things that will actually solve problems. putting a bunch of evs in a little tiny state -- remember, delaware is one of the smallest state in the nation -- but we are geographically located between boston and virginia to an incredible percentage of the population. we need to take advantage of that. we need to speed in the market. we need efficiency. we need to work together. we do not need to be partisan. we don't need to say a couple more votes and we can control super majorities everywhere in every state. people in delaware don't want that. they want delwarians working together -- we are delaware. every problem it comes to our state needs to be solved in the best interest of the people that live in our state. we have a nuclear plant here and we might have windmills and we might have ev's, forced to drive

the when no one else is doing that, and have the highest energy cause in the nation. >> he is actually the leader of the red in the state house, 14 years as a republican legislature. last year blocking investments in school, inroads -- in roads so that companies could vote and not people. you know what happens when you combine red and orange, you get trump orange. don't be deceived, delaware, this is someone who wants to bring trump orange to delaware. you've asked him twice now about climate change and both times his answer is let's get rid of the ev mandate. i tend to agree, i think electric vehicles, individuals should have choice. as county executive, we bought a lot of electric vehicles, converted have our fleet to electric vehicles, i don't believe that's a comprehensive solution to the climate crisis.

when you talk about the 2025 climate action plan, i want to see urgency and resiliency to make sure that communities are truly protected. i also want to see vision that recognizes the opportunity including hydrogen hub and making green jobs and having wind energy and solar energy far into the future to power delaware from delaware. tom: i give you a chance to respond. mr. ramone: the more we are together the more he comes over, it took him a couple of times to flip from the flop. i got him wearing a yellow tie so we are getting there. what i would suggest is simple, we need to stop trying to find reasons to beat each other up and do negative things. for instance about the corporate things, being orange or trump, i am clearly delaware. yes, and the house of representatives, we did in able

one more, the 17th municipality in our state to digest how they want to independently do voting in their municipality because their entire counsel asks 100%. this gentleman has come to me several times and over and i always voted with the county executive, him and the previous, and helping them develop their own law. tom: we will wrap it there because we need to jump to a new subject. government transparency and accountability. sarah? sarah: this election cycle has brought to light several deficiencies in campaign law, and kathy says she is working on broad categories of the law including the limit on the look back period as to what can be amid an, how long candidates should keep financial receipts and keeping more resources to

scrutinize financial reports. questions have been raised to -- about corporations making campaign contributions and if delaware should make contributions to political action committees. would you like to see reform when it comes to corporate and pac spending. mr. meyer: we have an extensive policy proposal on our website under the vision section. we believe we should do everything we can under federal law to eliminate corporate contributions and quite frankly, the influence of big money on delaware elections. it has been awful this election season. it's not representative of who we are. the pac involvement and unlimited money is simply wrong. i think we also need to work with the attorney general to establish an election commission

or improve our election commission, not only so it has realties, but so there is an actual and perceived lack of conflict. when you have an elections commissioner who points to the governor i think that's a conflict when the governor is endorsing a candidate. how do we make sure we assure that all delawarians have an election commission that serves them and not just serving the highest dollar individual? there are election systems and election financing campaign-finance systems that have transformed states and communities across the country and we will look at those models and see how we get better. sarah: same question. mr. ramone: i don't think any candidate should be bought and paid for, i don't think anyone should be a county executive and

not take developer money and then you do when you switch to governor. i'm sure they will say it was the pac. i'm not a liar. the reality is in politics, we've watched it in washington and i hate to see it in delaware, but you basically say exactly what is wrong when you do. i was here months listening to the democrats and all i heard was how proud someone was having the most money collected ever. $6 million. two pacs and eight 8 -- and a personal. my point is don't say this is important we need to fix this because people are bought and paid for what we have someone who will cripple our corporate structure in our state and potentially give a million something dollars, that scares me, that is 30% of our income.

how will we pay for schools and these wonderful ideas we keep raising taxes for? i believe we have to be kinder and we have to be honest with ourselves, we have to be honest with voters. we need to create an environment that enhances everybody's ability to not be enticed to take money and sell your soul. mr. meyer: that is all wrong. we received over 12,000 contributions, average contributions a little over $100. $6 million, i think you struggling because he's not getting the support, the financial support for his campaign so instead of raising money, he's spinning time making up stuff about our campaign-finance. we have received a record number of contributions, the most and 16 years for anyone running from -- running for office. sarah: thank you. we will move on to a different

subject that is similar, according to a study, delaware ranks 48th and accountability. in the past year the state has faced issues with opioid settlement grant procedures, issues with the state employee compensation double dipping, the insurance fund and general foia concerns. you have both stated you support creating a state attorney general's office, besides this what else would you do to improve trespassing an account ability? mr. ramone: for me it is easy when you have one party ruling everything, basically everything , county council, executive branch, most of these school districts, the unions that come and get people elected are often from one party. the chaos in dover mainly focusing on one party. you have people than making decisions over people in their

own party and political aspirations and directions and desires get in the way. how do you fix it? that's why god gave us two parties. you bring in balance. delaware needs to decide whether they think we should have every statewide seat, the governor's seat, a super majority in the senate, and if my opponents wishes come true, a super majority in the house, all one party. i would strongly suggest is not good for delaware. what's more interesting is the controller general bill, i was one of the primes on it for four years in a row with a gentleman he and i would go to town on, probably one of the most impressive people in the house of representatives. we would go to war on many bills but this bill we both understood the importance of the light of day getting into the general assembly.

many people on the democrat side didn't like john very much because he was about ethics and open government. that's scary and we need balance. sarah: the question about transparency? mr. meyer: it's essential to governing. i first ran eight years ago, i with a team of three volunteers, not a nearly 10,000 doors across new cancel -- new castle county and we heard again and again the people believed the government owes running to work and was not transparent, was not efficient, was dishonest. when i came in with executive leadership, we immediately took action. the two years prior to me starting as county executive, among the 2000 county employees, there were 25 ethics complaints. last year, there was one. i meet individually with every employee in county government in my office to explain this is how things work and if you see anyone doing anything wrong,

including me, this is how you report it. the first step to accountability and transparency is making sure we elect accountable and transparent leaders. one of the deals i found when i was elected county executive was a 3 million investment to create a stock exchange with the chinese, a cryptocurrency exchange in new cancel -- new castle county. it hinged on a bill passed in the state legislature to enable that exchange. a bill that mr. ramon supported and voted on and he was also an investor in this exchange i managed to undo the deal and get the county money back. the first step to having ethics and transparency in government is making sure we elect ethical leaders. mr. ramone: the deal he's speaking of is something called dbot, a revolutionary business coming into delaware that his predecessor set up. the county executive bungled it up.

the bill he says i voted on, every year we do a bill at the end of the year for banks to help them stay solvent, so there are 13 or 15 modifications, this year was one of them that we made modifications to the corporate structure that the contribution to his campaign came from. my bill was a basic bill that gave block trading to everyone. yes to the only entity in delaware with the ability to do that? he's trying to insinuate. tom: we are going to head back to kc for another question. casey: beyond the question of transparency and guardrails for the spending of the opioid

settlement fund, is a question of how should this money be spent? how do you think the funds would be best allocated to maximize benefits? mr. meyer: as we emerged from covid, because of president biden and our federal delegation , we had unprecedented resources in counties across the country to address the needs of the community as we emerged from covid. one thing we did and i don't know if it's been done in delaware history, the three counties came together and we said we recognize there's a crisis among those impacted by substance use disorder across our state. the state government, we didn't believe was investor the right way. we came together as counties and did a report of what is happening in our counties and it includes an action plan of what needs to happen. we will update that action plan when i am governor and we will

invest to make sure we are getting treatment to those who need it, to make sure narcan is available in the places it is needed with urgency, to make sure our paramedic service is expanded so response times are decreased. it will be a collaboration between county and municipal governments and the state government. it will not be a single office in the state giving out funds to those politically well-connected. tom: your response? mr. ramone: i am a business guy, i did it all my life, that's why our businesses have been successful, not because of what some people want to insinuate and detract from my employees that work so hard to make those businesses successful. what i will say is simple -- the opioid income was used in some much-needed environments and some much not needed environments.

the environments it was needed in, it needed to be used in a way that was with leadership. the environments it was not needed in, at least it should've been used in a way that would create sustainable spending. we have many initiatives out there that the state and counties used that don't have sustainable incomes to offset the expense. a great example, i think it was interesting how well the counties worked together because i was in kent county the last two days and they have the same memory of that experience. senator coons was amazing, he got delaware the highest percentage because he put a floor on the population that no one would get below the billion dollars and it was supposed to come once and it came twice, etc.. only one county because of the percentage of population, amended some of that, upset the

governor, it was supposed to be spread out and it wasn't done. tom: we are going to move to another topic. governor carney recently vetoed the medical aid and dying bill passed by the general assembly. it's likely to return in the upcoming session. will you support the version of the bill that passed the legislative session? mr. ramone: i absolutely understand the compassion of losing relatives, uncles, aunts, to horrible levels of cancer and sad levels of dementia. i believe any tool we can empower doctors with to help alleviate some of that pain and drama and stress on those families is extremely important. here's where balance matters. in our general assembly, i and three other people were in favor

of this bill was one cap yacht -- caveat. we didn't feel it should be a prescribed pill. if it's going to be implemented or used, it should be given by the doctor into the only expansion would be given through hospice care, not a pill going home with mom and the brother -- you're talking about somebody being alive or being dead. being compassionate in peoples later years and later days of life, especially with diseases, is something hospice care does very well. i would also mention most people's doctors are the smartest, best people to render that care. we only asked for that one amendment and they wouldn't give it to us. because we had the votes, they never thought the governor would be to it -- veto it because he was concerned. tom: same question, would you

support the bill that passed last session? mr. meyer: my wife is an emergency room physician. the challenges she has come up the problems she deals with every day at work are some of the hardest life and death challenges anywhere in our state. the diversity of people and viewpoints that come in to the emergency room, as patients are as diverse as our state is. i think the state in the state legislature should have no role in determining what counsel a doctor gives to a patient. i think that's between the doctor, the patient and their family. unlike the governor, i would sign the bill the legislature passed. i think there are many people out there, i understand there are serious religious concerns about the bill. i understand. many people say i would never do

that. i believe they should have a right not to do it just as people should have a right to exercise their right to die. tom: governor connie did mention vetoing the bill, his decision was in part being fundamentally morally opposed for people in certain spaces to take their own life. if elected would your morality be part of the criteria used when weighing the use of veto power and more largely speaking, what criteria would you use when deciding whether or not to veto legislation? mr. meyer: a great question. i think morality does matter. i agree with governor carney that morality should play a part. we are electing leaders to make moral judgments about just about everything we talked about. education, housing, environment. were talking about a basic belief system, what do we care about? for me it's about equity, it's

about fairness, it's about liberty, about freedom. everyone should have freedom to make choices about their own bodies. i think there should be steps taken by our state government to make sure that historic inequities are being addressed. so if i see phil's or ideas that come across my desk, proposals from departments across our government that conflict with those ethics and ideals, i would veto them or work to stop them. i think that's how our system should work. the alternative is running a poll and whatever the most popular thing is is what i will do. i respect governor carney for standing up and saying my brownie -- my morality is this. tom: mr. ramone?

mr. ramone: i live in a district that is opposite my registration and many people look at registration as an indicator of morality but i don't. i still represent everybody in my district whether they are republicans or democrats, jewish, catholic, christian, muslim. i represent people and help people. my job as a governor is not to exercise morality, it's to keep our community safe. keep our people and environment where safety is top. for someone his wife is an emergency room doctor to suggest that the death with dignity bill should be passed as written, i assume they have good knowledge about how the pill could be gotten and that is horrifically scary that they feel that's ok.

governor carney knew the problems with the bill. they came to us after the bill was fee to -- vetoed and asked if we would still vote for it if it was modified? we set absolutely but you are not allowed to amend the veto so you have to vote for the bill as it was. we are supposed to be working for delaware and making it safe. governor carney did the right thing and i do think the doctor should have the number one responsibility of whether to prescribe this pill but also administer the taking, not any tom, dickie and harry. [crosstalk] mr. meyer: there is a fundamental disagreement here. i think legislators generally should get out of the doctors office. i think doctors have a wealth of knowledge -- my wife is the boss

of my house and i think she needs to be the boss when a patient comes to see her in the emergency room. that goes to death with dignity and women's reproductive rights. mr. ramone: may i recount? tom: very quickly. mr. ramone: one of the most important things of a governor is they understand what they are saying and what they are talking about and we both agree, the doctors should have the ability to distribute but the bill doesn't do that. tom: you made that point. we want to talk about working with the general assembly and we will turn to sarah. sarah: a cooperative relationship between the general a summary and governor is a necessity for any administration to make effective policy change. would your administration take a more active approach in setting an agenda and working with the general assembly to accomplish those goals or do you believe in a more reactive role? how do you think you will

strengthen your relationship with the general assembly on either side of the aisle? mr. ramone: there are three branches of government and there's a reason. you have your judicial branch, sometimes you just need a judge. our general assembly has unfortunately passed bills that went to a court and all five were turned back over using taxpayer money but that's what you have a legislative ranch and a judicial branch and an executive branch has a role in that. as you've seen, they have the ability to veto a bill, the governor. but you don't as the executive branch governor dictate what the legislative branch does. you respect the speaker, you respect your lieutenant governor, who by the way has not voted on a ticket. you put those people in place to

be the voice of the people. it's the people's house. i'm there to listen to my constituent and mix with the other legislators to hear about their constituents and be problem resolution people. i get a little concerned when we move from problem resolution into agenda attacking when people are coming in with millions of dollars from two pac's that summary forgot about. the money comes and you have an expectation of behavior. that is wrong and we don't need 400 35 bills coming out of the general assembly. sarah: same question on report with the general assembly. mr. meyer: the governor has a number of vitally important roles to our state, not often talk about is the governor is effectively the ceo of the largest employer of the state. our state government. the governor also responds to legislation when it comes

forward and collaborates with legislators. the most important thing i think the governor does is leads. the governor collaborates with legislators, compromises where appropriate, compromises without sacrificing fundamental values. communicates and understands and listens to the over one million in the lower and charts a path forward. you will see agendas and policies come forward. we like to say we don't make promises, we make plans and we turn those into progress. we do it collaboratively with the general assembly, with the state senate but we don't do it in a way that sacrifices our values. let me give an example. the republicans in the house that mr. ramon has led have proposed that llcs can vote and that's not something i will compromise on. the republicans he leads in the

house have voted consistently against codifying roe v. wade to say in delaware as far as state rights, republicans say women don't have the right to choose and they've proposed dramatic tax cuts for the altar wealthy and those are things we will compromise on. sarah: very quickly specifically on your stance on abortion. mr. ramone: briefly, llcs can vote in 17 municipalities. one more asked to do that and we empower them. we are not saying they can or can't, we are saying they can vote on it. just to give clarity. i thought my opponent knew more what the bill said. the other is codifying roe v. wade. i vote to codify the bills in the house that are now the most aggressive addressing of women's rights ever in the state of a

republican. [crosstalk] sarah: along the same lines, this past legislative session, members of the general assembly codified an executive order that allows the governor to consider fund requirements when crafting physical recommendations. can you talk about what the looming cost of health care and education, how do you plan to spend that to fund those endeavors while keeping the budget in mind? mr. meyer: that's a great challenge, we are going into a budget cycle where you have health care costs rising, increasing demand for funding in the education system. where are the resources going to come from? we need to take urgent action to reduce health care costs. we have a comprehensive plan that i encourage you to look at and voters to review. when i came in this county

executive, we had a similar crisis where our expenses outstripped our revenues. we went line by line through the county budget and we found about $5 million of abusive spending, misappropriated spending we put into savings for the taxpayer. we will do the same at the state level. we've been open as a matter of morality and ethics. we think it's wrong that if a delaware family makes $70,000 a year, they pay the same tax rate as a delaware family making $70 million a year. that's not right. we will look, insofar as we need to raise revenue we look at the ultra-wealthy. why opponent is proposing a tax reduction for those same ultra-wealthy families. mr. ramone: clearly you need a problem solver to solve problems. you can talk about stuff and embellish things, you have to make sure you are not out and

paid for, make sure you are representing the people in the state. in delaware when we had the crisis when we switched governors i was on the committee with melanie george smith and we did a line item audit, one line at a time with 12 only -- other people and we saved $150 million and that's the numbers you are talking about in the state, not 5 million. there's a big difference in understanding the mechanism will for your doing and how big you need to handle the budget and how much you don't know but you are writing a 100 page book on how to solve problems. what i would suggest is simple, create an environment that we are fiscally responsible in solving problems simultaneously. i give you an example, we have the biggest growing senior population, may be than florida after the storms. and we have no health care. we don't have enough doctors, we don't have enough nurses, we don't have enough anything in those fields.