whose lives dissected at a place called radio lake house. and then we have a book called "uncompromising activist." ...

the >> hello, everybody welcome tooc the 33rd of chicago printers grow fast. i would like to give a special thank you to all the sponsors. today's program is broadcast on c-span2 book tv. if there is time at the end we ask that you go to the microphone to ask your questio questions. please welcome the moderator. [applause]yone this is a great book to be

discussing the. if you are looking for a fun summer read as a balance of insider political knowledge and funny stories and very raw time for the congressman. welcome to the congressman. [applause] i thought the only people that would be here today so thank you so much.g i'm glad we could do this.

it is run like a ruthless rudy giuliani regime but instead of being transparent and honest who would boldly announce he was going to clean up new york and bust even the smallest criminal, chicago democrats were full ofat crap. they started the rhetoric of equality, justice and fair share while uprooting entire minority communities t too close to the people of the magnificent mile. as you can see he doesn't mince words. tell us a little bit about the law and your roots and how chicago shaped you. >> i was in the 1990s going to freestyle hip-hop back when that was a good thing as a place where i lived and i begin to hang out with people from all walks of life and political stripes and was given airwaves

and had no idea how they did that so i began interviewing people. while she reads that just to let you know today i will poke plenty of fun at myself. i went through a dark period in life but believe me i am an equal opportunity shot speaker that mixes both parties in the country in the wa and the way te treated the american peopletr especially the elites in washington, d.c. and that is as much for republicans and democrats. so i began to shape the libertarian beliefs that i don't think the government can be the solution for everything. i don't believe that our certai

crisis situations we have in the country today whether it be violent for education whatever it may be that you continue to throw more money at everything and i also don't believe when you talk about the website or o right side where they step in to social issues to say we want the government no is not involved in anything at all, get th government out, except in your bedrooms, that's where the republicans want to be. [laughter] so i reject the parties and how they handled themselves. handl that is why i formed my overwhelmingly libertarian s belief here in the city of chicago. i adored the city. i love this place and it's great to be back talking about it. >> you went from chicago and as i realized you could have written a book by the time you turned the age of 30 you have any radio reporter and you bought a small newspaper, you

sold it and made money and trave traveled. i have to imagine that also might have impacted your belief. talk a little bit about what you were doing until age 30. >> i was an intern in atlanta. i fetched lester holt coffee for many years when he was the holto anchor here and i began my career in tv news behind the scenes. i moved to where i still reside in the fort myers naples area. i was the idiot at every hurricane delivers the blow through florida and that was my first sort of national time on the cnn and fox and msnbc. >> i wa was idiot, like what ise idiot doing telling me to get

outside when i'm outside showing you how horrible it is. [laughter] so, i did that and any time that i had the opportunity to travel, i would say chicago planted the seed for my love of culture. i came from the west side of cincinnati where the book is pretty vanilla. i would always make fun of how people wore khakis and t-shirts and here's seeing women walkingd down where do snow indian and pakistani food on one block and another, chinese on another. this was amazing to me. now when i was in chicago after i got some studying and later in life when i eventually sold the business i wanted to go see the

world is one of my passions is traveling and absorbing as much culture as i ever could.ld at oi i've eaten off the streets of mexico in particular but it's been a fun ride. but it just comes out of my love of people and cultures and brings it back is why i adore the city so much. >> he isn't kidding about being dragged off the bus in the middle of the night. it was some foreshadowing. you've got a phone call to come back and anchor a television station and from there, you somehow transitioned into some

of the lights clicking where you decided to run for office so talk to us about that. >> i wanted to get involved in politics and i left again in the southwest florida region in for. myers. does anybody out there in the winter, is there anybody that has grandparents ar or that haps to go to naples or fort myers i know we have at least one. i represent the area and 50 people, like my grandparents lived there. >> i left tv news to start the communications consulting in politics i wanted to get involved in politics and it just so happened as i left tv news av news a radio show of conduct to do political talk in the morning so i would do the radio show it

was a conservative radio show that i've actually often times try to push the envelope and i would say even the liberal beliefs on the show. what happened is i got this radio show and they began in one way or another building up ar following but specifically among the republican primary voters. it just so happens while i'm doing radio that the current congressman at the time, you may know his father was a senator out of the state of florida and a long history the congressman kolbe and so i'm going to run for the senate. you should consider running for congress, and i did. so, this is like the politics of politics. to use my own example of any of you that may have family that consider running or want to know the inside of how to build up your own campaign, i have somei

assets that a politician and as candidate needs a. self. you have talking points and youy have to say pick me, take me, i'm the coolest. i want to be the congressman or governor or whatever it is. but the part that comes with it is money. here's what you've got to do. what you've got to do is go outt and raise boatloads of cash. it starts with three groups.

those are the groups that you triaged when you are announcing the campaign. family and you contact the person you think you could be a $2,700 check it is cold and you calculated then you go to the believers to use present-day vocal politics president barack obama and trump have a lot of those people, small dollar donors who may be struggling but they still give that hundred dollars and you build up beast owners and they are the people

that want something. in my experience i never had something out of a hollywood movie especially among the republicans you get fat old white men with cigars like is what you're going to do for us. it was never anything like that but you woul would have the lobt industries who would throw a fund raiser for you and then eventually the next day they are in your office in a different capacity because they are separated, the office and campaign.they know and they know the person just raceraised me $20,000 last nigh. it's how i announced the assets and a little bit of a breakdowns >> i read and write a lot in politics and it is still stunning to me to have the

curtain pulled back on two mains areas. you talk about not just the special interest money but your fellow congressman. so i want you to tell me the story of death and walked into the meeting. >> each party has a political arm of further members of congress and the democraticmocre congressional committee d. commi triple c. and on the republican side is the nrc see. you have to keep the federalve office and lawmaker roles separate from the campaign. you cannot use the same federally issued phone to elicit

contributions or anything like that to share something with you that again i don't pass judgment but i'm happy to come in to lay it out what happens in washington, d.c. is if you think your local member of congress whether you are in the suburbs or here in the city is getting their stellar seats on the committee liked the head of foreign affairs or the ways and means powerful committee, the reason thereason the author isne they're an eloquent policymaker. it's because they can raise money and a lot of it. so let there be no question that the politics and raising money plays a role undoubtedly in what you end up doing as a federal lawmaker, but committee you get

on and even if you want to go of to leadership you've got to raise money for the party it's just how it is a. i remember my first meeting i go in and our campaign after the general election we raised $20,000 because, and again i reflect on this and it feels a little dark and dirty even to talk about it but to lay it out, we raised it because i wanted to be a team player. when i went to washington i wanted to connect with democrats and liberals have served the country. but i knew there was a game you have to plahave to place a whity and started early with $20,000.

there's a giant poster board with how much money you've raised for the nrc see. he has a million dollars, paul ryan a million dollars, eric cantor, then this wanted 50,000, i don't see my name. then i look over at the end of the board and with my name there is a zero so i go up to one of the other members of congress and say i paid 25,000. why do i have zero. he said we are in a new cycle. that is old news. you have to raise another 100,000. this goes on and on. it is what it is. we can argue all day about money and politics and how it affects

it or does not. in this country in particular there will be arguments about free speech and how you can express yourself and do so with money but i don't believe that there are human beings you canan get to at a later time but you best believe that whether it is democrats or republicans, thispu is how it functions and this iso how you raise your stature and get onto the committees and i don't think it is the healthiest thing but it is what it is. >> i know, it is kind of depressing to read the book and we sort of know this intuitively but when it's late, we pay so much more attention to the special interest group to thisnt person and this in return and not thinking about the inter party contributions and the demands. the other thing that i found disturbing about the system is you hear from the fiscallylythe conservatives how they are saving the taxpayers money that the sort of royalty that comes with a leadership position

sensitivity like kevin mccarthy had security detail and suvs pulling up and driving people around and the dinners. talk about i think you compared it to the roman empire. >> i'm going to tell a very off-color joke how it actually felt like greek and a young boy is that the freshmen were taking advantage of that that is a different story. [inaudible] [laughter]o >> there is a lavish lifestyle that with things like suvs i do think it is a little stupid for the republicans that are like a

barack obama wants to take your guns but he has a bunch of people that protected them from the president of the united states, shut up. i understand the armor plated suvs and how the leadership gets the state of things. i get that and i support that and taxpayer dollars. there were leadership people i wouldn't have expected. >> there are death threats. there's finger food and one of the things that is ridiculous about the way that it operates, you have these fancy dinners all the time and the industries put money towards them, the parties put money towards them but one

of the stories i go through in the book is being invited to one of my first parties up through dc and i just want my primary. click site note. in the united states districts are drawn overwhelmingly to support hard-core left or right so if i win my primary, that's it. that is the conundrum that country has it's like puttingro george bush and kim jong moon in a room saying compromise. as you have the far left and far right are not going to agree so i win my primary and i'm done. i'm not being flown to go to a dinner. so i get to this dinner. the invitation said there's going to be people in the dc business community so i go and i'm hanging out and meeting people and we sit down forve

dinner. they start putting out huge trays of a steak and chicken on skewers and i'm like why is everything on a skewer. can i get a proper steak? when the democrats came into power the first two years with barack obama they implemented rules because of all of the scandals with the lobbyists and in their infinite wisdom they said it's not that much influence over the lawmakers when we stop them from having ap plated dinner but instead if it is stuck on a stick. [laughter] this is the truth. now think about that, your hard

earned paycheck that goes to washington d. c. and members of the united states congress and that is the rules and guidelines by the congress to abide by and that was the first book. they were appalled they were not going to be able to get the tickets so they tried to figure out all these ways but if it is fair market value you cannot accept a gift that is worth x. amount or more it applies to thw

members of congress with the industries there is a room full of attorneys and some skyscrapers and the city of chicago these attorneys are figuring out how to bend the rule. if you want to stop pitting people against each other, stop the government from picking andm choosing sides. i know that in practice it is a lot harder to do but in life whether you support the massive subsidies for green energy like all of us that believe in a healthy economy and environment, i understand the ideas for research and development but if you don't like that or if youu don't like a bunch of breaks going to big oil, you have to b stop the government pick and choose sides based on their tax

law if you want the lobbyists to get out of the office of your members of congress take away the brakes or incentives that they are fighting for they can't be there anymore. the government either intentionally or on a generally creates those that post and product the rules to fight for what they want in their interess only. >> you can clap. [laughter] >> there is a state lawmaker that doesn't do it. she doesn't go out for drinks.t she picks up the tab every time. is that possible you are putting a marker down but i'm not going to mess with the disclosure and who paid for what. i'm not going to be part of that. >> lets me get to the human part

of that that we can argue over money and influence and what is happening in washington, d.c.. there is a human components that i believe in which sometimes you go to these and see the person of an opposite party or a lobbyist that may be able to give information. again they are not evil people. they fight for what they've been hired to do because the government created the job. they also can provide you with valuable information and i would say even someone who bought these democrats can talk to republicans and this is how we see if you may broaden your scope. one of the things that is missing his relationships. we spend so much time yelling at each other instead of talking with each other. one of the things i was proud of

is my first 30 days in office i made it a point to go meet every democrat and that's because i knew i would be spending time with republicans and meeting at every political agenda but i met with every florida democrat and i had them call their staff. what's going on here. i ended up striking great relationships with democrats from all over the united states starting with the floridians for things like criminal justice reform, immigration, things like that so it is where people can

interact and i just think that it's incumbent upon members of congress to remove themselvess out of the political eco- chambers we have kind of a conservative area and you get trapped where somebody just g wants to watch rachel matthau were then go out and get active with the democratic party sent you have people that watch things like bill o'reilly and we lock ourselves in the eco- chambers.

the word compromise is not a dirty word. we compromise every single day in our own lives with our spouse and children and boss and coworkers. compromise doesn't mean abandoning your values or principles. i think it means sharing them and we need more members on the left and right doing that. [applause] >> we will not have time to get into the beginning but you strike up a friendship and he takes you under his wing. to your point of going to these functions at the time you're married with a young son and they are coming to dc less and less and you mentionedmentione friendships you struck up with our congressmen but he would be at these functions and even though they were young they were able to show restraint and you were not.uff i

including a horror death of my mother and they don't want to use this as a business but it was undoubtedly a lot of pressure. she died on my wedding reception floor. she showed on a piece of steak. it was a terrible night. anyway, part of it is-improve a lot nothing and i believe thaten we all handle grieving and loss in different ways.

for me i try to have a sense of humor. whether you are democrat, conservative, looking at politics today you will have a heart attack. i found m that my wife and a chd of thousands of miles away and i was living like a bachelor.wo i would go have some cocktails and red flags were going up left and right but i ignored. i had been a madman about everything i do when i go to work i go nuts and i look from

8 a.m. until six at night. i love the relationship part of it and i would go hard-core. unfortunately i played just just as hard at night. they go out and maybe have a cocktail and glass of wine. i didn't have to be the congressman. i had dabbled in cocaine and you bet i was in washington.

decision after decision, held partying night after night i purchased one night and not only is it an idiotic move for a few reasons, you are a father, husband, member of the uniteded states congress and i got busted by the fbi. >> he heard that there was a member of congress that have done this and so it was a sting operation. i don't go into heavy detail what the undercover guy looked like or who connected.y i don't care if you've been through your own ups and downs we have our own way of dealing

with things whether it is humor or trying to move on i try not to dwell too much. i was walking down the road and they know better than to say congressman because i probably would have just kept going. like an idiot, by the end of the night i was inebriated.l i went to a fund raiser with the majority whip of the house was now the majority leader and that's where i showed up and they were like your cocktail and sizemore and then i went to a bar and after i walk out afterer purchasing i heard my name and i was like whose partying now. fbi.

your life is about to change dramatically. >> they said that, your life is about to change? >> yes and that was the understatement of a lifetime. >> getting your presence on social media, you don't talk much about that in the book, what people send out to you. people made fun of you on late night talk shows. >> i never used the word tea party, ever. on a side note i do believe there are values that things like occupied wall street had at one time and i do believe there is a good heart and believe in what they have done. but you bet i was the tea party

congressman and i got jonon stewart killing me, -- >> what was happening, at that point you will read more about this in the book tha but you dit tell people. for a while you were hoping his real first name was henry so you were hoping no one would make the connection but of coursean that is not possible.. so, what kind of a dark spot yot must have been out of your mind >> i was like okay i'm going tok walk now.o, then i united states congressman. i've been busted and my arrestst was not announced but i still went to work and i was an insane person for weeks this went on. and yes i went through crazy thoughts about how maybe this will clear itself out.

then i was really crazy. does it change how you view others to make mistakes over all intensive purposes if you knew him he seemed she was sincere but got caught up in campaign spending and bipolar and his life completely went off track so what do yo do you view situae this differently? >> i'm just thinking of recent -- actually let me bring it home, erin schalk who also got allegedly caught up because the court still have to figure that out. he's a great guy but again if all this ends up being true e.a came to washington with theg greatest of intentions. he served in one way or another, got caught up.

he worked with democrats and by all accounts just a great guy that wanted to do good things for the country. when i see these things happening today, if you see him use a word recently, or kathy griffin who cut the head off of donald trump if you haven't seen that, posed with a beheadedddo donald trump, this is a colossal stupid thing to do. she shouldn't have done the second follow-up press conference.ollow-up recognizing if she made a genuine apology, if she would havsimply disappear for a year d that is a good thing to do when you go through something like this, she could have come out and made her career. but instead she came out and said he was ruining her life.th now what was the hardest for me to digest is you see the word

old destroying you and piling up on you. some of the things i still see today and i don't mean from personal friend of those that were in elected politics, you hear these loud voices of people that were destroying you and you wish that there would be somebody just as loud fighting for you trying to stand up and say whatever it may be. but it is what it is and you move on in life. >> you went to rehab and turned your life around and you are doing consulting and have a radio program. do you and that moment in time will define you and are you

accepting of that? >> i don't see it defining meaning. everybody has ups and downs and by the way feel free to line up i know we are short on time i don't think it defines the. is just part of the fabric of life. we all come to the table with our ups and downs and questionable moments in life it's part of what makes you. you just cannot let the past way you down to the point you are not able to move forward and you cannot be so anxious about the future that you are also unable to move forward. if there's anything i take away from it i try to live a little

bit more sort of at peace strike a little more balance in my life and live in the present. >> is a great book and there are some out front. i think he's going to stay and find some afterwards. any comments for independence? do you have any hope for us about that? >> you think about the choices today especially the young people are all about choices and whatever you want to do this in the palm of your hand if you order something from here were there we have choices from everything. there are numerous companies, numerous products and political systems. today there's two parties. that's it. i think if there is a third

party that is going to make any headway it is going to be a long time because of the way that the infrastructure for both of the parties. no labels i went to the event and they have a successful evenh where they get politically active. the problem though is you have a conversation and occasionally you hear two people that say lower taxes and more freedom. are you starting out republican talking points? you end up hearinevent appearine you are this or that. unfortunately the way the infrastructure and society ist' set up it'll be a while before we get to a third party. >> congressman, thank you for coming to chicago. i enjoy your book. i have many students that are skeptical about what politicians can do for them and benefit the lives, so what would you say to

recommend to help them not to be skeptical and want to partake in politics and get involved? >> if you are not voting you are part of the problem. there are consequences for not voting and that's what i do not think people understand. i am not saying that everybody needs to become a grassroots this didn't put stickers on the back of their truck or stickers like make america great again. you don't have to do that but every vote does count and it is a matter of pressing upon the young people today and it does matter. it matters what you do or again, what you don't do with respect to voting. but the overwhelming thing without sounding like jc, democrats and republicans in the united states today, as much as we want to point our finger at everyone else except the person serving us and say that congress

is terrible, right now here is an approval rating between a root canal and a colonoscopy. i didn't help with that by the way. they are all there for the same reason. it's how we get there that has been the tough part of the country since its inception. more government or less government. >> if you were the president of the united states what is the first thing that you would do? >> i wouldn't do this, but to make a final point and bring this to chicago, i do believe we need criminal justice reform in

the country in a big way. let me use the war on drugs in t particular. i try to speak to the people that think it is a good idea. if you are a social conservati conservative, it is breaking up families, pulling people out ofe church if you are a conservative they are spending $80 billion they are nonviolent offenders but that means the only hurt themselves..offe to bring it back to chicago, i shudder every time i hear about another murder in this city. it's a dark time in chicago. i believe one of the reasons we have so much violence is the war

on drugs in particular has created a black market and warfare and i will talk about a group of people that i think are the biggest victims on the war on drugs the liberals won't talk about them because it's against the political agenda and republicans and conservatives want because it takes the biggest shaft on the war on drugs because it goes to show the policies failed. the biggest victims are cops. the animosity we created in the country especially in the citiec between communities and law enforcement is absurd, ridiculous and doesn't need to be there. it's a colossal failure no matter what set of eyes and it's created a cultural mass in this country and i don't care if you are republican or democrat i hope both sides can see that.

that wraps up our time. again i'm sure he will stick around. [applause] thank you for attending today's event. the book signing will be outside of the auditorium. >> former editor-in-chief of simon and schuster and author of many books including the most recent at comes out this fall,