And illuminate this stuff that we're talking about. Get it out there, people to see. Let the people know what happens to their tax money. Let people actually know that there's a billion dollar, unfunded liability in Hawaii, a billion.

No, I'm a hundred billion. It's not a billion. It's a hundred billion. But the state creates small corporations so they can move debt off the books and don't tell the people so they can borrow more money so the bond rating is better.

They've moved 50 billion off the books. People do not even know this. So is that corruption? That is absolutely corruption because it's your tax money. It's your money. It's my money, George. This money goes into that, quote unquote general fund.

I would just like to recall it the slush fund. So there needs to be an accounting for your tax dollars. This is not their money. So I'm telling you that there's a lot. There's a lot could be had. There's a lot of change. We can transform the state. It's going to take a while.

You're right. Because to move that aircraft carrier, you're going to turn that rudder, but it's going to take a while to turn that ship. But I can tell you, People will have hope when they know that there's hope when there's a future coming. Good people go into hiding when there's bad leadership. But with good people, there's abundance.

Good leadership, there's abundance for the people. And that's my candidacy. Good leadership will create abundance for the people. Wow. You're starting to sound a lot like Martin Luther King. You're starting to sound a little bit like I've been to the mountain top. I've seen it. You know, here's a guy who came out when there was no hope.

Here's a guy that came out and said, look, I know it looks bad right now, but I have a dream. It's a dream against anti-corruption. It's a dream where all our families come back. You're starting to sound a little bit like, you know, you have nothing to fear but fear itself. You know, and it's, you know, I'm grateful. I think that we are in a similar time. They say the history doesn't repeat, but it rhymes. And what you're looking at right now in the state of Hawaii is the same thing that MLK was looking at in the civil rights movement.

It's the same thing that JFK was looking at. when he had different people breathing down his neck. And you're so right. Good people look for good leadership. People will come. And you've proven that with the Aloha Freedom Coalition. You started something that became a movement. And things like that tend to be repeatable.

You probably saw the inspiration there. Do you think that that same type of grassroots buildup that you did with Aloha Freedom Coalition is possible with running for governor? Absolutely, because, you know, first I want to remind you, I didn't do AFC by myself. Right, of course. Important people to know that this has been a stab for the people by the people. And that's the distinction that you're alluding to now. Is it possible?

Yeah. Across the board, there is so much discontent in our society. I don't care what, if you're a Democrat, Republican, independent, and non-voter, there is discontent across the board. Everybody knows something's not right. This has to change. That discontent is. churning within people, right? Whatever, whatever aspect of your society and whatever industry you're in, they all know, whether your kids are young, you know, whatever they are. Everybody knows something's

wrong. So are they, are they up for change? Yeah, they are up for change. Are they afraid? Yes, they are, because the government has painted a picture that the government is the savior. The governor has, the government in Hawaii has created an entitlement society, making it almost impossible for local business to survive. The biggest competitor for local business is not other local business for the workforce, for the brain, for the energy. It's the government. I talk to people all the time.

They can't afford the, you know, the benefits that the state is offering. They can pay them scale, scale to scale. They can do that, but they can't give the benefits. So they're struggling to hire somebody for, for their job when the government saying, hey, come work for us. We'll give you all this stuff. That's bad governance. That's to support government.

That is not to support the small business. So is there an uproar in our society? Yeah, you know, you just saw that the police union for the first time flipped their leadership. That is unheard of in Hawaii. Why did that happen? Because the people, the men and women of HBD knew that the leadership that was serving them at the top wasn't serving them.

and they decided, no, we need a new direction. That same undercurrent is living in everybody. You know, everybody knows a family who's left. Everybody knows somebody whose kids are no longer here. And I can tell you, the way that we're going, it's not going to stop. You take this property tax issues. We have an aging population in Hawaii. What are the people going to do when they have a fixed income and they retired five years ago

when their property is worth $400K? and now their property is worth 1.2 and they can't afford the property taxes. What happens? They lose their legacy property to taxes. This is the kind of nuts and bolts solutions that people don't necessarily think about. This is where change happens. People's property taxes must be frozen at the time of their retirement. It doesn't just accelerate because their neighbor's property went on.

What a concept. Why do we have general excise tax on medicine and food? Nobody can seem to explain it. You want to know why? Got the slush fund. Need that slush fund money. I was on the, I was on, we were on four islands last week of my team and I. Just going and talking to the people, getting wisdom.

That's all I've been doing, George. Talking to people asking honest questions, how do I do this? What would you do if this was yours? Getting wisdom. That's all I've been doing since the inception of our campaign. I continue to that. Even while we talk, I'm listening. I say,

what can be done? They have very little answers because they're just bathed in fear. They don't know what can be done until you start actually talking about how things can change. And then they perk up, they go, wow, I never thought about we could have that here. We can have that here. So is there change in the wind?

Absolutely is there change. Are others that are running for a governor? Are they articulating this? No, they're not. There's a platitude. You can take a platitude of changes from candidate to candidate. Oh, we're going to fix housing. We're going to fix the cost of living, the economy, education, blah, blah, blah. You can run it from cycle after cycle after cycle. You can take that same list and you can put on each other's candidates for it. It's the same. Nobody talks about let's deal with this stuff. And so is there, is there the same undercurrent of discontent? Yes, there is. Is there going to change who wins the

governor's seat, it is going to change. It is going to change. So, you know, and we're not a, we're not a, we're not a, we're not a, we're not a campaign that's for a specific person. We're not targeting a group that's, that's, that's angry at the government. We're saying to all people, doesn't matter what party you are, doesn't matter what inclination you have, doesn't matter your historical perspective. We're saying, this is for you. Get your lives back. 50% of our people do not vote, at least 50%. They've decided, why would I bother voting? I hear this over and over. Why would I bother voting? My vote doesn't matter. Nobody cares. Nobody's ever cared. I'm saying, folks, come back from the grandstands, come out of the grandstands, come on to the field of life where the game is being played. Vote, register and vote. Get your

life back. Take your government back. Realize that your vote matters and that it should serve you. And so that's what we need. People have to deal with that. with election integrity, corruption and election integrity. Unbelievable. People may like the outcome, but it's not right. Listen, one voter, one vote. That's it. And so when you see these changes implemented,

then you'll see a real change in Hawaii. Yeah, that's, I want to be mindful of your time, Gary. I had an hour with you. And so we're coming up on that hour now. Okay. I know you're busy. I'm super thankful for your time and spend the time with this. I think that's a great message.

Is there anything else you want to leave people with until we meet again, maybe next Thursday? You know, really the message at this point is tell your neighbors, call your neighbors, connect with your neighbors. When's the last time you had a conversation with your neighbor? Just a conversation. Can we just reconnect as a community? Can we just talk about what really matters and pretend like everything's okay? Everybody's just pretending. They're hanging on like, they're just like, you know, they're just like Kathy.

on glass. They're barely hanging on. And they don't want to tell anybody about their fear because they don't want their fear confirmed because they know somebody else is just hanging on. Listen, can we just talk to each other as a people? Let's have honest conversations about what's possible. Let's encourage one another to do what's right. Let's take up the mantle of self-government again. Let's realize this is our society. These are our kids. This is our legacy. And let's get out and vote. At this point, I'm running for, I'm in front of political office. I can't emphasize enough.

If the people would come out and vote, I guarantee you, Gary Cordery for Governor wins hands down, not even looking back. It's a landslide. The issue is people have no faith in their policies, in their government.

So the fact that, Georgia, you have me on your program, I am super grateful. I'm very grateful. And I appreciate the conversation. And I hope lots of people watch your podcast. I mean, I watched a number of them in the past. They were awesome.

You have great people on your show, great questions. You do your homework. I'm very grateful for you that we can have these conversations is a blessing to me. But I can tell you, it's a blessing to our community. People need to hear that there are people out there, and it's not just me. There are people out there who are sacrificing their lives and standing for righteous government. That's what this is about. At the end of the day, we want godly government in place, righteous government.

That's what I mean. For that, the people will prosper. Without that, the people will suffer. And that's the message. So join me. I can tell you, you can join my campaign. Gary quarter, shameless plug, Gary Cordery for Governor. That's the website, Gary, Gary Quarter for Governor.com. There's a donate button. People have no idea what it costs to run a campaign. It's staggering. Join the campaign. Find a meet and greet. Go on there. There's check it out. There'll be continual things being put on the site about pause. policy issues. I will answer the phone. If I hear your message, I don't avoid people. Come to, come to whatever we're doing and ask questions. Just like, now this is for your audience, just like George is asking. Ask honest, you can ask hard. Jordan, you can ask harder questions. You know, it's just whatever you see before you. I'm saying that we need integrity and authenticity and government. And if you don't find it in the leader, you're not going to find it in government, period. So that's my final. final pitch.

Fantastic. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for spending time with us and we will see you soon. Aloha. Aloha. All right. Thanks.

Hello. Okay. Stop recording.