Big Corporations | Michael Patrick Leahy

2nd Vote Advisers Dan Grant: ‘Companies Should Be Inspired by the First Amendment’

Live from Music Row Tuesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed Co-Founder and CEO Daniel Grant of 2nd Vote Advisers to the studio to discuss his recent talks with red-state treasurers and the potential to divest in corporations that do not promote American values.

Leahy: In studio with our good friend Mayor of Maury County Andy Ogles and Dan Grant, another good friend with 2ndvoteadvisers.com. I’m so excited about this. I’m so excited. Now you’re talking to some red-state treasurers, right?

Grant: Yes.

Leahy: Tell us why. What is it that the red state treasurers have?

Grant: Well, it’s pretty interesting, actually. So actually, we were just in the Australian Financial Review, which is The Wall Street Journal in Australia. And the reason we resonate with red-state treasurers and Australia is they’re heavily reliant on fossil fuels.

Leahy: Yeah. Fossil fuels have created the energy of America that’s cost-effective energy.

Grant: Right.

Leahy: And they’ve made a lot of improvements on environmental issues. But the Larry Fink’s of the world who want to tell everybody else what to do and what’s virtuous or not have declared fossil fuels are not virtuous.

Grant: Which is a problem if you are a red state treasurer and your state’s economy is dependent on fossil fuels. The main companies in the state are dependent on it. The main industries in your state are dependent on it.

I had lunch with a red state treasure a week and a half ago, and this gentleman controls over $70 billion in assets. And he was telling me exactly what I just said. They are under attack.

That week alone, Exxon lost three board seats to a small hedge fund called Engine No. 1. Engine No. 1 really didn’t know much stock, but they put a slate of directors out there. And then Engine No. 1 went to Vanguard, BlackRock, and some of the other large ones.

Leahy: Vanguard is like the number two.

Grant: Number two. And got enough votes to actually put three activists on the board.

Leahy: Now they like solar, solar, solar. Fossil fuel bad.

Grant: They are not saying, let’s go pump more oil out of the Gulf. (Leahy laughs) I can promise you that.

Leahy: I say bring that all on. Bring it on. Bring it on. (Chuckles)

Grant: Exxon is under attack. That same week, Shell lost a very important case in a Dutch court, which basically is making Shell diversify out of 45 percent of its fossil fuel business.

Leahy: Shell is a Dutch company?

Grant: Shell is a Dutch company.

Leahy: Nothing says free markets like I don’t know, a European quasi-socialist government like the Netherlands.

Grant: Let’s follow that example.

Leahy: Because it’s working so well.

Grant: What could go wrong?

Leahy: (Laughs) You are very good. That was good.

Grant: And then lastly, the same week, Moody’s came out with a report saying 40 percent of companies represent an environmental threat. 40 percent of companies in the United States represent a threat.

Leahy: What are they talking about?

Grant: Well, what they’re talking about is regulations. They’re talking about what Maxine Waters is talking about.

Ogles: A point that we kind of danced around earlier is this idea that these large corporations are putting in these layers and layers of regulations to stifle competition.

Leahy: Exactly.

Ogles: Because they don’t want you and me to start a business. They don’t want the small guy to become a big guy or gal for that matter or a mid-size company that becomes larger.

And so this has nothing to do with the environment. This has nothing to do with carbon footprints or whatever. They are literally trying to put other people out of business.

Grant: You’re right Andy. The government can’t control small businesses so what they want to do is regulate it. They can control large businesses. If large businesses can then make small businesses less competitive by piling on taxes through regulations, that’s what they’re going to do.

And that is exactly what they are doing. You don’t think Maxine Waters really cares about the Investor Protection Act, do you?

Leahy: So in terms of the red states, I think we’re talking. You don’t have to name any, but I will. So red States that have heavily in their portfolio, the fossil fuel companies. Obviously, Texas would be the big dog that would be there.

But Oklahoma would have them. And the Dakotas. North Dakota and South Dakota, New Mexico, and Arizona. All of those. New Mexico is not exactly a red state. Andy?

Ogles: One of the things that when Facebook was censoring the president, I sent a letter to the governor of the Speaker of the House and Lieutenant governor saying that the state of Tennessee should divest itself of any shares of Facebook and Twitter.

Why? Because these are big companies that have become social activists. They don’t represent Tennessee values. By the way, I never got a response to that letter. But that’s something that Florida has done.

Again, what would Ron DeSantis do? Florida has taken the steps to divest itself. And these huge investment funds States control red states and all states. They control a lot of money. If I dump my few shares of Facebook, it has zero impact.

If I cancel my Facebook account, it has zero impact. But if you have a state that has $50 or $60 billion under management and they say, you know what, Twitter? We don’t like what you’re doing to Conservatives on your platform that moves the needle. So I applaud 2nd Vote for what you’re doing.

Leahy: And Dan Grant, last minute of the program, you got 30 seconds. Sum up, 2nd Vote Advisers. Why should you go there?

Grant: Because we believe companies should be inspired by the First Amendment. Companies should not be trying to over-regulate and trying to stifle the First Amendment. Jack Dorsey of Twitter should not be dumping Trump because he can do it.

The First Amendment protects individuals from the government only, not from corporations. But corporations should be inspired because that is what makes our society great.

Listen to the full third hour here:

– – –

Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to the Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.

All Star Panelist Crom Carmichael and Senator Mark Pody Discuss Tennessee General Assembly Agenda and Vaccination Exemption

Live from Music Row Wednesday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed the original all-star panelist Crom Carmichael and Senator Mark Pody (TN-17) to the studio to discuss the Tennessee General Assembly’s remaining agenda and upcoming vaccination bill which advocates for governmental exemption status.

Leahy: In studio the original all-star panelist, Crom Carmichael, and State Senator Mark Pody from Wilson County. Senator Pody, what’s on the agenda for the remaining month of the Tennessee General Assembly?

Pody: Well, to start with today is a big day because we have a vaccination bill that is going to be heard in the health committee.

Leahy: Now, when you say vaccination bill, tell us what that bill is and does.

Pody: Alright. So what that bill is going to do and is being carried by Senator Janice Bowling Aad it’s going to say that if you have a religious exemption or if you have a conscience that says you don’t want to get that vaccination, you cannot be forced by the government to take that vaccination.

Leahy: Now, that seems to me like a common sense and individual liberty bill. This bill died, didn’t it and then it came back?

Pody: Yes. A similar bill died, and there was one that I was actually carrying earlier this year and it died in the House. So we had the votes in the Senate to pass the bill, but it died in the House. And we currently have this exemption right now in the state of Tennessee. However, if the governor calls an emergency, then that exemption goes away.

And for whatever reason, just because we call it an emergency does not mean that our constitutional rights or religious freedoms should be stepped on. And that’s what this bill does. It’s going to say even underneath an emergency, that we have the right to say we don’t want that vaccination.

Leahy: What are the prospects of it passing the health committee in the House today?

Pody: I think it’s a pretty good chance right now. I talked to the chairman of that committee, and he is for it and he’s on board with it. And I know Joey Hensley is on that committee, and he’s going to be for it. So I think we have a good shot. But there’s going to be a rally down there at the Capitol today with Gary Humble and Tennessee Stands.

Leahy: He was in studio here with Ben Cunningham on Wednesday when I was out of town in Tallahassee putting together The Florida Capital Star deal.

Carmichael: You know, what’s interesting about that bill is that I think you said that government does not have the right to do that.

Pody: Yes.

Carmichael: If you watch what the Biden administration is trying to do with this so-called health card passport, he says they’re working with private industry. So what they’ve done is they’ve kind of looked at the way that if you’re protected by Section 230, then corporations are able to do the bidding of the Democrat Party by canceling and demonetizing people who disagree with progressive policies.

So rather than have the federal government try to pass a national bill on a COVID passport, they’re working with big companies to try to get those companies to force it. So it’s the private sector. So what the Senator is saying here is the government won’t be able to do it. But it sounds like that under your bill, a large private company or private employer could impose a restriction on everyone who doesn’t carry a COVID passport.

Pody: That’s correct.

Carmichael: Whether over a religious exemption or not, they would still have to carry the passport, which means they have to go have the vaccine.

Pody: That’s correct. Now, this bill is only focused on government. There is another bill that’s coming that would actually address the private industry as well. But that’s not the one that’s up to date. This is the one that’s coming today. And we’re working through that. The other issue that’s coming up is money. We’re going to be passing the budget in April, and we have money in Tennessee. Tennessee is a well-run state, one of the best in the entire nation. Unlike the federal government, we only spend the money we have. We don’t go into debt. We are one the lowest debt in the nation.

Leahy: Crom, you might want to weigh on this.

Carmichael: Well, what’s interesting is this because the Senator is right. We are a very well run state. We’re a very low tax state. We have no income tax. We have no estate tax. We don’t even have a tax now on interest in dividends. And the people on the left said if you eliminate those taxes, you’ll lose your revenue.

Leahy: They were wrong.

Carmichael: They were wrong. Because when you eliminate those taxes, you become more attractive to people to move to your state who create wealth. The states with the highest income taxes are the ones that run the biggest deficits. The corollary is just as clear as it can be. California and New York are terribly run states with huge deficits, as is Illinois. Please, go ahead.

Pody: I got to tell you, the people that are moving here out of those kinds of states because of their tax problems are coming here. We just don’t want them to bring their same politics here because they’re going to turn us into that kind of taxing state.

Carmichael: If there’s any extra money, have it to fund an educational program for newly minted Tennesseeans. (Laughter)

Leahy: That’s actually not a joke, because, as it turns out, there’s an idea called The Welcome Wagon.

Carmichael: I love it.

Leahy: Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit has put this out. There’s some teeth behind it. And State Senator Pody, we’re going to bring this to you when it is fully developed in the next couple of weeks.

Pody: I look forward to it.

Carmichael: I love that. That’s right.

Leahy: We’re in the business of finding out ideas that Crom will love. (Laughter)

Listen to the full third hour here:

– – –

Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to the Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.