Donnybrook
Donnybrook Last Call | March 13, 2025
Clip: Season 2025 Episode 11 | 9m 31sVideo has Closed Captions
The panel discusses the County Executive race, taxing Illinois EV drivers, & the Illinois mascot.
Charlie Brennan, Wendy Wiese, Alvin Reid, Bill McClellan, and Sarah Fenske discuss the County Executive race, taxing Illinois EV drivers, and the Illinois mascot debate.
Donnybrook is a local public television program presented by Nine PBS
Support for Donnybrook is provided by the Betsy & Thomas O. Patterson Foundation and Design Aire Heating and Cooling.
Donnybrook
Donnybrook Last Call | March 13, 2025
Clip: Season 2025 Episode 11 | 9m 31sVideo has Closed Captions
Charlie Brennan, Wendy Wiese, Alvin Reid, Bill McClellan, and Sarah Fenske discuss the County Executive race, taxing Illinois EV drivers, and the Illinois mascot debate.
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Thanks so much for joining us this is Last Call as you know Alvin Reed Dennis Hancock a member of the St Louis County Council has thrown his hat in the ring he's going to run for County Executive and as it turns out Dr Sam page is going to run for re-election and I believe that's next year right 2026 yes it is it yeah yeah what do you make of this I I think Sam pagee was probably going to run but definitely decided to run when he saw that his Republican opposition was Dennis H yeah subject of a messenger yeah I like I you know I don't know about the primary you know who might take him on to the primary but as far as the general if Mr Hancock gets the nomination I think that's a done deal that's kind of like an early happy Easter I think for for Dr Sam pagee in terms of I mean Dennis hanock when you have that kind of an entree into the local political scene when Tony messenger you know unearths your email that proves that you were being less than you know you were being a little disingenuous about your understanding of of state law I don't know I I supported Dennis Hancock for hiring his stepdaughter you know I being from Chicago in nepotism I remember mayor D always saying what a man can't help his family so so I I don't see it as such a big thing and I the fact that it was his stepdaughter a blended family made me like Dennis right but he said he didn't know about I know I know but then when that happened I think he should just sit down yeah I think Dennis Hancock has a decent chance after all the county executive wants to buy a $600 million new building I think Hancock will agree with most people that it should be renovated uh I think the county executive has had problems with the health department and the dogs and I think it's going to be a big issue and uh I think that uh there are some other I think overall life is good in St Louis County I'm not saying Sam paage won't get reelected but I think Dennis hanock is quite able I think I think I this H probably won't win his own primary I I think if somebody else really decided to run against Mark mavani I I was gonna say did anybody here I think it's interesting how like back in the day if you were charged with something in Criminal Court like that could be the end of your political career even if you end up having those charges dismissed by a brand new prosecutor that is not the state of the world anymore I think he can almost run on this like Sam page went after me for political reasons and it took cooler heads to show that I you know this could be his his calling card with voters now there's also Brian Williams who is what a university city state reper state senator state senator okay he's a state senator he may throw his hat in the ring I I if he did Sam's got a problem yeah oh very interesting I I think he's very well respected yeah I think that that's a big and like say he my understand understanding is he could have been Wesley Bell and he said I'm not going to get mixed up in that so and Sam page has more than a year to straighten everything out with the dogs yeah that's true uh bill I want to ask you about uh state of Illinois the Land of Lincoln uh there's a proposal to tax cars not uh through the gasoline tax which is the standard way of doing it but by putting some sort of device on automobiles to see how far they actually roam the state and that way electric vehicles like Tesla's which um don't of course buy as much gasoline would then have to pay their fair share for the roads and bridges yeah the Teslas don't buy any gasoline and they expect to use our roads and our bridges for free and have us put charging stations in for them no as an old uh buddy ddy gasoline engine dinosaur internal combustion person I like that idea and Oregon is already doing it yeah you know in Oregon oh really and I think Utah as well trying to figure out a way to make these EVS pay their fair share well I got a question now how does it know when you cross the border I mean if I drive to California will I then be charged more because I used more miles even though I didn't use them in Illinois and by the way I was up Chicago way and I get these tolls that I had driven through that I didn't have any idea that doesn't sit right with me what point of order would anyone in a Tesla drive to California yeah yeah don't you have to recharge it every couple hundred miles no I think you can now do that you have to plan the you have to I have a neighbor who go pay the bag fees I have a neighbor who goes to Florida all the time and they and they have it all worked out well if there's way if there're speaking for our combustible engine dinosaur fuddy duddies um if there's a way and they they have these they have these trackers or the whatever these devices are that in the cars the black boxes if there's a way to tax you across your country across country then I think we will do that that's true I will say this also um the most gas guzzling car that we drive now gets like 26 or 27 miles per gallon and back in the day they used to get 12 so they're changes miles hour I'm just bothered by the government putting a tracker on my car I don't care if it doesn't know exactly where I'm going they've already got a tracker on your phone I know and I hate it like what has happened to the ability to commit mischief like it's a real problem in America and you've also been shipped by uh apparently the covid people they know everything politically it's such an interesting time in America because right now nobody likes Tesla drivers like half of America hates Elon Musk the other half of America hates electric vehicles so this proposal might actually have a chance of of moving forward Tesla sales are way down down way down here too uh who do I want to talk to Wendy how about you uh with freeberg high school you know it's been the midgets for a long long time and uh now there's a movement to change the freeberg midgets that's the mascot actually to something else I think it's time what do you think I you know to me it seems like it's all the sensitivity to this type of thing is selective and when you have Arrowhead Stadium or guia field or whatever you call it these days they're still doing the tomahawk chop I thought that that was also supposed to be I thought that was supposed to be a thing of the past but now a little you know a a smalltown high school football team is going to have to change its name I this the selectivity is what upsets me that you've got you've got stadiums the Washington Redskins they changed they changed their name the Kansas City Chiefs they're not going to have to change their name or they're not going to have to change some of their you know the the way the crowd responds it just that part of it bothers me I think you just I think you have to be selective on these I mean you know Redskins had to go uh I wish they would stop the Cho in in Kansas City I don't know how you stop it but if these folks in you know the midgetville want to want to keep it but a lot of them don't I mean yeah a lot of them want to keep it I'm sure that there's there's a level of offensive offensiv or something where like the Redskins you know that's different than uh the the Braves for instance yeah I I in the PE Peak and High School in Illinois for years they were the peak and shinks and then you know somebody said you you got to stop that and they did and I kind of see the midgets as the same way that if if people of small stature say boy I don't like this it's not like hey Notre Dame can't say the Fighting Irish anymore because Irish people don't like it go oh come on you have to as a matter of fact I was in Ireland last summer I asked a guy what do you think about the Notre Dame Fighting Ira she goes considering that we've been fighting the British for 800 years I love it yeah now now Martin Dugan who founded this show he used to be get very upset about the term Patty wagon yes sure I mean and I said Martin you really can't be he was very upset because that's an Irish drunk thrown into the Patty wagon I heard someone on radio or maybe a podcast this week talk about welshing a bet that's incorrect too is it not it would it would be right it would be but but is always a slur Chief Brave not always a slur and I think is now always a slur you know I was very sad when my hometown baseball team the Cleveland Indians uh got rid of their mascot changed their name in retrospect why was I upset about that like it was it was not a problem for me because it's sort of what you know and it's how you grow up and it's just it's it's a minor hiccup in life but you know people are going to react they're reacting we used to at baseball weekly we called it the Gran and Indian and we tried to get away with it Major League Baseball said like no you'll keep it or you won't have the all the rest of the logos so we they Major League Baseball said we had to keep it so I I'm just that one was like okay maybe maybe the name's okay but that logo logo was bad the logo was bad okay well that's it for this last call thank you very much for joining us we'll have another Edition at this time next week thank you for joining us
Donnybrook is a local public television program presented by Nine PBS
Support for Donnybrook is provided by the Betsy & Thomas O. Patterson Foundation and Design Aire Heating and Cooling.